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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36199-8.txt b/36199-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..66ed2fc --- /dev/null +++ b/36199-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9801 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bijou, by Gyp + +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: Bijou + +Author: Gyp + +Translator: Alys Hallard + +Release Date: May 23, 2011 [EBook #36199] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIJOU *** + + + + +Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, JoAnn Greenwood and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + BIJOU + + BY + GYP + + + _TRANSLATED_ + BY + ALYS HALLARD. + + + LONDON + HUTCHINSON & CO. + 34 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. + 1897 + + + + +BIJOU. + + + + +I. + + +MADAME DE BRACIEUX was working for her poor people. She poked her +thick, light, tortoise-shell crochet-needle into the ball of coarse +wool, and putting that down on her lap, lifted her head and looked +across at her great-nephew, Jean de Blaye. + +"Jean," she said, "what are you gazing at that is so interesting? You +stand there with your nose flattened against the window-pane, just +exactly as you did when you were a little boy, and were so +insufferable." + +Jean de Blaye lifted his head abruptly. He had been leaning his +forehead against the glass of the bay-window. + +"I?" he answered, hesitating slightly. "Oh, nothing, aunt--nothing at +all!" + +"Nothing at all? Oh, well, I must say that you seem to be looking at +nothing at all with a great deal of attention." + +"Do not believe him, grandmamma!" said Madame de Rueille in her +beautiful, grave, expressive voice; "he is hoping all the time to see +a cab appear round the bend of the avenue." + +"Is he expecting someone?" asked the marchioness. + +"Oh, no!" explained M. de Rueille, laughing; "but a cab, even a +Pont-sur-Loire cab, would remind him of Paris. Bertrade is teasing +him." + +"I don't care all that much about being reminded of Paris," muttered +Jean, without stirring. + +Madame de Rueille gazed at him in astonishment. "One would almost +think he was in earnest!" she remarked. + +"In earnest, but absent-minded!" said the marchioness, and then, +turning towards a young abbé, who was playing loto with the de Rueille +children, she asked: + +"Monsieur, will you tell us whether there is anything interesting +taking place on the terrace?" + +The abbé, who was seated with his back to the bay-window, looked +behind him over his shoulder, and replied promptly: + +"I do not see anything in the slightest degree interesting, madame." + +"Nothing whatever," affirmed Jean, leaving the window, and taking his +seat on a divan. + +One of the de Rueille children, forgetting his loto cards, and leaving +the abbé to call out the numbers over and over again with untiring +patience, suddenly perched himself up on a chair, and, by his +grimaces, appeared to be making signals to someone through the window. + +"Marcel dear, at whom are you making those horrible grimaces?" asked +the grandmother, puzzled. + +"At Bijou," replied the child; "she is out there gathering flowers." + +"Has she been there long?" asked the marchioness. + +It was the abbé who answered this time. + +"About, ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, madame." + +"And you consider that Bijou is not interesting to look at?" exclaimed +the old lady, laughing. "You are difficult to please, monsieur!" + +Abbé Courteil, who had not been long in the family, and who was +incredibly shy, blushed from the neck-band of his cassock to the roots +of his fair hair, and stammered out in dismay: + +"But, madame, when you asked if anything interesting were taking place +on the terrace, I thought you meant--something--something +extraordinary, and I never thought that the presence of Mademoiselle +Bij--I mean, of Mademoiselle Denyse--as she always gathers her flowers +there at this time every day--I never thought that you would consider +that as--" + +The sentence ended in an unintelligible way, whilst the abbé, very +much confused, continued shaking the numbers about in the bag. + +"That poor abbé," said Bertrade de Rueille, very quietly, "you do +frighten him, grandmamma." + +"Nonsense! nothing of the kind! I do not frighten him; you exaggerate, +my dear." + +And then, after a moment's reflection, Madame de Bracieux continued: + +"The man must be blind then." + +"What man?" + +"Why, your abbé! Good heavens, what stupid answers he makes." + +"But, grandmamma--" + +"No! you will never make me believe that a man could watch Bijou at +work amongst the flowers, and not consider her '_interesting to look +at_!'--no, never!" + +"A man, yes; but then the abbé is not exactly a man." + +"Ah! what is he then, if you please?" + +"Well, a priest is not--" + +"Not exactly like other men in certain respects! no, at least I hope +not; but priests have eyes, I suppose, and you will grant that, if +they have not eyes like those of other men, they have eyes such as a +woman has, at any rate. Will you allow your abbé to have eyes like a +woman?" + +"Why, yes, grandmamma, I will allow him to have any kind of eyes he +likes." + +"That's a good thing. Well, then, any woman looking at Bijou would +perceive that she is charming. Why should an abbé not perceive that +too?" + +"You do not like our poor abbé." + +"Oh, well, you know my opinion. I consider that priests were made for +the churches and not for our houses. Apart from that, I like your abbé +as well as I do any of them. I like him--negatively; I respect him." + +Bertrade laughed, and said in her gentle voice: + +"It scarcely seems like it; you are very rough on him always." + +"I am rough on him, just as I am rough on all of you." + +"Yes, but then we are accustomed to it, whilst he--" + +"Oh, very well, I won't be rough on him again. I will take care; but +you have no idea how tiresome it will be to me. I do like to be able +to speak my mind. It was a strange notion of yours, to have an abbé +for your children." + +"It was Paul; he particularly wished the children to be educated by a +priest, at any rate, to begin with. He is very religious." + +"Well, but so am I--I am very religious, and that is just why I would +never have a priest as tutor. Yes, don't you see, if he should be an +intelligent man, why, just for the sake of one or two, or even several +children--but anyhow only a small number, you make use of his +intelligence, which his calling had destined for the direction of his +flock, and you prevent him from teaching, comforting, and forgiving +the sins of poor creatures, who, as a rule, are much more interesting +than we are. If, on the other hand, the priest should be an imbecile, +why, he just devotes himself conscientiously to distorting the mind of +the little human being entrusted to him, and in both cases you are +responsible, either for the harm you do, or the good you prevent being +done---Ah! here's Bijou, let me look at her; I shall enjoy that more +than talking about your abbé," and the marchioness pointed to her +grand-daughter, who was just entering the room, and who looked like a +walking basket of flowers. + +Denyse de Courtaix, nicknamed Bijou, was an exquisite little creature, +refined-looking, graceful, and slender, and yet all over dimples. She +had large violet eyes, limpid, and full of expression, a straight +nose, turning up almost imperceptibly at the end, a very small mouth, +with very red lips going up merrily at the corners, and showing some +small, milky-white teeth. Her soft, silky hair was of that light +auburn shade so rarely seen nowadays. Her tiny ears were shaded with +pink, like mother-of-pearl, and this same pinky shade was to be seen +not only on her cheeks, but on her forehead, her neck, and her hands. +It shone all over her skin with a rosy gleam. Her eyebrows alone, +which crossed her smooth, intelligent forehead with a very fine, and +almost unbroken dark line, indicated the fact that this frail and +pretty little creature had a will of her own. + +Bijou, who looked about fifteen or sixteen years of age, had attained +her majority just a week ago, but from her perfect and dainty little +person there seemed to emanate a breath of child-like candour and +innocence. Her charm, however, which was most subtle and penetrating, +was distinctly that of a woman, and it was this contrast which made +Bijou so fascinating and so unlike other girls. Such as she was, she +infatuated men, delighted women, and was adored by all. + +As soon as she entered the room, all rosy-looking in her pink dress of +cloudy muslin, with a sort of flat basket filled with roses, fastened +round her neck with pink ribbon, everyone surrounded her, glad to +welcome the gaiety which seemed to enter with her, for until her +arrival the large room had felt somewhat bare and empty. + +Paul de Rueille, who was playing billiards with his brother-in-law, +Henry de Bracieux, came to ask for a rose from her basket, whilst +Henry, who had followed him, took one without asking. + +The de Rueille children, leaving the abbé, who continued calling out +the loto numbers in a monotonous tone, went sliding across to the +young girl, and hung about her. Their mother called them back. + +"Leave Bijou alone, children; you worry her!" + +"Robert! Marcel! come here," said the abbé, getting up. + +"Oh, no," protested Bijou, "let them alone; I like to have them!" + +She took the basket from her neck, and was just about to put it down +on the billiard-table, when she suddenly stopped. + +"Oh, no! I must have mercy on the game." + +"Isn't she nice? she thinks of everything," murmured Henry de +Bracieux, quite touched. + +"Come and kiss me, Bijou," said the marchioness. + +Denyse had just put her basket down on a divan. She took from it a +full-blown rose, and went quickly across to her grandmother, whom she +kissed over and over again in a fondling way as a child. + +"There," she said, presenting her rose, "it is the most beautiful one +of all!" Her voice was rather high-pitched, rather "a head-voice" +perhaps, but it sounded so young and clear, and then, too, she spoke +so distinctly, and with such an admirable pronunciation. + +"You have not seen Pierrot, then?" asked the marchioness. + +"Pierrot?" said Bijou, as though she were trying to recall something +to her memory. "Why, yes, I have seen him; he was with me a minute or +two helping me to gather the flowers, and then he went away to his +father, who was shooting rabbits in the wood." + +"I might have thought as much; that boy does not do a thing." + +"But, grandmamma, he is here for his holidays." + +"His holidays if you like; but, all the same, if a tutor has been +engaged for him, it is surely so that he may work." + +"But he must take some rest now and again, poor Pierrot--and his tutor +too." + +"They do nothing else, though. Well, as long as my brother knows it, +and as long as it suits him--" + +"It suits him to-day, anyhow, for he told them to join him in the +wood." + +"He told _them_?" repeated the old lady; and then she continued slily, +"and so the tutor has been gathering roses, too?" + +"Yes," replied Denyse, with her beautiful, frank smile, and not +noticing her grandmother's mocking intonation, "he has been gathering +roses, too." + +"He probably enjoyed that more than shooting rabbits," said the +marchioness, glancing at a tall young man who was just entering the +room, "for if he went to join your uncle in the wood, he did not stay +long with him anyhow!" + +"Why--no!"--said Bijou in astonishment, and then leaving her +grandmother, she advanced to meet the young man. + +"Did you not find uncle, Monsieur Giraud?" she asked. + +"Oh, yes, mademoiselle," he replied, turning very red. "Yes, +certainly, we found M. de Jonzac; but--I--I was obliged to come in--as +I have some of Pierre's exercises to correct." And then, doubtlessly +wanting to explain how it was that he had come into that room, he +added, slightly confused: "I just came in here to see whether I had +left my books about--I thought--but--I do not see them here--" + +He had not taken his eyes off Bijou, and was going away again when the +marchioness, looking at him indulgently, and with an amused expression +in her eyes, called him back. + +"Will you not stay and have a smoke here, Monsieur Giraud? Is there +such a hurry as all that for the correction of those exercises?" + +"Oh, no, madame!" answered the tutor eagerly, retracing his steps, +"there is no hurry at all." + +The old lady leaned forward towards Madame de Rueille, who was +silently working at a handsome piece of tapestry, and said to her with +a smile: "He is not like the abbé--this young man!" + +Bertrade lifted her pretty head and answered gravely: + +"No!" + +"You look as though you pitied him?" + +"I do, with all my heart." + +"And why, pray?" + +"Because the poor fellow, after coming to us as gay as a lark a +fortnight ago, and winning all our hearts, will go away from here sad +and unhappy, his heart heavy with grief or anger." + +"Oh, you always see the black side of things; he thinks Bijou is +sweet, he admires her and likes to be with her; but that is all!" + +"You know very well, grandmamma, that Bijou is perfectly adorable, and +so attractive that everyone is fascinated by her." + +The marchioness pointed to her great-nephew, Jean de Blaye, who, ever +since he had left the window, did not appear to be taking any notice +of what was going on around him. + +"Everyone?" she said, almost angrily; "no, not everyone. Look at Jean, +he is as blind as the abbé!" + +Jean de Blaye was sitting motionless in a large arm-chair; there was +an impassive expression on his face, and a far-away look in his eyes. +He appeared to be in a reverie, and the younger lady glanced across at +him, as she answered: + +"I am afraid that he is only acting blind!" + +"Oh, nonsense!" said Madame de Bracieux delighted, "do you think that +Bijou could possibly interest Jean enough, for instance, to keep him, +even for a time, from his actresses, his horses, his theatres, and the +stupid life he generally leads?--You really think so?" + +"I do think so!" + +"And how long have you thought this?" + +"Oh, only just now. When he told us with such conviction that '_he did +not care all that much about being reminded of Paris_,' I felt that he +was speaking the truth. I began to wonder then what could have made +him forget Paris. I wondered and wondered--and I found out." + +"Bijou?" + +"Exactly." + +"So much the better if that really should be so. For my part, I do not +think it looks like it. He takes no notice of her." + +"When we are watching him--no." + +"He seems low-spirited and absent-minded." + +"He would be for less cause than this. Jean never does things in a +half-and-half way. If he were in love, I mean seriously, he would be +desperately in love; and if he were to be desperately in love with +Bijou, or if he were to discover that he was falling in love with her, +it certainly would not be a thing for him to rejoice over. He +cannot--no matter how much he might wish it--he cannot marry Bijou. +It is not only that he is her cousin, but he is not rich enough." + +"He has about twenty thousand pounds. Bijou has eight thousand, to +which I shall add another four thousand, that makes twelve +thousand--total between them thirty-two thousand." + +"Well, and can you imagine Bijou with an income of about nine hundred +pounds a year?" + +"No. I know that _she_ would consider it enough. She makes her own +dresses; everyone says they do that, but, in this case, it is a fact. +Then she is very industrious and clever; she understands housekeeping +wonderfully well, and for the last four years has managed everything +both here and in Paris; but I could not possibly reconcile myself to +the idea of seeing her enduring the hardships of a limited income--and +it would be limited. Good heavens! though, I hope she will not go and +fall in love with Jean." + +"Oh, I do not think she will." + +"You see, he is charming, the wretch; and it appears he is a great +favourite?" + +"Yes, certainly; but then Bijou is made so much of. She is surrounded +and adored by everyone, so that she has not much time to fall in love +herself!" + +"And then, too, she is such a child!" said the marchioness, glancing +at her grand-daughter with infinite tenderness. + +Bijou was standing near the billiard-table watching the game, and +laughing as she teased the players. + +At a little distance from her, the young professor was also standing +motionless, watching her with a rapturous expression in his eyes. + +Suddenly Jean de Blaye rose abruptly, looking annoyed, and moved away +in the direction of the door that led to the flight of steps going +down to the garden. + +"Wait a minute!" called out Denyse, "wait, and let me give you a +flower!" + +She went to the basket, and taking out a yellow rose scarcely opened, +she crossed over to her cousin, and put it in his button-hole. + +"There!" she said, stepping back and looking satisfied, "you are very +fine like that!" And then turning towards the tutor, she said in the +most winning way, and with perfect ease: "Monsieur Giraud, will you +have a rosebud too?" + +The young man took the flower, and, almost trembling with confusion, +tried in vain to fasten it in his coat. + +"Ah! you can't do it!" said the young girl, taking it gently from +him. "Let me put it in for you, will you?" + +He was so tall that, in order to reach his button-hole, she was +obliged to stand on tip-toes. She slipped the flower through slowly, +and with the greatest care, and when she had finished she gave a +little tap to the shiny revers of the old coat, which were all out of +shape and faded. + +"There, that's right!" she said, smiling pleasantly; "like that, it is +perfectly lovely!" + +The marchioness, her eyes shining with affection, was looking at her. + +"What do you think of her? isn't she sweet?" the old lady said to +Bertrade, who seemed to be admiring Bijou also. + +Madame de Rueille looked at the young tutor, who was standing still in +the middle of the room. + +"Poor fellow!" she said. + +"What, still! Well, decidedly, Monsieur Giraud appears to interest you +very much!" + +"Very much indeed! I am sorry for people who are sensitive and +unhappy; for, you see, I am one of the merry ones myself!" + +"Oh!--I don't know about that. You said just now that Jean was acting +blind; well, I should say you were acting merry. You are merry, for +instance, when anyone is looking at you." + +The young wife did not answer, she only pointed towards Bijou. + +"She is one of the genuinely merry ones, at any rate, is she not, +grandmamma?" + +Bijou had just given the children some flowers, and was now speaking +to the Abbé Courteil. + +"And you too, monsieur, I want to decorate you with my flowers! There, +now, just tell me if that rose is not beautiful? Ah, if you want a +lovely rose, that certainly is one." + +She was holding out to him an enormous rose, which was full blown, and +looked like a regular cabbage. + +The abbé had risen from his seat without loosing the bag containing +the loto numbers. He looked scared, and stammered out as he stepped +back: + +"Mademoiselle, it is indeed a superb flower; but--but I should not +know where to put it. The button-holes of my cassock are so small, the +stalk would never go through. I am very much obliged, mademoiselle, I +really am. I--but there is no place to put it--it is--" + +"Oh, but there is room for it in your girdle," she answered, laughing. +"There, monsieur, look there--it is as though it had been made for +it!" + +Standing at some little distance away, she pushed the long stalk of +the flower between the abbé's girdle and cassock. + +He thanked her as he bowed awkwardly. + +"I am much obliged, mademoiselle, it is very kind of you; I am quite +touched--quite touched." + +At every movement the rose swung about in the loose girdle. It moved +backwards and forwards in the most comical way, with ridiculous little +jerks, showing up to advantage against the cassock which was all +twisted like a screw round the abbé's thin body. + +"Now, I am going to arrange my vases," remarked Bijou, when she had +adorned everyone with flowers. + +"Where?" asked M. de Rueille. + +"Why, in the dining-room, in the drawing-room, in the hall, here, +everywhere." + +"We will come and help you!" exclaimed several voices. + +"Oh, no!--instead of helping me you would just hinder me." + +She picked up her basket and went away, looking very merry and fresh. +Her muslin dress fluttered round her, as pink and pretty as she +herself was. As soon as she had disappeared, it seemed as though a +veil of melancholy had suddenly spread itself over the large room. No +one spoke, and there was not a sound to be heard except the knocking +together of the billiard-balls, and the rattling of the numbers, which +the abbé kept shaking all the time, bringing into this game, as into +everything else, the methodical precision which was habitual to him. + +"Grandmamma," said Henry de Bracieux at length, "you ought not to +allow Bijou to give us the slip like this, especially at Bracieux. In +Paris it is not so bad, but here, when she leaves us we are done for; +she is the ray of sunshine that lights up the whole house." + +The marchioness shrugged her shoulders. + +"You talk nonsense; you forget that very soon Bijou will _give us the +slip_, as you so elegantly put it, in a more decisive way." + +"What do you mean? She is not going to be married?" + +"Well, I hope so." + +"You have someone in view?" asked M. de Rueille, not very well +pleased. + +"No, not at all; but, you see, the said someone may present himself +one day or another--not here, of course, there is no one round here +who would be suitable for Bijou; but it is very probable that this +winter in Paris--" + +Henry de Bracieux, a fine-looking young man of twenty-five years of +age, with a strong resemblance to his sister Bertrade, was listening +to the words of the marchioness. His eyebrows were knitted, and there +was a serious expression on his face. He missed a very easy cannon, +and his brother-in-law was astonished. + +"Oh, hang it!" he exclaimed; "it is too warm to play billiards. I am +going out to have a nap in the hammock." + +His sister watched him as he left the room, and then turning towards +the marchioness, she whispered: + +"He, too!" + +The old lady replied, with a touch of ill-humour: + +"Bijou cannot marry all the family, anyhow. Ah! here she is, we must +not talk about it." + +Just at that moment the graceful figure of the young girl appeared in +the doorway leading to the stone steps. + +"How many people will there be to dinner on Thursday, grandmamma?" she +asked, without entering the room. + +"Why, I have not counted. There are the La Balues--" + +"That makes four." + +"The Juzencourts--" + +"Six." + +"Young Bernès--" + +"Seven." + +"Madame de Nézel--" + +"Eight." + +"That's all." + +"And we are ten to start with, that makes eighteen. We can do with +twenty; will you invite the Dubuissons, grandmamma? I should so like +to have Jeanne." + +"I am perfectly willing. I will write to them." + +"It isn't worth while. I shall have to go to Pont-sur-Loire to get +things in, and I can invite them." + +"My poor dear child! you are going to the town through this heat?" + +"We _must_ see about the things for this dinner. To-day is +Tuesday--and then I want to speak to Mère Rafut, and see if she can +come to work. I have no dresses to put on, and there will be the +races, and some dances." + +"Oh!" said the marchioness, evidently annoyed, "you are going to have +that frightful old woman again." + +"Why, grandmamma, she's a very nice, straightforward sort of woman, +and then she works so well." + +"That may be; but her appearance is terribly against her." + +"Yes, grandmamma, that is so, she is not beautiful--Mère Rafut is old +and poor, and old age and poverty do not improve the appearance; but +it is so convenient for me to have her; and she is so happy to come +here, and be well-paid, and well-fed, and well-treated, after being +accustomed to her actresses, who either pay her badly or not at all." + +By this time Bijou was standing just behind Madame de Bracieux's +arm-chair. She added in a coaxing way, as she threw her pretty pink +arms around the old lady's neck: + +"It is quite a charity, grandmamma; and a charity not only to Mère +Rafut, but to me." + +"Have her then," answered the marchioness, "have your frightful old +woman--let her come as much as you like!" + +"Well, then, good-bye for the present." + +"How are you going?--in the victoria?" + +"No, in the trap; I shall be quicker if I take the trap--I can go +there in twenty-five minutes. + +"And _you_ are going to drive?" + +"Why, yes, grandmamma." + +"And with the sun so hot? You'll have a stroke." + +"Shall I drive you, Bijou?" proposed M. de Rueille. "I want to get +some tobacco, and some powder, and two fishing-rods to replace those +that Pierrot broke. I shall be glad to go to town." + +"And I shall be delighted for you to drive me." + +"When shall we start?" + +"At once, please." + +Just as they were going out of the room, the marchioness called out to +them: + +"Beware of accidents. Don't go too quickly downhill." + +"You can be quite easy, grandmamma, I never lose my head." + + + + +II. + + +IN the evening as they were driving through Pont-sur-Loire on their +way back to Bracieux, M. de Rueille said to Denyse: + +"There is no mistake about it, Bijou, my dear with you there is no +chance of passing by unnoticed. Oh, dear, no!" + +She glanced at the foot-passengers, who were turning round to look at +her with intense curiosity, and answered: + +"It's my pink dress that--" + +"No, it is not your dress, it is you yourself." + +Her large violet eyes grew larger with astonishment as she asked: + +"I, myself? But why?" + +"Oh, Bijou, my dear, it is not at all nice of you to act like that +with your poor old cousin." + +"You think I am acting?" she exclaimed, looking more and more +astounded. + +"Well, it appears like it to me; it is impossible for you not to know +how pretty you are. In the first place, you have eyes, and then you +are told often enough for--" + +"I am told?--by whom?" + +"By everyone. Why, even I, although I am nearly your uncle and a +settled-down respectable sort of man." + +"'Nearly my uncle.' No--considering that Bertrade is my first cousin; +and, as to the rest--" She stopped abruptly, and then finished with a +laugh. "You flatter yourself!" + +"Alas, no! I shall soon be forty-two." + +She looked at him in surprise. + +"Oh, well! you don't look it." + +"Thank you! There now! Do you see how all the natives are gazing at +you? I can assure you, Bijou, that when I come to do any shopping +alone, they do not watch me so eagerly." + +"I tell you it is this pink dress that astonishes them." + +"But why should they be astonished? They are accustomed to that, +because you often come to Pont-sur-Loire, and you always wear pink." + +Ever since she had left off her mourning for her parents, who had died +four years ago, Denyse had adopted pink as her only colour for all her +dresses. The reason was, she said, because her grandmother preferred +seeing her dressed thus. Anyhow, this pink, a very pale, soft shade, +like that of the petals of a rose just as it begins to fall, suited +her to perfection, as it was almost exactly the same delicate colour +as her skin. + +She always wore it, and when the weather was cold or gloomy she would +put on a long, gathered cloak, which covered her entirely, and on +taking this dark wrap off, she would come out, looking as fresh and +sweet as a flower, and seem to brighten up everything around her. + +Her dresses were always of batiste, muslin, or some soft woollen +material, comparatively inexpensive. The greatest luxury to which she +treated herself now and again was a _taffetas_ or surah silk. And +then, nothing could be more simple than the way these dresses were +made--always the same little gathered blouses and straight skirts, and +never any trimming whatever, except, perhaps, in the winter, a narrow +edging of fur. + +"Yes, that's quite true," she said thoughtfully, "I am always in pink. +You don't like that?" + +"Not like it? I--good heavens!--why, I think it is perfectly charming! +I tell you, Bijou, that if I were not an old man, I should make love +to you all the time!" + +"You are not an old man!" + +"Very many thanks! If, however, you do not look upon me as quite an +old man--which, by the bye, is certainly debatable--I am at any rate a +married man." + +"Yes, that's true, and so much the better for you, for there is +nothing more stupid and tiresome than men who are always making love." + +"Well, then, you must know a terrible number of people who are stupid +and tiresome." + +"Why?" + +"Because everyone makes love to you--more or less!" + +"Not at all! Why, just think! I was brought up in the most isolated +way, like a veritable savage. When papa and mamma were living, they +were always ill, and I was shut up with them, and never saw anyone. It +is scarcely four years since I came to live with grandmamma, where I +do see people." + +"Oh, yes; plenty of them, and no mistake!" + +"You speak as though that annoyed you?" + +She glanced sideways at Rueille, her eyes shining beneath her drooping +eyelids, whilst he replied, with a touch of irritation in his voice in +spite of himself: + +"Annoyed me, but why should it? Are your affairs any business of mine; +have I any voice in the matter of anything that concerns you?" + +"Which means that if you had a voice in the matter--?" + +"Ah, there would certainly be many changes, and many reforms that I +should make." + +"For instance?" + +"Well, I should not allow you, if I were in your grandmamma's place, +to be quite as affable and as ready to welcome everyone; I should want +to keep you rather more for myself, and prevent your letting strangers +have so much of you." + +"Yes," she said, with a pensive expression, "perhaps you are right." + +"And all the more so because we shall have you to ourselves for so +short a time now." + +The large candid eyes, with their sweet expression, were fixed on Paul +de Rueille as he continued: + +"You will be marrying soon? You will be leaving us?" + +Bijou laughed. "How you arrange things. There is no question, as far +as I know, of my marriage." + +"There is nothing definite--no; at least, I do not think so. But, +practically, it is the one subject in question, and grandmamma thinks +of nothing else." + +"Oh, well, I am not like her then, for I scarcely ever give it a +thought." And then she added, turning grave all at once: "Besides, my +marriage is very problematical." + +"Problematical?" + +"Why, yes,--in the first place, I should want the man who marries me +to love me." + +"Oh, well, you can be easy on that score; you will have no difficulty +about that." + +Her fresh young voice took an almost solemn tone as she continued: + +"And then I should want to love him, too." + +"Oh, so you will. One always does love one's husband--to begin with," +said Rueille carelessly; and then he stopped short, thinking that the +words "to begin with" were unnecessary. + +Bijou had not understood, however, nor even heard, for she asked: + +"What did you say?" + +"I said that he will be very happy." + +"Who will be happy?" + +"The man you love!" + +"I hope so. I shall do all I can for that!" + +M. de Rueille seemed to be annoyed and irritated. He said, in a +disagreeable way, as though he wanted to discourage Denyse in her +dreams of the future: + +"Yes, but supposing you do not happen to meet with him?" + +"Well, then, I shall die an old maid, that's all! But I do not see why +I should not meet with him. I do not ask for anything impossible, +after all!" + +In a mocking tone, and a trifle aggressive, he, asked: + +"Would it be very indiscreet to ask you what you expect?" + +"Oh, not indiscreet in the slightest degree, for I can only answer +just as I have already answered, I should simply want _to love him_! I +do not care at all about money; I neither understand money nor worship +it!" She turned towards her cousin, and said, in conclusion, as she +looked up into his face: "Now, I'll tell you, I would agree to a +marriage like Bertrade's." + +"With another husband," he stammered out. + +Very simply and naturally, and without the slightest embarrassment, +she said, laughing: + +"Oh, dear no! No, I think the husband is quite nice." + +M. de Rueille did not answer. He could not help feeling some emotion, +in spite of himself, at this idea that Bijou might have cared for him. +It seemed to him that the evening air was delicious, and never had the +setting sun, which was sinking slowly like a ball of flame into the +Loire, appeared more brilliant to him. The little gig was so narrow, +that, with every oscillation, his elbow touched the young girl's arm, +whilst her soft fair hair, escaping from her large straw hat, kept +brushing against his cheek, which began to burn. + +Bijou noticed his absent-mindedness. + +"It seems to me," she said, laughing, "that you are not listening much +to the description of my ideal." + +"Oh, yes!" + +"Oh, no!--by the bye, have we done all the errands?" + +She took out of her pocket a long list, which she began to read: + +"_Ice. Cakes. Fruit. Fish. The Dubuissons. Speak to the butcher. Pink +gauze. Mère Rafut. Hat. Pierrot's books. Henry's cartridges (16)._" + +"What's that?" asked M. de Rueille, who was looking at the list. +"Henry has commissioned you to get his cartridges instead of telling +me to get them?" + +"Yes; the time before last when he asked you, you forgot them; and +last time you brought him number twelve cartridges, and his are number +sixteen; therefore, he preferred--" + +"Ah! I can understand that; but they do take advantage of you--and +the children too have taken advantage. '_Balloon for Marcel, pencils +for Robert_;' Fred is the only one who has not given you any +commissions. You need not despair though, he is only three years old; +he will begin next year." + +"He did not give me any commissions, but I have brought him a picture +book--'Puss in Boots.' He adores cats, so that will amuse him." + +"How delicious you are!" + +"Delicious! Is that saying enough? Could you not find something rather +more eulogistic? Let us see--try now!" + +She was still glancing down the list; and Paul de Rueille pointed with +the handle of his whip to a line written in pencil: + +"What's that?--'_Tell grandmamma about La Norinière!_'" + +"Why, I met the Juzencourts, and they said I was to be sure to tell +grandmamma that 'The Norinière' is to be inhabited." + +"Ah, Clagny has sold it?" + +"No; he is coming back to it. It appears that he is coming every +summer." + +"Ah, so much the better. Grandmamma will be very glad of that." + +"Yes, she likes him very much. I do not know him, this M. de Clagny, +but I have often heard about him." + +"Don't you remember seeing him a long time ago?" + +"Why, no!" + +"Well, he was your godfather, anyhow!" + +"You are dreaming! Uncle Alexis is my godfather." + +"Your Uncle Jonzac is the godfather of Denyse, but it was M. de Clagny +who was the godfather of Bijou. Yes, he said once, speaking of you +when you were very little, _the Bijou_--and the name suited you so +well that you have had it ever since." + +"Don't you think it is rather ridiculous to call me Bijou now that I +am old?" + +"You look as though you were fourteen, and you always will look like +that, I promise you." + +"Isn't it rather risky to promise me that?" + +She laughed as she glanced at him, and he, too, looked at her as +though he could not take his eyes away from the pretty, fresh young +face turned towards him. He was paying no attention to the road, which +was in a very bad state, until suddenly the right wheel went into a +rut, and the gig gave a jerk, which sent Denyse on to him. She clung +to his arm with all her might, and they remained an instant like this +until they were able to regain their balance. The wheel, then, in some +way or another, got clear of the deep rut in which it had been caught, +and the horse went on again at a quick pace as before. + +"That's right!" said Bijou, laughing heartily. "I certainly thought we +should be upset." + +"It was as near a shave as possible," he answered gravely. + +She loosened the grasp of her small fingers, which had been pressed +tightly on her cousin's shoulder. + +"Is it really over?" she asked. "You are not going to begin again, I +hope?" + +M. de Rueille did not answer. He was looking at her with an +absent-minded, troubled expression in his eyes. + +"Yes; but, instead of looking at me, do look before you," she went on. +"We shall get into another rut directly, you'll see." + +"Oh, no! oh, no!" he murmured, as though he were in some dream. + +"I'm sure we shall be late for dinner," said Bijou; "and you know +grandmamma does not altogether like that." + +Rueille touched the pony's back with the whip, and the animal, +springing forward, jerked the little carriage violently, and then +started off at a mad pace. + +This time Bijou looked stupefied. + +"What's that for?" she asked. "Whatever is the matter with you to-day? +Just now you almost upset us, and now you touch Colonel with the whip, +and you ought not to let him even guess that you have one; you have +made him take fright," and then, seeing that the horse was calming +down, she added, "or nearly so; you are not yourself at all." + +"No," he answered mechanically, "I am not myself." + +At the pony's first plunge Denyse had taken M. de Rueille's arm again. +It was not that she was in the least afraid, but she was perched on a +seat which was too high for her, so that she could not keep her +balance, and, consequently, she tried to hold on to something firm. +Without loosing the arm on to which she was hanging, she leant towards +her cousin, and asked, with evident interest: + +"Not yourself? What is the matter? Are you ill?" + +"Ill? No! at least, not exactly." + +"What do you mean by _not exactly_? Oh, but you must not be ill. We +have to work at our play this evening, and if you do not set about +it, all of you, and in earnest, why, it will never be finished for +the race-ball." + +"I don't care a hang about the play, and--I--if I were you--" + +He stopped abruptly, evidently embarrassed. + +"Well?" asked Bijou, "what is it? You were going to say something." + +"Yes," he stammered out, scarcely knowing how to put what he wanted to +say. "I was going to remark that the design Jean has made for +your--for Hebe's dress--" + +"Well?" + +"Well, it isn't the thing at all; there is too little of it." + +"Too little of it? Nonsense!" + +"It isn't nonsense. I say it is not the thing for a woman, and +especially a young girl like you, to appear like that." + +Bijou looked at Paul de Rueille with a bewildered expression on her +face, and then burst out laughing. + +"Oh, you are queer; you look exactly like a jealous husband." + +"Jealous!" he stammered out, vexed and ill at ease. "It isn't for me +to be jealous, but I--" + +"No, certainly, but all the same, without being jealous, you men do +not like a woman to look pretty, or to be nice, or amusing, for +anyone else's benefit than just your own." + +"Well, admitting that that is so, it is quite natural." + +"Ah! you think so? Oh, well, a woman, on the contrary, is always glad +when the men she likes are admired; she is delighted when other people +like them too." + +"Nonsense! You do not know anything about it, my dear Bijou. You are +most deliciously inexperienced in such things fortunately." + +"Why _fortunately_?" she asked, opening her soft, innocent eyes wide +in astonishment. + +"Because--" + +He stopped short, and Bijou insisted, pinching his arm. + +"Well, go on--do go on." + +"No, it would be too complicated," he answered, evidently ill at ease, +and trying to shake off the grasp of the strong little hand. + +"Too complicated!" repeated Bijou, turning red. "I detest being put +off like that. Why will you not explain what you were thinking?" + +"Explain what I was thinking," he said, in a sort of fright. "Oh, no!" + +"No? Well, it is not nice of you." + +They went on for a minute or two without speaking, Bijou calm and +smiling, and her companion with a serious, uneasy look on his face. + +Just as the gig was entering the avenue, Bijou turned towards M. de +Rueille, and touching him, this time very gently, with her little +hand, she said in a penetrating voice, which, in his agitated state of +mind, was the last straw: + +"As it vexes you so much I won't wear that costume. We will get Jean +to design another for me." + +He seized the hand that was resting on his arm and pressed it to his +lips with an almost brutal tenderness. + +Bijou did not appear to like this passionate display of feeling. She +drew her hand away quietly, but there was a strange gleam in her eyes +as she said: + +"Take care of the gate, it is a sharp turn remember, and you are not +in luck to-day." + +She then began to collect her parcels calmly, and until they arrived +at the door of the _château_ she was silent and thoughtful. The first +dinner-bell was just ringing, and Bijou ran upstairs to her room, and +ten minutes later entered the drawing-room, arrayed in a dainty dress +of rose-leaf coloured chiffon, with a large bunch of roses on the +shoulder. + +"Why! you don't mean to say that you are here already!" exclaimed +Madame de Rueille admiringly. "I will wager anything that that slow +coach of a Paul is not ready." + +"Did you do all the commissions?" asked the marchioness. + +"Yes, grandmamma, and I have a special one for you. The Juzencourts +wished me to tell you that M. de Clagny is coming back to live at The +Norinière, and that he will come every year." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Madame de Bracieux, looking very delighted, "I am glad +to hear that. I never expected to see him come back here." + +"Why?" asked Bijou. + +"Well, because when he was here he had a great grief, just at an age +when painful impressions can never be effaced." + +"At what age is that?" asked Jean de Blaye, with a touch of sarcasm in +his voice. + +"Forty-eight. And when you are that age, you will not be as fond of +ridiculing everything as you are now, my dear boy; and it won't be so +long before you get there as you think either." + +"So much the better," he answered, smiling; "that must be the ideal +age--the age when one's heart is at rest." + +"In some cases it is at rest before that age," said the marchioness +slily, looking at her nephew. + +Jean shrugged his shoulders. + +"Yes, but it wakes up again, or, at least, it might wake up; one is +not quite easy about it; but at forty-eight ..." + +"Ah! that's your opinion. Well, it is twelve years ago now since my +old friend Clagny was forty-eight. He must therefore be sixty at +present, and I would wager anything that his heart has never been at +rest--never. You understand me?" And then in a lower tone, so that +Bijou, who was just talking to Bertrade, should not hear, she added: +"Neither his heart nor he himself." + +Jean laughed. + +"Oh, well! he's a curiosity this friend of yours. Why does he not go +about in a show? He would get some money." + +"He has no need of money." + +"He is rich, then?" + +"Atrociously rich!" + +"Well, but what's he got?" + +"Sixteen thousand a year. Don't you consider that a fair amount?" + +"Yes," he answered, without any sign of enthusiasm, "yes, of course, +that's very fair--for anyone who has not got it dishonestly." And +then, after a pause, he asked: "What was this great trouble that he +had?" + +"Oh, I'll tell you about it when Bijou is not here." + +The young girl, however, could scarcely have heard what they were +saying. She was joking with Pierrot, who had just come into the room. +She wanted to part his hair again, and Pierrot, a tall youth of +seventeen, strong-looking, but overgrown, with long feet and hands, +and a forehead covered with extraordinary bumps, was trying to make +himself short, so that the young girl might reach up to his bushy, +colourless hair. He was bending his head, and looking straight before +him, with a far-away expression in his eyes, evidently enjoying having +his hair stroked by the skilful little hands. + +Madame de Bracieux, seeing that Bijou was at a safe distance, ventured +in a low voice to tell her nephew the details about the love-affair, +which had in a way changed the whole life of her friend, M. de Clagny. + +Suddenly Denyse came across to the marchioness. + +"Grandmamma--I forgot--the Dubuissons cannot come to dinner on +Thursday, but M. Dubuisson will bring Jeanne on Friday, and leave her +with us for a week." + +"Well, then, we shall only be eighteen to dinner." + +"No, we shall be twenty all the same; because I saw the Tourvilles, +and I gave them an invitation from you; I thought that--" + +"You did quite right." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Bertrade, "the Tourvilles and the Juzencourts at the +same time! We shall be sure, then, of hearing their stories of William +the Conqueror and Charles the Bold!" + +"Oh, well!" exclaimed Bijou, laughing, "it will be much better like +that, we shall have it altogether, once for all, at any rate." + +Just as dinner was announced, M. de Rueille entered the room. He had +an absent-minded look, and his eyes shone strangely. He took his seat +silently at table, and did not talk during the meal. + + + + +III. + + +BIJOU, assisted by Pierrot, was handing the coffee round, when +suddenly she darted off in pursuit of Paul de Rueille, who had just +come out of the drawing-room, and was descending the steps which led +on to the terrace. + +"Stop, stop! Where are you going?" she called out. + +"Oh, only for a stroll," he answered, without looking round, "to get a +breath of air, if that is possible with this heat." + +Bijou had already caught him up. + +"Oh, no, what about the play?--You must come and work." + +"My head aches." + +"Work will take it away! You really must come, we have only three +days." + +"But I am not indispensable; you can do without me," said Rueille +irritably. + +"Oh, but you always do the writing." + +"From dictation; it is not necessary to be very clever for that." + +"Yes it is; and then, too, we are used to you." + +She was on the step above him, and, bending forward, she put her arms +round his neck, and said in a coaxing tone: + +"Paul, dear, come now, just to please me, you would be so nice, so +very nice!" + +M. de Rueille, turning abruptly, unclasped the soft arms, which +encircled his neck and rested against his face. + +"All right, all right!" he said, in a hoarse voice, "I'll come!" + +The young girl stepped back, and in the evening-light he could see her +large astonished eyes shining as she gazed at him. + +"How cross you are!" she said timidly. "What's the matter with you?" +He did not answer, and she asked again: "Won't you tell me?" + +"No, no," he said curtly, and then he re-mounted the steps and went +into the drawing-room. + +Bijou followed him, and whispered to Bertrade: + +"I don't know what is the matter with your husband, but he is very +bad-tempered." + +Madame de Rueille glanced at Paul. He looked rather fagged and +nervous, and was trying to appear at his ease, as he talked and +laughed noisily with the tutor, who, on the contrary, was silent and +reserved. + +"Yes, certainly something is the matter with him," said Bertrade, +rather uneasy at seeing her husband so strange. "I do not know at all +what it is, though," she added. + +"Only imagine," Bijou proceeded to explain to the whole room, "Paul +wanted to go for a stroll instead of coming to work. Yes, and it was +not very easy to get him here, I can assure you." + +With a resigned look, M. de Rueille took his seat at a side table with +a marble top. He then took up the manuscript, and, turning to the page +which was commenced, dipped a long, quill pen into the ink. + +"When you are ready?"--he said calmly. + +"Well, but first of all, where are we?" asked M. de Jonzac. + +"Scene three of the second act." + +"Still?" exclaimed Bijou, astonished. + +"Alas, yes." + +"My dear children, you will never have it finished," remarked the +marchioness. + +"Oh, yes, grandmamma, we shall," said Bijou merrily; "you will see how +we are going to work now. Come now, we are at the third scene of the +second act,--it is where the poet is defending himself after the +accusations--rather spiteful ones, too--which Venus has brought +against him." + +"Well, and what then?" asked M. de Rueille after a pause. + +"Well," said Bijou, "in my opinion, we want a little couplet there; +what do you think, Jean?" + +Jean de Blaye, with an absorbed look on his face, was lounging in a +deep arm-chair, his head thrown back on the cushions. He appeared to +be in a reverie, and had not even heard the question. + +"Are you asleep?" asked Bijou. + +"Did you speak to me?" he asked, turning towards her. + +"Why, yes, I did have the honour of speaking to you. I asked you +whether a couplet would not be the right thing there--a couplet that +would go to some well-known air?" + +"Yes," he replied, in an absent sort of way, "that would do very +well." + +"All right, compose it then." + +Jean gave a start; he was quite roused now. + +"I am to compose it,--why should I be the one to do it?" + +"Because you always do them." + +"Well, that's a nice reason," protested Jean. "I should say that is +precisely why it is someone else's turn. You have only to set the +others to work--Henry, or Uncle Alexis, or M. Giraud, or even +Pierrot." + +"Why do you say _even_?" asked Pierrot, annoyed. "I should do them +quite as well as you." + +"Well, do them then! for my part, I have had enough of it." + +"Jean," said Bijou, in a pleading tone, "don't leave us in the lurch, +please." + +She was going across to him, her pretty head bent forward, and a most +comically beseeching little pout on her lips, when M. de Rueille rose +abruptly from his seat, and stopped her on the way: + +"Oh, he will do your couplets right enough; he likes doing them; sit +down, Bijou." + +The young girl stood still in the middle of the room, surprised at +this extraordinary proceeding. + +"But why don't _you_ sit down?" she exclaimed. "What have you come +away from your table for?" + +"Ah! I have no right to leave the table without your permission?" + +"Jean!" began Bijou again, "come now, Jean!" + +Once again M. de Rueille interposed. + +"Why don't you kneel down to him at once?" he said, in a sharp tone. + +"Goodness! I don't mind doing that even if he will only be +persuaded." + +She was darting across to her cousin, but Rueille caught her arm, and +said angrily: + +"What nonsense! it is perfectly ridiculous!" + +Bijou looked at him in amazement, and stammered out: + +"It is you who are ridiculous!" + +"Oh, yes, of course," he answered, speaking harshly, "it is I who +ought to go and sit down, and I am the one who is ridiculous; in fact, +I am everything I ought not to be, and I always do everything I ought +not to do." + +"Whatever is the matter, children?" asked Madame de Bracieux. + +M. de Jonzac explained, as he emptied his pipe by tapping it gently +against a piece of furniture. + +"Heaven have mercy upon us! It is nothing less than Paul quarrelling +with Bijou!" + +"With Bijou?" exclaimed the old lady, in perfect amazement. + +"Paul quarrelling with Bijou!" repeated Madame de Rueille, putting +down the newspaper she had been reading, "impossible!" + +"Yes, really!" affirmed the abbé, quite horrified. "M. de Rueille is +vexed with Mademoiselle Denyse!" + +"Come here, Bijou!" called out the marchioness, and the young girl +tripped across the room to her grandmamma, and knelt down on the +cushions at her feet. + +"You ought not to let Bijou go on in that way with you!" said M. de +Rueille, going up to Jean, and speaking in a low voice. + +"Go on in what way? are you dreaming?" + +"I am not dreaming at all. Denyse is twenty years old, you know!" + +"Twenty-one," corrected the young man. + +"All the more reason--she really ought to behave more carefully!" + +"Poor child, she behaves perfectly!" and then looking at his cousin, +he added: "I really don't know what's up with you?" + +"Oh, I'm in the wrong," murmured M. de Rueille, slightly embarrassed. +"Of course, I'm quite in the wrong!" + +"Absolutely so!" said Blaye drily, getting up from his arm-chair. + +On seeing him move towards the door, Bijou left the marchioness, and +rushed across to him: + +"Oh, no! you are not going away! Grandmamma, tell him that he is not +to leave us like this!" + +"Come now, Jean," said the marchioness, half joking and half scolding, +"don't plague them so!" + +The young man sat down again in despair. + +"And this is the country!" he exclaimed, "this is rest and holiday! I +have to work like a nigger, writing plays--plays with couplets--and +then go to bed regularly at two in the morning, and this is what is +called being in clover!" + +Pierrot had listened to this outburst with apparent solemnity. + +"Continue, old man," he said jeeringly, "you interest me!" + +Bijou laughed, and Jean, looking annoyed, turned towards Pierrot, and +said sarcastically, "You are very witty, my dear boy!" + +"Children, you are perfectly insufferable!" exclaimed Madame de +Bracieux, raising her voice. She was looking at them in surprise, +wondering what wind had suddenly risen to bring about this storm. She +could not account for all these disagreeable little speeches, and the +hostile attitude they had taken up, and which was quite a new thing to +the old lady. Once again she called Bijou to her. The young girl was +standing looking round at everyone with a questioning expression in +her soft eyes. + +"Do you know what's the matter with them?" asked the marchioness. + +"I have no idea, grandmamma," she answered innocently, the wondering +look still on her face. + +"Don't you see how cross they are?" continued the marchioness. + +"Yes, I can see that they are cross, but I do not know what it's all +about; if it is on account of the play, why, we won't have it! I don't +want to worry everyone with it, just because I like it; but I _do_ +like it immensely." + +Just at this moment M. de Rueille called out: + +"Well, are we going to work at this, yes or no? I have had enough of +sitting waiting here like an imbecile." + +"Where are we?" asked Jean, in a way which meant, "As there's no +getting out of it, let us start at once." + +"We've told you where we are--" answered Rueille, "we've told you +twice." + +Bijou interposed, explaining in a conciliatory tone: + +"It is where the poet has to answer Venus." + +"Ah, yes! exactly, I remember! She has accused him of all sorts of +things, and you want him to defend himself--" + +"In a couplet." + +"Yes, I understand--where are you going though?" + +Bijou was just crossing the room. + +"I am going across to sit by M. Giraud; he won't worry me like all of +you." + +The tutor blushed, and moved slightly to make room for her on the +divan on which he was seated. Denyse glided on, and took her place at +his side. + +"We are listening," she said. + +Jean was twisting a pencil and a piece of paper about in his fingers. + +"What did Venus answer?" he asked. + +M. de Rueille, with an absent-minded expression on his face, was +watching a moth fluttering round the lamp near him. + +"What did Venus answer?" called out several voices together, as loudly +as possible. + +M. de Rueille looked aghast, and, stopping his ears, read aloud from +the manuscript: + +"'_You know I do not believe a word of it._'" + +"Strike that out," said Jean, "and put: '_I do not believe it at all, +you know._' And now the poet answers: + + "'_L'âme d'un symboliste, + Madame, est un coffret mélancolique d'améthyste + A serrure de diamant. + Il suffit de savoir l'ouvrir et la comprendre + Et le trésor éclos illumine la chambre + Et sourit la tristesse aux lèvres des amants._'" + +"Is that at all amusing?" asked M. de Rueille. + +"Well, hang it all!" exclaimed Jean irritably, "I do not say that it +is precisely a _chef-d'oeuvre_! Bijou asked for a couplet--I have +given her a couplet to the best of my ability, but I don't wish to +hinder you from giving us a better one." + +"To what air will that go?" asked Bijou. + +"Ah, yes, that's true, we want an air for it. What is there?" + +"You might put '_Air. J'en guette un petit de mon âge_,'" suggested +Rueille. + +"Does that go to it?" + +"What do you mean by 'does it go to it?'" + +"Why, that air." + +"I don't know. I don't even know what the air is." + +"Then why do you suggest that we should take it?" + +"Oh! because I often see things to that air: '_J'en guette un petit de +mon âge._' I just remembered seeing it, and there are lots of couplets +that are put to it." + +"But the poet's lines are longer than that," remarked Bijou, +"especially the second one. No--one could never sing them to that +air--nor to any other." + +"Ah, yes!--I did not think of that." + +"Fortunately, Bijou thinks of everything," put in Pierrot, with pride. + +"We'll find an air for it presently," said Jean. "Let's go on; do +let's go on, or we never shall finish it. Who's on the stage at +present?" + +And then, as M. de Rueille was biting the end of his pen and watching +Bijou, so that he did not appear to have heard, Blaye exclaimed: + +"Paul, are you there? or have you gone out for a time?" + +"I am there." + +"Oh, very well! then will you have the kindness to tell me which of +the characters are at present on the scene?" + +"Wait a minute! I'll just look." + +"What?" exclaimed Bijou, "do you mean to say you have to look before +you can tell us?" + +"Well, you do not imagine, I presume, that I know by heart all the +insane things that each of you has been pleased to dictate to me." + +"I know them all anyhow," and then, turning towards Jean de Blaye, she +answered his question. "We have on the scene at present, Venus, the +Poet, Thomas Vireloque, and the Opportunist, and we said yesterday +that after the introduction of the Poet to Venus, we would let Madame +de Staël come in." + +"Very well, we will let her enter at once." + +"Have you found anyone for Madame de Staël?" asked Rueille; "up to the +present no one has wanted to act her part." + +"No," said Bijou; "just now I asked Madame de Juzencourt again, but +she refuses energetically; and if Bertrade refuses too--" + +"Bertrade refuses absolutely," replied the young wife, very gently. + +"It isn't nice of you." + +"Is Madame de Staël indispensable?" asked Uncle Jonzac. + +"Quite indispensable," answered Bijou, emphatically. "We must +absolutely find some way of--" And then suddenly breaking off, as a +new idea struck her, she exclaimed gaily: "Why, Henry can take +it--Madame de Staël's _rôle_; he has scarcely any moustache." + +"I?" cried Bracieux. "_I_ act Madame de Staël?" + +"She was rather masculine; it will do very well." + +"But, good heavens!--I am not going to appear before people I know +arrayed in a low-necked dress, a turban, and all padded up--why, it +would be frightful!" + +"Not at all! Oh, come now--you don't want pressing, I hope?" + +"And you are not going to spoil the whole thing by being disobliging +over it," added Pierrot, with a virtuous air. + +"Disobliging?" exclaimed Henry, turning towards him; "it is very +evident that you are not in my place. By the bye, though, you might +very well be in my place;" and then seeing that Pierrot looked +horror-stricken, he continued: "Why shouldn't you take it instead of +me--you have less moustache even than I have!" + +"Yes, but I am too scraggy," declared Pierrot cunningly. "Madame de +Staël was rather a stout-looking woman." + +"Scraggy? you, the athlete!" + +Jean de Blaye knocked the floor with a billiard-cue for silence. + +"We will think about who is to act Madame de Staël when we have found +out what she has to say--Well, then, she enters--Are you not going to +write, Paul?" + +"What do you want me to write?" + +"Well, just write: '_Madame de Staël enters by_--' Yes, but that's +the point--by which door does she enter?" + +"I have put '_from the back of stage._' Whenever you don't tell me how +they come in, I always put '_from the back of stage._'" + +"All right! Then we will leave '_from the back of the stage._'" + + + "_Madame de Staël (to Thomas Vireloque)_: 'I am Madame de + Staël.' + + _Thomas Vireloque_: 'Beg pardon?' + + _Madame de Staël_: 'I am Madame de Staël.' + + _Venus_: 'What have you to tell us?' + + _The Opportunist_: 'It is very curious--I took you for a + Turk.' + + _The Poet_: 'And I--'" + + +"Wait a minute!" said M. de Rueille, "I've made a mistake." + +"How could you?" + +"How could I? The same way we generally do make mistakes, of course--I +wasn't thinking." + +"That's about it," said Bijou. "I don't know what's the matter with +you, but you certainly are absent-minded this evening." + +Without answering, Rueille drew his quill-pen across the paper, +bearing on heavily, so that the pen gave a plaintive screech. + +"What are you doing now?" asked Jean. + +"I am crossing it out." + +"What are you crossing out?" + +"Well, I had written the same sentences over four times each." + +Bijou and Blaye got up to examine M. de Rueille's work, and the young +girl read out: + + + "_Madame de Staël_: 'I am Madame de Staël.' + + _Thomas Vireloque_: 'Beg pardon?' + + _Madame de Staël_; 'I am Madame de Staël.' + + _Thomas Vireloque_: 'Beg pardon?' + + _Madame de Staël_; 'I am Madame de Staël.'" + + +"Oh, yes," said Bijou, "you must cross that out!" + +"No, leave it as it is, on the contrary," protested Jean, laughing; +"they'll think that Mæterlinck collaborated with us--it will be +capital." + +"Supposing we were to retire," proposed M. de Jonzac. "Paul is +half-asleep, that's why he wrote the same thing over three times +without noticing it. Abbé Courteil is fast asleep, and, as for me, I +am dying to follow his example." + +"Oh," said Bijou, "it is scarcely one o'clock." + +"Well, but it seems to me that in the country--What do you say about +the matter, Monsieur Giraud?" + +"Oh, as for me, monsieur, I could sit up all night without feeling +sleepy," replied the young tutor, without taking his eyes off Bijou. + +"My dear children," said the marchioness, getting up, "your uncle is +quite right, you must go to bed. Bijou, will you see that the books +you had out of the library are put back?" + +"Yes grandmamma, I will put them back myself." + +When the others had gone upstairs, M. de Rueille asked: + +"Shall I help you, Bijou? two will do it more quickly--" + +"No, you don't know anything about the library; you would mix them all +up. I must have someone who knows where the books go." And then +turning towards the tutor, who was just going out of the room, she +said to him, in the most charming way, as though to excuse the liberty +she was taking: "Monsieur Giraud, would _you_ help me to put the books +up?" + +The young man stopped short, too delighted even for words. As he +remained standing there, she pointed to the open door leading into the +hall and said gently: + +"Will you shut the door, please? And then, if you will take Molière, I +will bring Aristophanes, and we will come back for the others--yes, +that's it." + +As she tripped along with the books, she chattered away, not as though +she were addressing her companion, but rather as though she were going +on with her thoughts aloud. + +"What was Jean looking for in Aristophanes when he only wanted to make +Thomas Vireloque and Madame de Staël talk?" And then breaking off +abruptly, she asked: + +"Do you think it will be interesting--our play?" + +"Oh, yes, mademoiselle." + +"Why do you never help us? you ought to work at it, too." + +"Oh, I am not very well up in that sort of thing, mademoiselle; +politics and society talk are like sealed books to me, and I do not +exactly see either--" + +"And then, probably, you would rather be just a spectator?" + +"Unfortunately, mademoiselle, to my great regret, I shall not even be +that." + +"What?" she exclaimed, in amazement, "you will not see our play?" + +"No, mademoiselle." + +"But, why?" + +"Oh!" he replied, dreadfully embarrassed, "for a very ridiculous +reason." + +"But what is it?" + +"Mademoiselle--I--" + +"Do please tell me why?" she said, and as she leaned forward towards +him, looking so graceful and charming, the perfume from her hair +plunged the young man into a sort of enervating torpor. + +"Why will you not tell me?" she said at length, almost sadly; "don't +you look upon me a little as your friend?" + +"Oh, mademoiselle," he stammered out, "I--I cannot appear at this +soiree because--you will see how prosaic my reason is--the fact is, I +have not a dress-coat." + +"But you have plenty of time to send for your dress-coat; besides, you +will want it for Thursday, there is a dinner on Thursday." + +Giraud blushed crimson. + +"But, mademoiselle, I cannot send for it either for Thursday or for +later on, because I--I haven't one." + +"Not at all?" + +"Not at all!" + +"Oh, you are joking?" + +"No, I am not joking, mademoiselle! I do not possess a dress-coat." +And then he added with a smile which was quite pathetic: "And there +are plenty of poor wretches like I am who are in the same +predicament!" + +"Oh!" said Bijou, taking the tutor's hand with an abrupt movement, "do +forgive me--how horrid and thoughtless I am! You will detest me, shall +you not?" + +She pressed his hand slowly in a way which sent a thrill through him. + +"Detest you?" he stammered out, almost beside himself with joy. "I +adore you!--I simply adore you!" + +Bijou gazed at him in a startled way, but there was a tender +expression in her eyes, which were dimmed with tears. Her voice was +quite changed when she spoke again: + +"Go away now!" she said, "and do not say that again; you must never, +never say it again!" + +When he reached the door he turned round, and saw that Bijou had +thrown herself down on the divan, and was sobbing, with her face +buried in the cushions. He wanted to go back to her, but he did not +dare, and, without saying another word, he left the room. + + + + +IV. + + +BIJOU, who, as a rule, was to be seen every morning trotting about, +either in the house or the park, did not appear until after the first +luncheon-bell. + +Pierrot, who had been quite uneasy, rushed across to meet her, and +assailed her with questions before she had had time to say +good-morning to the marchioness and to her Uncle Alexis. + +He wanted to know why he had not seen her as usual in the dairy, where +she always went every morning to inspect the cheeses. Why had she not +been there, as she had not been out riding? + +"How do you know that I have not been out riding?" asked Bijou. + +"Because Patatras was in the stable," replied Pierrot. "I went to +see." + +"Oh, then you keep a watch on me?" she said, laughing. + +"That is not keeping a watch on you," answered Pierrot, turning red; +"and then, too, it isn't only me! we were both of us--M. Giraud--" + +"What grammar--good heavens--what grammar!" exclaimed M. de Jonzac, in +despair. + +"What's it matter? If there was anyone here, I'd take care to put the +style on; but when there's only us!" And then turning to Bijou, he +continued: "It's quite true, you know! M. Giraud was just as much +surprised as I. He kept on saying all the time: 'We always see +mademoiselle every day hurrying about everywhere, she must be ill!' +And then I'd say, 'Oh, no! it can't be that! the Bijou is never ill!' +You see, Monsieur Giraud, I was quite right--" + +"No, you were wrong! I was not exactly ill, but tired, out of sorts. I +am only just up." + +She walked across to the tutor, who was leaning so heavily against the +window-frame that it seemed as though he wanted to hollow out a niche +for himself with his back. + +"I want to thank you, Monsieur Giraud," said Bijou, holding out her +hand to him, "for being so kind as to think about me." + +Very pale, and visibly embarrassed, the young man scarcely dared touch +the soft little hand lying so confidingly in his; he looked very +delighted, though, at being treated with such cordiality, as it was +more than he had ever expected again. + +"Mademoiselle," he stammered out, seized with a vague desire either +to run away or else to give way to his emotion, "please do not believe +that I should have taken the liberty of making all those remarks." + +"Oh, well, it would not have mattered; there is plenty of liberty +allowed with _the Bijou_, as Pierrot would say." And then suddenly +looking very thoughtful and absorbed, she asked: "Have they been +working at the play this morning?" + +"Working?" exclaimed Pierrot, with an air of surprise; "working +without you there? Oh, by jingo, no: it's quite enough to peg away at +it when you are with us, without going at it while you are away. Oh, +no! it would be too bad--that would! We had a dose of it last +night--the precious play--and I, more particularly, because I am +obliged to work at other things." + +Bijou laughed heartily. "Are you not afraid of tiring yourself with +working so hard as all that?" + +"If he continues at the rate he is going," said M. de Jonzac, "he will +never take his degree, will he, Monsieur Giraud?" + +"I am afraid not, monsieur, I am very much afraid not," replied the +tutor gently. "Pierrot is very intelligent, but so thoughtless, and so +absent-minded always, especially since our arrival here!" + +"Oh! not any more than you are, at any rate, Monsieur Giraud," +retorted Pierrot. "It's quite true! I don't know what's the matter +with you, but your thoughts are always wool-gathering, and you don't +go in for books as you did before. Why, even _maths_ you don't seem so +mad on--you don't do anything now except look after me, and go off +writing poetry." + +"You write poetry, Monsieur Giraud?" asked Madame de Rueille, entering +the room, followed by Jean and Henry. + +"Oh, madame," stuttered the poor fellow, not knowing where to put +himself nor what to say, "I write some sort, but it is--not exactly +poetry." + +"You write charming poetry!" said Jean, and then, as the young tutor +looked at him in astonishment, he continued: "Yes, you write very good +poetry--and then you lose it; little Marcel has just picked up these +verses and brought them to me." + +He smiled as he held out to Giraud a folded paper, the writing on +which was invisible. + +"Let me see them!" said Bijou, holding out her hand. + +"Oh, mademoiselle!" cried the tutor, stepping forward, terrified, +"please do not insist!" And then in order to explain his own +agitation, he added: "They are wretched verses; please let me put +them out of sight. I will show you some others which are more worth +looking at." + +Bijou's hand was still held out, and she stood there waiting, looking +very frank and innocent. + +"Oh, please, Jean, let me see these all the same; that need not +prevent M. Giraud writing some more that we can see, too." + +"I cannot show you a letter," replied Jean, handing the paper to the +distracted tutor, "and this is a kind of letter, and belongs to the +person who wrote it." + +"Thank you," stammered out Giraud, thoroughly abashed, "I am much +obliged, monsieur." And he at once put the troublesome scrap of paper +into his pocket out of sight. + +"Pierrot!" called out the marchioness, "give me 'La Bruyère'--you know +where it is?" + +"What's that?" asked the youth, winking. + +"'La Bruyère'?" + +"You see," remarked M. de Jonzac, looking at his son with an +expression of despair on his face, "he does not even know who 'La +Bruyère' is!" + +Pierrot protested energetically. "Yes, I do know who he is, and the +proof is, I can tell you--it's a blue-back." + +"A what?" asked the marchioness. + +"A blue-back, aunt." + +"Explain to your aunt," interposed M. Giraud, "that you have a most +objectionable mania for speaking of books by the colour of the binding +rather than by their title." + +"By George!" exclaimed M. de Jonzac, annoyed, "he never by any chance +opens one. He is an absolute ignoramus; just to think that he will +soon be seventeen!" + +"Poor Pierrot," said Bijou compassionately, "he is not as ignorant as +all that!" And then, as her uncle did not answer, she added: "And +then, too, he is ever so nice, and he is so strong and well." + +"Oh, as to that," said M. de Jonzac, "his health is perfect, and that +just makes him all the more insufferable, but not any more intelligent +though. Everyone complains about the overtaxing of the intellectual +faculties; they say that it is the ruin of children; and so, by way of +improvement, they go in now for overtaxing them physically, which is a +more certain ruin still." + +"Ah, uncle is waging war now," put in Bertrade; "but I am of his +opinion, too, for I do not like to think that some day my children +will add to the number of the young ruffians we see around us." + +"But," objected Henry de Bracieux, "many of them--and some quite +young, too--are very intellectual; I know some." + +"I, too, know some," said Jean de Blaye; "but, to my way of thinking, +they are not precisely intellectual, they are--" + +Just at this moment a bell was rung in the hall. + +"We must go to luncheon, children," said the marchioness, rising, +"Jean will finish his little definition for us at table." + +"Oh, I am not particularly keen about it, aunt," said Jean, laughing. + +"I am, though; I am no longer 'in the know' of things, as you say, and +I don't object to be instructed about certain matters on which I am +absolutely ignorant." + +On taking her seat at table, the marchioness, addressing Jean, +continued: + +"You were saying that the young men who were not precisely the +intellectual ones were--" + +"Oh, I am not good at explanations," he replied. + +"That does not matter; go on, anyhow." + +"Well, those who are not really intellectual are of the sickly kind; +they act that sort of thing to begin with, and then they end by +getting like it in reality; they are intolerably affected, +effeminate, crazy, and everything else beside. They set up for being +original, and not like anyone else." + +"Well, and what do you call them?" + +"I don't exactly know; they are of the complex kind. There's young La +Balue, for instance, he's a perfect example for you of this class; you +might study him." + +"That's an idea that has never entered my head; but, in the young +generation of to-day, there are others beside these complex ones." + +"Yes, they are the athletes." + +"Specimen, Pierrot!"--remarked Henry de Bracieux. + +The marchioness turned towards her grandson. + +"Don't be personal," she said. "Continue your little speech, Jean." + +"I would rather eat my egg in peace, aunt!" + +"We had got as far as the athletes--" + +"Well, then, if the complex young men of to-day are a trifle +sickening, the athletes are the greatest nuisances under the sun. +Boxing, football, bicycles, matches, and records--all that, they +consider of the most tremendous and vital importance, not only in +their conversation, but, what is more regrettable still, in their +lives. In their opinion, a man of worth is the one who can give the +hardest blows, or who is endowed with the greatest strength or +vigour; all their admiration is bestowed on one single being in the +world--_the Champion_, with a capital C." + +"And what is there between the complex young man and the athletes?" + +"Nothing; or, at least, some exceptions so rare that they are there +simply to confirm the rule. Of course, I am only talking now of the +young generation, of the latest--Pierrot's, in fact." + +"Do leave poor Pierrot in peace!" said Bijou; "you all find fault with +him." + +"Because it is not too late yet for him to put his young self to +rights, and if he were to be let alone, he would soon degenerate in +the most deplorable manner." + +"Jean is right," agreed M. de Jonzac; "he can very well afford to give +advice to Pierrot, and even to the others, for he is himself highly +intellectual and very good at sports." + +Madame de Bracieux looked at her nephew with a benevolent expression +in her eyes: + +"Your uncle is right, my dear boy, you are the greatest success of the +family," she said, and then seeing that Bijou appeared to be examining +her cousin curiously, she added: "I am only speaking of the men, of +course." + +Pierrot leaned over towards Denyse, who was seated next him, and +said, in an undertone with deep gratitude, "It's awfully good of you +to stick up for me always, and I can't tell you how fond I am of +you--more than any of the others." + +She answered with a smile; and in an almost maternal way, said: + +"That's very wrong! You ought to be much fonder of uncle, and of +grandmamma, too, than you are of me." + +"Oh, well, to begin with, there's no rule for that, and then, too, I +didn't mean that at all. I meant that I am fonder of you than all the +others are; and, you know, there's some of them very fond of you; +there's Paul, for instance, Paul de Rueille--I'm sure he likes you +better than he does Bertrade, or his children, better than +anyone--even God!" + +"Do be quiet!" said Bijou, alarmed, and looking round to see if anyone +had heard. + +"Don't be in a fright! They are all busy worrying each other; they are +not troubling about us. It's quite true what I said, you know; and +then Jean, too, and Henry, and Monsieur Giraud! There's scarcely +anyone, except Abbé Courteil, who does not follow you about to every +corner you go; and then--" + +"You are talking rubbish! how can you imagine--" + +"I don't imagine it--I see it!--and I see it, because it annoys me!" + +Just at this moment M. de Jonzac's voice was heard. + +"Oh, no!" he was saying, "I am convinced that he has no idea that +Renan ever existed. He does not know a thing--not a single thing." + +"Oh, yes," put in the tutor, in his usual gentle and conciliatory way, +"as regards Renan, I am sure that he knows. Only three or four days +ago I had occasion to quote him as the author of the 'Origin of +Language.'" + +"Well, I would wager that he does not even remember his +name--Pierrot!" called out M. de Jonzac. + +The poor lad, entirely absorbed in his conversation with Bijou, had no +idea that he was being discussed. On hearing his name called, he +turned his head towards his father, vaguely uneasy. + +"Pierrot," asked M. de Jonzac, "who was Renan?" + +"Ah! that's it, is it," said Pierrot to Bijou, "now they're beginning +the examination again. Renan--who in the world was he now?" + +"You do not know who Renan was, do you?" asked M. de Jonzac blandly. + +"No, father, I don't," replied the boy. + +"What?" exclaimed Giraud, surprised; "why, only the other day we were +talking about him." + +"About him?" repeated Pierrot, quite astounded, "do you mean to say +that I was talking about the man?" + +"Why, yes--come now; try to remember--I mentioned one of his works." + +Bijou, who had just before only been listening with one ear to what +Pierrot had been telling her, so that with the other she could keep up +with the general conversation, remembered the title that had been +quoted. She was looking at her plate, apparently taken up with the +strawberries, which she was rolling about in the sugar. "The 'Origin +of Language,'" she whispered very quietly. + +"Come now, have a good try," repeated the tutor. "I mentioned one of +M. Renan's books to you--which one?" + +"'The Language of Flowers,'" answered Pierrot resolutely. + +"That's right!" exclaimed Bertrade, delighted: "we can always reckon +on something lively from Pierrot." + +M. de Jonzac, in spite of his inclination to laugh, put on a rigid +expression. "I do not see anything amusing in it." + +"_You_ don't laugh, at any rate," said Pierrot, turning to Bijou and +blushing furiously. "It is awfully good of you," he added. + +After dinner, he drew her out on to the stone steps, and said, in a +beseeching tone: + +"Let me come out with you to take the green stuff to Patatras." + +"But I must go and pour out the coffee first." + +"Oh, just for once; Bertrade can pour it out right enough. Come, now, +I don't want to go into the drawing-room; they'd begin asking me +something else." + +Denyse started off with him, taking from a shed the basket in which +was prepared for her every day the bunch of clover she always took to +her horse. She then went on in the direction of the stable, followed +by Pierrot. + +"You are awfully nice, Bijou, and so pretty, if you only knew it," he +kept repeating, making his rough voice almost gentle. + +As they crossed the path which led to the stable, they saw M. de +Rueille and Jean de Blaye advancing towards them, deep in +conversation. + +"Look!" said Pierrot, "as you weren't in the drawing-room our two +cousins made themselves scarce there." + +Denyse was going forward to meet them, but he stopped her abruptly. + +"No, please don't, they'd stick to us all the time, and I shouldn't +have you to myself at all. It's such a piece of luck for me to be with +you for a minute without Monsieur Giraud; he's always at my heels, +especially when I'm anywhere near you." + +Bijou was looking attentively at the two men, who were coming towards +her, but who were so deeply absorbed that they had not seen her, and +between her somewhat heavy eyelids appeared that little gleam which +gave at times a singular intensity of expression to her usually +soft-looking eyes. + +"Very well," she answered, entering the stable, "let us take Patatras +his clover without them." + +M. de Rueille was walking along with his eyes fixed on the gravel of +the garden-path. He looked up on hearing the door open. Jean de Blaye +pointed to the stable. + +"Look here," he said, "_that's_ the cause of all the trouble and worry +that I can detect in every single word you say; and it's the cause, +too, of the sort of petty spite that you have against me." + +"Indeed!" replied Rueille, putting on a joking air; "and what is +_that_ pray?" + +"Why, Bijou, of course. Oh, you need not try to deny it. Do you think +I have not followed up, hour by hour, all that has been passing in +your mind?" + +"It must have been interesting." + +"Don't humbug; you are scarcely inclined for that sort of thing just +now. I saw very well just when you began to admire Bijou, quite +unconsciously, more than one does admire, as a rule, a little cousin +one is fond of. It was the evening of the _Grand Prix_ at Uncle +Alexis' when she sang--why don't you speak?" + +"I am listening to you--go on." + +"When we were all here together at Bracieux, never absent from each +other, and you had spent every minute of the long day in Bijou's +society, your--let us call it--your admiration increased, of course, +and ever since yesterday, ever since your expedition to +Pont-sur-Loire, it has been at the acute stage. Am I right?" + +"Well, yes: you are right." + +"I am not surprised; but will you explain one thing--one thing which +_does_ surprise me?" + +"What is it?" + +"Why do you appear to have a special grudge against me? Why against me +rather than against your brother-in-law, or young La Balue, or +Pierrot's tutor, or even Pierrot himself?" + +"Well, Henry is nearly Bijou's own age; he was brought up with her, +and she looks upon him as a brother exactly. Young La Balue is a +regular caricature; the tutor, a poor wretch who does not count; and +Pierrot, a lad; whilst you--" + +"Whilst I?" + +"Well, as to you, why, you are the sort that women like, and you know +that very well; and I can see and feel, and, in short, I know, it is +you whom Bijou will care for." + +"Me? nonsense! she does not deign to pay the very slightest attention +to me. I am nothing in her eyes except the man who is breaking in a +horse for her, who takes her out boating, or who composes couplets for +her play." + +"In short, you exist more than the others do, anyhow." + +"But why? It's your fancy to look upon young La Balue as a caricature; +but everyone is not of your opinion. As to Giraud--well, he is a very +good sort." + +"Yes, but he is Giraud." + +"Well, what of that? what difference does that make?" + +"A good deal; that is, it would be nothing with certain women, but it +is everything with others,--and Bijou is one of these others." + +"Oh--what do you know about it?" + +"I have studied her for some time without appearing to." + +"You are studying her, but you do not know her." + +"Perhaps not!" + +"If I were in her place I know which one I should choose amongst so +many lovers." + +"Ah! they sing that in _Les Noces de Jeannette_." + +"Oh! you won't stop me like that! Amongst so many lovers, if I had to +choose, it would certainly be Giraud that I should prefer." + +"An older woman might admire Giraud, because he is handsome--but not a +young girl! You see a young girl's one idea is marriage----" + +"Then, you have no grudge against Giraud, because, according to you, +he is not marriageable, consequently, not to be feared." + +"Precisely!" + +"Very well, then, and what about me, my dear fellow? Do you think I am +marriageable, then? Can you imagine me with my wretched fifteen +hundred a year endeavouring to make Bijou happy? Yes, can you just +imagine it now?--a house at a hundred a year or so--petroleum lamps, +coke fires, etc.--that _would_ be delicious." + +"And yet you are in love with her?" + +"Excuse me, I did not say that I was in love with Bijou. I don't +really know; all I can say is, that she has taken my fancy +tremendously, and that, as I simply cannot marry her, I am wretchedly +unhappy." + +"And you don't think she cares for you?" + +"Not the least bit in the world! She has never tried even to deceive +me on that point. 'Good-morning! Good-night! What a fine day it +is.'--that's the sort of palpitating dialogue which goes on every day +between us. You see, therefore, that you have no reason to have a +spite against me?" + +"I beg your pardon, Jean, my dear fellow, but I firmly believed that +you were the great favourite." + +M. de Rueille broke off suddenly, and appeared to be straining his +ears. + +"Ah!" he said, "there she is!" + +Bijou was just coming out of the stable, followed, of course, by +Pierrot. + +She tripped daintily across towards the two men, examining them in her +calm, smiling way. + +"Whatever's the matter with you both?" she asked; "you look--I don't +know how!" + + + + +V. + + +BIJOU was in the dining-room, arranging the flowers on the table for +dinner, whilst in the butler's pantry the servants were polishing up +the large silver dishes until they shone brilliantly. + +"Get into your coat!" said the butler to the footman; "there's a +carriage coming slowly up the avenue. Oh, you've got plenty of time, +it isn't here yet." + +"Whose carriage is it?" said the footman, looking through the window. + +"I don't know it; it's a fine-looking turn-out, anyhow. It might very +well be the owner of The Norinière." + +"My goodness! it's a clinking turn-out." + +"Oh, he can afford it." + +"He's got some money, then?" + +"Why, yes, an awful lot; he's got about sixteen thousand a year." + +"Do you know him, then?" + +"My wife was kitchen-maid at his place before I married her--a good +master he is, always pleasant, and not at all near--you'd better +start now if you want to get to the steps before he's there." + +A minute before, Bijou, finding that she was short of flowers, had run +out into the garden, and, springing across the path, had pushed her +way into the middle of a rose-bed, and was now cutting away +mercilessly. She was so absorbed that she did not hear the carriage, +which was coming up the drive, and which went round the lawn, and +pulled up in front of the stone steps. When at last she did happen to +look up, she saw, a few steps away from her, a tall gentleman standing +gazing at her with a most rapturous expression. + +The fact was that Bijou, in her cotton dress, with wide pink stripes, +and her little apron trimmed with Valenciennes, was really very pretty +to look at, foraging about amongst the flowers. + +When she discovered that she was being gazed at in this way, her +tea-rose complexion took a deeper tint, and she looked confused and +embarrassed, as she stood there facing the gentleman, who was still +contemplating her without saying a word. + +He was a man of between fifty-five and sixty, tall, slender, +distinguished-looking, and elegant, and with a very young-looking +figure for his years. His face, which was intelligent and refined, +had also an almost youthful expression about it, just tinged with a +shade of melancholy. As Bijou remained where she was, and appeared to +be hesitating and not quite at her ease, the visitor approached, and, +raising his hat, said in a very gentle voice: + +"Excuse me, mademoiselle, but are you not Denyse de Courtaix?" + +Bijou, with her frank, honest expression, looked straight into the +eyes fixed so curiously upon her, and answered, smiling: + +"Yes, and you?--you are Monsieur de Clagny, are you not?" + +"How did you know?" + +Denyse sprang out of the rose-bed on to the garden-path, and then, +without answering the question in a direct way, she said, with the +most trusting, happy look in her eyes: + +"Oh! how glad grandmamma will be to see you, and Uncle Alexis, too; +ever since they heard that you were coming back to live here, they +have talked of nothing else. Let's go at once to find grandmamma." + +She started off, leading the way, looking most graceful and supple, as +she passed through the large rooms with that gliding movement which +was one of her greatest charms. + +The marchioness was not in the room where she was usually to be found. +Bijou rang the bell, and requested the servant to find Madame de +Bracieux. She then took a seat opposite M. de Clagny, and examined him +attentively. + +"Paul de Rueille was quite right after all," she said, "when he told +me that I had seen you long ago--I recognise you." She gazed with her +bright eyes more fixedly into the count's, and repeated pensively: "I +certainly do recognise you." + +"Well, I confess, in all sincerity," said M. de Clagny, "that if I had +met you anywhere else than at Bracieux, I should not have recognised +_you_--you are so much bigger, you know, and then, so much more +beautiful that, with the exception of the lovely violet eyes, which +have not changed, there is nothing remaining of the little baby-girl +of years ago." + +"The name which you gave me still remains." + +"The name? what name?" he asked, in surprise. + +"Bijou! don't you remember? it seems that it was you who used to call +me that." + +"Yes, that's true! you seemed to me such a fragile little thing, so +adorable and so rare--a bijou in fact, an exquisite little bijou. And +so they have continued to call you by that name--it suits you, too, +wonderfully well." + +"I don't think so! I am afraid it is rather ridiculous to be still +_Bijou_ at the age of twenty-one, for, you know, I am twenty-one now." + +"Is it possible?" + +"Very possible! in four years from now I shall be quite an old maid!" + +The count looked at Bijou with an admiration which he did not attempt +to dissimulate, as he answered emphatically: + +"_You_ an old maid? oh, never in the world, never!" + +Madame de Bracieux was just entering the room. + +"How glad I am to see you!" she said, looking delighted, and holding +out her hands to her visitor. + +As Denyse was moving towards the door, the marchioness called her +back. + +"I see Bijou has introduced herself," she said to Clagny, who had not +yet got over his admiration, "What do you think of my grand-daughter?" +And then, without giving him time to answer, she went on quickly: +"It's just the same _Bijou_ you used to admire years ago, just the +same! the genuine _Bijou_, there's no _sham_ about it, as my grandsons +would say." + +"Mademoiselle Denyse is charming." + +"Denyse (and, by the way, you will oblige me by not calling her +mademoiselle) is a dear, good girl, obedient and devoted. Her gaiety +has brightened up my old house, which was gloomy enough before her +arrival." + +"How is it that I have never seen Mademoiselle Denyse----" + +"Mademoiselle again!" + +"That I have never seen Bijou in Paris? I come so regularly on your +day." + +"Yes, but you always come very early, at an hour when she is never +there, and then for the last sixteen years you have never dined with +us." + +"I never dine out anywhere, you know; but you have never spoken of +Bijou, never told me anything about her." + +"Because you have never asked me about her." + +"I had forgotten about her, to tell the truth, the tiny, baby-child +that I saw so little of, and yet just now, when I saw a delicious girl +emerging from a rose-bed, I hadn't the slightest hesitation, had I, +mademoiselle?" and then correcting himself, he added, laughing: "had +I, Bijou?" + +"Yes, that's true! M. de Clagny asked me at once if I were not Denyse +de Courtaix----and I, too, knew at once who he was; I had heard so +much about him that I seemed to know him in my imagination, and, it's +very odd--" She broke off suddenly, and then after gazing thoughtfully +at the count, she added: "I knew him in my imagination just as he is +in reality." + +"A very old man," said Clagny, with a kind of sad playfulness. + +"No!" replied Bijou, evidently sincere, "a very handsome man!" And +then abruptly breaking off, she said: "And Uncle Alexis has not +appeared yet; they have rung the bell with all their might in vain, +for he doesn't come; I'll go and find him!" + +She was hurrying away when the marchioness called her back: + +"Stop a minute!--have another place laid at table. You will dine with +us, Clagny?" + +"Yes, if you have no one here." + +"Oh, but I have; I am just expecting some friends of yours." + +"And I am a regular bear, for I do not even dine with my friends; and +then, too, in this get-up--" + +"Your get-up is all right, and, besides, there is time to send to The +Norinière for your coat if you particularly care to have it." + +"I do care to, if I stay." + +Bijou approached, and said, in a coaxing way: + +"You will stay--and do you know what would be very, very nice of you? +well, it would be to stay just as you are, without your dress-coat." + +"Why do you insist, Bijou, if it annoys him to stay without dressing?" +asked the marchioness. + +"Because, grandmamma, if M. de Clagny were to dine without his +dress-coat, M. Giraud could, too; and otherwise he will have to dine +all by himself in his room." + +"What are you talking about, child?" + +"Why, it's very simple. M. Giraud has no dress-coat; he hasn't one at +all. I got to know it by chance; he told Baptiste just now that he was +not very well, and that he should not leave his room this evening, and +so, if M. de Clagny would stay just as he is, don't you see, he could, +too--M. Giraud, I mean." + +"What a good little Bijou you are!" said the marchioness, quite +touched; "you think of everyone; you do nothing but find ways of +giving pleasure to all." + +Denyse was not listening to this. She was waiting for the count to +give his consent. + +"Would it be a great, great pleasure to you," he asked at length, "if +this Monsieur Giraud could dine at table?" + +"Yes." + +"Then it shall be as you wish. Tell me, though, now, who is this +gentleman with whom I am not acquainted, and for whose sake I am +consenting to appear as a most ill-bred man?" + +"He is Pierrot's coach." + +"Ah! and what's this Pierrot?" + +"The son of Alexis," said Madame de Bracieux laughing. + +"Then the god to whom I am to be sacrificed is M. Giraud, tutor to +Pierrot de Jonzac, and he is honoured by the patronage of Mademoiselle +Denyse. Thank you, I like to know how things are." + +"But," protested Denyse, turning very red, "I do not patronise M. +Giraud at all. I----" + +"Oh, do not attempt to defend yourself. I know what kind of a role a +poor tutor without a dress-coat must play in the life of a beautiful +young lady like you; it is just a role of no account; he represents as +exactly as possible _a gentleman of no importance_ in a play." + +"You have no idea," said the marchioness, when Denyse had gone away, +"how good that child is. This young man in whom she is interested, and +who, by the bye, is really charming, is always treated by her exactly +on the same footing as the most influential and the most +distinguished men she meets. Oh, she is a pearl, is Bijou; you will +see!" + +"I shall see it perhaps too clearly." + +"How do you mean--too clearly?" + +"I am very susceptible, you know. I have a foolish old heart, which +sounds an alarm at the slightest danger, and which afterwards I cannot +silence again." + +"But Bijou is my grand-daughter, my poor old friend." + +"Well, what difference does that make?" + +"Why, just this--that she might be yours." + +"I know all that well enough. Good heavens!--that is what you might +call reasoning; and hearts that remain young either reason very little +or very badly." + +"And so?" + +"Oh," said M. de Clagny, making an effort to laugh, "I was joking, of +course." + + * * * * * + +Bijou had crossed the court-yard. The heat was very great, and the +peacocks, perched on the trunk of a tree that had been felled, looked +stupid and ridiculous, whilst the dogs, lying on their sides, with +their legs stretched out, were panting under the sun's rays, but were +too lazy to look for any shade. + +No one was out of doors at that torrid hour, except Pierrot, who, +arrayed in a white linen suit, with a wide straw hat on his head, was +strolling about under the chestnut trees, which formed a V shaped +avenue. + +Denyse ran up the steps, and entered the schoolroom like a gust of +wind. On the threshold, however, she stopped short, and seemed +confused. M. Giraud, who had been seated at the table, had risen +hastily on seeing her appear. + +"Oh! I beg your pardon," she stammered out, "I wanted to speak to +Pierrot. I thought he was here, and that you had gone for your walk." + +Very much embarrassed, the young tutor could scarcely find any words +with which to reply. + +"No, mademoiselle, no! I am here you see. It is just the contrary, for +Pierrot has gone out, but, if you like, if I could tell him +what--for--you have something to say to him probably?" + +He lost his head completely as he looked at her standing there. She +was so pretty with her complexion, still pink and white, in spite of +the terrible heat, and her large eyes, with their changing expression, +were fixed on him with such a gentle look. + +"Yes, certainly," she said, slightly embarrassed too, "I wanted to +speak to Pierrot; although it is about something that concerns +you--it would be better----" + +"Something which concerns me?" interrupted Giraud, looking uneasy; +"but I do not know really--I wonder what----" + +The thought flashed across him that she was perhaps going to say that, +after what had taken place the night before last, he could not remain +any longer at Bracieux. He was in despair, for not only would he have +to leave Bijou, but he would probably get no employment for the next +two months, just as he had thought to have a little peace and comfort. + +The young girl was looking at him, and smiling kindly. + +"You see, it is very difficult to say it to--to the person concerned," +she answered at length. + +"Well, but--Pierrot." + +"Oh! Pierrot is not a very clever diplomatist, I grant, but he would +have known better than I do how to go about things in order to +announce to you----" + +"To announce to me?" + +"The fact that you are going to dine with us this evening. A headache, +you know, is a very good excuse for women, but only for women." + +"But, mademoiselle, without taking into account the annoyance it +would be to me (and it would annoy me very much) not to be dressed as +the others are, it would not be polite towards your guests." + +"Yes, you are perhaps right; it would not be the thing, perhaps, if +you were the only one who was not in evening dress; but there will be +M. de Clagny just as he is now, to pay a call; so you understand." + +"Mademoiselle, I caught sight of M. de Clagny just now when he +arrived. He is an old gentleman, and as such can take liberties about +certain matters which I, particularly in my position, could not." + +"As to you, you are just going to obey grandmamma like a good little +boy, for it was grandmamma who sent me, you know." + +"Ah!" murmured the young man, disappointed, "it was your grandmamma? I +was hoping it was you, who--but you are still vexed with me, of +course?" + +"Vexed with you?" she asked, surprised; "what for?" + +"Well--because--oh, you know--the other evening--when, in spite of +myself, I----" + +Bijou's merry face clouded over as she said very seriously: + +"I thought that would never be brought up again. I wish you to forget +what you said to me." She stood still a moment, with a pensive look on +her beautiful face, and then she added, in a muffled voice: "And, +above all, I wish to forget it myself." + +Her eyelids were lowered, and her eyelashes were beating quickly +against her pink cheeks throwing a strange shadow over her brilliant +complexion. + +Giraud went up to her, anxious and excited, and in a stammering voice +he asked: + +"Is it true what you have just said? Do you still remember that moment +of madness? Can you think of it without anger?" + +"Yes," she answered, gazing full at him with her beautiful blue eyes, +"I think of it without anger," and then, in such a low voice that he +could scarcely hear it, she murmured, "and I _do_ think of it all the +time!" Then, with a sudden change of expression, she began again +hurriedly: "It is you who must forget now; you must forget at +once--what I ought never to have said to you! Please forget it! Do as +I ask you, for my sake!" + +"Forget? How do you think that I can forget? You know well enough that +it is absolutely impossible!" + +"You must, though!" she persisted. "Yes, you must say to yourself +that you--that we have had a dream--a very bright, happy dream,--one +of those sort from which one wakes up happy, and, at the same time, +troubled; a dream in which one has a vision of beautiful things, which +disappear, and which we cannot possibly define. Have you never had +such dreams? One cannot, no matter how much one tries, remember all +about them; and yet--one likes them." + +Her voice, with its caressing intonation, completely unnerved the +young man. He had taken his seat again mechanically at the table, and, +without replying, he looked up at Bijou, his eyes full of tears. + +She came nearer, and said in a beseeching tone: + +"Ah! please don't, if you only knew how wretched it makes me--" and +then she added abruptly: "and if it is any consolation to you--you can +say to yourself that you are not the only one to suffer--for I do, +too." + +"Is it really, really true?" he asked, bewildered with his happiness. + +Denyse did not answer. She had just noticed on the table a letter, +which Giraud had been finishing when she entered the room. + +"I was writing to my brother," he said, following the direction of her +eyes, "and instead of telling him about my pupil, and my occupations, +and, in short, about such things as, in my position of life, I ought +to confine myself to, I have only told him about you." + +"I was looking at your name," she answered, pointing with her rosy +finger to the signature; "Fred--it is a name I am fond of; I gave it +to my little godchild, the youngest of Bertrade's children." She +seemed to be looking far away through the open window as she repeated +very gently: "Fred!" And then passing her little hand over her +forehead, and walking towards the door, she said abruptly: "And this +dinner--and my flowers for the table,--why, the _menus_ are not +written yet, and it is five o'clock!" And then, as the poor fellow +looked stupefied and did not attempt to move, she went on: "It's +settled about this evening, is it not? I shall have your place laid?" + +He answered, in a vague, bewildered way, coming gradually to himself +again: + +"Amongst all the others in dress-coats, I shall cut the most +ridiculous figure." + +"Oh, no,--nothing of the kind! Besides, they will not all be in +dress-coats. First of all, there is M. de Clagny in a frock-coat; and +then M. de Bernès, who is afraid of meeting his General, and so is +always arrayed in his uniform: then the abbé in his cassock," and +with a laugh she concluded: "That makes three of them who will not be +in dress-coats!" + + * * * * * + +As she was leaving the schoolroom, she ran against Henry de Bracieux, +who was coming towards her in the corridor. + +"Well, I never!" he exclaimed, in surprise. "What are you doing here?" + +"And you?" + +"I? Why, I was going back to my room." + +"And I was coming away from Pierrot's." + +"Pierrot is in the garden." + +"I did not know, and I had something to say to him." + +"To him?" asked the young man suspiciously, and almost aggressively, +"or to M. Giraud?" + +Without appearing to notice her cousin's singular attitude towards +her, she answered, in a docile way: + +"To him, so that he might repeat it to M. Giraud, but as he was not +there----" + +"It is to Giraud that you have----" + +"Given grandmamma's message. Yes," and then, with an innocent +expression in her eyes, she asked: "Why does it interest you so much +to know whether I gave this message to the one rather than to the +other?" + +He replied, in a joking tone, but with some embarrassment: + +"Because I am inquisitive, probably; and the proof that I am +inquisitive is that I should like to know what this message was." + +"Grandmamma commissioned me to tell M. Giraud, who has no +dress-coat----" + +"No dress-coat--Giraud?" + +"No." + +"Not a dress-coat at all?" + +"There, you say just what I did. No, not a dress-coat of any +description! He had sent word that he would not dine with us; and +then, as M. de Clagny is staying to dinner, and he is in a frock-coat, +I was going to tell Pierrot, so that he could let M. Giraud know. Do +you understand now?" + +"Yes," replied Henry, "quite well--but Jean is very _chic_ and never +goes about without a change of dress-coats; he has, at least, three +here; he would certainly lend him one--they are exactly the same +figure." + +"That would be nice!" + +"Oh, he would be glad to do it! Giraud is a very nice fellow; we +should all like him, if----" + +He stopped short, and Bijou asked: + +"If what?" + +"Oh, nothing! I'll go and see about this business--at old Clagny's +time of life it doesn't matter whether one is got up all right or not; +but for Giraud, it's another thing. I am sure he would feel it very +much if he thought he looked ridiculous, especially----" + +"Especially?" + +"Especially before you!" + +Bijou shrugged her shoulders, and ran away down the long corridor. + + + + +VI. + + +ALTHOUGH Bijou had superintended the laying of the cloth, and had +herself attended to the flowers, the service, and the _menus_, she was +ready for dinner before anyone else. + +Carrying in her arms an enormous bunch of roses, she entered the +drawing-room just as the marchioness had gone upstairs to dress. + +She was so much taken up with arranging her flowers on a side-table +that she did not see M. de Clagny, who was watching her attentively as +she came and went, with the pretty, graceful movements of a bird as it +flies backwards and forwards before finally perching itself. + +At length, however, he spoke, and the sound of his voice made Denyse +start. + +"It's very certain that it came direct from Paris--that pretty dress," +he said. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Bijou, scared, "you nearly frightened me." And then, +going up to the count, and daintily patting her light, gauzy dress, +she continued: "That pretty dress did not come from Paris; it was made +at Bracieux, near Pont-sur-Loire." + +Thoroughly astonished, the count asked: + +"Oh, no! by whom, then?" + +"By Denyse, here present, and by an old sewing-woman, who is a dresser +at the theatre." + +He had risen, and was now walking round the young girl in almost timid +admiration. She was so pretty, emerging from the pinky-looking cloud, +which seemed to scarcely touch her dainty little figure, and out of +which peeped her shoulders, tinted, too, with that singular pinky +gleam which made her delicate skin look so velvety and soft. + +M. de Clagny could not help thinking that Bijou was not only beautiful +to look at, but fascinating in the extreme, with her tempting mouth, +and her innocent, frank eyes. The charm of her person was rendered all +the more complex by this same child-like expression. + +Whilst he was examining her curiously, Bijou was saying to herself +that "this old friend of grandmamma's" was much younger-looking than +she had imagined him to be. He certainly did make a good appearance, +tall and slender, with his hair quite white on his temples, whilst his +fair moustache had scarcely a touch of grey. His brown eyes had a +gentle expression, and his mouth, sometimes mocking, and at times even +almost cruel, showed, when he smiled, the sharp, white teeth, which +lighted up his whole face in a singular way. + +The silence was getting embarrassing, until Bijou at last broke it: + +"Grandmamma has not come down then yet? I expected to find her here." + +"She went away to dress just as you came in." + +"She will never be ready." + +M. de Clagny looked at his watch. + +"But dinner is to be at eight--she has plenty of time; it is not +half-past seven." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Bijou regretfully. "If only I had known, I should not +have hurried so much. I was so afraid of being late." + +"I'm the one to be glad that you hurried so much. I shall have you to +talk to for a minute"-- + +"For a good half-hour at least," she said, laughing; "no one is ever +in advance here--oh, never, not even the guests any more than the +people of the house." + +"Ah, about the guests, tell me with whom I am going to dine. Your +grandmamma said, 'You will dine with some friends of yours.' Now, as +to friends, I cannot have many here now, considering that for the +last twelve years I have not been in this part of the world. There +have probably been many changes since then." + +"Not so many as all that; let's see, now! you will dine with the +Tourvilles." + +"The Tourvilles? they are not dead yet?" + +"Those with whom you are going to dine are living. They had some +parents who are dead." + +"Ah! that's it, is it! then young Tourville is married?" + +"Yes, two years ago!" + +"He was a disagreeable fellow! Has he made a good marriage?" + +"That depends! he married a young lady on the Stock Exchange." + +"What do you mean? a young lady on the Stock Exchange?" + +"Yes, her father is something there, I believe; he is very, very +rich." + +"Is it Chaillot, the banker?" + +"Perhaps so, I never asked about them--they have restored Tourville, +it is superb now; and they are always entertaining." + +"Is Madame de Tourville pretty?" + +"You will see her; she is very pleasant, and they say she is very +intelligent; for my part, I have not discovered that." And then, as +M. de Clagny smiled, she added quickly: "Because I only know her very +slightly." + +"Well, and after the Tourvilles, who next?" + +"M. de Bernès." + +"Young Hubert, the dragoon?" + +"He himself." + +"He is the son of good friends of mine; a downright nice fellow, don't +you think so?" + +"Don't I think what?" + +"That Hubert de Bernès is nice?" + +"Oh! I know him so slightly; he has always seemed to me--how shall I +express it?--insipid, yes, insipid." + +"Because you intimidate him, probably? I can quite understand that, +too!" + +"I intimidate _you_, perhaps?" she said, laughing. + +"Very much so!" he answered, very seriously. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, in astonishment, "how is that possible?" + +"It is very possible, and it is true! There's nothing astonishing +about it then, that if you intimidate an old man like me, you should +intimidate poor little Hubert." + +"Little Hubert? he is six feet!" + +"Yes, and he is twenty-six years old, but to me he is always little +Hubert. Well, anyhow, admit at least that he is handsome?" + +"I don't know!" + +"Are you going to tell me that you have not looked at him?" + +"I have looked at him; but as regards M. de Bernès I am a very bad +judge." + +"Why so?" + +"Because I detest young men!" + +"At the age of twenty-six they are not so young as all that!" + +"That may be so! but, all the same, at that age they do not exist as +far as I am concerned." + +"Well, well! and at what age do they begin to exist as far as you are +concerned?" + +She laughed. + +"Very late in life!" she said, and then suddenly changing her tone, +she continued: "I am glad you know M. de Bernès, because, at any rate, +you will not be bored to death now this evening." + +"Ah! it appears, then, that I am not to count on the other guests for +entertainment?" + +"Oh, no! the others--well, first of all there are the La Balues." + +"Good heavens, they are alarming! Why, their children must be +beginning to grow up?" + +"They have even finished growing up! Louis is twenty-three, and Gisèle +twenty-two." + +"What are they like?" + +"The one sets up for being _blasé_---he is never either hungry, +thirsty, or sleepy; he does not care for anything; everything bores +him. And it is not true, you know! he never misses a dance, and his +sister says that he gets up in the night to eat on the sly. Then, too, +he writes ridiculous poetry, paints pictures as absurd as his poetry, +and goes in for music--such music!" + +"And the daughter?" + +"She is as masculine as her brother is effeminate; she goes shooting +and hunting, and her dream is to go in for deer-stalking, and to marry +an officer." + +"She is probably thinking of Hubert?" + +"What Hubert?" + +"Young Bernès!" + +"Ah! But I don't fancy so! At all events, he is not thinking about +her--" + +"Because he is too much taken up with you, like all the others; is not +that so?" + +"Not at all!" + +M. de Clagny shrugged his shoulders. + +"Oh, nonsense!" he said, "I can see it all quite plainly." + +"There are only three guests left now for me to introduce to you," +continued Bijou, evidently wishing to change the subject of the +conversation. "There are the Juzencourts--people who are very much +up-to-date, and who have bought 'The Pines'--and one of their friends +who is staying for a month with them, a delightful young widow, the +Viscountess de Nézel." + +"What!" exclaimed the count, with an abrupt movement; "Madame de +Nézel--Jean de Blaye is here then?" + +Denyse opened her beautiful, bright eyes wide, as she replied in +astonishment: + +"Yes, Jean is here; but what has that to do with----?" + +"Oh, nothing at all! nothing at all!" said M. de Clagny hastily, and +then after a moment's silence, he asked: "Is Madame de Nézel as pretty +as ever?" + +"She is very pretty." + +"As pretty as you?" + +Bijou smiled. "Why do you make fun of me? I know very well that I am +not pretty," she said. + +"It's my turn now, my dear little Bijou, to ask why you make fun of an +old friend who admires you as much as it is possible to admire anyone, +and who, alas! is not the only one." + +"Why do you say alas?" + +"Well, because when one admires or loves, one would like to be the +only one to admire or love; one's affection makes one selfish and +jealous." + +"And after--let me see--how long--three hours--yes, after three hours' +acquaintance, you already have some affection for me?" asked Bijou, +looking quite joyful. + +"Yes, a great deal!" answered M. de Clagny very seriously. + +"So much the better, because, you see, I too, I like you very much!" +And, as though she were just talking to herself, she added: "I had +imagined you very different, I expected to see you not at all like you +are." + +"Younger?" he asked sadly. + +"Oh, no, just the opposite; they had always spoken of you as a friend +of grandpapa's, and grandmamma always said, 'my old friend Clagny,' so +that you can understand when I saw you, I was quite surprised." + +"But why?" + +"Because you looked to me to be--I don't know exactly--about +forty-five perhaps?--well, say like Paul de Rueille; and then, you are +very handsome, and, for my part, I like people who are handsome." + +"Your cousin De Blaye is handsome!" + +"Jean?" she said, as though she were turning it over in her mind, "is +he as handsome as all that? He does not strike me in that way, you +see. When people are always together they end by not noticing each +other!" + +"I am quite sure that he notices you!" + +"Oh, no! people don't notice me as much as you think! They care for me +because I was left alone in the world at the age of seventeen; and +then, when grandmamma took possession of me, like some poor little +stray dog, and carried me off to her home, why, they all felt +interested in me, and made me very welcome, and I was their Bijou whom +they all tried to bring up and to spoil, whose faults are always +looked over, and who always has her own way." + +"And Bijou is quite right; that's the only good thing there is in +life--having one's own way, when one can." + +"One always can," she said, speaking as though she were not aware that +she was saying anything, and then suddenly advancing towards the +bay-window, she exclaimed: "Ah! there, now! the Tourvilles! and +grandmamma is not down stairs again yet!" + +Bijou went forward to greet the new-comers--a lady dressed very +handsomely, followed by a common-looking sort of man, with very stiff +manners, who, on the whole, was decidedly snobbish. + +Bijou introduced them, "Count de Clagny, Count de Tourville," and +then, as the marchioness entered the room, looking very handsome still +in her cloudy lace draperies, the young girl turned to M. de Clagny +again. + +"Well," she said, "and what do you think of the Tourvilles?" + +"I don't admire them. But how much Henry de Bracieux has improved in +appearance; he is not as good-looking as his cousin yet; but that may +come, perhaps." + +"As good-looking as which cousin?" + +"As Blaye." + +"Again. Oh, well! you will insist on this beauty of Jean's." + +"Well, beauty is perhaps not just the word; but he is charming; if you +will allow me to say that?" + +"I will allow it." + +"By the bye, do tell me who that very nice-looking young man is whom I +met just now at the end of the avenue?" + +"I do not know, unless it were Pierrot's tutor; but he is not so very +nice-looking----" + +"Look, there he is," said M. de Clagny, indicating M. Giraud. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Bijou, in astonishment; "yes, that is he!" + +She was amazed both at the count's admiration, and at the +transformation which Jean's dress-coat had made. + +Arrayed in this garment of a perfect cut, and which fitted him +wonderfully well, the young tutor looked quite at his ease. + +"Well," said Henry, coming up to Denyse, "wasn't my idea a bright one? +Do you see the difference?"--and then, as she did not answer quickly +enough for his liking, he added: "I'll bet anything you don't see it; +women never can see those things when it's a question of men." + +The guests were all arriving. First the La Balues, imperturbable, +absurd in the extreme, but so blissfully happy, so full of admiration, +and so perfectly satisfied with themselves that one would have been +sorry to have undeceived them. Then came Hubert de Bernès, arrayed, as +Bijou had prophesied, in his uniform, and looking all round the +drawing-room carefully afraid of meeting what he was in the habit of +calling '_any big pots_.' The Juzencourts arrived last of all, bringing +with them Madame de Nézel, a very pretty and exquisitely-dressed woman. +She was extremely refined-looking and supple, with that suppleness +peculiar to Creoles; she had a jessamine-like complexion, and heavy, +silky hair of jet black. + +Bijou, who was looking at her with an expression of curiosity, as +though she had never seen her before, remarked to M. de Clagny: + +"Madame de Nézel is really very pretty--isn't she?" + +He replied, in an absent sort of way, devouring Bijou all the time +with his eyes: + +"There is no mistaking that she comes of good family, and then, too, +she's very womanly, and would respond----" + +The young girl knitted her eyebrows as though she were making an +effort to understand. + +"And would what?" + +"Oh, nothing," answered the count, annoyed with himself. "I don't know +what I was going to say." + +"Bijou!" called out the marchioness suddenly, "Madame de Juzencourt +wants to see the children; go and fetch them. You will allow them to +come down, Bertrade? and you, too, monsieur?" she added, turning to +the abbé. + +M. de Clagny looked vexed at being separated from Denyse. It seemed to +him already as though he could not do without her. + +She soon came back, followed by Marcel and Robert, leading by the hand +a superb baby-child of four years old, who was smiling amiably and +confidingly as he trotted along. + +"This is my godson," she said, introducing him with evident pride. +"Isn't he a pet, and so beautiful and good. He's a love!" + +"Bijou is so good to that child," said Madame de Rueille, "she is +always looking after him and is teaching him now to read." + +"So early!" exclaimed M. de Clagny, in a reproachful tone, "is he +being taught to read already?" + +"Bijou teaches him plenty of other things, too, don't you, Bijou?" +asked the marchioness; "you are teaching him Bible history, are you +not? Two days ago he told me about Moses, and he knew it all very +well." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the count jeeringly, "I should like to hear that. Poor +unfortunate little mite!" + +In a graceful, winsome way, Bijou knelt down by the child. On hearing +"his story" mentioned, the poor little fellow looked at her +beseechingly. + +"Now, Fred, tell it," she said. + +Docile, but with a discontented expression on his face, the little +fellow looked up at his god-mother. + +"Tell about Moses, you know it very well." + +"Well then," began Fred resolutely, "they put him in a 'ittle basket, +'ittle Moses, and they put the basket on the Nile----" + +He stopped abruptly, his face bathed in perspiration. + +"And then, what happened?" asked Bijou. + +"Don't know," replied the little fellow briefly; "don't know any +more--don't know, I tell you. Say it yourself--what happened." + +"Nonsense! come now, have you made up your mind not to answer?" + +The child replied coaxingly: + +"P'ease don't make me say it!" + +Denyse insisted, however. + +"Oh, yes! now something happened when Moses was going down the Nile. +What was it--what happened?" + +He thought for a minute, his face puckered up, his eyes shut, and +then, just when everyone had given up hoping for anything more, he +cried out, delighted at having remembered: + +"Puss in boots came! and called out: 'Help! help! it's the Marquis of +Carabas--he's drowning.'" + +"There, you see," said Bertrade, laughing, "this is what comes of +teaching him so many fine things at the same time." + +M. de Rueille added: + +"Yes, a day or two ago Denyse gave him a stunning 'Puss in Boots' that +we brought with us from Pont-sur-Loire, and this has evidently done +Moses a great deal of harm." + +Bijou turned towards her cousin, and exclaimed in astonishment: + +"Denyse! how long have you taken to calling me Denyse?" + +"Oh, I don't know," answered Rueille, "sometimes I do." + +"Why, you never do! I thought you were vexed," and then, bending +towards her godchild, and taking him up in her arms, she said, +laughing: "My poor little Fred, we have not had much success this +time, have we?" + +Giraud, who was standing just behind her, gazed at her admiringly. She +clasped the child, who was smiling at her, closer still, and murmured +in a caressing tone: + +"Fred! my dear Fred! I do so love you, if you only knew." + +On hearing his own name pronounced so tenderly, the young tutor had +started involuntarily, and he had had the greatest difficulty in +keeping himself from advancing towards Denyse. He had turned so pale, +too, and such a strange, drawn look had come over his face, that +Pierrot, who, as a rule, was not endowed with much power of +observation except in matters relating to Bijou, noticed it, and +asked: + +"What's the matter with you, Monsieur Giraud? you look so queer! are +you ill?" + +Denyse turned round abruptly, and asked with interest: + +"You are not well, Monsieur Giraud?" + +"I? oh, yes! perfectly well, thank you, mademoiselle. I don't know +what made Pierrot fancy that." + +"Oh, well!" said the youth, with conviction, "look at yourself; you +look awfully queer! Besides, for the last three or four days you have +not been yourself; you must have something the matter that you don't +know of." + +"I assure you," stuttered the poor fellow, in a perfect torture, "I +assure you that there is nothing the matter with me." + +M. de Clagny had approached them. He was looking enviously at little +Fred nestling against Bijou's pretty shoulder. + +"Your godson is perfectly superb!" he said. + +"Yes, isn't he? and he adores me!" + +Dinner was announced just at this moment, and Bijou gave the child, +who was getting sleepy, to the English nurse who had come for him. + +With a disagreeable expression on his face, young La Balue, who was +standing just by Denyse, offered her the sharp angle of his arm. With +some difficulty she managed to slip her hand through, and, with a +resigned look on her face, went in with him to dinner. + +At table M. Giraud was at the other side of her, and half wild with +delight at finding himself placed next her, he felt that he was more +shy and awkward than ever. His timidity, which had hitherto been +extreme, seemed to increase. He dared not say a word, and he was in +despair, because he felt that he was making himself ridiculous. + +He was not only in love with Denyse for her beauty, her grace, and her +wonderful charm, but he venerated her for her goodness, which seemed +to him to be infinite. + +When he had been an usher in a certain college, he had one day +murmured some foolish words of affection to the daughter of the +headmaster, and he remembered still with awe the contemptuous anger +with which the young lady had reproached him for having, in his +position, dared to lift his eyes to her. + +He had now frankly and bluntly told this beautiful, wealthy, and +nobly-born girl that he adored her, and, in reply, she had spoken to +him sweetly and affectionately, discouraging him, but taking care not +to wound him. + +He began now to pity himself and his own fate, firmly believing that +his life, having been crossed by this hopeless love, would be wretched +for ever-more. + +How could he expect that, having once known and loved a woman like +Mademoiselle de Courtaix, he would ever be able to love any woman whom +he would be in a position to marry. + +And the poor young man, who, only three short weeks before, used to +dream at times of a little home presided over by a young wife, who +should be sweet and modest, though, perhaps, not remarkable in any +way, saw himself now condemned for life to a bachelor's dreary rooms, +where, in the end, he would die, surrounded by photographs of Bijou, +which he would get with great difficulty from Pierrot. + +At the beginning of dinner Denyse did not talk much. She looked round +in an absent sort of way at the whole table, noticing all those +little nothings which are so amusing to persons capable of seeing +them. + +Madame de Bracieux had M. de la Balue to her right, but she was +neglecting him for the sake of her old friend, Clagny, who was on her +other side, and to whom she never ceased talking. + +M. de Jonzac, who was opposite his sister, between Madame de la Balue +and Madame de Tourville, only appeared to be enjoying himself in a +moderate degree. Madame de Nézel also looked rather sad, and talked in +a half-hearted way to her neighbours, Henry de Bracieux and M. de +Rueille. She glanced often in the direction of Jean de Blaye, who was +seated at the other end of the table, between Madame de Juzencourt and +Mademoiselle de la Balue. Jean did not seem to be taking any notice of +Madame de Nézel, and several times Bijou saw that his eyes were fixed +on her. She found this embarrassing; so turning towards young Balue, +started an animated conversation with him, and thereupon Jean, with a +somewhat troubled expression in his eyes, watched her all the time. + + + + +VII. + + +AFTER dinner the heat in the drawing-room was over-powering, and +Madame de Bracieux said to her guests: + +"Those of you who are not afraid of the evening air could go out on to +the terrace or into the garden." + +Gisèle de la Balue, a big, tall girl, built on the model of the +statues round the Place de la Concorde, and who liked to affect free +and easy tom-boyish manners, started off out-doors, running along +heavily and calling out: + +"Whoever cares for me will follow me!" + +Hubert de Bernès followed her out of politeness. + +Rueille, Henry de Bracieux, Pierrot, and M. Giraud turned with one +accord toward Denyse. + +"Are you coming, Bijou?" asked Pierrot. + +She saw Jean de Blaye talking to Madame de Nézel, who was just going +out with him, and she answered: + +"I will come to you directly. I am going to see if the children are in +bed just now." + +"Mademoiselle," proposed the abbé, "I can spare you the trouble." + +"Oh, no; thank you very much, monsieur, but you know I never feel +quite happy if I have not kissed Fred." + +She went out by the door opposite the terrace. + +"Your grand-daughter is decidedly the most charming girl I have ever +come across," remarked M. de Clagny to the marchioness, and then he +added sadly; "It is when an old man meets women like that, that he +regrets his age." + +"I must say," answered Madame de Bracieux, laughing, "that even if you +were young, you would not be just the husband I dream of for Bijou." + +"And why not, if you please?" + +"Well, because you are, or at least you were, rather--how shall I put +it?--rather large-hearted." + +"Large-hearted! good heavens, yes, I was! but that was the fault of +those who did not know how to keep my affection. I assure you, though, +that with a wife like Bijou, I should never have been what you call +_large-hearted_." + +"Oh, as to that," said Madame de Bracieux incredulously, "one never +knows." + +On leaving the drawing-room, Bijou crossed the hall, and instead of +going up the wide staircase which led to the children's rooms, she +lifted the old green tapestry curtain which covered the door of the +butler's pantry. Just as she was going to open this door she turned +back into the hall to get a long, dark cloak, which was hanging there. +It was a Berck fisherwoman's cloak, which she always put on when it +rained. She wrapped herself up in it hastily, and then went into the +pantry, where it was now quite dark. From the kitchen she could hear +the loud voices of the servants, who were at dinner. Denyse went +across to the open window, got up on to a chair, and then gathering +her skirts closely round her, stepped out on to the window-sill, and +jumped lightly down into the garden. + +Once there, she hesitated an instant. The terrace seemed to stand out +distinctly, lighted up by the drawing-room windows. In the chestnut +avenue she could distinguish in the shade the red gleam of cigars. + +Suddenly she pulled the hood of her cloak up over her head, and +evidently making up her mind, started off quickly along the dark +pathway which led to the other avenue. + +During this time her faithful admirers were waiting on the terrace for +her to come and join them as she had promised, and the ponderous +Gisèle was endeavouring vainly to organise a game at hide-and-seek. +The men seemed to have no energy; Madame de Tourville was afraid of +spoiling her dress; and Madame de Juzencourt was strolling about with +Jean de Blaye and Madame de Nézel. Presently, however, she went back +to the others alone, and Mademoiselle de la Balue wanted to persuade +her to have a game, but she refused emphatically. She certainly was +not going to run about, she said, considering that she was too warm +already with only walking; she had just had to leave Thérèse de Nézel +and Jean de Blaye, for she could not walk another step. + +Left to themselves, Jean and Madame de Nézel continued strolling +along, she in a natural, unaffected way, going on with the +conversation they had commenced, and he absent-minded and ill-at-case. + +"Why do you not reproach me?" he said at last, abruptly, not able to +contain himself any longer; "why do you not say all the bad things you +think about me?" + +"Because I have nothing to reproach you for," she answered, very +gently; "and I do not think any bad things about you." + +"Well, then, you do not care about me any longer." + +"I do not care about you any longer?" she said, and there was an +accent of such intense grief in her voice that he was quite overcome +by it. + +He knew so well how deeply she loved him, that he dreaded the thought +of the awful suffering she would have to endure if he were to be quite +straightforward with her now, and so, out of affection for her, he +endeavoured to conceal from her the real truth. + +"Yes," he began, improvising with difficulty an excuse of which he had +not thought until that moment, "you must have fancied that I was not +thinking of you, for you have been here at The Pines a fortnight, and +I have not sent you a line. The fact is, it is very difficult to +arrange to meet here at Pont-sur-Loire; everyone knows me here, and, +you see, for your sake, I scarcely liked to ask you to meet me in the +town." + +She did not make any reply, and he could not understand her silence. + +"Why do you not answer me?" he asked at length. + +"Why? well, because you are telling me now exactly the opposite to +what you said when you asked me to accept the Juzencourts' +invitation." + +"What did I say?" he asked, slightly embarrassed. + +"You said that at Pont-sur-Loire it would be so easy to meet. You +said that between the hours of luncheon and dinner there were two +trains up and two down from The Pines to Pont-sur-Loire, and that I +could get away so easily, as the Juzencourts never went out except to +pay calls at the various country-houses in the neighbourhood, or to +follow the paper chases. On my arrival here I found that all these +details were perfectly exact." + +"Yes, but it really is not so easy as I had imagined." + +"Ah, Jean! instead of trying to deceive me in this way, it would be +much better to tell me the truth." + +"And the truth, according to you, is that I no longer care for you?" + +"Yes, that is a part of the truth." + +"And," he asked, somewhat uneasily, "the rest?"-- + +"Is, that you are in love with Mademoiselle de Courtaix. Ah, do not +deny it! it is so evident!" And then, after a moment's silence, she +added: "And so natural!" + +"Do you forgive me?" + +"I have nothing to forgive. I have never demanded anything from you, +and you have never, never promised me anything. When I first began to +care for you, I was not a widow; you must therefore have judged me +severely, as a man nearly always does judge the woman who is weak +enough to care for him when she ought not to." + +"I swear to you--" + +"No, do not swear anything; you had all the more reason to judge me in +that way, because I did not think it my duty to tell you what my life +had been like until then. You doubtless believed that my husband was +kind and affectionate, and that I endured no remorse, when I allowed +myself to love you--" + +"I did not think about it at all, I simply adored you," he said. And +then hesitating, and with evident anxiety, he continued: "And now you +will never care for me any more?" + +"What!" she exclaimed, perfectly amazed at the unconscious selfishness +of the man, "you wish me to go on caring for you?" + +"You ask if I wish it? why, what would become of me without you? you +who are my very life!" And then, as she moved back a step or two in +sheer bewilderment, he went on: "Well, but whatever have you been +imagining?--that I am going to marry Bijou, perhaps?" + +"Why, yes." + +He was about to explain to her why he could not marry his cousin, but +it occurred to him that the very prosaic reason for the impossibility +of such a match, would make his return to Madame de Nézel, of whom he +was really very fond, appear as a slight to her. + +"It has only been a passing fancy that I have had for Bijou," he said. +"How could I help it? it is simply impossible to be always with her +and to escape being intoxicated by her beauty, and by her unconscious +and innocent coquetry. For the last fortnight I have been a fool--I am +still, in fact; but on seeing you again I knew at once that it is you +only whom I love, and belong to--heart and soul." + +As he said this, he drew Madame de Nézel's pale face against his +shoulder, and, bending down, pressed his lips to hers, and then, as +the young widow nestled closer still in his arms, he said, with +passionate tenderness: + +"How do you think that I could ever care for that child--with whom I +am always so reserved--in the way I care for you?" He could feel her +slender form trembling in his embrace, and, drawing her closer still, +he murmured: "Forgive me, darling, you are always so good, and if I +have sinned, it has only been in thought." + +"You know I love you," she answered. "But we must go back to the house +at once; they will think our walk is lasting a long time." + +Madame de Juzencourt, who was seated on the terrace, called out as +soon as she caught sight of them: + +"Well, have you been walking all this time?" + +And at the same moment M. de Rueille called out to Bijou, who had just +appeared at one of the windows: + +"So that's the way you come out to us! It's very kind of you." + +"I could not come before," she answered, stepping out, and then +approaching her cousin, she added, in a low voice: "I had to see to +the tea and the ices, etc., etc.; you must not be vexed with me." + +"Vexed with you!" exclaimed Pierrot warmly. "Could anyone be vexed +with _you_, now?" + +Bijou did not answer. She was watching Hubert de Bernès in an +absent-minded way, as he stood talking to Bertrade, and she was +wondering how it was that he was so cool in his manner towards +herself. He was polite, certainly, and even pleasant, but _only_ +polite and pleasant, and she was not accustomed to such moderation. M. +de Clagny appeared presently at one of the windows and called out: + +"Mademoiselle Bijou, your grandmamma wants you." + +Denyse ran into the house, her silk skirts rustling as she went. She +did not even stay to answer young La Balue, who, pointing to Henry de +Bracieux as he stood with the light showing up his profile, had just +remarked: + +"What a handsome man Henry is." + +"Bijou," said the marchioness, "I want you to sing something for us." + +"Oh! grandmamma, please"--she began, in a beseeching tone, and looking +annoyed. + +"M. de Clagny wants to hear you," said Madame de Bracieux, insisting. + +"Oh, very well, then, I will, certainly," replied Bijou pleasantly, +without taking into account that her way of consenting was not very +flattering for the rest of her grandmother's guests. + +She went to the piano, and, taking up a guitar, put the pink ribbon +which was attached to it round her neck, and then came back and took +up her position in the midst of the semi-circle formed by the +arm-chairs. + +"I am going to accompany myself with the guitar," she said; "it is +simpler." And then turning to M. de Clagny, she asked: "What do you +want me to sing? Do you like the old-fashioned songs?" and without +waiting for a reply, she began the ballad of the "Petit Soldat": + + "Je me suis engagé + Pour l'amour d'une blonde." + +She had a good ear and a pretty voice, which she used skilfully, and +it was with plaintive sweetness that she sang the touching story of +the young soldier who "veut qu'on mette son coeur dans une serviette +blanche." + +The drawing-room soon filled when Bijou began to sing, and the various +expressions on the different faces were most amusing to see. + +Jean was listening in a nervous, excited way, pulling his fair +moustache irritably through his fingers. + +M. de Rueille, affected in spite of himself by the doleful air, and +annoyed that all these people should be admiring Bijou, was pacing up +and down at the other end of the drawing-room, pretending not to be +listening to the music. + +Pierrot, with his mouth open, was all attention. Young La Balue, with +his elbow resting on a side-table in an awkward and ridiculous pose, +kept his colourless eyes fixed on the young girl in a gaze which he +tried to make magnetic, and with such bold persistency that Henry de +Bracieux felt the most extraordinary desire to walk up to him and box +his ears. Even Abbé Courteil was carried away by the plaintive +ballad; he was deeply moved, and sat there with his eyes stretched +wide open, breathing heavily. Hubert de Bernès only was listening with +polite attention, but comparative indifference. As to the ladies, all, +except, perhaps, Gisèle de la Balue, admired Bijou sincerely. + +Madame de Nézel was listening with a mournful expression in her eyes, +and a kind-hearted smile, whilst as for M. de Clagny, it was as though +all the sensitiveness and affection of his nature had gone out towards +this pretty, fragile-looking, young creature. His eyes, beaming with +tenderness, seemed to take in at the same time, the beautiful face, +the little rosy fingers as they touched the strings of the guitar, and +the slender, supple figure. + +When Bijou had come to the end of her song, she went up to him, +without paying any attention to the compliments that were being +showered on her, and, in a pretty, coaxing way, she asked: + +"It did not bore you too much, I hope?" + +M. de Clagny could not answer for a moment. He felt choked with +emotion. + +"I shall often ask you for that song again," he said at last. "Yes, I +shall come often, and you will sing me the 'Petit Soldat,' won't you?" + +He had a great desire to hear Bijou sing for him--for him alone; he +did not want to share her voice and her charm with all these people +whom he now detested. + +"You shall come as often as you please," she answered, looking +delighted, "and I will sing you everything you like," and then gliding +away she went across to Jean de Blaye, who was standing alone at the +other end of the drawing-room. "It annoys you when I sing, doesn't +it?" she asked him. + +"Why, no!" he answered, surprised at the question, and surprised that +Bijou should trouble about him. "Why should you think so?" + +"Because I saw you just now--you were pulling your moustache in the +most furious way, and you looked bored to death. Yes, you certainly +did look bored!" + +"It was just your own imagination." + +"Oh, no! it was not just my imagination. When I care about anyone I am +always very clear-sighted! so, you see, it is quite the contrary. Why +are you frowning now?" + +"I am not frowning." + +"Oh, yes, you were, and it looks as though what I said just now had +vexed you, too." + +"What did you just say?" + +"That I am very clear-sighted. And you are vexed, because you are +afraid that I shall see that something is the matter." + +"Something the matter?" he asked uneasily. "What is it?" + +"What is it? Ah! I don't know! But most certainly something is the +matter with you--you are not at all like yourself ever since--why, +ever since we have been at Bracieux." + +"Really?" he said, putting on a joking tone. "I am different, am +I--and the most extraordinary thing is, that I did not know myself +about this difference." + +Bijou shrugged her pretty shoulders. + +"Don't try to take me in like that, Jean, my dear; I know you too +well, you see. You are different, I tell you! You have gradually got +very abrupt, restless, and absent-minded. Listen, now,--would you like +me to tell you what it is?" + +Seated at some distance away from them, Madame de Nézel was watching +them, with an expression of melancholy resignation. + +Bijou glanced across at her, and the young girl's violet eyes gleamed +between her long, thick lashes, as she said: + +"You are in love with someone who does not return your love." + +Jean de Blaye coloured up furiously. + +"You don't know what you are talking about," he answered. + +"Well, then, why have you gone so red? Oh, how proud you are. You are +vexed because I have found this out." And then, after a short silence, +she began again: "Have you told her?" + +"Have I told what? and whom? My dear Bijou, how foolish you are." + +"Have you told Mad--" She stopped abruptly, and then, with her face +turned towards Madame de Nézel, she continued: "The person with whom +you are in love, have you told her that you love her?" + +"No!" he murmured, in a stifled sort of voice. + +"You are afraid to? but why? I constantly hear grandmamma, Bertrade, +Paul, and Uncle Alexis, saying over and over again that you are the +kind of man women like; _she_ would be sure to like you, too, and she +would marry you, I am certain." She leaned towards him, nearly +touching his ear as she whispered to him, and not caring what effect +her familiarity might have. "Listen, now, if you like I will tell her +for you, and I am quite sure what her answer will be." + +Jean rose abruptly, and seizing Bijou's hand, he asked excitedly: + +"What are you saying?" + +"I am just saying that she _will_ love you, if she does not already." + +"But of whom are you speaking--of whom?" he stammered out, aghast. + +She answered him in a hesitating way, with a frank look on her pretty +face, but she spoke in such a low voice that he could scarcely catch +her first words. + +"I am speaking of----" + +"Bijou!" called out Pierrot, separating them unceremoniously, +"grandmamma says you are forgetting about the tea." And then, looking +at their faces, he went on: "Well, I never! you are both as red as +cherries; there's no mistake about it, it's baking hot in here." + +Denyse hurried away, and Pierrot continued: + +"We thought over there that you were quarrelling." + +"Ah! you thought that, did you?" answered Jean, by way of saying +something. + +"Yes, especially grandmamma; that's why she sent me to tell Bijou +about the tea. I say, Bijou isn't worried about anything, is she?" + +"Well, now, what kind of worry do you fancy she could have, my dear +fellow?" And then, with a smile, he added: "Who do you imagine would +undertake to cause her any worry? It seems to me that anyone who did +venture to would have a bad time of it in this house." + +"She's so sweet, and so nice always," answered the boy, with great +warmth. "As for me, why, I just adore her; and Paul does, too, and so +does Henry, and M. Giraud, and Bertrade's kids, and the abbé, and +everyone, in fact; even little La Balue is gone on her, and he's never +gone on anyone. Yes, he was telling her I don't know what up in a +corner of the room after dinner, and then, when she was singing--did +you ever see such eyes as he was making at her?--oh, no! if you had +only just seen him----" + +"Do shut up!" exclaimed Jean irritably, "you wear everyone out, if you +only knew it, my dear Pierrot." + +When Bijou came back to the drawing-room, Henry de Bracieux waylaid +her. + +"I say," he began, in a cross-grained tone, "what was La Balue telling +you just now that appeared to be so interesting?" + +"Where?" + +"Here, after dinner." + +"Here?" repeated Bijou, apparently trying to recall something to her +memory, "after dinner? Ah, I remember; why, he was talking about +you!' + +"About me?" + +"Yes, about you! He thinks you are very handsome, but he also thinks +that you do not know how to make the most of your good looks." + +"Have you finished making game of me?" + +"I assure you that I am not making game of you--not the least bit in +the world. He even advised me to tell you that instead of your +frightful stand-up collars--these are his words, you know, and not +mine--you ought to wear--what did he call them now?--oh, Van Dyck +collars, which would not cover your neck up, for it appears that your +throat is superb, and your head so well set on your shoulders; and +then you have lovely teeth! I only wish you could hear him sing the +praises of your personal appearance." + +"Of my personal appearance! Mine?" + +"Why, yes; you thought, perhaps, that he was talking to me of mine? +Not at all! He informed me, too, that he was going to tell you all +that in poetry; not the Van Dyck collars, but the rest." + +"That young man is an idiot!" + +"Oh, dear me, he is very harmless." + +"You are so good-hearted always, you never dig into anyone. Ah, +attention! they are packing up, the La Balue crew!" And Henry, in a +low voice, and apparently delighted, finished up with a "Hip! hip! +hurrah!" + +M. de la Balue, who was just coming out of the hall with a heap of +cloaks, looked at him in astonishment, while at the doorway a little +family quarrel took place. The good man wanted to make his wife and +daughter wrap their heads up in some very ordinary-looking knitted +shawls, so that they should not get a chill. He was obliged, however, +to give in at last. + +Bijou, on saying good-bye to Madame de Nézel, held out her little +hand, and looked straight into her eyes with such an expression of +innocent curiosity that the young widow turned away, quite confused by +the persistency of the young girl's gaze. It seemed to her as though +this child had discovered the secret of her life, and the bare idea of +this caused her intense misery. + +Bijou's charm, however, was so great, and her power of attraction so +strong, that Madame de Nézel, at the bottom of her heart, felt nothing +but affection for the lovely little creature who had so unconsciously +stolen her happiness from her. + + * * * * * + +"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Denyse gaily, when she went back into the +drawing-room, where only M. de Clagny and the family now remained, "it +is half-past twelve, you know; they all seemed like fixtures, and I +thought they were never going to leave us!" + +"The La Balue family are not very handsome," remarked the abbé. + +"Oh, they are not so bad," protested the young girl; "it is only a +question of getting used to them, that's all!" + +"Young Balue is horrible!" said Madame de Bracieux. "And then, too, +there is something snaky about him. When you shake hands with him, it +is like touching an eel." + +"And the daughter, too!" put in Pierrot. "Ugh, she has such little +pig's eyes! and Louis, too, has little eyes!" + +"They are very nice, though, all the same," said Bijou, in a +conciliatory tone. + +"And they come of very good family," added Madame de Bracieux; "they +are descended from La Balue, from the Cardinal, the real--" + +"Oh, well," put in Bijou gently, "it would, perhaps, be better for +Gisèle not to have descended from the iron cage, but to have larger +eyes; however, as it cannot be helped--" + +M. de Clagny laughed, as he turned round to look about for his hat, +which he had put down somewhere in the room. + +"One needs to have a certain amount of assurance," he said, "in making +one's exit from here, for one feels how one will be pulled to pieces." + +"You need not be afraid," said Bijou, "we shall not pull you to +pieces, although you could stand it very well. I promise you, though, +that you shall not be pulled to pieces. Will you take my word for it?" + +"Yes, I will take your word," answered the count, as he took the +little hands, which were held out to him, and pressed them +affectionately in his. + + + + +VIII. + + +"ARE you going for a ride, Bijou?" called out Pierrot, leaning out of +the window. + +Denyse, who was just crossing the courtyard, pointed to her +riding-habit. + +"Well, you can be sure that in this heat I should not entertain myself +by walking about in a cloth dress if I were not going to ride." + +"Where are you going?" + +"Why?" + +"So that we can come and meet you--we two--M. Giraud and I,--at eleven +o'clock!" + +Just behind Pierrot the tutor's head was to be seen. + +"I am going to The Borderettes to take a message to Lavenue," answered +Bijou; and then, seeing Giraud, she said pleasantly: "Good morning. I +shall see you again, then, soon?" + +Patatras was waiting in the shade. The old coachman, who always +accompanied Bijou, helped her into her saddle, and then, mounting in +his turn, prepared to follow her. When Pierrot saw this, he called out +again: + +"How is it that none of the cousins are riding with you?" + +"I did not tell them that I was going out." + +"Ah!" he exclaimed regretfully, "if I were only free, wouldn't I come +with you!" + +She turned round in her saddle, with an easy movement which showed +that she was not laced in at all, and answered Pierrot, with a merry +laugh: + +"I should not have told you though, either!" + +As soon as Bijou had passed through the gateway, she put Patatras to a +gallop, for the flies were teasing him dreadfully. + +She went along through the hot air, meeting the sun, the burning rays +of which fell full on her pretty face without making it red. She did +not slacken her pace until she arrived at the narrow lane leading to +The Borderettes. It was almost perpendicular, and covered with loose +stones, and at the bottom of the little valley, which was very green, +in spite of the dry season, the farm, with its white walls and red +roof, looked like a perfectly new toy-house. When she was at the +bottom of the hill, Bijou pulled out of her pocket a little +looking-glass, and then arranged her veil and the loose curly locks of +hair, which had blown over her ears and the back of her neck. She then +gathered from the hedge a spray of mulberry blossom, which she +fastened in the bodice of her habit, arranged the little handkerchief, +trimmed with Valenciennes, daintily in her side-pocket, and then, +after another short gallop, pulled up at the entrance to the farm. + +A rough voice called out: "Are you there, master?" and then a young +farm labourer came out of the house, saying: "Master ain't heard me +call; I'll go and find him." + +A minute or two later, a tall young man, of some thirty-five years of +age, appeared. He was a true type of the Norman peasant, somewhat +meagre-looking, with fair hair, and a slight stoop. He looked very +warm and was out of breath. His face was so red that it seemed to be +turning purple. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, trying to get his breath again, "it's you, +Mad'moiselle Denyse, it's you, is it?" + +"Yes, Monsieur Lavenue," she answered, smiling, "it is." + +"Won't you get down?" he asked, holding out his hand to help her. + +"No, thanks! I have only come to bring you a message from grandmamma. +It is about the Confirmation dinner next Monday; but you know all +about that, as you are the mayor?" + +"Yes, I know about it!" + +"Well, grandmamma would like to have some very nice peaches for +Monday, and some very nice pears; in fact, all kinds of nice things, +such as grow in your orchard." + +"They shall bring you them, Mad'moiselle Denyse! You can be quite easy +about that. I'll see they are well chosen." And then, as the young +girl turned her horse round, he said, as he watched her, almost dazed +with admiration: "Are you going to start back already, mad'moiselle? +Won't you stop and have some refreshment--a bowl of milk now? I know +you like a drop o' good milk!" And then, in a persuasive tone, he +added, as he took hold of Patatras' bridle, "That 'ud give the horse a +rest, too; he's very warm after the run." + +Farmer Lavenue's way of talking always amused Bijou. It had been more +than ten years now since the sturdy Norman had emigrated to Touraine, +and yet he had not lost his strong Norman accent in the slightest +degree. + +It was Madame de Bracieux, who, thoroughly dissatisfied with the +Touraine farmers, had taken up this man. Charlemagne Lavenue had never +fraternised with the regular inhabitants of the place. He was looked +up to and admired by the simple-minded and unskilful villagers, who +saw him making money in the very place where others had been ruined. +He had, by "sending for people from his part of the world," gradually +transformed The Borderettes into a small Normandy, and he had so much +influence now in the place that he, an interloper, had been elected +mayor of Bracieux, to the exclusion of the former notables of the +place. + +As Denyse did not reply, he lifted her down from her horse, saying as +he did so: "You will, mad'moiselle, won't you?" And then, after giving +the reins to the old groom, he led the way to the door of the farm, +and stood aside for Bijou to enter. + +"How nice it is here, Monsieur Lavenue," she exclaimed, in a pleasant +way. "Have I ever seen this room before? No, I don't think I have!" + +"Yes, you've seen it, mad'moiselle, only, you know, it's been fresh +white-washed, and, you see, that makes it different-like." + +"When you are married, now," she said, smiling, "it will be very nice, +indeed." + +Farmer Lavenue, who was looking at Bijou with hungry eyes, held his +head up erect, and then, shaking it slowly, he answered, with some +hesitation: + +"I can't decide to give the farm a mistress, because I don't come +across one as suits me." And after a moment's silence, he added: +"That is to say, amongst them as I could have." + +"Why, how's that? any of the girls from Bracieux, or Combes, or from +the villages round The Borderettes, would marry you, Monsieur Lavenue, +and there are some very pretty girls among them." + +"I can't see as they are," he answered, blushing, and twisting about +in his fingers the huge, broad-brimmed hat which he always wore the +whole year round. + +"You are difficult to please, then; do you mean that you don't think +Catherine Lebour pretty?" + +"No, Mad'moiselle Denyse." + +"Nor Josephine Lacaille?" + +"No, Mad'moiselle Denyse." + +"And Louise Pature?" + +"No, mad'moiselle." + +Bijou laughed merrily. "Oh, well, do you mean to say that you don't +admire any woman?" + +"Yes, I do--there's _one_--" + +"Who is it?" she asked, looking full at the peasant, with her frank, +innocent expression. + +Lavenue turned redder still, and stooped down with an awkward movement +to pick up his hat, which had fallen to the ground. + +"I can't say," he stuttered out; "she isn't for such as me." + +Bijou did not hear his reply. With her pretty figure slightly bent, +and her head thrown back, she was slowly drinking a second cup of +milk, whilst the farmer, who had recovered himself, stood still, with +his eyes wide open, gazing at this fragile-looking young creature in +timid, half-fearful admiration. + +When Bijou had finished her milk, she looked at him critically, with a +smile on her lips. + +"My goodness! how warm it is to-day," he said, wiping with the back of +his hand the great drops of perspiration, which stood out on his +forehead. + +"Thank you, so much, Monsieur Lavenue," said Denyse, getting up; "your +milk is delicious." + +"Oh! but you aren't surely going to start off again already?" he said, +with a downcast look. + +"Already! why, I have been here at least a quarter of an hour." + +"Oh, well! it's been precious quick to me that quarter of an hour!" he +stammered; and then, in a lower voice, he added: "Thank you, very +much, Mad'moiselle Denyse, for the honour as you've done me. I sha'n't +forget it, that's certain!" + +On getting up, Bijou had let the flowers, which she was wearing in her +bodice, fall to the ground. + +As she turned towards the door, to see whether the horses were there, +the peasant, with a stealthy movement, stretched his long, sinewy body +out along the floor, and, snatching up the flowers, hid them away +under his blouse. + +The groom was about to descend from his horse in order to help Denyse +to mount; but she made a sign to stop him. + +"Monsieur Lavenue will help me on to my horse," she said; "he is very +strong." + +She put her foot out in order to place it in the farmer's hand; but, +without any warning, he put his hands round her waist, and then, +steadying her a second against himself, he lifted her straight into +the saddle. + +"Oh, well!" she exclaimed, in amazement, "I said you were strong, but +however could you hold me at arm's length like that, and put me on to +my horse, which is so tall?" and then, as he did not speak, but just +stood there, looking down and breathing heavily, she added: "There, +you see, I was too heavy! You are quite out of breath." + +She started off before he had time to answer, calling out to him as +she rode away: + +"Good morning, and thank you again, very much!" + +Just as she was turning out of the farmyard, she looked round again at +the farmer, who was standing motionless, as though rooted to the +spot, with his arms hanging down at his sides. + +"Don't forget grandmamma's peaches and pears, Monsieur Lavenue!" she +called out. + +She then looked at her watch, and found that it was five minutes past +eleven. She had plenty of time to return home without hurrying, and +then, too, M. Giraud and Pierrot were to meet her, and they were never +free until eleven o'clock. + +As she passed through a village, she gathered a spray of clematis from +the cemetery wall to replace the flowers which she had dropped, and +then, when she found herself quite alone, she took out her little +looking-glass again, and fluffed her hair up, as it was not curly +enough now that the heat had made it limp. At half-past eleven, as she +saw no signs of those whom she was expecting, she began to get +impatient, and put her horse to a gallop, for Patatras was getting +tired, and would keep stopping, and doing his utmost to browse the +leaves along the hedges. + +Suddenly a serious, almost melancholy, expression came over the girl's +pretty, happy-looking face. She was just crossing a meadow, which was +skirted by a wood. + +"Hallo, Bijou! that's how you cut us, is it?" exclaimed a voice. + +She stopped short, looking surprised, and turned back a few steps. + +Pierrot and M. Giraud, who had been lying down in the shade, rose from +the ground, leaving the long grass marked with their impress. + +"Why, you are here already!" she said; "I did not expect to meet you +so far away from home; at what time did you start, then?" + +"A little before the hour," answered Pierrot; and then he added slily, +winking at his tutor: "M'sieu' Giraud was a brick; he let me off a bit +earlier--without me begging much, either--and now, if we want to be at +Bracieux at twelve o'clock, we shall have to put our best feet first!" + +They were walking along by the side of Bijou. + +"Have you recovered from yesterday evening?" she asked, addressing M. +Giraud. + +"Recovered?" said the young tutor. "How _recovered_?" + +"Because you could not have enjoyed yourself very much! M. de +Tourville and M. de Juzencourt blocked you up, one after the other, in +a corner, to explain to you: the one that Charles de Tourville +embarked with William the Conqueror in 1066; and the other, that a +Juzencourt fought against Charles the Bold in 1477 under the walls of +Nancy. Am I not right?" + +"Quite right! and M. de Juzencourt added that there was only blue +blood in his family. I did not quite understand why he should tell me +that." + +"In order to prove to you that, traced clearly only since 1477, but +without the slightest _mésalliance_, the Juzencourts are more +respectable than the Tourvilles." + +"Oh, indeed!" + +"Yes, M. de Tourville married a young lady who was all very well, but +her name was Chaillot, and her father is on the Stock Exchange; you +see, therefore, that, as regards the Tourvilles, the family is older +than the Juzencourt family, but it is not so pure. You managed to put +such a good face on as you listened to all that. Oh, dear! I could +have laughed if you had not looked so wretched." + +"It wasn't just the nuisance of having to listen to the Tourville and +Juzencourt yarns that made him look like that," observed Pierrot. "For +some time past he is always like that, even with me, and I can promise +you that I don't overpower him with yarns, either about Charles the +Bold or William the Conqueror." + +"I am quite convinced on that score!" said Bijou, laughing. + +"Dear me! it isn't that there'd be any difficulty about it," +protested Pierrot. "I _could_ very well if I wanted to, but--confound +it!" + +"Confound it! again?" said the young tutor, annoyed, and looking +reproachfully at his pupil. "You know that M. de Jonzac objects to +your speaking in that way. He particularly wishes you to be more +careful, and more correct, in your choice of words." + +"Oh, well! if he were to talk to my friends, he'd hear a few things, +and he'd soon get used to it, too. It's always like that; just a +matter of getting used to things." + +"I cannot imagine that very well, though," said Bijou; "Uncle Alexis +letting himself get used to the style of conversation of your +friends." + +She drew up whilst she was speaking, and pointed to something in the +wood. + +"Oh! look at that beautiful mountain ash, isn't it red? How pretty +those bunches are!" + +"Do you want some of those berries?" proposed Pierrot. + +"Yes, I should like some, they are so beautiful." + +The youth entered the coppice, and they heard the branches snapping as +he broke them in order to make himself a passage, and presently the +top of the red tree shook and swayed, now bending down, and now +springing up again, as Pierrot shook it roughly. + +Bijou, with her head bent, and a far-away look in her eyes, seemed to +be in a dream, quite oblivious of what was going on around her. She +started on hearing Pierrot's voice as he called out to her to know +whether he was to gather a large bunch. + +"There is nothing worrying you, is there, mademoiselle?" asked +Monsieur Giraud timidly, as he stroked Patatras gently. + +"Oh, no! Why?" + +"Because you do not seem quite like yourself; you look rather sad." + +"Sad?" she said, forcing a smile. "I look sad?" + +"Yes. Just now, when you passed by without seeing us, you looked sad, +very sad, and now again--" + +"Just now--that's quite possible. Yes, I did not feel quite gay; but, +now, why, I have no reason to be otherwise--quite the contrary. I feel +so happy here, in this velvety-looking field, and with this beautiful +sunshine that I love so much!" And then she added, as though in a +dream, and not taking any notice of the young man: "Yes, I am so +happy, I should like to stay like this for ever and ever." + +She pressed her rosy lips to the spray of clematis with which she had +been playing the last minute or two, and then put it back into her +bodice, not seeing the hand which Giraud was holding out beseechingly +towards the poor flowers, which were already withering. + +Pierrot came out of the thicket at this moment, carrying an immense +bunch of mountain ash berries. Bijou was smiling again by this time. + +"You are ever so kind, Pierrot dear," she said, after thanking him, +"and all the more so as you will have the bother of carrying that for +another mile yet." + +"Oh! if it would give you any pleasure, you know, I'd do things that +were a lot more bother than that!" + +"You are good, Pierrot." + +"It isn't because I'm good;" he said, and then coming nearer, so that +he touched the horse, he added very softly: "It's because I'm so fond +of you." + +Bijou did not answer, and in another minute Pierrot began again: + +"How well you sang last night. Didn't she, M'sieu' Giraud?" + +"Wonderfully well," said the tutor. "And what a lovely voice! so +fresh, and so pure. I can understand something now which I did not +understand yesterday." + +"What may that be?" + +"The infinite power of the voice! Yes, before hearing you I did not +know what I know at present. You will sing again, will you not, +mademoiselle? Fancy, I have been here three weeks, and I had never had +the happiness of--" + +"I will give you _that happiness_ as much as ever you like." + +She was joking again now, for the little dreamy creature of a minute +before was Bijou once more. + +As they approached the château, she put her hand up to shade her eyes. + +"Why, what's going on?" she said; "the hall-door steps look black with +people." + +"Hang it!" exclaimed Pierrot crossly. "They are all out there watching +for you! There's Paul, and there's Henry, and the abbé, and Uncle +Alexis, and Bertrade. Look, though! Who's that? You are right--there +are some other folks too. Ah! it's old Dubuisson, and Jeanne, and then +there's a fellow I don't know; a fellow all in black. Oh, well! he +must be a shivery sort to come to the country dressed in black, in +such heat as this." + +"Perhaps it's M. Spiegel, Jeanne's _fiancé_. They were to bring him." + +"Yes, that must be it! I say, he doesn't look a very lively sort, your +Jeanne's _fiancé_. She isn't though either--" + +Bijou was looking round to see what had become of Giraud, who had +suddenly become so silent. He was following the young girl, +worshipping her as he walked along as though she were some idol. + +Just at this moment, whilst Pierrot was very much taken up with +looking in the direction of the château, the little bunch of clematis +dropped from Bijou's dress, and fell at the tutor's feet. He picked it +up quickly, and slipped it into his pocket-book, after kissing it, +with a kind of passionate devotion, whilst behind him, the old groom, +silent and correct as usual, laughed to himself. + + + + +IX. + + +M. DUBUISSON, whom the students called "Old Dubuisson," was the +principal of the college. + +He had brought his daughter to Bracieux, where she was to spend a week +with Bijou, and Jeanne's _fiancé_, a young professor, newly appointed +at the Pont-sur-Loire College, had accompanied them. + +"How warm you must be, my dear Bijou," called out the marchioness, +appearing at one of the windows. + +"Oh, no, grandmamma," answered Denyse, taking M. de Rueille's hand in +order to descend from her horse. "M. Giraud and Pierrot must be +warm--I am all right." + +She kissed Jeanne heartily, spoke to M. Dubuisson, and then looked in +a hesitating way towards the young professor, who was contemplating +her in surprise. + +"Bijou, this is Monsieur Spiegel," said Mademoiselle Dubuisson. + +With a graceful, pretty movement, which was very taking, Bijou held +out her little hand to the young man. + +"We are friends at once," she said; and then, as she moved away with +Jeanne, she whispered: "He is charming, you know, quite charming!" + +M. Spiegel perhaps overheard this kindly criticism, or else it was +just by accident that he happened to turn very red at that moment. + +"Go and change your dress quickly, Bijou!" commanded the marchioness. + +"But, grandmamma, I am not warm, really and truly." + +"Come here! Let me see!" + +In a docile way, Bijou went up to Madame de Bracieux. + +"Well, grandmamma?" she said, when the marchioness had satisfied +herself by putting her finger between the young girl's neck and her +collar, "wasn't I right?" + +"Yes, it's quite true," said Madame de Bracieux unwillingly, "she is +not warm at all; it is incomprehensible! Well, stay as you are then, +if you like." She made her grand-daughter turn round just in front of +her, and then remarked, in a satisfied tone, "You look very well like +that. Those little white, piqué jackets are very becoming." + +"They suit Bijou," said Bertrade, "because, with her complexion, +everything suits her; but these little English jackets are very +unbecoming to most women." + +Abbé Courteil looked at the black skirt, the white jacket, and then at +Bijou herself. + +"At all events, the black and white together is perfectly charming. +Mademoiselle Denyse looks like a big swallow." + +"Well, well!" exclaimed the marchioness, with a benevolent expression +in her eyes, "that's very pretty, now, that comparison!" + +Though she herself was the topic of conversation, Bijou was paying no +attention to what was being said, but was talking in a pleasant way to +M. Spiegel, a little apart from the others. + +He was a serious, placid, young man, with a somewhat rigid expression. +His eyes, however, had a merry twinkle, which relieved the severity of +his mouth, and the austerity of his deportment. + +He was rather tall, and slightly made, and was dressed in dark clothes +of a good cut. Altogether M. Spiegel might have passed for a young +clergyman. Fascinated and almost bewildered by Bijou's charm and +wonderful beauty, he was gazing at her with a look of surprise and +admiration in his eyes, whilst the young girl, for her part, kept +stealing a glance at him, for she was quite astonished to find that +Jeanne's _fiancé_ was so satisfactory-looking. + +Luncheon seemed to be very long. The marchioness's guests were all +engaged in studying each other, some of them absent-minded and silent, +and the others talkative, but singularly preoccupied also. + +Madame de Bracieux was witnessing, without understanding in the least +what it all meant, the change of attitude, or, in fact, the +transformation which had commenced a few days ago. She could scarcely +recognise her little troop with whom she had hitherto been able to do +just as she liked. + +M. Spiegel and Bijou, who were placed next to each other at the table, +were the only ones who talked with the animation of those who have +something to say, and who are not talking for the mere sake of +talking. + +Several times Jeanne Dubuisson, seated on the right of M. Spiegel, +turned towards him with a little flash in her usually soft blue eyes. +She was thinking, sorrowfully, that her _fiancé_ certainly seemed to +prefer looking at Bijou to looking at her, and a feeling of sadness +came over her at the idea that she had never seen his eyes resting on +her with as much expression in them as there was now when he gazed at +Bijou. + +Jeanne, who was nineteen, looked much older than Denyse, although she +was a little like her. Her hair, which was fair like Bijou's, was less +glossy, and not so auburn, although it was thicker; her eyes were of a +less uncommon blue; her teeth were as white, but not so regular; her +complexion was less brilliant, and her head not so well set on her +shoulders. + +Bijou, who was very short, wore very high heels in order to look +taller, whilst Jeanne, who was tall enough, always wore flat-heeled +boots. + +The one fairly dazzled everyone by her wonderful beauty, whilst the +other would pass by almost unnoticed, her chief claim to prettiness +being a certain charm of expression, which betokened an unselfish +disposition and a kind heart. + +After luncheon, Bijou carried Jeanne off with her to the park which +surrounded the château. She had scarcely seen her friend since her +engagement. + +"Why," asked Bijou, "did you tell me so calmly that M. Spiegel was +rather good-looking?" + +"Well, because I think he is," answered Mademoiselle Dubuisson. "Do +you mean to say that you--" + +"Oh, come now, don't act; you know perfectly well that he is more than +_rather_ good-looking." + +"But--" + +"Yes, don't you see, from the description you gave me, I expected to +see a nice young man with a goody sort of look about him--rather a +bore, in fact--and then, instead, you bring us a most delightful man. +You ought to have prepared us; you ought not to give people such +shocks--" And then, not giving Jeanne time to reply, she continued: +"Where did you meet him?" + +"This spring, at Easter, when we went to Bordeaux to stay with my +aunt." + +"And it was settled at once." + +"No, but I liked him from the first." + +"Yes, you are one of the affectionate kind." + +"And I soon saw that he, too, liked very much to be with me." + +"And then?" + +"Well, then, we came away, and I felt wretched, of course. I thought I +was mistaken, and that he did not care about me at all." + +"You did not tell me anything about all that." + +"No; in the first place I imagined that it was all over, and then I +should not have liked to talk about it to anyone, not even to you; it +seems to me that, about such matters--well, when one is in love, one +should only talk about it to one's own self; that is the only way to +be quite understood." + +"Oh, then, you fancy that I do not understand anything about love?" + +"About love such as I understand it? no! you are too pretty, you see, +and then you are too much fêted and adored by everyone to be able, as +I have done, to satisfy and content yourself with an immense affection +for one person only." + +Bijou sighed, as she said regretfully: + +"It must be so happy, though, to love anyone like that." + +"Well, it would be easy enough for you; your cousin M. de Blaye adores +you. Oh, it is no use denying it--it is so perfectly evident; I saw it +instantly." + +"You are dreaming--" said Bijou, looking astounded. + +"Oh, dear, no! he is in love with you, madly in love with you, and he +seems to me to be a man worthy of your love." + +"Instead of talking nonsense, finish telling me the story of your +engagement. We had got as far as where you left Bordeaux, thinking +that all was over. What next?" + +"Well, next, a fortnight ago, the professorship of philosophy was +vacant, and papa was surprised to hear that M. Spiegel had been +appointed to it. 'It is a come-down,' he said to me, 'for +Pont-sur-Loire is not as good as Bordeaux'; but not at all--it was no +come-down." + +"It was he himself, then, who had asked for the change?" + +"Exactly! and last Monday, he and his mother arrived at our house to +ask papa's consent." + +"What's his mother like?" + +"Very nice, and good-looking still; but she seems rather severe, a +little bit hard." + +"Don't take any notice of that; Protestants always appear like that." + +"How do you know that she is a Protestant?" + +"Because I suppose that she is of the same religion as her son." + +"But who told you that M. Spiegel is a Protestant?" + +"No one. I discovered that all alone; it did not take me long +either--" + +"But how can you know--" + +"I do not know anything, and yet you see I do know all the same; it's +a very good thing to be able to marry a Protestant; they are less +frivolous, more serious, and more constant." + +"Yes, perhaps so; but his mother, as I told you looks very severe, +very; and she is going to live with us." + +"Oh, well, so much the better. It is a safe-guard, don't you know, to +have a mother with you who is somewhat austere. In the first place, +she will inspire everyone with respect for you." + +"I don't think I need anyone to inspire people with respect for me, +and, anyhow, it seems to me that if I did, why, my husband would be--" + +"Not at all! oh, no! parents are quite different, and I was brought up +to worship my parents, and to believe that their presence brings not +only respect but happiness into the home." + +"Oh, yes, I think that, too, as regards papa; but Madame Spiegel is a +stranger to me, as it were, and I do feel that I owe her a little +grudge for coming to intrude on the privacy of our home-life, which +would have seemed so much happier alone." + +"You must say to yourself that she is the mother of your husband, that +he loves her, and that you ought to love her for his sake." + +"You are quite right. How I wish I were like you, Bijou dear! you are +so much better than I am." + +"I am an angel, am I not? that's settled." + +"You are joking; but it is quite, quite true." + +"Tell me, won't it make you miserable to be away from your _fiancé_ +all this week, which you are going to spend with me?" + +"No; besides he will come with papa to see me if your grandmamma will +allow him to, and then he is going to Paris for a few days." + +"And here I am walking you about, like the thoughtless creature that I +am, forgetting that the unhappy young man is sure to be wretched +without you. Let us go in; shall we?" + +"Yes, I am quite willing." + +A bright gleam suddenly came into Bijou's eyes, shaded as they were by +their long lashes, and then, putting on an indifferent air, she said +to her friend: + +"Tell me what little incident could possibly have given you the +extraordinary idea that Jean de Blaye cares for me?" + +"The way he looked at you all through luncheon, and then, too, his +annoyance when we were all out on the steps this morning watching for +you, and he saw you coming with young Jonzac and his tutor." + +"You have too much imagination." + +"No; I am sure that he is in love with you--and very much so!--and +what about you?" + +"What about me?" + +"You--you don't care for him?" + +"No, not in the way you mean, at least. He is my cousin; I like him +just as one does like a nice cousin, whom one knows too well to care +for in any other way." + +"It's a pity." + +"Why?" + +"Because it seems to me that you would be happy with him." + +Bijou shook her head. + +"I don't think so; I must have a husband more steady than Jean." + +"More steady? but he must be thirty-four or thirty-five--M. de Blaye." + +"What does that matter? he is not steady, you know--not by any means." + +"Ah! I did not know." + +"Then, too, I should want my husband to only care for me." + +"Well, pretty and fascinating as you are, you can make your mind easy +about that." + +Bijou stopped suddenly in the middle of the garden-walk. + +"Is not that a carriage coming up the drive?" she asked, pointing to +the avenue. + +"Yes, certainly it is." + +"What sort of a carriage? I cannot see anything, I am so +short-sighted." + +"A phaeton with two horses, and a gentleman I don't know is driving." + +"Ah, yes, that's it!" And then, as Jeanne looked at her inquiringly, +she added: "It is M. de Clagny--a friend of grandmamma's--the owner +of The Norinière." + +"Ah! the man who is so rich!" + +"So rich? Do you think he is so rich? I have not heard a word about +that!" + +"Oh, yes; he is immensely wealthy--and all his fortune is in land." + +Bijou was not listening to this. She had just gathered a daisy, which +was growing amongst the grass, bending its little timid head over the +garden pathway, and she was now pulling it to pieces in an +absent-minded way. + +"Well?" asked Jeanne, smiling; "how does he love you?" + +Bijou lifted her pretty head in surprise. + +"Whom do you mean?" + +"The one about whom you were questioning that daisy?" + +"I don't know! I was not questioning it about anyone in particular." + +"And what did it answer you?" + +"Passionately." + +"Oh, well, it was answering about everybody." And Jeanne added, as she +mounted the little flight of stone steps just behind her friend: "It's +quite true; everybody loves you; and you deserve to be loved--there!" + +When the two girls entered the room where everyone was assembled, +their arrival seemed to have the effect of bringing some animation +into the faces of all the people. + +"At last, and not before it was time!" murmured Henry de Bracieux, in +a way which caused his grandmother to glance at him, whilst M. de +Clagny stepped quickly forward to meet Bijou. + +"That's right," she said pleasantly; "how good of you to come again so +soon to see us!" + +"Too good! You'll have too much of me before long!" + +"Never!" she answered, smiling merrily; and then taking Jeanne's hand, +she introduced her. "Jeanne Dubuisson--my best friend--whom I shall +lose now, because she is going to be married!" + +"But why do you say that, Bijou?" exclaimed the young girl +reproachfully. "You know very well that, married or not married, I +shall always be your friend." + +"Yes--everyone says that; but it isn't the same thing! When one is +married one does not belong to one's parents or friends any more, one +belongs to one's husband--and to him alone." + +"How delightful such delusions are!" murmured M. de Clagny. + +Bijou turned towards him abruptly. + +"What did you say?" she asked. + +"Oh, it was just nonsense!" + +"No; I quite understand that you were laughing at me. Yes, I +understand perfectly well; it's no good shaking your head, I know all +the same that you were making fun of me, because I said that when one +is married one belongs only to one's husband! Well, that may be very +ridiculous, but it is my idea, and I believe it is M. Spiegel's, too?" + +The young man smiled and nodded without answering. + +"Has anyone introduced M. Spiegel?" continued Bijou, still addressing +the count. "No? well, then, I will repair such negligence. Monsieur +Spiegel, Jeanne's _fiancé_, who does not dare to support me, and +declare that I am right, because he is not in the majority here; there +is no one here who is married but himself--that is to say, nearly +married." + +"Oh, indeed, and what about Paul?" asked the marchioness, laughing. + +"Paul! Oh, yes, that's true; I was not thinking of him! Anyhow, the +unmarried persons are in the majority--Henry, Pierrot, Monsieur +Courteil, M. Giraud, Jean--well, what's the matter with Jean? he does +look queer!" + +Jean de Blaye was seated in an arm-chair, with his eyes half-closed +and his head resting on his hand, looking very drowsy. + +"I have a headache!" he answered; and then, as Bijou persisted, and +wanted to know what had given him a headache, he exclaimed gruffly: +"Well, what do you want me to say? It's a headache; how can I tell +what's given it me? It comes itself how it likes--that's all I know!" + +Bijou had gone behind the arm-chair in which her cousin was lounging. + +"You must have a very, very bad headache to look as you do," she said, +not at all discouraged by his abrupt manner, and noticing his pale +face, his drawn features, and his eyes, with dark circles round them, +"and for you to own, too, that there is anything the matter with you; +because you always set up for being so strong and well. Poor Jean, I +do wish you could get rid of it." + +She bent forward, and pressing her lips gently on the young man's +weary eyelids, remained like that a few seconds. + +Jean de Blaye turned pale, and then very red, and rose hastily from +his chair. + +"You startled me," he said, in an embarrassed way, not knowing where +to look, "how stupid I am; but I did not see you were so near, so you +quite surprised me." + +M. de Clagny had risen, too, in an excited way on seeing Bijou kiss +her cousin. It occurred to him though, at once, how very ridiculous +his jealousy would appear, and he sat down again, saying in a jesting +tone: + +"Well, if that remedy does not take effect, de Blaye's case is +incurable." + +M. de Rueille looked enviously at Jean, who was just going out of the +drawing-room, and then, turning to Bijou, he remarked, in a hoarse +voice: + +"When I have a headache, and, unfortunately, that is very often, you +are not so compassionate." + +M. Giraud remained petrified in the little low chair in which he had +taken his seat. His eyes were fixed on the ground, and his lips +pressed closely together; he looked as though he had seen nothing. + +As for Pierrot, he exclaimed candidly: + +"What a lucky beggar that Jean is!" + +"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," replied Abbé Courteil, with conviction; +"but, all the same, he certainly has a very bad headache--Monsieur de +Blaye. I know what it is to have a headache." + +The marchioness bent forward to whisper to Bertrade, whilst looking +all the time at Bijou. + +"Isn't she sweet, that child, and so good-hearted, and, above all, so +natural. Did you see how innocently she kissed that simpleton of a +Jean, and how it startled him?" + +"Oh! as to startling him! he was rather upset by it, poor fellow, and +he wanted to explain away the fact that he was upset by it; that is +about all." + +"Do you think so? with him, one never knows." + +"You did not notice that he went off at once, without even saying +good-bye to M. Dubuisson and M. Spiegel, who are just going away." + +The marchioness turned towards the two men in question, who were just +coming across to take leave. + +"As we are keeping your Jeanne," she said, "I hope you will often come +to see her." + +"Are you quite sure that you don't mind staying at Bracieux?" Bijou +asked her friend; "I shall not be angry with you, you know, for +preferring your _fiancé_ to me." + +"Spiegel is obliged to go to Paris for a few days," said M. Dubuisson; +"on his return I shall come with him to fetch Jeanne back." + + * * * * * + +On leaving the drawing-room, a few minutes before, Jean de Blaye had +felt thoroughly wretched. Bijou's innocent kiss, given so openly +before everyone, had, as a matter of fact, thoroughly upset him +rousing again the love which he felt for the young girl, and which he +had hoped would remain dormant, since Madame de Nézel was ready to +console him with her affection. + +Only the evening before he had said to the young widow: "How can I +love that child as I love you?" and when he had uttered these words, +he had, for the time being, felt his old love for Madame de Nézel +returning, and it had seemed to him that Bijou could never inspire the +same passion as he had felt for this woman. And now, after hoping that +he had conquered his love for the young girl, her kiss had completely +undone him, and left him helpless to struggle against himself any +longer. + +He felt now that from henceforth he ought not to continue to claim +Madame de Nézel's affection, since he could no longer return it; and +as he thought of all that this affection had been to him in the past, +he suffered intensely. For the last four years this woman had loved +him with a devotion that had known no bounds, and, whilst Madame de +Bracieux, M. de Jonzac, the Rueilles, and, indeed, all his family, had +imagined that he was living a very gay life, he had been spending his +time peacefully and happily in the society of Madame de Nézel. + +They had understood each other perfectly, and no one had suspected +anything of the sympathy which had thus drawn them together, so that +Jean had always been criticised for those actions of his which were +known to the world, and he had been perfectly satisfied that things +should be thus. Now, however, all would be changed. He would have to +give up this peaceful happiness which had been so much to him. + +And why should he, after all? Did he intend to tell Bijou of his love +for her? And even supposing that she did not reject his love, was he +in a position to marry this fragile and exquisite girl, who had +certainly been created for the most luxurious surroundings? + +He had already thought it all over many times and had said to himself, +over and over again, that it would be absurdly foolish. Then, too, +Bijou would never love him well enough to accept him with his +extremely moderate income. As he had promised Madame de Nézel to meet +her the following day at Pont-sur-Loire, he wrote her a few lines in +order to excuse himself. + +"She will not believe the pretext I have given her," he said to +himself, as he sealed the letter "but she will quite understand, and, +now, it is all over between us." + +And then all at once a feeling of utter loneliness came over him, and +a vision of the life that would from henceforth be his rose before him +with strange distinctness. He shuddered in spite of himself, and then +he fell to going over again in his mind all his sorrows. + +In the meantime, Bijou had shown Jeanne Dubuisson to the room she was +to occupy during her visit to the château. + +"It is your imagination, I tell you; nothing but your imagination," +she said to her friend. "He does like me, certainly, but just in the +way one cares for a cousin, or even a sister." + +"No! It was quite enough to look at his face when he went out of the +drawing-room. He was quite upset, and I am sure he has not got over it +yet." + +"Wouldn't you like me to go and ask him? But, there, it is seven +o'clock. We have only just time to dress. I will come back for you +when the first dinner-bell rings." + +When Bijou came out of her bedroom, simply but charmingly dressed, as +usual, the long landing was dark and silent. The servants had drawn +the blinds, but had not yet lighted the lamps. + +Jean, who was coming out of his room, could just distinguish, in the +darkness, a few yards away from him, a figure in a light dress. He +hurried up to it, and Bijou asked: + +"Is that you, Jean?" + +"Yes," he answered; "and I want a word with you." + +"Something that won't take long? The first bell has gone." + +"Something very short; but I should prefer no one else hearing." + +"Shall we go into your room, then, or into mine?" + +"Into yours, as we are so near it." + +Bijou opened the door, and, when Blaye was inside, she said: + +"Wait a minute. Don't move, or I shall knock against you. I will +light--" + +"Oh, it isn't worth getting a light," he said, catching hold of her +arm to stop her. "I can say what I have to without that. Besides, it +won't take long. I want to tell you, Bijou, my dear, that what you +did, you know, just now--" + +She appeared to be trying to remember. + +"Just now? Whatever was it I did?" + +"Well, in a very nice way--oh! in a very nice way, indeed, you +know--you kissed me, but you are too grown-up to do that now when +there are people there." + +"And when there isn't anyone there?" she asked, laughing, "may I +then--tell me?" + +Before he had time to reply, she had laid her hands on his shoulder, +and lifted her face towards his. He bent his head at the same moment, +and her lips touched his. Bijou gave a little half-timid murmur of +affection, which moved him deeply. + +He made up his mind now to tell her of his love, and tried to draw her +to him; but the young girl pushed back the hands which were +endeavouring to hold her, and ran out of the room, and, by the rustle +of her dress along the wall, Jean knew that she was hurrying away. + + + + +X. + + +THE following day Mère Rafut arrived. Bijou had expected to have her +for a week, and was very much disappointed when the old woman told her +that she could only give her five days, as the theatre opened again on +the first of September, and she would have to be there at her post as +dresser. + +Jeanne, therefore, proposed to help with the work, and Bijou accepted +her offer. + +"That's a capital idea!" she said; "if we are both together we shall +not be dull! we can talk to each other without troubling about Mère +Rafut." + +Accordingly, every day, whilst the marchioness and Madame de Rueille +were doing what Jean de Blaye called "a visiting tour," the two young +girls installed themselves in Bijou's boudoir, which was converted +into a sewing-room, and were soon busy with their cutting out and +sewing, whilst chattering together, too intent on their conversation +to pay much attention to the old sewing-woman. + +"Are you going to the race-ball?" Bijou asked her friend. + +"Yes," said Jeanne; "it seems that as I am now engaged it is not quite +the thing; but I am going all the same, as Franz wants to see me +arrayed in my ball-dress, and he wants to waltz with me, too; he +waltzes very well, you know." + +"Ah! and yet he looks so austere? Tell me, don't you mind in the least +marrying a Protestant?" + +"Not in the least! without being bigoted, I am a thorough Catholic, +and he is a devoted Protestant, but not bigoted either. We shall each +of us keep to our own religion, for we have no wish whatever to +change; but neither of us has any idea of trying to convert the +other." + +Bijou did not speak, and Jeanne continued: + +"I am not at all sorry that I am going to have a husband who is a +Protestant, and I will confess that, for certain things, I feel more +satisfied that it should be so. It's quite true, what you were saying +yesterday--Protestants have certain ideas about the family, and about +constancy; in fact, they have stricter principles about such things +than Catholics." + +"Yes; tell me, though, what dress are you going to wear for the race +ball?" + +"I don't know yet! I haven't one for it!" + +"Why, how's that? what about the white one with the little bunches of +flowers all over it?" + +"Papa does not think it is nice enough; the race ball is to be at the +Tourvilles, you know, this year; and it will all be very grand!" + +"Oh, yes!" + +"We do not know them at all; it will be the first time of our going to +Tourville, and if I were to be dressed anyhow, it would not be very +nice for your grandmamma, who got us invited; and so papa told me to +have a dress made, and he gave me two pounds." + +"What are you going to have made?" + +"I don't know at all; advise me, will you?" + +For the last minute or two Bijou had seemed to be turning something +over in her mind. + +"If you like," she said at last, "we might be dressed in the same way, +you and I; that would be awfully nice!" + +"What is your dress?" + +"My dress does not exist yet; it is a thing of the future! It will be +pink, of course--pink crêpe--quite simple--straight skirts, cut like a +ballet-dancer's skirts, so that there will be no hem to make them +heavy, three skirts, one over the other, all of the same length, of +course--three, that makes it cloudy-looking; more than that smothers +you up; and it will fall in large, round _godets_. Then there will be +a little gathered bodice, very simple; little puffed sleeves, with a +lot of ribbon bows and ends hanging, and then ribbon round the waist, +with two long bows and long ends--ribbon as wide as your hand, not any +wider.' + +"It will be pretty." + +"And it would suit you wonderfully well." + +"But shouldn't you mind my being dressed like you?" asked Jeanne, +rather timidly. + +"On the contrary, I should love it! Would you like us to make the +dress here? I would try it on, and like that we should be sure that it +was right." + +"How sweet you are! Plenty of other girls in your place would only +trouble about themselves." + +"Listen, supposing you wrote for the crêpe to be sent to-morrow." And +then she added laughing, "M. de Bernès asked me yesterday evening if I +had not any commissions for Pont-sur-Loire. I might have given him +that to do!" + +"He would have been slightly embarrassed." + +"Why? It is easy enough to buy pink crêpe with a pattern." + +Mère Rafut, who had been busy sewing, without uttering a word, but +just pulling her needle through the work with a quick regular +movement, now lifted her face, all wrinkled like an old apple, and +remarked drily: + +"And even without!" + +"Without what?" asked Bijou. + +"Without a pattern. Oh, no, it isn't he who'd be embarrassed! Why, he +always helps to choose Mademoiselle Lisette Renaud's dresses." + +"Lisette Renaud, the singer?" asked Jeanne eagerly, whilst Denyse, +very much taken up with her work, did not appear to have heard. + +"No, mademoiselle, the actress." + +"Well, that's what I meant. Ah! and so M. de Bernès knows her?" + +The old sewing-woman smiled. + +"I should just think he does. He's known her more than a year and a +half." + +"Ah!" said Jeanne, evidently interested, "she is so pretty, Lisette +Renaud! I saw her in _Mignon_ and in the _Dragons de Villars_ too." + +"Oh, yes!" said Mère Rafut, "she is pretty, too, and as good as she is +pretty! If you only knew!" + +"Good?" repeated Jeanne, "but--" + +"Ah, yes! For sure, she isn't a young lady like you, mademoiselle! But +ever since she has known M. de Bernès, I can tell you, she won't look +at anyone else. And he's the same, as far as that goes, and that's +saying a good deal, for, nice-looking as he is, there's plenty of +ladies after him, ladies in the best society, too, in officers' +families; and they do say the Prefect's wife admires him! Oh, my, he +doesn't care a snap for them all, though! He's got no eyes for anyone +but Lisette; but you should see him when he's looking at her--it's +pretty sure that if he was an officer of high rank he'd marry her +straight off, and he'd be quite right, too--" + +"Jeanne!" interrupted Bijou, "that's the first bell for luncheon." And +when they were out of the room she said, in a very gentle voice, with +just a shade of reproach: "Why do you let Mère Rafut tell you things +you ought not to listen to?" + +"Oh, goodness!" cried Jeanne, blushing and looking confused, "her +story wasn't so very dreadful; and then, even if it had been, how do +you think I could help her telling it?" + +"Oh! that's easy enough, the only thing to do is not to reply or pay +any attention; you would see that she would soon stop." + +"Yes, you are right," and throwing her arms round Bijou, Jeanne kissed +her. + +"You are always right," she said; "and I, although I look so serious, +am much more thoughtless than you, and much weaker-minded, too; I +never can resist listening if it is anything that interests me." + +"And did that interest you?" + +"Very much, indeed." + +"Good heavens! what could you find interesting in it all?" + +"Well, I don't exactly know; I was curious to hear about it, in the +first place, and then I always notice everything, and this little +story explained exactly something I had observed." + +"When?" + +"Why, during the last four or five months, ever since I have begun +going out a little." + +"What had you observed?" + +"I had observed that M. de Bernès never pays attention to any woman, +that he never even looks at anyone, that he scarcely takes the trouble +to be pleasant, even with the prettiest girls; and the proof of all +this is, that he has not tried to flirt with you even." + +"Oh, not at all," answered Bijou, laughing; "but just because he has +not tried to flirt with me, you must not conclude that with others." + +"No, Mère Rafut must be right, and, after all, I am not at all +surprised about it--this story, I mean; you have no idea how charming +she is, this Lisette Renaud. Something in your style; she is much +taller than you, though, and not so fair; but she has the most +wonderful eyes, and a lovely, graceful figure, almost as graceful as +yours; in short, I can quite understand that, when anyone does care +for her, they would care for her in earnest; then, added to all that, +she has a great deal of talent and a beautiful voice--a contralto. I +am sure you would like her." + +"I don't think so." + +"Why?" + +"I don't like women who act comedy--those who act well, at least; it +denotes a kind of duplicity." + +"Oh, I don't think so; it denotes a faculty of assimilation, a very +sensitive nature, but not duplicity." + +"I can't help it, my dear, but I do not see things in the same light +as you; still, that does not prevent Mademoiselle--what is her name?" + +"Lisette Renaud." + +"Mademoiselle Lisette Renaud from being an exception, and she may be a +very charming creature; for my part, I only hope that is so for the +sake of M. de Bernès." + +"You don't care much for him, do you?" asked Jeanne. + +"What makes you think that?--he is quite indifferent to me, and I +always look upon him as being just like everyone else." + +"Oh, no; that is not true--I see him pretty often at Pont-sur-Loire; +he is very intelligent, and very nice, and then, too, very +good-looking; don't you think so?" + +"I assure you that I have never paid much attention to M. de Bernès +and his appearance," and then Bijou added, laughing: "The very first +time I see him, I will look at him with all my eyes, and I will +endeavour to discover his perfections to please M. de Clagny." + +"You like him very much, don't you--M. de Clagny?" + +"Oh, yes, indeed I do." + +"I noticed that at once; ever since my arrival you have only talked of +him; and yesterday, when he came, you were delighted." + +"Yes, he is so good, and so kind to me." + +"But everyone is kind to you, everyone adores you." + +"Everyone is much too good and too indulgent, as far as I am +concerned; I know that very well; but M. de Clagny is better still +than the others. I have only known him three days, and now I could not +do without him. Whenever I see him, I feel gay and happy at once; and +I wish he were always here. I'll tell you what--I should like to have +a father or an uncle like him. Doesn't he make the same kind of +impression on you?" + +"Oh, as for me, you know, it would be impossible to imagine myself +with any other father than papa. Just as he is I adore him; perhaps to +other people he may seem nothing out of the common but you see he is +my father; all the same I like M. de Clagny, and he is very nice--he +must have been charming." + +"I think he still is charming." + +The two girls had reached the hall by this time, and Jeanne went to +the door. + +"How very warm it is," she said, and then, shading her eyes with her +hand, she looked out into the avenue. "Why, there's a mail-coach!" she +exclaimed. "Whoever would be coming with a mail-coach?" + +"M. de Clagny, of course," cried Bijou, rushing out on to the steps in +her delight; "he told grandmamma that if he possibly could he should +come and ask her to give him some luncheon." + +"And he has managed to," remarked M. de Rueille drily, as he, too, +approached the hall door; "we've seen a great deal of him these last +three days; certainly, he is very devoted to us," he added +sarcastically. + +The sight of the horses, which were just being pulled up in front of +the steps, somewhat appeased him, however. + +"By Jove! what horses!" he exclaimed, in admiration, "and he knows how +to drive, too; there's no mistake about that, he's a born aristocrat." + + * * * * * + +After luncheon, Pierrot declared that his foot hurt him just at the +end of each toe, and he did not know what it could be. + +"I know, though," remarked Jean de Blaye; "his boots are too short." + +"Too short!" exclaimed M. de Jonzac, "oh, no, that's impossible"--and +then, after a moment's reflection, he added in terror: "unless his +feet have got bigger still--" + +"Which they probably have," said Jean, laughing; "anyhow, his toes are +turned up at the ends and curl back over each other, I am sure; you +have only to look at his feet, now, to tell. Look at the lumps in his +boots; they look like bags of nuts." + +"I must get him some more boots to-day," said M. de Jonzac. + +"The best thing, uncle, would be to send him to Pont-sur-Loire to be +measured; there's sure to be a decent bootmaker there." + +"M. Courteil is going just now to take a letter to the bishop and get +an answer to it," remarked Madame de Bracieux; "he might take Pierrot +with him." + +"Well, then," said Bijou, "they might take our omnibus, so that Jeanne +and I could go too; we have some errands to do." + +"What are they?" asked the marchioness. + +"Well, first, some crêpe--we want some crêpe for Jeanne; and then some +pencils and paints that I am short of; in fact, there are a lot of +things." + +"Would you like me to take you all?" proposed M. de Clagny; "I have +some business with a lawyer at Pont-sur-Loire at three o'clock. You +could do all your errands, and then I would bring you back; it's on my +way to The Norinière." + +"Oh, what fun!" exclaimed Bijou, delighted. "I have never been on a +mail-coach; you don't mind, grandmamma?" + +Madame de Bracieux seemed rather undecided. + +"Well, I don't know, Bijou dear; you see at Pont-sur-Loire you will be +noticed very much perched up there, and for two young girls I don't +know whether it is quite the thing--" + +"Oh, grandmamma," protested Bijou, "not the thing! and with M. de +Clagny there!" + +"Yes, with me," put in the count, with emphasis, his face suddenly +clouding over, "there is no danger; I am safe enough." + +"Yes, certainly," replied Madame de Bracieux with evident sincerity; +"but at Pont-sur-Loire everyone is so fond of gossip and scandal." + +"Oh, grandmamma," Bijou said, in a beseeching tone, "don't deprive us +of a treat, which you don't see any harm in whatever yourself, just +because of the Pont-sur-Loire people, about whom you do not care at +all." + +"Yes, you are right. Go, then, children, as you want to, for, as you +say, there is no harm whatever in amusing yourselves in that way." + +"Is there any room for me?" asked M. de Rueille. + +"For you, and some more of you," answered M. de Clagny; "we are only +six at present." + +The marchioness turned towards Bertrade. + +"What do you say about going with them to look after the girls?" + +Madame de Rueille glanced at her husband, who appeared to be studying +the floor attentively at that moment. + +"Oh, Paul will look after them very well!" + +"I must ask if you would mind not starting before three o'clock?" said +Bijou, advancing towards the window, "because there is M. Sylvestre +coming to give me my accompaniment lesson; he is just coming up the +avenue." + +"The poor fellow!" exclaimed the marchioness, glancing out of the +window, "he is actually walking in spite of this terrible heat!" + +"He always walks, grandmamma." + +"Five miles; that is not so tremendous," remarked Henry de Bracieux. + +"No, not for you--driving!" said Bijou. + +"Well, but when we are out shooting, we do a lot more than that!" + +"But you are enjoying yourself when you are out shooting; that's quite +different. I know very well that if I could, I should send M. +Sylvestre back always in the carriage." + +"If you like, we can drive him back to-day," said M. de Clagny. + +"I should just think I should like to! You are very good to offer me +that, because, you know, he is not very, very handsome--my +professor--and he will not be any ornament on your coach!" + +"Do you think I care anything about that? I am not snobbish, Bijou; +not the least bit snobbish." + +"But he isn't bad-looking, this fellow," said Jean de Blaye. "He has +very fine eyes; they are wonderfully limpid and soft." + +"I never noticed that," answered Bijou, laughing; "but even if they +are, they could not be seen very well on the top of a coach. And he is +very queerly dressed; he wears clothes that are too small, and which +cling to him; and then long hair that is very lank; he looks rather +like a drowned rat." + +A domestic appeared at this instant to announce that M. Sylvestre had +arrived. + +"Have you told Josephine?" asked Madame Bracieux. + +"Yes, Josephine is there, madame," replied the servant. + +Jeanne Dubuisson rose, but Bijou stopped her. + +"No, don't come with me," she said; "when I feel that there is anyone +listening, that is, anyone beside Josephine, I don't do any good." And +then, just as she was going out of the room, she turned round, and +added: "At three o'clock I shall appear with my hat--and M. +Sylvestre." + +When Bijou entered her room, Josephine, the old housekeeper, who had +seen two generations of the Bracieux family grow up, was sewing near +the window, whilst, in the little room adjoining, the musician was +arranging the music-stand, and taking his violin out of the case. + +On seeing the young girl, his blue eyes lighted up, and seemed to turn +pale against his red face. He was a young man of about twenty-eight +years of age, very thin, very awkward, and dressed wretchedly enough; +but there was something interesting about his face, an expression +that was congenial, and yet, at the same time, told of anxiety and of +trouble. + +"How warm you are, Monsieur Sylvestre!" said Bijou, as she held out +her hand to him; "and they have not brought you anything to drink yet! +Josephine!" she called out, as she moved towards the door between the +two rooms, "will you tell them to bring--ah, yes, what are they to +bring? What will you take, Monsieur Sylvestre?--beer, lemonade, wine, +or what? I never remember!" + +"Some lemonade, if you please; but you really are too good, +mademoiselle, to trouble about me." + +"I forgot to buy the music you told me to get when I was at +Pont-sur-Loire," said Denyse, interrupting him. "You will scold me." + +"Oh! mademoiselle!" he exclaimed, in a scared way, "_I_ scold you?" + +"Yes, you! If you do not scold me you ought to. Now, let me see! What +are we going to play? Ah! I was forgetting! I am going to ask you if +you will begin by accompanying me at the piano; it is just a silly +little song I am learning." + +"What song is it?" + +"'Ay Chiquita'! it is quite grotesque, isn't it? But we have an old +friend who adores it, and he asked me to sing it for him." + +"Oh! as to that!--'Ay Chiquita'--it isn't so grotesque; but it has +been worn out, that's all. Ah!" he added, looking at the music, "you +sing it in a higher key. I was wondering, too--" + +"Yes, I sing it higher; that makes it more dreadful still. Oh, dear! +how I do wish I had a deep voice; they are so lovely--deep voices, but +there are none to be heard!" + +"They are rare, certainly; but there are some, nevertheless." + +"I have never heard one," said Bijou, shaking her head. + +"Well, but you might hear one if you liked." + +"Where?" + +"Why, at the Pont-sur-Loire theatre. Yes, Mademoiselle Lisette Renaud, +a young actress, with a great deal of talent, and she is very pretty, +too, which is not a drawback, by any means." + +"She has a beautiful voice?" + +"Very beautiful! I hear her, on an average, three times a week, +without reckoning the rehearsals with the orchestra, and, I can assure +you, I have never had enough." + +"Ah! Do you think she would sing at private houses?" + +"Why, certainly! She does sing sometimes at Pont-sur-Loire." + +"I will ask grandmamma to have her here. Where does she live?" + +"Rue Rabelais. I do not remember the number, but she is very well +known." + +After a short silence, the professor asked: + +"Why should you not go to the theatre to hear her? That would interest +you much more." + +"Grandmamma would never let me." + +"I know, of course, that society people do not go to the +Pont-sur-Loire theatre--it is not considered the thing; but there are +circumstances,--for instance--in a fortnight from now there is to be a +performance for the benefit of disabled soldiers, organised by the +_Dames de France_; everyone will go to that." + +"And they will play things that will be all right?" + +"Oh! some comic opera or another, and varieties from other things; but +I am sure Lisette Renaud will be on the programme, and several times, +too. These are the best sort of things that we have at the theatre." + +"You are not drinking anything, Monsieur Sylvestre," said Bijou, +approaching the tray which had been brought in, and pouring out the +lemonade for the young man. + +The glass which she passed to him showed the effect of the contact of +her hand. + +"Are you not still too warm to drink?" she asked. "This lemonade is +very cold." + +He took the glass with a hand that trembled slightly, and stood there, +with his arm stretched out, looking at Bijou with passionate +admiration. + +"Monsieur Sylvestre," she said, smiling, "a penny for your thoughts." + +The young man's face, which was already red, flushed deeper still. He +drank his lemonade at a draught, and hurried to the piano. + +"Let us begin, mademoiselle! shall we?" he said, and he played the +short symphony of the song in a hesitating way, as though his fingers +refused to act. This was so noticeable, that Denyse asked him: + +"What is the matter with you? you are not in form to-day, at all." + +"Oh, it's nothing, mademoiselle; I--it is so warm." + +Being rather short-sighted, and never using a lorgnette, Bijou was +obliged to bend forward to read the words of the song, and sometimes, +in doing so, she touched the professor's hair or shoulder. This +served to increase his agitation, and at times he could scarcely see +what he was playing, whilst his fingers would slip off the notes. + +"Really, you are not at all in form to-day," repeated Bijou, +surprised. + +"I beg your pardon, mademoiselle, I--I don't know what is the matter +with me." + +"Nor I either; I can't tell at all," she said, laughing. + +He was getting up from the piano, but she begged him to sit down +again. + +"No! if you don't mind," she said, "I should like to work up two or +three old songs." + +She began at once to read at sight, bending over in order to see +better, whilst the poor young man, who was now pale, did his best to +follow her, in spite of the buzzing in his ears and the clamminess of +his fingers. + +When the lesson was over, Bijou went to fetch her hat, and then came +back and put it on at the glass near the piano. + +Instead of putting his violin into its case, M. Sylvestre stood +watching her as she lifted her arms, and drew her pretty figure up +with a graceful swaying movement. + +"Be quick!" she said, "we are going to take you back to +Pont-sur-Loire, or rather M. de Clagny, one of our friends, is going +to take you on his coach." Denyse saw that he did not understand, so +she went on to explain: "It's a large carriage, and holds a good +number of people." + +"Are you going, too?" he asked excitedly. + +"I am going, too--yes, Monsieur Sylvestre." + +He was just taking from his violin-case a little bunch of +forget-me-nots and wild roses, which were already drooping their poor +little heads. He held them out timidly to Bijou. + +"As I came along, mademoiselle, I--I took the liberty of gathering +these flowers for you." + +She took them, and after inhaling their perfume for a minute or two, +put them into her waistband. + +"Thank you so much for having thought of me," she said. + +He followed Bijou downstairs, step by step, happy in the present, +forgetting all about his poverty, and as he appeared, tripping along +behind the young girl, his violin-case in his hand, M. de Clagny +turned to Jean de Blaye, and remarked: + +"You were right; he has a nice face." + +The mail-coach had just appeared in front of the steps when the +marchioness called out: + +"Bijou! I have a commission for you. Go to Pellerin the bookseller, +and ask him--stop--no--send Pierrot here." + +"Pierrot," said Denyse, returning to the hall, "grandmamma wants you." + +"I'll bet it's some errand to do," remarked the youth, making a +grimace, "and errands are not much in my line." And then, whilst Bijou +and the others were clambering up on to the coach, he went back to +Madame de Bracieux. "You wanted me, aunt?" he said. + +"Yes. Will you go to Pellerin's? do you know which is Pellerin's?" + +"The book shop." + +"Yes. Ask him for a novel of Dumas' for me. It is called 'Le Bâtard de +Mauléon.' What are you looking at me for in that bewildered way?" + +"Because I have never seen you reading novels, and--" + +"You will not see me reading this one either; it is for the curé, I +have promised it him. He adores Dumas, and he does not know 'Le Bâtard +de Mauléon.' You will remember the title?" + +"Yes, aunt." + +"You are sure? You would not like me to write it for you?" + +"'Tisn't worth while." + +"You will forget it!" + +"No danger." + +He rushed off, looking down on the ground, and then, as he climbed on +to the coach, he trod on the feet of various people, nearly smashed M. +Sylvestre's violin-case, and excused himself by saying: + +"Oh, by Jove! I've nearly done for the little coffin." + + + + +XI. + + +ALWAYS up first in the morning, Bijou was in the habit of going +downstairs towards seven o'clock, in order to attend to her +housekeeping duties. + +She always paid a visit to the pantry, and to the dairy, and, with the +exception of Pierrot, who was sometimes wandering about the passages +with very sleepy-looking eyes, she never met anybody at this early +hour. + +To her astonishment, therefore, on this particular morning she nearly +ran up against M. de Rueille, who was coming out of the library with a +book in his hand. + +Of all the visitors at Bracieux he was the laziest, so that Bijou +laughed as she commented on his early rising. + +"How's this?" she asked; "have you finished your slumbers already?" + +"Or, rather, I have not commenced them!" + +"Oh, nonsense!" + +"No, and as I had finished all the literature I had upstairs, I came +down to get a book to finish my night with." + +Bijou pointed to the sun, which was streaming in by the open window. + +"Your night!" + +"Oh, as far as I am concerned, you know, unless I am going out +shooting, or off by train somewhere, it is night up to ten o'clock, at +least!" + +"And you are now going to bed again?" + +"This very instant." + +"But it is ridiculous." + +"On the contrary, it is very wise, and all the more so, as, when one +is in a bad temper, the best thing to do is to keep one's self out of +the way." + +"You are in a bad temper?" + +"Yes." + +"And why?" + +Paul de Rueille hesitated slightly before answering. + +"I don't know why." + +"It's quite true," said Bijou, laughing, "that you were not very +amiable yesterday during our journey to Pont-sur-Loire." + +"It was your fault!" + +"My fault--mine?" + +"Yours." + +"And pray why?" + +"I will tell you if you like." + +"Yes, I should like; but not now, because I am keeping some one +waiting in the dairy." + +"Who is waiting for you?" he asked anxiously. + +"The dairy-maid," answered Bijou, without noticing his anxiety. + +"Oh! go at once, then, if that is the case," said M. de Rueille +sarcastically. "I should not like the dairy-maid to be kept waiting on +my account." + +"You should come and see the cheeses," proposed Denyse. + +"That must certainly be very festive; no, really, are you not afraid +that I should find that too exciting, Bijou, my dear?" + +"You would find it as exciting, anyhow, as going to bed, and reading +over again some old book that you must know by heart. Oh, you know it +by heart, I am sure! There is nothing in the library but the classics, +or a lot of old-fashioned things; ever since I have come no new books +are put in the library, either in the Paris house or here at Bracieux. +Grandmamma is so afraid that I should get hold of them; but she is +quite mistaken, for I should never open a book that I had been told +not to open--never!" + +"Grandmamma is afraid of your doing what any other girl would do; you +are such an astonishing exception, Bijou!" + +"Yes, I am an exception--an angel, anything you like; but either come +with me, or let me go, if you please! I don't like to keep people +waiting." + +"Oh, well, I'll come with you if you like," said M. de Rueille, +putting his book down on a side-table. + +He followed Bijou without speaking, as she trotted along in front of +him. She looked so sweet, going backwards and forwards amongst the +great pails of milk; her straw hat, covered with lace, tossed +carelessly on her fair hair; her morning dress, of pink batiste, +fastened up rather high with a safety-pin. + +She inspected everything, gave her orders, and settled all kinds of +details, without troubling about her cousin any more than if he did +not exist; and then, when she had quite finished, she turned towards +him, smiling. + +"Now, then," she said, "if you would like a stroll, I am at your +service." She turned into one of the garden paths that led to the +avenues, and then added, as she looked up at Paul, "I'm listening!" + +"You are listening? What do you want me to say?" + +"I thought you were going to tell me why you were so bad-tempered +yesterday; you said it was my fault." + +"Well, it was; you were--" he began, in an embarrassed way; and then +he continued, in desperation, "the way you went on, it was not at all +like you generally are, nor like you ought to be!" + +"Ah! what did I do then?" + +"Well, in the first place, you insisted, in the most extraordinary +way, that Bernès should come on to the coach when we met him. Why did +you insist like that?" + +"Well, it is natural enough when you meet anyone walking a mile away +from where you are driving yourself, that you should offer to pick him +up; it seems to me that it would be odd, on the contrary, not to offer +to pick him up!" + +"Yes, agreed; but then it was M. de Clagny who should have offered a +seat in his own carriage." + +"He never thought of it--" + +"Or else he did not care to? And you obliged him to do it whether he +would or not?" + +"Rubbish! he adores M. de Bernès. The other day he spent half an hour +singing his praises to me in every key." + +"Ah! that is probably what made you so pleasant to him?" + +"Was I so pleasant?" + +"Certainly! As a rule you don't pay the slightest attention to him, +but yesterday you had no eyes for anyone but him." + +"I did not notice that myself." + +"Really? Well, you were the only one who did not, then! You went on to +such a degree that I wondered if it were not simply for the sake of +tormenting me that you were acting in that way!" + +Bijou gazed straight at M. de Rueille with her beautiful, luminous +eyes. + +"To torment you? and how could it torment you if I chose to be +agreeable to M. de Bernès?" + +"How?" stuttered M. de Rueille, very much confused; "why, I have just +told you I am not--we are not accustomed to seeing you make a fuss +like that, especially of a young man! No, I assure you, I was amazed. +I am still, in fact." + +"And I am ever so sorry to have vexed you," she said sweetly. "Yes, I +am really; you see, I had never noticed M. de Bernès particularly, and +I wanted to see whether all the nice things M. de Clagny had told me +about him were quite true, and so I was studying him. Will you forgive +me?" + +M. de Rueille did not reply to this, as he had another grievance on +his mind. + +"With Clagny, too, you have a way of carrying on, which is not at all +the thing. He is an old man; that's all well and good; but, you know, +he is not so ancient yet for you to be able to take such liberties +with him!" + +"What do you call liberties?" + +"Well, sometimes you appear to admire him, to be in ecstasies about +him; and then sometimes you coax and wheedle him in the most absurd +way, as you did yesterday." + +"Yesterday! I coaxed and wheedled M. de Clagny? I?" + +"You!" + +"But about what?" + +"When you would insist, in spite of everything, in driving through Rue +Rabelais; and I'll be hanged if I can see why you wanted to; it's +about as dirty a street as there is, without taking into account that +you might have caused us all to break our necks. Yes, certainly, it +was the most dangerous experiment--your fad! Young Bernès, who is one +of the most out-and-out daring fellows himself, tried to persuade you +out of wanting to go along that street!" + +The strange little gleam, which sometimes lighted up Bijou's eyes, +came into them now. + +"Yes, that's true!" she said, smiling. "He was wild to prevent our +going down the Rue Rabelais--M. de Bernès! It was as though he was +afraid of something!" + +"He was afraid of coming to smash, by Jove, just as I was, and the +abbé, and even Pierrot. I cannot understand how old Clagny could have +let you have your fad out, for he was responsible for the little +Dubuisson girl, and for Pierrot, and you, without reckoning all of +us!" + +"Have you finished blowing me up?" + +"I am not blowing you up." + +"Oh, well, that's cool. Let's make it up now, shall we?" and, standing +on tip-toes, Bijou held her pretty face up, saying, "Kiss me?" + +He stepped back abruptly. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Bijou, in surprise, and looking hurt, "you won't kiss +me?" + +Paul de Rueille had been so taken aback, that he could scarcely find +any words. + +"It isn't that I won't, but--well, not here like that, it is so +absurd! I cannot understand your not seeing how ridiculous it is." + +Bijou shook her rough head, and the loose curls over her forehead +danced about. + +"No, I do not see that it is at all ridiculous," and then, instead of +going any farther, she turned round, and they went back to the house +without another word. + +On going up into his room, M. de Rueille found his wife reading a +letter. + +"I have just heard from Dr. Brice," she said, handing him the letter. +"It seemed to me that Marcel had not been well just lately." + +"Not well--Marcel? Why the child eats and drinks more than I do. He +sleeps like a top, too, and grows like a mushroom. Oh, that's good, +that is! And what disease has he discovered in the boy--our excellent +Brice?" + +"No disease at all!" + +"Oh, well, that's lucky! + +"But he orders him to have sea-air." + +"Sea-air for a lad who is in such downright good health that it +positively makes him unbearable, he is so riotous?" + +"Read what he says." + +"Let me see what he says," murmured M. de Rueille, putting on a look +of resignation, as he began to read the long letter, in which the +doctor advised sea-air as the best remedy for the child in his present +nervous state. + +"And so he is in a nervous state?" said M. de Rueille jeeringly; "and +on account of this, which no one, by the bye, except you, has noticed, +we are to leave Bracieux, where the lad is flourishing in this +delightful fresh air--it is his native air, in fact--and we are to go +and take up our abode at some stupid seaside place? Oh, no! You really +do get hold of some ridiculous ideas sometimes." + +He was still irritated after his discussion with Bijou, and the idea +of going away from her now caused him to speak in a harsh, dry way. He +tried to laugh, too, but his laugh sounded forced and hollow. + +Bertrade looked at him as she said gently: + +"I did not want to tell you the truth straight out; I hoped that you +would guess it. Do you not guess?" + +"No, not at all," he answered, with a vague feeling of uneasiness. + +"Well, then, you were right just now; not only Marcel, and his +brothers too, for that matter, are better at Bracieux than anywhere +else, but he has nothing the matter with him." + +As M. de Rueille looked surprised, she continued, in a tranquil way: + +"It is Marcel's father who is not quite himself, who needs a change of +air, and who will, I am sure, decide on having a change." + +"Well, really," he stammered out, "I do not know what you mean." + +"I mean that you must leave Bracieux for a time," she answered, +speaking very distinctly. + +"Do you particularly wish me to tell you why?" + +"I do." + +"You are unwise to insist. You know that in a general way I never +interfere in anything that you choose to do, or leave undone." + +"Yes, you have always been very sweet and very sensible about +everything," said M. de Rueille, "and I thoroughly appreciate--" + +"Oh, there is no need to say anything about all that. I have always +left you quite free to act in every way as you preferred, and now, in +this matter, I do not bear you any ill-feeling whatever, and I should +never have spoken to you of it if I had not seen that you are going +too far. I have confidence in you, so that I know you will be on your +guard; but I know how fascinating Bijou is, and I can see perfectly +well that, next to poor young Giraud, you are the one who is the most +infatuated." + +"Yes, you are quite right, I am infatuated; but, as you say yourself, +there is no danger whatever, and whether I go away, or whether I stay +here, it is all the same; that will make no difference whatever." + +"Yes! if you stay you will certainly make yourself ridiculous, and +probably wretched, too. I am speaking to you now just as a friend +might. Let us go away; believe me, it would be better." + +"Well, but when we came back again--for we should come back, shouldn't +we? in two months at the latest--things would, be exactly as they were +before." + +"No, it would be quite different," she answered carelessly. "In two +months' time she will be married, or nearly so." + +"Married!" exclaimed M. de Rueille, astounded. "Married! Jean is going +to marry her, then?" + +"Why, no! Jean is not going to marry her. He's another one who would +do well to make himself scarce." + +"Well, if it is not Jean, I do not see--it is not Henry, I presume?" + +"No, not Henry either. He understands perfectly well that, with what +he has, he cannot marry Bijou." + +"Well, who is it, then? Who is it?" + +"Why, no one at all--that is, no one in particular." + +"You spoke, on the contrary, as though you were affirming something +that was quite settled. You said: _In two months' time she will be +married, or nearly so_. What did you mean by that? Why don't you want +to tell me? You have been told not to? It is a secret?" + +"No, it is merely a supposition, I assure you, that is all." + +"And this supposition you will not tell me?" + +"No." + +After a short silence Madame de Rueille began again: + +"I showed grandmamma the doctor's letter; she is very sorry about our +going away. She adores the children, and then, too, she likes to have +the house full at Bracieux." + +"And she let herself be gulled with this story about Marcel's nervous +condition? I am surprised at that; she is so sharp!" + +"If she was not _gulled_, as you call it, she allowed me to think that +she was. I shall see you again presently: I must get ready for +breakfast." + +M. de Rueille went up to his wife, and asked, in a half-timid way: + +"You are angry with me about it?" + +"I? why should I be angry about what you cannot help? You are in the +same situation as Jean, M. Giraud, Henry, the accompaniment professor, +Pierrot, and others that we don't know of, not to speak of the abbé, +who, at present, is always to be found somewhere round about where +Bijou is." + +"Oh!" + +"It's perfectly true; the only thing is that, as far as he is +concerned, he is unconscious of it. Without understanding the why and +wherefore, he, too, is captivated by Bijou's charms just the same as +all the others who come near her. I am quite sure that he, too, will +be unhappy about going away from here; but he will not be able to +explain to himself even the cause of his unhappiness. Ah! there's the +bell; I shall never be ready; you had better go on down." + + * * * * * + +"Pierrot," said the marchioness, after breakfast, when everyone had +assembled in the morning-room, "you did not give me my book +yesterday?" + +Pierrot, who was talking to Bijou, turned round, somewhat taken aback. + +"What book, aunt?" + +"Dumas' novel for the curé." + +"Ah, yes; I could not think what book you meant!" + +"You forgot to do my errand?" + +"Not at all! but Pellerin hadn't it." + +"Oh, why--he always has everything one wants!" + +"Well, he hadn't got that; and, what was better still, he didn't seem +to know the book at all!" + +"Nonsense!" + +"No, it's quite true! and he's an obstinate sort of beggar, too, he +would have it that it wasn't by the father--what's his name? ah! I've +forgotten already." + +"Dumas!" + +"Dumas! yes, that's it; and he kept on saying all the time, 'I know my +Dumas well enough, and that book was never written by him.' Well, +anyhow, he promised to try to get it, and to send it to you if it is +to be had." + +M. de Rueille was sorting out the letters, which had arrived during +breakfast-time. + +"Here's a letter from your bookseller, grandmamma," he said; "he +evidently has not been able to get it." + +"Open it, Paul, will you?" + +Rueille tore open the envelope, and, taking out the letter, read as +follows: + + "MADAM,--It is quite impossible to get the book which your + nephew asked for. As we were anxious to execute your order, + we sent to several of the principal booksellers, and even + wired to Paris, but we were informed that there is not, and + there never has been, a book entitled, 'Le Bâton de M. + Molard.'" + +"Le Bâton de M. Molard?" repeated the marchioness, not understanding +in the least. "What is he talking about?" and then, all at once, the +explanation of the mystery dawned upon her, and she exclaimed, in +consternation: "Ah, I see! 'Le Bâton de M. Molard' is 'Le Bâtard de +Mauléon,' translated by Pierrot into his own language. I was quite +right in wanting to write the title for him, but he would not hear of +it." + +M. de Jonzac turned his eyes up towards the ceiling with a tragic +gesture of despair. + +"He is incorrigible--absolutely hopeless," he said, half laughing and +half vexed. + +"I can't help it, I am as I was made," said Pierrot, blushing +furiously and very much annoyed. "And then, too, I didn't know what I +was doing yesterday; we were almost upset going into Pont-sur-Loire." + +"Almost upset?" exclaimed Madame de Bracieux, "upset! why, how?" + +"Because Bijou had the insane idea of wanting to go down the Rue +Rabelais with the coach; and so M. de Clagny went--the old fool." + +"Stop! that's enough!" interrupted the marchioness; "will you kindly +speak more respectfully when you have anything to say about my old +friend Clagny?" + +"Well, all the same, your old friend hasn't got his head screwed on +very well, considering his age. He might have killed us; and, besides +that, I can tell you we did kick up a shindy in the Rue Rabelais. The +coach scraped against the curb-stones; all the kids were running along +nearly under the horses' heels; then the sound of the horn brought all +the women to the windows, and didn't they exclaim when they saw what +it was. That part wasn't so bad, either, for there were some jolly +pretty ones, I can tell you; weren't there, Paul?" + +As M. de Rueille appeared to be preoccupied, and did not answer, +Pierrot turned to the abbé. + +"Weren't there, M. Courteil?" + +"I don't know," answered the abbé, with evident sincerity; "I was not +noticing." + +Pierrot did not intend to give in. + +"Oh, well, Bijou noticed them anyhow, for I can tell you she _did_ +look at them, and with eyes as sharp as needles, too; they shone like +anything." + +"I?" she exclaimed, her pretty face turning suddenly red. "It was your +fancy, Pierrot; I never saw anything. I was much too frightened." + +"Frightened of what?" asked the marchioness. + +"Why, of being upset, grandmamma. Pierrot is right about that; we were +nearly upset." + +"He is right, too, in saying that it was an insane idea to want to go +with a carriage and four horses down a wretched little street like +that; however could you have had such an idea?" + +Bijou glanced at Jeanne Dubuisson, who, with her eyes fixed on the +carpet, had turned very red, too, and was listening to the discussion +without taking any part in it. + +"Oh, really, I don't know. I think it was M. de Clagny telling me that +his horses were so well in hand that he could make them turn round on +a plate. And so, as the Rue Rabelais is rather narrow and winding, I +said: 'I am sure you could not go along Rue Rabelais.'" + +"No!" protested Pierrot, "it was not quite like that. You said, 'Let +us go down Rue Rabelais, I should like to see it.' And, then, as he +hesitated--for we may as well give him credit for having +hesitated--you stuck to it as hard as you could." + +"But," put in M. de Jonzac, seeing that Denyse looked annoyed, "what +interest could your cousin possibly have in wanting to go down that +street?" + +"That's what I wondered," said Pierrot, looking puzzled; and then, +suddenly taken with another idea, he added: "I can tell you there was +somebody who didn't like it, and that was M. de Bernès. I don't know +what took him, but he did pull a long face. Oh, my! I can tell you he +did look blue." + +Henry de Bracieux laughed. + +"I know why he was pulling such a long face, poor old Bernès; he was +afraid of being blown up--" + +"Blown up?" asked Bijou, innocently opening her limpid eyes wide in +surprise, whilst Jeanne's face, usually so impassive, turned almost +purple. "Blown up? by whom?" + +And then, as there was a dead silence, which became more and more +embarrassing, Bijou turned to her friend. + +"Let's go out for a stroll in the garden, Jeanne, shall we?" she said. + +"I'll come with you," remarked Pierrot promptly; but Bijou pushed him +gently back. + +"No! we shall do very well by ourselves, thank you; you would worry +us." + +As the two girls were descending the hall-door steps, Bijou said to +Jeanne, who was just behind her, and who had not quite recovered from +her embarrassment: + +"I know why you looked so conscious just now; you were thinking of the +gossip about that actress--I've forgotten her name--whom M. de Bernès +knows. I had not thought of it at the time, and so it did not trouble +me. You see I was right when I told you that it was a mistake to +listen to Mère Rafut's tales." + +"Yes, you always are right!" answered Jeanne pensively; "I said then +that you are always right!" + + * * * * * + +After Bijou's departure, the men one after another left the +drawing-room. + +"What's the matter, Bertrade?" asked the marchioness, as soon as she +found herself alone with Madame de Rueille. "Paul looked very queer +during breakfast!" + +"Did you think so?" said the young wife, not wishing either to +acknowledge it or to tell an untruth about the matter. + +"I did think so, and you looked queer too; and as I watched you both, +an idea dawned upon me." + +"And what is this idea?" + +"It is that my dear little Marcel is no more ill than I am, and that +the letter you showed me this morning is nothing but a pretext for +getting your husband away from here; is that so?" + +Madame de Rueille was too straightforward to be able to deny the fact. + +"It is so!" + +"And so you are jealous, and jealous of Bijou?" + +"Not jealous, oh, dear no! not in the least; but anxious." + +"About Bijou?" + +Madame de Rueille looked serious as she shook her pretty head. + +"No, about Paul." + +"You are not afraid of your husband going too far, I suppose?" + +"No!" + +"Well, what then?" + +"I am anxious about his peace of mind, and then, too, I do not care +for him to make himself completely ridiculous." + +"You must know, my dear Bertrade, that I have seen for some time past +that Paul was gone on Bijou, just as all the others are--for there is +no mistake about it, they all are; and the last few days I have +noticed that your abbé even has begun to lose his indifference; don't +you think so?" + +"It is very possible!" + +"Yes, and I am sure that he isn't going along quite so peacefully in +his worship of God as formerly?" + +"And that does not displease you either, grandmamma, does it? Come, +now, own it!" + +"Oh, well; as long as it is just a little beneficial upset for him, I +don't mind; but I should not like it to develop into anything +serious--you understand where I draw the line?" + +"No, because I always pity all those who are suffering from such +little upsets--as you call them--even when they are mild, I think they +are calculated to make people suffer greatly." + +"You always see a darker side of things than I do; at all events, I +think that the idea of carrying Paul off is a very excessive and +unwise kind of remedy. He keeps a strict guard over himself, and no +one suspects the true state of things except you--" + +"And all the others!" + +"Do you think so?" + +"I am sure of it." + +"Well, even if it be so, that is of no importance, provided that Bijou +does not suspect it herself. Why do you not answer?" + +"Because I am not of the same opinion as you, grandmamma, and you do +not like that as a rule, particularly when it is a question of Bijou." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Just what I said, nothing else." + +"Then, according to you, Bijou has noticed it from--" + +"From the very first day." + +"And even if that should be so, she cannot help it! Besides, what +danger does she run?" + +"None at all." + +"Paul is honourable." + +"Undoubtedly, and even if he were not, Bijou would have nothing to +fear for several reasons." + +"What are they?" + +"Well, in the first place--her own indifference. Paul makes about as +much impression on her, I believe, as a table." + +"Next?" + +"Next? Why, that's all!" + +"You said 'several reasons,'--you have given me one; let us hear what +the others are." + +"Oh, no!" said Madame de Rueille, "it was just my way of speaking." + +"Nonsense! you are not clever at telling untruths, my dear Bertrade; I +am pretty sure I know what you thought!" + +"I don't think you do." + +"Well, you'll see! You were thinking that one of the reasons why Bijou +will never take any notice of Paul is--" + +"Because he is married." + +"Yes, of course; but you fancy, too, I am sure of it, that Bijou is +thinking of someone else? Ah, you see! you don't answer now! Yes, you +believe, as your husband does--he told me so two or three days +ago--that she is madly in love with young Giraud!" + +"Oh, grandmamma, what an unlikely supposition! In the first place, +Bijou is not, and never will be, madly in love with anyone." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that when she marries, it will be in a reasonable, calm sort +of way, just as she does everything else." + +"But when will it be?" + +"When will it be? Well, I do not know exactly--soon, I think." + +"Then you are saying that just at random? You are speaking of the +future in just a vague sort of way?" + +"The future always is vague, grandmamma," answered Madame de Rueille, +smiling. + + + + +XII. + + +FOR a whole week there was scarcely anything else thought about but +the rehearsals of the little play, which was to be given the day after +the races. + +The La Balues, the Juzencourts, and Madame de Nézel, came to Bracieux +nearly every day, and M. de Clagny also, for he was very much +interested in the rehearsals. He acted as prompter when Giraud, who +had undertaken this post, was occupied, and he appeared to be +delighted whenever he saw Bijou acting. + +"Old Dubuisson" and M. Spiegel had been to dinner several times, and +Denyse, under the pretext of letting him be more with his _fiancée_, +had persuaded the young professor to take a minor rôle, in which he +was execrable. Perhaps Jeanne had noticed this, as the last few days +she seemed to be low-spirited, and she was not as even-tempered as +usual. Her father was astonished to see her frequently with tears in +her eyes, and for no apparent motive, so that at last he declared +that "she must be sickening for some illness or another." + +The Rueilles had not left Bracieux. Bertrade felt that everyone was +against her, as it were, and had resigned herself to the inevitable; +she had quite given up the plan she had proposed, and was now letting +herself drift along, carried forward by the society whirl in which she +was living. + +Young Bernès arrived one evening to invite the marchioness and her +guests to a paper-chase which was being organised by his regiment. He, +himself, was to be hare, and all kinds of obstacles were being put up; +there had never been so fine a paper-chase run in the forest. + +Bijou at once persuaded her grandmother to allow her to follow on +horseback, M. de Rueille and Jean de Blaye both answering for it that +nothing should happen to her. She was, besides, very prudent, like +most people who are accustomed to riding, and who ride well, and she +always managed to avoid accidents, and not to run useless risks. + +Madame de Bracieux kept Hubert to dinner, and in the evening, as she +watched Denyse talking to him, she said to Bertrade: + +"It's very odd. It seems to me that Bijou is not at all the same now +with that young man. She used to just give him an indifferent sort of +bow, and then leave him alone, and now it seems almost as though she +were 'gone' on him, to use your elegant language. She has quite +changed her attitude towards him," continued the marchioness, puzzled. + +"And he, too, has quite changed his attitude towards her," said Madame +de Rueille. + +"Yes, hasn't he? The first few times he came to Bracieux, I was struck +with his coolness towards our sweet girl, whom everyone adores. He was +just simply polite to her, and that was all." + +"At present, he is not very far gone, but there is considerable +progress; he is preparing to follow in the pathway which has been +beaten out by others." + +"Just lately, when you were talking to me about Bijou getting married, +had you any idea in the background?" asked the marchioness, looking at +Madame de Rueille. + +Bertrade repeated the question without replying to it. + +"An idea in the background?" + +"Yes. Were you, for instance, thinking that Bijou was in love with +this young Bernès?" + +"I told you that same day, grandmamma, that it is my belief Bijou is +not in love, never has been in love, and never will be in love with +anyone." + +"If you had said that, as you say it now, I should most certainly have +protested. It would be impossible, in my opinion, to be more +absolutely and completely mistaken than you are. Never to love +anyone?--Bijou!--when there never was anyone who needed to be loved +and petted as she does." + +"She needs to be loved and petted--yes, I grant that; but she always +requires people to love and pet her, and she does not feel the need of +loving and petting others in her turn." + +"In other words, she is selfish and cold-hearted?" questioned the +marchioness, her voice suddenly taking a harsh tone. "The fact is, +Bertrade, you have a grudge against Bijou, because of the charm there +is about her: you are angry with her, because no one can resist being +fascinated by her, and instead of blaming Paul, who is the real +culprit, you accuse the poor child in this cruel way." + +"I do not accuse Bijou any more than I do Paul, grandmamma: and I +should be all the less likely to accuse them, because I do not think +that we are exactly free agents in such matters; yes, I know that you +will be scandalised at my saying such a thing--I can see that very +well. You think it is blasphemy, don't you? And yet, Heaven knows that +the thoughts which come to me sometimes on this subject make me much +more tolerant and indulgent towards others--" + +M. de Clagny approached the two ladies just at this moment. + +"What are you two plotting in this little corner?" + +"Nothing," said Madame de Bracieux; "we were watching Bijou, who seems +to be taming your young friend Bernès." + +"Taming him? Whatever do you mean by that?" asked the count, turning +round with a disturbed look on his face. + +"Well, I mean just what everyone means when they make that remark! A +week ago, when the young man dined here with us, he was like an +icicle; well, I fancy that the thaw has set in." + +"Oh!" exclaimed M. de Clagny, suddenly looking serene again; "I forgot +that he has a love affair, and is so far gone that he fully intends to +marry this lady-love; and, as you can imagine, his father is not +delighted about it, by any means." And then, in an absent-minded way, +he added, "I feel perfectly easy, as far as he is concerned!" + +"Easy!" exclaimed Madame de Bracieux in astonishment "Why, easy! you +would not like Bijou to marry M. de Bernès, then? Why not?" + +"Well--she is so young," he stammered out, in a confused sort of way. + +"How do you mean, so young? She is quite old enough to marry; she will +be twenty-two in November, Bijou!" + +"Well, then, Hubert is too young for her; he is only a lad!" + +"I should certainly prefer seeing her married to a man rather more +settled down; but, if she should care for him, he is of good family, +and is wealthy, why should she not marry him as well as any other?" + +"Do you really think that Bijou cares for him?" asked M. de Clagny +anxiously. + +"I don't know anything about it at all," answered the marchioness, +laughing; "but anyhow, what can that matter to you? I can understand +that Jean or Henry should be disturbed in their minds--but you?" As he +did not reply, she went on: "It's a case of the dog in the manger: he +does not want the bone himself, but he does not want the others to +have it either. That is just your case, my poor friend, for, I +presume, you have no idea of marrying Bijou yourself?" + +He answered in a joking way, but there was a troubled look on his +face. + +"Oh, as to me, it is an idea that I should like very much; but she +would not; therefore it amounts to the same thing!" + +Bijou came up to them just at that moment, gliding along with her +light step. She was followed by young Bernès, who looked vexed about +something. + +"I cannot, really, mademoiselle," he was saying, "I assure you that I +cannot get away from my friends that day." + +"Oh, yes, you can; mustn't he, grandmamma?" asked Denyse merrily, +"mustn't M. de Bernès come to dinner here on the day of the +paper-chase? He is to be the hare, and the start is to be from the +'Cinq-Tranchées'--it is only a mile from Bracieux at the farthest." + +Madame de Bracieux was examining the young officer with interest, and +there was a kindly look in her eyes. + +"Why, certainly," she said, "he must come here to dinner; we shall all +be so pleased." + +"You are very kind, madame, to invite me, but I was explaining to +Mademoiselle de Courtaix that on that day, after the paper-chase, +which the regiment is getting up for the benefit of the residents, I +have promised faithfully to dine with several of my friends." And +glancing, in spite of himself, at Bijou, he added, "And I regret it +now, more than I can tell you!" + +Turning round on her high heels, Denyse glided off again to the other +end of the long room, where she was greeted by Pierrot with +reproachful words. + +"It was very mean of you to slope away from us like that, you know!" +exclaimed the boy. + +M. de Jonzac, who was playing billiards with the abbé, was also +keeping one ear open to catch what was going on round him. He now +protested against the way in which Pierrot expressed himself, even +supposing that the reproach itself were just. + +"Well, yes," answered his son, "it's quite true that I'm not +over-particular about what words I use, but that doesn't prevent what +I said being true; and the others said it too, just now; I wasn't the +only one." + +"Mademoiselle," said Giraud, who was standing near the large +bay-window, looking out at the sky, "you said yesterday that you liked +shooting stars--I have never seen so many as there are to-night." + +"Really?" replied Denyse, going to the window, and leaning her arms on +the ledge, side by side with the tutor, "are there as many as all +that? What's that to the left?" she asked, bending forward. "I can see +something white on the terrace." + +"It is Mademoiselle Dubuisson, who is strolling about with her father +and M. Spiegel." + +"Ah! supposing we went out to them--shall we?" + +Giraud led the way at once, only too happy to go out for a stroll on +this beautiful starry night. When they were near the terrace, she +stopped suddenly. + +"Perhaps we shall be _de trop_," she said; "they may be talking of +private affairs. Let us go to the chestnut avenue, and they'll come to +us if they want to." + +She descended the marble steps, and they were soon in the dark avenue, +under the thick chestnut trees. The young man had followed her, his +heart beating with excitement, almost beside himself with joy. They +walked along for some little time without speaking, and then at last +Bijou looked up, trying to catch a glimpse of the sky between the +branches of the trees. + +"We shall not see much of the shooting stars here," she said. + +"Oh, yes," answered Giraud, who did not want to leave this shady walk, +where he had Bijou all to himself, "we can see them all the same. +Look, there's one, did you see it?" + +"Not distinctly, and not long enough to be able to wish anything." + +"To wish anything? but what?" + +"Oh! anything. Why! do you mean to say you did not know that when you +see a shooting star you ought to wish something?" + +"No, I did not know. And does your wish get fulfilled?" + +"They say so." + +"Well, then, mademoiselle, have you a wish quite ready this time, so +that you will not be taken unawares?" + +"Yes, certainly, I have one; but it can never be realised." + +"Ah! I dare not ask you what." + +"I should like to be quite different from what I am," she replied, +very gently. "Yes, I should like to be a very pretty girl, in quite +humble circumstances, so that I need not be obliged to go into +society, and so that I could marry just whom I liked. I should like to +be, in fact, happy according to my own idea of things, without +troubling anything about social prejudices and conventionalities." + +"Why should you wish that?" he asked, in a voice that trembled +slightly. + +"So that I should have the right to love anyone who loved me. I mean, +openly; without having to keep it to myself." And then she added, in +a very low voice, "And without reproaching myself for it." + +She was walking quite close to him, so close, that their shoulders +touched at every step. + +Giraud was quite agitated with conflicting emotions. + +"You say that--as if--as if--you did care for someone?" he stammered +out. + +He knew that she had turned her face towards him, but she did not +speak. + +Just at this moment a screech-owl, which was perched quite near them +amongst the thick, dark looking foliage of the trees, gave a sudden, +wailing, cry, which startled Bijou. She knocked against Giraud as she +jumped aside in her fright, and he instinctively put his arms round +her. Her soft, perfumed hair brushed against his lips, making him lose +his head completely. He forgot everything, and, utterly oblivious of +all that separated him from the young girl, he drew her closer to him +in a passionate embrace, and murmured tenderly: + +"Denyse!" + +She let him do as he liked, without offering any resistance, but when, +at last, he set her free, she said, in a tender, plaintive tone: + +"Oh! how wrong it was of you to have done that, how wrong of you!" And +then she hid her face in her hands, and he could hear that she was +crying. + +He tried to console her, but she would not allow him to stay. + +"No, go away, please," she said: "they will be wondering where you +are. I shall come in directly, when I am myself again." + +As he was starting off in the direction of the terrace, she called him +back. + +"Not that way," she said. "Go round by the pool. Don't let them think +you have come from here." + +"Let me stay another minute, just to ask you to forgive me. Let me +kiss those little hands that I love--" + +"Please go! Please go!" she said, in a tone that sounded as though she +mistrusted herself. + +Before turning into the walk that led round by the pool, Giraud +stopped a minute to get another glimpse of Denyse, who, in her light +dress, looked like a white spot against the dark background of the +trees. He could hear that she was still crying. + + * * * * * + +"Is that you, Bijou?" asked Jean de Blaye, coming forward in the thick +darkness. + +"Who is it?" asked the young girl, drawing herself up. + +"It is I--Jean! Why, do you mean to say that you won't even do me the +honour of recognising my voice. What are you doing out here in this +pitch darkness?" + +"I am taking a stroll." + +"All alone?" + +"I came out to join the Dubuissons, but I thought afterwards that it +was better not to disturb them, and so I came here all alone." + +"It must be quite a change for you to be alone, isn't it? And what in +the world do you do when you are all by yourself?" + +"I think." + +"Oh! what a big word!" + +"Well, I dream dreams, if you like that better?" + +"Well I never! That's what I never should have thought you would do. +They are surely not in the least like ordinary dreams--yours?" + +"Because--?" + +"Because dreams are usually incoherent, strange and quite improbable." + +"Well?" + +"Well, your dreams must be admirably sensible and reasonable; they +must resemble you." + +"Thank you." + +"For what?" + +"Well, for the pleasant things you are saying." + +"Oh! they are not exactly pleasant things; they are true, though. +Besides, I have not come here just to say pleasant things to you, but +to talk to you seriously." + +"Seriously?" + +"Yes! I have undertaken a mission for some one else. I have promised +to speak to you to the best of my ability in the name of some one who +did not care to speak for himself." + +"Who is this some one else?" + +"Henry! He begged me to ask you whether you would authorise him to ask +grandmamma for your hand?" + +"My hand! Henry?" she exclaimed, and her accent expressed her +bewilderment. + +"Is that so very astonishing?" + +"Why, yes!--it is as though he were my brother--Henry!" + +"Well, but he is not your brother, nevertheless; therefore do not let +us trouble about him as a brother, but as a lover. What is your +answer?" + +"My answer! why does Henry apply to me first? Instead of asking my +permission to speak to grandmamma, he ought to have asked grandmamma's +permission to speak to me." + +"There; didn't I say that you were a most excellent little person, +always knowing the correct thing, and all the rest of it!" + +"Is it wrong of me to be like that?" + +"Oh, no! it is not wrong--on the contrary! only it is a trifle +embarrassing. Tell me, now that I have made this mistake in speaking +to you first, will you give me an answer? or must I set to work to put +matters right again, by applying now to grandmamma, who in her turn +will apply to you, etc., etc." + +"No, I will give you my answer." + +"Well, then, let me finish my rigmarole. Count Henry de Bracieux was +born on the 22nd of January, 1870. His entire fortune, until after the +death of his grandmother, consists of twenty-four thousand pounds, +which amount brings in--" + +"Oh! you needn't trouble to tell me about money matters; in the first +place, they don't interest me, and then, as I do not wish to marry +Henry, it is useless to tell me all that!" + +"Ah! you do not wish to marry him! Why?" + +"For several reasons, the best of which is that I know him too well." + +"It certainly is not very flattering, this reason of yours!" + +"I mean what I said just now, that, living with Henry as I have done +for the last four years, I consider him as a brother." + +"Then that applies to me, too; do you look upon me, too, as a +brother?" asked Jean de Blaye, trying to speak in an indifferent tone. + +"You, oh, no! not at all; you are thirty-five at least!" + +"No, thirty-three." + +"Only that?--ah, well, it's all the same! you don't seem to me like a +brother!" + +She was silent a moment, thinking, whilst he stood waiting, with a +sort of vague hope. + +"You seem to me more like an uncle," she said at last. + +"Oh!" remarked Jean, with an accent that betrayed his vexation, "that +is very nice." + +"You are annoyed with me for saying that?" she asked, in her pretty, +coaxing way. + +"Oh, not at all! I am delighted, on the contrary; it is very +satisfactory, for, with you, one knows exactly what to count on; and +then, if one has any delusions, well, they don't have to hang fire." + +"You had delusions--what were they?" + +"No, I hadn't one of any kind." + +"Oh, yes, I can tell by your voice; you speak in a sharp, bitter, +irritated way. Tell me why you are so bad-tempered all in a minute?" +she asked, in a coaxing tone, leaning against him, and looking up into +his face. + +He stepped back from her as he answered: + +"When one is not very good to start with, and one has trouble, it +makes one go to the bad; it is inevitable!" + +"And you have trouble?" + +"Yes." + +"Is it very bad?" + +"Well, quite bad enough, thank you!" + +"Poor Jean; things don't go as you want them to, then?" + +"What do you mean? What are you talking about?" + +"Why, about--oh, you know very well! I told you the other evening!" + +"That again!" he said, getting more and more worked up; "how foolish +you are!" + +"What, do you mean that you do not care for Madame de Nézel?" +exclaimed Bijou. + +"Madame de Nézel is a charming woman," he stammered out, in an +embarrassed way. "She is an excellent friend whom I like very much, +very much indeed, but not in the way you imagine." + +"Ah! so much the worse for you; she is a widow, and she is rich; she +would just have suited you. Well, then, you like someone else?" + +"Yes." + +"Someone you cannot marry?" + +"Exactly." + +"Why? isn't she rich enough?" + +"Oh, no, it is not that; if she had not a farthing it would be all the +same to me; it is the other way round, I am not rich enough for her, +and then--she would not have me." + +"You do not know; you ought to tell her that you love her." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Why, of course--try that, at any rate." + +"Very well, then, Bijou, I love you with all my heart--but I know that +there is no hope, and, unfortunate wretch that I am, I dare not even +ask for any." + +"You love _me_!" she exclaimed, in deep distress, and then, stopping +short, she repeated: "_you_--Jean?" + +"Yes, and what about you? you detest me, do you not?" + +"Oh, Jean, how can you say such things? You know very well that I love +you, though not in the way you want me to, or as I should like to be +able to, but very much, all the same; indeed I do." + +She put her hand on his shoulder, obliging him to stand still, and +then passed her hand over his eyes. + +"Oh, Jean," she exclaimed, in great grief, "tears, and all because of +me! Oh, please, don't--no, indeed you must not; do you hear me, Jean?" + +He took the little hand, which was stroking his face, and kissed it +passionately. Then putting Bijou, who was clinging to him, gently +aside, he left her abruptly, and strode off alone. + + + + +XIII. + + +"THEN, you really mean that you are going?" asked Bijou sorrowfully, +as Jeanne Dubuisson folded her dresses into the tray of a long basket +trunk. + +"Yes," answered the young girl, absorbed in what she was doing, and +without even looking up. "I have been here a long time; it would be +taking advantage to stay longer, you know." + +"You know very well that it would be nothing of the kind; and it was +almost settled that you were to stay until Monday, and then, all at +once, you changed your mind. What is the matter?" + +"Why, nothing at all. What do you imagine could be the matter?" + +"If I knew, I should not ask you. Come, now! what can it be? you don't +seem to find things too dull?" + +"Oh, Bijou, however could I find things dull?" + +"Oh, well, you might; and yet, you see your _fiancé_ almost as much as +when you were at Pont-sur-Loire." + +"Oh, no--" + +"Oh, yes; let us reckon, shall we? M. Spiegel went to Paris for +Saturday, Sunday, and Monday; Tuesday he came here to dinner with M. +Dubuisson; Wednesday he came alone; Thursday he managed to swallow the +confirmation luncheon, poor man; Friday he was here to dinner; and +every day we have been rehearsing our play either before or after +dinner, so that he has never been away from you." + +"Yes, that's true," answered Jeanne reluctantly; "but if he has not +been away from me, he has scarcely troubled about me at all." + +"How do you mean?" + +"How? Oh! it is simple enough! He has only troubled about you; he has +talked to no one but you." + +"To me?" + +"Yes, to you--there! I may as well own it, Bijou; I am +jealous--frightfully jealous." + +"Jealous of whom? Of me?" asked Denyse, with a startled look. + +Mademoiselle Dubuisson nodded, and then she proceeded to explain, +whilst the tears rose to her eyes: + +"You must forgive me for telling you this. I can see that I am causing +you pain, but it is better, is it not, to tell the truth, than to let +you suspect all kinds of wrong reasons? You are not angry with me?" + +"No; not at all!" And then Bijou added sorrowfully: "It is you who +ought rather to be angry with me. But you are mistaken, I assure you! +M. Spiegel, who is very polite, has taken notice of me simply because +I am the grandchild of his hostess, and not for any other reason." + +"He has taken notice of you for the same reason which makes everyone +take notice of you--just because you are adorable, and you know that +very well!" + +"Oh, no! I--" + +"It was quite certain that he would be fascinated by you, just as all +the others are, and I was very silly not to have foreseen what would +happen. I counted too much on his affection--I thought that he loved +me just as I love him--I was mistaken, that's all!" + +"Then I shall not see anything more of you? You will avoid all +opportunities of meeting me?" + +"No; we shall spend the whole of the day together at the paper-chase." + +"As you will be driving, and I shall be riding, I shall not be much in +your way." + +Bijou was silent for a minute, and then she began again in an anxious +tone: + +"You don't think, at any rate, that it is my fault--what has +happened?" + +"No," answered Jeanne; "I don't think anything, except that you are a +charming girl, and I am merely common-place. Bijou, dear, don't make +yourself wretched about it, please!" + +"I should be so unhappy if I were not to see anything more of you!" + +"But you will see me! The day after to-morrow I am coming back to +Bracieux for your play. I must, you know, considering that we are both +acting, M. Spiegel and I." + +"Why do you say, 'M. Spiegel'? Why do you not say Franz like you +always do? Are you angry with him?" + +"On Saturday," continued Jeanne, without answering Bijou's question, +"we shall see each other at the races, and then again at the +Tourvilles' dance; you see we shall scarcely be separated at all." + +"All the same it won't be as though you were staying here," answered +Bijou, with a sorrowful look, "and, then, too, I know very well that +you are going away feeling different towards me." + +Just at this moment the maid entered the room. + +"Madame wishes to speak to mademoiselle in the drawing-room." + +"In the drawing-room at this time of day!" exclaimed Bijou, in +surprise. + +"M. de Clagny is there." + +"Oh! very well! Say that I am coming at once." + +"Will you go down with me?" asked Bijou, turning to Mademoiselle +Dubuisson. + +"No, I want to finish packing my trunk, as it is to be sent to +Pont-sur-Loire after luncheon." + + * * * * * + +A quarter of an hour later, Bijou returned in great glee. + +"Ah! you don't know something. We are going to spend the evening +together to-day!" + +"Where?" + +"Guess!" + +"Oh! I don't know. At the theatre?" + +"Right! How did you guess that?" + +"Because you said over and over again before M. de Clagny how much you +wanted to go to that performance organised by the _Dames de France_. I +suppose he has offered you a box?" + +"Two boxes! yes, just imagine it; two beautiful big boxes, each one +for six persons! And so we have at once arranged with your father +that you are to come--M. Spiegel as well, of course--I forgot to tell +you that they are there--your father and M. Spiegel. M. de Clagny +brought them with him." + +"But three of us will be too many for you," began Jeanne. + +"When I have just told you that there are twelve places! Come, +now--Grandmamma and I, that makes two, and you three, that makes five; +there are seven places over, and no one wants to come." + +"The Rueilles?" + +"Paul, but not Bertrade; that makes six. Neither Jean nor Henry are +coming, nor Uncle Alexis either, and Pierrot has got into a scrape. +Then there is M. de Clagny, and I thought of offering a place to M. +Giraud, so that makes us eight altogether." + +Mademoiselle Dubuisson did not speak, and Bijou went on: + +"You do not care about spending this evening with us, or, rather, with +me, and so you are trying to find a pretext?" + +"Oh, no, I am not trying to find anything: besides, since it is all +arranged with papa--" + +"Yes, it is quite settled. I had invited M. de Bernès, too; but he +makes out that he cannot come, because he is going with his friends." + +"Where did you see M. de Bernès?" + +"In the drawing-room just a minute ago. Ah, of course you did not +know. He has come to bring the invitation for M. Giraud. Jean wrote to +him for it, because M. Giraud wanted to go to the paper-chase, and as +there are refreshments offered by the officers to their guests, +grandmamma is so scrupulous that she would not take him without an +invitation." + +"Then M. de Bernès is staying to luncheon, too?" + +"No, he has gone again; he is the hare, you know, and the +meeting-place is at the cross-roads at three o'clock; it is quite near +for us, but for those who come from Pont-sur-Loire, it's a good step." + +"What time do we start?" + +"At half-past two the carriages, and a quarter past two those who are +riding--Do you know--I feel inclined to dress before luncheon, so that +I should not have to think any more about it." + +"You have half an hour." + +"Well, you are ready. Come with me while I dress, will you?" + +Jeanne followed Bijou in a docile way, as the latter hurried along +the corridors, singing as she went. + +"You are always gay," remarked Jeanne, "but this morning it seems to +me that you are particularly joyful. What is it that makes you so?" + +"Why, nothing! I am delighted about the paper-chase, and the theatre; +then, too, it is beautiful weather, the sky is so blue, the flowers so +fresh and beautiful, it seems to me delicious to be alive--but that's +all!" + +"Oh, well, that's something at any rate." + +"Sit down," said Bijou, pushing Mademoiselle Dubuisson into a cosy +arm-chair. + +Jeanne sat down, and looked round at the pretty room. The walls were +hung with pale pink cretonne, with a design of large white poppies. +The ceiling, too, was pink, and the Louis Seize furniture was +lacquered pink. There were flowers everywhere, in strange-shaped glass +vases, and the air was laden with a delicious, penetrating perfume, a +mixture of chypre, iris, and a scent like new-mown hay. + +Jeanne inhaled this perfume with delight. + +"What do you put in your room to make it smell like this?" she asked. + +"Does it smell of something? I do not smell anything--anyhow, I don't +use scent for it," answered Bijou, sniffing the air around her with +all her might. + +"Oh! why, that's incredible!" exclaimed Jeanne astounded. "But do you +mean truly that you do not put anything at all to scent your room?" + +"Absolutely nothing." + +Denyse was moving about, getting everything she required before +changing her dress. She was not long in putting on her habit, and as +she stood before the long glass, putting a few finishing touches to +her toilette, Jeanne could not help admiring her. + +"How well it fits you!" she said. "It looks as though it had been +moulded on you--it really is perfection! And then, too, you have such +a pretty figure!" + +Denyse was just putting a pearl pin into her white cravat. The point +broke with a little sharp click. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Jeanne, "what a pity!" + +"It doesn't matter," answered Bijou, "for it was not up to much. If I +win my bet with M. de Bernès, I will let him give me a strong pin," +and then, with a laugh, she added: "and not an expensive one, so that +it will not seem like a present." + +"You have made a bet with M. de Bernès?" + +"Yes." + +"And you have to choose your present?" + +"Yes. Is there any harm in it?" + +"Harm? No! but it is odd." + +"Well! you are like grandmamma. She was scandalised, grandmamma was." + +"Well, it is odd, you know! And what have you been betting--you and M. +de Bernès?" + +"I, that there would be, at least, one accident at the paper-chase; +and he, that there would not be one at all." + +"Well, but that's very possible." + +"Oh, no! it is not very possible! There always are accidents; it would +be the first paper-chase without one. Take notice that it is merely a +question of a fall--just a simple fall--the person falls down, and is +picked up again. I do not predict that anyone will be killed, you +understand?" + +"Well, don't you go and have a fall, at any rate." + +"Oh, as to me!" said Bijou, her eyes shining with merriment, "there is +no danger. Patatras has never been stronger on his legs. Pass me the +scissors, will you, please, they are just by the side of you?" + +Jeanne watched her admiringly as she stood in front of the long +glass. + +"There is not a single crease anywhere in your habit, and what a +pretty figure you have, really, Bijou." + + * * * * * + +When, at a quarter past two, punctual, as usual, Bijou appeared on the +stone steps in front of the half-door, she found Henry de Bracieux +there, Jean de Blaye, and Pierrot. M. de Rueille had not yet come +downstairs. + +The horses, which had been waiting a few minutes, were somewhat +restless, as the flies were worrying them. Patatras alone was +perfectly calm, nibbling at the hazel tree, and looking peaceably at +what was going on around him. + +Presently Bertrade opened a window, and called out: + +"Don't wait for Paul. He is only just beginning to dress. He will +catch you up." + +"Would you like to start, Bijou?" proposed Jean. + +"I feel almost inclined to let you start without me," she answered, in +an undecided way. "Your three horses are jumping about like mad +things; they will excite Patatras, who is quite peaceful now. Start +on, at any rate--I will join you out there. Nothing annoys me more +than to ride a horse that is pulling so that you can hardly hold him +in, and that is what I should have to put up with, for certain, if I +start with you." + +"Then you are going to wait for Paul?" asked Henry, looking +bad-tempered. + +Bijou pointed to the carriages, which were just coming out of the +stable-yard. + +"No, I am going to escort grandmamma." + +"Well, that is just what will rouse your horse up," said Jean de +Blaye. + +"Oh, no! Don't you think I know my horse? Anyhow, all I ask you is to +start off, and not to trouble yourselves about me." + +"You are charming, really," observed Pierrot, moving towards his pony, +and then turning towards the others, he added majestically, although, +in a vexed tone: "Let us leave her, then, as she does not want to go +with us." + +"I think that's the only choice left us in the matter," answered Jean, +half vexed and half laughing, as he mounted his horse. + +Just as they were all three disappearing round the bend of the drive, +M. de Clagny came out of the hall. He was looking to see whether his +mail-coach had been put in, and was astonished to find Bijou there. + +"How nice you look in that red habit," he said, in his admiration. +"Generally, red makes anyone look pale, but you--why, it makes you +look rosier than ever, if that is possible." + +When he heard that she was going to accompany the carriages as far as +the meeting-place he was perfectly happy. + +The marchioness soon arrived, followed by all the others. She got into +the landau with the Dubuissons and M. Spiegel, whilst M. de Clagny +took on his coach Madame de Rueille, the children, Abbé Courteil, M. +de Jonzac, and M. Giraud. The latter was hypnotised to such a degree +by Bijou, who was waiting, ready mounted, for the others to start, +that he almost fell off the coach instead of sitting down. + +The sun was shining brilliantly when they at last set out on their +journey. M. de Clagny was much more taken up with Bijou than with the +four horses he was driving. He watched her trotting in front of him, +near to the carriage in which the marchioness was driving. + +It was the first time he had seen her on horseback, and she seemed to +him incomparably pretty and elegant. Whilst he was thus watching her +with singular attention, Madame de Bracieux called out to her from the +landau: + +"What a horribly hot day it is, Bijou dear. I don't like to see you in +this blazing sunshine!" + +Denyse turned round with a very rosy face. + +"Nor do I either, grandmamma, I don't like to see myself in it at +all!" She was silent a moment and then she continued: "When we come +across Jean, Henry, and Pierrot, I shall desert you." + +"Do you think we shall come across them?" + +"Oh, yes, certainly! They are going along through the wood, almost the +same road that we are taking with the carriages. They are only some +twelve or fifteen yards away from us; I heard them a little while ago. +As soon as I see them I shall leave you!" + +M. de Clagny called to Bijou in order to warn her about a hundred +things to avoid. In the coppice she was to beware of the branches; +that very morning he had been almost taken out of his saddle when +galloping in the wood. She was to take care, too, of the burrows--the +wood was full of them; and then she was not to jump all in a heap, as +it were; she must never do that, but always remember to lean forward +or hold back. + +She listened to all this advice smilingly, and with a certain +affectionate deference. + +"How good you are, Bijou!" he finished up with at last. "How is it you +do not tell your old friend who worries you so to go about his +business?" + +Just at this moment a horseman crossed the road about two hundred +yards in front of the carriages, and entered the forest. + +"Ah!" said the count, "there's Bernès throwing his paper! he's gone in +for the right way of doing things, that is, to go along the whole +route first in the opposite direction, dropping the paper, then +afterwards one has only to fly along, without troubling about +anything." + +"What time is it?" asked Bijou. + +"Twenty minutes to three," answered Bertrade, looking at her watch. +"We shall get to the meet much too soon." + +M. de Clagny let his horses walk, and Bijou caught up with the landau +again, and began talking to Jeanne. Suddenly she bent her head as +though listening to something. + +"Ah, there they are!" she exclaimed. "I can hear them!" + +"Whom do you hear?" asked the marchioness. + +"Why, the others; they are there, and I am going to them. Good-bye, +grandmamma." She crossed the ditch at the side of the road, and then +pulled up, and, throwing a kiss to Jeanne, called out: "Good-bye to +you, too." + +But the landau was some distance on, and the coach was just passing. +Giraud, seated at the back with the children, was the only one who +was looking in Bijou's direction, and it was he who received the +farewell kiss she threw to her friend. + +"Are you sure to find them?" asked the count, turning round on the +box-seat. + +"Why, they are only a few steps away," she answered, pointing to the +wood. "I have just seen Henry." + +Whereupon she disappeared in the thicket, and M. de Clagny looked +after her, with an anxious expression on his face. + +As soon as she had found a path, Bijou set off at a gallop, going +straight ahead, listening eagerly, and looking out as far as she could +see in front of her through the gloom of the wood. + +Quite suddenly she turned abruptly aside, and rode some little +distance into the brushwood, where she remained without moving, and +doing all she could to prevent Patatras from making the dead branches +crackle under his feet. + +Along the path which she had just left came Henry de Bracieux, Jean de +Blaye, and Pierrot. + +When they were almost level with the spot where Denyse was hiding, +they pulled up to wait for a horse that they heard galloping quite +near them. + +"Whatever have you been doing?" asked Henry, as M. de Rueille appeared +in sight. "It is quite ten minutes ago since we saw you at the bottom +of the Belles-Feuilles road." + +"Where is Bijou?" asked M. de Rueille anxiously, without replying to +Henry's question. + +"She left us in the lurch, and started with the carriages," answered +Pierrot contemptuously. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Rueille, in a disappointed tone. And then, turning to +his brother-in-law, he continued: "What have I been doing? well, I +stopped a minute or two to speak to Bernès, who was with his +lady-love; she had come in a cab to a quiet spot, where no one would +think of meeting her, just for the sake of seeing Bernès for two or +three minutes; they cannot go a day without seeing each other. She's a +very pretty girl." + +"Yes," said Jean de Blaye, "and a sweet little thing too; and she's +been well brought up." + +"I had never seen her so near before." + +"Now that your horse has had a rest, Paul, we had better get on our +way, or we shall miss the start." + +"Yes," answered M. de Rueille, setting off again; "but we have plenty +of time. Bernès is behind me, you know." + +As soon as they had gone on some distance, Bijou came out of the +brushwood again. Her complexion was wonderfully brilliant, and eyes +shone with the deep blue flame which sometimes made their usually +gentle expression disconcerting. + + * * * * * + +Hubert de Bernès stayed a few minutes, after M. de Rueille had left +him, talking to Lisette Renaud. + +"Well, then, it is settled?" asked the pretty actress. "In spite of +the dinner, you will come early to the theatre?" + +"Yes." + +"You will stay in my _loge_?" + +"No! I must appear in the theatre." + +"But you have a horror of _La Vivandière_,--which I can quite +understand--and yet you are going to see it again?" + +When Bijou had invited Bernès to come into Madame de Bracieux's box, +he had refused, knowing that it would grieve Lisette to see him there. + +Mademoiselle de Courtaix was very well known in Pont-sur-Loire, and +was greatly admired by society women and those who were not society +women. Her costumes were imitated, and her wonderful beauty envied, +for it was said that she was quite irresistible. The young lieutenant +was perfectly aware that he, too, had been fascinated by her charms +the last few days. His affection for Lisette had hitherto rendered him +proof against all such fascination. He was passionately fond of the +faithful and devoted young actress, who, for the last two years, had +loved him so truly, and who would never accept from him any presents +but flowers or trifling souvenirs, which were of no pecuniary value. + +Lisette earned some thirty pounds a month at the Pont-sur-Loire +theatre, and she had declared that she would not receive from him any +presents whatever of any value. He had not dared to insist, as he had +feared to wound her feelings, or to cause an estrangement between +them. She was very beautiful, but he loved her more for her qualities +of mind and heart than for her beauty. + +Since he had begun to pay attention to Bijou, whom, until now, he had +scarcely ever noticed, he had felt greatly disturbed. It was all in +vain that he had said to himself, over and over again, that Lisette, +with her large expressive eyes, her delicate complexion, her +dazzlingly white teeth, and her beautiful, elegant figure, was far +prettier than Mademoiselle de Courtaix. In spite of all this, Bijou's +violet eyes, her curly hair, and tempting lips, haunted him. + +Lisette, although she had no idea that her happiness was in danger, +felt a sort of uneasiness take possession of her, and a vague sadness +come over her. She could not understand why Bernès should answer her +question in such a harsh way. + +"I shall have to see _La Vivandière_ again because, in order to refuse +a seat that was offered me in a box, I was obliged to say that I had +promised to go with some of my brother-officers to the theatre." + +"Who was it who offered you a place?" + +"An old lady whom you do not know--Madame de Bracieux--you are much +wiser now, are you not?" + +"Madame de Bracieux," she said, feeling sad, without knowing exactly +why she should feel so. "She is the grandmother of Mademoiselle de +Courtaix." + +"How did you know that?" he asked, in surprise. + +"Why, just as everyone else knows it in Pont-sur-Loire." + +"In the meantime," he said, in an irritated tone, "I shall miss the +meet if I don't look out." + +"Don't stay," said Lisette regretfully, "enjoy yourself--and I shall +see you this evening?" + +"Yes--this evening." Just as he was entering the wood, he turned +round in his saddle, and called out: "Above all, take care that they +do not see you; don't go where the carriages are." + +And then, taking the path along which Bijou had gone, some little time +before, he put his horse to a sharp gallop, in order to make up for +lost time. Suddenly he stopped short, trying to distinguish something +which he saw some distance ahead of him. + +"Well!" he said to himself, "if it isn't a horse without its +rider!--some fine gentleman has got himself landed already." As he +drew nearer, he saw that the horse had a lady's saddle, and he uttered +a cry as he perceived Bijou lying on her back on the grass to the +right of the path. One of her arms was stretched out crosswise, and +the other was down at her side, her eyes were closed, and her lips +parted. + +Bernès sprang to the ground, fastened his horse up, and then taking +Denyse in his arms, tried to prop her up against a tree. When, +however, the girl's head fell languidly on his shoulder, he drew her +to him, and, bending over her, kissed her soft curly hair over and +over again. + +"Bijou, dear Bijou!" he murmured, in spite of himself; "listen to me, +will you? answer me--speak to me--I am so wretched seeing you like +this." + +At the end of two or three minutes Denyse gave a very gentle sigh, and +opened her eyes slowly. + +At the sight of Bernès her grave face lighted up with a smile. + +"Ah!" she murmured, "wasn't it stupid, that fall?" + +"How did you manage it?" he asked. + +"I don't know. I fancy my horse put his foot in a hole." + +"And you went up in the air?" + +"That was it," she answered, laughing. + +"Are you hurt?" + +"Not the least bit in the world!" And then she added pensively: "It's +very nice of you to trouble about me, and all the more so as you do +not like me, I know." + +Hubert de Bernès turned as red as a tomato. + +"Oh, mademoiselle, how can you think--" + +"I do think so--" + +"Well, but," he began, in an anxious voice, "tell me at least whatever +makes you imagine such a thing?" + +"Oh, everything and nothing; it would take too long to explain. Well, +this morning, for instance, when I asked you to go with us to the +theatre, you looked quite annoyed, and you refused; oh, yes--out and +out. Well, why did you refuse?" + +"But, mademoiselle, I--I assure you--" + +"There you see, you cannot find a word to say, not even the most +common-place excuse." + +Shaking her head so that her hair came down and fell over the young +man's shoulder and against his face, she went on talking, laughing all +the time, and still leaning against him for support. + +"I don't mind, though, at all, for whether you want to or not now, you +will have to come with us to the theatre; you cannot refuse." + +"But--" + +"Oh, there is no but about it. I will have that now for the payment of +our bet." + +"Our bet?" + +"Well, did we not make a bet? I, that there would be an accident, +because there always are accidents, you know; and you, that there +would not be one at all." + +"Yes, but--" + +"Well, it seems to me that this is one. Don't you consider it +enough--my accident? Well, I wonder what more you want?" + +"Yes, it's true," he managed to stammer out. "What an idiot I am! the +fact is, I was so frightened--if you only knew." + +She looked up at him with a sweet expression in her beautiful eyes, +and he was fascinated by her sweetness. + +"Thank you again," she said, holding out her little hand to him; +"thank you for looking after me; and now you had better go on +quickly." + +"But can you mount again?" + +"Not just yet--I feel a sort of stiffness, and a tired feeling all +over. No, will you go on and tell M. de Clagny to come with his +carriage and fetch me; don't say anything about it to the others; I +don't want grandmamma to know." + +As Hubert de Bernès was holding her hand pressed against his lips, +Bijou went on impatiently: + +"Go now, quickly! ask M. de Clagny to leave his carriage on the road, +and explain to him that he will find me in the wood near the road, +just where I left him a little while ago. And will you fasten Patatras +to a tree before you go away? Thank you!" She looked at him again with +her sweetest expression, and asked once more: "It's settled, then, for +this evening, isn't it?" + +"Yes, it's quite settled," he answered. + +As soon as he was out of sight, she lay down again in exactly the same +position in which Bernès had found her. + +A little later the sound of carriage-wheels was heard along the road, +and M. de Clagny, getting down from his coach, entered the wood. At +the sight of Bijou, he uttered a cry of horror, and, rushing to her, +took her in his arms in his anxiety and anguish. + +"Bijou, my love! my darling! dear little Bijou!" And then, like +Bernès, he added: "listen to me, Bijou dear; answer me; please speak +to me!" + +He kissed her soft hair, and drew her closer and closer to him, until +at last she opened her eyes, and looked up at him with her pretty, +innocent expression; and then, as though she were going to sleep +again, she murmured, as she laid her head confidingly against him: + +"Ah, you are so nice to me; and I am so happy like this! I should like +to stay here always!" + + + + +XIV. + + +"COME in!" called out Bijou. + +She was standing in front of the glass, brushing her hair leisurely. +The more she brushed, the more her hair curled, and scented the +atmosphere at the same time with a delicate perfume. + +"The Count de Clagny has come, mademoiselle, to ask how you are?" said +the maid. + +"How I am?" + +"After the accident yesterday." + +"Ah, yes! I had forgotten it!" And, going to the window, she asked: +"Is he driving?" + +"No, mademoiselle, he came on horseback; but he is in the +drawing-room." + +"Oh, very well, I will go down!" + +As soon as the domestic had gone, Bijou slipped on another _peignoir_ +quickly. She then put on some pink kid slippers without heels, which +made her little feet look delightfully droll, and with her hair +hanging loosely down over the frilled collar of her long, loose dress, +she ran downstairs to M. de Clagny. + +On seeing her enter the room, the count rose quickly. His face looked +drawn and tired, and there was a sad expression in his eyes. + +"How good of you to have put yourself about to come so early on my +account!" said Bijou, holding out both her hands to him. He pressed +them to his lips whilst she went on: "Why, it is scarcely eight +o'clock! you must have started from La Norinière awfully early!" + +"Don't let us trouble about me; but tell me how you are?" + +"Why, I am perfectly well, thank you! You saw yesterday that I +followed the paper-chase just as though I had not had any fall +beforehand; and then, in the evening at the theatre, I did not look +ill, did I?" + +"No, not exactly ill; but at the theatre it seemed to me that you were +a little excitable and nervous." And then he added sadly: "I did not +see much of you though, either; you scarcely troubled about anyone but +Hubert de Bernès, and you quite forsook your poor old friend." + +She got up and went to him. + +"Oh! how can you imagine--" she began, in a coaxing way, but he +interrupted her. + +"I did not imagine, alas! I saw for myself; and I am not reproaching +you, my dear little girl--young people of course prefer young people, +it is quite natural!" + +"Oh, no!" said Bijou, with evident sincerity; "not at all--I am not so +fond as all that of young people generally; and, above all, I cannot +endure young men about the age of M. de Bernès." + +"Yes, I remember that you told me that once before; you said so the +first time I saw you; it was here in this room, when we were waiting +together for the arrival of your guests to dinner." + +Denyse laughed. + +"Well, what a memory you have!" + +"Always, when it is a question of you." And then, in a voice which +trembled slightly, he asked: "Do you remember something you said to me +yesterday?" + +"Yesterday?" + +"Yes, yesterday, when I was holding you in my arms, and you were +nestling against me like a little trembling bird!" + +Bijou appeared to be trying to remember what it was. She opened her +large eyes wide, and they looked just then like pale violets. + +"No, I don't know what it was; I don't remember! I was a little upset +after my accident, you know!" And then, as M. de Clagny remained +silent, she asked: "Tell me, what could I have said that was so +interesting?" + +He repeated her words slowly, watching Bijou all the time attentively, +as she listened with an amused air, her pretty lips parted. + +"You said, 'I am so happy like this; I should like to stay here +always.'" + +"I don't remember saying that; but, anyhow, I was quite right, because +it was perfectly true, you know!" + +He drew Bijou to him, and asked: + +"Truly, would it not alarm you to see me always near you like that?" + +"Why, no, it would not alarm me! Oh, no, not at all!" + +"Really and truly?" + +"Really and truly! but why do you ask me that?" + +"Oh, for no reason at all. Do you know whether Madame de Bracieux is +up yet?" + +"She does not get up before half-past eight or nine o'clock, +especially when she is up late like last night; it was nearly two +o'clock when we came in!" + +"And you are just as fresh-looking and as pretty as though you had +slept all night. Really, though, I should very much like to see Madame +de Bracieux." + +"You want to speak to her yourself, or is it any message I can take to +her from you?" + +"No; I want to speak to her myself." + +"Well, you know she will probably keep you waiting 'a spell,' as they +say in this part of the world." + +"Well, I will wait." + +Bijou looked at M. de Clagny in surprise. He was pacing up and down +the long room. + +"What's the matter?" she asked at last, in her curiosity, "for there +certainly is something the matter!" + +"Oh, no!" + +"Oh, yes! You keep marching backwards and forwards. That reminds +me--one day I saw Paul de Rueille pacing about like that." + +"I saw him, too; it was the night of the La Balue, Juzencourt & Co.'s +dinner, whilst you were singing." + +"No, oh, no! It was one day when he had some ridiculous duel, and he +did not know whether it would be better to tell Bertrade, or not to +tell her." + +"And what did he do?" + +"I fancy he did not tell her anything about it." + +"Oh, well, he had more pluck than I have." + +"Have you a duel on?" Bijou asked impetuously. + +"A duel if you like to call it that; and a ridiculous one most +certainly--a fight with impossibilities. You cannot understand that, +my dear little Bijou." + +"And you think that grandmamma will understand it better than I +could?" + +"I do not know! Anyhow, she will listen to me, and she will pity me." + +"But I, too,--I would listen, and I would pity you." + +"I should not like to be pitied by you!" he said, and the expression +of his face betrayed deep suffering. + +"You do not care for me, then?" she asked. + +M. de Clagny made a movement forward, then stopping himself, he said, +with a calmness that contrasted strangely with the troubled look in +his eyes and his hoarse voice: + +"Oh, yes; I do care for you. I care for you very much, indeed." And +then picking up his hat, which he had put down on one of the tables, +he moved quickly towards the door, which led on to the terrace. "I +will wait in the park," he said, "until the marchioness can see me." + +When he saw, however, that Bijou had left the drawing-room, he +returned, and sank down on a chair, looking suddenly much older from +the effect of some mental anxiety which was weighing on him. + +The marchioness did not keep him waiting long. She entered the room, +with a smile on her face. + +"Well, you _are_ an early visitor!" she began; but on seeing the +worried look on her old friend's face, she asked anxiously: "Why, what +is it? Whatever has happened?" + +"A great misfortune." + +"Tell me?" + +"It is precisely for that I have come so early. You will remember that +when I came here for the first time, a fortnight ago, I was admiring +Bijou, and you reminded me of the fact that she was your +grand-daughter, and might very well be mine?" + +"Yes." + +"I answered that I knew that perfectly well, but that all that was +mere reasoning, and that when the heart remains young it does not +listen to reason." + +"I remember perfectly well! What then?" + +"What then? Well, at present, I love Bijou! I love her with all my +heart!" + +"Absurd!" exclaimed the old lady, lifting her hands in amazement. + +"You are certainly consoling!" + +"Well, but--my poor, old friend, what do you want me to say? You do +not expect to marry Bijou, do you?" + +His eyes were moist, and his voice choked as he replied: + +"No; I do not expect to! And yet, I beg you to tell your +grand-daughter what I have just confessed to you. I am fifty-nine. I +have twenty-four thousand pounds a year. I am neither a bad lot, nor +am I utterly repulsive-looking, and I love her as no other man can +love her." + +"But only think that you are--" + +"Thirty-eight years older than she is; it is for me that this +difference of age is more to be feared. Yes, I know that, and I am +willing to accept all the risks of such a disproportion." + +"And she?" + +"She? Well, let her decide for or against me. She is twenty-one; she +is no longer a child, and she knows what she is about." + +"Yes; but that does not prevent me from having a certain amount of +responsibility, and--" + +"Ah, you see; you are afraid that she may consent!" + +"Afraid? oh, dear, no! I am quite convinced that such an ideal little +creature has, about the man she dreams of for her husband, a vision of +someone quite different from you." + +"And, supposing, by chance--I do not expect this at all--but, +supposing you were mistaken, what should you do?" + +"What do you want me to do?" + +"Nothing at all. And it is just this--I am afraid that you would use +your influence with Bijou." + +"No; I shall just tell her what I think; I ought to, under the +circumstances--but nothing more." + +"Then you _are_ going to speak to her?" + +"Yes." + +"May I come again a little later?" + +"Oh, no! give me until to-morrow. I shall not speak to her, probably, +before this evening; but that need not prevent your coming to dinner +if you feel inclined to. It was for the--for the answer that I was +putting you off until to-morrow." + +"If she should refuse, I shall go away." + +"Where?" + +"Oh, how can I care where?--my life will be over. I shall go and +finish my days in some out-of-the-way spot." + +"You talked like that some twelve years ago; and here you are +to-day--I cannot say younger than then." The marchioness stopped +short, and then continued, with a smile: "Why should I not say it, +though? You really do seem younger to me now than you did in those +days; you are perfectly astonishing, my dear friend, anyone would +think you were about forty-five." + +"If only it were true what you say!" + +"It is, I assure you! but you know that does not alter the fact that +you are fifty-nine." + +M. de Clagny rose to take his leave. + +"Farewell!" he said, "until to-morrow." And then, with a pathetic +little smile, he added: "Or until this evening. Yes,--towards the end +of the day I shall be taken with a violent desire to see her again, +and I shall come as I did the day before yesterday, and Thursday, and +every day." + +He took Madame de Bracieux's hand in his, and clasped it nervously, as +he murmured: + +"For the sake of our long friendship, I beg you, be merciful to me." + + * * * * * + +During luncheon the marchioness seemed preoccupied, and several times +M. de Jonzac asked her what she was thinking about. + +"Whatever is it?" he said; "you have certainly got the blues." + +"Aunt must have gone to bed very late," said Jean de Blaye. "I heard +you all come in; it must have been two o'clock." And then, turning to +Bijou, he asked: "And how did you enjoy yourself? was it nice?" + +"Delightful," she answered, in an absent sort of way. + +"That little Lisette Renaud is perfectly charming," said M. de +Rueille, "with her beautiful, large sad eyes. You liked her, too, did +you not, grandmamma?" + +"Yes," answered Madame de Bracieux, "she is perfectly fascinating, and +she has an admirable voice. I was astonished to find all that in +Pont-sur-Loire; astonished, too, at the elegance of the house. There +were plenty of pretty women, and very well dressed, too." + +"Nearly all of them wore pink," put in Denyse, "I noticed that." + +"Oh! that is through you," said M. de Rueille. "The Pont-sur-Loire +ladies see you always arrayed in pink, and as you are considered by +them to be _tip-top_, they have taken to pink, too." And seeing that +Bijou looked surprised, he asked: "Well, isn't that quite clear +enough?" + +"It is quite clear," she answered, laughing, "but a trifle imaginary. +No one pays any attention to me, my dear Paul." And then, as Madame +de Rueille turned towards her, Bijou appealed to her: "What do you +think about the matter, Bertrade?" + +"I think that you are too modest." + +"Oh, yes," said Giraud, who was gazing at the young girl with admiring +eyes, "Mademoiselle Denyse is too modest. Yesterday evening everyone +in the house was looking at her, and even the actress herself--" + +"It's your imagination, Monsieur Giraud!" exclaimed Bijou, +interrupting him hastily. "I never noticed that anyone was interested +in our box; but even if they were, it does not follow necessarily that +it was at me that--" + +"Evidently not," remarked Henry de Bracieux, in a chaffing tone. "It +was grandmamma in whom the natives were so deeply interested." + +"No! but it might have been Jeanne Dubuisson." + +"Yes, that's true! She is not known at all in Pont-sur-Loire, +therefore the sight of her would naturally make a sensation." + +Bijou shrugged her shoulders. + +"You know that I have a horror of people making a fuss about me, and +you say things like this all the time to tease me." + +"If you have a horror of making a sensation," exclaimed Pierrot, +"that great Gisèle de la Balue is not like you, I can tell you. She's +one who would change places with you. Yesterday, at the paper-chase +feed, she was bothering round everyone like a great meat-fly; even +Bernès sent her about her business." + +"I think young Bernès is very nice," said the marchioness. "I was +noticing him all the evening yesterday, and I like him very much. He +is very natural, has good manners, and is not by any means stupid." + +Jean de Blaye noticed that Bijou was screwing up her lips into a +little pout of indifference. + +"You don't appear to be of the same opinion as grandmamma?" he said. + +"Oh, dear me! Yes, I am." + +"Well, you are not enthusiastic; you may as well own it." + +"Why, yes, I own it." + +The marchioness turned to her grand-daughter: + +"Ah! and what have you against him?" + +"Why, nothing, grandmamma, nothing at all! I think he is just like +everyone else, and so when I see him I can't go into ecstasies over +him--that's all." + +"I fancy," remarked M. de Rueille, "that the man isn't born yet about +whom you would go into ecstasies. You are very good-hearted, very +indulgent. You look upon everyone as all very well in a negative sort +of way, but, practically, it is quite another matter." + +"Oh, you exaggerate!" + +"I exaggerate? Well, then, just mention one man, one only, who is +according to your fancy." + +"Why, M. de Clagny, for instance!" + +"You think he is nice; you like him?" said the marchioness. "Yes, but +how? You would not marry him, I presume?" + +"Oh, no!" answered Bijou, laughing, "I don't want to marry him." + +Just as they were all leaving the table, Jean de Blaye asked: + +"Has anyone any commissions for Pont-sur-Loire?" + +"What!" exclaimed Bijou, in surprise, "you are going off to +Pont-sur-Loire like that, all by yourself? Why, whatever are you going +to do there, I wonder?" + +"What am I going to do there?" he said, slightly disconcerted. "Why, I +have some things to get." + +"Will you take me?" + +"Take you? But--" + +Ever since the evening when he had told Bijou that he loved her, he +had avoided, as much as possible, all opportunities of being alone +with her. She, on her part, had not changed her behaviour towards him +or Henry de Bracieux in any way. She was just as free and cordial in +her manner with them as she had been before refusing them her hand; +and, indeed, it seemed as though she had forgotten they had proposed +to her. + +"What?"--she asked, looking astonished. "You won't take me with you?" + +Thoroughly uncomfortable, and dreading the long _tête-à-tête_, yet not +daring in the presence of all the others to refuse to take Bijou, he +answered, in a joking tone: + +"Why, yes! On the contrary, I am highly flattered by the honour you +are doing me!" + +"That's all right, then. You are very kind." + +"Oh, very; but, all the same, you will have to take someone else to be +with you as well, because I have some business." + +"Oh!" said Denyse, in a disappointed tone, "you don't want me with you +when we get there." + +"But, Bijou, my dear," put in Madame de Bracieux, "you could not, +anyhow, go there--just you two! It does not matter if Jean is your +first cousin; it would not be the thing, you know! You must take +Josephine with you; and even then I don't know whether I ought to +allow it--" + +"But whatever do you want to do in Pont-sur-Loire?" she added, after a +pause. + +"Oh, only some errands, grandmamma; you forget that there are always +errands to be done for the house. And then, too, I can go and see +Jeanne; it is just the day when M. Spiegel is busy and does not go so +that I shall not interrupt their billing and cooing." + +"It does not seem to me as though they do much billing and cooing!" +said M. de Jonzac. "I was watching them yesterday at the paper-chase, +and I'm very much mistaken if that engagement is not a very +half-and-half sort of affair." + +"But why should you think that, Uncle Alexis?" asked Bijou, looking +troubled. + +"Because the girl looks sad, and the professor indifferent. Haven't +you noticed that?" + +"No; but then I don't notice things much," she answered. + + * * * * * + +On the way from Bracieux to Pont-sur-Loire, Bijou and Jean were +silent. + +In the town just near the station, they met Madame de Nézel, who had +come in from The Pines by the half-past two train. On seeing her, +Bijou made a little movement, and was just about to speak to her +cousin, but, on second thoughts, she said nothing, and only looked up +at him, with a sweet expression in her bright eyes. Jean, feeling +awkward and confused, had pretended not to see Madame de Nézel, and +she, instead of going on into the centre of the town, had turned down +a narrow street, by some waste ground and gardens. As she got out of +the carriage with Josephine at the Dubuissons' door, Bijou asked: + +"Where shall I find you? And at what time?" + +"At the hotel; I will tell them to put the horse in at six o'clock if +that will suit you?" + +"At six o'clock!" she exclaimed, in astonishment. "Oh, well! you +_must_ have plenty of things to do! Three hours and a half of shopping +in Pont-sur-Loire!" + +Impatient and wishing above all things to escape Bijou's innocent +questioning, Jean offered to start earlier, but she refused. + +"Oh, no! why should you? I shall be delighted to stay as long as you +wish with Jeanne!" + +Mademoiselle Dubuisson was at home. Denyse thought she looked sad, and +her eyes had dark circles round them. + +"What is the matter now?" she asked. "There's something wrong." + +"Yes, things are not quite right." + +"Is--your _fiancé_?" + +"Oh, it's just the same." + +"Which means----" + +"That I think he has got--well--a little cool. But there is something +else that has upset me to-day." + +"What is it?" + +"Oh, well! it is an event that really does not concern me at all; but +it has made me feel wretched all the same." She avoided looking at +Bijou as she continued: "You know that--Lisette Renaud?" + +"Yes. Well?" + +"Well, she is dead--this morning." + +"Dead!--What of?" + +"People think she killed herself," said Jeanne, almost in a whisper. + +"But how?" + +"By taking morphia. You know they could not go into details before me, +but I understood, from what they were saying, that it was after an +explanation she had had with M. de Bernès." + +"When?" + +"Yesterday after the theatre, or else this morning. Papa and M. +Spiegel were talking of it at luncheon; but in a vague sort of way, so +that I should not understand." + +"How fearfully sad!--I can quite understand that it should have upset +you." + +"Yes; it is only natural, and all the more so as, just now, troubles +from love affairs touch me very nearly--and for a good reason!" she +added, with a sad little smile. + +"That poor little actress!" said Bijou, in a tone of regret. "As a +rule, I don't care much for women who are on the stage, but this one +seemed to be nice, and then, she really did sing well--it is a +pity!--M. de Bernès must be wretched!" + +"Do you think people really are so wretched when they cause others to +suffer?" asked Jeanne, still not looking at Bijou. "I don't think they +are! There are the thoughtless people, who make others suffer without +knowing it, and then there are the others, who cause people to suffer +because it amuses them; and neither the former nor the latter know +what it is to feel remorse--" + +As Jeanne stood still, lost in thought, a far-away look in her eyes, +Bijou stroked her friend's face gently. + +"There, don't think any more about these sad things, Jeanne, dear," +she said. "Your grief won't change anything when the mischief is +already done, and you are making yourself wretched all in vain. Come, +now, let us talk about our play, and about dress, or no matter +what--oh! by the bye, about dress, does yours fit well at last?" + +"It fits; but it does not suit me!" + +"Oh, that's impossible!" + +"No, it's very natural, on the contrary! I have not your complexion, +remember! I am paler than you are, and that pink makes me paler still; +and then I am thin, and the little gathered bodice, which shows up +your pretty figure to perfection, makes me look no figure at all--it +does not matter, though--it's of no importance whatever!" + +"What do you mean by saying it is of no importance?" + +"Why, yes, don't you see, Bijou dear, that whether one is well or +badly dressed, if one is just common-place as I am, one would always +pass unnoticed by the side of anyone as beautiful as you are." + +Bijou turned her eyes up towards the ceiling, and said, in a +half-serious, half-joking way: + +"My poor dear child, you are wandering--you don't know at all what you +are talking about!" And then suddenly changing her tone she asked: +"What time do you start to the races to-morrow?" + +"I don't know. Papa will have arranged that with M. Spiegel. Ah, tell +me! shall you go early to the Tourvilles' dance? I don't want to get +there before you." + +Denyse was looking at her watch. + +"Oh! I must go!" she exclaimed. "They want some gardenias at home for +button-holes; I don't know where I shall be able to get any; someone +told me of a florist up by the station somewhere." + +"By the station? but there are only market-gardeners there, no +florists." + +"Yes, it seems that in that little lane--you know--to the right of the +quay--" + +"Lilac Lane, I know where you mean; but there are only vegetable +gardens there, and some waste ground, and then a few small houses, +that are generally rented by officers because they are near to the +barracks." + +"Well, anyhow," said Bijou, getting up, "I'll go and look round +there!" + + * * * * * + +Denyse was the first to arrive at the hotel. Jean de Blaye was rather +behind time, and when he did appear, he looked sad, and his face was +very pale. He had met Madame de Nézel by appointment, but she had only +come to break off entirely with him, and this freedom was of no use to +him now; but, at the same time, there was nothing left for him to do +but accept his fate. They were both wretched and discontented with +each other, and yet they had been obliged to stay together at their +trysting-place, because Bijou, escorted by the old housekeeper +Josephine, had been rambling up and down the lonely lane for a good +part of the afternoon. She had gone backwards and forwards as though +in search of something, and with a persistency which Jean could not +understand, and which made him feel very uneasy. + +When they were driving across the square by the station at three +o'clock, she had, perhaps, seen Madame de Nézel turning down Lilac +Lane. If that were so, she had probably wanted to assure herself +whether her suspicions were correct. How inquisitive and fond of +ferreting she must be, then--this Denyse whom he loved so dearly, and +who had, without knowing it, ruined his whole life. + +He apologised for his unpunctuality, and helped Bijou into the +carriage, whilst she assured him in the sweetest way that he was not +late at all. + +Just as he was wondering how he could ask her what she had been doing, +she volunteered the information he wanted. + +"Do you know you will have your gardenias for to-morrow after all? But +it _has_ been difficult to get them. I have been running about all +over Pont-sur-Loire nearly all the afternoon. They sent me to the +queerest little streets, where I got lost, and never found the place +at all." + +Delighted at this proof of Bijou's innocence, Jean exclaimed +involuntarily: + +"Ah! that was what you were hanging about for in Lilac Lane?" + +She fixed her large astonished eyes on him, as she asked: + +"However did you know? Did you see me?" + +"I did not," he answered quickly; "one of my friends told me." + +"Who was it? Do I know him--your friend?" + +"I don't think so; he's an officer in Bernès' regiment. Ah, by the +bye, what do you think! The poor little actress you heard last +night--well, she has killed herself!" + +"Yes, I know; it is a great pity!" + +Bijou said this in a tone which made it impossible to continue the +conversation on this topic. She was so dignified, and her meaning was +so plain, that Jean almost regretted having said a word to her of this +affair, considering that it was a trifle delicate; but, after all, as +he said to himself, Bijou was no child; she would soon be twenty-two! + + * * * * * + +At four o'clock, M. de Clagny arrived at Bracieux, his heart beating +fast at the thought of seeing Bijou again, and of seeing her quite +free and unconstrained as usual, for she would not yet know of his +proposal. + +He was very much disappointed on hearing that she was at +Pont-sur-Loire, and that she had gone there with Jean. He asked the +marchioness to tell him candidly just what she thought would be the +result of his advances with reference to the young girl, and Madame de +Bracieux replied that she could not approach the subject now, as +Denyse had declared to them all that very morning that "she thought M. +de Clagny charming, but that she should not like to marry him." + +He stood the shock fairly well, but insisted that Bijou should be told +that evening of his proposal. She would then have until the next day +to think it over, and that was what he wished. + +Denyse and Jean returned just at dinner-time. When they came +downstairs, everyone was at the table, and the topic of conversation +was the death of poor Lisette Renaud. + +M. de Rueille had been out riding, and had met some officers, who were +on duty there, and who had, of course, told him the story. + +"It is fearful," said Bertrade, "to think of that poor girl killing +herself; she was so pretty, and so young." + +"It is just because one is young that one would commit suicide, if +unhappy; otherwise one would have to go on being wretched for so long +a time," said Giraud in a strange voice, which resounded in the +spacious dining-room. + + + + +XV. + + +THE marchioness decided not to speak to Bijou about M. de Clagny that +evening, as she did not want to disturb the young girl's rest. + +The following morning, however, she sent for her, and Bijou arrived, +gay and lively as usual. She gave a little pout of disappointment when +her grandmother informed her that she wished to speak to her about +something very serious. + +"It concerns one of my greatest friends," began Madame de Bracieux, +"and he is also a friend of yours." + +"M. de Clagny?" interrupted Bijou. + +"Yes, M. de Clagny. You must have seen that he is very fond of you, +haven't you?" + +"I am very fond of him, too, very fond of him." + +"Exactly, but you care for him as though he were your father, or a +delightful old uncle, whilst he does not care for you either as though +you were his daughter, or niece; in short, you will be very much +astonished--" + +"Astonished at what?" asked Bijou timidly. + +"At--well, he wants to marry you, that's the long and short of it." + +"He, too?" murmured the young girl, looking bewildered. + +"What do you mean by 'he, too'?" exclaimed the marchioness, bewildered +in her turn; "who else wants to marry you that you say 'he, too '?" + +Denyse blushed crimson. + +"I ought to have told you all that before, grandmamma," she said, +sitting down on a little stool at Madame de Bracieux's feet; "but we +have been so dissipated just lately, what with the paper-chase, the +theatre, the races, and the dances, that I don't seem to have had a +minute, and then, too, it was not very interesting either." + +"Ah! that's your opinion, is it?" + +"Well, considering that I don't want to marry either of them." + +"Well, but who is it, child, who is it?" asked the marchioness. + +"Why, just Henry and Jean. Jean spoke to me first for Henry, who, it +seems, had got him to ask me whether I would allow him to ask your +permission to marry me. I answered that he ought to have asked _you_ +first and not me--" + +"You are a real little Bijou, my darling." + +"But that it really did not matter, as I did not want to marry him." + +"He is not rich enough for you, my dear." + +"Oh, I don't know anything about that. And then, too, all that is +quite the same to me, but I should not like Henry for a husband. I +know him too well." + +"Ah! and what about Jean?" + +"Jean, too, I should not like as a husband. That is just what I told +him, when, after I had refused Henry, he began again on his own +account." + +"They go ahead--my grandchildren. Now I can understand how it is that, +for the last few days, they have had faces as long as fiddles." + +There was a short silence, and then Madame de Bracieux remarked, as +though in conclusion: + +"I know then, now, what your answer is to my poor old friend Clagny." + +"How do you know, though?" + +"Because if you will not have either of your cousins, who are, both of +them, in their different ways, very taking, it is scarcely probable +that you would accept an old friend of your grandmother's." + +"But he, too, is very taking!" + +"Yes, that's true; but he is sixty years old!" + +"He does not look it!" + +"He is though." + +"I know; but that does not make any difference to the fact that I +should not mind marrying him any more than I should Jean or Henry." + +"You do not know what marriage is; you do not understand." + +Bijou half closed her beautiful, bright eyes. + +"Yes," she said, speaking slowly, "I do understand quite well, +grandmamma." + +"Well, all this is no answer for me to give to M. de Clagny." + +"Is he coming to-day?" + +"He is coming directly." + +Bijou moved uneasily on her footstool, and then, after a moment's +consideration, she said: + +"You can tell him, grandmamma, that I am very much touched, and very +much flattered that he should have thought of me, but that I do not +want to marry yet--" And then, laying her head on the marchioness's +lap, she added: "because I am too happy here with you." + +"My little Bijou! my darling Bijou!" murmured Madame de Bracieux, +stooping to kiss the pretty face lifted towards her, "you know what a +comfort you are to me; but, all the same, you cannot stay for ever +with your old grandmother. I am not saying that, though, in order to +persuade you into a marriage that would be perfect folly." + +Denyse looked up at the marchioness, as she asked: + +"Folly? But why folly?" + +"Because M. de Clagny is thirty-eight years older than you are, and he +will be quite infirm just when you are in your prime; and such +marriages have certain inconveniences which--well--which you would be +the first to find out." + +Bijou had risen from her low seat on hearing the sound of +carriage-wheels, which drew up in front of the hall-door. She looked +through the window, and then ran away, saying: + +"Here he is, grandmamma!" + + * * * * * + +During luncheon, Madame de Bracieux announced, in a careless, +indifferent way: + +"M. de Clagny is leaving here; he came to say good-bye to me this +morning." + +Bijou looked up, and Jean de Blaye remarked: + +"He is leaving here? Why, it seemed as though he had taken root in +this part of the world." + +"Oh," put in M. de Rueille, "old Clagny's roots are never very deep." + +Bijou turned towards the marchioness. + +"When is he leaving, grandmamma?" she asked anxiously. + +"Why, at once; to-morrow, I think. Anyhow, we shall see him to-night +at Tourville; he is going to the ball in order to see everyone to whom +he wants to say good-bye." + +"And he is not going to the races?" + +"No, he is busy packing." + +"And our play to-morrow!" exclaimed Denyse, in consternation. "He had +promised me over and over again to come to it." + +The marchioness glanced at her grand-daughter, and said to herself +that, decidedly, even with the kindest heart in the world, youth knows +no pity. + + * * * * * + +Bijou's arrival at the Tourville ball was a veritable triumph. In her +pink crêpe dress, which matched her complexion admirably, she looked +wonderfully pretty, and different from anyone else. + +"Just look at the Dubuisson girl," said Louis de la Balue to M. de +Juzencourt. "She has tried to get herself up like Mademoiselle de +Courtaix. She has copied her dress exactly, and just see what she +looks like. She might pass for her maid, and that's the most she could +do. How is it, now?" + +M. de Juzencourt laughed gruffly. + +"Why, it's just that if the outside is the same, what's inside it +isn't the same. Isn't she going to be married?" + +"Yes, she's going to marry a young Huguenot, who must be somewhere +about, hiding in some corner or another. Ah! No! he isn't in a corner +either. There he is, like all the others, fluttering round 'The +Bijou.'" + +"And you? You don't flutter round her?" asked M. de Juzencourt. + +"I? I'd marry her--because, sooner or later, one's got to get married, +or one's parents make a fuss, because of keeping up the name, you +know--but as to fluttering round--By Jove, no! that isn't in my line!" +and then, in a languid way, he went off to Henry de Bracieux. + +"How hot it is," he began, glancing at him dreamily, and speaking in a +low voice, with an affected drawl. "You are lucky not to turn red. +You've got such a complexion, though, that's true. You look like a +regular Hercules, and yet, with that, your complexion is as +delicate--" + +As he was leaning towards him, and looking sentimental, Henry +exclaimed impatiently, in his full, sonorous voice: + +"Oh! hang my complexion!" and turning away, he left young La Balue +planted there in the middle of the drawing-room, and went off himself +to Jean de Blaye, who, with a melancholy expression on his face, was +standing at some distance off, watching Bijou through the intricacies +of a dance, for which six partners had all tried to claim her. + +When M. de Clagny approached Denyse, and bowed to her ceremoniously, +she said at once, without even returning his bow: + +"Grandmamma has told me that you are going away. I am sure that it is +because of me?" + +He nodded assent, and she put her little hand through his arm, and +moved in the direction of another room, which was almost empty. + +"Please," she began, in a beseeching tone, "please, do not go away." + +"And I, in my turn," he answered, deeply moved, "must say, please, +Bijou, do not ask what is impossible. I have not been able to be with +you without getting as foolish as all the others. I have let myself go +on dreaming, just as fools dream, and now that all is over, I must try +to become wise again, and to forget my dream, and in order to do that +I must go away, very far away, too." + +"You thought that--that I should say yes?" she asked. + +"Well, you were so good to me, so sweet and confiding always, that I +did hope--yes, God help me--I did hope--that perhaps you would let me +go on loving you." + +"And so it was my fault that you hoped that?" she said dreamily. + +"It wasn't your fault--it was mine; one always does hope what one +wants." + +"Yes, I am sure that I ought not to have behaved as I did with you." +And her eyes filled with tears as she murmured, almost humbly: "I am +so sorry! will you forgive me?" + +"Bijou!" exclaimed M. de Clagny, almost beside himself. "My dear +Bijou, it is I who ought to ask your forgiveness for causing you a +moment's sadness." + +"Well, then, be kind--don't go away! not to-morrow, at any rate! +Promise me that you will come to Bracieux to-morrow to see us act our +play! Oh, don't say no! And then, afterwards, I will talk to +you--better than I could this evening." And gazing up at him with her +soft, luminous eyes, she added: "You won't regret coming, I am sure." + +Jean de Blaye was just passing by at that moment, and Bijou stopped +him, and said, in a coaxing way: + +"Won't you ask me for a waltz? do, please, you waltz so well." + +And laying her hand on his shoulder, she disappeared, just as Pierrot +arrived to claim his dance. + +"Leave your cousin in peace," said M. de Jonzac, who was seated on a +divan watching the dancing. "You are much too young to ask girls to +dance with you--I mean girls like Bijou." + +"Ah, how old must I be then before I can ask them--not as old as you, +I suppose?" + +"You certainly have a nice way of saying things." + +"I say, father, why do Jean and Henry say that young La Balue gets to +be worse and worse form?" + +"Young La Balue? Oh, I don't know." + +"They say that he makes himself up." + +"That's true." + +"And that he gets to be worse and worse form! How?" + +"If you want to know how, you have only to ask your cousins: they will +tell you." + +"They won't, though! I asked them, and Jean just said, 'Don't come +bothering here.' Are we going home soon?" + +"Going home? why, your cousin is sure to stay for the cotillion." + +"I was very stupid to come here instead of staying with M. Giraud and +the abbé." + +"Ah, by the bye, why didn't he come--M. Giraud? Bijou asked for an +invitation for him." + +"Yes, but he wouldn't come: he is awfully down in the dumps, and has +been for some time. He doesn't eat, and he doesn't sleep either; +instead of going to bed, he goes off walking by the river all night." + +"And you don't know what's the matter with him?" + +"The matter with him! I think it is Bijou that is the matter with +him." + +"What do you mean? Bijou the matter with him?" + +"Why, yes, it's the same with Jean, and Henry, and Paul. You can see +very well, father, that they are all running after her, can't you? not +to speak of old Clagny, who isn't worth counting now." He stopped a +minute, and then finished off, in a sorrowful way: "and not to speak +of me either, for I don't count yet." + +"Oh! you exaggerate all that," said M. de Jonzac, quite convinced that +his son was in the right, but not wanting to own it. "Bijou is +certainly very pretty, and it is not surprising that--" + +Pierrot interrupted his father eagerly. + +"Oh! it isn't that she is just pretty only, but she is good, and +clever, and jolly, and everything. They are quite right to fall in +love with her, and, if I were only twenty-five--" + +"If you were twenty-five, my dear young man, she would send you about +your business, as she does the others." + +"That's very possible," replied Pierrot philosophically, but at the +same time sadly; and then, pointing to Bijou, who was just standing +talking to Jeanne Dubuisson in the middle of the room, he said: "Isn't +she pretty, though, father? Just look at her; she is dressed +absolutely like Jeanne, their dresses are just alike, stitch for +stitch, as old Mère Rafut says. I'm sure that, if they mixed them up +when they were not in them themselves, there'd be no telling which was +which after; and yet like that on them, I mean, they don't look alike +at all! Do you think I might venture to ask her for a dance, +father--Jeanne Dubuisson?" + +"Oh, yes; she is good-hearted enough to give you one!" + +A minute or two later and Jeanne went off with Pierrot for the next +dance. M. Spiegel crossed over to Bijou, and asked her for the waltz +which was just commencing, but she shook her head, saying: + +"I am so tired, if you only knew!" + +"Only just a little turn, won't you?" he begged. "Ever since the +beginning of the evening I have not been able to get a single waltz +with you." + +"Oh, no; please don't ask me! I do want to rest; I--" and then, +suddenly making up her mind to speak out, she said, "Well, then, no; +it isn't that--I know I am not clever at telling untruths--I am not at +all tired, but I don't want to waltz with you, because--" + +"Because?" + +"Because I am afraid of hurting Jeanne's feelings--" + +"Hurting Jeanne's feelings! But how?" he asked, in surprise. + +"Well, it sounds very vain what I am going to say, but I must tell you +all the same. Why, I think that Jeanne worships you to such a degree +that she is jealous of everyone who approaches you, or who speaks to +you, or who looks at you even!" + +M. Spiegel looked displeased; he knitted his brows, and his +placid-looking face suddenly took a hard expression. + +"She has told you so?" + +Bijou answered with the eagerness and embarrassment of anyone feeling +compelled to tell an untruth. + +"Oh, no--no, I have just imagined it myself; you know I am so fond of +Jeanne! I know all that passes in her mind, and I should be so +wretched if I caused her any unhappiness--or even the slightest +anxiety; do you understand what I mean?" + +"I understand that you are just an angel of goodness, mademoiselle, +and that it is no wonder they are all so fond of you!" + +Bijou was looking down on the floor, her breath coming and going +quickly, a faint flush had come into her cheeks, and her nostrils were +quivering, as she listened silently to the young professor's words. + +He put his arm round her waist, took her little hand in his, as she +offered no resistance, and whirled her off into the midst of the +dance. M. Spiegel waltzed divinely, and Bijou was passionately fond of +the waltz _à trois temps_. With a flush on her cheeks, her eyes +half-closed, and her lips parted, showing her dazzling white teeth, +she went on whirling round as long as the orchestra played. Several +times she passed quite close to Jeanne, without even seeing her poor +friend, who was being jerked about by Pierrot. The youth kept treading +on his partner's toes, or knocking her against the furniture; and +when, now and again, Jeanne would stop to get breath, Pierrot would +chatter away most eloquently about all kinds of sports, of which she +was absolutely ignorant. + +"You know," he said, putting out his enormous foot and his formidable +knee, "I am a very second-rate dancer, but I'm very good at football. +Our team is going to play a match this winter against the +Pont-sur-Loire team; you ought to see it; it will be first-class! I +keep goal; you should just see what jolly kicks--" + +He broke off as Jeanne did not speak. She was looking uneasily at her +_fiancé_ as he passed and re-passed, apparently happy in guiding Bijou +along through the rapid whirl of the dance. + +"I am boring you," said Pierrot; "shall we go on now?" + +"No," she replied, in a changed voice; "I do not feel quite myself, +and it is so warm! Will you take me across to papa--he is playing +cards over there. I should like to go home!" + +Whilst they were on their way to M. Dubuisson, Bijou stopped M. +Spiegel just near the orchestra; and said, in a laughing voice: + +"Why, you are indefatigable--one must get one's breath, though; +besides, the waltz is just finishing now!" + +She glanced at the four wretched musicians, who were in a deplorable +state, with their shiny-looking coats, their limp shirt-fronts, and +their faces bathed in perspiration. + +"Why, Monsieur Sylvestre!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Good evening, +Monsieur Sylvestre! Well, I never! I didn't expect to see you!" + +The poor fellow looked up eagerly, and, gazing at Bijou, with his +soft, blue eyes full of deep distress, he stammered out: + +"I did not expect to be seen either, mademoiselle!" + + + + +XVI. + + +ON going to bed at five in the morning, Bijou slept for two hours, and +when, later on, she went to the marchioness's room, she looked as +fresh and as thoroughly rested as after a long night's sleep. + +"Grandmamma," she said, "I have been thinking a great deal ever since +yesterday." + +"About what?" + +"Why, about what you told me as regards M. de Clagny." + +"Ah!" said the marchioness, rather annoyed at a subject being brought +up again, which she had thought over and done with. + +Rather selfish, like nearly all elderly people, it seemed to her +utterly useless to trouble about matters which were painful or sad, +except just to settle them off once for all. + +"I have been thinking," continued Bijou. "And then, too, I saw M. de +Clagny last night at the ball--" + +"Well, and what is the result of all this thinking and of this +interview?" asked the marchioness, rather anxiously. + +"The result is that I have changed my mind." + +"What do you say?" + +"I say that, with your permission, I will marry M. de Clagny." + +"Nonsense! you won't do anything of the kind." + +"Why not?" + +"Because it would be madness." + +"Why, no, grandmamma, it would be very wise, on the contrary; if I did +not marry him, I should never again all my life long have a minute's +peace." + +"Because?--" + +"Because I have seen that he is dreadfully and horribly unhappy." + +"No doubt; but that will all be forgotten in time." + +"Oh, no, it won't be forgotten! And I told you I like M. de Clagny +more than I have ever liked anyone--except you; and so the idea that +he is wretched on my account--and, perhaps, a little through my +fault--would seem odious to me, and would make me unhappy--much more +unhappy even than he is." + +"But you would be still more so if you married him. Listen, Bijou, +dear, you know nothing about life, nor about marriage. I have, +perhaps, been wrong in bringing you up so strictly, not letting you +read or hear enough about things; there are certain duties and +obligations which marriage imposes upon us, and about which you know +nothing, and these duties--well, you ought to know something about +them, before rushing headlong into such a terrible venture as this." + +"No!" said Bijou, with a gesture to prevent Madame de Bracieux +continuing, "don't tell me anything, grandmamma. I know what +responsibilities I should have to accept, and what my duty would be, +and I have decided--decided irrevocably--to become the wife of M. de +Clagny, whom I love dearly." And then, as the marchioness made a +movement as though to protest, she repeated: "Yes, I love him dearly; +and the proof is that the idea of marrying him does not terrify me, +whilst the thought of marrying the others made me feel a sort of +repulsion." + +She knelt down in front of the marchioness, and began again in a +coaxing voice: + +"Say that you will consent, grandmamma; say so--do, please." + +"You are nearly twenty-two. I cannot overrule you as though you were a +little child, therefore I consent, but without any enthusiasm, I can +assure you, and I implore you to reconsider the matter, Bijou, my +dear. I am afraid that you are following the impulse of your kind +heart and of your extremely sensitive nature and making a mistake that +will be irreparable." + +"I do not need to consider the matter any more; I have done nothing +else ever since yesterday; and I know that this is my only chance of +happiness, or of what at any rate seems to be the most like happiness. +Don't say anything to anyone about it, will you, grandmamma?" + +"Oh, dear no! you can be easy on that score; you don't imagine that I +am in a hurry to announce such an engagement, and to contemplate the +horrified, astonished looks they will all put on. Oh, no; if you think +I am in a hurry, you are mistaken, my darling." + +"And above all, don't say anything to M. de Clagny; I am enjoying the +thought of telling him this evening." + +"But he told me that he should not come--" + +"Ah! but he promised me that he would come." And then, holding up her +merry face to be kissed, she added: "And now I must go and attend to +our scenery, and to the footlights, which won't light, and to my +costume, which is not finished." + +The marchioness took Bijou's head in her beautiful hands, which were +still so white and smooth, and kissing her, murmured: + +"Go, then; and may Heaven grant that we shall have no cause to +regret--your good-heartedness--and--my weakness." + + * * * * * + +The Dubuissons and M. Spiegel had promised to come at four o'clock. +One of the scenes which did not go very well had to be rehearsed. +Bijou, who was busy gathering flowers, went towards the cab when they +arrived, and was surprised to see only Jeanne and her father. + +"What have you done with M. Spiegel?" she asked. + +It was M. Dubuisson who answered, in a confused sort of way: + +"He is coming--with your cousin M. de Rueille, who was at +Pont-sur-Loire and who offered to bring him." + +"Don't disturb your grandmamma," said Jeanne, taking Bijou's arm. +"Papa won't come in yet, he has his lecture to prepare, and he will go +and do it, walking about in the park." And then, as soon as M. +Dubuisson had moved off, she began again: "If M. Spiegel and I had not +had parts in the play, and so had not been afraid of spoiling it for +you by not appearing, we should not have come." + +"You would not have come?" exclaimed Bijou, in astonishment; "and why +not, pray?" + +"Because we are now in the most false and ridiculous position." + +"You?" + +"Yes, we are--our engagement is broken off." + +"Broken off!" repeated Bijou, in consternation; "broken off! but what +for?" + +"Because I was quite certain that he cared for me very little or not +at all," answered Jeanne, speaking very calmly, but not looking at +Bijou, "and so I told him this morning that I did not feel equal to +accepting the life of misery which I foresaw, and that I gave him back +his liberty." + +"Good heavens, is it possible--and you do not regret anything?" + +"Nothing! I am very wretched, but my mind is more easy." + +Bijou looked straight into her eyes as she asked: + +"And it is--it is because of me, isn't it? it is because of M. +Spiegel's manner towards me that you broke it all off?" Jeanne nodded, +and Bijou went on: "And so you really thought that your _fiancé_ was +making love to me?" + +"Oh, as to making love to you, no, perhaps not--but he certainly cares +for you." + +"And what then?" + +"What do you mean by _what then_?" + +"Well, what would be the end of that for him?" + +"Well, it would cause him to suffer; and who knows, he might have +hoped--?" + +"Hoped what? to marry me?" + +"No--yes! I don't know; he might have hoped in a vague sort of way--I +don't know what." + +"And do you think that I can endure the idea of causing your +unhappiness, no matter how involuntarily on my part?" + +"It is not in your power to alter what exists." + +Bijou appeared to be turning something over in her mind. + +"Supposing I were to marry," she said at last abruptly. And then +hiding her face in her hands she said in a broken voice: "M. de Clagny +wants to marry me." + +"M. de Clagny!" exclaimed Jeanne, stupefied, "why, he's sixty!" + +"I said no; I will say yes, though." + +"You are mad!" + +"Not the least bit in the world! I am practical. The remedy is perhaps +a trifle hard, but what is to be done? I love you so, Jeanne, that the +idea of seeing you unhappy makes me wretched!" + +"I assure you, though, that even if you marry M. de Clagny, I should +not marry M. Spiegel. He said things to me just now which were very +painful, and no matter how much I tried, I could not forget them." + +"Painful things, about what?" + +"About my jealousy--he said that it was ridiculous--and yet I had not +complained about anything. I kept it from him as much as possible, my +jealousy; but at the ball, I did not feel well, and I asked papa to +take me home, and he was displeased about that, he thought I was +sulking." + +"Oh, all that will soon be forgotten!" + +"No! and so you see, Bijou, it would be for nothing at all that you +would commit the very worst of all follies--marrying an old man." + +"An old man! it's queer, he does not seem to me at all like an old +man--M. de Clagny! I should certainly prefer marrying a younger man +and one whom I should like in every respect, but now--" + +Jeanne put her arm round Bijou and, resting her hand on her friend's +shoulder, kissed her as she said: + +"You must just wait for him in peace, the one 'whom you would like in +every respect!' You have plenty of time!" + +"No, I have quite decided! Whatever you do now will be useless, for, +in spite of what you say, when once the cause of your little +misunderstanding has vanished, the misunderstanding will vanish in +the same way. There now, kiss me again, and tell me that you love me." + +"Well!" said Jean de Blaye, who now appeared with M. Spiegel, "is +everyone ready; are we going to rehearse?" + +For the last few days he had been in a nervous, excitable state, +feeling the need of anything that would take him out of himself, and +doing his utmost all the time to keep himself from thinking. "Yes," +answered Denyse very calmly, wiping her eyes quickly, "we are ready; +we were only waiting for you." And then, in a very gracious, natural +way, she held out her hand to M. Spiegel, who took it, saying at the +same time: + +"You are not too tired, mademoiselle, after such a late night?" And +then, glancing involuntarily at Mademoiselle Dubuisson's rather +sallow-looking face, he added: "Why, you are looking fresher even than +yesterday." + +Jeanne came nearer to Bijou, and, as they moved away together, she +said, pointing to the professor, and with a look of intense grief in +her gentle eyes: + +"You see your remedy would not do; he is incurable." + + * * * * * + +The little play was performed before a large audience of guests, who +were highly amused. Bijou was so pretty in her costume as Hebe, she +looked so pure and maidenly and so sweet, that, when the piece was +finished, and she wanted to go and put on her ball-dress, everyone +begged her to remain just as she was. As she was going away into a +side-room to escape the compliments of the various guests, M. de +Rueille stopped her, and said, in a sarcastic tone: + +"And so that is the costume that was to be quite the thing, and which, +in order to please me, you were going to get Jean to alter?" + +Jean came up just at this moment, with Henry de Bracieux and Pierrot. + +"Accept my compliments," said M. de Rueille drily, turning towards +him; "you certainly know how to design costumes for pretty girls; but, +if I were you, I would have been rather more careful." + +"Why, what's up with you?" asked Jean, without even looking at Bijou; +"the costume's right enough!" + +"Besides," remarked Bijou tranquilly, "there are only three persons who +have any right to trouble themselves about my costumes--grandmamma, I +myself, or my husband." + +"Yes, if you had one!" + +"Certainly; well, I shall be having one!" + +Jean de Blaye shrugged his shoulders incredulously, and Bijou +continued: + +"I assure you it is quite true! I am going to be married." + +"To whom?" asked M. de Rueille uneasily. + +"Oh, yes, what a good joke!" remarked Pierrot. + +"Whom are you going to marry?" asked Henry de Bracieux. "Tell us!" + +M. de Clagny had just entered the room, and putting her arm through +his, she said, in a mischievous way, to the others: + +"I am going to tell M. de Clagny." And then, turning to him, she +added: "Let us go out-doors, though; it is stifling in here!" + +"Isn't she æsthetic this evening?" murmured Pierrot, gazing at Bijou's +long Grecian cloak of pale pink. "I should think M. Giraud would think +her perfect to-night; he's always saying she isn't made for modern +costumes." + +"Ah, by the bye, where is he--Giraud?" asked Jean de Blaye; "he +disappeared after dinner, and we have not seen him again!" + +Pierrot explained that he must have gone off for a stroll along the +river, as he did nearly every evening. He was getting more and more +odd, and had fits of gaiety and melancholy, turn by turn. That very +morning he had left the schoolroom in order to go to Madame de +Bracieux, who had sent to ask him to translate an English letter for +her; and then he had come back some time after, saying that he had not +ventured to knock, because he could hear that the marchioness was +talking to Mademoiselle Denyse, and ever since then he had not uttered +another word. + +"Where the devil's he gone?" asked Jean; and Pierrot, speaking through +his nose, began to imitate the street vendors on the boulevards. + +"Where is Bulgaria? Find Bulgaria!" + + * * * * * + +When she was alone with M. de Clagny under the big trees, Bijou said, +in the sweetest way: + +"I came back home this morning, quite wretched at having caused you +any sorrow. It seemed to me that I must have been too affectionate in +my manner towards you--too free--and that I had made you think +something quite different. Is that so?" + +"Yes, that is just it--and so you have no affection at all for me?" + +"You know very well that I have!" + +"I mean that you like me just as though I were some old relative or +another." + +"More than that!" + +"Well, but you do not love me enough to--to--love me as a husband?" + +"I do not know at all. I cannot understand myself just what I feel for +you. In the first place, I think you are very nice-looking, and very +charming, too; and then, when you are here, I feel as though I am +surrounded with care and affection. It seems to me that I breathe more +freely, that I am gayer and happier, and I have never, never felt like +that before--" + +Very much touched by what she was saying, and very anxious, too, about +what she was going to say, the count pressed Bijou's arm against his +without answering. + +"Well, then," she continued, "I thought that, as I liked you better +than I have ever yet liked anyone, and that, on the other hand, I +should never be able to console myself for having caused you so much +sorrow, the best thing would be to marry you." + +M. de Clagny stopped short, and asked, in a choked voice: + +"Then you consent?" + +"Yes." + +"My darling!" he stammered out, "my darling!" + +"I told grandmamma this morning," continued Bijou, "and I must confess +that she was not delighted. She did all she could to make me change my +mind." + +"I can quite understand that." + +"She thinks that it is mad, for you as well as for me, to marry when +there is such disproportion of age; and then, she did not say so, but +I could see that there was something troubling her, which troubles me +too, though to a much less degree." + +"And it is?" + +"The disproportion in money matters. Yes--it appears that you are +horribly rich. Grandmamma said so yesterday, when she told me that you +had asked for my hand." + +"What can it matter, Bijou, dear, whether I am a little more or less +rich?" + +"It matters a great deal, with grandmamma's ideas about things +especially. Oh, it is not that she thinks it humiliating for me to be +married without anything, for I have nothing, you know, in comparison +with what you have! No, she looks upon marriage as a partnership, or +exchange of what one has. '_Give me what you've got, and I'll give +you what I've got_,' as the country people here say. Well, you have +your name, which is a good one, and your money, which makes you a very +rich man; on my side, I have my name, which is rather a good one, too, +and my youth, which certainly counts for something." + +"Very well, then, and how can the disproportion of what we have make +your grandmamma uneasy?" + +"Well, it's like this, you know--grandmamma is very fond of me, and +she thinks that, as I am thirty-eight years younger than you, you +might die before me, and that, after living for years in very great +luxury, after letting myself get accustomed to every comfort, which, +up to the present, I have not had, I might suddenly find myself very +poor and very wretched at an age when it would be too late to begin +life over again, and so I should suffer very much on account of the +bad habits I had contracted, and which I should not be able to drop--" + +"You know very well, my adored Bijou, that everything I possess is and +will be yours. My will is already made, in which I leave everything to +you, even if you do not become my wife." + +"Yes, but she always says a will could be torn up." + +"If your grandmamma would prefer it, I could make it over to you in a +marriage settlement." + +Bijou laughed. + +"Ah! she would imagine, then, that we might be divorced, and a divorce +does away with all things--" + +"But, supposing I make out in the marriage contract that the half of +what I possess now is really yours, and supposing I made over the rest +to you, only reserving to myself the interest?" + +Bijou shook her head, and then, with a pretty movement of playful +affection, she threw her soft arms round M. de Clagny's neck, and +said: + +"I don't want you to give me anything but happiness, and I am sure you +will give me plenty of that. I hope you will live a very, very long +time, and it would not matter to me, when I am old, if I were to find +myself poor again, comparatively speaking." + +"And I," he said, covering Denyse's face and hair with kisses, "I +could not go on living with the thought that I might be taken away +without your future being provided for in the way in which I should +wish it to be." + +"Don't talk about all those things," she murmured. "I want to think +that I shall never be separated from you--never, never!" + +Trying, in spite of the darkness, to look into Bijou's eyes, he asked +anxiously: + +"Will you be able to love me a little, as I love you?" + +Without answering, she held her pretty lips up to him, but just at +that moment the sound of voices made them move away from each other +abruptly. + +Only a few yards away from them they could hear several persons +talking in low voices, and also the sound of heavy footsteps walking +with measured tread. It seemed as though just there, quite near to +them, a heavy burden were being carried along, whilst, in the midst of +the darkness, lights kept passing by. + +"It's very odd," said M. de Clagny; "one would think something had +happened." + +Bijou, however, who had stopped short, her heart beating fast with +anxiety, struck with the strangeness of the little procession, put her +hand on the count's arm, and said, quite tranquilly: + +"Oh, no! it must be the men going back to the farm. Just now they are +at work up at the house through the day, and then, when they have had +something to eat, they go back home." + +"It seemed to me, though, that the lanterns were on the way towards +the house." + +She was walking along with her hand on his arm, and a thrill of joy +ran through him as he drew this beautiful girl, who had just promised +herself to him, closer still, in a passionate embrace. + +They returned slowly to the house along the avenues, meeting several +carriages, which were bearing away the departing guests. + +"How's that?" exclaimed Bijou, in surprise. "They are going away +already--but what about the cotillion? Is it very late?" + +On arriving at the hall-door steps, they met the La Balues coming +towards their carriage. + +"How's this?" asked Bijou. "You are going? But why?" + +M. de la Balue mumbled out some unintelligible words, whilst his son +and daughter, looking very sad, shook hands with Bijou. + +"Well, what long faces they are making," remarked M. de Clagny, +beginning to get anxious in his turn. "Ah! what's that? Whatever's the +matter?" + +In the hall there was a long pool of water. The servants were going +backwards and forwards quickly, looking awestruck, and then Pierrot +came in sight, his eyes swollen with crying, and his hands full of +flowers. Madame de Rueille was following him, carrying flowers, too. + +Bijou stopped short, thunderstruck; but M. de Clagny hurried up to +Madame de Rueille. + +"What has happened?" he asked. + +"M. Giraud has drowned himself," answered Bertrade. "They have just +brought him back here. It was the miller who found him near the dam--" + +And then, seeing that Pierrot was gazing at her in consternation, +shaking his flowers about at the end of his long arms in sheer +desperation, she added, in a hard voice: + +"Yes, I know very well that grandmamma has forbidden anyone to speak +of it before Bijou, but, for my part, I want her to know about it." + + + + +XVII. + + +AS she stood waiting at the threshold of the little church for her +Uncle Alexis, who was just getting out of the carriage, Bijou turned +round, and, after giving a little kick to her long white satin train, +and pulling the folds of her veil over her face, she gazed round at +the motley crowd, who were hurrying towards the church-porch, with +that quick look in her luminous eyes which took in everything at a +glance. + +She saw first the profile of Jean de Blaye towering above the others; +he was advancing towards her with an indifferent, languid expression +on his face, and talking to M. de Rueille, who looked slightly nervous +and excited. Henry de Bracieux, with a worried look on his face, was +listening in an absent sort of way to the marchioness, as she gave her +orders to the coachman. + +Pierrot had got one of the tails of his coat, which was too short for +him, caught in the carriage-door, and, with his big, white-gloved +hands, he was awkwardly endeavouring to get free, but unsuccessfully. + +M. Sylvestre, with an enormous roll of music under his arm, looking +very nervous, and in a great hurry, was rushing towards the staircase +which led to the gallery, without daring to lift his eyes from the +ground; whilst Abbé Courteil, accompanied by his two pupils, passed +by, looking very business-like--he, too, not venturing to glance in +the direction of Bijou. + +Jeanne Dubuisson, who had got rather thinner, was waiting with her +father until the crowd made way for her to pass. + +Among the Bracieux villagers, and just behind all the fine ladies and +gentlemen, who had come from Pont-sur-Loire and the country-houses in +the neighbourhood, Charlemagne Lavenue was pressing forward with long +strides. He was dressed in his best clothes, and his square shoulders +and ruddy complexion seemed to stand out against the background of +blue sky. + +As she stood there, with her eyes lowered, looking as though she had +seen nothing, with the sun, which had brightened up the whole country +round for her marriage, shining full on her, Bijou was enjoying to +the full the bliss of living, of knowing herself beautiful, and of +being beloved by everyone. + +The sound of her Uncle Alexis' voice as he offered her his arm, and +said: "Are you ready?" woke her up out of her ecstasy. + +Very graceful and beautiful she looked, as she moved along to the +music of the organ, which was pealing forth. + +A cabman, who had gone inside the church to see "the wedding," +exclaimed, as Bijou passed up the aisle: + +"Bless my soul! but ain't she a pretty one---the bride?" + +Whereupon one of Farmer Lavenue's day-labourers replied: + +"I believe you. And I can tell you what--she's as good as she is +pretty--she is! And even better nor that!" + + + THE END. + + _Printed by Cowan & Co., Limited, Perth._ + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Missing or incorrect punctuation fixed. + +Hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of same words retained when +occurring equally. + +Unusual spellings retained, but obvious misspellings corrected. + +P.38: "bruta tenderness" to "brutal tenderness" + +P.65 and 6: "anyrate"(2) to more frequent "any rate" (11) + +P.292: "got o st" to "got lost" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bijou, by Gyp + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIJOU *** + +***** This file should be named 36199-8.txt or 36199-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/1/9/36199/ + +Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, JoAnn Greenwood and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Bijou + +Author: Gyp + +Translator: Alys Hallard + +Release Date: May 23, 2011 [EBook #36199] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIJOU *** + + + + +Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, JoAnn Greenwood and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="375" height="541" alt="Book Cover " title="" /> +</div> + + + +<h1>BIJOU</h1> + + + +<p> +<br /> +<br /></p> +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>GYP +<br /> +<br /></h2> +<h4><i>TRANSLATED</i><br /> +BY<br /></h4> +<h3>ALYS HALLARD.<br /> +<br /> +<br /></h3> +<h4>LONDON<br /> +HUTCHINSON & CO.<br /> +34 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.<br /> +1897<br /> +</h4> + + + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p>TABLE OF CONTENTS<br /><br /> +<a href="#I"><b>Chapter I.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#II"><b>Chapter II.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#III"><b>Chapter III.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#IV"><b>Chapter IV.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#V"><b>Chapter V.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#VI"><b>Chapter VI.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#VII"><b>Chapter VII.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#VIII"><b>Chapter VIII.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#IX"><b>Chapter IX.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#X"><b>Chapter X.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#XI"><b>Chapter XI.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#XII"><b>Chapter XII.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#XIII"><b>Chapter XIII.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#XIV"><b>Chapter XIV.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#XV"><b>Chapter XV.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#XVI"><b>Chapter XVI.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#XVII"><b>Chapter XVII.</b></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<h2>BIJOU.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Madame de Bracieux</span> was working for her poor +people. She poked her thick, light, tortoise-shell +crochet-needle into the ball of coarse wool, and +putting that down on her lap, lifted her head and +looked across at her great-nephew, Jean de Blaye.</p> + +<p>"Jean," she said, "what are you gazing at that +is so interesting? You stand there with your nose +flattened against the window-pane, just exactly +as you did when you were a little boy, and were so +insufferable."</p> + +<p>Jean de Blaye lifted his head abruptly. He had +been leaning his forehead against the glass of the +bay-window.</p> + +<p>"I?" he answered, hesitating slightly. "Oh, +nothing, aunt—nothing at all!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing at all? Oh, well, I must say that +you seem to be looking at nothing at all with a +great deal of attention."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do not believe him, grandmamma!" said +Madame de Rueille in her beautiful, grave, expressive +voice; "he is hoping all the time to see a cab +appear round the bend of the avenue."</p> + +<p>"Is he expecting someone?" asked the +marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" explained M. de Rueille, laughing; +"but a cab, even a Pont-sur-Loire cab, +would remind him of Paris. Bertrade is teasing +him."</p> + +<p>"I don't care all that much about being reminded +of Paris," muttered Jean, without stirring.</p> + +<p>Madame de Rueille gazed at him in astonishment. +"One would almost think he was in +earnest!" she remarked.</p> + +<p>"In earnest, but absent-minded!" said the +marchioness, and then, turning towards a young +abbé, who was playing loto with the de Rueille +children, she asked:</p> + +<p>"Monsieur, will you tell us whether there is anything +interesting taking place on the terrace?"</p> + +<p>The abbé, who was seated with his back to the +bay-window, looked behind him over his shoulder, +and replied promptly:</p> + +<p>"I do not see anything in the slightest degree +interesting, madame."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nothing whatever," affirmed Jean, leaving the +window, and taking his seat on a divan.</p> + +<p>One of the de Rueille children, forgetting his +loto cards, and leaving the abbé to call out the +numbers over and over again with untiring patience, +suddenly perched himself up on a chair, and, by his +grimaces, appeared to be making signals to someone +through the window.</p> + +<p>"Marcel dear, at whom are you making those +horrible grimaces?" asked the grandmother, +puzzled.</p> + +<p>"At Bijou," replied the child; "she is out there +gathering flowers."</p> + +<p>"Has she been there long?" asked the +marchioness.</p> + +<p>It was the abbé who answered this time.</p> + +<p>"About, ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, +madame."</p> + +<p>"And you consider that Bijou is not interesting +to look at?" exclaimed the old lady, laughing. +"You are difficult to please, monsieur!"</p> + +<p>Abbé Courteil, who had not been long in the +family, and who was incredibly shy, blushed from +the neck-band of his cassock to the roots of his fair +hair, and stammered out in dismay:</p> + +<p>"But, madame, when you asked if anything +interesting were taking place on the terrace, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +thought you meant—something—something extraordinary, +and I never thought that the presence +of Mademoiselle Bij—I mean, of Mademoiselle +Denyse—as she always gathers her flowers there +at this time every day—I never thought that you +would consider that as—"</p> + +<p>The sentence ended in an unintelligible way, +whilst the abbé, very much confused, continued +shaking the numbers about in the bag.</p> + +<p>"That poor abbé," said Bertrade de Rueille, +very quietly, "you do frighten him, grandmamma."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! nothing of the kind! I do not +frighten him; you exaggerate, my dear."</p> + +<p>And then, after a moment's reflection, Madame +de Bracieux continued:</p> + +<p>"The man must be blind then."</p> + +<p>"What man?"</p> + +<p>"Why, your abbé! Good heavens, what stupid +answers he makes."</p> + +<p>"But, grandmamma—"</p> + +<p>"No! you will never make me believe that +a man could watch Bijou at work amongst the +flowers, and not consider her '<i>interesting to look +at</i>!'—no, never!"</p> + +<p>"A man, yes; but then the abbé is not exactly +a man."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah! what is he then, if you please?"</p> + +<p>"Well, a priest is not—"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly like other men in certain respects! +no, at least I hope not; but priests have eyes, I +suppose, and you will grant that, if they have not +eyes like those of other men, they have eyes such +as a woman has, at any rate. Will you allow your +abbé to have eyes like a woman?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, grandmamma, I will allow him to +have any kind of eyes he likes."</p> + +<p>"That's a good thing. Well, then, any woman +looking at Bijou would perceive that she is charming. +Why should an abbé not perceive that +too?"</p> + +<p>"You do not like our poor abbé."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, you know my opinion. I consider +that priests were made for the churches and not +for our houses. Apart from that, I like your abbé +as well as I do any of them. I like him—negatively; +I respect him."</p> + +<p>Bertrade laughed, and said in her gentle voice:</p> + +<p>"It scarcely seems like it; you are very rough +on him always."</p> + +<p>"I am rough on him, just as I am rough on all +of you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but then we are accustomed to it, whilst +he—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, very well, I won't be rough on him again. +I will take care; but you have no idea how tiresome +it will be to me. I do like to be able to +speak my mind. It was a strange notion of yours, +to have an abbé for your children."</p> + +<p>"It was Paul; he particularly wished the children +to be educated by a priest, at any rate, to begin +with. He is very religious."</p> + +<p>"Well, but so am I—I am very religious, and +that is just why I would never have a priest as +tutor. Yes, don't you see, if he should be an intelligent +man, why, just for the sake of one or two, +or even several children—but anyhow only a small +number, you make use of his intelligence, which +his calling had destined for the direction of his +flock, and you prevent him from teaching, comforting, +and forgiving the sins of poor creatures, +who, as a rule, are much more interesting than +we are. If, on the other hand, the priest should be +an imbecile, why, he just devotes himself conscientiously +to distorting the mind of the little human +being entrusted to him, and in both cases you are +responsible, either for the harm you do, or the +good you prevent being done—-Ah! here's Bijou, +let me look at her; I shall enjoy that more than +talking about your abbé," and the marchioness +pointed to her grand-daughter, who was just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +entering the room, and who looked like a walking +basket of flowers.</p> + +<p>Denyse de Courtaix, nicknamed Bijou, was an +exquisite little creature, refined-looking, graceful, +and slender, and yet all over dimples. She +had large violet eyes, limpid, and full of expression, +a straight nose, turning up almost imperceptibly +at the end, a very small mouth, with +very red lips going up merrily at the corners, and +showing some small, milky-white teeth. Her +soft, silky hair was of that light auburn shade +so rarely seen nowadays. Her tiny ears were +shaded with pink, like mother-of-pearl, and this +same pinky shade was to be seen not only on +her cheeks, but on her forehead, her neck, and her +hands. It shone all over her skin with a rosy +gleam. Her eyebrows alone, which crossed her +smooth, intelligent forehead with a very fine, and +almost unbroken dark line, indicated the fact that +this frail and pretty little creature had a will of her +own.</p> + +<p>Bijou, who looked about fifteen or sixteen years +of age, had attained her majority just a week ago, +but from her perfect and dainty little person there +seemed to emanate a breath of child-like candour +and innocence. Her charm, however, which was +most subtle and penetrating, was distinctly that of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +a woman, and it was this contrast which made +Bijou so fascinating and so unlike other girls. Such +as she was, she infatuated men, delighted women, +and was adored by all.</p> + +<p>As soon as she entered the room, all rosy-looking +in her pink dress of cloudy muslin, with a sort +of flat basket filled with roses, fastened round her +neck with pink ribbon, everyone surrounded her, +glad to welcome the gaiety which seemed to enter +with her, for until her arrival the large room had +felt somewhat bare and empty.</p> + +<p>Paul de Rueille, who was playing billiards with +his brother-in-law, Henry de Bracieux, came to +ask for a rose from her basket, whilst Henry, who +had followed him, took one without asking.</p> + +<p>The de Rueille children, leaving the abbé, who +continued calling out the loto numbers in a +monotonous tone, went sliding across to the young +girl, and hung about her. Their mother called +them back.</p> + +<p>"Leave Bijou alone, children; you worry +her!"</p> + +<p>"Robert! Marcel! come here," said the abbé, +getting up.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," protested Bijou, "let them alone; I +like to have them!"</p> + +<p>She took the basket from her neck, and was just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +about to put it down on the billiard-table, when +she suddenly stopped.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! I must have mercy on the game."</p> + +<p>"Isn't she nice? she thinks of everything," +murmured Henry de Bracieux, quite +touched.</p> + +<p>"Come and kiss me, Bijou," said the marchioness.</p> + +<p>Denyse had just put her basket down on a +divan. She took from it a full-blown rose, and +went quickly across to her grandmother, whom she +kissed over and over again in a fondling way as +a child.</p> + +<p>"There," she said, presenting her rose, "it is the +most beautiful one of all!" Her voice was rather +high-pitched, rather "a head-voice" perhaps, but +it sounded so young and clear, and then, too, she +spoke so distinctly, and with such an admirable +pronunciation.</p> + +<p>"You have not seen Pierrot, then?" asked the +marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Pierrot?" said Bijou, as though she were trying +to recall something to her memory. "Why, yes, +I have seen him; he was with me a minute or two +helping me to gather the flowers, and then he went +away to his father, who was shooting rabbits in the +wood."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I might have thought as much; that boy does +not do a thing."</p> + +<p>"But, grandmamma, he is here for his holidays."</p> + +<p>"His holidays if you like; but, all the same, if a +tutor has been engaged for him, it is surely so that +he may work."</p> + +<p>"But he must take some rest now and again, +poor Pierrot—and his tutor too."</p> + +<p>"They do nothing else, though. Well, as long +as my brother knows it, and as long as it suits +him—"</p> + +<p>"It suits him to-day, anyhow, for he told them +to join him in the wood."</p> + +<p>"He told <i>them</i>?" repeated the old lady; and +then she continued slily, "and so the tutor has +been gathering roses, too?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Denyse, with her beautiful, frank +smile, and not noticing her grandmother's mocking +intonation, "he has been gathering roses, too."</p> + +<p>"He probably enjoyed that more than shooting +rabbits," said the marchioness, glancing at a tall +young man who was just entering the room, "for +if he went to join your uncle in the wood, he did +not stay long with him anyhow!"</p> + +<p>"Why—no!"—said Bijou in astonishment, and +then leaving her grandmother, she advanced to +meet the young man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Did you not find uncle, Monsieur Giraud?" +she asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, mademoiselle," he replied, turning very +red. "Yes, certainly, we found M. de Jonzac; +but—I—I was obliged to come in—as I have +some of Pierre's exercises to correct." And then, +doubtlessly wanting to explain how it was that he +had come into that room, he added, slightly +confused: "I just came in here to see whether I +had left my books about—I thought—but—I do +not see them here—"</p> + +<p>He had not taken his eyes off Bijou, and was +going away again when the marchioness, looking at +him indulgently, and with an amused expression in +her eyes, called him back.</p> + +<p>"Will you not stay and have a smoke here, +Monsieur Giraud? Is there such a hurry as all +that for the correction of those exercises?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, madame!" answered the tutor eagerly, +retracing his steps, "there is no hurry at all."</p> + +<p>The old lady leaned forward towards Madame +de Rueille, who was silently working at a handsome +piece of tapestry, and said to her with a smile: +"He is not like the abbé—this young man!"</p> + +<p>Bertrade lifted her pretty head and answered +gravely:</p> + +<p>"No!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You look as though you pitied him?"</p> + +<p>"I do, with all my heart."</p> + +<p>"And why, pray?"</p> + +<p>"Because the poor fellow, after coming to us as +gay as a lark a fortnight ago, and winning all our +hearts, will go away from here sad and unhappy, +his heart heavy with grief or anger."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you always see the black side of things; he +thinks Bijou is sweet, he admires her and likes to +be with her; but that is all!"</p> + +<p>"You know very well, grandmamma, that Bijou +is perfectly adorable, and so attractive that everyone +is fascinated by her."</p> + +<p>The marchioness pointed to her great-nephew, +Jean de Blaye, who, ever since he had left the +window, did not appear to be taking any notice +of what was going on around him.</p> + +<p>"Everyone?" she said, almost angrily; "no, not +everyone. Look at Jean, he is as blind as the +abbé!"</p> + +<p>Jean de Blaye was sitting motionless in a large +arm-chair; there was an impassive expression on +his face, and a far-away look in his eyes. He +appeared to be in a reverie, and the younger lady +glanced across at him, as she answered:</p> + +<p>"I am afraid that he is only acting blind!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nonsense!" said Madame de Bracieux<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +delighted, "do you think that Bijou could possibly +interest Jean enough, for instance, to keep him, +even for a time, from his actresses, his horses, his +theatres, and the stupid life he generally leads?—You +really think so?"</p> + +<p>"I do think so!"</p> + +<p>"And how long have you thought this?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, only just now. When he told us with +such conviction that '<i>he did not care all that much +about being reminded of Paris</i>,' I felt that he was +speaking the truth. I began to wonder then what +could have made him forget Paris. I wondered +and wondered—and I found out."</p> + +<p>"Bijou?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly."</p> + +<p>"So much the better if that really should be so. +For my part, I do not think it looks like it. He +takes no notice of her."</p> + +<p>"When we are watching him—no."</p> + +<p>"He seems low-spirited and absent-minded."</p> + +<p>"He would be for less cause than this. Jean never +does things in a half-and-half way. If he were in love, +I mean seriously, he would be desperately in love; +and if he were to be desperately in love with Bijou, or +if he were to discover that he was falling in love +with her, it certainly would not be a thing for him +to rejoice over. He cannot—no matter how much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +he might wish it—he cannot marry Bijou. It is +not only that he is her cousin, but he is not rich +enough."</p> + +<p>"He has about twenty thousand pounds. Bijou +has eight thousand, to which I shall add another +four thousand, that makes twelve thousand—total +between them thirty-two thousand."</p> + +<p>"Well, and can you imagine Bijou with an income +of about nine hundred pounds a year?"</p> + +<p>"No. I know that <i>she</i> would consider it enough. +She makes her own dresses; everyone says they +do that, but, in this case, it is a fact. Then she is +very industrious and clever; she understands +housekeeping wonderfully well, and for the last +four years has managed everything both here and +in Paris; but I could not possibly reconcile myself +to the idea of seeing her enduring the hardships +of a limited income—and it would be limited. +Good heavens! though, I hope she will not go +and fall in love with Jean."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do not think she will."</p> + +<p>"You see, he is charming, the wretch; and it +appears he is a great favourite?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly; but then Bijou is made so +much of. She is surrounded and adored by everyone, +so that she has not much time to fall in love +herself!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And then, too, she is such a child!" said +the marchioness, glancing at her grand-daughter +with infinite tenderness.</p> + +<p>Bijou was standing near the billiard-table +watching the game, and laughing as she teased the +players.</p> + +<p>At a little distance from her, the young professor +was also standing motionless, watching her with a +rapturous expression in his eyes.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Jean de Blaye rose abruptly, looking +annoyed, and moved away in the direction of the +door that led to the flight of steps going down to +the garden.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute!" called out Denyse, "wait, and +let me give you a flower!"</p> + +<p>She went to the basket, and taking out a yellow +rose scarcely opened, she crossed over to her cousin, +and put it in his button-hole.</p> + +<p>"There!" she said, stepping back and looking +satisfied, "you are very fine like that!" And then +turning towards the tutor, she said in the most +winning way, and with perfect ease: "Monsieur +Giraud, will you have a rosebud too?"</p> + +<p>The young man took the flower, and, almost +trembling with confusion, tried in vain to fasten it +in his coat.</p> + +<p>"Ah! you can't do it!" said the young girl,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +taking it gently from him. "Let me put it in +for you, will you?"</p> + +<p>He was so tall that, in order to reach his button-hole, +she was obliged to stand on tip-toes. She +slipped the flower through slowly, and with +the greatest care, and when she had finished +she gave a little tap to the shiny revers of +the old coat, which were all out of shape and +faded.</p> + +<p>"There, that's right!" she said, smiling +pleasantly; "like that, it is perfectly lovely!"</p> + +<p>The marchioness, her eyes shining with affection, +was looking at her.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of her? isn't she sweet?" +the old lady said to Bertrade, who seemed to be +admiring Bijou also.</p> + +<p>Madame de Rueille looked at the young tutor, +who was standing still in the middle of the room.</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow!" she said.</p> + +<p>"What, still! Well, decidedly, Monsieur Giraud +appears to interest you very much!"</p> + +<p>"Very much indeed! I am sorry for people +who are sensitive and unhappy; for, you see, +I am one of the merry ones myself!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!—I don't know about that. You said +just now that Jean was acting blind; well, I +should say you were acting merry. You are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +merry, for instance, when anyone is looking at +you."</p> + +<p>The young wife did not answer, she only pointed +towards Bijou.</p> + +<p>"She is one of the genuinely merry ones, at any +rate, is she not, grandmamma?"</p> + +<p>Bijou had just given the children some flowers, +and was now speaking to the Abbé Courteil.</p> + +<p>"And you too, monsieur, I want to decorate +you with my flowers! There, now, just tell me if +that rose is not beautiful? Ah, if you want +a lovely rose, that certainly is one."</p> + +<p>She was holding out to him an enormous rose, +which was full blown, and looked like a regular +cabbage.</p> + +<p>The abbé had risen from his seat without loosing +the bag containing the loto numbers. He +looked scared, and stammered out as he stepped +back:</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle, it is indeed a superb flower; but—but +I should not know where to put it. The +button-holes of my cassock are so small, the stalk +would never go through. I am very much obliged, +mademoiselle, I really am. I—but there is no +place to put it—it is—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but there is room for it in your girdle," +she answered, laughing. "There, monsieur, look<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +there—it is as though it had been made for +it!"</p> + +<p>Standing at some little distance away, she +pushed the long stalk of the flower between the +abbé's girdle and cassock.</p> + +<p>He thanked her as he bowed awkwardly.</p> + +<p>"I am much obliged, mademoiselle, it is very +kind of you; I am quite touched—quite touched."</p> + +<p>At every movement the rose swung about in the +loose girdle. It moved backwards and forwards in +the most comical way, with ridiculous little jerks, +showing up to advantage against the cassock which +was all twisted like a screw round the abbé's thin +body.</p> + +<p>"Now, I am going to arrange my vases," +remarked Bijou, when she had adorned everyone +with flowers.</p> + +<p>"Where?" asked M. de Rueille.</p> + +<p>"Why, in the dining-room, in the drawing-room, +in the hall, here, everywhere."</p> + +<p>"We will come and help you!" exclaimed several +voices.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!—instead of helping me you would just +hinder me."</p> + +<p>She picked up her basket and went away, looking +very merry and fresh. Her muslin dress +fluttered round her, as pink and pretty as she herself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +was. As soon as she had disappeared, it +seemed as though a veil of melancholy had +suddenly spread itself over the large room. No +one spoke, and there was not a sound to be heard +except the knocking together of the billiard-balls, +and the rattling of the numbers, which the abbé +kept shaking all the time, bringing into this game, +as into everything else, the methodical precision +which was habitual to him.</p> + +<p>"Grandmamma," said Henry de Bracieux at +length, "you ought not to allow Bijou to give us +the slip like this, especially at Bracieux. In Paris +it is not so bad, but here, when she leaves us we +are done for; she is the ray of sunshine that lights +up the whole house."</p> + +<p>The marchioness shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"You talk nonsense; you forget that very soon +Bijou will <i>give us the slip</i>, as you so elegantly put +it, in a more decisive way."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? She is not going to be +married?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope so."</p> + +<p>"You have someone in view?" asked M. de +Rueille, not very well pleased.</p> + +<p>"No, not at all; but, you see, the said someone +may present himself one day or another—not +here, of course, there is no one round here who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +would be suitable for Bijou; but it is very probable +that this winter in Paris—"</p> + +<p>Henry de Bracieux, a fine-looking young man +of twenty-five years of age, with a strong resemblance +to his sister Bertrade, was listening to the +words of the marchioness. His eyebrows were +knitted, and there was a serious expression on his +face. He missed a very easy cannon, and his +brother-in-law was astonished.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hang it!" he exclaimed; "it is too warm to +play billiards. I am going out to have a nap +in the hammock."</p> + +<p>His sister watched him as he left the room, +and then turning towards the marchioness, she +whispered:</p> + +<p>"He, too!"</p> + +<p>The old lady replied, with a touch of ill-humour:</p> + +<p>"Bijou cannot marry all the family, anyhow. +Ah! here she is, we must not talk about it."</p> + +<p>Just at that moment the graceful figure of the +young girl appeared in the doorway leading to +the stone steps.</p> + +<p>"How many people will there be to dinner on +Thursday, grandmamma?" she asked, without +entering the room.</p> + +<p>"Why, I have not counted. There are the La +Balues—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That makes four."</p> + +<p>"The Juzencourts—"</p> + +<p>"Six."</p> + +<p>"Young Bernès—"</p> + +<p>"Seven."</p> + +<p>"Madame de Nézel—"</p> + +<p>"Eight."</p> + +<p>"That's all."</p> + +<p>"And we are ten to start with, that makes +eighteen. We can do with twenty; will you invite +the Dubuissons, grandmamma? I should so +like to have Jeanne."</p> + +<p>"I am perfectly willing. I will write to them."</p> + +<p>"It isn't worth while. I shall have to go to +Pont-sur-Loire to get things in, and I can invite +them."</p> + +<p>"My poor dear child! you are going to the +town through this heat?"</p> + +<p>"We <i>must</i> see about the things for this dinner. +To-day is Tuesday—and then I want to speak to +Mère Rafut, and see if she can come to work. I +have no dresses to put on, and there will be the +races, and some dances."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said the marchioness, evidently annoyed, +"you are going to have that frightful old woman +again."</p> + +<p>"Why, grandmamma, she's a very nice, straightforward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +sort of woman, and then she works so +well."</p> + +<p>"That may be; but her appearance is terribly +against her."</p> + +<p>"Yes, grandmamma, that is so, she is not +beautiful—Mère Rafut is old and poor, and old +age and poverty do not improve the appearance; +but it is so convenient for me to have her; and +she is so happy to come here, and be well-paid, +and well-fed, and well-treated, after being accustomed +to her actresses, who either pay her badly +or not at all."</p> + +<p>By this time Bijou was standing just behind +Madame de Bracieux's arm-chair. She added in +a coaxing way, as she threw her pretty pink arms +around the old lady's neck:</p> + +<p>"It is quite a charity, grandmamma; and a +charity not only to Mère Rafut, but to me."</p> + +<p>"Have her then," answered the marchioness, +"have your frightful old woman—let her come as +much as you like!"</p> + +<p>"Well, then, good-bye for the present."</p> + +<p>"How are you going?—in the victoria?"</p> + +<p>"No, in the trap; I shall be quicker if I take +the trap—I can go there in twenty-five minutes.</p> + +<p>"And <i>you</i> are going to drive?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, grandmamma."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And with the sun so hot? You'll have a +stroke."</p> + +<p>"Shall I drive you, Bijou?" proposed M. de +Rueille. "I want to get some tobacco, and some +powder, and two fishing-rods to replace those that +Pierrot broke. I shall be glad to go to town."</p> + +<p>"And I shall be delighted for you to drive me."</p> + +<p>"When shall we start?"</p> + +<p>"At once, please."</p> + +<p>Just as they were going out of the room, the +marchioness called out to them:</p> + +<p>"Beware of accidents. Don't go too quickly +downhill."</p> + +<p>"You can be quite easy, grandmamma, I never +lose my head."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the evening as they were driving through Pont-sur-Loire +on their way back to Bracieux, M. de +Rueille said to Denyse:</p> + +<p>"There is no mistake about it, Bijou, my dear +with you there is no chance of passing by unnoticed. +Oh, dear, no!"</p> + +<p>She glanced at the foot-passengers, who were +turning round to look at her with intense curiosity, +and answered:</p> + +<p>"It's my pink dress that—"</p> + +<p>"No, it is not your dress, it is you yourself."</p> + +<p>Her large violet eyes grew larger with astonishment +as she asked:</p> + +<p>"I, myself? But why?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bijou, my dear, it is not at all nice of you to +act like that with your poor old cousin."</p> + +<p>"You think I am acting?" she exclaimed, looking +more and more astounded.</p> + +<p>"Well, it appears like it to me; it is impossible +for you not to know how pretty you are. In the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +first place, you have eyes, and then you are told +often enough for—"</p> + +<p>"I am told?—by whom?"</p> + +<p>"By everyone. Why, even I, although I am +nearly your uncle and a settled-down respectable +sort of man."</p> + +<p>"'Nearly my uncle.' No—considering that Bertrade +is my first cousin; and, as to the rest—" +She stopped abruptly, and then finished with a +laugh. "You flatter yourself!"</p> + +<p>"Alas, no! I shall soon be forty-two."</p> + +<p>She looked at him in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well! you don't look it."</p> + +<p>"Thank you! There now! Do you see how +all the natives are gazing at you? I can assure +you, Bijou, that when I come to do any shopping +alone, they do not watch me so eagerly."</p> + +<p>"I tell you it is this pink dress that astonishes +them."</p> + +<p>"But why should they be astonished? They are +accustomed to that, because you often come to +Pont-sur-Loire, and you always wear pink."</p> + +<p>Ever since she had left off her mourning for her +parents, who had died four years ago, Denyse had +adopted pink as her only colour for all her dresses. +The reason was, she said, because her grandmother +preferred seeing her dressed thus. Anyhow, this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +pink, a very pale, soft shade, like that of the petals +of a rose just as it begins to fall, suited her to perfection, +as it was almost exactly the same delicate +colour as her skin.</p> + +<p>She always wore it, and when the weather was +cold or gloomy she would put on a long, gathered +cloak, which covered her entirely, and on taking +this dark wrap off, she would come out, looking as +fresh and sweet as a flower, and seem to brighten +up everything around her.</p> + +<p>Her dresses were always of batiste, muslin, or +some soft woollen material, comparatively inexpensive. +The greatest luxury to which she treated +herself now and again was a <i>taffetas</i> or surah silk. +And then, nothing could be more simple than the +way these dresses were made—always the same +little gathered blouses and straight skirts, and never +any trimming whatever, except, perhaps, in the +winter, a narrow edging of fur.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's quite true," she said thoughtfully, +"I am always in pink. You don't like that?"</p> + +<p>"Not like it? I—good heavens!—why, I think +it is perfectly charming! I tell you, Bijou, that if +I were not an old man, I should make love to you +all the time!"</p> + +<p>"You are not an old man!"</p> + +<p>"Very many thanks! If, however, you do not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +look upon me as quite an old man—which, by the +bye, is certainly debatable—I am at any rate a +married man."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's true, and so much the better for +you, for there is nothing more stupid and tiresome +than men who are always making love."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, you must know a terrible number +of people who are stupid and tiresome."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because everyone makes love to you—more or +less!"</p> + +<p>"Not at all! Why, just think! I was brought +up in the most isolated way, like a veritable +savage. When papa and mamma were living, +they were always ill, and I was shut up with them, +and never saw anyone. It is scarcely four years +since I came to live with grandmamma, where I do +see people."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; plenty of them, and no mistake!"</p> + +<p>"You speak as though that annoyed you?"</p> + +<p>She glanced sideways at Rueille, her eyes shining +beneath her drooping eyelids, whilst he replied, +with a touch of irritation in his voice in spite of +himself:</p> + +<p>"Annoyed me, but why should it? Are your +affairs any business of mine; have I any voice in +the matter of anything that concerns you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Which means that if you had a voice in the +matter—?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, there would certainly be many changes, +and many reforms that I should make."</p> + +<p>"For instance?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I should not allow you, if I were in your +grandmamma's place, to be quite as affable and +as ready to welcome everyone; I should want +to keep you rather more for myself, and prevent +your letting strangers have so much of you."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, with a pensive expression, +"perhaps you are right."</p> + +<p>"And all the more so because we shall have you +to ourselves for so short a time now."</p> + +<p>The large candid eyes, with their sweet expression, +were fixed on Paul de Rueille as he continued:</p> + +<p>"You will be marrying soon? You will be +leaving us?"</p> + +<p>Bijou laughed. "How you arrange things. +There is no question, as far as I know, of my +marriage."</p> + +<p>"There is nothing definite—no; at least, I do +not think so. But, practically, it is the one +subject in question, and grandmamma thinks of +nothing else."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, I am not like her then, for I scarcely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +ever give it a thought." And then she added, +turning grave all at once: "Besides, my marriage +is very problematical."</p> + +<p>"Problematical?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes,—in the first place, I should want the +man who marries me to love me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, you can be easy on that score; you +will have no difficulty about that."</p> + +<p>Her fresh young voice took an almost solemn +tone as she continued:</p> + +<p>"And then I should want to love him, +too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, so you will. One always does love one's +husband—to begin with," said Rueille carelessly; +and then he stopped short, thinking that the words +"to begin with" were unnecessary.</p> + +<p>Bijou had not understood, however, nor even +heard, for she asked:</p> + +<p>"What did you say?"</p> + +<p>"I said that he will be very happy."</p> + +<p>"Who will be happy?"</p> + +<p>"The man you love!"</p> + +<p>"I hope so. I shall do all I can for that!"</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille seemed to be annoyed and irritated. +He said, in a disagreeable way, as though +he wanted to discourage Denyse in her dreams of +the future:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, but supposing you do not happen to meet +with him?"</p> + +<p>"Well, then, I shall die an old maid, that's all! +But I do not see why I should not meet with him. +I do not ask for anything impossible, after all!"</p> + +<p>In a mocking tone, and a trifle aggressive, he, +asked:</p> + +<p>"Would it be very indiscreet to ask you what +you expect?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, not indiscreet in the slightest degree, for I +can only answer just as I have already answered, +I should simply want <i>to love him</i>! I do not care +at all about money; I neither understand money +nor worship it!" She turned towards her cousin, +and said, in conclusion, as she looked up into his +face: "Now, I'll tell you, I would agree to a +marriage like Bertrade's."</p> + +<p>"With another husband," he stammered out.</p> + +<p>Very simply and naturally, and without the +slightest embarrassment, she said, laughing:</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear no! No, I think the husband is +quite nice."</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille did not answer. He could not +help feeling some emotion, in spite of himself, at +this idea that Bijou might have cared for him. It +seemed to him that the evening air was delicious, +and never had the setting sun, which was sinking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +slowly like a ball of flame into the Loire, appeared +more brilliant to him. The little gig was so +narrow, that, with every oscillation, his elbow +touched the young girl's arm, whilst her soft fair +hair, escaping from her large straw hat, kept brushing +against his cheek, which began to burn.</p> + +<p>Bijou noticed his absent-mindedness.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," she said, laughing, "that you +are not listening much to the description of my +ideal."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!—by the bye, have we done all the +errands?"</p> + +<p>She took out of her pocket a long list, which she +began to read:</p> + +<p>"<i>Ice. Cakes. Fruit. Fish. The Dubuissons. +Speak to the butcher. Pink gauze. Mère Rafut. +Hat. Pierrot's books. Henry's cartridges (16).</i>"</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked M. de Rueille, who was +looking at the list. "Henry has commissioned +you to get his cartridges instead of telling me to +get them?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; the time before last when he asked you, +you forgot them; and last time you brought him +number twelve cartridges, and his are number sixteen; +therefore, he preferred—"</p> + +<p>"Ah! I can understand that; but they do take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +advantage of you—and the children too have taken +advantage. '<i>Balloon for Marcel, pencils for Robert</i>;' +Fred is the only one who has not given you any +commissions. You need not despair though, he +is only three years old; he will begin next +year."</p> + +<p>"He did not give me any commissions, but I have +brought him a picture book—'Puss in Boots.' He +adores cats, so that will amuse him."</p> + +<p>"How delicious you are!"</p> + +<p>"Delicious! Is that saying enough? Could +you not find something rather more eulogistic? +Let us see—try now!"</p> + +<p>She was still glancing down the list; and Paul +de Rueille pointed with the handle of his whip to +a line written in pencil:</p> + +<p>"What's that?—'<i>Tell grandmamma about La +Norinière!</i>'"</p> + +<p>"Why, I met the Juzencourts, and they said I +was to be sure to tell grandmamma that 'The +Norinière' is to be inhabited."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Clagny has sold it?"</p> + +<p>"No; he is coming back to it. It appears that +he is coming every summer."</p> + +<p>"Ah, so much the better. Grandmamma will +be very glad of that."</p> + +<p>"Yes, she likes him very much. I do not know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +him, this M. de Clagny, but I have often heard +about him."</p> + +<p>"Don't you remember seeing him a long time +ago?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no!"</p> + +<p>"Well, he was your godfather, anyhow!"</p> + +<p>"You are dreaming! Uncle Alexis is my godfather."</p> + +<p>"Your Uncle Jonzac is the godfather of Denyse, +but it was M. de Clagny who was the godfather of +Bijou. Yes, he said once, speaking of you when +you were very little, <i>the Bijou</i>—and the name +suited you so well that you have had it ever +since."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think it is rather ridiculous to call +me Bijou now that I am old?"</p> + +<p>"You look as though you were fourteen, and +you always will look like that, I promise you."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it rather risky to promise me that?"</p> + +<p>She laughed as she glanced at him, and he, too, +looked at her as though he could not take his eyes +away from the pretty, fresh young face turned +towards him. He was paying no attention to +the road, which was in a very bad state, until +suddenly the right wheel went into a rut, and the +gig gave a jerk, which sent Denyse on to him. She +clung to his arm with all her might, and they remained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +an instant like this until they were able to +regain their balance. The wheel, then, in some +way or another, got clear of the deep rut in which +it had been caught, and the horse went on again at +a quick pace as before.</p> + +<p>"That's right!" said Bijou, laughing heartily. +"I certainly thought we should be upset."</p> + +<p>"It was as near a shave as possible," he answered +gravely.</p> + +<p>She loosened the grasp of her small fingers, +which had been pressed tightly on her cousin's +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Is it really over?" she asked. "You are not +going to begin again, I hope?"</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille did not answer. He was looking +at her with an absent-minded, troubled expression +in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but, instead of looking at me, do look +before you," she went on. "We shall get into +another rut directly, you'll see."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! oh, no!" he murmured, as though he +were in some dream.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure we shall be late for dinner," said +Bijou; "and you know grandmamma does not +altogether like that."</p> + +<p>Rueille touched the pony's back with the whip, +and the animal, springing forward, jerked the little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +carriage violently, and then started off at a mad +pace.</p> + +<p>This time Bijou looked stupefied.</p> + +<p>"What's that for?" she asked. "Whatever is +the matter with you to-day? Just now you +almost upset us, and now you touch Colonel with +the whip, and you ought not to let him even guess +that you have one; you have made him take +fright," and then, seeing that the horse was calming +down, she added, "or nearly so; you are not yourself +at all."</p> + +<p>"No," he answered mechanically, "I am not +myself."</p> + +<p>At the pony's first plunge Denyse had taken +M. de Rueille's arm again. It was not that she +was in the least afraid, but she was perched on a +seat which was too high for her, so that she could +not keep her balance, and, consequently, she tried +to hold on to something firm. Without loosing +the arm on to which she was hanging, she leant +towards her cousin, and asked, with evident interest:</p> + +<p>"Not yourself? What is the matter? Are you +ill?"</p> + +<p>"Ill? No! at least, not exactly."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by <i>not exactly</i>? Oh, but +you must not be ill. We have to work at our +play this evening, and if you do not set about it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +all of you, and in earnest, why, it will never be +finished for the race-ball."</p> + +<p>"I don't care a hang about the play, and—I—if +I were you—"</p> + +<p>He stopped abruptly, evidently embarrassed.</p> + +<p>"Well?" asked Bijou, "what is it? You were +going to say something."</p> + +<p>"Yes," he stammered out, scarcely knowing how +to put what he wanted to say. "I was going to +remark that the design Jean has made for your—for +Hebe's dress—"</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it isn't the thing at all; there is too +little of it."</p> + +<p>"Too little of it? Nonsense!"</p> + +<p>"It isn't nonsense. I say it is not the thing for +a woman, and especially a young girl like you, to +appear like that."</p> + +<p>Bijou looked at Paul de Rueille with a bewildered +expression on her face, and then burst +out laughing.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are queer; you look exactly like a +jealous husband."</p> + +<p>"Jealous!" he stammered out, vexed and ill at +ease. "It isn't for me to be jealous, but I—"</p> + +<p>"No, certainly, but all the same, without being +jealous, you men do not like a woman to look<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +pretty, or to be nice, or amusing, for anyone else's +benefit than just your own."</p> + +<p>"Well, admitting that that is so, it is quite +natural."</p> + +<p>"Ah! you think so? Oh, well, a woman, on +the contrary, is always glad when the men she likes +are admired; she is delighted when other people +like them too."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! You do not know anything about +it, my dear Bijou. You are most deliciously inexperienced +in such things fortunately."</p> + +<p>"Why <i>fortunately</i>?" she asked, opening her +soft, innocent eyes wide in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Because—"</p> + +<p>He stopped short, and Bijou insisted, pinching +his arm.</p> + +<p>"Well, go on—do go on."</p> + +<p>"No, it would be too complicated," he answered, +evidently ill at ease, and trying to shake off the +grasp of the strong little hand.</p> + +<p>"Too complicated!" repeated Bijou, turning red. +"I detest being put off like that. Why will you +not explain what you were thinking?"</p> + +<p>"Explain what I was thinking," he said, in a +sort of fright. "Oh, no!"</p> + +<p>"No? Well, it is not nice of you."</p> + +<p>They went on for a minute or two without speaking,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +Bijou calm and smiling, and her companion +with a serious, uneasy look on his face.</p> + +<p>Just as the gig was entering the avenue, Bijou +turned towards M. de Rueille, and touching him, +this time very gently, with her little hand, she said +in a penetrating voice, which, in his agitated state +of mind, was the last straw:</p> + +<p>"As it vexes you so much I won't wear that +costume. We will get Jean to design another for +me."</p> + +<p>He seized the hand that was resting on his arm +and pressed it to his lips with an almost brutal +tenderness.</p> + +<p>Bijou did not appear to like this passionate display +of feeling. She drew her hand away quietly, +but there was a strange gleam in her eyes as she +said:</p> + +<p>"Take care of the gate, it is a sharp turn remember, +and you are not in luck to-day."</p> + +<p>She then began to collect her parcels calmly, and +until they arrived at the door of the <i>château</i> she +was silent and thoughtful. The first dinner-bell +was just ringing, and Bijou ran upstairs to her +room, and ten minutes later entered the drawing-room, +arrayed in a dainty dress of rose-leaf +coloured chiffon, with a large bunch of roses on the +shoulder.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why! you don't mean to say that you are here +already!" exclaimed Madame de Rueille admiringly. +"I will wager anything that that slow coach +of a Paul is not ready."</p> + +<p>"Did you do all the commissions?" asked the +marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Yes, grandmamma, and I have a special one for +you. The Juzencourts wished me to tell you that +M. de Clagny is coming back to live at The Norinière, +and that he will come every year."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Madame de Bracieux, looking +very delighted, "I am glad to hear that. I never +expected to see him come back here."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Well, because when he was here he had a great +grief, just at an age when painful impressions can +never be effaced."</p> + +<p>"At what age is that?" asked Jean de Blaye, +with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.</p> + +<p>"Forty-eight. And when you are that age, you +will not be as fond of ridiculing everything as you +are now, my dear boy; and it won't be so long +before you get there as you think either."</p> + +<p>"So much the better," he answered, smiling; +"that must be the ideal age—the age when one's +heart is at rest."</p> + +<p>"In some cases it is at rest before that age,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +said the marchioness slily, looking at her +nephew.</p> + +<p>Jean shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it wakes up again, or, at least, it might +wake up; one is not quite easy about it; but at +forty-eight ..."</p> + +<p>"Ah! that's your opinion. Well, it is twelve years +ago now since my old friend Clagny was forty-eight. +He must therefore be sixty at present, and +I would wager anything that his heart has never +been at rest—never. You understand me?" And +then in a lower tone, so that Bijou, who was just +talking to Bertrade, should not hear, she added: +"Neither his heart nor he himself."</p> + +<p>Jean laughed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well! he's a curiosity this friend of yours. +Why does he not go about in a show? He would +get some money."</p> + +<p>"He has no need of money."</p> + +<p>"He is rich, then?"</p> + +<p>"Atrociously rich!"</p> + +<p>"Well, but what's he got?"</p> + +<p>"Sixteen thousand a year. Don't you consider +that a fair amount?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he answered, without any sign of enthusiasm, +"yes, of course, that's very fair—for anyone +who has not got it dishonestly." And then,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +after a pause, he asked: "What was this great +trouble that he had?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll tell you about it when Bijou is not here."</p> + +<p>The young girl, however, could scarcely have +heard what they were saying. She was joking +with Pierrot, who had just come into the room. +She wanted to part his hair again, and Pierrot, a +tall youth of seventeen, strong-looking, but overgrown, +with long feet and hands, and a forehead +covered with extraordinary bumps, was trying to +make himself short, so that the young girl might +reach up to his bushy, colourless hair. He was +bending his head, and looking straight before him, +with a far-away expression in his eyes, evidently +enjoying having his hair stroked by the skilful +little hands.</p> + +<p>Madame de Bracieux, seeing that Bijou was at a +safe distance, ventured in a low voice to tell her +nephew the details about the love-affair, which had +in a way changed the whole life of her friend, +M. de Clagny.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Denyse came across to the marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Grandmamma—I forgot—the Dubuissons cannot +come to dinner on Thursday, but M. Dubuisson +will bring Jeanne on Friday, and leave her with us +for a week."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, then, we shall only be eighteen to +dinner."</p> + +<p>"No, we shall be twenty all the same; because +I saw the Tourvilles, and I gave them an invitation +from you; I thought that—"</p> + +<p>"You did quite right."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Bertrade, "the Tourvilles and +the Juzencourts at the same time! We shall be +sure, then, of hearing their stories of William the +Conqueror and Charles the Bold!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well!" exclaimed Bijou, laughing, "it will +be much better like that, we shall have it altogether, +once for all, at any rate."</p> + +<p>Just as dinner was announced, M. de Rueille +entered the room. He had an absent-minded look, +and his eyes shone strangely. He took his seat +silently at table, and did not talk during the +meal.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Bijou</span>, assisted by Pierrot, was handing the coffee +round, when suddenly she darted off in pursuit of +Paul de Rueille, who had just come out of the +drawing-room, and was descending the steps which +led on to the terrace.</p> + +<p>"Stop, stop! Where are you going?" she called +out.</p> + +<p>"Oh, only for a stroll," he answered, without +looking round, "to get a breath of air, if that is +possible with this heat."</p> + +<p>Bijou had already caught him up.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, what about the play?—You must come +and work."</p> + +<p>"My head aches."</p> + +<p>"Work will take it away! You really must +come, we have only three days."</p> + +<p>"But I am not indispensable; you can do +without me," said Rueille irritably.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but you always do the writing."</p> + +<p>"From dictation; it is not necessary to be very +clever for that."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes it is; and then, too, we are used to you."</p> + +<p>She was on the step above him, and, bending +forward, she put her arms round his neck, and said +in a coaxing tone:</p> + +<p>"Paul, dear, come now, just to please me, you +would be so nice, so very nice!"</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille, turning abruptly, unclasped the +soft arms, which encircled his neck and rested +against his face.</p> + +<p>"All right, all right!" he said, in a hoarse voice, +"I'll come!"</p> + +<p>The young girl stepped back, and in the evening-light +he could see her large astonished eyes shining +as she gazed at him.</p> + +<p>"How cross you are!" she said timidly. "What's +the matter with you?" He did not answer, and +she asked again: "Won't you tell me?"</p> + +<p>"No, no," he said curtly, and then he re-mounted +the steps and went into the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>Bijou followed him, and whispered to Bertrade:</p> + +<p>"I don't know what is the matter with your +husband, but he is very bad-tempered."</p> + +<p>Madame de Rueille glanced at Paul. He looked +rather fagged and nervous, and was trying to +appear at his ease, as he talked and laughed noisily +with the tutor, who, on the contrary, was silent and +reserved.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly something is the matter with +him," said Bertrade, rather uneasy at seeing her +husband so strange. "I do not know at all what +it is, though," she added.</p> + +<p>"Only imagine," Bijou proceeded to explain to +the whole room, "Paul wanted to go for a stroll +instead of coming to work. Yes, and it was not +very easy to get him here, I can assure you."</p> + +<p>With a resigned look, M. de Rueille took his +seat at a side table with a marble top. He +then took up the manuscript, and, turning to the +page which was commenced, dipped a long, quill +pen into the ink.</p> + +<p>"When you are ready?"—he said calmly.</p> + +<p>"Well, but first of all, where are we?" asked M. +de Jonzac.</p> + +<p>"Scene three of the second act."</p> + +<p>"Still?" exclaimed Bijou, astonished.</p> + +<p>"Alas, yes."</p> + +<p>"My dear children, you will never have it +finished," remarked the marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, grandmamma, we shall," said Bijou +merrily; "you will see how we are going to work +now. Come now, we are at the third scene of the +second act,—it is where the poet is defending himself +after the accusations—rather spiteful ones, too—which +Venus has brought against him."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, and what then?" asked M. de Rueille +after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Bijou, "in my opinion, we want a +little couplet there; what do you think, Jean?"</p> + +<p>Jean de Blaye, with an absorbed look on his face, +was lounging in a deep arm-chair, his head thrown +back on the cushions. He appeared to be in a +reverie, and had not even heard the question.</p> + +<p>"Are you asleep?" asked Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Did you speak to me?" he asked, turning towards +her.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, I did have the honour of speaking +to you. I asked you whether a couplet would not +be the right thing there—a couplet that would go +to some well-known air?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, in an absent sort of way, "that +would do very well."</p> + +<p>"All right, compose it then."</p> + +<p>Jean gave a start; he was quite roused now.</p> + +<p>"I am to compose it,—why should I be the +one to do it?"</p> + +<p>"Because you always do them."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's a nice reason," protested Jean. "I +should say that is precisely why it is someone else's +turn. You have only to set the others to work—Henry, +or Uncle Alexis, or M. Giraud, or even +Pierrot."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why do you say <i>even</i>?" asked Pierrot, annoyed. +"I should do them quite as well as you."</p> + +<p>"Well, do them then! for my part, I have had +enough of it."</p> + +<p>"Jean," said Bijou, in a pleading tone, "don't +leave us in the lurch, please."</p> + +<p>She was going across to him, her pretty head +bent forward, and a most comically beseeching +little pout on her lips, when M. de Rueille rose +abruptly from his seat, and stopped her on the +way:</p> + +<p>"Oh, he will do your couplets right enough; +he likes doing them; sit down, Bijou."</p> + +<p>The young girl stood still in the middle of +the room, surprised at this extraordinary proceeding.</p> + +<p>"But why don't <i>you</i> sit down?" she exclaimed. +"What have you come away from your table +for?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! I have no right to leave the table without +your permission?"</p> + +<p>"Jean!" began Bijou again, "come now, Jean!"</p> + +<p>Once again M. de Rueille interposed.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you kneel down to him at once?" +he said, in a sharp tone.</p> + +<p>"Goodness! I don't mind doing that even if +he will only be persuaded."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<p>She was darting across to her cousin, but Rueille +caught her arm, and said angrily:</p> + +<p>"What nonsense! it is perfectly ridiculous!"</p> + +<p>Bijou looked at him in amazement, and stammered +out:</p> + +<p>"It is you who are ridiculous!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, of course," he answered, speaking +harshly, "it is I who ought to go and sit down, +and I am the one who is ridiculous; in fact, I am +everything I ought not to be, and I always do +everything I ought not to do."</p> + +<p>"Whatever is the matter, children?" asked +Madame de Bracieux.</p> + +<p>M. de Jonzac explained, as he emptied his +pipe by tapping it gently against a piece of furniture.</p> + +<p>"Heaven have mercy upon us! It is nothing +less than Paul quarrelling with Bijou!"</p> + +<p>"With Bijou?" exclaimed the old lady, in perfect +amazement.</p> + +<p>"Paul quarrelling with Bijou!" repeated Madame +de Rueille, putting down the newspaper she had +been reading, "impossible!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, really!" affirmed the abbé, quite horrified. +"M. de Rueille is vexed with Mademoiselle +Denyse!"</p> + +<p>"Come here, Bijou!" called out the marchioness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +and the young girl tripped across the room to her +grandmamma, and knelt down on the cushions at +her feet.</p> + +<p>"You ought not to let Bijou go on in that way +with you!" said M. de Rueille, going up to Jean, +and speaking in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Go on in what way? are you dreaming?"</p> + +<p>"I am not dreaming at all. Denyse is twenty +years old, you know!"</p> + +<p>"Twenty-one," corrected the young man.</p> + +<p>"All the more reason—she really ought to +behave more carefully!"</p> + +<p>"Poor child, she behaves perfectly!" and then +looking at his cousin, he added: "I really don't +know what's up with you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm in the wrong," murmured M. de +Rueille, slightly embarrassed. "Of course, I'm +quite in the wrong!"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely so!" said Blaye drily, getting up +from his arm-chair.</p> + +<p>On seeing him move towards the door, Bijou +left the marchioness, and rushed across to him:</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! you are not going away! Grandmamma, +tell him that he is not to leave us like +this!"</p> + +<p>"Come now, Jean," said the marchioness, half +joking and half scolding, "don't plague them so!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>The young man sat down again in despair.</p> + +<p>"And this is the country!" he exclaimed, +"this is rest and holiday! I have to work like +a nigger, writing plays—plays with couplets—and +then go to bed regularly at two in the +morning, and this is what is called being in +clover!"</p> + +<p>Pierrot had listened to this outburst with apparent +solemnity.</p> + +<p>"Continue, old man," he said jeeringly, "you +interest me!"</p> + +<p>Bijou laughed, and Jean, looking annoyed, turned +towards Pierrot, and said sarcastically, "You are +very witty, my dear boy!"</p> + +<p>"Children, you are perfectly insufferable!" exclaimed +Madame de Bracieux, raising her voice. +She was looking at them in surprise, wondering +what wind had suddenly risen to bring about this +storm. She could not account for all these disagreeable +little speeches, and the hostile attitude +they had taken up, and which was quite a new +thing to the old lady. Once again she called Bijou +to her. The young girl was standing looking round +at everyone with a questioning expression in her +soft eyes.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what's the matter with them?" +asked the marchioness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I have no idea, grandmamma," she answered +innocently, the wondering look still on her +face.</p> + +<p>"Don't you see how cross they are?" continued +the marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I can see that they are cross, but I do not +know what it's all about; if it is on account of the +play, why, we won't have it! I don't want to worry +everyone with it, just because I like it; but I <i>do</i> like +it immensely."</p> + +<p>Just at this moment M. de Rueille called +out:</p> + +<p>"Well, are we going to work at this, yes or no? +I have had enough of sitting waiting here like an +imbecile."</p> + +<p>"Where are we?" asked Jean, in a way which +meant, "As there's no getting out of it, let us start +at once."</p> + +<p>"We've told you where we are—" answered +Rueille, "we've told you twice."</p> + +<p>Bijou interposed, explaining in a conciliatory +tone:</p> + +<p>"It is where the poet has to answer Venus."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes! exactly, I remember! She has +accused him of all sorts of things, and you want +him to defend himself—"</p> + +<p>"In a couplet."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, I understand—where are you going +though?"</p> + +<p>Bijou was just crossing the room.</p> + +<p>"I am going across to sit by M. Giraud; he won't +worry me like all of you."</p> + +<p>The tutor blushed, and moved slightly to make +room for her on the divan on which he was seated. +Denyse glided on, and took her place at his side.</p> + +<p>"We are listening," she said.</p> + +<p>Jean was twisting a pencil and a piece of paper +about in his fingers.</p> + +<p>"What did Venus answer?" he asked.</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille, with an absent-minded expression +on his face, was watching a moth fluttering round +the lamp near him.</p> + +<p>"What did Venus answer?" called out several +voices together, as loudly as possible.</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille looked aghast, and, stopping his +ears, read aloud from the manuscript:</p> + +<p>"'<i>You know I do not believe a word of it.</i>'"</p> + +<p>"Strike that out," said Jean, "and put: '<i>I do not +believe it at all, you know.</i>' And now the poet +answers:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'<i>L'âme d'un symboliste,</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Madame, est un coffret mélancolique d'améthyste</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>A serrure de diamant.</i></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Il suffit de savoir l'ouvrir et la comprendre</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Et le trésor éclos illumine la chambre</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Et sourit la tristesse aux lèvres des amants.</i>'"</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>"Is that at all amusing?" asked M. de Rueille.</p> + +<p>"Well, hang it all!" exclaimed Jean irritably, +"I do not say that it is precisely a <i>chef-d'œuvre</i>! +Bijou asked for a couplet—I have given her a +couplet to the best of my ability, but I don't wish +to hinder you from giving us a better one."</p> + +<p>"To what air will that go?" asked Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, that's true, we want an air for it. What +is there?"</p> + +<p>"You might put '<i>Air. J'en guette un petit de mon +âge</i>,'" suggested Rueille.</p> + +<p>"Does that go to it?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by 'does it go to it?'"</p> + +<p>"Why, that air."</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I don't even know what the air is."</p> + +<p>"Then why do you suggest that we should take +it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! because I often see things to that air: +'<i>J'en guette un petit de mon âge.</i>' I just remembered +seeing it, and there are lots of couplets that are put +to it."</p> + +<p>"But the poet's lines are longer than that," +remarked Bijou, "especially the second one. No—one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +could never sing them to that air—nor to any +other."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes!—I did not think of that."</p> + +<p>"Fortunately, Bijou thinks of everything," put in +Pierrot, with pride.</p> + +<p>"We'll find an air for it presently," said Jean. +"Let's go on; do let's go on, or we never shall finish +it. Who's on the stage at present?"</p> + +<p>And then, as M. de Rueille was biting the end of +his pen and watching Bijou, so that he did not +appear to have heard, Blaye exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Paul, are you there? or have you gone out for +a time?"</p> + +<p>"I am there."</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well! then will you have the kindness +to tell me which of the characters are at present +on the scene?"</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute! I'll just look."</p> + +<p>"What?" exclaimed Bijou, "do you mean to +say you have to look before you can tell us?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you do not imagine, I presume, that I +know by heart all the insane things that each of +you has been pleased to dictate to me."</p> + +<p>"I know them all anyhow," and then, turning +towards Jean de Blaye, she answered his question. +"We have on the scene at present, Venus, the +Poet, Thomas Vireloque, and the Opportunist,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +and we said yesterday that after the introduction +of the Poet to Venus, we would let +Madame de Staël come in."</p> + +<p>"Very well, we will let her enter at once."</p> + +<p>"Have you found anyone for Madame de +Staël?" asked Rueille; "up to the present no one +has wanted to act her part."</p> + +<p>"No," said Bijou; "just now I asked Madame +de Juzencourt again, but she refuses energetically; +and if Bertrade refuses too—"</p> + +<p>"Bertrade refuses absolutely," replied the young +wife, very gently.</p> + +<p>"It isn't nice of you."</p> + +<p>"Is Madame de Staël indispensable?" asked +Uncle Jonzac.</p> + +<p>"Quite indispensable," answered Bijou, emphatically. +"We must absolutely find some way of—" And +then suddenly breaking off, as a new idea +struck her, she exclaimed gaily: "Why, Henry +can take it—Madame de Staël's <i>rôle</i>; he has +scarcely any moustache."</p> + +<p>"I?" cried Bracieux. "<i>I</i> act Madame de +Staël?"</p> + +<p>"She was rather masculine; it will do very +well."</p> + +<p>"But, good heavens!—I am not going to appear +before people I know arrayed in a low-necked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +dress, a turban, and all padded up—why, it would +be frightful!"</p> + +<p>"Not at all! Oh, come now—you don't want +pressing, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"And you are not going to spoil the whole +thing by being disobliging over it," added Pierrot, +with a virtuous air.</p> + +<p>"Disobliging?" exclaimed Henry, turning towards +him; "it is very evident that you are not +in my place. By the bye, though, you might very +well be in my place;" and then seeing that Pierrot +looked horror-stricken, he continued: "Why +shouldn't you take it instead of me—you have +less moustache even than I have!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I am too scraggy," declared Pierrot +cunningly. "Madame de Staël was rather a stout-looking +woman."</p> + +<p>"Scraggy? you, the athlete!"</p> + +<p>Jean de Blaye knocked the floor with a billiard-cue +for silence.</p> + +<p>"We will think about who is to act Madame +de Staël when we have found out what she has to +say—Well, then, she enters—Are you not going +to write, Paul?"</p> + +<p>"What do you want me to write?"</p> + +<p>"Well, just write:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> '<i>Madame de Staël enters +by</i>—' Yes, but that's the point—by which door +does she enter?"</p> + +<p>"I have put '<i>from the back of stage.</i>' Whenever +you don't tell me how they come in, I always put +'<i>from the back of stage.</i>'"</p> + +<p>"All right! Then we will leave '<i>from the back +of the stage.</i>'"<br /><br /><br /></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"<i>Madame de Staël (to Thomas Vireloque)</i>: 'I am +Madame de Staël.'</p> + +<p><i>Thomas Vireloque</i>: 'Beg pardon?'</p> + +<p><i>Madame de Staël</i>: 'I am Madame de Staël.'</p> + +<p><i>Venus</i>: 'What have you to tell us?'</p> + +<p><i>The Opportunist</i>: 'It is very curious—I took +you for a Turk.'</p> + +<p><i>The Poet</i>: 'And I—'" +<br /><br /><br /></p></blockquote> + +<p>"Wait a minute!" said M. de Rueille, "I've +made a mistake."</p> + +<p>"How could you?"</p> + +<p>"How could I? The same way we generally +do make mistakes, of course—I wasn't thinking."</p> + +<p>"That's about it," said Bijou. "I don't know +what's the matter with you, but you certainly are +absent-minded this evening."</p> + +<p>Without answering, Rueille drew his quill-pen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +across the paper, bearing on heavily, so that the +pen gave a plaintive screech.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing now?" asked Jean.</p> + +<p>"I am crossing it out."</p> + +<p>"What are you crossing out?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I had written the same sentences over +four times each."</p> + +<p>Bijou and Blaye got up to examine M. de +Rueille's work, and the young girl read out:<br /><br /><br /></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"<i>Madame de Staël</i>: 'I am Madame de Staël.'</p> + +<p><i>Thomas Vireloque</i>: 'Beg pardon?'</p> + +<p><i>Madame de Staël</i>; 'I am Madame de Staël.'</p> + +<p><i>Thomas Vireloque</i>: 'Beg pardon?'</p> + +<p><i>Madame de Staël</i>; 'I am Madame de Staël.'" +<br /><br /><br /></p></blockquote> + + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Bijou, "you must cross that +out!"</p> + +<p>"No, leave it as it is, on the contrary," protested +Jean, laughing; "they'll think that Mæterlinck +collaborated with us—it will be capital."</p> + +<p>"Supposing we were to retire," proposed M. de +Jonzac. "Paul is half-asleep, that's why he wrote +the same thing over three times without noticing +it. Abbé Courteil is fast asleep, and, as for me, +I am dying to follow his example."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Bijou, "it is scarcely one o'clock."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, but it seems to me that in the country—What +do you say about the matter, Monsieur +Giraud?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, as for me, monsieur, I could sit up all +night without feeling sleepy," replied the young +tutor, without taking his eyes off Bijou.</p> + +<p>"My dear children," said the marchioness, getting +up, "your uncle is quite right, you must go to +bed. Bijou, will you see that the books you had +out of the library are put back?"</p> + +<p>"Yes grandmamma, I will put them back myself."</p> + +<p>When the others had gone upstairs, M. de Rueille +asked:</p> + +<p>"Shall I help you, Bijou? two will do it more +quickly—"</p> + +<p>"No, you don't know anything about the library; +you would mix them all up. I must have someone +who knows where the books go." And then +turning towards the tutor, who was just going out +of the room, she said to him, in the most charming +way, as though to excuse the liberty she was +taking: "Monsieur Giraud, would <i>you</i> help me +to put the books up?"</p> + +<p>The young man stopped short, too delighted +even for words. As he remained standing there, +she pointed to the open door leading into the hall +and said gently:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Will you shut the door, please? And then, if +you will take Molière, I will bring Aristophanes, +and we will come back for the others—yes, that's +it."</p> + +<p>As she tripped along with the books, she chattered +away, not as though she were addressing her +companion, but rather as though she were going on +with her thoughts aloud.</p> + +<p>"What was Jean looking for in Aristophanes +when he only wanted to make Thomas Vireloque +and Madame de Staël talk?" And then breaking +off abruptly, she asked:</p> + +<p>"Do you think it will be interesting—our play?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, mademoiselle."</p> + +<p>"Why do you never help us? you ought to +work at it, too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am not very well up in that sort of thing, +mademoiselle; politics and society talk are like +sealed books to me, and I do not exactly see +either—"</p> + +<p>"And then, probably, you would rather be just a +spectator?"</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately, mademoiselle, to my great regret, +I shall not even be that."</p> + +<p>"What?" she exclaimed, in amazement, "you +will not see our play?"</p> + +<p>"No, mademoiselle."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But, why?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he replied, dreadfully embarrassed, "for a +very ridiculous reason."</p> + +<p>"But what is it?"</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle—I—"</p> + +<p>"Do please tell me why?" she said, and as she +leaned forward towards him, looking so graceful +and charming, the perfume from her hair plunged +the young man into a sort of enervating torpor.</p> + +<p>"Why will you not tell me?" she said at length, +almost sadly; "don't you look upon me a little as +your friend?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, mademoiselle," he stammered out, "I—I +cannot appear at this soiree because—you will see +how prosaic my reason is—the fact is, I have not a +dress-coat."</p> + +<p>"But you have plenty of time to send for your +dress-coat; besides, you will want it for Thursday, +there is a dinner on Thursday."</p> + +<p>Giraud blushed crimson.</p> + +<p>"But, mademoiselle, I cannot send for it either +for Thursday or for later on, because I—I haven't +one."</p> + +<p>"Not at all?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are joking?"</p> + +<p>"No, I am not joking, mademoiselle! I do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +not possess a dress-coat." And then he added with +a smile which was quite pathetic: "And there are +plenty of poor wretches like I am who are in the +same predicament!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Bijou, taking the tutor's hand with +an abrupt movement, "do forgive me—how horrid +and thoughtless I am! You will detest me, +shall you not?"</p> + +<p>She pressed his hand slowly in a way which +sent a thrill through him.</p> + +<p>"Detest you?" he stammered out, almost beside +himself with joy. "I adore you!—I simply adore +you!"</p> + +<p>Bijou gazed at him in a startled way, but there +was a tender expression in her eyes, which were +dimmed with tears. Her voice was quite changed +when she spoke again:</p> + +<p>"Go away now!" she said, "and do not say +that again; you must never, never say it again!"</p> + +<p>When he reached the door he turned round, and +saw that Bijou had thrown herself down on the +divan, and was sobbing, with her face buried in the +cushions. He wanted to go back to her, but he +did not dare, and, without saying another word, he +left the room.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Bijou</span>, who, as a rule, was to be seen every morning +trotting about, either in the house or the park, +did not appear until after the first luncheon-bell.</p> + +<p>Pierrot, who had been quite uneasy, rushed +across to meet her, and assailed her with questions +before she had had time to say good-morning to +the marchioness and to her Uncle Alexis.</p> + +<p>He wanted to know why he had not seen her +as usual in the dairy, where she always went every +morning to inspect the cheeses. Why had she +not been there, as she had not been out riding?</p> + +<p>"How do you know that I have not been out +riding?" asked Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Because Patatras was in the stable," replied +Pierrot. "I went to see."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then you keep a watch on me?" she said, +laughing.</p> + +<p>"That is not keeping a watch on you," answered +Pierrot, turning red; "and then, too, it isn't only +me! we were both of us—M. Giraud—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What grammar—good heavens—what grammar!" +exclaimed M. de Jonzac, in despair.</p> + +<p>"What's it matter? If there was anyone here, I'd +take care to put the style on; but when there's +only us!" And then turning to Bijou, he continued: +"It's quite true, you know! M. Giraud was +just as much surprised as I. He kept on saying +all the time: 'We always see mademoiselle every +day hurrying about everywhere, she must be ill!' +And then I'd say, 'Oh, no! it can't be that! the +Bijou is never ill!' You see, Monsieur Giraud, I +was quite right—"</p> + +<p>"No, you were wrong! I was not exactly ill, +but tired, out of sorts. I am only just up."</p> + +<p>She walked across to the tutor, who was leaning +so heavily against the window-frame that it seemed +as though he wanted to hollow out a niche for +himself with his back.</p> + +<p>"I want to thank you, Monsieur Giraud," said +Bijou, holding out her hand to him, "for being so +kind as to think about me."</p> + +<p>Very pale, and visibly embarrassed, the young +man scarcely dared touch the soft little hand lying +so confidingly in his; he looked very delighted, +though, at being treated with such cordiality, as it +was more than he had ever expected again.</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle," he stammered out, seized with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +a vague desire either to run away or else to give +way to his emotion, "please do not believe that I +should have taken the liberty of making all those +remarks."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, it would not have mattered; there is +plenty of liberty allowed with <i>the Bijou</i>, as Pierrot +would say." And then suddenly looking very +thoughtful and absorbed, she asked: "Have they +been working at the play this morning?"</p> + +<p>"Working?" exclaimed Pierrot, with an air of +surprise; "working without you there? Oh, by +jingo, no: it's quite enough to peg away at it when +you are with us, without going at it while you are +away. Oh, no! it would be too bad—that would! +We had a dose of it last night—the precious +play—and I, more particularly, because I am +obliged to work at other things."</p> + +<p>Bijou laughed heartily. "Are you not afraid of +tiring yourself with working so hard as all that?"</p> + +<p>"If he continues at the rate he is going," said +M. de Jonzac, "he will never take his degree, will +he, Monsieur Giraud?"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid not, monsieur, I am very much +afraid not," replied the tutor gently. "Pierrot is +very intelligent, but so thoughtless, and so absent-minded +always, especially since our arrival here!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! not any more than you are, at any rate,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +Monsieur Giraud," retorted Pierrot. "It's quite +true! I don't know what's the matter with you, +but your thoughts are always wool-gathering, and +you don't go in for books as you did before. Why, +even <i>maths</i> you don't seem so mad on—you +don't do anything now except look after me, and +go off writing poetry."</p> + +<p>"You write poetry, Monsieur Giraud?" asked +Madame de Rueille, entering the room, followed +by Jean and Henry.</p> + +<p>"Oh, madame," stuttered the poor fellow, not +knowing where to put himself nor what to say, "I +write some sort, but it is—not exactly poetry."</p> + +<p>"You write charming poetry!" said Jean, and +then, as the young tutor looked at him in astonishment, +he continued: "Yes, you write very good +poetry—and then you lose it; little Marcel has +just picked up these verses and brought them to +me."</p> + +<p>He smiled as he held out to Giraud a folded +paper, the writing on which was invisible.</p> + +<p>"Let me see them!" said Bijou, holding out her +hand.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mademoiselle!" cried the tutor, stepping +forward, terrified, "please do not insist!" And +then in order to explain his own agitation, he +added: "They are wretched verses; please let me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +put them out of sight. I will show you some others +which are more worth looking at."</p> + +<p>Bijou's hand was still held out, and she stood +there waiting, looking very frank and innocent.</p> + +<p>"Oh, please, Jean, let me see these all the same; +that need not prevent M. Giraud writing some +more that we can see, too."</p> + +<p>"I cannot show you a letter," replied Jean, +handing the paper to the distracted tutor, "and +this is a kind of letter, and belongs to the person +who wrote it."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," stammered out Giraud, thoroughly +abashed, "I am much obliged, monsieur." And +he at once put the troublesome scrap of paper into +his pocket out of sight.</p> + +<p>"Pierrot!" called out the marchioness, "give me +'La Bruyère'—you know where it is?"</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked the youth, winking.</p> + +<p>"'La Bruyère'?"</p> + +<p>"You see," remarked M. de Jonzac, looking at +his son with an expression of despair on his face, +"he does not even know who 'La Bruyère' is!"</p> + +<p>Pierrot protested energetically. "Yes, I do +know who he is, and the proof is, I can tell you—it's +a blue-back."</p> + +<p>"A what?" asked the marchioness.</p> + +<p>"A blue-back, aunt."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Explain to your aunt," interposed M. Giraud, +"that you have a most objectionable mania for +speaking of books by the colour of the binding +rather than by their title."</p> + +<p>"By George!" exclaimed M. de Jonzac, annoyed, +"he never by any chance opens one. He is an +absolute ignoramus; just to think that he will +soon be seventeen!"</p> + +<p>"Poor Pierrot," said Bijou compassionately, "he +is not as ignorant as all that!" And then, as her +uncle did not answer, she added: "And then, +too, he is ever so nice, and he is so strong and +well."</p> + +<p>"Oh, as to that," said M. de Jonzac, "his health +is perfect, and that just makes him all the more +insufferable, but not any more intelligent though. +Everyone complains about the overtaxing of the +intellectual faculties; they say that it is the ruin of +children; and so, by way of improvement, they go +in now for overtaxing them physically, which is a +more certain ruin still."</p> + +<p>"Ah, uncle is waging war now," put in Bertrade; +"but I am of his opinion, too, for I do not like +to think that some day my children will add +to the number of the young ruffians we see around +us."</p> + +<p>"But," objected Henry de Bracieux, "many of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +them—and some quite young, too—are very intellectual; +I know some."</p> + +<p>"I, too, know some," said Jean de Blaye; "but, +to my way of thinking, they are not precisely intellectual, +they are—"</p> + +<p>Just at this moment a bell was rung in the +hall.</p> + +<p>"We must go to luncheon, children," said the +marchioness, rising, "Jean will finish his little definition +for us at table."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am not particularly keen about it, aunt," +said Jean, laughing.</p> + +<p>"I am, though; I am no longer 'in the know' of +things, as you say, and I don't object to be +instructed about certain matters on which I am +absolutely ignorant."</p> + +<p>On taking her seat at table, the marchioness, +addressing Jean, continued:</p> + +<p>"You were saying that the young men who +were not precisely the intellectual ones were—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am not good at explanations," he +replied.</p> + +<p>"That does not matter; go on, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Well, those who are not really intellectual are +of the sickly kind; they act that sort of thing to +begin with, and then they end by getting like it +in reality; they are intolerably affected, effeminate,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +crazy, and everything else beside. They set up +for being original, and not like anyone else."</p> + +<p>"Well, and what do you call them?"</p> + +<p>"I don't exactly know; they are of the complex +kind. There's young La Balue, for instance, he's +a perfect example for you of this class; you might +study him."</p> + +<p>"That's an idea that has never entered my +head; but, in the young generation of to-day, there +are others beside these complex ones."</p> + +<p>"Yes, they are the athletes."</p> + +<p>"Specimen, Pierrot!"—remarked Henry de +Bracieux.</p> + +<p>The marchioness turned towards her grandson.</p> + +<p>"Don't be personal," she said. "Continue your +little speech, Jean."</p> + +<p>"I would rather eat my egg in peace, aunt!"</p> + +<p>"We had got as far as the athletes—"</p> + +<p>"Well, then, if the complex young men of to-day +are a trifle sickening, the athletes are the +greatest nuisances under the sun. Boxing, football, +bicycles, matches, and records—all that, they +consider of the most tremendous and vital importance, +not only in their conversation, but, +what is more regrettable still, in their lives. In +their opinion, a man of worth is the one who can +give the hardest blows, or who is endowed with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +the greatest strength or vigour; all their admiration +is bestowed on one single being in the world—<i>the +Champion</i>, with a capital C."</p> + +<p>"And what is there between the complex young +man and the athletes?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing; or, at least, some exceptions so rare +that they are there simply to confirm the rule. +Of course, I am only talking now of the young +generation, of the latest—Pierrot's, in fact."</p> + +<p>"Do leave poor Pierrot in peace!" said Bijou; +"you all find fault with him."</p> + +<p>"Because it is not too late yet for him to put his +young self to rights, and if he were to be let alone, +he would soon degenerate in the most deplorable +manner."</p> + +<p>"Jean is right," agreed M. de Jonzac; "he can +very well afford to give advice to Pierrot, and even +to the others, for he is himself highly intellectual +and very good at sports."</p> + +<p>Madame de Bracieux looked at her nephew with +a benevolent expression in her eyes:</p> + +<p>"Your uncle is right, my dear boy, you are the +greatest success of the family," she said, and then +seeing that Bijou appeared to be examining her +cousin curiously, she added: "I am only speaking +of the men, of course."</p> + +<p>Pierrot leaned over towards Denyse, who was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +seated next him, and said, in an undertone +with deep gratitude, "It's awfully good of you +to stick up for me always, and I can't tell you +how fond I am of you—more than any of the +others."</p> + +<p>She answered with a smile; and in an almost +maternal way, said:</p> + +<p>"That's very wrong! You ought to be much +fonder of uncle, and of grandmamma, too, than you +are of me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, to begin with, there's no rule for that, +and then, too, I didn't mean that at all. I meant +that I am fonder of you than all the others are; +and, you know, there's some of them very fond of +you; there's Paul, for instance, Paul de Rueille—I'm +sure he likes you better than he does +Bertrade, or his children, better than anyone—even +God!"</p> + +<p>"Do be quiet!" said Bijou, alarmed, and looking +round to see if anyone had heard.</p> + +<p>"Don't be in a fright! They are all busy worrying +each other; they are not troubling about us. +It's quite true what I said, you know; and then +Jean, too, and Henry, and Monsieur Giraud! +There's scarcely anyone, except Abbé Courteil, +who does not follow you about to every corner you +go; and then—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are talking rubbish! how can you +imagine—"</p> + +<p>"I don't imagine it—I see it!—and I see it, +because it annoys me!"</p> + +<p>Just at this moment M. de Jonzac's voice was +heard.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" he was saying, "I am convinced that +he has no idea that Renan ever existed. He does +not know a thing—not a single thing."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," put in the tutor, in his usual gentle +and conciliatory way, "as regards Renan, I +am sure that he knows. Only three or four days +ago I had occasion to quote him as the author of +the 'Origin of Language.'"</p> + +<p>"Well, I would wager that he does not even remember +his name—Pierrot!" called out M. de +Jonzac.</p> + +<p>The poor lad, entirely absorbed in his conversation +with Bijou, had no idea that he was +being discussed. On hearing his name called, he +turned his head towards his father, vaguely uneasy.</p> + +<p>"Pierrot," asked M. de Jonzac, "who was +Renan?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! that's it, is it," said Pierrot to Bijou, "now +they're beginning the examination again. Renan—who +in the world was he now?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You do not know who Renan was, do you?" +asked M. de Jonzac blandly.</p> + +<p>"No, father, I don't," replied the boy.</p> + +<p>"What?" exclaimed Giraud, surprised; "why, +only the other day we were talking about +him."</p> + +<p>"About him?" repeated Pierrot, quite astounded, +"do you mean to say that I was talking about the +man?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes—come now; try to remember—I +mentioned one of his works."</p> + +<p>Bijou, who had just before only been listening +with one ear to what Pierrot had been telling her, +so that with the other she could keep up with the +general conversation, remembered the title that had +been quoted. She was looking at her plate, apparently +taken up with the strawberries, which she +was rolling about in the sugar. "The 'Origin of +Language,'" she whispered very quietly.</p> + +<p>"Come now, have a good try," repeated the tutor. +"I mentioned one of M. Renan's books to you—which +one?"</p> + +<p>"'The Language of Flowers,'" answered Pierrot +resolutely.</p> + +<p>"That's right!" exclaimed Bertrade, delighted: +"we can always reckon on something lively from +Pierrot."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> + +<p>M. de Jonzac, in spite of his inclination to laugh, +put on a rigid expression. "I do not see anything +amusing in it."</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> don't laugh, at any rate," said Pierrot, turning +to Bijou and blushing furiously. "It is awfully +good of you," he added.</p> + +<p>After dinner, he drew her out on to the stone +steps, and said, in a beseeching tone:</p> + +<p>"Let me come out with you to take the green +stuff to Patatras."</p> + +<p>"But I must go and pour out the coffee first."</p> + +<p>"Oh, just for once; Bertrade can pour it out right +enough. Come, now, I don't want to go into the +drawing-room; they'd begin asking me something +else."</p> + +<p>Denyse started off with him, taking from a shed +the basket in which was prepared for her every day +the bunch of clover she always took to her horse. +She then went on in the direction of the stable, +followed by Pierrot.</p> + +<p>"You are awfully nice, Bijou, and so pretty, if +you only knew it," he kept repeating, making his +rough voice almost gentle.</p> + +<p>As they crossed the path which led to the stable, +they saw M. de Rueille and Jean de Blaye advancing +towards them, deep in conversation.</p> + +<p>"Look!" said Pierrot, "as you weren't in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +drawing-room our two cousins made themselves +scarce there."</p> + +<p>Denyse was going forward to meet them, but he +stopped her abruptly.</p> + +<p>"No, please don't, they'd stick to us all the time, +and I shouldn't have you to myself at all. It's such +a piece of luck for me to be with you for a minute +without Monsieur Giraud; he's always at my heels, +especially when I'm anywhere near you."</p> + +<p>Bijou was looking attentively at the two men, +who were coming towards her, but who were so +deeply absorbed that they had not seen her, and +between her somewhat heavy eyelids appeared that +little gleam which gave at times a singular intensity +of expression to her usually soft-looking eyes.</p> + +<p>"Very well," she answered, entering the stable, +"let us take Patatras his clover without them."</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille was walking along with his eyes +fixed on the gravel of the garden-path. He looked +up on hearing the door open. Jean de Blaye +pointed to the stable.</p> + +<p>"Look here," he said, "<i>that's</i> the cause of all +the trouble and worry that I can detect in every +single word you say; and it's the cause, too, of the +sort of petty spite that you have against me."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" replied Rueille, putting on a joking +air; "and what is <i>that</i> pray?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, Bijou, of course. Oh, you need not try +to deny it. Do you think I have not followed up, +hour by hour, all that has been passing in your +mind?"</p> + +<p>"It must have been interesting."</p> + +<p>"Don't humbug; you are scarcely inclined for +that sort of thing just now. I saw very well just +when you began to admire Bijou, quite unconsciously, +more than one does admire, as a rule, a +little cousin one is fond of. It was the evening +of the <i>Grand Prix</i> at Uncle Alexis' when +she sang—why don't you speak?"</p> + +<p>"I am listening to you—go on."</p> + +<p>"When we were all here together at Bracieux, +never absent from each other, and you had spent +every minute of the long day in Bijou's society, +your—let us call it—your admiration increased, of +course, and ever since yesterday, ever since your +expedition to Pont-sur-Loire, it has been at the +acute stage. Am I right?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes: you are right."</p> + +<p>"I am not surprised; but will you explain +one thing—one thing which <i>does</i> surprise +me?"</p> + +<p>"What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Why do you appear to have a special grudge +against me? Why against me rather than against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +your brother-in-law, or young La Balue, or Pierrot's +tutor, or even Pierrot himself?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Henry is nearly Bijou's own age; he was +brought up with her, and she looks upon him as a +brother exactly. Young La Balue is a regular +caricature; the tutor, a poor wretch who does not +count; and Pierrot, a lad; whilst you—"</p> + +<p>"Whilst I?"</p> + +<p>"Well, as to you, why, you are the sort that +women like, and you know that very well; and I +can see and feel, and, in short, I know, it is you +whom Bijou will care for."</p> + +<p>"Me? nonsense! she does not deign to pay the +very slightest attention to me. I am nothing in +her eyes except the man who is breaking in a +horse for her, who takes her out boating, or who +composes couplets for her play."</p> + +<p>"In short, you exist more than the others do, +anyhow."</p> + +<p>"But why? It's your fancy to look upon young +La Balue as a caricature; but everyone is not of +your opinion. As to Giraud—well, he is a very +good sort."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but he is Giraud."</p> + +<p>"Well, what of that? what difference does that +make?"</p> + +<p>"A good deal; that is, it would be nothing with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +certain women, but it is everything with others,—and +Bijou is one of these others."</p> + +<p>"Oh—what do you know about it?"</p> + +<p>"I have studied her for some time without +appearing to."</p> + +<p>"You are studying her, but you do not know +her."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not!"</p> + +<p>"If I were in her place I know which one I +should choose amongst so many lovers."</p> + +<p>"Ah! they sing that in <i>Les Noces de Jeannette</i>."</p> + +<p>"Oh! you won't stop me like that! Amongst +so many lovers, if I had to choose, it would certainly +be Giraud that I should prefer."</p> + +<p>"An older woman might admire Giraud, because +he is handsome—but not a young girl! You see +a young girl's one idea is marriage——"</p> + +<p>"Then, you have no grudge against Giraud, +because, according to you, he is not marriageable, +consequently, not to be feared."</p> + +<p>"Precisely!"</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, and what about me, my dear +fellow? Do you think I am marriageable, then? +Can you imagine me with my wretched fifteen +hundred a year endeavouring to make Bijou +happy? Yes, can you just imagine it now?—a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +house at a hundred a year or so—petroleum lamps, +coke fires, etc.—that <i>would</i> be delicious."</p> + +<p>"And yet you are in love with her?"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, I did not say that I was in love +with Bijou. I don't really know; all I can say is, +that she has taken my fancy tremendously, and +that, as I simply cannot marry her, I am wretchedly +unhappy."</p> + +<p>"And you don't think she cares for you?"</p> + +<p>"Not the least bit in the world! She has never +tried even to deceive me on that point. 'Good-morning! +Good-night! What a fine day it is.'—that's +the sort of palpitating dialogue which goes +on every day between us. You see, therefore, that +you have no reason to have a spite against me?"</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Jean, my dear fellow, but I +firmly believed that you were the great favourite."</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille broke off suddenly, and appeared +to be straining his ears.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he said, "there she is!"</p> + +<p>Bijou was just coming out of the stable, followed, +of course, by Pierrot.</p> + +<p>She tripped daintily across towards the two men, +examining them in her calm, smiling way.</p> + +<p>"Whatever's the matter with you both?" she +asked; "you look—I don't know how!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Bijou</span> was in the dining-room, arranging the +flowers on the table for dinner, whilst in the +butler's pantry the servants were polishing up +the large silver dishes until they shone brilliantly.</p> + +<p>"Get into your coat!" said the butler to the +footman; "there's a carriage coming slowly up the +avenue. Oh, you've got plenty of time, it isn't +here yet."</p> + +<p>"Whose carriage is it?" said the footman, looking +through the window.</p> + +<p>"I don't know it; it's a fine-looking turn-out, +anyhow. It might very well be the owner of The +Norinière."</p> + +<p>"My goodness! it's a clinking turn-out."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he can afford it."</p> + +<p>"He's got some money, then?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, an awful lot; he's got about sixteen +thousand a year."</p> + +<p>"Do you know him, then?"</p> + +<p>"My wife was kitchen-maid at his place before I +married her—a good master he is, always pleasant,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +and not at all near—you'd better start now +if you want to get to the steps before he's +there."</p> + +<p>A minute before, Bijou, finding that she was +short of flowers, had run out into the garden, and, +springing across the path, had pushed her way into +the middle of a rose-bed, and was now cutting +away mercilessly. She was so absorbed that she +did not hear the carriage, which was coming up the +drive, and which went round the lawn, and pulled +up in front of the stone steps. When at last she +did happen to look up, she saw, a few steps away +from her, a tall gentleman standing gazing at her +with a most rapturous expression.</p> + +<p>The fact was that Bijou, in her cotton dress, +with wide pink stripes, and her little apron +trimmed with Valenciennes, was really very pretty +to look at, foraging about amongst the flowers.</p> + +<p>When she discovered that she was being gazed +at in this way, her tea-rose complexion took a +deeper tint, and she looked confused and embarrassed, +as she stood there facing the gentleman, +who was still contemplating her without saying a +word.</p> + +<p>He was a man of between fifty-five and sixty, +tall, slender, distinguished-looking, and elegant, +and with a very young-looking figure for his years.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +His face, which was intelligent and refined, had +also an almost youthful expression about it, just +tinged with a shade of melancholy. As Bijou +remained where she was, and appeared to be hesitating +and not quite at her ease, the visitor approached, +and, raising his hat, said in a very gentle voice:</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, mademoiselle, but are you not +Denyse de Courtaix?"</p> + +<p>Bijou, with her frank, honest expression, looked +straight into the eyes fixed so curiously upon her, +and answered, smiling:</p> + +<p>"Yes, and you?—you are Monsieur de Clagny, +are you not?"</p> + +<p>"How did you know?"</p> + +<p>Denyse sprang out of the rose-bed on to the +garden-path, and then, without answering the +question in a direct way, she said, with the most +trusting, happy look in her eyes:</p> + +<p>"Oh! how glad grandmamma will be to see +you, and Uncle Alexis, too; ever since they +heard that you were coming back to live here, they +have talked of nothing else. Let's go at once to +find grandmamma."</p> + +<p>She started off, leading the way, looking most +graceful and supple, as she passed through the +large rooms with that gliding movement which was +one of her greatest charms.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> + +<p>The marchioness was not in the room where she +was usually to be found. Bijou rang the bell, and +requested the servant to find Madame de Bracieux. +She then took a seat opposite M. de Clagny, and +examined him attentively.</p> + +<p>"Paul de Rueille was quite right after all," she +said, "when he told me that I had seen you long +ago—I recognise you." She gazed with her bright +eyes more fixedly into the count's, and repeated +pensively: "I certainly do recognise you."</p> + +<p>"Well, I confess, in all sincerity," said M. de +Clagny, "that if I had met you anywhere else than +at Bracieux, I should not have recognised <i>you</i>—you +are so much bigger, you know, and then, so +much more beautiful that, with the exception of +the lovely violet eyes, which have not changed, +there is nothing remaining of the little baby-girl of +years ago."</p> + +<p>"The name which you gave me still remains."</p> + +<p>"The name? what name?" he asked, in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Bijou! don't you remember? it seems that it +was you who used to call me that."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's true! you seemed to me such a +fragile little thing, so adorable and so rare—a bijou +in fact, an exquisite little bijou. And so they have +continued to call you by that name—it suits you, +too, wonderfully well."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't think so! I am afraid it is rather +ridiculous to be still <i>Bijou</i> at the age of twenty-one, +for, you know, I am twenty-one now."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible?"</p> + +<p>"Very possible! in four years from now I shall +be quite an old maid!"</p> + +<p>The count looked at Bijou with an admiration +which he did not attempt to dissimulate, as he +answered emphatically:</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> an old maid? oh, never in the world, +never!"</p> + +<p>Madame de Bracieux was just entering the +room.</p> + +<p>"How glad I am to see you!" she said, looking +delighted, and holding out her hands to her visitor.</p> + +<p>As Denyse was moving towards the door, the +marchioness called her back.</p> + +<p>"I see Bijou has introduced herself," she said to +Clagny, who had not yet got over his admiration, +"What do you think of my grand-daughter?" And +then, without giving him time to answer, she +went on quickly: "It's just the same <i>Bijou</i> you +used to admire years ago, just the same! the +genuine <i>Bijou</i>, there's no <i>sham</i> about it, as my +grandsons would say."</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle Denyse is charming."</p> + +<p>"Denyse (and, by the way, you will oblige me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +by not calling her mademoiselle) is a dear, +good girl, obedient and devoted. Her gaiety has +brightened up my old house, which was gloomy +enough before her arrival."</p> + +<p>"How is it that I have never seen Mademoiselle +Denyse——"</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle again!"</p> + +<p>"That I have never seen Bijou in Paris? I +come so regularly on your day."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but you always come very early, at an +hour when she is never there, and then for the +last sixteen years you have never dined with +us."</p> + +<p>"I never dine out anywhere, you know; but +you have never spoken of Bijou, never told me +anything about her."</p> + +<p>"Because you have never asked me about her."</p> + +<p>"I had forgotten about her, to tell the truth, the +tiny, baby-child that I saw so little of, and yet +just now, when I saw a delicious girl emerging +from a rose-bed, I hadn't the slightest hesitation, +had I, mademoiselle?" and then correcting himself, +he added, laughing: "had I, Bijou?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's true! M. de Clagny asked me at +once if I were not Denyse de Courtaix——and I, +too, knew at once who he was; I had heard +so much about him that I seemed to know him in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +my imagination, and, it's very odd—" She broke +off suddenly, and then after gazing thoughtfully at +the count, she added: "I knew him in my imagination +just as he is in reality."</p> + +<p>"A very old man," said Clagny, with a kind +of sad playfulness.</p> + +<p>"No!" replied Bijou, evidently sincere, "a +very handsome man!" And then abruptly +breaking off, she said: "And Uncle Alexis has +not appeared yet; they have rung the bell with all +their might in vain, for he doesn't come; I'll go +and find him!"</p> + +<p>She was hurrying away when the marchioness +called her back:</p> + +<p>"Stop a minute!—have another place laid at +table. You will dine with us, Clagny?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, if you have no one here."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I have; I am just expecting some +friends of yours."</p> + +<p>"And I am a regular bear, for I do not even +dine with my friends; and then, too, in this +get-up—"</p> + +<p>"Your get-up is all right, and, besides, there is +time to send to The Norinière for your coat if you +particularly care to have it."</p> + +<p>"I do care to, if I stay."</p> + +<p>Bijou approached, and said, in a coaxing way:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You will stay—and do you know what would +be very, very nice of you? well, it would be to stay +just as you are, without your dress-coat."</p> + +<p>"Why do you insist, Bijou, if it annoys him to +stay without dressing?" asked the marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Because, grandmamma, if M. de Clagny were +to dine without his dress-coat, M. Giraud could, +too; and otherwise he will have to dine all by +himself in his room."</p> + +<p>"What are you talking about, child?"</p> + +<p>"Why, it's very simple. M. Giraud has no +dress-coat; he hasn't one at all. I got to know it +by chance; he told Baptiste just now that he was +not very well, and that he should not leave his +room this evening, and so, if M. de Clagny would +stay just as he is, don't you see, he could, too—M. +Giraud, I mean."</p> + +<p>"What a good little Bijou you are!" said the +marchioness, quite touched; "you think of everyone; +you do nothing but find ways of giving +pleasure to all."</p> + +<p>Denyse was not listening to this. She was +waiting for the count to give his consent.</p> + +<p>"Would it be a great, great pleasure to you," +he asked at length, "if this Monsieur Giraud could +dine at table?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then it shall be as you wish. Tell me, though, +now, who is this gentleman with whom I am not +acquainted, and for whose sake I am consenting to +appear as a most ill-bred man?"</p> + +<p>"He is Pierrot's coach."</p> + +<p>"Ah! and what's this Pierrot?"</p> + +<p>"The son of Alexis," said Madame de Bracieux +laughing.</p> + +<p>"Then the god to whom I am to be sacrificed +is M. Giraud, tutor to Pierrot de Jonzac, and he is +honoured by the patronage of Mademoiselle +Denyse. Thank you, I like to know how things +are."</p> + +<p>"But," protested Denyse, turning very red, "I +do not patronise M. Giraud at all. I——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, do not attempt to defend yourself. I +know what kind of a role a poor tutor without a +dress-coat must play in the life of a beautiful young +lady like you; it is just a role of no account; he +represents as exactly as possible <i>a gentleman of no +importance</i> in a play."</p> + +<p>"You have no idea," said the marchioness, when +Denyse had gone away, "how good that child +is. This young man in whom she is interested, +and who, by the bye, is really charming, is always +treated by her exactly on the same footing as +the most influential and the most distinguished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +men she meets. Oh, she is a pearl, is Bijou; you +will see!"</p> + +<p>"I shall see it perhaps too clearly."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean—too clearly?"</p> + +<p>"I am very susceptible, you know. I have a +foolish old heart, which sounds an alarm at the +slightest danger, and which afterwards I cannot +silence again."</p> + +<p>"But Bijou is my grand-daughter, my poor old +friend."</p> + +<p>"Well, what difference does that make?"</p> + +<p>"Why, just this—that she might be yours."</p> + +<p>"I know all that well enough. Good heavens!—that +is what you might call reasoning; and +hearts that remain young either reason very little +or very badly."</p> + +<p>"And so?"</p> + +<p>"Oh," said M. de Clagny, making an effort to +laugh, "I was joking, of course."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Bijou had crossed the court-yard. The heat +was very great, and the peacocks, perched on the +trunk of a tree that had been felled, looked stupid +and ridiculous, whilst the dogs, lying on their sides, +with their legs stretched out, were panting under +the sun's rays, but were too lazy to look for any +shade.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> + +<p>No one was out of doors at that torrid hour, except +Pierrot, who, arrayed in a white linen suit, +with a wide straw hat on his head, was strolling +about under the chestnut trees, which formed a +V shaped avenue.</p> + +<p>Denyse ran up the steps, and entered the schoolroom +like a gust of wind. On the threshold, +however, she stopped short, and seemed confused. +M. Giraud, who had been seated at the table, had +risen hastily on seeing her appear.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I beg your pardon," she stammered out, +"I wanted to speak to Pierrot. I thought he was +here, and that you had gone for your walk."</p> + +<p>Very much embarrassed, the young tutor could +scarcely find any words with which to reply.</p> + +<p>"No, mademoiselle, no! I am here you see. It +is just the contrary, for Pierrot has gone out, but, +if you like, if I could tell him what—for—you have +something to say to him probably?"</p> + +<p>He lost his head completely as he looked at her +standing there. She was so pretty with her complexion, +still pink and white, in spite of the terrible +heat, and her large eyes, with their changing expression, +were fixed on him with such a gentle +look.</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly," she said, slightly embarrassed +too, "I wanted to speak to Pierrot; although it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +about something that concerns you—it would be +better——"</p> + +<p>"Something which concerns me?" interrupted +Giraud, looking uneasy; "but I do not know really—I +wonder what——"</p> + +<p>The thought flashed across him that she was +perhaps going to say that, after what had taken +place the night before last, he could not remain any +longer at Bracieux. He was in despair, for not +only would he have to leave Bijou, but he would +probably get no employment for the next two +months, just as he had thought to have a little +peace and comfort.</p> + +<p>The young girl was looking at him, and smiling +kindly.</p> + +<p>"You see, it is very difficult to say it to—to the +person concerned," she answered at length.</p> + +<p>"Well, but—Pierrot."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Pierrot is not a very clever diplomatist, I +grant, but he would have known better than I do +how to go about things in order to announce to +you——"</p> + +<p>"To announce to me?"</p> + +<p>"The fact that you are going to dine with us this +evening. A headache, you know, is a very good +excuse for women, but only for women."</p> + +<p>"But, mademoiselle, without taking into account<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +the annoyance it would be to me (and it would +annoy me very much) not to be dressed as the +others are, it would not be polite towards your +guests."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you are perhaps right; it would not be the +thing, perhaps, if you were the only one who was +not in evening dress; but there will be M. de Clagny +just as he is now, to pay a call; so you understand."</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle, I caught sight of M. de Clagny +just now when he arrived. He is an old gentleman, +and as such can take liberties about certain matters +which I, particularly in my position, could not."</p> + +<p>"As to you, you are just going to obey grandmamma +like a good little boy, for it was grandmamma +who sent me, you know."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" murmured the young man, disappointed, +"it was your grandmamma? I was hoping it +was you, who—but you are still vexed with me, of +course?"</p> + +<p>"Vexed with you?" she asked, surprised; "what +for?"</p> + +<p>"Well—because—oh, you know—the other evening—when, +in spite of myself, I——"</p> + +<p>Bijou's merry face clouded over as she said very +seriously:</p> + +<p>"I thought that would never be brought up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +again. I wish you to forget what you said to +me." She stood still a moment, with a pensive +look on her beautiful face, and then she added, in +a muffled voice: "And, above all, I wish to forget +it myself."</p> + +<p>Her eyelids were lowered, and her eyelashes +were beating quickly against her pink cheeks +throwing a strange shadow over her brilliant +complexion.</p> + +<p>Giraud went up to her, anxious and excited, and +in a stammering voice he asked:</p> + +<p>"Is it true what you have just said? Do you +still remember that moment of madness? Can +you think of it without anger?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she answered, gazing full at him with her +beautiful blue eyes, "I think of it without anger," +and then, in such a low voice that he could scarcely +hear it, she murmured, "and I <i>do</i> think of it all +the time!" Then, with a sudden change of +expression, she began again hurriedly: "It is you +who must forget now; you must forget at once—what +I ought never to have said to you! Please +forget it! Do as I ask you, for my sake!"</p> + +<p>"Forget? How do you think that I can forget? +You know well enough that it is absolutely +impossible!"</p> + +<p>"You must, though!" she persisted. "Yes, you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +must say to yourself that you—that we have had a +dream—a very bright, happy dream,—one of those +sort from which one wakes up happy, and, at the +same time, troubled; a dream in which one has a +vision of beautiful things, which disappear, and +which we cannot possibly define. Have you never +had such dreams? One cannot, no matter how +much one tries, remember all about them; and +yet—one likes them."</p> + +<p>Her voice, with its caressing intonation, completely +unnerved the young man. He had taken his +seat again mechanically at the table, and, without +replying, he looked up at Bijou, his eyes full of +tears.</p> + +<p>She came nearer, and said in a beseeching tone:</p> + +<p>"Ah! please don't, if you only knew how +wretched it makes me—" and then she added +abruptly: "and if it is any consolation to you—you +can say to yourself that you are not the only +one to suffer—for I do, too."</p> + +<p>"Is it really, really true?" he asked, bewildered +with his happiness.</p> + +<p>Denyse did not answer. She had just noticed +on the table a letter, which Giraud had been finishing +when she entered the room.</p> + +<p>"I was writing to my brother," he said, following +the direction of her eyes, "and instead of telling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +him about my pupil, and my occupations, and, in +short, about such things as, in my position of life, I +ought to confine myself to, I have only told him +about you."</p> + +<p>"I was looking at your name," she answered, +pointing with her rosy finger to the signature; +"Fred—it is a name I am fond of; I gave it to my +little godchild, the youngest of Bertrade's children." +She seemed to be looking far away through the +open window as she repeated very gently: "Fred!" +And then passing her little hand over her forehead, +and walking towards the door, she said +abruptly: "And this dinner—and my flowers for +the table,—why, the <i>menus</i> are not written yet, and +it is five o'clock!" And then, as the poor fellow +looked stupefied and did not attempt to move, she +went on: "It's settled about this evening, is it not? +I shall have your place laid?"</p> + +<p>He answered, in a vague, bewildered way, coming +gradually to himself again:</p> + +<p>"Amongst all the others in dress-coats, I shall +cut the most ridiculous figure."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no,—nothing of the kind! Besides, they +will not all be in dress-coats. First of all, there is +M. de Clagny in a frock-coat; and then M. de +Bernès, who is afraid of meeting his General, +and so is always arrayed in his uniform:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +then the abbé in his cassock," and with a laugh she +concluded: "That makes three of them who will +not be in dress-coats!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As she was leaving the schoolroom, she ran +against Henry de Bracieux, who was coming +towards her in the corridor.</p> + +<p>"Well, I never!" he exclaimed, in surprise. +"What are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>"And you?"</p> + +<p>"I? Why, I was going back to my room."</p> + +<p>"And I was coming away from Pierrot's."</p> + +<p>"Pierrot is in the garden."</p> + +<p>"I did not know, and I had something to say to +him."</p> + +<p>"To him?" asked the young man suspiciously, +and almost aggressively, "or to M. Giraud?"</p> + +<p>Without appearing to notice her cousin's singular +attitude towards her, she answered, in a docile way:</p> + +<p>"To him, so that he might repeat it to M. +Giraud, but as he was not there——"</p> + +<p>"It is to Giraud that you have——"</p> + +<p>"Given grandmamma's message. Yes," and +then, with an innocent expression in her eyes, +she asked: "Why does it interest you so much to +know whether I gave this message to the one rather +than to the other?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> + +<p>He replied, in a joking tone, but with some +embarrassment:</p> + +<p>"Because I am inquisitive, probably; and the +proof that I am inquisitive is that I should like to +know what this message was."</p> + +<p>"Grandmamma commissioned me to tell M. +Giraud, who has no dress-coat——"</p> + +<p>"No dress-coat—Giraud?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Not a dress-coat at all?"</p> + +<p>"There, you say just what I did. No, not a +dress-coat of any description! He had sent word +that he would not dine with us; and then, as M. +de Clagny is staying to dinner, and he is in a frock-coat, +I was going to tell Pierrot, so that he could let +M. Giraud know. Do you understand now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Henry, "quite well—but Jean +is very <i>chic</i> and never goes about without +a change of dress-coats; he has, at least, three +here; he would certainly lend him one—they are +exactly the same figure."</p> + +<p>"That would be nice!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he would be glad to do it! Giraud is a +very nice fellow; we should all like him, if——"</p> + +<p>He stopped short, and Bijou asked:</p> + +<p>"If what?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing! I'll go and see about this business—at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +old Clagny's time of life it doesn't matter +whether one is got up all right or not; but for +Giraud, it's another thing. I am sure he would +feel it very much if he thought he looked ridiculous, +especially——"</p> + +<p>"Especially?"</p> + +<p>"Especially before you!"</p> + +<p>Bijou shrugged her shoulders, and ran away +down the long corridor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Although</span> Bijou had superintended the laying of +the cloth, and had herself attended to the flowers, +the service, and the <i>menus</i>, she was ready for dinner +before anyone else.</p> + +<p>Carrying in her arms an enormous bunch +of roses, she entered the drawing-room just +as the marchioness had gone upstairs to +dress.</p> + +<p>She was so much taken up with arranging her +flowers on a side-table that she did not see M. +de Clagny, who was watching her attentively as +she came and went, with the pretty, graceful movements +of a bird as it flies backwards and forwards +before finally perching itself.</p> + +<p>At length, however, he spoke, and the sound of +his voice made Denyse start.</p> + +<p>"It's very certain that it came direct from Paris—that +pretty dress," he said.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Bijou, scared, "you nearly +frightened me." And then, going up to the +count, and daintily patting her light, gauzy dress,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +she continued: "That pretty dress did not +come from Paris; it was made at Bracieux, near +Pont-sur-Loire."</p> + +<p>Thoroughly astonished, the count asked:</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! by whom, then?"</p> + +<p>"By Denyse, here present, and by an old sewing-woman, +who is a dresser at the theatre."</p> + +<p>He had risen, and was now walking round the +young girl in almost timid admiration. She was +so pretty, emerging from the pinky-looking cloud, +which seemed to scarcely touch her dainty little +figure, and out of which peeped her shoulders, +tinted, too, with that singular pinky gleam which +made her delicate skin look so velvety and +soft.</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny could not help thinking that Bijou +was not only beautiful to look at, but fascinating +in the extreme, with her tempting mouth, and her +innocent, frank eyes. The charm of her person +was rendered all the more complex by this same +child-like expression.</p> + +<p>Whilst he was examining her curiously, Bijou +was saying to herself that "this old friend of +grandmamma's" was much younger-looking than +she had imagined him to be. He certainly did +make a good appearance, tall and slender, with his +hair quite white on his temples, whilst his fair<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +moustache had scarcely a touch of grey. His +brown eyes had a gentle expression, and his mouth, +sometimes mocking, and at times even almost cruel, +showed, when he smiled, the sharp, white teeth, +which lighted up his whole face in a singular +way.</p> + +<p>The silence was getting embarrassing, until +Bijou at last broke it:</p> + +<p>"Grandmamma has not come down then yet? I +expected to find her here."</p> + +<p>"She went away to dress just as you came in."</p> + +<p>"She will never be ready."</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny looked at his watch.</p> + +<p>"But dinner is to be at eight—she has plenty of +time; it is not half-past seven."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Bijou regretfully. "If only I +had known, I should not have hurried so much. I +was so afraid of being late."</p> + +<p>"I'm the one to be glad that you hurried so +much. I shall have you to talk to for a minute"—</p> + +<p>"For a good half-hour at least," she said, +laughing; "no one is ever in advance here—oh, +never, not even the guests any more than the +people of the house."</p> + +<p>"Ah, about the guests, tell me with whom I am +going to dine. Your grandmamma said, 'You will +dine with some friends of yours.' Now, as to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +friends, I cannot have many here now, considering +that for the last twelve years I have not been +in this part of the world. There have probably +been many changes since then."</p> + +<p>"Not so many as all that; let's see, now! you +will dine with the Tourvilles."</p> + +<p>"The Tourvilles? they are not dead yet?"</p> + +<p>"Those with whom you are going to dine are +living. They had some parents who are dead."</p> + +<p>"Ah! that's it, is it! then young Tourville is +married?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, two years ago!"</p> + +<p>"He was a disagreeable fellow! Has he made a +good marriage?"</p> + +<p>"That depends! he married a young lady on the +Stock Exchange."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? a young lady on the +Stock Exchange?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, her father is something there, I believe; +he is very, very rich."</p> + +<p>"Is it Chaillot, the banker?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so, I never asked about them—they +have restored Tourville, it is superb now; and they +are always entertaining."</p> + +<p>"Is Madame de Tourville pretty?"</p> + +<p>"You will see her; she is very pleasant, and +they say she is very intelligent; for my part, I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +not discovered that." And then, as M. de Clagny +smiled, she added quickly: "Because I only know +her very slightly."</p> + +<p>"Well, and after the Tourvilles, who next?"</p> + +<p>"M. de Bernès."</p> + +<p>"Young Hubert, the dragoon?"</p> + +<p>"He himself."</p> + +<p>"He is the son of good friends of mine; a +downright nice fellow, don't you think so?"</p> + +<p>"Don't I think what?"</p> + +<p>"That Hubert de Bernès is nice?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I know him so slightly; he has always +seemed to me—how shall I express it?—insipid, +yes, insipid."</p> + +<p>"Because you intimidate him, probably? I can +quite understand that, too!"</p> + +<p>"I intimidate <i>you</i>, perhaps?" she said, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Very much so!" he answered, very seriously.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she exclaimed, in astonishment, "how is +that possible?"</p> + +<p>"It is very possible, and it is true! There's +nothing astonishing about it then, that if you +intimidate an old man like me, you should intimidate +poor little Hubert."</p> + +<p>"Little Hubert? he is six feet!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and he is twenty-six years old, but to me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +he is always little Hubert. Well, anyhow, admit +at least that he is handsome?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know!"</p> + +<p>"Are you going to tell me that you have not +looked at him?"</p> + +<p>"I have looked at him; but as regards M. de +Bernès I am a very bad judge."</p> + +<p>"Why so?"</p> + +<p>"Because I detest young men!"</p> + +<p>"At the age of twenty-six they are not so young +as all that!"</p> + +<p>"That may be so! but, all the same, at that age +they do not exist as far as I am concerned."</p> + +<p>"Well, well! and at what age do they begin to +exist as far as you are concerned?"</p> + +<p>She laughed.</p> + +<p>"Very late in life!" she said, and then suddenly +changing her tone, she continued: "I am glad you +know M. de Bernès, because, at any rate, you will +not be bored to death now this evening."</p> + +<p>"Ah! it appears, then, that I am not to count on +the other guests for entertainment?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! the others—well, first of all there are +the La Balues."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens, they are alarming! Why, +their children must be beginning to grow +up?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They have even finished growing up! Louis +is twenty-three, and Gisèle twenty-two."</p> + +<p>"What are they like?"</p> + +<p>"The one sets up for being <i>blasé</i>—-he +is never either hungry, thirsty, or sleepy; he +does not care for anything; everything bores him. +And it is not true, you know! he never misses a +dance, and his sister says that he gets up in the +night to eat on the sly. Then, too, he writes +ridiculous poetry, paints pictures as absurd as +his poetry, and goes in for music—such music!"</p> + +<p>"And the daughter?"</p> + +<p>"She is as masculine as her brother is effeminate; +she goes shooting and hunting, and her dream is +to go in for deer-stalking, and to marry an +officer."</p> + +<p>"She is probably thinking of Hubert?"</p> + +<p>"What Hubert?"</p> + +<p>"Young Bernès!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! But I don't fancy so! At all events, +he is not thinking about her—"</p> + +<p>"Because he is too much taken up with you, like +all the others; is not that so?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all!"</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Oh, nonsense!" he said, "I can see it all quite +plainly."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There are only three guests left now for me to +introduce to you," continued Bijou, evidently wishing +to change the subject of the conversation. +"There are the Juzencourts—people who are very +much up-to-date, and who have bought 'The +Pines'—and one of their friends who is staying +for a month with them, a delightful young widow, +the Viscountess de Nézel."</p> + +<p>"What!" exclaimed the count, with an abrupt +movement; "Madame de Nézel—Jean de Blaye is +here then?"</p> + +<p>Denyse opened her beautiful, bright eyes wide, +as she replied in astonishment:</p> + +<p>"Yes, Jean is here; but what has that to do +with——?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing at all! nothing at all!" said M. de +Clagny hastily, and then after a moment's silence, +he asked: "Is Madame de Nézel as pretty as +ever?"</p> + +<p>"She is very pretty."</p> + +<p>"As pretty as you?"</p> + +<p>Bijou smiled. "Why do you make fun of me? +I know very well that I am not pretty," she said.</p> + +<p>"It's my turn now, my dear little Bijou, to ask +why you make fun of an old friend who admires +you as much as it is possible to admire anyone, and +who, alas! is not the only one."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why do you say alas?"</p> + +<p>"Well, because when one admires or loves, one +would like to be the only one to admire or love; +one's affection makes one selfish and jealous."</p> + +<p>"And after—let me see—how long—three hours—yes, +after three hours' acquaintance, you already +have some affection for me?" asked Bijou, looking +quite joyful.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a great deal!" answered M. de Clagny +very seriously.</p> + +<p>"So much the better, because, you see, I too, I +like you very much!" And, as though she +were just talking to herself, she added: "I +had imagined you very different, I expected to +see you not at all like you are."</p> + +<p>"Younger?" he asked sadly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, just the opposite; they had always +spoken of you as a friend of grandpapa's, and +grandmamma always said, 'my old friend Clagny,' +so that you can understand when I saw you, I was +quite surprised."</p> + +<p>"But why?"</p> + +<p>"Because you looked to me to be—I don't know +exactly—about forty-five perhaps?—well, say +like Paul de Rueille; and then, you are very +handsome, and, for my part, I like people who +are handsome."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Your cousin De Blaye is handsome!"</p> + +<p>"Jean?" she said, as though she were turning it +over in her mind, "is he as handsome as all that? +He does not strike me in that way, you see. When +people are always together they end by not noticing +each other!"</p> + +<p>"I am quite sure that he notices you!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! people don't notice me as much as you +think! They care for me because I was left alone +in the world at the age of seventeen; and then, +when grandmamma took possession of me, like +some poor little stray dog, and carried me off to +her home, why, they all felt interested in me, and +made me very welcome, and I was their Bijou +whom they all tried to bring up and to spoil, whose +faults are always looked over, and who always has +her own way."</p> + +<p>"And Bijou is quite right; that's the only good +thing there is in life—having one's own way, when +one can."</p> + +<p>"One always can," she said, speaking as though +she were not aware that she was saying anything, +and then suddenly advancing towards the bay-window, +she exclaimed: "Ah! there, now! the +Tourvilles! and grandmamma is not down stairs +again yet!"</p> + +<p>Bijou went forward to greet the new-comers—a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +lady dressed very handsomely, followed by a +common-looking sort of man, with very stiff +manners, who, on the whole, was decidedly +snobbish.</p> + +<p>Bijou introduced them, "Count de Clagny, +Count de Tourville," and then, as the marchioness +entered the room, looking very handsome +still in her cloudy lace draperies, the young girl +turned to M. de Clagny again.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "and what do you think of +the Tourvilles?"</p> + +<p>"I don't admire them. But how much Henry +de Bracieux has improved in appearance; he is +not as good-looking as his cousin yet; but that +may come, perhaps."</p> + +<p>"As good-looking as which cousin?"</p> + +<p>"As Blaye."</p> + +<p>"Again. Oh, well! you will insist on this +beauty of Jean's."</p> + +<p>"Well, beauty is perhaps not just the word; but +he is charming; if you will allow me to say +that?"</p> + +<p>"I will allow it."</p> + +<p>"By the bye, do tell me who that very nice-looking +young man is whom I met just now at the +end of the avenue?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know, unless it were Pierrot's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +tutor; but he is not so very nice-looking——"</p> + +<p>"Look, there he is," said M. de Clagny, indicating +M. Giraud.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed Bijou, in astonishment; "yes, +that is he!"</p> + +<p>She was amazed both at the count's admiration, +and at the transformation which Jean's dress-coat +had made.</p> + +<p>Arrayed in this garment of a perfect cut, and +which fitted him wonderfully well, the young tutor +looked quite at his ease.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Henry, coming up to Denyse, +"wasn't my idea a bright one? Do you see +the difference?"—and then, as she did not +answer quickly enough for his liking, he added: +"I'll bet anything you don't see it; women +never can see those things when it's a question +of men."</p> + +<p>The guests were all arriving. First the La +Balues, imperturbable, absurd in the extreme, +but so blissfully happy, so full of admiration, +and so perfectly satisfied with themselves that +one would have been sorry to have undeceived +them. Then came Hubert de Bernès, arrayed, +as Bijou had prophesied, in his uniform, and +looking all round the drawing-room carefully<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +afraid of meeting what he was in the habit +of calling '<i>any big pots</i>.' The Juzencourts arrived +last of all, bringing with them Madame de +Nézel, a very pretty and exquisitely-dressed +woman. She was extremely refined-looking and +supple, with that suppleness peculiar to Creoles; +she had a jessamine-like complexion, and heavy, +silky hair of jet black.</p> + +<p>Bijou, who was looking at her with an expression +of curiosity, as though she had never seen her +before, remarked to M. de Clagny:</p> + +<p>"Madame de Nézel is really very pretty—isn't +she?"</p> + +<p>He replied, in an absent sort of way, devouring +Bijou all the time with his eyes:</p> + +<p>"There is no mistaking that she comes of good +family, and then, too, she's very womanly, and +would respond——"</p> + +<p>The young girl knitted her eyebrows as though +she were making an effort to understand.</p> + +<p>"And would what?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing," answered the count, annoyed +with himself. "I don't know what I was going to +say."</p> + +<p>"Bijou!" called out the marchioness suddenly, +"Madame de Juzencourt wants to see the children; +go and fetch them. You will allow them to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +come down, Bertrade? and you, too, monsieur?" +she added, turning to the abbé.</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny looked vexed at being separated +from Denyse. It seemed to him already as though +he could not do without her.</p> + +<p>She soon came back, followed by Marcel and +Robert, leading by the hand a superb baby-child +of four years old, who was smiling amiably +and confidingly as he trotted along.</p> + +<p>"This is my godson," she said, introducing him +with evident pride. "Isn't he a pet, and so +beautiful and good. He's a love!"</p> + +<p>"Bijou is so good to that child," said Madame de +Rueille, "she is always looking after him and is +teaching him now to read."</p> + +<p>"So early!" exclaimed M. de Clagny, in a reproachful +tone, "is he being taught to read +already?"</p> + +<p>"Bijou teaches him plenty of other things, too, +don't you, Bijou?" asked the marchioness; "you +are teaching him Bible history, are you not? Two +days ago he told me about Moses, and he knew +it all very well."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed the count jeeringly, "I +should like to hear that. Poor unfortunate little +mite!"</p> + +<p>In a graceful, winsome way, Bijou knelt down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +by the child. On hearing "his story" mentioned, +the poor little fellow looked at her beseechingly.</p> + +<p>"Now, Fred, tell it," she said.</p> + +<p>Docile, but with a discontented expression on his +face, the little fellow looked up at his god-mother.</p> + +<p>"Tell about Moses, you know it very well."</p> + +<p>"Well then," began Fred resolutely, "they put +him in a 'ittle basket, 'ittle Moses, and they put the +basket on the Nile——"</p> + +<p>He stopped abruptly, his face bathed in perspiration.</p> + +<p>"And then, what happened?" asked Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Don't know," replied the little fellow briefly; +"don't know any more—don't know, I tell you. +Say it yourself—what happened."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! come now, have you made up your +mind not to answer?"</p> + +<p>The child replied coaxingly:</p> + +<p>"P'ease don't make me say it!"</p> + +<p>Denyse insisted, however.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! now something happened when Moses +was going down the Nile. What was it—what +happened?"</p> + +<p>He thought for a minute, his face puckered up, +his eyes shut, and then, just when everyone had +given up hoping for anything more, he cried out, +delighted at having remembered:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Puss in boots came! and called out: 'Help! +help! it's the Marquis of Carabas—he's drowning.'"</p> + +<p>"There, you see," said Bertrade, laughing, "this +is what comes of teaching him so many fine things +at the same time."</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille added:</p> + +<p>"Yes, a day or two ago Denyse gave him a +stunning 'Puss in Boots' that we brought with us +from Pont-sur-Loire, and this has evidently done +Moses a great deal of harm."</p> + +<p>Bijou turned towards her cousin, and exclaimed +in astonishment:</p> + +<p>"Denyse! how long have you taken to calling +me Denyse?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know," answered Rueille, "sometimes +I do."</p> + +<p>"Why, you never do! I thought you were +vexed," and then, bending towards her godchild, and +taking him up in her arms, she said, laughing: +"My poor little Fred, we have not had much +success this time, have we?"</p> + +<p>Giraud, who was standing just behind her, gazed +at her admiringly. She clasped the child, who was +smiling at her, closer still, and murmured in a +caressing tone:</p> + +<p>"Fred! my dear Fred! I do so love you, if you +only knew."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> + +<p>On hearing his own name pronounced so tenderly, +the young tutor had started involuntarily, and he +had had the greatest difficulty in keeping himself +from advancing towards Denyse. He had turned +so pale, too, and such a strange, drawn look had +come over his face, that Pierrot, who, as a rule, was +not endowed with much power of observation except +in matters relating to Bijou, noticed it, and +asked:</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with you, Monsieur Giraud? +you look so queer! are you ill?"</p> + +<p>Denyse turned round abruptly, and asked with +interest:</p> + +<p>"You are not well, Monsieur Giraud?"</p> + +<p>"I? oh, yes! perfectly well, thank you, mademoiselle. +I don't know what made Pierrot fancy that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well!" said the youth, with conviction, +"look at yourself; you look awfully queer! +Besides, for the last three or four days you have +not been yourself; you must have something the +matter that you don't know of."</p> + +<p>"I assure you," stuttered the poor fellow, in a +perfect torture, "I assure you that there is nothing +the matter with me."</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny had approached them. He was +looking enviously at little Fred nestling against +Bijou's pretty shoulder.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Your godson is perfectly superb!" he +said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, isn't he? and he adores me!"</p> + +<p>Dinner was announced just at this moment, and +Bijou gave the child, who was getting sleepy, to +the English nurse who had come for him.</p> + +<p>With a disagreeable expression on his face, +young La Balue, who was standing just by Denyse, +offered her the sharp angle of his arm. With some +difficulty she managed to slip her hand through, +and, with a resigned look on her face, went in with +him to dinner.</p> + +<p>At table M. Giraud was at the other side of her, +and half wild with delight at finding himself placed +next her, he felt that he was more shy and awkward +than ever. His timidity, which had hitherto +been extreme, seemed to increase. He dared not +say a word, and he was in despair, because +he felt that he was making himself ridiculous.</p> + +<p>He was not only in love with Denyse for +her beauty, her grace, and her wonderful charm, +but he venerated her for her goodness, which +seemed to him to be infinite.</p> + +<p>When he had been an usher in a certain college, +he had one day murmured some foolish words of +affection to the daughter of the headmaster, and he +remembered still with awe the contemptuous anger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +with which the young lady had reproached him for +having, in his position, dared to lift his eyes to +her.</p> + +<p>He had now frankly and bluntly told this +beautiful, wealthy, and nobly-born girl that he +adored her, and, in reply, she had spoken to him +sweetly and affectionately, discouraging him, but +taking care not to wound him.</p> + +<p>He began now to pity himself and his own fate, +firmly believing that his life, having been crossed +by this hopeless love, would be wretched for ever-more.</p> + +<p>How could he expect that, having once known +and loved a woman like Mademoiselle de Courtaix, +he would ever be able to love any woman whom he +would be in a position to marry.</p> + +<p>And the poor young man, who, only three short +weeks before, used to dream at times of a little +home presided over by a young wife, who should +be sweet and modest, though, perhaps, not remarkable +in any way, saw himself now condemned for +life to a bachelor's dreary rooms, where, in the end, +he would die, surrounded by photographs of Bijou, +which he would get with great difficulty from +Pierrot.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of dinner Denyse did not talk +much. She looked round in an absent sort of way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +at the whole table, noticing all those little nothings +which are so amusing to persons capable of seeing +them.</p> + +<p>Madame de Bracieux had M. de la Balue to her +right, but she was neglecting him for the sake of +her old friend, Clagny, who was on her other side, +and to whom she never ceased talking.</p> + +<p>M. de Jonzac, who was opposite his sister, between +Madame de la Balue and Madame de Tourville, +only appeared to be enjoying himself in a +moderate degree. Madame de Nézel also looked +rather sad, and talked in a half-hearted way to her +neighbours, Henry de Bracieux and M. de Rueille. +She glanced often in the direction of Jean de Blaye, +who was seated at the other end of the table, between +Madame de Juzencourt and Mademoiselle +de la Balue. Jean did not seem to be taking any +notice of Madame de Nézel, and several times +Bijou saw that his eyes were fixed on her. She +found this embarrassing; so turning towards +young Balue, started an animated conversation +with him, and thereupon Jean, with a somewhat +troubled expression in his eyes, watched her all +the time.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">After</span> dinner the heat in the drawing-room was +over-powering, and Madame de Bracieux said to +her guests:</p> + +<p>"Those of you who are not afraid of the +evening air could go out on to the terrace or +into the garden."</p> + +<p>Gisèle de la Balue, a big, tall girl, built on the +model of the statues round the Place de la Concorde, +and who liked to affect free and easy tom-boyish +manners, started off out-doors, running +along heavily and calling out:</p> + +<p>"Whoever cares for me will follow me!"</p> + +<p>Hubert de Bernès followed her out of politeness.</p> + +<p>Rueille, Henry de Bracieux, Pierrot, and M. +Giraud turned with one accord toward Denyse.</p> + +<p>"Are you coming, Bijou?" asked Pierrot.</p> + +<p>She saw Jean de Blaye talking to Madame de +Nézel, who was just going out with him, and she +answered:</p> + +<p>"I will come to you directly. I am going to +see if the children are in bed just now."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle," proposed the abbé, "I can +spare you the trouble."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; thank you very much, monsieur, but +you know I never feel quite happy if I have not +kissed Fred."</p> + +<p>She went out by the door opposite the terrace.</p> + +<p>"Your grand-daughter is decidedly the most +charming girl I have ever come across," remarked +M. de Clagny to the marchioness, and then he +added sadly; "It is when an old man meets +women like that, that he regrets his age."</p> + +<p>"I must say," answered Madame de Bracieux, +laughing, "that even if you were young, you would +not be just the husband I dream of for Bijou."</p> + +<p>"And why not, if you please?"</p> + +<p>"Well, because you are, or at least you were, +rather—how shall I put it?—rather large-hearted."</p> + +<p>"Large-hearted! good heavens, yes, I was! but +that was the fault of those who did not know how +to keep my affection. I assure you, though, that +with a wife like Bijou, I should never have been +what you call <i>large-hearted</i>."</p> + +<p>"Oh, as to that," said Madame de Bracieux +incredulously, "one never knows."</p> + +<p>On leaving the drawing-room, Bijou crossed the +hall, and instead of going up the wide staircase +which led to the children's rooms, she lifted the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +old green tapestry curtain which covered the door +of the butler's pantry. Just as she was going to +open this door she turned back into the hall to +get a long, dark cloak, which was hanging there. +It was a Berck fisherwoman's cloak, which she +always put on when it rained. She wrapped herself +up in it hastily, and then went into the pantry, +where it was now quite dark. From the kitchen +she could hear the loud voices of the servants, +who were at dinner. Denyse went across to the +open window, got up on to a chair, and then +gathering her skirts closely round her, stepped out +on to the window-sill, and jumped lightly down +into the garden.</p> + +<p>Once there, she hesitated an instant. The terrace +seemed to stand out distinctly, lighted up by the +drawing-room windows. In the chestnut avenue +she could distinguish in the shade the red gleam +of cigars.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she pulled the hood of her cloak up +over her head, and evidently making up her mind, +started off quickly along the dark pathway which +led to the other avenue.</p> + +<p>During this time her faithful admirers were waiting +on the terrace for her to come and join them +as she had promised, and the ponderous Gisèle +was endeavouring vainly to organise a game at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +hide-and-seek. The men seemed to have no +energy; Madame de Tourville was afraid of spoiling +her dress; and Madame de Juzencourt was +strolling about with Jean de Blaye and Madame +de Nézel. Presently, however, she went back to +the others alone, and Mademoiselle de la Balue +wanted to persuade her to have a game, but she +refused emphatically. She certainly was not going +to run about, she said, considering that she was +too warm already with only walking; she had +just had to leave Thérèse de Nézel and Jean de +Blaye, for she could not walk another step.</p> + +<p>Left to themselves, Jean and Madame de Nézel +continued strolling along, she in a natural, unaffected +way, going on with the conversation they +had commenced, and he absent-minded and ill-at-ease.</p> + +<p>"Why do you not reproach me?" he said at +last, abruptly, not able to contain himself any +longer; "why do you not say all the bad things +you think about me?"</p> + +<p>"Because I have nothing to reproach you for," +she answered, very gently; "and I do not think any +bad things about you."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, you do not care about me any +longer."</p> + +<p>"I do not care about you any longer?" she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +said, and there was an accent of such intense grief +in her voice that he was quite overcome by it.</p> + +<p>He knew so well how deeply she loved him, that +he dreaded the thought of the awful suffering she +would have to endure if he were to be quite +straightforward with her now, and so, out of affection +for her, he endeavoured to conceal from her +the real truth.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he began, improvising with difficulty an +excuse of which he had not thought until that +moment, "you must have fancied that I was not +thinking of you, for you have been here at The +Pines a fortnight, and I have not sent you a line. +The fact is, it is very difficult to arrange to meet +here at Pont-sur-Loire; everyone knows me here, +and, you see, for your sake, I scarcely liked to ask +you to meet me in the town."</p> + +<p>She did not make any reply, and he could not +understand her silence.</p> + +<p>"Why do you not answer me?" he asked at +length.</p> + +<p>"Why? well, because you are telling me now +exactly the opposite to what you said when you +asked me to accept the Juzencourts' invitation."</p> + +<p>"What did I say?" he asked, slightly embarrassed.</p> + +<p>"You said that at Pont-sur-Loire it would be so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +easy to meet. You said that between the hours of +luncheon and dinner there were two trains up and +two down from The Pines to Pont-sur-Loire, and +that I could get away so easily, as the Juzencourts +never went out except to pay calls at the various +country-houses in the neighbourhood, or to follow +the paper chases. On my arrival here I found that +all these details were perfectly exact."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it really is not so easy as I had +imagined."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Jean! instead of trying to deceive me in +this way, it would be much better to tell me the +truth."</p> + +<p>"And the truth, according to you, is that I no +longer care for you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is a part of the truth."</p> + +<p>"And," he asked, somewhat uneasily, "the rest?"—</p> + +<p>"Is, that you are in love with Mademoiselle de +Courtaix. Ah, do not deny it! it is so evident!" +And then, after a moment's silence, she added: +"And so natural!"</p> + +<p>"Do you forgive me?"</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to forgive. I have never +demanded anything from you, and you have never, +never promised me anything. When I first began +to care for you, I was not a widow; you must +therefore have judged me severely, as a man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +nearly always does judge the woman who is weak +enough to care for him when she ought not to."</p> + +<p>"I swear to you—"</p> + +<p>"No, do not swear anything; you had all the +more reason to judge me in that way, because I +did not think it my duty to tell you what my life +had been like until then. You doubtless believed +that my husband was kind and affectionate, and +that I endured no remorse, when I allowed myself +to love you—"</p> + +<p>"I did not think about it at all, I simply adored +you," he said. And then hesitating, and with +evident anxiety, he continued: "And now you +will never care for me any more?"</p> + +<p>"What!" she exclaimed, perfectly amazed at +the unconscious selfishness of the man, "you wish +me to go on caring for you?"</p> + +<p>"You ask if I wish it? why, what would become +of me without you? you who are my very life!" +And then, as she moved back a step or two in +sheer bewilderment, he went on: "Well, but whatever +have you been imagining?—that I am going +to marry Bijou, perhaps?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes."</p> + +<p>He was about to explain to her why he could +not marry his cousin, but it occurred to him that +the very prosaic reason for the impossibility of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +such a match, would make his return to Madame +de Nézel, of whom he was really very fond, appear +as a slight to her.</p> + +<p>"It has only been a passing fancy that I have +had for Bijou," he said. "How could I help it? it +is simply impossible to be always with her and to +escape being intoxicated by her beauty, and by her +unconscious and innocent coquetry. For the last +fortnight I have been a fool—I am still, in fact; but +on seeing you again I knew at once that it is +you only whom I love, and belong to—heart and +soul."</p> + +<p>As he said this, he drew Madame de Nézel's +pale face against his shoulder, and, bending down, +pressed his lips to hers, and then, as the young +widow nestled closer still in his arms, he said, with +passionate tenderness:</p> + +<p>"How do you think that I could ever care for +that child—with whom I am always so reserved—in +the way I care for you?" He could feel her +slender form trembling in his embrace, and, drawing +her closer still, he murmured: "Forgive me, +darling, you are always so good, and if I have +sinned, it has only been in thought."</p> + +<p>"You know I love you," she answered. "But we +must go back to the house at once; they will think +our walk is lasting a long time."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> + +<p>Madame de Juzencourt, who was seated on the +terrace, called out as soon as she caught sight of +them:</p> + +<p>"Well, have you been walking all this time?"</p> + +<p>And at the same moment M. de Rueille called +out to Bijou, who had just appeared at one of the +windows:</p> + +<p>"So that's the way you come out to us! It's +very kind of you."</p> + +<p>"I could not come before," she answered, stepping +out, and then approaching her cousin, she +added, in a low voice: "I had to see to the tea +and the ices, etc., etc.; you must not be vexed +with me."</p> + +<p>"Vexed with you!" exclaimed Pierrot warmly. +"Could anyone be vexed with <i>you</i>, now?"</p> + +<p>Bijou did not answer. She was watching +Hubert de Bernès in an absent-minded way, as he +stood talking to Bertrade, and she was wondering +how it was that he was so cool in his manner towards +herself. He was polite, certainly, and even +pleasant, but <i>only</i> polite and pleasant, and she +was not accustomed to such moderation. M. de +Clagny appeared presently at one of the windows +and called out:</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle Bijou, your grandmamma wants +you."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>Denyse ran into the house, her silk skirts rustling +as she went. She did not even stay to answer +young La Balue, who, pointing to Henry de +Bracieux as he stood with the light showing up +his profile, had just remarked:</p> + +<p>"What a handsome man Henry is."</p> + +<p>"Bijou," said the marchioness, "I want you to +sing something for us."</p> + +<p>"Oh! grandmamma, please"—she began, in a +beseeching tone, and looking annoyed.</p> + +<p>"M. de Clagny wants to hear you," said +Madame de Bracieux, insisting.</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well, then, I will, certainly," replied +Bijou pleasantly, without taking into account that +her way of consenting was not very flattering for +the rest of her grandmother's guests.</p> + +<p>She went to the piano, and, taking up a guitar, +put the pink ribbon which was attached to it round +her neck, and then came back and took up her +position in the midst of the semi-circle formed by +the arm-chairs.</p> + +<p>"I am going to accompany myself with the +guitar," she said; "it is simpler." And then turning +to M. de Clagny, she asked: "What do you want +me to sing? Do you like the old-fashioned +songs?" and without waiting for a reply, she +began the ballad of the "Petit Soldat":<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">"Je me suis engagé</span><br /> +<span class="i0">l'amour d'une blonde."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>She had a good ear and a pretty voice, which she +used skilfully, and it was with plaintive sweetness +that she sang the touching story of the young +soldier who "veut qu'on mette son cœur dans une +serviette blanche."</p> + +<p>The drawing-room soon filled when Bijou began +to sing, and the various expressions on the different +faces were most amusing to see.</p> + +<p>Jean was listening in a nervous, excited way, +pulling his fair moustache irritably through his +fingers.</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille, affected in spite of himself by the +doleful air, and annoyed that all these people +should be admiring Bijou, was pacing up and down +at the other end of the drawing-room, pretending +not to be listening to the music.</p> + +<p>Pierrot, with his mouth open, was all attention. +Young La Balue, with his elbow resting on a side-table +in an awkward and ridiculous pose, kept his +colourless eyes fixed on the young girl in a gaze +which he tried to make magnetic, and with such +bold persistency that Henry de Bracieux felt the +most extraordinary desire to walk up to him and +box his ears. Even Abbé Courteil was carried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +away by the plaintive ballad; he was deeply +moved, and sat there with his eyes stretched wide +open, breathing heavily. Hubert de Bernès only +was listening with polite attention, but comparative +indifference. As to the ladies, all, except, perhaps, +Gisèle de la Balue, admired Bijou sincerely.</p> + +<p>Madame de Nézel was listening with a mournful +expression in her eyes, and a kind-hearted smile, +whilst as for M. de Clagny, it was as though all +the sensitiveness and affection of his nature had +gone out towards this pretty, fragile-looking, young +creature. His eyes, beaming with tenderness, +seemed to take in at the same time, the beautiful +face, the little rosy fingers as they touched the +strings of the guitar, and the slender, supple figure.</p> + +<p>When Bijou had come to the end of her +song, she went up to him, without paying any +attention to the compliments that were being +showered on her, and, in a pretty, coaxing way, +she asked:</p> + +<p>"It did not bore you too much, I hope?"</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny could not answer for a moment. +He felt choked with emotion.</p> + +<p>"I shall often ask you for that song again," +he said at last. "Yes, I shall come often, and +you will sing me the 'Petit Soldat,' won't you?"</p> + +<p>He had a great desire to hear Bijou sing for him—for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +him alone; he did not want to share her voice +and her charm with all these people whom he now +detested.</p> + +<p>"You shall come as often as you please," she +answered, looking delighted, "and I will sing you +everything you like," and then gliding away she +went across to Jean de Blaye, who was standing +alone at the other end of the drawing-room. "It +annoys you when I sing, doesn't it?" she asked +him.</p> + +<p>"Why, no!" he answered, surprised at the +question, and surprised that Bijou should trouble +about him. "Why should you think so?"</p> + +<p>"Because I saw you just now—you were pulling +your moustache in the most furious way, and you +looked bored to death. Yes, you certainly did +look bored!"</p> + +<p>"It was just your own imagination."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! it was not just my imagination. +When I care about anyone I am always very +clear-sighted! so, you see, it is quite the contrary. +Why are you frowning now?"</p> + +<p>"I am not frowning."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, you were, and it looks as though what +I said just now had vexed you, too."</p> + +<p>"What did you just say?"</p> + +<p>"That I am very clear-sighted. And you are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +vexed, because you are afraid that I shall see that +something is the matter."</p> + +<p>"Something the matter?" he asked uneasily. +"What is it?"</p> + +<p>"What is it? Ah! I don't know! But most +certainly something is the matter with you—you +are not at all like yourself ever since—why, ever +since we have been at Bracieux."</p> + +<p>"Really?" he said, putting on a joking tone. +"I am different, am I—and the most extraordinary +thing is, that I did not know myself about this +difference."</p> + +<p>Bijou shrugged her pretty shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Don't try to take me in like that, Jean, my +dear; I know you too well, you see. You are +different, I tell you! You have gradually got +very abrupt, restless, and absent-minded. Listen, +now,—would you like me to tell you what it +is?"</p> + +<p>Seated at some distance away from them, +Madame de Nézel was watching them, with an +expression of melancholy resignation.</p> + +<p>Bijou glanced across at her, and the young +girl's violet eyes gleamed between her long, thick +lashes, as she said:</p> + +<p>"You are in love with someone who does not +return your love."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jean de Blaye coloured up furiously.</p> + +<p>"You don't know what you are talking about," +he answered.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, why have you gone so red? Oh, +how proud you are. You are vexed because I +have found this out." And then, after a short +silence, she began again: "Have you told her?"</p> + +<p>"Have I told what? and whom? My dear +Bijou, how foolish you are."</p> + +<p>"Have you told Mad—" She stopped abruptly, +and then, with her face turned towards Madame +de Nézel, she continued: "The person with whom +you are in love, have you told her that you love +her?"</p> + +<p>"No!" he murmured, in a stifled sort of voice.</p> + +<p>"You are afraid to? but why? I constantly +hear grandmamma, Bertrade, Paul, and Uncle +Alexis, saying over and over again that you are +the kind of man women like; <i>she</i> would be sure to +like you, too, and she would marry you, I am +certain." She leaned towards him, nearly touching +his ear as she whispered to him, and not caring +what effect her familiarity might have. "Listen, +now, if you like I will tell her for you, and I am +quite sure what her answer will be."</p> + +<p>Jean rose abruptly, and seizing Bijou's hand, he +asked excitedly:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What are you saying?"</p> + +<p>"I am just saying that she <i>will</i> love you, if she +does not already."</p> + +<p>"But of whom are you speaking—of whom?" +he stammered out, aghast.</p> + +<p>She answered him in a hesitating way, with a +frank look on her pretty face, but she spoke in such +a low voice that he could scarcely catch her first +words.</p> + +<p>"I am speaking of——"</p> + +<p>"Bijou!" called out Pierrot, separating them +unceremoniously, "grandmamma says you are forgetting +about the tea." And then, looking at their +faces, he went on: "Well, I never! you are both +as red as cherries; there's no mistake about it, it's +baking hot in here."</p> + +<p>Denyse hurried away, and Pierrot continued:</p> + +<p>"We thought over there that you were quarrelling."</p> + +<p>"Ah! you thought that, did you?" answered +Jean, by way of saying something.</p> + +<p>"Yes, especially grandmamma; that's why she +sent me to tell Bijou about the tea. I say, Bijou +isn't worried about anything, is she?"</p> + +<p>"Well, now, what kind of worry do you fancy +she could have, my dear fellow?" And then, with +a smile, he added: "Who do you imagine would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +undertake to cause her any worry? It seems to +me that anyone who did venture to would have a +bad time of it in this house."</p> + +<p>"She's so sweet, and so nice always," answered +the boy, with great warmth. "As for me, why, I +just adore her; and Paul does, too, and so does +Henry, and M. Giraud, and Bertrade's kids, and +the abbé, and everyone, in fact; even little La +Balue is gone on her, and he's never gone on anyone. +Yes, he was telling her I don't know what +up in a corner of the room after dinner, and then, +when she was singing—did you ever see such eyes +as he was making at her?—oh, no! if you had only +just seen him——"</p> + +<p>"Do shut up!" exclaimed Jean irritably, "you +wear everyone out, if you only knew it, my dear +Pierrot."</p> + +<p>When Bijou came back to the drawing-room, +Henry de Bracieux waylaid her.</p> + +<p>"I say," he began, in a cross-grained tone, "what +was La Balue telling you just now that appeared +to be so interesting?"</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Here, after dinner."</p> + +<p>"Here?" repeated Bijou, apparently trying to +recall something to her memory, "after dinner? +Ah, I remember; why, he was talking about you!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> + +<p>"About me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, about you! He thinks you are very +handsome, but he also thinks that you do not +know how to make the most of your good +looks."</p> + +<p>"Have you finished making game of me?"</p> + +<p>"I assure you that I am not making game of +you—not the least bit in the world. He even +advised me to tell you that instead of your frightful +stand-up collars—these are his words, you know, +and not mine—you ought to wear—what did he +call them now?—oh, Van Dyck collars, which would +not cover your neck up, for it appears that your +throat is superb, and your head so well set on your +shoulders; and then you have lovely teeth! I only +wish you could hear him sing the praises of your +personal appearance."</p> + +<p>"Of my personal appearance! Mine?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes; you thought, perhaps, that he was +talking to me of mine? Not at all! He informed +me, too, that he was going to tell you all that in +poetry; not the Van Dyck collars, but the rest."</p> + +<p>"That young man is an idiot!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear me, he is very harmless."</p> + +<p>"You are so good-hearted always, you never dig +into anyone. Ah, attention! they are packing up, +the La Balue crew!" And Henry, in a low<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +voice, and apparently delighted, finished up with a +"Hip! hip! hurrah!"</p> + +<p>M. de la Balue, who was just coming out of the +hall with a heap of cloaks, looked at him in +astonishment, while at the doorway a little family +quarrel took place. The good man wanted to +make his wife and daughter wrap their heads up in +some very ordinary-looking knitted shawls, so that +they should not get a chill. He was obliged, however, +to give in at last.</p> + +<p>Bijou, on saying good-bye to Madame de Nézel, +held out her little hand, and looked straight into +her eyes with such an expression of innocent curiosity +that the young widow turned away, quite +confused by the persistency of the young girl's +gaze. It seemed to her as though this child had +discovered the secret of her life, and the bare idea +of this caused her intense misery.</p> + +<p>Bijou's charm, however, was so great, and her +power of attraction so strong, that Madame de +Nézel, at the bottom of her heart, felt nothing but +affection for the lovely little creature who had so +unconsciously stolen her happiness from her.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Denyse gaily, when she +went back into the drawing-room, where only M. +de Clagny and the family now remained, "it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +half-past twelve, you know; they all seemed like +fixtures, and I thought they were never going to +leave us!"</p> + +<p>"The La Balue family are not very handsome," +remarked the abbé.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they are not so bad," protested the young +girl; "it is only a question of getting used to +them, that's all!"</p> + +<p>"Young Balue is horrible!" said Madame de +Bracieux. "And then, too, there is something +snaky about him. When you shake hands with +him, it is like touching an eel."</p> + +<p>"And the daughter, too!" put in Pierrot. "Ugh, +she has such little pig's eyes! and Louis, too, has +little eyes!"</p> + +<p>"They are very nice, though, all the same," said +Bijou, in a conciliatory tone.</p> + +<p>"And they come of very good family," added +Madame de Bracieux; "they are descended from +La Balue, from the Cardinal, the real—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," put in Bijou gently, "it would, perhaps, +be better for Gisèle not to have descended +from the iron cage, but to have larger eyes; however, +as it cannot be helped—"</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny laughed, as he turned round to +look about for his hat, which he had put down +somewhere in the room.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> + +<p>"One needs to have a certain amount of assurance," +he said, "in making one's exit from here, for +one feels how one will be pulled to pieces."</p> + +<p>"You need not be afraid," said Bijou, "we shall +not pull you to pieces, although you could stand it +very well. I promise you, though, that you shall +not be pulled to pieces. Will you take my word +for it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will take your word," answered the count, +as he took the little hands, which were held out to +him, and pressed them affectionately in his.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.</h2> + + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Are</span> you going for a ride, Bijou?" called out +Pierrot, leaning out of the window.</p> + +<p>Denyse, who was just crossing the courtyard, +pointed to her riding-habit.</p> + +<p>"Well, you can be sure that in this heat I should +not entertain myself by walking about in a cloth +dress if I were not going to ride."</p> + +<p>"Where are you going?"</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"So that we can come and meet you—we two—M. +Giraud and I,—at eleven o'clock!"</p> + +<p>Just behind Pierrot the tutor's head was to be +seen.</p> + +<p>"I am going to The Borderettes to take a +message to Lavenue," answered Bijou; and then, +seeing Giraud, she said pleasantly: "Good morning. +I shall see you again, then, soon?"</p> + +<p>Patatras was waiting in the shade. The old +coachman, who always accompanied Bijou, helped +her into her saddle, and then, mounting in his turn, +prepared to follow her. When Pierrot saw this, he +called out again:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How is it that none of the cousins are riding +with you?"</p> + +<p>"I did not tell them that I was going out."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he exclaimed regretfully, "if I were only +free, wouldn't I come with you!"</p> + +<p>She turned round in her saddle, with an easy +movement which showed that she was not laced in +at all, and answered Pierrot, with a merry laugh:</p> + +<p>"I should not have told you though, either!"</p> + +<p>As soon as Bijou had passed through the gateway, +she put Patatras to a gallop, for the flies were +teasing him dreadfully.</p> + +<p>She went along through the hot air, meeting the +sun, the burning rays of which fell full on her +pretty face without making it red. She did not +slacken her pace until she arrived at the narrow +lane leading to The Borderettes. It was almost +perpendicular, and covered with loose stones, and at +the bottom of the little valley, which was very +green, in spite of the dry season, the farm, with its +white walls and red roof, looked like a perfectly +new toy-house. When she was at the bottom of the +hill, Bijou pulled out of her pocket a little looking-glass, +and then arranged her veil and the loose +curly locks of hair, which had blown over her ears +and the back of her neck. She then gathered from +the hedge a spray of mulberry blossom, which she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +fastened in the bodice of her habit, arranged the +little handkerchief, trimmed with Valenciennes, +daintily in her side-pocket, and then, after another +short gallop, pulled up at the entrance to the farm.</p> + +<p>A rough voice called out: "Are you there, +master?" and then a young farm labourer came +out of the house, saying: "Master ain't heard me +call; I'll go and find him."</p> + +<p>A minute or two later, a tall young man, of some +thirty-five years of age, appeared. He was a true +type of the Norman peasant, somewhat meagre-looking, +with fair hair, and a slight stoop. He +looked very warm and was out of breath. His +face was so red that it seemed to be turning +purple.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he exclaimed, trying to get his breath +again, "it's you, Mad'moiselle Denyse, it's you, is +it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Monsieur Lavenue," she answered, smiling, +"it is."</p> + +<p>"Won't you get down?" he asked, holding out +his hand to help her.</p> + +<p>"No, thanks! I have only come to bring you a +message from grandmamma. It is about the Confirmation +dinner next Monday; but you know all +about that, as you are the mayor?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know about it!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, grandmamma would like to have some +very nice peaches for Monday, and some very nice +pears; in fact, all kinds of nice things, such as grow +in your orchard."</p> + +<p>"They shall bring you them, Mad'moiselle +Denyse! You can be quite easy about that. +I'll see they are well chosen." And then, as the +young girl turned her horse round, he said, as he +watched her, almost dazed with admiration: "Are +you going to start back already, mad'moiselle? +Won't you stop and have some refreshment—a +bowl of milk now? I know you like a drop o' +good milk!" And then, in a persuasive tone, he +added, as he took hold of Patatras' bridle, "That +'ud give the horse a rest, too; he's very warm +after the run."</p> + +<p>Farmer Lavenue's way of talking always amused +Bijou. It had been more than ten years now since +the sturdy Norman had emigrated to Touraine, and +yet he had not lost his strong Norman accent in +the slightest degree.</p> + +<p>It was Madame de Bracieux, who, thoroughly +dissatisfied with the Touraine farmers, had taken +up this man. Charlemagne Lavenue had never +fraternised with the regular inhabitants of the +place. He was looked up to and admired by the +simple-minded and unskilful villagers, who saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +him making money in the very place where others +had been ruined. He had, by "sending for people +from his part of the world," gradually transformed +The Borderettes into a small Normandy, and he +had so much influence now in the place that he, +an interloper, had been elected mayor of Bracieux, +to the exclusion of the former notables of the +place.</p> + +<p>As Denyse did not reply, he lifted her down +from her horse, saying as he did so: "You will, +mad'moiselle, won't you?" And then, after giving +the reins to the old groom, he led the way to the +door of the farm, and stood aside for Bijou to +enter.</p> + +<p>"How nice it is here, Monsieur Lavenue," she +exclaimed, in a pleasant way. "Have I ever seen +this room before? No, I don't think I have!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you've seen it, mad'moiselle, only, you +know, it's been fresh white-washed, and, you see, +that makes it different-like."</p> + +<p>"When you are married, now," she said, smiling, +"it will be very nice, indeed."</p> + +<p>Farmer Lavenue, who was looking at Bijou with +hungry eyes, held his head up erect, and then, +shaking it slowly, he answered, with some hesitation:</p> + +<p>"I can't decide to give the farm a mistress, +because I don't come across one as suits me." And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +after a moment's silence, he added: "That is to +say, amongst them as I could have."</p> + +<p>"Why, how's that? any of the girls from Bracieux, +or Combes, or from the villages round The Borderettes, +would marry you, Monsieur Lavenue, and +there are some very pretty girls among them."</p> + +<p>"I can't see as they are," he answered, blushing, +and twisting about in his fingers the huge, broad-brimmed +hat which he always wore the whole year +round.</p> + +<p>"You are difficult to please, then; do you mean +that you don't think Catherine Lebour pretty?"</p> + +<p>"No, Mad'moiselle Denyse."</p> + +<p>"Nor Josephine Lacaille?"</p> + +<p>"No, Mad'moiselle Denyse."</p> + +<p>"And Louise Pature?"</p> + +<p>"No, mad'moiselle."</p> + +<p>Bijou laughed merrily. "Oh, well, do you mean +to say that you don't admire any woman?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do—there's <i>one</i>—"</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" she asked, looking full at the +peasant, with her frank, innocent expression.</p> + +<p>Lavenue turned redder still, and stooped down +with an awkward movement to pick up his hat, +which had fallen to the ground.</p> + +<p>"I can't say," he stuttered out; "she isn't for +such as me."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bijou did not hear his reply. With her pretty +figure slightly bent, and her head thrown back, she +was slowly drinking a second cup of milk, whilst +the farmer, who had recovered himself, stood still, +with his eyes wide open, gazing at this fragile-looking +young creature in timid, half-fearful admiration.</p> + +<p>When Bijou had finished her milk, she looked at +him critically, with a smile on her lips.</p> + +<p>"My goodness! how warm it is to-day," he said, +wiping with the back of his hand the great drops +of perspiration, which stood out on his forehead.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, so much, Monsieur Lavenue," said +Denyse, getting up; "your milk is delicious."</p> + +<p>"Oh! but you aren't surely going to start off +again already?" he said, with a downcast look.</p> + +<p>"Already! why, I have been here at least a +quarter of an hour."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well! it's been precious quick to me that +quarter of an hour!" he stammered; and then, in a +lower voice, he added: "Thank you, very much, +Mad'moiselle Denyse, for the honour as you've +done me. I sha'n't forget it, that's certain!"</p> + +<p>On getting up, Bijou had let the flowers, which +she was wearing in her bodice, fall to the +ground.</p> + +<p>As she turned towards the door, to see whether<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +the horses were there, the peasant, with a stealthy +movement, stretched his long, sinewy body out +along the floor, and, snatching up the flowers, hid +them away under his blouse.</p> + +<p>The groom was about to descend from his horse +in order to help Denyse to mount; but she made a +sign to stop him.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Lavenue will help me on to my +horse," she said; "he is very strong."</p> + +<p>She put her foot out in order to place it in the +farmer's hand; but, without any warning, he put +his hands round her waist, and then, steadying her +a second against himself, he lifted her straight into +the saddle.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well!" she exclaimed, in amazement, "I +said you were strong, but however could you hold +me at arm's length like that, and put me on to my +horse, which is so tall?" and then, as he did not +speak, but just stood there, looking down and +breathing heavily, she added: "There, you see, I +was too heavy! You are quite out of breath."</p> + +<p>She started off before he had time to answer, +calling out to him as she rode away:</p> + +<p>"Good morning, and thank you again, very +much!"</p> + +<p>Just as she was turning out of the farmyard, she +looked round again at the farmer, who was standing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +motionless, as though rooted to the spot, with +his arms hanging down at his sides.</p> + +<p>"Don't forget grandmamma's peaches and pears, +Monsieur Lavenue!" she called out.</p> + +<p>She then looked at her watch, and found that +it was five minutes past eleven. She had plenty of +time to return home without hurrying, and then, +too, M. Giraud and Pierrot were to meet her, and +they were never free until eleven o'clock.</p> + +<p>As she passed through a village, she gathered a +spray of clematis from the cemetery wall to replace +the flowers which she had dropped, and then, +when she found herself quite alone, she took out +her little looking-glass again, and fluffed her hair +up, as it was not curly enough now that the heat +had made it limp. At half-past eleven, as she saw +no signs of those whom she was expecting, she +began to get impatient, and put her horse to a +gallop, for Patatras was getting tired, and would +keep stopping, and doing his utmost to browse the +leaves along the hedges.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a serious, almost melancholy, expression +came over the girl's pretty, happy-looking +face. She was just crossing a meadow, which was +skirted by a wood.</p> + +<p>"Hallo, Bijou! that's how you cut us, is it?" +exclaimed a voice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<p>She stopped short, looking surprised, and turned +back a few steps.</p> + +<p>Pierrot and M. Giraud, who had been lying down +in the shade, rose from the ground, leaving the long +grass marked with their impress.</p> + +<p>"Why, you are here already!" she said; "I did +not expect to meet you so far away from home; at +what time did you start, then?"</p> + +<p>"A little before the hour," answered Pierrot; +and then he added slily, winking at his tutor: +"M'sieu' Giraud was a brick; he let me off a bit +earlier—without me begging much, either—and +now, if we want to be at Bracieux at twelve o'clock, +we shall have to put our best feet first!"</p> + +<p>They were walking along by the side of Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Have you recovered from yesterday evening?" +she asked, addressing M. Giraud.</p> + +<p>"Recovered?" said the young tutor. "How +<i>recovered</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Because you could not have enjoyed yourself +very much! M. de Tourville and M. de Juzencourt +blocked you up, one after the other, in a +corner, to explain to you: the one that Charles de +Tourville embarked with William the Conqueror in +1066; and the other, that a Juzencourt fought +against Charles the Bold in 1477 under the walls +of Nancy. Am I not right?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Quite right! and M. de Juzencourt added that +there was only blue blood in his family. I did not +quite understand why he should tell me that."</p> + +<p>"In order to prove to you that, traced clearly +only since 1477, but without the slightest <i>mésalliance</i>, +the Juzencourts are more respectable than +the Tourvilles."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, M. de Tourville married a young lady who +was all very well, but her name was Chaillot, and +her father is on the Stock Exchange; you see, +therefore, that, as regards the Tourvilles, the +family is older than the Juzencourt family, but +it is not so pure. You managed to put such +a good face on as you listened to all that. Oh, +dear! I could have laughed if you had not looked +so wretched."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't just the nuisance of having to listen +to the Tourville and Juzencourt yarns that made +him look like that," observed Pierrot. "For some +time past he is always like that, even with me, and +I can promise you that I don't overpower him with +yarns, either about Charles the Bold or William +the Conqueror."</p> + +<p>"I am quite convinced on that score!" said +Bijou, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Dear me! it isn't that there'd be any difficulty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +about it," protested Pierrot. "I <i>could</i> very well if +I wanted to, but—confound it!"</p> + +<p>"Confound it! again?" said the young tutor, +annoyed, and looking reproachfully at his pupil. +"You know that M. de Jonzac objects to your +speaking in that way. He particularly wishes you +to be more careful, and more correct, in your +choice of words."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well! if he were to talk to my friends, he'd +hear a few things, and he'd soon get used to it, too. +It's always like that; just a matter of getting used +to things."</p> + +<p>"I cannot imagine that very well, though," said +Bijou; "Uncle Alexis letting himself get used to +the style of conversation of your friends."</p> + +<p>She drew up whilst she was speaking, and +pointed to something in the wood.</p> + +<p>"Oh! look at that beautiful mountain ash, isn't +it red? How pretty those bunches are!"</p> + +<p>"Do you want some of those berries?" proposed +Pierrot.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I should like some, they are so beautiful."</p> + +<p>The youth entered the coppice, and they heard +the branches snapping as he broke them in order +to make himself a passage, and presently the top +of the red tree shook and swayed, now bending<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +down, and now springing up again, as Pierrot +shook it roughly.</p> + +<p>Bijou, with her head bent, and a far-away look +in her eyes, seemed to be in a dream, quite oblivious +of what was going on around her. She started +on hearing Pierrot's voice as he called out to her +to know whether he was to gather a large bunch.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing worrying you, is there, mademoiselle?" +asked Monsieur Giraud timidly, as he +stroked Patatras gently.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because you do not seem quite like yourself; +you look rather sad."</p> + +<p>"Sad?" she said, forcing a smile. "I look +sad?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Just now, when you passed by without +seeing us, you looked sad, very sad, and now +again—"</p> + +<p>"Just now—that's quite possible. Yes, I did +not feel quite gay; but, now, why, I have no +reason to be otherwise—quite the contrary. I feel +so happy here, in this velvety-looking field, and +with this beautiful sunshine that I love so much!" +And then she added, as though in a dream, and +not taking any notice of the young man: "Yes, I +am so happy, I should like to stay like this for +ever and ever."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>She pressed her rosy lips to the spray of +clematis with which she had been playing the last +minute or two, and then put it back into her +bodice, not seeing the hand which Giraud was +holding out beseechingly towards the poor flowers, +which were already withering.</p> + +<p>Pierrot came out of the thicket at this moment, +carrying an immense bunch of mountain ash +berries. Bijou was smiling again by this +time.</p> + +<p>"You are ever so kind, Pierrot dear," she said, +after thanking him, "and all the more so as you +will have the bother of carrying that for another +mile yet."</p> + +<p>"Oh! if it would give you any pleasure, you +know, I'd do things that were a lot more bother +than that!"</p> + +<p>"You are good, Pierrot."</p> + +<p>"It isn't because I'm good;" he said, and then +coming nearer, so that he touched the horse, he +added very softly: "It's because I'm so fond of +you."</p> + +<p>Bijou did not answer, and in another minute +Pierrot began again:</p> + +<p>"How well you sang last night. Didn't she, +M'sieu' Giraud?"</p> + +<p>"Wonderfully well," said the tutor. "And what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +a lovely voice! so fresh, and so pure. I can +understand something now which I did not understand +yesterday."</p> + +<p>"What may that be?"</p> + +<p>"The infinite power of the voice! Yes, before +hearing you I did not know what I know at present. +You will sing again, will you not, mademoiselle? +Fancy, I have been here three weeks, +and I had never had the happiness of—"</p> + +<p>"I will give you <i>that happiness</i> as much as ever +you like."</p> + +<p>She was joking again now, for the little dreamy +creature of a minute before was Bijou once more.</p> + +<p>As they approached the château, she put her +hand up to shade her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Why, what's going on?" she said; "the hall-door +steps look black with people."</p> + +<p>"Hang it!" exclaimed Pierrot crossly. "They +are all out there watching for you! There's Paul, +and there's Henry, and the abbé, and Uncle +Alexis, and Bertrade. Look, though! Who's +that? You are right—there are some other folks +too. Ah! it's old Dubuisson, and Jeanne, and +then there's a fellow I don't know; a fellow all in +black. Oh, well! he must be a shivery sort to +come to the country dressed in black, in such +heat as this."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Perhaps it's M. Spiegel, Jeanne's <i>fiancé</i>. They +were to bring him."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that must be it! I say, he doesn't look a +very lively sort, your Jeanne's <i>fiancé</i>. She isn't +though either—"</p> + +<p>Bijou was looking round to see what had become +of Giraud, who had suddenly become so +silent. He was following the young girl, worshipping +her as he walked along as though she were +some idol.</p> + +<p>Just at this moment, whilst Pierrot was very +much taken up with looking in the direction of +the château, the little bunch of clematis dropped +from Bijou's dress, and fell at the tutor's feet. He +picked it up quickly, and slipped it into his pocket-book, +after kissing it, with a kind of passionate +devotion, whilst behind him, the old groom, silent +and correct as usual, laughed to himself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">M. Dubuisson</span>, whom the students called "Old +Dubuisson," was the principal of the college.</p> + +<p>He had brought his daughter to Bracieux, where +she was to spend a week with Bijou, and Jeanne's +<i>fiancé</i>, a young professor, newly appointed at the +Pont-sur-Loire College, had accompanied them.</p> + +<p>"How warm you must be, my dear Bijou," +called out the marchioness, appearing at one of +the windows.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, grandmamma," answered Denyse, taking +M. de Rueille's hand in order to descend from +her horse. "M. Giraud and Pierrot must be +warm—I am all right."</p> + +<p>She kissed Jeanne heartily, spoke to M. Dubuisson, +and then looked in a hesitating way towards +the young professor, who was contemplating her in +surprise.</p> + +<p>"Bijou, this is Monsieur Spiegel," said Mademoiselle +Dubuisson.</p> + +<p>With a graceful, pretty movement, which was +very taking, Bijou held out her little hand to the +young man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We are friends at once," she said; and +then, as she moved away with Jeanne, she +whispered: "He is charming, you know, quite +charming!"</p> + +<p>M. Spiegel perhaps overheard this kindly criticism, +or else it was just by accident that he happened +to turn very red at that moment.</p> + +<p>"Go and change your dress quickly, Bijou!" +commanded the marchioness.</p> + +<p>"But, grandmamma, I am not warm, really and +truly."</p> + +<p>"Come here! Let me see!"</p> + +<p>In a docile way, Bijou went up to Madame +de Bracieux.</p> + +<p>"Well, grandmamma?" she said, when the +marchioness had satisfied herself by putting her +finger between the young girl's neck and her +collar, "wasn't I right?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's quite true," said Madame de Bracieux +unwillingly, "she is not warm at all; it is incomprehensible! +Well, stay as you are then, if you +like." She made her grand-daughter turn round +just in front of her, and then remarked, in a +satisfied tone, "You look very well like that. +Those little white, piqué jackets are very becoming."</p> + +<p>"They suit Bijou," said Bertrade, "because, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +her complexion, everything suits her; but these +little English jackets are very unbecoming to most +women."</p> + +<p>Abbé Courteil looked at the black skirt, the +white jacket, and then at Bijou herself.</p> + +<p>"At all events, the black and white together +is perfectly charming. Mademoiselle Denyse +looks like a big swallow."</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" exclaimed the marchioness, with +a benevolent expression in her eyes, "that's very +pretty, now, that comparison!"</p> + +<p>Though she herself was the topic of conversation, +Bijou was paying no attention to what was +being said, but was talking in a pleasant way to +M. Spiegel, a little apart from the others.</p> + +<p>He was a serious, placid, young man, with a +somewhat rigid expression. His eyes, however, +had a merry twinkle, which relieved the severity of +his mouth, and the austerity of his deportment.</p> + +<p>He was rather tall, and slightly made, and was +dressed in dark clothes of a good cut. Altogether +M. Spiegel might have passed for a young clergyman. +Fascinated and almost bewildered by Bijou's +charm and wonderful beauty, he was gazing at +her with a look of surprise and admiration in +his eyes, whilst the young girl, for her part, kept +stealing a glance at him, for she was quite astonished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +to find that Jeanne's <i>fiancé</i> was so satisfactory-looking.</p> + +<p>Luncheon seemed to be very long. The +marchioness's guests were all engaged in studying +each other, some of them absent-minded and +silent, and the others talkative, but singularly preoccupied +also.</p> + +<p>Madame de Bracieux was witnessing, without +understanding in the least what it all meant, the +change of attitude, or, in fact, the transformation +which had commenced a few days ago. She could +scarcely recognise her little troop with whom she +had hitherto been able to do just as she liked.</p> + +<p>M. Spiegel and Bijou, who were placed next to +each other at the table, were the only ones who +talked with the animation of those who have something +to say, and who are not talking for the mere +sake of talking.</p> + +<p>Several times Jeanne Dubuisson, seated on the +right of M. Spiegel, turned towards him with a +little flash in her usually soft blue eyes. She was +thinking, sorrowfully, that her <i>fiancé</i> certainly +seemed to prefer looking at Bijou to looking at her, +and a feeling of sadness came over her at the idea +that she had never seen his eyes resting on her +with as much expression in them as there was now +when he gazed at Bijou.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jeanne, who was nineteen, looked much older +than Denyse, although she was a little like her. +Her hair, which was fair like Bijou's, was less +glossy, and not so auburn, although it was thicker; +her eyes were of a less uncommon blue; her teeth +were as white, but not so regular; her complexion +was less brilliant, and her head not so well set on +her shoulders.</p> + +<p>Bijou, who was very short, wore very high heels +in order to look taller, whilst Jeanne, who was tall +enough, always wore flat-heeled boots.</p> + +<p>The one fairly dazzled everyone by her wonderful +beauty, whilst the other would pass by almost +unnoticed, her chief claim to prettiness being a +certain charm of expression, which betokened an +unselfish disposition and a kind heart.</p> + +<p>After luncheon, Bijou carried Jeanne off with her +to the park which surrounded the château. She +had scarcely seen her friend since her engagement.</p> + +<p>"Why," asked Bijou, "did you tell me so calmly +that M. Spiegel was rather good-looking?"</p> + +<p>"Well, because I think he is," answered +Mademoiselle Dubuisson. "Do you mean to say +that you—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, come now, don't act; you know perfectly +well that he is more than <i>rather</i> good-looking."</p> + +<p>"But—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, don't you see, from the description you +gave me, I expected to see a nice young man with +a goody sort of look about him—rather a bore, in +fact—and then, instead, you bring us a most +delightful man. You ought to have prepared us; +you ought not to give people such shocks—" And +then, not giving Jeanne time to reply, she +continued: "Where did you meet him?"</p> + +<p>"This spring, at Easter, when we went to +Bordeaux to stay with my aunt."</p> + +<p>"And it was settled at once."</p> + +<p>"No, but I liked him from the first."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you are one of the affectionate kind."</p> + +<p>"And I soon saw that he, too, liked very much +to be with me."</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"Well, then, we came away, and I felt wretched, +of course. I thought I was mistaken, and that he +did not care about me at all."</p> + +<p>"You did not tell me anything about all that."</p> + +<p>"No; in the first place I imagined that it was all +over, and then I should not have liked to talk +about it to anyone, not even to you; it seems to +me that, about such matters—well, when one is in +love, one should only talk about it to one's own +self; that is the only way to be quite understood."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, then, you fancy that I do not understand +anything about love?"</p> + +<p>"About love such as I understand it? no! you +are too pretty, you see, and then you are too much +fêted and adored by everyone to be able, as I +have done, to satisfy and content yourself with an +immense affection for one person only."</p> + +<p>Bijou sighed, as she said regretfully:</p> + +<p>"It must be so happy, though, to love anyone +like that."</p> + +<p>"Well, it would be easy enough for you; your +cousin M. de Blaye adores you. Oh, it is no use +denying it—it is so perfectly evident; I saw it +instantly."</p> + +<p>"You are dreaming—" said Bijou, looking +astounded.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, no! he is in love with you, madly in +love with you, and he seems to me to be a man +worthy of your love."</p> + +<p>"Instead of talking nonsense, finish telling me +the story of your engagement. We had got as far +as where you left Bordeaux, thinking that all was +over. What next?"</p> + +<p>"Well, next, a fortnight ago, the professorship +of philosophy was vacant, and papa was surprised +to hear that M. Spiegel had been appointed to it. +'It is a come-down,' he said to me, 'for Pont-sur-Loire<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +is not as good as Bordeaux'; but not at all—it +was no come-down."</p> + +<p>"It was he himself, then, who had asked for the +change?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly! and last Monday, he and his mother +arrived at our house to ask papa's consent."</p> + +<p>"What's his mother like?"</p> + +<p>"Very nice, and good-looking still; but she seems +rather severe, a little bit hard."</p> + +<p>"Don't take any notice of that; Protestants +always appear like that."</p> + +<p>"How do you know that she is a Protestant?"</p> + +<p>"Because I suppose that she is of the same +religion as her son."</p> + +<p>"But who told you that M. Spiegel is a +Protestant?"</p> + +<p>"No one. I discovered that all alone; it did +not take me long either—"</p> + +<p>"But how can you know—"</p> + +<p>"I do not know anything, and yet you see I do +know all the same; it's a very good thing to be +able to marry a Protestant; they are less frivolous, +more serious, and more constant."</p> + +<p>"Yes, perhaps so; but his mother, as I told you +looks very severe, very; and she is going to live +with us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, so much the better. It is a safe-guard,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +don't you know, to have a mother with you +who is somewhat austere. In the first place, she +will inspire everyone with respect for you."</p> + +<p>"I don't think I need anyone to inspire people +with respect for me, and, anyhow, it seems to me +that if I did, why, my husband would be—"</p> + +<p>"Not at all! oh, no! parents are quite different, +and I was brought up to worship my parents, and +to believe that their presence brings not only respect +but happiness into the home."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I think that, too, as regards papa; but +Madame Spiegel is a stranger to me, as it were, +and I do feel that I owe her a little grudge for +coming to intrude on the privacy of our home-life, +which would have seemed so much happier alone."</p> + +<p>"You must say to yourself that she is the mother +of your husband, that he loves her, and that you +ought to love her for his sake."</p> + +<p>"You are quite right. How I wish I were like +you, Bijou dear! you are so much better than I +am."</p> + +<p>"I am an angel, am I not? that's settled."</p> + +<p>"You are joking; but it is quite, quite true."</p> + +<p>"Tell me, won't it make you miserable to be +away from your <i>fiancé</i> all this week, which you +are going to spend with me?"</p> + +<p>"No; besides he will come with papa to see me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +if your grandmamma will allow him to, and then +he is going to Paris for a few days."</p> + +<p>"And here I am walking you about, like the +thoughtless creature that I am, forgetting that +the unhappy young man is sure to be wretched +without you. Let us go in; shall we?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am quite willing."</p> + +<p>A bright gleam suddenly came into Bijou's eyes, +shaded as they were by their long lashes, and then, +putting on an indifferent air, she said to her friend:</p> + +<p>"Tell me what little incident could possibly +have given you the extraordinary idea that Jean +de Blaye cares for me?"</p> + +<p>"The way he looked at you all through luncheon, +and then, too, his annoyance when we were all out +on the steps this morning watching for you, and +he saw you coming with young Jonzac and his +tutor."</p> + +<p>"You have too much imagination."</p> + +<p>"No; I am sure that he is in love with you—and +very much so!—and what about you?"</p> + +<p>"What about me?"</p> + +<p>"You—you don't care for him?"</p> + +<p>"No, not in the way you mean, at least. He is +my cousin; I like him just as one does like a nice +cousin, whom one knows too well to care for in +any other way."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's a pity."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because it seems to me that you would be +happy with him."</p> + +<p>Bijou shook her head.</p> + +<p>"I don't think so; I must have a husband more +steady than Jean."</p> + +<p>"More steady? but he must be thirty-four or +thirty-five—M. de Blaye."</p> + +<p>"What does that matter? he is not steady, you +know—not by any means."</p> + +<p>"Ah! I did not know."</p> + +<p>"Then, too, I should want my husband to only +care for me."</p> + +<p>"Well, pretty and fascinating as you are, you +can make your mind easy about that."</p> + +<p>Bijou stopped suddenly in the middle of the +garden-walk.</p> + +<p>"Is not that a carriage coming up the drive?" +she asked, pointing to the avenue.</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly it is."</p> + +<p>"What sort of a carriage? I cannot see anything, +I am so short-sighted."</p> + +<p>"A phaeton with two horses, and a gentleman I +don't know is driving."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, that's it!" And then, as Jeanne +looked at her inquiringly, she added: "It is M.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +de Clagny—a friend of grandmamma's—the owner +of The Norinière."</p> + +<p>"Ah! the man who is so rich!"</p> + +<p>"So rich? Do you think he is so rich? I have +not heard a word about that!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; he is immensely wealthy—and all his +fortune is in land."</p> + +<p>Bijou was not listening to this. She had just +gathered a daisy, which was growing amongst the +grass, bending its little timid head over the garden +pathway, and she was now pulling it to pieces in +an absent-minded way.</p> + +<p>"Well?" asked Jeanne, smiling; "how does he +love you?"</p> + +<p>Bijou lifted her pretty head in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Whom do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"The one about whom you were questioning +that daisy?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know! I was not questioning it about +anyone in particular."</p> + +<p>"And what did it answer you?"</p> + +<p>"Passionately."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, it was answering about everybody." +And Jeanne added, as she mounted the little flight +of stone steps just behind her friend: "It's quite +true; everybody loves you; and you deserve to be +loved—there!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>When the two girls entered the room where +everyone was assembled, their arrival seemed to +have the effect of bringing some animation into the +faces of all the people.</p> + +<p>"At last, and not before it was time!" murmured +Henry de Bracieux, in a way which caused +his grandmother to glance at him, whilst M. de +Clagny stepped quickly forward to meet Bijou.</p> + +<p>"That's right," she said pleasantly; "how good +of you to come again so soon to see us!"</p> + +<p>"Too good! You'll have too much of me before +long!"</p> + +<p>"Never!" she answered, smiling merrily; and +then taking Jeanne's hand, she introduced her. +"Jeanne Dubuisson—my best friend—whom I +shall lose now, because she is going to be +married!"</p> + +<p>"But why do you say that, Bijou?" exclaimed +the young girl reproachfully. "You know very +well that, married or not married, I shall always be +your friend."</p> + +<p>"Yes—everyone says that; but it isn't the same +thing! When one is married one does not belong +to one's parents or friends any more, one belongs +to one's husband—and to him alone."</p> + +<p>"How delightful such delusions are!" murmured +M. de Clagny.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bijou turned towards him abruptly.</p> + +<p>"What did you say?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it was just nonsense!"</p> + +<p>"No; I quite understand that you were laughing +at me. Yes, I understand perfectly well; it's no +good shaking your head, I know all the same that +you were making fun of me, because I said that +when one is married one belongs only to one's +husband! Well, that may be very ridiculous, but +it is my idea, and I believe it is M. Spiegel's, too?"</p> + +<p>The young man smiled and nodded without +answering.</p> + +<p>"Has anyone introduced M. Spiegel?" continued +Bijou, still addressing the count. "No? +well, then, I will repair such negligence. Monsieur +Spiegel, Jeanne's <i>fiancé</i>, who does not dare to support +me, and declare that I am right, because he is +not in the majority here; there is no one here +who is married but himself—that is to say, nearly +married."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed, and what about Paul?" asked the +marchioness, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Paul! Oh, yes, that's true; I was not thinking +of him! Anyhow, the unmarried persons are in +the majority—Henry, Pierrot, Monsieur Courteil, +M. Giraud, Jean—well, what's the matter with +Jean? he does look queer!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jean de Blaye was seated in an arm-chair, with +his eyes half-closed and his head resting on his +hand, looking very drowsy.</p> + +<p>"I have a headache!" he answered; and then, +as Bijou persisted, and wanted to know what had +given him a headache, he exclaimed gruffly: +"Well, what do you want me to say? It's a headache; +how can I tell what's given it me? It +comes itself how it likes—that's all I know!"</p> + +<p>Bijou had gone behind the arm-chair in which +her cousin was lounging.</p> + +<p>"You must have a very, very bad headache to +look as you do," she said, not at all discouraged by +his abrupt manner, and noticing his pale face, +his drawn features, and his eyes, with dark +circles round them, "and for you to own, too, +that there is anything the matter with you; +because you always set up for being so strong +and well. Poor Jean, I do wish you could get +rid of it."</p> + +<p>She bent forward, and pressing her lips gently +on the young man's weary eyelids, remained like +that a few seconds.</p> + +<p>Jean de Blaye turned pale, and then very red, +and rose hastily from his chair.</p> + +<p>"You startled me," he said, in an embarrassed +way, not knowing where to look, "how stupid I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +am; but I did not see you were so near, so you quite +surprised me."</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny had risen, too, in an excited way +on seeing Bijou kiss her cousin. It occurred to +him though, at once, how very ridiculous his +jealousy would appear, and he sat down again, saying +in a jesting tone:</p> + +<p>"Well, if that remedy does not take effect, +de Blaye's case is incurable."</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille looked enviously at Jean, who was +just going out of the drawing-room, and then, turning +to Bijou, he remarked, in a hoarse voice:</p> + +<p>"When I have a headache, and, unfortunately, +that is very often, you are not so compassionate."</p> + +<p>M. Giraud remained petrified in the little low +chair in which he had taken his seat. His eyes +were fixed on the ground, and his lips pressed +closely together; he looked as though he had seen +nothing.</p> + +<p>As for Pierrot, he exclaimed candidly:</p> + +<p>"What a lucky beggar that Jean is!"</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," replied Abbé +Courteil, with conviction; "but, all the same, he +certainly has a very bad headache—Monsieur de +Blaye. I know what it is to have a headache."</p> + +<p>The marchioness bent forward to whisper to +Bertrade, whilst looking all the time at Bijou.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Isn't she sweet, that child, and so good-hearted, +and, above all, so natural. Did you see +how innocently she kissed that simpleton of a +Jean, and how it startled him?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! as to startling him! he was rather upset +by it, poor fellow, and he wanted to explain away +the fact that he was upset by it; that is about +all."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so? with him, one never knows."</p> + +<p>"You did not notice that he went off at once, +without even saying good-bye to M. Dubuisson and +M. Spiegel, who are just going away."</p> + +<p>The marchioness turned towards the two men in +question, who were just coming across to take +leave.</p> + +<p>"As we are keeping your Jeanne," she said, "I +hope you will often come to see her."</p> + +<p>"Are you quite sure that you don't mind staying +at Bracieux?" Bijou asked her friend; "I shall +not be angry with you, you know, for preferring +your <i>fiancé</i> to me."</p> + +<p>"Spiegel is obliged to go to Paris for a few +days," said M. Dubuisson; "on his return I shall +come with him to fetch Jeanne back."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On leaving the drawing-room, a few minutes +before, Jean de Blaye had felt thoroughly wretched.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +Bijou's innocent kiss, given so openly before everyone, +had, as a matter of fact, thoroughly upset him +rousing again the love which he felt for the young +girl, and which he had hoped would remain dormant, +since Madame de Nézel was ready to console +him with her affection.</p> + +<p>Only the evening before he had said to the +young widow: "How can I love that child as I +love you?" and when he had uttered these words, +he had, for the time being, felt his old love for +Madame de Nézel returning, and it had seemed to +him that Bijou could never inspire the same passion +as he had felt for this woman. And now, after +hoping that he had conquered his love for the +young girl, her kiss had completely undone him, +and left him helpless to struggle against himself +any longer.</p> + +<p>He felt now that from henceforth he ought not +to continue to claim Madame de Nézel's affection, +since he could no longer return it; and as he thought +of all that this affection had been to him in the +past, he suffered intensely. For the last four years +this woman had loved him with a devotion that +had known no bounds, and, whilst Madame de +Bracieux, M. de Jonzac, the Rueilles, and, indeed, +all his family, had imagined that he was living a +very gay life, he had been spending his time peacefully<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +and happily in the society of Madame de +Nézel.</p> + +<p>They had understood each other perfectly, and +no one had suspected anything of the sympathy +which had thus drawn them together, so that Jean +had always been criticised for those actions of his +which were known to the world, and he had been +perfectly satisfied that things should be thus. +Now, however, all would be changed. He would +have to give up this peaceful happiness which had +been so much to him.</p> + +<p>And why should he, after all? Did he intend +to tell Bijou of his love for her? And even supposing +that she did not reject his love, was he in +a position to marry this fragile and exquisite +girl, who had certainly been created for the most +luxurious surroundings?</p> + +<p>He had already thought it all over many times +and had said to himself, over and over again, that +it would be absurdly foolish. Then, too, Bijou +would never love him well enough to accept him +with his extremely moderate income. As he had +promised Madame de Nézel to meet her the +following day at Pont-sur-Loire, he wrote her a +few lines in order to excuse himself.</p> + +<p>"She will not believe the pretext I have given +her," he said to himself, as he sealed the letter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +"but she will quite understand, and, now, it is all +over between us."</p> + +<p>And then all at once a feeling of utter loneliness +came over him, and a vision of the life that would +from henceforth be his rose before him with strange +distinctness. He shuddered in spite of himself, +and then he fell to going over again in his mind all +his sorrows.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, Bijou had shown Jeanne +Dubuisson to the room she was to occupy during +her visit to the château.</p> + +<p>"It is your imagination, I tell you; nothing but +your imagination," she said to her friend. "He +does like me, certainly, but just in the way one +cares for a cousin, or even a sister."</p> + +<p>"No! It was quite enough to look at his face +when he went out of the drawing-room. He was +quite upset, and I am sure he has not got over it +yet."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't you like me to go and ask him? +But, there, it is seven o'clock. We have only just +time to dress. I will come back for you when the +first dinner-bell rings."</p> + +<p>When Bijou came out of her bedroom, simply +but charmingly dressed, as usual, the long landing +was dark and silent. The servants had drawn the +blinds, but had not yet lighted the lamps.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jean, who was coming out of his room, could +just distinguish, in the darkness, a few yards +away from him, a figure in a light dress. He +hurried up to it, and Bijou asked:</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Jean?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he answered; "and I want a word with +you."</p> + +<p>"Something that won't take long? The first +bell has gone."</p> + +<p>"Something very short; but I should prefer no +one else hearing."</p> + +<p>"Shall we go into your room, then, or into +mine?"</p> + +<p>"Into yours, as we are so near it."</p> + +<p>Bijou opened the door, and, when Blaye was +inside, she said:</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute. Don't move, or I shall knock +against you. I will light—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it isn't worth getting a light," he said, +catching hold of her arm to stop her. "I can say +what I have to without that. Besides, it won't +take long. I want to tell you, Bijou, my dear, +that what you did, you know, just now—"</p> + +<p>She appeared to be trying to remember.</p> + +<p>"Just now? Whatever was it I did?"</p> + +<p>"Well, in a very nice way—oh! in a very nice +way, indeed, you know—you kissed me, but you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +are too grown-up to do that now when there are +people there."</p> + +<p>"And when there isn't anyone there?" she +asked, laughing, "may I then—tell me?"</p> + +<p>Before he had time to reply, she had laid her +hands on his shoulder, and lifted her face towards +his. He bent his head at the same moment, and +her lips touched his. Bijou gave a little half-timid +murmur of affection, which moved him deeply.</p> + +<p>He made up his mind now to tell her of his love, +and tried to draw her to him; but the young girl +pushed back the hands which were endeavouring +to hold her, and ran out of the room, and, by the +rustle of her dress along the wall, Jean knew that +she was hurrying away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> following day Mère Rafut arrived. Bijou +had expected to have her for a week, and was very +much disappointed when the old woman told her +that she could only give her five days, as the +theatre opened again on the first of September, +and she would have to be there at her post as +dresser.</p> + +<p>Jeanne, therefore, proposed to help with the +work, and Bijou accepted her offer.</p> + +<p>"That's a capital idea!" she said; "if we are +both together we shall not be dull! we can talk to +each other without troubling about Mère Rafut."</p> + +<p>Accordingly, every day, whilst the marchioness +and Madame de Rueille were doing what Jean de +Blaye called "a visiting tour," the two young girls +installed themselves in Bijou's boudoir, which was +converted into a sewing-room, and were soon busy +with their cutting out and sewing, whilst chattering +together, too intent on their conversation to pay +much attention to the old sewing-woman.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to the race-ball?" Bijou asked +her friend.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jeanne; "it seems that as I am now +engaged it is not quite the thing; but I am going +all the same, as Franz wants to see me arrayed in +my ball-dress, and he wants to waltz with me, too; +he waltzes very well, you know."</p> + +<p>"Ah! and yet he looks so austere? Tell me, +don't you mind in the least marrying a Protestant?"</p> + +<p>"Not in the least! without being bigoted, I am a +thorough Catholic, and he is a devoted Protestant, +but not bigoted either. We shall each of us keep +to our own religion, for we have no wish whatever +to change; but neither of us has any idea of trying +to convert the other."</p> + +<p>Bijou did not speak, and Jeanne continued:</p> + +<p>"I am not at all sorry that I am going to have +a husband who is a Protestant, and I will confess +that, for certain things, I feel more satisfied that +it should be so. It's quite true, what you were +saying yesterday—Protestants have certain ideas +about the family, and about constancy; in fact, +they have stricter principles about such things +than Catholics."</p> + +<p>"Yes; tell me, though, what dress are you going +to wear for the race ball?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know yet! I haven't one for it!"</p> + +<p>"Why, how's that? what about the white one +with the little bunches of flowers all over it?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Papa does not think it is nice enough; the +race ball is to be at the Tourvilles, you know, this +year; and it will all be very grand!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!"</p> + +<p>"We do not know them at all; it will be the first +time of our going to Tourville, and if I were to be +dressed anyhow, it would not be very nice for your +grandmamma, who got us invited; and so papa +told me to have a dress made, and he gave me two +pounds."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to have made?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know at all; advise me, will you?"</p> + +<p>For the last minute or two Bijou had seemed to +be turning something over in her mind.</p> + +<p>"If you like," she said at last, "we might be +dressed in the same way, you and I; that would +be awfully nice!"</p> + +<p>"What is your dress?"</p> + +<p>"My dress does not exist yet; it is a thing of the +future! It will be pink, of course—pink crêpe—quite +simple—straight skirts, cut like a ballet-dancer's +skirts, so that there will be no hem to +make them heavy, three skirts, one over the other, +all of the same length, of course—three, that makes +it cloudy-looking; more than that smothers you +up; and it will fall in large, round <i>godets</i>. Then +there will be a little gathered bodice, very simple;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +little puffed sleeves, with a lot of ribbon bows and +ends hanging, and then ribbon round the waist, +with two long bows and long ends—ribbon as wide +as your hand, not any wider.'</p> + +<p>"It will be pretty."</p> + +<p>"And it would suit you wonderfully well."</p> + +<p>"But shouldn't you mind my being dressed like +you?" asked Jeanne, rather timidly.</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, I should love it! Would you +like us to make the dress here? I would try it +on, and like that we should be sure that it was +right."</p> + +<p>"How sweet you are! Plenty of other girls in +your place would only trouble about themselves."</p> + +<p>"Listen, supposing you wrote for the crêpe to +be sent to-morrow." And then she added laughing, +"M. de Bernès asked me yesterday evening if +I had not any commissions for Pont-sur-Loire. I +might have given him that to do!"</p> + +<p>"He would have been slightly embarrassed."</p> + +<p>"Why? It is easy enough to buy pink crêpe +with a pattern."</p> + +<p>Mère Rafut, who had been busy sewing, without +uttering a word, but just pulling her needle through +the work with a quick regular movement, now +lifted her face, all wrinkled like an old apple, and +remarked drily:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And even without!"</p> + +<p>"Without what?" asked Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Without a pattern. Oh, no, it isn't he who'd +be embarrassed! Why, he always helps to choose +Mademoiselle Lisette Renaud's dresses."</p> + +<p>"Lisette Renaud, the singer?" asked Jeanne +eagerly, whilst Denyse, very much taken up with +her work, did not appear to have heard.</p> + +<p>"No, mademoiselle, the actress."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's what I meant. Ah! and so +M. de Bernès knows her?"</p> + +<p>The old sewing-woman smiled.</p> + +<p>"I should just think he does. He's known her +more than a year and a half."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jeanne, evidently interested, "she +is so pretty, Lisette Renaud! I saw her in +<i>Mignon</i> and in the <i>Dragons de Villars</i> too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" said Mère Rafut, "she is pretty, +too, and as good as she is pretty! If you only +knew!"</p> + +<p>"Good?" repeated Jeanne, "but—"</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes! For sure, she isn't a young lady like +you, mademoiselle! But ever since she has known +M. de Bernès, I can tell you, she won't look at anyone +else. And he's the same, as far as that goes, +and that's saying a good deal, for, nice-looking as +he is, there's plenty of ladies after him, ladies in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +the best society, too, in officers' families; and they +do say the Prefect's wife admires him! Oh, my, +he doesn't care a snap for them all, though! He's +got no eyes for anyone but Lisette; but you should +see him when he's looking at her—it's pretty sure +that if he was an officer of high rank he'd marry +her straight off, and he'd be quite right, too—"</p> + +<p>"Jeanne!" interrupted Bijou, "that's the first +bell for luncheon." And when they were out of the +room she said, in a very gentle voice, with just a +shade of reproach: "Why do you let Mère Rafut +tell you things you ought not to listen to?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, goodness!" cried Jeanne, blushing and +looking confused, "her story wasn't so very dreadful; +and then, even if it had been, how do you +think I could help her telling it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! that's easy enough, the only thing to do +is not to reply or pay any attention; you would see +that she would soon stop."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you are right," and throwing her arms +round Bijou, Jeanne kissed her.</p> + +<p>"You are always right," she said; "and I, +although I look so serious, am much more thoughtless +than you, and much weaker-minded, too; I +never can resist listening if it is anything that +interests me."</p> + +<p>"And did that interest you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Very much, indeed."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens! what could you find interesting +in it all?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't exactly know; I was curious to +hear about it, in the first place, and then I always +notice everything, and this little story explained +exactly something I had observed."</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"Why, during the last four or five months, ever +since I have begun going out a little."</p> + +<p>"What had you observed?"</p> + +<p>"I had observed that M. de Bernès never pays +attention to any woman, that he never even looks +at anyone, that he scarcely takes the trouble to be +pleasant, even with the prettiest girls; and the proof +of all this is, that he has not tried to flirt with you +even."</p> + +<p>"Oh, not at all," answered Bijou, laughing; "but +just because he has not tried to flirt with me, you +must not conclude that with others."</p> + +<p>"No, Mère Rafut must be right, and, after all, I +am not at all surprised about it—this story, I mean; +you have no idea how charming she is, this Lisette +Renaud. Something in your style; she is much taller +than you, though, and not so fair; but she has the +most wonderful eyes, and a lovely, graceful figure, +almost as graceful as yours; in short, I can quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +understand that, when anyone does care for her, +they would care for her in earnest; then, added to +all that, she has a great deal of talent and a +beautiful voice—a contralto. I am sure you would +like her."</p> + +<p>"I don't think so."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I don't like women who act comedy—those who +act well, at least; it denotes a kind of duplicity."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think so; it denotes a faculty of +assimilation, a very sensitive nature, but not +duplicity."</p> + +<p>"I can't help it, my dear, but I do not see things +in the same light as you; still, that does not prevent +Mademoiselle—what is her name?"</p> + +<p>"Lisette Renaud."</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle Lisette Renaud from being an +exception, and she may be a very charming creature; +for my part, I only hope that is so for the +sake of M. de Bernès."</p> + +<p>"You don't care much for him, do you?" asked +Jeanne.</p> + +<p>"What makes you think that?—he is quite indifferent +to me, and I always look upon him as +being just like everyone else."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; that is not true—I see him pretty often +at Pont-sur-Loire; he is very intelligent, and very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +nice, and then, too, very good-looking; don't you +think so?"</p> + +<p>"I assure you that I have never paid much +attention to M. de Bernès and his appearance," and +then Bijou added, laughing: "The very first +time I see him, I will look at him with all my +eyes, and I will endeavour to discover his perfections +to please M. de Clagny."</p> + +<p>"You like him very much, don't you—M. de +Clagny?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, indeed I do."</p> + +<p>"I noticed that at once; ever since my arrival +you have only talked of him; and yesterday, when +he came, you were delighted."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he is so good, and so kind to me."</p> + +<p>"But everyone is kind to you, everyone adores +you."</p> + +<p>"Everyone is much too good and too indulgent, +as far as I am concerned; I know that very well; +but M. de Clagny is better still than the others. +I have only known him three days, and now I +could not do without him. Whenever I see him, +I feel gay and happy at once; and I wish he were +always here. I'll tell you what—I should like to +have a father or an uncle like him. Doesn't he +make the same kind of impression on you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, as for me, you know, it would be impossible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +to imagine myself with any other father than +papa. Just as he is I adore him; perhaps to other +people he may seem nothing out of the common +but you see he is my father; all the same I like +M. de Clagny, and he is very nice—he must have +been charming."</p> + +<p>"I think he still is charming."</p> + +<p>The two girls had reached the hall by this time, +and Jeanne went to the door.</p> + +<p>"How very warm it is," she said, and then, +shading her eyes with her hand, she looked out +into the avenue. "Why, there's a mail-coach!" +she exclaimed. "Whoever would be coming with +a mail-coach?"</p> + +<p>"M. de Clagny, of course," cried Bijou, rushing +out on to the steps in her delight; "he +told grandmamma that if he possibly could he +should come and ask her to give him some +luncheon."</p> + +<p>"And he has managed to," remarked M. de +Rueille drily, as he, too, approached the hall +door; "we've seen a great deal of him these +last three days; certainly, he is very devoted +to us," he added sarcastically.</p> + +<p>The sight of the horses, which were just being +pulled up in front of the steps, somewhat appeased +him, however.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> + +<p>"By Jove! what horses!" he exclaimed, in admiration, +"and he knows how to drive, too; there's +no mistake about that, he's a born aristocrat."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>After luncheon, Pierrot declared that his foot +hurt him just at the end of each toe, and he did +not know what it could be.</p> + +<p>"I know, though," remarked Jean de Blaye; "his +boots are too short."</p> + +<p>"Too short!" exclaimed M. de Jonzac, "oh, no, +that's impossible"—and then, after a moment's +reflection, he added in terror: "unless his feet have +got bigger still—"</p> + +<p>"Which they probably have," said Jean, laughing; +"anyhow, his toes are turned up at the ends +and curl back over each other, I am sure; you +have only to look at his feet, now, to tell. Look at +the lumps in his boots; they look like bags of nuts."</p> + +<p>"I must get him some more boots to-day," said +M. de Jonzac.</p> + +<p>"The best thing, uncle, would be to send him to +Pont-sur-Loire to be measured; there's sure to be a +decent bootmaker there."</p> + +<p>"M. Courteil is going just now to take a letter +to the bishop and get an answer to it," remarked +Madame de Bracieux; "he might take Pierrot +with him."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, then," said Bijou, "they might take our +omnibus, so that Jeanne and I could go too; we +have some errands to do."</p> + +<p>"What are they?" asked the marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Well, first, some crêpe—we want some crêpe for +Jeanne; and then some pencils and paints that I +am short of; in fact, there are a lot of things."</p> + +<p>"Would you like me to take you all?" proposed +M. de Clagny; "I have some business with a +lawyer at Pont-sur-Loire at three o'clock. You +could do all your errands, and then I would bring +you back; it's on my way to The Norinière."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what fun!" exclaimed Bijou, delighted. +"I have never been on a mail-coach; you don't +mind, grandmamma?"</p> + +<p>Madame de Bracieux seemed rather undecided.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know, Bijou dear; you see at +Pont-sur-Loire you will be noticed very much +perched up there, and for two young girls I don't +know whether it is quite the thing—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, grandmamma," protested Bijou, "not the +thing! and with M. de Clagny there!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, with me," put in the count, with emphasis, +his face suddenly clouding over, "there is no +danger; I am safe enough."</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly," replied Madame de Bracieux<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +with evident sincerity; "but at Pont-sur-Loire +everyone is so fond of gossip and scandal."</p> + +<p>"Oh, grandmamma," Bijou said, in a beseeching +tone, "don't deprive us of a treat, which you don't +see any harm in whatever yourself, just because of +the Pont-sur-Loire people, about whom you do +not care at all."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you are right. Go, then, children, as you +want to, for, as you say, there is no harm whatever +in amusing yourselves in that way."</p> + +<p>"Is there any room for me?" asked M. de +Rueille.</p> + +<p>"For you, and some more of you," answered M. +de Clagny; "we are only six at present."</p> + +<p>The marchioness turned towards Bertrade.</p> + +<p>"What do you say about going with them to +look after the girls?"</p> + +<p>Madame de Rueille glanced at her husband, who +appeared to be studying the floor attentively at +that moment.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Paul will look after them very well!"</p> + +<p>"I must ask if you would mind not starting before +three o'clock?" said Bijou, advancing towards +the window, "because there is M. Sylvestre coming +to give me my accompaniment lesson; he is just +coming up the avenue."</p> + +<p>"The poor fellow!" exclaimed the marchioness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +glancing out of the window, "he is actually walking +in spite of this terrible heat!"</p> + +<p>"He always walks, grandmamma."</p> + +<p>"Five miles; that is not so tremendous," remarked +Henry de Bracieux.</p> + +<p>"No, not for you—driving!" said Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Well, but when we are out shooting, we do a +lot more than that!"</p> + +<p>"But you are enjoying yourself when you are +out shooting; that's quite different. I know very +well that if I could, I should send M. Sylvestre +back always in the carriage."</p> + +<p>"If you like, we can drive him back to-day," +said M. de Clagny.</p> + +<p>"I should just think I should like to! You are +very good to offer me that, because, you know, he +is not very, very handsome—my professor—and he +will not be any ornament on your coach!"</p> + +<p>"Do you think I care anything about that? I +am not snobbish, Bijou; not the least bit snobbish."</p> + +<p>"But he isn't bad-looking, this fellow," said Jean +de Blaye. "He has very fine eyes; they are +wonderfully limpid and soft."</p> + +<p>"I never noticed that," answered Bijou, laughing; +"but even if they are, they could not be seen very +well on the top of a coach. And he is very +queerly dressed; he wears clothes that are too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +small, and which cling to him; and then long hair +that is very lank; he looks rather like a drowned +rat."</p> + +<p>A domestic appeared at this instant to announce +that M. Sylvestre had arrived.</p> + +<p>"Have you told Josephine?" asked Madame +Bracieux.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Josephine is there, madame," replied the +servant.</p> + +<p>Jeanne Dubuisson rose, but Bijou stopped her.</p> + +<p>"No, don't come with me," she said; "when I +feel that there is anyone listening, that is, anyone +beside Josephine, I don't do any good." And +then, just as she was going out of the room, she +turned round, and added: "At three o'clock I shall +appear with my hat—and M. Sylvestre."</p> + +<p>When Bijou entered her room, Josephine, the old +housekeeper, who had seen two generations of the +Bracieux family grow up, was sewing near the +window, whilst, in the little room adjoining, the +musician was arranging the music-stand, and +taking his violin out of the case.</p> + +<p>On seeing the young girl, his blue eyes lighted +up, and seemed to turn pale against his red face. +He was a young man of about twenty-eight years +of age, very thin, very awkward, and dressed +wretchedly enough; but there was something<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +interesting about his face, an expression that was +congenial, and yet, at the same time, told of +anxiety and of trouble.</p> + +<p>"How warm you are, Monsieur Sylvestre!" said +Bijou, as she held out her hand to him; "and they +have not brought you anything to drink yet! +Josephine!" she called out, as she moved towards +the door between the two rooms, "will you tell +them to bring—ah, yes, what are they to bring? +What will you take, Monsieur Sylvestre?—beer, +lemonade, wine, or what? I never remember!"</p> + +<p>"Some lemonade, if you please; but you really +are too good, mademoiselle, to trouble about +me."</p> + +<p>"I forgot to buy the music you told me to get +when I was at Pont-sur-Loire," said Denyse, interrupting +him. "You will scold me."</p> + +<p>"Oh! mademoiselle!" he exclaimed, in a scared +way, "<i>I</i> scold you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you! If you do not scold me you ought +to. Now, let me see! What are we going to +play? Ah! I was forgetting! I am going to +ask you if you will begin by accompanying me at +the piano; it is just a silly little song I am +learning."</p> + +<p>"What song is it?"</p> + +<p>"'Ay Chiquita'! it is quite grotesque, isn't it?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +But we have an old friend who adores it, and he +asked me to sing it for him."</p> + +<p>"Oh! as to that!—'Ay Chiquita'—it isn't so +grotesque; but it has been worn out, that's all. +Ah!" he added, looking at the music, "you sing +it in a higher key. I was wondering, too—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I sing it higher; that makes it more +dreadful still. Oh, dear! how I do wish I had a +deep voice; they are so lovely—deep voices, but +there are none to be heard!"</p> + +<p>"They are rare, certainly; but there are some, +nevertheless."</p> + +<p>"I have never heard one," said Bijou, shaking +her head.</p> + +<p>"Well, but you might hear one if you liked."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Why, at the Pont-sur-Loire theatre. Yes, +Mademoiselle Lisette Renaud, a young actress, +with a great deal of talent, and she is very pretty, +too, which is not a drawback, by any means."</p> + +<p>"She has a beautiful voice?"</p> + +<p>"Very beautiful! I hear her, on an average, +three times a week, without reckoning the rehearsals +with the orchestra, and, I can assure you, +I have never had enough."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Do you think she would sing at private +houses?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, certainly! She does sing sometimes at +Pont-sur-Loire."</p> + +<p>"I will ask grandmamma to have her here. +Where does she live?"</p> + +<p>"Rue Rabelais. I do not remember the number, +but she is very well known."</p> + +<p>After a short silence, the professor asked:</p> + +<p>"Why should you not go to the theatre to hear +her? That would interest you much more."</p> + +<p>"Grandmamma would never let me."</p> + +<p>"I know, of course, that society people do not +go to the Pont-sur-Loire theatre—it is not considered +the thing; but there are circumstances,—for +instance—in a fortnight from now there +is to be a performance for the benefit of disabled +soldiers, organised by the <i>Dames de France</i>; +everyone will go to that."</p> + +<p>"And they will play things that will be all +right?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! some comic opera or another, and +varieties from other things; but I am sure Lisette +Renaud will be on the programme, and several +times, too. These are the best sort of things that +we have at the theatre."</p> + +<p>"You are not drinking anything, Monsieur +Sylvestre," said Bijou, approaching the tray which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +had been brought in, and pouring out the lemonade +for the young man.</p> + +<p>The glass which she passed to him showed the +effect of the contact of her hand.</p> + +<p>"Are you not still too warm to drink?" she +asked. "This lemonade is very cold."</p> + +<p>He took the glass with a hand that trembled +slightly, and stood there, with his arm stretched +out, looking at Bijou with passionate admiration.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Sylvestre," she said, smiling, "a +penny for your thoughts."</p> + +<p>The young man's face, which was already red, +flushed deeper still. He drank his lemonade at a +draught, and hurried to the piano.</p> + +<p>"Let us begin, mademoiselle! shall we?" he +said, and he played the short symphony of the +song in a hesitating way, as though his fingers +refused to act. This was so noticeable, that +Denyse asked him:</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with you? you are not in +form to-day, at all."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's nothing, mademoiselle; I—it is so +warm."</p> + +<p>Being rather short-sighted, and never using a +lorgnette, Bijou was obliged to bend forward to +read the words of the song, and sometimes, in doing +so, she touched the professor's hair or shoulder.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +This served to increase his agitation, and at times +he could scarcely see what he was playing, whilst +his fingers would slip off the notes.</p> + +<p>"Really, you are not at all in form to-day," repeated +Bijou, surprised.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, mademoiselle, I—I don't +know what is the matter with me."</p> + +<p>"Nor I either; I can't tell at all," she said, +laughing.</p> + +<p>He was getting up from the piano, but she +begged him to sit down again.</p> + +<p>"No! if you don't mind," she said, "I should +like to work up two or three old songs."</p> + +<p>She began at once to read at sight, bending over +in order to see better, whilst the poor young man, +who was now pale, did his best to follow her, in +spite of the buzzing in his ears and the clamminess +of his fingers.</p> + +<p>When the lesson was over, Bijou went to fetch +her hat, and then came back and put it on at the +glass near the piano.</p> + +<p>Instead of putting his violin into its case, M. +Sylvestre stood watching her as she lifted her arms, +and drew her pretty figure up with a graceful swaying +movement.</p> + +<p>"Be quick!" she said, "we are going to take +you back to Pont-sur-Loire, or rather M. de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +Clagny, one of our friends, is going to take you +on his coach." Denyse saw that he did not +understand, so she went on to explain: "It's a +large carriage, and holds a good number of +people."</p> + +<p>"Are you going, too?" he asked excitedly.</p> + +<p>"I am going, too—yes, Monsieur Sylvestre."</p> + +<p>He was just taking from his violin-case a little +bunch of forget-me-nots and wild roses, which were +already drooping their poor little heads. He held +them out timidly to Bijou.</p> + +<p>"As I came along, mademoiselle, I—I took the +liberty of gathering these flowers for you."</p> + +<p>She took them, and after inhaling their perfume +for a minute or two, put them into her +waistband.</p> + +<p>"Thank you so much for having thought of me," +she said.</p> + +<p>He followed Bijou downstairs, step by step, +happy in the present, forgetting all about his +poverty, and as he appeared, tripping along behind +the young girl, his violin-case in his hand, M. de +Clagny turned to Jean de Blaye, and remarked:</p> + +<p>"You were right; he has a nice face."</p> + +<p>The mail-coach had just appeared in front of the +steps when the marchioness called out:</p> + +<p>"Bijou! I have a commission for you. Go to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +Pellerin the bookseller, and ask him—stop—no—send +Pierrot here."</p> + +<p>"Pierrot," said Denyse, returning to the hall, +"grandmamma wants you."</p> + +<p>"I'll bet it's some errand to do," remarked the +youth, making a grimace, "and errands are not +much in my line." And then, whilst Bijou and +the others were clambering up on to the coach, +he went back to Madame de Bracieux. "You +wanted me, aunt?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Will you go to Pellerin's? do you know +which is Pellerin's?"</p> + +<p>"The book shop."</p> + +<p>"Yes. Ask him for a novel of Dumas' for me. +It is called 'Le Bâtard de Mauléon.' What are +you looking at me for in that bewildered way?"</p> + +<p>"Because I have never seen you reading novels, +and—"</p> + +<p>"You will not see me reading this one either; +it is for the curé, I have promised it him. He +adores Dumas, and he does not know 'Le Bâtard de +Mauléon.' You will remember the title?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, aunt."</p> + +<p>"You are sure? You would not like me to +write it for you?"</p> + +<p>"'Tisn't worth while."</p> + +<p>"You will forget it!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No danger."</p> + +<p>He rushed off, looking down on the ground, and +then, as he climbed on to the coach, he trod on +the feet of various people, nearly smashed M. +Sylvestre's violin-case, and excused himself by +saying:</p> + +<p>"Oh, by Jove! I've nearly done for the little +coffin."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Always</span> up first in the morning, Bijou was in the +habit of going downstairs towards seven o'clock, in +order to attend to her housekeeping duties.</p> + +<p>She always paid a visit to the pantry, and to the +dairy, and, with the exception of Pierrot, who was +sometimes wandering about the passages with very +sleepy-looking eyes, she never met anybody at +this early hour.</p> + +<p>To her astonishment, therefore, on this particular +morning she nearly ran up against M. de +Rueille, who was coming out of the library with a +book in his hand.</p> + +<p>Of all the visitors at Bracieux he was the laziest, +so that Bijou laughed as she commented on his +early rising.</p> + +<p>"How's this?" she asked; "have you finished +your slumbers already?"</p> + +<p>"Or, rather, I have not commenced them!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nonsense!"</p> + +<p>"No, and as I had finished all the literature I +had upstairs, I came down to get a book to finish +my night with."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bijou pointed to the sun, which was streaming in +by the open window.</p> + +<p>"Your night!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, as far as I am concerned, you know, unless +I am going out shooting, or off by train +somewhere, it is night up to ten o'clock, at +least!"</p> + +<p>"And you are now going to bed again?"</p> + +<p>"This very instant."</p> + +<p>"But it is ridiculous."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, it is very wise, and all the +more so, as, when one is in a bad temper, the best +thing to do is to keep one's self out of the +way."</p> + +<p>"You are in a bad temper?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And why?"</p> + +<p>Paul de Rueille hesitated slightly before answering.</p> + +<p>"I don't know why."</p> + +<p>"It's quite true," said Bijou, laughing, "that you +were not very amiable yesterday during our +journey to Pont-sur-Loire."</p> + +<p>"It was your fault!"</p> + +<p>"My fault—mine?"</p> + +<p>"Yours."</p> + +<p>"And pray why?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I will tell you if you like."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I should like; but not now, because I am +keeping some one waiting in the dairy."</p> + +<p>"Who is waiting for you?" he asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"The dairy-maid," answered Bijou, without +noticing his anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Oh! go at once, then, if that is the case," said +M. de Rueille sarcastically. "I should not like +the dairy-maid to be kept waiting on my +account."</p> + +<p>"You should come and see the cheeses," proposed +Denyse.</p> + +<p>"That must certainly be very festive; no, really, +are you not afraid that I should find that too +exciting, Bijou, my dear?"</p> + +<p>"You would find it as exciting, anyhow, as +going to bed, and reading over again some old +book that you must know by heart. Oh, you know +it by heart, I am sure! There is nothing in the +library but the classics, or a lot of old-fashioned +things; ever since I have come no new books are +put in the library, either in the Paris house or +here at Bracieux. Grandmamma is so afraid +that I should get hold of them; but she is +quite mistaken, for I should never open a book +that I had been told not to open—never!"</p> + +<p>"Grandmamma is afraid of your doing what any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +other girl would do; you are such an astonishing +exception, Bijou!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am an exception—an angel, anything +you like; but either come with me, or let me go, if +you please! I don't like to keep people waiting."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, I'll come with you if you like," said +M. de Rueille, putting his book down on a side-table.</p> + +<p>He followed Bijou without speaking, as she +trotted along in front of him. She looked so +sweet, going backwards and forwards amongst the +great pails of milk; her straw hat, covered with lace, +tossed carelessly on her fair hair; her morning dress, +of pink batiste, fastened up rather high with a +safety-pin.</p> + +<p>She inspected everything, gave her orders, and +settled all kinds of details, without troubling about +her cousin any more than if he did not exist; and +then, when she had quite finished, she turned +towards him, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Now, then," she said, "if you would like a +stroll, I am at your service." She turned into one +of the garden paths that led to the avenues, and +then added, as she looked up at Paul, "I'm listening!"</p> + +<p>"You are listening? What do you want me to +say?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I thought you were going to tell me why you +were so bad-tempered yesterday; you said it was +my fault."</p> + +<p>"Well, it was; you were—" he began, in an embarrassed +way; and then he continued, in desperation, +"the way you went on, it was not at all like +you generally are, nor like you ought to be!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! what did I do then?"</p> + +<p>"Well, in the first place, you insisted, in the +most extraordinary way, that Bernès should come +on to the coach when we met him. Why did you +insist like that?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it is natural enough when you meet +anyone walking a mile away from where you are +driving yourself, that you should offer to pick him +up; it seems to me that it would be odd, on the +contrary, not to offer to pick him up!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, agreed; but then it was M. de Clagny +who should have offered a seat in his own carriage."</p> + +<p>"He never thought of it—"</p> + +<p>"Or else he did not care to? And you obliged +him to do it whether he would or not?"</p> + +<p>"Rubbish! he adores M. de Bernès. The other +day he spent half an hour singing his praises to me +in every key."</p> + +<p>"Ah! that is probably what made you so +pleasant to him?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Was I so pleasant?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly! As a rule you don't pay the +slightest attention to him, but yesterday you had +no eyes for anyone but him."</p> + +<p>"I did not notice that myself."</p> + +<p>"Really? Well, you were the only one who did +not, then! You went on to such a degree that I +wondered if it were not simply for the sake of +tormenting me that you were acting in that way!"</p> + +<p>Bijou gazed straight at M. de Rueille with her +beautiful, luminous eyes.</p> + +<p>"To torment you? and how could it torment +you if I chose to be agreeable to M. de Bernès?"</p> + +<p>"How?" stuttered M. de Rueille, very much +confused; "why, I have just told you I am not—we +are not accustomed to seeing you make a fuss +like that, especially of a young man! No, I assure +you, I was amazed. I am still, in fact."</p> + +<p>"And I am ever so sorry to have vexed you," +she said sweetly. "Yes, I am really; you see, I +had never noticed M. de Bernès particularly, and I +wanted to see whether all the nice things M. de +Clagny had told me about him were quite true, +and so I was studying him. Will you forgive me?"</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille did not reply to this, as he had +another grievance on his mind.</p> + +<p>"With Clagny, too, you have a way of carrying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +on, which is not at all the thing. He is an old man; +that's all well and good; but, you know, he is not so +ancient yet for you to be able to take such liberties +with him!"</p> + +<p>"What do you call liberties?"</p> + +<p>"Well, sometimes you appear to admire him, to +be in ecstasies about him; and then sometimes you +coax and wheedle him in the most absurd way, as +you did yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Yesterday! I coaxed and wheedled M. de +Clagny? I?"</p> + +<p>"You!"</p> + +<p>"But about what?"</p> + +<p>"When you would insist, in spite of everything, +in driving through Rue Rabelais; and I'll be hanged +if I can see why you wanted to; it's about as +dirty a street as there is, without taking into +account that you might have caused us all to +break our necks. Yes, certainly, it was the +most dangerous experiment—your fad! Young +Bernès, who is one of the most out-and-out daring +fellows himself, tried to persuade you out of wanting +to go along that street!"</p> + +<p>The strange little gleam, which sometimes +lighted up Bijou's eyes, came into them now.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's true!" she said, smiling. "He was +wild to prevent our going down the Rue Rabelais—M.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +de Bernès! It was as though he was afraid of +something!"</p> + +<p>"He was afraid of coming to smash, by Jove, +just as I was, and the abbé, and even Pierrot. I +cannot understand how old Clagny could have let +you have your fad out, for he was responsible for +the little Dubuisson girl, and for Pierrot, and you, +without reckoning all of us!"</p> + +<p>"Have you finished blowing me up?"</p> + +<p>"I am not blowing you up."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, that's cool. Let's make it up now, +shall we?" and, standing on tip-toes, Bijou held +her pretty face up, saying, "Kiss me?"</p> + +<p>He stepped back abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Bijou, in surprise, and looking +hurt, "you won't kiss me?"</p> + +<p>Paul de Rueille had been so taken aback, that he +could scarcely find any words.</p> + +<p>"It isn't that I won't, but—well, not here like +that, it is so absurd! I cannot understand your not +seeing how ridiculous it is."</p> + +<p>Bijou shook her rough head, and the loose curls +over her forehead danced about.</p> + +<p>"No, I do not see that it is at all ridiculous," and +then, instead of going any farther, she turned round, +and they went back to the house without another +word.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> + +<p>On going up into his room, M. de Rueille found +his wife reading a letter.</p> + +<p>"I have just heard from Dr. Brice," she said, +handing him the letter. "It seemed to me that +Marcel had not been well just lately."</p> + +<p>"Not well—Marcel? Why the child eats and +drinks more than I do. He sleeps like a top, +too, and grows like a mushroom. Oh, that's good, +that is! And what disease has he discovered in +the boy—our excellent Brice?"</p> + +<p>"No disease at all!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, that's lucky!</p> + +<p>"But he orders him to have sea-air."</p> + +<p>"Sea-air for a lad who is in such downright +good health that it positively makes him unbearable, +he is so riotous?"</p> + +<p>"Read what he says."</p> + +<p>"Let me see what he says," murmured M. de +Rueille, putting on a look of resignation, as he +began to read the long letter, in which the doctor +advised sea-air as the best remedy for the child in +his present nervous state.</p> + +<p>"And so he is in a nervous state?" said M. +de Rueille jeeringly; "and on account of this, +which no one, by the bye, except you, has noticed, +we are to leave Bracieux, where the lad is flourishing +in this delightful fresh air—it is his native air,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +in fact—and we are to go and take up our abode at +some stupid seaside place? Oh, no! You really +do get hold of some ridiculous ideas sometimes."</p> + +<p>He was still irritated after his discussion with +Bijou, and the idea of going away from her now +caused him to speak in a harsh, dry way. He +tried to laugh, too, but his laugh sounded forced +and hollow.</p> + +<p>Bertrade looked at him as she said gently:</p> + +<p>"I did not want to tell you the truth straight +out; I hoped that you would guess it. Do you +not guess?"</p> + +<p>"No, not at all," he answered, with a vague feeling +of uneasiness.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, you were right just now; not only +Marcel, and his brothers too, for that matter, are +better at Bracieux than anywhere else, but he has +nothing the matter with him."</p> + +<p>As M. de Rueille looked surprised, she continued, +in a tranquil way:</p> + +<p>"It is Marcel's father who is not quite himself, +who needs a change of air, and who will, I am +sure, decide on having a change."</p> + +<p>"Well, really," he stammered out, "I do not +know what you mean."</p> + +<p>"I mean that you must leave Bracieux for a +time," she answered, speaking very distinctly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do you particularly wish me to tell you +why?"</p> + +<p>"I do."</p> + +<p>"You are unwise to insist. You know that in +a general way I never interfere in anything that +you choose to do, or leave undone."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you have always been very sweet and very +sensible about everything," said M. de Rueille, +"and I thoroughly appreciate—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, there is no need to say anything about all +that. I have always left you quite free to act in +every way as you preferred, and now, in this +matter, I do not bear you any ill-feeling whatever, +and I should never have spoken to you of it if I +had not seen that you are going too far. I have +confidence in you, so that I know you will be on +your guard; but I know how fascinating Bijou is, +and I can see perfectly well that, next to poor +young Giraud, you are the one who is the most +infatuated."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you are quite right, I am infatuated; but, +as you say yourself, there is no danger whatever, +and whether I go away, or whether I stay here, it +is all the same; that will make no difference +whatever."</p> + +<p>"Yes! if you stay you will certainly make +yourself ridiculous, and probably wretched, too.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +I am speaking to you now just as a friend might. +Let us go away; believe me, it would be +better."</p> + +<p>"Well, but when we came back again—for we +should come back, shouldn't we? in two months at +the latest—things would, be exactly as they were +before."</p> + +<p>"No, it would be quite different," she answered +carelessly. "In two months' time she will be +married, or nearly so."</p> + +<p>"Married!" exclaimed M. de Rueille, astounded. +"Married! Jean is going to marry her, then?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no! Jean is not going to marry her. +He's another one who would do well to make himself +scarce."</p> + +<p>"Well, if it is not Jean, I do not see—it is not +Henry, I presume?"</p> + +<p>"No, not Henry either. He understands perfectly +well that, with what he has, he cannot marry +Bijou."</p> + +<p>"Well, who is it, then? Who is it?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no one at all—that is, no one in +particular."</p> + +<p>"You spoke, on the contrary, as though you +were affirming something that was quite settled. +You said: <i>In two months' time she will be married, +or nearly so</i>. What did you mean by that? Why<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +don't you want to tell me? You have been told +not to? It is a secret?"</p> + +<p>"No, it is merely a supposition, I assure you, +that is all."</p> + +<p>"And this supposition you will not tell me?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>After a short silence Madame de Rueille began +again:</p> + +<p>"I showed grandmamma the doctor's letter; +she is very sorry about our going away. She +adores the children, and then, too, she likes to +have the house full at Bracieux."</p> + +<p>"And she let herself be gulled with this story +about Marcel's nervous condition? I am surprised +at that; she is so sharp!"</p> + +<p>"If she was not <i>gulled</i>, as you call it, she allowed +me to think that she was. I shall see you again +presently: I must get ready for breakfast."</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille went up to his wife, and asked, in +a half-timid way:</p> + +<p>"You are angry with me about it?"</p> + +<p>"I? why should I be angry about what you +cannot help? You are in the same situation as +Jean, M. Giraud, Henry, the accompaniment professor, +Pierrot, and others that we don't know of, +not to speak of the abbé, who, at present, is always +to be found somewhere round about where Bijou is."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>"It's perfectly true; the only thing is that, as +far as he is concerned, he is unconscious of it. Without +understanding the why and wherefore, he, too, +is captivated by Bijou's charms just the same as +all the others who come near her. I am quite sure +that he, too, will be unhappy about going away +from here; but he will not be able to explain to +himself even the cause of his unhappiness. Ah! +there's the bell; I shall never be ready; you had +better go on down."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Pierrot," said the marchioness, after breakfast, +when everyone had assembled in the morning-room, +"you did not give me my book yesterday?"</p> + +<p>Pierrot, who was talking to Bijou, turned round, +somewhat taken aback.</p> + +<p>"What book, aunt?"</p> + +<p>"Dumas' novel for the curé."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes; I could not think what book you +meant!"</p> + +<p>"You forgot to do my errand?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all! but Pellerin hadn't it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, why—he always has everything one +wants!"</p> + +<p>"Well, he hadn't got that; and, what was better +still, he didn't seem to know the book at all!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nonsense!"</p> + +<p>"No, it's quite true! and he's an obstinate sort +of beggar, too, he would have it that it wasn't by +the father—what's his name? ah! I've forgotten +already."</p> + +<p>"Dumas!"</p> + +<p>"Dumas! yes, that's it; and he kept on saying +all the time, 'I know my Dumas well enough, and +that book was never written by him.' Well, anyhow, +he promised to try to get it, and to send it to +you if it is to be had."</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille was sorting out the letters, which +had arrived during breakfast-time.</p> + +<p>"Here's a letter from your bookseller, grandmamma," +he said; "he evidently has not been able +to get it."</p> + +<p>"Open it, Paul, will you?"</p> + +<p>Rueille tore open the envelope, and, taking out +the letter, read as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Madam</span>,—It is quite impossible to get the +book which your nephew asked for. As we were +anxious to execute your order, we sent to several +of the principal booksellers, and even wired to +Paris, but we were informed that there is not, and +there never has been, a book entitled, 'Le Bâton de +M. Molard.'"</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Le Bâton de M. Molard?" repeated the +marchioness, not understanding in the least. +"What is he talking about?" and then, all at +once, the explanation of the mystery dawned +upon her, and she exclaimed, in consternation: +"Ah, I see! 'Le Bâton de M. Molard' is 'Le Bâtard +de Mauléon,' translated by Pierrot into his own +language. I was quite right in wanting to write +the title for him, but he would not hear of it."</p> + +<p>M. de Jonzac turned his eyes up towards the +ceiling with a tragic gesture of despair.</p> + +<p>"He is incorrigible—absolutely hopeless," he +said, half laughing and half vexed.</p> + +<p>"I can't help it, I am as I was made," said +Pierrot, blushing furiously and very much annoyed. +"And then, too, I didn't know what I was doing +yesterday; we were almost upset going into Pont-sur-Loire."</p> + +<p>"Almost upset?" exclaimed Madame de Bracieux, +"upset! why, how?"</p> + +<p>"Because Bijou had the insane idea of wanting +to go down the Rue Rabelais with the coach; and +so M. de Clagny went—the old fool."</p> + +<p>"Stop! that's enough!" interrupted the marchioness; +"will you kindly speak more respectfully +when you have anything to say about my old friend +Clagny?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, all the same, your old friend hasn't +got his head screwed on very well, considering +his age. He might have killed us; and, besides +that, I can tell you we did kick up a shindy in the +Rue Rabelais. The coach scraped against the +curb-stones; all the kids were running along nearly +under the horses' heels; then the sound of the horn +brought all the women to the windows, and didn't +they exclaim when they saw what it was. That +part wasn't so bad, either, for there were some +jolly pretty ones, I can tell you; weren't there, +Paul?"</p> + +<p>As M. de Rueille appeared to be preoccupied, +and did not answer, Pierrot turned to the abbé.</p> + +<p>"Weren't there, M. Courteil?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," answered the abbé, with evident +sincerity; "I was not noticing."</p> + +<p>Pierrot did not intend to give in.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, Bijou noticed them anyhow, for +I can tell you she <i>did</i> look at them, and with +eyes as sharp as needles, too; they shone like +anything."</p> + +<p>"I?" she exclaimed, her pretty face turning +suddenly red. "It was your fancy, Pierrot; I +never saw anything. I was much too frightened."</p> + +<p>"Frightened of what?" asked the marchioness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, of being upset, grandmamma. Pierrot is +right about that; we were nearly upset."</p> + +<p>"He is right, too, in saying that it was an insane +idea to want to go with a carriage and four horses +down a wretched little street like that; however +could you have had such an idea?"</p> + +<p>Bijou glanced at Jeanne Dubuisson, who, with her +eyes fixed on the carpet, had turned very red, too, +and was listening to the discussion without taking +any part in it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, really, I don't know. I think it was M. de +Clagny telling me that his horses were so well in +hand that he could make them turn round on a +plate. And so, as the Rue Rabelais is rather +narrow and winding, I said: 'I am sure you +could not go along Rue Rabelais.'"</p> + +<p>"No!" protested Pierrot, "it was not quite like +that. You said, 'Let us go down Rue Rabelais, I +should like to see it.' And, then, as he hesitated—for +we may as well give him credit for having +hesitated—you stuck to it as hard as you could."</p> + +<p>"But," put in M. de Jonzac, seeing that Denyse +looked annoyed, "what interest could your cousin +possibly have in wanting to go down that street?"</p> + +<p>"That's what I wondered," said Pierrot, looking +puzzled; and then, suddenly taken with another +idea, he added: "I can tell you there was somebody<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +who didn't like it, and that was M. de Bernès. +I don't know what took him, but he did pull a +long face. Oh, my! I can tell you he did look +blue."</p> + +<p>Henry de Bracieux laughed.</p> + +<p>"I know why he was pulling such a long face, +poor old Bernès; he was afraid of being blown +up—"</p> + +<p>"Blown up?" asked Bijou, innocently opening +her limpid eyes wide in surprise, whilst Jeanne's +face, usually so impassive, turned almost purple. +"Blown up? by whom?"</p> + +<p>And then, as there was a dead silence, which +became more and more embarrassing, Bijou turned +to her friend.</p> + +<p>"Let's go out for a stroll in the garden, Jeanne, +shall we?" she said.</p> + +<p>"I'll come with you," remarked Pierrot promptly; +but Bijou pushed him gently back.</p> + +<p>"No! we shall do very well by ourselves, thank +you; you would worry us."</p> + +<p>As the two girls were descending the hall-door +steps, Bijou said to Jeanne, who was just behind +her, and who had not quite recovered from her +embarrassment:</p> + +<p>"I know why you looked so conscious just now; +you were thinking of the gossip about that actress—I've<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +forgotten her name—whom M. de Bernès +knows. I had not thought of it at the time, and +so it did not trouble me. You see I was right +when I told you that it was a mistake to listen to +Mère Rafut's tales."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you always are right!" answered Jeanne +pensively; "I said then that you are always right!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>After Bijou's departure, the men one after another +left the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Bertrade?" asked the +marchioness, as soon as she found herself alone +with Madame de Rueille. "Paul looked very +queer during breakfast!"</p> + +<p>"Did you think so?" said the young wife, not +wishing either to acknowledge it or to tell an +untruth about the matter.</p> + +<p>"I did think so, and you looked queer too; and +as I watched you both, an idea dawned upon me."</p> + +<p>"And what is this idea?"</p> + +<p>"It is that my dear little Marcel is no more ill +than I am, and that the letter you showed me this +morning is nothing but a pretext for getting your +husband away from here; is that so?"</p> + +<p>Madame de Rueille was too straightforward to +be able to deny the fact.</p> + +<p>"It is so!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And so you are jealous, and jealous of Bijou?"</p> + +<p>"Not jealous, oh, dear no! not in the least; but +anxious."</p> + +<p>"About Bijou?"</p> + +<p>Madame de Rueille looked serious as she shook +her pretty head.</p> + +<p>"No, about Paul."</p> + +<p>"You are not afraid of your husband going too +far, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>"Well, what then?"</p> + +<p>"I am anxious about his peace of mind, and +then, too, I do not care for him to make himself +completely ridiculous."</p> + +<p>"You must know, my dear Bertrade, that I have +seen for some time past that Paul was gone on +Bijou, just as all the others are—for there is no +mistake about it, they all are; and the last few +days I have noticed that your abbé even has +begun to lose his indifference; don't you think +so?"</p> + +<p>"It is very possible!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I am sure that he isn't going along +quite so peacefully in his worship of God as +formerly?"</p> + +<p>"And that does not displease you either, grandmamma, +does it? Come, now, own it!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, well; as long as it is just a little beneficial +upset for him, I don't mind; but I should not like +it to develop into anything serious—you understand +where I draw the line?"</p> + +<p>"No, because I always pity all those who are +suffering from such little upsets—as you call them—even +when they are mild, I think they are calculated +to make people suffer greatly."</p> + +<p>"You always see a darker side of things than I +do; at all events, I think that the idea of carrying +Paul off is a very excessive and unwise kind of +remedy. He keeps a strict guard over himself, +and no one suspects the true state of things except +you—"</p> + +<p>"And all the others!"</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure of it."</p> + +<p>"Well, even if it be so, that is of no importance, +provided that Bijou does not suspect it herself. +Why do you not answer?"</p> + +<p>"Because I am not of the same opinion as you, +grandmamma, and you do not like that as a rule, +particularly when it is a question of Bijou."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Just what I said, nothing else."</p> + +<p>"Then, according to you, Bijou has noticed it +from—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"From the very first day."</p> + +<p>"And even if that should be so, she cannot help +it! Besides, what danger does she run?"</p> + +<p>"None at all."</p> + +<p>"Paul is honourable."</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly, and even if he were not, Bijou +would have nothing to fear for several reasons."</p> + +<p>"What are they?"</p> + +<p>"Well, in the first place—her own indifference. +Paul makes about as much impression on her, I +believe, as a table."</p> + +<p>"Next?"</p> + +<p>"Next? Why, that's all!"</p> + +<p>"You said 'several reasons,'—you have given +me one; let us hear what the others are."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" said Madame de Rueille, "it was +just my way of speaking."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! you are not clever at telling untruths, +my dear Bertrade; I am pretty sure I know +what you thought!"</p> + +<p>"I don't think you do."</p> + +<p>"Well, you'll see! You were thinking that one +of the reasons why Bijou will never take any +notice of Paul is—"</p> + +<p>"Because he is married."</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course; but you fancy, too, I am sure +of it, that Bijou is thinking of someone else?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +Ah, you see! you don't answer now! Yes, you +believe, as your husband does—he told me so +two or three days ago—that she is madly in love +with young Giraud!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, grandmamma, what an unlikely supposition! +In the first place, Bijou is not, and +never will be, madly in love with anyone."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"I mean that when she marries, it will be in a +reasonable, calm sort of way, just as she does everything +else."</p> + +<p>"But when will it be?"</p> + +<p>"When will it be? Well, I do not know +exactly—soon, I think."</p> + +<p>"Then you are saying that just at random? +You are speaking of the future in just a vague sort +of way?"</p> + +<p>"The future always is vague, grandmamma," +answered Madame de Rueille, smiling.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">For</span> a whole week there was scarcely anything +else thought about but the rehearsals of the little +play, which was to be given the day after the +races.</p> + +<p>The La Balues, the Juzencourts, and Madame +de Nézel, came to Bracieux nearly every day, and +M. de Clagny also, for he was very much interested +in the rehearsals. He acted as prompter when +Giraud, who had undertaken this post, was +occupied, and he appeared to be delighted whenever +he saw Bijou acting.</p> + +<p>"Old Dubuisson" and M. Spiegel had been to +dinner several times, and Denyse, under the +pretext of letting him be more with his <i>fiancée</i>, had +persuaded the young professor to take a minor +rôle, in which he was execrable. Perhaps Jeanne +had noticed this, as the last few days she seemed +to be low-spirited, and she was not as even-tempered +as usual. Her father was astonished to +see her frequently with tears in her eyes, and for +no apparent motive, so that at last he declared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +that "she must be sickening for some illness or +another."</p> + +<p>The Rueilles had not left Bracieux. Bertrade +felt that everyone was against her, as it were, and +had resigned herself to the inevitable; she had +quite given up the plan she had proposed, and was +now letting herself drift along, carried forward by +the society whirl in which she was living.</p> + +<p>Young Bernès arrived one evening to invite the +marchioness and her guests to a paper-chase +which was being organised by his regiment. He, +himself, was to be hare, and all kinds of obstacles +were being put up; there had never been so fine +a paper-chase run in the forest.</p> + +<p>Bijou at once persuaded her grandmother to +allow her to follow on horseback, M. de Rueille +and Jean de Blaye both answering for it that +nothing should happen to her. She was, besides, +very prudent, like most people who are accustomed +to riding, and who ride well, and she always +managed to avoid accidents, and not to run +useless risks.</p> + +<p>Madame de Bracieux kept Hubert to dinner, +and in the evening, as she watched Denyse talking +to him, she said to Bertrade:</p> + +<p>"It's very odd. It seems to me that Bijou is not +at all the same now with that young man. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +used to just give him an indifferent sort of bow, +and then leave him alone, and now it seems +almost as though she were 'gone' on him, to use +your elegant language. She has quite changed +her attitude towards him," continued the marchioness, +puzzled.</p> + +<p>"And he, too, has quite changed his attitude +towards her," said Madame de Rueille.</p> + +<p>"Yes, hasn't he? The first few times he came +to Bracieux, I was struck with his coolness towards +our sweet girl, whom everyone adores. He was +just simply polite to her, and that was all."</p> + +<p>"At present, he is not very far gone, but there is +considerable progress; he is preparing to follow in +the pathway which has been beaten out by others."</p> + +<p>"Just lately, when you were talking to me about +Bijou getting married, had you any idea in the +background?" asked the marchioness, looking at +Madame de Rueille.</p> + +<p>Bertrade repeated the question without replying +to it.</p> + +<p>"An idea in the background?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Were you, for instance, thinking that +Bijou was in love with this young Bernès?"</p> + +<p>"I told you that same day, grandmamma, that +it is my belief Bijou is not in love, never has been +in love, and never will be in love with anyone."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If you had said that, as you say it now, I should +most certainly have protested. It would be impossible, +in my opinion, to be more absolutely and +completely mistaken than you are. Never to love +anyone?—Bijou!—when there never was anyone +who needed to be loved and petted as she +does."</p> + +<p>"She needs to be loved and petted—yes, I grant +that; but she always requires people to love and +pet her, and she does not feel the need of loving +and petting others in her turn."</p> + +<p>"In other words, she is selfish and cold-hearted?" +questioned the marchioness, her voice suddenly +taking a harsh tone. "The fact is, Bertrade, you +have a grudge against Bijou, because of the charm +there is about her: you are angry with her, because +no one can resist being fascinated by her, and +instead of blaming Paul, who is the real culprit, you +accuse the poor child in this cruel way."</p> + +<p>"I do not accuse Bijou any more than I do +Paul, grandmamma: and I should be all the less +likely to accuse them, because I do not think that +we are exactly free agents in such matters; yes, I +know that you will be scandalised at my saying +such a thing—I can see that very well. You think +it is blasphemy, don't you? And yet, Heaven +knows that the thoughts which come to me sometimes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +on this subject make me much more tolerant +and indulgent towards others—"</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny approached the two ladies just at +this moment.</p> + +<p>"What are you two plotting in this little +corner?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said Madame de Bracieux; "we +were watching Bijou, who seems to be taming +your young friend Bernès."</p> + +<p>"Taming him? Whatever do you mean by +that?" asked the count, turning round with a disturbed +look on his face.</p> + +<p>"Well, I mean just what everyone means when +they make that remark! A week ago, when the +young man dined here with us, he was like an +icicle; well, I fancy that the thaw has set in."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed M. de Clagny, suddenly looking +serene again; "I forgot that he has a love +affair, and is so far gone that he fully intends to +marry this lady-love; and, as you can imagine, +his father is not delighted about it, by any +means." And then, in an absent-minded way, he +added, "I feel perfectly easy, as far as he is +concerned!"</p> + +<p>"Easy!" exclaimed Madame de Bracieux in +astonishment "Why, easy! you would not like +Bijou to marry M. de Bernès, then? Why not?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well—she is so young," he stammered out, in +a confused sort of way.</p> + +<p>"How do you mean, so young? She is quite +old enough to marry; she will be twenty-two in +November, Bijou!"</p> + +<p>"Well, then, Hubert is too young for her; he is +only a lad!"</p> + +<p>"I should certainly prefer seeing her married to +a man rather more settled down; but, if she should +care for him, he is of good family, and is wealthy, +why should she not marry him as well as any +other?"</p> + +<p>"Do you really think that Bijou cares for him?" +asked M. de Clagny anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I don't know anything about it at all," +answered the marchioness, laughing; "but anyhow, +what can that matter to you? I can understand +that Jean or Henry should be disturbed in +their minds—but you?" As he did not reply, she +went on: "It's a case of the dog in the manger: +he does not want the bone himself, but he does not +want the others to have it either. That is just +your case, my poor friend, for, I presume, you have +no idea of marrying Bijou yourself?"</p> + +<p>He answered in a joking way, but there was a +troubled look on his face.</p> + +<p>"Oh, as to me, it is an idea that I should like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +very much; but she would not; therefore it amounts +to the same thing!"</p> + +<p>Bijou came up to them just at that moment, gliding +along with her light step. She was followed by +young Bernès, who looked vexed about something.</p> + +<p>"I cannot, really, mademoiselle," he was saying, +"I assure you that I cannot get away from my +friends that day."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, you can; mustn't he, grandmamma?" +asked Denyse merrily, "mustn't M. de Bernès come +to dinner here on the day of the paper-chase? +He is to be the hare, and the start is to be from +the 'Cinq-Tranchées'—it is only a mile from +Bracieux at the farthest."</p> + +<p>Madame de Bracieux was examining the young +officer with interest, and there was a kindly look in +her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Why, certainly," she said, "he must come here +to dinner; we shall all be so pleased."</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, madame, to invite me, but +I was explaining to Mademoiselle de Courtaix +that on that day, after the paper-chase, which the +regiment is getting up for the benefit of the residents, +I have promised faithfully to dine with +several of my friends." And glancing, in spite +of himself, at Bijou, he added, "And I regret it +now, more than I can tell you!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> + +<p>Turning round on her high heels, Denyse glided +off again to the other end of the long room, where +she was greeted by Pierrot with reproachful +words.</p> + +<p>"It was very mean of you to slope away from us +like that, you know!" exclaimed the boy.</p> + +<p>M. de Jonzac, who was playing billiards with the +abbé, was also keeping one ear open to catch what +was going on round him. He now protested +against the way in which Pierrot expressed himself, +even supposing that the reproach itself were +just.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes," answered his son, "it's quite true +that I'm not over-particular about what words +I use, but that doesn't prevent what I said being +true; and the others said it too, just now; I wasn't +the only one."</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle," said Giraud, who was standing +near the large bay-window, looking out at the sky, +"you said yesterday that you liked shooting stars—I +have never seen so many as there are to-night."</p> + +<p>"Really?" replied Denyse, going to the window, +and leaning her arms on the ledge, side by side +with the tutor, "are there as many as all that? +What's that to the left?" she asked, bending forward. +"I can see something white on the terrace."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is Mademoiselle Dubuisson, who is strolling +about with her father and M. Spiegel."</p> + +<p>"Ah! supposing we went out to them—shall we?"</p> + +<p>Giraud led the way at once, only too happy to +go out for a stroll on this beautiful starry night. +When they were near the terrace, she stopped +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we shall be <i>de trop</i>," she said; "they +may be talking of private affairs. Let us go to the +chestnut avenue, and they'll come to us if they +want to."</p> + +<p>She descended the marble steps, and they were +soon in the dark avenue, under the thick chestnut +trees. The young man had followed her, his heart +beating with excitement, almost beside himself +with joy. They walked along for some little time +without speaking, and then at last Bijou looked +up, trying to catch a glimpse of the sky between +the branches of the trees.</p> + +<p>"We shall not see much of the shooting stars +here," she said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," answered Giraud, who did not want +to leave this shady walk, where he had Bijou all to +himself, "we can see them all the same. Look, +there's one, did you see it?"</p> + +<p>"Not distinctly, and not long enough to be able +to wish anything."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p> + +<p>"To wish anything? but what?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! anything. Why! do you mean to say +you did not know that when you see a shooting +star you ought to wish something?"</p> + +<p>"No, I did not know. And does your wish get +fulfilled?"</p> + +<p>"They say so."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, mademoiselle, have you a wish +quite ready this time, so that you will not be taken +unawares?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly, I have one; but it can never be +realised."</p> + +<p>"Ah! I dare not ask you what."</p> + +<p>"I should like to be quite different from what I +am," she replied, very gently. "Yes, I should like +to be a very pretty girl, in quite humble circumstances, +so that I need not be obliged to go +into society, and so that I could marry just whom +I liked. I should like to be, in fact, happy according +to my own idea of things, without troubling +anything about social prejudices and conventionalities."</p> + +<p>"Why should you wish that?" he asked, in a +voice that trembled slightly.</p> + +<p>"So that I should have the right to love anyone +who loved me. I mean, openly; without having +to keep it to myself." And then she added, in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +very low voice, "And without reproaching myself +for it."</p> + +<p>She was walking quite close to him, so close, +that their shoulders touched at every step.</p> + +<p>Giraud was quite agitated with conflicting emotions.</p> + +<p>"You say that—as if—as if—you did care for +someone?" he stammered out.</p> + +<p>He knew that she had turned her face towards +him, but she did not speak.</p> + +<p>Just at this moment a screech-owl, which was +perched quite near them amongst the thick, dark +looking foliage of the trees, gave a sudden, wailing, +cry, which startled Bijou. She knocked against +Giraud as she jumped aside in her fright, and he +instinctively put his arms round her. Her soft, +perfumed hair brushed against his lips, making +him lose his head completely. He forgot everything, +and, utterly oblivious of all that separated +him from the young girl, he drew her closer to him +in a passionate embrace, and murmured tenderly:</p> + +<p>"Denyse!"</p> + +<p>She let him do as he liked, without offering any +resistance, but when, at last, he set her free, she +said, in a tender, plaintive tone:</p> + +<p>"Oh! how wrong it was of you to have done +that, how wrong of you!" And then she hid her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +face in her hands, and he could hear that she was +crying.</p> + +<p>He tried to console her, but she would not allow +him to stay.</p> + +<p>"No, go away, please," she said: "they will be +wondering where you are. I shall come in directly, +when I am myself again."</p> + +<p>As he was starting off in the direction of the +terrace, she called him back.</p> + +<p>"Not that way," she said. "Go round by the +pool. Don't let them think you have come from +here."</p> + +<p>"Let me stay another minute, just to ask you +to forgive me. Let me kiss those little hands that +I love—"</p> + +<p>"Please go! Please go!" she said, in a tone +that sounded as though she mistrusted herself.</p> + +<p>Before turning into the walk that led round by +the pool, Giraud stopped a minute to get another +glimpse of Denyse, who, in her light dress, looked +like a white spot against the dark background of +the trees. He could hear that she was still crying.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Is that you, Bijou?" asked Jean de Blaye, +coming forward in the thick darkness.</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" asked the young girl, drawing +herself up.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is I—Jean! Why, do you mean to say that +you won't even do me the honour of recognising +my voice. What are you doing out here in this +pitch darkness?"</p> + +<p>"I am taking a stroll."</p> + +<p>"All alone?"</p> + +<p>"I came out to join the Dubuissons, but I +thought afterwards that it was better not to disturb +them, and so I came here all alone."</p> + +<p>"It must be quite a change for you to be alone, +isn't it? And what in the world do you do when +you are all by yourself?"</p> + +<p>"I think."</p> + +<p>"Oh! what a big word!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I dream dreams, if you like that +better?"</p> + +<p>"Well I never! That's what I never should +have thought you would do. They are surely not +in the least like ordinary dreams—yours?"</p> + +<p>"Because—?"</p> + +<p>"Because dreams are usually incoherent, strange +and quite improbable."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Well, your dreams must be admirably sensible +and reasonable; they must resemble you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you."</p> + +<p>"For what?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, for the pleasant things you are saying."</p> + +<p>"Oh! they are not exactly pleasant things; they +are true, though. Besides, I have not come here +just to say pleasant things to you, but to talk to +you seriously."</p> + +<p>"Seriously?"</p> + +<p>"Yes! I have undertaken a mission for some +one else. I have promised to speak to you to the +best of my ability in the name of some one who +did not care to speak for himself."</p> + +<p>"Who is this some one else?"</p> + +<p>"Henry! He begged me to ask you whether +you would authorise him to ask grandmamma for +your hand?"</p> + +<p>"My hand! Henry?" she exclaimed, and her +accent expressed her bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"Is that so very astonishing?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes!—it is as though he were my brother—Henry!"</p> + +<p>"Well, but he is not your brother, nevertheless; +therefore do not let us trouble about him as a +brother, but as a lover. What is your answer?"</p> + +<p>"My answer! why does Henry apply to me +first? Instead of asking my permission to speak +to grandmamma, he ought to have asked grandmamma's +permission to speak to me."</p> + +<p>"There; didn't I say that you were a most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +excellent little person, always knowing the correct +thing, and all the rest of it!"</p> + +<p>"Is it wrong of me to be like that?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! it is not wrong—on the contrary! only +it is a trifle embarrassing. Tell me, now that I +have made this mistake in speaking to you first, +will you give me an answer? or must I set to +work to put matters right again, by applying now +to grandmamma, who in her turn will apply to +you, etc., etc."</p> + +<p>"No, I will give you my answer."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, let me finish my rigmarole. Count +Henry de Bracieux was born on the 22nd of +January, 1870. His entire fortune, until after the +death of his grandmother, consists of twenty-four +thousand pounds, which amount brings in—"</p> + +<p>"Oh! you needn't trouble to tell me about +money matters; in the first place, they don't +interest me, and then, as I do not wish to marry +Henry, it is useless to tell me all that!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! you do not wish to marry him! +Why?"</p> + +<p>"For several reasons, the best of which is that +I know him too well."</p> + +<p>"It certainly is not very flattering, this reason of +yours!"</p> + +<p>"I mean what I said just now, that, living with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +Henry as I have done for the last four years, I +consider him as a brother."</p> + +<p>"Then that applies to me, too; do you look +upon me, too, as a brother?" asked Jean de +Blaye, trying to speak in an indifferent tone.</p> + +<p>"You, oh, no! not at all; you are thirty-five at +least!"</p> + +<p>"No, thirty-three."</p> + +<p>"Only that?—ah, well, it's all the same! you +don't seem to me like a brother!"</p> + +<p>She was silent a moment, thinking, whilst he +stood waiting, with a sort of vague hope.</p> + +<p>"You seem to me more like an uncle," she said +at last.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" remarked Jean, with an accent that +betrayed his vexation, "that is very nice."</p> + +<p>"You are annoyed with me for saying that?" +she asked, in her pretty, coaxing way.</p> + +<p>"Oh, not at all! I am delighted, on the contrary; +it is very satisfactory, for, with you, one +knows exactly what to count on; and then, if one +has any delusions, well, they don't have to hang +fire."</p> + +<p>"You had delusions—what were they?"</p> + +<p>"No, I hadn't one of any kind."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I can tell by your voice; you speak in +a sharp, bitter, irritated way. Tell me why you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +are so bad-tempered all in a minute?" she asked, +in a coaxing tone, leaning against him, and looking +up into his face.</p> + +<p>He stepped back from her as he answered:</p> + +<p>"When one is not very good to start with, and +one has trouble, it makes one go to the bad; it +is inevitable!"</p> + +<p>"And you have trouble?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Is it very bad?"</p> + +<p>"Well, quite bad enough, thank you!"</p> + +<p>"Poor Jean; things don't go as you want them +to, then?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? What are you talking +about?"</p> + +<p>"Why, about—oh, you know very well! I told +you the other evening!"</p> + +<p>"That again!" he said, getting more and more +worked up; "how foolish you are!"</p> + +<p>"What, do you mean that you do not care for +Madame de Nézel?" exclaimed Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Madame de Nézel is a charming woman," he +stammered out, in an embarrassed way. "She is +an excellent friend whom I like very much, very +much indeed, but not in the way you +imagine."</p> + +<p>"Ah! so much the worse for you; she is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +widow, and she is rich; she would just have suited +you. Well, then, you like someone else?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Someone you cannot marry?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly."</p> + +<p>"Why? isn't she rich enough?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, it is not that; if she had not a farthing +it would be all the same to me; it is the other way +round, I am not rich enough for her, and then—she +would not have me."</p> + +<p>"You do not know; you ought to tell her that +you love her."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?"</p> + +<p>"Why, of course—try that, at any rate."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, Bijou, I love you with all my +heart—but I know that there is no hope, and, unfortunate +wretch that I am, I dare not even ask for +any."</p> + +<p>"You love <i>me</i>!" she exclaimed, in deep distress, +and then, stopping short, she repeated: "<i>you</i>—Jean?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and what about you? you detest me, do +you not?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jean, how can you say such things? You +know very well that I love you, though not in the +way you want me to, or as I should like to be able +to, but very much, all the same; indeed I do."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> + +<p>She put her hand on his shoulder, obliging him +to stand still, and then passed her hand over his +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jean," she exclaimed, in great grief, "tears, +and all because of me! Oh, please, don't—no, +indeed you must not; do you hear me, Jean?"</p> + +<p>He took the little hand, which was stroking his +face, and kissed it passionately. Then putting +Bijou, who was clinging to him, gently aside, he +left her abruptly, and strode off alone.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII.</h2> + + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Then</span>, you really mean that you are going?" +asked Bijou sorrowfully, as Jeanne Dubuisson +folded her dresses into the tray of a long basket +trunk.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the young girl, absorbed in +what she was doing, and without even looking up. +"I have been here a long time; it would be taking +advantage to stay longer, you know."</p> + +<p>"You know very well that it would be nothing +of the kind; and it was almost settled that you +were to stay until Monday, and then, all at once, +you changed your mind. What is the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Why, nothing at all. What do you imagine +could be the matter?"</p> + +<p>"If I knew, I should not ask you. Come, now! +what can it be? you don't seem to find things too +dull?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bijou, however could I find things dull?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, you might; and yet, you see your +<i>fiancé</i> almost as much as when you were at Pont-sur-Loire."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, no—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; let us reckon, shall we? M. Spiegel +went to Paris for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday; +Tuesday he came here to dinner with M. Dubuisson; +Wednesday he came alone; Thursday he +managed to swallow the confirmation luncheon, +poor man; Friday he was here to dinner; and +every day we have been rehearsing our play either +before or after dinner, so that he has never been +away from you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's true," answered Jeanne reluctantly; +"but if he has not been away from me, he has +scarcely troubled about me at all."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"How? Oh! it is simple enough! He has +only troubled about you; he has talked to no one +but you."</p> + +<p>"To me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, to you—there! I may as well own it, +Bijou; I am jealous—frightfully jealous."</p> + +<p>"Jealous of whom? Of me?" asked Denyse, +with a startled look.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle Dubuisson nodded, and then she +proceeded to explain, whilst the tears rose to her +eyes:</p> + +<p>"You must forgive me for telling you this. I +can see that I am causing you pain, but it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +better, is it not, to tell the truth, than to let you +suspect all kinds of wrong reasons? You are not +angry with me?"</p> + +<p>"No; not at all!" And then Bijou added +sorrowfully: "It is you who ought rather to be +angry with me. But you are mistaken, I assure +you! M. Spiegel, who is very polite, has taken +notice of me simply because I am the grandchild +of his hostess, and not for any other reason."</p> + +<p>"He has taken notice of you for the same +reason which makes everyone take notice of you—just +because you are adorable, and you know that +very well!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! I—"</p> + +<p>"It was quite certain that he would be +fascinated by you, just as all the others are, +and I was very silly not to have foreseen what would +happen. I counted too much on his affection—I +thought that he loved me just as I love him—I +was mistaken, that's all!"</p> + +<p>"Then I shall not see anything more of you? +You will avoid all opportunities of meeting +me?"</p> + +<p>"No; we shall spend the whole of the day together +at the paper-chase."</p> + +<p>"As you will be driving, and I shall be riding, I +shall not be much in your way."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bijou was silent for a minute, and then she began +again in an anxious tone:</p> + +<p>"You don't think, at any rate, that it is my +fault—what has happened?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Jeanne; "I don't think anything, +except that you are a charming girl, and +I am merely common-place. Bijou, dear, don't +make yourself wretched about it, please!"</p> + +<p>"I should be so unhappy if I were not to see +anything more of you!"</p> + +<p>"But you will see me! The day after to-morrow +I am coming back to Bracieux for your +play. I must, you know, considering that we are +both acting, M. Spiegel and I."</p> + +<p>"Why do you say, 'M. Spiegel'? Why do +you not say Franz like you always do? Are you +angry with him?"</p> + +<p>"On Saturday," continued Jeanne, without +answering Bijou's question, "we shall see each +other at the races, and then again at the Tourvilles' +dance; you see we shall scarcely be separated +at all."</p> + +<p>"All the same it won't be as though you were +staying here," answered Bijou, with a sorrowful +look, "and, then, too, I know very well that you +are going away feeling different towards me."</p> + +<p>Just at this moment the maid entered the room.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Madame wishes to speak to mademoiselle in +the drawing-room."</p> + +<p>"In the drawing-room at this time of day!" +exclaimed Bijou, in surprise.</p> + +<p>"M. de Clagny is there."</p> + +<p>"Oh! very well! Say that I am coming at +once."</p> + +<p>"Will you go down with me?" asked Bijou, +turning to Mademoiselle Dubuisson.</p> + +<p>"No, I want to finish packing my trunk, as it is +to be sent to Pont-sur-Loire after luncheon."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>A quarter of an hour later, Bijou returned in +great glee.</p> + +<p>"Ah! you don't know something. We are going +to spend the evening together to-day!"</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Guess!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I don't know. At the theatre?"</p> + +<p>"Right! How did you guess that?"</p> + +<p>"Because you said over and over again before +M. de Clagny how much you wanted to go to +that performance organised by the <i>Dames de +France</i>. I suppose he has offered you a +box?"</p> + +<p>"Two boxes! yes, just imagine it; two beautiful big +boxes, each one for six persons! And so we have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +at once arranged with your father that you are to +come—M. Spiegel as well, of course—I forgot +to tell you that they are there—your father +and M. Spiegel. M. de Clagny brought them with +him."</p> + +<p>"But three of us will be too many for you," +began Jeanne.</p> + +<p>"When I have just told you that there are +twelve places! Come, now—Grandmamma and +I, that makes two, and you three, that makes five; +there are seven places over, and no one wants to +come."</p> + +<p>"The Rueilles?"</p> + +<p>"Paul, but not Bertrade; that makes six. +Neither Jean nor Henry are coming, nor Uncle +Alexis either, and Pierrot has got into a scrape. +Then there is M. de Clagny, and I thought of +offering a place to M. Giraud, so that makes us +eight altogether."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle Dubuisson did not speak, and +Bijou went on:</p> + +<p>"You do not care about spending this evening +with us, or, rather, with me, and so you are trying +to find a pretext?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, I am not trying to find anything: +besides, since it is all arranged with papa—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is quite settled. I had invited M. de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +Bernès, too; but he makes out that he cannot come, +because he is going with his friends."</p> + +<p>"Where did you see M. de Bernès?"</p> + +<p>"In the drawing-room just a minute ago. Ah, +of course you did not know. He has come to +bring the invitation for M. Giraud. Jean wrote to +him for it, because M. Giraud wanted to go to the +paper-chase, and as there are refreshments offered +by the officers to their guests, grandmamma is so +scrupulous that she would not take him without an +invitation."</p> + +<p>"Then M. de Bernès is staying to luncheon, +too?"</p> + +<p>"No, he has gone again; he is the hare, you +know, and the meeting-place is at the cross-roads +at three o'clock; it is quite near for us, but +for those who come from Pont-sur-Loire, it's a +good step."</p> + +<p>"What time do we start?"</p> + +<p>"At half-past two the carriages, and a quarter +past two those who are riding—Do you know—I +feel inclined to dress before luncheon, so +that I should not have to think any more about it."</p> + +<p>"You have half an hour."</p> + +<p>"Well, you are ready. Come with me while I +dress, will you?"</p> + +<p>Jeanne followed Bijou in a docile way, as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +latter hurried along the corridors, singing as she +went.</p> + +<p>"You are always gay," remarked Jeanne, "but this +morning it seems to me that you are particularly +joyful. What is it that makes you so?"</p> + +<p>"Why, nothing! I am delighted about the paper-chase, +and the theatre; then, too, it is beautiful +weather, the sky is so blue, the flowers so fresh and +beautiful, it seems to me delicious to be alive—but +that's all!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, that's something at any rate."</p> + +<p>"Sit down," said Bijou, pushing Mademoiselle +Dubuisson into a cosy arm-chair.</p> + +<p>Jeanne sat down, and looked round at the pretty +room. The walls were hung with pale pink +cretonne, with a design of large white poppies. +The ceiling, too, was pink, and the Louis Seize +furniture was lacquered pink. There were flowers +everywhere, in strange-shaped glass vases, and the +air was laden with a delicious, penetrating perfume, +a mixture of chypre, iris, and a scent like new-mown +hay.</p> + +<p>Jeanne inhaled this perfume with delight.</p> + +<p>"What do you put in your room to make it +smell like this?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Does it smell of something? I do not smell +anything—anyhow, I don't use scent for it,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +answered Bijou, sniffing the air around her with +all her might.</p> + +<p>"Oh! why, that's incredible!" exclaimed Jeanne +astounded. "But do you mean truly that you do +not put anything at all to scent your room?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely nothing."</p> + +<p>Denyse was moving about, getting everything +she required before changing her dress. She was +not long in putting on her habit, and as she stood +before the long glass, putting a few finishing +touches to her toilette, Jeanne could not help +admiring her.</p> + +<p>"How well it fits you!" she said. "It looks +as though it had been moulded on you—it really +is perfection! And then, too, you have such a +pretty figure!"</p> + +<p>Denyse was just putting a pearl pin into her +white cravat. The point broke with a little sharp +click.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Jeanne, "what a pity!"</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter," answered Bijou, "for it was +not up to much. If I win my bet with M. de +Bernès, I will let him give me a strong pin," +and then, with a laugh, she added: "and not an +expensive one, so that it will not seem like a +present."</p> + +<p>"You have made a bet with M. de Bernès?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And you have to choose your present?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Is there any harm in it?"</p> + +<p>"Harm? No! but it is odd."</p> + +<p>"Well! you are like grandmamma. She was +scandalised, grandmamma was."</p> + +<p>"Well, it is odd, you know! And what have +you been betting—you and M. de Bernès?"</p> + +<p>"I, that there would be, at least, one accident at +the paper-chase; and he, that there would not be +one at all."</p> + +<p>"Well, but that's very possible."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! it is not very possible! There always +are accidents; it would be the first paper-chase +without one. Take notice that it is merely a +question of a fall—just a simple fall—the person +falls down, and is picked up again. I do not predict +that anyone will be killed, you understand?"</p> + +<p>"Well, don't you go and have a fall, at any +rate."</p> + +<p>"Oh, as to me!" said Bijou, her eyes shining +with merriment, "there is no danger. Patatras +has never been stronger on his legs. Pass me the +scissors, will you, please, they are just by the +side of you?"</p> + +<p>Jeanne watched her admiringly as she stood in +front of the long glass.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There is not a single crease anywhere in your +habit, and what a pretty figure you have, really, +Bijou."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>When, at a quarter past two, punctual, as usual, +Bijou appeared on the stone steps in front of the +half-door, she found Henry de Bracieux there, +Jean de Blaye, and Pierrot. M. de Rueille had +not yet come downstairs.</p> + +<p>The horses, which had been waiting a few +minutes, were somewhat restless, as the flies were +worrying them. Patatras alone was perfectly +calm, nibbling at the hazel tree, and looking peaceably +at what was going on around him.</p> + +<p>Presently Bertrade opened a window, and called +out:</p> + +<p>"Don't wait for Paul. He is only just beginning +to dress. He will catch you up."</p> + +<p>"Would you like to start, Bijou?" proposed +Jean.</p> + +<p>"I feel almost inclined to let you start without +me," she answered, in an undecided way. "Your +three horses are jumping about like mad things; +they will excite Patatras, who is quite peaceful +now. Start on, at any rate—I will join you out +there. Nothing annoys me more than to ride a +horse that is pulling so that you can hardly hold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +him in, and that is what I should have to put up +with, for certain, if I start with you."</p> + +<p>"Then you are going to wait for Paul?" asked +Henry, looking bad-tempered.</p> + +<p>Bijou pointed to the carriages, which were just +coming out of the stable-yard.</p> + +<p>"No, I am going to escort grandmamma."</p> + +<p>"Well, that is just what will rouse your horse +up," said Jean de Blaye.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! Don't you think I know my horse? +Anyhow, all I ask you is to start off, and not to +trouble yourselves about me."</p> + +<p>"You are charming, really," observed Pierrot, +moving towards his pony, and then turning towards +the others, he added majestically, although, +in a vexed tone: "Let us leave her, then, as she +does not want to go with us."</p> + +<p>"I think that's the only choice left us in the +matter," answered Jean, half vexed and half laughing, +as he mounted his horse.</p> + +<p>Just as they were all three disappearing round +the bend of the drive, M. de Clagny came out of +the hall. He was looking to see whether his mail-coach +had been put in, and was astonished to find +Bijou there.</p> + +<p>"How nice you look in that red habit," he said, +in his admiration. "Generally, red makes anyone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +look pale, but you—why, it makes you look rosier +than ever, if that is possible."</p> + +<p>When he heard that she was going to accompany +the carriages as far as the meeting-place he was +perfectly happy.</p> + +<p>The marchioness soon arrived, followed by all +the others. She got into the landau with the +Dubuissons and M. Spiegel, whilst M. de Clagny +took on his coach Madame de Rueille, the children, +Abbé Courteil, M. de Jonzac, and M. Giraud. +The latter was hypnotised to such a degree by +Bijou, who was waiting, ready mounted, for the +others to start, that he almost fell off the coach +instead of sitting down.</p> + +<p>The sun was shining brilliantly when they at +last set out on their journey. M. de Clagny was +much more taken up with Bijou than with the four +horses he was driving. He watched her trotting in +front of him, near to the carriage in which the +marchioness was driving.</p> + +<p>It was the first time he had seen her on horseback, +and she seemed to him incomparably pretty +and elegant. Whilst he was thus watching her +with singular attention, Madame de Bracieux called +out to her from the landau:</p> + +<p>"What a horribly hot day it is, Bijou dear. I don't +like to see you in this blazing sunshine!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p> + +<p>Denyse turned round with a very rosy face.</p> + +<p>"Nor do I either, grandmamma, I don't like to +see myself in it at all!" She was silent a +moment and then she continued: "When we +come across Jean, Henry, and Pierrot, I shall +desert you."</p> + +<p>"Do you think we shall come across them?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, certainly! They are going along +through the wood, almost the same road that we +are taking with the carriages. They are only some +twelve or fifteen yards away from us; I heard them +a little while ago. As soon as I see them I shall +leave you!"</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny called to Bijou in order to warn +her about a hundred things to avoid. In the +coppice she was to beware of the branches; that +very morning he had been almost taken out of his +saddle when galloping in the wood. She was to +take care, too, of the burrows—the wood was full +of them; and then she was not to jump all in a +heap, as it were; she must never do that, but +always remember to lean forward or hold back.</p> + +<p>She listened to all this advice smilingly, and +with a certain affectionate deference.</p> + +<p>"How good you are, Bijou!" he finished up with +at last. "How is it you do not tell your old friend +who worries you so to go about his business?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span></p> + +<p>Just at this moment a horseman crossed the +road about two hundred yards in front of the +carriages, and entered the forest.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the count, "there's Bernès throwing +his paper! he's gone in for the right way of +doing things, that is, to go along the whole route +first in the opposite direction, dropping the paper, +then afterwards one has only to fly along, without +troubling about anything."</p> + +<p>"What time is it?" asked Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Twenty minutes to three," answered Bertrade, +looking at her watch. "We shall get to the meet +much too soon."</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny let his horses walk, and Bijou +caught up with the landau again, and began talking +to Jeanne. Suddenly she bent her head as though +listening to something.</p> + +<p>"Ah, there they are!" she exclaimed. "I can +hear them!"</p> + +<p>"Whom do you hear?" asked the marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Why, the others; they are there, and I am +going to them. Good-bye, grandmamma." She +crossed the ditch at the side of the road, and +then pulled up, and, throwing a kiss to Jeanne, +called out: "Good-bye to you, too."</p> + +<p>But the landau was some distance on, and the +coach was just passing. Giraud, seated at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +back with the children, was the only one who was +looking in Bijou's direction, and it was he who +received the farewell kiss she threw to her +friend.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure to find them?" asked the count, +turning round on the box-seat.</p> + +<p>"Why, they are only a few steps away," she +answered, pointing to the wood. "I have just +seen Henry."</p> + +<p>Whereupon she disappeared in the thicket, and +M. de Clagny looked after her, with an anxious +expression on his face.</p> + +<p>As soon as she had found a path, Bijou set off at a +gallop, going straight ahead, listening eagerly, and +looking out as far as she could see in front of her +through the gloom of the wood.</p> + +<p>Quite suddenly she turned abruptly aside, and +rode some little distance into the brushwood, where +she remained without moving, and doing all she +could to prevent Patatras from making the dead +branches crackle under his feet.</p> + +<p>Along the path which she had just left came +Henry de Bracieux, Jean de Blaye, and Pierrot.</p> + +<p>When they were almost level with the spot +where Denyse was hiding, they pulled up to wait +for a horse that they heard galloping quite near +them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Whatever have you been doing?" asked Henry, +as M. de Rueille appeared in sight. "It is quite +ten minutes ago since we saw you at the bottom of +the Belles-Feuilles road."</p> + +<p>"Where is Bijou?" asked M. de Rueille anxiously, +without replying to Henry's question.</p> + +<p>"She left us in the lurch, and started with the +carriages," answered Pierrot contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed Rueille, in a disappointed tone. +And then, turning to his brother-in-law, he +continued: "What have I been doing? well, I +stopped a minute or two to speak to Bernès, who was +with his lady-love; she had come in a cab to a +quiet spot, where no one would think of meeting her, +just for the sake of seeing Bernès for two or three +minutes; they cannot go a day without seeing each +other. She's a very pretty girl."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jean de Blaye, "and a sweet little +thing too; and she's been well brought up."</p> + +<p>"I had never seen her so near before."</p> + +<p>"Now that your horse has had a rest, Paul, we +had better get on our way, or we shall miss the +start."</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered M. de Rueille, setting off again; +"but we have plenty of time. Bernès is behind +me, you know."</p> + +<p>As soon as they had gone on some distance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +Bijou came out of the brushwood again. Her +complexion was wonderfully brilliant, and +eyes shone with the deep blue flame which +sometimes made their usually gentle expression +disconcerting.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Hubert de Bernès stayed a few minutes, after +M. de Rueille had left him, talking to Lisette +Renaud.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, it is settled?" asked the pretty +actress. "In spite of the dinner, you will come +early to the theatre?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You will stay in my <i>loge</i>?"</p> + +<p>"No! I must appear in the theatre."</p> + +<p>"But you have a horror of <i>La Vivandière</i>,—which +I can quite understand—and yet you are +going to see it again?"</p> + +<p>When Bijou had invited Bernès to come into +Madame de Bracieux's box, he had refused, knowing +that it would grieve Lisette to see him there.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle de Courtaix was very well known +in Pont-sur-Loire, and was greatly admired by +society women and those who were not society +women. Her costumes were imitated, and her +wonderful beauty envied, for it was said that she +was quite irresistible. The young lieutenant was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +perfectly aware that he, too, had been fascinated by +her charms the last few days. His affection for +Lisette had hitherto rendered him proof against +all such fascination. He was passionately fond of +the faithful and devoted young actress, who, for +the last two years, had loved him so truly, and +who would never accept from him any presents +but flowers or trifling souvenirs, which were of no +pecuniary value.</p> + +<p>Lisette earned some thirty pounds a month at +the Pont-sur-Loire theatre, and she had declared +that she would not receive from him any presents +whatever of any value. He had not dared to +insist, as he had feared to wound her feelings, or to +cause an estrangement between them. She was +very beautiful, but he loved her more for her +qualities of mind and heart than for her beauty.</p> + +<p>Since he had begun to pay attention to Bijou, +whom, until now, he had scarcely ever noticed, he +had felt greatly disturbed. It was all in vain that +he had said to himself, over and over again, +that Lisette, with her large expressive eyes, her +delicate complexion, her dazzlingly white teeth, +and her beautiful, elegant figure, was far prettier +than Mademoiselle de Courtaix. In spite of all +this, Bijou's violet eyes, her curly hair, and tempting +lips, haunted him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lisette, although she had no idea that her +happiness was in danger, felt a sort of uneasiness +take possession of her, and a vague sadness come +over her. She could not understand why Bernès +should answer her question in such a harsh way.</p> + +<p>"I shall have to see <i>La Vivandière</i> again +because, in order to refuse a seat that was offered +me in a box, I was obliged to say that I had promised +to go with some of my brother-officers to +the theatre."</p> + +<p>"Who was it who offered you a place?"</p> + +<p>"An old lady whom you do not know—Madame +de Bracieux—you are much wiser now, are you +not?"</p> + +<p>"Madame de Bracieux," she said, feeling sad, +without knowing exactly why she should feel so. +"She is the grandmother of Mademoiselle de +Courtaix."</p> + +<p>"How did you know that?" he asked, in +surprise.</p> + +<p>"Why, just as everyone else knows it in Pont-sur-Loire."</p> + +<p>"In the meantime," he said, in an irritated tone, +"I shall miss the meet if I don't look out."</p> + +<p>"Don't stay," said Lisette regretfully, "enjoy +yourself—and I shall see you this evening?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—this evening." Just as he was entering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +the wood, he turned round in his saddle, and +called out: "Above all, take care that they do +not see you; don't go where the carriages +are."</p> + +<p>And then, taking the path along which Bijou +had gone, some little time before, he put his horse +to a sharp gallop, in order to make up for lost time. +Suddenly he stopped short, trying to distinguish +something which he saw some distance ahead of +him.</p> + +<p>"Well!" he said to himself, "if it isn't a horse +without its rider!—some fine gentleman has got +himself landed already." As he drew nearer, he +saw that the horse had a lady's saddle, and he +uttered a cry as he perceived Bijou lying on her +back on the grass to the right of the path. One +of her arms was stretched out crosswise, and the +other was down at her side, her eyes were closed, +and her lips parted.</p> + +<p>Bernès sprang to the ground, fastened his horse +up, and then taking Denyse in his arms, tried to +prop her up against a tree. When, however, the +girl's head fell languidly on his shoulder, he drew +her to him, and, bending over her, kissed her soft +curly hair over and over again.</p> + +<p>"Bijou, dear Bijou!" he murmured, in spite of +himself; "listen to me, will you? answer me—speak<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +to me—I am so wretched seeing you like +this."</p> + +<p>At the end of two or three minutes Denyse gave +a very gentle sigh, and opened her eyes slowly.</p> + +<p>At the sight of Bernès her grave face lighted up +with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she murmured, "wasn't it stupid, that +fall?"</p> + +<p>"How did you manage it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I fancy my horse put his foot +in a hole."</p> + +<p>"And you went up in the air?"</p> + +<p>"That was it," she answered, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Are you hurt?"</p> + +<p>"Not the least bit in the world!" And then she +added pensively: "It's very nice of you to trouble +about me, and all the more so as you do not like +me, I know."</p> + +<p>Hubert de Bernès turned as red as a tomato.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mademoiselle, how can you think—"</p> + +<p>"I do think so—"</p> + +<p>"Well, but," he began, in an anxious voice, +"tell me at least whatever makes you imagine such +a thing?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, everything and nothing; it would take too +long to explain. Well, this morning, for instance, +when I asked you to go with us to the theatre,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +you looked quite annoyed, and you refused; oh, +yes—out and out. Well, why did you refuse?"</p> + +<p>"But, mademoiselle, I—I assure you—"</p> + +<p>"There you see, you cannot find a word to say, +not even the most common-place excuse."</p> + +<p>Shaking her head so that her hair came down +and fell over the young man's shoulder and against +his face, she went on talking, laughing all the time, +and still leaning against him for support.</p> + +<p>"I don't mind, though, at all, for whether you +want to or not now, you will have to come with us +to the theatre; you cannot refuse."</p> + +<p>"But—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, there is no but about it. I will have that +now for the payment of our bet."</p> + +<p>"Our bet?"</p> + +<p>"Well, did we not make a bet? I, that there +would be an accident, because there always are +accidents, you know; and you, that there would not +be one at all."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but—"</p> + +<p>"Well, it seems to me that this is one. Don't +you consider it enough—my accident? Well, I +wonder what more you want?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's true," he managed to stammer out. +"What an idiot I am! the fact is, I was so +frightened—if you only knew."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span></p> + +<p>She looked up at him with a sweet expression +in her beautiful eyes, and he was fascinated by her +sweetness.</p> + +<p>"Thank you again," she said, holding out her +little hand to him; "thank you for looking after +me; and now you had better go on quickly."</p> + +<p>"But can you mount again?"</p> + +<p>"Not just yet—I feel a sort of stiffness, and a +tired feeling all over. No, will you go on and tell +M. de Clagny to come with his carriage and fetch +me; don't say anything about it to the others; +I don't want grandmamma to know."</p> + +<p>As Hubert de Bernès was holding her hand +pressed against his lips, Bijou went on impatiently:</p> + +<p>"Go now, quickly! ask M. de Clagny to +leave his carriage on the road, and explain to +him that he will find me in the wood near +the road, just where I left him a little while +ago. And will you fasten Patatras to a tree +before you go away? Thank you!" She looked +at him again with her sweetest expression, and +asked once more: "It's settled, then, for this +evening, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's quite settled," he answered.</p> + +<p>As soon as he was out of sight, she lay down +again in exactly the same position in which Bernès +had found her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p> + +<p>A little later the sound of carriage-wheels was +heard along the road, and M. de Clagny, getting +down from his coach, entered the wood. At the +sight of Bijou, he uttered a cry of horror, and, +rushing to her, took her in his arms in his anxiety +and anguish.</p> + +<p>"Bijou, my love! my darling! dear little +Bijou!" And then, like Bernès, he added: "listen +to me, Bijou dear; answer me; please speak to +me!"</p> + +<p>He kissed her soft hair, and drew her closer and +closer to him, until at last she opened her eyes, +and looked up at him with her pretty, innocent +expression; and then, as though she were going to +sleep again, she murmured, as she laid her head +confidingly against him:</p> + +<p>"Ah, you are so nice to me; and I am so happy +like this! I should like to stay here always!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV.</h2> + + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Come</span> in!" called out Bijou.</p> + +<p>She was standing in front of the glass, brushing +her hair leisurely. The more she brushed, the +more her hair curled, and scented the atmosphere +at the same time with a delicate perfume.</p> + +<p>"The Count de Clagny has come, mademoiselle, +to ask how you are?" said the maid.</p> + +<p>"How I am?"</p> + +<p>"After the accident yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes! I had forgotten it!" And, going to +the window, she asked: "Is he driving?"</p> + +<p>"No, mademoiselle, he came on horseback; but +he is in the drawing-room."</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well, I will go down!"</p> + +<p>As soon as the domestic had gone, Bijou slipped +on another <i>peignoir</i> quickly. She then put on +some pink kid slippers without heels, which made +her little feet look delightfully droll, and with her +hair hanging loosely down over the frilled collar +of her long, loose dress, she ran downstairs to M. +de Clagny.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p> + +<p>On seeing her enter the room, the count rose +quickly. His face looked drawn and tired, and +there was a sad expression in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"How good of you to have put yourself about +to come so early on my account!" said Bijou, +holding out both her hands to him. He pressed +them to his lips whilst she went on: "Why, it is +scarcely eight o'clock! you must have started from +La Norinière awfully early!"</p> + +<p>"Don't let us trouble about me; but tell me how +you are?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I am perfectly well, thank you! You +saw yesterday that I followed the paper-chase just +as though I had not had any fall beforehand; and +then, in the evening at the theatre, I did not look +ill, did I?"</p> + +<p>"No, not exactly ill; but at the theatre it +seemed to me that you were a little excitable and +nervous." And then he added sadly: "I did not +see much of you though, either; you scarcely +troubled about anyone but Hubert de Bernès, and +you quite forsook your poor old friend."</p> + +<p>She got up and went to him.</p> + +<p>"Oh! how can you imagine—" she began, in a +coaxing way, but he interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"I did not imagine, alas! I saw for myself; +and I am not reproaching you, my dear little girl—young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +people of course prefer young people, it is +quite natural!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" said Bijou, with evident sincerity; +"not at all—I am not so fond as all that of young +people generally; and, above all, I cannot endure +young men about the age of M. de +Bernès."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I remember that you told me that once +before; you said so the first time I saw you; it was +here in this room, when we were waiting together +for the arrival of your guests to dinner."</p> + +<p>Denyse laughed.</p> + +<p>"Well, what a memory you have!"</p> + +<p>"Always, when it is a question of you." And +then, in a voice which trembled slightly, he asked: +"Do you remember something you said to me +yesterday?"</p> + +<p>"Yesterday?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yesterday, when I was holding you in my +arms, and you were nestling against me like a little +trembling bird!"</p> + +<p>Bijou appeared to be trying to remember what +it was. She opened her large eyes wide, and they +looked just then like pale violets.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't know what it was; I don't remember! +I was a little upset after my accident, +you know!" And then, as M. de Clagny remained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +silent, she asked: "Tell me, what could I +have said that was so interesting?"</p> + +<p>He repeated her words slowly, watching Bijou +all the time attentively, as she listened with an +amused air, her pretty lips parted.</p> + +<p>"You said, 'I am so happy like this; I should +like to stay here always.'"</p> + +<p>"I don't remember saying that; but, anyhow, I +was quite right, because it was perfectly true, +you know!"</p> + +<p>He drew Bijou to him, and asked:</p> + +<p>"Truly, would it not alarm you to see me always +near you like that?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no, it would not alarm me! Oh, no, not +at all!"</p> + +<p>"Really and truly?"</p> + +<p>"Really and truly! but why do you ask me that?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, for no reason at all. Do you know +whether Madame de Bracieux is up yet?"</p> + +<p>"She does not get up before half-past eight or +nine o'clock, especially when she is up late like +last night; it was nearly two o'clock when we came +in!"</p> + +<p>"And you are just as fresh-looking and as pretty +as though you had slept all night. Really, though, +I should very much like to see Madame de +Bracieux."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You want to speak to her yourself, or is it any +message I can take to her from you?"</p> + +<p>"No; I want to speak to her myself."</p> + +<p>"Well, you know she will probably keep you +waiting 'a spell,' as they say in this part of the +world."</p> + +<p>"Well, I will wait."</p> + +<p>Bijou looked at M. de Clagny in surprise. He +was pacing up and down the long room.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" she asked at last, in her +curiosity, "for there certainly is something the +matter!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! You keep marching backwards and +forwards. That reminds me—one day I saw Paul +de Rueille pacing about like that."</p> + +<p>"I saw him, too; it was the night of the La +Balue, Juzencourt & Co.'s dinner, whilst you were +singing."</p> + +<p>"No, oh, no! It was one day when he had +some ridiculous duel, and he did not know whether +it would be better to tell Bertrade, or not to tell +her."</p> + +<p>"And what did he do?"</p> + +<p>"I fancy he did not tell her anything about +it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, he had more pluck than I have."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Have you a duel on?" Bijou asked impetuously.</p> + +<p>"A duel if you like to call it that; and a +ridiculous one most certainly—a fight with impossibilities. +You cannot understand that, my +dear little Bijou."</p> + +<p>"And you think that grandmamma will understand +it better than I could?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know! Anyhow, she will listen to +me, and she will pity me."</p> + +<p>"But I, too,—I would listen, and I would pity +you."</p> + +<p>"I should not like to be pitied by you!" he +said, and the expression of his face betrayed deep +suffering.</p> + +<p>"You do not care for me, then?" she asked.</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny made a movement forward, then +stopping himself, he said, with a calmness that +contrasted strangely with the troubled look in his +eyes and his hoarse voice:</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; I do care for you. I care for you +very much, indeed." And then picking up his hat, +which he had put down on one of the tables, +he moved quickly towards the door, which +led on to the terrace. "I will wait in the +park," he said, "until the marchioness can see +me."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span></p> + +<p>When he saw, however, that Bijou had left the +drawing-room, he returned, and sank down on a +chair, looking suddenly much older from the effect +of some mental anxiety which was weighing on +him.</p> + +<p>The marchioness did not keep him waiting long. +She entered the room, with a smile on her face.</p> + +<p>"Well, you <i>are</i> an early visitor!" she began; but +on seeing the worried look on her old friend's face, +she asked anxiously: "Why, what is it? Whatever +has happened?"</p> + +<p>"A great misfortune."</p> + +<p>"Tell me?"</p> + +<p>"It is precisely for that I have come so early. +You will remember that when I came here for the +first time, a fortnight ago, I was admiring Bijou, +and you reminded me of the fact that she was +your grand-daughter, and might very well be +mine?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"I answered that I knew that perfectly well, +but that all that was mere reasoning, and that +when the heart remains young it does not listen to +reason."</p> + +<p>"I remember perfectly well! What then?"</p> + +<p>"What then? Well, at present, I love Bijou! +I love her with all my heart!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Absurd!" exclaimed the old lady, lifting her +hands in amazement.</p> + +<p>"You are certainly consoling!"</p> + +<p>"Well, but—my poor, old friend, what do you +want me to say? You do not expect to marry +Bijou, do you?"</p> + +<p>His eyes were moist, and his voice choked as he +replied:</p> + +<p>"No; I do not expect to! And yet, I beg you +to tell your grand-daughter what I have just confessed +to you. I am fifty-nine. I have twenty-four +thousand pounds a year. I am neither a bad +lot, nor am I utterly repulsive-looking, and I +love her as no other man can love her."</p> + +<p>"But only think that you are—"</p> + +<p>"Thirty-eight years older than she is; it is for +me that this difference of age is more to be feared. +Yes, I know that, and I am willing to accept all +the risks of such a disproportion."</p> + +<p>"And she?"</p> + +<p>"She? Well, let her decide for or against me. +She is twenty-one; she is no longer a child, and +she knows what she is about."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but that does not prevent me from +having a certain amount of responsibility, and—"</p> + +<p>"Ah, you see; you are afraid that she may +consent!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Afraid? oh, dear, no! I am quite convinced +that such an ideal little creature has, about the +man she dreams of for her husband, a vision of +someone quite different from you."</p> + +<p>"And, supposing, by chance—I do not expect +this at all—but, supposing you were mistaken, +what should you do?"</p> + +<p>"What do you want me to do?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing at all. And it is just this—I am afraid +that you would use your influence with Bijou."</p> + +<p>"No; I shall just tell her what I think; I ought +to, under the circumstances—but nothing more."</p> + +<p>"Then you <i>are</i> going to speak to her?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"May I come again a little later?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! give me until to-morrow. I shall not +speak to her, probably, before this evening; but +that need not prevent your coming to dinner +if you feel inclined to. It was for the—for +the answer that I was putting you off until +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"If she should refuse, I shall go away."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, how can I care where?—my life will +be over. I shall go and finish my days in some +out-of-the-way spot."</p> + +<p>"You talked like that some twelve years ago;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +and here you are to-day—I cannot say younger +than then." The marchioness stopped short, and +then continued, with a smile: "Why should I +not say it, though? You really do seem younger +to me now than you did in those days; you are +perfectly astonishing, my dear friend, anyone would +think you were about forty-five."</p> + +<p>"If only it were true what you say!"</p> + +<p>"It is, I assure you! but you know that does +not alter the fact that you are fifty-nine."</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny rose to take his leave.</p> + +<p>"Farewell!" he said, "until to-morrow." And +then, with a pathetic little smile, he added: "Or +until this evening. Yes,—towards the end of the +day I shall be taken with a violent desire to see +her again, and I shall come as I did the day before +yesterday, and Thursday, and every day."</p> + +<p>He took Madame de Bracieux's hand in his, and +clasped it nervously, as he murmured:</p> + +<p>"For the sake of our long friendship, I beg you, +be merciful to me."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>During luncheon the marchioness seemed preoccupied, +and several times M. de Jonzac asked +her what she was thinking about.</p> + +<p>"Whatever is it?" he said; "you have certainly +got the blues."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Aunt must have gone to bed very late," said +Jean de Blaye. "I heard you all come in; it must +have been two o'clock." And then, turning to +Bijou, he asked: "And how did you enjoy yourself? +was it nice?"</p> + +<p>"Delightful," she answered, in an absent sort of +way.</p> + +<p>"That little Lisette Renaud is perfectly charming," +said M. de Rueille, "with her beautiful, +large sad eyes. You liked her, too, did you not, +grandmamma?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Madame de Bracieux, "she is +perfectly fascinating, and she has an admirable +voice. I was astonished to find all that in Pont-sur-Loire; +astonished, too, at the elegance of the +house. There were plenty of pretty women, and +very well dressed, too."</p> + +<p>"Nearly all of them wore pink," put in Denyse, +"I noticed that."</p> + +<p>"Oh! that is through you," said M. de Rueille. +"The Pont-sur-Loire ladies see you always arrayed +in pink, and as you are considered by them to be +<i>tip-top</i>, they have taken to pink, too." And seeing +that Bijou looked surprised, he asked: "Well, +isn't that quite clear enough?"</p> + +<p>"It is quite clear," she answered, laughing, "but +a trifle imaginary. No one pays any attention to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +me, my dear Paul." And then, as Madame de +Rueille turned towards her, Bijou appealed to her: +"What do you think about the matter, Bertrade?"</p> + +<p>"I think that you are too modest."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Giraud, who was gazing at the +young girl with admiring eyes, "Mademoiselle +Denyse is too modest. Yesterday evening everyone +in the house was looking at her, and even the +actress herself—"</p> + +<p>"It's your imagination, Monsieur Giraud!" exclaimed +Bijou, interrupting him hastily. "I never +noticed that anyone was interested in our box; +but even if they were, it does not follow necessarily +that it was at me that—"</p> + +<p>"Evidently not," remarked Henry de Bracieux, +in a chaffing tone. "It was grandmamma in +whom the natives were so deeply interested."</p> + +<p>"No! but it might have been Jeanne Dubuisson."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's true! She is not known at all in +Pont-sur-Loire, therefore the sight of her would +naturally make a sensation."</p> + +<p>Bijou shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"You know that I have a horror of people +making a fuss about me, and you say things like +this all the time to tease me."</p> + +<p>"If you have a horror of making a sensation,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +exclaimed Pierrot, "that great Gisèle de la Balue +is not like you, I can tell you. She's one who +would change places with you. Yesterday, at the +paper-chase feed, she was bothering round everyone +like a great meat-fly; even Bernès sent her about +her business."</p> + +<p>"I think young Bernès is very nice," said the +marchioness. "I was noticing him all the evening +yesterday, and I like him very much. He is very +natural, has good manners, and is not by any +means stupid."</p> + +<p>Jean de Blaye noticed that Bijou was screwing +up her lips into a little pout of indifference.</p> + +<p>"You don't appear to be of the same opinion as +grandmamma?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear me! Yes, I am."</p> + +<p>"Well, you are not enthusiastic; you may as +well own it."</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, I own it."</p> + +<p>The marchioness turned to her grand-daughter:</p> + +<p>"Ah! and what have you against him?"</p> + +<p>"Why, nothing, grandmamma, nothing at all! +I think he is just like everyone else, and so when I +see him I can't go into ecstasies over him—that's +all."</p> + +<p>"I fancy," remarked M. de Rueille, "that the +man isn't born yet about whom you would go into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +ecstasies. You are very good-hearted, very indulgent. +You look upon everyone as all very well in +a negative sort of way, but, practically, it is quite +another matter."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you exaggerate!"</p> + +<p>"I exaggerate? Well, then, just mention one +man, one only, who is according to your fancy."</p> + +<p>"Why, M. de Clagny, for instance!"</p> + +<p>"You think he is nice; you like him?" said the +marchioness. "Yes, but how? You would not +marry him, I presume?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" answered Bijou, laughing, "I don't +want to marry him."</p> + +<p>Just as they were all leaving the table, Jean de +Blaye asked:</p> + +<p>"Has anyone any commissions for Pont-sur-Loire?"</p> + +<p>"What!" exclaimed Bijou, in surprise, "you are +going off to Pont-sur-Loire like that, all by yourself? +Why, whatever are you going to do there, I +wonder?"</p> + +<p>"What am I going to do there?" he said, slightly +disconcerted. "Why, I have some things to get."</p> + +<p>"Will you take me?"</p> + +<p>"Take you? But—"</p> + +<p>Ever since the evening when he had told Bijou +that he loved her, he had avoided, as much as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +possible, all opportunities of being alone with her. +She, on her part, had not changed her behaviour +towards him or Henry de Bracieux in any way. +She was just as free and cordial in her manner +with them as she had been before refusing them +her hand; and, indeed, it seemed as though she +had forgotten they had proposed to her.</p> + +<p>"What?"—she asked, looking astonished. +"You won't take me with you?"</p> + +<p>Thoroughly uncomfortable, and dreading the +long <i>tête-à-tête</i>, yet not daring in the presence of +all the others to refuse to take Bijou, he answered, +in a joking tone:</p> + +<p>"Why, yes! On the contrary, I am highly +flattered by the honour you are doing me!"</p> + +<p>"That's all right, then. You are very kind."</p> + +<p>"Oh, very; but, all the same, you will have +to take someone else to be with you as well, +because I have some business."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Denyse, in a disappointed tone, +"you don't want me with you when we get there."</p> + +<p>"But, Bijou, my dear," put in Madame de +Bracieux, "you could not, anyhow, go there—just +you two! It does not matter if Jean is your first +cousin; it would not be the thing, you know! You +must take Josephine with you; and even then I +don't know whether I ought to allow it—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But whatever do you want to do in Pont-sur-Loire?" +she added, after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Oh, only some errands, grandmamma; you forget +that there are always errands to be done for the +house. And then, too, I can go and see Jeanne; it is +just the day when M. Spiegel is busy and does not +go so that I shall not interrupt their billing and +cooing."</p> + +<p>"It does not seem to me as though they do much +billing and cooing!" said M. de Jonzac. "I was +watching them yesterday at the paper-chase, and +I'm very much mistaken if that engagement is +not a very half-and-half sort of affair."</p> + +<p>"But why should you think that, Uncle Alexis?" +asked Bijou, looking troubled.</p> + +<p>"Because the girl looks sad, and the professor +indifferent. Haven't you noticed that?"</p> + +<p>"No; but then I don't notice things much," she +answered.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On the way from Bracieux to Pont-sur-Loire, +Bijou and Jean were silent.</p> + +<p>In the town just near the station, they met +Madame de Nézel, who had come in from The +Pines by the half-past two train. On seeing her, +Bijou made a little movement, and was just about +to speak to her cousin, but, on second thoughts, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +said nothing, and only looked up at him, with a +sweet expression in her bright eyes. Jean, feeling +awkward and confused, had pretended not to see +Madame de Nézel, and she, instead of going on +into the centre of the town, had turned down +a narrow street, by some waste ground and +gardens. As she got out of the carriage with +Josephine at the Dubuissons' door, Bijou asked:</p> + +<p>"Where shall I find you? And at what +time?"</p> + +<p>"At the hotel; I will tell them to put the horse +in at six o'clock if that will suit you?"</p> + +<p>"At six o'clock!" she exclaimed, in astonishment. +"Oh, well! you <i>must</i> have plenty of things +to do! Three hours and a half of shopping in +Pont-sur-Loire!"</p> + +<p>Impatient and wishing above all things to +escape Bijou's innocent questioning, Jean offered +to start earlier, but she refused.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! why should you? I shall be delighted +to stay as long as you wish with Jeanne!"</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle Dubuisson was at home. Denyse +thought she looked sad, and her eyes had dark +circles round them.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter now?" she asked. +"There's something wrong."</p> + +<p>"Yes, things are not quite right."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Is—your <i>fiancé</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's just the same."</p> + +<p>"Which means——"</p> + +<p>"That I think he has got—well—a little cool. +But there is something else that has upset me to-day."</p> + +<p>"What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well! it is an event that really does not +concern me at all; but it has made me feel +wretched all the same." She avoided looking at +Bijou as she continued: "You know that—Lisette +Renaud?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Well?"</p> + +<p>"Well, she is dead—this morning."</p> + +<p>"Dead!—What of?"</p> + +<p>"People think she killed herself," said Jeanne, +almost in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"But how?"</p> + +<p>"By taking morphia. You know they could +not go into details before me, but I understood, +from what they were saying, that it was after an +explanation she had had with M. de Bernès."</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"Yesterday after the theatre, or else this morning. +Papa and M. Spiegel were talking of it at +luncheon; but in a vague sort of way, so that I +should not understand."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How fearfully sad!—I can quite understand +that it should have upset you."</p> + +<p>"Yes; it is only natural, and all the more so as, +just now, troubles from love affairs touch me very +nearly—and for a good reason!" she added, with a +sad little smile.</p> + +<p>"That poor little actress!" said Bijou, in a tone +of regret. "As a rule, I don't care much for +women who are on the stage, but this one seemed +to be nice, and then, she really did sing well—it is +a pity!—M. de Bernès must be wretched!"</p> + +<p>"Do you think people really are so wretched +when they cause others to suffer?" asked Jeanne, +still not looking at Bijou. "I don't think they +are! There are the thoughtless people, who make +others suffer without knowing it, and then there +are the others, who cause people to suffer because +it amuses them; and neither the former nor the +latter know what it is to feel remorse—"</p> + +<p>As Jeanne stood still, lost in thought, a far-away +look in her eyes, Bijou stroked her friend's +face gently.</p> + +<p>"There, don't think any more about these sad +things, Jeanne, dear," she said. "Your grief won't +change anything when the mischief is already done, +and you are making yourself wretched all in vain. +Come, now, let us talk about our play, and about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +dress, or no matter what—oh! by the bye, about +dress, does yours fit well at last?"</p> + +<p>"It fits; but it does not suit me!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's impossible!"</p> + +<p>"No, it's very natural, on the contrary! I +have not your complexion, remember! I am +paler than you are, and that pink makes me paler +still; and then I am thin, and the little gathered +bodice, which shows up your pretty figure to perfection, +makes me look no figure at all—it does +not matter, though—it's of no importance whatever!"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by saying it is of no +importance?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, don't you see, Bijou dear, that +whether one is well or badly dressed, if one is just +common-place as I am, one would always pass +unnoticed by the side of anyone as beautiful as +you are."</p> + +<p>Bijou turned her eyes up towards the ceiling, +and said, in a half-serious, half-joking way:</p> + +<p>"My poor dear child, you are wandering—you +don't know at all what you are talking about!" +And then suddenly changing her tone she asked: +"What time do you start to the races to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Papa will have arranged that +with M. Spiegel. Ah, tell me! shall you go early<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +to the Tourvilles' dance? I don't want to get +there before you."</p> + +<p>Denyse was looking at her watch.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I must go!" she exclaimed. "They +want some gardenias at home for button-holes; I +don't know where I shall be able to get any; someone +told me of a florist up by the station somewhere."</p> + +<p>"By the station? but there are only market-gardeners +there, no florists."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it seems that in that little lane—you +know—to the right of the quay—"</p> + +<p>"Lilac Lane, I know where you mean; but there +are only vegetable gardens there, and some waste +ground, and then a few small houses, that are +generally rented by officers because they are near +to the barracks."</p> + +<p>"Well, anyhow," said Bijou, getting up, "I'll go +and look round there!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Denyse was the first to arrive at the hotel. +Jean de Blaye was rather behind time, and when +he did appear, he looked sad, and his face was very +pale. He had met Madame de Nézel by appointment, +but she had only come to break off entirely +with him, and this freedom was of no use to him +now; but, at the same time, there was nothing left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +for him to do but accept his fate. They were both +wretched and discontented with each other, and +yet they had been obliged to stay together at their +trysting-place, because Bijou, escorted by the old +housekeeper Josephine, had been rambling up and +down the lonely lane for a good part of the afternoon. +She had gone backwards and forwards as +though in search of something, and with a persistency +which Jean could not understand, and +which made him feel very uneasy.</p> + +<p>When they were driving across the square by +the station at three o'clock, she had, perhaps, seen +Madame de Nézel turning down Lilac Lane. If +that were so, she had probably wanted to assure +herself whether her suspicions were correct. How +inquisitive and fond of ferreting she must be, then—this +Denyse whom he loved so dearly, and who +had, without knowing it, ruined his whole life.</p> + +<p>He apologised for his unpunctuality, and helped +Bijou into the carriage, whilst she assured him in +the sweetest way that he was not late at all.</p> + +<p>Just as he was wondering how he could ask her +what she had been doing, she volunteered the +information he wanted.</p> + +<p>"Do you know you will have your gardenias for +to-morrow after all? But it <i>has</i> been difficult to +get them. I have been running about all over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +Pont-sur-Loire nearly all the afternoon. They +sent me to the queerest little streets, where I got +lost, and never found the place at all."</p> + +<p>Delighted at this proof of Bijou's innocence, +Jean exclaimed involuntarily:</p> + +<p>"Ah! that was what you were hanging about +for in Lilac Lane?"</p> + +<p>She fixed her large astonished eyes on him, as +she asked:</p> + +<p>"However did you know? Did you see me?"</p> + +<p>"I did not," he answered quickly; "one of my +friends told me."</p> + +<p>"Who was it? Do I know him—your friend?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think so; he's an officer in Bernès' +regiment. Ah, by the bye, what do you think! +The poor little actress you heard last night—well, +she has killed herself!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know; it is a great pity!"</p> + +<p>Bijou said this in a tone which made it impossible +to continue the conversation on this topic. +She was so dignified, and her meaning was so +plain, that Jean almost regretted having said a +word to her of this affair, considering that it was a +trifle delicate; but, after all, as he said to himself, +Bijou was no child; she would soon be twenty-two!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>At four o'clock, M. de Clagny arrived at +Bracieux, his heart beating fast at the thought of +seeing Bijou again, and of seeing her quite free +and unconstrained as usual, for she would not yet +know of his proposal.</p> + +<p>He was very much disappointed on hearing that +she was at Pont-sur-Loire, and that she had gone +there with Jean. He asked the marchioness to +tell him candidly just what she thought would be +the result of his advances with reference to the +young girl, and Madame de Bracieux replied that +she could not approach the subject now, as +Denyse had declared to them all that very morning +that "she thought M. de Clagny charming, +but that she should not like to marry him."</p> + +<p>He stood the shock fairly well, but insisted that +Bijou should be told that evening of his proposal. +She would then have until the next day to think +it over, and that was what he wished.</p> + +<p>Denyse and Jean returned just at dinner-time. +When they came downstairs, everyone was at the +table, and the topic of conversation was the death +of poor Lisette Renaud.</p> + +<p>M. de Rueille had been out riding, and had met +some officers, who were on duty there, and who +had, of course, told him the story.</p> + +<p>"It is fearful," said Bertrade, "to think of that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +poor girl killing herself; she was so pretty, and so +young."</p> + +<p>"It is just because one is young that one would +commit suicide, if unhappy; otherwise one would +have to go on being wretched for so long a time," +said Giraud in a strange voice, which resounded +in the spacious dining-room.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> marchioness decided not to speak to Bijou +about M. de Clagny that evening, as she did not +want to disturb the young girl's rest.</p> + +<p>The following morning, however, she sent for +her, and Bijou arrived, gay and lively as usual. +She gave a little pout of disappointment when her +grandmother informed her that she wished to +speak to her about something very serious.</p> + +<p>"It concerns one of my greatest friends," began +Madame de Bracieux, "and he is also a friend of +yours."</p> + +<p>"M. de Clagny?" interrupted Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Yes, M. de Clagny. You must have seen that +he is very fond of you, haven't you?"</p> + +<p>"I am very fond of him, too, very fond of him."</p> + +<p>"Exactly, but you care for him as though he +were your father, or a delightful old uncle, whilst +he does not care for you either as though you were +his daughter, or niece; in short, you will be very +much astonished—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Astonished at what?" asked Bijou timidly.</p> + +<p>"At—well, he wants to marry you, that's the +long and short of it."</p> + +<p>"He, too?" murmured the young girl, looking +bewildered.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by 'he, too'?" exclaimed +the marchioness, bewildered in her turn; "who else +wants to marry you that you say 'he, too '?"</p> + +<p>Denyse blushed crimson.</p> + +<p>"I ought to have told you all that before, grandmamma," +she said, sitting down on a little stool +at Madame de Bracieux's feet; "but we have been +so dissipated just lately, what with the paper-chase, +the theatre, the races, and the dances, that +I don't seem to have had a minute, and then, too, +it was not very interesting either."</p> + +<p>"Ah! that's your opinion, is it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, considering that I don't want to marry +either of them."</p> + +<p>"Well, but who is it, child, who is it?" asked +the marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Why, just Henry and Jean. Jean spoke to +me first for Henry, who, it seems, had got him to +ask me whether I would allow him to ask your +permission to marry me. I answered that he +ought to have asked <i>you</i> first and not me—"</p> + +<p>"You are a real little Bijou, my darling."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But that it really did not matter, as I did not +want to marry him."</p> + +<p>"He is not rich enough for you, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know anything about that. And +then, too, all that is quite the same to me, but I +should not like Henry for a husband. I know +him too well."</p> + +<p>"Ah! and what about Jean?"</p> + +<p>"Jean, too, I should not like as a husband. That +is just what I told him, when, after I had refused +Henry, he began again on his own account."</p> + +<p>"They go ahead—my grandchildren. Now I +can understand how it is that, for the last few days, +they have had faces as long as fiddles."</p> + +<p>There was a short silence, and then Madame de +Bracieux remarked, as though in conclusion:</p> + +<p>"I know then, now, what your answer is to my +poor old friend Clagny."</p> + +<p>"How do you know, though?"</p> + +<p>"Because if you will not have either of your +cousins, who are, both of them, in their different +ways, very taking, it is scarcely probable that you +would accept an old friend of your grandmother's."</p> + +<p>"But he, too, is very taking!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's true; but he is sixty years old!"</p> + +<p>"He does not look it!"</p> + +<p>"He is though."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I know; but that does not make any difference +to the fact that I should not mind marrying him +any more than I should Jean or Henry."</p> + +<p>"You do not know what marriage is; you do +not understand."</p> + +<p>Bijou half closed her beautiful, bright eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, speaking slowly, "I do understand +quite well, grandmamma."</p> + +<p>"Well, all this is no answer for me to give to M. +de Clagny."</p> + +<p>"Is he coming to-day?"</p> + +<p>"He is coming directly."</p> + +<p>Bijou moved uneasily on her footstool, and then, +after a moment's consideration, she said:</p> + +<p>"You can tell him, grandmamma, that I am very +much touched, and very much flattered that he +should have thought of me, but that I do not want +to marry yet—" And then, laying her head on the +marchioness's lap, she added: "because I am too +happy here with you."</p> + +<p>"My little Bijou! my darling Bijou!" murmured +Madame de Bracieux, stooping to kiss the pretty +face lifted towards her, "you know what a comfort +you are to me; but, all the same, you cannot stay +for ever with your old grandmother. I am not +saying that, though, in order to persuade you into a +marriage that would be perfect folly."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p> + +<p>Denyse looked up at the marchioness, as she +asked:</p> + +<p>"Folly? But why folly?"</p> + +<p>"Because M. de Clagny is thirty-eight years +older than you are, and he will be quite infirm just +when you are in your prime; and such marriages +have certain inconveniences which—well—which +you would be the first to find out."</p> + +<p>Bijou had risen from her low seat on hearing the +sound of carriage-wheels, which drew up in front of +the hall-door. She looked through the window, +and then ran away, saying:</p> + +<p>"Here he is, grandmamma!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>During luncheon, Madame de Bracieux announced, +in a careless, indifferent way:</p> + +<p>"M. de Clagny is leaving here; he came to say +good-bye to me this morning."</p> + +<p>Bijou looked up, and Jean de Blaye remarked:</p> + +<p>"He is leaving here? Why, it seemed as +though he had taken root in this part of the +world."</p> + +<p>"Oh," put in M. de Rueille, "old Clagny's roots +are never very deep."</p> + +<p>Bijou turned towards the marchioness.</p> + +<p>"When is he leaving, grandmamma?" she asked +anxiously.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, at once; to-morrow, I think. Anyhow, +we shall see him to-night at Tourville; he is going +to the ball in order to see everyone to whom he +wants to say good-bye."</p> + +<p>"And he is not going to the races?"</p> + +<p>"No, he is busy packing."</p> + +<p>"And our play to-morrow!" exclaimed Denyse, +in consternation. "He had promised me over and +over again to come to it."</p> + +<p>The marchioness glanced at her grand-daughter, +and said to herself that, decidedly, even with the +kindest heart in the world, youth knows no pity.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Bijou's arrival at the Tourville ball was a veritable +triumph. In her pink crêpe dress, which +matched her complexion admirably, she looked +wonderfully pretty, and different from anyone else.</p> + +<p>"Just look at the Dubuisson girl," said Louis de +la Balue to M. de Juzencourt. "She has tried to get +herself up like Mademoiselle de Courtaix. She +has copied her dress exactly, and just see what she +looks like. She might pass for her maid, and +that's the most she could do. How is it, now?"</p> + +<p>M. de Juzencourt laughed gruffly.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's just that if the outside is the same, +what's inside it isn't the same. Isn't she going +to be married?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, she's going to marry a young Huguenot, +who must be somewhere about, hiding in some +corner or another. Ah! No! he isn't in a corner +either. There he is, like all the others, fluttering +round 'The Bijou.'"</p> + +<p>"And you? You don't flutter round her?" +asked M. de Juzencourt.</p> + +<p>"I? I'd marry her—because, sooner or later, +one's got to get married, or one's parents make a +fuss, because of keeping up the name, you know—but +as to fluttering round—By Jove, no! that +isn't in my line!" and then, in a languid way, he +went off to Henry de Bracieux.</p> + +<p>"How hot it is," he began, glancing at him +dreamily, and speaking in a low voice, with an +affected drawl. "You are lucky not to turn red. +You've got such a complexion, though, that's true. +You look like a regular Hercules, and yet, with +that, your complexion is as delicate—"</p> + +<p>As he was leaning towards him, and looking +sentimental, Henry exclaimed impatiently, in his +full, sonorous voice:</p> + +<p>"Oh! hang my complexion!" and turning +away, he left young La Balue planted there in +the middle of the drawing-room, and went off +himself to Jean de Blaye, who, with a melancholy +expression on his face, was standing at some distance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +off, watching Bijou through the intricacies of +a dance, for which six partners had all tried to +claim her.</p> + +<p>When M. de Clagny approached Denyse, and +bowed to her ceremoniously, she said at once, +without even returning his bow:</p> + +<p>"Grandmamma has told me that you are going +away. I am sure that it is because of me?"</p> + +<p>He nodded assent, and she put her little hand +through his arm, and moved in the direction of +another room, which was almost empty.</p> + +<p>"Please," she began, in a beseeching tone, +"please, do not go away."</p> + +<p>"And I, in my turn," he answered, deeply +moved, "must say, please, Bijou, do not ask what +is impossible. I have not been able to be with +you without getting as foolish as all the others. +I have let myself go on dreaming, just as fools +dream, and now that all is over, I must try to become +wise again, and to forget my dream, and in +order to do that I must go away, very far away, too."</p> + +<p>"You thought that—that I should say yes?" +she asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, you were so good to me, so sweet and +confiding always, that I did hope—yes, God help +me—I did hope—that perhaps you would let +me go on loving you."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And so it was my fault that you hoped that?" +she said dreamily.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't your fault—it was mine; one always +does hope what one wants."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am sure that I ought not to have behaved +as I did with you." And her eyes filled with +tears as she murmured, almost humbly: "I am +so sorry! will you forgive me?"</p> + +<p>"Bijou!" exclaimed M. de Clagny, almost +beside himself. "My dear Bijou, it is I who ought +to ask your forgiveness for causing you a moment's +sadness."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, be kind—don't go away! not to-morrow, +at any rate! Promise me that you will +come to Bracieux to-morrow to see us act our +play! Oh, don't say no! And then, afterwards, +I will talk to you—better than I could this +evening." And gazing up at him with her soft, +luminous eyes, she added: "You won't regret +coming, I am sure."</p> + +<p>Jean de Blaye was just passing by at that +moment, and Bijou stopped him, and said, in a +coaxing way:</p> + +<p>"Won't you ask me for a waltz? do, please, you +waltz so well."</p> + +<p>And laying her hand on his shoulder, she disappeared, +just as Pierrot arrived to claim his dance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Leave your cousin in peace," said M. de +Jonzac, who was seated on a divan watching the +dancing. "You are much too young to ask girls +to dance with you—I mean girls like Bijou."</p> + +<p>"Ah, how old must I be then before I can ask +them—not as old as you, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"You certainly have a nice way of saying +things."</p> + +<p>"I say, father, why do Jean and Henry say that +young La Balue gets to be worse and worse form?"</p> + +<p>"Young La Balue? Oh, I don't know."</p> + +<p>"They say that he makes himself up."</p> + +<p>"That's true."</p> + +<p>"And that he gets to be worse and worse +form! How?"</p> + +<p>"If you want to know how, you have only to +ask your cousins: they will tell you."</p> + +<p>"They won't, though! I asked them, and Jean +just said, 'Don't come bothering here.' Are we +going home soon?"</p> + +<p>"Going home? why, your cousin is sure to stay +for the cotillion."</p> + +<p>"I was very stupid to come here instead of +staying with M. Giraud and the abbé."</p> + +<p>"Ah, by the bye, why didn't he come—M. +Giraud? Bijou asked for an invitation for him."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but he wouldn't come: he is awfully down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +in the dumps, and has been for some time. He +doesn't eat, and he doesn't sleep either; instead of +going to bed, he goes off walking by the river all +night."</p> + +<p>"And you don't know what's the matter with +him?"</p> + +<p>"The matter with him! I think it is Bijou that +is the matter with him."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? Bijou the matter with +him?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, it's the same with Jean, and Henry, +and Paul. You can see very well, father, that +they are all running after her, can't you? not to +speak of old Clagny, who isn't worth counting +now." He stopped a minute, and then finished +off, in a sorrowful way: "and not to speak of me +either, for I don't count yet."</p> + +<p>"Oh! you exaggerate all that," said M. de +Jonzac, quite convinced that his son was in the +right, but not wanting to own it. "Bijou is certainly +very pretty, and it is not surprising that—"</p> + +<p>Pierrot interrupted his father eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Oh! it isn't that she is just pretty only, but +she is good, and clever, and jolly, and everything. +They are quite right to fall in love with +her, and, if I were only twenty-five—"</p> + +<p>"If you were twenty-five, my dear young man,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> +she would send you about your business, as she +does the others."</p> + +<p>"That's very possible," replied Pierrot philosophically, +but at the same time sadly; and then, +pointing to Bijou, who was just standing talking +to Jeanne Dubuisson in the middle of the room, he +said: "Isn't she pretty, though, father? Just look +at her; she is dressed absolutely like Jeanne, their +dresses are just alike, stitch for stitch, as old Mère +Rafut says. I'm sure that, if they mixed them up +when they were not in them themselves, there'd be +no telling which was which after; and yet like that +on them, I mean, they don't look alike at all! Do +you think I might venture to ask her for a dance, +father—Jeanne Dubuisson?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; she is good-hearted enough to give +you one!"</p> + +<p>A minute or two later and Jeanne went off with +Pierrot for the next dance. M. Spiegel crossed +over to Bijou, and asked her for the waltz which +was just commencing, but she shook her head, +saying:</p> + +<p>"I am so tired, if you only knew!"</p> + +<p>"Only just a little turn, won't you?" he begged. +"Ever since the beginning of the evening I have +not been able to get a single waltz with you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; please don't ask me! I do want to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +rest; I—" and then, suddenly making up her mind +to speak out, she said, "Well, then, no; it isn't +that—I know I am not clever at telling untruths—I +am not at all tired, but I don't want to waltz with +you, because—"</p> + +<p>"Because?"</p> + +<p>"Because I am afraid of hurting Jeanne's feelings—"</p> + +<p>"Hurting Jeanne's feelings! But how?" he +asked, in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Well, it sounds very vain what I am going to +say, but I must tell you all the same. Why, I +think that Jeanne worships you to such a degree +that she is jealous of everyone who approaches +you, or who speaks to you, or who looks at you +even!"</p> + +<p>M. Spiegel looked displeased; he knitted his +brows, and his placid-looking face suddenly took a +hard expression.</p> + +<p>"She has told you so?"</p> + +<p>Bijou answered with the eagerness and embarrassment +of anyone feeling compelled to tell +an untruth.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no—no, I have just imagined it myself; +you know I am so fond of Jeanne! I know +all that passes in her mind, and I should be so +wretched if I caused her any unhappiness—or even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +the slightest anxiety; do you understand what I +mean?"</p> + +<p>"I understand that you are just an angel of +goodness, mademoiselle, and that it is no wonder +they are all so fond of you!"</p> + +<p>Bijou was looking down on the floor, her breath +coming and going quickly, a faint flush had come +into her cheeks, and her nostrils were quivering, +as she listened silently to the young professor's +words.</p> + +<p>He put his arm round her waist, took her little +hand in his, as she offered no resistance, and +whirled her off into the midst of the dance. M. +Spiegel waltzed divinely, and Bijou was passionately +fond of the waltz <i>à trois temps</i>. With a flush +on her cheeks, her eyes half-closed, and her lips +parted, showing her dazzling white teeth, she +went on whirling round as long as the orchestra +played. Several times she passed quite close to +Jeanne, without even seeing her poor friend, who +was being jerked about by Pierrot. The youth +kept treading on his partner's toes, or knocking her +against the furniture; and when, now and again, +Jeanne would stop to get breath, Pierrot would +chatter away most eloquently about all kinds of +sports, of which she was absolutely ignorant.</p> + +<p>"You know," he said, putting out his enormous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +foot and his formidable knee, "I am a very second-rate +dancer, but I'm very good at football. Our +team is going to play a match this winter against +the Pont-sur-Loire team; you ought to see it; it +will be first-class! I keep goal; you should just +see what jolly kicks—"</p> + +<p>He broke off as Jeanne did not speak. She +was looking uneasily at her <i>fiancé</i> as he passed +and re-passed, apparently happy in guiding Bijou +along through the rapid whirl of the dance.</p> + +<p>"I am boring you," said Pierrot; "shall we go +on now?"</p> + +<p>"No," she replied, in a changed voice; "I do not +feel quite myself, and it is so warm! Will you +take me across to papa—he is playing cards over +there. I should like to go home!"</p> + +<p>Whilst they were on their way to M. Dubuisson, +Bijou stopped M. Spiegel just near the orchestra; +and said, in a laughing voice:</p> + +<p>"Why, you are indefatigable—one must get one's +breath, though; besides, the waltz is just finishing +now!"</p> + +<p>She glanced at the four wretched musicians, who +were in a deplorable state, with their shiny-looking +coats, their limp shirt-fronts, and their faces bathed +in perspiration.</p> + +<p>"Why, Monsieur Sylvestre!" she suddenly exclaimed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +"Good evening, Monsieur Sylvestre! +Well, I never! I didn't expect to see you!"</p> + +<p>The poor fellow looked up eagerly, and, gazing +at Bijou, with his soft, blue eyes full of deep distress, +he stammered out:</p> + +<p>"I did not expect to be seen either, mademoiselle!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> going to bed at five in the morning, Bijou +slept for two hours, and when, later on, she went +to the marchioness's room, she looked as fresh and +as thoroughly rested as after a long night's sleep.</p> + +<p>"Grandmamma," she said, "I have been thinking +a great deal ever since yesterday."</p> + +<p>"About what?"</p> + +<p>"Why, about what you told me as regards +M. de Clagny."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the marchioness, rather annoyed at +a subject being brought up again, which she had +thought over and done with.</p> + +<p>Rather selfish, like nearly all elderly people, it +seemed to her utterly useless to trouble about +matters which were painful or sad, except just +to settle them off once for all.</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking," continued Bijou. "And +then, too, I saw M. de Clagny last night at the +ball—"</p> + +<p>"Well, and what is the result of all this thinking +and of this interview?" asked the marchioness, +rather anxiously.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The result is that I have changed my mind."</p> + +<p>"What do you say?"</p> + +<p>"I say that, with your permission, I will marry +M. de Clagny."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! you won't do anything of the +kind."</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because it would be madness."</p> + +<p>"Why, no, grandmamma, it would be very wise, +on the contrary; if I did not marry him, I should +never again all my life long have a minute's peace."</p> + +<p>"Because?—"</p> + +<p>"Because I have seen that he is dreadfully and +horribly unhappy."</p> + +<p>"No doubt; but that will all be forgotten in +time."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, it won't be forgotten! And I told you +I like M. de Clagny more than I have ever liked +anyone—except you; and so the idea that he is +wretched on my account—and, perhaps, a little +through my fault—would seem odious to me, and +would make me unhappy—much more unhappy +even than he is."</p> + +<p>"But you would be still more so if you married +him. Listen, Bijou, dear, you know nothing about +life, nor about marriage. I have, perhaps, been +wrong in bringing you up so strictly, not letting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> +you read or hear enough about things; there are +certain duties and obligations which marriage imposes +upon us, and about which you know nothing, +and these duties—well, you ought to know something +about them, before rushing headlong into +such a terrible venture as this."</p> + +<p>"No!" said Bijou, with a gesture to prevent +Madame de Bracieux continuing, "don't tell me +anything, grandmamma. I know what responsibilities +I should have to accept, and what my duty +would be, and I have decided—decided irrevocably—to +become the wife of M. de Clagny, whom I +love dearly." And then, as the marchioness made +a movement as though to protest, she repeated: +"Yes, I love him dearly; and the proof is that +the idea of marrying him does not terrify me, +whilst the thought of marrying the others made +me feel a sort of repulsion."</p> + +<p>She knelt down in front of the marchioness, and +began again in a coaxing voice:</p> + +<p>"Say that you will consent, grandmamma; say +so—do, please."</p> + +<p>"You are nearly twenty-two. I cannot overrule +you as though you were a little child, therefore +I consent, but without any enthusiasm, I can +assure you, and I implore you to reconsider the +matter, Bijou, my dear. I am afraid that you are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +following the impulse of your kind heart and of +your extremely sensitive nature and making a +mistake that will be irreparable."</p> + +<p>"I do not need to consider the matter any more; +I have done nothing else ever since yesterday; +and I know that this is my only chance of happiness, +or of what at any rate seems to be the most +like happiness. Don't say anything to anyone +about it, will you, grandmamma?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear no! you can be easy on that score; +you don't imagine that I am in a hurry to announce +such an engagement, and to contemplate +the horrified, astonished looks they will all put on. +Oh, no; if you think I am in a hurry, you are +mistaken, my darling."</p> + +<p>"And above all, don't say anything to M. de +Clagny; I am enjoying the thought of telling him +this evening."</p> + +<p>"But he told me that he should not come—"</p> + +<p>"Ah! but he promised me that he would come." +And then, holding up her merry face to be kissed, +she added: "And now I must go and attend to +our scenery, and to the footlights, which won't +light, and to my costume, which is not finished."</p> + +<p>The marchioness took Bijou's head in her beautiful +hands, which were still so white and smooth, +and kissing her, murmured:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Go, then; and may Heaven grant that we shall +have no cause to regret—your good-heartedness—and—my +weakness."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The Dubuissons and M. Spiegel had promised +to come at four o'clock. One of the scenes which +did not go very well had to be rehearsed. Bijou, +who was busy gathering flowers, went towards the +cab when they arrived, and was surprised to see +only Jeanne and her father.</p> + +<p>"What have you done with M. Spiegel?" she +asked.</p> + +<p>It was M. Dubuisson who answered, in a confused +sort of way:</p> + +<p>"He is coming—with your cousin M. de Rueille, +who was at Pont-sur-Loire and who offered to +bring him."</p> + +<p>"Don't disturb your grandmamma," said Jeanne, +taking Bijou's arm. "Papa won't come in yet, he +has his lecture to prepare, and he will go and do +it, walking about in the park." And then, as soon +as M. Dubuisson had moved off, she began again: +"If M. Spiegel and I had not had parts in the +play, and so had not been afraid of spoiling it for +you by not appearing, we should not have come."</p> + +<p>"You would not have come?" exclaimed Bijou, +in astonishment; "and why not, pray?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Because we are now in the most false and +ridiculous position."</p> + +<p>"You?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we are—our engagement is broken off."</p> + +<p>"Broken off!" repeated Bijou, in consternation; +"broken off! but what for?"</p> + +<p>"Because I was quite certain that he cared for +me very little or not at all," answered Jeanne, +speaking very calmly, but not looking at Bijou, +"and so I told him this morning that I did not +feel equal to accepting the life of misery which I +foresaw, and that I gave him back his liberty."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens, is it possible—and you do not +regret anything?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing! I am very wretched, but my mind is +more easy."</p> + +<p>Bijou looked straight into her eyes as she asked:</p> + +<p>"And it is—it is because of me, isn't it? it is +because of M. Spiegel's manner towards me that +you broke it all off?" Jeanne nodded, and Bijou +went on: "And so you really thought that your +<i>fiancé</i> was making love to me?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, as to making love to you, no, perhaps not—but +he certainly cares for you."</p> + +<p>"And what then?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by <i>what then</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Well, what would be the end of that for him?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, it would cause him to suffer; and who +knows, he might have hoped—?"</p> + +<p>"Hoped what? to marry me?"</p> + +<p>"No—yes! I don't know; he might have hoped +in a vague sort of way—I don't know what."</p> + +<p>"And do you think that I can endure the idea +of causing your unhappiness, no matter how involuntarily +on my part?"</p> + +<p>"It is not in your power to alter what +exists."</p> + +<p>Bijou appeared to be turning something over in +her mind.</p> + +<p>"Supposing I were to marry," she said at last +abruptly. And then hiding her face in her hands +she said in a broken voice: "M. de Clagny wants +to marry me."</p> + +<p>"M. de Clagny!" exclaimed Jeanne, stupefied, +"why, he's sixty!"</p> + +<p>"I said no; I will say yes, though."</p> + +<p>"You are mad!"</p> + +<p>"Not the least bit in the world! I am practical. +The remedy is perhaps a trifle hard, but what is to +be done? I love you so, Jeanne, that the idea of +seeing you unhappy makes me wretched!"</p> + +<p>"I assure you, though, that even if you marry +M. de Clagny, I should not marry M. Spiegel. +He said things to me just now which were very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> +painful, and no matter how much I tried, I could +not forget them."</p> + +<p>"Painful things, about what?"</p> + +<p>"About my jealousy—he said that it was +ridiculous—and yet I had not complained about +anything. I kept it from him as much as possible, +my jealousy; but at the ball, I did not feel well, +and I asked papa to take me home, and he was +displeased about that, he thought I was sulking."</p> + +<p>"Oh, all that will soon be forgotten!"</p> + +<p>"No! and so you see, Bijou, it would be for +nothing at all that you would commit the very +worst of all follies—marrying an old man."</p> + +<p>"An old man! it's queer, he does not seem to +me at all like an old man—M. de Clagny! I +should certainly prefer marrying a younger man +and one whom I should like in every respect, but +now—"</p> + +<p>Jeanne put her arm round Bijou and, resting her +hand on her friend's shoulder, kissed her as she said:</p> + +<p>"You must just wait for him in peace, the one +'whom you would like in every respect!' You +have plenty of time!"</p> + +<p>"No, I have quite decided! Whatever you do +now will be useless, for, in spite of what you say, +when once the cause of your little misunderstanding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> +has vanished, the misunderstanding will vanish +in the same way. There now, kiss me again, and +tell me that you love me."</p> + +<p>"Well!" said Jean de Blaye, who now appeared +with M. Spiegel, "is everyone ready; are we going +to rehearse?"</p> + +<p>For the last few days he had been in a nervous, +excitable state, feeling the need of anything that +would take him out of himself, and doing his +utmost all the time to keep himself from thinking. +"Yes," answered Denyse very calmly, wiping +her eyes quickly, "we are ready; we were only +waiting for you." And then, in a very gracious, +natural way, she held out her hand to M. Spiegel, +who took it, saying at the same time:</p> + +<p>"You are not too tired, mademoiselle, after such +a late night?" And then, glancing involuntarily +at Mademoiselle Dubuisson's rather sallow-looking +face, he added: "Why, you are looking fresher +even than yesterday."</p> + +<p>Jeanne came nearer to Bijou, and, as they moved +away together, she said, pointing to the professor, +and with a look of intense grief in her gentle eyes:</p> + +<p>"You see your remedy would not do; he is +incurable."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The little play was performed before a large +audience of guests, who were highly amused. +Bijou was so pretty in her costume as Hebe, +she looked so pure and maidenly and so +sweet, that, when the piece was finished, and she +wanted to go and put on her ball-dress, everyone +begged her to remain just as she was. +As she was going away into a side-room to +escape the compliments of the various guests, +M. de Rueille stopped her, and said, in a sarcastic +tone:</p> + +<p>"And so that is the costume that was to be +quite the thing, and which, in order to please me, +you were going to get Jean to alter?"</p> + +<p>Jean came up just at this moment, with Henry +de Bracieux and Pierrot.</p> + +<p>"Accept my compliments," said M. de Rueille +drily, turning towards him; "you certainly know +how to design costumes for pretty girls; but, if I +were you, I would have been rather more +careful."</p> + +<p>"Why, what's up with you?" asked Jean, without +even looking at Bijou; "the costume's right +enough!"</p> + +<p>"Besides," remarked Bijou tranquilly, "there are +only three persons who have any right to trouble<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> +themselves about my costumes—grandmamma, I +myself, or my husband."</p> + +<p>"Yes, if you had one!"</p> + +<p>"Certainly; well, I shall be having one!"</p> + +<p>Jean de Blaye shrugged his shoulders incredulously, +and Bijou continued:</p> + +<p>"I assure you it is quite true! I am going to +be married."</p> + +<p>"To whom?" asked M. de Rueille uneasily.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, what a good joke!" remarked Pierrot.</p> + +<p>"Whom are you going to marry?" asked Henry +de Bracieux. "Tell us!"</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny had just entered the room, and +putting her arm through his, she said, in a mischievous +way, to the others:</p> + +<p>"I am going to tell M. de Clagny." And then, +turning to him, she added: "Let us go out-doors, +though; it is stifling in here!"</p> + +<p>"Isn't she æsthetic this evening?" murmured +Pierrot, gazing at Bijou's long Grecian cloak of +pale pink. "I should think M. Giraud would think +her perfect to-night; he's always saying she isn't +made for modern costumes."</p> + +<p>"Ah, by the bye, where is he—Giraud?" asked +Jean de Blaye; "he disappeared after dinner, and +we have not seen him again!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span></p> + +<p>Pierrot explained that he must have gone off for +a stroll along the river, as he did nearly every +evening. He was getting more and more odd, +and had fits of gaiety and melancholy, turn by +turn. That very morning he had left the schoolroom +in order to go to Madame de Bracieux, who +had sent to ask him to translate an English letter +for her; and then he had come back some time +after, saying that he had not ventured to knock, +because he could hear that the marchioness was +talking to Mademoiselle Denyse, and ever since +then he had not uttered another word.</p> + +<p>"Where the devil's he gone?" asked Jean; and +Pierrot, speaking through his nose, began to imitate +the street vendors on the boulevards.</p> + +<p>"Where is Bulgaria? Find Bulgaria!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>When she was alone with M. de Clagny under +the big trees, Bijou said, in the sweetest way:</p> + +<p>"I came back home this morning, quite wretched +at having caused you any sorrow. It seemed to me +that I must have been too affectionate in my +manner towards you—too free—and that I had made +you think something quite different. Is that so?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is just it—and so you have no affection +at all for me?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You know very well that I have!"</p> + +<p>"I mean that you like me just as though I were +some old relative or another."</p> + +<p>"More than that!"</p> + +<p>"Well, but you do not love me enough to—to—love +me as a husband?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know at all. I cannot understand +myself just what I feel for you. In the first place, +I think you are very nice-looking, and very charming, +too; and then, when you are here, I feel as +though I am surrounded with care and affection. +It seems to me that I breathe more freely, that I +am gayer and happier, and I have never, never felt +like that before—"</p> + +<p>Very much touched by what she was saying, and +very anxious, too, about what she was going to say, +the count pressed Bijou's arm against his without +answering.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," she continued, "I thought that, as +I liked you better than I have ever yet liked anyone, +and that, on the other hand, I should never be able +to console myself for having caused you so much +sorrow, the best thing would be to marry you."</p> + +<p>M. de Clagny stopped short, and asked, in a +choked voice:</p> + +<p>"Then you consent?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"My darling!" he stammered out, "my darling!"</p> + +<p>"I told grandmamma this morning," continued +Bijou, "and I must confess that she was not +delighted. She did all she could to make me +change my mind."</p> + +<p>"I can quite understand that."</p> + +<p>"She thinks that it is mad, for you as well as for +me, to marry when there is such disproportion of +age; and then, she did not say so, but I could see +that there was something troubling her, which +troubles me too, though to a much less degree."</p> + +<p>"And it is?"</p> + +<p>"The disproportion in money matters. Yes—it +appears that you are horribly rich. Grandmamma +said so yesterday, when she told me that you had +asked for my hand."</p> + +<p>"What can it matter, Bijou, dear, whether I am +a little more or less rich?"</p> + +<p>"It matters a great deal, with grandmamma's +ideas about things especially. Oh, it is not that +she thinks it humiliating for me to be married +without anything, for I have nothing, you know, in +comparison with what you have! No, she looks +upon marriage as a partnership, or exchange of +what one has. '<i>Give me what you've got, and I'll<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> +give you what I've got</i>,' as the country people here +say. Well, you have your name, which is a good +one, and your money, which makes you a very rich +man; on my side, I have my name, which is rather +a good one, too, and my youth, which certainly +counts for something."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, and how can the disproportion +of what we have make your grandmamma +uneasy?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it's like this, you know—grandmamma is +very fond of me, and she thinks that, as I am +thirty-eight years younger than you, you might die +before me, and that, after living for years in very +great luxury, after letting myself get accustomed +to every comfort, which, up to the present, I have +not had, I might suddenly find myself very poor +and very wretched at an age when it would be too +late to begin life over again, and so I should suffer +very much on account of the bad habits I had contracted, +and which I should not be able to drop—"</p> + +<p>"You know very well, my adored Bijou, that +everything I possess is and will be yours. My +will is already made, in which I leave everything to +you, even if you do not become my wife."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but she always says a will could be torn +up."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If your grandmamma would prefer it, I could +make it over to you in a marriage settlement."</p> + +<p>Bijou laughed.</p> + +<p>"Ah! she would imagine, then, that we might be +divorced, and a divorce does away with all things—"</p> + +<p>"But, supposing I make out in the marriage +contract that the half of what I possess now is +really yours, and supposing I made over the rest +to you, only reserving to myself the interest?"</p> + +<p>Bijou shook her head, and then, with a pretty +movement of playful affection, she threw her soft +arms round M. de Clagny's neck, and said:</p> + +<p>"I don't want you to give me anything but +happiness, and I am sure you will give me plenty +of that. I hope you will live a very, very long +time, and it would not matter to me, when I am +old, if I were to find myself poor again, comparatively +speaking."</p> + +<p>"And I," he said, covering Denyse's face and +hair with kisses, "I could not go on living with the +thought that I might be taken away without your +future being provided for in the way in which I +should wish it to be."</p> + +<p>"Don't talk about all those things," she murmured. +"I want to think that I shall never be +separated from you—never, never!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span></p> + +<p>Trying, in spite of the darkness, to look into +Bijou's eyes, he asked anxiously:</p> + +<p>"Will you be able to love me a little, as I love +you?"</p> + +<p>Without answering, she held her pretty lips up +to him, but just at that moment the sound of +voices made them move away from each other +abruptly.</p> + +<p>Only a few yards away from them they could +hear several persons talking in low voices, and +also the sound of heavy footsteps walking with +measured tread. It seemed as though just there, +quite near to them, a heavy burden were being +carried along, whilst, in the midst of the darkness, +lights kept passing by.</p> + +<p>"It's very odd," said M. de Clagny; "one would +think something had happened."</p> + +<p>Bijou, however, who had stopped short, her +heart beating fast with anxiety, struck with the +strangeness of the little procession, put her hand +on the count's arm, and said, quite tranquilly:</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! it must be the men going back +to the farm. Just now they are at work up +at the house through the day, and then, when +they have had something to eat, they go back +home."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It seemed to me, though, that the lanterns were +on the way towards the house."</p> + +<p>She was walking along with her hand on his +arm, and a thrill of joy ran through him as he drew +this beautiful girl, who had just promised herself +to him, closer still, in a passionate embrace.</p> + +<p>They returned slowly to the house along the +avenues, meeting several carriages, which were +bearing away the departing guests.</p> + +<p>"How's that?" exclaimed Bijou, in surprise. +"They are going away already—but what about +the cotillion? Is it very late?"</p> + +<p>On arriving at the hall-door steps, they met the +La Balues coming towards their carriage.</p> + +<p>"How's this?" asked Bijou. "You are going? +But why?"</p> + +<p>M. de la Balue mumbled out some unintelligible +words, whilst his son and daughter, looking very +sad, shook hands with Bijou.</p> + +<p>"Well, what long faces they are making," remarked +M. de Clagny, beginning to get anxious +in his turn. "Ah! what's that? Whatever's the +matter?"</p> + +<p>In the hall there was a long pool of water. +The servants were going backwards and forwards +quickly, looking awestruck, and then Pierrot came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> +in sight, his eyes swollen with crying, and his +hands full of flowers. Madame de Rueille was +following him, carrying flowers, too.</p> + +<p>Bijou stopped short, thunderstruck; but M. de +Clagny hurried up to Madame de Rueille.</p> + +<p>"What has happened?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"M. Giraud has drowned himself," answered +Bertrade. "They have just brought him back +here. It was the miller who found him near the +dam—"</p> + +<p>And then, seeing that Pierrot was gazing at +her in consternation, shaking his flowers about at +the end of his long arms in sheer desperation, she +added, in a hard voice:</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know very well that grandmamma has +forbidden anyone to speak of it before Bijou, but, +for my part, I want her to know about it."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">As</span> she stood waiting at the threshold of the little +church for her Uncle Alexis, who was just getting +out of the carriage, Bijou turned round, and, after +giving a little kick to her long white satin train, +and pulling the folds of her veil over her face, she +gazed round at the motley crowd, who were hurrying +towards the church-porch, with that quick look +in her luminous eyes which took in everything at +a glance.</p> + +<p>She saw first the profile of Jean de Blaye towering +above the others; he was advancing towards +her with an indifferent, languid expression on his +face, and talking to M. de Rueille, who looked +slightly nervous and excited. Henry de Bracieux, +with a worried look on his face, was listening in +an absent sort of way to the marchioness, as she +gave her orders to the coachman.</p> + +<p>Pierrot had got one of the tails of his coat, +which was too short for him, caught in the carriage-door,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span> +and, with his big, white-gloved hands, he was +awkwardly endeavouring to get free, but unsuccessfully.</p> + +<p>M. Sylvestre, with an enormous roll of music +under his arm, looking very nervous, and in a +great hurry, was rushing towards the staircase +which led to the gallery, without daring to lift his +eyes from the ground; whilst Abbé Courteil, +accompanied by his two pupils, passed by, looking +very business-like—he, too, not venturing to glance +in the direction of Bijou.</p> + +<p>Jeanne Dubuisson, who had got rather thinner, +was waiting with her father until the crowd made +way for her to pass.</p> + +<p>Among the Bracieux villagers, and just behind +all the fine ladies and gentlemen, who had come +from Pont-sur-Loire and the country-houses +in the neighbourhood, Charlemagne Lavenue +was pressing forward with long strides. He was +dressed in his best clothes, and his square +shoulders and ruddy complexion seemed to stand +out against the background of blue sky.</p> + +<p>As she stood there, with her eyes lowered, looking +as though she had seen nothing, with the sun, +which had brightened up the whole country round +for her marriage, shining full on her, Bijou was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span> +enjoying to the full the bliss of living, of knowing +herself beautiful, and of being beloved by everyone.</p> + +<p>The sound of her Uncle Alexis' voice as he +offered her his arm, and said: "Are you ready?" +woke her up out of her ecstasy.</p> + +<p>Very graceful and beautiful she looked, as she +moved along to the music of the organ, which was +pealing forth.</p> + +<p>A cabman, who had gone inside the church to +see "the wedding," exclaimed, as Bijou passed up +the aisle:</p> + +<p>"Bless my soul! but ain't she a pretty one—-the +bride?"</p> + +<p>Whereupon one of Farmer Lavenue's day-labourers +replied:</p> + +<p>"I believe you. And I can tell you what—she's +as good as she is pretty—she is! And even +better nor that!"</p> + +<h3> +<br /> +THE END.<br /> +<br /></h3> + +<h4><i>Printed by Cowan & Co., Limited, Perth.</i><br /></h4> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Table of Contents added to HTML; not present in original.</p> +<p>Missing or incorrect punctuation fixed.</p> +<p>Hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of same words retained when occurring equally.</p> +<p>Unusual spellings retained, but obvious misspellings corrected.</p> +<p>P.6 and 65: "anyrate"(2) changed to more frequent "any rate"(11).</p> +<p>P.292: "got o st" changed to "got lost".</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bijou, by Gyp + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIJOU *** + +***** This file should be named 36199-h.htm or 36199-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/1/9/36199/ + +Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, JoAnn Greenwood and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Bijou + +Author: Gyp + +Translator: Alys Hallard + +Release Date: May 23, 2011 [EBook #36199] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIJOU *** + + + + +Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, JoAnn Greenwood and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + BIJOU + + BY + GYP + + + _TRANSLATED_ + BY + ALYS HALLARD. + + + LONDON + HUTCHINSON & CO. + 34 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. + 1897 + + + + +BIJOU. + + + + +I. + + +MADAME DE BRACIEUX was working for her poor people. She poked her +thick, light, tortoise-shell crochet-needle into the ball of coarse +wool, and putting that down on her lap, lifted her head and looked +across at her great-nephew, Jean de Blaye. + +"Jean," she said, "what are you gazing at that is so interesting? You +stand there with your nose flattened against the window-pane, just +exactly as you did when you were a little boy, and were so +insufferable." + +Jean de Blaye lifted his head abruptly. He had been leaning his +forehead against the glass of the bay-window. + +"I?" he answered, hesitating slightly. "Oh, nothing, aunt--nothing at +all!" + +"Nothing at all? Oh, well, I must say that you seem to be looking at +nothing at all with a great deal of attention." + +"Do not believe him, grandmamma!" said Madame de Rueille in her +beautiful, grave, expressive voice; "he is hoping all the time to see +a cab appear round the bend of the avenue." + +"Is he expecting someone?" asked the marchioness. + +"Oh, no!" explained M. de Rueille, laughing; "but a cab, even a +Pont-sur-Loire cab, would remind him of Paris. Bertrade is teasing +him." + +"I don't care all that much about being reminded of Paris," muttered +Jean, without stirring. + +Madame de Rueille gazed at him in astonishment. "One would almost +think he was in earnest!" she remarked. + +"In earnest, but absent-minded!" said the marchioness, and then, +turning towards a young abbe, who was playing loto with the de Rueille +children, she asked: + +"Monsieur, will you tell us whether there is anything interesting +taking place on the terrace?" + +The abbe, who was seated with his back to the bay-window, looked +behind him over his shoulder, and replied promptly: + +"I do not see anything in the slightest degree interesting, madame." + +"Nothing whatever," affirmed Jean, leaving the window, and taking his +seat on a divan. + +One of the de Rueille children, forgetting his loto cards, and leaving +the abbe to call out the numbers over and over again with untiring +patience, suddenly perched himself up on a chair, and, by his +grimaces, appeared to be making signals to someone through the window. + +"Marcel dear, at whom are you making those horrible grimaces?" asked +the grandmother, puzzled. + +"At Bijou," replied the child; "she is out there gathering flowers." + +"Has she been there long?" asked the marchioness. + +It was the abbe who answered this time. + +"About, ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, madame." + +"And you consider that Bijou is not interesting to look at?" exclaimed +the old lady, laughing. "You are difficult to please, monsieur!" + +Abbe Courteil, who had not been long in the family, and who was +incredibly shy, blushed from the neck-band of his cassock to the roots +of his fair hair, and stammered out in dismay: + +"But, madame, when you asked if anything interesting were taking place +on the terrace, I thought you meant--something--something +extraordinary, and I never thought that the presence of Mademoiselle +Bij--I mean, of Mademoiselle Denyse--as she always gathers her flowers +there at this time every day--I never thought that you would consider +that as--" + +The sentence ended in an unintelligible way, whilst the abbe, very +much confused, continued shaking the numbers about in the bag. + +"That poor abbe," said Bertrade de Rueille, very quietly, "you do +frighten him, grandmamma." + +"Nonsense! nothing of the kind! I do not frighten him; you exaggerate, +my dear." + +And then, after a moment's reflection, Madame de Bracieux continued: + +"The man must be blind then." + +"What man?" + +"Why, your abbe! Good heavens, what stupid answers he makes." + +"But, grandmamma--" + +"No! you will never make me believe that a man could watch Bijou at +work amongst the flowers, and not consider her '_interesting to look +at_!'--no, never!" + +"A man, yes; but then the abbe is not exactly a man." + +"Ah! what is he then, if you please?" + +"Well, a priest is not--" + +"Not exactly like other men in certain respects! no, at least I hope +not; but priests have eyes, I suppose, and you will grant that, if +they have not eyes like those of other men, they have eyes such as a +woman has, at any rate. Will you allow your abbe to have eyes like a +woman?" + +"Why, yes, grandmamma, I will allow him to have any kind of eyes he +likes." + +"That's a good thing. Well, then, any woman looking at Bijou would +perceive that she is charming. Why should an abbe not perceive that +too?" + +"You do not like our poor abbe." + +"Oh, well, you know my opinion. I consider that priests were made for +the churches and not for our houses. Apart from that, I like your abbe +as well as I do any of them. I like him--negatively; I respect him." + +Bertrade laughed, and said in her gentle voice: + +"It scarcely seems like it; you are very rough on him always." + +"I am rough on him, just as I am rough on all of you." + +"Yes, but then we are accustomed to it, whilst he--" + +"Oh, very well, I won't be rough on him again. I will take care; but +you have no idea how tiresome it will be to me. I do like to be able +to speak my mind. It was a strange notion of yours, to have an abbe +for your children." + +"It was Paul; he particularly wished the children to be educated by a +priest, at any rate, to begin with. He is very religious." + +"Well, but so am I--I am very religious, and that is just why I would +never have a priest as tutor. Yes, don't you see, if he should be an +intelligent man, why, just for the sake of one or two, or even several +children--but anyhow only a small number, you make use of his +intelligence, which his calling had destined for the direction of his +flock, and you prevent him from teaching, comforting, and forgiving +the sins of poor creatures, who, as a rule, are much more interesting +than we are. If, on the other hand, the priest should be an imbecile, +why, he just devotes himself conscientiously to distorting the mind of +the little human being entrusted to him, and in both cases you are +responsible, either for the harm you do, or the good you prevent being +done---Ah! here's Bijou, let me look at her; I shall enjoy that more +than talking about your abbe," and the marchioness pointed to her +grand-daughter, who was just entering the room, and who looked like a +walking basket of flowers. + +Denyse de Courtaix, nicknamed Bijou, was an exquisite little creature, +refined-looking, graceful, and slender, and yet all over dimples. She +had large violet eyes, limpid, and full of expression, a straight +nose, turning up almost imperceptibly at the end, a very small mouth, +with very red lips going up merrily at the corners, and showing some +small, milky-white teeth. Her soft, silky hair was of that light +auburn shade so rarely seen nowadays. Her tiny ears were shaded with +pink, like mother-of-pearl, and this same pinky shade was to be seen +not only on her cheeks, but on her forehead, her neck, and her hands. +It shone all over her skin with a rosy gleam. Her eyebrows alone, +which crossed her smooth, intelligent forehead with a very fine, and +almost unbroken dark line, indicated the fact that this frail and +pretty little creature had a will of her own. + +Bijou, who looked about fifteen or sixteen years of age, had attained +her majority just a week ago, but from her perfect and dainty little +person there seemed to emanate a breath of child-like candour and +innocence. Her charm, however, which was most subtle and penetrating, +was distinctly that of a woman, and it was this contrast which made +Bijou so fascinating and so unlike other girls. Such as she was, she +infatuated men, delighted women, and was adored by all. + +As soon as she entered the room, all rosy-looking in her pink dress of +cloudy muslin, with a sort of flat basket filled with roses, fastened +round her neck with pink ribbon, everyone surrounded her, glad to +welcome the gaiety which seemed to enter with her, for until her +arrival the large room had felt somewhat bare and empty. + +Paul de Rueille, who was playing billiards with his brother-in-law, +Henry de Bracieux, came to ask for a rose from her basket, whilst +Henry, who had followed him, took one without asking. + +The de Rueille children, leaving the abbe, who continued calling out +the loto numbers in a monotonous tone, went sliding across to the +young girl, and hung about her. Their mother called them back. + +"Leave Bijou alone, children; you worry her!" + +"Robert! Marcel! come here," said the abbe, getting up. + +"Oh, no," protested Bijou, "let them alone; I like to have them!" + +She took the basket from her neck, and was just about to put it down +on the billiard-table, when she suddenly stopped. + +"Oh, no! I must have mercy on the game." + +"Isn't she nice? she thinks of everything," murmured Henry de +Bracieux, quite touched. + +"Come and kiss me, Bijou," said the marchioness. + +Denyse had just put her basket down on a divan. She took from it a +full-blown rose, and went quickly across to her grandmother, whom she +kissed over and over again in a fondling way as a child. + +"There," she said, presenting her rose, "it is the most beautiful one +of all!" Her voice was rather high-pitched, rather "a head-voice" +perhaps, but it sounded so young and clear, and then, too, she spoke +so distinctly, and with such an admirable pronunciation. + +"You have not seen Pierrot, then?" asked the marchioness. + +"Pierrot?" said Bijou, as though she were trying to recall something +to her memory. "Why, yes, I have seen him; he was with me a minute or +two helping me to gather the flowers, and then he went away to his +father, who was shooting rabbits in the wood." + +"I might have thought as much; that boy does not do a thing." + +"But, grandmamma, he is here for his holidays." + +"His holidays if you like; but, all the same, if a tutor has been +engaged for him, it is surely so that he may work." + +"But he must take some rest now and again, poor Pierrot--and his tutor +too." + +"They do nothing else, though. Well, as long as my brother knows it, +and as long as it suits him--" + +"It suits him to-day, anyhow, for he told them to join him in the +wood." + +"He told _them_?" repeated the old lady; and then she continued slily, +"and so the tutor has been gathering roses, too?" + +"Yes," replied Denyse, with her beautiful, frank smile, and not +noticing her grandmother's mocking intonation, "he has been gathering +roses, too." + +"He probably enjoyed that more than shooting rabbits," said the +marchioness, glancing at a tall young man who was just entering the +room, "for if he went to join your uncle in the wood, he did not stay +long with him anyhow!" + +"Why--no!"--said Bijou in astonishment, and then leaving her +grandmother, she advanced to meet the young man. + +"Did you not find uncle, Monsieur Giraud?" she asked. + +"Oh, yes, mademoiselle," he replied, turning very red. "Yes, +certainly, we found M. de Jonzac; but--I--I was obliged to come in--as +I have some of Pierre's exercises to correct." And then, doubtlessly +wanting to explain how it was that he had come into that room, he +added, slightly confused: "I just came in here to see whether I had +left my books about--I thought--but--I do not see them here--" + +He had not taken his eyes off Bijou, and was going away again when the +marchioness, looking at him indulgently, and with an amused expression +in her eyes, called him back. + +"Will you not stay and have a smoke here, Monsieur Giraud? Is there +such a hurry as all that for the correction of those exercises?" + +"Oh, no, madame!" answered the tutor eagerly, retracing his steps, +"there is no hurry at all." + +The old lady leaned forward towards Madame de Rueille, who was +silently working at a handsome piece of tapestry, and said to her with +a smile: "He is not like the abbe--this young man!" + +Bertrade lifted her pretty head and answered gravely: + +"No!" + +"You look as though you pitied him?" + +"I do, with all my heart." + +"And why, pray?" + +"Because the poor fellow, after coming to us as gay as a lark a +fortnight ago, and winning all our hearts, will go away from here sad +and unhappy, his heart heavy with grief or anger." + +"Oh, you always see the black side of things; he thinks Bijou is +sweet, he admires her and likes to be with her; but that is all!" + +"You know very well, grandmamma, that Bijou is perfectly adorable, and +so attractive that everyone is fascinated by her." + +The marchioness pointed to her great-nephew, Jean de Blaye, who, ever +since he had left the window, did not appear to be taking any notice +of what was going on around him. + +"Everyone?" she said, almost angrily; "no, not everyone. Look at Jean, +he is as blind as the abbe!" + +Jean de Blaye was sitting motionless in a large arm-chair; there was +an impassive expression on his face, and a far-away look in his eyes. +He appeared to be in a reverie, and the younger lady glanced across at +him, as she answered: + +"I am afraid that he is only acting blind!" + +"Oh, nonsense!" said Madame de Bracieux delighted, "do you think that +Bijou could possibly interest Jean enough, for instance, to keep him, +even for a time, from his actresses, his horses, his theatres, and the +stupid life he generally leads?--You really think so?" + +"I do think so!" + +"And how long have you thought this?" + +"Oh, only just now. When he told us with such conviction that '_he did +not care all that much about being reminded of Paris_,' I felt that he +was speaking the truth. I began to wonder then what could have made +him forget Paris. I wondered and wondered--and I found out." + +"Bijou?" + +"Exactly." + +"So much the better if that really should be so. For my part, I do not +think it looks like it. He takes no notice of her." + +"When we are watching him--no." + +"He seems low-spirited and absent-minded." + +"He would be for less cause than this. Jean never does things in a +half-and-half way. If he were in love, I mean seriously, he would be +desperately in love; and if he were to be desperately in love with +Bijou, or if he were to discover that he was falling in love with her, +it certainly would not be a thing for him to rejoice over. He +cannot--no matter how much he might wish it--he cannot marry Bijou. +It is not only that he is her cousin, but he is not rich enough." + +"He has about twenty thousand pounds. Bijou has eight thousand, to +which I shall add another four thousand, that makes twelve +thousand--total between them thirty-two thousand." + +"Well, and can you imagine Bijou with an income of about nine hundred +pounds a year?" + +"No. I know that _she_ would consider it enough. She makes her own +dresses; everyone says they do that, but, in this case, it is a fact. +Then she is very industrious and clever; she understands housekeeping +wonderfully well, and for the last four years has managed everything +both here and in Paris; but I could not possibly reconcile myself to +the idea of seeing her enduring the hardships of a limited income--and +it would be limited. Good heavens! though, I hope she will not go and +fall in love with Jean." + +"Oh, I do not think she will." + +"You see, he is charming, the wretch; and it appears he is a great +favourite?" + +"Yes, certainly; but then Bijou is made so much of. She is surrounded +and adored by everyone, so that she has not much time to fall in love +herself!" + +"And then, too, she is such a child!" said the marchioness, glancing +at her grand-daughter with infinite tenderness. + +Bijou was standing near the billiard-table watching the game, and +laughing as she teased the players. + +At a little distance from her, the young professor was also standing +motionless, watching her with a rapturous expression in his eyes. + +Suddenly Jean de Blaye rose abruptly, looking annoyed, and moved away +in the direction of the door that led to the flight of steps going +down to the garden. + +"Wait a minute!" called out Denyse, "wait, and let me give you a +flower!" + +She went to the basket, and taking out a yellow rose scarcely opened, +she crossed over to her cousin, and put it in his button-hole. + +"There!" she said, stepping back and looking satisfied, "you are very +fine like that!" And then turning towards the tutor, she said in the +most winning way, and with perfect ease: "Monsieur Giraud, will you +have a rosebud too?" + +The young man took the flower, and, almost trembling with confusion, +tried in vain to fasten it in his coat. + +"Ah! you can't do it!" said the young girl, taking it gently from +him. "Let me put it in for you, will you?" + +He was so tall that, in order to reach his button-hole, she was +obliged to stand on tip-toes. She slipped the flower through slowly, +and with the greatest care, and when she had finished she gave a +little tap to the shiny revers of the old coat, which were all out of +shape and faded. + +"There, that's right!" she said, smiling pleasantly; "like that, it is +perfectly lovely!" + +The marchioness, her eyes shining with affection, was looking at her. + +"What do you think of her? isn't she sweet?" the old lady said to +Bertrade, who seemed to be admiring Bijou also. + +Madame de Rueille looked at the young tutor, who was standing still in +the middle of the room. + +"Poor fellow!" she said. + +"What, still! Well, decidedly, Monsieur Giraud appears to interest you +very much!" + +"Very much indeed! I am sorry for people who are sensitive and +unhappy; for, you see, I am one of the merry ones myself!" + +"Oh!--I don't know about that. You said just now that Jean was acting +blind; well, I should say you were acting merry. You are merry, for +instance, when anyone is looking at you." + +The young wife did not answer, she only pointed towards Bijou. + +"She is one of the genuinely merry ones, at any rate, is she not, +grandmamma?" + +Bijou had just given the children some flowers, and was now speaking +to the Abbe Courteil. + +"And you too, monsieur, I want to decorate you with my flowers! There, +now, just tell me if that rose is not beautiful? Ah, if you want a +lovely rose, that certainly is one." + +She was holding out to him an enormous rose, which was full blown, and +looked like a regular cabbage. + +The abbe had risen from his seat without loosing the bag containing +the loto numbers. He looked scared, and stammered out as he stepped +back: + +"Mademoiselle, it is indeed a superb flower; but--but I should not +know where to put it. The button-holes of my cassock are so small, the +stalk would never go through. I am very much obliged, mademoiselle, I +really am. I--but there is no place to put it--it is--" + +"Oh, but there is room for it in your girdle," she answered, laughing. +"There, monsieur, look there--it is as though it had been made for +it!" + +Standing at some little distance away, she pushed the long stalk of +the flower between the abbe's girdle and cassock. + +He thanked her as he bowed awkwardly. + +"I am much obliged, mademoiselle, it is very kind of you; I am quite +touched--quite touched." + +At every movement the rose swung about in the loose girdle. It moved +backwards and forwards in the most comical way, with ridiculous little +jerks, showing up to advantage against the cassock which was all +twisted like a screw round the abbe's thin body. + +"Now, I am going to arrange my vases," remarked Bijou, when she had +adorned everyone with flowers. + +"Where?" asked M. de Rueille. + +"Why, in the dining-room, in the drawing-room, in the hall, here, +everywhere." + +"We will come and help you!" exclaimed several voices. + +"Oh, no!--instead of helping me you would just hinder me." + +She picked up her basket and went away, looking very merry and fresh. +Her muslin dress fluttered round her, as pink and pretty as she +herself was. As soon as she had disappeared, it seemed as though a +veil of melancholy had suddenly spread itself over the large room. No +one spoke, and there was not a sound to be heard except the knocking +together of the billiard-balls, and the rattling of the numbers, which +the abbe kept shaking all the time, bringing into this game, as into +everything else, the methodical precision which was habitual to him. + +"Grandmamma," said Henry de Bracieux at length, "you ought not to +allow Bijou to give us the slip like this, especially at Bracieux. In +Paris it is not so bad, but here, when she leaves us we are done for; +she is the ray of sunshine that lights up the whole house." + +The marchioness shrugged her shoulders. + +"You talk nonsense; you forget that very soon Bijou will _give us the +slip_, as you so elegantly put it, in a more decisive way." + +"What do you mean? She is not going to be married?" + +"Well, I hope so." + +"You have someone in view?" asked M. de Rueille, not very well +pleased. + +"No, not at all; but, you see, the said someone may present himself +one day or another--not here, of course, there is no one round here +who would be suitable for Bijou; but it is very probable that this +winter in Paris--" + +Henry de Bracieux, a fine-looking young man of twenty-five years of +age, with a strong resemblance to his sister Bertrade, was listening +to the words of the marchioness. His eyebrows were knitted, and there +was a serious expression on his face. He missed a very easy cannon, +and his brother-in-law was astonished. + +"Oh, hang it!" he exclaimed; "it is too warm to play billiards. I am +going out to have a nap in the hammock." + +His sister watched him as he left the room, and then turning towards +the marchioness, she whispered: + +"He, too!" + +The old lady replied, with a touch of ill-humour: + +"Bijou cannot marry all the family, anyhow. Ah! here she is, we must +not talk about it." + +Just at that moment the graceful figure of the young girl appeared in +the doorway leading to the stone steps. + +"How many people will there be to dinner on Thursday, grandmamma?" she +asked, without entering the room. + +"Why, I have not counted. There are the La Balues--" + +"That makes four." + +"The Juzencourts--" + +"Six." + +"Young Bernes--" + +"Seven." + +"Madame de Nezel--" + +"Eight." + +"That's all." + +"And we are ten to start with, that makes eighteen. We can do with +twenty; will you invite the Dubuissons, grandmamma? I should so like +to have Jeanne." + +"I am perfectly willing. I will write to them." + +"It isn't worth while. I shall have to go to Pont-sur-Loire to get +things in, and I can invite them." + +"My poor dear child! you are going to the town through this heat?" + +"We _must_ see about the things for this dinner. To-day is +Tuesday--and then I want to speak to Mere Rafut, and see if she can +come to work. I have no dresses to put on, and there will be the +races, and some dances." + +"Oh!" said the marchioness, evidently annoyed, "you are going to have +that frightful old woman again." + +"Why, grandmamma, she's a very nice, straightforward sort of woman, +and then she works so well." + +"That may be; but her appearance is terribly against her." + +"Yes, grandmamma, that is so, she is not beautiful--Mere Rafut is old +and poor, and old age and poverty do not improve the appearance; but +it is so convenient for me to have her; and she is so happy to come +here, and be well-paid, and well-fed, and well-treated, after being +accustomed to her actresses, who either pay her badly or not at all." + +By this time Bijou was standing just behind Madame de Bracieux's +arm-chair. She added in a coaxing way, as she threw her pretty pink +arms around the old lady's neck: + +"It is quite a charity, grandmamma; and a charity not only to Mere +Rafut, but to me." + +"Have her then," answered the marchioness, "have your frightful old +woman--let her come as much as you like!" + +"Well, then, good-bye for the present." + +"How are you going?--in the victoria?" + +"No, in the trap; I shall be quicker if I take the trap--I can go +there in twenty-five minutes. + +"And _you_ are going to drive?" + +"Why, yes, grandmamma." + +"And with the sun so hot? You'll have a stroke." + +"Shall I drive you, Bijou?" proposed M. de Rueille. "I want to get +some tobacco, and some powder, and two fishing-rods to replace those +that Pierrot broke. I shall be glad to go to town." + +"And I shall be delighted for you to drive me." + +"When shall we start?" + +"At once, please." + +Just as they were going out of the room, the marchioness called out to +them: + +"Beware of accidents. Don't go too quickly downhill." + +"You can be quite easy, grandmamma, I never lose my head." + + + + +II. + + +IN the evening as they were driving through Pont-sur-Loire on their +way back to Bracieux, M. de Rueille said to Denyse: + +"There is no mistake about it, Bijou, my dear with you there is no +chance of passing by unnoticed. Oh, dear, no!" + +She glanced at the foot-passengers, who were turning round to look at +her with intense curiosity, and answered: + +"It's my pink dress that--" + +"No, it is not your dress, it is you yourself." + +Her large violet eyes grew larger with astonishment as she asked: + +"I, myself? But why?" + +"Oh, Bijou, my dear, it is not at all nice of you to act like that +with your poor old cousin." + +"You think I am acting?" she exclaimed, looking more and more +astounded. + +"Well, it appears like it to me; it is impossible for you not to know +how pretty you are. In the first place, you have eyes, and then you +are told often enough for--" + +"I am told?--by whom?" + +"By everyone. Why, even I, although I am nearly your uncle and a +settled-down respectable sort of man." + +"'Nearly my uncle.' No--considering that Bertrade is my first cousin; +and, as to the rest--" She stopped abruptly, and then finished with a +laugh. "You flatter yourself!" + +"Alas, no! I shall soon be forty-two." + +She looked at him in surprise. + +"Oh, well! you don't look it." + +"Thank you! There now! Do you see how all the natives are gazing at +you? I can assure you, Bijou, that when I come to do any shopping +alone, they do not watch me so eagerly." + +"I tell you it is this pink dress that astonishes them." + +"But why should they be astonished? They are accustomed to that, +because you often come to Pont-sur-Loire, and you always wear pink." + +Ever since she had left off her mourning for her parents, who had died +four years ago, Denyse had adopted pink as her only colour for all her +dresses. The reason was, she said, because her grandmother preferred +seeing her dressed thus. Anyhow, this pink, a very pale, soft shade, +like that of the petals of a rose just as it begins to fall, suited +her to perfection, as it was almost exactly the same delicate colour +as her skin. + +She always wore it, and when the weather was cold or gloomy she would +put on a long, gathered cloak, which covered her entirely, and on +taking this dark wrap off, she would come out, looking as fresh and +sweet as a flower, and seem to brighten up everything around her. + +Her dresses were always of batiste, muslin, or some soft woollen +material, comparatively inexpensive. The greatest luxury to which she +treated herself now and again was a _taffetas_ or surah silk. And +then, nothing could be more simple than the way these dresses were +made--always the same little gathered blouses and straight skirts, and +never any trimming whatever, except, perhaps, in the winter, a narrow +edging of fur. + +"Yes, that's quite true," she said thoughtfully, "I am always in pink. +You don't like that?" + +"Not like it? I--good heavens!--why, I think it is perfectly charming! +I tell you, Bijou, that if I were not an old man, I should make love +to you all the time!" + +"You are not an old man!" + +"Very many thanks! If, however, you do not look upon me as quite an +old man--which, by the bye, is certainly debatable--I am at any rate a +married man." + +"Yes, that's true, and so much the better for you, for there is +nothing more stupid and tiresome than men who are always making love." + +"Well, then, you must know a terrible number of people who are stupid +and tiresome." + +"Why?" + +"Because everyone makes love to you--more or less!" + +"Not at all! Why, just think! I was brought up in the most isolated +way, like a veritable savage. When papa and mamma were living, they +were always ill, and I was shut up with them, and never saw anyone. It +is scarcely four years since I came to live with grandmamma, where I +do see people." + +"Oh, yes; plenty of them, and no mistake!" + +"You speak as though that annoyed you?" + +She glanced sideways at Rueille, her eyes shining beneath her drooping +eyelids, whilst he replied, with a touch of irritation in his voice in +spite of himself: + +"Annoyed me, but why should it? Are your affairs any business of mine; +have I any voice in the matter of anything that concerns you?" + +"Which means that if you had a voice in the matter--?" + +"Ah, there would certainly be many changes, and many reforms that I +should make." + +"For instance?" + +"Well, I should not allow you, if I were in your grandmamma's place, +to be quite as affable and as ready to welcome everyone; I should want +to keep you rather more for myself, and prevent your letting strangers +have so much of you." + +"Yes," she said, with a pensive expression, "perhaps you are right." + +"And all the more so because we shall have you to ourselves for so +short a time now." + +The large candid eyes, with their sweet expression, were fixed on Paul +de Rueille as he continued: + +"You will be marrying soon? You will be leaving us?" + +Bijou laughed. "How you arrange things. There is no question, as far +as I know, of my marriage." + +"There is nothing definite--no; at least, I do not think so. But, +practically, it is the one subject in question, and grandmamma thinks +of nothing else." + +"Oh, well, I am not like her then, for I scarcely ever give it a +thought." And then she added, turning grave all at once: "Besides, my +marriage is very problematical." + +"Problematical?" + +"Why, yes,--in the first place, I should want the man who marries me +to love me." + +"Oh, well, you can be easy on that score; you will have no difficulty +about that." + +Her fresh young voice took an almost solemn tone as she continued: + +"And then I should want to love him, too." + +"Oh, so you will. One always does love one's husband--to begin with," +said Rueille carelessly; and then he stopped short, thinking that the +words "to begin with" were unnecessary. + +Bijou had not understood, however, nor even heard, for she asked: + +"What did you say?" + +"I said that he will be very happy." + +"Who will be happy?" + +"The man you love!" + +"I hope so. I shall do all I can for that!" + +M. de Rueille seemed to be annoyed and irritated. He said, in a +disagreeable way, as though he wanted to discourage Denyse in her +dreams of the future: + +"Yes, but supposing you do not happen to meet with him?" + +"Well, then, I shall die an old maid, that's all! But I do not see why +I should not meet with him. I do not ask for anything impossible, +after all!" + +In a mocking tone, and a trifle aggressive, he, asked: + +"Would it be very indiscreet to ask you what you expect?" + +"Oh, not indiscreet in the slightest degree, for I can only answer +just as I have already answered, I should simply want _to love him_! I +do not care at all about money; I neither understand money nor worship +it!" She turned towards her cousin, and said, in conclusion, as she +looked up into his face: "Now, I'll tell you, I would agree to a +marriage like Bertrade's." + +"With another husband," he stammered out. + +Very simply and naturally, and without the slightest embarrassment, +she said, laughing: + +"Oh, dear no! No, I think the husband is quite nice." + +M. de Rueille did not answer. He could not help feeling some emotion, +in spite of himself, at this idea that Bijou might have cared for him. +It seemed to him that the evening air was delicious, and never had the +setting sun, which was sinking slowly like a ball of flame into the +Loire, appeared more brilliant to him. The little gig was so narrow, +that, with every oscillation, his elbow touched the young girl's arm, +whilst her soft fair hair, escaping from her large straw hat, kept +brushing against his cheek, which began to burn. + +Bijou noticed his absent-mindedness. + +"It seems to me," she said, laughing, "that you are not listening much +to the description of my ideal." + +"Oh, yes!" + +"Oh, no!--by the bye, have we done all the errands?" + +She took out of her pocket a long list, which she began to read: + +"_Ice. Cakes. Fruit. Fish. The Dubuissons. Speak to the butcher. Pink +gauze. Mere Rafut. Hat. Pierrot's books. Henry's cartridges (16)._" + +"What's that?" asked M. de Rueille, who was looking at the list. +"Henry has commissioned you to get his cartridges instead of telling +me to get them?" + +"Yes; the time before last when he asked you, you forgot them; and +last time you brought him number twelve cartridges, and his are number +sixteen; therefore, he preferred--" + +"Ah! I can understand that; but they do take advantage of you--and +the children too have taken advantage. '_Balloon for Marcel, pencils +for Robert_;' Fred is the only one who has not given you any +commissions. You need not despair though, he is only three years old; +he will begin next year." + +"He did not give me any commissions, but I have brought him a picture +book--'Puss in Boots.' He adores cats, so that will amuse him." + +"How delicious you are!" + +"Delicious! Is that saying enough? Could you not find something rather +more eulogistic? Let us see--try now!" + +She was still glancing down the list; and Paul de Rueille pointed with +the handle of his whip to a line written in pencil: + +"What's that?--'_Tell grandmamma about La Noriniere!_'" + +"Why, I met the Juzencourts, and they said I was to be sure to tell +grandmamma that 'The Noriniere' is to be inhabited." + +"Ah, Clagny has sold it?" + +"No; he is coming back to it. It appears that he is coming every +summer." + +"Ah, so much the better. Grandmamma will be very glad of that." + +"Yes, she likes him very much. I do not know him, this M. de Clagny, +but I have often heard about him." + +"Don't you remember seeing him a long time ago?" + +"Why, no!" + +"Well, he was your godfather, anyhow!" + +"You are dreaming! Uncle Alexis is my godfather." + +"Your Uncle Jonzac is the godfather of Denyse, but it was M. de Clagny +who was the godfather of Bijou. Yes, he said once, speaking of you +when you were very little, _the Bijou_--and the name suited you so +well that you have had it ever since." + +"Don't you think it is rather ridiculous to call me Bijou now that I +am old?" + +"You look as though you were fourteen, and you always will look like +that, I promise you." + +"Isn't it rather risky to promise me that?" + +She laughed as she glanced at him, and he, too, looked at her as +though he could not take his eyes away from the pretty, fresh young +face turned towards him. He was paying no attention to the road, which +was in a very bad state, until suddenly the right wheel went into a +rut, and the gig gave a jerk, which sent Denyse on to him. She clung +to his arm with all her might, and they remained an instant like this +until they were able to regain their balance. The wheel, then, in some +way or another, got clear of the deep rut in which it had been caught, +and the horse went on again at a quick pace as before. + +"That's right!" said Bijou, laughing heartily. "I certainly thought we +should be upset." + +"It was as near a shave as possible," he answered gravely. + +She loosened the grasp of her small fingers, which had been pressed +tightly on her cousin's shoulder. + +"Is it really over?" she asked. "You are not going to begin again, I +hope?" + +M. de Rueille did not answer. He was looking at her with an +absent-minded, troubled expression in his eyes. + +"Yes; but, instead of looking at me, do look before you," she went on. +"We shall get into another rut directly, you'll see." + +"Oh, no! oh, no!" he murmured, as though he were in some dream. + +"I'm sure we shall be late for dinner," said Bijou; "and you know +grandmamma does not altogether like that." + +Rueille touched the pony's back with the whip, and the animal, +springing forward, jerked the little carriage violently, and then +started off at a mad pace. + +This time Bijou looked stupefied. + +"What's that for?" she asked. "Whatever is the matter with you to-day? +Just now you almost upset us, and now you touch Colonel with the whip, +and you ought not to let him even guess that you have one; you have +made him take fright," and then, seeing that the horse was calming +down, she added, "or nearly so; you are not yourself at all." + +"No," he answered mechanically, "I am not myself." + +At the pony's first plunge Denyse had taken M. de Rueille's arm again. +It was not that she was in the least afraid, but she was perched on a +seat which was too high for her, so that she could not keep her +balance, and, consequently, she tried to hold on to something firm. +Without loosing the arm on to which she was hanging, she leant towards +her cousin, and asked, with evident interest: + +"Not yourself? What is the matter? Are you ill?" + +"Ill? No! at least, not exactly." + +"What do you mean by _not exactly_? Oh, but you must not be ill. We +have to work at our play this evening, and if you do not set about +it, all of you, and in earnest, why, it will never be finished for +the race-ball." + +"I don't care a hang about the play, and--I--if I were you--" + +He stopped abruptly, evidently embarrassed. + +"Well?" asked Bijou, "what is it? You were going to say something." + +"Yes," he stammered out, scarcely knowing how to put what he wanted to +say. "I was going to remark that the design Jean has made for +your--for Hebe's dress--" + +"Well?" + +"Well, it isn't the thing at all; there is too little of it." + +"Too little of it? Nonsense!" + +"It isn't nonsense. I say it is not the thing for a woman, and +especially a young girl like you, to appear like that." + +Bijou looked at Paul de Rueille with a bewildered expression on her +face, and then burst out laughing. + +"Oh, you are queer; you look exactly like a jealous husband." + +"Jealous!" he stammered out, vexed and ill at ease. "It isn't for me +to be jealous, but I--" + +"No, certainly, but all the same, without being jealous, you men do +not like a woman to look pretty, or to be nice, or amusing, for +anyone else's benefit than just your own." + +"Well, admitting that that is so, it is quite natural." + +"Ah! you think so? Oh, well, a woman, on the contrary, is always glad +when the men she likes are admired; she is delighted when other people +like them too." + +"Nonsense! You do not know anything about it, my dear Bijou. You are +most deliciously inexperienced in such things fortunately." + +"Why _fortunately_?" she asked, opening her soft, innocent eyes wide +in astonishment. + +"Because--" + +He stopped short, and Bijou insisted, pinching his arm. + +"Well, go on--do go on." + +"No, it would be too complicated," he answered, evidently ill at ease, +and trying to shake off the grasp of the strong little hand. + +"Too complicated!" repeated Bijou, turning red. "I detest being put +off like that. Why will you not explain what you were thinking?" + +"Explain what I was thinking," he said, in a sort of fright. "Oh, no!" + +"No? Well, it is not nice of you." + +They went on for a minute or two without speaking, Bijou calm and +smiling, and her companion with a serious, uneasy look on his face. + +Just as the gig was entering the avenue, Bijou turned towards M. de +Rueille, and touching him, this time very gently, with her little +hand, she said in a penetrating voice, which, in his agitated state of +mind, was the last straw: + +"As it vexes you so much I won't wear that costume. We will get Jean +to design another for me." + +He seized the hand that was resting on his arm and pressed it to his +lips with an almost brutal tenderness. + +Bijou did not appear to like this passionate display of feeling. She +drew her hand away quietly, but there was a strange gleam in her eyes +as she said: + +"Take care of the gate, it is a sharp turn remember, and you are not +in luck to-day." + +She then began to collect her parcels calmly, and until they arrived +at the door of the _chateau_ she was silent and thoughtful. The first +dinner-bell was just ringing, and Bijou ran upstairs to her room, and +ten minutes later entered the drawing-room, arrayed in a dainty dress +of rose-leaf coloured chiffon, with a large bunch of roses on the +shoulder. + +"Why! you don't mean to say that you are here already!" exclaimed +Madame de Rueille admiringly. "I will wager anything that that slow +coach of a Paul is not ready." + +"Did you do all the commissions?" asked the marchioness. + +"Yes, grandmamma, and I have a special one for you. The Juzencourts +wished me to tell you that M. de Clagny is coming back to live at The +Noriniere, and that he will come every year." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Madame de Bracieux, looking very delighted, "I am glad +to hear that. I never expected to see him come back here." + +"Why?" asked Bijou. + +"Well, because when he was here he had a great grief, just at an age +when painful impressions can never be effaced." + +"At what age is that?" asked Jean de Blaye, with a touch of sarcasm in +his voice. + +"Forty-eight. And when you are that age, you will not be as fond of +ridiculing everything as you are now, my dear boy; and it won't be so +long before you get there as you think either." + +"So much the better," he answered, smiling; "that must be the ideal +age--the age when one's heart is at rest." + +"In some cases it is at rest before that age," said the marchioness +slily, looking at her nephew. + +Jean shrugged his shoulders. + +"Yes, but it wakes up again, or, at least, it might wake up; one is +not quite easy about it; but at forty-eight ..." + +"Ah! that's your opinion. Well, it is twelve years ago now since my +old friend Clagny was forty-eight. He must therefore be sixty at +present, and I would wager anything that his heart has never been at +rest--never. You understand me?" And then in a lower tone, so that +Bijou, who was just talking to Bertrade, should not hear, she added: +"Neither his heart nor he himself." + +Jean laughed. + +"Oh, well! he's a curiosity this friend of yours. Why does he not go +about in a show? He would get some money." + +"He has no need of money." + +"He is rich, then?" + +"Atrociously rich!" + +"Well, but what's he got?" + +"Sixteen thousand a year. Don't you consider that a fair amount?" + +"Yes," he answered, without any sign of enthusiasm, "yes, of course, +that's very fair--for anyone who has not got it dishonestly." And +then, after a pause, he asked: "What was this great trouble that he +had?" + +"Oh, I'll tell you about it when Bijou is not here." + +The young girl, however, could scarcely have heard what they were +saying. She was joking with Pierrot, who had just come into the room. +She wanted to part his hair again, and Pierrot, a tall youth of +seventeen, strong-looking, but overgrown, with long feet and hands, +and a forehead covered with extraordinary bumps, was trying to make +himself short, so that the young girl might reach up to his bushy, +colourless hair. He was bending his head, and looking straight before +him, with a far-away expression in his eyes, evidently enjoying having +his hair stroked by the skilful little hands. + +Madame de Bracieux, seeing that Bijou was at a safe distance, ventured +in a low voice to tell her nephew the details about the love-affair, +which had in a way changed the whole life of her friend, M. de Clagny. + +Suddenly Denyse came across to the marchioness. + +"Grandmamma--I forgot--the Dubuissons cannot come to dinner on +Thursday, but M. Dubuisson will bring Jeanne on Friday, and leave her +with us for a week." + +"Well, then, we shall only be eighteen to dinner." + +"No, we shall be twenty all the same; because I saw the Tourvilles, +and I gave them an invitation from you; I thought that--" + +"You did quite right." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Bertrade, "the Tourvilles and the Juzencourts at the +same time! We shall be sure, then, of hearing their stories of William +the Conqueror and Charles the Bold!" + +"Oh, well!" exclaimed Bijou, laughing, "it will be much better like +that, we shall have it altogether, once for all, at any rate." + +Just as dinner was announced, M. de Rueille entered the room. He had +an absent-minded look, and his eyes shone strangely. He took his seat +silently at table, and did not talk during the meal. + + + + +III. + + +BIJOU, assisted by Pierrot, was handing the coffee round, when +suddenly she darted off in pursuit of Paul de Rueille, who had just +come out of the drawing-room, and was descending the steps which led +on to the terrace. + +"Stop, stop! Where are you going?" she called out. + +"Oh, only for a stroll," he answered, without looking round, "to get a +breath of air, if that is possible with this heat." + +Bijou had already caught him up. + +"Oh, no, what about the play?--You must come and work." + +"My head aches." + +"Work will take it away! You really must come, we have only three +days." + +"But I am not indispensable; you can do without me," said Rueille +irritably. + +"Oh, but you always do the writing." + +"From dictation; it is not necessary to be very clever for that." + +"Yes it is; and then, too, we are used to you." + +She was on the step above him, and, bending forward, she put her arms +round his neck, and said in a coaxing tone: + +"Paul, dear, come now, just to please me, you would be so nice, so +very nice!" + +M. de Rueille, turning abruptly, unclasped the soft arms, which +encircled his neck and rested against his face. + +"All right, all right!" he said, in a hoarse voice, "I'll come!" + +The young girl stepped back, and in the evening-light he could see her +large astonished eyes shining as she gazed at him. + +"How cross you are!" she said timidly. "What's the matter with you?" +He did not answer, and she asked again: "Won't you tell me?" + +"No, no," he said curtly, and then he re-mounted the steps and went +into the drawing-room. + +Bijou followed him, and whispered to Bertrade: + +"I don't know what is the matter with your husband, but he is very +bad-tempered." + +Madame de Rueille glanced at Paul. He looked rather fagged and +nervous, and was trying to appear at his ease, as he talked and +laughed noisily with the tutor, who, on the contrary, was silent and +reserved. + +"Yes, certainly something is the matter with him," said Bertrade, +rather uneasy at seeing her husband so strange. "I do not know at all +what it is, though," she added. + +"Only imagine," Bijou proceeded to explain to the whole room, "Paul +wanted to go for a stroll instead of coming to work. Yes, and it was +not very easy to get him here, I can assure you." + +With a resigned look, M. de Rueille took his seat at a side table with +a marble top. He then took up the manuscript, and, turning to the page +which was commenced, dipped a long, quill pen into the ink. + +"When you are ready?"--he said calmly. + +"Well, but first of all, where are we?" asked M. de Jonzac. + +"Scene three of the second act." + +"Still?" exclaimed Bijou, astonished. + +"Alas, yes." + +"My dear children, you will never have it finished," remarked the +marchioness. + +"Oh, yes, grandmamma, we shall," said Bijou merrily; "you will see how +we are going to work now. Come now, we are at the third scene of the +second act,--it is where the poet is defending himself after the +accusations--rather spiteful ones, too--which Venus has brought +against him." + +"Well, and what then?" asked M. de Rueille after a pause. + +"Well," said Bijou, "in my opinion, we want a little couplet there; +what do you think, Jean?" + +Jean de Blaye, with an absorbed look on his face, was lounging in a +deep arm-chair, his head thrown back on the cushions. He appeared to +be in a reverie, and had not even heard the question. + +"Are you asleep?" asked Bijou. + +"Did you speak to me?" he asked, turning towards her. + +"Why, yes, I did have the honour of speaking to you. I asked you +whether a couplet would not be the right thing there--a couplet that +would go to some well-known air?" + +"Yes," he replied, in an absent sort of way, "that would do very +well." + +"All right, compose it then." + +Jean gave a start; he was quite roused now. + +"I am to compose it,--why should I be the one to do it?" + +"Because you always do them." + +"Well, that's a nice reason," protested Jean. "I should say that is +precisely why it is someone else's turn. You have only to set the +others to work--Henry, or Uncle Alexis, or M. Giraud, or even +Pierrot." + +"Why do you say _even_?" asked Pierrot, annoyed. "I should do them +quite as well as you." + +"Well, do them then! for my part, I have had enough of it." + +"Jean," said Bijou, in a pleading tone, "don't leave us in the lurch, +please." + +She was going across to him, her pretty head bent forward, and a most +comically beseeching little pout on her lips, when M. de Rueille rose +abruptly from his seat, and stopped her on the way: + +"Oh, he will do your couplets right enough; he likes doing them; sit +down, Bijou." + +The young girl stood still in the middle of the room, surprised at +this extraordinary proceeding. + +"But why don't _you_ sit down?" she exclaimed. "What have you come +away from your table for?" + +"Ah! I have no right to leave the table without your permission?" + +"Jean!" began Bijou again, "come now, Jean!" + +Once again M. de Rueille interposed. + +"Why don't you kneel down to him at once?" he said, in a sharp tone. + +"Goodness! I don't mind doing that even if he will only be +persuaded." + +She was darting across to her cousin, but Rueille caught her arm, and +said angrily: + +"What nonsense! it is perfectly ridiculous!" + +Bijou looked at him in amazement, and stammered out: + +"It is you who are ridiculous!" + +"Oh, yes, of course," he answered, speaking harshly, "it is I who +ought to go and sit down, and I am the one who is ridiculous; in fact, +I am everything I ought not to be, and I always do everything I ought +not to do." + +"Whatever is the matter, children?" asked Madame de Bracieux. + +M. de Jonzac explained, as he emptied his pipe by tapping it gently +against a piece of furniture. + +"Heaven have mercy upon us! It is nothing less than Paul quarrelling +with Bijou!" + +"With Bijou?" exclaimed the old lady, in perfect amazement. + +"Paul quarrelling with Bijou!" repeated Madame de Rueille, putting +down the newspaper she had been reading, "impossible!" + +"Yes, really!" affirmed the abbe, quite horrified. "M. de Rueille is +vexed with Mademoiselle Denyse!" + +"Come here, Bijou!" called out the marchioness, and the young girl +tripped across the room to her grandmamma, and knelt down on the +cushions at her feet. + +"You ought not to let Bijou go on in that way with you!" said M. de +Rueille, going up to Jean, and speaking in a low voice. + +"Go on in what way? are you dreaming?" + +"I am not dreaming at all. Denyse is twenty years old, you know!" + +"Twenty-one," corrected the young man. + +"All the more reason--she really ought to behave more carefully!" + +"Poor child, she behaves perfectly!" and then looking at his cousin, +he added: "I really don't know what's up with you?" + +"Oh, I'm in the wrong," murmured M. de Rueille, slightly embarrassed. +"Of course, I'm quite in the wrong!" + +"Absolutely so!" said Blaye drily, getting up from his arm-chair. + +On seeing him move towards the door, Bijou left the marchioness, and +rushed across to him: + +"Oh, no! you are not going away! Grandmamma, tell him that he is not +to leave us like this!" + +"Come now, Jean," said the marchioness, half joking and half scolding, +"don't plague them so!" + +The young man sat down again in despair. + +"And this is the country!" he exclaimed, "this is rest and holiday! I +have to work like a nigger, writing plays--plays with couplets--and +then go to bed regularly at two in the morning, and this is what is +called being in clover!" + +Pierrot had listened to this outburst with apparent solemnity. + +"Continue, old man," he said jeeringly, "you interest me!" + +Bijou laughed, and Jean, looking annoyed, turned towards Pierrot, and +said sarcastically, "You are very witty, my dear boy!" + +"Children, you are perfectly insufferable!" exclaimed Madame de +Bracieux, raising her voice. She was looking at them in surprise, +wondering what wind had suddenly risen to bring about this storm. She +could not account for all these disagreeable little speeches, and the +hostile attitude they had taken up, and which was quite a new thing to +the old lady. Once again she called Bijou to her. The young girl was +standing looking round at everyone with a questioning expression in +her soft eyes. + +"Do you know what's the matter with them?" asked the marchioness. + +"I have no idea, grandmamma," she answered innocently, the wondering +look still on her face. + +"Don't you see how cross they are?" continued the marchioness. + +"Yes, I can see that they are cross, but I do not know what it's all +about; if it is on account of the play, why, we won't have it! I don't +want to worry everyone with it, just because I like it; but I _do_ +like it immensely." + +Just at this moment M. de Rueille called out: + +"Well, are we going to work at this, yes or no? I have had enough of +sitting waiting here like an imbecile." + +"Where are we?" asked Jean, in a way which meant, "As there's no +getting out of it, let us start at once." + +"We've told you where we are--" answered Rueille, "we've told you +twice." + +Bijou interposed, explaining in a conciliatory tone: + +"It is where the poet has to answer Venus." + +"Ah, yes! exactly, I remember! She has accused him of all sorts of +things, and you want him to defend himself--" + +"In a couplet." + +"Yes, I understand--where are you going though?" + +Bijou was just crossing the room. + +"I am going across to sit by M. Giraud; he won't worry me like all of +you." + +The tutor blushed, and moved slightly to make room for her on the +divan on which he was seated. Denyse glided on, and took her place at +his side. + +"We are listening," she said. + +Jean was twisting a pencil and a piece of paper about in his fingers. + +"What did Venus answer?" he asked. + +M. de Rueille, with an absent-minded expression on his face, was +watching a moth fluttering round the lamp near him. + +"What did Venus answer?" called out several voices together, as loudly +as possible. + +M. de Rueille looked aghast, and, stopping his ears, read aloud from +the manuscript: + +"'_You know I do not believe a word of it._'" + +"Strike that out," said Jean, "and put: '_I do not believe it at all, +you know._' And now the poet answers: + + "'_L'ame d'un symboliste, + Madame, est un coffret melancolique d'amethyste + A serrure de diamant. + Il suffit de savoir l'ouvrir et la comprendre + Et le tresor eclos illumine la chambre + Et sourit la tristesse aux levres des amants._'" + +"Is that at all amusing?" asked M. de Rueille. + +"Well, hang it all!" exclaimed Jean irritably, "I do not say that it +is precisely a _chef-d'oeuvre_! Bijou asked for a couplet--I have +given her a couplet to the best of my ability, but I don't wish to +hinder you from giving us a better one." + +"To what air will that go?" asked Bijou. + +"Ah, yes, that's true, we want an air for it. What is there?" + +"You might put '_Air. J'en guette un petit de mon age_,'" suggested +Rueille. + +"Does that go to it?" + +"What do you mean by 'does it go to it?'" + +"Why, that air." + +"I don't know. I don't even know what the air is." + +"Then why do you suggest that we should take it?" + +"Oh! because I often see things to that air: '_J'en guette un petit de +mon age._' I just remembered seeing it, and there are lots of couplets +that are put to it." + +"But the poet's lines are longer than that," remarked Bijou, +"especially the second one. No--one could never sing them to that +air--nor to any other." + +"Ah, yes!--I did not think of that." + +"Fortunately, Bijou thinks of everything," put in Pierrot, with pride. + +"We'll find an air for it presently," said Jean. "Let's go on; do +let's go on, or we never shall finish it. Who's on the stage at +present?" + +And then, as M. de Rueille was biting the end of his pen and watching +Bijou, so that he did not appear to have heard, Blaye exclaimed: + +"Paul, are you there? or have you gone out for a time?" + +"I am there." + +"Oh, very well! then will you have the kindness to tell me which of +the characters are at present on the scene?" + +"Wait a minute! I'll just look." + +"What?" exclaimed Bijou, "do you mean to say you have to look before +you can tell us?" + +"Well, you do not imagine, I presume, that I know by heart all the +insane things that each of you has been pleased to dictate to me." + +"I know them all anyhow," and then, turning towards Jean de Blaye, she +answered his question. "We have on the scene at present, Venus, the +Poet, Thomas Vireloque, and the Opportunist, and we said yesterday +that after the introduction of the Poet to Venus, we would let Madame +de Stael come in." + +"Very well, we will let her enter at once." + +"Have you found anyone for Madame de Stael?" asked Rueille; "up to the +present no one has wanted to act her part." + +"No," said Bijou; "just now I asked Madame de Juzencourt again, but +she refuses energetically; and if Bertrade refuses too--" + +"Bertrade refuses absolutely," replied the young wife, very gently. + +"It isn't nice of you." + +"Is Madame de Stael indispensable?" asked Uncle Jonzac. + +"Quite indispensable," answered Bijou, emphatically. "We must +absolutely find some way of--" And then suddenly breaking off, as a +new idea struck her, she exclaimed gaily: "Why, Henry can take +it--Madame de Stael's _role_; he has scarcely any moustache." + +"I?" cried Bracieux. "_I_ act Madame de Stael?" + +"She was rather masculine; it will do very well." + +"But, good heavens!--I am not going to appear before people I know +arrayed in a low-necked dress, a turban, and all padded up--why, it +would be frightful!" + +"Not at all! Oh, come now--you don't want pressing, I hope?" + +"And you are not going to spoil the whole thing by being disobliging +over it," added Pierrot, with a virtuous air. + +"Disobliging?" exclaimed Henry, turning towards him; "it is very +evident that you are not in my place. By the bye, though, you might +very well be in my place;" and then seeing that Pierrot looked +horror-stricken, he continued: "Why shouldn't you take it instead of +me--you have less moustache even than I have!" + +"Yes, but I am too scraggy," declared Pierrot cunningly. "Madame de +Stael was rather a stout-looking woman." + +"Scraggy? you, the athlete!" + +Jean de Blaye knocked the floor with a billiard-cue for silence. + +"We will think about who is to act Madame de Stael when we have found +out what she has to say--Well, then, she enters--Are you not going to +write, Paul?" + +"What do you want me to write?" + +"Well, just write: '_Madame de Stael enters by_--' Yes, but that's +the point--by which door does she enter?" + +"I have put '_from the back of stage._' Whenever you don't tell me how +they come in, I always put '_from the back of stage._'" + +"All right! Then we will leave '_from the back of the stage._'" + + + "_Madame de Stael (to Thomas Vireloque)_: 'I am Madame de + Stael.' + + _Thomas Vireloque_: 'Beg pardon?' + + _Madame de Stael_: 'I am Madame de Stael.' + + _Venus_: 'What have you to tell us?' + + _The Opportunist_: 'It is very curious--I took you for a + Turk.' + + _The Poet_: 'And I--'" + + +"Wait a minute!" said M. de Rueille, "I've made a mistake." + +"How could you?" + +"How could I? The same way we generally do make mistakes, of course--I +wasn't thinking." + +"That's about it," said Bijou. "I don't know what's the matter with +you, but you certainly are absent-minded this evening." + +Without answering, Rueille drew his quill-pen across the paper, +bearing on heavily, so that the pen gave a plaintive screech. + +"What are you doing now?" asked Jean. + +"I am crossing it out." + +"What are you crossing out?" + +"Well, I had written the same sentences over four times each." + +Bijou and Blaye got up to examine M. de Rueille's work, and the young +girl read out: + + + "_Madame de Stael_: 'I am Madame de Stael.' + + _Thomas Vireloque_: 'Beg pardon?' + + _Madame de Stael_; 'I am Madame de Stael.' + + _Thomas Vireloque_: 'Beg pardon?' + + _Madame de Stael_; 'I am Madame de Stael.'" + + +"Oh, yes," said Bijou, "you must cross that out!" + +"No, leave it as it is, on the contrary," protested Jean, laughing; +"they'll think that Maeterlinck collaborated with us--it will be +capital." + +"Supposing we were to retire," proposed M. de Jonzac. "Paul is +half-asleep, that's why he wrote the same thing over three times +without noticing it. Abbe Courteil is fast asleep, and, as for me, I +am dying to follow his example." + +"Oh," said Bijou, "it is scarcely one o'clock." + +"Well, but it seems to me that in the country--What do you say about +the matter, Monsieur Giraud?" + +"Oh, as for me, monsieur, I could sit up all night without feeling +sleepy," replied the young tutor, without taking his eyes off Bijou. + +"My dear children," said the marchioness, getting up, "your uncle is +quite right, you must go to bed. Bijou, will you see that the books +you had out of the library are put back?" + +"Yes grandmamma, I will put them back myself." + +When the others had gone upstairs, M. de Rueille asked: + +"Shall I help you, Bijou? two will do it more quickly--" + +"No, you don't know anything about the library; you would mix them all +up. I must have someone who knows where the books go." And then +turning towards the tutor, who was just going out of the room, she +said to him, in the most charming way, as though to excuse the liberty +she was taking: "Monsieur Giraud, would _you_ help me to put the books +up?" + +The young man stopped short, too delighted even for words. As he +remained standing there, she pointed to the open door leading into the +hall and said gently: + +"Will you shut the door, please? And then, if you will take Moliere, I +will bring Aristophanes, and we will come back for the others--yes, +that's it." + +As she tripped along with the books, she chattered away, not as though +she were addressing her companion, but rather as though she were going +on with her thoughts aloud. + +"What was Jean looking for in Aristophanes when he only wanted to make +Thomas Vireloque and Madame de Stael talk?" And then breaking off +abruptly, she asked: + +"Do you think it will be interesting--our play?" + +"Oh, yes, mademoiselle." + +"Why do you never help us? you ought to work at it, too." + +"Oh, I am not very well up in that sort of thing, mademoiselle; +politics and society talk are like sealed books to me, and I do not +exactly see either--" + +"And then, probably, you would rather be just a spectator?" + +"Unfortunately, mademoiselle, to my great regret, I shall not even be +that." + +"What?" she exclaimed, in amazement, "you will not see our play?" + +"No, mademoiselle." + +"But, why?" + +"Oh!" he replied, dreadfully embarrassed, "for a very ridiculous +reason." + +"But what is it?" + +"Mademoiselle--I--" + +"Do please tell me why?" she said, and as she leaned forward towards +him, looking so graceful and charming, the perfume from her hair +plunged the young man into a sort of enervating torpor. + +"Why will you not tell me?" she said at length, almost sadly; "don't +you look upon me a little as your friend?" + +"Oh, mademoiselle," he stammered out, "I--I cannot appear at this +soiree because--you will see how prosaic my reason is--the fact is, I +have not a dress-coat." + +"But you have plenty of time to send for your dress-coat; besides, you +will want it for Thursday, there is a dinner on Thursday." + +Giraud blushed crimson. + +"But, mademoiselle, I cannot send for it either for Thursday or for +later on, because I--I haven't one." + +"Not at all?" + +"Not at all!" + +"Oh, you are joking?" + +"No, I am not joking, mademoiselle! I do not possess a dress-coat." +And then he added with a smile which was quite pathetic: "And there +are plenty of poor wretches like I am who are in the same +predicament!" + +"Oh!" said Bijou, taking the tutor's hand with an abrupt movement, "do +forgive me--how horrid and thoughtless I am! You will detest me, shall +you not?" + +She pressed his hand slowly in a way which sent a thrill through him. + +"Detest you?" he stammered out, almost beside himself with joy. "I +adore you!--I simply adore you!" + +Bijou gazed at him in a startled way, but there was a tender +expression in her eyes, which were dimmed with tears. Her voice was +quite changed when she spoke again: + +"Go away now!" she said, "and do not say that again; you must never, +never say it again!" + +When he reached the door he turned round, and saw that Bijou had +thrown herself down on the divan, and was sobbing, with her face +buried in the cushions. He wanted to go back to her, but he did not +dare, and, without saying another word, he left the room. + + + + +IV. + + +BIJOU, who, as a rule, was to be seen every morning trotting about, +either in the house or the park, did not appear until after the first +luncheon-bell. + +Pierrot, who had been quite uneasy, rushed across to meet her, and +assailed her with questions before she had had time to say +good-morning to the marchioness and to her Uncle Alexis. + +He wanted to know why he had not seen her as usual in the dairy, where +she always went every morning to inspect the cheeses. Why had she not +been there, as she had not been out riding? + +"How do you know that I have not been out riding?" asked Bijou. + +"Because Patatras was in the stable," replied Pierrot. "I went to +see." + +"Oh, then you keep a watch on me?" she said, laughing. + +"That is not keeping a watch on you," answered Pierrot, turning red; +"and then, too, it isn't only me! we were both of us--M. Giraud--" + +"What grammar--good heavens--what grammar!" exclaimed M. de Jonzac, in +despair. + +"What's it matter? If there was anyone here, I'd take care to put the +style on; but when there's only us!" And then turning to Bijou, he +continued: "It's quite true, you know! M. Giraud was just as much +surprised as I. He kept on saying all the time: 'We always see +mademoiselle every day hurrying about everywhere, she must be ill!' +And then I'd say, 'Oh, no! it can't be that! the Bijou is never ill!' +You see, Monsieur Giraud, I was quite right--" + +"No, you were wrong! I was not exactly ill, but tired, out of sorts. I +am only just up." + +She walked across to the tutor, who was leaning so heavily against the +window-frame that it seemed as though he wanted to hollow out a niche +for himself with his back. + +"I want to thank you, Monsieur Giraud," said Bijou, holding out her +hand to him, "for being so kind as to think about me." + +Very pale, and visibly embarrassed, the young man scarcely dared touch +the soft little hand lying so confidingly in his; he looked very +delighted, though, at being treated with such cordiality, as it was +more than he had ever expected again. + +"Mademoiselle," he stammered out, seized with a vague desire either +to run away or else to give way to his emotion, "please do not believe +that I should have taken the liberty of making all those remarks." + +"Oh, well, it would not have mattered; there is plenty of liberty +allowed with _the Bijou_, as Pierrot would say." And then suddenly +looking very thoughtful and absorbed, she asked: "Have they been +working at the play this morning?" + +"Working?" exclaimed Pierrot, with an air of surprise; "working +without you there? Oh, by jingo, no: it's quite enough to peg away at +it when you are with us, without going at it while you are away. Oh, +no! it would be too bad--that would! We had a dose of it last +night--the precious play--and I, more particularly, because I am +obliged to work at other things." + +Bijou laughed heartily. "Are you not afraid of tiring yourself with +working so hard as all that?" + +"If he continues at the rate he is going," said M. de Jonzac, "he will +never take his degree, will he, Monsieur Giraud?" + +"I am afraid not, monsieur, I am very much afraid not," replied the +tutor gently. "Pierrot is very intelligent, but so thoughtless, and so +absent-minded always, especially since our arrival here!" + +"Oh! not any more than you are, at any rate, Monsieur Giraud," +retorted Pierrot. "It's quite true! I don't know what's the matter +with you, but your thoughts are always wool-gathering, and you don't +go in for books as you did before. Why, even _maths_ you don't seem so +mad on--you don't do anything now except look after me, and go off +writing poetry." + +"You write poetry, Monsieur Giraud?" asked Madame de Rueille, entering +the room, followed by Jean and Henry. + +"Oh, madame," stuttered the poor fellow, not knowing where to put +himself nor what to say, "I write some sort, but it is--not exactly +poetry." + +"You write charming poetry!" said Jean, and then, as the young tutor +looked at him in astonishment, he continued: "Yes, you write very good +poetry--and then you lose it; little Marcel has just picked up these +verses and brought them to me." + +He smiled as he held out to Giraud a folded paper, the writing on +which was invisible. + +"Let me see them!" said Bijou, holding out her hand. + +"Oh, mademoiselle!" cried the tutor, stepping forward, terrified, +"please do not insist!" And then in order to explain his own +agitation, he added: "They are wretched verses; please let me put +them out of sight. I will show you some others which are more worth +looking at." + +Bijou's hand was still held out, and she stood there waiting, looking +very frank and innocent. + +"Oh, please, Jean, let me see these all the same; that need not +prevent M. Giraud writing some more that we can see, too." + +"I cannot show you a letter," replied Jean, handing the paper to the +distracted tutor, "and this is a kind of letter, and belongs to the +person who wrote it." + +"Thank you," stammered out Giraud, thoroughly abashed, "I am much +obliged, monsieur." And he at once put the troublesome scrap of paper +into his pocket out of sight. + +"Pierrot!" called out the marchioness, "give me 'La Bruyere'--you know +where it is?" + +"What's that?" asked the youth, winking. + +"'La Bruyere'?" + +"You see," remarked M. de Jonzac, looking at his son with an +expression of despair on his face, "he does not even know who 'La +Bruyere' is!" + +Pierrot protested energetically. "Yes, I do know who he is, and the +proof is, I can tell you--it's a blue-back." + +"A what?" asked the marchioness. + +"A blue-back, aunt." + +"Explain to your aunt," interposed M. Giraud, "that you have a most +objectionable mania for speaking of books by the colour of the binding +rather than by their title." + +"By George!" exclaimed M. de Jonzac, annoyed, "he never by any chance +opens one. He is an absolute ignoramus; just to think that he will +soon be seventeen!" + +"Poor Pierrot," said Bijou compassionately, "he is not as ignorant as +all that!" And then, as her uncle did not answer, she added: "And +then, too, he is ever so nice, and he is so strong and well." + +"Oh, as to that," said M. de Jonzac, "his health is perfect, and that +just makes him all the more insufferable, but not any more intelligent +though. Everyone complains about the overtaxing of the intellectual +faculties; they say that it is the ruin of children; and so, by way of +improvement, they go in now for overtaxing them physically, which is a +more certain ruin still." + +"Ah, uncle is waging war now," put in Bertrade; "but I am of his +opinion, too, for I do not like to think that some day my children +will add to the number of the young ruffians we see around us." + +"But," objected Henry de Bracieux, "many of them--and some quite +young, too--are very intellectual; I know some." + +"I, too, know some," said Jean de Blaye; "but, to my way of thinking, +they are not precisely intellectual, they are--" + +Just at this moment a bell was rung in the hall. + +"We must go to luncheon, children," said the marchioness, rising, +"Jean will finish his little definition for us at table." + +"Oh, I am not particularly keen about it, aunt," said Jean, laughing. + +"I am, though; I am no longer 'in the know' of things, as you say, and +I don't object to be instructed about certain matters on which I am +absolutely ignorant." + +On taking her seat at table, the marchioness, addressing Jean, +continued: + +"You were saying that the young men who were not precisely the +intellectual ones were--" + +"Oh, I am not good at explanations," he replied. + +"That does not matter; go on, anyhow." + +"Well, those who are not really intellectual are of the sickly kind; +they act that sort of thing to begin with, and then they end by +getting like it in reality; they are intolerably affected, +effeminate, crazy, and everything else beside. They set up for being +original, and not like anyone else." + +"Well, and what do you call them?" + +"I don't exactly know; they are of the complex kind. There's young La +Balue, for instance, he's a perfect example for you of this class; you +might study him." + +"That's an idea that has never entered my head; but, in the young +generation of to-day, there are others beside these complex ones." + +"Yes, they are the athletes." + +"Specimen, Pierrot!"--remarked Henry de Bracieux. + +The marchioness turned towards her grandson. + +"Don't be personal," she said. "Continue your little speech, Jean." + +"I would rather eat my egg in peace, aunt!" + +"We had got as far as the athletes--" + +"Well, then, if the complex young men of to-day are a trifle +sickening, the athletes are the greatest nuisances under the sun. +Boxing, football, bicycles, matches, and records--all that, they +consider of the most tremendous and vital importance, not only in +their conversation, but, what is more regrettable still, in their +lives. In their opinion, a man of worth is the one who can give the +hardest blows, or who is endowed with the greatest strength or +vigour; all their admiration is bestowed on one single being in the +world--_the Champion_, with a capital C." + +"And what is there between the complex young man and the athletes?" + +"Nothing; or, at least, some exceptions so rare that they are there +simply to confirm the rule. Of course, I am only talking now of the +young generation, of the latest--Pierrot's, in fact." + +"Do leave poor Pierrot in peace!" said Bijou; "you all find fault with +him." + +"Because it is not too late yet for him to put his young self to +rights, and if he were to be let alone, he would soon degenerate in +the most deplorable manner." + +"Jean is right," agreed M. de Jonzac; "he can very well afford to give +advice to Pierrot, and even to the others, for he is himself highly +intellectual and very good at sports." + +Madame de Bracieux looked at her nephew with a benevolent expression +in her eyes: + +"Your uncle is right, my dear boy, you are the greatest success of the +family," she said, and then seeing that Bijou appeared to be examining +her cousin curiously, she added: "I am only speaking of the men, of +course." + +Pierrot leaned over towards Denyse, who was seated next him, and +said, in an undertone with deep gratitude, "It's awfully good of you +to stick up for me always, and I can't tell you how fond I am of +you--more than any of the others." + +She answered with a smile; and in an almost maternal way, said: + +"That's very wrong! You ought to be much fonder of uncle, and of +grandmamma, too, than you are of me." + +"Oh, well, to begin with, there's no rule for that, and then, too, I +didn't mean that at all. I meant that I am fonder of you than all the +others are; and, you know, there's some of them very fond of you; +there's Paul, for instance, Paul de Rueille--I'm sure he likes you +better than he does Bertrade, or his children, better than +anyone--even God!" + +"Do be quiet!" said Bijou, alarmed, and looking round to see if anyone +had heard. + +"Don't be in a fright! They are all busy worrying each other; they are +not troubling about us. It's quite true what I said, you know; and +then Jean, too, and Henry, and Monsieur Giraud! There's scarcely +anyone, except Abbe Courteil, who does not follow you about to every +corner you go; and then--" + +"You are talking rubbish! how can you imagine--" + +"I don't imagine it--I see it!--and I see it, because it annoys me!" + +Just at this moment M. de Jonzac's voice was heard. + +"Oh, no!" he was saying, "I am convinced that he has no idea that +Renan ever existed. He does not know a thing--not a single thing." + +"Oh, yes," put in the tutor, in his usual gentle and conciliatory way, +"as regards Renan, I am sure that he knows. Only three or four days +ago I had occasion to quote him as the author of the 'Origin of +Language.'" + +"Well, I would wager that he does not even remember his +name--Pierrot!" called out M. de Jonzac. + +The poor lad, entirely absorbed in his conversation with Bijou, had no +idea that he was being discussed. On hearing his name called, he +turned his head towards his father, vaguely uneasy. + +"Pierrot," asked M. de Jonzac, "who was Renan?" + +"Ah! that's it, is it," said Pierrot to Bijou, "now they're beginning +the examination again. Renan--who in the world was he now?" + +"You do not know who Renan was, do you?" asked M. de Jonzac blandly. + +"No, father, I don't," replied the boy. + +"What?" exclaimed Giraud, surprised; "why, only the other day we were +talking about him." + +"About him?" repeated Pierrot, quite astounded, "do you mean to say +that I was talking about the man?" + +"Why, yes--come now; try to remember--I mentioned one of his works." + +Bijou, who had just before only been listening with one ear to what +Pierrot had been telling her, so that with the other she could keep up +with the general conversation, remembered the title that had been +quoted. She was looking at her plate, apparently taken up with the +strawberries, which she was rolling about in the sugar. "The 'Origin +of Language,'" she whispered very quietly. + +"Come now, have a good try," repeated the tutor. "I mentioned one of +M. Renan's books to you--which one?" + +"'The Language of Flowers,'" answered Pierrot resolutely. + +"That's right!" exclaimed Bertrade, delighted: "we can always reckon +on something lively from Pierrot." + +M. de Jonzac, in spite of his inclination to laugh, put on a rigid +expression. "I do not see anything amusing in it." + +"_You_ don't laugh, at any rate," said Pierrot, turning to Bijou and +blushing furiously. "It is awfully good of you," he added. + +After dinner, he drew her out on to the stone steps, and said, in a +beseeching tone: + +"Let me come out with you to take the green stuff to Patatras." + +"But I must go and pour out the coffee first." + +"Oh, just for once; Bertrade can pour it out right enough. Come, now, +I don't want to go into the drawing-room; they'd begin asking me +something else." + +Denyse started off with him, taking from a shed the basket in which +was prepared for her every day the bunch of clover she always took to +her horse. She then went on in the direction of the stable, followed +by Pierrot. + +"You are awfully nice, Bijou, and so pretty, if you only knew it," he +kept repeating, making his rough voice almost gentle. + +As they crossed the path which led to the stable, they saw M. de +Rueille and Jean de Blaye advancing towards them, deep in +conversation. + +"Look!" said Pierrot, "as you weren't in the drawing-room our two +cousins made themselves scarce there." + +Denyse was going forward to meet them, but he stopped her abruptly. + +"No, please don't, they'd stick to us all the time, and I shouldn't +have you to myself at all. It's such a piece of luck for me to be with +you for a minute without Monsieur Giraud; he's always at my heels, +especially when I'm anywhere near you." + +Bijou was looking attentively at the two men, who were coming towards +her, but who were so deeply absorbed that they had not seen her, and +between her somewhat heavy eyelids appeared that little gleam which +gave at times a singular intensity of expression to her usually +soft-looking eyes. + +"Very well," she answered, entering the stable, "let us take Patatras +his clover without them." + +M. de Rueille was walking along with his eyes fixed on the gravel of +the garden-path. He looked up on hearing the door open. Jean de Blaye +pointed to the stable. + +"Look here," he said, "_that's_ the cause of all the trouble and worry +that I can detect in every single word you say; and it's the cause, +too, of the sort of petty spite that you have against me." + +"Indeed!" replied Rueille, putting on a joking air; "and what is +_that_ pray?" + +"Why, Bijou, of course. Oh, you need not try to deny it. Do you think +I have not followed up, hour by hour, all that has been passing in +your mind?" + +"It must have been interesting." + +"Don't humbug; you are scarcely inclined for that sort of thing just +now. I saw very well just when you began to admire Bijou, quite +unconsciously, more than one does admire, as a rule, a little cousin +one is fond of. It was the evening of the _Grand Prix_ at Uncle +Alexis' when she sang--why don't you speak?" + +"I am listening to you--go on." + +"When we were all here together at Bracieux, never absent from each +other, and you had spent every minute of the long day in Bijou's +society, your--let us call it--your admiration increased, of course, +and ever since yesterday, ever since your expedition to +Pont-sur-Loire, it has been at the acute stage. Am I right?" + +"Well, yes: you are right." + +"I am not surprised; but will you explain one thing--one thing which +_does_ surprise me?" + +"What is it?" + +"Why do you appear to have a special grudge against me? Why against me +rather than against your brother-in-law, or young La Balue, or +Pierrot's tutor, or even Pierrot himself?" + +"Well, Henry is nearly Bijou's own age; he was brought up with her, +and she looks upon him as a brother exactly. Young La Balue is a +regular caricature; the tutor, a poor wretch who does not count; and +Pierrot, a lad; whilst you--" + +"Whilst I?" + +"Well, as to you, why, you are the sort that women like, and you know +that very well; and I can see and feel, and, in short, I know, it is +you whom Bijou will care for." + +"Me? nonsense! she does not deign to pay the very slightest attention +to me. I am nothing in her eyes except the man who is breaking in a +horse for her, who takes her out boating, or who composes couplets for +her play." + +"In short, you exist more than the others do, anyhow." + +"But why? It's your fancy to look upon young La Balue as a caricature; +but everyone is not of your opinion. As to Giraud--well, he is a very +good sort." + +"Yes, but he is Giraud." + +"Well, what of that? what difference does that make?" + +"A good deal; that is, it would be nothing with certain women, but it +is everything with others,--and Bijou is one of these others." + +"Oh--what do you know about it?" + +"I have studied her for some time without appearing to." + +"You are studying her, but you do not know her." + +"Perhaps not!" + +"If I were in her place I know which one I should choose amongst so +many lovers." + +"Ah! they sing that in _Les Noces de Jeannette_." + +"Oh! you won't stop me like that! Amongst so many lovers, if I had to +choose, it would certainly be Giraud that I should prefer." + +"An older woman might admire Giraud, because he is handsome--but not a +young girl! You see a young girl's one idea is marriage----" + +"Then, you have no grudge against Giraud, because, according to you, +he is not marriageable, consequently, not to be feared." + +"Precisely!" + +"Very well, then, and what about me, my dear fellow? Do you think I am +marriageable, then? Can you imagine me with my wretched fifteen +hundred a year endeavouring to make Bijou happy? Yes, can you just +imagine it now?--a house at a hundred a year or so--petroleum lamps, +coke fires, etc.--that _would_ be delicious." + +"And yet you are in love with her?" + +"Excuse me, I did not say that I was in love with Bijou. I don't +really know; all I can say is, that she has taken my fancy +tremendously, and that, as I simply cannot marry her, I am wretchedly +unhappy." + +"And you don't think she cares for you?" + +"Not the least bit in the world! She has never tried even to deceive +me on that point. 'Good-morning! Good-night! What a fine day it +is.'--that's the sort of palpitating dialogue which goes on every day +between us. You see, therefore, that you have no reason to have a +spite against me?" + +"I beg your pardon, Jean, my dear fellow, but I firmly believed that +you were the great favourite." + +M. de Rueille broke off suddenly, and appeared to be straining his +ears. + +"Ah!" he said, "there she is!" + +Bijou was just coming out of the stable, followed, of course, by +Pierrot. + +She tripped daintily across towards the two men, examining them in her +calm, smiling way. + +"Whatever's the matter with you both?" she asked; "you look--I don't +know how!" + + + + +V. + + +BIJOU was in the dining-room, arranging the flowers on the table for +dinner, whilst in the butler's pantry the servants were polishing up +the large silver dishes until they shone brilliantly. + +"Get into your coat!" said the butler to the footman; "there's a +carriage coming slowly up the avenue. Oh, you've got plenty of time, +it isn't here yet." + +"Whose carriage is it?" said the footman, looking through the window. + +"I don't know it; it's a fine-looking turn-out, anyhow. It might very +well be the owner of The Noriniere." + +"My goodness! it's a clinking turn-out." + +"Oh, he can afford it." + +"He's got some money, then?" + +"Why, yes, an awful lot; he's got about sixteen thousand a year." + +"Do you know him, then?" + +"My wife was kitchen-maid at his place before I married her--a good +master he is, always pleasant, and not at all near--you'd better +start now if you want to get to the steps before he's there." + +A minute before, Bijou, finding that she was short of flowers, had run +out into the garden, and, springing across the path, had pushed her +way into the middle of a rose-bed, and was now cutting away +mercilessly. She was so absorbed that she did not hear the carriage, +which was coming up the drive, and which went round the lawn, and +pulled up in front of the stone steps. When at last she did happen to +look up, she saw, a few steps away from her, a tall gentleman standing +gazing at her with a most rapturous expression. + +The fact was that Bijou, in her cotton dress, with wide pink stripes, +and her little apron trimmed with Valenciennes, was really very pretty +to look at, foraging about amongst the flowers. + +When she discovered that she was being gazed at in this way, her +tea-rose complexion took a deeper tint, and she looked confused and +embarrassed, as she stood there facing the gentleman, who was still +contemplating her without saying a word. + +He was a man of between fifty-five and sixty, tall, slender, +distinguished-looking, and elegant, and with a very young-looking +figure for his years. His face, which was intelligent and refined, +had also an almost youthful expression about it, just tinged with a +shade of melancholy. As Bijou remained where she was, and appeared to +be hesitating and not quite at her ease, the visitor approached, and, +raising his hat, said in a very gentle voice: + +"Excuse me, mademoiselle, but are you not Denyse de Courtaix?" + +Bijou, with her frank, honest expression, looked straight into the +eyes fixed so curiously upon her, and answered, smiling: + +"Yes, and you?--you are Monsieur de Clagny, are you not?" + +"How did you know?" + +Denyse sprang out of the rose-bed on to the garden-path, and then, +without answering the question in a direct way, she said, with the +most trusting, happy look in her eyes: + +"Oh! how glad grandmamma will be to see you, and Uncle Alexis, too; +ever since they heard that you were coming back to live here, they +have talked of nothing else. Let's go at once to find grandmamma." + +She started off, leading the way, looking most graceful and supple, as +she passed through the large rooms with that gliding movement which +was one of her greatest charms. + +The marchioness was not in the room where she was usually to be found. +Bijou rang the bell, and requested the servant to find Madame de +Bracieux. She then took a seat opposite M. de Clagny, and examined him +attentively. + +"Paul de Rueille was quite right after all," she said, "when he told +me that I had seen you long ago--I recognise you." She gazed with her +bright eyes more fixedly into the count's, and repeated pensively: "I +certainly do recognise you." + +"Well, I confess, in all sincerity," said M. de Clagny, "that if I had +met you anywhere else than at Bracieux, I should not have recognised +_you_--you are so much bigger, you know, and then, so much more +beautiful that, with the exception of the lovely violet eyes, which +have not changed, there is nothing remaining of the little baby-girl +of years ago." + +"The name which you gave me still remains." + +"The name? what name?" he asked, in surprise. + +"Bijou! don't you remember? it seems that it was you who used to call +me that." + +"Yes, that's true! you seemed to me such a fragile little thing, so +adorable and so rare--a bijou in fact, an exquisite little bijou. And +so they have continued to call you by that name--it suits you, too, +wonderfully well." + +"I don't think so! I am afraid it is rather ridiculous to be still +_Bijou_ at the age of twenty-one, for, you know, I am twenty-one now." + +"Is it possible?" + +"Very possible! in four years from now I shall be quite an old maid!" + +The count looked at Bijou with an admiration which he did not attempt +to dissimulate, as he answered emphatically: + +"_You_ an old maid? oh, never in the world, never!" + +Madame de Bracieux was just entering the room. + +"How glad I am to see you!" she said, looking delighted, and holding +out her hands to her visitor. + +As Denyse was moving towards the door, the marchioness called her +back. + +"I see Bijou has introduced herself," she said to Clagny, who had not +yet got over his admiration, "What do you think of my grand-daughter?" +And then, without giving him time to answer, she went on quickly: +"It's just the same _Bijou_ you used to admire years ago, just the +same! the genuine _Bijou_, there's no _sham_ about it, as my grandsons +would say." + +"Mademoiselle Denyse is charming." + +"Denyse (and, by the way, you will oblige me by not calling her +mademoiselle) is a dear, good girl, obedient and devoted. Her gaiety +has brightened up my old house, which was gloomy enough before her +arrival." + +"How is it that I have never seen Mademoiselle Denyse----" + +"Mademoiselle again!" + +"That I have never seen Bijou in Paris? I come so regularly on your +day." + +"Yes, but you always come very early, at an hour when she is never +there, and then for the last sixteen years you have never dined with +us." + +"I never dine out anywhere, you know; but you have never spoken of +Bijou, never told me anything about her." + +"Because you have never asked me about her." + +"I had forgotten about her, to tell the truth, the tiny, baby-child +that I saw so little of, and yet just now, when I saw a delicious girl +emerging from a rose-bed, I hadn't the slightest hesitation, had I, +mademoiselle?" and then correcting himself, he added, laughing: "had +I, Bijou?" + +"Yes, that's true! M. de Clagny asked me at once if I were not Denyse +de Courtaix----and I, too, knew at once who he was; I had heard so +much about him that I seemed to know him in my imagination, and, it's +very odd--" She broke off suddenly, and then after gazing thoughtfully +at the count, she added: "I knew him in my imagination just as he is +in reality." + +"A very old man," said Clagny, with a kind of sad playfulness. + +"No!" replied Bijou, evidently sincere, "a very handsome man!" And +then abruptly breaking off, she said: "And Uncle Alexis has not +appeared yet; they have rung the bell with all their might in vain, +for he doesn't come; I'll go and find him!" + +She was hurrying away when the marchioness called her back: + +"Stop a minute!--have another place laid at table. You will dine with +us, Clagny?" + +"Yes, if you have no one here." + +"Oh, but I have; I am just expecting some friends of yours." + +"And I am a regular bear, for I do not even dine with my friends; and +then, too, in this get-up--" + +"Your get-up is all right, and, besides, there is time to send to The +Noriniere for your coat if you particularly care to have it." + +"I do care to, if I stay." + +Bijou approached, and said, in a coaxing way: + +"You will stay--and do you know what would be very, very nice of you? +well, it would be to stay just as you are, without your dress-coat." + +"Why do you insist, Bijou, if it annoys him to stay without dressing?" +asked the marchioness. + +"Because, grandmamma, if M. de Clagny were to dine without his +dress-coat, M. Giraud could, too; and otherwise he will have to dine +all by himself in his room." + +"What are you talking about, child?" + +"Why, it's very simple. M. Giraud has no dress-coat; he hasn't one at +all. I got to know it by chance; he told Baptiste just now that he was +not very well, and that he should not leave his room this evening, and +so, if M. de Clagny would stay just as he is, don't you see, he could, +too--M. Giraud, I mean." + +"What a good little Bijou you are!" said the marchioness, quite +touched; "you think of everyone; you do nothing but find ways of +giving pleasure to all." + +Denyse was not listening to this. She was waiting for the count to +give his consent. + +"Would it be a great, great pleasure to you," he asked at length, "if +this Monsieur Giraud could dine at table?" + +"Yes." + +"Then it shall be as you wish. Tell me, though, now, who is this +gentleman with whom I am not acquainted, and for whose sake I am +consenting to appear as a most ill-bred man?" + +"He is Pierrot's coach." + +"Ah! and what's this Pierrot?" + +"The son of Alexis," said Madame de Bracieux laughing. + +"Then the god to whom I am to be sacrificed is M. Giraud, tutor to +Pierrot de Jonzac, and he is honoured by the patronage of Mademoiselle +Denyse. Thank you, I like to know how things are." + +"But," protested Denyse, turning very red, "I do not patronise M. +Giraud at all. I----" + +"Oh, do not attempt to defend yourself. I know what kind of a role a +poor tutor without a dress-coat must play in the life of a beautiful +young lady like you; it is just a role of no account; he represents as +exactly as possible _a gentleman of no importance_ in a play." + +"You have no idea," said the marchioness, when Denyse had gone away, +"how good that child is. This young man in whom she is interested, and +who, by the bye, is really charming, is always treated by her exactly +on the same footing as the most influential and the most +distinguished men she meets. Oh, she is a pearl, is Bijou; you will +see!" + +"I shall see it perhaps too clearly." + +"How do you mean--too clearly?" + +"I am very susceptible, you know. I have a foolish old heart, which +sounds an alarm at the slightest danger, and which afterwards I cannot +silence again." + +"But Bijou is my grand-daughter, my poor old friend." + +"Well, what difference does that make?" + +"Why, just this--that she might be yours." + +"I know all that well enough. Good heavens!--that is what you might +call reasoning; and hearts that remain young either reason very little +or very badly." + +"And so?" + +"Oh," said M. de Clagny, making an effort to laugh, "I was joking, of +course." + + * * * * * + +Bijou had crossed the court-yard. The heat was very great, and the +peacocks, perched on the trunk of a tree that had been felled, looked +stupid and ridiculous, whilst the dogs, lying on their sides, with +their legs stretched out, were panting under the sun's rays, but were +too lazy to look for any shade. + +No one was out of doors at that torrid hour, except Pierrot, who, +arrayed in a white linen suit, with a wide straw hat on his head, was +strolling about under the chestnut trees, which formed a V shaped +avenue. + +Denyse ran up the steps, and entered the schoolroom like a gust of +wind. On the threshold, however, she stopped short, and seemed +confused. M. Giraud, who had been seated at the table, had risen +hastily on seeing her appear. + +"Oh! I beg your pardon," she stammered out, "I wanted to speak to +Pierrot. I thought he was here, and that you had gone for your walk." + +Very much embarrassed, the young tutor could scarcely find any words +with which to reply. + +"No, mademoiselle, no! I am here you see. It is just the contrary, for +Pierrot has gone out, but, if you like, if I could tell him +what--for--you have something to say to him probably?" + +He lost his head completely as he looked at her standing there. She +was so pretty with her complexion, still pink and white, in spite of +the terrible heat, and her large eyes, with their changing expression, +were fixed on him with such a gentle look. + +"Yes, certainly," she said, slightly embarrassed too, "I wanted to +speak to Pierrot; although it is about something that concerns +you--it would be better----" + +"Something which concerns me?" interrupted Giraud, looking uneasy; +"but I do not know really--I wonder what----" + +The thought flashed across him that she was perhaps going to say that, +after what had taken place the night before last, he could not remain +any longer at Bracieux. He was in despair, for not only would he have +to leave Bijou, but he would probably get no employment for the next +two months, just as he had thought to have a little peace and comfort. + +The young girl was looking at him, and smiling kindly. + +"You see, it is very difficult to say it to--to the person concerned," +she answered at length. + +"Well, but--Pierrot." + +"Oh! Pierrot is not a very clever diplomatist, I grant, but he would +have known better than I do how to go about things in order to +announce to you----" + +"To announce to me?" + +"The fact that you are going to dine with us this evening. A headache, +you know, is a very good excuse for women, but only for women." + +"But, mademoiselle, without taking into account the annoyance it +would be to me (and it would annoy me very much) not to be dressed as +the others are, it would not be polite towards your guests." + +"Yes, you are perhaps right; it would not be the thing, perhaps, if +you were the only one who was not in evening dress; but there will be +M. de Clagny just as he is now, to pay a call; so you understand." + +"Mademoiselle, I caught sight of M. de Clagny just now when he +arrived. He is an old gentleman, and as such can take liberties about +certain matters which I, particularly in my position, could not." + +"As to you, you are just going to obey grandmamma like a good little +boy, for it was grandmamma who sent me, you know." + +"Ah!" murmured the young man, disappointed, "it was your grandmamma? I +was hoping it was you, who--but you are still vexed with me, of +course?" + +"Vexed with you?" she asked, surprised; "what for?" + +"Well--because--oh, you know--the other evening--when, in spite of +myself, I----" + +Bijou's merry face clouded over as she said very seriously: + +"I thought that would never be brought up again. I wish you to forget +what you said to me." She stood still a moment, with a pensive look on +her beautiful face, and then she added, in a muffled voice: "And, +above all, I wish to forget it myself." + +Her eyelids were lowered, and her eyelashes were beating quickly +against her pink cheeks throwing a strange shadow over her brilliant +complexion. + +Giraud went up to her, anxious and excited, and in a stammering voice +he asked: + +"Is it true what you have just said? Do you still remember that moment +of madness? Can you think of it without anger?" + +"Yes," she answered, gazing full at him with her beautiful blue eyes, +"I think of it without anger," and then, in such a low voice that he +could scarcely hear it, she murmured, "and I _do_ think of it all the +time!" Then, with a sudden change of expression, she began again +hurriedly: "It is you who must forget now; you must forget at +once--what I ought never to have said to you! Please forget it! Do as +I ask you, for my sake!" + +"Forget? How do you think that I can forget? You know well enough that +it is absolutely impossible!" + +"You must, though!" she persisted. "Yes, you must say to yourself +that you--that we have had a dream--a very bright, happy dream,--one +of those sort from which one wakes up happy, and, at the same time, +troubled; a dream in which one has a vision of beautiful things, which +disappear, and which we cannot possibly define. Have you never had +such dreams? One cannot, no matter how much one tries, remember all +about them; and yet--one likes them." + +Her voice, with its caressing intonation, completely unnerved the +young man. He had taken his seat again mechanically at the table, and, +without replying, he looked up at Bijou, his eyes full of tears. + +She came nearer, and said in a beseeching tone: + +"Ah! please don't, if you only knew how wretched it makes me--" and +then she added abruptly: "and if it is any consolation to you--you can +say to yourself that you are not the only one to suffer--for I do, +too." + +"Is it really, really true?" he asked, bewildered with his happiness. + +Denyse did not answer. She had just noticed on the table a letter, +which Giraud had been finishing when she entered the room. + +"I was writing to my brother," he said, following the direction of her +eyes, "and instead of telling him about my pupil, and my occupations, +and, in short, about such things as, in my position of life, I ought +to confine myself to, I have only told him about you." + +"I was looking at your name," she answered, pointing with her rosy +finger to the signature; "Fred--it is a name I am fond of; I gave it +to my little godchild, the youngest of Bertrade's children." She +seemed to be looking far away through the open window as she repeated +very gently: "Fred!" And then passing her little hand over her +forehead, and walking towards the door, she said abruptly: "And this +dinner--and my flowers for the table,--why, the _menus_ are not +written yet, and it is five o'clock!" And then, as the poor fellow +looked stupefied and did not attempt to move, she went on: "It's +settled about this evening, is it not? I shall have your place laid?" + +He answered, in a vague, bewildered way, coming gradually to himself +again: + +"Amongst all the others in dress-coats, I shall cut the most +ridiculous figure." + +"Oh, no,--nothing of the kind! Besides, they will not all be in +dress-coats. First of all, there is M. de Clagny in a frock-coat; and +then M. de Bernes, who is afraid of meeting his General, and so is +always arrayed in his uniform: then the abbe in his cassock," and +with a laugh she concluded: "That makes three of them who will not be +in dress-coats!" + + * * * * * + +As she was leaving the schoolroom, she ran against Henry de Bracieux, +who was coming towards her in the corridor. + +"Well, I never!" he exclaimed, in surprise. "What are you doing here?" + +"And you?" + +"I? Why, I was going back to my room." + +"And I was coming away from Pierrot's." + +"Pierrot is in the garden." + +"I did not know, and I had something to say to him." + +"To him?" asked the young man suspiciously, and almost aggressively, +"or to M. Giraud?" + +Without appearing to notice her cousin's singular attitude towards +her, she answered, in a docile way: + +"To him, so that he might repeat it to M. Giraud, but as he was not +there----" + +"It is to Giraud that you have----" + +"Given grandmamma's message. Yes," and then, with an innocent +expression in her eyes, she asked: "Why does it interest you so much +to know whether I gave this message to the one rather than to the +other?" + +He replied, in a joking tone, but with some embarrassment: + +"Because I am inquisitive, probably; and the proof that I am +inquisitive is that I should like to know what this message was." + +"Grandmamma commissioned me to tell M. Giraud, who has no +dress-coat----" + +"No dress-coat--Giraud?" + +"No." + +"Not a dress-coat at all?" + +"There, you say just what I did. No, not a dress-coat of any +description! He had sent word that he would not dine with us; and +then, as M. de Clagny is staying to dinner, and he is in a frock-coat, +I was going to tell Pierrot, so that he could let M. Giraud know. Do +you understand now?" + +"Yes," replied Henry, "quite well--but Jean is very _chic_ and never +goes about without a change of dress-coats; he has, at least, three +here; he would certainly lend him one--they are exactly the same +figure." + +"That would be nice!" + +"Oh, he would be glad to do it! Giraud is a very nice fellow; we +should all like him, if----" + +He stopped short, and Bijou asked: + +"If what?" + +"Oh, nothing! I'll go and see about this business--at old Clagny's +time of life it doesn't matter whether one is got up all right or not; +but for Giraud, it's another thing. I am sure he would feel it very +much if he thought he looked ridiculous, especially----" + +"Especially?" + +"Especially before you!" + +Bijou shrugged her shoulders, and ran away down the long corridor. + + + + +VI. + + +ALTHOUGH Bijou had superintended the laying of the cloth, and had +herself attended to the flowers, the service, and the _menus_, she was +ready for dinner before anyone else. + +Carrying in her arms an enormous bunch of roses, she entered the +drawing-room just as the marchioness had gone upstairs to dress. + +She was so much taken up with arranging her flowers on a side-table +that she did not see M. de Clagny, who was watching her attentively as +she came and went, with the pretty, graceful movements of a bird as it +flies backwards and forwards before finally perching itself. + +At length, however, he spoke, and the sound of his voice made Denyse +start. + +"It's very certain that it came direct from Paris--that pretty dress," +he said. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Bijou, scared, "you nearly frightened me." And then, +going up to the count, and daintily patting her light, gauzy dress, +she continued: "That pretty dress did not come from Paris; it was made +at Bracieux, near Pont-sur-Loire." + +Thoroughly astonished, the count asked: + +"Oh, no! by whom, then?" + +"By Denyse, here present, and by an old sewing-woman, who is a dresser +at the theatre." + +He had risen, and was now walking round the young girl in almost timid +admiration. She was so pretty, emerging from the pinky-looking cloud, +which seemed to scarcely touch her dainty little figure, and out of +which peeped her shoulders, tinted, too, with that singular pinky +gleam which made her delicate skin look so velvety and soft. + +M. de Clagny could not help thinking that Bijou was not only beautiful +to look at, but fascinating in the extreme, with her tempting mouth, +and her innocent, frank eyes. The charm of her person was rendered all +the more complex by this same child-like expression. + +Whilst he was examining her curiously, Bijou was saying to herself +that "this old friend of grandmamma's" was much younger-looking than +she had imagined him to be. He certainly did make a good appearance, +tall and slender, with his hair quite white on his temples, whilst his +fair moustache had scarcely a touch of grey. His brown eyes had a +gentle expression, and his mouth, sometimes mocking, and at times even +almost cruel, showed, when he smiled, the sharp, white teeth, which +lighted up his whole face in a singular way. + +The silence was getting embarrassing, until Bijou at last broke it: + +"Grandmamma has not come down then yet? I expected to find her here." + +"She went away to dress just as you came in." + +"She will never be ready." + +M. de Clagny looked at his watch. + +"But dinner is to be at eight--she has plenty of time; it is not +half-past seven." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Bijou regretfully. "If only I had known, I should not +have hurried so much. I was so afraid of being late." + +"I'm the one to be glad that you hurried so much. I shall have you to +talk to for a minute"-- + +"For a good half-hour at least," she said, laughing; "no one is ever +in advance here--oh, never, not even the guests any more than the +people of the house." + +"Ah, about the guests, tell me with whom I am going to dine. Your +grandmamma said, 'You will dine with some friends of yours.' Now, as +to friends, I cannot have many here now, considering that for the +last twelve years I have not been in this part of the world. There +have probably been many changes since then." + +"Not so many as all that; let's see, now! you will dine with the +Tourvilles." + +"The Tourvilles? they are not dead yet?" + +"Those with whom you are going to dine are living. They had some +parents who are dead." + +"Ah! that's it, is it! then young Tourville is married?" + +"Yes, two years ago!" + +"He was a disagreeable fellow! Has he made a good marriage?" + +"That depends! he married a young lady on the Stock Exchange." + +"What do you mean? a young lady on the Stock Exchange?" + +"Yes, her father is something there, I believe; he is very, very +rich." + +"Is it Chaillot, the banker?" + +"Perhaps so, I never asked about them--they have restored Tourville, +it is superb now; and they are always entertaining." + +"Is Madame de Tourville pretty?" + +"You will see her; she is very pleasant, and they say she is very +intelligent; for my part, I have not discovered that." And then, as +M. de Clagny smiled, she added quickly: "Because I only know her very +slightly." + +"Well, and after the Tourvilles, who next?" + +"M. de Bernes." + +"Young Hubert, the dragoon?" + +"He himself." + +"He is the son of good friends of mine; a downright nice fellow, don't +you think so?" + +"Don't I think what?" + +"That Hubert de Bernes is nice?" + +"Oh! I know him so slightly; he has always seemed to me--how shall I +express it?--insipid, yes, insipid." + +"Because you intimidate him, probably? I can quite understand that, +too!" + +"I intimidate _you_, perhaps?" she said, laughing. + +"Very much so!" he answered, very seriously. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, in astonishment, "how is that possible?" + +"It is very possible, and it is true! There's nothing astonishing +about it then, that if you intimidate an old man like me, you should +intimidate poor little Hubert." + +"Little Hubert? he is six feet!" + +"Yes, and he is twenty-six years old, but to me he is always little +Hubert. Well, anyhow, admit at least that he is handsome?" + +"I don't know!" + +"Are you going to tell me that you have not looked at him?" + +"I have looked at him; but as regards M. de Bernes I am a very bad +judge." + +"Why so?" + +"Because I detest young men!" + +"At the age of twenty-six they are not so young as all that!" + +"That may be so! but, all the same, at that age they do not exist as +far as I am concerned." + +"Well, well! and at what age do they begin to exist as far as you are +concerned?" + +She laughed. + +"Very late in life!" she said, and then suddenly changing her tone, +she continued: "I am glad you know M. de Bernes, because, at any rate, +you will not be bored to death now this evening." + +"Ah! it appears, then, that I am not to count on the other guests for +entertainment?" + +"Oh, no! the others--well, first of all there are the La Balues." + +"Good heavens, they are alarming! Why, their children must be +beginning to grow up?" + +"They have even finished growing up! Louis is twenty-three, and Gisele +twenty-two." + +"What are they like?" + +"The one sets up for being _blase_---he is never either hungry, +thirsty, or sleepy; he does not care for anything; everything bores +him. And it is not true, you know! he never misses a dance, and his +sister says that he gets up in the night to eat on the sly. Then, too, +he writes ridiculous poetry, paints pictures as absurd as his poetry, +and goes in for music--such music!" + +"And the daughter?" + +"She is as masculine as her brother is effeminate; she goes shooting +and hunting, and her dream is to go in for deer-stalking, and to marry +an officer." + +"She is probably thinking of Hubert?" + +"What Hubert?" + +"Young Bernes!" + +"Ah! But I don't fancy so! At all events, he is not thinking about +her--" + +"Because he is too much taken up with you, like all the others; is not +that so?" + +"Not at all!" + +M. de Clagny shrugged his shoulders. + +"Oh, nonsense!" he said, "I can see it all quite plainly." + +"There are only three guests left now for me to introduce to you," +continued Bijou, evidently wishing to change the subject of the +conversation. "There are the Juzencourts--people who are very much +up-to-date, and who have bought 'The Pines'--and one of their friends +who is staying for a month with them, a delightful young widow, the +Viscountess de Nezel." + +"What!" exclaimed the count, with an abrupt movement; "Madame de +Nezel--Jean de Blaye is here then?" + +Denyse opened her beautiful, bright eyes wide, as she replied in +astonishment: + +"Yes, Jean is here; but what has that to do with----?" + +"Oh, nothing at all! nothing at all!" said M. de Clagny hastily, and +then after a moment's silence, he asked: "Is Madame de Nezel as pretty +as ever?" + +"She is very pretty." + +"As pretty as you?" + +Bijou smiled. "Why do you make fun of me? I know very well that I am +not pretty," she said. + +"It's my turn now, my dear little Bijou, to ask why you make fun of an +old friend who admires you as much as it is possible to admire anyone, +and who, alas! is not the only one." + +"Why do you say alas?" + +"Well, because when one admires or loves, one would like to be the +only one to admire or love; one's affection makes one selfish and +jealous." + +"And after--let me see--how long--three hours--yes, after three hours' +acquaintance, you already have some affection for me?" asked Bijou, +looking quite joyful. + +"Yes, a great deal!" answered M. de Clagny very seriously. + +"So much the better, because, you see, I too, I like you very much!" +And, as though she were just talking to herself, she added: "I had +imagined you very different, I expected to see you not at all like you +are." + +"Younger?" he asked sadly. + +"Oh, no, just the opposite; they had always spoken of you as a friend +of grandpapa's, and grandmamma always said, 'my old friend Clagny,' so +that you can understand when I saw you, I was quite surprised." + +"But why?" + +"Because you looked to me to be--I don't know exactly--about +forty-five perhaps?--well, say like Paul de Rueille; and then, you are +very handsome, and, for my part, I like people who are handsome." + +"Your cousin De Blaye is handsome!" + +"Jean?" she said, as though she were turning it over in her mind, "is +he as handsome as all that? He does not strike me in that way, you +see. When people are always together they end by not noticing each +other!" + +"I am quite sure that he notices you!" + +"Oh, no! people don't notice me as much as you think! They care for me +because I was left alone in the world at the age of seventeen; and +then, when grandmamma took possession of me, like some poor little +stray dog, and carried me off to her home, why, they all felt +interested in me, and made me very welcome, and I was their Bijou whom +they all tried to bring up and to spoil, whose faults are always +looked over, and who always has her own way." + +"And Bijou is quite right; that's the only good thing there is in +life--having one's own way, when one can." + +"One always can," she said, speaking as though she were not aware that +she was saying anything, and then suddenly advancing towards the +bay-window, she exclaimed: "Ah! there, now! the Tourvilles! and +grandmamma is not down stairs again yet!" + +Bijou went forward to greet the new-comers--a lady dressed very +handsomely, followed by a common-looking sort of man, with very stiff +manners, who, on the whole, was decidedly snobbish. + +Bijou introduced them, "Count de Clagny, Count de Tourville," and +then, as the marchioness entered the room, looking very handsome still +in her cloudy lace draperies, the young girl turned to M. de Clagny +again. + +"Well," she said, "and what do you think of the Tourvilles?" + +"I don't admire them. But how much Henry de Bracieux has improved in +appearance; he is not as good-looking as his cousin yet; but that may +come, perhaps." + +"As good-looking as which cousin?" + +"As Blaye." + +"Again. Oh, well! you will insist on this beauty of Jean's." + +"Well, beauty is perhaps not just the word; but he is charming; if you +will allow me to say that?" + +"I will allow it." + +"By the bye, do tell me who that very nice-looking young man is whom I +met just now at the end of the avenue?" + +"I do not know, unless it were Pierrot's tutor; but he is not so very +nice-looking----" + +"Look, there he is," said M. de Clagny, indicating M. Giraud. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Bijou, in astonishment; "yes, that is he!" + +She was amazed both at the count's admiration, and at the +transformation which Jean's dress-coat had made. + +Arrayed in this garment of a perfect cut, and which fitted him +wonderfully well, the young tutor looked quite at his ease. + +"Well," said Henry, coming up to Denyse, "wasn't my idea a bright one? +Do you see the difference?"--and then, as she did not answer quickly +enough for his liking, he added: "I'll bet anything you don't see it; +women never can see those things when it's a question of men." + +The guests were all arriving. First the La Balues, imperturbable, +absurd in the extreme, but so blissfully happy, so full of admiration, +and so perfectly satisfied with themselves that one would have been +sorry to have undeceived them. Then came Hubert de Bernes, arrayed, as +Bijou had prophesied, in his uniform, and looking all round the +drawing-room carefully afraid of meeting what he was in the habit of +calling '_any big pots_.' The Juzencourts arrived last of all, bringing +with them Madame de Nezel, a very pretty and exquisitely-dressed woman. +She was extremely refined-looking and supple, with that suppleness +peculiar to Creoles; she had a jessamine-like complexion, and heavy, +silky hair of jet black. + +Bijou, who was looking at her with an expression of curiosity, as +though she had never seen her before, remarked to M. de Clagny: + +"Madame de Nezel is really very pretty--isn't she?" + +He replied, in an absent sort of way, devouring Bijou all the time +with his eyes: + +"There is no mistaking that she comes of good family, and then, too, +she's very womanly, and would respond----" + +The young girl knitted her eyebrows as though she were making an +effort to understand. + +"And would what?" + +"Oh, nothing," answered the count, annoyed with himself. "I don't know +what I was going to say." + +"Bijou!" called out the marchioness suddenly, "Madame de Juzencourt +wants to see the children; go and fetch them. You will allow them to +come down, Bertrade? and you, too, monsieur?" she added, turning to +the abbe. + +M. de Clagny looked vexed at being separated from Denyse. It seemed to +him already as though he could not do without her. + +She soon came back, followed by Marcel and Robert, leading by the hand +a superb baby-child of four years old, who was smiling amiably and +confidingly as he trotted along. + +"This is my godson," she said, introducing him with evident pride. +"Isn't he a pet, and so beautiful and good. He's a love!" + +"Bijou is so good to that child," said Madame de Rueille, "she is +always looking after him and is teaching him now to read." + +"So early!" exclaimed M. de Clagny, in a reproachful tone, "is he +being taught to read already?" + +"Bijou teaches him plenty of other things, too, don't you, Bijou?" +asked the marchioness; "you are teaching him Bible history, are you +not? Two days ago he told me about Moses, and he knew it all very +well." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the count jeeringly, "I should like to hear that. Poor +unfortunate little mite!" + +In a graceful, winsome way, Bijou knelt down by the child. On hearing +"his story" mentioned, the poor little fellow looked at her +beseechingly. + +"Now, Fred, tell it," she said. + +Docile, but with a discontented expression on his face, the little +fellow looked up at his god-mother. + +"Tell about Moses, you know it very well." + +"Well then," began Fred resolutely, "they put him in a 'ittle basket, +'ittle Moses, and they put the basket on the Nile----" + +He stopped abruptly, his face bathed in perspiration. + +"And then, what happened?" asked Bijou. + +"Don't know," replied the little fellow briefly; "don't know any +more--don't know, I tell you. Say it yourself--what happened." + +"Nonsense! come now, have you made up your mind not to answer?" + +The child replied coaxingly: + +"P'ease don't make me say it!" + +Denyse insisted, however. + +"Oh, yes! now something happened when Moses was going down the Nile. +What was it--what happened?" + +He thought for a minute, his face puckered up, his eyes shut, and +then, just when everyone had given up hoping for anything more, he +cried out, delighted at having remembered: + +"Puss in boots came! and called out: 'Help! help! it's the Marquis of +Carabas--he's drowning.'" + +"There, you see," said Bertrade, laughing, "this is what comes of +teaching him so many fine things at the same time." + +M. de Rueille added: + +"Yes, a day or two ago Denyse gave him a stunning 'Puss in Boots' that +we brought with us from Pont-sur-Loire, and this has evidently done +Moses a great deal of harm." + +Bijou turned towards her cousin, and exclaimed in astonishment: + +"Denyse! how long have you taken to calling me Denyse?" + +"Oh, I don't know," answered Rueille, "sometimes I do." + +"Why, you never do! I thought you were vexed," and then, bending +towards her godchild, and taking him up in her arms, she said, +laughing: "My poor little Fred, we have not had much success this +time, have we?" + +Giraud, who was standing just behind her, gazed at her admiringly. She +clasped the child, who was smiling at her, closer still, and murmured +in a caressing tone: + +"Fred! my dear Fred! I do so love you, if you only knew." + +On hearing his own name pronounced so tenderly, the young tutor had +started involuntarily, and he had had the greatest difficulty in +keeping himself from advancing towards Denyse. He had turned so pale, +too, and such a strange, drawn look had come over his face, that +Pierrot, who, as a rule, was not endowed with much power of +observation except in matters relating to Bijou, noticed it, and +asked: + +"What's the matter with you, Monsieur Giraud? you look so queer! are +you ill?" + +Denyse turned round abruptly, and asked with interest: + +"You are not well, Monsieur Giraud?" + +"I? oh, yes! perfectly well, thank you, mademoiselle. I don't know +what made Pierrot fancy that." + +"Oh, well!" said the youth, with conviction, "look at yourself; you +look awfully queer! Besides, for the last three or four days you have +not been yourself; you must have something the matter that you don't +know of." + +"I assure you," stuttered the poor fellow, in a perfect torture, "I +assure you that there is nothing the matter with me." + +M. de Clagny had approached them. He was looking enviously at little +Fred nestling against Bijou's pretty shoulder. + +"Your godson is perfectly superb!" he said. + +"Yes, isn't he? and he adores me!" + +Dinner was announced just at this moment, and Bijou gave the child, +who was getting sleepy, to the English nurse who had come for him. + +With a disagreeable expression on his face, young La Balue, who was +standing just by Denyse, offered her the sharp angle of his arm. With +some difficulty she managed to slip her hand through, and, with a +resigned look on her face, went in with him to dinner. + +At table M. Giraud was at the other side of her, and half wild with +delight at finding himself placed next her, he felt that he was more +shy and awkward than ever. His timidity, which had hitherto been +extreme, seemed to increase. He dared not say a word, and he was in +despair, because he felt that he was making himself ridiculous. + +He was not only in love with Denyse for her beauty, her grace, and her +wonderful charm, but he venerated her for her goodness, which seemed +to him to be infinite. + +When he had been an usher in a certain college, he had one day +murmured some foolish words of affection to the daughter of the +headmaster, and he remembered still with awe the contemptuous anger +with which the young lady had reproached him for having, in his +position, dared to lift his eyes to her. + +He had now frankly and bluntly told this beautiful, wealthy, and +nobly-born girl that he adored her, and, in reply, she had spoken to +him sweetly and affectionately, discouraging him, but taking care not +to wound him. + +He began now to pity himself and his own fate, firmly believing that +his life, having been crossed by this hopeless love, would be wretched +for ever-more. + +How could he expect that, having once known and loved a woman like +Mademoiselle de Courtaix, he would ever be able to love any woman whom +he would be in a position to marry. + +And the poor young man, who, only three short weeks before, used to +dream at times of a little home presided over by a young wife, who +should be sweet and modest, though, perhaps, not remarkable in any +way, saw himself now condemned for life to a bachelor's dreary rooms, +where, in the end, he would die, surrounded by photographs of Bijou, +which he would get with great difficulty from Pierrot. + +At the beginning of dinner Denyse did not talk much. She looked round +in an absent sort of way at the whole table, noticing all those +little nothings which are so amusing to persons capable of seeing +them. + +Madame de Bracieux had M. de la Balue to her right, but she was +neglecting him for the sake of her old friend, Clagny, who was on her +other side, and to whom she never ceased talking. + +M. de Jonzac, who was opposite his sister, between Madame de la Balue +and Madame de Tourville, only appeared to be enjoying himself in a +moderate degree. Madame de Nezel also looked rather sad, and talked in +a half-hearted way to her neighbours, Henry de Bracieux and M. de +Rueille. She glanced often in the direction of Jean de Blaye, who was +seated at the other end of the table, between Madame de Juzencourt and +Mademoiselle de la Balue. Jean did not seem to be taking any notice of +Madame de Nezel, and several times Bijou saw that his eyes were fixed +on her. She found this embarrassing; so turning towards young Balue, +started an animated conversation with him, and thereupon Jean, with a +somewhat troubled expression in his eyes, watched her all the time. + + + + +VII. + + +AFTER dinner the heat in the drawing-room was over-powering, and +Madame de Bracieux said to her guests: + +"Those of you who are not afraid of the evening air could go out on to +the terrace or into the garden." + +Gisele de la Balue, a big, tall girl, built on the model of the +statues round the Place de la Concorde, and who liked to affect free +and easy tom-boyish manners, started off out-doors, running along +heavily and calling out: + +"Whoever cares for me will follow me!" + +Hubert de Bernes followed her out of politeness. + +Rueille, Henry de Bracieux, Pierrot, and M. Giraud turned with one +accord toward Denyse. + +"Are you coming, Bijou?" asked Pierrot. + +She saw Jean de Blaye talking to Madame de Nezel, who was just going +out with him, and she answered: + +"I will come to you directly. I am going to see if the children are in +bed just now." + +"Mademoiselle," proposed the abbe, "I can spare you the trouble." + +"Oh, no; thank you very much, monsieur, but you know I never feel +quite happy if I have not kissed Fred." + +She went out by the door opposite the terrace. + +"Your grand-daughter is decidedly the most charming girl I have ever +come across," remarked M. de Clagny to the marchioness, and then he +added sadly; "It is when an old man meets women like that, that he +regrets his age." + +"I must say," answered Madame de Bracieux, laughing, "that even if you +were young, you would not be just the husband I dream of for Bijou." + +"And why not, if you please?" + +"Well, because you are, or at least you were, rather--how shall I put +it?--rather large-hearted." + +"Large-hearted! good heavens, yes, I was! but that was the fault of +those who did not know how to keep my affection. I assure you, though, +that with a wife like Bijou, I should never have been what you call +_large-hearted_." + +"Oh, as to that," said Madame de Bracieux incredulously, "one never +knows." + +On leaving the drawing-room, Bijou crossed the hall, and instead of +going up the wide staircase which led to the children's rooms, she +lifted the old green tapestry curtain which covered the door of the +butler's pantry. Just as she was going to open this door she turned +back into the hall to get a long, dark cloak, which was hanging there. +It was a Berck fisherwoman's cloak, which she always put on when it +rained. She wrapped herself up in it hastily, and then went into the +pantry, where it was now quite dark. From the kitchen she could hear +the loud voices of the servants, who were at dinner. Denyse went +across to the open window, got up on to a chair, and then gathering +her skirts closely round her, stepped out on to the window-sill, and +jumped lightly down into the garden. + +Once there, she hesitated an instant. The terrace seemed to stand out +distinctly, lighted up by the drawing-room windows. In the chestnut +avenue she could distinguish in the shade the red gleam of cigars. + +Suddenly she pulled the hood of her cloak up over her head, and +evidently making up her mind, started off quickly along the dark +pathway which led to the other avenue. + +During this time her faithful admirers were waiting on the terrace for +her to come and join them as she had promised, and the ponderous +Gisele was endeavouring vainly to organise a game at hide-and-seek. +The men seemed to have no energy; Madame de Tourville was afraid of +spoiling her dress; and Madame de Juzencourt was strolling about with +Jean de Blaye and Madame de Nezel. Presently, however, she went back +to the others alone, and Mademoiselle de la Balue wanted to persuade +her to have a game, but she refused emphatically. She certainly was +not going to run about, she said, considering that she was too warm +already with only walking; she had just had to leave Therese de Nezel +and Jean de Blaye, for she could not walk another step. + +Left to themselves, Jean and Madame de Nezel continued strolling +along, she in a natural, unaffected way, going on with the +conversation they had commenced, and he absent-minded and ill-at-case. + +"Why do you not reproach me?" he said at last, abruptly, not able to +contain himself any longer; "why do you not say all the bad things you +think about me?" + +"Because I have nothing to reproach you for," she answered, very +gently; "and I do not think any bad things about you." + +"Well, then, you do not care about me any longer." + +"I do not care about you any longer?" she said, and there was an +accent of such intense grief in her voice that he was quite overcome +by it. + +He knew so well how deeply she loved him, that he dreaded the thought +of the awful suffering she would have to endure if he were to be quite +straightforward with her now, and so, out of affection for her, he +endeavoured to conceal from her the real truth. + +"Yes," he began, improvising with difficulty an excuse of which he had +not thought until that moment, "you must have fancied that I was not +thinking of you, for you have been here at The Pines a fortnight, and +I have not sent you a line. The fact is, it is very difficult to +arrange to meet here at Pont-sur-Loire; everyone knows me here, and, +you see, for your sake, I scarcely liked to ask you to meet me in the +town." + +She did not make any reply, and he could not understand her silence. + +"Why do you not answer me?" he asked at length. + +"Why? well, because you are telling me now exactly the opposite to +what you said when you asked me to accept the Juzencourts' +invitation." + +"What did I say?" he asked, slightly embarrassed. + +"You said that at Pont-sur-Loire it would be so easy to meet. You +said that between the hours of luncheon and dinner there were two +trains up and two down from The Pines to Pont-sur-Loire, and that I +could get away so easily, as the Juzencourts never went out except to +pay calls at the various country-houses in the neighbourhood, or to +follow the paper chases. On my arrival here I found that all these +details were perfectly exact." + +"Yes, but it really is not so easy as I had imagined." + +"Ah, Jean! instead of trying to deceive me in this way, it would be +much better to tell me the truth." + +"And the truth, according to you, is that I no longer care for you?" + +"Yes, that is a part of the truth." + +"And," he asked, somewhat uneasily, "the rest?"-- + +"Is, that you are in love with Mademoiselle de Courtaix. Ah, do not +deny it! it is so evident!" And then, after a moment's silence, she +added: "And so natural!" + +"Do you forgive me?" + +"I have nothing to forgive. I have never demanded anything from you, +and you have never, never promised me anything. When I first began to +care for you, I was not a widow; you must therefore have judged me +severely, as a man nearly always does judge the woman who is weak +enough to care for him when she ought not to." + +"I swear to you--" + +"No, do not swear anything; you had all the more reason to judge me in +that way, because I did not think it my duty to tell you what my life +had been like until then. You doubtless believed that my husband was +kind and affectionate, and that I endured no remorse, when I allowed +myself to love you--" + +"I did not think about it at all, I simply adored you," he said. And +then hesitating, and with evident anxiety, he continued: "And now you +will never care for me any more?" + +"What!" she exclaimed, perfectly amazed at the unconscious selfishness +of the man, "you wish me to go on caring for you?" + +"You ask if I wish it? why, what would become of me without you? you +who are my very life!" And then, as she moved back a step or two in +sheer bewilderment, he went on: "Well, but whatever have you been +imagining?--that I am going to marry Bijou, perhaps?" + +"Why, yes." + +He was about to explain to her why he could not marry his cousin, but +it occurred to him that the very prosaic reason for the impossibility +of such a match, would make his return to Madame de Nezel, of whom he +was really very fond, appear as a slight to her. + +"It has only been a passing fancy that I have had for Bijou," he said. +"How could I help it? it is simply impossible to be always with her +and to escape being intoxicated by her beauty, and by her unconscious +and innocent coquetry. For the last fortnight I have been a fool--I am +still, in fact; but on seeing you again I knew at once that it is you +only whom I love, and belong to--heart and soul." + +As he said this, he drew Madame de Nezel's pale face against his +shoulder, and, bending down, pressed his lips to hers, and then, as +the young widow nestled closer still in his arms, he said, with +passionate tenderness: + +"How do you think that I could ever care for that child--with whom I +am always so reserved--in the way I care for you?" He could feel her +slender form trembling in his embrace, and, drawing her closer still, +he murmured: "Forgive me, darling, you are always so good, and if I +have sinned, it has only been in thought." + +"You know I love you," she answered. "But we must go back to the house +at once; they will think our walk is lasting a long time." + +Madame de Juzencourt, who was seated on the terrace, called out as +soon as she caught sight of them: + +"Well, have you been walking all this time?" + +And at the same moment M. de Rueille called out to Bijou, who had just +appeared at one of the windows: + +"So that's the way you come out to us! It's very kind of you." + +"I could not come before," she answered, stepping out, and then +approaching her cousin, she added, in a low voice: "I had to see to +the tea and the ices, etc., etc.; you must not be vexed with me." + +"Vexed with you!" exclaimed Pierrot warmly. "Could anyone be vexed +with _you_, now?" + +Bijou did not answer. She was watching Hubert de Bernes in an +absent-minded way, as he stood talking to Bertrade, and she was +wondering how it was that he was so cool in his manner towards +herself. He was polite, certainly, and even pleasant, but _only_ +polite and pleasant, and she was not accustomed to such moderation. M. +de Clagny appeared presently at one of the windows and called out: + +"Mademoiselle Bijou, your grandmamma wants you." + +Denyse ran into the house, her silk skirts rustling as she went. She +did not even stay to answer young La Balue, who, pointing to Henry de +Bracieux as he stood with the light showing up his profile, had just +remarked: + +"What a handsome man Henry is." + +"Bijou," said the marchioness, "I want you to sing something for us." + +"Oh! grandmamma, please"--she began, in a beseeching tone, and looking +annoyed. + +"M. de Clagny wants to hear you," said Madame de Bracieux, insisting. + +"Oh, very well, then, I will, certainly," replied Bijou pleasantly, +without taking into account that her way of consenting was not very +flattering for the rest of her grandmother's guests. + +She went to the piano, and, taking up a guitar, put the pink ribbon +which was attached to it round her neck, and then came back and took +up her position in the midst of the semi-circle formed by the +arm-chairs. + +"I am going to accompany myself with the guitar," she said; "it is +simpler." And then turning to M. de Clagny, she asked: "What do you +want me to sing? Do you like the old-fashioned songs?" and without +waiting for a reply, she began the ballad of the "Petit Soldat": + + "Je me suis engage + Pour l'amour d'une blonde." + +She had a good ear and a pretty voice, which she used skilfully, and +it was with plaintive sweetness that she sang the touching story of +the young soldier who "veut qu'on mette son coeur dans une serviette +blanche." + +The drawing-room soon filled when Bijou began to sing, and the various +expressions on the different faces were most amusing to see. + +Jean was listening in a nervous, excited way, pulling his fair +moustache irritably through his fingers. + +M. de Rueille, affected in spite of himself by the doleful air, and +annoyed that all these people should be admiring Bijou, was pacing up +and down at the other end of the drawing-room, pretending not to be +listening to the music. + +Pierrot, with his mouth open, was all attention. Young La Balue, with +his elbow resting on a side-table in an awkward and ridiculous pose, +kept his colourless eyes fixed on the young girl in a gaze which he +tried to make magnetic, and with such bold persistency that Henry de +Bracieux felt the most extraordinary desire to walk up to him and box +his ears. Even Abbe Courteil was carried away by the plaintive +ballad; he was deeply moved, and sat there with his eyes stretched +wide open, breathing heavily. Hubert de Bernes only was listening with +polite attention, but comparative indifference. As to the ladies, all, +except, perhaps, Gisele de la Balue, admired Bijou sincerely. + +Madame de Nezel was listening with a mournful expression in her eyes, +and a kind-hearted smile, whilst as for M. de Clagny, it was as though +all the sensitiveness and affection of his nature had gone out towards +this pretty, fragile-looking, young creature. His eyes, beaming with +tenderness, seemed to take in at the same time, the beautiful face, +the little rosy fingers as they touched the strings of the guitar, and +the slender, supple figure. + +When Bijou had come to the end of her song, she went up to him, +without paying any attention to the compliments that were being +showered on her, and, in a pretty, coaxing way, she asked: + +"It did not bore you too much, I hope?" + +M. de Clagny could not answer for a moment. He felt choked with +emotion. + +"I shall often ask you for that song again," he said at last. "Yes, I +shall come often, and you will sing me the 'Petit Soldat,' won't you?" + +He had a great desire to hear Bijou sing for him--for him alone; he +did not want to share her voice and her charm with all these people +whom he now detested. + +"You shall come as often as you please," she answered, looking +delighted, "and I will sing you everything you like," and then gliding +away she went across to Jean de Blaye, who was standing alone at the +other end of the drawing-room. "It annoys you when I sing, doesn't +it?" she asked him. + +"Why, no!" he answered, surprised at the question, and surprised that +Bijou should trouble about him. "Why should you think so?" + +"Because I saw you just now--you were pulling your moustache in the +most furious way, and you looked bored to death. Yes, you certainly +did look bored!" + +"It was just your own imagination." + +"Oh, no! it was not just my imagination. When I care about anyone I am +always very clear-sighted! so, you see, it is quite the contrary. Why +are you frowning now?" + +"I am not frowning." + +"Oh, yes, you were, and it looks as though what I said just now had +vexed you, too." + +"What did you just say?" + +"That I am very clear-sighted. And you are vexed, because you are +afraid that I shall see that something is the matter." + +"Something the matter?" he asked uneasily. "What is it?" + +"What is it? Ah! I don't know! But most certainly something is the +matter with you--you are not at all like yourself ever since--why, +ever since we have been at Bracieux." + +"Really?" he said, putting on a joking tone. "I am different, am +I--and the most extraordinary thing is, that I did not know myself +about this difference." + +Bijou shrugged her pretty shoulders. + +"Don't try to take me in like that, Jean, my dear; I know you too +well, you see. You are different, I tell you! You have gradually got +very abrupt, restless, and absent-minded. Listen, now,--would you like +me to tell you what it is?" + +Seated at some distance away from them, Madame de Nezel was watching +them, with an expression of melancholy resignation. + +Bijou glanced across at her, and the young girl's violet eyes gleamed +between her long, thick lashes, as she said: + +"You are in love with someone who does not return your love." + +Jean de Blaye coloured up furiously. + +"You don't know what you are talking about," he answered. + +"Well, then, why have you gone so red? Oh, how proud you are. You are +vexed because I have found this out." And then, after a short silence, +she began again: "Have you told her?" + +"Have I told what? and whom? My dear Bijou, how foolish you are." + +"Have you told Mad--" She stopped abruptly, and then, with her face +turned towards Madame de Nezel, she continued: "The person with whom +you are in love, have you told her that you love her?" + +"No!" he murmured, in a stifled sort of voice. + +"You are afraid to? but why? I constantly hear grandmamma, Bertrade, +Paul, and Uncle Alexis, saying over and over again that you are the +kind of man women like; _she_ would be sure to like you, too, and she +would marry you, I am certain." She leaned towards him, nearly +touching his ear as she whispered to him, and not caring what effect +her familiarity might have. "Listen, now, if you like I will tell her +for you, and I am quite sure what her answer will be." + +Jean rose abruptly, and seizing Bijou's hand, he asked excitedly: + +"What are you saying?" + +"I am just saying that she _will_ love you, if she does not already." + +"But of whom are you speaking--of whom?" he stammered out, aghast. + +She answered him in a hesitating way, with a frank look on her pretty +face, but she spoke in such a low voice that he could scarcely catch +her first words. + +"I am speaking of----" + +"Bijou!" called out Pierrot, separating them unceremoniously, +"grandmamma says you are forgetting about the tea." And then, looking +at their faces, he went on: "Well, I never! you are both as red as +cherries; there's no mistake about it, it's baking hot in here." + +Denyse hurried away, and Pierrot continued: + +"We thought over there that you were quarrelling." + +"Ah! you thought that, did you?" answered Jean, by way of saying +something. + +"Yes, especially grandmamma; that's why she sent me to tell Bijou +about the tea. I say, Bijou isn't worried about anything, is she?" + +"Well, now, what kind of worry do you fancy she could have, my dear +fellow?" And then, with a smile, he added: "Who do you imagine would +undertake to cause her any worry? It seems to me that anyone who did +venture to would have a bad time of it in this house." + +"She's so sweet, and so nice always," answered the boy, with great +warmth. "As for me, why, I just adore her; and Paul does, too, and so +does Henry, and M. Giraud, and Bertrade's kids, and the abbe, and +everyone, in fact; even little La Balue is gone on her, and he's never +gone on anyone. Yes, he was telling her I don't know what up in a +corner of the room after dinner, and then, when she was singing--did +you ever see such eyes as he was making at her?--oh, no! if you had +only just seen him----" + +"Do shut up!" exclaimed Jean irritably, "you wear everyone out, if you +only knew it, my dear Pierrot." + +When Bijou came back to the drawing-room, Henry de Bracieux waylaid +her. + +"I say," he began, in a cross-grained tone, "what was La Balue telling +you just now that appeared to be so interesting?" + +"Where?" + +"Here, after dinner." + +"Here?" repeated Bijou, apparently trying to recall something to her +memory, "after dinner? Ah, I remember; why, he was talking about +you!' + +"About me?" + +"Yes, about you! He thinks you are very handsome, but he also thinks +that you do not know how to make the most of your good looks." + +"Have you finished making game of me?" + +"I assure you that I am not making game of you--not the least bit in +the world. He even advised me to tell you that instead of your +frightful stand-up collars--these are his words, you know, and not +mine--you ought to wear--what did he call them now?--oh, Van Dyck +collars, which would not cover your neck up, for it appears that your +throat is superb, and your head so well set on your shoulders; and +then you have lovely teeth! I only wish you could hear him sing the +praises of your personal appearance." + +"Of my personal appearance! Mine?" + +"Why, yes; you thought, perhaps, that he was talking to me of mine? +Not at all! He informed me, too, that he was going to tell you all +that in poetry; not the Van Dyck collars, but the rest." + +"That young man is an idiot!" + +"Oh, dear me, he is very harmless." + +"You are so good-hearted always, you never dig into anyone. Ah, +attention! they are packing up, the La Balue crew!" And Henry, in a +low voice, and apparently delighted, finished up with a "Hip! hip! +hurrah!" + +M. de la Balue, who was just coming out of the hall with a heap of +cloaks, looked at him in astonishment, while at the doorway a little +family quarrel took place. The good man wanted to make his wife and +daughter wrap their heads up in some very ordinary-looking knitted +shawls, so that they should not get a chill. He was obliged, however, +to give in at last. + +Bijou, on saying good-bye to Madame de Nezel, held out her little +hand, and looked straight into her eyes with such an expression of +innocent curiosity that the young widow turned away, quite confused by +the persistency of the young girl's gaze. It seemed to her as though +this child had discovered the secret of her life, and the bare idea of +this caused her intense misery. + +Bijou's charm, however, was so great, and her power of attraction so +strong, that Madame de Nezel, at the bottom of her heart, felt nothing +but affection for the lovely little creature who had so unconsciously +stolen her happiness from her. + + * * * * * + +"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Denyse gaily, when she went back into the +drawing-room, where only M. de Clagny and the family now remained, "it +is half-past twelve, you know; they all seemed like fixtures, and I +thought they were never going to leave us!" + +"The La Balue family are not very handsome," remarked the abbe. + +"Oh, they are not so bad," protested the young girl; "it is only a +question of getting used to them, that's all!" + +"Young Balue is horrible!" said Madame de Bracieux. "And then, too, +there is something snaky about him. When you shake hands with him, it +is like touching an eel." + +"And the daughter, too!" put in Pierrot. "Ugh, she has such little +pig's eyes! and Louis, too, has little eyes!" + +"They are very nice, though, all the same," said Bijou, in a +conciliatory tone. + +"And they come of very good family," added Madame de Bracieux; "they +are descended from La Balue, from the Cardinal, the real--" + +"Oh, well," put in Bijou gently, "it would, perhaps, be better for +Gisele not to have descended from the iron cage, but to have larger +eyes; however, as it cannot be helped--" + +M. de Clagny laughed, as he turned round to look about for his hat, +which he had put down somewhere in the room. + +"One needs to have a certain amount of assurance," he said, "in making +one's exit from here, for one feels how one will be pulled to pieces." + +"You need not be afraid," said Bijou, "we shall not pull you to +pieces, although you could stand it very well. I promise you, though, +that you shall not be pulled to pieces. Will you take my word for it?" + +"Yes, I will take your word," answered the count, as he took the +little hands, which were held out to him, and pressed them +affectionately in his. + + + + +VIII. + + +"ARE you going for a ride, Bijou?" called out Pierrot, leaning out of +the window. + +Denyse, who was just crossing the courtyard, pointed to her +riding-habit. + +"Well, you can be sure that in this heat I should not entertain myself +by walking about in a cloth dress if I were not going to ride." + +"Where are you going?" + +"Why?" + +"So that we can come and meet you--we two--M. Giraud and I,--at eleven +o'clock!" + +Just behind Pierrot the tutor's head was to be seen. + +"I am going to The Borderettes to take a message to Lavenue," answered +Bijou; and then, seeing Giraud, she said pleasantly: "Good morning. I +shall see you again, then, soon?" + +Patatras was waiting in the shade. The old coachman, who always +accompanied Bijou, helped her into her saddle, and then, mounting in +his turn, prepared to follow her. When Pierrot saw this, he called out +again: + +"How is it that none of the cousins are riding with you?" + +"I did not tell them that I was going out." + +"Ah!" he exclaimed regretfully, "if I were only free, wouldn't I come +with you!" + +She turned round in her saddle, with an easy movement which showed +that she was not laced in at all, and answered Pierrot, with a merry +laugh: + +"I should not have told you though, either!" + +As soon as Bijou had passed through the gateway, she put Patatras to a +gallop, for the flies were teasing him dreadfully. + +She went along through the hot air, meeting the sun, the burning rays +of which fell full on her pretty face without making it red. She did +not slacken her pace until she arrived at the narrow lane leading to +The Borderettes. It was almost perpendicular, and covered with loose +stones, and at the bottom of the little valley, which was very green, +in spite of the dry season, the farm, with its white walls and red +roof, looked like a perfectly new toy-house. When she was at the +bottom of the hill, Bijou pulled out of her pocket a little +looking-glass, and then arranged her veil and the loose curly locks of +hair, which had blown over her ears and the back of her neck. She then +gathered from the hedge a spray of mulberry blossom, which she +fastened in the bodice of her habit, arranged the little handkerchief, +trimmed with Valenciennes, daintily in her side-pocket, and then, +after another short gallop, pulled up at the entrance to the farm. + +A rough voice called out: "Are you there, master?" and then a young +farm labourer came out of the house, saying: "Master ain't heard me +call; I'll go and find him." + +A minute or two later, a tall young man, of some thirty-five years of +age, appeared. He was a true type of the Norman peasant, somewhat +meagre-looking, with fair hair, and a slight stoop. He looked very +warm and was out of breath. His face was so red that it seemed to be +turning purple. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, trying to get his breath again, "it's you, +Mad'moiselle Denyse, it's you, is it?" + +"Yes, Monsieur Lavenue," she answered, smiling, "it is." + +"Won't you get down?" he asked, holding out his hand to help her. + +"No, thanks! I have only come to bring you a message from grandmamma. +It is about the Confirmation dinner next Monday; but you know all +about that, as you are the mayor?" + +"Yes, I know about it!" + +"Well, grandmamma would like to have some very nice peaches for +Monday, and some very nice pears; in fact, all kinds of nice things, +such as grow in your orchard." + +"They shall bring you them, Mad'moiselle Denyse! You can be quite easy +about that. I'll see they are well chosen." And then, as the young +girl turned her horse round, he said, as he watched her, almost dazed +with admiration: "Are you going to start back already, mad'moiselle? +Won't you stop and have some refreshment--a bowl of milk now? I know +you like a drop o' good milk!" And then, in a persuasive tone, he +added, as he took hold of Patatras' bridle, "That 'ud give the horse a +rest, too; he's very warm after the run." + +Farmer Lavenue's way of talking always amused Bijou. It had been more +than ten years now since the sturdy Norman had emigrated to Touraine, +and yet he had not lost his strong Norman accent in the slightest +degree. + +It was Madame de Bracieux, who, thoroughly dissatisfied with the +Touraine farmers, had taken up this man. Charlemagne Lavenue had never +fraternised with the regular inhabitants of the place. He was looked +up to and admired by the simple-minded and unskilful villagers, who +saw him making money in the very place where others had been ruined. +He had, by "sending for people from his part of the world," gradually +transformed The Borderettes into a small Normandy, and he had so much +influence now in the place that he, an interloper, had been elected +mayor of Bracieux, to the exclusion of the former notables of the +place. + +As Denyse did not reply, he lifted her down from her horse, saying as +he did so: "You will, mad'moiselle, won't you?" And then, after giving +the reins to the old groom, he led the way to the door of the farm, +and stood aside for Bijou to enter. + +"How nice it is here, Monsieur Lavenue," she exclaimed, in a pleasant +way. "Have I ever seen this room before? No, I don't think I have!" + +"Yes, you've seen it, mad'moiselle, only, you know, it's been fresh +white-washed, and, you see, that makes it different-like." + +"When you are married, now," she said, smiling, "it will be very nice, +indeed." + +Farmer Lavenue, who was looking at Bijou with hungry eyes, held his +head up erect, and then, shaking it slowly, he answered, with some +hesitation: + +"I can't decide to give the farm a mistress, because I don't come +across one as suits me." And after a moment's silence, he added: +"That is to say, amongst them as I could have." + +"Why, how's that? any of the girls from Bracieux, or Combes, or from +the villages round The Borderettes, would marry you, Monsieur Lavenue, +and there are some very pretty girls among them." + +"I can't see as they are," he answered, blushing, and twisting about +in his fingers the huge, broad-brimmed hat which he always wore the +whole year round. + +"You are difficult to please, then; do you mean that you don't think +Catherine Lebour pretty?" + +"No, Mad'moiselle Denyse." + +"Nor Josephine Lacaille?" + +"No, Mad'moiselle Denyse." + +"And Louise Pature?" + +"No, mad'moiselle." + +Bijou laughed merrily. "Oh, well, do you mean to say that you don't +admire any woman?" + +"Yes, I do--there's _one_--" + +"Who is it?" she asked, looking full at the peasant, with her frank, +innocent expression. + +Lavenue turned redder still, and stooped down with an awkward movement +to pick up his hat, which had fallen to the ground. + +"I can't say," he stuttered out; "she isn't for such as me." + +Bijou did not hear his reply. With her pretty figure slightly bent, +and her head thrown back, she was slowly drinking a second cup of +milk, whilst the farmer, who had recovered himself, stood still, with +his eyes wide open, gazing at this fragile-looking young creature in +timid, half-fearful admiration. + +When Bijou had finished her milk, she looked at him critically, with a +smile on her lips. + +"My goodness! how warm it is to-day," he said, wiping with the back of +his hand the great drops of perspiration, which stood out on his +forehead. + +"Thank you, so much, Monsieur Lavenue," said Denyse, getting up; "your +milk is delicious." + +"Oh! but you aren't surely going to start off again already?" he said, +with a downcast look. + +"Already! why, I have been here at least a quarter of an hour." + +"Oh, well! it's been precious quick to me that quarter of an hour!" he +stammered; and then, in a lower voice, he added: "Thank you, very +much, Mad'moiselle Denyse, for the honour as you've done me. I sha'n't +forget it, that's certain!" + +On getting up, Bijou had let the flowers, which she was wearing in her +bodice, fall to the ground. + +As she turned towards the door, to see whether the horses were there, +the peasant, with a stealthy movement, stretched his long, sinewy body +out along the floor, and, snatching up the flowers, hid them away +under his blouse. + +The groom was about to descend from his horse in order to help Denyse +to mount; but she made a sign to stop him. + +"Monsieur Lavenue will help me on to my horse," she said; "he is very +strong." + +She put her foot out in order to place it in the farmer's hand; but, +without any warning, he put his hands round her waist, and then, +steadying her a second against himself, he lifted her straight into +the saddle. + +"Oh, well!" she exclaimed, in amazement, "I said you were strong, but +however could you hold me at arm's length like that, and put me on to +my horse, which is so tall?" and then, as he did not speak, but just +stood there, looking down and breathing heavily, she added: "There, +you see, I was too heavy! You are quite out of breath." + +She started off before he had time to answer, calling out to him as +she rode away: + +"Good morning, and thank you again, very much!" + +Just as she was turning out of the farmyard, she looked round again at +the farmer, who was standing motionless, as though rooted to the +spot, with his arms hanging down at his sides. + +"Don't forget grandmamma's peaches and pears, Monsieur Lavenue!" she +called out. + +She then looked at her watch, and found that it was five minutes past +eleven. She had plenty of time to return home without hurrying, and +then, too, M. Giraud and Pierrot were to meet her, and they were never +free until eleven o'clock. + +As she passed through a village, she gathered a spray of clematis from +the cemetery wall to replace the flowers which she had dropped, and +then, when she found herself quite alone, she took out her little +looking-glass again, and fluffed her hair up, as it was not curly +enough now that the heat had made it limp. At half-past eleven, as she +saw no signs of those whom she was expecting, she began to get +impatient, and put her horse to a gallop, for Patatras was getting +tired, and would keep stopping, and doing his utmost to browse the +leaves along the hedges. + +Suddenly a serious, almost melancholy, expression came over the girl's +pretty, happy-looking face. She was just crossing a meadow, which was +skirted by a wood. + +"Hallo, Bijou! that's how you cut us, is it?" exclaimed a voice. + +She stopped short, looking surprised, and turned back a few steps. + +Pierrot and M. Giraud, who had been lying down in the shade, rose from +the ground, leaving the long grass marked with their impress. + +"Why, you are here already!" she said; "I did not expect to meet you +so far away from home; at what time did you start, then?" + +"A little before the hour," answered Pierrot; and then he added slily, +winking at his tutor: "M'sieu' Giraud was a brick; he let me off a bit +earlier--without me begging much, either--and now, if we want to be at +Bracieux at twelve o'clock, we shall have to put our best feet first!" + +They were walking along by the side of Bijou. + +"Have you recovered from yesterday evening?" she asked, addressing M. +Giraud. + +"Recovered?" said the young tutor. "How _recovered_?" + +"Because you could not have enjoyed yourself very much! M. de +Tourville and M. de Juzencourt blocked you up, one after the other, in +a corner, to explain to you: the one that Charles de Tourville +embarked with William the Conqueror in 1066; and the other, that a +Juzencourt fought against Charles the Bold in 1477 under the walls of +Nancy. Am I not right?" + +"Quite right! and M. de Juzencourt added that there was only blue +blood in his family. I did not quite understand why he should tell me +that." + +"In order to prove to you that, traced clearly only since 1477, but +without the slightest _mesalliance_, the Juzencourts are more +respectable than the Tourvilles." + +"Oh, indeed!" + +"Yes, M. de Tourville married a young lady who was all very well, but +her name was Chaillot, and her father is on the Stock Exchange; you +see, therefore, that, as regards the Tourvilles, the family is older +than the Juzencourt family, but it is not so pure. You managed to put +such a good face on as you listened to all that. Oh, dear! I could +have laughed if you had not looked so wretched." + +"It wasn't just the nuisance of having to listen to the Tourville and +Juzencourt yarns that made him look like that," observed Pierrot. "For +some time past he is always like that, even with me, and I can promise +you that I don't overpower him with yarns, either about Charles the +Bold or William the Conqueror." + +"I am quite convinced on that score!" said Bijou, laughing. + +"Dear me! it isn't that there'd be any difficulty about it," +protested Pierrot. "I _could_ very well if I wanted to, but--confound +it!" + +"Confound it! again?" said the young tutor, annoyed, and looking +reproachfully at his pupil. "You know that M. de Jonzac objects to +your speaking in that way. He particularly wishes you to be more +careful, and more correct, in your choice of words." + +"Oh, well! if he were to talk to my friends, he'd hear a few things, +and he'd soon get used to it, too. It's always like that; just a +matter of getting used to things." + +"I cannot imagine that very well, though," said Bijou; "Uncle Alexis +letting himself get used to the style of conversation of your +friends." + +She drew up whilst she was speaking, and pointed to something in the +wood. + +"Oh! look at that beautiful mountain ash, isn't it red? How pretty +those bunches are!" + +"Do you want some of those berries?" proposed Pierrot. + +"Yes, I should like some, they are so beautiful." + +The youth entered the coppice, and they heard the branches snapping as +he broke them in order to make himself a passage, and presently the +top of the red tree shook and swayed, now bending down, and now +springing up again, as Pierrot shook it roughly. + +Bijou, with her head bent, and a far-away look in her eyes, seemed to +be in a dream, quite oblivious of what was going on around her. She +started on hearing Pierrot's voice as he called out to her to know +whether he was to gather a large bunch. + +"There is nothing worrying you, is there, mademoiselle?" asked +Monsieur Giraud timidly, as he stroked Patatras gently. + +"Oh, no! Why?" + +"Because you do not seem quite like yourself; you look rather sad." + +"Sad?" she said, forcing a smile. "I look sad?" + +"Yes. Just now, when you passed by without seeing us, you looked sad, +very sad, and now again--" + +"Just now--that's quite possible. Yes, I did not feel quite gay; but, +now, why, I have no reason to be otherwise--quite the contrary. I feel +so happy here, in this velvety-looking field, and with this beautiful +sunshine that I love so much!" And then she added, as though in a +dream, and not taking any notice of the young man: "Yes, I am so +happy, I should like to stay like this for ever and ever." + +She pressed her rosy lips to the spray of clematis with which she had +been playing the last minute or two, and then put it back into her +bodice, not seeing the hand which Giraud was holding out beseechingly +towards the poor flowers, which were already withering. + +Pierrot came out of the thicket at this moment, carrying an immense +bunch of mountain ash berries. Bijou was smiling again by this time. + +"You are ever so kind, Pierrot dear," she said, after thanking him, +"and all the more so as you will have the bother of carrying that for +another mile yet." + +"Oh! if it would give you any pleasure, you know, I'd do things that +were a lot more bother than that!" + +"You are good, Pierrot." + +"It isn't because I'm good;" he said, and then coming nearer, so that +he touched the horse, he added very softly: "It's because I'm so fond +of you." + +Bijou did not answer, and in another minute Pierrot began again: + +"How well you sang last night. Didn't she, M'sieu' Giraud?" + +"Wonderfully well," said the tutor. "And what a lovely voice! so +fresh, and so pure. I can understand something now which I did not +understand yesterday." + +"What may that be?" + +"The infinite power of the voice! Yes, before hearing you I did not +know what I know at present. You will sing again, will you not, +mademoiselle? Fancy, I have been here three weeks, and I had never had +the happiness of--" + +"I will give you _that happiness_ as much as ever you like." + +She was joking again now, for the little dreamy creature of a minute +before was Bijou once more. + +As they approached the chateau, she put her hand up to shade her eyes. + +"Why, what's going on?" she said; "the hall-door steps look black with +people." + +"Hang it!" exclaimed Pierrot crossly. "They are all out there watching +for you! There's Paul, and there's Henry, and the abbe, and Uncle +Alexis, and Bertrade. Look, though! Who's that? You are right--there +are some other folks too. Ah! it's old Dubuisson, and Jeanne, and then +there's a fellow I don't know; a fellow all in black. Oh, well! he +must be a shivery sort to come to the country dressed in black, in +such heat as this." + +"Perhaps it's M. Spiegel, Jeanne's _fiance_. They were to bring him." + +"Yes, that must be it! I say, he doesn't look a very lively sort, your +Jeanne's _fiance_. She isn't though either--" + +Bijou was looking round to see what had become of Giraud, who had +suddenly become so silent. He was following the young girl, +worshipping her as he walked along as though she were some idol. + +Just at this moment, whilst Pierrot was very much taken up with +looking in the direction of the chateau, the little bunch of clematis +dropped from Bijou's dress, and fell at the tutor's feet. He picked it +up quickly, and slipped it into his pocket-book, after kissing it, +with a kind of passionate devotion, whilst behind him, the old groom, +silent and correct as usual, laughed to himself. + + + + +IX. + + +M. DUBUISSON, whom the students called "Old Dubuisson," was the +principal of the college. + +He had brought his daughter to Bracieux, where she was to spend a week +with Bijou, and Jeanne's _fiance_, a young professor, newly appointed +at the Pont-sur-Loire College, had accompanied them. + +"How warm you must be, my dear Bijou," called out the marchioness, +appearing at one of the windows. + +"Oh, no, grandmamma," answered Denyse, taking M. de Rueille's hand in +order to descend from her horse. "M. Giraud and Pierrot must be +warm--I am all right." + +She kissed Jeanne heartily, spoke to M. Dubuisson, and then looked in +a hesitating way towards the young professor, who was contemplating +her in surprise. + +"Bijou, this is Monsieur Spiegel," said Mademoiselle Dubuisson. + +With a graceful, pretty movement, which was very taking, Bijou held +out her little hand to the young man. + +"We are friends at once," she said; and then, as she moved away with +Jeanne, she whispered: "He is charming, you know, quite charming!" + +M. Spiegel perhaps overheard this kindly criticism, or else it was +just by accident that he happened to turn very red at that moment. + +"Go and change your dress quickly, Bijou!" commanded the marchioness. + +"But, grandmamma, I am not warm, really and truly." + +"Come here! Let me see!" + +In a docile way, Bijou went up to Madame de Bracieux. + +"Well, grandmamma?" she said, when the marchioness had satisfied +herself by putting her finger between the young girl's neck and her +collar, "wasn't I right?" + +"Yes, it's quite true," said Madame de Bracieux unwillingly, "she is +not warm at all; it is incomprehensible! Well, stay as you are then, +if you like." She made her grand-daughter turn round just in front of +her, and then remarked, in a satisfied tone, "You look very well like +that. Those little white, pique jackets are very becoming." + +"They suit Bijou," said Bertrade, "because, with her complexion, +everything suits her; but these little English jackets are very +unbecoming to most women." + +Abbe Courteil looked at the black skirt, the white jacket, and then at +Bijou herself. + +"At all events, the black and white together is perfectly charming. +Mademoiselle Denyse looks like a big swallow." + +"Well, well!" exclaimed the marchioness, with a benevolent expression +in her eyes, "that's very pretty, now, that comparison!" + +Though she herself was the topic of conversation, Bijou was paying no +attention to what was being said, but was talking in a pleasant way to +M. Spiegel, a little apart from the others. + +He was a serious, placid, young man, with a somewhat rigid expression. +His eyes, however, had a merry twinkle, which relieved the severity of +his mouth, and the austerity of his deportment. + +He was rather tall, and slightly made, and was dressed in dark clothes +of a good cut. Altogether M. Spiegel might have passed for a young +clergyman. Fascinated and almost bewildered by Bijou's charm and +wonderful beauty, he was gazing at her with a look of surprise and +admiration in his eyes, whilst the young girl, for her part, kept +stealing a glance at him, for she was quite astonished to find that +Jeanne's _fiance_ was so satisfactory-looking. + +Luncheon seemed to be very long. The marchioness's guests were all +engaged in studying each other, some of them absent-minded and silent, +and the others talkative, but singularly preoccupied also. + +Madame de Bracieux was witnessing, without understanding in the least +what it all meant, the change of attitude, or, in fact, the +transformation which had commenced a few days ago. She could scarcely +recognise her little troop with whom she had hitherto been able to do +just as she liked. + +M. Spiegel and Bijou, who were placed next to each other at the table, +were the only ones who talked with the animation of those who have +something to say, and who are not talking for the mere sake of +talking. + +Several times Jeanne Dubuisson, seated on the right of M. Spiegel, +turned towards him with a little flash in her usually soft blue eyes. +She was thinking, sorrowfully, that her _fiance_ certainly seemed to +prefer looking at Bijou to looking at her, and a feeling of sadness +came over her at the idea that she had never seen his eyes resting on +her with as much expression in them as there was now when he gazed at +Bijou. + +Jeanne, who was nineteen, looked much older than Denyse, although she +was a little like her. Her hair, which was fair like Bijou's, was less +glossy, and not so auburn, although it was thicker; her eyes were of a +less uncommon blue; her teeth were as white, but not so regular; her +complexion was less brilliant, and her head not so well set on her +shoulders. + +Bijou, who was very short, wore very high heels in order to look +taller, whilst Jeanne, who was tall enough, always wore flat-heeled +boots. + +The one fairly dazzled everyone by her wonderful beauty, whilst the +other would pass by almost unnoticed, her chief claim to prettiness +being a certain charm of expression, which betokened an unselfish +disposition and a kind heart. + +After luncheon, Bijou carried Jeanne off with her to the park which +surrounded the chateau. She had scarcely seen her friend since her +engagement. + +"Why," asked Bijou, "did you tell me so calmly that M. Spiegel was +rather good-looking?" + +"Well, because I think he is," answered Mademoiselle Dubuisson. "Do +you mean to say that you--" + +"Oh, come now, don't act; you know perfectly well that he is more than +_rather_ good-looking." + +"But--" + +"Yes, don't you see, from the description you gave me, I expected to +see a nice young man with a goody sort of look about him--rather a +bore, in fact--and then, instead, you bring us a most delightful man. +You ought to have prepared us; you ought not to give people such +shocks--" And then, not giving Jeanne time to reply, she continued: +"Where did you meet him?" + +"This spring, at Easter, when we went to Bordeaux to stay with my +aunt." + +"And it was settled at once." + +"No, but I liked him from the first." + +"Yes, you are one of the affectionate kind." + +"And I soon saw that he, too, liked very much to be with me." + +"And then?" + +"Well, then, we came away, and I felt wretched, of course. I thought I +was mistaken, and that he did not care about me at all." + +"You did not tell me anything about all that." + +"No; in the first place I imagined that it was all over, and then I +should not have liked to talk about it to anyone, not even to you; it +seems to me that, about such matters--well, when one is in love, one +should only talk about it to one's own self; that is the only way to +be quite understood." + +"Oh, then, you fancy that I do not understand anything about love?" + +"About love such as I understand it? no! you are too pretty, you see, +and then you are too much feted and adored by everyone to be able, as +I have done, to satisfy and content yourself with an immense affection +for one person only." + +Bijou sighed, as she said regretfully: + +"It must be so happy, though, to love anyone like that." + +"Well, it would be easy enough for you; your cousin M. de Blaye adores +you. Oh, it is no use denying it--it is so perfectly evident; I saw it +instantly." + +"You are dreaming--" said Bijou, looking astounded. + +"Oh, dear, no! he is in love with you, madly in love with you, and he +seems to me to be a man worthy of your love." + +"Instead of talking nonsense, finish telling me the story of your +engagement. We had got as far as where you left Bordeaux, thinking +that all was over. What next?" + +"Well, next, a fortnight ago, the professorship of philosophy was +vacant, and papa was surprised to hear that M. Spiegel had been +appointed to it. 'It is a come-down,' he said to me, 'for +Pont-sur-Loire is not as good as Bordeaux'; but not at all--it was no +come-down." + +"It was he himself, then, who had asked for the change?" + +"Exactly! and last Monday, he and his mother arrived at our house to +ask papa's consent." + +"What's his mother like?" + +"Very nice, and good-looking still; but she seems rather severe, a +little bit hard." + +"Don't take any notice of that; Protestants always appear like that." + +"How do you know that she is a Protestant?" + +"Because I suppose that she is of the same religion as her son." + +"But who told you that M. Spiegel is a Protestant?" + +"No one. I discovered that all alone; it did not take me long +either--" + +"But how can you know--" + +"I do not know anything, and yet you see I do know all the same; it's +a very good thing to be able to marry a Protestant; they are less +frivolous, more serious, and more constant." + +"Yes, perhaps so; but his mother, as I told you looks very severe, +very; and she is going to live with us." + +"Oh, well, so much the better. It is a safe-guard, don't you know, to +have a mother with you who is somewhat austere. In the first place, +she will inspire everyone with respect for you." + +"I don't think I need anyone to inspire people with respect for me, +and, anyhow, it seems to me that if I did, why, my husband would be--" + +"Not at all! oh, no! parents are quite different, and I was brought up +to worship my parents, and to believe that their presence brings not +only respect but happiness into the home." + +"Oh, yes, I think that, too, as regards papa; but Madame Spiegel is a +stranger to me, as it were, and I do feel that I owe her a little +grudge for coming to intrude on the privacy of our home-life, which +would have seemed so much happier alone." + +"You must say to yourself that she is the mother of your husband, that +he loves her, and that you ought to love her for his sake." + +"You are quite right. How I wish I were like you, Bijou dear! you are +so much better than I am." + +"I am an angel, am I not? that's settled." + +"You are joking; but it is quite, quite true." + +"Tell me, won't it make you miserable to be away from your _fiance_ +all this week, which you are going to spend with me?" + +"No; besides he will come with papa to see me if your grandmamma will +allow him to, and then he is going to Paris for a few days." + +"And here I am walking you about, like the thoughtless creature that I +am, forgetting that the unhappy young man is sure to be wretched +without you. Let us go in; shall we?" + +"Yes, I am quite willing." + +A bright gleam suddenly came into Bijou's eyes, shaded as they were by +their long lashes, and then, putting on an indifferent air, she said +to her friend: + +"Tell me what little incident could possibly have given you the +extraordinary idea that Jean de Blaye cares for me?" + +"The way he looked at you all through luncheon, and then, too, his +annoyance when we were all out on the steps this morning watching for +you, and he saw you coming with young Jonzac and his tutor." + +"You have too much imagination." + +"No; I am sure that he is in love with you--and very much so!--and +what about you?" + +"What about me?" + +"You--you don't care for him?" + +"No, not in the way you mean, at least. He is my cousin; I like him +just as one does like a nice cousin, whom one knows too well to care +for in any other way." + +"It's a pity." + +"Why?" + +"Because it seems to me that you would be happy with him." + +Bijou shook her head. + +"I don't think so; I must have a husband more steady than Jean." + +"More steady? but he must be thirty-four or thirty-five--M. de Blaye." + +"What does that matter? he is not steady, you know--not by any means." + +"Ah! I did not know." + +"Then, too, I should want my husband to only care for me." + +"Well, pretty and fascinating as you are, you can make your mind easy +about that." + +Bijou stopped suddenly in the middle of the garden-walk. + +"Is not that a carriage coming up the drive?" she asked, pointing to +the avenue. + +"Yes, certainly it is." + +"What sort of a carriage? I cannot see anything, I am so +short-sighted." + +"A phaeton with two horses, and a gentleman I don't know is driving." + +"Ah, yes, that's it!" And then, as Jeanne looked at her inquiringly, +she added: "It is M. de Clagny--a friend of grandmamma's--the owner +of The Noriniere." + +"Ah! the man who is so rich!" + +"So rich? Do you think he is so rich? I have not heard a word about +that!" + +"Oh, yes; he is immensely wealthy--and all his fortune is in land." + +Bijou was not listening to this. She had just gathered a daisy, which +was growing amongst the grass, bending its little timid head over the +garden pathway, and she was now pulling it to pieces in an +absent-minded way. + +"Well?" asked Jeanne, smiling; "how does he love you?" + +Bijou lifted her pretty head in surprise. + +"Whom do you mean?" + +"The one about whom you were questioning that daisy?" + +"I don't know! I was not questioning it about anyone in particular." + +"And what did it answer you?" + +"Passionately." + +"Oh, well, it was answering about everybody." And Jeanne added, as she +mounted the little flight of stone steps just behind her friend: "It's +quite true; everybody loves you; and you deserve to be loved--there!" + +When the two girls entered the room where everyone was assembled, +their arrival seemed to have the effect of bringing some animation +into the faces of all the people. + +"At last, and not before it was time!" murmured Henry de Bracieux, in +a way which caused his grandmother to glance at him, whilst M. de +Clagny stepped quickly forward to meet Bijou. + +"That's right," she said pleasantly; "how good of you to come again so +soon to see us!" + +"Too good! You'll have too much of me before long!" + +"Never!" she answered, smiling merrily; and then taking Jeanne's hand, +she introduced her. "Jeanne Dubuisson--my best friend--whom I shall +lose now, because she is going to be married!" + +"But why do you say that, Bijou?" exclaimed the young girl +reproachfully. "You know very well that, married or not married, I +shall always be your friend." + +"Yes--everyone says that; but it isn't the same thing! When one is +married one does not belong to one's parents or friends any more, one +belongs to one's husband--and to him alone." + +"How delightful such delusions are!" murmured M. de Clagny. + +Bijou turned towards him abruptly. + +"What did you say?" she asked. + +"Oh, it was just nonsense!" + +"No; I quite understand that you were laughing at me. Yes, I +understand perfectly well; it's no good shaking your head, I know all +the same that you were making fun of me, because I said that when one +is married one belongs only to one's husband! Well, that may be very +ridiculous, but it is my idea, and I believe it is M. Spiegel's, too?" + +The young man smiled and nodded without answering. + +"Has anyone introduced M. Spiegel?" continued Bijou, still addressing +the count. "No? well, then, I will repair such negligence. Monsieur +Spiegel, Jeanne's _fiance_, who does not dare to support me, and +declare that I am right, because he is not in the majority here; there +is no one here who is married but himself--that is to say, nearly +married." + +"Oh, indeed, and what about Paul?" asked the marchioness, laughing. + +"Paul! Oh, yes, that's true; I was not thinking of him! Anyhow, the +unmarried persons are in the majority--Henry, Pierrot, Monsieur +Courteil, M. Giraud, Jean--well, what's the matter with Jean? he does +look queer!" + +Jean de Blaye was seated in an arm-chair, with his eyes half-closed +and his head resting on his hand, looking very drowsy. + +"I have a headache!" he answered; and then, as Bijou persisted, and +wanted to know what had given him a headache, he exclaimed gruffly: +"Well, what do you want me to say? It's a headache; how can I tell +what's given it me? It comes itself how it likes--that's all I know!" + +Bijou had gone behind the arm-chair in which her cousin was lounging. + +"You must have a very, very bad headache to look as you do," she said, +not at all discouraged by his abrupt manner, and noticing his pale +face, his drawn features, and his eyes, with dark circles round them, +"and for you to own, too, that there is anything the matter with you; +because you always set up for being so strong and well. Poor Jean, I +do wish you could get rid of it." + +She bent forward, and pressing her lips gently on the young man's +weary eyelids, remained like that a few seconds. + +Jean de Blaye turned pale, and then very red, and rose hastily from +his chair. + +"You startled me," he said, in an embarrassed way, not knowing where +to look, "how stupid I am; but I did not see you were so near, so you +quite surprised me." + +M. de Clagny had risen, too, in an excited way on seeing Bijou kiss +her cousin. It occurred to him though, at once, how very ridiculous +his jealousy would appear, and he sat down again, saying in a jesting +tone: + +"Well, if that remedy does not take effect, de Blaye's case is +incurable." + +M. de Rueille looked enviously at Jean, who was just going out of the +drawing-room, and then, turning to Bijou, he remarked, in a hoarse +voice: + +"When I have a headache, and, unfortunately, that is very often, you +are not so compassionate." + +M. Giraud remained petrified in the little low chair in which he had +taken his seat. His eyes were fixed on the ground, and his lips +pressed closely together; he looked as though he had seen nothing. + +As for Pierrot, he exclaimed candidly: + +"What a lucky beggar that Jean is!" + +"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," replied Abbe Courteil, with conviction; +"but, all the same, he certainly has a very bad headache--Monsieur de +Blaye. I know what it is to have a headache." + +The marchioness bent forward to whisper to Bertrade, whilst looking +all the time at Bijou. + +"Isn't she sweet, that child, and so good-hearted, and, above all, so +natural. Did you see how innocently she kissed that simpleton of a +Jean, and how it startled him?" + +"Oh! as to startling him! he was rather upset by it, poor fellow, and +he wanted to explain away the fact that he was upset by it; that is +about all." + +"Do you think so? with him, one never knows." + +"You did not notice that he went off at once, without even saying +good-bye to M. Dubuisson and M. Spiegel, who are just going away." + +The marchioness turned towards the two men in question, who were just +coming across to take leave. + +"As we are keeping your Jeanne," she said, "I hope you will often come +to see her." + +"Are you quite sure that you don't mind staying at Bracieux?" Bijou +asked her friend; "I shall not be angry with you, you know, for +preferring your _fiance_ to me." + +"Spiegel is obliged to go to Paris for a few days," said M. Dubuisson; +"on his return I shall come with him to fetch Jeanne back." + + * * * * * + +On leaving the drawing-room, a few minutes before, Jean de Blaye had +felt thoroughly wretched. Bijou's innocent kiss, given so openly +before everyone, had, as a matter of fact, thoroughly upset him +rousing again the love which he felt for the young girl, and which he +had hoped would remain dormant, since Madame de Nezel was ready to +console him with her affection. + +Only the evening before he had said to the young widow: "How can I +love that child as I love you?" and when he had uttered these words, +he had, for the time being, felt his old love for Madame de Nezel +returning, and it had seemed to him that Bijou could never inspire the +same passion as he had felt for this woman. And now, after hoping that +he had conquered his love for the young girl, her kiss had completely +undone him, and left him helpless to struggle against himself any +longer. + +He felt now that from henceforth he ought not to continue to claim +Madame de Nezel's affection, since he could no longer return it; and +as he thought of all that this affection had been to him in the past, +he suffered intensely. For the last four years this woman had loved +him with a devotion that had known no bounds, and, whilst Madame de +Bracieux, M. de Jonzac, the Rueilles, and, indeed, all his family, had +imagined that he was living a very gay life, he had been spending his +time peacefully and happily in the society of Madame de Nezel. + +They had understood each other perfectly, and no one had suspected +anything of the sympathy which had thus drawn them together, so that +Jean had always been criticised for those actions of his which were +known to the world, and he had been perfectly satisfied that things +should be thus. Now, however, all would be changed. He would have to +give up this peaceful happiness which had been so much to him. + +And why should he, after all? Did he intend to tell Bijou of his love +for her? And even supposing that she did not reject his love, was he +in a position to marry this fragile and exquisite girl, who had +certainly been created for the most luxurious surroundings? + +He had already thought it all over many times and had said to himself, +over and over again, that it would be absurdly foolish. Then, too, +Bijou would never love him well enough to accept him with his +extremely moderate income. As he had promised Madame de Nezel to meet +her the following day at Pont-sur-Loire, he wrote her a few lines in +order to excuse himself. + +"She will not believe the pretext I have given her," he said to +himself, as he sealed the letter "but she will quite understand, and, +now, it is all over between us." + +And then all at once a feeling of utter loneliness came over him, and +a vision of the life that would from henceforth be his rose before him +with strange distinctness. He shuddered in spite of himself, and then +he fell to going over again in his mind all his sorrows. + +In the meantime, Bijou had shown Jeanne Dubuisson to the room she was +to occupy during her visit to the chateau. + +"It is your imagination, I tell you; nothing but your imagination," +she said to her friend. "He does like me, certainly, but just in the +way one cares for a cousin, or even a sister." + +"No! It was quite enough to look at his face when he went out of the +drawing-room. He was quite upset, and I am sure he has not got over it +yet." + +"Wouldn't you like me to go and ask him? But, there, it is seven +o'clock. We have only just time to dress. I will come back for you +when the first dinner-bell rings." + +When Bijou came out of her bedroom, simply but charmingly dressed, as +usual, the long landing was dark and silent. The servants had drawn +the blinds, but had not yet lighted the lamps. + +Jean, who was coming out of his room, could just distinguish, in the +darkness, a few yards away from him, a figure in a light dress. He +hurried up to it, and Bijou asked: + +"Is that you, Jean?" + +"Yes," he answered; "and I want a word with you." + +"Something that won't take long? The first bell has gone." + +"Something very short; but I should prefer no one else hearing." + +"Shall we go into your room, then, or into mine?" + +"Into yours, as we are so near it." + +Bijou opened the door, and, when Blaye was inside, she said: + +"Wait a minute. Don't move, or I shall knock against you. I will +light--" + +"Oh, it isn't worth getting a light," he said, catching hold of her +arm to stop her. "I can say what I have to without that. Besides, it +won't take long. I want to tell you, Bijou, my dear, that what you +did, you know, just now--" + +She appeared to be trying to remember. + +"Just now? Whatever was it I did?" + +"Well, in a very nice way--oh! in a very nice way, indeed, you +know--you kissed me, but you are too grown-up to do that now when +there are people there." + +"And when there isn't anyone there?" she asked, laughing, "may I +then--tell me?" + +Before he had time to reply, she had laid her hands on his shoulder, +and lifted her face towards his. He bent his head at the same moment, +and her lips touched his. Bijou gave a little half-timid murmur of +affection, which moved him deeply. + +He made up his mind now to tell her of his love, and tried to draw her +to him; but the young girl pushed back the hands which were +endeavouring to hold her, and ran out of the room, and, by the rustle +of her dress along the wall, Jean knew that she was hurrying away. + + + + +X. + + +THE following day Mere Rafut arrived. Bijou had expected to have her +for a week, and was very much disappointed when the old woman told her +that she could only give her five days, as the theatre opened again on +the first of September, and she would have to be there at her post as +dresser. + +Jeanne, therefore, proposed to help with the work, and Bijou accepted +her offer. + +"That's a capital idea!" she said; "if we are both together we shall +not be dull! we can talk to each other without troubling about Mere +Rafut." + +Accordingly, every day, whilst the marchioness and Madame de Rueille +were doing what Jean de Blaye called "a visiting tour," the two young +girls installed themselves in Bijou's boudoir, which was converted +into a sewing-room, and were soon busy with their cutting out and +sewing, whilst chattering together, too intent on their conversation +to pay much attention to the old sewing-woman. + +"Are you going to the race-ball?" Bijou asked her friend. + +"Yes," said Jeanne; "it seems that as I am now engaged it is not quite +the thing; but I am going all the same, as Franz wants to see me +arrayed in my ball-dress, and he wants to waltz with me, too; he +waltzes very well, you know." + +"Ah! and yet he looks so austere? Tell me, don't you mind in the least +marrying a Protestant?" + +"Not in the least! without being bigoted, I am a thorough Catholic, +and he is a devoted Protestant, but not bigoted either. We shall each +of us keep to our own religion, for we have no wish whatever to +change; but neither of us has any idea of trying to convert the +other." + +Bijou did not speak, and Jeanne continued: + +"I am not at all sorry that I am going to have a husband who is a +Protestant, and I will confess that, for certain things, I feel more +satisfied that it should be so. It's quite true, what you were saying +yesterday--Protestants have certain ideas about the family, and about +constancy; in fact, they have stricter principles about such things +than Catholics." + +"Yes; tell me, though, what dress are you going to wear for the race +ball?" + +"I don't know yet! I haven't one for it!" + +"Why, how's that? what about the white one with the little bunches of +flowers all over it?" + +"Papa does not think it is nice enough; the race ball is to be at the +Tourvilles, you know, this year; and it will all be very grand!" + +"Oh, yes!" + +"We do not know them at all; it will be the first time of our going to +Tourville, and if I were to be dressed anyhow, it would not be very +nice for your grandmamma, who got us invited; and so papa told me to +have a dress made, and he gave me two pounds." + +"What are you going to have made?" + +"I don't know at all; advise me, will you?" + +For the last minute or two Bijou had seemed to be turning something +over in her mind. + +"If you like," she said at last, "we might be dressed in the same way, +you and I; that would be awfully nice!" + +"What is your dress?" + +"My dress does not exist yet; it is a thing of the future! It will be +pink, of course--pink crepe--quite simple--straight skirts, cut like a +ballet-dancer's skirts, so that there will be no hem to make them +heavy, three skirts, one over the other, all of the same length, of +course--three, that makes it cloudy-looking; more than that smothers +you up; and it will fall in large, round _godets_. Then there will be +a little gathered bodice, very simple; little puffed sleeves, with a +lot of ribbon bows and ends hanging, and then ribbon round the waist, +with two long bows and long ends--ribbon as wide as your hand, not any +wider.' + +"It will be pretty." + +"And it would suit you wonderfully well." + +"But shouldn't you mind my being dressed like you?" asked Jeanne, +rather timidly. + +"On the contrary, I should love it! Would you like us to make the +dress here? I would try it on, and like that we should be sure that it +was right." + +"How sweet you are! Plenty of other girls in your place would only +trouble about themselves." + +"Listen, supposing you wrote for the crepe to be sent to-morrow." And +then she added laughing, "M. de Bernes asked me yesterday evening if I +had not any commissions for Pont-sur-Loire. I might have given him +that to do!" + +"He would have been slightly embarrassed." + +"Why? It is easy enough to buy pink crepe with a pattern." + +Mere Rafut, who had been busy sewing, without uttering a word, but +just pulling her needle through the work with a quick regular +movement, now lifted her face, all wrinkled like an old apple, and +remarked drily: + +"And even without!" + +"Without what?" asked Bijou. + +"Without a pattern. Oh, no, it isn't he who'd be embarrassed! Why, he +always helps to choose Mademoiselle Lisette Renaud's dresses." + +"Lisette Renaud, the singer?" asked Jeanne eagerly, whilst Denyse, +very much taken up with her work, did not appear to have heard. + +"No, mademoiselle, the actress." + +"Well, that's what I meant. Ah! and so M. de Bernes knows her?" + +The old sewing-woman smiled. + +"I should just think he does. He's known her more than a year and a +half." + +"Ah!" said Jeanne, evidently interested, "she is so pretty, Lisette +Renaud! I saw her in _Mignon_ and in the _Dragons de Villars_ too." + +"Oh, yes!" said Mere Rafut, "she is pretty, too, and as good as she is +pretty! If you only knew!" + +"Good?" repeated Jeanne, "but--" + +"Ah, yes! For sure, she isn't a young lady like you, mademoiselle! But +ever since she has known M. de Bernes, I can tell you, she won't look +at anyone else. And he's the same, as far as that goes, and that's +saying a good deal, for, nice-looking as he is, there's plenty of +ladies after him, ladies in the best society, too, in officers' +families; and they do say the Prefect's wife admires him! Oh, my, he +doesn't care a snap for them all, though! He's got no eyes for anyone +but Lisette; but you should see him when he's looking at her--it's +pretty sure that if he was an officer of high rank he'd marry her +straight off, and he'd be quite right, too--" + +"Jeanne!" interrupted Bijou, "that's the first bell for luncheon." And +when they were out of the room she said, in a very gentle voice, with +just a shade of reproach: "Why do you let Mere Rafut tell you things +you ought not to listen to?" + +"Oh, goodness!" cried Jeanne, blushing and looking confused, "her +story wasn't so very dreadful; and then, even if it had been, how do +you think I could help her telling it?" + +"Oh! that's easy enough, the only thing to do is not to reply or pay +any attention; you would see that she would soon stop." + +"Yes, you are right," and throwing her arms round Bijou, Jeanne kissed +her. + +"You are always right," she said; "and I, although I look so serious, +am much more thoughtless than you, and much weaker-minded, too; I +never can resist listening if it is anything that interests me." + +"And did that interest you?" + +"Very much, indeed." + +"Good heavens! what could you find interesting in it all?" + +"Well, I don't exactly know; I was curious to hear about it, in the +first place, and then I always notice everything, and this little +story explained exactly something I had observed." + +"When?" + +"Why, during the last four or five months, ever since I have begun +going out a little." + +"What had you observed?" + +"I had observed that M. de Bernes never pays attention to any woman, +that he never even looks at anyone, that he scarcely takes the trouble +to be pleasant, even with the prettiest girls; and the proof of all +this is, that he has not tried to flirt with you even." + +"Oh, not at all," answered Bijou, laughing; "but just because he has +not tried to flirt with me, you must not conclude that with others." + +"No, Mere Rafut must be right, and, after all, I am not at all +surprised about it--this story, I mean; you have no idea how charming +she is, this Lisette Renaud. Something in your style; she is much +taller than you, though, and not so fair; but she has the most +wonderful eyes, and a lovely, graceful figure, almost as graceful as +yours; in short, I can quite understand that, when anyone does care +for her, they would care for her in earnest; then, added to all that, +she has a great deal of talent and a beautiful voice--a contralto. I +am sure you would like her." + +"I don't think so." + +"Why?" + +"I don't like women who act comedy--those who act well, at least; it +denotes a kind of duplicity." + +"Oh, I don't think so; it denotes a faculty of assimilation, a very +sensitive nature, but not duplicity." + +"I can't help it, my dear, but I do not see things in the same light +as you; still, that does not prevent Mademoiselle--what is her name?" + +"Lisette Renaud." + +"Mademoiselle Lisette Renaud from being an exception, and she may be a +very charming creature; for my part, I only hope that is so for the +sake of M. de Bernes." + +"You don't care much for him, do you?" asked Jeanne. + +"What makes you think that?--he is quite indifferent to me, and I +always look upon him as being just like everyone else." + +"Oh, no; that is not true--I see him pretty often at Pont-sur-Loire; +he is very intelligent, and very nice, and then, too, very +good-looking; don't you think so?" + +"I assure you that I have never paid much attention to M. de Bernes +and his appearance," and then Bijou added, laughing: "The very first +time I see him, I will look at him with all my eyes, and I will +endeavour to discover his perfections to please M. de Clagny." + +"You like him very much, don't you--M. de Clagny?" + +"Oh, yes, indeed I do." + +"I noticed that at once; ever since my arrival you have only talked of +him; and yesterday, when he came, you were delighted." + +"Yes, he is so good, and so kind to me." + +"But everyone is kind to you, everyone adores you." + +"Everyone is much too good and too indulgent, as far as I am +concerned; I know that very well; but M. de Clagny is better still +than the others. I have only known him three days, and now I could not +do without him. Whenever I see him, I feel gay and happy at once; and +I wish he were always here. I'll tell you what--I should like to have +a father or an uncle like him. Doesn't he make the same kind of +impression on you?" + +"Oh, as for me, you know, it would be impossible to imagine myself +with any other father than papa. Just as he is I adore him; perhaps to +other people he may seem nothing out of the common but you see he is +my father; all the same I like M. de Clagny, and he is very nice--he +must have been charming." + +"I think he still is charming." + +The two girls had reached the hall by this time, and Jeanne went to +the door. + +"How very warm it is," she said, and then, shading her eyes with her +hand, she looked out into the avenue. "Why, there's a mail-coach!" she +exclaimed. "Whoever would be coming with a mail-coach?" + +"M. de Clagny, of course," cried Bijou, rushing out on to the steps in +her delight; "he told grandmamma that if he possibly could he should +come and ask her to give him some luncheon." + +"And he has managed to," remarked M. de Rueille drily, as he, too, +approached the hall door; "we've seen a great deal of him these last +three days; certainly, he is very devoted to us," he added +sarcastically. + +The sight of the horses, which were just being pulled up in front of +the steps, somewhat appeased him, however. + +"By Jove! what horses!" he exclaimed, in admiration, "and he knows how +to drive, too; there's no mistake about that, he's a born aristocrat." + + * * * * * + +After luncheon, Pierrot declared that his foot hurt him just at the +end of each toe, and he did not know what it could be. + +"I know, though," remarked Jean de Blaye; "his boots are too short." + +"Too short!" exclaimed M. de Jonzac, "oh, no, that's impossible"--and +then, after a moment's reflection, he added in terror: "unless his +feet have got bigger still--" + +"Which they probably have," said Jean, laughing; "anyhow, his toes are +turned up at the ends and curl back over each other, I am sure; you +have only to look at his feet, now, to tell. Look at the lumps in his +boots; they look like bags of nuts." + +"I must get him some more boots to-day," said M. de Jonzac. + +"The best thing, uncle, would be to send him to Pont-sur-Loire to be +measured; there's sure to be a decent bootmaker there." + +"M. Courteil is going just now to take a letter to the bishop and get +an answer to it," remarked Madame de Bracieux; "he might take Pierrot +with him." + +"Well, then," said Bijou, "they might take our omnibus, so that Jeanne +and I could go too; we have some errands to do." + +"What are they?" asked the marchioness. + +"Well, first, some crepe--we want some crepe for Jeanne; and then some +pencils and paints that I am short of; in fact, there are a lot of +things." + +"Would you like me to take you all?" proposed M. de Clagny; "I have +some business with a lawyer at Pont-sur-Loire at three o'clock. You +could do all your errands, and then I would bring you back; it's on my +way to The Noriniere." + +"Oh, what fun!" exclaimed Bijou, delighted. "I have never been on a +mail-coach; you don't mind, grandmamma?" + +Madame de Bracieux seemed rather undecided. + +"Well, I don't know, Bijou dear; you see at Pont-sur-Loire you will be +noticed very much perched up there, and for two young girls I don't +know whether it is quite the thing--" + +"Oh, grandmamma," protested Bijou, "not the thing! and with M. de +Clagny there!" + +"Yes, with me," put in the count, with emphasis, his face suddenly +clouding over, "there is no danger; I am safe enough." + +"Yes, certainly," replied Madame de Bracieux with evident sincerity; +"but at Pont-sur-Loire everyone is so fond of gossip and scandal." + +"Oh, grandmamma," Bijou said, in a beseeching tone, "don't deprive us +of a treat, which you don't see any harm in whatever yourself, just +because of the Pont-sur-Loire people, about whom you do not care at +all." + +"Yes, you are right. Go, then, children, as you want to, for, as you +say, there is no harm whatever in amusing yourselves in that way." + +"Is there any room for me?" asked M. de Rueille. + +"For you, and some more of you," answered M. de Clagny; "we are only +six at present." + +The marchioness turned towards Bertrade. + +"What do you say about going with them to look after the girls?" + +Madame de Rueille glanced at her husband, who appeared to be studying +the floor attentively at that moment. + +"Oh, Paul will look after them very well!" + +"I must ask if you would mind not starting before three o'clock?" said +Bijou, advancing towards the window, "because there is M. Sylvestre +coming to give me my accompaniment lesson; he is just coming up the +avenue." + +"The poor fellow!" exclaimed the marchioness, glancing out of the +window, "he is actually walking in spite of this terrible heat!" + +"He always walks, grandmamma." + +"Five miles; that is not so tremendous," remarked Henry de Bracieux. + +"No, not for you--driving!" said Bijou. + +"Well, but when we are out shooting, we do a lot more than that!" + +"But you are enjoying yourself when you are out shooting; that's quite +different. I know very well that if I could, I should send M. +Sylvestre back always in the carriage." + +"If you like, we can drive him back to-day," said M. de Clagny. + +"I should just think I should like to! You are very good to offer me +that, because, you know, he is not very, very handsome--my +professor--and he will not be any ornament on your coach!" + +"Do you think I care anything about that? I am not snobbish, Bijou; +not the least bit snobbish." + +"But he isn't bad-looking, this fellow," said Jean de Blaye. "He has +very fine eyes; they are wonderfully limpid and soft." + +"I never noticed that," answered Bijou, laughing; "but even if they +are, they could not be seen very well on the top of a coach. And he is +very queerly dressed; he wears clothes that are too small, and which +cling to him; and then long hair that is very lank; he looks rather +like a drowned rat." + +A domestic appeared at this instant to announce that M. Sylvestre had +arrived. + +"Have you told Josephine?" asked Madame Bracieux. + +"Yes, Josephine is there, madame," replied the servant. + +Jeanne Dubuisson rose, but Bijou stopped her. + +"No, don't come with me," she said; "when I feel that there is anyone +listening, that is, anyone beside Josephine, I don't do any good." And +then, just as she was going out of the room, she turned round, and +added: "At three o'clock I shall appear with my hat--and M. +Sylvestre." + +When Bijou entered her room, Josephine, the old housekeeper, who had +seen two generations of the Bracieux family grow up, was sewing near +the window, whilst, in the little room adjoining, the musician was +arranging the music-stand, and taking his violin out of the case. + +On seeing the young girl, his blue eyes lighted up, and seemed to turn +pale against his red face. He was a young man of about twenty-eight +years of age, very thin, very awkward, and dressed wretchedly enough; +but there was something interesting about his face, an expression +that was congenial, and yet, at the same time, told of anxiety and of +trouble. + +"How warm you are, Monsieur Sylvestre!" said Bijou, as she held out +her hand to him; "and they have not brought you anything to drink yet! +Josephine!" she called out, as she moved towards the door between the +two rooms, "will you tell them to bring--ah, yes, what are they to +bring? What will you take, Monsieur Sylvestre?--beer, lemonade, wine, +or what? I never remember!" + +"Some lemonade, if you please; but you really are too good, +mademoiselle, to trouble about me." + +"I forgot to buy the music you told me to get when I was at +Pont-sur-Loire," said Denyse, interrupting him. "You will scold me." + +"Oh! mademoiselle!" he exclaimed, in a scared way, "_I_ scold you?" + +"Yes, you! If you do not scold me you ought to. Now, let me see! What +are we going to play? Ah! I was forgetting! I am going to ask you if +you will begin by accompanying me at the piano; it is just a silly +little song I am learning." + +"What song is it?" + +"'Ay Chiquita'! it is quite grotesque, isn't it? But we have an old +friend who adores it, and he asked me to sing it for him." + +"Oh! as to that!--'Ay Chiquita'--it isn't so grotesque; but it has +been worn out, that's all. Ah!" he added, looking at the music, "you +sing it in a higher key. I was wondering, too--" + +"Yes, I sing it higher; that makes it more dreadful still. Oh, dear! +how I do wish I had a deep voice; they are so lovely--deep voices, but +there are none to be heard!" + +"They are rare, certainly; but there are some, nevertheless." + +"I have never heard one," said Bijou, shaking her head. + +"Well, but you might hear one if you liked." + +"Where?" + +"Why, at the Pont-sur-Loire theatre. Yes, Mademoiselle Lisette Renaud, +a young actress, with a great deal of talent, and she is very pretty, +too, which is not a drawback, by any means." + +"She has a beautiful voice?" + +"Very beautiful! I hear her, on an average, three times a week, +without reckoning the rehearsals with the orchestra, and, I can assure +you, I have never had enough." + +"Ah! Do you think she would sing at private houses?" + +"Why, certainly! She does sing sometimes at Pont-sur-Loire." + +"I will ask grandmamma to have her here. Where does she live?" + +"Rue Rabelais. I do not remember the number, but she is very well +known." + +After a short silence, the professor asked: + +"Why should you not go to the theatre to hear her? That would interest +you much more." + +"Grandmamma would never let me." + +"I know, of course, that society people do not go to the +Pont-sur-Loire theatre--it is not considered the thing; but there are +circumstances,--for instance--in a fortnight from now there is to be a +performance for the benefit of disabled soldiers, organised by the +_Dames de France_; everyone will go to that." + +"And they will play things that will be all right?" + +"Oh! some comic opera or another, and varieties from other things; but +I am sure Lisette Renaud will be on the programme, and several times, +too. These are the best sort of things that we have at the theatre." + +"You are not drinking anything, Monsieur Sylvestre," said Bijou, +approaching the tray which had been brought in, and pouring out the +lemonade for the young man. + +The glass which she passed to him showed the effect of the contact of +her hand. + +"Are you not still too warm to drink?" she asked. "This lemonade is +very cold." + +He took the glass with a hand that trembled slightly, and stood there, +with his arm stretched out, looking at Bijou with passionate +admiration. + +"Monsieur Sylvestre," she said, smiling, "a penny for your thoughts." + +The young man's face, which was already red, flushed deeper still. He +drank his lemonade at a draught, and hurried to the piano. + +"Let us begin, mademoiselle! shall we?" he said, and he played the +short symphony of the song in a hesitating way, as though his fingers +refused to act. This was so noticeable, that Denyse asked him: + +"What is the matter with you? you are not in form to-day, at all." + +"Oh, it's nothing, mademoiselle; I--it is so warm." + +Being rather short-sighted, and never using a lorgnette, Bijou was +obliged to bend forward to read the words of the song, and sometimes, +in doing so, she touched the professor's hair or shoulder. This +served to increase his agitation, and at times he could scarcely see +what he was playing, whilst his fingers would slip off the notes. + +"Really, you are not at all in form to-day," repeated Bijou, +surprised. + +"I beg your pardon, mademoiselle, I--I don't know what is the matter +with me." + +"Nor I either; I can't tell at all," she said, laughing. + +He was getting up from the piano, but she begged him to sit down +again. + +"No! if you don't mind," she said, "I should like to work up two or +three old songs." + +She began at once to read at sight, bending over in order to see +better, whilst the poor young man, who was now pale, did his best to +follow her, in spite of the buzzing in his ears and the clamminess of +his fingers. + +When the lesson was over, Bijou went to fetch her hat, and then came +back and put it on at the glass near the piano. + +Instead of putting his violin into its case, M. Sylvestre stood +watching her as she lifted her arms, and drew her pretty figure up +with a graceful swaying movement. + +"Be quick!" she said, "we are going to take you back to +Pont-sur-Loire, or rather M. de Clagny, one of our friends, is going +to take you on his coach." Denyse saw that he did not understand, so +she went on to explain: "It's a large carriage, and holds a good +number of people." + +"Are you going, too?" he asked excitedly. + +"I am going, too--yes, Monsieur Sylvestre." + +He was just taking from his violin-case a little bunch of +forget-me-nots and wild roses, which were already drooping their poor +little heads. He held them out timidly to Bijou. + +"As I came along, mademoiselle, I--I took the liberty of gathering +these flowers for you." + +She took them, and after inhaling their perfume for a minute or two, +put them into her waistband. + +"Thank you so much for having thought of me," she said. + +He followed Bijou downstairs, step by step, happy in the present, +forgetting all about his poverty, and as he appeared, tripping along +behind the young girl, his violin-case in his hand, M. de Clagny +turned to Jean de Blaye, and remarked: + +"You were right; he has a nice face." + +The mail-coach had just appeared in front of the steps when the +marchioness called out: + +"Bijou! I have a commission for you. Go to Pellerin the bookseller, +and ask him--stop--no--send Pierrot here." + +"Pierrot," said Denyse, returning to the hall, "grandmamma wants you." + +"I'll bet it's some errand to do," remarked the youth, making a +grimace, "and errands are not much in my line." And then, whilst Bijou +and the others were clambering up on to the coach, he went back to +Madame de Bracieux. "You wanted me, aunt?" he said. + +"Yes. Will you go to Pellerin's? do you know which is Pellerin's?" + +"The book shop." + +"Yes. Ask him for a novel of Dumas' for me. It is called 'Le Batard de +Mauleon.' What are you looking at me for in that bewildered way?" + +"Because I have never seen you reading novels, and--" + +"You will not see me reading this one either; it is for the cure, I +have promised it him. He adores Dumas, and he does not know 'Le Batard +de Mauleon.' You will remember the title?" + +"Yes, aunt." + +"You are sure? You would not like me to write it for you?" + +"'Tisn't worth while." + +"You will forget it!" + +"No danger." + +He rushed off, looking down on the ground, and then, as he climbed on +to the coach, he trod on the feet of various people, nearly smashed M. +Sylvestre's violin-case, and excused himself by saying: + +"Oh, by Jove! I've nearly done for the little coffin." + + + + +XI. + + +ALWAYS up first in the morning, Bijou was in the habit of going +downstairs towards seven o'clock, in order to attend to her +housekeeping duties. + +She always paid a visit to the pantry, and to the dairy, and, with the +exception of Pierrot, who was sometimes wandering about the passages +with very sleepy-looking eyes, she never met anybody at this early +hour. + +To her astonishment, therefore, on this particular morning she nearly +ran up against M. de Rueille, who was coming out of the library with a +book in his hand. + +Of all the visitors at Bracieux he was the laziest, so that Bijou +laughed as she commented on his early rising. + +"How's this?" she asked; "have you finished your slumbers already?" + +"Or, rather, I have not commenced them!" + +"Oh, nonsense!" + +"No, and as I had finished all the literature I had upstairs, I came +down to get a book to finish my night with." + +Bijou pointed to the sun, which was streaming in by the open window. + +"Your night!" + +"Oh, as far as I am concerned, you know, unless I am going out +shooting, or off by train somewhere, it is night up to ten o'clock, at +least!" + +"And you are now going to bed again?" + +"This very instant." + +"But it is ridiculous." + +"On the contrary, it is very wise, and all the more so, as, when one +is in a bad temper, the best thing to do is to keep one's self out of +the way." + +"You are in a bad temper?" + +"Yes." + +"And why?" + +Paul de Rueille hesitated slightly before answering. + +"I don't know why." + +"It's quite true," said Bijou, laughing, "that you were not very +amiable yesterday during our journey to Pont-sur-Loire." + +"It was your fault!" + +"My fault--mine?" + +"Yours." + +"And pray why?" + +"I will tell you if you like." + +"Yes, I should like; but not now, because I am keeping some one +waiting in the dairy." + +"Who is waiting for you?" he asked anxiously. + +"The dairy-maid," answered Bijou, without noticing his anxiety. + +"Oh! go at once, then, if that is the case," said M. de Rueille +sarcastically. "I should not like the dairy-maid to be kept waiting on +my account." + +"You should come and see the cheeses," proposed Denyse. + +"That must certainly be very festive; no, really, are you not afraid +that I should find that too exciting, Bijou, my dear?" + +"You would find it as exciting, anyhow, as going to bed, and reading +over again some old book that you must know by heart. Oh, you know it +by heart, I am sure! There is nothing in the library but the classics, +or a lot of old-fashioned things; ever since I have come no new books +are put in the library, either in the Paris house or here at Bracieux. +Grandmamma is so afraid that I should get hold of them; but she is +quite mistaken, for I should never open a book that I had been told +not to open--never!" + +"Grandmamma is afraid of your doing what any other girl would do; you +are such an astonishing exception, Bijou!" + +"Yes, I am an exception--an angel, anything you like; but either come +with me, or let me go, if you please! I don't like to keep people +waiting." + +"Oh, well, I'll come with you if you like," said M. de Rueille, +putting his book down on a side-table. + +He followed Bijou without speaking, as she trotted along in front of +him. She looked so sweet, going backwards and forwards amongst the +great pails of milk; her straw hat, covered with lace, tossed +carelessly on her fair hair; her morning dress, of pink batiste, +fastened up rather high with a safety-pin. + +She inspected everything, gave her orders, and settled all kinds of +details, without troubling about her cousin any more than if he did +not exist; and then, when she had quite finished, she turned towards +him, smiling. + +"Now, then," she said, "if you would like a stroll, I am at your +service." She turned into one of the garden paths that led to the +avenues, and then added, as she looked up at Paul, "I'm listening!" + +"You are listening? What do you want me to say?" + +"I thought you were going to tell me why you were so bad-tempered +yesterday; you said it was my fault." + +"Well, it was; you were--" he began, in an embarrassed way; and then +he continued, in desperation, "the way you went on, it was not at all +like you generally are, nor like you ought to be!" + +"Ah! what did I do then?" + +"Well, in the first place, you insisted, in the most extraordinary +way, that Bernes should come on to the coach when we met him. Why did +you insist like that?" + +"Well, it is natural enough when you meet anyone walking a mile away +from where you are driving yourself, that you should offer to pick him +up; it seems to me that it would be odd, on the contrary, not to offer +to pick him up!" + +"Yes, agreed; but then it was M. de Clagny who should have offered a +seat in his own carriage." + +"He never thought of it--" + +"Or else he did not care to? And you obliged him to do it whether he +would or not?" + +"Rubbish! he adores M. de Bernes. The other day he spent half an hour +singing his praises to me in every key." + +"Ah! that is probably what made you so pleasant to him?" + +"Was I so pleasant?" + +"Certainly! As a rule you don't pay the slightest attention to him, +but yesterday you had no eyes for anyone but him." + +"I did not notice that myself." + +"Really? Well, you were the only one who did not, then! You went on to +such a degree that I wondered if it were not simply for the sake of +tormenting me that you were acting in that way!" + +Bijou gazed straight at M. de Rueille with her beautiful, luminous +eyes. + +"To torment you? and how could it torment you if I chose to be +agreeable to M. de Bernes?" + +"How?" stuttered M. de Rueille, very much confused; "why, I have just +told you I am not--we are not accustomed to seeing you make a fuss +like that, especially of a young man! No, I assure you, I was amazed. +I am still, in fact." + +"And I am ever so sorry to have vexed you," she said sweetly. "Yes, I +am really; you see, I had never noticed M. de Bernes particularly, and +I wanted to see whether all the nice things M. de Clagny had told me +about him were quite true, and so I was studying him. Will you forgive +me?" + +M. de Rueille did not reply to this, as he had another grievance on +his mind. + +"With Clagny, too, you have a way of carrying on, which is not at all +the thing. He is an old man; that's all well and good; but, you know, +he is not so ancient yet for you to be able to take such liberties +with him!" + +"What do you call liberties?" + +"Well, sometimes you appear to admire him, to be in ecstasies about +him; and then sometimes you coax and wheedle him in the most absurd +way, as you did yesterday." + +"Yesterday! I coaxed and wheedled M. de Clagny? I?" + +"You!" + +"But about what?" + +"When you would insist, in spite of everything, in driving through Rue +Rabelais; and I'll be hanged if I can see why you wanted to; it's +about as dirty a street as there is, without taking into account that +you might have caused us all to break our necks. Yes, certainly, it +was the most dangerous experiment--your fad! Young Bernes, who is one +of the most out-and-out daring fellows himself, tried to persuade you +out of wanting to go along that street!" + +The strange little gleam, which sometimes lighted up Bijou's eyes, +came into them now. + +"Yes, that's true!" she said, smiling. "He was wild to prevent our +going down the Rue Rabelais--M. de Bernes! It was as though he was +afraid of something!" + +"He was afraid of coming to smash, by Jove, just as I was, and the +abbe, and even Pierrot. I cannot understand how old Clagny could have +let you have your fad out, for he was responsible for the little +Dubuisson girl, and for Pierrot, and you, without reckoning all of +us!" + +"Have you finished blowing me up?" + +"I am not blowing you up." + +"Oh, well, that's cool. Let's make it up now, shall we?" and, standing +on tip-toes, Bijou held her pretty face up, saying, "Kiss me?" + +He stepped back abruptly. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Bijou, in surprise, and looking hurt, "you won't kiss +me?" + +Paul de Rueille had been so taken aback, that he could scarcely find +any words. + +"It isn't that I won't, but--well, not here like that, it is so +absurd! I cannot understand your not seeing how ridiculous it is." + +Bijou shook her rough head, and the loose curls over her forehead +danced about. + +"No, I do not see that it is at all ridiculous," and then, instead of +going any farther, she turned round, and they went back to the house +without another word. + +On going up into his room, M. de Rueille found his wife reading a +letter. + +"I have just heard from Dr. Brice," she said, handing him the letter. +"It seemed to me that Marcel had not been well just lately." + +"Not well--Marcel? Why the child eats and drinks more than I do. He +sleeps like a top, too, and grows like a mushroom. Oh, that's good, +that is! And what disease has he discovered in the boy--our excellent +Brice?" + +"No disease at all!" + +"Oh, well, that's lucky! + +"But he orders him to have sea-air." + +"Sea-air for a lad who is in such downright good health that it +positively makes him unbearable, he is so riotous?" + +"Read what he says." + +"Let me see what he says," murmured M. de Rueille, putting on a look +of resignation, as he began to read the long letter, in which the +doctor advised sea-air as the best remedy for the child in his present +nervous state. + +"And so he is in a nervous state?" said M. de Rueille jeeringly; "and +on account of this, which no one, by the bye, except you, has noticed, +we are to leave Bracieux, where the lad is flourishing in this +delightful fresh air--it is his native air, in fact--and we are to go +and take up our abode at some stupid seaside place? Oh, no! You really +do get hold of some ridiculous ideas sometimes." + +He was still irritated after his discussion with Bijou, and the idea +of going away from her now caused him to speak in a harsh, dry way. He +tried to laugh, too, but his laugh sounded forced and hollow. + +Bertrade looked at him as she said gently: + +"I did not want to tell you the truth straight out; I hoped that you +would guess it. Do you not guess?" + +"No, not at all," he answered, with a vague feeling of uneasiness. + +"Well, then, you were right just now; not only Marcel, and his +brothers too, for that matter, are better at Bracieux than anywhere +else, but he has nothing the matter with him." + +As M. de Rueille looked surprised, she continued, in a tranquil way: + +"It is Marcel's father who is not quite himself, who needs a change of +air, and who will, I am sure, decide on having a change." + +"Well, really," he stammered out, "I do not know what you mean." + +"I mean that you must leave Bracieux for a time," she answered, +speaking very distinctly. + +"Do you particularly wish me to tell you why?" + +"I do." + +"You are unwise to insist. You know that in a general way I never +interfere in anything that you choose to do, or leave undone." + +"Yes, you have always been very sweet and very sensible about +everything," said M. de Rueille, "and I thoroughly appreciate--" + +"Oh, there is no need to say anything about all that. I have always +left you quite free to act in every way as you preferred, and now, in +this matter, I do not bear you any ill-feeling whatever, and I should +never have spoken to you of it if I had not seen that you are going +too far. I have confidence in you, so that I know you will be on your +guard; but I know how fascinating Bijou is, and I can see perfectly +well that, next to poor young Giraud, you are the one who is the most +infatuated." + +"Yes, you are quite right, I am infatuated; but, as you say yourself, +there is no danger whatever, and whether I go away, or whether I stay +here, it is all the same; that will make no difference whatever." + +"Yes! if you stay you will certainly make yourself ridiculous, and +probably wretched, too. I am speaking to you now just as a friend +might. Let us go away; believe me, it would be better." + +"Well, but when we came back again--for we should come back, shouldn't +we? in two months at the latest--things would, be exactly as they were +before." + +"No, it would be quite different," she answered carelessly. "In two +months' time she will be married, or nearly so." + +"Married!" exclaimed M. de Rueille, astounded. "Married! Jean is going +to marry her, then?" + +"Why, no! Jean is not going to marry her. He's another one who would +do well to make himself scarce." + +"Well, if it is not Jean, I do not see--it is not Henry, I presume?" + +"No, not Henry either. He understands perfectly well that, with what +he has, he cannot marry Bijou." + +"Well, who is it, then? Who is it?" + +"Why, no one at all--that is, no one in particular." + +"You spoke, on the contrary, as though you were affirming something +that was quite settled. You said: _In two months' time she will be +married, or nearly so_. What did you mean by that? Why don't you want +to tell me? You have been told not to? It is a secret?" + +"No, it is merely a supposition, I assure you, that is all." + +"And this supposition you will not tell me?" + +"No." + +After a short silence Madame de Rueille began again: + +"I showed grandmamma the doctor's letter; she is very sorry about our +going away. She adores the children, and then, too, she likes to have +the house full at Bracieux." + +"And she let herself be gulled with this story about Marcel's nervous +condition? I am surprised at that; she is so sharp!" + +"If she was not _gulled_, as you call it, she allowed me to think that +she was. I shall see you again presently: I must get ready for +breakfast." + +M. de Rueille went up to his wife, and asked, in a half-timid way: + +"You are angry with me about it?" + +"I? why should I be angry about what you cannot help? You are in the +same situation as Jean, M. Giraud, Henry, the accompaniment professor, +Pierrot, and others that we don't know of, not to speak of the abbe, +who, at present, is always to be found somewhere round about where +Bijou is." + +"Oh!" + +"It's perfectly true; the only thing is that, as far as he is +concerned, he is unconscious of it. Without understanding the why and +wherefore, he, too, is captivated by Bijou's charms just the same as +all the others who come near her. I am quite sure that he, too, will +be unhappy about going away from here; but he will not be able to +explain to himself even the cause of his unhappiness. Ah! there's the +bell; I shall never be ready; you had better go on down." + + * * * * * + +"Pierrot," said the marchioness, after breakfast, when everyone had +assembled in the morning-room, "you did not give me my book +yesterday?" + +Pierrot, who was talking to Bijou, turned round, somewhat taken aback. + +"What book, aunt?" + +"Dumas' novel for the cure." + +"Ah, yes; I could not think what book you meant!" + +"You forgot to do my errand?" + +"Not at all! but Pellerin hadn't it." + +"Oh, why--he always has everything one wants!" + +"Well, he hadn't got that; and, what was better still, he didn't seem +to know the book at all!" + +"Nonsense!" + +"No, it's quite true! and he's an obstinate sort of beggar, too, he +would have it that it wasn't by the father--what's his name? ah! I've +forgotten already." + +"Dumas!" + +"Dumas! yes, that's it; and he kept on saying all the time, 'I know my +Dumas well enough, and that book was never written by him.' Well, +anyhow, he promised to try to get it, and to send it to you if it is +to be had." + +M. de Rueille was sorting out the letters, which had arrived during +breakfast-time. + +"Here's a letter from your bookseller, grandmamma," he said; "he +evidently has not been able to get it." + +"Open it, Paul, will you?" + +Rueille tore open the envelope, and, taking out the letter, read as +follows: + + "MADAM,--It is quite impossible to get the book which your + nephew asked for. As we were anxious to execute your order, + we sent to several of the principal booksellers, and even + wired to Paris, but we were informed that there is not, and + there never has been, a book entitled, 'Le Baton de M. + Molard.'" + +"Le Baton de M. Molard?" repeated the marchioness, not understanding +in the least. "What is he talking about?" and then, all at once, the +explanation of the mystery dawned upon her, and she exclaimed, in +consternation: "Ah, I see! 'Le Baton de M. Molard' is 'Le Batard de +Mauleon,' translated by Pierrot into his own language. I was quite +right in wanting to write the title for him, but he would not hear of +it." + +M. de Jonzac turned his eyes up towards the ceiling with a tragic +gesture of despair. + +"He is incorrigible--absolutely hopeless," he said, half laughing and +half vexed. + +"I can't help it, I am as I was made," said Pierrot, blushing +furiously and very much annoyed. "And then, too, I didn't know what I +was doing yesterday; we were almost upset going into Pont-sur-Loire." + +"Almost upset?" exclaimed Madame de Bracieux, "upset! why, how?" + +"Because Bijou had the insane idea of wanting to go down the Rue +Rabelais with the coach; and so M. de Clagny went--the old fool." + +"Stop! that's enough!" interrupted the marchioness; "will you kindly +speak more respectfully when you have anything to say about my old +friend Clagny?" + +"Well, all the same, your old friend hasn't got his head screwed on +very well, considering his age. He might have killed us; and, besides +that, I can tell you we did kick up a shindy in the Rue Rabelais. The +coach scraped against the curb-stones; all the kids were running along +nearly under the horses' heels; then the sound of the horn brought all +the women to the windows, and didn't they exclaim when they saw what +it was. That part wasn't so bad, either, for there were some jolly +pretty ones, I can tell you; weren't there, Paul?" + +As M. de Rueille appeared to be preoccupied, and did not answer, +Pierrot turned to the abbe. + +"Weren't there, M. Courteil?" + +"I don't know," answered the abbe, with evident sincerity; "I was not +noticing." + +Pierrot did not intend to give in. + +"Oh, well, Bijou noticed them anyhow, for I can tell you she _did_ +look at them, and with eyes as sharp as needles, too; they shone like +anything." + +"I?" she exclaimed, her pretty face turning suddenly red. "It was your +fancy, Pierrot; I never saw anything. I was much too frightened." + +"Frightened of what?" asked the marchioness. + +"Why, of being upset, grandmamma. Pierrot is right about that; we were +nearly upset." + +"He is right, too, in saying that it was an insane idea to want to go +with a carriage and four horses down a wretched little street like +that; however could you have had such an idea?" + +Bijou glanced at Jeanne Dubuisson, who, with her eyes fixed on the +carpet, had turned very red, too, and was listening to the discussion +without taking any part in it. + +"Oh, really, I don't know. I think it was M. de Clagny telling me that +his horses were so well in hand that he could make them turn round on +a plate. And so, as the Rue Rabelais is rather narrow and winding, I +said: 'I am sure you could not go along Rue Rabelais.'" + +"No!" protested Pierrot, "it was not quite like that. You said, 'Let +us go down Rue Rabelais, I should like to see it.' And, then, as he +hesitated--for we may as well give him credit for having +hesitated--you stuck to it as hard as you could." + +"But," put in M. de Jonzac, seeing that Denyse looked annoyed, "what +interest could your cousin possibly have in wanting to go down that +street?" + +"That's what I wondered," said Pierrot, looking puzzled; and then, +suddenly taken with another idea, he added: "I can tell you there was +somebody who didn't like it, and that was M. de Bernes. I don't know +what took him, but he did pull a long face. Oh, my! I can tell you he +did look blue." + +Henry de Bracieux laughed. + +"I know why he was pulling such a long face, poor old Bernes; he was +afraid of being blown up--" + +"Blown up?" asked Bijou, innocently opening her limpid eyes wide in +surprise, whilst Jeanne's face, usually so impassive, turned almost +purple. "Blown up? by whom?" + +And then, as there was a dead silence, which became more and more +embarrassing, Bijou turned to her friend. + +"Let's go out for a stroll in the garden, Jeanne, shall we?" she said. + +"I'll come with you," remarked Pierrot promptly; but Bijou pushed him +gently back. + +"No! we shall do very well by ourselves, thank you; you would worry +us." + +As the two girls were descending the hall-door steps, Bijou said to +Jeanne, who was just behind her, and who had not quite recovered from +her embarrassment: + +"I know why you looked so conscious just now; you were thinking of the +gossip about that actress--I've forgotten her name--whom M. de Bernes +knows. I had not thought of it at the time, and so it did not trouble +me. You see I was right when I told you that it was a mistake to +listen to Mere Rafut's tales." + +"Yes, you always are right!" answered Jeanne pensively; "I said then +that you are always right!" + + * * * * * + +After Bijou's departure, the men one after another left the +drawing-room. + +"What's the matter, Bertrade?" asked the marchioness, as soon as she +found herself alone with Madame de Rueille. "Paul looked very queer +during breakfast!" + +"Did you think so?" said the young wife, not wishing either to +acknowledge it or to tell an untruth about the matter. + +"I did think so, and you looked queer too; and as I watched you both, +an idea dawned upon me." + +"And what is this idea?" + +"It is that my dear little Marcel is no more ill than I am, and that +the letter you showed me this morning is nothing but a pretext for +getting your husband away from here; is that so?" + +Madame de Rueille was too straightforward to be able to deny the fact. + +"It is so!" + +"And so you are jealous, and jealous of Bijou?" + +"Not jealous, oh, dear no! not in the least; but anxious." + +"About Bijou?" + +Madame de Rueille looked serious as she shook her pretty head. + +"No, about Paul." + +"You are not afraid of your husband going too far, I suppose?" + +"No!" + +"Well, what then?" + +"I am anxious about his peace of mind, and then, too, I do not care +for him to make himself completely ridiculous." + +"You must know, my dear Bertrade, that I have seen for some time past +that Paul was gone on Bijou, just as all the others are--for there is +no mistake about it, they all are; and the last few days I have +noticed that your abbe even has begun to lose his indifference; don't +you think so?" + +"It is very possible!" + +"Yes, and I am sure that he isn't going along quite so peacefully in +his worship of God as formerly?" + +"And that does not displease you either, grandmamma, does it? Come, +now, own it!" + +"Oh, well; as long as it is just a little beneficial upset for him, I +don't mind; but I should not like it to develop into anything +serious--you understand where I draw the line?" + +"No, because I always pity all those who are suffering from such +little upsets--as you call them--even when they are mild, I think they +are calculated to make people suffer greatly." + +"You always see a darker side of things than I do; at all events, I +think that the idea of carrying Paul off is a very excessive and +unwise kind of remedy. He keeps a strict guard over himself, and no +one suspects the true state of things except you--" + +"And all the others!" + +"Do you think so?" + +"I am sure of it." + +"Well, even if it be so, that is of no importance, provided that Bijou +does not suspect it herself. Why do you not answer?" + +"Because I am not of the same opinion as you, grandmamma, and you do +not like that as a rule, particularly when it is a question of Bijou." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Just what I said, nothing else." + +"Then, according to you, Bijou has noticed it from--" + +"From the very first day." + +"And even if that should be so, she cannot help it! Besides, what +danger does she run?" + +"None at all." + +"Paul is honourable." + +"Undoubtedly, and even if he were not, Bijou would have nothing to +fear for several reasons." + +"What are they?" + +"Well, in the first place--her own indifference. Paul makes about as +much impression on her, I believe, as a table." + +"Next?" + +"Next? Why, that's all!" + +"You said 'several reasons,'--you have given me one; let us hear what +the others are." + +"Oh, no!" said Madame de Rueille, "it was just my way of speaking." + +"Nonsense! you are not clever at telling untruths, my dear Bertrade; I +am pretty sure I know what you thought!" + +"I don't think you do." + +"Well, you'll see! You were thinking that one of the reasons why Bijou +will never take any notice of Paul is--" + +"Because he is married." + +"Yes, of course; but you fancy, too, I am sure of it, that Bijou is +thinking of someone else? Ah, you see! you don't answer now! Yes, you +believe, as your husband does--he told me so two or three days +ago--that she is madly in love with young Giraud!" + +"Oh, grandmamma, what an unlikely supposition! In the first place, +Bijou is not, and never will be, madly in love with anyone." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that when she marries, it will be in a reasonable, calm sort +of way, just as she does everything else." + +"But when will it be?" + +"When will it be? Well, I do not know exactly--soon, I think." + +"Then you are saying that just at random? You are speaking of the +future in just a vague sort of way?" + +"The future always is vague, grandmamma," answered Madame de Rueille, +smiling. + + + + +XII. + + +FOR a whole week there was scarcely anything else thought about but +the rehearsals of the little play, which was to be given the day after +the races. + +The La Balues, the Juzencourts, and Madame de Nezel, came to Bracieux +nearly every day, and M. de Clagny also, for he was very much +interested in the rehearsals. He acted as prompter when Giraud, who +had undertaken this post, was occupied, and he appeared to be +delighted whenever he saw Bijou acting. + +"Old Dubuisson" and M. Spiegel had been to dinner several times, and +Denyse, under the pretext of letting him be more with his _fiancee_, +had persuaded the young professor to take a minor role, in which he +was execrable. Perhaps Jeanne had noticed this, as the last few days +she seemed to be low-spirited, and she was not as even-tempered as +usual. Her father was astonished to see her frequently with tears in +her eyes, and for no apparent motive, so that at last he declared +that "she must be sickening for some illness or another." + +The Rueilles had not left Bracieux. Bertrade felt that everyone was +against her, as it were, and had resigned herself to the inevitable; +she had quite given up the plan she had proposed, and was now letting +herself drift along, carried forward by the society whirl in which she +was living. + +Young Bernes arrived one evening to invite the marchioness and her +guests to a paper-chase which was being organised by his regiment. He, +himself, was to be hare, and all kinds of obstacles were being put up; +there had never been so fine a paper-chase run in the forest. + +Bijou at once persuaded her grandmother to allow her to follow on +horseback, M. de Rueille and Jean de Blaye both answering for it that +nothing should happen to her. She was, besides, very prudent, like +most people who are accustomed to riding, and who ride well, and she +always managed to avoid accidents, and not to run useless risks. + +Madame de Bracieux kept Hubert to dinner, and in the evening, as she +watched Denyse talking to him, she said to Bertrade: + +"It's very odd. It seems to me that Bijou is not at all the same now +with that young man. She used to just give him an indifferent sort of +bow, and then leave him alone, and now it seems almost as though she +were 'gone' on him, to use your elegant language. She has quite +changed her attitude towards him," continued the marchioness, puzzled. + +"And he, too, has quite changed his attitude towards her," said Madame +de Rueille. + +"Yes, hasn't he? The first few times he came to Bracieux, I was struck +with his coolness towards our sweet girl, whom everyone adores. He was +just simply polite to her, and that was all." + +"At present, he is not very far gone, but there is considerable +progress; he is preparing to follow in the pathway which has been +beaten out by others." + +"Just lately, when you were talking to me about Bijou getting married, +had you any idea in the background?" asked the marchioness, looking at +Madame de Rueille. + +Bertrade repeated the question without replying to it. + +"An idea in the background?" + +"Yes. Were you, for instance, thinking that Bijou was in love with +this young Bernes?" + +"I told you that same day, grandmamma, that it is my belief Bijou is +not in love, never has been in love, and never will be in love with +anyone." + +"If you had said that, as you say it now, I should most certainly have +protested. It would be impossible, in my opinion, to be more +absolutely and completely mistaken than you are. Never to love +anyone?--Bijou!--when there never was anyone who needed to be loved +and petted as she does." + +"She needs to be loved and petted--yes, I grant that; but she always +requires people to love and pet her, and she does not feel the need of +loving and petting others in her turn." + +"In other words, she is selfish and cold-hearted?" questioned the +marchioness, her voice suddenly taking a harsh tone. "The fact is, +Bertrade, you have a grudge against Bijou, because of the charm there +is about her: you are angry with her, because no one can resist being +fascinated by her, and instead of blaming Paul, who is the real +culprit, you accuse the poor child in this cruel way." + +"I do not accuse Bijou any more than I do Paul, grandmamma: and I +should be all the less likely to accuse them, because I do not think +that we are exactly free agents in such matters; yes, I know that you +will be scandalised at my saying such a thing--I can see that very +well. You think it is blasphemy, don't you? And yet, Heaven knows that +the thoughts which come to me sometimes on this subject make me much +more tolerant and indulgent towards others--" + +M. de Clagny approached the two ladies just at this moment. + +"What are you two plotting in this little corner?" + +"Nothing," said Madame de Bracieux; "we were watching Bijou, who seems +to be taming your young friend Bernes." + +"Taming him? Whatever do you mean by that?" asked the count, turning +round with a disturbed look on his face. + +"Well, I mean just what everyone means when they make that remark! A +week ago, when the young man dined here with us, he was like an +icicle; well, I fancy that the thaw has set in." + +"Oh!" exclaimed M. de Clagny, suddenly looking serene again; "I forgot +that he has a love affair, and is so far gone that he fully intends to +marry this lady-love; and, as you can imagine, his father is not +delighted about it, by any means." And then, in an absent-minded way, +he added, "I feel perfectly easy, as far as he is concerned!" + +"Easy!" exclaimed Madame de Bracieux in astonishment "Why, easy! you +would not like Bijou to marry M. de Bernes, then? Why not?" + +"Well--she is so young," he stammered out, in a confused sort of way. + +"How do you mean, so young? She is quite old enough to marry; she will +be twenty-two in November, Bijou!" + +"Well, then, Hubert is too young for her; he is only a lad!" + +"I should certainly prefer seeing her married to a man rather more +settled down; but, if she should care for him, he is of good family, +and is wealthy, why should she not marry him as well as any other?" + +"Do you really think that Bijou cares for him?" asked M. de Clagny +anxiously. + +"I don't know anything about it at all," answered the marchioness, +laughing; "but anyhow, what can that matter to you? I can understand +that Jean or Henry should be disturbed in their minds--but you?" As he +did not reply, she went on: "It's a case of the dog in the manger: he +does not want the bone himself, but he does not want the others to +have it either. That is just your case, my poor friend, for, I +presume, you have no idea of marrying Bijou yourself?" + +He answered in a joking way, but there was a troubled look on his +face. + +"Oh, as to me, it is an idea that I should like very much; but she +would not; therefore it amounts to the same thing!" + +Bijou came up to them just at that moment, gliding along with her +light step. She was followed by young Bernes, who looked vexed about +something. + +"I cannot, really, mademoiselle," he was saying, "I assure you that I +cannot get away from my friends that day." + +"Oh, yes, you can; mustn't he, grandmamma?" asked Denyse merrily, +"mustn't M. de Bernes come to dinner here on the day of the +paper-chase? He is to be the hare, and the start is to be from the +'Cinq-Tranchees'--it is only a mile from Bracieux at the farthest." + +Madame de Bracieux was examining the young officer with interest, and +there was a kindly look in her eyes. + +"Why, certainly," she said, "he must come here to dinner; we shall all +be so pleased." + +"You are very kind, madame, to invite me, but I was explaining to +Mademoiselle de Courtaix that on that day, after the paper-chase, +which the regiment is getting up for the benefit of the residents, I +have promised faithfully to dine with several of my friends." And +glancing, in spite of himself, at Bijou, he added, "And I regret it +now, more than I can tell you!" + +Turning round on her high heels, Denyse glided off again to the other +end of the long room, where she was greeted by Pierrot with +reproachful words. + +"It was very mean of you to slope away from us like that, you know!" +exclaimed the boy. + +M. de Jonzac, who was playing billiards with the abbe, was also +keeping one ear open to catch what was going on round him. He now +protested against the way in which Pierrot expressed himself, even +supposing that the reproach itself were just. + +"Well, yes," answered his son, "it's quite true that I'm not +over-particular about what words I use, but that doesn't prevent what +I said being true; and the others said it too, just now; I wasn't the +only one." + +"Mademoiselle," said Giraud, who was standing near the large +bay-window, looking out at the sky, "you said yesterday that you liked +shooting stars--I have never seen so many as there are to-night." + +"Really?" replied Denyse, going to the window, and leaning her arms on +the ledge, side by side with the tutor, "are there as many as all +that? What's that to the left?" she asked, bending forward. "I can see +something white on the terrace." + +"It is Mademoiselle Dubuisson, who is strolling about with her father +and M. Spiegel." + +"Ah! supposing we went out to them--shall we?" + +Giraud led the way at once, only too happy to go out for a stroll on +this beautiful starry night. When they were near the terrace, she +stopped suddenly. + +"Perhaps we shall be _de trop_," she said; "they may be talking of +private affairs. Let us go to the chestnut avenue, and they'll come to +us if they want to." + +She descended the marble steps, and they were soon in the dark avenue, +under the thick chestnut trees. The young man had followed her, his +heart beating with excitement, almost beside himself with joy. They +walked along for some little time without speaking, and then at last +Bijou looked up, trying to catch a glimpse of the sky between the +branches of the trees. + +"We shall not see much of the shooting stars here," she said. + +"Oh, yes," answered Giraud, who did not want to leave this shady walk, +where he had Bijou all to himself, "we can see them all the same. +Look, there's one, did you see it?" + +"Not distinctly, and not long enough to be able to wish anything." + +"To wish anything? but what?" + +"Oh! anything. Why! do you mean to say you did not know that when you +see a shooting star you ought to wish something?" + +"No, I did not know. And does your wish get fulfilled?" + +"They say so." + +"Well, then, mademoiselle, have you a wish quite ready this time, so +that you will not be taken unawares?" + +"Yes, certainly, I have one; but it can never be realised." + +"Ah! I dare not ask you what." + +"I should like to be quite different from what I am," she replied, +very gently. "Yes, I should like to be a very pretty girl, in quite +humble circumstances, so that I need not be obliged to go into +society, and so that I could marry just whom I liked. I should like to +be, in fact, happy according to my own idea of things, without +troubling anything about social prejudices and conventionalities." + +"Why should you wish that?" he asked, in a voice that trembled +slightly. + +"So that I should have the right to love anyone who loved me. I mean, +openly; without having to keep it to myself." And then she added, in +a very low voice, "And without reproaching myself for it." + +She was walking quite close to him, so close, that their shoulders +touched at every step. + +Giraud was quite agitated with conflicting emotions. + +"You say that--as if--as if--you did care for someone?" he stammered +out. + +He knew that she had turned her face towards him, but she did not +speak. + +Just at this moment a screech-owl, which was perched quite near them +amongst the thick, dark looking foliage of the trees, gave a sudden, +wailing, cry, which startled Bijou. She knocked against Giraud as she +jumped aside in her fright, and he instinctively put his arms round +her. Her soft, perfumed hair brushed against his lips, making him lose +his head completely. He forgot everything, and, utterly oblivious of +all that separated him from the young girl, he drew her closer to him +in a passionate embrace, and murmured tenderly: + +"Denyse!" + +She let him do as he liked, without offering any resistance, but when, +at last, he set her free, she said, in a tender, plaintive tone: + +"Oh! how wrong it was of you to have done that, how wrong of you!" And +then she hid her face in her hands, and he could hear that she was +crying. + +He tried to console her, but she would not allow him to stay. + +"No, go away, please," she said: "they will be wondering where you +are. I shall come in directly, when I am myself again." + +As he was starting off in the direction of the terrace, she called him +back. + +"Not that way," she said. "Go round by the pool. Don't let them think +you have come from here." + +"Let me stay another minute, just to ask you to forgive me. Let me +kiss those little hands that I love--" + +"Please go! Please go!" she said, in a tone that sounded as though she +mistrusted herself. + +Before turning into the walk that led round by the pool, Giraud +stopped a minute to get another glimpse of Denyse, who, in her light +dress, looked like a white spot against the dark background of the +trees. He could hear that she was still crying. + + * * * * * + +"Is that you, Bijou?" asked Jean de Blaye, coming forward in the thick +darkness. + +"Who is it?" asked the young girl, drawing herself up. + +"It is I--Jean! Why, do you mean to say that you won't even do me the +honour of recognising my voice. What are you doing out here in this +pitch darkness?" + +"I am taking a stroll." + +"All alone?" + +"I came out to join the Dubuissons, but I thought afterwards that it +was better not to disturb them, and so I came here all alone." + +"It must be quite a change for you to be alone, isn't it? And what in +the world do you do when you are all by yourself?" + +"I think." + +"Oh! what a big word!" + +"Well, I dream dreams, if you like that better?" + +"Well I never! That's what I never should have thought you would do. +They are surely not in the least like ordinary dreams--yours?" + +"Because--?" + +"Because dreams are usually incoherent, strange and quite improbable." + +"Well?" + +"Well, your dreams must be admirably sensible and reasonable; they +must resemble you." + +"Thank you." + +"For what?" + +"Well, for the pleasant things you are saying." + +"Oh! they are not exactly pleasant things; they are true, though. +Besides, I have not come here just to say pleasant things to you, but +to talk to you seriously." + +"Seriously?" + +"Yes! I have undertaken a mission for some one else. I have promised +to speak to you to the best of my ability in the name of some one who +did not care to speak for himself." + +"Who is this some one else?" + +"Henry! He begged me to ask you whether you would authorise him to ask +grandmamma for your hand?" + +"My hand! Henry?" she exclaimed, and her accent expressed her +bewilderment. + +"Is that so very astonishing?" + +"Why, yes!--it is as though he were my brother--Henry!" + +"Well, but he is not your brother, nevertheless; therefore do not let +us trouble about him as a brother, but as a lover. What is your +answer?" + +"My answer! why does Henry apply to me first? Instead of asking my +permission to speak to grandmamma, he ought to have asked grandmamma's +permission to speak to me." + +"There; didn't I say that you were a most excellent little person, +always knowing the correct thing, and all the rest of it!" + +"Is it wrong of me to be like that?" + +"Oh, no! it is not wrong--on the contrary! only it is a trifle +embarrassing. Tell me, now that I have made this mistake in speaking +to you first, will you give me an answer? or must I set to work to put +matters right again, by applying now to grandmamma, who in her turn +will apply to you, etc., etc." + +"No, I will give you my answer." + +"Well, then, let me finish my rigmarole. Count Henry de Bracieux was +born on the 22nd of January, 1870. His entire fortune, until after the +death of his grandmother, consists of twenty-four thousand pounds, +which amount brings in--" + +"Oh! you needn't trouble to tell me about money matters; in the first +place, they don't interest me, and then, as I do not wish to marry +Henry, it is useless to tell me all that!" + +"Ah! you do not wish to marry him! Why?" + +"For several reasons, the best of which is that I know him too well." + +"It certainly is not very flattering, this reason of yours!" + +"I mean what I said just now, that, living with Henry as I have done +for the last four years, I consider him as a brother." + +"Then that applies to me, too; do you look upon me, too, as a +brother?" asked Jean de Blaye, trying to speak in an indifferent tone. + +"You, oh, no! not at all; you are thirty-five at least!" + +"No, thirty-three." + +"Only that?--ah, well, it's all the same! you don't seem to me like a +brother!" + +She was silent a moment, thinking, whilst he stood waiting, with a +sort of vague hope. + +"You seem to me more like an uncle," she said at last. + +"Oh!" remarked Jean, with an accent that betrayed his vexation, "that +is very nice." + +"You are annoyed with me for saying that?" she asked, in her pretty, +coaxing way. + +"Oh, not at all! I am delighted, on the contrary; it is very +satisfactory, for, with you, one knows exactly what to count on; and +then, if one has any delusions, well, they don't have to hang fire." + +"You had delusions--what were they?" + +"No, I hadn't one of any kind." + +"Oh, yes, I can tell by your voice; you speak in a sharp, bitter, +irritated way. Tell me why you are so bad-tempered all in a minute?" +she asked, in a coaxing tone, leaning against him, and looking up into +his face. + +He stepped back from her as he answered: + +"When one is not very good to start with, and one has trouble, it +makes one go to the bad; it is inevitable!" + +"And you have trouble?" + +"Yes." + +"Is it very bad?" + +"Well, quite bad enough, thank you!" + +"Poor Jean; things don't go as you want them to, then?" + +"What do you mean? What are you talking about?" + +"Why, about--oh, you know very well! I told you the other evening!" + +"That again!" he said, getting more and more worked up; "how foolish +you are!" + +"What, do you mean that you do not care for Madame de Nezel?" +exclaimed Bijou. + +"Madame de Nezel is a charming woman," he stammered out, in an +embarrassed way. "She is an excellent friend whom I like very much, +very much indeed, but not in the way you imagine." + +"Ah! so much the worse for you; she is a widow, and she is rich; she +would just have suited you. Well, then, you like someone else?" + +"Yes." + +"Someone you cannot marry?" + +"Exactly." + +"Why? isn't she rich enough?" + +"Oh, no, it is not that; if she had not a farthing it would be all the +same to me; it is the other way round, I am not rich enough for her, +and then--she would not have me." + +"You do not know; you ought to tell her that you love her." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Why, of course--try that, at any rate." + +"Very well, then, Bijou, I love you with all my heart--but I know that +there is no hope, and, unfortunate wretch that I am, I dare not even +ask for any." + +"You love _me_!" she exclaimed, in deep distress, and then, stopping +short, she repeated: "_you_--Jean?" + +"Yes, and what about you? you detest me, do you not?" + +"Oh, Jean, how can you say such things? You know very well that I love +you, though not in the way you want me to, or as I should like to be +able to, but very much, all the same; indeed I do." + +She put her hand on his shoulder, obliging him to stand still, and +then passed her hand over his eyes. + +"Oh, Jean," she exclaimed, in great grief, "tears, and all because of +me! Oh, please, don't--no, indeed you must not; do you hear me, Jean?" + +He took the little hand, which was stroking his face, and kissed it +passionately. Then putting Bijou, who was clinging to him, gently +aside, he left her abruptly, and strode off alone. + + + + +XIII. + + +"THEN, you really mean that you are going?" asked Bijou sorrowfully, +as Jeanne Dubuisson folded her dresses into the tray of a long basket +trunk. + +"Yes," answered the young girl, absorbed in what she was doing, and +without even looking up. "I have been here a long time; it would be +taking advantage to stay longer, you know." + +"You know very well that it would be nothing of the kind; and it was +almost settled that you were to stay until Monday, and then, all at +once, you changed your mind. What is the matter?" + +"Why, nothing at all. What do you imagine could be the matter?" + +"If I knew, I should not ask you. Come, now! what can it be? you don't +seem to find things too dull?" + +"Oh, Bijou, however could I find things dull?" + +"Oh, well, you might; and yet, you see your _fiance_ almost as much as +when you were at Pont-sur-Loire." + +"Oh, no--" + +"Oh, yes; let us reckon, shall we? M. Spiegel went to Paris for +Saturday, Sunday, and Monday; Tuesday he came here to dinner with M. +Dubuisson; Wednesday he came alone; Thursday he managed to swallow the +confirmation luncheon, poor man; Friday he was here to dinner; and +every day we have been rehearsing our play either before or after +dinner, so that he has never been away from you." + +"Yes, that's true," answered Jeanne reluctantly; "but if he has not +been away from me, he has scarcely troubled about me at all." + +"How do you mean?" + +"How? Oh! it is simple enough! He has only troubled about you; he has +talked to no one but you." + +"To me?" + +"Yes, to you--there! I may as well own it, Bijou; I am +jealous--frightfully jealous." + +"Jealous of whom? Of me?" asked Denyse, with a startled look. + +Mademoiselle Dubuisson nodded, and then she proceeded to explain, +whilst the tears rose to her eyes: + +"You must forgive me for telling you this. I can see that I am causing +you pain, but it is better, is it not, to tell the truth, than to let +you suspect all kinds of wrong reasons? You are not angry with me?" + +"No; not at all!" And then Bijou added sorrowfully: "It is you who +ought rather to be angry with me. But you are mistaken, I assure you! +M. Spiegel, who is very polite, has taken notice of me simply because +I am the grandchild of his hostess, and not for any other reason." + +"He has taken notice of you for the same reason which makes everyone +take notice of you--just because you are adorable, and you know that +very well!" + +"Oh, no! I--" + +"It was quite certain that he would be fascinated by you, just as all +the others are, and I was very silly not to have foreseen what would +happen. I counted too much on his affection--I thought that he loved +me just as I love him--I was mistaken, that's all!" + +"Then I shall not see anything more of you? You will avoid all +opportunities of meeting me?" + +"No; we shall spend the whole of the day together at the paper-chase." + +"As you will be driving, and I shall be riding, I shall not be much in +your way." + +Bijou was silent for a minute, and then she began again in an anxious +tone: + +"You don't think, at any rate, that it is my fault--what has +happened?" + +"No," answered Jeanne; "I don't think anything, except that you are a +charming girl, and I am merely common-place. Bijou, dear, don't make +yourself wretched about it, please!" + +"I should be so unhappy if I were not to see anything more of you!" + +"But you will see me! The day after to-morrow I am coming back to +Bracieux for your play. I must, you know, considering that we are both +acting, M. Spiegel and I." + +"Why do you say, 'M. Spiegel'? Why do you not say Franz like you +always do? Are you angry with him?" + +"On Saturday," continued Jeanne, without answering Bijou's question, +"we shall see each other at the races, and then again at the +Tourvilles' dance; you see we shall scarcely be separated at all." + +"All the same it won't be as though you were staying here," answered +Bijou, with a sorrowful look, "and, then, too, I know very well that +you are going away feeling different towards me." + +Just at this moment the maid entered the room. + +"Madame wishes to speak to mademoiselle in the drawing-room." + +"In the drawing-room at this time of day!" exclaimed Bijou, in +surprise. + +"M. de Clagny is there." + +"Oh! very well! Say that I am coming at once." + +"Will you go down with me?" asked Bijou, turning to Mademoiselle +Dubuisson. + +"No, I want to finish packing my trunk, as it is to be sent to +Pont-sur-Loire after luncheon." + + * * * * * + +A quarter of an hour later, Bijou returned in great glee. + +"Ah! you don't know something. We are going to spend the evening +together to-day!" + +"Where?" + +"Guess!" + +"Oh! I don't know. At the theatre?" + +"Right! How did you guess that?" + +"Because you said over and over again before M. de Clagny how much you +wanted to go to that performance organised by the _Dames de France_. I +suppose he has offered you a box?" + +"Two boxes! yes, just imagine it; two beautiful big boxes, each one +for six persons! And so we have at once arranged with your father +that you are to come--M. Spiegel as well, of course--I forgot to tell +you that they are there--your father and M. Spiegel. M. de Clagny +brought them with him." + +"But three of us will be too many for you," began Jeanne. + +"When I have just told you that there are twelve places! Come, +now--Grandmamma and I, that makes two, and you three, that makes five; +there are seven places over, and no one wants to come." + +"The Rueilles?" + +"Paul, but not Bertrade; that makes six. Neither Jean nor Henry are +coming, nor Uncle Alexis either, and Pierrot has got into a scrape. +Then there is M. de Clagny, and I thought of offering a place to M. +Giraud, so that makes us eight altogether." + +Mademoiselle Dubuisson did not speak, and Bijou went on: + +"You do not care about spending this evening with us, or, rather, with +me, and so you are trying to find a pretext?" + +"Oh, no, I am not trying to find anything: besides, since it is all +arranged with papa--" + +"Yes, it is quite settled. I had invited M. de Bernes, too; but he +makes out that he cannot come, because he is going with his friends." + +"Where did you see M. de Bernes?" + +"In the drawing-room just a minute ago. Ah, of course you did not +know. He has come to bring the invitation for M. Giraud. Jean wrote to +him for it, because M. Giraud wanted to go to the paper-chase, and as +there are refreshments offered by the officers to their guests, +grandmamma is so scrupulous that she would not take him without an +invitation." + +"Then M. de Bernes is staying to luncheon, too?" + +"No, he has gone again; he is the hare, you know, and the +meeting-place is at the cross-roads at three o'clock; it is quite near +for us, but for those who come from Pont-sur-Loire, it's a good step." + +"What time do we start?" + +"At half-past two the carriages, and a quarter past two those who are +riding--Do you know--I feel inclined to dress before luncheon, so that +I should not have to think any more about it." + +"You have half an hour." + +"Well, you are ready. Come with me while I dress, will you?" + +Jeanne followed Bijou in a docile way, as the latter hurried along +the corridors, singing as she went. + +"You are always gay," remarked Jeanne, "but this morning it seems to +me that you are particularly joyful. What is it that makes you so?" + +"Why, nothing! I am delighted about the paper-chase, and the theatre; +then, too, it is beautiful weather, the sky is so blue, the flowers so +fresh and beautiful, it seems to me delicious to be alive--but that's +all!" + +"Oh, well, that's something at any rate." + +"Sit down," said Bijou, pushing Mademoiselle Dubuisson into a cosy +arm-chair. + +Jeanne sat down, and looked round at the pretty room. The walls were +hung with pale pink cretonne, with a design of large white poppies. +The ceiling, too, was pink, and the Louis Seize furniture was +lacquered pink. There were flowers everywhere, in strange-shaped glass +vases, and the air was laden with a delicious, penetrating perfume, a +mixture of chypre, iris, and a scent like new-mown hay. + +Jeanne inhaled this perfume with delight. + +"What do you put in your room to make it smell like this?" she asked. + +"Does it smell of something? I do not smell anything--anyhow, I don't +use scent for it," answered Bijou, sniffing the air around her with +all her might. + +"Oh! why, that's incredible!" exclaimed Jeanne astounded. "But do you +mean truly that you do not put anything at all to scent your room?" + +"Absolutely nothing." + +Denyse was moving about, getting everything she required before +changing her dress. She was not long in putting on her habit, and as +she stood before the long glass, putting a few finishing touches to +her toilette, Jeanne could not help admiring her. + +"How well it fits you!" she said. "It looks as though it had been +moulded on you--it really is perfection! And then, too, you have such +a pretty figure!" + +Denyse was just putting a pearl pin into her white cravat. The point +broke with a little sharp click. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Jeanne, "what a pity!" + +"It doesn't matter," answered Bijou, "for it was not up to much. If I +win my bet with M. de Bernes, I will let him give me a strong pin," +and then, with a laugh, she added: "and not an expensive one, so that +it will not seem like a present." + +"You have made a bet with M. de Bernes?" + +"Yes." + +"And you have to choose your present?" + +"Yes. Is there any harm in it?" + +"Harm? No! but it is odd." + +"Well! you are like grandmamma. She was scandalised, grandmamma was." + +"Well, it is odd, you know! And what have you been betting--you and M. +de Bernes?" + +"I, that there would be, at least, one accident at the paper-chase; +and he, that there would not be one at all." + +"Well, but that's very possible." + +"Oh, no! it is not very possible! There always are accidents; it would +be the first paper-chase without one. Take notice that it is merely a +question of a fall--just a simple fall--the person falls down, and is +picked up again. I do not predict that anyone will be killed, you +understand?" + +"Well, don't you go and have a fall, at any rate." + +"Oh, as to me!" said Bijou, her eyes shining with merriment, "there is +no danger. Patatras has never been stronger on his legs. Pass me the +scissors, will you, please, they are just by the side of you?" + +Jeanne watched her admiringly as she stood in front of the long +glass. + +"There is not a single crease anywhere in your habit, and what a +pretty figure you have, really, Bijou." + + * * * * * + +When, at a quarter past two, punctual, as usual, Bijou appeared on the +stone steps in front of the half-door, she found Henry de Bracieux +there, Jean de Blaye, and Pierrot. M. de Rueille had not yet come +downstairs. + +The horses, which had been waiting a few minutes, were somewhat +restless, as the flies were worrying them. Patatras alone was +perfectly calm, nibbling at the hazel tree, and looking peaceably at +what was going on around him. + +Presently Bertrade opened a window, and called out: + +"Don't wait for Paul. He is only just beginning to dress. He will +catch you up." + +"Would you like to start, Bijou?" proposed Jean. + +"I feel almost inclined to let you start without me," she answered, in +an undecided way. "Your three horses are jumping about like mad +things; they will excite Patatras, who is quite peaceful now. Start +on, at any rate--I will join you out there. Nothing annoys me more +than to ride a horse that is pulling so that you can hardly hold him +in, and that is what I should have to put up with, for certain, if I +start with you." + +"Then you are going to wait for Paul?" asked Henry, looking +bad-tempered. + +Bijou pointed to the carriages, which were just coming out of the +stable-yard. + +"No, I am going to escort grandmamma." + +"Well, that is just what will rouse your horse up," said Jean de +Blaye. + +"Oh, no! Don't you think I know my horse? Anyhow, all I ask you is to +start off, and not to trouble yourselves about me." + +"You are charming, really," observed Pierrot, moving towards his pony, +and then turning towards the others, he added majestically, although, +in a vexed tone: "Let us leave her, then, as she does not want to go +with us." + +"I think that's the only choice left us in the matter," answered Jean, +half vexed and half laughing, as he mounted his horse. + +Just as they were all three disappearing round the bend of the drive, +M. de Clagny came out of the hall. He was looking to see whether his +mail-coach had been put in, and was astonished to find Bijou there. + +"How nice you look in that red habit," he said, in his admiration. +"Generally, red makes anyone look pale, but you--why, it makes you +look rosier than ever, if that is possible." + +When he heard that she was going to accompany the carriages as far as +the meeting-place he was perfectly happy. + +The marchioness soon arrived, followed by all the others. She got into +the landau with the Dubuissons and M. Spiegel, whilst M. de Clagny +took on his coach Madame de Rueille, the children, Abbe Courteil, M. +de Jonzac, and M. Giraud. The latter was hypnotised to such a degree +by Bijou, who was waiting, ready mounted, for the others to start, +that he almost fell off the coach instead of sitting down. + +The sun was shining brilliantly when they at last set out on their +journey. M. de Clagny was much more taken up with Bijou than with the +four horses he was driving. He watched her trotting in front of him, +near to the carriage in which the marchioness was driving. + +It was the first time he had seen her on horseback, and she seemed to +him incomparably pretty and elegant. Whilst he was thus watching her +with singular attention, Madame de Bracieux called out to her from the +landau: + +"What a horribly hot day it is, Bijou dear. I don't like to see you in +this blazing sunshine!" + +Denyse turned round with a very rosy face. + +"Nor do I either, grandmamma, I don't like to see myself in it at +all!" She was silent a moment and then she continued: "When we come +across Jean, Henry, and Pierrot, I shall desert you." + +"Do you think we shall come across them?" + +"Oh, yes, certainly! They are going along through the wood, almost the +same road that we are taking with the carriages. They are only some +twelve or fifteen yards away from us; I heard them a little while ago. +As soon as I see them I shall leave you!" + +M. de Clagny called to Bijou in order to warn her about a hundred +things to avoid. In the coppice she was to beware of the branches; +that very morning he had been almost taken out of his saddle when +galloping in the wood. She was to take care, too, of the burrows--the +wood was full of them; and then she was not to jump all in a heap, as +it were; she must never do that, but always remember to lean forward +or hold back. + +She listened to all this advice smilingly, and with a certain +affectionate deference. + +"How good you are, Bijou!" he finished up with at last. "How is it you +do not tell your old friend who worries you so to go about his +business?" + +Just at this moment a horseman crossed the road about two hundred +yards in front of the carriages, and entered the forest. + +"Ah!" said the count, "there's Bernes throwing his paper! he's gone in +for the right way of doing things, that is, to go along the whole +route first in the opposite direction, dropping the paper, then +afterwards one has only to fly along, without troubling about +anything." + +"What time is it?" asked Bijou. + +"Twenty minutes to three," answered Bertrade, looking at her watch. +"We shall get to the meet much too soon." + +M. de Clagny let his horses walk, and Bijou caught up with the landau +again, and began talking to Jeanne. Suddenly she bent her head as +though listening to something. + +"Ah, there they are!" she exclaimed. "I can hear them!" + +"Whom do you hear?" asked the marchioness. + +"Why, the others; they are there, and I am going to them. Good-bye, +grandmamma." She crossed the ditch at the side of the road, and then +pulled up, and, throwing a kiss to Jeanne, called out: "Good-bye to +you, too." + +But the landau was some distance on, and the coach was just passing. +Giraud, seated at the back with the children, was the only one who +was looking in Bijou's direction, and it was he who received the +farewell kiss she threw to her friend. + +"Are you sure to find them?" asked the count, turning round on the +box-seat. + +"Why, they are only a few steps away," she answered, pointing to the +wood. "I have just seen Henry." + +Whereupon she disappeared in the thicket, and M. de Clagny looked +after her, with an anxious expression on his face. + +As soon as she had found a path, Bijou set off at a gallop, going +straight ahead, listening eagerly, and looking out as far as she could +see in front of her through the gloom of the wood. + +Quite suddenly she turned abruptly aside, and rode some little +distance into the brushwood, where she remained without moving, and +doing all she could to prevent Patatras from making the dead branches +crackle under his feet. + +Along the path which she had just left came Henry de Bracieux, Jean de +Blaye, and Pierrot. + +When they were almost level with the spot where Denyse was hiding, +they pulled up to wait for a horse that they heard galloping quite +near them. + +"Whatever have you been doing?" asked Henry, as M. de Rueille appeared +in sight. "It is quite ten minutes ago since we saw you at the bottom +of the Belles-Feuilles road." + +"Where is Bijou?" asked M. de Rueille anxiously, without replying to +Henry's question. + +"She left us in the lurch, and started with the carriages," answered +Pierrot contemptuously. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Rueille, in a disappointed tone. And then, turning to +his brother-in-law, he continued: "What have I been doing? well, I +stopped a minute or two to speak to Bernes, who was with his +lady-love; she had come in a cab to a quiet spot, where no one would +think of meeting her, just for the sake of seeing Bernes for two or +three minutes; they cannot go a day without seeing each other. She's a +very pretty girl." + +"Yes," said Jean de Blaye, "and a sweet little thing too; and she's +been well brought up." + +"I had never seen her so near before." + +"Now that your horse has had a rest, Paul, we had better get on our +way, or we shall miss the start." + +"Yes," answered M. de Rueille, setting off again; "but we have plenty +of time. Bernes is behind me, you know." + +As soon as they had gone on some distance, Bijou came out of the +brushwood again. Her complexion was wonderfully brilliant, and eyes +shone with the deep blue flame which sometimes made their usually +gentle expression disconcerting. + + * * * * * + +Hubert de Bernes stayed a few minutes, after M. de Rueille had left +him, talking to Lisette Renaud. + +"Well, then, it is settled?" asked the pretty actress. "In spite of +the dinner, you will come early to the theatre?" + +"Yes." + +"You will stay in my _loge_?" + +"No! I must appear in the theatre." + +"But you have a horror of _La Vivandiere_,--which I can quite +understand--and yet you are going to see it again?" + +When Bijou had invited Bernes to come into Madame de Bracieux's box, +he had refused, knowing that it would grieve Lisette to see him there. + +Mademoiselle de Courtaix was very well known in Pont-sur-Loire, and +was greatly admired by society women and those who were not society +women. Her costumes were imitated, and her wonderful beauty envied, +for it was said that she was quite irresistible. The young lieutenant +was perfectly aware that he, too, had been fascinated by her charms +the last few days. His affection for Lisette had hitherto rendered him +proof against all such fascination. He was passionately fond of the +faithful and devoted young actress, who, for the last two years, had +loved him so truly, and who would never accept from him any presents +but flowers or trifling souvenirs, which were of no pecuniary value. + +Lisette earned some thirty pounds a month at the Pont-sur-Loire +theatre, and she had declared that she would not receive from him any +presents whatever of any value. He had not dared to insist, as he had +feared to wound her feelings, or to cause an estrangement between +them. She was very beautiful, but he loved her more for her qualities +of mind and heart than for her beauty. + +Since he had begun to pay attention to Bijou, whom, until now, he had +scarcely ever noticed, he had felt greatly disturbed. It was all in +vain that he had said to himself, over and over again, that Lisette, +with her large expressive eyes, her delicate complexion, her +dazzlingly white teeth, and her beautiful, elegant figure, was far +prettier than Mademoiselle de Courtaix. In spite of all this, Bijou's +violet eyes, her curly hair, and tempting lips, haunted him. + +Lisette, although she had no idea that her happiness was in danger, +felt a sort of uneasiness take possession of her, and a vague sadness +come over her. She could not understand why Bernes should answer her +question in such a harsh way. + +"I shall have to see _La Vivandiere_ again because, in order to refuse +a seat that was offered me in a box, I was obliged to say that I had +promised to go with some of my brother-officers to the theatre." + +"Who was it who offered you a place?" + +"An old lady whom you do not know--Madame de Bracieux--you are much +wiser now, are you not?" + +"Madame de Bracieux," she said, feeling sad, without knowing exactly +why she should feel so. "She is the grandmother of Mademoiselle de +Courtaix." + +"How did you know that?" he asked, in surprise. + +"Why, just as everyone else knows it in Pont-sur-Loire." + +"In the meantime," he said, in an irritated tone, "I shall miss the +meet if I don't look out." + +"Don't stay," said Lisette regretfully, "enjoy yourself--and I shall +see you this evening?" + +"Yes--this evening." Just as he was entering the wood, he turned +round in his saddle, and called out: "Above all, take care that they +do not see you; don't go where the carriages are." + +And then, taking the path along which Bijou had gone, some little time +before, he put his horse to a sharp gallop, in order to make up for +lost time. Suddenly he stopped short, trying to distinguish something +which he saw some distance ahead of him. + +"Well!" he said to himself, "if it isn't a horse without its +rider!--some fine gentleman has got himself landed already." As he +drew nearer, he saw that the horse had a lady's saddle, and he uttered +a cry as he perceived Bijou lying on her back on the grass to the +right of the path. One of her arms was stretched out crosswise, and +the other was down at her side, her eyes were closed, and her lips +parted. + +Bernes sprang to the ground, fastened his horse up, and then taking +Denyse in his arms, tried to prop her up against a tree. When, +however, the girl's head fell languidly on his shoulder, he drew her +to him, and, bending over her, kissed her soft curly hair over and +over again. + +"Bijou, dear Bijou!" he murmured, in spite of himself; "listen to me, +will you? answer me--speak to me--I am so wretched seeing you like +this." + +At the end of two or three minutes Denyse gave a very gentle sigh, and +opened her eyes slowly. + +At the sight of Bernes her grave face lighted up with a smile. + +"Ah!" she murmured, "wasn't it stupid, that fall?" + +"How did you manage it?" he asked. + +"I don't know. I fancy my horse put his foot in a hole." + +"And you went up in the air?" + +"That was it," she answered, laughing. + +"Are you hurt?" + +"Not the least bit in the world!" And then she added pensively: "It's +very nice of you to trouble about me, and all the more so as you do +not like me, I know." + +Hubert de Bernes turned as red as a tomato. + +"Oh, mademoiselle, how can you think--" + +"I do think so--" + +"Well, but," he began, in an anxious voice, "tell me at least whatever +makes you imagine such a thing?" + +"Oh, everything and nothing; it would take too long to explain. Well, +this morning, for instance, when I asked you to go with us to the +theatre, you looked quite annoyed, and you refused; oh, yes--out and +out. Well, why did you refuse?" + +"But, mademoiselle, I--I assure you--" + +"There you see, you cannot find a word to say, not even the most +common-place excuse." + +Shaking her head so that her hair came down and fell over the young +man's shoulder and against his face, she went on talking, laughing all +the time, and still leaning against him for support. + +"I don't mind, though, at all, for whether you want to or not now, you +will have to come with us to the theatre; you cannot refuse." + +"But--" + +"Oh, there is no but about it. I will have that now for the payment of +our bet." + +"Our bet?" + +"Well, did we not make a bet? I, that there would be an accident, +because there always are accidents, you know; and you, that there +would not be one at all." + +"Yes, but--" + +"Well, it seems to me that this is one. Don't you consider it +enough--my accident? Well, I wonder what more you want?" + +"Yes, it's true," he managed to stammer out. "What an idiot I am! the +fact is, I was so frightened--if you only knew." + +She looked up at him with a sweet expression in her beautiful eyes, +and he was fascinated by her sweetness. + +"Thank you again," she said, holding out her little hand to him; +"thank you for looking after me; and now you had better go on +quickly." + +"But can you mount again?" + +"Not just yet--I feel a sort of stiffness, and a tired feeling all +over. No, will you go on and tell M. de Clagny to come with his +carriage and fetch me; don't say anything about it to the others; I +don't want grandmamma to know." + +As Hubert de Bernes was holding her hand pressed against his lips, +Bijou went on impatiently: + +"Go now, quickly! ask M. de Clagny to leave his carriage on the road, +and explain to him that he will find me in the wood near the road, +just where I left him a little while ago. And will you fasten Patatras +to a tree before you go away? Thank you!" She looked at him again with +her sweetest expression, and asked once more: "It's settled, then, for +this evening, isn't it?" + +"Yes, it's quite settled," he answered. + +As soon as he was out of sight, she lay down again in exactly the same +position in which Bernes had found her. + +A little later the sound of carriage-wheels was heard along the road, +and M. de Clagny, getting down from his coach, entered the wood. At +the sight of Bijou, he uttered a cry of horror, and, rushing to her, +took her in his arms in his anxiety and anguish. + +"Bijou, my love! my darling! dear little Bijou!" And then, like +Bernes, he added: "listen to me, Bijou dear; answer me; please speak +to me!" + +He kissed her soft hair, and drew her closer and closer to him, until +at last she opened her eyes, and looked up at him with her pretty, +innocent expression; and then, as though she were going to sleep +again, she murmured, as she laid her head confidingly against him: + +"Ah, you are so nice to me; and I am so happy like this! I should like +to stay here always!" + + + + +XIV. + + +"COME in!" called out Bijou. + +She was standing in front of the glass, brushing her hair leisurely. +The more she brushed, the more her hair curled, and scented the +atmosphere at the same time with a delicate perfume. + +"The Count de Clagny has come, mademoiselle, to ask how you are?" said +the maid. + +"How I am?" + +"After the accident yesterday." + +"Ah, yes! I had forgotten it!" And, going to the window, she asked: +"Is he driving?" + +"No, mademoiselle, he came on horseback; but he is in the +drawing-room." + +"Oh, very well, I will go down!" + +As soon as the domestic had gone, Bijou slipped on another _peignoir_ +quickly. She then put on some pink kid slippers without heels, which +made her little feet look delightfully droll, and with her hair +hanging loosely down over the frilled collar of her long, loose dress, +she ran downstairs to M. de Clagny. + +On seeing her enter the room, the count rose quickly. His face looked +drawn and tired, and there was a sad expression in his eyes. + +"How good of you to have put yourself about to come so early on my +account!" said Bijou, holding out both her hands to him. He pressed +them to his lips whilst she went on: "Why, it is scarcely eight +o'clock! you must have started from La Noriniere awfully early!" + +"Don't let us trouble about me; but tell me how you are?" + +"Why, I am perfectly well, thank you! You saw yesterday that I +followed the paper-chase just as though I had not had any fall +beforehand; and then, in the evening at the theatre, I did not look +ill, did I?" + +"No, not exactly ill; but at the theatre it seemed to me that you were +a little excitable and nervous." And then he added sadly: "I did not +see much of you though, either; you scarcely troubled about anyone but +Hubert de Bernes, and you quite forsook your poor old friend." + +She got up and went to him. + +"Oh! how can you imagine--" she began, in a coaxing way, but he +interrupted her. + +"I did not imagine, alas! I saw for myself; and I am not reproaching +you, my dear little girl--young people of course prefer young people, +it is quite natural!" + +"Oh, no!" said Bijou, with evident sincerity; "not at all--I am not so +fond as all that of young people generally; and, above all, I cannot +endure young men about the age of M. de Bernes." + +"Yes, I remember that you told me that once before; you said so the +first time I saw you; it was here in this room, when we were waiting +together for the arrival of your guests to dinner." + +Denyse laughed. + +"Well, what a memory you have!" + +"Always, when it is a question of you." And then, in a voice which +trembled slightly, he asked: "Do you remember something you said to me +yesterday?" + +"Yesterday?" + +"Yes, yesterday, when I was holding you in my arms, and you were +nestling against me like a little trembling bird!" + +Bijou appeared to be trying to remember what it was. She opened her +large eyes wide, and they looked just then like pale violets. + +"No, I don't know what it was; I don't remember! I was a little upset +after my accident, you know!" And then, as M. de Clagny remained +silent, she asked: "Tell me, what could I have said that was so +interesting?" + +He repeated her words slowly, watching Bijou all the time attentively, +as she listened with an amused air, her pretty lips parted. + +"You said, 'I am so happy like this; I should like to stay here +always.'" + +"I don't remember saying that; but, anyhow, I was quite right, because +it was perfectly true, you know!" + +He drew Bijou to him, and asked: + +"Truly, would it not alarm you to see me always near you like that?" + +"Why, no, it would not alarm me! Oh, no, not at all!" + +"Really and truly?" + +"Really and truly! but why do you ask me that?" + +"Oh, for no reason at all. Do you know whether Madame de Bracieux is +up yet?" + +"She does not get up before half-past eight or nine o'clock, +especially when she is up late like last night; it was nearly two +o'clock when we came in!" + +"And you are just as fresh-looking and as pretty as though you had +slept all night. Really, though, I should very much like to see Madame +de Bracieux." + +"You want to speak to her yourself, or is it any message I can take to +her from you?" + +"No; I want to speak to her myself." + +"Well, you know she will probably keep you waiting 'a spell,' as they +say in this part of the world." + +"Well, I will wait." + +Bijou looked at M. de Clagny in surprise. He was pacing up and down +the long room. + +"What's the matter?" she asked at last, in her curiosity, "for there +certainly is something the matter!" + +"Oh, no!" + +"Oh, yes! You keep marching backwards and forwards. That reminds +me--one day I saw Paul de Rueille pacing about like that." + +"I saw him, too; it was the night of the La Balue, Juzencourt & Co.'s +dinner, whilst you were singing." + +"No, oh, no! It was one day when he had some ridiculous duel, and he +did not know whether it would be better to tell Bertrade, or not to +tell her." + +"And what did he do?" + +"I fancy he did not tell her anything about it." + +"Oh, well, he had more pluck than I have." + +"Have you a duel on?" Bijou asked impetuously. + +"A duel if you like to call it that; and a ridiculous one most +certainly--a fight with impossibilities. You cannot understand that, +my dear little Bijou." + +"And you think that grandmamma will understand it better than I +could?" + +"I do not know! Anyhow, she will listen to me, and she will pity me." + +"But I, too,--I would listen, and I would pity you." + +"I should not like to be pitied by you!" he said, and the expression +of his face betrayed deep suffering. + +"You do not care for me, then?" she asked. + +M. de Clagny made a movement forward, then stopping himself, he said, +with a calmness that contrasted strangely with the troubled look in +his eyes and his hoarse voice: + +"Oh, yes; I do care for you. I care for you very much, indeed." And +then picking up his hat, which he had put down on one of the tables, +he moved quickly towards the door, which led on to the terrace. "I +will wait in the park," he said, "until the marchioness can see me." + +When he saw, however, that Bijou had left the drawing-room, he +returned, and sank down on a chair, looking suddenly much older from +the effect of some mental anxiety which was weighing on him. + +The marchioness did not keep him waiting long. She entered the room, +with a smile on her face. + +"Well, you _are_ an early visitor!" she began; but on seeing the +worried look on her old friend's face, she asked anxiously: "Why, what +is it? Whatever has happened?" + +"A great misfortune." + +"Tell me?" + +"It is precisely for that I have come so early. You will remember that +when I came here for the first time, a fortnight ago, I was admiring +Bijou, and you reminded me of the fact that she was your +grand-daughter, and might very well be mine?" + +"Yes." + +"I answered that I knew that perfectly well, but that all that was +mere reasoning, and that when the heart remains young it does not +listen to reason." + +"I remember perfectly well! What then?" + +"What then? Well, at present, I love Bijou! I love her with all my +heart!" + +"Absurd!" exclaimed the old lady, lifting her hands in amazement. + +"You are certainly consoling!" + +"Well, but--my poor, old friend, what do you want me to say? You do +not expect to marry Bijou, do you?" + +His eyes were moist, and his voice choked as he replied: + +"No; I do not expect to! And yet, I beg you to tell your +grand-daughter what I have just confessed to you. I am fifty-nine. I +have twenty-four thousand pounds a year. I am neither a bad lot, nor +am I utterly repulsive-looking, and I love her as no other man can +love her." + +"But only think that you are--" + +"Thirty-eight years older than she is; it is for me that this +difference of age is more to be feared. Yes, I know that, and I am +willing to accept all the risks of such a disproportion." + +"And she?" + +"She? Well, let her decide for or against me. She is twenty-one; she +is no longer a child, and she knows what she is about." + +"Yes; but that does not prevent me from having a certain amount of +responsibility, and--" + +"Ah, you see; you are afraid that she may consent!" + +"Afraid? oh, dear, no! I am quite convinced that such an ideal little +creature has, about the man she dreams of for her husband, a vision of +someone quite different from you." + +"And, supposing, by chance--I do not expect this at all--but, +supposing you were mistaken, what should you do?" + +"What do you want me to do?" + +"Nothing at all. And it is just this--I am afraid that you would use +your influence with Bijou." + +"No; I shall just tell her what I think; I ought to, under the +circumstances--but nothing more." + +"Then you _are_ going to speak to her?" + +"Yes." + +"May I come again a little later?" + +"Oh, no! give me until to-morrow. I shall not speak to her, probably, +before this evening; but that need not prevent your coming to dinner +if you feel inclined to. It was for the--for the answer that I was +putting you off until to-morrow." + +"If she should refuse, I shall go away." + +"Where?" + +"Oh, how can I care where?--my life will be over. I shall go and +finish my days in some out-of-the-way spot." + +"You talked like that some twelve years ago; and here you are +to-day--I cannot say younger than then." The marchioness stopped +short, and then continued, with a smile: "Why should I not say it, +though? You really do seem younger to me now than you did in those +days; you are perfectly astonishing, my dear friend, anyone would +think you were about forty-five." + +"If only it were true what you say!" + +"It is, I assure you! but you know that does not alter the fact that +you are fifty-nine." + +M. de Clagny rose to take his leave. + +"Farewell!" he said, "until to-morrow." And then, with a pathetic +little smile, he added: "Or until this evening. Yes,--towards the end +of the day I shall be taken with a violent desire to see her again, +and I shall come as I did the day before yesterday, and Thursday, and +every day." + +He took Madame de Bracieux's hand in his, and clasped it nervously, as +he murmured: + +"For the sake of our long friendship, I beg you, be merciful to me." + + * * * * * + +During luncheon the marchioness seemed preoccupied, and several times +M. de Jonzac asked her what she was thinking about. + +"Whatever is it?" he said; "you have certainly got the blues." + +"Aunt must have gone to bed very late," said Jean de Blaye. "I heard +you all come in; it must have been two o'clock." And then, turning to +Bijou, he asked: "And how did you enjoy yourself? was it nice?" + +"Delightful," she answered, in an absent sort of way. + +"That little Lisette Renaud is perfectly charming," said M. de +Rueille, "with her beautiful, large sad eyes. You liked her, too, did +you not, grandmamma?" + +"Yes," answered Madame de Bracieux, "she is perfectly fascinating, and +she has an admirable voice. I was astonished to find all that in +Pont-sur-Loire; astonished, too, at the elegance of the house. There +were plenty of pretty women, and very well dressed, too." + +"Nearly all of them wore pink," put in Denyse, "I noticed that." + +"Oh! that is through you," said M. de Rueille. "The Pont-sur-Loire +ladies see you always arrayed in pink, and as you are considered by +them to be _tip-top_, they have taken to pink, too." And seeing that +Bijou looked surprised, he asked: "Well, isn't that quite clear +enough?" + +"It is quite clear," she answered, laughing, "but a trifle imaginary. +No one pays any attention to me, my dear Paul." And then, as Madame +de Rueille turned towards her, Bijou appealed to her: "What do you +think about the matter, Bertrade?" + +"I think that you are too modest." + +"Oh, yes," said Giraud, who was gazing at the young girl with admiring +eyes, "Mademoiselle Denyse is too modest. Yesterday evening everyone +in the house was looking at her, and even the actress herself--" + +"It's your imagination, Monsieur Giraud!" exclaimed Bijou, +interrupting him hastily. "I never noticed that anyone was interested +in our box; but even if they were, it does not follow necessarily that +it was at me that--" + +"Evidently not," remarked Henry de Bracieux, in a chaffing tone. "It +was grandmamma in whom the natives were so deeply interested." + +"No! but it might have been Jeanne Dubuisson." + +"Yes, that's true! She is not known at all in Pont-sur-Loire, +therefore the sight of her would naturally make a sensation." + +Bijou shrugged her shoulders. + +"You know that I have a horror of people making a fuss about me, and +you say things like this all the time to tease me." + +"If you have a horror of making a sensation," exclaimed Pierrot, +"that great Gisele de la Balue is not like you, I can tell you. She's +one who would change places with you. Yesterday, at the paper-chase +feed, she was bothering round everyone like a great meat-fly; even +Bernes sent her about her business." + +"I think young Bernes is very nice," said the marchioness. "I was +noticing him all the evening yesterday, and I like him very much. He +is very natural, has good manners, and is not by any means stupid." + +Jean de Blaye noticed that Bijou was screwing up her lips into a +little pout of indifference. + +"You don't appear to be of the same opinion as grandmamma?" he said. + +"Oh, dear me! Yes, I am." + +"Well, you are not enthusiastic; you may as well own it." + +"Why, yes, I own it." + +The marchioness turned to her grand-daughter: + +"Ah! and what have you against him?" + +"Why, nothing, grandmamma, nothing at all! I think he is just like +everyone else, and so when I see him I can't go into ecstasies over +him--that's all." + +"I fancy," remarked M. de Rueille, "that the man isn't born yet about +whom you would go into ecstasies. You are very good-hearted, very +indulgent. You look upon everyone as all very well in a negative sort +of way, but, practically, it is quite another matter." + +"Oh, you exaggerate!" + +"I exaggerate? Well, then, just mention one man, one only, who is +according to your fancy." + +"Why, M. de Clagny, for instance!" + +"You think he is nice; you like him?" said the marchioness. "Yes, but +how? You would not marry him, I presume?" + +"Oh, no!" answered Bijou, laughing, "I don't want to marry him." + +Just as they were all leaving the table, Jean de Blaye asked: + +"Has anyone any commissions for Pont-sur-Loire?" + +"What!" exclaimed Bijou, in surprise, "you are going off to +Pont-sur-Loire like that, all by yourself? Why, whatever are you going +to do there, I wonder?" + +"What am I going to do there?" he said, slightly disconcerted. "Why, I +have some things to get." + +"Will you take me?" + +"Take you? But--" + +Ever since the evening when he had told Bijou that he loved her, he +had avoided, as much as possible, all opportunities of being alone +with her. She, on her part, had not changed her behaviour towards him +or Henry de Bracieux in any way. She was just as free and cordial in +her manner with them as she had been before refusing them her hand; +and, indeed, it seemed as though she had forgotten they had proposed +to her. + +"What?"--she asked, looking astonished. "You won't take me with you?" + +Thoroughly uncomfortable, and dreading the long _tete-a-tete_, yet not +daring in the presence of all the others to refuse to take Bijou, he +answered, in a joking tone: + +"Why, yes! On the contrary, I am highly flattered by the honour you +are doing me!" + +"That's all right, then. You are very kind." + +"Oh, very; but, all the same, you will have to take someone else to be +with you as well, because I have some business." + +"Oh!" said Denyse, in a disappointed tone, "you don't want me with you +when we get there." + +"But, Bijou, my dear," put in Madame de Bracieux, "you could not, +anyhow, go there--just you two! It does not matter if Jean is your +first cousin; it would not be the thing, you know! You must take +Josephine with you; and even then I don't know whether I ought to +allow it--" + +"But whatever do you want to do in Pont-sur-Loire?" she added, after a +pause. + +"Oh, only some errands, grandmamma; you forget that there are always +errands to be done for the house. And then, too, I can go and see +Jeanne; it is just the day when M. Spiegel is busy and does not go so +that I shall not interrupt their billing and cooing." + +"It does not seem to me as though they do much billing and cooing!" +said M. de Jonzac. "I was watching them yesterday at the paper-chase, +and I'm very much mistaken if that engagement is not a very +half-and-half sort of affair." + +"But why should you think that, Uncle Alexis?" asked Bijou, looking +troubled. + +"Because the girl looks sad, and the professor indifferent. Haven't +you noticed that?" + +"No; but then I don't notice things much," she answered. + + * * * * * + +On the way from Bracieux to Pont-sur-Loire, Bijou and Jean were +silent. + +In the town just near the station, they met Madame de Nezel, who had +come in from The Pines by the half-past two train. On seeing her, +Bijou made a little movement, and was just about to speak to her +cousin, but, on second thoughts, she said nothing, and only looked up +at him, with a sweet expression in her bright eyes. Jean, feeling +awkward and confused, had pretended not to see Madame de Nezel, and +she, instead of going on into the centre of the town, had turned down +a narrow street, by some waste ground and gardens. As she got out of +the carriage with Josephine at the Dubuissons' door, Bijou asked: + +"Where shall I find you? And at what time?" + +"At the hotel; I will tell them to put the horse in at six o'clock if +that will suit you?" + +"At six o'clock!" she exclaimed, in astonishment. "Oh, well! you +_must_ have plenty of things to do! Three hours and a half of shopping +in Pont-sur-Loire!" + +Impatient and wishing above all things to escape Bijou's innocent +questioning, Jean offered to start earlier, but she refused. + +"Oh, no! why should you? I shall be delighted to stay as long as you +wish with Jeanne!" + +Mademoiselle Dubuisson was at home. Denyse thought she looked sad, and +her eyes had dark circles round them. + +"What is the matter now?" she asked. "There's something wrong." + +"Yes, things are not quite right." + +"Is--your _fiance_?" + +"Oh, it's just the same." + +"Which means----" + +"That I think he has got--well--a little cool. But there is something +else that has upset me to-day." + +"What is it?" + +"Oh, well! it is an event that really does not concern me at all; but +it has made me feel wretched all the same." She avoided looking at +Bijou as she continued: "You know that--Lisette Renaud?" + +"Yes. Well?" + +"Well, she is dead--this morning." + +"Dead!--What of?" + +"People think she killed herself," said Jeanne, almost in a whisper. + +"But how?" + +"By taking morphia. You know they could not go into details before me, +but I understood, from what they were saying, that it was after an +explanation she had had with M. de Bernes." + +"When?" + +"Yesterday after the theatre, or else this morning. Papa and M. +Spiegel were talking of it at luncheon; but in a vague sort of way, so +that I should not understand." + +"How fearfully sad!--I can quite understand that it should have upset +you." + +"Yes; it is only natural, and all the more so as, just now, troubles +from love affairs touch me very nearly--and for a good reason!" she +added, with a sad little smile. + +"That poor little actress!" said Bijou, in a tone of regret. "As a +rule, I don't care much for women who are on the stage, but this one +seemed to be nice, and then, she really did sing well--it is a +pity!--M. de Bernes must be wretched!" + +"Do you think people really are so wretched when they cause others to +suffer?" asked Jeanne, still not looking at Bijou. "I don't think they +are! There are the thoughtless people, who make others suffer without +knowing it, and then there are the others, who cause people to suffer +because it amuses them; and neither the former nor the latter know +what it is to feel remorse--" + +As Jeanne stood still, lost in thought, a far-away look in her eyes, +Bijou stroked her friend's face gently. + +"There, don't think any more about these sad things, Jeanne, dear," +she said. "Your grief won't change anything when the mischief is +already done, and you are making yourself wretched all in vain. Come, +now, let us talk about our play, and about dress, or no matter +what--oh! by the bye, about dress, does yours fit well at last?" + +"It fits; but it does not suit me!" + +"Oh, that's impossible!" + +"No, it's very natural, on the contrary! I have not your complexion, +remember! I am paler than you are, and that pink makes me paler still; +and then I am thin, and the little gathered bodice, which shows up +your pretty figure to perfection, makes me look no figure at all--it +does not matter, though--it's of no importance whatever!" + +"What do you mean by saying it is of no importance?" + +"Why, yes, don't you see, Bijou dear, that whether one is well or +badly dressed, if one is just common-place as I am, one would always +pass unnoticed by the side of anyone as beautiful as you are." + +Bijou turned her eyes up towards the ceiling, and said, in a +half-serious, half-joking way: + +"My poor dear child, you are wandering--you don't know at all what you +are talking about!" And then suddenly changing her tone she asked: +"What time do you start to the races to-morrow?" + +"I don't know. Papa will have arranged that with M. Spiegel. Ah, tell +me! shall you go early to the Tourvilles' dance? I don't want to get +there before you." + +Denyse was looking at her watch. + +"Oh! I must go!" she exclaimed. "They want some gardenias at home for +button-holes; I don't know where I shall be able to get any; someone +told me of a florist up by the station somewhere." + +"By the station? but there are only market-gardeners there, no +florists." + +"Yes, it seems that in that little lane--you know--to the right of the +quay--" + +"Lilac Lane, I know where you mean; but there are only vegetable +gardens there, and some waste ground, and then a few small houses, +that are generally rented by officers because they are near to the +barracks." + +"Well, anyhow," said Bijou, getting up, "I'll go and look round +there!" + + * * * * * + +Denyse was the first to arrive at the hotel. Jean de Blaye was rather +behind time, and when he did appear, he looked sad, and his face was +very pale. He had met Madame de Nezel by appointment, but she had only +come to break off entirely with him, and this freedom was of no use to +him now; but, at the same time, there was nothing left for him to do +but accept his fate. They were both wretched and discontented with +each other, and yet they had been obliged to stay together at their +trysting-place, because Bijou, escorted by the old housekeeper +Josephine, had been rambling up and down the lonely lane for a good +part of the afternoon. She had gone backwards and forwards as though +in search of something, and with a persistency which Jean could not +understand, and which made him feel very uneasy. + +When they were driving across the square by the station at three +o'clock, she had, perhaps, seen Madame de Nezel turning down Lilac +Lane. If that were so, she had probably wanted to assure herself +whether her suspicions were correct. How inquisitive and fond of +ferreting she must be, then--this Denyse whom he loved so dearly, and +who had, without knowing it, ruined his whole life. + +He apologised for his unpunctuality, and helped Bijou into the +carriage, whilst she assured him in the sweetest way that he was not +late at all. + +Just as he was wondering how he could ask her what she had been doing, +she volunteered the information he wanted. + +"Do you know you will have your gardenias for to-morrow after all? But +it _has_ been difficult to get them. I have been running about all +over Pont-sur-Loire nearly all the afternoon. They sent me to the +queerest little streets, where I got lost, and never found the place +at all." + +Delighted at this proof of Bijou's innocence, Jean exclaimed +involuntarily: + +"Ah! that was what you were hanging about for in Lilac Lane?" + +She fixed her large astonished eyes on him, as she asked: + +"However did you know? Did you see me?" + +"I did not," he answered quickly; "one of my friends told me." + +"Who was it? Do I know him--your friend?" + +"I don't think so; he's an officer in Bernes' regiment. Ah, by the +bye, what do you think! The poor little actress you heard last +night--well, she has killed herself!" + +"Yes, I know; it is a great pity!" + +Bijou said this in a tone which made it impossible to continue the +conversation on this topic. She was so dignified, and her meaning was +so plain, that Jean almost regretted having said a word to her of this +affair, considering that it was a trifle delicate; but, after all, as +he said to himself, Bijou was no child; she would soon be twenty-two! + + * * * * * + +At four o'clock, M. de Clagny arrived at Bracieux, his heart beating +fast at the thought of seeing Bijou again, and of seeing her quite +free and unconstrained as usual, for she would not yet know of his +proposal. + +He was very much disappointed on hearing that she was at +Pont-sur-Loire, and that she had gone there with Jean. He asked the +marchioness to tell him candidly just what she thought would be the +result of his advances with reference to the young girl, and Madame de +Bracieux replied that she could not approach the subject now, as +Denyse had declared to them all that very morning that "she thought M. +de Clagny charming, but that she should not like to marry him." + +He stood the shock fairly well, but insisted that Bijou should be told +that evening of his proposal. She would then have until the next day +to think it over, and that was what he wished. + +Denyse and Jean returned just at dinner-time. When they came +downstairs, everyone was at the table, and the topic of conversation +was the death of poor Lisette Renaud. + +M. de Rueille had been out riding, and had met some officers, who were +on duty there, and who had, of course, told him the story. + +"It is fearful," said Bertrade, "to think of that poor girl killing +herself; she was so pretty, and so young." + +"It is just because one is young that one would commit suicide, if +unhappy; otherwise one would have to go on being wretched for so long +a time," said Giraud in a strange voice, which resounded in the +spacious dining-room. + + + + +XV. + + +THE marchioness decided not to speak to Bijou about M. de Clagny that +evening, as she did not want to disturb the young girl's rest. + +The following morning, however, she sent for her, and Bijou arrived, +gay and lively as usual. She gave a little pout of disappointment when +her grandmother informed her that she wished to speak to her about +something very serious. + +"It concerns one of my greatest friends," began Madame de Bracieux, +"and he is also a friend of yours." + +"M. de Clagny?" interrupted Bijou. + +"Yes, M. de Clagny. You must have seen that he is very fond of you, +haven't you?" + +"I am very fond of him, too, very fond of him." + +"Exactly, but you care for him as though he were your father, or a +delightful old uncle, whilst he does not care for you either as though +you were his daughter, or niece; in short, you will be very much +astonished--" + +"Astonished at what?" asked Bijou timidly. + +"At--well, he wants to marry you, that's the long and short of it." + +"He, too?" murmured the young girl, looking bewildered. + +"What do you mean by 'he, too'?" exclaimed the marchioness, bewildered +in her turn; "who else wants to marry you that you say 'he, too '?" + +Denyse blushed crimson. + +"I ought to have told you all that before, grandmamma," she said, +sitting down on a little stool at Madame de Bracieux's feet; "but we +have been so dissipated just lately, what with the paper-chase, the +theatre, the races, and the dances, that I don't seem to have had a +minute, and then, too, it was not very interesting either." + +"Ah! that's your opinion, is it?" + +"Well, considering that I don't want to marry either of them." + +"Well, but who is it, child, who is it?" asked the marchioness. + +"Why, just Henry and Jean. Jean spoke to me first for Henry, who, it +seems, had got him to ask me whether I would allow him to ask your +permission to marry me. I answered that he ought to have asked _you_ +first and not me--" + +"You are a real little Bijou, my darling." + +"But that it really did not matter, as I did not want to marry him." + +"He is not rich enough for you, my dear." + +"Oh, I don't know anything about that. And then, too, all that is +quite the same to me, but I should not like Henry for a husband. I +know him too well." + +"Ah! and what about Jean?" + +"Jean, too, I should not like as a husband. That is just what I told +him, when, after I had refused Henry, he began again on his own +account." + +"They go ahead--my grandchildren. Now I can understand how it is that, +for the last few days, they have had faces as long as fiddles." + +There was a short silence, and then Madame de Bracieux remarked, as +though in conclusion: + +"I know then, now, what your answer is to my poor old friend Clagny." + +"How do you know, though?" + +"Because if you will not have either of your cousins, who are, both of +them, in their different ways, very taking, it is scarcely probable +that you would accept an old friend of your grandmother's." + +"But he, too, is very taking!" + +"Yes, that's true; but he is sixty years old!" + +"He does not look it!" + +"He is though." + +"I know; but that does not make any difference to the fact that I +should not mind marrying him any more than I should Jean or Henry." + +"You do not know what marriage is; you do not understand." + +Bijou half closed her beautiful, bright eyes. + +"Yes," she said, speaking slowly, "I do understand quite well, +grandmamma." + +"Well, all this is no answer for me to give to M. de Clagny." + +"Is he coming to-day?" + +"He is coming directly." + +Bijou moved uneasily on her footstool, and then, after a moment's +consideration, she said: + +"You can tell him, grandmamma, that I am very much touched, and very +much flattered that he should have thought of me, but that I do not +want to marry yet--" And then, laying her head on the marchioness's +lap, she added: "because I am too happy here with you." + +"My little Bijou! my darling Bijou!" murmured Madame de Bracieux, +stooping to kiss the pretty face lifted towards her, "you know what a +comfort you are to me; but, all the same, you cannot stay for ever +with your old grandmother. I am not saying that, though, in order to +persuade you into a marriage that would be perfect folly." + +Denyse looked up at the marchioness, as she asked: + +"Folly? But why folly?" + +"Because M. de Clagny is thirty-eight years older than you are, and he +will be quite infirm just when you are in your prime; and such +marriages have certain inconveniences which--well--which you would be +the first to find out." + +Bijou had risen from her low seat on hearing the sound of +carriage-wheels, which drew up in front of the hall-door. She looked +through the window, and then ran away, saying: + +"Here he is, grandmamma!" + + * * * * * + +During luncheon, Madame de Bracieux announced, in a careless, +indifferent way: + +"M. de Clagny is leaving here; he came to say good-bye to me this +morning." + +Bijou looked up, and Jean de Blaye remarked: + +"He is leaving here? Why, it seemed as though he had taken root in +this part of the world." + +"Oh," put in M. de Rueille, "old Clagny's roots are never very deep." + +Bijou turned towards the marchioness. + +"When is he leaving, grandmamma?" she asked anxiously. + +"Why, at once; to-morrow, I think. Anyhow, we shall see him to-night +at Tourville; he is going to the ball in order to see everyone to whom +he wants to say good-bye." + +"And he is not going to the races?" + +"No, he is busy packing." + +"And our play to-morrow!" exclaimed Denyse, in consternation. "He had +promised me over and over again to come to it." + +The marchioness glanced at her grand-daughter, and said to herself +that, decidedly, even with the kindest heart in the world, youth knows +no pity. + + * * * * * + +Bijou's arrival at the Tourville ball was a veritable triumph. In her +pink crepe dress, which matched her complexion admirably, she looked +wonderfully pretty, and different from anyone else. + +"Just look at the Dubuisson girl," said Louis de la Balue to M. de +Juzencourt. "She has tried to get herself up like Mademoiselle de +Courtaix. She has copied her dress exactly, and just see what she +looks like. She might pass for her maid, and that's the most she could +do. How is it, now?" + +M. de Juzencourt laughed gruffly. + +"Why, it's just that if the outside is the same, what's inside it +isn't the same. Isn't she going to be married?" + +"Yes, she's going to marry a young Huguenot, who must be somewhere +about, hiding in some corner or another. Ah! No! he isn't in a corner +either. There he is, like all the others, fluttering round 'The +Bijou.'" + +"And you? You don't flutter round her?" asked M. de Juzencourt. + +"I? I'd marry her--because, sooner or later, one's got to get married, +or one's parents make a fuss, because of keeping up the name, you +know--but as to fluttering round--By Jove, no! that isn't in my line!" +and then, in a languid way, he went off to Henry de Bracieux. + +"How hot it is," he began, glancing at him dreamily, and speaking in a +low voice, with an affected drawl. "You are lucky not to turn red. +You've got such a complexion, though, that's true. You look like a +regular Hercules, and yet, with that, your complexion is as +delicate--" + +As he was leaning towards him, and looking sentimental, Henry +exclaimed impatiently, in his full, sonorous voice: + +"Oh! hang my complexion!" and turning away, he left young La Balue +planted there in the middle of the drawing-room, and went off himself +to Jean de Blaye, who, with a melancholy expression on his face, was +standing at some distance off, watching Bijou through the intricacies +of a dance, for which six partners had all tried to claim her. + +When M. de Clagny approached Denyse, and bowed to her ceremoniously, +she said at once, without even returning his bow: + +"Grandmamma has told me that you are going away. I am sure that it is +because of me?" + +He nodded assent, and she put her little hand through his arm, and +moved in the direction of another room, which was almost empty. + +"Please," she began, in a beseeching tone, "please, do not go away." + +"And I, in my turn," he answered, deeply moved, "must say, please, +Bijou, do not ask what is impossible. I have not been able to be with +you without getting as foolish as all the others. I have let myself go +on dreaming, just as fools dream, and now that all is over, I must try +to become wise again, and to forget my dream, and in order to do that +I must go away, very far away, too." + +"You thought that--that I should say yes?" she asked. + +"Well, you were so good to me, so sweet and confiding always, that I +did hope--yes, God help me--I did hope--that perhaps you would let me +go on loving you." + +"And so it was my fault that you hoped that?" she said dreamily. + +"It wasn't your fault--it was mine; one always does hope what one +wants." + +"Yes, I am sure that I ought not to have behaved as I did with you." +And her eyes filled with tears as she murmured, almost humbly: "I am +so sorry! will you forgive me?" + +"Bijou!" exclaimed M. de Clagny, almost beside himself. "My dear +Bijou, it is I who ought to ask your forgiveness for causing you a +moment's sadness." + +"Well, then, be kind--don't go away! not to-morrow, at any rate! +Promise me that you will come to Bracieux to-morrow to see us act our +play! Oh, don't say no! And then, afterwards, I will talk to +you--better than I could this evening." And gazing up at him with her +soft, luminous eyes, she added: "You won't regret coming, I am sure." + +Jean de Blaye was just passing by at that moment, and Bijou stopped +him, and said, in a coaxing way: + +"Won't you ask me for a waltz? do, please, you waltz so well." + +And laying her hand on his shoulder, she disappeared, just as Pierrot +arrived to claim his dance. + +"Leave your cousin in peace," said M. de Jonzac, who was seated on a +divan watching the dancing. "You are much too young to ask girls to +dance with you--I mean girls like Bijou." + +"Ah, how old must I be then before I can ask them--not as old as you, +I suppose?" + +"You certainly have a nice way of saying things." + +"I say, father, why do Jean and Henry say that young La Balue gets to +be worse and worse form?" + +"Young La Balue? Oh, I don't know." + +"They say that he makes himself up." + +"That's true." + +"And that he gets to be worse and worse form! How?" + +"If you want to know how, you have only to ask your cousins: they will +tell you." + +"They won't, though! I asked them, and Jean just said, 'Don't come +bothering here.' Are we going home soon?" + +"Going home? why, your cousin is sure to stay for the cotillion." + +"I was very stupid to come here instead of staying with M. Giraud and +the abbe." + +"Ah, by the bye, why didn't he come--M. Giraud? Bijou asked for an +invitation for him." + +"Yes, but he wouldn't come: he is awfully down in the dumps, and has +been for some time. He doesn't eat, and he doesn't sleep either; +instead of going to bed, he goes off walking by the river all night." + +"And you don't know what's the matter with him?" + +"The matter with him! I think it is Bijou that is the matter with +him." + +"What do you mean? Bijou the matter with him?" + +"Why, yes, it's the same with Jean, and Henry, and Paul. You can see +very well, father, that they are all running after her, can't you? not +to speak of old Clagny, who isn't worth counting now." He stopped a +minute, and then finished off, in a sorrowful way: "and not to speak +of me either, for I don't count yet." + +"Oh! you exaggerate all that," said M. de Jonzac, quite convinced that +his son was in the right, but not wanting to own it. "Bijou is +certainly very pretty, and it is not surprising that--" + +Pierrot interrupted his father eagerly. + +"Oh! it isn't that she is just pretty only, but she is good, and +clever, and jolly, and everything. They are quite right to fall in +love with her, and, if I were only twenty-five--" + +"If you were twenty-five, my dear young man, she would send you about +your business, as she does the others." + +"That's very possible," replied Pierrot philosophically, but at the +same time sadly; and then, pointing to Bijou, who was just standing +talking to Jeanne Dubuisson in the middle of the room, he said: "Isn't +she pretty, though, father? Just look at her; she is dressed +absolutely like Jeanne, their dresses are just alike, stitch for +stitch, as old Mere Rafut says. I'm sure that, if they mixed them up +when they were not in them themselves, there'd be no telling which was +which after; and yet like that on them, I mean, they don't look alike +at all! Do you think I might venture to ask her for a dance, +father--Jeanne Dubuisson?" + +"Oh, yes; she is good-hearted enough to give you one!" + +A minute or two later and Jeanne went off with Pierrot for the next +dance. M. Spiegel crossed over to Bijou, and asked her for the waltz +which was just commencing, but she shook her head, saying: + +"I am so tired, if you only knew!" + +"Only just a little turn, won't you?" he begged. "Ever since the +beginning of the evening I have not been able to get a single waltz +with you." + +"Oh, no; please don't ask me! I do want to rest; I--" and then, +suddenly making up her mind to speak out, she said, "Well, then, no; +it isn't that--I know I am not clever at telling untruths--I am not at +all tired, but I don't want to waltz with you, because--" + +"Because?" + +"Because I am afraid of hurting Jeanne's feelings--" + +"Hurting Jeanne's feelings! But how?" he asked, in surprise. + +"Well, it sounds very vain what I am going to say, but I must tell you +all the same. Why, I think that Jeanne worships you to such a degree +that she is jealous of everyone who approaches you, or who speaks to +you, or who looks at you even!" + +M. Spiegel looked displeased; he knitted his brows, and his +placid-looking face suddenly took a hard expression. + +"She has told you so?" + +Bijou answered with the eagerness and embarrassment of anyone feeling +compelled to tell an untruth. + +"Oh, no--no, I have just imagined it myself; you know I am so fond of +Jeanne! I know all that passes in her mind, and I should be so +wretched if I caused her any unhappiness--or even the slightest +anxiety; do you understand what I mean?" + +"I understand that you are just an angel of goodness, mademoiselle, +and that it is no wonder they are all so fond of you!" + +Bijou was looking down on the floor, her breath coming and going +quickly, a faint flush had come into her cheeks, and her nostrils were +quivering, as she listened silently to the young professor's words. + +He put his arm round her waist, took her little hand in his, as she +offered no resistance, and whirled her off into the midst of the +dance. M. Spiegel waltzed divinely, and Bijou was passionately fond of +the waltz _a trois temps_. With a flush on her cheeks, her eyes +half-closed, and her lips parted, showing her dazzling white teeth, +she went on whirling round as long as the orchestra played. Several +times she passed quite close to Jeanne, without even seeing her poor +friend, who was being jerked about by Pierrot. The youth kept treading +on his partner's toes, or knocking her against the furniture; and +when, now and again, Jeanne would stop to get breath, Pierrot would +chatter away most eloquently about all kinds of sports, of which she +was absolutely ignorant. + +"You know," he said, putting out his enormous foot and his formidable +knee, "I am a very second-rate dancer, but I'm very good at football. +Our team is going to play a match this winter against the +Pont-sur-Loire team; you ought to see it; it will be first-class! I +keep goal; you should just see what jolly kicks--" + +He broke off as Jeanne did not speak. She was looking uneasily at her +_fiance_ as he passed and re-passed, apparently happy in guiding Bijou +along through the rapid whirl of the dance. + +"I am boring you," said Pierrot; "shall we go on now?" + +"No," she replied, in a changed voice; "I do not feel quite myself, +and it is so warm! Will you take me across to papa--he is playing +cards over there. I should like to go home!" + +Whilst they were on their way to M. Dubuisson, Bijou stopped M. +Spiegel just near the orchestra; and said, in a laughing voice: + +"Why, you are indefatigable--one must get one's breath, though; +besides, the waltz is just finishing now!" + +She glanced at the four wretched musicians, who were in a deplorable +state, with their shiny-looking coats, their limp shirt-fronts, and +their faces bathed in perspiration. + +"Why, Monsieur Sylvestre!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Good evening, +Monsieur Sylvestre! Well, I never! I didn't expect to see you!" + +The poor fellow looked up eagerly, and, gazing at Bijou, with his +soft, blue eyes full of deep distress, he stammered out: + +"I did not expect to be seen either, mademoiselle!" + + + + +XVI. + + +ON going to bed at five in the morning, Bijou slept for two hours, and +when, later on, she went to the marchioness's room, she looked as +fresh and as thoroughly rested as after a long night's sleep. + +"Grandmamma," she said, "I have been thinking a great deal ever since +yesterday." + +"About what?" + +"Why, about what you told me as regards M. de Clagny." + +"Ah!" said the marchioness, rather annoyed at a subject being brought +up again, which she had thought over and done with. + +Rather selfish, like nearly all elderly people, it seemed to her +utterly useless to trouble about matters which were painful or sad, +except just to settle them off once for all. + +"I have been thinking," continued Bijou. "And then, too, I saw M. de +Clagny last night at the ball--" + +"Well, and what is the result of all this thinking and of this +interview?" asked the marchioness, rather anxiously. + +"The result is that I have changed my mind." + +"What do you say?" + +"I say that, with your permission, I will marry M. de Clagny." + +"Nonsense! you won't do anything of the kind." + +"Why not?" + +"Because it would be madness." + +"Why, no, grandmamma, it would be very wise, on the contrary; if I did +not marry him, I should never again all my life long have a minute's +peace." + +"Because?--" + +"Because I have seen that he is dreadfully and horribly unhappy." + +"No doubt; but that will all be forgotten in time." + +"Oh, no, it won't be forgotten! And I told you I like M. de Clagny +more than I have ever liked anyone--except you; and so the idea that +he is wretched on my account--and, perhaps, a little through my +fault--would seem odious to me, and would make me unhappy--much more +unhappy even than he is." + +"But you would be still more so if you married him. Listen, Bijou, +dear, you know nothing about life, nor about marriage. I have, +perhaps, been wrong in bringing you up so strictly, not letting you +read or hear enough about things; there are certain duties and +obligations which marriage imposes upon us, and about which you know +nothing, and these duties--well, you ought to know something about +them, before rushing headlong into such a terrible venture as this." + +"No!" said Bijou, with a gesture to prevent Madame de Bracieux +continuing, "don't tell me anything, grandmamma. I know what +responsibilities I should have to accept, and what my duty would be, +and I have decided--decided irrevocably--to become the wife of M. de +Clagny, whom I love dearly." And then, as the marchioness made a +movement as though to protest, she repeated: "Yes, I love him dearly; +and the proof is that the idea of marrying him does not terrify me, +whilst the thought of marrying the others made me feel a sort of +repulsion." + +She knelt down in front of the marchioness, and began again in a +coaxing voice: + +"Say that you will consent, grandmamma; say so--do, please." + +"You are nearly twenty-two. I cannot overrule you as though you were a +little child, therefore I consent, but without any enthusiasm, I can +assure you, and I implore you to reconsider the matter, Bijou, my +dear. I am afraid that you are following the impulse of your kind +heart and of your extremely sensitive nature and making a mistake that +will be irreparable." + +"I do not need to consider the matter any more; I have done nothing +else ever since yesterday; and I know that this is my only chance of +happiness, or of what at any rate seems to be the most like happiness. +Don't say anything to anyone about it, will you, grandmamma?" + +"Oh, dear no! you can be easy on that score; you don't imagine that I +am in a hurry to announce such an engagement, and to contemplate the +horrified, astonished looks they will all put on. Oh, no; if you think +I am in a hurry, you are mistaken, my darling." + +"And above all, don't say anything to M. de Clagny; I am enjoying the +thought of telling him this evening." + +"But he told me that he should not come--" + +"Ah! but he promised me that he would come." And then, holding up her +merry face to be kissed, she added: "And now I must go and attend to +our scenery, and to the footlights, which won't light, and to my +costume, which is not finished." + +The marchioness took Bijou's head in her beautiful hands, which were +still so white and smooth, and kissing her, murmured: + +"Go, then; and may Heaven grant that we shall have no cause to +regret--your good-heartedness--and--my weakness." + + * * * * * + +The Dubuissons and M. Spiegel had promised to come at four o'clock. +One of the scenes which did not go very well had to be rehearsed. +Bijou, who was busy gathering flowers, went towards the cab when they +arrived, and was surprised to see only Jeanne and her father. + +"What have you done with M. Spiegel?" she asked. + +It was M. Dubuisson who answered, in a confused sort of way: + +"He is coming--with your cousin M. de Rueille, who was at +Pont-sur-Loire and who offered to bring him." + +"Don't disturb your grandmamma," said Jeanne, taking Bijou's arm. +"Papa won't come in yet, he has his lecture to prepare, and he will go +and do it, walking about in the park." And then, as soon as M. +Dubuisson had moved off, she began again: "If M. Spiegel and I had not +had parts in the play, and so had not been afraid of spoiling it for +you by not appearing, we should not have come." + +"You would not have come?" exclaimed Bijou, in astonishment; "and why +not, pray?" + +"Because we are now in the most false and ridiculous position." + +"You?" + +"Yes, we are--our engagement is broken off." + +"Broken off!" repeated Bijou, in consternation; "broken off! but what +for?" + +"Because I was quite certain that he cared for me very little or not +at all," answered Jeanne, speaking very calmly, but not looking at +Bijou, "and so I told him this morning that I did not feel equal to +accepting the life of misery which I foresaw, and that I gave him back +his liberty." + +"Good heavens, is it possible--and you do not regret anything?" + +"Nothing! I am very wretched, but my mind is more easy." + +Bijou looked straight into her eyes as she asked: + +"And it is--it is because of me, isn't it? it is because of M. +Spiegel's manner towards me that you broke it all off?" Jeanne nodded, +and Bijou went on: "And so you really thought that your _fiance_ was +making love to me?" + +"Oh, as to making love to you, no, perhaps not--but he certainly cares +for you." + +"And what then?" + +"What do you mean by _what then_?" + +"Well, what would be the end of that for him?" + +"Well, it would cause him to suffer; and who knows, he might have +hoped--?" + +"Hoped what? to marry me?" + +"No--yes! I don't know; he might have hoped in a vague sort of way--I +don't know what." + +"And do you think that I can endure the idea of causing your +unhappiness, no matter how involuntarily on my part?" + +"It is not in your power to alter what exists." + +Bijou appeared to be turning something over in her mind. + +"Supposing I were to marry," she said at last abruptly. And then +hiding her face in her hands she said in a broken voice: "M. de Clagny +wants to marry me." + +"M. de Clagny!" exclaimed Jeanne, stupefied, "why, he's sixty!" + +"I said no; I will say yes, though." + +"You are mad!" + +"Not the least bit in the world! I am practical. The remedy is perhaps +a trifle hard, but what is to be done? I love you so, Jeanne, that the +idea of seeing you unhappy makes me wretched!" + +"I assure you, though, that even if you marry M. de Clagny, I should +not marry M. Spiegel. He said things to me just now which were very +painful, and no matter how much I tried, I could not forget them." + +"Painful things, about what?" + +"About my jealousy--he said that it was ridiculous--and yet I had not +complained about anything. I kept it from him as much as possible, my +jealousy; but at the ball, I did not feel well, and I asked papa to +take me home, and he was displeased about that, he thought I was +sulking." + +"Oh, all that will soon be forgotten!" + +"No! and so you see, Bijou, it would be for nothing at all that you +would commit the very worst of all follies--marrying an old man." + +"An old man! it's queer, he does not seem to me at all like an old +man--M. de Clagny! I should certainly prefer marrying a younger man +and one whom I should like in every respect, but now--" + +Jeanne put her arm round Bijou and, resting her hand on her friend's +shoulder, kissed her as she said: + +"You must just wait for him in peace, the one 'whom you would like in +every respect!' You have plenty of time!" + +"No, I have quite decided! Whatever you do now will be useless, for, +in spite of what you say, when once the cause of your little +misunderstanding has vanished, the misunderstanding will vanish in +the same way. There now, kiss me again, and tell me that you love me." + +"Well!" said Jean de Blaye, who now appeared with M. Spiegel, "is +everyone ready; are we going to rehearse?" + +For the last few days he had been in a nervous, excitable state, +feeling the need of anything that would take him out of himself, and +doing his utmost all the time to keep himself from thinking. "Yes," +answered Denyse very calmly, wiping her eyes quickly, "we are ready; +we were only waiting for you." And then, in a very gracious, natural +way, she held out her hand to M. Spiegel, who took it, saying at the +same time: + +"You are not too tired, mademoiselle, after such a late night?" And +then, glancing involuntarily at Mademoiselle Dubuisson's rather +sallow-looking face, he added: "Why, you are looking fresher even than +yesterday." + +Jeanne came nearer to Bijou, and, as they moved away together, she +said, pointing to the professor, and with a look of intense grief in +her gentle eyes: + +"You see your remedy would not do; he is incurable." + + * * * * * + +The little play was performed before a large audience of guests, who +were highly amused. Bijou was so pretty in her costume as Hebe, she +looked so pure and maidenly and so sweet, that, when the piece was +finished, and she wanted to go and put on her ball-dress, everyone +begged her to remain just as she was. As she was going away into a +side-room to escape the compliments of the various guests, M. de +Rueille stopped her, and said, in a sarcastic tone: + +"And so that is the costume that was to be quite the thing, and which, +in order to please me, you were going to get Jean to alter?" + +Jean came up just at this moment, with Henry de Bracieux and Pierrot. + +"Accept my compliments," said M. de Rueille drily, turning towards +him; "you certainly know how to design costumes for pretty girls; but, +if I were you, I would have been rather more careful." + +"Why, what's up with you?" asked Jean, without even looking at Bijou; +"the costume's right enough!" + +"Besides," remarked Bijou tranquilly, "there are only three persons who +have any right to trouble themselves about my costumes--grandmamma, I +myself, or my husband." + +"Yes, if you had one!" + +"Certainly; well, I shall be having one!" + +Jean de Blaye shrugged his shoulders incredulously, and Bijou +continued: + +"I assure you it is quite true! I am going to be married." + +"To whom?" asked M. de Rueille uneasily. + +"Oh, yes, what a good joke!" remarked Pierrot. + +"Whom are you going to marry?" asked Henry de Bracieux. "Tell us!" + +M. de Clagny had just entered the room, and putting her arm through +his, she said, in a mischievous way, to the others: + +"I am going to tell M. de Clagny." And then, turning to him, she +added: "Let us go out-doors, though; it is stifling in here!" + +"Isn't she aesthetic this evening?" murmured Pierrot, gazing at Bijou's +long Grecian cloak of pale pink. "I should think M. Giraud would think +her perfect to-night; he's always saying she isn't made for modern +costumes." + +"Ah, by the bye, where is he--Giraud?" asked Jean de Blaye; "he +disappeared after dinner, and we have not seen him again!" + +Pierrot explained that he must have gone off for a stroll along the +river, as he did nearly every evening. He was getting more and more +odd, and had fits of gaiety and melancholy, turn by turn. That very +morning he had left the schoolroom in order to go to Madame de +Bracieux, who had sent to ask him to translate an English letter for +her; and then he had come back some time after, saying that he had not +ventured to knock, because he could hear that the marchioness was +talking to Mademoiselle Denyse, and ever since then he had not uttered +another word. + +"Where the devil's he gone?" asked Jean; and Pierrot, speaking through +his nose, began to imitate the street vendors on the boulevards. + +"Where is Bulgaria? Find Bulgaria!" + + * * * * * + +When she was alone with M. de Clagny under the big trees, Bijou said, +in the sweetest way: + +"I came back home this morning, quite wretched at having caused you +any sorrow. It seemed to me that I must have been too affectionate in +my manner towards you--too free--and that I had made you think +something quite different. Is that so?" + +"Yes, that is just it--and so you have no affection at all for me?" + +"You know very well that I have!" + +"I mean that you like me just as though I were some old relative or +another." + +"More than that!" + +"Well, but you do not love me enough to--to--love me as a husband?" + +"I do not know at all. I cannot understand myself just what I feel for +you. In the first place, I think you are very nice-looking, and very +charming, too; and then, when you are here, I feel as though I am +surrounded with care and affection. It seems to me that I breathe more +freely, that I am gayer and happier, and I have never, never felt like +that before--" + +Very much touched by what she was saying, and very anxious, too, about +what she was going to say, the count pressed Bijou's arm against his +without answering. + +"Well, then," she continued, "I thought that, as I liked you better +than I have ever yet liked anyone, and that, on the other hand, I +should never be able to console myself for having caused you so much +sorrow, the best thing would be to marry you." + +M. de Clagny stopped short, and asked, in a choked voice: + +"Then you consent?" + +"Yes." + +"My darling!" he stammered out, "my darling!" + +"I told grandmamma this morning," continued Bijou, "and I must confess +that she was not delighted. She did all she could to make me change my +mind." + +"I can quite understand that." + +"She thinks that it is mad, for you as well as for me, to marry when +there is such disproportion of age; and then, she did not say so, but +I could see that there was something troubling her, which troubles me +too, though to a much less degree." + +"And it is?" + +"The disproportion in money matters. Yes--it appears that you are +horribly rich. Grandmamma said so yesterday, when she told me that you +had asked for my hand." + +"What can it matter, Bijou, dear, whether I am a little more or less +rich?" + +"It matters a great deal, with grandmamma's ideas about things +especially. Oh, it is not that she thinks it humiliating for me to be +married without anything, for I have nothing, you know, in comparison +with what you have! No, she looks upon marriage as a partnership, or +exchange of what one has. '_Give me what you've got, and I'll give +you what I've got_,' as the country people here say. Well, you have +your name, which is a good one, and your money, which makes you a very +rich man; on my side, I have my name, which is rather a good one, too, +and my youth, which certainly counts for something." + +"Very well, then, and how can the disproportion of what we have make +your grandmamma uneasy?" + +"Well, it's like this, you know--grandmamma is very fond of me, and +she thinks that, as I am thirty-eight years younger than you, you +might die before me, and that, after living for years in very great +luxury, after letting myself get accustomed to every comfort, which, +up to the present, I have not had, I might suddenly find myself very +poor and very wretched at an age when it would be too late to begin +life over again, and so I should suffer very much on account of the +bad habits I had contracted, and which I should not be able to drop--" + +"You know very well, my adored Bijou, that everything I possess is and +will be yours. My will is already made, in which I leave everything to +you, even if you do not become my wife." + +"Yes, but she always says a will could be torn up." + +"If your grandmamma would prefer it, I could make it over to you in a +marriage settlement." + +Bijou laughed. + +"Ah! she would imagine, then, that we might be divorced, and a divorce +does away with all things--" + +"But, supposing I make out in the marriage contract that the half of +what I possess now is really yours, and supposing I made over the rest +to you, only reserving to myself the interest?" + +Bijou shook her head, and then, with a pretty movement of playful +affection, she threw her soft arms round M. de Clagny's neck, and +said: + +"I don't want you to give me anything but happiness, and I am sure you +will give me plenty of that. I hope you will live a very, very long +time, and it would not matter to me, when I am old, if I were to find +myself poor again, comparatively speaking." + +"And I," he said, covering Denyse's face and hair with kisses, "I +could not go on living with the thought that I might be taken away +without your future being provided for in the way in which I should +wish it to be." + +"Don't talk about all those things," she murmured. "I want to think +that I shall never be separated from you--never, never!" + +Trying, in spite of the darkness, to look into Bijou's eyes, he asked +anxiously: + +"Will you be able to love me a little, as I love you?" + +Without answering, she held her pretty lips up to him, but just at +that moment the sound of voices made them move away from each other +abruptly. + +Only a few yards away from them they could hear several persons +talking in low voices, and also the sound of heavy footsteps walking +with measured tread. It seemed as though just there, quite near to +them, a heavy burden were being carried along, whilst, in the midst of +the darkness, lights kept passing by. + +"It's very odd," said M. de Clagny; "one would think something had +happened." + +Bijou, however, who had stopped short, her heart beating fast with +anxiety, struck with the strangeness of the little procession, put her +hand on the count's arm, and said, quite tranquilly: + +"Oh, no! it must be the men going back to the farm. Just now they are +at work up at the house through the day, and then, when they have had +something to eat, they go back home." + +"It seemed to me, though, that the lanterns were on the way towards +the house." + +She was walking along with her hand on his arm, and a thrill of joy +ran through him as he drew this beautiful girl, who had just promised +herself to him, closer still, in a passionate embrace. + +They returned slowly to the house along the avenues, meeting several +carriages, which were bearing away the departing guests. + +"How's that?" exclaimed Bijou, in surprise. "They are going away +already--but what about the cotillion? Is it very late?" + +On arriving at the hall-door steps, they met the La Balues coming +towards their carriage. + +"How's this?" asked Bijou. "You are going? But why?" + +M. de la Balue mumbled out some unintelligible words, whilst his son +and daughter, looking very sad, shook hands with Bijou. + +"Well, what long faces they are making," remarked M. de Clagny, +beginning to get anxious in his turn. "Ah! what's that? Whatever's the +matter?" + +In the hall there was a long pool of water. The servants were going +backwards and forwards quickly, looking awestruck, and then Pierrot +came in sight, his eyes swollen with crying, and his hands full of +flowers. Madame de Rueille was following him, carrying flowers, too. + +Bijou stopped short, thunderstruck; but M. de Clagny hurried up to +Madame de Rueille. + +"What has happened?" he asked. + +"M. Giraud has drowned himself," answered Bertrade. "They have just +brought him back here. It was the miller who found him near the dam--" + +And then, seeing that Pierrot was gazing at her in consternation, +shaking his flowers about at the end of his long arms in sheer +desperation, she added, in a hard voice: + +"Yes, I know very well that grandmamma has forbidden anyone to speak +of it before Bijou, but, for my part, I want her to know about it." + + + + +XVII. + + +AS she stood waiting at the threshold of the little church for her +Uncle Alexis, who was just getting out of the carriage, Bijou turned +round, and, after giving a little kick to her long white satin train, +and pulling the folds of her veil over her face, she gazed round at +the motley crowd, who were hurrying towards the church-porch, with +that quick look in her luminous eyes which took in everything at a +glance. + +She saw first the profile of Jean de Blaye towering above the others; +he was advancing towards her with an indifferent, languid expression +on his face, and talking to M. de Rueille, who looked slightly nervous +and excited. Henry de Bracieux, with a worried look on his face, was +listening in an absent sort of way to the marchioness, as she gave her +orders to the coachman. + +Pierrot had got one of the tails of his coat, which was too short for +him, caught in the carriage-door, and, with his big, white-gloved +hands, he was awkwardly endeavouring to get free, but unsuccessfully. + +M. Sylvestre, with an enormous roll of music under his arm, looking +very nervous, and in a great hurry, was rushing towards the staircase +which led to the gallery, without daring to lift his eyes from the +ground; whilst Abbe Courteil, accompanied by his two pupils, passed +by, looking very business-like--he, too, not venturing to glance in +the direction of Bijou. + +Jeanne Dubuisson, who had got rather thinner, was waiting with her +father until the crowd made way for her to pass. + +Among the Bracieux villagers, and just behind all the fine ladies and +gentlemen, who had come from Pont-sur-Loire and the country-houses in +the neighbourhood, Charlemagne Lavenue was pressing forward with long +strides. He was dressed in his best clothes, and his square shoulders +and ruddy complexion seemed to stand out against the background of +blue sky. + +As she stood there, with her eyes lowered, looking as though she had +seen nothing, with the sun, which had brightened up the whole country +round for her marriage, shining full on her, Bijou was enjoying to +the full the bliss of living, of knowing herself beautiful, and of +being beloved by everyone. + +The sound of her Uncle Alexis' voice as he offered her his arm, and +said: "Are you ready?" woke her up out of her ecstasy. + +Very graceful and beautiful she looked, as she moved along to the +music of the organ, which was pealing forth. + +A cabman, who had gone inside the church to see "the wedding," +exclaimed, as Bijou passed up the aisle: + +"Bless my soul! but ain't she a pretty one---the bride?" + +Whereupon one of Farmer Lavenue's day-labourers replied: + +"I believe you. And I can tell you what--she's as good as she is +pretty--she is! And even better nor that!" + + + THE END. + + _Printed by Cowan & Co., Limited, Perth._ + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Missing or incorrect punctuation fixed. + +Hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of same words retained when +occurring equally. + +Unusual spellings retained, but obvious misspellings corrected. + +P.38: "bruta tenderness" to "brutal tenderness" + +P.65 and 6: "anyrate"(2) to more frequent "any rate" (11) + +P.292: "got o st" to "got lost" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bijou, by Gyp + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIJOU *** + +***** This file should be named 36199.txt or 36199.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/1/9/36199/ + +Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, JoAnn Greenwood and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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