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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Barber of Paris, by Charles Paul de Kock
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Barber of Paris
+
+Author: Charles Paul de Kock
+
+Translator: Edith May Norris
+
+Release Date: September 16, 2011 [EBook #37453]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BARBER OF PARIS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
+produced from scanned images of public domain material
+from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: frontispiece]
+
+
+
+
+THE WORKS OF
+
+CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK
+
+_The Barber of Paris_
+
+TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY
+EDITH MARY NORRIS
+
+The C. T. Brainard
+Publishing Co.
+
+Boston New York
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY
+
+THE FREDERICK J. QUINBY COMPANY
+
+_All rights reserved_
+
+_LOUIS E. CROSSCUP
+Printer
+Boston, Mass., U. S. A._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+VOLUME I
+
+
+CHAPTER I                                                           PAGE
+The Barber's House                                                     1
+
+CHAPTER II
+The Great Nobleman and the Barber                                     14
+
+CHAPTER III
+Blanche. A History of Sorcerers                                       35
+
+CHAPTER IV
+The Chevalier Chaudoreille                                            54
+
+CHAPTER V
+The Music Lesson                                                      74
+
+CHAPTER VI
+The Lovers. The Gossips                                               87
+
+CHAPTER VII
+Intrigues Thicken                                                    106
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+Conversation by the Fireside                                         129
+
+CHAPTER IX
+The Closet. The Abduction                                            140
+
+CHAPTER X
+The Little House. A New Game                                         155
+
+CHAPTER XI
+The Pont-Neuf. Tabarin                                               177
+
+CHAPTER XII
+A Nocturnal Adventure                                                189
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+The Tête-à-Tête                                                      198
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+Ursule and the Sorcerer of Verberie                                  218
+
+CHAPTER XV
+Love and Innocence. A Shower of Rain and the
+Talisman                                                             239
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+How Will It End                                                      260
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Who Could Have Expected It?                                            1
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Happy Moments                                                         23
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A Day with Chaudoreille                                               38
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+The Little Supper                                                     54
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Having Money and Power One May Dare
+Everything                                                            74
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Rendezvous. Strokes of Fortune. The Hotel
+de Bourgogne. The Sedan Chair                                        102
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Poor Urbain                                                          126
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+The Château de Sarcus                                                135
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The Meeting. Projects of Revenge                                     164
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The Little Closet Again                                              183
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The Storm Brews                                                      197
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The Return to the Château                                            212
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+The Marquis Visits Blanche at Night                                  226
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Urbain's Visit to the Marquis. Chaudoreille's
+Last Adventure                                                       242
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Julia's Story. What was Contained in the Portfolio                   258
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE BARBER'S HOUSE
+
+
+Upon a certain evening in the month of December, of the year one
+thousand six hundred and thirty-two, a man walked at a rapid pace down
+the Rue Saint-Honoré and directed his steps towards the Rue Bourdonnais.
+
+The individual appeared to be forty years old or thereabouts; he was
+tall as to his figure and sufficiently good-looking as to his face; the
+expression of the latter, however, was rather austere and at times even
+melancholy; and in his black eyes might sometimes be noted an ironical
+light, which belied the suspicion of a smile.
+
+This ungenial personage, on the occasion of which we are writing, was
+wrapped, one might almost say disguised, and he looked like one who
+would lend his personality to disguise; he was wrapped, then, in a long
+brown cloak which only came down just below his knees, and he wore,
+drawn low down over his eyes, a broad-brimmed hat, which, contrary to
+the fashion of the day, was ungarnished by a single feather, but which
+effectually protected his face from the rain which was now beginning to
+fall very heavily.
+
+The Paris of that time was very different from the Paris of today. The
+condition of the beautiful capital was then deplorable; many of the
+streets were unpaved, many of them were only partly paved; heaps of
+rubbish and filth accumulated here and there before the houses,
+obstructing the course of the water and stopping the openings of the
+drains. These waters being without outlet, overflowed on all sides,
+forming puddles and filthy holes which exhaled miasmatic and foetid
+odors. Then one might have alluded with truth to--
+
+    Paris, city of noise, of mud and of smoke.
+
+The streets were unlighted. People carried lanterns, it is true; but
+everybody did not have these, nor were lanterns any defence against the
+robbers who existed in very large numbers, committing a thousand
+excesses, a thousand disorders, even in broad daylight, being only too
+well authorized in crime by the example of the pages and lackeys whose
+habit it was to amuse themselves each night by insulting the passers-by,
+abducting the girls, mocking at the watch, beating the sergeants,
+breaking in the doors of shops, and annoying the peace of the
+inhabitants in a multiplicity of ways, excesses against which parliament
+had in vain promulgated statutes, which were incessantly renewed, and
+just as incessantly violated with impunity.
+
+The stealing of purses, and even of cloaks, was then a thing so common
+that the witnesses of the robbery contented themselves with laughing at
+the expense of the victim, without ever running after the thief. Murders
+were committed in broad daylight on the squares and on the walks, the
+criminals insulting their victims as they departed.
+
+There were two kinds of thieves,--cut-purses and tire-laines. The first
+nimbly cut the strings of the purse, which it was then the habit to
+carry hung at the belt; the second, approaching from behind, rudely tore
+the passer's cloak from his shoulders.
+
+Vainly from time to time they executed some of these criminals. These
+examples seemed to redouble the audacity of the vagabonds, the insolence
+of the pages and lackeys. Justice waxed feeble, while custom allowed
+each one to execute it for himself. Duels were nearly as common as
+robberies; it was considered a great honor to have the power to boast of
+having sent many people into the other world. Indubitably this was not
+the golden age, nor the good old times so vaunted by some poets, so
+regretted by those gloomy minds which admire only hoops and
+farthingales.
+
+We do not pretend to write history, but we have thought it necessary to
+recall to the reader the state of Paris at the time in which our barber
+lived. Undoubtedly he has already divined, by the title alone, that the
+story is not of our time; for now we have in Paris many artistes in
+hairdressing, many coiffeurs, and many wigmakers, but we have no longer
+any barbers.
+
+The individual whose portrait we have just drawn, having reached a
+corner of the Rue des Bourdonnais, stopped before a pretty house on
+which was written in big letters, "Touquet, Barber and Bathkeeper." At
+that time the luxury of signs was not known, and the streets of Paris
+did not offer to the consideration of loiterers a character from Greek
+or Roman history at the front of each grocer's or haberdasher's shop.
+The portrait of Mary Stuart did not invite one to go in and buy an ell
+of calico; nor did Absalom, hung by the nape, indicate to one that he
+was passing a hairdresser's parlors. We have made great progress in such
+matters.
+
+The man who had stopped before the barber's house would have had, no
+doubt, much trouble in reading what was written on the front of the
+shop, which was shut; for the night was dark, and, as we have already
+said, there were no street lamps to aid those who ventured to be out in
+the evening in the capital. However, he seized the knocker of the
+smaller door, which served as an entrance, and gave a double knock
+without hesitating, and as one who was not afraid of making a mistake;
+in fact, it was the barber himself. In a few moments heavy steps were
+heard, and a light shone against the lattice-work above the door, which
+opened, and an old woman appeared, holding a candle in her hand. She
+nodded, saying,--
+
+"Good God, my dear master! you have had horrible weather. You must be
+very wet. I have been praying to my patron saint that nothing should
+happen to you. Oh, if one only had a secret for preserving one's self
+from the rain! I'm very sure there are some people who can command the
+elements."
+
+The barber made no answer, but passed toward a passage which led to a
+lower room in which there was a big fire. On entering the apartment he
+began by removing his cloak and hat, from which latter escaped a mass of
+black hair which fell in ringlets on his collar; he unfastened a large
+dagger from his belt, it being then the custom not to venture out
+without being armed. Touquet hung the dagger over the mantelpiece, then
+threw himself into a wicker armchair and placed himself before the fire.
+
+While her master rested, the old servant came and went about the room;
+she placed the table beside the barber's armchair, drew from a buffet a
+pewter cup, some plates, a cover. She placed on the table tankards
+containing wine or brandy, and some dishes of meat which she had
+prepared for the supper.
+
+"Has anyone been here during my absence?" said the barber, after a
+moment.
+
+"Yes, monsieur; first, some pages, to know the news and adventures of
+the neighborhood, to talk evil about everybody, and to mock at the poor
+women who were weak enough to listen to them. Oh, the young men of
+today are wicked. How they boasted of their conquests! Some bachelors
+came to be shaved, then the little dandy who's delighted to wear powder,
+protesting that soon everybody will wear it. Perhaps they'll powder the
+hair likewise; still, that may preserve it from something worse. Ah, I
+forgot; and that big, noisy and insolent lout who, because he has a
+satin doublet and a velvet mantle, a hat adorned with a fine plume, and
+beautiful silver points, believes that he has the right to play the
+master over everything."
+
+"Ah, you're speaking about Monbart?"
+
+"Yes, of that same. He made a great shouting when he found you were not
+here. He said that since monsieur is rich he neglects his business."
+
+"Why should he meddle with it?"
+
+"That's just what I thought, monsieur. M. le Chevalier Chaudoreille also
+came. He fought a duel yesterday in the little Pré-aux-Clercs and killed
+his adversary, and he had still another duel for this evening. Blessed
+Holy Virgin! that men should kill each other like that, and often for
+some mere trifle."
+
+"Let them fight as much as they please; it's of little importance; it's
+not my business. Did anybody else come?"
+
+"Oh, the gentleman who is so droll that he makes me laugh, and whom I
+have sometimes seen play in the farces which everybody runs to see at
+his theatre in the Hôtel de Bourgogne,--M. Henry Legrand."
+
+"Why don't you say Turlupin?"
+
+"Well, Turlupin, since that's the name they give him at the theatre, and
+by which he's also known in the city. He does not make one melancholy.
+He came with that other who plays with him, and acts, they say, the old
+men, and delivers the prologues which precede the pieces."
+
+"That's Gautier-Garguille?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, that's his name. He wanted to be shaved, bathed and have
+his hair dressed; but as you were not here, one of them played the
+barber and shaved his comrade; then the other took the comb and soapball
+and rendered him the same service. I wished at first to prevent them,
+but they wouldn't listen to me; if they didn't make me sit in the shop
+and talk downright nonsense about scent and soap. Some people who in
+passing had recognized Turlupin and his companion stopped before the
+shop; presently the crowd grew dense, and when they wanted to leave they
+could not find a way through; but you know Turlupin is never
+embarrassed, and, having uselessly begged the curious to let them pass,
+he went into the back shop and brought a bucketful of water, which he
+emptied entirely upon the crowd. Then you can imagine, monsieur, the
+excitement, the shouts of everybody. Turlupin and Gautier-Garguille
+profited by the confusion to make their escape."
+
+"And Blanche," said the barber, who appeared to listen impatiently to
+old Marguerite's story,--"I hope that she was not downstairs when these
+merry-andrews attracted such a crowd about my house."
+
+"No, monsieur, no; you know very well that Mademoiselle Blanche seldom
+comes down to the shop, and never when there is anybody there. Today, as
+you were away, she did not leave her room, as you had advised her."
+
+"That's well; that's very well," said the barber.
+
+Then he drew near the fire, supporting one of his elbows on the table,
+and appeared to fall again into reflection without listening to the
+chatter of his servant, which continued as if her master were paying the
+greatest attention to her.
+
+"Mademoiselle Blanche is a charming girl; oh, yes, she is a charming
+child,--pretty, very pretty. I defy all your court ladies to have more
+beautiful eyes, or a fresher mouth, or whiter teeth; and such beautiful
+hair, black as jet and falling below her knees. And with all that, so
+sweet, so frank, without the least idea of coquetry. Ah, she is candor,
+innocence, itself. Of course, she's not yet sixteen years old; but there
+are many young girls at that age who already listen to lovers. What a
+pity if such a treasure as that should fall into the claws of a demon!
+But we shall save her from that. Yes, yes; I'm sure of it. I shall do
+all that's necessary for that, for it's not enough to watch over a young
+girl; the devil is so malicious, and all these bachelors, these
+students, these pages, are so enterprising, without counting the young
+noblemen, who make no scruple of abducting young girls and women, and
+for all compensation give a stroke of the sword, or cause to be whipped
+by their lackeys those who complain of their treatment. Good Saint
+Marguerite! what a time we live in! One must allow one's self to be
+outraged, offended, robbed even,--yes, robbed,--for if you should have
+taken your man in the act, if you demand justice, they will ask you if
+you yourself were a witness to it. If you say no, they will dismiss the
+guilty person, and if you say yes, they will first find out if you have
+the means of paying the expenses of the law, in which case you may have
+the pleasure of seeing the thief flogged before your door, and that will
+cost you a heap. But if it is someone with a title who has offended you,
+it's necessary for you to be silent about it, unless you wish to finish
+your days at the Bastile or at the Châtelet."
+
+Marguerite was silent for some minutes, awaiting a response from her
+master. Receiving none, she presumed that he tacitly approved of all she
+was saying, and resumed her discourse.
+
+"Finally, they pretend that it's always been thus. They hang the little
+ones, the bigger ones save themselves, and the biggest mock at everyone.
+One's ill advised to go to law now that the advocates and the attorneys
+drag a lawsuit along for five or six years, receiving money from all
+hands, so as to maintain their wives and their daughters in luxury,
+playing the Jew to ruin their poor clients. As to the sergeants, they
+run all over to find criminals; but if they arrest some thieves, they
+let them go very quickly, for fear that the latter will give them some
+money. Poor city! Don't we hear a frightful noise every night? And still
+we're in the best neighborhood. And that does not prevent them from
+committing vandalisms, robberies, murders. There are shouts, a clash of
+arms; what is the use of provosts, sheriffs, sergeants, archers, if the
+police do so badly? It's not the merchants I pity; they'll give
+themselves to the devil for a sou; they sell their goods for four times
+more than they cost; to draw customers, they allow every passer-by to go
+into their shops, leaving them at leisure to chat with their women, to
+take them by the chin, to talk soft nonsense, to make love to their
+face,--all that to sell a collar, some rouge, a dozen of needles. It's a
+shame to see everything that goes on amongst us. If I go to market to
+get my provisions, I'm surrounded by thieves who amuse themselves by
+stealing from the buyers and the sellers; they rummage in the creels and
+baskets, then they sing in my ears indecent and obscene songs. Good
+Saint Marguerite! where are we in all this? The scholars, more debauched
+than ever, insulting, pillaging, doing a thousand wickednesses; the
+young men of family who haunt the gambling-dens, the drinking-houses,
+always armed with daggers or swords. Ah, my dear master, Satan has taken
+possession of our poor city and will make us his prey."
+
+Marguerite stopped anew and listened. The barber still kept the deepest
+silence, but he was not asleep. Several times he had passed his right
+hand over his forehead and pushed back his curls. For those who love to
+talk, it is much the same whether they are listened to or believe
+themselves to be listened to. The old servant was enjoying herself; she
+did not often find so good an opportunity to talk, and she began again
+after a short pause:--
+
+"Thanks to Heaven, I am in a good house, and I can say with pride that,
+during the eight years that I have lived with monsieur, nothing has
+passed contrary to decency and good manners. I remember very well that
+when they said to me, eight years ago, 'Marguerite, M. Touquet, the
+barber-bathkeeper of the Rue des Bourdonnais, is looking for a servant
+for his house,' I considered it twice. I beg your pardon, monsieur; for
+bath-keepers' houses and lodging-houses don't have a very good
+reputation. But they said to me, 'M. Touquet is in easy circumstances
+now; he doesn't take lodgers; he is contented to exercise his calling in
+the morning, and for the rest he hardly ever sees anybody at his house,
+where he is carefully educating a little girl whom he's adopted.' My
+faith! that decided me, and I've not had cause to repent my decision. If
+there come in the morning to the shop a crowd of men of all professions,
+not one of them penetrates to the interior of the house. Monsieur does
+his business honorably, I am proud to say; and that which I admire above
+all is the interest which he bears for the orphan he has taken under his
+care, for I believe that monsieur has told me that she is an orphan.
+Yes, monsieur has told me so. She surely merits all that anyone can do
+for her, that dear Blanche; but I believe I have not told monsieur by
+what means I preserve her from the snares that wait for innocence. Oh,
+it's a secret, it's a marvellous secret, which I shall confide to
+monsieur. The neighbor opposite the silk merchant told me how to make
+it; it is a little skin of vellum, on which some words are written; then
+one signs it, and it becomes a talisman to prevent all misfortunes.
+Queen Catherine de Médicis had a similar one which she wore always; the
+talisman which I have given to Mademoiselle Blanche, very far from
+attracting evil spirits, should make them fly from a place and prevent
+the effect of all sorceries which anyone could employ to triumph over
+her virtue. Oh, the precious talisman, monsieur! Alas! if I had had one
+eight years ago!--But you don't sup, monsieur; haven't you any
+appetite?"
+
+Touquet rose abruptly and went to look at a wooden timepiece which stood
+at the end of the room.
+
+"Nine o'clock," said the barber impatiently; "nine o'clock, and he has
+not come."
+
+"Why, are you waiting for someone, monsieur?" said the old servant in
+surprise.
+
+"Yes; I'm waiting for a friend. Put another drinking-cup on the table;
+he will sup with me."
+
+"I very much doubt whether he will come," said Marguerite, while
+executing her master's orders; "it's late and the weather is frightful;
+one must be very bold to risk himself in the streets at this hour."
+
+At this moment somebody knocked violently at the door of the passageway,
+and the barber, smiling to himself, cried,--
+
+"It is he!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE GREAT NOBLEMAN AND THE BARBER
+
+
+On hearing the knock old Marguerite started affrightedly and looked at
+her master, as she faltered,--
+
+"Must we open the door at this time of night, monsieur?"
+
+"Of course, haven't I told you already that I was waiting for a friend?"
+replied the barber, putting some more wood on the fire, "go to the door
+at once."
+
+The old servant was very fearful; she stood and hesitated; but a single
+look from her master decided her; she took a lamp and directed her steps
+towards the corridor which opened into the passageway of the house.
+Marguerite was sixty-eight years old; work and the weight of years had
+long since bent her body and deprived her limbs of their natural
+agility; she could only walk slowly, and the high heels of her large
+slippers made a uniform flapping noise which the poor old hand-maid
+could not prevent and of which she was, indeed, unconscious.
+
+The good woman had shuffled as far as the middle of the passageway, when
+another knock, louder than the first one, shook all the windows of the
+house.
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu!" said Marguerite; "he's in a great hurry. Which of my
+master's friends would allow himself to knock in that manner? There are
+some panes broken, I'm sure. Can it be Chaudoreille? Oh, no; he only
+gives a very soft little knock. Turlupin? Of course not; I should hear
+him sing in the street. Besides, he's not my master's friend. Ah, I'm
+very curious to know who it can be."
+
+Despite her curiosity Marguerite did not advance more quickly. However,
+she arrived at the door, and, having mentally recommended herself to her
+dear patron saint, she decided to open it.
+
+A man wrapped in a large cloak which he held against his face, his head
+covered with a hat ornamented on the edge with white feathers, and drawn
+well down over his eyes, so that no one could see them, appeared at the
+end of the passageway, and asked in a loud voice if this was Barber
+Touquet's house.
+
+"Yes, monsieur," said Marguerite, trying, but in vain, to discover the
+features of the person before her. "Yes, this is it; and it's you, no
+doubt, for whom my master's waiting."
+
+"In that case conduct me to him," said the stranger.
+
+Marguerite closed the door and bade the unknown follow her. While
+guiding him along the passageway and the long corridor which they had
+to traverse, she turned often and held her lamp to the stranger, under
+the pretence of lighting him, but in fact to try to see something by
+which she could recognize the person whom she had introduced into the
+house. Her efforts were in vain. The stranger walked with his head down,
+holding his cloak against his face. Marguerite was reduced to examining
+his boots, which were white, with turned-over mushroom-shaped tops, and
+garnished with spurs. This seemed to indicate a refined dress; but many
+men then wore similar ones, and this part of his dress could not help
+Marguerite in her conjectures. They reached the lower room, and the
+stranger entered with a light step, while the servant said to her
+master,--
+
+"Here's the person who knocked. I do not know if it is the friend you
+were waiting for; I was not able to see him."
+
+The barber did not allow Marguerite time to finish her phrase. He ran
+toward the stranger and made him come to the fire, saying to him,--
+
+"Thou hast arrived at last, then. I feared that the night, that the bad
+weather--But place thyself here; we will sup together."
+
+"Good," said the servant to herself; "in order for him to sup it will be
+necessary for him to remove his mantle, and I shall at last be able to
+see his face. I don't know why, but I have the greatest curiosity to
+know this man. If it is one of my master's friends, it must be that he
+has come here very rarely. I did not recognize his voice; his height is
+ordinary,--rather tall than short; he should be young. Yes, he's not a
+scholar; however, I bet he's a pretty fellow; by his walk I judge him to
+be a military man. We shall see if I'm mistaken."
+
+The old maid did not take her eyes from the stranger, who had thrown
+himself on a chair, and made no sign that he wished to relieve himself
+of his cloak and hat, both of which were drenched with rain.
+
+"If monsieur desires it," said Marguerite, approaching the stranger's
+chair, "I will relieve him of his cloak, which is all wet; and I can dry
+it while he is supping."
+
+"It is unnecessary," said the barber, putting himself precipitately
+between the old woman and the stranger, who had not stirred; "we have no
+need of your services. Leave us, and go to rest; I will shut the street
+door myself when my friend leaves."
+
+Marguerite seemed petrified on receiving this order. She looked at her
+master, and was about to allow herself to indulge in some observations;
+but the barber fixed his eyes upon her, and Master Touquet's eyes had at
+times an expression which compelled obedience.
+
+"Leave us," said he again to his servant; "and above all, do not come
+down again."
+
+Marguerite was silent. She took her lamp, bowed to her master and turned
+to leave the room, throwing a last glance on the man of the mantle, who
+remained motionless before the fire and whose features she could not
+see. She was obliged to go to bed without being able to base her
+conjectures on facts, without knowing if she had rightly divined the
+age, the condition, the face of the unknown. What a punishment for the
+old maid! But her master pointed with his finger to the door of the
+room, and Marguerite went at once.
+
+As soon as the old servant had departed, and when the sound of her steps
+was no longer heard, the stranger burst into a shout of laughter and
+threw his hat and his cloak far from him. Then one perceived a man of
+thirty-six years or thereabouts; his features were fine, noble and
+spirituel. His brown mustache was lightly outlined above his mouth,
+which in smiling disclosed very beautiful teeth. His expressive eyes, in
+turn tender, proud and passionate, denoted one who was in the habit of
+expressing all his sentiments; but the disgust, the weariness, which
+were depicted also on the pale and worn features of the stranger seemed
+to indicate that, having once indulged his passion, it was only with an
+effort that he could bring himself to experience it again.
+
+His costume was rich and tasteful; the color of his doublet was a light
+blue; silver and silk were blended on the velvet which formed the
+foundation; superb lace bordered the collar which fell on his
+shoulders; a large white belt surrounded his figure, and a sword
+ornamented with precious stones glittered at his side.
+
+Since the departure of his servant the barber had changed his tone
+toward the stranger. Respect, humility, had replaced the familiarity
+which Touquet had affected in Marguerite's presence.
+
+"Deign to excuse me, monsieur le marquis," said he, bowing profoundly to
+his guest, "if I permitted myself to be too familiar, with my thee-ing
+and thou-ing; but it was only according to your orders, the better to
+deceive my servant and prevent her from having any suspicions as to your
+rank."
+
+"That's all right, my dear Touquet," said the marquis, displaying
+himself before the fire; "I assure you I had the greatest trouble to
+maintain my gravity before the poor woman, who did not know by what ruse
+she could see my face, which would not have been a very great matter,
+for it is hardly presumable that she would have known me."
+
+"No, monseigneur, she does not know you; I think so at least, for M. le
+Marquis de Villebelle has made so much talk about himself with his
+gallantry, his conquests, his feats of arms. His name has become so
+famous, his adventures have made so much noise, that the lowest classes
+of society know him,--the bugbear of fathers, of tutors, of husbands,
+of lovers even; for monseigneur knows no rival. Your name is spoken with
+terror by all the men, and makes all the women sigh, some with hope and
+the others in remembrance; besides, as monsieur le marquis sought
+pleasure wherever he found beauty, since he sometimes stooped to the
+humble middle classes, and has deigned to honor with his regards some
+pretty shop girl or simple villager, it would not be impossible that my
+old Marguerite might have served with some house where monsieur le
+marquis had left souvenirs. It was, therefore, much better that she
+should not see monseigneur when he came to my house incognito."
+
+"Yes, certainly; I wish to remain unknown; it is necessary now that I
+should put more mystery into my love affairs. Be seated, Touquet; I have
+many things to tell you."
+
+"Monseigneur--"
+
+"Be seated; I wish it. Here I lay aside my rank and my grandeur; in you
+I see the first confidant of my loves, the clever servant of my
+passions, the audacious rascal for whom gold excited the imagination,
+and who knew no obstacle when a purse filled with pistoles was the
+recompense of his services. You are still the same, I am certain."
+
+"Ah, monsieur, age makes us more reasonable. Seventeen years have passed
+since I had the honor of serving you for the first time; but since that
+time my head is steadier; I have learned to reflect."
+
+"Do you wish to become an honest man? But it is not more than ten years
+ago that you were serving me; you were still a knave then. Does your
+conversion date from that epoch?"
+
+"Monsieur le marquis is incessantly joking. He calls those services
+knaveries which I rendered to him because I was so strongly attached to
+him."
+
+"Call it what you will, it matters little to me. It's not necessary with
+me, Master Touquet, to play the hypocrite, and man of scruples. In fact,
+are you disposed to be useful to me? Is your genius extinguished, and
+will gold no longer resuscitate it?"
+
+"To serve you, monsieur le marquis, I shall be always the same; you need
+not doubt my zeal or my devotion."
+
+"All in good time. That is all that I ask of you; be a saint with other
+people if that pleases you, but see that I always find you the same to
+me as you were formerly."
+
+Touquet did not answer, but he turned his head and his features seemed
+to grow sad. However, he soon recovered himself and turned smilingly
+toward his guest, who was tapping the wall of the chimney with his feet,
+and who remained for some time silent, as if he had forgotten that he
+was still at the barber's. The latter waited with impatience for the
+marquis to resume his discourse. At the end of five minutes the noble
+seigneur broke the silence.
+
+"My dear Touquet, when I recall the events of my life to my memory, I am
+truly astonished that I am still in the world. Why, during all this
+time, has not the dagger of a jealous husband or father fallen upon my
+head? How many men have sworn to ruin me! And the women,--if all those I
+have betrayed had executed their projects of vengeance! Thanks to
+Heaven, we are not in Italy or in Spain; and, while we have among the
+French some vindictive spirits, who hold rancor toward one who has
+betrayed them, the total is small. Inconstancy is not an unforgivable
+crime among these ladies, who deign sometimes to put themselves in our
+places and say they would not have done differently to us."
+
+"Certainly, monseigneur, your life, at least since I have had the honor
+to be attached to you, has been a continued series of very spicy
+adventures, and some very dangerous ones. Abductions, seductions, duels,
+attacks with force, made openly,--nothing stopped you when you had
+resolved upon anything. Could you find any obstacles? Rich, noble,
+generous, fortune and nature have done everything for you, monsieur le
+marquis. You have profited by it; you have enjoyed life; many men have
+envied you your good fortune."
+
+"My good fortune! Do you truly imagine that I have been happy?"
+
+"And what should have prevented your being so, monseigneur?"
+
+"Nothing; and that is perhaps why weariness and disgust have often
+attacked me in the midst of the pleasures, the voluptuousness, I have
+tasted. Sometimes, without doubt, I have felt happiness, but it has been
+so short and has fled so rapidly. The appearance of beauty has inflamed
+my senses and made my heart palpitate. The charming sex, which I
+idolize, has always exercised an absolute empire over me. At the sight
+of a pretty woman I love, or at least believe I love; but no sooner are
+my desires satisfied than my love expires, and I am obliged to seek a
+new object to reanimate my benumbed senses."
+
+"Happily, this capital contains any quantity of pretty faces; the city
+and the court afford you sufficient to vary your pleasures."
+
+"Sentiment and memory are alike exhausted. I fear that, having once had
+force to take fire, my poor heart has become like those imperfect gun
+flints on which the hammer strikes without effect. I am tired of the
+intrigues of the court, which are even easier than the others. Where do
+you think I could find something more spicy? There everything is done
+with etiquette, and everyone is so polished. We know life too well to
+get angry at the least infidelity; one leaves or one takes with the most
+profound obeisances, and this wearies one to death; courtiers have
+nothing new to offer one. What should I accomplish in Marion de Lorme's
+circle? I should see always the same faces. When the Cardinal had made
+her fashionable, I didn't find the woman so witty that one would wish to
+have anything to do with her. How different with this young and
+beautiful Ninon! People will long speak of her; her name will go down
+the centuries. But she has too much wit and too little love, for me. My
+heart, cold before its time, needs to come in contact with a passionate
+heart in order to rewarm itself. In the city one does not fare much
+better with the women. The little bourgeoises have become coquettes.
+Still, if they only knew how to be cruel; but a name, a figure, a rich
+cloak, seems to turn their heads. The merchants know how to rob us, and
+the grisettes entice us; and in the midst of all that the husbands are
+so kind, so complacent; they fear us as they would fire; our titles
+render them mute; of honor they are hopeless. If this continues, it will
+be necessary to make love à la turque; we should only have then to throw
+the handkerchief."
+
+"Then, monsieur le marquis, one always has the resource of wisdom; and,
+since I have not had the honor of serving you for ten years, without
+doubt you have acquired that."
+
+"My faith, yes; for it's not necessary to speak of common adventures,
+which are not worth the trouble of reciting. I have been in the army; I
+have been in battle; that afforded me much pleasure, and I would
+willingly have stayed there much longer; but peace is made, I have
+returned, I have visited my lands, and have laughed with some little
+peasants who were sufficiently pleasing, but so awkward, so simple. By
+the way, I forgot to tell you; I married."
+
+"Married! What, monseigneur! you?"
+
+"Undoubtedly; my marriage was very necessary; my rank, my place at the
+court--and then I was overloaded with debt. That didn't make me uneasy;
+but they had arranged this marriage; the Cardinal, the Queen herself,
+desired it. I married the daughter of the Count of Laroche. My wife was
+very good, of very sweet character; she didn't trouble herself about my
+intrigues; she had what was necessary to me. I loved her--very honestly,
+as one can love his wife; but she died two years ago and left me no
+heir, which is intensely disagreeable. I had an idea that I should love
+children very much."
+
+"Then you are a widower, monsieur?"
+
+"Yes; and I find myself the possessor of a considerable fortune, very
+well considered at court, in favor with the Cardinal, and even able to
+obtain, should I desire it, the most important employment."
+
+"I conceive, then, that monsieur le marquis wishes more secrecy in his
+love affairs."
+
+"Ah, my poor Touquet, I don't believe that ambition will ever have much
+charm for me, but nobody knows; and there are some convenances at the
+court which one must not break; besides, secrecy lends a charm to the
+most simple act. But why have you not enrolled yourself under Hymen's
+flag? I find that you are more thoughtful, less cheerful, less lively,
+than formerly."
+
+"No, monsieur le marquis; I am still a bachelor."
+
+"Oh, well, I believe you are better so. In your position a wife would
+restrain you,--you who are so clever, so discreet, in conducting an
+intrigue. Women are so curious; she would want to know everything, which
+would be troublesome for you. Besides, you have never been very gallant;
+you care for nothing but gold. It is your god, your idol; a well-filled
+purse makes you inventive, capable of working marvels. It's true that
+you play with it a quarter of an hour afterwards and at dice or cards
+soon increase the fruit of the efforts of your genius."
+
+"Ah, monseigneur!"
+
+"Yes, you are as big a gambler as you are a knave; I remember it very
+well. Perhaps in ten years you have become wiser; I almost believe so,
+for you appear in very easy circumstances, and this house does not
+indicate poverty; this servant, this supper served for you--The deuce! I
+must taste your wine."
+
+"Ah, monseigneur, it is not worth offering to you."
+
+"I always like best that which is not offered to me."
+
+While he was saying these words the marquis filled one of the cups with
+wine and swallowed it at a draught.
+
+"Really, it's not so very bad."
+
+"Ah, monseigneur, if it were on your table--"
+
+"Then I should find it detestable; but what will you have? Variety is
+the spice of life. And you have become rich, then?"
+
+"No, not rich, but well enough off to buy this house."
+
+"What! the house belongs to you?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur le marquis."
+
+"Deuce take it, Master Touquet, it must be that you have made some big
+hauls in order to become a proprietor."
+
+The barber's face contracted; his black eyebrows frowned and almost met;
+he slowly rolled his eyes around him, and murmured with an effort,--
+
+"Monsieur le marquis, I swear to you--"
+
+"O mon Dieu! I do not ask you to swear, my poor Touquet," said the
+marquis, laughing. "You are as uneasy as if you had become a lieutenant
+in crime. Do you think that I came here to inquire as to the manner in
+which you made your fortune? But by all the devils, I do not believe
+that you earned this house in your barber shop."
+
+"Monseigneur, I assure you that my economies--"
+
+"Yes, that's all very well; let's leave all that and speak of the
+subject which brought me here, for, of course, I came to you for
+something, and I'll be damned if I remember what it was."
+
+The barber appeared to breathe more freely; his face assumed its
+habitual expression, and he raised his eyes to the marquis, who seemed
+to throw aside his insolence to explain the motive of his nocturnal
+visit.
+
+"When I saw you this morning on the Pont-Neuf, I was following a young
+girl, a pretty little puss; without being a perfect beauty, she was
+graceful and interesting in appearance, with sparkling and very
+intelligent eyes. I do not believe that we should have much trouble in
+making a conquest of her. However, she walked faster, and would not
+answer any of my compliments. I carefully wrapped myself in my cloak,
+not wishing to be recognized by our amiable profligates, who would have
+made sport of me for running after a grisette. The little girl stopped
+to listen for a moment to Tabarin's songs, and it was while she was
+before the quack that I saw you and recognized you immediately; you have
+one of those faces that nobody forgets."
+
+"I had also recognized you, monseigneur, in spite of the cloak in which
+you were enveloped; for ten years have not changed your features,
+monsieur le marquis, and one could not easily mistake that noble figure
+which captivates all the belles."
+
+"You flatter me, rascal; which means that I have aged. But let's go on.
+As soon as you had given me your address, I returned to the side of the
+little one."
+
+"If monsieur le marquis had explained to me this morning what he was
+after, I would have spared him the trouble of following this young
+girl."
+
+"No, I had a good opportunity of examining her further; besides, I had
+nothing else to do. She took the road to the city, which she entered by
+the Rue de la Calandre, I still talking to her; she only smiled, without
+answering me, but her look was not severe. At last she stopped before a
+perfumer's shop; I wished to go in with her, but she opposed me, saying
+in a very singular tone, 'Monsieur le Marquis de Villebelle is too well
+known for him to go into this shop with me; I should lose my reputation,
+and I beg monsieur le marquis not to compromise me.' Well now, my dear,
+Touquet, can you imagine this grisette who pretends that I should cause
+her to lose her reputation? As for me, I confess that I was so much
+surprised by finding myself known to the young girl and hearing her
+speak thus, that I remained like a fool in the middle of the street;
+meanwhile my beautiful conquest had entered, and disappeared by the back
+of the shop."
+
+"As I told you, monseigneur, you are known in all classes of society;
+even a young girl of twelve years is as much afraid of you as she would
+be of Count Ory of gallant memory."
+
+"Better and better! Women are always curious to know these men who have
+been pictured to them as so dangerous. Poor parents! When they tell them
+to fly from me, it makes them run after me. Here, Touquet; here's some
+gold. You will see this young girl, then; since she knows who I am, you
+cannot easily promise her that I will be faithful. No matter; promise
+her anyhow. In three days let me find her at my little house in the
+Faubourg Saint-Antoine; you know it."
+
+"Yes, monseigneur; I remember it; it is the one that you formerly
+possessed."
+
+"Yes; but I have made it a delightful retreat. You shall see it;
+pictures, mirrors, marble, alabaster, are there mingled with silk,
+velvet and the most precious stuffs. I have spent more than fifty
+thousand francs upon it. Oh, it is divine! I have had some charming
+suppers there with Montglas, Chavagnac, Villempré, Monteille, and some
+other profligates of the court."
+
+"Was it not there, monsieur le marquis, that I led that young girl whose
+abduction made such an uproar? That was, I believe, our first affair of
+this kind; you were then a little more than nineteen years of age; and
+the little girl--"
+
+"Why the devil do you recall that?" said the marquis, making an angry
+movement, and pressing in his hand the purse he was about to take from
+his belt, and on which the barber had already laid avaricious eyes.
+
+"Pardon, monsieur le marquis," said Touquet; "but I did not think I
+should displease you in recalling the adventure which commenced your
+reputation. The young person was beautiful and good, and the father, one
+of King Henry's old archers, did not understand joking. His arquebus was
+aimed at you, the ball went through your hat; but your sword stopped the
+old man, and he fell at your feet, while I bore off in my arms his
+insensible daughter."
+
+"Be silent, wretch," cried the marquis, suddenly rising, and looking
+angrily at the barber, who received his glances with perfect
+indifference.
+
+The conversation was again interrupted; the marquis walked rapidly up
+and down the room, and appeared buried in his reflections; soon,
+however, broken words escaped him, but they were not addressed to
+Touquet. The marquis seemed violently agitated as he said in a low
+voice,--
+
+"Poor Estrelle! what has become of you? She loved me--she believed me to
+be a simple student. I loved her also; yes, never since that time have I
+experienced a feeling which I can compare with the love with which she
+inspired me. I was young--ah, Heaven is my witness that I did not wish
+to fight with her father. Thanks to Heaven, his wound was very trifling
+and was soon cured; but Estrelle, when she learned my name and that
+event, cursed me. Yes, I believe I can hear her still. Then she escaped
+from that house where I had hidden her. I love her still. Since that
+time I have never heard of her; and you, Touquet,--have you never met
+her since?"
+
+"Never, monseigneur; I have neither seen her nor heard her speak."
+
+"Poor Estrelle!" said the marquis after a moment; and the barber added
+in a low tone,--
+
+"She would now be thirty-four years of age, or very near that."
+
+This remark appeared to lessen somewhat the marquis' regret.
+
+"In fact," said he, again approaching the fire, "she would be nearly
+that age if she were living, and would not appear the same to me as the
+one I formerly knew. How time passes! Come, let's forget all that; after
+all, it is much the same as any other adventure,--a chapter in the
+history of my life."
+
+"And did the marquis say that the young girl lived in the Rue de la
+Calandre in the city?"
+
+"The young girl? What young girl?"
+
+"The one monseigneur followed this morning."
+
+"Yes, to be sure; I had forgotten. You will easily recognize her: her
+figure unconstrained, her walk brisk; twenty years or thereabouts, I
+presume; nut-brown hair, black eyes, beautiful teeth, her skin a little
+brown. I do not think she's French. Something lively in her
+countenance; nothing that indicates timidity or simplicity. This is all
+the information which I can give you."
+
+"It is sufficient, monseigneur; in two days I hope that the young person
+will be at your little house."
+
+"That's very good.--Wait; this is for your expenses, and I promise you
+as much more if you are successful."
+
+While saying these words the marquis threw on the table the purse filled
+with gold, which he still held in his hand, and a smile escaped the lips
+of the barber. His guest resumed his cloak and replaced his hat on his
+head.
+
+"It is late," said the marquis, wrapping himself in his mantle, "and I
+must go home. The day after tomorrow, toward ten o'clock, I will return
+to learn the result of your proceedings."
+
+"Shall I find anybody at your little house?"
+
+"Yes, Marcel, one of my people, a devoted servant who lives there
+constantly. I will warn him."
+
+"That is enough, monseigneur, and I hope that you will be pleased with
+me on this occasion."
+
+"I leave it all to your zeal; in fact, the little one is very pleasing,
+and ought to amuse me for some time. Come, my dear Touquet, let us
+follow our destiny. Gallantry, voluptuousness, pleasure,--that is my
+life; that is the road which I follow where my passions lead me. I
+should not know how to follow any other walk now; like a blind man who
+trusts in Providence, I do not know if this road will lead me to
+happiness; but I cannot turn aside from it."
+
+The marquis turned his steps toward the door, and Touquet proposed to
+his distinguished guest that he should guide him to his dwelling.
+
+"Thank you," said the marquis, "it is unnecessary; I have my sword, and
+I fear nothing."
+
+While uttering these words the marquis had plunged into the street and
+disappeared from the barber's sight. The latter closed the door and
+returned to the little room. Arrived there, he hastened to take the
+purse which lay on the table; he counted the pieces which it contained,
+nor could he raise his eyes from the sight of the gold. But soon a dull,
+melancholy sound was heard; it was Saint-Eustache's clock striking two.
+The barber turned pale; his hair seemed to stand up on his head; he
+threw about him gloomy glances, as if he feared to perceive some
+frightful object; then he placed the purse in his bosom, took a lamp and
+went toward the door at the end of the room, murmuring in a sad voice,--
+
+"Two o'clock! Let's go to bed. Ah, if I could only sleep!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+BLANCHE. A HISTORY OF SORCERERS
+
+
+The welcome day had succeeded to the long and rainy night; the merchants
+had opened their shops, the watchmen were taking their much-needed rest
+after their fatiguing nocturnal duties, while the more hardy robbers of
+the darkness had given place to the sneaking pickpockets and thieves who
+exercised their calling in broad daylight in the most populous quarters.
+The servant maids were up and about, briskly performing their morning
+tasks; husbands left the nuptial couch, for then it was usual for one to
+sleep with his wife, at least among middle-class people, to betake
+themselves to their daily avocations; wives and mothers were attending
+to the needs of their households and their children; lovers who had
+dreamt of their sweethearts went to endeavor to realize some of their
+dreams; and the young girls who always thought of their sweethearts
+whether they were sleeping or waking, went, thinking of them still, to
+their daily work. In that time, as in this, love was the dream of youth,
+the distraction of the middle-aged, and the memory of the old.
+
+The barber was always the first to rise in the house. He had no
+servants, although his means would well have allowed it; but when anyone
+asked him why he did not take a boy to help him and to watch in the
+shop, Touquet answered,--
+
+"I do not need anyone; I can conduct my business alone, and I'm not fond
+of feeding idlers who are good for nothing but to spy on their master's
+actions and go and talk about them in the neighborhood."
+
+The barber knew that Marguerite, though a little curious and somewhat of
+a gossip, was incapable of disobeying him in anything; she went out to
+buy the necessary provisions for the house, then she went upstairs again
+to the young girl of whom we have heard her speak, and with whom we
+shall soon have a better acquaintance. Marguerite went down only when
+her master was absent, which was rarely. Finally, the barber could not
+dispense with a maid since he had taken the little Blanche to grow up
+under his roof.
+
+Touquet himself opened his shop; he looked up and down the street, but
+it was yet too early for customers to come. The barber was dreamy,
+preoccupied; he was thinking of the commission which had been given him
+by the marquis; then he returned indoors, saying,--
+
+"Chaudoreille is late this morning; however, it's his day to be shaved."
+
+Marguerite appeared at the entrance to the room; and, after looking
+about her on all sides, perhaps to assure herself that the stranger of
+the night before was not still there, she greeted her master
+respectfully, and said to him,--
+
+"Monsieur, Mademoiselle Blanche is up and wishes to know if she may come
+and say good-morning to you."
+
+The barber still threw a glance into the street; then he passed into his
+back shop, saying to his servant,--
+
+"Blanche may come."
+
+Marguerite had hardly made a sign to someone in the passage when a young
+girl, light as a deer and fresh as a rose, sprang into the little room
+where Touquet was waiting, and ran toward him with the most lovely
+smile, saying to him,--
+
+"Good-morning, my good friend!"
+
+Then she offered Touquet her candid forehead, and the barber approached
+her and brushed it lightly with his lips. One would have said that a
+painful feeling restrained him, and that he feared to wither that tender
+flower.
+
+Marguerite's portrait had not flattered Blanche. The young girl was as
+pretty as she appeared innocent and ingenuous. Her dark hair, smoothed
+in bands on her forehead, fell in ringlets on her right shoulder.
+Powder, which the court ladies had then begun to use, had not spoiled
+Blanche's beautiful tresses. Her skin accorded perfectly with her name.
+Her mouth was fresh and tender; and her blue eyes, shaded by long
+lashes, had an innocent and sweet expression, as rare then as now.
+
+What a pity that her pretty body should be imprisoned in a long corset,
+the bones of which seemed forcibly to compress its charms! But it was
+then the fashion. Today we have better taste; we wish that the figure
+should be in its place; we wish, above all, to be able to embrace it
+without being hindered by farthingales, basquines, paniers or hoops.
+Happily, the ladies are of our opinion, and everybody gains thereby.
+
+Despite her long figure, straight corset, frilled sleeves, and her
+high-heeled shoes, Blanche was no less pretty. Beauty adorns everything
+that it wears, and innocence lends a more bewitching and genuine charm
+to beauty. Blanche had, then, every quality which could please. However,
+the barber did not appear to remark the attractions of the young girl;
+one would have said that he feared to look at her, as he had feared to
+touch his lips to her forehead.
+
+"Did you have a good night?" asked Blanche of him.
+
+"Very good, I thank you."
+
+"Marguerite was afraid that you went to bed very late because you had
+one of your friends to supper with you."
+
+"I don't know why Marguerite should make such a remark, nor what
+necessity there was that she should tell you I had anyone here last
+night."
+
+While uttering these words Touquet looked severely at Marguerite, who
+dusted and wiped the furniture without daring to look at her master.
+
+"But, my dear," answered Blanche, "is there anything bad in one's
+supping with one of his friends?"
+
+"Undoubtedly not."
+
+"What harm, then, has Marguerite done in telling me that?"
+
+"A servant should not incessantly tell tales about everything her master
+does. It should be very indifferent to you, Blanche, whether anyone
+comes to see me in the evening or not."
+
+"Oh, mercy, yes, since you won't let me come down, though that would
+amuse me much better than staying in my room."
+
+"A young girl should not talk to everybody, and many people come here of
+whom I know very little."
+
+"Yes, in the morning; but in the evening you only receive your friends."
+
+"I receive very few visitors in the evening except Chaudoreille, whom
+you know."
+
+"Oh, yes; and he makes me laugh every time I see him, for he will give
+me lessons in music, and I believe at the present time I know much more
+about it than he does. You will never let me leave my room."
+
+"Blanche, isn't it apparent to you that that is not convenient?"
+
+"But when you are alone I should like much better to keep you company
+and chat to you, than to listen to Marguerite's stories, which often
+make me very timorous and prevent me from going to sleep."
+
+"You know that I'm not very chatty; after a day's work I'm tired and I
+like to rest."
+
+"And Marguerite said that you didn't go to bed until very late, that you
+kept the light burning a long time, and that she doesn't know if you
+sleep one hour every night."
+
+The old servant coughed, but unsuccessfully, to make Blanche stop
+talking; but the latter, not thinking that she had done anything wrong
+in repeating all that, paid no attention to her and continued to speak.
+Marguerite, in order to avoid her master's look, wiped and dusted with
+new ardor; but this time the voice of the barber made itself heard, and
+it was she whom he addressed.
+
+"Marguerite, I said to you when you came into my house that I detested
+curious, indiscreet people,--servants who spy on their master. Do you
+remember it?"
+
+"Yes, yes, monsieur," said the old servant, continuing to rub the top of
+the table.
+
+"How do you know, then, whether I sleep late, whether I keep the light
+burning a long time, whether I am awake at night?--you who should be in
+your room at nine o'clock every evening and go to bed immediately."
+
+"Monsieur, I beg your pardon; but at times, when the wind blows or the
+thunder growls, it's impossible for me to sleep; then, monsieur, I get
+up to pray to my patron saint, or cross my shovel and tongs, or to place
+a branch of boxwood on my bed. You know boxwood conjures the storm; and
+if they had taken some of it formerly to the Arsenal, on the Billi
+Tower, it would not have been entirely destroyed by lightning in the
+year 1537 or '38--I don't know which exactly."
+
+"Hang it! leave your boxwood and the Billi Tower alone; answer the
+question I asked you."
+
+"That's what I'm doing, monsieur; it's always the wind or the storm
+which makes me wakeful, and as my window faces yours (when I say faces,
+it's a story above), then I see your light sometimes, and it seems to me
+that monsieur is walking about in his room. I'm not very certain of it,
+for there are curtains, and the shade deceives one sometimes."
+
+"As I wish to prevent you from having the trouble of making sure that I
+am asleep, this evening you will change your room, and you will sleep in
+that which is above my apartments."
+
+"What, monsieur! in that room where nobody ever goes? I do not believe
+that it has been inhabited since I came here, and I fear--"
+
+"That's enough; see that you obey; and take care not to spy again on my
+actions, or I shall be forced to send you away from the house."
+
+"Mercy! how ashamed I am at having made you scold Marguerite!" said
+Blanche, again approaching the barber. "If she said that, my friend, it
+was because of the interest she takes in your health. You know well that
+she is very much attached to you; but since it makes you angry, I
+promise you it shall not occur again. Come, that's the last of it; you
+won't say any more to her about it--will you?"
+
+Blanche's voice was so sweet, so touching, that Touquet lost his air of
+severity and very nearly smiled as he answered,--
+
+"Yes, that's the last of it; let us there leave it. As to you, Blanche,
+continue to be good, docile."
+
+"And you will let me go out a little--will you not? You will allow me to
+go to walk in the Pré-aux-Clercs or on the Place Royale?"
+
+"We shall see; we shall see a little later. To amuse yourself, vary your
+employments."
+
+"That's what I do, my dear; I often leave my needle to spin some thread;
+or, better still, I take my tapestry work. Oh, you shall see; I'm making
+something very pretty."
+
+"I know your talent--your taste. You have a sitar; you can amuse
+yourself by playing on it. Chaudoreille has given you some lessons."
+
+"Yes; now I can play as well as he can, for I believe he's not very
+practised on it, although he says he's a great musician. But all that
+hardly ever amuses me; I should like much better to sit at the window
+which looks on the street, but you won't let me open it."
+
+"No, Blanche; too many people are passing in this neighborhood; you
+would be seen, ogled, insulted, by the bachelors, the pages, who take
+pleasure in annoying people."
+
+"Well, I won't open my window. However, if you were willing I could put
+a mask on my face; then they could not see me."
+
+"They would notice you none the less; besides, Blanche, only the court
+ladies are permitted to wear masks. I repeat to you, avoid the glances
+of these impertinent louts who run the streets, ogling at all the
+windows. You are not yet sixteen years old. In some years I shall leave
+Paris; I shall sell this house, and I shall retire into the country;
+there you can enjoy more liberty, and there you will taste pleasures
+which are worth more than any this city could offer you.--But someone is
+coming into the shop; go, Blanche, upstairs to your room."
+
+The young girl kissed the barber and quickly regained the passage, from
+which a staircase led to her chamber. She sighed lightly as she entered
+it, and said to herself, while glancing around her,--
+
+"Always here! Always to see the same things! No one to speak to except
+Marguerite! She is very good, she loves me very much; but sometimes her
+stories are very wearisome to me. Well, then, if I must--" and Blanche
+took up a piece of tapestry which she was making and sang, while
+working, one of the three airs which her music master had taught her.
+Soon the door of the room opened; Marguerite had followed the young
+girl, but did not arrive as soon as she, because her legs had not the
+vivacity of sixteen years. The old nurse pouted, for Blanche was the
+cause of her having to change her room, which was no small matter to
+Marguerite. Blanche perceived it; she ran in front of the old woman,
+made her sit down, and took her hands, while saying to her with a
+calming smile,--
+
+"Are you vexed with me, nurse? You must have seen that I said all that
+without thinking that there was anything wrong in it."
+
+Who could resist Blanche's smile? The old woman was much more sensitive
+to such sweet manners because people rarely used them with her; and that
+is why sometimes an old man loses his reason when a pretty girl casts a
+tender glance at him, because for a long time he has not been in the
+habit of receiving such glances.
+
+"Who could remain angry with you?" said Marguerite, pressing Blanche's
+hand; "but for all that, it's very disagreeable to change rooms--to move
+at my age."
+
+"I will help you, dear nurse; I will carry everything."
+
+"Oh, it's not that; it's on the same landing; it's not far to carry
+things. But the room I've lived in for eight years, ever since I came
+here, was, thanks to my prayers and precautions, protected from the
+visits of all evil spirits. There I could defy all attempts of sorcerers
+and magicians; and all that I did there I shall have to do over again in
+the new room where I am to sleep."
+
+"Do you believe, then, Marguerite, that sorcerers will come to visit you
+if you don't take all your precautions?"
+
+"And why not, mademoiselle? Don't those people get in wherever they can
+penetrate? There are a great number of them in Paris. They carry away
+the corpses off the gibbets of Montfaucon; they commit a thousand
+horrors to make their sorceries successful. It is now nearly fifty years
+ago (it was my mother who told me that story) that a lackey, ruined by
+play, sold himself to the devil for ten crowns. The demon transformed
+himself into a serpent and took possession of the lackey, introducing
+himself into the latter's body by the mouth; and from that time on the
+unlucky man made horrible grimaces, because the devil was in his body.
+Some years later a watchman was carried off by a sorcerer."
+
+"Ah, dear nurse, you are going to tell me some more of those stories
+which will make me timorous at night."
+
+"I don't tell you these to make you tremble, but to prove to you that
+it's necessary to be on one's guard against magicians, and not to be
+like those incredulous people who doubt everything when we have so many
+examples of the power of magic. I'll not do more than cite to you the
+Maréchale d'Ancre and Urbain Grandier, who lodged some devils in the
+bodies of some pious Ursulines at Loudun; that is too frightful. But I
+will only tell you what happened to a magician called César Perditor;
+that dates seventeen years back, or thereabouts. You see, my dear child,
+that's not very ancient."
+
+"But, dear nurse, aren't you going to begin your moving?" said Blanche,
+who did not seem very eager to hear Marguerite's story.
+
+"We've plenty of time," answered the old servant as she drew her chair
+close to Blanche's, delighted to relate a story about sorcerers,
+although that would make her tremble also. Marguerite commenced
+immediately:--
+
+"This César was, said they, very well versed in his magic art, and
+produced at his will both hail and thunder. He had a familiar spirit,
+and a dog that carried his letters and brought back the answers to him.
+At a quarter of a league distant from this city, on the Gentilly side,
+he lived in a cave, in which he caused the devil and all his infernal
+court to appear. Ah, my poor child; they say that at a great distance
+from the cave a frightful noise might be heard every night. He made love
+philters, and wax images, by means of which he caused the persons they
+represented to languish and die.
+
+"One day--no, it must have been one night--an old man came to the cave,
+who appeared to be suffering and in great distress. A great lord, a
+libertine, a worthless fellow, had stolen away his daughter, his only
+child; the old man in his despair, unable to obtain justice, went to the
+magician to procure the means of revenging himself upon the man who had
+outraged him."
+
+"Nurse, it seems to me your master is calling you," said Blanche,
+interrupting Marguerite.
+
+"No, no; he did not call me. Except at meal times, what need has M.
+Touquet of me? But as we were saying, the old man went to seek a
+magician, and the latter promised him help; in fact, they heard more
+noise than usual in the cave that night,--so much that the lieutenant of
+police sent some people there, and César was taken and led to the
+Bastile, where soon after the devil strangled him."
+
+"And the old man, nurse?"
+
+"He never returned to his dwelling; without doubt the devil carried him
+away also, or else the great nobleman, having learned that he had gone
+to the magician's house. But nobody knows anything further about it.
+Still, that will prove to you, my dear, how dangerous it is to have
+anything to do with those people."
+
+"Dear nurse, this little talisman which you gave me, that I wear,--is
+not that the work of a sorcerer?"
+
+"Certainly not, darling; on the contrary, it is to preserve you from
+their snares that I gave it to you. It is under the protection of my
+patron saint; with that, my dear Blanche, you could go about, run
+anywhere; your innocence would not be in the slightest danger."
+
+"Why, then, does my good friend never permit me to leave my room?"
+
+"Ah, my dear Blanche, it is because M. Touquet does not believe in
+talismans; and it is very unfortunate for him."
+
+"But you, Marguerite, who are afraid of everything,--why don't you carry
+a similar talisman?"
+
+"Ah, my child, the quality of yours consists principally in preserving
+your virtue, and at my age one has no need of a talisman to preserve
+that."
+
+"My virtue! Do magicians take virtue from young girls?"
+
+"Not only magicians, but fascinating gallants,--finally, all the
+worthless fellows of whom M. Touquet was talking to you this morning."
+
+"And what would these people do with my virtue?"
+
+"My dear child, that is to say, they would seek to turn your head, to
+give you a taste for coquetry, dissipation, baubles, vanity and deceit;
+then you would be no longer my good, sweet Blanche."
+
+"Ah, I understand; but, dear nurse, without a talisman I fully believe
+that I should never have those tastes. I would do nothing that should
+cause trouble to those who had taken care of me from my infancy, who
+have done so much for me since I lost my father."
+
+"That's all very well, my child, but with a talisman you see I am much
+easier; and if M. Touquet believed about it as I do, he would give you a
+little more liberty. Not that I blame him for fearing for you the
+attempts of worthless fellows; you are growing every day so pretty."
+
+"Dear nurse, do worthless fellows trouble pretty girls, then?"
+
+"Alas, yes, my dearie. I have seen them often do so; and, unfortunately,
+the pretty girls listen willingly to the good-for-nothing fellows."
+
+"They listen willingly to them, nurse? Is it because they speak better
+than other men?"
+
+"No, not better, but they know so well how to dissemble; their speech is
+golden, their eyes deceptive, their manners--Ah, how glad I am that you
+have a talisman!"
+
+"But, nurse, since I do not leave my room--"
+
+"That's true, my dear; but you will not always keep your room, and under
+my watchful care it seems to me that one could very well allow you to
+take a little walk from time to time. M. Touquet is severe--very
+severe--to make me change my lodging because I noticed that he did not
+sleep at night. Is it my fault--mine--that he does not sleep?"
+
+"He prevents me from opening my window."
+
+"Ah, that is because it opens on the street; and if he knew you looked
+so often through the lattice--But no one can possibly see you; the panes
+are so small, so close together."
+
+"Oh, yes; it is like a grating."
+
+"A father could not be more strict."
+
+"Ah, Marguerite, he stands to me in the place of mine."
+
+"Yes, yes; I know it well; however, he is no relation--is he?"
+
+"No, Marguerite; I believe not."
+
+"According to what I heard in the neighborhood, before I came into his
+service, you are the daughter of a poor gentleman who came to Paris to
+follow a lawsuit about ten years ago."
+
+"Yes, dear nurse; I was then five years and some months of age. It seems
+to me, however, that I still remember my father; he was very good, and
+he often kissed me."
+
+"And your mother,--do you remember her?"
+
+"Alas, no; but I believe I can still remember the time when my father
+and I arrived here; we had been a long time in a carriage, and came from
+far off."
+
+"And M. Touquet lodged you, for then he kept lodgings; and after that?"
+
+"I was very tired; they gave me something to eat and put me to bed in
+this room, and I have always occupied it since."
+
+"And after that?"
+
+"I did not see my father again. The next day M. Touquet told me he was
+dead."
+
+"Yes; it was very unfortunate, they say. There were then, as there are
+very often still, fights in the night between pages and lackeys and
+honest men, who were often attacked by these cursed scoundrels while
+entering their own houses. That night they committed a thousand
+disorders in the streets of Paris; several persons were assassinated;
+and your poor father, who had gone out, was, while returning, drawn into
+a brawl, and perished trying to defend himself. That is all that I have
+learned; do you know anything further?"
+
+"No, Marguerite; besides, you know very well that my protector does not
+wish me to talk about that."
+
+"Yes, because he fears that it will give you pain."
+
+"He has deigned to keep me near him, to educate me as his daughter and
+give me some accomplishments; and I have for him the most lively
+gratitude."
+
+"Oh, yes; he has done very well by you. He loves you, although he is not
+caressing, nor does he say much; and I am very sure that he has the
+greatest interest in you. It seems that he does not intend himself to
+marry, although he is still young. He is in easy circumstances,--more so
+than he wishes it to appear."
+
+"Do you believe that, Marguerite?"
+
+"Ah, hush! If he knew that I had said that, and that I had sometimes
+seen him counting gold, he would send me away for it."
+
+"You have seen him counting gold?"
+
+"I did not say that to you, mademoiselle. No, no; I have seen nothing.
+Ah, mon Dieu! what a gossip I am! I had much better go and attend to my
+moving."
+
+"I will go with you, dear nurse."
+
+"Come then, if you like, Blanche."
+
+Blanche followed Marguerite as she went up, and hastened to carry the
+furniture and clothing of the old servant to the opposite room. In vain
+Marguerite cried to her,--
+
+"Slowly, mademoiselle; don't carry anything until I have sprinkled it
+with holy water."
+
+Blanche, to spare Marguerite fatigue, had very soon finished the moving.
+
+"You will be better here," said Blanche; "this room is more convenient,
+larger."
+
+"I shall find it pretty sad," said Marguerite, casting fearful glances
+around her. "That large alcove, those dark hangings, those recesses--Oh,
+mademoiselle, do see, if you please, if there is anything in that big
+closet."
+
+Blanche ran to open the closet, and, after having looked through it,
+brought to Marguerite a little book, thick with dust.
+
+"That's all I've found, dear nurse," said she, presenting the book to
+the old woman, who put on her spectacles and said,--
+
+"Let's see a bit what it is."
+
+Marguerite succeeded, with no little trouble, in reading,
+"Conjuring-book of the Sorcerer Odoard, the Famous Tier of Tags."
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu!" said Marguerite, letting the book fall; "I am lost if
+that sorcerer has slept in this room. Miséricorde! a tier of--"
+
+"What does that mean,--a tier of tags?"
+
+"That is to say--that is to say, mademoiselle, a very wicked man, who
+doesn't love his kind; a man who casts spells to make folks unlucky."
+
+"Are there any of those sorcerers now?"
+
+"Alas, yes, my dear child; they are always casting spells, for I have
+met during my life several persons who have been bewitched by them. Let
+us burn that; let's burn that quick."
+
+Marguerite hurried to throw the book of sorceries on to the hearth,
+where she lit a fire; then she began to pray to her patron saint, and
+Blanche went down to her work.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE CHEVALIER CHAUDOREILLE
+
+
+Blanche and Marguerite had no sooner taken their departure from the back
+room and returned to their customary avocations, than Touquet hastened
+to meet a man who had come into the shop, saying to him, in a friendly
+tone,--
+
+"Come in, come in, my dear Chaudoreille, you've made me wait a deuce of
+a time and today I have something really important to say to you."
+
+The personage who had just come into Maître Touquet's house was a man of
+a very striking and peculiar appearance, about thirty-five years of age,
+though he appeared at least forty-five, so worn was his face and so
+hollow his cheeks. His yellow skin was only relieved by two little
+scarlet spots formed on the prominence of his cheek bones, which by
+their brightness and their gloss betrayed their origin. His eyes were
+small but bright; and M. Chaudoreille rolled them continually, never, by
+any chance, fixing them on the person to whom he was speaking. His short
+snub nose contrasted with his large mouth, which was surmounted by an
+immense red mustache, the color of his hair; while beneath his lower
+lip a tuft of beard terminated in a point on his chin.
+
+The height of the chevalier was barely five feet, and the leanness of
+his body was accentuated by the threadbare close jacket which enveloped
+it; the buttons of his doublet were missing in many places, and some
+ill-executed darns seemed ready to gape into holes; his breeches, being
+much too large, made his thighs appear of enormous size, and made the
+legs which issued from them appear still more lanky, for his boots, with
+flaring tops which drooped to his ankles, could not hide the absence of
+calves. These boots, of a dark yellow, had heels two inches high, and
+were habitually adorned with spurs; the doublet and smallclothes were of
+a faded rose color, and accompanied by a little cloak of the same tint,
+which barely covered his figure; in addition to these, he wore a very
+high ruff; a small hat surmounted by an old red plume, worn slanted over
+one eye, an old belt of green silk, a sword which was very much longer
+than anyone else carried, and of which the handle came up to his breast.
+The above is a very faithful portrait of the one who called himself the
+Chevalier de Chaudoreille, if we add that his slight Gascon accent
+denoted his origin; that he marched with his head high, his nose in the
+air, his hand on his hip, his legs stiff, as though ready to put himself
+on his guard; and that he appeared disposed to defy all passers-by.
+
+On entering the shop Chaudoreille threw himself on a bench, like one
+overcome by fatigue, and placed his hat near him, crying,--
+
+"Let us rest. By George! I well deserve to. Oh! what a night! Good God!
+what a night!"
+
+"And what the devil did you do last night to make you so tired?"
+
+"Oh, nothing more than usual for me, it's true: flogged three or four
+big rascals who wished to stop the chair of a countess, wounded two
+pages who were insulting a young girl, gave a big stroke with my sword
+to a student who was going to introduce himself into a house by the
+window, delivered over to the watch four robbers who were about to
+plunder a poor gentleman. That's nearly all that I did last night."
+
+"Hang it!" said Touquet, smiling ironically, "do you know, Chaudoreille,
+that you yourself are worth three patrols of the watch? It seems to me
+that the King or Monsieur le Cardinal should recompense such fine
+conduct and nominate you to some important place in the police of this
+city, in place of leaving a man so brave, so useful, to ramble about the
+streets all day, and haunt the gambling-hells in order to try to borrow
+a crown."
+
+"Yes," said Chaudoreille, without appearing to notice the latter part of
+the barber's phrase, "I know that I am very brave, and that my sword has
+often been very useful to the State--that is to say, to the oppressed. I
+work without pay; I yield to every movement of my heart; it's in the
+blood. Zounds! honor before everything; and in this century we do not
+jest. I am what somebody at court calls a 'rake of honor': an offensive
+twinkle of the eye, a rather cold bow, a cloak which rubs against mine,
+presto! my sword is in my hand; I am conscious of nothing but that; I
+would fight with a child of five years if he treated me with
+disrespect."
+
+"I know that we live in the age when one fights for a mere trifle, but I
+never heard it said that your duels had caused much stir."
+
+"What the devil, my dear Touquet! the dead cannot speak; and those who
+have an affair with me never return. You have heard tell of the famous
+Balagni, nicknamed the 'Brave,' who was killed in a duel about fifteen
+years ago. Well, my friend, I am his pupil and his successor."
+
+"It's unfortunate for you that you didn't come into the world two
+centuries earlier; tourneys are beginning to be out of fashion, and
+chevaliers who right all wrongs, giant killers, one no longer sees
+except on the stage at plays."
+
+"It's very certain that if I had lived in the time of the Crusades I
+should have brought from Palestine a thousand Saracens' ears, but my
+dear Rolande was there. This redoubtable sword, which came to me from a
+distant cousin, was the one carried by Rolande the Furious; it has sent
+a devil of a lot of men into the other world."
+
+"I'm always afraid that you will fall over it; it seems to me too big
+for you."
+
+"It has, however, been curtailed an inch since I have had it, and that
+by reason of its having been used so much. I fear that if I should
+continue in the same style, it will become a little dagger."
+
+"Stop talking about your prowess, Chaudoreille; I have to speak to you
+of matters more interesting than that."
+
+"If you will shave me first; I have great need of it. My beard grows
+twice as quickly at night when I do not sup in the evening."
+
+"It looks as if you had dieted for some days, then."
+
+While the barber prepared everything that was necessary for shaving
+Chaudoreille, the latter detached his sword. After having looked all
+over the shop in search of a place in which it seemed convenient to put
+it, he decided to keep it on his knees; he relieved himself of his
+cloak, then he took off the faded ruff which surrounded his neck, and
+abandoned his odd, lean little figure to the cares of Touquet, who came
+forward bearing a basin and a soapball. The barber began by taking and
+throwing into a corner of the shop the sword which Chaudoreille was
+holding on his knees. The chevalier made a movement of despair,
+crying,--
+
+"What are you doing, unhappy man? You will break Rolande, the sword
+which Charlemagne's nephew carried."
+
+"If it's such a good blade it won't break. How do you think I can shave
+you holding that great halberd on your knee?"
+
+"It's necessary to handle it with care at least. Zounds! you are nearly
+as quick as I am."
+
+"Do you want me to cut your mustaches?"
+
+"No, no,--never. A chevalier without mustaches! What are you thinking
+of? Do you want people to take me for a young girl?"
+
+"I don't think anyone could so deceive himself."
+
+"That's all right; I especially pride myself on my mustaches, and the
+imperial that gives a masculine air. Ah, King Francis the First knew
+very well what he was doing when he wore that little pointed beard on
+his chin. Don't you think that I bear some resemblance to that monarch?"
+
+"You resemble him so much, in fact, that I defy anyone, no matter who it
+might be, to perceive it. But let's get to my business: I wish to employ
+you. Your time is free?"
+
+"Free? Yes; that is to say, for you there is nothing that I won't leave.
+I've only two or three amorous appointments and five or six affairs of
+honor; but those can be put off."
+
+"There's some money to be earned."
+
+"I'm a man who would put myself in the fire to make myself useful."
+
+"The business is not positively my own."
+
+"Yes, I understand,--a delicate mission. You know that I've already
+served you in many such cases."
+
+"I hope that you'll be more adroit this time; for the manner in which
+you conducted yourself in the last matters in which I employed you
+should have prevented me from asking you to serve me again."
+
+"Oh, my dear Touquet, don't be unjust; it seems to me that I managed
+them passably well. First, you desired me to carry a letter to a young
+lady without letting her parents know of it."
+
+"Yes; and you positively gave the note to her mother."
+
+"What the devil! how should I know it was her mother? That woman had
+rouge, flowers, laces, a corset which made her waist about as thick as
+my purse; I believed her to be the young lady. With their hoops,
+basquines and immense head-dresses, it will soon be impossible to
+distinguish the sexes."
+
+"Another time I told you to feign a quarrel with one of your friends, so
+as to draw a crowd together in the street in order to stop the chair of
+a young woman to whom someone wished to speak; but after two or three
+blows had passed you ran away."
+
+"Ah, my friend, but that does not detract from my bravery. I knew that
+the quarrel was only pretended; despite that, at the third blow I felt
+the blood mount to my face, and I ran away for fear of getting angry."
+
+"This time I hope you will conduct yourself better."
+
+"Speak, if you have need of my valor."
+
+"No, thank God, I shan't have to put your valor to the proof; the matter
+is very simple and will not cost you a great effort of genius."
+
+"So much the worse; I swear by Rolande that I feel disposed to brave
+every terror.--Take care, my friend; your razor almost touched my nose;
+you will end by taking off a piece, and that would destroy the charm of
+my physiognomy."
+
+"Fear nothing, most valorous Chaudoreille; I will respect your face; it
+would be a pity to spoil it."
+
+"Yes, most assuredly; it would cause tears to more than one great lady
+who deigns to look with favor upon your humble servant."
+
+"Those great ladies would do well if they gave you another doublet, for
+yours has well earned its retirement."
+
+"My dear fellow, love doesn't pause for such trifles; I please with or
+without a doublet; the figure is everything, and I'm more than a match
+for many a chevalier covered with tinsel and gewgaws; besides, if I
+wished to have some lace or cuffs or trinkets, I should not have to give
+more than a smile for them. Ah, by Jove!--Take care there, my brave
+Touquet. See! your neighbor's dog is going to take my ruff. Ah, the
+rogue! he's holding it in his chops."
+
+"You must take it away from him."
+
+"That's very easy for you to say. That cursed dog bites everybody."
+
+Chaudoreille got up, half shaved, and ran and took his sword, which he
+drew from the scabbard; but during this time the dog had left the shop,
+carrying off the ruff, and the boastful chevalier pursued him into the
+street, crying,--
+
+"My ruff! Zounds, my ruff! Stop thief!"
+
+The shouts of Chaudoreille made the dog run more quickly, and the
+passers-by looked on with astonishment at the half-dressed man, with one
+cheek shaven and the other covered with soap, who ran, sword in hand,
+crying, "Stop thief!" The idlers gathered--for there were idlers as
+early as 1632--and followed Chaudoreille, that they might see the end of
+the adventure. The children stoned the dog, which redoubled its speed,
+passed through an alleyway and disappeared from Chaudoreille's sight.
+The latter, who could do no more, stopped at length, heaving a big sigh.
+His anger was redoubled when he saw everybody looking and laughing at
+him; he swore then, but so low that nobody could hear him; and, making
+the best of his way through the crowd which surrounded him, he sadly
+regained the barber's house.
+
+"You must be a fool, to run through the street like that," said Touquet,
+who had grown impatient during Chaudoreille's race; "you deserve that I
+shouldn't finish shaving you."
+
+"Oh, zounds! that is very easy for you to say; I have been robbed--a
+magnificent ruff."
+
+"You can put on another."
+
+"I haven't another."
+
+"With a smile you could have as many as you wish."
+
+"Yes, yes; but I'm not by way of smiling just now."
+
+"Come, calm yourself. If our affair is successful, as I've no doubt it
+will be, I'll give you some crowns with which you can buy other collars;
+for ruffs are no longer in fashion."
+
+This assurance alleviated somewhat Chaudoreille's grief, and he reseated
+himself, that the barber might finish shaving him.
+
+"You will go today into the city," resumed the barber, while finishing
+the chevalier's toilet,--"into the Rue de la Calandre; you will go into
+a perfumer's shop which is about half-way down the street."
+
+"Yes, yes, I know; that is where I supply myself."
+
+"Better and better! It will be easier for you to obtain an entrance. You
+should know, then, the young girl whom I will describe to you: twenty
+years old, of medium height, unrestrained figure, brown hair and
+intelligent black eyes."
+
+"Listen; I don't believe that I know her, seeing that it's two or three
+years since I bought any perfumery, because scents make me nervous."
+
+"If you could dispense with lying to me, Chaudoreille, at every turn,
+you would give me great pleasure."
+
+"What do I understand by that? I lie? By jingo! I swear to you, by
+Rolande--"
+
+"Hold your tongue and listen. A great nobleman is in love with the young
+girl whose portrait I have just given you. This great nobleman is the
+Marquis de Villebelle."
+
+"By Jove! What, the Marquis de Villebelle! He's a jolly fellow, who
+makes everybody talk about him. I'm delighted to work for a man of that
+stamp; he's as brave as he is generous. That's a profligate after my own
+heart. I shall be glad to give him proofs of my zeal and my genius."
+
+"You'll have to begin by holding your tongue; remember, the least
+indiscretion will cost you dear. I should not have told you the name of
+the one who is concerned in this matter if the young girl had not known;
+but as she might herself tell you, it is better that you should learn it
+from me. Remember, you are still in my employ, and not in that of the
+marquis. I could myself have discharged the commission which he gave me,
+but I am beginning to have a reputation for probity and wisdom; it is
+generally thought that, turning from the errors of my youth, I no longer
+mix in intrigues, and I don't wish to disturb the good opinion they now
+have of me in this neighborhood."
+
+"Ah, rascal, you're as mischievous as a monkey; you think of nothing
+but increasing your business, and your cold, severe air deceives some
+people. You're right, by jingo! One must dissemble; it's the essence of
+intrigue, and I shall try to throw off the appearance of being a
+libertine and a profligate in order that I may be more successful in
+wheedling the little innocent."
+
+The barber shrugged his shoulders impatiently, and again approached the
+blade of his razor to Chaudoreille's nose. The latter's face became
+still paler, except the spots on his cheeks, where the color seemed
+immovable.
+
+"Curse it!" cried Touquet, while holding the end of Chaudoreille's nose
+between his fingers, to prevent him from moving, while he plied the
+razor; "can't you ever keep still and refrain from trembling beneath my
+razor blade? You deserve to be slashed all over your face.--Come, get
+up; it's finished."
+
+"Many thanks," said Chaudoreille, breathing more freely; "I am shaved
+like a cherubim. Oh, you have a hand as dexterous as it's nimble. That
+makes seventy-seven shaves that I owe you for."
+
+"That's all right; we'll reckon that later."
+
+"I know that you'll recall it to me; you're not like the barber who
+shaved one of my friends on credit, and who made a notch in him every
+time, to mark the shave, he said."
+
+"Before the people come in, let us agree on what we have to do."
+
+"Speak on; I am listening while I am washing myself."
+
+"You will go, then, to the perfumer's shop, and while buying
+something--"
+
+"Oh, yes; a collar or a ruff."
+
+"No matter,--no matter what."
+
+"I find that ruffs suit me better."
+
+"Hold your tongue, cursed chatterer; there's nobody here to notice your
+face. You will enter into conversation with the young girl I have
+depicted; you will say to her that M. le Marquis is in love with her to
+the point of distraction."
+
+"Yes; I shall say to her that he will stab himself before her eyes if
+she won't meet him."
+
+"It's not a question of killing himself, idiot. That's a fine way to
+seduce a grisette!"
+
+"I never seduced them any other way."
+
+"Talk about presents, jewelry; they respond to that much quicker."
+
+"Each one to his own method; as for me, I never make love that way; for
+the rest, I'll say everything that you wish; I'll make the marquis as
+generous and magnificent as a native of Gascony."
+
+"Finally, you will demand a rendezvous, in the name of the marquis, for
+tomorrow evening."
+
+"Where shall it be?"
+
+"Wherever you like, but preferentially in an unfrequented quarter."
+
+"Very well; and after?"
+
+"Oh, the rest is my affair."
+
+"A moment: if the little one doesn't grant an interview?"
+
+"What are you thinking of? A shop girl who knows that she is pleasing to
+the noble Seigneur de Villebelle--I am certain that she's on
+tenter-hooks already because no messenger has reached her. You must
+beware of committing any blunder which will render you unsuccessful."
+
+"Be easy; I'm not a clown, I flatter myself, and I wish by this affair
+to put myself in the good graces of the marquis."
+
+"Yet again, it is not for him, but for me, that you are doing the
+business; if you should allow a single word of this adventure to escape
+in the town, if you should have the misfortune to mention the marquis,
+remember that then the blade of my razor won't leave that face whole
+about which you seem to make such a fuss."
+
+The barber's eyes evinced his firm determination of keeping his promise;
+Chaudoreille hastened to get his sword and attach it to his side while
+murmuring,--
+
+"Yes, undoubtedly I make much of my face; it is very worthy of the
+trouble, and has given me many happy moments. This devil of a Touquet is
+always joking, but between friends one should not get angry. We are both
+aware of our mutual bravery, and it's superfluous for us to give proofs
+of it. I swear to you by Rolande that I will use the greatest
+discretion, that I may be relied on. Our acquaintance doesn't date from
+today; for nearly fifteen years we have been united in friendship. We
+are two jolly fellows who have played our pranks. How many intrigues
+have we conducted by our skill, without counting our personal prowess!
+You, built like a Hercules, an antique figure, noble carriage,--you
+would have adored big women--that is to say, tall women; I, smaller but
+well made, with a more modern physiognomy,--I prefer them more graceful
+and slender. But love never troubled you much; you prefer money. Ah,
+money and play,--those have been your pleasures. As for me, I'm fond of
+gaming also; I play a very strong game of piquet. But gallantry employs
+a great part of my time. I can't help it; I love the women. But that's
+not astonishing; I am their spoilt child; they have strewn the path of
+my life with flowers, without counting all those that still remain for
+me to cull. I dedicated to them my heart and my sword. But love and
+valor do not always lead to fortune; you have gathered wealth quicker
+than I, and I compliment you upon it. While I have been following after
+some Venus, you have conducted without my aid some intricate intrigues;
+for this house did not belong to you formerly, and now you are the
+proprietor of it; it did not fall to you from the clouds."
+
+"What are you meddling with?" said the barber angrily. "What does it
+matter to you how I acquired this house? When I've employed you haven't
+I paid you, and often a good deal better than you deserve? I've already
+told you, Chaudoreille, that if you wish that we remain friends, and if
+you desire through me to earn money from time to time, you had better
+not begin your foolish questions, nor seek to learn that which I do not
+judge fit to confide to you; otherwise I shall show you my door and you
+will never enter it again."
+
+"Oh, not so fast. By jingo! he's a little Vesuvius,--this dear Touquet.
+If I gave way to my natural temper we should see some fine things;
+however, that's ended; silence on that subject. Now I am dressed; I lack
+nothing but my ruff; how can I go out without that?"
+
+"You went out very well a minute ago, half dressed."
+
+"But a minute ago I was sword in hand, and in those moments I see
+nothing but my victim. It's all right; I will pull my cloak up a little
+higher. Ah, I was forgetting an essential. That I may buy something in
+the little one's shop it's necessary that I should have some money, and
+my pockets are empty this morning."
+
+"Wait; take these ten crowns, on account of what I shall give you if you
+fulfil my instructions correctly."
+
+"That's well understood," said Chaudoreille, taking the money and
+drawing from his belt an old silk purse, which had formerly been red, in
+which he placed, one by one, with an air of respect, the ten pieces
+which the barber had given him.
+
+"It's still too early," said Touquet, "for you to go to the perfumer's;
+those dames do not open their shops as early as we do ours; while
+waiting till the time comes for you to execute your commission couldn't
+you go up and see Blanche, and give her a music lesson? That will amuse
+her, and I notice that she does not find much to distract her in her
+room, where she sees no one but Marguerite."
+
+At the name of Blanche, Chaudoreille raised his eyes to Heaven, and
+heaved a sigh which he stifled immediately, crying,--
+
+"By the way, how is she, the pretty child? I was going to ask you about
+her, for it is a century since I have seen her."
+
+"She's very well, but she's tired of being in the house and wishes to go
+out."
+
+"What the devil! why don't you send me more often to keep her company? I
+can amuse her, my beautiful Blanche, and I can play something for her."
+
+"I'm not sure that you can amuse her much. Blanche said to me that you
+always sang the same things, and that she now knew as much as you do of
+the sitar."
+
+"These young girls are full of conceit. I confess that she's made rapid
+progress, and that is not astonishing; I have a way of teaching which
+would make a donkey capable of singing songs; besides, the little one is
+intelligent, but I flatter myself that I can still teach her something
+more."
+
+"Chaudoreille, I have given you a great proof of my confidence in
+permitting you to see Blanche; you must swear to me that you will never
+speak of her beauty."
+
+"Be easy; when by chance anyone asks me if I know the young girl who is
+under your care, I answer--since we are on the subject--that I have seen
+her three or four times, and that she is neither one thing nor the
+other,--one of those faces which people say nothing about."
+
+"That's well; if anyone imagined that this house held one of the
+prettiest women in Paris, I should nevermore have a moment's peace; I
+should be incessantly tormented by a crowd of gallants, of profligates,
+of libertines; I should see this house become the rendezvous of all the
+worthless fellows of the neighborhood. I couldn't go away for a moment
+without one of them trying to introduce himself to Blanche, and
+Marguerite's watchfulness would be as insufficient as my own to
+frustrate all the enterprises of these gallants. It is to avoid all this
+annoyance that I withdraw Blanche from the notice of curious people."
+
+"Oh, as far as that goes, you do very well; I quite approve your
+conduct; you must not let them see her, nor allow her to go out for a
+moment. If you wish, I can say everywhere that she's horrible,--blind of
+one eye, lame, and hump-backed."
+
+"No, no; one must never overdo one's precautions and fall into a
+contrary excess."
+
+"It would be so sorrowful if some miserable adventurer should carry this
+beautiful flower away from us."
+
+"How? carry her away from us?"
+
+"I should say carry her away from you; it is only by favor that I see
+her. She is, in truth, a jewel; she has the candor, the innocence of
+childhood. Ah, zounds! how happy you are, Touquet, for you are guarding
+this treasure for yourself, I'll wager."
+
+"For myself?" said the barber, knitting his brows; then he was silent
+for a moment, while Chaudoreille, placed before a little mirror,
+occupied himself in studying some smiles and glances of the eye. "I have
+already told you that I do not like questions," responded Touquet at
+last; "but I see that you will be incorrigible until your shoulders have
+felt the weight of my arm."
+
+"Always joking. You are really a most ironical man."
+
+"Come, go up to Blanche's room; you can stay three-quarters of an hour.
+You must leave by the passageway; I don't wish the people who will be
+here to see you come from the interior of the house. You will go where I
+told you, and you will come and give me an account of the result of your
+enterprise."
+
+"At your dinner hour?"
+
+"No, this evening, at dusk."
+
+"As you please, as you will. Ah, mon Dieu! I am thinking how I can go up
+to my young pupil without a ruff."
+
+"Will that prevent you from singing?"
+
+"No, but decency--this naked neck. Lend me a collar,--anything."
+
+"Hang it! is it necessary to make so much fuss? Do you think that
+Blanche will pay much attention to your face?"
+
+"My face! my face! It would seem, to hear you, that I am an Albino."
+
+"Here's somebody coming; get out."
+
+The barber pushed Chaudoreille into the passage, where the latter
+remained for a quarter of an hour, seeking by what manner he could hold
+his cloak, and deciding at last to go up to his pupil.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE MUSIC LESSON
+
+
+Blanche was seated at work near her window, the small, dim panes of
+which scarcely permitted her to distinguish anything in the street.
+
+However, from time to time she glanced downward in that direction to
+distract her thoughts; not that she was at all sad, or that she had
+anything to trouble her, but a young girl who is nearly sixteen years of
+age experiences in the depths of her innocent heart certain void, vague
+desires which she cannot easily account for. She sighs, she becomes
+dreamy; a mere nothing renders her uneasy; the least noise, the sound of
+an unknown voice, makes her heart beat more quickly; she looks oftener
+in the mirror; she pays more attention to her toilet, though, as yet,
+there is nobody in particular whom she wishes to charm. But a secret
+instinct implants in her the desire to please, a sure symptom that she
+begins to feel the need of loving; and, for that reason, she falls into
+reveries and sighs without knowing why--so it was, at least, in the time
+of which we are speaking. As to the young girls of our own time, they
+dream, also, but they sigh less.
+
+The character of the barber, the cold, serious manner which he wore
+before Blanche, did not invite confidence, and imposed a restraint on
+the young girl, whose ingenuous heart seemed to seek a friend. She
+respected Touquet and obeyed him; she regarded him as her benefactor,
+but she could not chat freely with him, for the barber's laconic answers
+always appeared to indicate little desire to engage in a long
+conversation. To make up for this, Marguerite was very chatty, and would
+willingly have passed the entire day in gossip; but the sole subjects of
+her conversation were sorcerers, magicians and robbers, and these were
+not at all amusing to Blanche, who preferred, to Marguerite's appalling
+stories, a tender love-song or a story of chivalry, the heroes of which
+were very strong on love; and one of that ilk had no less prowess as a
+paladin because he was faithful to his lady for twenty years.
+
+Blanche was dreaming, then, when somebody rapped softly at her door; and
+immediately Chaudoreille's odd little head appeared between the door and
+the wall, and he said in mellifluous accents,--
+
+"May one come in, interesting scholar?"
+
+Blanche raised her eyes and burst into a fit of laughter on perceiving
+Chaudoreille's face, this being the effect his appearance ordinarily
+produced on the young girl.
+
+"Come in, come in, my dear master," said she, rising to curtsey to
+Chaudoreille, who then introduced himself entirely into the room, bowing
+to Blanche three times, so low that each time his sword fell before him,
+and on rising he was obliged to put Rolande into his scabbard again.
+
+"I am so much in the habit of drawing him," said Chaudoreille, "that he
+can't rest quietly in his sheath for two hours at a time.--Come, be
+quiet, Rolande; you know well, my dear companion, that the night never
+passes without my giving you some occupation."
+
+"Why, Monsieur Chaudoreille, do you fight every day?"
+
+"What else could you expect, beautiful angel? It is my element; I should
+not sleep if I had not drawn my sword, and I should fall ill if three
+days were to elapse without my ridding the earth of an impertinent
+fellow or a rival."
+
+"O good Heavens!"
+
+"But let us leave that subject and speak of you, delightful creature.
+You seem to me fresher and more beautiful than ever; it is the unfolding
+of the bud, it is the opening of the flower, it is the fruit which--By
+the way, how are you?"
+
+"Very well. Did you come to give me a music lesson?"
+
+"Yes, if you will permit me the pleasure. It is a long time since I had
+that happiness."
+
+"I hope you're going to teach me something new."
+
+"By Jove! I'm not at the end of my tether. Besides, were new songs
+lacking, your beautiful eyes would inspire me to improvise a ballad in
+sixteen couplets."
+
+Blanche brought her sitar and handed it to Chaudoreille, who raised his
+eyes to Heaven and heaved a big sigh as he took it.
+
+"Are you going to be ill, Monsieur Chaudoreille?" questioned the young
+girl, astonished at this moaning.
+
+"No, I am not ill; however, I feel rather uneasy," answered
+Chaudoreille, venturing to try the effect of the glances and smiles
+which he had studied before the glass.
+
+"You seem to have difficulty in breathing," responded Blanche; "perhaps
+your supper last night did not agree with you."
+
+"Pardon me; I swear to you it did not trouble me in the least. I have a
+horror of indigestion. Out upon it! I never put myself in the way of
+having it."
+
+"Sing to me the air you are going to teach me; that will make you feel
+better."
+
+"She is innocence itself," said Chaudoreille to himself while tuning the
+sitar; "she doesn't understand what makes me sigh. Despite that,
+however, I can see that she's glad to see me. Patience; before long her
+heart will awaken, and I shall be its conqueror."
+
+Blanche took up her work again; Chaudoreille seated himself near her,
+and after a quarter of an hour's tuning of the sitar, coughed,
+expectorated, blew his nose, turned around on his chair, arranged his
+cape, pursed his mouth, passed his tongue over his lips, and at last
+commenced in a shrill voice, which pierced the ears, an ancient ditty
+which Blanche had heard a hundred times before.
+
+"I know that, my dear master," said she, interrupting Chaudoreille in
+the middle of a point d'orgue, which he seemed willing to prolong
+indefinitely; "that's one of the three you have already taught me."
+
+"Do you think so?"
+
+"Wait; I'll sing it for you."
+
+Blanche took the instrument, and, gracefully accompanying herself, sang,
+in a melodious voice which gave a charm to the old ballad.
+
+"That's very well, indeed," said Chaudoreille; "you sing the passages
+precisely in my manner; I seem to hear myself."
+
+"Teach me another, then," said the young girl, returning the instrument
+to him; and Chaudoreille intoned a virelay on the great feats of Pepin
+the Short.
+
+"I know that, too," said Blanche, stopping him.
+
+"In that case I will sing you a charming villanelle."
+
+"Mercy! that will be the third of those you have taught me. Don't you
+know any others?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Pardon me, but as a cursed dog ran off with my ruff while I was being
+shaved, I cannot venture a new song while my throat is naked; it would
+embarrass the middle notes. Nevertheless, the villanelle is always a
+novelty, since I ever sing it with variations."
+
+"Well, I'll listen," said Blanche, glancing towards the street.
+Chaudoreille heaved another sigh, and when he had taken a position which
+seemed to him more favorable for displaying his graces, he commenced the
+villanelle, which he sang to Blanche every time that he gave her a
+lesson:--
+
+    I have lost my turtle-dove,
+      And her flight I must pursue,--
+    Is she not the one I love?
+
+    You regret your own fond dove,
+      As the loss of mine I rue;
+    I have lost my turtle-dove.
+
+At this moment some perambulating singers came into the street. They
+stationed themselves in front of the barber's house and, accompanying
+themselves on their mandolins, sang some Italian songs. Blanche listened
+eagerly; this music, so different from that which she heard from her
+master of the sitar, stirred her pulses deliciously, and approaching the
+window she cried,--
+
+"Oh, how pretty that is!"
+
+"Yes, undoubtedly it's pretty," said Chaudoreille, who believed the
+young girl to be speaking of the villanelle; "but it's necessary to
+acquire the same expression that I have given it. Notice it well, 'I
+have lost my turtle-dove,'--the accent tremulous with grief; raise the
+eyes to the ceiling, beat time with the left foot. 'And her flight I
+must pursue,'--a distracted air, and always the same accompaniment with
+the thumb and index finger. 'Is she not the one I love?'--a soft,
+flute-like sound, and make a movement of surprise while sustaining the
+falsetto. 'You regret your own fond dove,--' that demands much
+expression. 'You regret,'--an exquisitely performed shake,--'your own
+fond dove,'--inflate the sound and ascend still."
+
+"Ah, I should be contented if I could only hear such music often," said
+Blanche, who had paid no attention to what Chaudoreille was saying, and
+had listened only to the Italians.
+
+"I should much like to give you a lesson every day, lovely damsel; but
+my occupations overwhelm me--and then, Master Touquet does not often
+permit me the pleasure of seeing you; when far from you I sing without
+ceasing,--
+
+    You regret your own fond dove."
+
+"It's a barcarolle--is it not, monsieur?"
+
+"No, my dear girl; that's called a villanelle, the favorite song of our
+ancient troubadours, and of shepherds who bemoaned their shepherdesses."
+
+"What a pity that I don't know Italian!"
+
+"What do you require Italian for,--in order to say,
+
+    Is she not the one I love?"
+
+"Be quiet, be quiet; they're singing in French now," said Blanche,
+pressing close to the window-panes, and signing with her hand to
+Chaudoreille not to stir.
+
+"What's that you're saying?" cried the sitar master, rising in
+surprise,--"for me to be quiet! Does that noise out there disturb you
+too much? To the devil with the street singers who prevent you from
+hearing me! I hardly know how to restrain myself from going to drive
+them away with a few blows from my good blade Rolande!"
+
+"If I only dared open my window for a few moments," sighed Blanche. "But
+no, I must not, for M. Touquet has firmly forbidden me to do so. What a
+pretty, pretty air! Ah, I shall easily remember that,
+
+    I love to eternity
+    My darling is all to me;
+
+that's the refrain."
+
+"No, divine Blanche, you are mistaken; these are the words,--
+
+    I have lost my turtle-dove,
+      And her flight I must pursue,--
+    Is she not the one I love?"
+
+The singers departed. Blanche then left the casement, and, on turning,
+saw Chaudoreille with his neck elongated, the better to execute a note.
+She could not restrain a desire to laugh, which was evoked by the face
+of the chevalier; and the latter remained with his mouth open, not
+knowing how to take the young girl's laughter, when Marguerite entered
+the room.
+
+"It's burned at last," said the old woman as she came in.
+
+"What is burned," cried Chaudoreille,--"the roast?"
+
+"Ah, yes, indeed; it's a book of witchcraft, of magic. It was very hard
+to get it to burn, those books are so accustomed to fire."
+
+"What is that you say, Marguerite? You have books of magic,--you who are
+afraid of everything? Do you wish to enter into communication with the
+spirits of the other world?"
+
+"Ah, God keep me from it, Monsieur Chaudoreille. But I'll tell you how
+that book came into my hands, where it didn't stay long, for it seemed
+to me that that cursed conjuring-book burned my fingers. My master
+wished me to change my room--because--but I oughtn't to tell you that."
+
+"Try to remember what you wished to tell me."
+
+"Well, it seems I must quit the room I've occupied, to go into one in
+which no one has set foot during the eight years I have been in the
+house; and, to judge by the look of it, no one had visited it for a long
+time before. It's so dark, so dismal; the window-panes, which are two
+inches thick with dust, hardly allow the daylight to penetrate into the
+room."
+
+"I had an idea--God forgive me--that she was going to recount to me all
+the spiders' webs she had found there. What do you think of it, my
+charming pupil?"
+
+Blanche did not answer, for she had paid no attention to what Marguerite
+said; she was committing to memory the sweet refrain which had appeared
+so pretty to her, and was repeating in a low voice,--
+
+    "I love to eternity;"
+
+and Chaudoreille, seeing her steeped in reverie, would not disturb her,
+fully persuaded that the young girl could not defend her heart against
+the charms of the villanelle.
+
+"It's not a question of spiders," resumed the old servant, rather
+ill-humoredly; "if I had not seen that which--but at the bottom of a
+closet Mademoiselle Blanche found a diabolical book; it was the
+conjuring-book of a sorcerer named Odoard. Have you ever heard tell of a
+sorcerer by that name?"
+
+"No, not that I remember. If you were to ask me about a brave man, a man
+of spirit, a rake of honor, most certainly I should have known him; but
+a sorcerer! What the devil do you think I should have to do with him?
+These people don't fight."
+
+"Monsieur Chaudoreille,--you who are so brave,--you must render me a
+service."
+
+"What is it?" inquired Chaudoreille, paying more attention to
+Marguerite's words.
+
+"Just now, after having burned the conjuring-book of that Odoard,
+surnamed the great Tier of Tags, I made another inspection of my room,
+sprinkling holy water everywhere, as you may well suppose."
+
+"And what followed?"
+
+"At the end of the alcove I perceived a little door,--one would never
+have supposed there was a door there; but, though old, I have good eyes,
+and, while pushing the bed, which made the wainscot creak, I saw the
+door."
+
+"To the point, I beg of you," resumed Chaudoreille, whose eyes betrayed
+the uneasiness he tried in vain to dissemble.
+
+"Well, now, I confess to you, monsieur, that I didn't dare open that
+door. It was no doubt the door of a closet; but that alcove is so
+gloomy, so dark. Finally, I'll be very much obliged if you'll come up
+with me and go first into whatever place we find there. I daren't ask M.
+Touquet, for he'd scoff at me."
+
+"And he would be right, by jingo! Why, Marguerite, at your age, not to
+have more courage than that!"
+
+"What can you expect? I'm afraid there may be a goblin in that closet,
+who will jump in my face when I open the door, which has perhaps been
+closed for many years; for I've never seen M. Touquet enter the room."
+
+"Don't goblins pass through keyholes? Come, Marguerite, I blush for your
+cowardice."
+
+"No one can say that sorcerers are rare in Paris. Haven't they
+established a Chamber at the Arsenal expressly to judge them?"
+
+"That's true, I confess; but I don't see what makes you imagine there
+are any in this house?"
+
+"Ah, Monsieur Chaudoreille, if I was to tell you all I have seen and
+heard--and at night the noises which--"
+
+"What have you seen, dear nurse?" inquired Blanche, whose reverie had
+flown, and who had heard the last words of the old woman.
+
+"Nothing--nothing--mademoiselle;" and the old servant added, addressing
+the chevalier in a low tone, "My master doesn't like me to talk of it,
+and he'll send me away if he learns--"
+
+"That's enough; I don't wish to hear anything further," said
+Chaudoreille, rising and taking his hat. "And since Touquet has
+forbidden you to tell these idle stories, I beg you not to deafen my
+ears with them."
+
+"But you'll come upstairs with me and look in the closet--won't you,
+monsieur?"
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu! I hear ten o'clock striking; I should be in the city now;
+I didn't receive ten crowns for listening to your old stories; I must
+run. Au revoir, my interesting pupil. I am delighted that my last
+variations gave you pleasure. I hope before long to give you another
+lesson. With a master like me, you should be a virtuoso."
+
+While saying these words Chaudoreille drew himself up, placed his left
+hand on his hip, arranged his right arm as though he were about to take
+his weapon; but, instead of drawing Rolande from the scabbard, he
+carried his hand to his hat and bowed respectfully to Blanche; then,
+passing quickly by Marguerite, who tried vainly to restrain him, he
+opened the door and went downstairs humming,--
+
+    You regret your own fond dove,
+      As the loss of mine I rue.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE LOVERS. THE GOSSIPS.
+
+
+The barber Touquet's shop was as usual filled with a motley crowd of
+people of all classes. There were gathered students, shopkeepers, pages,
+poets, bachelors, adventurers, and even young noblemen; for the fashion
+of the time permitted these amiable libertines to mingle sometimes with
+persons in the lower classes of society, whether they sought new
+sensations in listening to a language which for them had all the
+fascinating charm of novelty, or whether it was for the purpose of
+playing tricks on the persons with whom they thus mixed.
+
+Master Touquet's shop was large, and moreover furnished with benches,
+which latter conveniences were an almost unheard-of luxury in a time
+when people took their diversions standing, and when no one was seated
+even at the play. The barber by this means extended his custom; he
+attended to everything, answered everybody, and did more himself than
+ten hairdressers of today. His hand, which was skilful, nimble and
+accurate with scissors or razor, had earned him the reputation of being
+one of the best barbers in Paris, and drew to his shop many fops,
+because in the middle class one held it an honor to be able to say,
+while caressing one's chin, "I've been shaved by Touquet." But those
+whom he had served sometimes remained for a long time in conversation
+with the persons who were awaiting their turn, the greater part of these
+idlers desiring to chat for a moment on the news of the day and the
+adventures of the night. Towards ten o'clock in the morning there was
+always a numerous gathering at Master Touquet's shop.
+
+There one saw all kinds of toilets; but then, as today, rich garments
+did not always betoken rank or fortune in those who wore them. The taste
+for luxury was becoming general, because consideration was accorded only
+to those who had splendid equipages and magnificent clothing. An
+appearance of wealth and power obtained all the honors; true merit
+without distinction, without renown, remained forgotten and in poverty.
+And one assuredly sees the same thing today.
+
+Access to court was easy. For a parvenu to introduce himself there,
+often nothing more was necessary than a costume similar to those worn by
+courtiers,--the hat adorned by a feather, a doublet and mantle of satin
+or velvet, the sword at the belt, the whole enlivened by trimmings of
+gold or silver braid. Each sought to procure for himself the most
+splendid personal appearance, and many ruined themselves in order to
+appear wealthy.
+
+An attempt was, however, made to arrest this tendency to luxurious
+habits, which could not hide the poverty of the time. By an edict of the
+month of November of the year 1633, it was forbidden to all subjects to
+wear on their shirts, cuffs, head-dresses, or on other linen, all
+openwork, embroideries of gold or silver thread, braids, laces or cut
+points, manufactured either within or without the realm.
+
+In the following year a second edict appeared, which prohibited the
+employment, in habiliments, of any kind of cloth of gold or silver, real
+or imitation, and decreed that the richest garments should be of velvet,
+satin or taffetas, without other ornament than two bands of silk
+embroidery; it also forbade that the liveries of pages, lackeys and
+coachmen should be made of any other than woollen stuffs. But these laws
+were soon infringed; men will always have the desire to appear more than
+they are, and women to hide what they are.
+
+Among the different personages assembled in the barber's shop there was
+one who chatted with nobody and seemed to take not the slightest
+interest in the relation of the scandalous adventures of the night. This
+was a young man who appeared about nineteen years of age or a little
+over, endowed with a physiognomy by no means cheerful; for one
+ordinarily applies that term to those round, fresh faces, red and plump,
+which breathe health and gayety. He had beautiful eyes, but was pale;
+noble features, but rather a melancholy expression; finally, he had what
+one calls an interesting face, and this sort are in general more
+fortunate in love than those of cheerful physiognomy. The young man's
+costume was very simple; neither ornament nor embroidery adorned his
+gray coat, buttoned just to the knee and cut like our frock coat of
+today; his belt was black; no ribbons floated from his knees and his
+arms; he neither had a sword nor laces, nor plumes on the broad brim of
+his hat.
+
+He had been for a very long time in the barber's shop. On entering, his
+eyes had appeared to search for something other than the master of the
+place; he had thrown glances towards the back shop, and still continued
+to do so. Several times already his turn had come and Touquet had said
+to him,--
+
+"Whenever you wish, seigneur bachelor."
+
+The young man's simple costume was, in fact, that which was ordinarily
+worn by law students in Paris; but to each invitation of the barber the
+bachelor only answered, "I am not pressed for time," and another took
+his place.
+
+After a time the loiterers and gossips departed and the young man found
+himself alone with Touquet, to whom his conduct began to appear
+singular.
+
+"Now you can no longer yield your turn to anybody," said the barber,
+offering a chair to the stranger. "In truth I cannot shave you; you have
+not enough on your chin; but without doubt you came for something, and
+I am at your service, monsieur."
+
+"Yes," said the young man with an embarrassed air, turning his eyes
+towards the back shop, "I should like--my hair is too long, and--"
+
+"Seat yourself here, seigneur bachelor; you will find that I am skilful;
+my hand is as well accustomed to the scissors as to the razor."
+
+The young man decided at last to intrust his head to the barber, but as
+soon as the latter paused for a moment he profited by it to turn and
+look into the back shop.
+
+"Are you looking for anything, monsieur?" said Touquet, whom this trick
+did not escape.
+
+"No--no. I was only looking to see if you were alone here."
+
+"Yes, monsieur; you see I have no need of anybody to help me in order to
+satisfy my customers."
+
+"Indeed, someone told me you were extremely skilful."
+
+"And monsieur has had time to judge of my talent, he has been nearly two
+hours in my shop."
+
+"I had nothing pressing to do; and then, I wished to obtain some
+information of you. Tell me, my friend, who occupies the first story of
+this house."
+
+"I do, monsieur," said Touquet, after a moment's hesitation.
+
+The young man seemed vexed then that he had asked the question.
+
+"May I learn, monsieur, how that interests you?" resumed Touquet,
+looking at the unknown attentively.
+
+"Ah, it is that I am looking for a lodging--in this quarter. One chamber
+would suffice me. Do you not take lodgers, and could you give me a room
+if this house belongs to you?"
+
+"This house does belong to me; in fact, monsieur, I cannot grant your
+request. For a long time I have let no lodgings, and I have no room in
+the house, which is not very large."
+
+"What! you cannot let me a single chamber, a closet even? I repeat to
+you, I wish to have one in this neighborhood; I often have business in
+the Louvre. I will pay you anything that you ask."
+
+"Anything?" said the barber, glancing ironically at the young man's
+simple garments. "You are getting on, perhaps, a little, monsieur
+student. All the same, your desires cannot be gratified, and I advise
+you to renounce your plans."
+
+Touquet dwelt on this last phrase, and the young man's face reddened a
+little; but the barber had finished his ministrations, and the former
+had no way of prolonging his stay with a man who did not appear to wish
+to continue the conversation, and to whom he feared he had said too
+much. The bachelor rose, paid, and at last left the shop, but not
+without looking up at the windows of the house.
+
+"That's a lover," said Touquet, as soon as the young man had taken his
+departure. "Yes, his uneasiness, his looks, his questions--oh, I
+understand it all. I have served too many lovers ever to be deceived
+about that. Curse it! this is just what I feared. What vexations I
+foresee! What anxieties are about to assail me! He must have seen
+Blanche, but where? when? how? She never leaves the house without me,
+and that very rarely; however, this young man is in love with her, I'll
+bet a hundred pieces of gold. Halloo there, Marguerite! Marguerite!"
+
+The old servant had heard her master's loud voice; she mentally invoked
+her patron saint and went down to the shop.
+
+"How long is it since Blanche went out without my knowing it?" said the
+barber suddenly.
+
+"Went out? Mademoiselle Blanche?" said Marguerite, looking at her master
+in surprise.
+
+"Yes,--went out with you. Why don't you answer?"
+
+"Blessed Holy Virgin! that hasn't happened for two years; then
+Mademoiselle Blanche was still a child, and you sometimes allowed her to
+go with me to take a turn in the big Pré-aux-Clercs. But since that time
+the poor little thing has not been out, I believe, except twice with
+you, and that was at night, and Mademoiselle Blanche had a very thick
+veil."
+
+"I didn't ask you if she had been out with me. And has any young man
+been here in my absence who has asked you about her, or who has sought
+to be introduced to her?"
+
+"Indeed, I would have given him a warm reception. Monsieur doesn't know
+me. Except the Chevalier Chaudoreille, mademoiselle has seen no one; as
+to the latter, he came this morning to give her a music lesson."
+
+"Oh, Chaudoreille isn't dangerous; but if some student, some young page,
+should come in my absence and seek to see Blanche, remember to send such
+heedless fellows away promptly."
+
+"Yes, monsieur, yes. Oh, you may be easy. Besides, hasn't the beautiful
+child always about her a precious talisman which will preserve her from
+all danger? I defy ten gallants to turn her head so long as she carries
+it, and I will see that she does not leave it off."
+
+"Watch, rather, that she does not open her window; that will be better.
+If that should happen, I should be obliged to give her the little room
+which opens on the court."
+
+"Ah, monsieur, Mademoiselle Blanche would die there of weariness; there
+one can barely see the light, and the poor little thing does not go out,
+and could only work during the daytime with a candle."
+
+"Unless she opens her window, it will be a long time before she occupies
+it," said Touquet in a low voice, making a sign to the servant to leave
+him, which the latter did, saying,--
+
+"What a misfortune not to have faith in talismans! If monsieur believed
+in them, he would not deprive that poor little thing of every
+amusement."
+
+The barber had not been mistaken in judging that the young man, who had
+had so much difficulty in tearing himself away from the shop, was a
+lover.
+
+The Italian's song had so captivated Blanche's ears that the young girl
+had stood close to her casement, and had not budged from it during the
+time that her music master had made his variations on the villanelle. At
+the same moment Urbain was passing, and he had stopped to listen to the
+music, and while listening his glance was carried to Blanche's window.
+At first he had seen nothing but some very small panes; but at last,
+through these panes, his eyes could distinguish a face so pretty, eyes
+so blue and so full of the pleasure that Blanche was experiencing, that
+the young man had remained motionless, his looks fixed upon that window,
+near which the charming apparition remained. When the music ceased the
+pretty face disappeared, and the young man had said to himself,--
+
+"I was not in error; there is an angel, a divinity, in that house."
+
+And as that angel, that divinity, lived in the modest house of a barber,
+the bachelor had believed he should penetrate into the third heaven in
+entering Master Touquet's shop; but he returned to ideas more
+terrestrial on seeing nothing but men who had come to be shaved, who had
+about them nothing divine, despite all the essences with which their
+chins were besmeared. Urbain had glanced towards the back shop, hoping
+to perceive the pretty figure of the first floor, and had prolonged as
+much as possible his stay in the barber's shop. We have witnessed the
+result of his conversation with the barber.
+
+The young man departed, very much out of sorts; he perceived that he had
+made a blunder in questioning the barber, who was probably his adored
+one's father; for the young men of that time were inflamed with love as
+quickly as those of today. He felt that before going into the shop he
+should have obtained some information in the neighborhood, and he
+decided to finish as he should have begun. In all times the bakers have
+had very correct ideas about their neighbors, because the neighbors are
+all obliged to go or to send to the baker's. Urbain went into a shop at
+a little distance, and while paying for some rolls entered into
+conversation with the woman who was behind the counter,--a conversation
+in which all the servants who arrived at that moment took part.
+
+"Do you know a barber in this street?"
+
+"A barber? Yes, my good monsieur; down there at the corner of the Rue
+Saint-Honoré,--Master Touquet. Has monsieur some business with him? Oh,
+he's a very skilful man at his trade, and has made lots of money, by
+shaving beards, or in some other way. What that is I won't pretend to
+tell you. That's so--isn't it, Madame Ledoux?"
+
+"It is true," said Madame Ledoux, resting a basket of vegetables on the
+counter, "that Touquet has not always enjoyed an excellent reputation. I
+have lived in the neighborhood for eight years and, thank God, I know
+everything that has passed here,--all that everybody has done here, and
+all that everybody is still doing; and that reminds me that yesterday
+evening I saw Madame Grippart come home at ten o'clock with a young man,
+who left her in front of the grocer's shop after having held her hand in
+his for more than two hours, while that poor Grippart was peacefully
+slumbering, for he goes to bed at nine o'clock. That doesn't trouble
+him; he well deserves it, for he went about everywhere saying that his
+wife had a strong breath, and those things need not be said.--But to
+return to Master Touquet. Oh, that's a sly blade, a crafty, cunning
+fellow. I've known him since he settled in this street; he's been here
+nearly fifteen years. He rented the house which belonged to M. Richard.
+You know, my neighbor, the old cloth merchant?"
+
+"The one whose wife had two fat, plump twins seven months after they
+were married?"
+
+"Who didn't look at all like their father. It's the same. Well, this
+Touquet was then barber, bathkeeper and lodging-house keeper, and report
+says that beside that he helped young men of family in their love
+affairs. He then kept two shop-men, and should have made money; however,
+he was for a long time miserably poor, since his shop-men left him
+because he did not pay them. Everyone was very much astonished ten years
+ago when Touquet kept with him, and began to educate as his own child,
+the daughter of a man whom he did not know, who had come to lodge with
+him by chance, and who was killed the same night in a fight between some
+worthless fellows and the officers of the watch. The poor man! they
+found his corpse down there,--Rue Saint-Honoré, before the draper's
+shop. Do you remember it, Madame Legras?"
+
+Madame Legras, who had just come into the baker's shop, began by
+throwing herself on a chair and crying,--
+
+"Good-day, ladies! Good Heavens! how dear the fish is today, nobody can
+look at it."
+
+And Urbain sighed, saying, "The fish will take us away from the barber";
+but to advance in love one must often have patience, and in the midst of
+all this gossip that which concerned Touquet was precious to the young
+bachelor.
+
+"I wished to have an eel to feast my husband, but it was impossible."
+
+"Is it his birthday?"
+
+"No; but he took me yesterday for a walk around the Bastile, and one
+compliment brings on another. I can say with pride that there are few
+households so united as ours. During the four years that I have been
+married to my second husband, M. Legras, we have quarrelled only five
+times; but that was always for some trifling cause. What were you
+talking about, ladies?"
+
+"Of our neighbor Touquet, about whom this gentleman desired some
+information."
+
+"Touquet the barber? My word, ladies, you may say whatever you will, but
+I don't like that man."
+
+"He's a very handsome man, however."
+
+"Yes, of the same height as M. Legras; but there is something hard and
+false and stern in his appearance."
+
+"Yes, for some time past; formerly he was gayer, more open. Now monsieur
+never chats; he has grown proud."
+
+"That's not surprising; he has made money."
+
+"Yes, by shaving beards perhaps."
+
+"It's a good deal more likely he has made it by assisting the love
+affairs of some great nobleman, in procuring and abducting some beauty."
+
+"Come, ladies, don't be so malicious. As for me, you know I haven't a
+bad tongue. Touquet is very skilful at his trade. I know very well that
+in order to buy and pay for that house where he now is he must have
+shaved a good many faces; but they say now the barber is very steady
+and economical."
+
+"When the devil is old--"
+
+"Touquet is not old; he's hardly over forty years."
+
+"Adopting that little girl should have brought him good luck."
+
+"That's what I was telling monsieur. Poor little thing! Nobody knows
+anything about her, except that she had a father."
+
+"Well, neighbor, somebody found a letter on him having for an address,
+'To Monsieur Moranval, gentleman.'"
+
+"Ah, he was a gentleman?"
+
+"Yes, my dear. Oh, I remember all that as if it were yesterday."
+
+"How fortunate one is in having such a memory! And what did the letter
+say?"
+
+"It seemed that there were only a few lines of which nobody could make
+much of anything; someone recommended to this Moranval to take great
+precautions in the business which brought him to Paris. But what
+business? Nobody knows anything about it."
+
+"Did they find nothing else on him?"
+
+"No; there is little doubt that the poor man was robbed after being
+murdered."
+
+"Did they go to Touquet's to inquire what he knew about it?"
+
+"Touquet answered the officers of justice that the man had come down to
+his house the evening before, and had introduced himself as a gentleman
+who was about to remain for some time in Paris; that he had first asked
+him to put his little girl to bed, and that later he had gone out,
+saying he should be absent for an hour or so. Touquet had waited up for
+him a great part of the night, and it was not till the next day that he
+learned from public rumor that a man had been found murdered in the Rue
+Saint-Honoré, a short distance from his house; that, being already
+uneasy about his guest, he had gone to see the victim, and had
+recognized the man who had arrived at his place the evening before."
+
+"I hope that's a history. Unfortunately, one hears only too many similar
+stories. Ours are really cut-throat streets, and it is not well, after
+nine o'clock, to be out in them. The gentlemen of the parliament make
+decrees often enough, but it doesn't do much good. A little while ago,
+it seems a counsellor of the Chamber of Investigation was similarly
+murdered. The parliament has just promulgated a new ordinance against
+these worthless fellows--haven't they, monsieur?"
+
+"Yes," said Urbain; "the public prosecutor has just complained of
+murders, assassinations and robberies, which take place every day, as
+many upon the highways as in the city or the suburbs, by armed persons
+who forcibly break into houses, and that through the negligence of the
+police officers who do not properly perform their duty. Parliament
+yesterday passed a new decree, ordering that vagabonds, men of bad
+character, and robbers, should vacate the city and the faubourgs of
+Paris within twenty-four hours."
+
+"Well, you'll see, tonight we shall hear a bigger rumpus than ever."
+
+"And the barber Touquet is not married?" resumed Urbain, who wished to
+return to the subject of conversation which was interesting to him.
+
+"No, he's a bachelor," said Madame Ledoux.
+
+"And this young girl that lodges with him--"
+
+"She's the little one whom he adopted."
+
+"She had no other protectors?"
+
+"What could you expect, since nobody knew her parents? Touquet has, they
+say, taken very good care of her; I will do him the justice to say that.
+He has taken into his house, to wait on the little one, a servant, old
+Marguerite, a gossip, who is always seeking for preservatives against
+the wind, the thunder, the sorcerers, or even for talismans to guard her
+dear Blanche against the snares of the gallants."
+
+"Blanche, then, is the name of the young girl?"
+
+"Yes; that is her name."
+
+"And this old woman is the only one about her?"
+
+"Mercy! isn't that enough? Besides, the little one never goes out, and
+no one ever sees her even put her nose out of the window."
+
+"Tell me, ladies, don't you think, with me, that the barber has brought
+up this pretty child for himself, and that he would not take so much
+care of her unless he was in love with her?"
+
+"Indeed, that might very well be possible. Touquet is still young, and
+perhaps wishes to marry her."
+
+"Nonsense! I don't believe that; and besides, they say that the young
+person is not good-looking. I have heard it said by an ugly little thin
+man, with a long sword, who is often at the barber's shop, that the
+orphan is very ugly."
+
+"Ugly!" cried Urbain quickly. "That's a frightful lie!"
+
+"Ah, monsieur has seen her, then?" immediately said the gossips, looking
+at the young man with a mischievous air.
+
+The latter felt that he had committed an imprudence; but having nothing
+more to learn from these dames, he made them a low bow and left the
+shop, leaving the gossips to talk among themselves.
+
+"Well, if he hasn't gone, and he didn't tell us what he wanted with
+Touquet."
+
+But Urbain had learned enough; and while directing his steps toward the
+Rue Montmartre, where he dwelt, our lover cogitated thus:--
+
+"She's not the barber's daughter; he has stood to her in place of a
+father, but he has no rights over her except those accorded to a
+benefactor by a grateful heart. She's the daughter of a gentleman,
+which is much better; my father was a gentleman also, who valiantly
+fought under King Henry. The old soldiers still remember Captain
+Dorgeville, and the name which he has transmitted to me is pure and
+without stain. I am alone in the world; I am my own master. Like her I
+have no parents, for a year ago death deprived me of my good mother. My
+fortune is very moderate,--twelve hundred livres income and a little
+house by the seaside. That is all my father left me; but she has nothing
+more, and by working I could render her happy. I am about to take my
+bachelor's degree, but I shall now leave this unfruitful career; science
+brings fortune too slowly. I don't know, however, if I could please her.
+Yes, that's the first task with which I should occupy myself. If she
+loves me, I will ask her hand of the barber. He will wish to assure her
+happiness; he could not refuse me unless he himself---- If these women said
+rightly he is in love with her. The hard tone with which he answered me
+this morning, his refusal to lodge me in his house, make me believe it.
+And that wretch who dared to say that she was ugly!--when object more
+enchanting never met my eyes. Ah, it wasn't of her he was speaking. If
+such a thing could happen, I should like to see her, to tell her of the
+love which she has inspired; and, if I could manage to please her,
+nothing then could prevent me from becoming her husband."
+
+These were, somebody will say, very foolish plans concerning a young
+girl whose face one had only perceived through some very dim
+window-panes; and it was on the possession of this almost ideal object
+that Urbain already based the happiness of his life. But let us look
+back on our own lives. We were hardly more reasonable,--happy if between
+us and the chimeras which enchanted us there was nothing thicker than a
+pane of glass.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+INTRIGUES THICKEN
+
+
+Chaudoreille now started off at a great pace towards the city. The ten
+crowns which he felt in his purse, on which he prudently kept his hand
+while walking, caused him to hold his head even more arrogantly than he
+usually did. He had placed his little hat over his left eye in such a
+manner that the old red feather with which it was adorned fell precisely
+over his right eye, and as he walked mincingly along, at each step that
+he took the chevalier could thus enjoy the waving of his ridiculous
+plume.
+
+Never had the Chevalier de Chaudoreille felt so clever, so inordinately
+satisfied with himself. Blanche's image, so sweet, so beautiful, her
+delightful manner, which possessed all the innocent witchery of
+girlhood, was still before his eyes, and as he was never lacking in
+confidence as to his own merits, he readily persuaded himself that the
+young beauty could not see him with indifference, and was even a little
+taken with him. On the other hand, the enterprise with which he was
+charged by the barber, as the agent of the Marquis de Villebelle,
+flattered his self-love. He believed himself the friend, the confidant,
+of the Marquis de Villebelle, although the latter had never spoken to
+him; but he thought that the adroitness with which he would serve him in
+his amorous plan would be sooner or later known to the great nobleman
+and would win his favor. Full of this idea, he hastened to reach the
+shop of which Touquet had spoken. Before entering, Chaudoreille resumed
+to himself,--
+
+"One mustn't go in here," said he, "looking like a snob, and turn the
+shop upside down without buying anything. I must not forget that I am
+sent by a great personage. They have given me ten crowns on account, as
+the price of my services, but I can very well spend twenty-four sous."
+
+This determination taken, he opened the door of the shop and entered
+nimbly; but in wheeling round in order to appear more graceful and to
+bow at the same time to the right and left, he sent Rolande's scabbard
+through one of the panes of the glass door, and it broke in a thousand
+pieces.
+
+Chaudoreille's face lengthened and he felt some confusion, for he
+calculated that the price of the pane already exceeded the sum he had
+intended to lay out. Two young persons seated behind the counter burst
+into laughter, while an old woman placed opposite murmured between her
+teeth,--
+
+"He must be very awkward."
+
+"I will pay for it," said Chaudoreille at last, heaving a big sigh.
+
+"Indeed I should hope so," responded the shopkeeper; "but has anyone
+ever seen a man carry a sword bigger than himself?"
+
+At these words the chevalier drew himself up and stood on his tiptoes,
+and glanced angrily at the old woman.
+
+"It's very astonishing," said he, "that anyone should permit herself
+such reflections. I carry the weapon that suits me, and if a bearded
+chin had said the same thing to me, my sword would have immediately
+taken the measure of his body."
+
+"I didn't intend to say anything to make you angry," replied the
+shopkeeper, softening; "only it seemed to me that that long sword would
+embarrass you in walking."
+
+"Embarrass me! That is a different thing," and Chaudoreille turned his
+back to the shopkeeper to approach the young ladies, saying to
+himself,--
+
+"I didn't come here to discuss the length of my sword. Let's leave this
+woman's twaddle."
+
+"What do you wish, monsieur?" said a young, squint-eyed girl, with a
+flat nose, thick lips and crooked chin, whose dark-red skin seemed
+covered with a coat of varnish.
+
+Chaudoreille looked at her for some moments, saying to himself,--
+
+"By jingo! she's not very much like the portrait of the little one which
+they gave me. It's true that love is blind, and that great noblemen like
+original faces."
+
+But after looking at the person who addressed him, Chaudoreille glanced
+a little farther and perceived another woman measuring some ribbons. At
+the first glance the barber's messenger recognized the young girl whose
+portrait had been drawn for him. She was all Touquet had painted her,
+though he could not then see the color of her eyes, which were bent on
+the ribbon. Chaudoreille approached her and, bowing graciously, said to
+himself,--
+
+"This is our affair. I have an astonishing tact for divining correctly.
+Other people hesitate for an hour; but I recognize immediately those who
+have been pointed out to me, and I am never deceived. Here are some
+delightful ribbons," said Chaudoreille, leaning on the counter,
+carelessly caressing his chin, and trying to imitate the free manners
+and impertinent tone of the profligates of the day.
+
+The young girl then raised her eyes to the chevalier; their brightness,
+their expression, arrested Chaudoreille in the midst of a compliment
+from which he expected the most happy results.
+
+"By jingo! what a glance! what fire!" said he, taking a step backward,
+while the damsel continued to look at him.
+
+In order to enchant her he attempted to turn a light pirouette, in which
+Rolande's scabbard just missed putting out the eye of the cat, which was
+lying on a neighboring stool. A mocking smile played on the lips of the
+young girl, who said, "What ribbon does monsieur wish?"
+
+"What ribbon? My faith! I don't much know. Something to match the rest
+of my costume. It is to make a knot for Rolande."
+
+"And who is Rolande, monsieur?"
+
+"My sword, beautiful brunette, which I will pass through the body of him
+who denies that you have the most beautiful eyes in the world."
+
+Delighted at his compliment, Chaudoreille said to himself in an
+undertone,--
+
+"Take care; we mustn't go too far, or be too amiable; I must not forget
+that I did not come here on my own account. This young girl appears
+somewhat smitten, from the way she looks at me. Zounds! if I had a ruff
+I would with good-will cheat the Marquis de Villebelle of the little
+one. Come, Chaudoreille, hide your charms if you can; don't dart your
+glances at this pretty person, and hasten to tell her that she must not
+occupy herself with you."
+
+While saying this Chaudoreille unrolled and examined twenty different
+ribbons, approaching them to the handle of his sword and throwing from
+time to time a glance about him, to assure himself that he could speak
+without being heard by the other two women in the shop.
+
+This manoeuvre did not escape the eyes of the young girl, who smiled,
+and seemed to wait for Chaudoreille to explain himself. Happily for
+Chaudoreille, two people came into the shop, and while the old woman and
+the other damsel were serving them, he opened a conversation in a low
+tone.
+
+"I did not come here only to buy a ribbon, celestial merchant."
+
+"If you wish anything else, speak, monsieur, and you shall be served."
+
+"Julia, have you not finished with monsieur?" said the old woman
+impatiently, looking angrily at the long falchion of the chevalier,
+which, every time he moved, threatened her cat's eyes.
+
+"Monsieur has not decided yet," answered Julia, while Chaudoreille cried
+with an impertinent air,--
+
+"It seems to me that I should be allowed to choose my own colors. When a
+man like me comes into a shop, one should, my good woman, keep him there
+as long as possible; if you wish to have my custom, leave me to chat as
+much as I please with this beautiful child."
+
+This insolent mode of speech was then so much in fashion, that she
+remained silent, in place of putting the chevalier out, as would be done
+now to a coxcomb who behaved like Chaudoreille.
+
+"Oh, by jingo! if one did not keep these little shopkeepers in their
+place I believe they would permit themselves to make observations to
+us," said Chaudoreille, approaching for the twentieth time a
+gold-colored ribbon to his doublet. "This color goes very well with my
+cloak. What do you think of it, adorable damsel?"
+
+"I think that these ribbons are too fresh to blend with monsieur's
+clothing, and that that one swears at them."
+
+"I confess that the velvet of my jerkin is a little tarnished, but what
+could you expect? When a man fights he necessarily attracts dust and
+powder. Here's a cloak that I've not had more than six weeks, and I'll
+wager that you would say it had been worn for some months."
+
+"Decide on your ribbon, monsieur," said the young girl, without
+answering.
+
+"Give me a gold-colored rosette," said Chaudoreille; and he added in a
+mysterious tone, "I have something very important to communicate to
+you."
+
+"I doubt it," said Julia.
+
+"Come," said Chaudoreille to himself, "I'll wager that she believes that
+I'm in love with her and is impatiently awaiting my declaration. I'm
+incorrigible; I let myself go, and I have turned her head without even
+perceiving it. Let us hasten to disabuse her.--No, beautiful brunette,
+you need not doubt it," responded he, lowering his eyes with a
+coquettish air; "I ought to confess to you that it is not of myself that
+I seek you, and that I am only the ambassador of Love, when you would
+have taken me for Love himself."
+
+Julia's hearty laughter prevented Chaudoreille from continuing, and he
+did not know at first how to take this excessive gayety; but his
+self-love always made him place things to his own advantage, and he
+decided to laugh also, while saying in a low tone to the young girl,--
+
+"Isn't it very funny to behold in me a lover's messenger?--I, who could
+cheat them all of their conquests. It's a great joke, in truth."
+
+"Come, monsieur ambassador, give me your message," said Julia, looking
+pityingly at the envoy.
+
+Chaudoreille threw a glance all around him, put a finger on his mouth,
+examined the persons who were in the shop, pushed from him a stool on
+which the cat was lying, then leaning toward Julia with the air of a
+conspirator, he whispered in her ear,--
+
+"A great lord sent me to you. He's a rich and powerful man; he's a
+personage in favor; he's the gallant who--"
+
+"He's the Marquis de Villebelle," said Julia impatiently. "I've known
+him for a long time. What does he want with me? What has he bidden you
+say to me? Come, monsieur, speak."
+
+"It must be that I am very adroit," said Chaudoreille, "when without my
+speaking she divines everything that I wish to say to her.--Since you
+know his name," resumed he, again approaching his face to Julia's ear,
+the latter brusquely pushing him away, "I have no need of telling you.
+This great nobleman adores you."
+
+"Undoubtedly he did not employ you to express his sentiments."
+
+"No, but he sent me to ask you to meet him. If you do not accord him
+this favor, he will set fire to the four corners of this street, that he
+may have the pleasure of saving you, fair Julia,--for it is thus I
+believe that you are called, which makes me think that you are not
+French. Have I rightly divined?"
+
+"Has anyone commissioned you to ask that question?" asked Julia, looking
+at Chaudoreille disdainfully.
+
+The latter bit his lips, put his left hand on his hip, and said in a
+bass voice,--
+
+"What shall I say to the noble Marquis de Villebelle, of whom I am the
+intimate confidant, and whom I represent at this moment?"
+
+"Tell him to choose his messengers better," said Julia in a dry tone.
+
+"I was sure of it," said Chaudoreille, taking some steps backward; "she
+has fallen in love with me; it is my personal attractions that have
+played me this trick. All this is very disagreeable; I should have
+disguised myself a little, or at least should not have permitted my eyes
+to make fresh wounds. There is money to be got here. By jingo! I must
+not lose sight of that;" and Chaudoreille repeated to Julia, not
+allowing her, as a matter of prudence, to see more than his profile,--
+
+"What shall I say to the marquis? Where will you walk tomorrow evening?"
+
+The young girl waited for some moments in silence, appearing to reflect
+deeply; while Chaudoreille fingered his purse, very anxious as to her
+answer, and saying to himself,--
+
+"In any case, I shall not give them back the ten crowns.
+
+"Tomorrow evening at eight o'clock, on the Pont de la Tournelle," said
+the young Italian at last; for Julia, in fact, was not French.
+
+"'Tis enough," responded Chaudoreille, continuing to hold himself in
+such a manner as to show only his profile; "I have nothing more to ask
+of you; let us part, for fear the sight of me make you change your
+resolution."
+
+The messenger already had hold of the knob of the door when Julia
+recalled him.
+
+"You have forgotten to pay for your ribbon, monsieur."
+
+"By Jove! that's true. What the devil has got me? I'm as stupid as
+possible."
+
+While saying this Chaudoreille drew forth his purse, rattling the ten
+crowns that it held as loudly as possible, counting and recounting them
+several times in his hand.
+
+"I don't know if I have any change about me," said he. "Ordinarily I
+carry nothing but gold, it is so much lighter. How much is it, beautiful
+merchant?"
+
+"Thirty sous, monsieur."
+
+"Thirty sous for a rosette!" cried Chaudoreille to himself, making a
+grimace, and putting the coins back in his purse. "That seems to me a
+considerable price. You must notice that the ribbon is very narrow."
+
+"For a man who carries nothing but gold," said Julia, "I am astonished
+that monsieur should bargain over such a trifle."
+
+"I'm not bargaining; but still it seems to me that you might knock
+something off, and that for twenty-four sous one ought to have a superb
+rosette. No matter; I'll pay it with a good grace; give me my change."
+
+He presented one of the crowns with a sigh, and while Julia was counting
+out his change he fastened the gold-colored rosette to Rolande's handle.
+The effect that the ribbon would produce somewhat mitigated his regrets
+at paying thirty sous for it. He took the money, and, recalling to
+himself that they could ask him to pay for something else, he ran to the
+door, darted into the street and disappeared as quickly as possible.
+
+"And my window-pane," said the old shopkeeper,--"did he pay for my
+pane?"
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu! no, madame," answered Julia.
+
+"I was sure of it. Run, my good girls, run as fast as you can. That
+wicked coxcomb, trying to play the spark, with his old threadbare
+mantle, with his old feather that I wouldn't take to dust my shelves!
+He turned everything upside down here, and just barely missed putting
+out my cat's eyes; he was impertinent to me, bargained for two hours
+over a rosette, and ran away without paying for the pane. He's some
+pickpocket, some cutpurse."
+
+The two damsels opened the shop door and looked down the street, but
+could see nothing of monsieur le chevalier.
+
+"It's my fault, madame," said Julia; "I should have asked him for the
+price of the window. I will pay for it."
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle; that will teach you another time not to listen to
+the conversation of these gentlemen who make so much trouble and haven't
+a sou in their pockets."
+
+The young Italian did not answer. It is probable that at that moment she
+was not interested in the pane of glass or in Chaudoreille.
+
+Night approached. For some hours all had been silent in the barber's
+shop; for he, following his habitual custom, had closed his shutters as
+soon as day declined, since he was not in the habit of receiving
+strangers and waited on no customers in the evening. This was the time
+that Touquet had chosen for his dinner hour, although people commonly
+took this meal much earlier. The barber's dinner, therefore, also passed
+for a supper.
+
+As soon as Marguerite called from her kitchen, "We are waiting for you,
+mademoiselle," Blanche left her room and quickly went down into the
+lower room where the meal was served. Touquet dined with the young girl.
+This was the moment of the day when they were longest together, although
+the barber always appeared to wish to abridge the time as much as
+possible, remaining at the table only as long as was absolutely
+necessary in order to satisfy his appetite, and answering only in
+monosyllables to all that Blanche said to him, so as not to prolong the
+duration of the repast.
+
+This time the barber was, as usual, seated near the hearth, waiting for
+Blanche to come down; but when she appeared, contrary to his custom, he
+raised his eyes to the young girl and seemed to wish to read hers.
+Surprised at being thus regarded by him whose looks had always evaded
+her smile, Blanche involuntarily lowered her eyes, which beamed with
+truth and innocence, and a little more color appeared in her cheeks; for
+the barber's look was more piercing than usual.
+
+Touquet already seemed reassured. The expression of Blanche's features
+had dissipated the uneasiness which he had felt; he placed himself at
+the table and made a sign to the lovely girl to take her accustomed
+place. The meal seemed as though it would pass in silence as usual;
+Marguerite only, while changing the dishes, ventured some remarks, to
+which Blanche answered a few words.
+
+But all of a sudden the young girl appeared to recall an agreeable idea,
+and cried,--
+
+"My friend, did you hear the music this morning?"
+
+"The music," said Touquet, glancing furtively at Blanche; "yes, I
+believe I heard it."
+
+"Oh, it was so pretty! They sang in Italian at first; then afterwards in
+French,--a romance. Wait; I believe I can remember the refrain," and
+Blanche sang with expression,--
+
+    "I love to eternity,
+    My darling is all to me."
+
+The barber knitted his thick eyebrows while listening to Blanche.
+
+"What! you have already learned the romance?" said he in an ironical
+tone.
+
+"No, not all the romance; the refrain only."
+
+"And that was the first time you had heard it?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"Did you open your window then?"
+
+"No, though I should very much have liked to do so; but I glued myself
+against the window so as to hear better."
+
+"And to see better, no doubt."
+
+"See! Oh, I like to hear much better," answered Blanche, almost
+frightened at the barber's glance.
+
+"Are there no curtains at your window?" asked Touquet in a moment.
+
+"Yes, monsieur, there are curtains," answered the young girl timidly.
+
+"Blanche, I've told you that I don't like you to expose yourself to the
+oglings of the coxcombs who pass and repass in the street."
+
+"But, my friend, can anyone see me through the windows?"
+
+"Yes; no doubt of it."
+
+"Oh, well, my friend, if that displeases you, I won't go to the window
+again."
+
+Touched by Blanche's sweetness, the barber assumed a less severe
+expression, and, rising from the table, he said, almost kindly,--
+
+"Go back to your room, Blanche; I will try soon to render your life less
+monotonous. Yes, I feel that you cannot continually remain in such dull
+retirement."
+
+"Why, I am all right, my friend; and if I could only learn that romance
+altogether, but M. Chaudoreille only sings me his villanelle, and that
+is not amusing."
+
+"I will buy you some others."
+
+"Oh, try to get me the one I heard this morning,--
+
+    I love to eternity.
+
+Can you remember it?"
+
+"Yes, yes; I will remember it.--But I am waiting for someone to come; go
+upstairs to your room."
+
+Blanche curtseyed to the barber and gayly went up to her room, while
+Touquet said to himself, following her with his eyes,--
+
+"Come, I was wrong to make myself uneasy; she knows nothing of him."
+
+An hour after this conversation somebody knocked at the barber's door
+and Marguerite admitted Chaudoreille, who came into the lower room with
+the important air of a man who is very well pleased with himself.
+
+"You're very late," said Touquet, signing to him to seat himself.
+
+"Why, what the deuce, my dear fellow! Do you think that these affairs
+are so speedily arranged?"
+
+"I don't believe, however, that you've been all this time in the shop
+where I sent you."
+
+"No, undoubtedly; but I passed a greater part of the time there. After
+that it was necessary for me to have some dinner, for you did not invite
+me to partake of yours, I believe."
+
+"Well, were you successful? Give me an account of your mission."
+
+"I went there. Wait, while I dry my forehead a little."
+
+The barber made a movement of impatience and Chaudoreille passed over
+his face a little silk handkerchief, which for prudence' sake he never
+unrolled. After emitting some exclamations of fatigue, during which
+Touquet impatiently stamped his foot, he commenced his story.
+
+"To go to that place in the city I could take two roads; I don't know
+but I could take three."
+
+"You wretch! take a dozen if you like, but get there."
+
+"It was necessary for me to get there, and then to return here. I
+decided on going by the Pont-Neuf, then down the quay into the street.
+You know, where they sell such good tarts."
+
+"Chaudoreille, you're mocking at me."
+
+"No, I'm not; but it seemed to me I should tell you everything that I
+did. But you are so petulant. Finally, I took the shortest way. I went
+into the shop where the young girl works."
+
+"That's good luck."
+
+"I entered with that grace which characterizes me; I bowed first to an
+old woman who was on the right, and afterwards bowed to two young girls
+who were on the left. In the middle of the shop I saw nobody but a cat
+sleeping on a stool."
+
+"No doubt you bowed to the cat also."
+
+"Oh, if you interrupt me I shall get all mixed up. They asked me what I
+wanted; I answered, dissembling my designs, 'Let me see some ribbons.'
+They showed me some reds, some blues, some greens, some yellows, some
+oranges; during this time I examined the two little ones. As nature has
+endowed me with a penetrating eye, I recognized immediately the one you
+depicted for me."
+
+"You spoke to her?"
+
+"A moment and you shall see how I conducted the matter. I was
+sufficiently adroit to get her to serve me. She asked me what color I
+had decided upon; but I, with careful cunning, did not decide in order
+that I might prolong the conversation. At last, by a happy chance, some
+other people came into the shop; then we were less observed."
+
+"And you told her what had brought you there?"
+
+"I decided first for a gold color, and I got her to make a rosette for
+Rolande. Wait; don't you think this becomes me well?"
+
+So saying, Chaudoreille rose and put his sword near Touquet's face, who
+pushed the chevalier rather brusquely into his seat, exclaiming,--
+
+"If I didn't restrain myself I should break every bone in your body to
+teach you not to abuse my patience thus."
+
+"There's no pleasure in conducting an intrigue with you," said
+Chaudoreille, a little disconcerted at being reseated so heavily; "but
+if you wish that I should come to the facts, here I am. I made known to
+her the intentions of the Marquis de Villebelle."
+
+"His intentions? I didn't communicate them to you."
+
+"That is to say, his love, his passion. At last I demanded a meeting for
+tomorrow evening."
+
+"Well, what then?"
+
+"She hesitated for a long time, reflected for a long time; then I
+redoubled my eloquence; I pictured the marquis dying of despair if she
+repulsed his vows."
+
+"Idiot! was that necessary?"
+
+"Yes, certainly; it was highly necessary; the little one was weighing
+it."
+
+"Did she make any wry faces?"
+
+"No; on the contrary, she gave me the most interesting glances."
+
+"Finally, is she coming?"
+
+"Yes, by jingo! she's coming. Yes; but it took me to decide her."
+
+"Tomorrow evening?"
+
+"Yes, at eight o'clock."
+
+"Where is she to be?"
+
+"On the Pont de la Tournelle."
+
+"That's good."
+
+"As soon as I had got her answer, I attached my rosette."
+
+"Excuse me from the rest; I know enough."
+
+"You must know that in bowing too precipitately I broke a pane, for
+which they made me pay a crown, and for which I hope I shall be
+reimbursed.--Ah, that's not all; I know that the lady is named Julia,
+and also that she is an Italian. You see I did not lose any time. Are
+you pleased with me?"
+
+"Yes, it's not so bad," said Touquet, with a less gloomy expression,
+approaching a table on which Marguerite had, according to her usual
+custom, placed some cups and a pewter pot full of wine. "Stop your
+eternal chatter; I'm well enough pleased with you. Drink a cup of
+wine."
+
+"You call exactitude of detail chatter," said Chaudoreille, filling one
+of the cups up to the brim; "but I was trying to show you that I did not
+steal the money which you gave me. As for the pane of glass, I had to
+make that circumstance known to you, for I had only nine crowns
+remaining.--Ah, I forgot; the gold-colored rosette cost me two crowns,
+so I've only received seven."
+
+"Two crowns for that miserable knot," said the barber, glancing
+mockingly at the handle of the sword. "Chaudoreille, you have missed
+your vocation; you should be a steward; you know how to swell your
+bills."
+
+"What must I understand by these words, I beg of you?"
+
+"That that rosette did not cost over fifteen sous."
+
+"Yes, for a passer-by, for an unknown, perhaps; but when one represents
+a great nobleman, shopkeepers fleece him, and I didn't believe that I
+should haggle. If anyone had asked me three times the price, I should
+have given it without uttering a word."
+
+"Calm yourself," said Touquet, smiling at the heat with which
+Chaudoreille tried to prove that he had spent three crowns; "we must
+reimburse you for your ruff."
+
+"Oh, I'm not uneasy about that, but what shall I do tomorrow? Shall I go
+to the rendezvous? Shall I carry off the little one?"
+
+"No; that concerns me only. I can trust you to startle the game for me,
+but I don't think proper to let you bring it down."
+
+"You know me very little still, my dear Touquet. I believe that you
+should render more justice to my adroitness and my valor. If you knew
+how many intrigues I have drawn to a successful end! It's necessary to
+see me in moments of difficulty. I take precedence over everybody; I
+would abduct a Venus under the eyes of Mars, and all the Vulcans would
+not make me afraid."
+
+"I don't doubt it, but I don't want to put you to the proof."
+
+"All the worse for you, for you would see some very surprising things.
+No obstacle would stop me; when I'm excited I'm an Achilles. Wait; I
+should just like once, by chance, that you should find yourself in some
+danger, that you should have need of help; then, as quick as lightning,
+with Rolande in my hand--"
+
+At this moment a noise was heard in the street, and Touquet, squeezing
+Chaudoreille's arm exclaimed,--
+
+"Be quiet! be quiet! I hear something."
+
+"What does it matter to us what they are doing in the street? There are,
+perhaps, some young men laughing and amusing themselves. Let them do it.
+I tell you, then, that, brandishing my redoubtable sword--"
+
+"Be quiet, then, stupid," resumed the barber, holding the chevalier's
+arm still more tightly; "they are beginning again."
+
+They then distinctly heard the sound of a guitar which someone was
+playing near the house.
+
+"Someone who loves music," said Chaudoreille.
+
+"Hush! let us listen," said Touquet, whose features expressed the most
+lively anxiety, while the chevalier murmured in a bass voice,--
+
+"They don't play at all well; they have need of some of my lessons."
+
+Almost immediately a voice was heard which, accompanied by the guitar,
+sang a tender romance, of which the refrain recalled to the barber the
+words which Blanche had quoted to him.
+
+"No more doubt of it," said Touquet, rising suddenly; "they are singing
+to her. Ah, reckless fellow, I'll go and take away from you all desire
+to return here."
+
+While saying these words the barber ran to get his poniard, which hung
+over the fireplace, while Chaudoreille changed color and murmured,--
+
+"What the devil is the matter with you? What are you going to do? and
+who are you going to do it to?"
+
+"To an insolent fellow who is in front of this house. Come,
+Chaudoreille; follow me. If there were ten of them, they should have the
+pleasure of feeling my poniard. You shall also have the pleasure of
+chasing and chastising these blackguards."
+
+While saying this Touquet ran into the shop and hastened to open the
+door, being by that means sooner in the street than if he had gone by
+the passageway. While he precipitately drew the bolts, Chaudoreille rose
+with a good deal of fury and ran three times round the hall, crying,--
+
+"Where the devil have I laid my sword?"
+
+This feat accomplished, he perceived that Rolande had not left his side,
+and cried to Touquet, who could not hear him,--
+
+"Stupid that I am! In my hurry I did not see him. I am with you; I have
+only to draw him from the scabbard.--Come then, Rolande.--It is this
+cursed knot which holds him. Plague be on the rosette! Touquet, here I
+am; amuse them a little until I can draw Rolande from the scabbard."
+
+But the barber was already in the street, while Chaudoreille remained at
+the back of the room, appearing to be making futile efforts to draw his
+sword, crying all the while,--
+
+"I am with you! Cursed rosette! Without it I should have already killed
+five or six."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+CONVERSATION BY THE FIRESIDE
+
+
+It was really for little Blanche that somebody was singing and
+accompanying himself on the guitar. Lovers are the most imprudent of
+mortals. Urbain in loving Blanche was experiencing love for the first
+time, for he would have scorned to have given the name of love to those
+momentary caprices of the fancy which are extinguished as soon as
+gratified; and even at the early date at which we are writing, the young
+men permitted themselves to have such whims; but when they loved truly
+that lasted in those good old times, or so they say, much longer than it
+does today, at least among the little shopkeepers. The great have always
+had their privileges, in love as in everything else.
+
+A first love causes one to commit many imprudences; but the second time
+that one's heart is assailed by the tender passion, one has a little
+more experience; and the third time, one knows how to hide his play. It
+is necessary to become habituated to everything; and if women do not
+invariably hold to their first love, are not invariably faithful to it,
+it is only that they may acquire this habituation, and it would ill
+become us to call it a crime in them.
+
+But Urbain disturbed himself very little, as it will appear; he had
+unceasingly before his eyes the face of the enchantress he had perceived
+at the window, and he ardently desired to see her when there should be
+nothing between them. What he had heard from the gossips of the
+neighborhood had strengthened his hope and perhaps added to the feeling
+he already experienced for her, for there was something romantic in the
+history of the young orphan; extraordinary events inflame the
+imagination, and that of a lover takes fire very easily.
+
+But before seeking to surmount the obstacles which stood in the way of
+gaining the one he loved it was first necessary to obtain her love,
+without which all his plans could avail him nothing. One may brave the
+jealousy of a rival, the watchfulness of a tutor, anger, vengeance, and
+the daggers of a thousand Arguses; but one cannot brave the indifference
+of the beloved object. Before that obstacle all prospects of happiness
+vanish. A very much smitten lover wishes to find a heart which responds
+to his own. That brutal love which is satisfied with the possession of
+the body, without caring for that of the soul, could only exist among
+the petty tyrants of former times, who plundered travellers and achieved
+the conquest of women at the point of the sword; then, putting their
+victims behind them on their horses, as a custom-house officer possesses
+himself of contraband goods, went off to enjoy themselves with their
+booty in the depths of their fastness, troubling themselves very little
+that the unhappy creatures responded to their loathsome caresses only
+with tears.
+
+Today love is more delicate. Before everything, one desires to please;
+and with his guineas the great lord wishes to touch the heart as well as
+the hand of the pretty dancer; and he succeeds, because dancers
+generally carry their hearts in their hands.
+
+While taking his humble meal Urbain said to himself,--
+
+"How shall I see her? How shall I make myself known to her?
+Blanche--what a pretty name! and how well it suits her! But the barber
+doesn't seem very tractable; his house is a veritable fortress. It is
+necessary, before everything, that that charming girl should know that I
+love her, that I adore her. This morning she listened to the musicians,
+and appeared to be greatly pleased with the last romance they sang. I
+know that romance; I'll go this evening and sing it under her window;
+perhaps she will show herself; perhaps at night she opens her window to
+take the air."
+
+The air was a little nipping, for the season was severe; but a lover
+always believes it is springtime. Delighted by the idea Urbain went
+home to get his guitar, and waited impatiently, until the streets should
+be deserted, to go and serenade a woman whom he did not know.
+
+This Spanish custom was then much in fashion in France. There are still
+some little towns where it is preserved, and where one may hear between
+ten and eleven o'clock sentimental songs accompanied by the guitar; but
+in the great capitals it is only the blind and the organ-grinders who
+sing love in the streets.
+
+The hour propitious to lovers having arrived, Urbain went to the Rue des
+Bourdonnais; he had easily recognized the barber's house, having
+specially noted it in the morning; a feeble light which shone between
+the curtains of Blanche's window seemed to indicate that the young girl
+was not yet sleeping, and, without reflecting that the other dwellers in
+the house would hear him, Urbain had sung with the most tender
+expression he could put in his voice.
+
+We have seen what followed on this imprudence. At the sound of bolts
+being drawn, the young man softly departed, and, hiding at the entrance
+of the Rue des Mauvaises-Paroles, he heard the threats and the swearing
+of Touquet.
+
+"He's escaped," said the barber, reëntering the lower room and angrily
+throwing his sword on the table. These words seemed to break the charm
+which held Rolande in his scabbard; and Chaudoreille, drawing his sword
+suddenly, and making it flash in the air, ran precipitately into the
+shop, crying,--
+
+"And now, master singers, I'll let you see something fierce."
+
+"Don't I tell you there's no one there," repeated Touquet, while
+Chaudoreille appeared to wish to draw the bolts of the door. "I made too
+much noise; the rascal heard me and ran off."
+
+"Are you quite certain there's nobody there?" said Chaudoreille, still
+brandishing his sword.
+
+"Yes, quite sure."
+
+"I have a great inclination to go into the street and satisfy myself as
+to that."
+
+"Do as you please about it; you are your own master."
+
+"No; on reflection, I believe that would be a blunder; they may perhaps
+come back; it will be better to let them approach without fear; then we
+can fell suddenly upon them, and give them no quarter."
+
+So saying, the chevalier put Rolande into the scabbard and returned to
+the lower room, where he seated himself before the fire and again filled
+his cup with wine, which he swallowed at one draught, to cool--so he
+said--his anger.
+
+The barber strode up and down; he was strongly agitated, and appeared to
+have forgotten the presence of Chaudoreille, as he murmured at intervals
+in a gloomy voice,--
+
+"That which I feared has happened at last! That beautiful bud has been
+seen, and they will all wish to cull it. They will seek to learn who she
+is, where she comes from; there will be a thousand remarks, a thousand
+inquiries, and who knows where that will lead? Bungling fellow that I
+am! I well had need to guard the child. I believed I had made a master
+stroke which would disarm all suspicion. I ought to have foreseen that
+one day she would be sixteen, that she would be charming, and that in
+order to possess her they would employ all the stratagems which I have
+often used on behalf of others."
+
+"My dear fellow," said Chaudoreille, carrying to his lips for the third
+time a goblet filled to the brim, "my honest Touquet, if you don't want
+to take care of the little one any longer, give her to me, and I'll
+answer to you for it that no fop shall be allowed to see her face."
+
+"What shall I give you?" said the barber, as if he had only just become
+aware of Chaudoreille's presence. "What are you talking about? Answer
+me!"
+
+"Oh, by jingo, you were speaking of the young flower you have sheltered;
+I heard you very plainly."
+
+"You heard me!" cried Touquet, seizing Chaudoreille by the arm with
+which he was holding his full cup; "and what did I say? What did you
+hear? Speak, wretch! Speak, will you?"
+
+"Take care! you're shaking my arm. Here's my doublet all stained with
+wine now. What the deuce! You'll have to give me another."
+
+"What have you heard?" repeated the barber in a threatening voice,
+raising his closed fist on Chaudoreille, while with the other hand he
+shook him so briskly by the arm that a great part of the wine covered
+the jaws and neck of the chevalier.
+
+"Nothing, nothing, I swear to you," murmured the latter, lowering his
+eyes, so as to avoid the barber's gaze. "I only said to you that this
+wine has a fine bouquet, and that if you wished to give me some bottles
+to keep I should carefully guard it from all eyes. I believe that's what
+I was saying; for, in truth, you've turned me upside down with your
+irritable conduct, and I don't know what I'm saying."
+
+Touquet loosened his hold of Chaudoreille's arm, as if ashamed of his
+hasty movements, and, resuming his calmer tone, seated himself near the
+latter.
+
+"There are some things I wish to keep secret--not that they're of any
+great importance; and, for the matter of that, I don't think that you
+will ever allow yourself to prate about my affairs; you are too well
+aware that my dagger would at once deprive you of the organ of which you
+made such use."
+
+"What the deuce do you suppose I could blab about you?" said
+Chaudoreille, drying his face and his clothing with his little silk
+handkerchief, and pinching his lips, as if doubting whether Touquet had
+not already cut out his tongue. "You never tell me anything about your
+business, and I'm not a man to invent the slightest untruth."
+
+"I've told you what all the world knows,--that I have sheltered Blanche
+since she had been left an orphan at my house, and that I know no more
+than anyone else about her father or her family. She is now grown up and
+pretty. Lovers will begin to come; that's what vexes me. They'll seek to
+learn everything about this young girl, and assuredly they won't know
+more about it than I am telling you. The one who was singing just now is
+known to me; he came into my shop this morning, and stayed two hours, in
+the hope that Blanche would appear. Do you hear me, Chaudoreille?"
+
+"I hear you--if you wish me to," said the chevalier, continuing to rub
+his doublet; "for I don't know if I should or if I should not hear you.
+That shall be as you wish."
+
+"I wish you weren't quite so foolish," said the barber, glancing
+scornfully at his neighbor.
+
+"No words of double meaning," answered Chaudoreille; "you know I don't
+like them. This cursed wine stains, and for the moment I don't know
+where to get another doublet."
+
+"He's a mere child, a scholar, who has not yet a beard on his chin,"
+said the barber after a moment's silence, which was only interrupted by
+the rubbing of the handkerchief on the spots impregnated by wine. "He
+shows the small experience he has had in love intrigues by coming to
+sing before my door--in order to let me know who was there. The poor boy
+has much need of a lesson."
+
+"He certainly is not first-rate at the guitar.".
+
+"I don't believe that he can be known to Blanche. No--but that romance
+he was singing,--it's precisely the same as the one she mentioned to
+me,--
+
+    My darling is all to me."
+
+"That doesn't equal--
+
+    Thou hast lost thy fond dove too.
+
+Zounds! what a difference in the melody!"
+
+"No, Blanche is candor itself; she would not have spoken to me of that
+romance had she known the young man. Why the devil haven't you taught
+her something else besides that old rubbish of Louis the Twelfth's time?
+If you had taught her to sing something pretty she would not have been
+enraptured at the first romance sung by wandering minstrels."
+
+"What do you say? Are you talking to me?" said Chaudoreille, raising his
+head.
+
+"Of course I am, since you call yourself a professor of singing."
+
+"My dear Touquet, listen well to what I am going to say: I don't tease
+you about your method of shaving beards, and don't you meddle with my
+way of teaching music. Each one to his own trade. You know the proverb.
+I teach my pupils nothing but masterpieces, and I'm not going to cram
+their heads with the little gurglings of those miserable clowns who
+travel from Naples here singing the same roulade."
+
+"It's vexatious, then, that the young girls prefer these roulades to
+your masterpieces. You gave Blanche a music lesson this morning, and she
+tells me that you have wearied her with your villanelle."
+
+"Had anyone but you told me that?" cried Chaudoreille, rising in
+vexation. "I should have attributed it to jealousy. But it's getting
+late; it's been a tiring day, and I must go to rest. If, however, you
+wish me to remain here for fear the singers should return, I will
+sacrifice my repose."
+
+"No, no; it's unnecessary," said the barber, smiling. "They won't come
+back; go to bed."
+
+"You have no need of my services tomorrow evening, then?"
+
+"No--however, if you like to be walking on the Pont de la Tournelle at
+the hour agreed on, you could at any rate serve as a spy for us."
+
+"Sufficient," said Chaudoreille, pulling his hat over his eyes; "you can
+count on me in life and in death; I shall be at the rendezvous at the
+exact hour, and Rolande shall be sharp. Good-by!"
+
+So saying the chevalier passed through the passageway into the alley and
+opened the door of the house. He thrust his head out into the street,
+and, after glancing cautiously to the right and left, went on his way
+like a stag who hears the sound of the chase.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE CLOSET. THE ABDUCTION
+
+
+As everything coheres, everything is connected in this lower world,
+there is no chance; but there are many rebounds which transmit from one
+to another events, effects, for which we bless or curse fate,--as they
+are fortunate or unfortunate,--instead of tracing them to their original
+causes, from which, in truth, we are sometimes removed so far as to have
+no cognizance of them.
+
+Thus it came to pass that our young Urbain had blessed chance on
+perceiving that the light was still burning in Blanche's room; but if
+the young girl had not gone to rest it was not by chance, but because
+Marguerite could not decide to go up to bed in her new room before
+knowing where the little door in the back of her alcove led.
+
+Now if the garrulous old maidservant had not confessed to her master
+that she had witnessed his nightly vigils, the latter would not have
+made her change her lodging; and the fear which induced him to do so was
+due to other causes still more remote; thus, by a series of events,
+Marguerite's gossip had led to Blanche's hearing Urbain's sweet and
+tender voice sing the romance which had so enchanted her in the morning.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle," said the old woman, some moments before the young
+lover began to sing, "I know I should die of fright if I should have to
+sleep alone in that horrid room, formerly inhabited by a magician,
+without knowing where that little door leads to--perhaps into that
+Odoard's laboratory. Who knows whether he isn't still there? These
+sorcerers are sometimes shut up by themselves for half a century,
+searching for secrets which will enable them to give human kind into the
+hands of the devil. I am sure that M. Touquet, who is very indifferent
+in regard to everything pertaining to sorcerers, has not once been into
+that room. Let me pass the night in your room, my child; tomorrow, when
+it's daylight, we'll go together and open that door, since the Chevalier
+Chaudoreille wasn't polite enough to do so. I can pass the night in this
+easy chair; I shall be much better here than upstairs, and I can tell
+you some interesting stories before you go to sleep."
+
+Blanche could not refuse Marguerite what she asked as a favor; the old
+woman was relating her third story of sorcery, and the young girl, who
+felt that her eyes were growing heavy, was about to go to bed, when the
+sounds of a guitar were heard.
+
+Blanche listened, and made a sign to Marguerite to be silent, and soon
+recognized with delight the air which she was desirous of learning.
+There is something sweeter, more seductive, in music thus heard in the
+middle of the night; it finds its way more quickly to the heart.
+Urbain's voice was flexible and melodious. Blanche, transported,
+remained motionless, as though she feared by a single movement to lose a
+sound, while Marguerite, gaping with astonishment, looked at the
+engaging child without appearing greatly enchanted with the music. But
+Marguerite was more than sixty years old, and music had not the same
+effect upon her as upon Blanche; the sounds reached no farther than her
+ears, while they vibrated deliciously in the depths of the heart of
+sixteen.
+
+Very soon, however, the noise which they heard in the street put an end
+to Blanche's happiness; she recognized the barber's voice, and the
+threats which he pronounced made her tremble, as well as Marguerite, who
+cried immediately,--
+
+"Go to bed! go to bed quickly, my child, and extinguish the light; if M.
+Touquet sees that we are still awake, if he should find me in here--O
+holy blessed Virgin! I shall be lost."
+
+"But why is he so angry?" said Blanche. "Is singing in the streets in
+the evenings forbidden? I was so pleased to hear that romance. What harm
+was the young man doing?--for it was a young man who was singing--was it
+not, dear nurse? It was not the voice of an old man, and, oh, how well
+he sang! I have never heard such a pretty voice; it had a singular
+effect on me; it made my heart beat with pleasure--didn't it yours,
+Marguerite?"
+
+Marguerite, whose heart was beating only with fear, contented herself
+with repeating, "Go to bed quickly, put out the lamp, and above all
+don't say tomorrow that you heard the singing; that would prove that you
+were not yet asleep, and M. Touquet wishes everyone to go to sleep as
+soon as they go to bed."
+
+Since it was necessary to yield to the insistence of the old servant,
+Blanche went to bed, but she did not go to sleep; the young singer's
+voice still seemed to ring in her ears, and on hearing the least sound
+in the street she imagined that it was the musician again. As to
+Marguerite, after putting out the lamp, she extended herself in an
+armchair near the fire and fell asleep, murmuring a prayer to drive away
+evil spirits.
+
+The morning after this night, so fertile with events, Blanche arose
+early. She was pensive, preoccupied, still dreaming of the young
+singer's voice; she felt new desires, and sighed as she glanced toward
+the street. Marguerite ran to her work, saying to Blanche,--
+
+"When monsieur is most busily engaged with his customers, we'll go up
+together into my room; but, my child, above all don't say anything about
+the music."
+
+Blanche promised her, saying, "Why should he be angry because somebody
+came to sing such a pretty air under our windows?"
+
+The barber said nothing to the young girl about the adventure of the
+night; he contented himself with observing Blanche, and the lovely
+child, remembering the threats which she had overheard him utter against
+the singer, had no desire to chat; she hastened to return to her
+chamber, where Marguerite was not long in coming to rejoin her.
+
+"Now is the time," said the old servant; "monsieur has a good many
+people to shave. Come, my child; come up with me, and above all don't be
+frightened; I have taken every precaution necessary to drive away the
+goblins."
+
+"Frightened!" said Blanche, because she saw that Marguerite was
+trembling. "No, dear nurse, no; I assure you that I'm not thinking of
+your secret door at all."
+
+Thus saying, Blanche darted lightly up the stairs, while Marguerite
+followed her more slowly, saying, "Happy age when one has no fear of
+magicians, because one does not understand all their wickedness,--it is
+true that she has a talisman."
+
+When they reached the room, Blanche entered quickly, while the old woman
+made a genuflexion and invoked her patron saint, after which she decided
+also to go into her new room, throwing anxious glances about her.
+Blanche had run into the alcove and already drawn the bed into the
+middle of the room.
+
+"Wait a moment; don't be so imprudent," cried Marguerite to her. "Is it
+necessary to do things so quickly?"
+
+"But, dear nurse, the sooner we open that door, the sooner you'll be
+reassured."
+
+"Reassured! that's what I wish. Have you your talisman, my darling?"
+
+"Of course I have. Didn't you sew it yourself inside my corsets?"
+
+"That's true."
+
+"I don't see the door you were talking about."
+
+"It is so well encased in the woodwork."
+
+"Ah, here it is!"
+
+"Wait a moment, mademoiselle, while I throw some holy water before it."
+
+"But there's no key; how can we open it?"
+
+"Well, we must try. I have several keys that I have picked up while
+cleaning the house, perhaps one of those will open it."
+
+Marguerite advanced tremblingly towards the end of the alcove. She drew
+from her pocket half a dozen rusty keys of different sizes, and was
+about to try one of them, but her hand shook and she could not find the
+keyhole. Blanche seized one key and tried it unsuccessfully, then a
+second; but at the third the young girl uttered a cry of joy, for the
+key turned, and Marguerite crossed herself, murmuring,--
+
+"O my God, the door is opening!"
+
+In fact, the door yielded to Blanche's effort and opened, creaking and
+groaning on its hinges, and the two women beheld a square closet; but,
+as it received no light except from the little door that opened into it,
+and as that door led into a dark alcove, one may conceive that there was
+little daylight there. Blanche remained on the doorsill and Marguerite
+recoiled a few steps, saying,--
+
+"See now, my child; I was right in thinking that that door led
+somewhere. Oh, this is as dark as a cave."
+
+"Let us go in here, nurse."
+
+"But not without a light, I hope. Wait; I will go and light my lamp. I
+don't know that it is prudent of us to enter this closet."
+
+"But, Marguerite, you see very well that there is nobody here."
+
+"I can see nothing except darkness. Wait; take the lamp, and you go
+first, my darling; you have your talisman; nothing will happen to you."
+
+Blanche entered first; she seemed more curious than alarmed, while the
+old woman could scarcely persuade herself to follow. The closet was six
+feet square, and held nothing but two big empty chests placed on the
+floor, which time had covered with dust and spiders' webs.
+
+"Well now, my dear nurse," said Blanche, smiling, "where are the
+sorcerers? I don't see anything frightful here."
+
+"In fact," answered Marguerite, glancing all about her; "there's nothing
+but four walls, no other door, and these two chests are empty. I'm sure
+that no one has disturbed this place for half a century. No matter; I
+swear to you that I shall not come back here again. I don't know why I
+feel so uneasy here. How the floor creaks under our feet!"
+
+"It's because no one has walked here for a long time; this house is
+old."
+
+"Come, my dear child, let us leave this closet; I shall shut the door
+and double-lock it, and I shan't open it again while I stay in this
+room."
+
+Thus saying, Marguerite pushed Blanche before her, then closed the
+little door and double-locked it, murmuring between her teeth,
+
+"Alas! if some sorcerer should wish to open the door that lock would not
+resist him; but every night I shall cross my shovel and tongs before
+it."
+
+This visit terminated, Blanche went down, humming to herself the romance
+of the evening before, and Marguerite returned to her work.
+
+The barber had ordered dinner early; and at six o'clock in the evening
+he left the house, repeating to Marguerite:
+
+"Redouble your watchfulness, do not allow any man to go near Blanche
+without my permission, and inform me if you hear anyone singing in the
+street."
+
+The old woman promised to obey. Touquet wrapped his mantle about him
+and left to execute the marquis' plan. As he was accustomed to conduct
+similar intrigues, he knew where to procure everything that was
+necessary; and at a quarter to eight he was on the Pont de la Tournelle,
+while about a hundred feet from him two men awaited his orders near a
+travelling-chaise drawn by two horses.
+
+For a long time Chaudoreille had been walking on the bridge. Fearing to
+miss the rendezvous, given for eight o'clock, he had arrived at six;
+burying his head between his shoulders and hiding his chin under his
+little mantle, he tried to give himself the air of a conspirator. With
+his left hand on Rolande's handle and the other holding his mantle, he
+walked sometimes slowly and sometimes with a precipitant step; and every
+time that anyone passed him he did not fail to murmur, in such a manner
+as to be heard,--
+
+"How late she is in coming! What can keep her? I am burning! I am
+bursting! I shall die with impatience."
+
+As soon as he saw Touquet he ran to him and pulled the edge of his
+mantle; then, looking to see if anybody was passing, he said to him in a
+mysterious tone,--
+
+"Here I am."
+
+"Well, hang it, I see you!" said the barber, shrugging his shoulders;
+"but I'd much rather see the little one."
+
+"She hasn't appeared yet, I can answer for that. I've looked in every
+woman's face."
+
+"It's not eight o'clock; let us wait."
+
+"Be easy; I'll go and put myself in ambuscade and examine all the
+feminine visages."
+
+"Take care they don't slap you; that would draw a crowd, and wouldn't
+please me."
+
+"Slap me! They're more likely to kiss me, I should say; but I'll make a
+grimace, so as not to tempt them."
+
+And Chaudoreille, drawing his hat down over his eyes, departed, taking
+as long steps as his little legs would permit.
+
+In about three minutes Chaudoreille returned to say to the barber,--
+
+"There's a woman who has just come along by the Pont Marie, and who is
+going to pass over this bridge."
+
+"Indeed! Is she the one we are waiting for? You ought to know, if you've
+peered into her face."
+
+"No; I wasn't able to do that this time, because she was giving her arm
+to a man, and he would have been frightened."
+
+"If she's with a man it's not our young girl; one doesn't bring
+witnesses to a lovers' meeting."
+
+"That's correct," said Chaudoreille, and he started off again.
+
+Some minutes later he returned to Touquet, crying,--
+
+"Here's another one who is coming along this way; but this one is alone,
+I am sure of that."
+
+"Is it our beauty?"
+
+"No, it is not she."
+
+"You idiot! what did you come and tell me for?"
+
+"So that you should not make a mistake; I thought it was my duty to
+avert that."
+
+"Chaudoreille, do me the pleasure of remaining still. I know very well
+how to recognize her whom I came to meet without your help; although I
+haven't yet seen her, I am certain that I shan't make a mistake; but,
+hang it! if she doesn't come to this meeting, I shall send you to drink
+the water under the bridge, to teach you to do your errands better."
+
+Chaudoreille had not heard the barber's last words; he was already far
+away, but he returned precipitately, looking scared.
+
+"What is it now?" said Touquet.
+
+"A patrol of the watch, which I can see coming, and which is going to
+pass by us."
+
+"Well, what of that? What has the watch to do with us? It's not
+forbidden to walk on the bridge, and, even if they should see us abduct
+a young girl I can answer for it they'll hardly trouble themselves about
+that."
+
+"Haven't we a rather suspicious look?"
+
+"You make me ashamed of you."
+
+"I shall pretend to be laughing, to allay their suspicions."
+
+"Wait, perhaps this will give you more courage."
+
+So saying the barber kicked Chaudoreille; but the latter received it
+singing, contenting himself by rubbing the part attacked while executing
+his trills, because at that moment the watch was passing them. When the
+patrol had departed he breathed more freely, and cried,--
+
+"They have taken us for simple troubadours."
+
+"They should have taken you for a fool. A plague on all poltroons! They
+are good for nothing except to spoil everything."
+
+"I'm not going to get angry at a matter which doesn't concern me; but on
+great occasions it seems to me that stratagem is often better than
+valor."
+
+The barber had begun to be impatient, when a young woman came on to the
+bridge, walking slowly and glancing from time to time about her.
+Chaudoreille had not perceived her, because he was in ambuscade at the
+side of the Rue des Deux-Ponts.
+
+Touquet approached the unknown, looked at her and saw that this really
+was the young girl whom the marquis had depicted; for her part, the
+damsel looked attentively at the barber, and seemed to wait for him to
+address her in words.
+
+"Are you not the Signora Julia?" said the barber in a bass voice,
+approaching the young girl.
+
+"And you the barber Touquet?" answered she, lifting to him her animated
+black eyes.
+
+The barber was surprised at hearing himself named by a person to whom he
+believed himself unknown, but, after having considered the young girl
+anew, he resumed,--
+
+"Since you know me, you should also know that the Marquis de Villebelle
+has sent me to you."
+
+"The marquis is rather ungallant," answered Julia, "in not coming
+himself to a first meeting."
+
+"These great noblemen are not the masters of their time; besides, the
+marquis has no desire to converse with you about his love on this
+bridge."
+
+"Preferring, no doubt, his little house of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine?"
+
+"It seems to me, signora, that you are very well acquainted with
+everything that concerns the marquis; after that I have nothing more to
+tell you, except that a carriage is waiting a hundred feet from here."
+
+"Very well, let us go."
+
+"The deuce!" said the barber to himself, offering his arm to Julia, that
+he might conduct her to the coach; "here is a young girl who doesn't
+make a bit of fuss about allowing herself to be abducted. But I must
+confess that there's something in her voice and manners very decided and
+piquant, which astonishes as well as pleases."
+
+They had reached the carriage when Chaudoreille's voice was heard; he
+ran after the barber, crying,--
+
+"There's a woman coming by the side of the Porte de la Tournelle; it is
+our little one; I recognized her walk."
+
+Saying these words, Chaudoreille perceived that the barber was
+conducting a person to whom he had given his arm.
+
+"How is this? What does this mean? Must I believe my eyes?" cried the
+chevalier. "That's our beauty, and what the deuce way did she come? No
+matter; we've got her; that's the essential thing. I will protect your
+walk."
+
+Chaudoreille then drew his sword, and, giving no ear to the barber, who
+bade him depart, ran up to the carriage, crying to the two men who were
+near,--
+
+"My friends, here they are. Be adroit, be courageous. By jingo! she must
+enter your vehicle, willingly or by force."
+
+Somebody opened the door, and Chaudoreille was a little surprised at
+seeing the young person trip first into the carriage. He was about to do
+the same, and seat himself near her, when Touquet, taking him by the
+breeches, dropped him on all-fours on the pavement, and, following Julia
+into the carriage, said to the coachman,--
+
+"Go on!"
+
+"What the deuce! he's going to abduct her without me," said
+Chaudoreille, picking himself up. "No, not by all the devils! It shall
+not be said that I did not finish this adventure; besides, they've only
+given me something on account, and I should like to be settled with
+before the marquis gets tired of the little one."
+
+Chaudoreille immediately darted after the carriage; accustomed to
+running, he caught up with it, mounted behind, and allowed himself to be
+drawn at a great gallop, taking care to hold tightly to the tassels,
+which served to support him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LITTLE HOUSE. A NEW GAME
+
+
+The carriage bearing the barber and Julia had soon passed the Porte
+Saint-Antoine, which at that period had not attained the dignity of the
+Faubourg, but was in a neighborhood where the road is cut by the
+boulevards, and which served frequently, as did all thinly inhabited
+districts at the time of which we are writing, for a meeting-place for
+robbers, vagabonds, pages, lackeys and cut-purses.
+
+The marquis' little house was situated near the Vallée de Fécamp, which
+today is replaced by a street bearing the same name, and making the
+continuation of the Rue de la Planchette. Crossing this unlighted place
+of evil fame in the middle of the night was, at that time, to expose
+one's self to as much danger as though passing through the forest of
+Bondy. However, many noblemen had chosen this quarter for the theatre of
+their gallantries. They possessed small houses there, their ordinary
+meeting-places in their love intrigues, and often went out incognito,
+but always well armed.
+
+The carriage stopped before an enclosing wall; Chaudoreille looked
+about him on all sides. The house was isolated, and the wall which
+enclosed the garden appeared unbroken, but Touquet had already alighted
+from the carriage; he approached a small door which the chevalier had
+not perceived, and rang a bell. Before any one could come to open it
+Chaudoreille had left the place which he had occupied, and had offered
+his hand to Julia to assist her in alighting from the carriage.
+
+The door was immediately opened by a man servant, who appeared holding a
+lantern in his hand, and, merely glancing at the carriage and at the
+damsel who was getting out of it, he contented himself with smiling and
+making a low bow to the barber.
+
+"Your master has warned you that we were coming?" said Touquet to this
+person in a low voice.
+
+"Yes, monsieur," answered the servant, "I am waiting for you."
+
+Here the barber, upon turning around to introduce Julia to the lackey
+perceived for the first time the redoubtable Chaudoreille, who stood
+bolt upright before the door with his sword in his hand, as though he
+were a sentinel on guard. The barber shrugged his shoulders impatiently,
+and, after handing Julia in, he unceremoniously dragged the chevalier by
+his mantle, and made him also pass into the garden, saying,--
+
+"Since you have followed us here, it is necessary that you should do
+something for us."
+
+"That is my duty, by jingo," responded the chevalier, while Touquet
+reclosed the garden gate, after having said to the two men who were near
+the coach,--
+
+"Wait for me."
+
+They followed along a tiled passageway which led to the house. The
+garden was gloomy. The servant who carried the lantern walked in front,
+and Chaudoreille, who found himself the last, glanced from time to time
+anxiously from right to left; he wished to open the conversation, and
+had already exclaimed, "This garden appears to be very large," when the
+barber turned and ordered him to keep silent. To indemnify himself for
+this forced silence, Chaudoreille, who was still holding Rolande naked
+in his hand, struck every tree that he met.
+
+They arrived at the house and entered a vestibule, at the end of which
+was a staircase, while to the right and the left doors led to the
+apartments on the ground floor.
+
+Julia, who had followed her conductors without speaking, appeared to
+examine attentively everything that presented itself to her.
+Chaudoreille, finding himself near the man with the lantern, uttered a
+cry of surprise, saying,--
+
+"Why, what the deuce! I can't be mistaken. It is Marcel, one of my old
+friends. Don't you know me? I am Chaudoreille; we spent six months in
+prison together, but it was for a mere trifle. I left it as white as
+snow."
+
+"Be silent, idiots," cried the barber; "you can make your greetings a
+little later. Where is madame's apartment?"
+
+"On the first floor," answered Marcel, putting his hand in
+Chaudoreille's, who shook it as if he had found his best friend.
+
+"Lead us," said Touquet, "and you remain here."
+
+The latter part of this order was addressed to the chevalier and it did
+not afford him much pleasure; but he was forced to obey. However, when
+Chaudoreille perceived that there was no light in the vestibule where
+they left him, and where he found himself in the most complete
+obscurity, he ascended several steps of the stairs, crying in a
+quivering voice,--
+
+"Don't leave me alone here. The night is chilly and I am afraid of
+taking cold."
+
+Marcel led Julia and the barber and, after making them pass through
+several rooms, lighted only by his lantern, opened a door, saying,--
+
+"Here is the room in which madame can rest herself."
+
+Julia could not restrain an exclamation of surprise, and the barber
+himself was lost in admiration. The room which they had entered was
+lighted by a lustre hung from the ceiling, and the light of many wax
+candles permitted one to admire the luxury with which this place was
+decorated. Delightful paintings of seductive and voluptuous figures
+ornamented the wainscot. The furniture was upholstered in light blue,
+where silk and silver were blended with art. There were Venetian
+glasses, Persian carpets, candelabras in which perfumes were burning,
+while natural flowers were disposed elsewhere, in pyramids, in crystal
+vases. The whole combination tended to make a sojourn in this place a
+delight, for here was united everything that would intoxicate the senses
+and inspire pleasure.
+
+Julia and the barber had entered the lighted room; Marcel remained
+respectfully at the door and seemed to wait some orders.
+
+"This place is delightful," said Julia; "but I do not see the marquis."
+
+"You will see him soon, madame," answered Touquet; "in an hour he will
+be here. While awaiting him you can ask for everything that is agreeable
+to you. Your desires will be accomplished immediately. This bell
+communicates with the floor below. Is not that so, Marcel?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, and if madame would like to take something, I have
+prepared a collation in the little neighboring room."
+
+Marcel indicated a door hidden by a mirror. The barber pushed it and
+they saw a second room, smaller but equally well lighted, and decorated
+with as much magnificence, only the furniture and the hangings were of
+poppy-colored velvet, ornamented with fringes of gold, while light blue
+and silver were the only colors in the first.
+
+"He did not deceive me," said Touquet to himself, glancing into the
+second room, "when he said that he had made an enchanting bower of this
+house. What luxury! What magnificence! How much money he must have spent
+to do all this! And yet he is not happy."
+
+Julia had thrown herself on a lounge and appeared thoughtful. The barber
+bowed to her, and, making a sign to Marcel, left the apartment with him.
+
+Marcel was a bachelor of twenty-eight or thirty years, short, fat and
+cheerful; obedient and exact as an Oriental, but endowed with very
+little genius and incapable of conducting the merest intrigue. The
+marquis, to whom more adroit, more active, more enterprising people were
+necessary, but who appreciated Marcel's faithfulness, had found, in
+order to keep him, no better means of employing him than to make him the
+keeper of this house. There his functions were limited to a passive
+obedience to the orders which he received; but he was a stranger to all
+the intrigues of which this abode was the theatre, and ignored sometimes
+the correct name of the person who during a short period was reigning
+sovereign in the little house. This troubled him little, and his
+indifference was a guarantee of his discretion, a quality which in his
+employ was very necessary.
+
+"You know Chaudoreille?" said the barber to Marcel, following him into
+the passageway which led to the staircase.
+
+"Yes, monsieur," answered the valet, "I knew him formerly in a rather
+unfortunate affair, since I had to pass six months in prison, and God
+knows if I was guilty. It is in the neighborhood of seven years ago, and
+I was not then in the marquis' service. I was drinking in an inn, and
+Chaudoreille was there also; he was playing at piquet with two other
+cavaliers, and they invited me to make one of their party. I accepted
+the invitation. I played and I lost. He took my place, put down some
+crowns for me, saying that we should be partners, and played with
+surprising good fortune. I was delighted to see him win, but our
+adversaries pretended that he cheated. Then they disputed, and in place
+of paying us wanted to fight us so badly that they made a great noise.
+The sergeants of the watch arrived with their archers and led us to
+prison,--Chaudoreille and me. That was how we made acquaintance; but
+since that time I have lost the taste for playing. I wouldn't touch a
+card now."
+
+"All the better for you. I advise you to keep that resolution."
+
+The barber and Marcel then went down the stairs which led into the
+vestibule, when cries of "Thief!" "Beware!" "Murder!" came to their
+ears. The cries came from the garden, and Touquet recognized the
+chevalier's voice.
+
+"What the devil is he at now?" said the barber, hurrying his steps,
+while Marcel followed him, repeating,--
+
+"Thieves! That is singular. However, the doors are close shut, and the
+walls of the garden are ten feet high."
+
+Tired of being without light in the vestibule, Chaudoreille had returned
+into the garden, where, since the moon was nearly hidden by clouds, one
+could see but a little way from him. The chevalier was singing a virelay
+which he accompanied by striking Rolande against the branches, then
+barren of foliage. All of a sudden, at the entrance to some shrubbery, a
+large white face appeared opposite Chaudoreille, who stopped and cried,
+in a faltering voice,--
+
+"Who goes there?"
+
+Nobody answered him, and he judged it prudent in place of repeating his
+question to regain the house. In his alarm he mistook the way, and at a
+turn in the alley perceived before him another personage, who held a
+club in his hand, with which he seemed disposed to strike him. It was
+then that Chaudoreille, who felt his strength for flight fail him, made
+the garden echo with his cries. Guided by his voice, the barber and
+Marcel were soon near him.
+
+"What is the matter? Wherefore this noise?" said Touquet.
+
+"Don't you see that wretch who is waiting for me down there to slay me,
+while his accomplice is hidden in another bush?"
+
+The barber turned to look in the direction which Chaudoreille designated
+with his hand. Marcel did likewise, holding the lantern before him. Soon
+the latter burst into a shout of laughter, and the barber cried,--
+
+"I was sure that this clown would commit some foolishness."
+
+"Why foolishness? Zounds! Why did not these people answer me when I
+cried to them, 'Who goes there?'"
+
+"That would be very difficult for them," said Marcel. "The one that you
+perceive over there is Hercules killing the Lernean hydra, and the other
+is probably Mercury or Mars. Perhaps it was even a Venus which
+frightened you."
+
+"Frightened me? Oh, no. By jingo, I wasn't frightened; but they should
+warn people when they have an Olympus in their garden. In any case, if
+it is Mercury he can flatter himself that he has received five or six
+strokes from the flat of this sword, and they weren't given by a dead
+hand."
+
+"And if this young girl heard your cries, wretch," said the barber
+directing his steps towards the little door.
+
+"I do not think she could," said Marcel, "the room she occupies looks
+out on the other side of the garden."
+
+The barber then opened the door by which they had entered.
+
+"Remain with Marcel," said he to Chaudoreille. "The marquis will soon be
+here. If he has any orders for me you will come and communicate them to
+me immediately, but before monseigneur you must be mute. If the least
+word escapes you before him, if you commit a single awkwardness,
+remember I shall take your punishment upon myself."
+
+So saying, Touquet sprang into the carriage, which left immediately.
+Chaudoreille was pleased to remain, thinking that he would now see the
+marquis and could find a way to prove his intelligence to him. He took
+Marcel's arm, remembering that the latter had a very sweet disposition
+and was easily led, and felicitated himself on the chance which had led
+to their meeting. The barber alighted when some steps distant from his
+house. He paid the people, sent away the carriage and hastened to enter,
+for the marquis would be there towards ten o'clock and it was not far
+from that now. Marguerite opened the door to her master, who addressed a
+few ordinary questions to her on the subject of Blanche. The old servant
+swore to her master that no man had spoken to the young girl. Touquet
+sent Marguerite away. He wished to wait for the marquis alone. Ten
+o'clock had sounded some time ago and the barber, who awaited
+congratulations and a new recompense, was beginning to be astonished at
+the lack of haste on the part of the marquis when, at last, somebody
+knocked at the street door and the great nobleman entered the barber's
+house.
+
+"Hang it, my poor Touquet, I barely missed forgetting our rendezvous,"
+said the marquis, throwing himself on a seat.
+
+"What, monseigneur, you forget a love affair? That astonishes me, I
+confess."
+
+"You should, however, be able to understand it better than another. Why
+should not one end by tiring of that which he does every day? I am
+utterly blasé in regard to these things. I had, God forgive me, totally
+forgotten the little one. I was at the Hotel de Bourgogne with
+Chavagnac, Montheil and some other of my friends. Turlupin,
+Gautier-Garguille and Gros-Guillaume very much diverted us. The rascals
+are full of jokes; they are quite the fashion. Everybody is running to
+see them. They have created a furore, above all, since they represented
+a comical scene at the cardinal's palace, and since Richelieu has
+permitted them to play at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, despite the protests
+of the comedians. On leaving there we went into an inn; we were in the
+mood for laughter; we fought with some little shopkeepers who disputed
+the possession of a table with us. They shouted like the devil; the
+sergeants of the watch came, but we mentioned our names in a low tone
+and the king's archers helped us to put the rabble out of the place. We
+remained masters of the field of battle; it couldn't end otherwise. I
+never laughed so much. Chavagnac actually wished to eat an omelette off
+the face of a fat draper; the poor devil made some horrible grimaces in
+his fright; it was really very comical; he escaped by swallowing twelve
+glasses of brandy one after the other; afterwards we made him roll from
+the first story to the groundfloor. Finally, my dear fellow, you can
+conceive that with all this the little nut-brown maid went entirely out
+of my head, but just then somebody mentioned a master knave; I thought
+of you and that recalled our rendezvous. Well, now, to come to the
+point, where do we stand?"
+
+"Monseigneur, I have fulfilled your desires, and for the past hour the
+young girl has been at your little house."
+
+"You don't say so! What! Is the affair really terminated thus quickly.
+It doesn't seem as though mademoiselle had made many scruples."
+
+"I must confess, monsieur, that she got into the carriage with a very
+good grace."
+
+"A little resistance would have pleased me better; it's cruel that one
+can have immediately all that one desires. These young girls are so
+impressed when one speaks to them of a great nobleman. I'm almost sorry
+I have entangled myself with this one, for the devil carry me away if
+I'm in love with her the least bit in the world. For very little I'd
+have you take her back to the place you took her from. What d'you say,
+Touquet; that would be droll, wouldn't it?"
+
+The barber, piqued at the little pleasure evinced by the marquis at his
+successful abduction of the young girl, answered coldly,--
+
+"I see that monseigneur has almost entirely forgotten the one who
+charmed him two days ago; if he could remember her he would not show so
+much indifference in her possession."
+
+"What, is she really so beautiful? Do you think she is capable of
+engaging my affection for any length of time?"
+
+"I don't know, monsieur, whether she will have that good fortune; but I
+have seen many courtesans in the highest vogue who did not equal that
+young Italian."
+
+"Is she an Italian?"
+
+"Yes, monseigneur."
+
+"All the better; that alters the case a little."
+
+"Her name is Julia; her face, while not regularly beautiful, has a
+nameless something that is very piquant and seductive; and there is in
+her voice, in her manner, in everything about her, something that
+denotes force and originality. In short, she is not a languorous beauty,
+such as one most often sees."
+
+"Do you know, you pique my curiosity; come, tomorrow, we'll admire all
+this."
+
+"Tomorrow! What monsieur, and the young girl is awaiting you with
+impatience?"
+
+"We must let her sigh until then; I have promised to rejoin my friends
+and finish the night with them. With people of honor one does not break
+his word; the beautiful Julia must be patient."
+
+"I also left one of my men with Marcel, in case monsieur le marquis
+should have any further orders to send me. I hope he'll be useful, since
+Marcel can't leave the house."
+
+"Oh, very well, your man can wait; one can give him a few pistoles more.
+By the way, I must pay you. Wait! Here's some gold I won at lansquenet
+this morning. But time's passing, I wager those rascals are getting
+impatient; I must run and rejoin them. We shall have a delightful night;
+we are in just the vein for diversion. We'll make some notches in the
+good citizens of Paris, we'll flog the watch, we'll stop chair porters,
+and I won't answer for it that we don't steal some mantles on the
+Pont-Neuf."
+
+The marquis hastily departed and the barber closed his door, saying,--
+
+"After all, he may do as he pleases now, since I have been paid."
+
+While this interview was taking place in the Rue des Bourdonnaise, the
+young girl whom they had left in the luxurious boudoir, arose from the
+lounge as soon as those who brought her had departed. She approached a
+mirror which reflected the whole figure; one glance sufficed to distract
+and give her occupation. Julia arranged her hair, passing her fingers
+through it and re-formed its ringlets; she examined herself, she smiled;
+Julia was a coquette; so to some extent is every woman, they say. To
+judge whether she be more or less so it is only necessary to count the
+minutes that she passes before her mirror; ordinarily she is not the
+prettiest who there looks at herself longest.
+
+At last Julia appeared satisfied with herself; she left the mirror and
+ran about the boudoir and into the neighboring room, admiring everything
+which she had pretended to view with indifference as long as anyone
+could see her. She stopped before an alabaster clock which bore a little
+love. The hand pointed nearly to eleven o'clock. Julia sighed and
+frowned, and threw herself into an easy chair, murmuring,--
+
+"He does not come."
+
+While the young girl sighingly regarded the clock, Chaudoreille asked
+Marcel to lead him to the dining-room, saying that he was dying of
+hunger and that since the morning he had been running in the service of
+monsieur le marquis. Marcel hastened to offer his guest a good supper,
+to which the chevalier did full honor. While eating, Chaudoreille
+recounted his exploits to his old friend, and as Marcel listened to
+everything in good faith, our Gascon, delighted at finding someone who
+had faith in his prowess, had already killed fifteen rivals and
+delivered eight victims of tyranny, before he had begun a second
+helping.
+
+"Old fellow," said Marcel, opening his eyes wide, and helping himself to
+drink, "it seems to me that you have a hot head."
+
+"Hot? By jingo, say boiling; say volcanic. It is not my fault, but I
+can't be moderate. I am a rake of honor, a real devil; that is the
+word."
+
+"But why did you call for help against the statues in the garden?"
+
+"Listen, my dear Marcel: At first I could not see that they were
+statues, and when one is brave one believes that one sees robbers
+everywhere; you don't understand that, because you are cool-blooded,
+and, besides that, you can very well understand that I could not allow
+myself to kill anybody in the Marquis de Villebelle's house without
+having asked permission."
+
+"Hush, no one names the marquis here."
+
+"Ah, I understand. That is correct. It is necessary to have some
+mystery. Hang it! This is the abode of love incognito. Say, Marcel, have
+you been living long in this house?"
+
+"Nearly five years."
+
+"You must have seen some beauties."
+
+"I have seen nothing, for here it is necessary to see and not to see."
+
+"I understand very well. What the deuce do you take me for, a caitiff?
+That is all right. You have a golden place. The marquis is generous, is
+he not?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You earn at least twenty pistoles a year."
+
+"Double that."
+
+"Fortunate rascal. When I say rascal, you are the most perfectly honest
+man that I know. I even believe that you are the only one that I know.
+Good old Marcel! I am very much pleased to have met you again. I have
+looked for you all over, in the gambling houses and in the gambling
+hells even."
+
+"Oh, I have not played for a long time."
+
+"Nonsense, you are joking."
+
+"No, since our adventure I have lost my taste for playing. To go to
+prison when one is innocent is very disagreeable."
+
+"Oh, well, old fellow, there are a good many thieves who don't go and
+that makes the balance correct. As for me, I confess that I still play.
+It amuses me. Besides, it is the pleasure of a great nobleman, and there
+is nothing more noble than to play and lose right down to your boots."
+
+"Since I am only a valet I have no need of following that fashion."
+
+"You are wrong. It is always necessary to follow the great. You played a
+very strong game of piquet."
+
+"Me? Oh, on the contrary, I am a very weak player."
+
+"Pure modesty. Hang it! I wish I could take a lesson from you. We have
+had our supper. While waiting for your master to come, let us play a
+game to pass the time."
+
+"That will be very difficult; for we have no cards here. When by chance
+I have found some upstairs which have been left by my master and his
+friends I have burned or sold them."
+
+"That is very awkward; and I, who have nearly always a pack in my
+pocket, necessarily left mine at home."
+
+"Wait, Chaudoreille! taste this liqueur. That will be much better than
+playing."
+
+Thus saying, Marcel filled two glasses with crême de vanille and placed
+one before his comrade.
+
+"Yes, I am very fond of liqueur," said Chaudoreille. "This has an
+exquisite perfume. We could have drunk and played at the same time."
+
+"But I tell you that I have not any cards."
+
+"You have some dice, at least."
+
+"No more than I have cards."
+
+"Mercy! Some dominoes?"
+
+"Nothing to play with, I tell you."
+
+"Devil stifle you! How shall we pass the time without playing? Oh, what
+a delightful idea! I have thought of a very agreeable little game which
+you will easily understand. You have before you a full glass of liqueur
+and I have the same. They are of equal size; I will play you a crown on
+the first fly."
+
+"What fly?" said Marcel.
+
+"Listen now. There are a good many flies in this room, and he whose
+glass is first visited by one of them will win a crown from the other.
+Is it agreed?"
+
+"That is a droll game, but I like it well enough."
+
+"In that case let's shake hands on it. That settled, attend to our
+play."
+
+Chaudoreille no longer budged. With his eyes fixed attentively on his
+own glass and that of his adversary, he waited impatiently for a fly to
+come and taste the sweet liqueur. Neither of them made a movement, for
+fear of frightening the winged insects. They had already remained
+motionless for five minutes before their glasses when Marcel sneezed.
+
+"The devil confound you?" cried Chaudoreille. "You drove away the most
+beautiful fly which was approaching my glass. She was just going in."
+
+"Is it my fault if I feel a desire to sneeze?"
+
+"It is a trick, my dear fellow, and, in all conscience, you should lose
+the game.
+
+"You are joking, no doubt."
+
+"Well I will pass over the sneeze, but if you begin again that will
+count. Wait! The flies are coming."
+
+They observed silence anew. From time to time Chaudoreille looked into
+the air and seemed to implore the flies to come and taste his liqueur.
+At last, after some minutes of waiting, a fly sipped from Marcel's
+glass.
+
+"I have won," cried the latter.
+
+"One moment," said Chaudoreille, spitefully stamping his foot. "Leave me
+to judge of this affair."
+
+"It seems to me that there is nothing equivocal about it. The fly is
+still in my glass."
+
+"But I am anxious to know if it is really a fly. I am not going to lose
+a crown for a pig in a poke."
+
+Chaudoreille arose and advanced his head, that he might look more
+closely into the glass which was before Marcel, but no sooner had he by
+this movement approached his host than he cried, carrying his hand to
+his nose,--
+
+"The game is off. There is nothing more to be done."
+
+"This is to say," cried Marcel, in his turn rising from the table.
+
+"I repeat, the game is off."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Why, by jingo, because your breath is strong enough to make flies fall
+in their flight. After that you see the game is not equal."
+
+"Chaudoreille, I will take the thing as a joke, and I don't care about
+winning your money, but I flatter myself that I have a breath at least
+as fresh as yours."
+
+"Take the thing as a joke?" said the chevalier, putting his hand on the
+handle of his sword. "Do you wish to vex me? By jingo, if I had known."
+
+"Come, come, calm yourself."
+
+"Do you think I will suffer such injuries. By Rolande, I don't know how
+to hold myself."
+
+"Will you soon be done?"
+
+"By George! If I believed that you wish to molest me, as if I care about
+a crown; if I had lost a hundred I should have paid you just the same."
+
+"That is all right. Leave all that."
+
+The more Marcel tried to calm his comrade, the more he lost his temper
+and shouted, for he believed that Marcel was afraid of him and he wished
+to profit by his bullying; he even went so far as to draw his sword and
+run about the room, rolling his little eyes around him as if he would
+split everything in two. Marcel grew impatient, and seeing that all of
+his entreaties were vain decided to take a broom handle from behind the
+door. Putting himself on the defensive, he waited for his enemy to come
+and attack him, but this action suddenly calmed Chaudoreille's fury. At
+sight of Marcel on guard with his broom, he stopped and struck his
+forehead as one who has suddenly received an enlightening idea.
+
+"Great God!" he cried, "What was I going to do? It was in the house of
+the noble Marquis de Villebelle that I allowed myself to be carried away
+by anger? Oh, my courage, how much trouble you give me. All is
+forgotten, Marcel. Come to my arms. I will forgive you."
+
+Marcel, always a good fellow, threw aside his broom and shook hands with
+Chaudoreille. They returned to the table, but they played no more, and
+while in the room on the first floor somebody was sighing and looking at
+the hand of the clock, in the lower room the two comrades ended by
+putting themselves to sleep while sampling the fine wines and liqueurs
+of the marquis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE PONT-NEUF. TABARIN
+
+
+The ill-success of his serenade had not daunted the young Urbain; when
+one is really very much in love one does not lose courage for a trifle.
+Our lover returned to his dwelling cursing the jealous barber, for he
+did not doubt that jealousy was at the root of Touquet's exceedingly
+watchful care of the young girl; and though he was but little dismayed
+at the barber's threats, Urbain swore, notwithstanding them, to become
+known to Blanche, and to do everything in his power to make her love
+him. The act of swearing is in itself extremely easy of
+accomplishment--what oaths have been taken and broken within a half
+century only; but we are now speaking merely of the oaths of love, which
+are lighter, necessarily, than some others, and to break them is
+considered a pardonable offence. Urbain, who had sworn that he would see
+Blanche, was, however, greatly troubled to invent a way of doing so; but
+in love one always swears first and reflects afterwards, and in business
+it must be confessed there are a good many people who follow the very
+same course.
+
+On the day after the night on which he had sung, Urbain was walking in
+the neighborhood of the barber's, but he dared not enter the house,
+which he ogled sighingly, nor even, for fear of being noticed by
+Touquet, could he pass by the shop. It was from afar that he examined
+the windows; nobody could be seen at them. She seemed to be condemned to
+an eternal seclusion. He waited until Marguerite should leave the house.
+At last she opened the door of the alley; she was going to get some
+provisions.
+
+Urbain did not lose sight of the old servant, but he did not dare to go
+into the shops with her. How could he get into conversation? One is not
+apt at intrigue at nineteen years of age. At last, at the moment when
+Marguerite was passing by him, Urbain tremblingly accosted her,--
+
+"Madame, I should very much like--"
+
+"I'm not a dame--I'm not married."
+
+"Mademoiselle if I dared--"
+
+"If you dared what?"
+
+"To ask you--"
+
+"Well, why don't you speak?"
+
+"Some news of Mademoiselle Blanche."
+
+"Mademoiselle Blanche! Oh that's what you are up to, my young dandy? Go
+along, go your own way; you're addressing the wrong person. If you want
+to talk about that dear child, speak to my master; he'll answer you, I
+warrant, and in the best manner."
+
+So saying, Marguerite left Urbain and went in, murmuring,--
+
+"Monsieur is right, it is necessary to redouble our watchfulness that
+such a pretty girl may not be besieged by these worthless fellows."
+
+"They're all bound to make me despair," said Urbain, disheartened by the
+unkind welcome accorded him by the old woman, "but, despite all their
+precautions, I shall see her, I shall speak to her." And the better to
+dream of at least seeing her Urbain departed from the house that held
+Blanche; he walked by chance and soon arrived on the Pont-Neuf.
+
+The Pont-Neuf was then a meeting place for strangers, for schemers, for
+idlers, for pickpockets, and people who had newly disembarked. It was
+the most crowded thoroughfare of the capital; unceasingly encumbered
+with groups of curious people who stopped before the quacks, who were
+selling their universal panaceas and playing farces, mountebanks,
+thimbleriggers, pedlers of songs, of ironmongery, of books, of jujubes,
+it offered to the observer a diverting and extremely animated scene.
+
+Tabarin, who became famous by the scenes which he played in public, and
+from whom our great Molière has not disdained to borrow some
+buffooneries, was then established on the Pont-Neuf, towards the Place
+Dauphine. He had succeeded the famous Signor Hieronimo who, in the Cour
+du Palais, sold an ointment to cure burns, after burning himself
+publicly on the hands and curing the wounds with his balm, while
+Galinette-la-Galine attracted the passers by his parades.
+
+In addition to Tabarin's show there were still other theatres on the
+Pont-Neuf. Maitre Gonin, a skilful juggler, had established himself
+there, and charmed all Paris by his dexterity; while a little farther
+off Briochee had his marionette show.
+
+Tabarin, the simple clown of an ointment seller, played the innocent,
+and put a thousand ridiculous questions to his master who, dressed as a
+doctor, answered his facetious interrogations by calling him big ass,
+fat pig, etc., and this spectacle drew the crowd. One saw there not only
+the people but personages from the first classes of society.
+
+Urbain, who was walking along, dreaming of his love, that is to say
+without noticing anything before him, elbowing everybody who approached
+him, was pushed by the crowd before the theatre of the fashionable
+buffoon. The young bachelor heard shouts of laughter from all sides; he
+saw noblemen, young girls, workmen, and workwomen who, with their noses
+in the air, listened with delight to a man who was dressed in a clown's
+cap, smock frock, and large pantaloons, and whose face was covered by a
+mask; this man was Tabarin. His master, in a doctor's habit, his head
+covered with a basque cap, his chin adorned with a long beard, held
+some bottles of ointment or balm in his hands. Urbain mechanically
+looked and listened with the others; in order to judge of that which
+gave so much pleasure to the idlers of that century, let us, also,
+listen for a moment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+TABARIN.--What people have you found to be the most courteous in the
+world?
+
+THE MASTER.--I've been in Italy, I have visited Spain, and traversed a
+great part of Germany, but nowhere have I remarked so much courtesy as
+one sees in France. You observe that the French, kiss, caress, wish each
+other well, and take off the hat.
+
+TABARIN.--Do you call taking off the hat an act of courtesy? I shouldn't
+care much about such caresses.
+
+THE MASTER.--The custom of taking off the hat as a mark of friendship is
+ancient, Tabarin, and bears witness to the honor, the respect, and the
+friendliness which one should feel for those whom he salutes.
+
+TABARIN.--So you judge all courtesy to consist in taking off the hat?
+Would you like to know who are the most courteous people in the world?
+
+THE MASTER.--Who Tabarin?
+
+TABARIN.--They are the tireurs de laine of Paris; for they are not
+content with taking off the hat only, but more often take off the cloak
+also.[1]
+
+       [* General collection of the OEuvres et Facéties de Tabarin,
+          Paris, 1725.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+This sally was received with the applause and laughter of the assembled
+crowd, among whom might undoubtedly be found some tireurs de laine, who
+plied their trade while laughing still louder than their neighbors.
+
+Urbain did not share the general hilarity; however, he lent his ear to a
+new scene which the buffoon was playing. Tabarin, seeking to introduce
+himself to the presence of his Isabelle, whom Cascandre kept from sight
+as an old duenna, found no better expedient than to disguise himself as
+a woman, and under this costume to seek a tête-à-tête with his mistress.
+The harlequin mask which Tabarin wore under his feminine costume lent a
+thousand absurdities which evoked anew the gayety of the crowd and in
+which decency was not always scrupulously observed; but the public of
+the Pont-Neuf was not easily abashed, and the women of good standing who
+viewed this spectacle contented themselves with spreading their fans
+before their eyes and crying,--
+
+"What unbecoming, scandalous actions; they should at least forbid these
+gestures."
+
+Urbain, watching the grotesque disguise of the buffoon, conceived a
+plan. Why should he not use the same means to introduce himself into
+the barber's house? Was it not Love himself who taught him this
+strategy by making him a witness of this scene of Tabarin's at the
+moment when he was racking his brain to find out a way of approaching
+Blanche.
+
+Whether it were Love, Destiny, or a chance which had led our lover, he
+was none the less delighted with his idea, and, giving a thousand thanks
+to Tabarin, he thought of nothing but putting it into execution.
+Immediately, pushing from right to left, he retired from the crowd.
+Urbain elbowed a grisette, twisted an old woman's cloak, crushed the
+foot of a little woman who, supported on the arm of a young student, had
+slipped among the crowd; but, insensible to the injuries which he
+inflicted, he continued to make his way and, finding himself free at
+last, ran to his dwelling without stopping to take breath.
+
+Arrived there the young bachelor opened the drawer of a little
+walnut-wood secretary and counted his money, for in every affair it is
+necessary to have recourse to this cursed money in order to abolish
+obstacles and arrive more quickly at the end which one has in view. His
+treasury held only sixteen livres tournois, which is very little and
+would not, in our day, introduce one into the boudoir of a Lais; but
+when beauty is accompanied by innocence access is much easier.
+
+Besides Urbain would not take the costume of a grand lady. On the
+contrary he wished to disguise himself as a peasant; his awkwardness in
+that costume would be less noticeable. He looked at himself in his
+little glass. No beard, no whiskers, not the smallest hair on his chin.
+Urbain jumped for joy; although some days previously he had sighed to
+have mustaches, today he wished to change into a girl. He was delighted
+also at not being very tall, and exclaimed to himself, while looking at
+his feet and hands which were small,--
+
+"How fortunate it is that I'm not a strong, robust, fine man!"
+
+He had only to bestir himself to get the necessary clothing. Urbain took
+his crown and went to a second-hand clothier, where he asked for a dress
+for a servant from the country, who, he said, was about his height. They
+showed him all that constituted the feminine costume, petticoat, corset,
+apron, cap, neckerchief, shoes; they made him pay three times their
+value, but our young man was delighted.
+
+These little arrangements having taken some time, Urbain went to dinner.
+Then, at the close of day, he returned home with his little parcel under
+his arm, as pleased as Jason carrying the Golden Fleece, as Pluto
+ravishing Proserpine, as Apollo tearing off the skin of the Python, as
+Hercules bearing off the Golden Apples from the garden of the
+Hesperides, or as Paris abducting the wife of Menelas,--and certainly
+all of those men should have been very well pleased.
+
+Arrived in his chamber our lover rubbed his flint, for at that time
+nothing was known of sulphur matches. Having procured a light he
+immediately proceeded to change his state, keeping of his masculine
+costume only the garment which he judged to be very necessary in order
+not to freeze under his feminine skirt. Urbain put on the skirt, then
+the corset, which he endeavored to lace, but he did it very badly; he
+drew one string instead of another, he ripped and pulled, he pricked
+himself. The poor boy was in despair, he looked at himself in his little
+glass and saw well that all was not right; he never should come to the
+end. What could he do? Only a woman knows all the mysteries of the
+feminine toilet. It was necessary, then, to beg some woman to come to
+his aid, and he recalled that on the story below him lodged an old
+bachelor whose servant, polite and intelligent, always made him a
+graceful curtsey. Immediately Urbain, holding as well as he could the
+skirt and the corset, ran down stairs as quickly as possible and rang
+his neighbor's bell. The servant opened the door, and burst into a shout
+of laughter on seeing this person, half man, half woman; but no matter
+how he's dressed a pretty boy of nineteen is always interesting, and
+Urbain's voice was very touching as he said to the maid,--
+
+"Ah, mademoiselle, I'm very much in doubt. I wish to dress myself as a
+woman, and I shall never come to the end. Would you be so amiable as to
+help me for a moment?"
+
+"Very willingly," answered the big girl and, without allowing him to beg
+further, she followed Urbain to his room, where she laughed still more
+on seeing how he had put on the costume.
+
+"Are you going to a ball?" said she to him.
+
+"Yes, and I wish to be so well disguised that nobody could recognize
+me."
+
+"All right; wait, I'll dress you, and I promise you you'll look well."
+
+Immediately she commenced undoing all that Urbain had done. Then she
+examined the garments.
+
+"They're not very elegant," she said.
+
+"They are all I desire, I wish to be very simply dressed."
+
+"But it's necessary to put another skirt on underneath, that one there
+isn't enough; you haven't hips like us. We must make some for you. And
+that cap is horrid! I wouldn't go out in it. I'll go and get you one of
+mine, and everything else that you need. Oh, I'll make you genteel."
+
+And the young servant, without listening to Urbain's thanks, ran to her
+room, whence she soon returned carrying all that was necessary to turn a
+young man into a passable looking girl. The new cap was tried, it suited
+perfectly. Urbain was delighted; he did not know how to testify his
+gratitude to the young girl. The latter had not finished his headdress,
+there were some bows to be made and some hair which must be pushed back.
+She pinned his kerchief closely about his neck, stopped, looked at him,
+and exclaimed,--
+
+"Truly that does very well! Such a white skin, such a sweet air; anyone
+would be deceived in him, that's sure. Wait a moment, till I make a
+false bust."
+
+"Is it really necessary?"
+
+"Is it necessary--why, what a question!"
+
+"But I'm stifling in this corset."
+
+"Well, so do we stifle in them, but that's nothing; it's necessary to
+suffer a little if one wants to be genteel. Wait, now, I'll pull your
+waist in, then I'll make you some hips, and then, ah, yes, that's all
+that's necessary. It's by those things that one distinguishes the sex."
+
+The young servant kept finding something more to do for Urbain, and the
+latter, in order to be well disguised, allowed her to do as she pleased
+with the best grace in the world, repeating every moment,--
+
+"How good you are, mademoiselle, how can I ever prove my gratitude?"
+
+Urbain's toilet had lasted more than two hours, at the end of which time
+the young girl left him, saying,--
+
+"There, that's done, you don't look a bit like a man now; there's not
+the least thing to make them doubt that you're a girl. At this hour you
+can go out. Hold your eyes down, look from the side, take small steps,
+balance yourself straight from the hips, pinch your mouth, throw your
+nose up a little high, and you won't go to the end of the street without
+making a conquest. Good-by, monsieur, when you have need don't hesitate
+to call me if you please."
+
+The young servant departed, and Urbain, after having studied his walk
+for a little while, decided at last to venture into the streets of Paris
+in his new costume.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE
+
+
+The bachelor in cap and crinoline felt sufficiently ill at his ease in
+the streets of Paris. Although he was protected by the darkness of the
+night, for there were few who carried lanterns, every time anyone passed
+near him Urbain was afraid that he had been recognized, and fully
+expected to be taken by the sergeants of the watch, who would doubtless
+demand the motive of his disguising himself, and fleece him to the
+extent of a heavy fine or even perhaps lock him up, if he continued to
+walk in the guise of a woman in the good city of Paris, where it was
+only by distributing money in handfuls that one was allowed to pass for
+what he was not; and, as Urbain had not a crown about him, because when
+disguising one's self as a woman one does not remember everything, even
+to the putting of money in his pocket, the young lover felt it necessary
+to avoid the police; at all events, he did not fear robbers; that was
+much, then, and may still prove something of a consolation to those who
+have nothing to lose today.
+
+Little by little Urbain grew more assured; he began to feel accustomed
+to his costume, and certain compliments addressed to him in passing
+proved to him that people were entirely deceived as to his sex. Urbain
+was careful not to respond to the gallantries offered him by a few
+cavaliers, but contented himself by walking faster, escaping with
+muddied skirts since he did not yet know very well how to hold them up
+and they greatly embarrassed him in jumping the streams of dirty water.
+At length he reached the Rue des Bourdonnaise; and then for the first
+time he reflected that it was very late to try to introduce himself into
+the barber's house. There was no likelihood of Marguerite's venturing
+out at this hour; his disguise would therefore not serve him till the
+next day. His assumption of feminine raiment had been useless so far;
+but does a lover make such reflections? Besides, as Urbain had to
+habituate himself to wearing women's clothes, he was not displeased at
+making his first essay at night. While thus thinking he rambled past the
+barber's house, ogling Blanche's windows, and sending her a thousand
+sighs which she could not hear because she was asleep, and which
+probably she would not have heard any better had she been awake.
+
+Wholly engrossed in the pleasure of sighing under his lady love's
+casements, Urbain forgot that while it is natural to see a young man
+waiting and sighing in the street at night, a solitary woman doing the
+like evokes many conjectures. All of a sudden the young lover was
+recalled from his ecstacy by some unknown person who pinched him very
+hard on the knee, and said to him, in a hoarse, rasping voice,--
+
+"It seems to me, little mother, that the one you're waiting for is
+something late; if you'll only accept my arm we can go and taste some
+very fair white wine at the merchant's down yonder. I'm a good customer
+of his, and he has some comfortable private rooms."
+
+Urbain turned sharply round and perceived at his side a big, jolly
+fellow, in the garb of a chair porter, who was offering his arm and
+smiling almost to his ears. Without answering, and little pleased by
+this adventure, the young man began to run, soon leaving his gallant in
+the lurch. But his troubles were not to end there; some two hundred
+steps farther on, he was stopped anew by some pages who essayed to kiss
+him; he disengaged himself from them as speedily as possible, and
+resumed his course. Later he was in turn accosted by some students, some
+lackeys, and some soldiers, several of them pursuing him. Urbain, that
+he might the better escape them, redoubled his agility, and, in order to
+run faster, gathered his skirts up about his knees; but the higher he
+pulled them, the greater ardor these gentlemen evinced in following him.
+
+"Hang it," said Urbain, while running, "I didn't disguise myself as a
+woman to be pinched by all the pages and lackeys of this city. Men are
+the devil incorporate; I perceive now that it's more agreeable to wear
+breeches than petticoats, but tomorrow I shall obtain entrance to
+Blanche's dwelling. Come, courage--they'll leave me alone perhaps."
+
+And Urbain jumped over the puddles, wound among the streets, perspiring
+and suffocating in his corset, and under the false bosom with which the
+young servant had stuffed his chest. Turning down the streets at random
+as he came to them, in order to escape his pursuers, he did not know
+himself in what neighborhood he was.
+
+At last, not hearing anyone behind him, he stopped to take breath and
+recognize the place in which he stood. He had passed the bridges and had
+reached the great Pré-aux-Clercs, in which they had commenced to build
+houses and open streets; as they had done in the little Pré-aux-Clercs,
+which towards the end of the reign of Henri the Fourth was entirely
+covered with houses and gardens.
+
+"Good; here's the new street they call Rue de Verneuil," said Urbain to
+himself; "and this is the Chemin-aux-Vaches where they've built the Rue
+Saint-Dominique; I recognize it. But I'll rest for a minute or two, I'm
+too far from home to return there immediately--I can't walk any farther.
+Let's get my breath at least. This neighborhood's deserted, and, as
+night is far advanced, let's hope I shall make no more conquests."
+Urbain hoisted his skirts and seated himself on a stone. At the
+expiration of half an hour, feeling rested, he rose and took the way to
+his lodgings. He walked quietly along congratulating himself that he
+should meet no one else when suddenly, in passing by the Rue de Bourbon,
+he saw four men who were leaving it and who, on sight of him, barred the
+way.
+
+"Who goes there? So late--and the game is still rising?"
+
+"Upon my honor a charming meeting, it's a little country wench."
+
+"Better still. I'm very fond of peasants."
+
+"What the devil, marquis! a peasant who walks about Paris in the middle
+of the night. That's an innocence which seems to me tremendously
+adventurous."
+
+"Come, chevalier, your thoughts are always evil. I'll wager the poor
+child came to Paris for nothing but to sell her eggs."
+
+"Let her have come for what she will, she sha'n't return without the
+impress of my mustaches on her pretty lips."
+
+Urbain realized by the language and manners of these gentlemen that they
+were profligates of the higher classes. Unable to make his escape, for
+he was surrounded on every side, he tried to relieve himself of them by
+saying in a falsetto voice,--
+
+"Gentlemen, leave me, I beg of you; I am not what you believe."
+
+But his prayers were unheeded; they pushed him, they surrounded him.
+Urbain, rendered impatient by these manners, saw no means of regaining
+his liberty save making himself known, and he cried in his natural
+voice,--
+
+"Leave me, gentlemen, I repeat to you, you are addressing the wrong
+person."
+
+These words, pronounced by the young bachelor in a manner which left no
+doubt as to his sex, produced the effect of a head of Medusa on the four
+young noblemen: they remained motionless for a moment, then they all
+burst into a shout of laughter, crying: "It's a man. What a unique
+adventure."
+
+"Yes, gentlemen, it is a man," answered Urbain. "I hope now that you
+will allow me to continue on my way."
+
+"As for me, I will no longer oppose you," said one of the strangers.
+
+"Come, Villebelle," resumed another, "let the boy go. You can see very
+well he's not a girl. I believe, deuce take it, that the wine we've
+drunk didn't allow the marquis to see our mistake. Isn't that so,
+chevalier?"
+
+"Yes, yes, indeed, gentlemen," answered the Marquis de Villebelle; for
+it was that nobleman himself, who, as he had said to the barber, made
+merry with his friends by seeking spicy adventures in the streets of the
+capital. With a head excited by wines and liqueurs, the marquis, always
+the leader in the follies and extravagances committed in these
+escapades, had pressed Urbain most closely, and on the latter making
+himself known had continued to hold the young bachelor.
+
+"A moment, my boy," said he, stopping Urbain. "We know you're not a
+girl, that's all very well; but, by all the devils! in this disguise you
+must necessarily have had some very comical adventures; recount them to
+us, 't will amuse us, and afterwards you shall be free to go your way."
+
+"Yes, yes," repeated the others; "he must tell us why he's dressed up
+like a woman."
+
+"I must really tell this adventure at the cardinal's little levée
+tomorrow morning.
+
+"And I must tell it to Marion Delorme. I'll have Bois-Robert put it into
+verse for the court."
+
+"Colletel shall turn it into a comedy. Come, speak on."
+
+"Yet, once more, gentlemen, allow me to go on my way; by what right do
+you interrogate me? I have nothing to say to you, and I wish to depart."
+
+Saying these words, he endeavored to repulse the marquis anew, but the
+latter barred the way and drew his sword, crying,--
+
+"Upon my honor, this little goodman is very fractious. It's really too
+droll. You shall speak or we will make you jump under our swords like a
+spaniel."
+
+"Insolent fellow," exclaimed Urbain, furiously; "had I a weapon you had
+not dared to use such language to me, or I should already have
+chastised you."
+
+"Truly? Oh, hang it. I should like to see how you handle a sword. Come,
+chevalier, lend him yours."
+
+"What, Villebelle, you wish it?"
+
+"Yes, undoubtedly, a duel with a peasant--that will be a joke."
+
+"Come, gentlemen, make a circle."
+
+So saying, the marquis took a sword from one of his companions and
+presented it to Urbain.
+
+"Hold," said he, "here's a weapon, defend yourself. Guard yourself,
+girl-boy, and let us see if you are as brave as you're stubborn."
+
+Urbain seized the sword with ardor and immediately attacked the marquis.
+Though embarrassed by his petticoats and corset he pressed impetuously
+on his adversary, who, while parrying his strokes, exclaimed at every
+moment,--
+
+"Well done; very well done, 'pon my honor! Do you see that,
+gentlemen?--and that parry--and that thrust. Deuce take it, if he goes
+on in this way I must use all my skill to--"
+
+A stroke of his adversary's sword, which crossed his forearm, cut short
+the marquis' words; his sword dropped from his hand, his friends
+surrounded and supported him, while Urbain himself offered his help.
+
+"It's nothing--a mere nothing," said the marquis; "good-by, my friend,
+you're a brave fellow, and I'm pleased to have made your acquaintance;
+although I don't know with whom I've fought this duel. As to you, if
+some day you find yourself in any embarrassment, if you have a bad
+business or need a protector, come to my hotel, ask for the Marquis de
+Villebelle and you will always find me ready to oblige you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE TÊTE-À-TÊTE
+
+
+Dawn had followed this night so fruitful in events, during which sleep
+had not touched Julia's eyes; uneasy, impatient, twenty times had she
+arisen from her sofa to go to the door and listen, in the belief that
+she could at last distinguish some sound, some disturbance which
+indicated the approach of the marquis. But though she had heard every
+hour strike during this to her apparently endless night, the seductive
+Villebelle had not yet arrived.
+
+The brow of the young Italian was clouded; her eyes, always vivacious
+and lustrous, under her change of feeling were now animated by a gloomy
+fire which boded ill for those who had caused it; Julia's breast was
+oppressed, sighs escaped her lips and she walked aimlessly and angrily
+about the apartment, the elegance of which no longer delighted her; she
+passed the mirrors without even looking at herself in them. Her vanity
+was most painfully mortified and humiliated, she felt insulted by the
+indifference of this marquis who had led her to compromise herself thus,
+and now failed to keep his appointment, whose conduct, in fact, was
+inexcusable. What woman would pardon such neglect?
+
+To allow herself to be abducted with a good grace, and to be forced to
+spend the entire night following in solitude. Love will excuse many
+things, but self-love excuses nothing.
+
+As soon as daylight paled the light of the candles, Julia opened the
+door of the boudoir and, crossing several rooms, ventured into the
+corridor.
+
+"I don't believe that I can escape," she said, smiling bitterly; "they
+have taken too many precautions to keep me; but monsieur le marquis and
+his worthy agent no doubt imagine me to be in a state of ecstatic
+happiness at the mere fact of having been brought to this house.
+Patience! One day perhaps they will know me better."
+
+Julia went downstairs. Although it was in the depth of winter the
+morning was beautiful; the young Italian left by the peristyle and
+plunged into the gardens, where she walked up and down the long pathways
+and gave herself up to her thoughts.
+
+Day had surprised Marcel and his guest sleeping near the table where
+they had supped. Marcel awoke first, recalled his ideas, and could not
+conceive why his master had not returned in the night. However, the
+door-bell hung in the room where they had slept, and the marquis was a
+man who was able to make himself heard.
+
+Marcel pushed Chaudoreille, who opened his little eyes and gazed about
+him in astonishment, murmuring,--
+
+"By jingo! I am not at home in the Rue Brise-miche nor in the gambling
+den on the Rue Vide-Gousset. Where the devil have I passed the night? My
+purse--where is my purse? I had eight crowns in it."
+
+Chaudoreille quickly seized his purse and counted his money, and Marcel
+said to him,--
+
+"Come, wake up, why don't you? and remember where you are. Do you think
+me capable of robbing you?"
+
+"Good-for-nothing that I am! that good fellow Marcel--I remember
+everything now. Forgive me, my friend; but at the first moment I thought
+I was at a tavern where I sleep sometimes. What the devil! it's broad
+daylight."
+
+"Yes, and monsieur le marquis did not come in during the night; I can't
+understand why."
+
+"It is rather singular, and that poor little thing whom we took so much
+trouble to bring here, what has she done with herself since yesterday?"
+
+"She's slept the same as we have."
+
+"Ah, my dear Marcel, it's easily seen that you have not studied the sex.
+Sleep!--a woman who is waiting her vanquisher for the first time? She
+would sooner keep awake all night than go to sleep."
+
+"But when the vanquisher doesn't come, it's necessary for her to do
+something."
+
+"Never! never I tell you. Wait, here's an example: I had once arranged a
+meeting with a baroness on the borders of the Seine, near the Tour de
+Nesle; that also was in winter, and it was horribly cold. Unforeseen
+events--a duel--prevented my meeting my beauty. I was wounded, and spent
+eight days in bed. On the ninth, as I passed the neighborhood indicated,
+by chance, whom should I see there?"
+
+"Your baroness?"
+
+"Exactly. But, the poor woman, she had been frozen for four days, and
+that because she would not leave the place of rendezvous."
+
+"Our dame has a good fire and everything that she can desire; she won't
+freeze while awaiting my master."
+
+"What do you say, Marcel; shall I go upstairs and chat pleasantly with
+her to distract her mind a little?"
+
+"No, indeed, that would be displeasing to monsieur le marquis."
+
+"Well, you're right; I suppose he might take offence at it."
+
+"Don't you think you had much better go and find the person who brought
+her here, and tell him that monsieur has not come?"
+
+"No, my dear Marcel; Touquet told me to wait here for the marquis'
+orders, and I must follow his instructions. If he does not come for a
+fortnight, it's all the same to me; I shall not leave this. You have a
+good cellar and plenty of provisions of all kinds, and I find it very
+comfortable here; only, I must go out and get some cards for the coming
+night, and I'll teach you some tricks which you don't understand."
+
+"All right, I'll go and get our breakfast ready; then I'll go and
+inquire whether the young lady wants anything."
+
+"That will do; meanwhile I'll take a turn in the garden and make the
+acquaintance of your Hercules."
+
+Chaudoreille arranged his mantle, put on his new ruff, which he had
+bought by chance, which pleased him greatly because it came up to his
+ears. He brushed up his hat, curled his hair anew, and went into the
+garden whistling,--
+
+    Viens Aurore,
+    Je t'implore;
+
+a song which good King Henri had brought into fashion. He paused with an
+air of defiance before the statues, and made a grimace at those which
+had frightened him the evening before.
+
+At the end of the pathway he perceived Julia, seated in a thicket which,
+as yet, was devoid of foliage. The young girl was deep in thought, and
+had not heard him approach. Chaudoreille reflected, uncertain whether he
+should approach her or whether he should pass on his way. He concluded
+to do the first, and drew near her, holding his left hand on his hip,
+and, throwing his body back, already beginning to smile. Julia raised
+her luminous eyes; but, on recognizing Chaudoreille, a look of humor
+flashed over her features, and she said sharply,--
+
+"What do you want with me?"
+
+Chaudoreille paused, arrested in the middle of his smile, and could not
+find words to answer her.
+
+"Why were you coming to me?" resumed Julia; "is the marquis here, or his
+confidant, the barber Touquet?"
+
+"No, beautiful lady, I am at present alone with you and Marcel in the
+house. I have passed the night in watching over your safety, believing
+that the marquis would arrive."
+
+"Who is this Marcel? the servant who opened the door to us, I suppose."
+
+"Precisely!"
+
+"He has served the marquis for a long time in this house?"
+
+"No, I believe he has only been here four or five years."
+
+"And you, when did you come here?"
+
+"I came yesterday for the first time."
+
+Julia was silent and Chaudoreille resumed after a moment,--
+
+"Are you acquainted with my intimate friend, the barber Touquet?"
+
+"What does that matter to you," asked the young Italian, glancing
+scornfully at Chaudoreille.
+
+"It's nothing to me, certainly--but, since you named him--he's a very
+worthy fellow, certainly, and I am honored in being his friend."
+
+"That reflects credit on you," said Julia, smiling ironically.
+
+"Yes, most assuredly," resumed Chaudoreille, who had interpreted Julia's
+smile to his own advantage, "we have seen fire together. He is brave,
+I'll give him justice for that; he always conducts himself honorably."
+
+"Always? And has he sometimes spoken to you of his parents?--of his
+father?"
+
+"My faith, no; I don't believe he was born from the higher classes. In
+that matter I am infinitely before him; the Chaudoreilles are of very
+pure blood and have a stock which goes back to Noah. Under Charles the
+Bald one of my ancestors had himself shaved--"
+
+"What does it matter what your ancestors did? I was talking about the
+barber's family."
+
+"That's all right; but my friend Touquet has spoken very little to me
+about them. I believe he is from Lorraine and he has told me that he
+left his country very early and came very young to Paris, for it is only
+there that talent has a chance of success; also Touquet has made money,
+and me, thank God, I am--"
+
+Here Chaudoreille's eyes wandered over his doublet, which was stained in
+many places, and he covered it with his mantle, resuming,--
+
+"I should be very rich if I had not ruined myself for women."
+
+Julia, who had paid little attention to this last phrase, said to
+herself,--
+
+"He ought to be rich if he has helped the marquis in all his follies."
+
+"He is not married," resumed Chaudoreille, "although he could now find a
+good match. His house on the Rue des Bourdonnais is a very pretty
+property. Perhaps it's because of the little one that he doesn't marry;
+perhaps he is going to marry her, I shouldn't be surprised."
+
+"What little one," inquired Julia, curiously.
+
+"The young girl whom he has adopted and who is now sixteen years old."
+
+"The barber Touquet has adopted a child?"
+
+"Why, yes, of course he has. Why, if you know him, how is it that you
+are ignorant of that? That's certainly the best act of his life."
+
+"Touquet has done a good action," said Julia, smiling ironically; "I
+could not have imagined that, and is this young girl pretty?"
+
+"Hang it! is she pretty? Well, I believe you! She is one--but no," said
+Chaudoreille, correcting himself as if struck by a sudden remembrance,
+"she is not handsome at all; on the contrary, she is ugly, one might
+even say that she is disagreeable."
+
+"One minute you say she is pretty and the next you say she is very ugly;
+you don't seem to know what you are saying, Monsieur Chaudoreille."
+
+"One can easily lose his wits when near you, beautiful damsel; but, by
+that sword, I swear to you--"
+
+The bell at the garden gate was heard, Chaudoreille stopped; presuming
+that it was the marquis and that it would perhaps be dangerous for him
+to be surprised in a tête-à-tête with Julia, he escaped by the first
+pathway and ran to rejoin Marcel, while the young Italian listened
+anxiously and her cheeks assumed a more vivid color.
+
+Marcel opened the door, but it was not the marquis, it was Touquet, who
+came alone.
+
+"Your master fought a duel last night," said he to Marcel, "he was
+wounded, but very slightly, it seems. I have come to speak to the young
+girl. She is perhaps anxious to know what all this means. Where is she
+now?"
+
+"In the garden," said Chaudoreille, "but I assure you she is not at all
+lonely here. It is true that I have chatted with her--"
+
+"And who gave you permission to do so? You're very bold to converse with
+a woman on whom a marquis has laid his eyes."
+
+"Yes, I confess that I am very bold--but I believe you say that
+monseigneur fought a duel; do you know with whom he fought?"
+
+"Idiot! Is that our business? Do you suppose I asked him?"
+
+"It's true, it's not our business, but--"
+
+"You have nothing more to do here, get out."
+
+"Do you wish me to take myself off?"
+
+"Yes, and immediately."
+
+"Without being presented to monseigneur, that is very awkward; but at
+least--it seems to me that if they have no more need of me they ought to
+settle with me."
+
+"Wait! here are ten more crowns; it's more than you are worth, a hundred
+times."
+
+"Very well, but the rosette and the broken pane of glass--"
+
+"Hang it, stupid! you're not satisfied?"
+
+"It's all right, it's all right, I'm very well pleased. I mustn't
+grumble," added Chaudoreille to himself, "he might happen to remember
+the shaves that I owe him."
+
+"Go at once," said the barber, angrily, pointing with his finger to the
+garden gate. The Gascon hastily thrust the sum which he had received
+into his purse, and placed the latter carefully in his belt,
+murmuring,--
+
+"Ten and eight, that's eighteen. By jingo, that will make them stare at
+the gambling place in the Rue Vide-Gousset and at the bank of the Rue
+Coupe-Gorge." Then he shook Marcel's hand, and wrapping himself in his
+mantle left by the middle gate, which was hardly wide enough for him
+since he possessed eighteen crowns.
+
+The barber hastened to acquit himself of the commission with which his
+master had charged him, that he might return promptly to his house and
+be there on the arrival of his customers. He walked hurriedly through
+the garden, and soon met Julia, who felt her hope vanish when she
+perceived him.
+
+"Madame," said Touquet, bowing to the young girl, "the marquis' conduct
+doubtless seems to you rather extraordinary, but you will excuse him
+when you learn that he fought a duel last night in the grand
+Pré-aux-Clercs and was wounded."
+
+"He is wounded," said Julia, with emotion, "and dangerously?"
+
+"No, madame, it is a very little thing, an arm only. Monsieur le marquis
+made this event known to me at break of day and ordered me to come and
+tell you. He hoped to be very soon recovered, and able within four or
+five days to come and excuse himself; but, if you are wearied in this
+place, you are free to return to your shop. I will go and warn you
+when--"
+
+"No," said Julia, interrupting him brusquely; "do you imagine I can
+return to the dwelling I have left? I will wait for the marquis."
+
+"You are the mistress, and they have orders to satisfy your slightest
+wishes."
+
+The barber bowed to Julia, and having given Marcel the marquis' orders,
+left the little house and returned to his home.
+
+Five days had elapsed since the young Italian had entered the luxurious
+apartments; there she had found a harpsichord, a sitar, books, some
+pencils, some sketches, and a wardrobe furnished with everything that
+could add a charm to beauty. Marcel, always obedient and discreet,
+brought her everything that she desired, without permitting himself the
+slightest question; nor did Julia address him, except to ask him for
+what she thought necessary to distract her, for the most magnificent
+dwelling does not forbid weariness.
+
+It was late on the evening of the sixth day; Julia was attired with
+coquetry, in the hope that the marquis would come, but her hope was
+vanishing. She lay down upon the sofa, where her reverie had yielded to
+a light slumber, when the door of the room opened softly, and the
+Marquis de Villebelle appeared at the entrance of the apartment. "She's
+not half bad," said he, looking at Julia, who was lying carelessly on
+the sofa; then he advanced towards her; the noise awoke the young
+Italian, and, opening her eyes, she perceived the great nobleman, whose
+rich and elegant costume increased the grace of his bearing. He seated
+himself, smiling, at her side. Julia was about to rise.
+
+"Don't move," said the marquis, "you are very well as you are. I
+reproach myself with having disturbed your slumber."
+
+"Monseigneur, I had about given you up," said Julia, seeking to
+restrain the uneasiness which she felt at the sight of the marquis. "I
+have been here for six days, alone in this place."
+
+"Yes, you must hare found it very tiresome I can imagine; but, ma belle,
+my messenger must have told you that it was not my fault. My arm is not
+cured yet, but I could not longer resist the desire to see this amiable
+child who for love of me was willing to live in solitude."
+
+"For love of you, seigneur," said Julia, turning her eyes aside so as
+not to meet those of the marquis, which were fixed amorously upon her;
+"and who has made you believe that I am in love with you, if you
+please?"
+
+"Ah, upon my honor, that is divine. Were you awaiting another here,
+then, my angel?"
+
+"I was waiting, monsieur, to learn from you what motive you had in
+inducing me to leave my dwelling."
+
+"Delightful by all the devils--delightful. She does not know why they
+brought her here. Did nobody tell you, little strategist?"
+
+"It was from you alone that I wished to hear it, seigneur."
+
+"That is correct. Love is ill made by an ambassador; the little god does
+not love pages and valets. He wishes to do his work himself. Come, a
+kiss first, and we shall understand each other better afterwards."
+
+Julia disengaged herself from the marquis' arms, which he had wound
+about her, and withdrawing from him she cried,--
+
+"Please, sir, cease these liberties which offend me!"
+
+"Which offend her!" said the marquis, bursting into laughter, while a
+vivid color sprang to Julia's cheek. "Come now, what do you mean by
+that? Are we playing a comedy? You wish to make me pay for the weariness
+of six days' waiting. Once more, sweetheart, it was not my fault; a duel
+at the moment when I was least thinking of it. I must tell you all about
+that for it was very droll. I was returning with four of my friends; we
+were a little tipsy and were trying to dispute with everybody. We broke
+windows, we beat the watch, we tore off the good shopkeepers' wigs; what
+can you expect? one must pass the time and show these gentlemen of the
+parliament that one does not regard one's self as being comprised in
+their edicts, which forbid vagabonds, pages and lackeys to make a noise
+at night in the streets of Paris. Finally, we met a girl, which girl was
+a boy; he would not tell us why he was disguised, and became angry at
+our joking; one of the others lent him a sword and we fought. For a
+youngster, zooks how he went on! it was a pleasure to fight with him. In
+short, he gave me this cut, which I still feel, and which prevents me
+from using my arm; so, sweetheart, I beg of you don't be too cruel, for
+I am not in a state to lead an assault."
+
+And the marquis again approached Julia, wishing to enfold her in his
+arms; but she disengaged herself and seated herself farther off, while
+the former extended himself on the sofa and looked at her smiling, while
+whistling a hunting tune.
+
+The breast of the young girl rose more frequently; she turned her head
+and carried one of her hands to her eyes.
+
+"What is the matter?" said the marquis, after some minutes. "Are you
+crying, by chance? Truly, little one, I can't imagine why. They told me
+that you came here with a very good grace; after which I naturally feel
+surprised at the severity which you are affecting now; be easy, I will
+be very virtuous--since you wish it."
+
+So saying, Villebelle seated himself near Julia and took one of her
+hands, which he pressed between his own. The young Italian raised her
+eyes to the marquis; there was in the features of the latter something
+so noble, so seductive, that it was very easy for him to obtain pardon
+for his audacity; accustomed to triumph, he had trespassed through habit
+and not through fatuity, and Julia's resistance astonished, but did not
+anger him.
+
+"Why are you crying?" said he to her.
+
+"I believed that you loved me, and you despise me."
+
+"I despise you? No, beautiful girl; I love you,--as well as I can love;
+and my love will last,--as long as it will; can you ask better?"
+
+"I wish for love; a constant and sincere love."
+
+"Ha! ha! a constant love; sweetheart, you are exacting. Can we promise
+that, we others? and in good faith, when the great ladies of the court
+cannot come by it, to a grisette; should she hope to hold the Marquis de
+Villebelle?"
+
+"Very well," said Julia, rising proudly and walking towards the door,
+"the grisette will not yield to the caprice of the great nobleman."
+
+"Upon my honor, she is going, I believe," said the marquis, rushing to
+retain Julia and gently leading her to the sofa. "Come, no more
+ill-humor. Is it to quarrel that we are here? Time flies rapidly and
+carries with it, at every moment, a spark of the enkindling fires of
+love. One doesn't wait for pleasure to be extinguished before tasting of
+it. I love you. I adore you, you little wretch; but what do you offer me
+as the reward of so much ardor?"
+
+"A heart that knows how to love you in a manner in which you have not
+been loved before today, a heart whose only happiness will be to beat
+for you, which will not have one thought to which you will be a
+stranger, nor one desire disconnected from you!"
+
+While saying these words Julia's eyes were animated and she fixed them
+on the marquis, seeking no longer to hide the passion with which he had
+inspired her.
+
+"What magnificent eyes," said Villebelle, after a moment, "but a little
+too exalted in their expression. You are Italian, that is easily seen,
+the burning skies under which you were born do not allow you to treat
+love as we French treat it, lightly, jokingly; which is, after all, the
+best way; the others are too sad."
+
+"Say, rather, that we know how to love truly--while you, seigneur, give
+the name of love to the most fleeting fancy, your heart being entirely a
+stranger to the real passion."
+
+"Wait, my dear girl! All your discourses on the metaphysics of love are
+less convincing to me than one kiss from those lovely lips, and why
+should you keep up such a show of resistance? Is it generous to profit
+by my being wounded?"
+
+"Have you always been generous, monseigneur?" said Julia, repulsing the
+marquis; "and in this place, even, have you nothing to reprove yourself
+withal?"
+
+"Why, how's this, little girl, do you wish me to follow a course of
+morals?" said Villebelle, laughing. "It seems to me you are abusing my
+patience a little. 'Pon my honor those lovely eyes are made to express
+pleasure rather than wisdom. And sermons from your mouth! a little
+grisette who wishes to play Lucretia here. Come, sweetheart, leave such
+twaddling talk. Was it from Tabarin or from Briochée that you learned
+those sentences?"
+
+Julia rose, her eyes scintillating, her cheeks a vivid scarlet, and
+looking angrily at the marquis cried,--
+
+"And you, seigneur, where did you learn to murder a father in order to
+abduct his daughter?"
+
+Villebelle remained as if stunned for a moment; his look fixed on Julia,
+who, dismayed herself at the change wrought in the whole appearance of
+the marquis, awaited with fear what he should say to her.
+
+The marquis rose, and murmured in a changed voice,--
+
+"What made you think I had ever committed such a terrible crime? Speak,
+answer, I command you."
+
+"Seigneur," said the young Italian, "I have heard the story of the
+abduction of the beautiful Estrelle, old Delmar's daughter, but the
+barber Touquet was then your agent, and I don't doubt that it was he who
+wanted you to arm yourself against an old man who was defending his
+daughter."
+
+"You have heard some one speak of an adventure which has been forgotten
+for seventeen years and you are barely twenty. You have not told me
+all--have you known Estrelle? Is she still living? Speak, pray speak,
+and count on my gratitude if you assist me to recover that unfortunate
+woman."
+
+"You loved her well, did you not?" said Julia, gazing tenderly at the
+marquis.
+
+"Yes, yes, I loved her--I should love her still. Pray tell me, is she
+still living? Answer me."
+
+"I know no more than you, seigneur, I swear to you. I have never met the
+woman who bore that name, and chance made the adventure known to me. On
+seeing you and on finding myself in this house, to which Estrelle was
+brought, the remembrance of these events was presented to my thoughts;
+forgive me for having recalled them to you--you were then very young; I
+know, also that old Delmar did not die of his wounds. As to his
+daughter, I repeat to you I know no more of her than you do. But you had
+outraged me in comparing me to those women whom you can purchase every
+day with your riches, while I only desire your love. I am Italian and I
+revenged myself!"
+
+The marquis did not answer, he walked slowly up and down the room, from
+time to time sighing and glancing around him; but he did not appear to
+perceive that Julia was there.
+
+"Yes, I passed a month with her here," said the marquis, looking around
+the boudoir, "this abode was not what it is today. I have embellished
+it, changed it, in order to drive away the remembrance of her; but never
+since have I experienced such entrancing moments as those spent near
+Estrelle."
+
+A long silence succeeded these words; then the marquis took his hat and
+cloak and slightly inclined his head to Julia, as he said, in a low
+voice,--
+
+"I shall see you again tomorrow."
+
+Then he hurriedly quitted the little house in a very different frame of
+mind from that in which he had entered it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+URSULE AND THE SORCERER OF VERBERIE
+
+
+For some few days after his nocturnal adventure of the duel Urbain
+refrained from wearing his feminine costume. He was not at all anxious
+to make any further conquests and to thus expose himself to adventures
+which were hardly likely to always result to his advantage; the young
+bachelor felt that before he again disguised himself as a girl he should
+make sure that his stratagem would bring him nearer to obtaining an
+interview with Blanche.
+
+He began to watch Marguerite again, prowling incessantly around the
+barber's house, and obtaining all the information he could get as to the
+character of the old servant; and he promised himself that he would
+avail himself to the utmost of her credulity and superstition. His plan
+being carefully considered and arranged, an old messenger, commissioned
+by him, accosted Marguerite and asked her if she knew of a place for a
+young peasant, a very pleasant and virtuous girl, who had lately come to
+Paris and found herself without employment. The kindly old serving woman
+at once gave two addresses where she said they would perhaps take the
+young girl, and continued on her way.
+
+The next day while going, according to custom, to buy provisions,
+Marguerite was stopped by a country woman, very modest in demeanor, but
+with an awkward air, who curtseyed to her and thanked her with lowered
+eyes.
+
+"What are you thanking me for, my child?" said Marguerite, "I do not
+know you."
+
+"Because you interested yourself in me yesterday and tried to find me a
+place."
+
+"Oh, are you the one they recommended to me?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Did they engage you?"
+
+"No, mademoiselle."
+
+"I am sorry for it, for you seem to me very pleasing, very honest. Where
+do you come from?"
+
+"From Verberie, mademoiselle."
+
+"Why did you come to Paris?"
+
+"I have lost both my parents and I thought I should find work more
+easily in a great city."
+
+"Yes, but great cities are dangerous places for virtuous young maids
+such as you appear to be. They should have told you that, my child."
+
+"Yes, they did, mademoiselle! but I am not afraid of anything."
+
+"Why, you must believe yourself very wary, very strong, to think you can
+escape the snares they'll set for you."
+
+"Indeed it's not that, mademoiselle, but it is that--I daren't say--it's
+a mystery, a secret."
+
+Secret and mystery had the same effect upon the old maid as love and
+marriage have upon a young maid--they aroused all her feelings.
+Marguerite's little eyes beamed and she cried,--
+
+"What, my child! you have a secret? I am not curious, but you interest
+me; I should like to be useful to you, but it's necessary that I should
+know everything that concerns you. What is this mystery that you dare
+not mention?"
+
+"Mademoiselle, I did not wish to confide in anyone in Paris, for
+somebody told me there were pickpockets who would steal my treasure."
+
+"You possess a treasure?"
+
+"Oh, yes, mademoiselle; but one with which I could still die of hunger."
+
+"Why, indeed, what does that matter, my child, hasn't every young girl a
+treasure without price--her innocence, her virtue--and those who guard
+it the best are not always the richest. When I see shameless women, who
+live in luxury and abundance, riding in gilded carriages, it makes me
+feel ill. But about your secret, my child; would you refuse to confide
+in me?"
+
+"No, indeed, mademoiselle, you appear so respectable, so good, that I
+cannot refuse you."
+
+Marguerite half smiled and tapped the country woman on the arm, for
+praise is a flower whose perfume is grateful at any age.
+
+"Out with it then," she said. "What is it?"
+
+"Mademoiselle, I'll tell you with much pleasure; but it's a long story,
+and I must go into a good many houses this morning. If you would let me
+tell it to you this evening at your house, that would be better, for I
+dare not say all that in the street; some one might hear me and take me
+for a sorcerer, and I'm very much afraid of the Chambre Ardente. God
+knows, however, mademoiselle, that I understand nothing of magic, and
+I'm more afraid of the devil than I am of men."
+
+"Oh," said Marguerite, whose curiosity had reached an unbearable point,
+"this mystery of yours is of itself extraordinary?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Indeed! Well, this is very embarrassing; to receive you in the house is
+difficult. Where do you live, my child?"
+
+Urbain hesitated for a moment, then replied:--
+
+"Near the Porte Saint-Antoine."
+
+"Oh, good heavens--that's more than a league from here. I could never
+get there; my master's a very strict man and doesn't wish that anyone
+should have visitors."
+
+Marguerite reflected for some moments, then her curiosity carried the
+day.
+
+"Well," said she at last, "come this evening at seven o'clock; it'll be
+dark; but look well at that house over there--that alleyway."
+
+"Oh, I shall recognize it."
+
+"Don't knock; keep near the door. I'll let you in, and show you up to my
+room. At that hour my master doesn't ordinarily need my services, and he
+never leaves the lower room."
+
+"That's enough, mademoiselle, I'll be there at seven precisely."
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"Ursule Ledoux."
+
+"Above all, Ursule, don't gossip with anybody about this. It's no crime
+to receive you, but my master's a little ridiculous and might find it
+wrong. Besides, my child, one must be discreet in everything. You'll
+tell me your secret this evening, Ursule?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"At seven o'clock, the house over there."
+
+Urbain departed, delighted by the success of his stratagem, breathing
+with difficulty, partly from the hope of seeing Blanche and partly
+because his corset impeded his respiration; and Marguerite reached her
+dwelling, saying,--
+
+"This young girl looks as sweet as she looks honest, and there's no harm
+in receiving her for a moment--it'll amuse my poor little Blanche a
+little; she's been rather sad for some days and seems more lonely than
+usual; and we shall know the secret which--mon Dieu, if seven o'clock
+would only come soon."
+
+Marguerite hastened to find Blanche. Since the night of the serenade
+the lovely child had been even more dreamy than before; she sang nothing
+but the refrain of her dear romance, and the villanelles, the virelays,
+the old songs amused her no longer. Marguerite drew near to her and said
+mysteriously, in a low tone,--
+
+"This evening we shall have a visitor."
+
+"A visitor," said Blanche. "Oh, M. Chaudoreille I suppose."
+
+"No, indeed, a very pleasing, very honest young country girl whom you
+don't know. A poor child who possesses a treasure and who is looking for
+a place as cook; she wishes to remain virtuous, and for that reason has
+come to Paris; she is afraid of the devil, but of nothing else."
+
+"But dear nurse, I don't understand."
+
+"Hush! hush! keep still! This evening she will come, and we shall hear
+her story; there is a question of a very curious mystery, but be silent;
+it is not necessary that M. Touquet should know anything about that for
+he might forbid this poor Ursule from coming to chat with us, and that
+would displease me very much because she will amuse you a little, my
+child."
+
+"Oh, be easy, dear nurse, I shall say nothing," cried Blanche, and she
+jumped about her room for joy because the announcement of this visit was
+for her an extraordinary event. The least thing new is a great pleasure
+for those who pass their lives deprived of all gayety. It is thus that a
+storm or even a shower will distract and occupy a poor prisoner; that a
+bottle of wine will make a feast for a man of small means habituated to
+drinking nothing but water; that the sound of a Barbary organ appears
+delightful to the country people; that a ticket for the play crowns the
+wishes of the poor workwoman of ten sous a day; that a little muslin
+dress makes an honest grisette happy; and that Sunday is awaited with
+impatience by those who work all the week; while for many people fêtes,
+the theatre, music, diamonds, cannot rejoice their hearts. After all,
+should not the poor be happier than the rich?
+
+At last seven sounded from Saint Eustache's clock. The barber had long
+since sent Blanche and Marguerite to shut themselves into their rooms.
+The old servant went softly downstairs, trying to make as little noise
+as possible with her heels, and shielding the light of her lamp with her
+hand. She opened the street door and saw the country girl, who had been
+waiting for a quarter of an hour.
+
+"That's well," said Marguerite, "you are here; but hush! don't speak,
+don't make any noise; let me lead you."
+
+Urbain nodded his head and entered the alleyway, while Marguerite softly
+closed the door. Then our lover was at the height of his joy. It seemed
+to him that he breathed a purer air in the house of the one he loved. He
+believed himself in the abode of highest bliss while going up the
+little crooked staircase; and the black and crumbling walls that
+surrounded him had more charm for his eyes than the marbles or the
+sculptures of the Louvre.
+
+"You are going to see my mistress," said Marguerite, "I have warned her,
+but fear nothing, she is as amiable as she is good; you can speak
+without danger before her, she is discretion itself,--besides, she never
+sees anybody, and never goes out. My master wishes to shield her against
+the enterprises of these dandies, of these worthless fellows who seek to
+cajole the poor girls. It is true that my little Blanche is very pretty;
+she would turn the heads of all our noblemen, you are going to see her,
+and you can judge for yourself; here we are at her room. Come in, come,
+don't tremble so; how childish you are."
+
+Urbain was trembling, in fact, and his heart beat so hard that he was
+obliged to support himself for a moment against the wall. During this
+time Marguerite opened the door and said to Blanche,--
+
+"Here she is."
+
+Blanche rose and came to meet the young girl whom her nurse had brought,
+smiling pleasantly at her. Urbain raised his eyes, saw Blanche, and his
+emotion increased. He had only been able through the panes of the
+casement to perceive her features very imperfectly, and the charming
+object which now met his gaze was a hundred times more beautiful than
+the image which his memory and his imagination had created. He remained
+for a moment stunned, motionless, not daring to take a step, doubting
+still whether he could believe his happiness, and looking with delight
+at the lovely girl, who smiled at him and took him by the hand, saying
+to him,--
+
+"Won't you come in? Come in and sit down and warm yourself. Why, you're
+not afraid of me, are you?"
+
+"This is the girl I told you about," announced Marguerite, "but she is a
+little timid, though she will soon lose that; may she always preserve
+her modesty in Paris."
+
+Blanche's soft hand slipped into that of the young bachelor and she led
+him to the fireplace. On feeling the pretty fingers imprinted on his
+own, Urbain scarcely breathed, and murmured in a feeble voice,--
+
+"How good you are, mademoiselle?"
+
+"She has a very pretty voice," cried Blanche, immediately. "Don't you
+think so, Marguerite? A voice which I seem to have heard before; it is
+very singular, I can't recall where I've heard it."
+
+"You are mistaken, my child," said Marguerite, "for myself I think that
+Ursule's voice is a little rough. But remember that we have not much
+time to keep her here and she is going to tell us a certain thing."
+
+"One moment," said Blanche, "let her rest for a minute, she looks
+tired. Do you need anything?"
+
+"No, I thank you," said Urbain, raising his eyes on the amiable child,
+and immediately abasing them, for he feared that she would read in them
+all the love which consumed him and it seemed to him that the moment was
+very ill-chosen to make it known; besides, he was so happy near Blanche
+that he wished to prolong the time, and, thanks to his disguise, he
+could see the sweet girl practise her graces, her amiability, and learn
+her character much better than if he had appeared to her in his true
+form. Before a lover the frankest girl is always timid, embarrassed,
+reserved, while with a person of her own sex she expresses without
+constraint the feelings which she experiences.
+
+"And so you are looking for a place?" said Blanche, seating herself near
+Urbain.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Have you been long in Paris?"
+
+"A fortnight, mademoiselle."
+
+"And your parents?"
+
+"I have none, mademoiselle. I am an orphan."
+
+"Poor girl! that's like me, I am an orphan also, and if M. Touquet had
+not taken care of me I too should have had to go to work to earn my
+living."
+
+"You, mademoiselle," said Urbain ardently, but he restrained himself and
+finished in a low voice, "that would have been very unfortunate."
+
+"My dear Blanche," said Marguerite, "it was not that you might tell her
+your history, but that she might acquaint us with the secret she is
+keeping that she came here. Now, Ursule, speak my child!"
+
+Urbain sighed; he would much rather have listened to Blanche than have
+talked to Marguerite; but it was necessary to satisfy the old maid, he
+needed her; and it was by exciting her curiosity that he hoped often to
+see Blanche. He commenced his recital, disguising his voice, and while
+he spoke the beautiful child fixed her eyes on him, a favor which he
+owed to his costume, but which often made him lose the thread of his
+discourse.
+
+"You have doubtless heard tell of Jeanne Harviliers, so famous a century
+ago for her witcheries and sorceries."
+
+"No, never," said Marguerite, drawing her chair nearer and stretching
+her neck, because the word sorcery had already produced its electrical
+effect upon the old servant. "Tell us the history of this sorcery, my
+child, and try not to omit a single fact."
+
+"Jeanne Harviliers was born at Verberie in the year 1528. Her mother,
+they say, was a wicked woman, who dedicated her child to the devil as
+soon as she came into the world.
+
+"When Jeanne was twelve years old the devil presented himself to her in
+the guise of a black man, armed and booted."
+
+"Dear nurse," said Blanche, "can the devil then take any form he
+pleases?"
+
+"Yes, of course, I've told you so a hundred times; he changes as he
+wishes."
+
+"You've always said, dear nurse, that he shows himself as a black cat."
+
+"A cat or a man, what does it matter?"
+
+"I was only afraid of cats before, now I shall be afraid of men also."
+
+"Come, mademoiselle, if you interrupt this young girl like that we shall
+never know her story. Go on, my child!"
+
+Urbain glanced quickly at Blanche and resumed his narration.
+
+"The black man told Jeanne that if she would give herself to him he
+would teach her a thousand secrets by which she could work good or evil
+to people according to her will. Jeanne Harviliers yielded to the
+proposition of the devil, and pronounced the formula which he dictated;
+she soon became a famous magician, riding to the witches' sabbaths on a
+broomstick.
+
+"Jeanne practised her art near Verberie, but, being accused of sorcery,
+she was for some time obliged to hide herself. She had a neighbor who
+disclosed her whereabouts, and Jeanne asked the devil to give her a
+charm, that she might revenge herself. He gave her a powder, telling her
+to place it in a road where her enemy was about to pass, and it would
+give the latter a malady of which she would die. Jeanne did as the
+devil had told her, and placed the charm; but another person passed
+first over the road, and it was she who was the victim. Jeanne,
+distressed at seeing the sick woman, confessed to her that she had
+caused her misfortune and promised to cure her, but she could not do as
+she wished for she was then arrested and thrown into prison. They
+questioned her; she confessed that she was a sorcerer, and was condemned
+to be burned alive. She was executed on the last day of April in the
+year 1578."
+
+"How is that? She was a sorcerer and she let them burn her?" said
+Blanche with astonishment.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"How funny that is, and what use was it to her to be a sorcerer then?"
+
+"Blanche you are far too young to argue like that," said Marguerite.
+
+"And the devil, did they burn him also?"
+
+"No, mademoiselle, they could not do that."
+
+"That's a pity, for then we should not need to be afraid of him. Perhaps
+the devil has been burned now."
+
+"The demon will always exist, my child!"
+
+"You've told me, dear nurse, that St. Michael fought with him and
+vanquished him."
+
+"Yes, of course he vanquished him, but that is as if he had done
+nothing. Now, Ursule, go on; for I do not yet see in all that you have
+told us anything relating to yourself, since this Jeanne was burned
+close on sixty years ago."
+
+"I am coming to it, mademoiselle," said Urbain, recalling his ideas,
+which Blanche's beautiful eyes had turned to other things than sorcery.
+"Since the time of Jeanne Harviliers, they talk of nothing in Verberie
+and its neighborhood except the witches' sabbaths which were held at the
+Pont-aux-Reine on the highway to Compèigne, in the wood of Ajeux; and
+where noises were heard of horsemen riding in squads, witches going to
+their sabbaths, and wizards of all kinds. The good inhabitants of the
+country, wishing to put themselves on their guard against these
+emissaries of the devil, went to Charlemagne's chapel, which is now
+known as the church of Saint-Pierre, and asked the good religious to
+give them something which would guarantee them against sorceries of all
+kinds."
+
+"A very good idea, truly," said Marguerite, "they could not have acted
+more wisely, and what did they give them, my child?"
+
+"The good fathers gave them a robe which had been worn by a pious
+hermit, who during his life had always made the demons flee from any
+place where he came. A tiny morsel of that robe was sufficient to ward
+off all danger from the one who carried it. You may imagine how anxious
+everybody was to have a piece of it."
+
+"Oh, I can well believe it. If I had been there there's nothing I
+wouldn't have given to obtain a piece."
+
+"Well but dear nurse," said Blanche, "is it like mine."
+
+"Hush! let Ursule finish, my child!"
+
+"Finally, mademoiselle, one of my ancestors, who lived then had the good
+fortune to get a morsel of the pious hermit's robe. She left it to her
+daughter after her, who left it to my mother, from whom I have it; and
+that is how this talisman came to me and it is that which makes me
+afraid of nothing in Paris, and with which I dare risk myself alone in
+the streets at night."
+
+"Oh, how singular!" cried Blanche, "that's like me; I also have a
+talisman which preserves me from all danger, however, they won't even
+let me look out of the window. That's because my protector, the barber,
+does not believe in talismans."
+
+"He's very wrong, mademoiselle," said Urbain.
+
+"Yes, assuredly he is," said Marguerite, "but, my dear child, have you
+yours on you now?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle. Oh, I always carry it."
+
+"Let us see this precious relic. Only to touch it will do one good."
+
+Urbain felt in his apron pocket and drew forth a small paper folded with
+great care; he opened it and took out a sample of his breeches which he
+presented to the old servant, pinching his lips to keep a serious face.
+Marguerite who had put on her glasses took the little scrap of cloth
+respectfully, and kissed it three times, crying,--
+
+"That's it, oh, how good that is! that emits an odor all about it, an
+odor of sanctity."
+
+"Do you think so, dear nurse," said Blanche, who was looking at the
+little sample of cloth in surprise, "I should never have thought that a
+little rag like that could have any power."
+
+"A rag! O my dear Blanche, speak more respectfully of this relic."
+
+"My talisman is much prettier than that. It's a little piece of
+parchment. Wait, here it is." Saying these words Blanche opened her
+kerchief, and signed to Urbain to look in her corset, half disclosing
+her virgin neck as she spoke, in order that the supposed Ursule might
+better perceive her talisman.
+
+"Ah, how charming!" exclaimed Urbain involuntarily.
+
+"Is it not," said Blanche, smiling; "it's much prettier than that scrap
+of cloth."
+
+Urbain had no strength with which to answer, he remained motionless, his
+eyes still fixed on the place where the lovely child hid her talisman,
+while Marguerite, contemplating the fragment of smallclothes, kissed it
+anew, repeating,--
+
+"The worth of that has been well proven, which makes it all the more
+precious."
+
+Blanche fastened her kerchief, and Urbain, still moved by what he had
+seen, sighed deeply.
+
+"What is the matter with you," said the young girl, looking with
+interest at her whom she believed to be a simple country girl. "You seem
+grieved."
+
+"Alas, mademoiselle! I was remembering that I was alone and without
+resources in this city, that I have no parents, no friends."
+
+"Poor girl! Well, we will be your friends. Yes, I feel that I love you
+already, Ursule."
+
+"Can it be mademoiselle? Ah! if it were only true!"
+
+"Why do you say if it were true? I never say what is untrue; but what I
+feel I say at once. Isn't that natural? And do you think that you can
+love me also?"
+
+"Can I love you," said Urbain, warmly; then remembering that Marguerite
+was there, he resumed less forcibly, but with an accent that came from
+his heart,--
+
+"Yes, yes, mademoiselle, and all my life."
+
+"Oh, it is so nice to have a friend of one's own age," said Blanche,
+shaking the bachelor's hand. "At least I shall have some one with whom I
+can laugh and chat. Marguerite likes to talk very well, but she never
+laughs and then she never talks of anything but magic and the devil. We
+shall find other things to talk about, shan't we, Ursule?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"I know very little about anything; always alone in my room, never
+going out, though I have a great desire to do so; my protector never
+comes to chat with me; I receive visits from one man only."
+
+"From a man?" said Urbain, anxiously.
+
+"Yes, my music master. Formerly he made me laugh, now he wearies me, for
+he always sings the same thing to me."
+
+Urbain breathed more freely, and resumed,--
+
+"You sing, mademoiselle?"
+
+"A little," said Blanche, "and do you sing, Ursule?"
+
+"Sometimes."
+
+"That's better still. You shall teach me the songs of your country and I
+will teach you the ones that I know."
+
+"You will let me come to see you again, then, mademoiselle?"
+
+"Certainly, every evening, if you can. Remember that I am very lonely by
+myself, in place of which I shall amuse myself with you. She can come to
+see us every evening, Marguerite, can't she? M. Touquet won't be angry,
+will he?"
+
+Marguerite during this conversation had remained in meditation and in
+ecstasy before Ursule's talisman. She would have given all the world to
+possess it in her new room, where she had much trouble in going to
+sleep, but the name of her master drew her from these reflections and
+she cried,--
+
+"What are you saying about M. Touquet; that he knows we are receiving
+this young girl without his permission? Oh, no, indeed!"
+
+"But, dear nurse, that's why it is necessary to ask him."
+
+"Ah, mademoiselle," said Urbain, "he will refuse it, and I shall be
+deprived of the pleasure of seeing you."
+
+"In that case we will say nothing; but if he would take you into his
+service?"
+
+"Monsieur does not wish to have anybody else in the house. What could
+Ursule do here?"
+
+"It's a pity, for Ursule must find a place to earn her living; how very
+disagreeable it is to have a talisman which preserves you from all
+danger and allows you to die of hunger. It's exactly like mine."
+
+"Oh, I still have time to wait I have a prospect of something before
+me," said Urbain, "and my expenses are so very little."
+
+"Had your ancestors ever any occasion to prove the virtue of this
+talisman?" said Marguerite.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle, many circumstances prove that, and, above all, my
+mother had a very strange adventure."
+
+"An adventure," said the old woman, drawing her chair to the hearth. At
+this moment the church clock struck nine. "O heavens! nine o'clock,"
+said Marguerite, "it is very late; you must go, my child. If my master
+perceives that we have not gone to bed he'll want to know the reason;
+come, it's necessary to part."
+
+"And that adventure which she is going to tell us," said Blanche.
+
+"That will be for tomorrow, if you will permit it," said Urbain.
+
+"Oh, yes, tomorrow. Can she not come tomorrow, dear nurse."
+
+"So be it," said Marguerite, who was also curious to hear it. "But
+remember to be prudent, Ursule, that nobody may know."
+
+"Oh, I'll answer to you for my silence, mademoiselle."
+
+"That's well. Wait, here is your talisman. Take care not to lose it.
+Good heavens! how happy I should be if I had a similar one."
+
+Urbain received the little scrap of cloth, dropping a curtsey and
+putting it in his pocket, while Marguerite took a lamp to lead him.
+
+"You are going alone," said Blanche, "perhaps a long distance."
+
+"To the Porte Saint-Antoine."
+
+"O heavens! and are you not afraid to be in the street so late?"
+
+"Has she not her talisman?" said Marguerite.
+
+"Ah, that is true; I shan't think about it any more. Good-by, Ursule,
+you'll come back tomorrow, will you not?"
+
+The lovely child held out her hand to Urbain, who was about to carry it
+to his lips, but remembering that he was a woman he was obliged to
+content himself with pressing it tenderly and followed Marguerite, after
+glancing sweetly at Blanche. The old woman reconducted him with the same
+precaution she had taken in introducing him, and closed the street door
+softly, saying to him,--
+
+"Good-by till tomorrow, and be sure to take good care of your
+talisman."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+LOVE AND INNOCENCE. A SHOWER OF RAIN AND THE TALISMAN
+
+
+Urbain reëntered his old dwelling in a state of rapture and intoxication
+difficult of description. The sight of Blanche, the sound of her sweet
+voice, her charm, her youthful candor, her touching grace and
+simplicity, had increased his love; what he had seen of the beautiful
+girl, had immeasurably exceeded the expectations he had formed of her,
+from the slight glimpse he had obtained of her on the previous occasion,
+heightened though it was by a lover's imagination; and when he now
+reflected that he should see her again on the morrow,--on many morrows,
+perhaps--that he should hear her and speak to her again, that her soft
+hand would again rest without fear in his, he could hardly contain
+himself.
+
+And yet he could not but feel what a pity it was that he could not
+confess to the lovely child his real identity and the feeling with which
+she had inspired him, at first sight. For Urbain was painfully conscious
+that he must not hurry the disclosure of his secret for fear of alarming
+the timid girl, and that he should first seek to win Blanche's
+confidence; in his feminine costume that would be very easy, she had
+already said that she loved him. It is true that the confession of this
+sentiment was made to Ursule, but, in fact, it was Urbain who had
+inspired her with it.
+
+During the day the bachelor resumed his masculine garments, and as soon
+as night returned he attired himself in his feminine costume, in which
+he had already begun to acquire more ease of manner; besides, the young
+servant was always ready to help the youth when he wished to disguise
+himself, she was very obliging to him, and did not neglect to give him
+lessons. Urbain profited by them, because a young man understands better
+how to tear a kerchief than to put it on, and a youth who is foolishly
+in love has many grave distractions, so that the help of the young
+servant was very necessary to him. Urbain was very prompt at his
+rendezvous, and Marguerite introduced him with the same ceremonial as on
+the evening before. Blanche gave him a most amiable welcome. She went to
+meet him, and as he was making her a modest curtsey the artless child
+kissed him on each cheek. Urbain was overwhelmed and in the ardor of his
+joy, had not the voice of Marguerite recalled him to himself, he would
+have pressed Blanche to his heart, and would have returned a hundredfold
+the kisses he had received. But the old woman, always eager to hear a
+story of extraordinary adventures, particularly when it related to a
+talisman, pushed Urbain to the side of the hearth, and said,--
+
+"Come, children, don't waste time with idle ceremony; you know how
+quickly it passes when one is relating interesting things. Let us sit
+down and Ursule will tell us the adventure which her mother
+experienced."
+
+Urbain, still much moved by Blanche's kiss, began a story which he had
+composed in the morning, and which delighted Marguerite, because it
+proved the marvellous powers of the talisman. The story finished, the
+old woman asked to be allowed to look at the relic; she was persuaded
+that after having touched it the evening before she ran less danger
+during the night in her room. Blanche then chatted with Urbain and sang
+to him in a low tone one of the songs which she knew. The ingenuous
+child had only known the pretended Ursule since the evening before, but
+she already regarded her as a sister, called her "my dear," and related
+to her all that concerned herself; for Blanche, brought up in
+retirement, had not learned to hide her feelings or to feign those which
+she did not experience; her heart was pure and her words were only the
+expression of what she felt.
+
+Blanche did not fail to sing to Urbain her favorite refrain, and the
+latter trembled with pleasure on seeing that, despite the precautions of
+the barber, his accents were graven on Blanche's memory, who said to
+him,--
+
+"The first time that I heard you speak, it seemed to me that I still
+heard the voice which had sung at night under my window. That was a very
+pretty voice, and yours, Ursule, resembles it a little. What a pity that
+you don't know the romance that they were singing."
+
+"I do know it," said Urbain; "at least I think I know it, for I have
+often heard it sung, and that makes me remember it."
+
+"How fortunate! Sing it to me, Ursule, I beg."
+
+"But if M. Touquet--"
+
+"Oh, he is in his room; besides, you can sing very low. Wait! Just as I
+expected, Marguerite is asleep; now she won't be able to scold us."
+
+In fact her deep contemplation of the little scrap of Urbain's
+smallclothes had put the old servant to sleep. Urbain was almost alone
+with her he adored. His heart palpitated with joy, long sighs issued
+from his breast, and he was obliged to turn away his eyes that they
+might not meet Blanche's adorable gaze.
+
+"Well, now," said the amiable girl, pouting a little, which rendered her
+still more seductive, "aren't you going to sing to me? That would be
+very naughty, for it would give me a great deal of pleasure to hear that
+song. I should like to learn it myself. I beg of you, Ursule; you see
+Marguerite is asleep; come, don't refuse me."
+
+"I refuse you anything? Of course I'll sing for you, mademoiselle."
+
+"Oh, you are very obliging, and I will kiss you with a good heart."
+
+Urbain needed not the temptation of so sweet a recompense. However, he
+wished immediately to deserve it. He sang, and Blanche listened with
+rapture; the young man, yielding to the emotion of his heart, sang with
+much expression and feeling, but his voice no longer resembled that of a
+woman, and any other than the ingenuous Blanche would have perceived the
+change; but the latter was far from suspecting the truth, and with her
+head turned towards Urbain, remained motionless, her eyes fixed on him
+and seeming to fear lest she should lose a word, while she exclaimed
+from time to time,--
+
+"Mon Dieu, that is it! that's the same thing! That affects me just as it
+did the other night. Ah, Ursule, sing again."
+
+However, the songs ceased, for Urbain had not forgotten the promised
+recompense. For some moments Blanche remained motionless, seeming to be
+listening still; at last she aroused herself from her ecstasies,
+saying,--
+
+"It's very singular what a strange effect that romance has upon me."
+
+"Is it disagreeable?"
+
+"Oh, no; if it were I should not want to be always hearing it, and still
+it makes me feel rather sad; it makes me sigh; but all the same, Ursule,
+you will teach it to me, will you not?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle; but you promised me--"
+
+"To kiss you. Oh, I'll do that willingly."
+
+Without further asking, Blanche imprinted her cherry lips on Urbain's
+burning cheek. This time the latter was about to return her kiss, and
+had already taken the young girl in his arms when Marguerite, in
+sneezing, just missed falling into the fire, and awoke herself with a
+start, crying,--
+
+"Dear good patron saint, save me; I see the black man and the sorcerer
+of Verberie."
+
+"Where is he, dear nurse?" said Blanche, leaving Urbain, who was vexed
+that he had not sooner finished his singing.
+
+"Where?" said Marguerite, rubbing her eyes; "where is what? What did I
+say?"
+
+"You said you saw the sorcerer."
+
+"Ah, that is because I was thinking of him, apparently. Come, Ursule, it
+is time for you to go, my child."
+
+"That's a pity, I was going to tell you of an adventure which happened
+to my aunt which was even more marvellous than the others."
+
+"Oh, that's delightful; that will be for tomorrow," said Blanche. "That
+will suit you, dear nurse, won't it? You see my good friend suspects
+nothing; besides, if he should see Ursule and be angry, well, I'll take
+all the blame on myself and I can pacify him."
+
+"Come, then, tomorrow night, and we will learn all about your aunt's
+adventures."
+
+"Yes, Mademoiselle Marguerite, but will you have the goodness to give me
+back my talisman."
+
+"Yes, my dear child, that's right. O my God! what have I done with it?
+Has Satan tricked me out of it? I was holding it just this minute."
+
+"Wait, dear nurse, here it is," pointing to the hearth, "you have let it
+fall in the cinders."
+
+"Faith, so I did," answered the old woman, picking up the little scrap
+of cloth. "Oh, my goodness! it's a little scorched."
+
+"Oh, that's all right, mademoiselle," said Urbain, "that won't have
+taken away any of its virtue."
+
+"No, assuredly not, my dear child, and if it had been burned its ashes
+would have retained the same properties."
+
+Urbain took his talisman, said "good-by" to Blanche, repeating to her,
+"I shall see you, tomorrow," and left the barber's house.
+
+Several days rolled away and every evening the young bachelor had the
+good fortune to see Blanche. He was incessantly inventing new stories to
+pique Marguerite's curiosity, and the old woman regularly opened the
+door of the alley at seven o'clock. The fictitious Ursule's presence had
+become necessary to Blanche and Marguerite. The latter experienced great
+pleasure in hearing her relate the doings of the magicians, and the
+young girl in learning her cherished romance; but Marguerite did not
+always go to sleep, and even when she was awake Blanche wished Urbain
+to sing; the latter obeyed her, but in order to prevent the old woman
+from suspecting him he was careful to disguise his voice, and Blanche
+exclaimed with vexation,--
+
+"That's not at all good! You don't sing so prettily as usual today, and
+it doesn't give me the same pleasure."
+
+While Urbain was elated with the happiness of seeing Blanche, and
+drinking from her eyes the sweetest sentiment; while the young girl was
+giving herself, without restraint, to the pleasure which Ursule's
+society afforded her, and in confiding to the latter her slightest
+thoughts; and while old Marguerite, her head filled with frightful
+stories and miraculous deeds done by the sorcerer of Verberie, was
+securing herself against the snares of Satan by rubbing between her
+fingers every evening the little scrap of the bachelor's breeches,--what
+was passing in the little house of the Vallée Fécamp? was the brilliant
+Julia still there? and was the Marquis de Villebelle taking the trouble
+to feign a little love in order to subdue the young Italian.
+
+The barber, having received the price of his services, disquieted
+himself very little as to what was passing in the small house.
+Chaudoreille, who never left the gambling-houses while he had money in
+his pocket, had not appeared at the barber's for a month, but at the end
+of that time he appeared at his friend's towards the middle of the day.
+The Gascon's face was longer then usual. His ruff, all in rags, had been
+stained in several places, and the feather on his hat had been replaced
+by the gold-colored rosette which formerly decorated Rolande's handle.
+Chaudoreille's piteous face made the barber smile.
+
+"Where do you come from," said he, "and what have you been doing since I
+saw you last?"
+
+"I've been very unfortunate," said Chaudoreille, heaving a big sigh, and
+drawing from his belt the old silk purse, which he shook without
+producing a single sou. "You see, my friend, I'm reduced to zero."
+
+"How's that? do you mean to say that nothing remains to you of the sum I
+gave you."
+
+"Not a penny, my dear fellow. I've been robbed in a shameful manner."
+
+"That is to say, you have been gambling."
+
+"Yes, that's true; I've played, but with robbers. They have tricked me
+in an infamous fashion. If, at least, they had been amiable about it,
+one knows well that among people accustomed to play there are a thousand
+little ways in which one can make fortune favorable, but to despoil a
+friend, a comrade--it's horrible! I'll never play again in my life. Say
+now, don't you want me to go to the little house to see my dear friend
+Marcel?"
+
+"On the contrary, I forbid you to do so. Without the marquis' order
+nobody should allow himself to go there."
+
+"That's vexatious, and how did the adventure end?"
+
+"What does that matter to you? For the matter of that I have not seen
+the marquis again, but from the moment I ceased to be employed the
+intrigue was nothing to me; besides, it will end like all the others. It
+is a caprice which will last for some days and will be succeeded by
+another."
+
+"That's correct; but the little one appeared to me to have some strength
+of mind. She said some very peculiar things to me; she asked me, among
+other things, if I knew your parents."
+
+"My parents," said the barber, with visible emotion, "that's singular."
+
+"Yes, very singular. I told her you were from Lorraine and that that was
+all I knew about you."
+
+"My parents," repeated Touquet, striding about the room. "I am almost
+certain that I have none. My poor father is undoubtedly dead. Oh, I was
+a very worthless fellow in my youth! Precocious in my passions, a taste
+for play and a thirst for gold caused me to commit a thousand excesses."
+
+"Yes, the follies of youth. I know all about that. As for me at six
+years old I was flogged for having stolen a leg of mutton out of the
+dripping-pan. At ten for having, in a fit of abstraction, taken my
+grandmother's purse to go and play at little quoits; at twelve years old
+I took a rabbit off the spit and put in its place my old aunt's cat;
+but in my ardor to hide my larceny I forgot to skin the cat, which was
+roasted with its hair on. Happily my father was short-sighted, and he
+thought it was a little wild boar; at fifteen years--"
+
+"What does it matter what you did?" cried the barber, impatiently. "Did
+the young woman say anything else about me?"
+
+"No, but if you like, I'll go and draw it from her, adroitly."
+
+"Idiot! you forget that she is the marquis' mistress? When her reign is
+ended I shall see her, and I shall know." The barber said nothing
+further and would not answer Chaudoreille, and the latter, after having
+uselessly repeated several times that he had been fasting since the
+evening before, on perceiving that Touquet paid him no attention left
+the shop in an ill-humor, murmuring between his teeth,--
+
+"People who become rich are always niggardly and stingy. That's a fault
+that I shall never have."
+
+Some hours after this conversation, the barber, returning to his
+customers, met near the Louvre the brilliant Villebelle, who, wrapped in
+his mantle, seemed to be still in high feather.
+
+"I have succeeded, my dear fellow," said he, drawing Touquet under a
+portico, where no one could hear them. "Julia has given herself to me;
+but truly the conquest was more difficult than I had thought. The young
+girl is passionate, romantic; she wishes to be loved, and I have made
+her believe that I love her. In fact her singular character, her pride,
+united with her tenderness, her strange conduct, and her speeches,
+nearly enthralled me. She spoke to me about Estrelle. I don't know how
+she knew that adventure."
+
+"The young girl knows everything, evidently," said the barber to
+himself.
+
+"For the rest," resumed the marquis, "she doesn't seem to love you much,
+my dear Touquet; you are in her black books. She says that you are a
+master knave."
+
+"What, monseigneur?"
+
+"She refuses my presents; she wishes nothing but my love, it's truly
+superb. Despite that, I am living with her; I did not care for her to
+remain in the little house, that would have embarrassed me. I believe
+upon my honor that I love her a little. But I see two very pretty women
+going into the jewelry shop down there. I must go there in order to see
+them nearer." While saying these words the marquis departed hastily, and
+the barber returned home, thinking of Julia and vexed that he had not
+learned from the marquis where he had lodged his young Italian.
+
+Chaudoreille had left Touquet's house in a very bad humor. An empty
+stomach is usually accompanied by a melancholy spirit. The Gascon
+chevalier while making philosophical reflections on the egotism of man,
+the caprice of fortune and the manner in which one could win at piquet
+while slipping the aces to the bottom of the pack, arrived at the Saint
+Germain fair. Beside the different spectacles assembled in this place to
+attract idlers, strangers and young gentlemen came there to play
+different games of cards, of dice, ninepins and skittles.
+
+Chaudoreille walked among the groups formed around these games and
+looked with a hungry eye at the pastry exposed before the booths. He
+stopped near the eating places trying to breathe at least the odor of
+the cooking, but such delights have no power to fill an empty stomach.
+
+"By jingo!" said Chaudoreille all of a sudden, pulling his hat down over
+his eyes and pulling his ruff up about his neck. "It shall not be said
+that I did not dine. A man of genius always has resources, and his wit
+should furnish him that which his purse refuses."
+
+Immediately the chevalier, walking with a determined step, threaded the
+crowd and turned towards the neighborhood where some young provincials
+were playing skittles and drinking white wine. Chaudoreille looked at
+them out of the corner of his eye then, seizing his moment, he crossed
+the place where they were playing, in such a manner as to receive a blow
+upon the legs from a ball which one of the players was rolling.
+
+"Look out! look out!" cried the young man who had hurled the ball; but
+Chaudoreille pretended not to hear and stopped only when he was struck.
+He made a horrible grimace on receiving the blow, and fell, murmuring,--
+
+"Zounds! my dinner will cost me dearly."
+
+The two players came up to him and picked him up, offering their excuses
+although they were not in the wrong. But Chaudoreille was so pale and
+appeared to suffer so deeply and made such pitiful contortions that the
+two young men were much moved; first they offered him a glass of wine to
+restore him. The wounded man accepted and drank three glasses, one after
+the other; he could not yet walk and they proposed to him to go into the
+wine merchant's, who would give him something to eat. He did not allow
+them to repeat the invitation; the two provincials ordered dinner and
+invited Chaudoreille to be of their party. Our man was therefore
+installed at a table with them, ate and drank for four, gave them some
+lessons in skittles, and perceiving that they were novices of an
+obliging humor, and not quarrelsome, he rose at the conclusion of the
+dessert and demanded a pistole from them to indemnify him for the stroke
+of the ball which they had given him.
+
+The young men looked at him in surprise, perceiving that they had been
+duped and that they had entered into conversation with a gentleman of
+very little delicacy. Chaudoreille held himself very upright, his left
+hand on his hip and his right hand caressing the handle of his sword,
+rolling his eyes like the damned, while passing the end of his tongue
+over his mustaches. The poor provincials, not caring to have a duel with
+a man who appeared to have decided to split everyone in two if they did
+not satisfy him, hastened to present the sum demanded by their amiable
+guest. The latter received it with a gracious smile, then, with the tone
+of a man delighted with himself, he bowed to them, saying,--
+
+"Good-by, my young friends, try to remember the strokes which I have
+taught you."
+
+While saying these words the chevalier quickly departed, no longer
+remembering the blow which he had received. With a full stomach and a
+pistole in his belt, Chaudoreille was very well pleased with his day's
+work. The white wine which he had drunk had aroused his enterprise and
+inclined him to undertake some adventures. He felt especially carried
+towards love, but if it is the custom of Bacchus to render one
+enterprising, the odor of wine and the speech of a tipsy man are not
+auxiliaries favorable to love. It had been dark for some time when
+Chaudoreille left the fair, ogling all the women whom he met and
+murmuring between his teeth,--
+
+"By jingo! I must make a conquest this evening. I am beginning to get
+tired of my portress, who is forty-five years old and has one leg
+shorter than the other; it is true that she overwhelms me with
+kindnesses. She bleaches my linen and repairs my ruff; but what does a
+little infidelity by the way matter, my Venus will know nothing about
+it."
+
+Chaudoreille had reached the Rue Montmartre when he saw a woman pass by
+him, dressed like a country woman. She was alone; the chevalier ogled
+her and turned back to follow her. The carriage of the dame had
+something very decided about it, which was pleasing to Chaudoreille; but
+she walked with such long steps that he was obliged to run to follow
+her. On reaching her side the gallant tried to enter into conversation
+with her by making one of those pretty propositions in use among those
+gentlemen who make love in the streets, and seek their conquests by
+lantern light. She did not answer Chaudoreille, but walked faster. Our
+man was not at all abashed; he continued to trot by her side doing the
+amiable, putting his feet in the streams, which he did not see, and
+splashing his beauty while whispering sweet nothings. However, the
+person whom he was following had reached the Rue Saint-Honoré, a short
+distance from the Rue des Bourdonnais. Chaudoreille, receiving no
+answer, and seeing that nothing was to be gained by his compliments,
+decided to attempt strong measures. He approached the country woman and
+pinched her sharply, and received in return a slap in the face, so well
+applied that it sent him up against a stone post four feet away.
+
+Urbain was going according to his custom to visit Blanche, when on the
+way he made the conquest of Chaudoreille. After disengaging himself in
+so heroic a manner the young bachelor ran up to the barber's house,
+entering the passageway, where some one came immediately to open to him,
+and reached Blanche, still much agitated by the adventure.
+
+"What is the matter with you, my dear Ursule?" said Blanche. "You seem
+excited."
+
+"Just now in the street two men fighting frightened me."
+
+"Poor child, but didn't you have your talisman?"
+
+"Oh, yes, but in spite of that I was afraid."
+
+"I can well believe it," said Blanche, "to see men fighting must be very
+unpleasant. Come, sit down, my dear friend."
+
+Blanche's sweet words soon made Urbain forget his adventure. According
+to his promise, it was necessary that he should recount something
+singular which had happened to one of his cousins. He had promised to
+recite it the evening before, and Marguerite was in a hurry to hear it.
+The old servant needed distraction; she had had a frightful dream in the
+night and in the morning when she awakened she had seen a bat against
+her window, all of which was very disquieting, and since the morning
+she had not been easy.
+
+Urbain commenced his story. He was interrupted by the rain, which fell
+in torrents, and which the wind blew violently against the panes.
+
+"What horrible weather!" said Blanche.
+
+"Yes," said Marguerite, drawing closer to the fire at each gust of wind,
+"this night will be difficult to pass. I do not know, but it seems to me
+that something extraordinary is going to happen; that bat that I
+saw--and in my dream all those people were riding to the sabbath on
+broomsticks. That surely indicates something."
+
+"Certainly," said Urbain, and the old woman, to reassure herself, rubbed
+the talisman between her hands.
+
+Urbain's story had lasted for a long time. Marguerite, however, had said
+nothing, as she was not anxious to go upstairs to bed. Blanche, who
+never saw Ursule leave without regret, had taken care not to observe
+that it was getting late and the young bachelor was not the one who
+would first think of breaking up the party. However, the clock struck,
+and they counted eleven strokes.
+
+"O heavens! eleven o'clock," cried Blanche.
+
+"O my God!" said Marguerite, trembling, "in an hour it will be
+midnight."
+
+"But, dear nurse, Ursule cannot go so late and besides by the time she
+gets there--Wait! do you hear the rain, it is falling in torrents. How
+can she go to the Porte Saint-Antoine in such weather as this? It's
+impossible."
+
+"It is certain," said Urbain, "that the roads are very bad. There are no
+lanterns and often one puts one's foot in holes that one does not see."
+
+"Poor Ursule, her talisman will not prevent her from being drenched,
+will it?"
+
+"It is true it doesn't guarantee one against the effect of rain,"
+responded Urbain, sighing.
+
+"What is to be done?" said Marguerite.
+
+"It's very easy, my dear nurse, Ursule can sleep with me, and tomorrow,
+as soon as day breaks, she can go without making a noise. Will you,
+Ursule?"
+
+Urbain was for some moments unable to answer, for these words of
+Blanche, "She can sleep with me," had so disturbed his whole being that
+he did not know what he was doing. At last he murmured in a changed
+voice,--
+
+"If you think well of it, mademoiselle, I think well of it also."
+
+"Most certainly I wish it, do I not dear nurse? We could not let her go
+out at this time of night. Why don't you answer?"
+
+Marguerite saw no harm in the country woman's sleeping with Blanche, but
+rather hoped to gain an advantage thereby in keeping all night the
+precious relic; and, as her mind had been struck with the idea that some
+misfortune was going to happen to her, the possession of the little
+scrap of cloth seemed to her like a benefaction of Providence.
+
+"It's true," said she, at last, "that the weather is frightful, and if
+Ursule will not forget to go away before daybreak--"
+
+"Oh, yes, dear nurse, and if she is asleep I promise you I will wake
+her."
+
+"Very well, then I'm willing that she should remain."
+
+"Oh, how delightful," said Blanche, "we shall sleep together, Ursule. I
+have never slept with anyone. How we shall chat and laugh."
+
+"No, indeed, no, indeed," said Marguerite; "on the contrary you must go
+to sleep without making any noise that monsieur could hear."
+
+"Very well, we will go to sleep, dear nurse," responded the amiable
+child, and she added in Urbain's ear, "We will talk very low."
+
+"Well, in that case I will go to bed," said the old servant hesitating
+to return that which she held in her hand. "My dear Ursule," she said at
+last, "you have nothing to fear here. If you would permit me to keep
+your talisman for this night only, because I sleep in a room that is not
+safe and I can't get that bat out of my head."
+
+"Oh, keep it, Mademoiselle Marguerite," said Urbain, "may it do you much
+pleasure."
+
+"Yes, keep it, dear nurse," said Blanche, "besides we have mine, that
+will be enough for us, will it not, Ursule?"
+
+"But--yes, I believe so, mademoiselle."
+
+Marguerite, delighted to possess a safeguard for the whole night,
+lighted her lamp and turned towards the door, saying,--
+
+"Good night, my children, good night. Mercy, what a gust of wind.
+Ursule, you must go tomorrow before daybreak."
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Go to bed as quickly as possible, and extinguish your light, that no
+one may suspect anything."
+
+"Be easy, dear nurse," said Blanche, "we'll soon put it out."
+
+Marguerite took her lamp and left the room. Blanche closed the door
+after her.
+
+"Shut your door tight," said the old woman.
+
+"Yes, dear nurse," answered the young girl, and she drew the bolt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+HOW WILL IT END
+
+
+When one loves ardently, and when one sees that moment approach which
+heralds the consummation of his dearest wishes, when one is for the
+first time entirely alone with the beloved of his heart, one experiences
+an uneasiness, an agitation which one cannot quell, and which one cannot
+reasonably account for; it is almost as though one feared that one's
+being would be unable to support the realization of this exquisite
+happiness, as though one doubted whether hopes so sweet, and which have
+hitherto been so unattainable, can ever be realized.
+
+It is, above all, when one loves with the candor and good faith of early
+youth that one yields himself tremblingly to the first interview which
+sounds a knell to all the cherished past. Why, at the very moment of
+happiness, should one sigh and fear? Poor mortals, it seems that
+accustomed to sorrow, we shall always be astonished at being happy. In
+truth, this astonishment passes with age and experience; then these
+delightful rendezvous do not cause us the same emotion; we regard them
+only as distractions, and laugh at the uneasiness, the embarrassment,
+which accompanied our first intercourse with the ladies. Ungrateful that
+we are, we mock at the source of our happiness, at those sweet
+sensations which time has dissipated, with all the other illusions of
+our youth, after the manner of the fox in the fable.
+
+"How awkward we were at eighteen years of age," we say; "how embarrassed
+and constrained in a tête-à-tête, trembling like a leaf as we went to
+the rendezvous; what a difference now, we go to them singing, we reach
+that which we desire more quickly, we are a hundred times more
+pleasing." Yes, but our hair is becoming grizzly, our figure has become
+rotund, and some rather deep lines are imprinted at the corners of our
+eyes.
+
+If the approach of long-desired happiness causes in love an inexplicable
+trouble, what should be the state of one who, all of a sudden, without
+having had even the slightest hope, finds himself in a position where he
+may obtain the greatest heights. Such was Urbain's situation; he loved
+Blanche with the delirium, the intoxication, which one experiences at
+nineteen for his first love, and he found himself at eleven o'clock at
+night alone with the object of his tenderness in a little chamber,
+separated from all neighbors, with the lovely child drawing the bolt and
+beginning to undress herself to go to bed. What lover at such a moment
+could preserve his reason? Poor Blanche, I tremble for thee! In truth
+thou hast a talisman, but I have no great faith in its power; above
+all, if you allow yourself to remain with Urbain in the situation in
+which he is placed. The young bachelor tremblingly paused, sighing and
+saying not a word he remained standing in a corner of the room, while
+Blanche prepared the bed, coming and going, jumping and laughing, and
+finally began to undress herself.
+
+"O heavens!" said Urbain to himself, trembling, coloring, and lowering
+his eyes, but raising them from time to time to look at Blanche. "O my
+God! what must I do. This is not the moment to declare myself, to make
+known to her who I am, to implore her pardon, and to confess my love to
+her; but, yes, it is indeed the moment. However, if that confession
+should frighten her, if her cries should bring somebody here, or if she
+should drive me from the room. That will be such a pity when I can, by
+deceiving her a little longer, share her bed, and--oh, no! that would be
+very ill done! But how pretty she is! great God, how charming! Ah, I
+will not look at her." And the rascal looked at her all the time, slyly,
+it is true, but the more he looked at her the more he felt his
+resolution imperilled; for each moment Blanche took off some part of her
+costume, already only a little petticoat covered her seductive form, and
+the straight corset which had imprisoned her pretty figure was laid upon
+the bed.
+
+Blanche stopped; however, it was time. She looked at Urbain, who was
+still standing there, motionless and silent.
+
+"Come, Ursule, why don't you undress yourself?" said the young girl,
+approaching the bachelor.
+
+"Because, mademoiselle, I do not know why, I'm afraid."
+
+"What? you're afraid? Are you afraid with me, Ursule?"
+
+"Afraid, mademoiselle? Yes, I feel that I am very much afraid."
+
+"Why, that's just like Marguerite, and I, who am much younger, am a
+great deal braver. It is true that the wind blows very hard, but it
+won't carry us away from here. How she trembles! Why Ursule, how can you
+go every evening alone as far as the Porte Saint-Antoine and yet you
+tremble with me in my chamber."
+
+"Ah, that's very different."
+
+"Is it because Marguerite has carried off your talisman? But we still
+have mine. Wait, do you see when I take off my corsets I fasten it here,
+inside my chemise, for dear nurse says that it is necessary above all to
+have it during the night, and that it is when they are in bed that the
+sorcerers come to torment young girls. Is that true, Ursule? Do they
+sometimes try to torment you in the night?"
+
+"Yes--no, mademoiselle." Urbain did not know what he was saying, for his
+eyes, despite himself, turned towards the perfidious talisman which
+seemed to be there, like the serpent on the tree of the knowledge of
+good and evil, to make him succumb to temptation.
+
+"You are shivering with cold, Ursule, we shall be much better in bed; we
+shall be warmer. Do you want me to help you undress? How you are
+sighing. Is it because you are in some trouble? You must tell me all
+about it. It is so pleasant to have some friend, to be able to tell her
+all that one thinks. Let's see; first, we'll take off this cap which
+hides all your face. I am sure that mine will become you better, let us
+try it. But sit down first; you're so big, my dear Ursule, that I can't
+reach your head."
+
+The young bachelor allowed himself to be led to a chair. He seated
+himself, and the lovely child, standing before him, began to loosen the
+pins which held his cap and his big brown curls. Urbain allowed Blanche
+to take off his headdress. He had decided to make himself known, besides
+sooner or later she must know the truth, and in order not to frighten
+her it was better that the metamorphosis should be gently made. The last
+pin was taken out, Blanche lifted the cap and the young man's brown
+curls escaped on all sides and fell on his forehead and on his neck. The
+young girl uttered an exclamation and stopped. Urbain, fearing already
+that she was about to fly, lightly surrounded her waist with his two
+arms.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"How funny that is," said Blanche, at last, looking at Urbain with
+astonishment. "Your hair isn't done at all like that of all the women I
+ever saw. Is it the fashion to wear it like that in Verberie?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Do you know, Ursule, that the more I look at you the more you look like
+a man to me."
+
+"Somebody told me that before, mademoiselle."
+
+"But it's really astonishing. Your hair is dressed exactly like that of
+the men I see passing in the street."
+
+"Do you dislike it so?"
+
+"No--however--it produces a very singular effect on me."
+
+"If I were a man would you be angry?"
+
+"Mercy, yes, I believe I should, for then you couldn't be my friend any
+more. I couldn't love you as a sister."
+
+"But Blanche, if I were a man I should be your lover. A most tender, a
+most faithful lover. I could love you to distraction, and love is much
+stronger than friendship. Then, if you will share my affection, could
+there exist a mortal happier than I? Dear Blanche, if I could only
+possess your heart. Is there anything more precious on earth? To obtain
+it, I would give the last drop of my blood."
+
+While speaking Urbain, engrossed by his love, no longer sought to
+disguise his voice. His arms still surrounded Blanche and the young
+girl, greatly moved, dropped on the knees of the young bachelor, saying
+in a feeble voice,--
+
+"Mon Dieu, Ursule, don't say such things to me. They make me uneasy. I
+don't know what's the matter with me. I feel that I wish to cry. What
+use is it to tell such falsehoods, to speak of love and of loving?
+Ursule, somebody has told me that it is very wrong to talk about those
+things. O heavens! since you haven't your cap on, I dare not look at
+you."
+
+"Blanche! dear Blanche!"
+
+"Well now, you're still pretending to be a man, and it frightens me.
+Come, Ursule, be a woman again, I beg of you."
+
+"No, Blanche, I will not deceive you further. It is a man--it's--the
+most tender lover who is near you."
+
+By a sudden movement Blanche rose and escaped to the other end of the
+room; Urbain did not seek to restrain her, but fell on his knees and
+held out his hands towards her, seeming to await her forgiveness, while
+the young girl looked at him with eyes which expressed more surprise
+than fear.
+
+"What? are you really a man?" said the amiable child, after a moment.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Are you quite sure of it?"
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+"O good heavens! don't come near me, I beg of you."
+
+"Ah, don't tremble so, I am at your feet, the most submissive of
+lovers."
+
+"Of lovers! I don't know what a lover is."
+
+"It was that I might be successful in seeing you, that I might make
+known to you all the love that I feel for you, that I have dared to take
+this disguise. Without that how should I have managed to see you when
+they keep you in prison in this room?"
+
+"I never go out of it. I should not listen to you perhaps. How did you
+come to love me?"
+
+"It was through the window that I first saw you. Some singers were
+standing under the casement. You seemed to listen to them with great
+pleasure. That night I returned and sang under your window the romance
+which you like so much."
+
+"That was you?" cried Blanche, joyfully; and already forgetting her
+first fear she looked at Urbain with more assurance. Her pure and
+innocent mind could not conceive all the danger of her situation. A more
+experienced young girl would have cried and have shown much anger, but
+Blanche, whose soul was a stranger to all dissimulation evinced the same
+confidence in the young bachelor as she did in Ursule, because she had
+no other thought which could make her blush. "Why! was that you?" she
+repeated, "It isn't astonishing that I found such a resemblance in your
+voice, but it wasn't good of you, monsieur, to lie to us like that. I
+was quite sure that you were Ursule and I loved you like a dear friend,
+and can I continue to love you like that now?"
+
+"And what should prevent you, if I have not displeased you?"
+
+"Oh, no! you haven't displeased me. I even think that you look better
+without a cap, but it's not allowable to love a man."
+
+"Why not, when that man wishes to become your husband?"
+
+"Marguerite says that all men are deceivers and then, O heavens! the
+devil also takes the form of a man, and presented himself thus to the
+sorcerer of Verberie. O mon Dieu, if you should be the devil!"
+
+"O Blanche, what a thought!"
+
+"But no, you look too sweet--you're not all black, and you haven't any
+claws."
+
+"My name is Urbain Dorgeville. My parents were honest and respected. I
+am an orphan. I haven't much fortune, but when one loves truly is it
+necessary to have much in order to be happy? Dear Blanche, will you
+forgive me?"
+
+"He calls me his dear Blanche, how funny that is! And if I don't forgive
+you, what will happen?"
+
+"You will reduce me to despair and nothing will remain for me but to
+die."
+
+"Oh, I don't wish that you should die," cried the amiable child, "and I
+will forgive you, for I should be very vexed if I caused you any grief."
+
+"Can it be," said Urbain, rising and running towards Blanche. The young
+girl made a movement of fear, then, recovering herself, she smiled, and
+signed to Urbain to seat himself near her. The happy bachelor placed his
+chair close up to that of Blanche and very gently took one of her hands,
+which the ingenuous child allowed him to retain.
+
+"You forgive me for loving you, then?" said he, looking at her tenderly.
+
+"Of course, I'm obliged to, since you say that it will make you die if I
+forbid you to."
+
+"And you, also, will love me?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know. I loved Ursule very much, however, but you--it
+wouldn't be the same thing, would it?"
+
+"It would be much sweeter."
+
+"Do you think so?"
+
+"I am sure of it, by what I experience at this moment."
+
+"You are very happy now, then?"
+
+"Yes, very happy; for you are no longer afraid of me, are you?"
+
+"No, I am not afraid of you, but why do you hold my hand like that?"
+
+"I should like to press it always, to hold it incessantly against my
+heart."
+
+"And is that yet another proof of love?"
+
+"Yes, Blanche, but if it displeases you I will not keep this dear hand."
+
+"Oh, that doesn't displease me, but yours is burning. It makes mine
+warm. And why are you trembling? Is it love that makes you like that?"
+
+"Yes, it burns me, it consumes me."
+
+"Oh, it must be very unpleasant to love like that."
+
+The young bachelor, to solace, no doubt, the malady which devoured him,
+carried Blanche's hand to his lips and covered it with kisses. The young
+girl allowed him to do so, although the passionate glances of her lover
+were beginning to produce a strange feeling of uneasiness in her heart.
+Her breast rose more frequently, she sighed, and said in a faint
+voice,--
+
+"Urbain--Ursule; mon Dieu, I don't know what's the matter with me, but I
+am afraid I've caught your malady. Wait! see how I am trembling now! Oh,
+my talisman, my talisman!"
+
+Poor Blanche, what will you do? While promising to himself to respect
+the virtue of the young girl, Urbain yielded to the ardor which inflamed
+him, and pressed Blanche tightly in his arms, begging her not to
+tremble; Blanche, astonished, did not repulse him, for excessive
+innocence has also its dangers, but at this moment somebody knocked
+violently at the door of the room and the barber's stern voice uttered
+these words,--
+
+"Open the door, Blanche! I command you to open the door!"
+
+The young bachelor seemed petrified, and Blanche remained motionless in
+Urbain's arms, which still enfolded her.
+
+
+
+
+THE BARBER OF PARIS
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+WHO COULD HAVE EXPECTED IT
+
+
+The slap in the face which had been so vigorously applied to the
+impertinent Chevalier Chaudoreille by Urbain in his character of a
+good-looking young woman, though richly deserved, had been so
+unexpected, had so thoroughly stunned the poor little specimen of
+humanity that he had remained for some moments supported by the stone
+post against which he had been flung by the force of the blow, entirely
+unconscious as to his whereabouts.
+
+But as his wits returned to their normal capacity, and he fully realized
+the indignity to which he had been subjected in being overcome by a blow
+from a woman, at a moment, too, when he thought his success certain, the
+little fellow drew himself up with fierce determination, and, as he
+rubbed his still tingling and burning cheek, he exclaimed,--
+
+"Oh, hang it all! Is it likely I will submit to such treatment. I shall
+know how to revenge myself, young Amazon, little as you may think so at
+the present moment. Never shall it be said that Venus withdrew from the
+transports of Mars; that slap in the face shall prove costly to her
+virtue."
+
+Immediately he followed on the steps of his Venus, who was dashing
+along, jumping over the streams which came in her way. Chaudoreille's
+sharp little eyes recognized the person whom he was pursuing just at the
+moment when Urbain reached the barber's house and entered the alleyway,
+shutting the door immediately after him.
+
+Chaudoreille knew Touquet's house so well that his distance from the
+pretended country woman could not prevent him from recognizing her place
+of retreat, and it was with extreme surprise that our poursuivant
+d'amour perceived that his beauty had taken refuge in the house of his
+friend, Touquet. He approached the alley, presuming that she might
+inadvertently have left the door open, but it was closed; besides, the
+person he had followed had not hesitated for an instant in the choice of
+a hiding-place, all of which seemed to indicate that the barber's house
+had been her destination. This incident gave rise to many conjectures on
+Chaudoreille's part, awakening his lively curiosity; he decided not to
+leave the house until the departure of the one whom he had seen enter,
+and walked up and down from the Rue des Mauvaises-Paroles to the Rue
+Saint-Honoré.
+
+Time passed and Chaudoreille vainly watched, with his eyes directed to
+the house, noticing that there was still a light in Blanche's room. Soon
+the rain began to fall and the wind blew violently; but the chevalier,
+though inadequately protected by a penthouse, under which he had taken
+refuge, did not dream of leaving the place, and wrapped himself as well
+as he could in his little cloak, saying,--
+
+"She must come out sooner or later. What the deuce! can she be Touquet's
+mistress? Oh, hang it! I must seek the clue to this enigma. The light is
+still burning in my beautiful scholar's room. Hem! I have certain
+suspicions. That devil of a slap in the face was given to me with so
+much force that it makes me believe that my Venus may perhaps have a
+beard. Patience, she will either come out or I shall go in!"
+
+Poor lovers! While you were enjoying so much the pleasure of being
+together, while you were beginning to understand each other and to
+exchange loving glances, in which Blanche no longer showed any timidity,
+you had no suspicion that at a short distance from you a cursed man had
+his eyes directed to your window and proposed to disturb your happiness;
+and all because the success of his shuffling, the white wine, and
+Urbain's fictitious charms had mounted to Chaudoreille's head.
+
+Eleven o'clock had long since struck. We know what had taken place
+upstairs; now let us see what had taken place below.
+
+Chaudoreille, unable longer to contain himself, decided to knock at the
+barber's door. The lovers had not heard him, because at that moment
+Urbain was kissing Blanche's soft little hand, and in so agreeable an
+occupation one is not liable to notice what takes place in the street.
+Marguerite was snoring in a manner which did not indicate fear; in
+truth, she had gone to sleep with the precious talisman at her side.
+
+But the barber was not asleep; whether it was because of the storm or
+the wind, or from some other cause, Master Touquet, who rarely slept
+peacefully in his bed at night, had not yet gone up to his room, and was
+pacing slowly in his back shop, ever gloomy and preoccupied, and
+murmuring at intervals,--
+
+"Cursed night! Why do these shadows incessantly disturb my rest? As soon
+as daylight disappears my torments recommence. I have gold--yes, I have
+gold, but I no longer enjoy my natural rest. I shall sell this house; I
+shall go far from here, very far. I shall return to my country, my
+father, if he is still living. He will be very much astonished at the
+change in my fortune. He cursed me when I left the country--but I will
+ask him to forgive me; yes, he will surely forgive my early faults when
+he sees that I am rich and respected. I shall not tell him all; no, I
+shall not tell him how I acquired this fortune."
+
+A bitter smile flickered on the barber's pale lips and he returned to
+his reflections, from which he was drawn by the knocking at the door.
+
+Touquet started with fright, but immediately appearing ashamed of
+himself, took his lamp and went quickly towards the door. He did not
+expect anyone so late, but supposed that the Marquis de Villebelle,
+finding himself in that neighborhood, was perhaps seeking him in regard
+to some new love intrigue.
+
+As he drew near the door he recognized Chaudoreille's voice, calling,--
+
+"Open the door, Touquet. Open the door. Don't be afraid, it's me, but it
+is absolutely necessary that I should speak to you."
+
+The barber opened the door; and Chaudoreille, whose soaked garments were
+glued to his lean figure, which appeared even more attenuated than
+usual, being all shrivelled up under his cloak, came into the alley
+huddled together, as if he were afraid that his head would hit the
+little lattice-work over the door.
+
+"What the devil has brought you here at this hour?" said the barber,
+shutting his door, while the Gascon looked towards the end of the alley
+as though he were trying to see someone. Finally, he put his finger on
+his mouth and said in a low voice,--
+
+"Are you alone just now?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+"You have no visitors?"
+
+"Why, no, nobody, I tell you."
+
+"Then it is urgent that I should speak with you."
+
+The barber returned into the lower room, and Chaudoreille followed him,
+walking on his tiptoes and turning to the right and left, as though he
+were looking for someone.
+
+"Come, what have you got to say?" said Touquet. "What means this visit,
+so near midnight? Did you think that I should be inclined to sleep you?
+Go. There are still gambling dens open in Paris where you can find a
+bed, but my house shall not serve as a shelter for nighthawks."
+
+Chaudoreille, without appearing in the least disconcerted, listened to
+Touquet, shaking his hat meanwhile, and wringing his mantle; he smiled
+with a mischievous air as he listened to the barber's last words, and
+answered,--
+
+"Your house! By jingo, you make a good deal of fuss about your house. We
+shall see presently whether you receive any suspicious persons."
+
+"What do you mean by that?" cried Touquet, angrily.
+
+"Hush! Don't make so much noise, I beg of you. Don't wake the cat up,
+she is asleep."
+
+"Chaudoreille, I'm losing patience. Say what you want, or I'll be the
+death of you."
+
+"Well, what the deuce! I came to do you a service, and it seems to me
+that that shouldn't make you angry. Listen now, but I beg of you don't
+lose your temper, for that will make me break the thread of my
+discourse."
+
+The barber restrained himself as well as he could, and Chaudoreille,
+after passing his cuff over the edge of his hat to give it a lustre,
+commenced his story in a low voice,--
+
+"I was going this morning to Saint-Germain's fair and found myself
+without money, something which very often happens with me. I had eaten
+nothing since yesterday."
+
+"You have eaten and drunk since, I'll answer for it."
+
+"Yes, certainly, thanks to my genius. I was making some rather sad
+reflections on the instability of my luck at piquet, the treacherous
+chances of lansquenet and the lack of solidity in gambling--"
+
+"I should like to make you reflect at this minute on the strength of a
+good stick."
+
+"Hush, don't interrupt me. I perceived at the fair two young men,
+youths, you know; some of those faces which seem to say, 'Who will come
+and do me?' those faces without mischief which are a veritable good
+fortune for men of parts. The poor little fellows were playing at
+skittles."
+
+"Come to the point. You are abusing my patience."
+
+"This all leads up to the matter which regards you. I approached the
+innocents and showed them a new stroke which they did not know, I'll
+answer for it. In short, we dined together, and I only took a pistole
+from them for the lesson, which was very reasonable, but if they had
+refused me I would have spitted them both like sparrows. Don't stamp
+your foot, I'm nearing the end. I was returning gayly, according to my
+habit, when I met a country woman in the street who seemed to me
+agreeable, although I saw little of her. Her carriage was free and
+unconstrained, she was big and strong; I was very much taken by her. I
+caught up to her and I said some charming things to her. Would you
+believe it? not a word in response; I repeated them, still no answer; I
+approached her and pinched her, and, my dear fellow, I received a most
+vigorous slap in the face."
+
+"Well, hang it! she did well. Finish your chatter if you don't wish to
+receive a second."
+
+"Stunned for an instant, I soon recovered my wits. I pursued the
+traitress. I saw her enter--where do you suppose?--your house."
+
+"She came into my house? It is impossible; you are deceived."
+
+"No, by all the devils! I know your dwelling well enough. She came in by
+the alleyway and shut the door immediately."
+
+"What time was it then?"
+
+"About seven o'clock. And I can answer for it that she didn't come out,
+for I haven't stirred from the front of the house."
+
+"What, wretch, that woman has been so long in my house, and you only now
+come to tell me?"
+
+"What do you expect? I didn't know what to do; between you and I, I
+thought the dame came to see you, but seeing that there was still a
+light in my scholar's room, I thought--"
+
+"A light in Blanche's room?"
+
+"Why, yes, by jingo! There's one there at this moment, from which I
+concluded--"
+
+The barber hastily arose, lit a second lamp, took his sword and directed
+his steps towards the staircase at the back, saying to Chaudoreille,--
+
+"Remain here and wait for me."
+
+"Why, don't you want me to come with you?"
+
+"Remain, here, I tell you, but if you have deceived me, tremble; your
+chastisement shall be proportioned to my anger."
+
+"May the devil fly away with him," said Chaudoreille, ensconcing himself
+in a corner of the room. "I came to render him a service and he's going
+to flog me if he doesn't find the guilty person. That slap in the face
+may be followed by something still more cruel."
+
+Touquet ran rapidly up the stairs to Blanche's room; he knocked, and
+ordered the young girl to open the door; we have seen the effect which
+these unexpected words produced on the young couple within the chamber.
+
+Urbain remained motionless, his arms still embracing the young girl,
+who was only half dressed. In a second all the suspicions which the
+situation would give rise to, in the mind of the person who had
+discovered them, flashed across him. Blanche, still innocent and pure,
+though her virtue had been endangered, Blanche would be adjudged guilty,
+and he was the cause of it. How could he prevent it? All these thoughts,
+rapid as lightning, transpired during the time which elapsed before the
+barber knocked for the second time, and loudly reiterated in a
+threatening voice the order which he had given. Urbain glanced at the
+chimney, seeing only that way of escaping from sight. He was about to
+run to it when Blanche stopped him. She had already recovered from her
+first fright, and said to him, with a calmness which astonished him,--
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"To hide myself."
+
+"No, no, it is unnecessary for you to hide. Why not tell the whole
+truth?"
+
+"O Blanche, if anyone finds me with you--at night?"
+
+"Well, what of it? We have done nothing wrong. It is much better to
+confess everything at once than to lie about it," and the lovely child
+ran to the door, drew the bolt and opened to the barber. The latter
+darted into the room. His first looks were bent on Urbain, who was
+standing by the hearth. Touquet only looked at him for a moment, for he
+had instantly recognized the young bachelor, and drawing his sword he
+rushed upon him, crying,--
+
+"Scoundrel! You shall pay with your life for your temerity."
+
+Urbain remained motionless, appearing to brave Touquet's fury, but
+seeing the homicidal weapon flash, Blanche cried out, and, quick as the
+barber, ran and placed herself before Urbain, whom she covered with her
+body; then, lifting her hands towards Touquet, she cried with an accent
+which came from her heart,--
+
+"O monsieur, he has done nothing wrong."
+
+The barber's weapon nearly grazed Blanche's bosom, but the young girl's
+accents were so touching, her sweet features wore an expression so
+noble, that the barber himself could not resist her. His anger seemed
+vanquished. He dropped his sword, and said in a less gloomy voice,--
+
+"This man has outraged you, and you don't wish me to avenge you? You ask
+me to pardon him? Very well, I shall not strike."
+
+"What?" said Blanche, surprised. "What, monsieur, is it because of me
+that you were about to hurt Urbain? Oh, you would have been very wrong.
+You say he has outraged me; but, no, monsieur, I swear to you he has
+not. He has told me that he loves me very much, that he will love me all
+his life, but there is nothing outrageous in that, for when you knocked
+at the door I believe I was just going to tell him that I loved him
+also. You see that I am just as guilty as he is, and that it is
+necessary for you to punish both of us."
+
+Blanche's words had an accent of truth which it was impossible to
+mistake. The barber glanced in astonishment at her and at Urbain, who
+saw that he then believed, despite appearances, that Blanche still
+retained her purity. However, the disorder which reigned in the
+apartment, the singular costume of the young girl and of Urbain, which
+was divided between that of the two sexes, all appeared to confuse
+Touquet's ideas.
+
+"Listen to us," said Blanche to him, "you shall know the whole truth.
+Urbain, to be sure, is a little to blame, for he has come to see us
+every evening for nearly a fortnight, but he came as a young girl. At
+first I was angry with him also, but finally I have forgiven him. Urbain
+has such a sweet expression, and then, I already loved Ursule very much,
+and that made me love him also. He said that he wished to be my lover,
+my husband, that he could not live without me, and that it would depend
+upon you to make us happy forever. Ah, you will be good, will you not,
+my dear friend? You have already done much for me. Give me Urbain for my
+husband, and I promise you that I will never ask anything of you again."
+
+The barber, while listening to Blanche, muttered to himself,--
+
+"For nearly a fortnight he has been coming here every evening, it is by
+a great chance that I discovered him today, and yet I believed that I
+could easily guard a young girl and brave the enterprises of lovers."
+
+"Monsieur," said Urbain, who up to that moment had kept silent, "I
+confess all the wrong I have done, and love alone must be my excuse; but
+I adored Blanche, whom I had seen through the panes of that window, and
+you would not permit any man to approach her. I tried once to begin an
+acquaintance with you, but the manner in which you received me left me
+no hope. I then consulted nothing but my love. Thanks to this disguise I
+deceived old Marguerite, who consented to introduce me here. I saw
+Blanche, and could I renounce the hope of possessing her? She was
+deceived as well as her nurse. Under the name of Ursule I had the good
+fortune to gain her confidence and, by some interesting stories, to
+amuse old Marguerite. I rejoiced in my happiness without daring to make
+myself known. Today, on account of the storm, the rain, which fell so
+violently, the advanced hour, she invited me to remain."
+
+"Yes," said Blanche, with an angelic smile, "He was going to sleep with
+me. I myself begged him to do so."
+
+The barber knit his brows and glanced angrily at the young man. Urbain
+instantly threw himself at his feet, crying,--
+
+"I have respected her virtue, her innocence. O monsieur, can I not touch
+you with my love. Yes, I adore Blanche, give me her hand or deprive me
+of a life which without her would be insupportable."
+
+"Hear us, my friend," said Blanche. "He will absolutely die if I am not
+his wife, and if he should die I feel that I should die of grief, too."
+
+The barber appeared to listen to Urbain without being in the least moved
+by his prayers, when the young bachelor added,--
+
+"I know, monsieur, all that you have done for Blanche. Her father was
+assassinated, she remained an orphan without any support. She owes
+everything to you."
+
+"What?" said Touquet, who had paid more attention to Urbain's last
+words, "you know--"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, I learned all that concerns her whom I adore. She did
+not know her parents and possessed no fortune, but it is she alone whom
+I ask of you. You have done well for her. Give me Blanche; she is
+sufficient for my happiness. I also am an orphan; my family was honest
+and respectable, but I have no relations left. My name is Urbain
+Dorgeville; I have an income of twelve hundred livres; that is very
+little, but I possess besides a little house in the country, on the
+borders of the Loire, there I shall go to live with Blanche. Far from
+the tumult of the city, which we shall not regret, nor its pleasures;
+and far from society, which we do not wish to know, we shall there pass
+our days in peace and love and happiness."
+
+The barber appeared to reflect deeply. He rose, and strolled about the
+room with bowed head. Hope and fear were depicted in the looks of the
+two lovers, who waited with impatience his answer. Finally, he paused,
+and said to Urbain,--
+
+"You are an orphan? Entirely master of your own actions?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"There is nobody to object to your marrying an orphan without means, and
+whose family is unknown?"
+
+"Nobody, I repeat to you, can oppose my wishes."
+
+"You will never seek, yourself, to obtain any information in regard to
+Blanche's family, which, besides, would prove entirely fruitless."
+
+"Why, what does it matter to me who were her parents. She is a treasure
+in herself."
+
+"And you will go to live with her far from Paris--far from everyone?"
+
+"Yes, for I shall make it my care to be all-sufficient to her
+happiness."
+
+"O heavens, Urbain," said Blanche, "You know very well that I never left
+this room, where I saw no one but Marguerite. If I were to live with you
+in the country do you suppose that I should wish for anything else?"
+
+"Dear Blanche, unite with me then in obtaining the consent of your
+protector."
+
+The two young people bent on the barber entreating looks. The latter did
+not notice them and appeared entirely wrapped in his reflections; at
+last, all of a sudden, he stopped before Urbain, and said, in a curt
+tone,--
+
+"Blanche is yours."
+
+"Can it be?" cried the young bachelor, in a delirium of happiness.
+"Blanche, do you hear? He consents to our union."
+
+"Oh, my dear friend, how much I thank you."
+
+And the two lovers fell on their knees before Touquet, their eyes bathed
+with tears of pleasure and gratitude.
+
+"What are you doing?" said the barber, who seemed ashamed to see the
+young couple at his feet. "Get up, I beg of you."
+
+"You have made us happy," said Urbain, "and you will not even receive
+our thanks."
+
+"No, no, I wish for nothing but silence and discretion."
+
+"Aren't you glad now that you didn't injure Urbain? He meant no harm in
+disguising himself as a girl. It was he who sang so beautifully under my
+window. Oh, how happy I am! He can sing with me all the time now. He
+will teach me that pretty ballad and some others, too. Will you not,
+Urbain, teach me many things? Oh, how happy we shall be."
+
+The barber had some trouble in calming Urbain's transports and Blanche's
+naïve joy. Finally he succeeded in making them listen.
+
+"Until the time of your union," said he, "I repeat to you, I shall exact
+the greatest discretion. Urbain you must promise me not to speak of your
+marriage, and not to bring any of your acquaintances here."
+
+"I swear to you, monsieur, that I will do as you wish; besides, I don't
+know anybody. I have no intimate friends."
+
+"That is better still, you will have less to regret in leaving the city.
+Make all your preparations for departure, and procure all the necessary
+documents for your marriage. As to Blanche, I will give you the letter
+found on her father; that is all which concerns that matter. When you
+have made all the necessary arrangements, you can marry Blanche--but in
+the evening without any stir, with nothing that can draw people to the
+church to see the ceremony; I dislike idlers and curious people.
+Afterwards you will immediately start for the country; and you will not
+return to this city, where your modest means would not permit you to
+live happily."
+
+"Yes, I agree to all, monsieur."
+
+"Are you coming with us, my friend?"
+
+"No, that is not necessary. Later on, perhaps."
+
+"And Marguerite, can we take her with us?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How nice that will be!"
+
+"Up to the day of your departure Urbain can come here, but in the
+evening only, and not in disguise."
+
+"He will come as a boy. I am very curious to see him like that."
+
+"You understand; it is very late. It is necessary for you to retire.
+Urbain, I repeat to you, maintain the greatest silence about all this.
+Hasten your preparations, and Blanche will soon be yours."
+
+Urbain renewed his promises and his thanks to the barber, and took
+Blanche's hand and covered it with kisses. The young people could hardly
+believe in their happiness, and the future that was opening before them
+still seemed a dream of their imagination, but Touquet hurried them.
+
+"I shall see you tomorrow," said Urbain.
+
+"Tomorrow," repeated Blanche, "and not in woman's clothes. Do you hear?
+I wish to grow accustomed to seeing you as a man."
+
+"Yes, dear Blanche, yes. No more pretence now."
+
+The barber cut their adieux short and led away the young man, and
+Blanche closed her door, sighing and murmuring still,--
+
+"Tomorrow."
+
+Touquet guided Urbain, holding the lamp in his hand, and walking rapidly
+towards the staircase; but hardly had he taken ten steps in the passage
+when his foot caught in something. He lowered his lamp and perceived a
+little shapeless heap which moved and appeared to want to glide along
+the wall. The barber ran at this object and, quickly lifting the mantle
+which covered it, perceived Chaudoreille, with his body on all fours in
+such a way as not to take more room than a big cat.
+
+"What are you doing there, clown?" cried Touquet, putting his lamp
+against Chaudoreille's face.
+
+"Me? Nothing. I am picking up a pin."
+
+"Go down to the room. I have told you before that I don't like curious
+people," and to prove this to him beyond a possibility of doubt the
+barber kicked the chevalier vigorously, and the latter, not having had
+time to straighten himself, received the kick in three parts of his
+body. Touquet did not stop to do more, but led the bachelor to the
+street door, and opening it for him said,--
+
+"Go, and remember all that you have promised."
+
+Urbain was about to renew his protestations of gratitude, but the barber
+put an end to them by telling him to go immediately to his dwelling, and
+closing the door upon him.
+
+Touquet returned into the lower room where he found Chaudoreille, who
+had resumed his natural size and was promenading with the air of a
+conqueror, evidently awaiting the thanks of the barber.
+
+"Well, now, by jingo!" cried he impatiently, seeing that the latter said
+nothing to him. "You have found the magpie in the nest. I haven't dim
+sight. And that slap in the face, zounds! I recognized a masculine hand.
+I am never deceived. Well, we have, according to what I see, shown the
+gallant to the door. As to the little one, hang it! With her
+sanctimonious air, who would have expected it?"
+
+"Be silent!" cried the barber, advancing towards Chaudoreille with a
+threatening gesture. "Do not outrage Blanche. That the young girl is
+still pure is as true as that you are a liar and a coward."
+
+"A coward! By jingo, if Rolande could only speak!"
+
+"Yes, I confess that I found someone there, but that someone was not
+alone with Blanche."
+
+"That is singular. I didn't hear old Marguerite's voice."
+
+"You were listening, then, wretch."
+
+"No, it was by chance that some sounds reached my ears; some one called
+out. I thought that somebody had need of help and, following my natural
+ardor, I went towards the neighborhood from whence the noise came."
+
+"Well, what did you hear? Speak, I tell you!"
+
+"Oh, nothing, some words. It seemed to me that you were promising to
+unite the two lovers. At least I believe that's what I caught. However,
+if I had not thought that you were keeping the little one for yourself I
+would have demanded her hand of you long ago. It seems to me that I
+deserve the preference over that little masker, who if it had not been
+for his petticoat would have paid dearly for the slap on the face he
+gave me."
+
+"You become Blanche's husband!" said the barber, glancing scornfully at
+the little man. "Listen, Chaudoreille, it suits me to give Blanche to
+this young man; he will make her happy."
+
+"As to that you are the master, but--"
+
+"But, if you say a word about what you have seen and heard tonight I
+shall draw down upon you the most terrible vengeance. Do you understand
+me?"
+
+"Yes, I understand you. By jingo, marry the little one with whom you
+please. I don't care a fig for the pair of them. However, if there is to
+be a wedding, I hope--"
+
+"No, there will be neither a wedding nor a repast--"
+
+"That will be gay!"
+
+"But, if you are discreet, I promise you two pieces of gold when
+everything is finished and Blanche has left this house."
+
+"Agreed. That will suit me, it is as if I held them now; you might as
+well pay me in advance."
+
+"I prefer, however, not to pay you until afterwards. But the night is
+drawing to a close; go home, Chaudoreille, and remember your promise."
+
+"Yes, yes, that's settled. Is there any news of the seductive marquis
+and the young Italian?"
+
+"I believe that fire is already extinguished. But that doesn't astonish
+me; a fortnight, three weeks, is the measure of the constancy of our
+great noblemen."
+
+"And after that's ended it's probable that there will be one intrigue
+after another to conduct. If so remember me, my dear Touquet."
+
+"Very good, go to your bed!"
+
+"In fact, it's about time. I'll go back to the Rue Brise-Miche;
+fortunately my portress has a liking for me, or else I should run a
+great risk of sleeping in the street. However, if you wish, I could wait
+for day here, on a chair."
+
+"No, no, it's necessary for you to go; I need some rest, also, and it
+seems to me that I shall get little of it this night."
+
+Chaudoreille enveloped himself as well as he could in his mantle and
+went towards the door, making a grimace. The barber closed it on him and
+went to his room, saying,--
+
+"I have done well; she will go away, no one will hear tell of her again,
+and everything regarding her will soon be forgotten."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+HAPPY MOMENTS
+
+
+Marguerite alone had slept during the night which had wrought so great a
+change in the barber's household; greatly cheered and calmed by the
+possession of Ursule's talisman she slept more soundly than she had ever
+done in her new room. As for Blanche one may well suppose that she did
+not close her eyes for a moment. The amiable child, still bewildered by
+all the events which had taken place, had hardly had time to pass from
+the fear of love to the fear of happiness; she was too innocent, too
+childlike to have dreamed of love as yet, her poor heart hardly yet
+realized its own state, though one sentiment stronger than all others
+dominated its thoughts. She tossed continually on her couch, repeating
+to herself,--
+
+"He's a boy, and it was he who sang so beautifully. Mercy, who could
+have expected it? He was so pleasing as a girl; however, I believe he
+will be still better as a boy. Oh, I wish it was evening now. He said
+that he loved me--how strange that is--do I also love him? I believe I
+do. However, I must ask Marguerite what love is, she ought to know that.
+Poor Marguerite, how surprised she'll be when she learns that he was
+not a girl. Oh, I wish it was day now."
+
+The day so much desired appeared at length. Blanche had been up for a
+long time; impatient at not hearing the old nurse come down, she could
+not resist going up to Marguerite's room. She knocked at the door,
+exclaiming,--
+
+"Wake up, dear nurse! it's very late. I have a thousand things to tell
+you. Get up, I beg of you--you have slept long enough."
+
+Marguerite, who never had to be awakened, because she always rose
+sufficiently early, rubbed her eyes, believing that the house was on
+fire, sought to recall her ideas, to recover the talisman which had been
+entrusted to her and which had been lost among the bedclothes, while
+invoking her patron saint, and muttering,--
+
+"Where has it gone to? I've looked for it--has the devil taken it away
+from me during the night? Wait now--ah, I shan't find it again. I
+thought I felt something. It must have been the devil who took it
+maliciously!"
+
+Finally Marguerite found the little scrap of Urbain's breeches, and
+recalling all that had taken place on the evening before, she hastened
+to open the door to Blanche, and said,--
+
+"Has Ursule gone? It's necessary to hasten her away, my child."
+
+"Oh, yes, she's gone; that is to say, he's gone. But don't be afraid, my
+good friend is willing that he should come--he wishes him to marry me;
+he's no longer angry. He's coming here this evening as a boy; you will
+see how nice he is; and when we are married, we shall go into the
+country and you shall come with us. Oh, how happy I shall be! Come,
+Marguerite, laugh too; you see it's no longer necessary to have any
+fear."
+
+Marguerite had no desire to laugh, she would rather have wept, for she
+understood nothing that Blanche was saying; she opened her eyes as
+widely as possible and exclaimed,--
+
+"O good God, my dear child, is your head turned this morning? Can that
+Ursule be a sorcerer? Don't jump like that, I beg of you."
+
+Blanche recommenced her narrative and at last made Marguerite understand
+that Ursule was a boy. The old woman cried, affrightedly,--
+
+"My God! a boy, and he slept with you?"
+
+"Oh, no, dear nurse, because Monsieur Touquet came in just at the moment
+when--mercy! I don't know what we were doing at that moment--oh, yes, I
+believe he was kissing me."
+
+"Holy Virgin! it was a goblin disguised as a girl."
+
+"No, dear nurse, he's called Urbain, he's an orphan like me; but his
+family was very respectable, and he's going to marry me."
+
+"To marry you?"
+
+"Yes, certainly. You won't oppose it when my protector has given his
+consent, will you?"
+
+"What, M. Touquet has consented to it?"
+
+"Yes, yes, I tell you. It's finished. Everything is arranged."
+
+The good old woman hardly believed that her ears did not deceive her,
+but the arrival of her master put an end to her doubts.
+
+The barber looked very stern as he approached Marguerite, and the old
+woman trembled, for she felt that she was in fault.
+
+"Marguerite," he said, "I could punish you for having betrayed my
+confidence, for having, despite my orders, introduced someone into the
+house. You will tell me, like Blanche, that you have been deceived--and
+I would wish to think so, besides, as I have forgiven it, it is needless
+to dwell on what is past. The young man will be Blanche's husband; he
+will make her happy. You will go with them when they leave this house. I
+have but one command to lay upon you, and that is to keep this incident
+from all your gossips in this neighborhood. If you commit the least
+indiscretion, I'll send you away and you will prevent this marriage from
+taking place."
+
+"Oh, dear nurse, don't say anything about it," cried Blanche.
+
+"No, mademoiselle; no, monsieur," responded Marguerite, still trembling,
+"I swear to you that--"
+
+"That's enough," said the barber. "You love Blanche, and her happiness
+depends upon your discretion. Urbain will come in the evenings only,
+until the day he takes away his bride."
+
+The barber departed after thus speaking, leaving Marguerite still
+dumbfounded by all that she had heard.
+
+"How is this?" said she, following Blanche to her room; "M. Touquet
+consented to this at once?"
+
+"Yes, dear nurse."
+
+"I'm not to be sent away."
+
+"That surprises me, also; I was so afraid he would refuse Urbain."
+
+"Urbain--Urbain--but you don't know him, my child!"
+
+"Why, yes, I do, dear nurse, since he is Ursule."
+
+"I understand that very well; but Ursule has deceived us."
+
+"It was that he might see me that Urbain disguised himself; it was love
+that made him do it, dear nurse."
+
+"Love, indeed! but you cannot yet love him, my child."
+
+"Oh, dear nurse, I believe I shall love him very quickly. Urbain was
+teaching me how to love yesterday, when my protector knocked at the
+door."
+
+"Jesu, Maria! What, my child, in place of calling for help when you saw
+it was a man?"
+
+"I desired to do so at first, but if you only knew! Urbain was not at
+all alarming, on the contrary; and then he threw himself at my feet and
+begged my pardon with such a sweet air, with eyes so--O Marguerite, what
+should I have forgiven him for?"
+
+"Good heavens! And your talisman, my girl, did you not have recourse to
+that?"
+
+"Oh, forgive me, dear nurse, I even showed it several times to Urbain."
+
+"And it didn't cause him to fly?"
+
+"On the contrary, dear nurse, he drew still nearer."
+
+"Come, decidedly everything is upside down. It must be that boy is a
+magician to work such changes in this house. I shall no longer have any
+faith in his little relic."
+
+Blanche and the old woman awaited the evening with impatience;
+Marguerite curious to know the young man who had wrought such prodigies
+in her master's house, and the young girl ardently desiring to see again
+him who had caused her to sigh and to experience an entirely new
+feeling. But Blanche's desires were mingled with that timidity, that
+bashfulness, which accompany a first love. As the hour of Urbain's
+arrival approached she felt more restless and dreamy, and already this
+unknown sentiment inspired her with a secret desire to please; she rose,
+looked at herself in the mirror, and arranged a lock of hair, then she
+said to Marguerite,--
+
+"Dear nurse, do I look all right? Do you think he will love me as much
+tonight as he did yesterday?"
+
+"Dear child," cried the old servant, "if he is capable of changing would
+he be worthy of you? When one loves truly, my dear, 'tis for life."
+
+"Oh, that is much better, dear nurse; I should like to love like that.
+You will see that there's nothing about Urbain to frighten one, and I am
+sure I shall love him also."
+
+The young bachelor desired with no less impatience than Blanche the
+moment when he could return to the barber's house. Since the evening
+before Urbain had entirely lost his head, and his happiness had been so
+sudden, so unforeseen, that it had completely unbalanced him for the
+time. He had returned to his lodging in the night, dancing, singing and
+running in the street. In his intoxication he had lost his skirt and his
+kerchief; but he had no further need of his disguise, and without
+troubling himself to pick up those portions of his costume he had
+arrived at home partly undressed, but so happy that he would not have
+changed his lot for the fortune, the favor or the power of the cardinal;
+and in that he was right, the joys which love brings are not, as is the
+case with grandeur and power, mingled with anxieties and cares.
+
+The next day Urbain would have liked to tell his happiness to all the
+world, but he remembered that one of the first conditions of his
+marriage with Blanche was that he should keep the matter entirely
+secret; he contented himself, therefore, with looking at everybody who
+passed with an air of satisfaction and triumph which indicated a mind
+impervious to the strokes of fortune.
+
+In the evening his neighbor came, as usual, to propose to help him in
+disguising himself; but Urbain thanked her; he had no further need of
+her services and the good-natured girl seemed vexed that the
+masqueradings were ended.
+
+Urbain wished to please as a man still more than he had wished to do so
+as a country woman; he put on his collar and his hat with more care than
+he ordinarily took. He looked to see that his hair did not fall in
+disorder over his forehead, and sighed as he said,--
+
+"If I should not succeed in pleasing her!" However, the remembrance of
+the evening before gave him courage, and he took his way to the barber's
+house. He trembled as he knocked at the door, although the fear of being
+sent away did not present itself to his mind. The sound of the knocker
+went to Blanche's heart, and she jumped from her chair, exclaiming,--
+
+"It's he!" and was about to run to the street door when Marguerite
+stopped her, saying,--
+
+"How now, my child, what are you going to do? It would not be decent for
+you to go and open the door for this young man."
+
+"Do you think so, nurse. Very well; go then, Marguerite; go quickly."
+
+Marguerite hurried as fast as she could, she was anxious to see the
+young man. She opened the door to Urbain and looked at him attentively;
+his gentle and diffident appearance made a favorable impression on the
+old woman.
+
+"It's singular--he appears to be more embarrassed as a boy than as a
+girl. Come in, come in, my handsome young spark; come in. Now we shall
+see if you've any more stories to relate of the adventures of your aunts
+and cousins."
+
+"Yes, my good Marguerite," said Urbain, "I shall continue to tell them
+to you if they give you pleasure."
+
+"He wishes to please me," said Marguerite to herself. "Yes, Blanche was
+right, the young man is very charming."
+
+The embarrassment of these two young lovers was a very singular thing,
+inasmuch as they had in their first interview spoken so freely of their
+love, and were already engaged and certain of being married. Blanche,
+who had at first wished to run to the door, now dared not raise her
+eyes, and, on hearing Urbain's step, remained motionless on her chair.
+The latter, on entering this room where he had been every evening for a
+fortnight, experienced an uneasiness, a new embarrassment, and paused
+near the door, holding his hat in his hand, and glancing timidly at
+Blanche.
+
+"Well," said Marguerite, "here's one who dares go no farther at present.
+Come, master boy, when you were a girl you didn't thus remain standing
+motionless and mute at the door; and my poor Blanche, who is afraid to
+raise her eyes and is trembling like a leaf. My darling, it isn't
+necessary to blush like that when one has done nothing wrong. You see, I
+am obliged to encourage you."
+
+However, Urbain gently approached Blanche, bent his knees to the floor
+and murmured,--
+
+"If you no longer feel friendly to me, if this costume has made you lose
+confidence in me--I will resume that of Ursule."
+
+The sweet girl timidly raised her head, and bending on Urbain a look of
+the tenderest love, she said, blushing deeper than before,--
+
+"Oh, it isn't that. Excuse me, I don't know what is the matter with me."
+
+She turned her head to hide her face in Marguerite's bosom, and said in
+a low tone to the latter,--
+
+"Dear nurse, is it love that makes me feel so shy?"
+
+"I remember scarcely anything about love now," answered the old woman,
+shaking her head; "however, yes, I believe in my young days it did
+evince itself somewhat in that fashion."
+
+Blanche turned to Urbain and said to him, with a charming smile,--
+
+"Don't be angry with me; if I am awkward and embarrassed it is because I
+love you."
+
+Delighted at the candor of the young girl, Urbain took her hand and
+pressed it against his heart, then, seating himself near her, he renewed
+the vows with which love for her inspired him. Confidence was soon
+reëstablished between them; when two hearts beat in accord, constraint
+is soon banished. Blanche resumed her gayety, her ingenuousness, and
+allowed her lover to read all her feelings, and the latter perceived
+that he had a treasure of innocence and kindness.
+
+Marguerite joined in the conversation of the young people; Urbain, by
+his amiability and the deference he showed for the old servant's advice,
+entirely won her friendship. The young bachelor praised the situation of
+his little property, which in the midst of a charming country offered
+delightful walks and all the pleasures of a rural existence. He promised
+the old woman to give her a room impervious to every enchantment, and to
+tell her in the long winter evenings some of the gruesome stories which
+gave her both fear and pleasure.
+
+While chatting with Marguerite, the tender glances, pressings of the
+hand and sweet smiles of the two lovers established between them that
+sympathy of mind which gives the first, and perhaps the sweetest, taste
+of love.
+
+The time passed rapidly, nine o'clock struck, the hour which the barber
+had fixed for Urbain's departure, and they knew they must obey his
+commands if they wished him to keep his promises.
+
+"Must I leave you already?" said Urbain.
+
+"I'm sorry you must go," answered Blanche, sighing tenderly.
+
+"You will see each other again tomorrow, my children," said Marguerite,
+"and the day will soon come when you will no longer have to part.
+Monsieur Dorgeville, have you begun the necessary preparations for your
+marriage?"
+
+"Mon Dieu!" said Urbain, "I was so unsettled today that I could think of
+nothing but the happiness that I should enjoy this evening; and I have
+done nothing yet."
+
+"If you are as heedless every day, your marriage will never take place,"
+said Marguerite.
+
+"Oh, tomorrow I will begin to put matters in train. I am anxious for the
+time when I shan't have to leave Blanche; but I haven't seen Monsieur
+Touquet this evening. Ought I not to go and say good evening to him?"
+
+"No, it is needless; my master is unlike other men; he has no use for
+ceremony. He said to me, very positively, 'The young man will come at
+seven o'clock; you will conduct him to Blanche's room, where you will
+remain with them, and at nine o'clock he will go. When I wish to speak
+with him I will seek him, but it is needless for him to endeavor to see
+me.'"
+
+"What a singular man!" said Urbain; "but I ought to bless him, for he
+has made me happy, and I accused him. I had a suspicion that he wished
+to guard this treasure for himself by hiding her from everyone."
+
+"For himself," cried Blanche, "how could that be possible?"
+
+"Forgive me, dear Blanche, love makes one jealous; I see well that I was
+unjust."
+
+"Yes, yes," said Marguerite, "but hasten to get your documents drawn and
+marry this dear child."
+
+The bachelor left at last, but Blanche's looks followed him and he could
+not doubt his happiness; he possessed the heart of an amiable girl who
+did not seek to hide from him the sentiments with which he inspired her.
+The next day Urbain took the preliminary steps to hasten his marriage;
+he had also to sell the little furniture he possessed, for it was very
+necessary to obtain some money for the journey; and, in regard to that,
+the bachelor soon saw that Monsieur Touquet evinced no generosity of
+disposition. But a lover who is about to marry his sweetheart always
+believes himself rich enough, and, besides, Blanche having been reared
+in retirement had no extravagant desires in regard to household
+expenses, dress or ornaments; she would be economical and simple in her
+tastes, which qualities are often of more value than the bride's dowry.
+
+Evening again brought Urbain to his sweetheart; on this occasion the
+embarrassment had disappeared, and they gave themselves up entirely to
+the pleasure they experienced in seeing each other again. The time they
+passed together rolled on as rapidly as before, but they consoled
+themselves by remembering that the day would soon come when they would
+be united forever. On the fourth evening that Urbain passed with Blanche
+the door opened, and the barber made his appearance.
+
+He slightly inclined his head to Urbain and said to him, in his ordinary
+brief tone,--
+
+"Are you making preparations for your marriage?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur," said Urbain, rising and going up to Touquet, "but you
+know employers never share one's impatience. However, within six days,
+or a little later, I should have all my papers. I have seen the priest
+who is to unite us and have made all my preparations for departure."
+
+"That's well."
+
+The barber made no further remark and left the young people, who were
+for a moment astonished at his conduct; but after all they were not
+sorry to be able to give themselves up to the pleasure of lovers'
+conversation with no other witnesses than old Marguerite, who sometimes
+went to sleep while Urbain and Blanche were silently pressing each
+other's hands. The time passes quickly when one is happy, and if the
+days were long for the two lovers, by way of revenge each evening seemed
+shorter than the last. The more they saw of each other the closer love
+drew his meshes about their hearts, which seemed formed for adoration,
+and now they could not conceive the possibility of an existence apart.
+
+But the day of their wedding approached. Only five days and they would
+pledge their vows at the altar; then they would leave the great city and
+in a peaceful retreat would enjoy pure happiness undisturbed by the
+storm and stress of life. This at least was the future they hoped for.
+
+Chaudoreille, urged by a desire to receive the recompense the barber had
+promised him, had already presented himself three times at the latter's
+house, saying,--
+
+"Has the marriage taken place?"
+
+"Not yet," answered Touquet.
+
+Then Chaudoreille departed, muttering,--
+
+"I wish they'd hurry now. What the deuce! I need some money. Why, in
+twelve days I'd have married a dozen women."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A DAY WITH CHAUDOREILLE
+
+
+Chaudoreille, who had not yet received the two pieces of gold which the
+barber had promised him found himself in his usual penniless condition
+as he went one fine morning down the Rue des Petits Carreaux. He was
+just coming from the Saint-Germain fair, where he had not on this
+occasion found anybody disposed to receive a lesson in skittles, and he
+was going towards the Saint-Laurent fair, hoping that fortune would be
+somewhat more favorable to him in the latter haunt.
+
+Following his custom, Chaudoreille walked with his nose in the air,
+ogling from one side to the other; his left hand on his hip, and his
+right hand caressing his mustache. As he approached the boulevards he
+felt somebody pull gently at his mantle. The pusillanimous fellow
+started with fright, but on turning his head he perceived an old servant
+maid, and seeing he had nothing to fear he put his hand on his sword,
+and cried loudly,--
+
+"By jingo! I thought it was a man and I was going to demand his reason
+for touching me. What do you want with me? Don't pull my mantle so
+hard, it's a little decayed."
+
+The old woman put her finger on her mouth, and with a mysterious air,
+said,--
+
+"My mistress wishes to speak with you."
+
+"Your mistress," cried Chaudoreille, his features becoming cheerful, for
+he did not doubt that he had made a conquest, "oh, that's it, my good
+woman, I understand you. But is she young? is she rich? is she?--Never
+mind, it's all the same, lead me to her."
+
+"No, she can't receive you today, but be here tomorrow at dusk. I will
+come and look for you and will introduce you."
+
+"It's enough! I'll be here, I'll not fail, whether it rains or shines.
+One word, if you please, messenger of love. Can you not tell me where
+your mistress has seen me?"
+
+"In the street, I presume, since she was at her window. Tomorrow
+evening, monsieur; I can't stop any longer."
+
+"Go, Flore! go back to Cytherée," said Chaudoreille, as the old woman
+went off, then he continued on his way, saying,--
+
+"It's an amorous adventure, I know;--this mystery and a rendezvous at
+dusk. She has seen me through the window. By jingo! I do well to look my
+best; a pretty man should always carry himself as if everybody was
+looking at him." He then walked along, looking so much in the air that
+he ran against a water-carrier who was advancing quietly with his two
+buckets full, and threw himself so heavily upon him that one of the
+buckets escaped from his hand.
+
+"Cursed idiot," cried the Auvergnat. "Wait, take that to teach you to
+look before you!" Saying these words the water-carrier calmly emptied
+his other bucket over Chaudoreille. The chevalier was drenched. In his
+fury he drew Rolande from the scabbard and advanced on the Auvergnat;
+but the water-carrier, without appearing at all dismayed by the falchion
+which his adversary flashed as he capered and jumped about like one
+possessed, took one of his buckets in each hand and tranquilly awaited
+the expected onset of the doughty knight, shouting in an aggravatingly
+jeering tone,--
+
+"Come on, you baked apple! come on stupid, that turnspit you term a
+sword doesn't frighten me in the least."
+
+Chaudoreille put Rolande in his scabbard again and then escaped by the
+boulevard, crying, "Watch," and followed by all the idlers, and these
+were not a few, of the neighborhood. The chevalier did not pause in his
+flight until he was positively sure there was no longer anybody behind
+him. He was then quite near the Fossés Jaunes, which were excavated in
+the reign of Charles the Ninth, and which extended from the Porte
+Saint-Denis nearly to the Porte Saint-Honoré. These had been made to
+still further enlarge Paris. A new wall was built along the Fossés
+Jaunes, and also two new gates; one, Rue Montmartre, near the Rue des
+Jeûneurs, replaced the old Porte Montmartre, demolished in 1633; the
+other, Rue Saint-Honoré, between the boulevard and the Rue Royale,
+replaced the one situated between the Rue Richelieu and the Rue
+Saint-Honoré, which was erected in 1631. On the terrace within this new
+wall they presently laid out the Rues de Cléry, du Mail, des
+Fossés-Montmartre, de Victoires, des Petits-Champs, etc. However, in the
+midst of these new constructions the hill of Saint-Roch still preserved
+its picturesque form and its windmills.
+
+Chaudoreille was trembling, he was very cold; and he could not change at
+his house, for a reason that one may easily divine. Fortunately the
+weather was fine and the sun, while it gave little heat, shone on the
+promenade, established then along the wall of Paris. The chevalier saw
+no other means of drying himself than that of running for two or three
+hours in the sun, and he gave himself immediately to that exercise,
+looking much less in the air than formerly, and only answering some of
+his acquaintances, who asked him why he ran so quickly, by these
+words,--
+
+"It's a wager, don't stop me. I have put up a hundred pistoles that I
+would sweat some great drops."
+
+The chevalier's garments commenced to have more consistence and he
+stopped to take breath.
+
+"You have missed your vocation, my friend; you should have been a runner
+for some prince," said a man, who had stopped with two others, and
+seemed to take much pleasure in looking at Chaudoreille, while one of
+his companions, of an extraordinarily stout build, laughed at the top of
+his voice, and the third making comical gestures and extraordinary
+grimaces seemed to be trying to copy the features and the figure of the
+runner.
+
+"What do you say, monsieur," said the son of Gascony to the three
+individuals, who had stopped before him, "can't one run if he wants to,
+capededious!"
+
+"Oh, his accent renders him even more comical," said the fat man. "Look
+at him well, comrade, it's necessary to reproduce that face for us this
+evening. It will be worth its weight in gold."
+
+"I have it," responded the third. "Hang it! may I stifle if I don't copy
+it this evening, feature for feature."
+
+"Have you looked at me long enough," said Chaudoreille, ogling them from
+the back, because he did not feel enough courage to look them in the
+face. "What do you take me to be?"
+
+"Oh, hang it!" said Turlupin, to himself, for it was he who was walking
+with his two companions, Gros-Guillaume and Gautier-Garguille. "We must
+try to make the little man angry. That can't fail to amuse us."
+
+Approaching Chaudoreille, who was reflecting on the grimace he should
+make, he commenced by striking Rolande's scabbard with the stick which
+he held in his hand, saying,--
+
+"What the devil do you call that, seigneur chevalier?"
+
+The chevalier became at one moment pale, red, and yellow.
+
+"These men are desirous of seeking a quarrel with me," said he to
+himself, looking around him to see if he could make his retreat. But
+already some passers-by had stopped and formed a circle; for, having
+recognized the three comedians who had been drawing crowds at the Hôtel
+de Bourgogne, they did not doubt they were going to play some farce with
+the personage whom they were surrounding. The sight of all these people
+calmed Chaudoreille's fear a little.
+
+"It is unlikely," said he to himself, "that they will let these three
+men kill me without rescuing me." He then endeavored to put a good face
+on the matter. Glancing at the crowd with what he meant to be a look of
+assurance, he exclaimed,--
+
+"I don't understand why these gentlemen molest me. I take everybody to
+witness that I have not insulted them."
+
+A general laugh was the only answer Chaudoreille received, which had the
+effect of increasing his ill-humor; he angrily drew down his little hat
+in such a way that the gold-colored rosette almost touched the tip of
+his nose, and tried to make his way through the crowd, but they drew
+closer to him on every side, and he found himself face to face with
+Turlupin, who put himself on guard with his stick; Chaudoreille turned
+another way and was confronted by Gautier-Garguille, who had placed his
+hat precisely in the same manner as Chaudoreille's, and imitated exactly
+his piteous grimaces; finally, Gros-Guillaume barred the chevalier's
+passage with his enormous corpulence.
+
+Chaudoreille was exasperated, he could bear no more and he drew Rolande.
+Turlupin advanced to the combat with his cane, and the chevalier, having
+eyed his adversary's weapon out of the corner of his eye, put himself on
+guard, crying,--
+
+"Look to it, guard yourself carefully; I ply a very strong blade."
+
+At the end of the third bout Turlupin feigned to be wounded; he fell,
+uttering a horrible groan, and making a frightful contortion.
+Gros-Guillaume threw himself down beside him, exclaiming,--
+
+"He is dead!"
+
+Chaudoreille was stunned and bewildered; he still held his sword in his
+hand and looked at everyone as if distracted. Gautier-Garguille took him
+by the arm and led him away, saying,--
+
+"Save yourself; you have killed the son of the King of Cochin-China."
+
+Chaudoreille listened no further; he went on his way, left Paris and
+darted across the fields and the marshes; the three hours he had spent
+in running in the sun had not strained his legs, he felt no fatigue;
+fear lent him wings, and he did not stop until he believed that he had
+escaped the pursuit of which he imagined himself to be the object. It
+may seem astonishing, perhaps, that the chevalier had not recognized, in
+the three men who had stopped him on the boulevard, the three comedians
+whose performances were then in great vogue, and who permitted
+themselves a thousand licenses that the Parisians authorized, and which
+delighted even the great noblemen. But when Chaudoreille had any money
+he passed the greater part of his time in gambling houses, and had been
+but rarely to the theatre called the Hôtel de Bourgogne; besides,
+Turlupin and Gautier-Garguille were so adept in the art of changing
+their physiognomies that it was difficult to recognize them unless one
+had often witnessed their performances.
+
+The fugitive had stopped to breathe for a moment, he looked timidly
+about him and recognized the locality; he was at the end of the Faubourg
+Saint-Antoine, near the Vallée de Fécamp, and he perceived about three
+hundred paces from him the Marquis de Villebelle's little house.
+
+Chaudoreille had fasted since the evening before, he was overcome with
+fatigue and believed himself menaced by the greatest dangers. In such
+circumstances he forgot that the barber had forbidden him to go there
+and decided to ring at the little house and seek refuge.
+
+Collecting his strength he turned towards the dwelling; he rang the
+bell, and Marcel opened the door almost immediately.
+
+"What, is it you?" said he in astonishment. "Did the marquis or M.
+Touquet send you here?"
+
+Before answering, Chaudoreille entered the garden, and closed the door
+after him.
+
+"But what the devil is the matter with you?" said Marcel. "What are you
+doing here?--and your face is in such a state, all in a cold sweat; one
+would believe, on my word, that you'd all the sergeants of Paris at your
+heels."
+
+"And you wouldn't be mistaken," said Chaudoreille, in a scarcely audible
+voice.
+
+"Why, what are you saying?"
+
+"That I'm pursued, or at least I shall be. That the greatest danger
+threatens me."
+
+"My God! What have you done?"
+
+"I've killed the son of the King of Cochin-China."
+
+"The son of Cochin-China?"
+
+"Why, yes, just now, not more than a few minutes ago, against the
+Fosses-Jaunes--near the Porte Saint-Denis--but it was in honorable
+combat, a duel with equal weapons; and Rolande laid him at my feet.
+Heavens, what a cry he uttered as he fell--it still rings in my ears. I
+slaughtered him like a bullock."
+
+Marcel listened with his habitual good-humor; however, Chaudoreille's
+story appeared so extraordinary that he could not refrain from
+exclaiming,--
+
+"But, truly, can all that be possible?"
+
+"What, by jingo, you question its possibility,--my dear Marcel, it's
+absolutely true. You know me; you know that I'm a hot-headed fellow, a
+rake of honor. It's a habit I've formed, and what can you expect. I
+can't reform myself. But this time, at all events, it was not my fault.
+I was walking quietly along by the city wall; all of a sudden three men
+came before me and uttered some jokes which were very much out of place
+and offended me; I politely asked them to allow me to pass, but they
+still obstructed my way. I immediately drew my sword, the crowd
+surrounded us, one of my adversaries put himself on guard. I immediately
+rushed on him; the combat was terrible. My enemy fought desperately; but
+soon he fell at my feet, making frightful grimaces, and one of his
+companions told me I had killed the heir to the throne of Cochin-China."
+
+"And what the devil was the Prince of Cochin-China doing on the
+boulevards with two idiots who allowed him to fight with you?"
+
+"Faith, I didn't have time to get any information on that point; he had
+no doubt come to Paris to take some exercise--the poor fellow. But you
+can imagine that this adventure will become notorious; they'll send out
+a description of me; they'll put all the squads in Paris in pursuit of
+me; my dear Marcel, it's necessary that you should hide me for several
+days."
+
+"I'm very sorry to say that I can't do it; I thought you'd been sent
+here by my master with orders for me; since that's not the case you must
+go, for he has expressly forbidden me to receive anybody here except
+those that are sent to me. M. de Villebelle will discharge me if, on
+arriving suddenly with some of his friends, he should find a stranger in
+the place."
+
+"Zounds! I'm not a stranger, since I've already served your master in
+his love affairs. My dear Marcel, you don't wish my death."
+
+"No, but I don't wish to lose my place."
+
+"You are alone here?"
+
+"Of course I am; but monseigneur may come when one is least expecting
+him."
+
+"He won't come today."
+
+"You don't know anything about it."
+
+"I beg your pardon; I know that his presence is commanded at court. I
+only ask shelter of you until tomorrow--but, Marcel, my life is in your
+hands."
+
+"Come, your fright is very ill-timed."
+
+"The Cochin-Chinas will be leagued against me."
+
+"Let them league themselves."
+
+"I've eaten nothing since yesterday."
+
+"I'm not to blame for that."
+
+"Marcel, will nothing move you; do you want me to throw myself at your
+feet? Well, behold me there. You are softening, you yield; I see tears
+in your eyes."
+
+"Well, only just till tomorrow; but hang it, if monseigneur should
+arrive this evening?"
+
+"I promise you I'll jump over the wall."
+
+Chaudoreille breathed more freely; and directed his steps towards the
+house.
+
+"Oh, delightful purlieus, how has my destiny changed since I quitted
+you," said the chevalier, drawing out his little silk handkerchief to
+dry his eyes. But on reaching the dining-room, which he recognized, his
+sadness appeared somewhat lessened. He was the first to seat himself at
+the table; he invited Marcel to go to the cellar, and did not give him a
+moment's rest until the supper was served; for it was then five o'clock,
+and in those days everybody dined at midday.
+
+"I'm not hungry yet," said Marcel, as he seated himself, "ordinarily I
+don't sup until eight o'clock."
+
+"Oh, never mind that, I can eat for both of us, and it needn't prevent
+our supping at eight o'clock; for I do not wish to make any change in
+your usual habits. O my friend, what a day's work; if you knew all that
+had happened to me. At first it began very well; an amorous rendezvous
+given to me by a lady who fell in love with me through seeing me from
+her window."
+
+"Pshaw!"
+
+"Give me a wing of that fowl. Yes, my friend, a passion I inspired while
+watching the flight of some swallows--but--I am used to that. Pour me
+out something to drink. I'm sure she's a woman of high rank. She sent to
+me by one of her slaves, I think it was a mulatto, or she must take a
+devil of a lot of snuff, for her nose was the color of terra-cotta."
+
+"And when are you to meet?"
+
+"Tomorrow evening. But at present, can I think of it? This unfortunate
+duel has spoiled all my plans. They'll perhaps put me in the Bastile for
+five or six years."
+
+"Well, you are a fool."
+
+"Oh, do you think that anyone may kill the Prince of Cochin-China like a
+little shopkeeper of the Marais. My situation is alarming. Give me some
+pasty, I beg of you."
+
+"Did you satisfy yourself that your man was dead?"
+
+"If you had heard the cry he uttered as he fell, you would not doubt it
+yourself. It's a cursed day's work; that thief of a water-carrier
+brought this ill luck upon me!"
+
+"A water-carrier?"
+
+"Yes, one with whom I fought this morning."
+
+"Are you always fighting?"
+
+"Well, by jingo, I can't take twenty steps without fighting; the
+government should give me a pension to remain at home. What, another
+stroke of ill luck? Good God! it seems to me I hear a great deal of
+noise outside."
+
+"What does it matter to us, it's only some pages, lackeys, or students
+who are amusing themselves by fighting; oh, I'm accustomed to all that."
+
+"It's more likely they're coming to arrest me."
+
+"Nothing of the kind, I tell you."
+
+"Well, Marcel, you're very fortunate in not being a man of the sword."
+
+"A stick serves just as well to defend me; but I don't seek a quarrel
+with anyone."
+
+"You're very right; I envy your gentle urbanity. But I believe I hear
+nothing more. Give me something to drink. I feel calmer."
+
+"Have you done eating?"
+
+"Yes, I can now wait till supper. Marcel, it was here we wagered on the
+flies."
+
+"I remember it."
+
+"Will you take part in a game to pass the time?"
+
+"Much obliged; but I didn't like the game."
+
+"Oh, it wasn't that one I was about to propose; but I believe I happen
+to have some cards in my pocket. Come, a hand at piquet?"
+
+"No, I don't care to play."
+
+"Why, by jingo! it's only to pass a few hours; we shan't ruin ourselves;
+I haven't more than two pieces of gold about me; and when I shall have
+lost that, to the devil with me if I continue."
+
+Marcel yielded to Chaudoreille's solicitations, who immediately set out
+the table and drew a pack of cards from his pocket, looking at them
+tenderly as he placed them between himself and Marcel, saying,--
+
+"We'll play for a crown on each side."
+
+"It's too much."
+
+"Pooh! one lost, another gained; it's only between the pair of us."
+
+"Yes, but if one wins all."
+
+"Nonsense, we are equally good players."
+
+"But you haven't laid your money down."
+
+"I've told you I've nothing but gold, I'll change it when I've lost some
+hundreds."
+
+They commenced to play. Chaudoreille's face was animated, his eyes were
+shining, and seemed as if they would leave their orbits to look at his
+adversary's play.
+
+"These cards are not new," said Marcel, "they are all stained or
+marked."
+
+"That's because they've been so much used apparently. I leave it to
+you," said Chaudoreille, looking carefully at the backs of the cards
+which were at the bottom of the pack.
+
+"Hang it! you've made me a pretty present; there, these are the seven
+and the eight."
+
+Chaudoreille won the first game, then a second and a third, because,
+thanks to the marks he had made on the back of each card, he knew them
+as well by their backs as by their faces.
+
+"It's singular," said Marcel, "that I never win anything; you always
+have the best cards."
+
+"What would you have? It's chance, luck; but it will probably turn."
+
+The luck did not turn and Marcel's crowns passed into Chaudoreille's
+pocket. The chevalier was scarlet, trembling, and the veins on his
+forehead were swollen by the ardor of his play, when the bell at the
+garden gate rang violently.
+
+"Oh, the deuce! there's somebody," said Marcel.
+
+"I am lost!" cried Chaudoreille jumping on his chair, "it is somebody
+come to arrest me."
+
+He immediately rose and ran around the room, went through the first door
+he saw and disappeared, without listening to Marcel, who called to
+him,--
+
+"It's monseigneur; it's M. de Villebelle; keep still and I'll let you
+out without his seeing you."
+
+But Chaudoreille had disappeared and the bell continued to ring. Marcel
+was obliged to open the gate without knowing what had become of his
+guest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE LITTLE SUPPER
+
+
+"And pray why did you make us wait so long, clown?" said the marquis
+angrily to Marcel, as he entered the garden with three men, two of whom
+were enveloped in their cloaks, while the third had no hat and nothing
+to cover his velvet doublet, which was stained in many places with mud;
+this, however, did not prevent its owner from bursting into shouts of
+laughter as he looked at himself, as though he still enjoyed some frolic
+in which he had participated.
+
+"Follow me, my friends," said the marquis.
+
+"Oh, I know the way to your little nest of the Faubourg," said one,
+"it's not the first time I've come here."
+
+"Nor me."
+
+"That's all very well; as for me, messieurs, I make my first appearance
+here today and in a brilliant costume I hope. Ha! Ha! What the devil! if
+anybody should happen to divine that I ought to be present this evening
+at the petit coucher, 'twould be deuced awkward for me!"
+
+"Come, Marcel, show us a light," said the marquis, pushing the valet
+before him, while the latter, anxious and uneasy, was constantly
+glancing around him.
+
+"You've been sleeping already, rascal, for you look stupefied."
+
+"Yes, monseigneur, that's true, I have been asleep."
+
+"He lives the life of a canon here. He does nothing but eat and sleep."
+
+While speaking they had reached the house. Happily for Marcel the
+marquis never went into the lower room, where the card table was still
+standing. They went up into the apartment on the first floor. Marcel
+lighted many candles, while the marquis' friends threw themselves into
+armchairs, and Villebelle took off his mantle, saying,--
+
+"Come, hasten yourself, and serve us supper of all that you can get
+together; there are always provisions here. You have a poultry yard, a
+pigeon house; put some fowls quickly on the spit. We'll play while
+waiting for them to be served. Prepare the card table. Open that drawer,
+there are some cards and dice in it. Gentlemen, you will perhaps have
+meagre fare. I did not expect the pleasure of entertaining you this
+evening, but at least you shall have some good wine. The cellar is well
+furnished and we shall not lack champagne."
+
+"Hang it! that's the principal thing," said a big, pale young man whose
+features were regular, but who was disfigured by the scar of a sword-cut
+across his left cheek.
+
+"I, too, am of the vicomte's opinion," said his neighbor, who appeared
+to be some years older, and whose stoutness and high color contrasted
+with the physique of the first speaker.
+
+"Champagne before everything."
+
+"Oh, I recognize there that drunkard De Montgéran," said the young man
+with disordered costume. "As for me I am not displeased when the
+entertainment consists of wine. But let's play, gentlemen, let's play;
+it's necessary that I should recoup a hat and a cloak."
+
+"You might even add a doublet; for I don't think that you can present
+yourself anywhere in that one."
+
+"Those cursed shopkeepers, how they did resist this evening. That's all
+right, I had flogged three of them."
+
+"Yes, but except for the marquis and I you would have been in a very bad
+position."
+
+"Well! what the devil brought the quarrel about? for I don't know yet
+why I fought."
+
+"A trifling thing, a mere bagatelle; because I was carrying off with me
+a little bookkeeper's wife, the impertinent husband permitted himself to
+shout! The idiot, I should have sent his wife back at the end of two
+days. Hang it! I'd no desire to keep her."
+
+"Perhaps that's why he was angry."
+
+"I said a couple of words for him to the superintendent; before long our
+clerk will be destitute."
+
+"That's as it should be, it's necessary to teach these plebeians
+manners, who persuade themselves that they only take a wife for
+themselves."
+
+"In your place I should have asked for a lettre-de-cachet."
+
+"We shall see; that might still be done."
+
+During this conversation Marcel had prepared everything; he went down to
+the groundfloor and, while making his preparations for supper, called
+his comrade in a low tone, and looked in every corner of the room, but
+he had disappeared.
+
+"Where the devil has he hidden himself," said Marcel, who then looked in
+all the other rooms and went down to the cellar, where he called
+Chaudoreille again without receiving any answer. "He has apparently
+escaped into the garden and from there he will have jumped over the
+walls, as he said he would do. However, that astonishes me, for he would
+hardly care to leave the house."
+
+The marquis and his companions sat down to play, and while waiting for
+the supper they cracked several bottles of champagne to put themselves
+in good spirits; that is to say, to arouse in them the desire to commit
+new follies. The most extravagant bets were proposed and accepted, and
+while playing, drinking, singing, each one related his good fortune, his
+gallant adventures, drew his mistress' portrait, and passed in review
+the women of fashion, sparing the honest women no more than the
+courtesans.
+
+At last Marcel came to announce that supper was served in a neighboring
+room and the gentlemen left their play to go to the table. The room in
+which the supper was served equalled by its elegance the other rooms of
+this delightful retreat; while it served habitually for banquets, the
+beauty and the taste of its frescoes, the statues which decorated it,
+the sofas which furnished it, the lustres which lighted it, recalled the
+salons of ancient Rome where Horace, Propertius and Tibulus, surrounded
+by their friends and their competitors, sang of love and the charms of
+their mistresses while passing amphoræ filled with falernian, or
+carrying to their lips cups where sparkled cæcubum or massicum; and
+while crowned with myrtle and acanthus, in order to resemble their
+deities, proving only too well that they had all the weaknesses of
+mortals.
+
+Sybarites of a later time, the young men assembled at Villebelle's drank
+deep draughts of the generous wine with which the table was so amply
+provided; the marquis furnishing them an example by his avidity in
+emptying the flasks. Decorum and etiquette were banished from the
+repast, where liberty often degenerated into license. The convives had
+drawn the sofas to the table, and each one, half lying down like a
+pasha, held a glass of champagne which he emptied, shouting with
+laughter at the follies of which he heard or at those which he had
+himself committed.
+
+The young man who had come without a hat, and who was called the
+Chevalier de Chavagnac, was seated opposite a beautiful statue
+representing Psyche, to which he often raised his eyes. All of a sudden
+he interrupted the fat Montgéran, who was singing, by exclaiming,--
+
+"May the thunder crush me, if this Psyche didn't move!"
+
+"What the devil are you saying now?" asked the marquis.
+
+"I'm saying, I'm saying your Psyche has come to life, or I must be
+blind."
+
+"Oh, hang it, how delightful it would be if that pretty woman could come
+and take her place amongst us."
+
+"Gentlemen, it was no doubt Montgéran's voice which worked this miracle.
+A new Pygmalion, he softens marble."
+
+"You needn't make fun of my voice, gentlemen, it is held in no small
+estimation. It must rather have been your cynical conversation which
+made poor Psyche blush. But let me sing instead of listening to De
+Chavagnac's stupidity, who can't see clearly because he has drunk so
+much."
+
+"Yes, assuredly, I have been drinking, but I can still see. I've been
+looking at that statue for a long while, and several times it appeared
+to me as if it moved."
+
+"Marquis, are there any ghosts in your little house?"
+
+"I have never seen any here, but it would be very amiable of them to
+come and pay us a visit while we are at table. We would make them
+hob-nob with us."
+
+"Come sing, Montgéran, we will listen to you; but be a trifle less
+artificial. I prefer the natural method."
+
+"Yes, gentlemen, I will then give you; 'The shepherd in order to admire
+the charms of his shepherdess took the first'--"
+
+"Now, I shall know what it is," said De Chavagnac, rising precipitately
+and running towards the statue. As he neared it the Psyche made so
+lively a movement that she would have fallen from her pedestal on to the
+floor, if the young man had not received her in his arms, and placed her
+on the ground. All the convives had their eyes fixed on De Chavagnac,
+who, after placing the Psyche in safety, reapproached the pedestal,
+which was about three feet high and one and one half in circumference.
+
+"There is something inside it," cried the young man, who perceived that
+the pedestal was hollow, and had an opening in the side which was turned
+towards the wall.
+
+"Someone inside it?" repeated the others, half rising. At the same
+moment a thin, trembling voice, which seemed to come out of the earth,
+uttered these words,--
+
+"No violence, gentlemen, I will yield without resistance," and, in a
+moment, Chaudoreille's little head peeped from behind the pedestal and
+showed itself to the gentlemen, who burst into a shout of laughter,
+exclaiming,--
+
+"What a handsome face!"
+
+However, De Chavagnac, who had remained near the niche of the statue,
+took Chaudoreille by the mustache and forced him to emerge from his
+hiding place. Then, having examined the personage whose piteous face
+rendered him still more comic, he went laughingly to take his place at
+the table, while the poor devil whom he had dislodged threw himself on
+his knees before them and without daring to raise his eyes murmured,
+clasping his hands,--
+
+"Gentlemen if I have killed the Prince of Cochin-China it was against my
+will and because he had provoked me, but I swear to you that I will not
+try it again; I will not even carry Rolande, if they exact it of me."
+
+"What the devil is he saying?"
+
+"Do you understand any of it, marquis?"
+
+"My faith, no! He is speaking about the Prince of Cochin-China."
+
+"He's a fool!"
+
+"Hang it! we must amuse ourselves with him."
+
+"One moment; it is necessary that I should learn how this clown
+penetrated here. Hello! Marcel, Marcel."
+
+While Marcel was coming upstairs Chaudoreille's terror became somewhat
+lessened. While he had been immured in the pedestal a murmuring sound
+only penetrated to his ears, and he believed that the room was filled
+with armed men who were looking for him. Now the words which he caught,
+the name of the marquis which he heard pronounced, taught him the truth.
+Reassured that his life was in no danger, he began to glance pleadingly
+at the persons who surrounded the table, and meeting nothing but
+laughing faces he entirely recovered his spirits.
+
+Marcel entered and, at the sight of Chaudoreille, remained stunned and
+confused before his master.
+
+"Who is this man, Marcel?" said the marquis. "Is he a thief? is it he or
+you whom we ought to hang? Come, speak, clown, and tell us the truth, or
+you shall be chastised in good fashion."
+
+Marcel, trembling, did not know how to excuse himself for having
+received someone despite the commands of the marquis, and muttered,--
+
+"Monseigneur, I couldn't help it, I did not wish to, I refused him at
+first."
+
+"Monseigneur," exclaimed Chaudoreille, rising and standing on his
+tiptoes, "if you will permit me I will relate to your excellency how all
+this happened, for I see that Marcel will find it difficult to come to
+an end."
+
+"The trembler has recovered his speech," said the big Montgéran, who
+could not take his eyes from Chaudoreille.
+
+"Come, marquis, let him speak."
+
+"Yes, yes, he will make us laugh," cried the others.
+
+"Very well, gentlemen, since you desire it. Come, speak, you little cur;
+and you, Marcel, remain there to give him the lie if he attempts to
+deceive us."
+
+Though the sobriquet, little cur, made Chaudoreille knit his brow,
+permission to speak before noblemen of high rank caused him so much
+pleasure that he immediately assumed a smiling expression, and commenced
+his speech,--
+
+"Messeigneurs, your excellencies behold in me Loustic-Goliath de
+Chaudoreille, Knight of the Round Table; descended on the male side from
+the famous Milo of Crotona, and on the female side from the celebrated
+Delilah, who, sacrificing herself for her country, had the courage to
+cut from Samson, her lover, that which made his strength."
+
+Shouts of laughter here interrupted the orator. "It's delightful! he's
+charming! He's worth his weight in gold!"
+
+"Hang it!" said Chaudoreille, "I was sure that I only had to speak."
+
+"In fact, descendant of Delilah," said the marquis, "what is your
+business?"
+
+Chaudoreille appeared embarrassed for the moment, then he exclaimed
+volubly,--
+
+"Defender and protector of beauty--and of gambling houses;
+understanding how to bear arms and to play at piquet; teaching music,
+and the way to turn the king or ace at will; succoring young men of
+family and girls who have been seduced; bearer of love letters; master
+of the sitar; duellist and messenger,--and all at a very moderate
+price."
+
+"But what a treasure we have in this man!"
+
+"Finally, who led you here?"
+
+"Your excellencies have heard me speak of my duel this morning. I killed
+the Prince of Cochin-China near the Porte Saint-Denis."
+
+"The Prince of Cochin-China, and where the devil did you find such a
+prince as that?"
+
+"By the side of the Fosses-Jaunes. I was walking quietly along, he came
+up and assaulted me, and I fought him. Isn't that true, Marcel?"
+
+"Yes, it's very true that he told me all that, monseigneur. He arrived
+here wild with fright, and exhausted; he told me that he was pursued,
+and though I did not understand all his history of the prince, I saw
+that he trembled, so I consented to allow him to come in for a moment.
+We were having supper when you came in, monseigneur, and immediately he
+fled, seeing and hearing nothing."
+
+"Yes, monseigneur," said Chaudoreille, "I believed that the archers and
+the sergeants were coming to arrest me, and I hid in the first place
+that I could see."
+
+"Do you think, clown, that I believe the story you told Marcel in order
+to get some supper?"
+
+"Monseigneur, I swear to you!"
+
+"Peace!"
+
+"There were witnesses to the duel."
+
+"Silence, I tell you! To come to this house to seek Marcel, you must
+have known that he lived here. Who taught you the way to this dwelling?
+Did you know that it belonged to me? and if you knew it belonged to me,
+who gave you the audacity to present yourself here."
+
+Chaudoreille, who perceived that the marquis was no longer joking,
+answered with less assurance,--
+
+"Monseigneur, I've already had the honor of visiting here in your
+lordship's service."
+
+"To serve me, rascal?"
+
+"Yes, monseigneur; I served you indirectly in a certain matter with a
+young Italian, an elopement on the Pont de Latournelle. It was I whom
+Touquet charged to keep watch."
+
+"O marquis," said the three guests, smiling, "this is clear enough. The
+chevalier of the Round Table has ministered to your love."
+
+"I've had that honor, monseigneurs," answered Chaudoreille, bowing, and
+twisting his mustaches.
+
+"Hang it! I don't remember it," cried the marquis, looking hard at
+Chaudoreille. "What, Touquet, so clever, so inventive, could he be
+served by such a marionette. Come, that is not possible."
+
+"Monseigneur," said Chaudoreille, compressing his lips, "if you knew the
+talents of the one you call marionette, you would, perhaps, speak
+differently. Touquet himself is only a beginner beside me."
+
+"Oh, as to that, clown, it is necessary that you should justify your
+boasting or that you should perish beneath the stick. For some days I
+have been suffering from ennui; I don't find anyone, at the court or in
+the town, who deserves my homage. My Italian, even, has commenced to
+tire me. I wish--I don't know--I would give all the world for the
+capacity of falling truly in love; find me a woman who is capable of
+inspiring me with this feeling. I will give you twenty-four hours to
+discover this treasure for me. A hundred pistoles for you if you gratify
+my wishes, a hundred strokes of the stick if you are not successful."
+
+"That's it! That's it," shouted Villebelle's guests, "if he is
+successful in what you have given him to do, tell us and we will employ
+him in turn."
+
+"O capededious," said Chaudoreille to himself, "a hundred pistoles if I
+render him amorous. Zounds! my fortune will be made. But a hundred blows
+of the stick if I am not successful. How can I render a man amorous who
+is tired of everything, and that in twenty-four hours. O my genius
+inspire me! Ah, if my portress resembled this Psyche."
+
+"Wait, drink that," said Montgéran, presenting Chaudoreille with a large
+glass full of madeira. "That will help you, perhaps, to find what
+Villebelle wants."
+
+Chaudoreille emptied the glass at a draught, after humbly bowing to the
+company; then he struck his forehead sharply, made a leap forward, and
+exclaimed,--
+
+"I have found her!"
+
+"The wine has already operated," said De Chavagnac.
+
+"Come, speak," cried the marquis, "what have you found?"
+
+"Monseigneur," said Chaudoreille, bowing with respect, "deign to permit
+me to speak to you without witnesses."
+
+"The clown is right," said the marquis rising from the table. "If he
+should speak before you each one would wish to assure himself of the
+truth of his recital, and we should become rivals. Marcel carry a light
+into the next room. Come, my Chaudoreille, I will give you an audience.
+Have patience, gentlemen, I shall not be long."
+
+Saying these words, the marquis went into the next room, and
+Chaudoreille followed him with an air so important and mysterious that
+it greatly amused the three persons who remained at the table.
+
+When Chaudoreille found himself alone with the marquis, he examined the
+doors to see if they were shut, and stooped to look under the table, but
+the marquis pulled him by the ear, saying,--
+
+"What signifies all this ceremony?"
+
+"Monseigneur, it is that I'm about to speak of something mysterious, a
+secret, and I don't wish that anybody should know it. I shall expose
+myself to great danger in speaking; they will perhaps want to take my
+life."
+
+"You'll expose yourself to a great deal more by not speaking," said the
+marquis impatiently, seizing the fire shovel.
+
+"I'm about to do so, monseigneur. I wager you've never seen Touquet's
+daughter."
+
+"Touquet's daughter. Has he a daughter?"
+
+"Not exactly, monseigneur; she's only a child that he adopted about ten
+years ago."
+
+"Touquet adopted a child? Hang it! that surprises me."
+
+"I was very sure, monseigneur, that you were ignorant of the
+circumstance."
+
+"There's something mysterious about it."
+
+"Very extraordinary. No one would guard a girl so closely unless he were
+keeping her for himself."
+
+"What is this girl like?"
+
+"She's an angel, monseigneur, divinely beautiful, an enchantress; hardly
+sixteen years of age, with the figure of a nymph, and Touquet spreads
+it abroad that she is ugly and ill-made, that there is nothing pleasing
+about her. He has even ordered me to tell it all about. If I have seen
+young Blanche it's only because the barber, wishing to have her taught
+music, was obliged to introduce me into her room, which she never
+leaves."
+
+"This is all very singular," said the marquis, "and you pique my
+curiosity."
+
+"Good! I shall have a hundred pistoles," said Chaudoreille to himself,
+"that's much better than the two golden crowns which the barber promised
+me, to say nothing of the honor of acting as the Marquis of Villebelle's
+business man."
+
+"And you say it's not because he is in love with her himself that he
+hides this young girl," resumed the marquis, after a moment.
+
+"No, monseigneur, for a few days from now he is about to marry her."
+
+"To marry her?"
+
+"Yes, monseigneur, to a young man whom the beautiful Blanche did not
+know, I am sure; for no one ever went near her except your humble
+servant. I bet that Touquet has sacrificed her, and that the poor little
+thing hates her future husband."
+
+Here Chaudoreille said what he did not think, but he imagined it more
+prudent to present the matter in that aspect.
+
+The marquis reflected for some moments, then he said,--
+
+"Tell me quickly all that you know about the adoption of that young
+girl."
+
+"Yes, monseigneur. About ten years ago, Touquet, who then had not a sou,
+took lodgers in addition to his business as a barber and bath-keeper.
+One evening a gentleman went to his house, with a little girl five or
+six years old, and requested a bed. Touquet received him. The traveller
+went out the same evening, leaving his little girl with Touquet, and
+that night he was murdered in the Rue Saint-Honoré near the Barrière des
+Sergents."
+
+"Were the murderers discovered," said the marquis, looking attentively
+at Chaudoreille.
+
+"Oh, no, monseigneur," responded the latter, smiling almost
+imperceptibly, "but--sometime afterwards Touquet was possessed of enough
+to buy the house which he had rented."
+
+The marquis made a sudden movement, like that of a man who is about to
+step on a snake. A long silence succeeded, during which Chaudoreille
+kept his eyes bent on the ground, not daring to seek to read those of
+the marquis.
+
+"And it is the daughter of that man whom he adopted," said Villebelle,
+breaking the silence.
+
+"Yes, monseigneur, it is she."
+
+"What was her father's name?"
+
+"Moranval, at least, so I believe. Nothing was found upon him but an
+insignificant letter, which gave no information in regard to his
+family."
+
+"And his daughter is beautiful?"
+
+"As far as I am competent to judge, monseigneur, and if you should see
+her--"
+
+"Yes, I shall see her."
+
+"Monseigneur, I have the honor to inform you that Touquet has expressly
+forbidden me to speak of young Blanche and of her coming marriage. In
+order to be agreeable to your lordship I have sacrificed myself; but the
+barber is wicked, very wicked. I beg of you, monseigneur, not to tell
+him that you learned all this from me."
+
+"Be easy about that."
+
+"In any case I beg to be allowed to claim the protection of monseigneur
+in regard to my duel with the Prince of Cochin-China, which is not a
+falsehood as monseigneur appears to believe."
+
+The marquis was reflecting deeply; finally he rose, saying to
+Chaudoreille,--
+
+"Follow me, and not a word of all this. In twenty-four hours you will
+return here, and if you have not deceived me you will receive the
+recompense which I have promised you."
+
+Chaudoreille bowed nearly to the ground and followed the marquis. They
+returned to the banquet hall, where his guests awaited with impatience
+Villebelle's return.
+
+"Well," said De Chavagnac, as he entered, "was it worth the trouble of
+leaving the table?"
+
+"I think so," answered the marquis; "but as to that I shall be better
+able to tell you after tomorrow. Chaudoreille, go down with Marcel and
+make him give you some supper before you leave." The latter did not wait
+for this order to be repeated. He went down to look for Marcel and,
+already assuming a patronizing air, made the valet serve him with all
+that he thought best, while saying to his old friend,--
+
+"I am in great favor with your master, treat me well and I can say two
+words for you. Above all never refuse to play a game of piquet with me,
+or I'll cause you to lose favor with monseigneur."
+
+Poor Marcel, who understood nothing of all this, allowed his intimate
+friend to beat him at six games. Finally, day appeared, and Chaudoreille
+left the house saying,--
+
+"I shall come back this evening at ten o'clock. The marquis has made an
+appointment with me." Then he ventured into the Faubourg, stopping
+whenever he saw from afar two men together, and with a mysterious air
+inquiring of some shopkeepers if they had heard anyone speak of the
+death of Cochin-China. As nobody understood what he said, he finally
+persuaded himself that his prince was dead, but that nobody knew who he
+was, and more tranquil as to the result of the affair he at length
+ventured to reënter Paris.
+
+After the secret interview of the marquis and Chaudoreille, the four
+profligates returned to their play; but the party was no longer gay.
+Villebelle was preoccupied and took little part in the conversation;
+the vicomte was sleepy; fat Montgéran no longer sang, and Chavagnac was
+tired of losing. At six o'clock in the morning these gentlemen
+separated, each one returning to his dwelling in the city and the
+marquis reëntered his hotel, reflecting on all that Chaudoreille had
+told him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HAVING MONEY AND POWER ONE MAY DARE EVERYTHING
+
+
+"Only two days more and I shall be your husband, my Blanche," said
+Urbain, pressing the young girl's hands in a tender transport.
+
+"Oh, my dearest, how very happy we shall be, when we no longer have to
+part, even for a few hours," answered Blanche, smiling at her lover,
+"how much I shall like living in the country! I shall breathe more
+freely there in the pure air, I am sure, than in this close room. We
+shall play and run on the grass, shall we not, dear?"
+
+"Yes, and we will work in our own garden."
+
+"How delightful! We shall have flowers then, and I am so passionately
+fond of them."
+
+"We shall have some cows also, I hope," said Marguerite.
+
+"Oh, yes, dear nurse, and some pigeons, and rabbits and fowls--it will
+all be so delightful. It seems to me that when I was a very little child
+I lived in the country, in a house where they had all those things."
+
+"Poor Blanche! and is that all you remember of your infancy?"
+
+"I still remember a lady who was always with me, who often kissed me; no
+doubt she was my mother."
+
+"Poor woman!" said Marguerite; "perhaps she is still living; and to
+think that no one knows. But away with sad thoughts!"
+
+"Then you'll not regret Paris, my dear Blanche," said Urbain.
+
+"Would you wish me to regret it, dear, when you are with me?"
+
+"Those dear children!" said the old servant rising from her chair; "it
+is Providence which has brought them together, for they are made for one
+another. But it's nine o'clock, Monsieur Urbain, you must go."
+
+"Nine o'clock already! The time is approaching when we need part no
+more, but the days seem very long now, because I spend them away from
+you."
+
+"It's the same with me, dear; it seems to me that evening will never
+come."
+
+"I haven't seen M. Touquet for some days."
+
+"And you'll not see him this evening," said Marguerite; "he received a
+letter after dinner. It was no doubt some pressing matter of business,
+for he left immediately and has not yet returned."
+
+"Good-by, then, dear Blanche."
+
+"Good-by, my dear."
+
+"Two days more. It seems a long time to wait."
+
+"You have managed to live through a fortnight," said Marguerite.
+
+"Yes, I don't know why, but these last few days seem to me as if they
+would be eternal."
+
+Urbain could not tear himself away from Blanche; his heart was
+oppressed; the eyes of both the young lovers were filled with tears; the
+young girl extended her hand to her friend and he pressed it to his
+heart.
+
+"I don't know what's the matter with me," said Blanche, "but your going
+makes me sadder than usual."
+
+"What childishness!" said Marguerite; "no one would suppose that you
+were going to meet within two days. Isn't M. Urbain coming tomorrow
+evening? Come, come, it's time to go to bed."
+
+The lovers again said good-by, sighing deeply, and Urbain finally
+followed Marguerite, who shut the street door on him and then went
+upstairs to Blanche and scolded her for her sadness. But she could not
+restore her gayety, for the dictates of reason may persuade the mind,
+but cannot allay the fears of the heart.
+
+Not more than a quarter of an hour after Urbain's departure some one
+rapped loudly at the street door.
+
+"That's Urbain, no doubt," said Blanche; "he saw that I was sad and has
+come back to console me."
+
+"That's very improbable," said Marguerite; "it's more likely M. Touquet
+who has returned. However, I am astonished that he should knock, for I
+thought he had taken his master key."
+
+"Go and see who it is, dear nurse."
+
+"Yes, yes, mademoiselle; but if it should not be monsieur? It is
+late--we are alone in the house, and I don't know if I ought to open to
+any one."
+
+"Do you want me to look out of the window, dear nurse, I shall very soon
+see if it's Urbain."
+
+"Yes, do so; that seems to me more prudent."
+
+Blanche had already opened the window, and she looked down into the
+street; the night was dark, but love renders the sight clear, and the
+young girl soon saw that it was not Urbain.
+
+"Who is there," demanded Marguerite, thrusting out her head.
+
+A deep voice answered, "I come from Master Touquet, he has charged me
+with a commission to his adopted daughter, Mademoiselle Blanche."
+
+"How very singular," said Marguerite to Blanche. "What! monsieur, who
+has hidden you from everybody's sight, sends a stranger to us at this
+hour?"
+
+"But, dear nurse, since he has sent him, it is necessary to open to this
+gentleman. Perhaps something has happened to my protector."
+
+"Is the man alone, my child?"
+
+"Yes, dear nurse, I see nobody but him."
+
+"Why don't you open the door," cried the man in the street, "my message
+is urgent."
+
+"Wait one moment, somebody will be there.--Remain here, my child."
+
+Marguerite went down, holding her lamp in her hand. She was not
+reassured, but opened the door, and a man wrapped in a large cloak, his
+head covered with a plumed hat, appeared before her.
+
+"You've been very slow, my good woman," said he, smiling, "however, I'll
+indemnify you for the trouble I have caused you."
+
+While saying these words, he slipped several pieces of gold into
+Marguerite's hand. The old woman did not know if she ought to accept
+them, but said to herself, "His manners are not those of a robber."
+
+The stranger quickly entered the alleyway and the old woman as she
+looked at him said to herself, "This is not the first time that I have
+seen that figure, and I remember his voice. Yes, I believe that that's
+the friend my master was waiting for so late some time ago."
+
+Marguerite was not deceived, it was in fact the marquis who had
+introduced himself into the house, having first sent the barber a letter
+in which he gave him a rendezvous outside, and ordered him to wait there
+until ten o'clock in the evening.
+
+"Monsieur has been here before, I believe," said Marguerite, reassured
+on recognizing one whom she believed to be her master's friend.
+
+"Yes, yes, my good mother, I have often been here; but hasten to lead me
+to your young mistress. It is absolutely necessary that I should see
+her."
+
+"Is my master ill?--has he been involved in some quarrel? Many accidents
+happen in this city."
+
+"Don't be uneasy, there's nothing of that kind."
+
+The marquis followed Marguerite, who led him to Blanche's chamber, and
+opened the door, saying,--
+
+"Mademoiselle, here is a gentleman who brings you a message from M.
+Touquet."
+
+Blanche took some steps forward to meet the stranger; the marquis had
+entered abruptly, but on perceiving the young girl he paused, and for
+some moments remained motionless, occupied in contemplating her. There
+was something in the aspect of the marquis which compelled respect, and
+while at that moment there was nothing severe in his expression, the
+astonishment and admiration depicted on his features lent additional
+animation to his naturally proud and noble look. Blanche involuntarily
+lowered her eyes, for she could not meet the fixed gaze with which the
+marquis seemed to examine her person, and Marguerite dared not utter a
+word, because the stranger intimidated her also.
+
+"This is truly beyond all that I could have imagined," said the marquis,
+as if he were speaking to himself.
+
+"Monsieur," said Blanche, with embarrassment, "my nurse informs me that
+you have something to say to me, some message from my benefactor; has
+anything happened to him, monsieur?"
+
+"No, lovely Blanche, no; your benefactor, since you deign to so call
+him, has run into no danger, but I would brave a thousand if by that
+means I could make you take the same interest in me."
+
+Blanche glanced timidly at the marquis as if she were waiting for him to
+explain himself better; the latter, in hastening to lead her to a chair,
+dropped a corner of his mantle, allowing his rich attire to be seen, and
+Marguerite said under her breath to the young girl,--
+
+"Mon Dieu, my child, look at those precious stones, that lace, this is
+at least a great nobleman."
+
+"Oh, yes," answered Blanche, in the same tone, "it is superb, but I like
+Urbain's costume much better."
+
+Villebelle, who had not taken his eyes from Blanche, remained silent.
+
+"Why did you come here then," said she, seeing that he was contented
+with looking at her.
+
+"Yes," said Marguerite, who sought to resume her ordinary assurance,
+"for you must have come for something."
+
+"And I have found more than I had believed possible," said the marquis,
+smiling. Then, without appearing to notice the embarrassment which his
+presence caused, he approached Blanche, took her hand, and cried,--
+
+"You in this retreat! you hidden from all eyes!--when you should be the
+ornament of the world and receive the homage of the whole universe."
+
+"Forgive me, monsieur," said Blanche, "but I don't understand you."
+
+"I don't understand you either," murmured Marguerite, fixing her small
+eyes on the marquis.
+
+"Better still, adorable girl," responded the marquis to Blanche, without
+paying the least attention to Marguerite. "They did not deceive me, this
+is innocence itself, the most perfect ingenuousness united to the most
+seductive grace and beauty."
+
+"But, monsieur, was that what M. Touquet told you to say to me?"
+
+"No, lovely child, not at all," said the marquis laughing, and still
+retaining Blanche's hand, which she vainly tried to disengage.
+
+"It's necessary however that you should explain yourself," said
+Marguerite in a dry tone, "you have been here for a quarter of an hour
+and you have not yet said why you came. It is very late and we are
+accustomed to go to bed early."
+
+"Oh, well, old woman, go to your bed; I will remain with this lovely
+child until the return of Master Touquet."
+
+"Do you think I will leave you alone with my dear Blanche," cried
+Marguerite, rendered still more suspicious by the word old, "no,
+monsieur, no, I take better care of her than that. Your laces, your
+jewelry, and your fine appearance do not inspire me with much
+confidence. Wait! take back your pieces of gold, I don't wish them, for
+I begin to believe that your intentions are not good, and Marguerite
+will never second the plans of a seducer, whether duke or prince, even
+should he offer her the mines of Peru."
+
+The marquis replied only by shrugging his shoulders without turning
+towards Marguerite, then he seated himself near Blanche and took off his
+hat and mantle, establishing himself in the room like one who is not
+disposed to go.
+
+Blanche was trembling, confused; she looked at Marguerite as if to
+implore her not to abandon her, and the old woman, whom the conduct of
+the stranger had filled with new dread, forced herself to appear calm,
+saying in a voice whose faltering accents betrayed her fright,--
+
+"Be easy, my child, I am here, I will not leave you, and while monsieur
+does not appear to listen to me it is, above all, necessary that he
+should tell us what he came here to do."
+
+"I have told you, my good woman, I am waiting for Touquet. I must speak
+to him this evening; that is very important."
+
+"And just now you said that it was he who had sent you; you were
+deceiving us, then?"
+
+"Perhaps," said the marquis, laughing.
+
+"Very well, monsieur, if you are really waiting for my master, come into
+the lower room. I will give you a light, and you will find a fire
+there."
+
+"No, indeed, my good woman, I like this much better than your lower
+room; the society of this charming child will make the time seem very
+short, and surely, adorable Blanche, you will not be cruel enough to
+refuse to keep me company."
+
+"No, monsieur, if you desire it, if it will amuse you, I must wish it
+also."
+
+"Yes," said Marguerite, "it seems that it is necessary that we should do
+monsieur's will, but patience--soon I hope--"
+
+At this moment somebody violently shut the street door. Blanche started
+joyfully, and Marguerite cried, with a triumphant air,--
+
+"Ah! here is my master! We shall now see whether anyone can establish
+himself here in spite of us."
+
+The marquis rose without answering, took his mantle, put his hat on his
+head, kissed Blanche's hand, saying to her,--
+
+"Au revoir, charming girl," then left the room saying to Marguerite,--
+
+"Light me!"
+
+All this had happened so quickly that Blanche, who was greatly
+astonished, had not time to oppose the action of the marquis, and the
+old servant followed the great nobleman, saying,--
+
+"O mon Dieu, what a man!"
+
+The barber had entered and was taking off his mantle, when the marquis,
+followed by Marguerite, appeared in the lower room. At the sight of
+Villebelle, Touquet started with surprise, saying,--
+
+"What, you here, monseigneur!"
+
+He paused and Marguerite cried,--
+
+"Yes, my dear master, monseigneur has been here for three-quarters of an
+hour. He presented himself as coming from you, and he installed himself
+in Mademoiselle Blanche's room."
+
+"In Blanche's room," said the barber, appearing violently agitated.
+
+"Yes, monsieur, in mademoiselle's room--"
+
+"That's enough, my good woman, leave us," said the marquis, in an
+imperious tone.
+
+"Leave you," answered Marguerite, "oh, it is necessary before all--"
+
+"It is necessary to obey," said the barber, in a gloomy voice. "Go!"
+
+Marguerite was dumbfounded, but she dared not reply and left them,
+saying,--
+
+"Well, I don't understand all this, this man does as he pleases here, it
+troubles me."
+
+"Well, dear nurse," said Blanche to the old woman, "and what about the
+stranger?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know who that man can be, but M. Touquet is as submissive
+as a child before him. I left them together. This fine gentleman said to
+me, 'Go!' and it was necessary to obey him."
+
+"That's very surprising, dear nurse."
+
+"How did you like that man?"
+
+"Oh, he is not so bad, dear nurse, and if I had not been a little afraid
+of him, I believe I should have thought him very agreeable."
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu, I was very much frightened; he has something satanic in
+his looks."
+
+"Oh, dear nurse, you're mistaken, he has a very fine face, features
+which inspire respect, and which are bland at the same time."
+
+"Fie! for shame! my child, to admire such an impertinent man. Oh, if
+your Urbain could hear you."
+
+"But, dear nurse, I should say the same thing before Urbain. Is it not
+necessary to tell him all that I think? That could not displease him,
+for he knows how much I love him."
+
+"Come, my child, it's late, go to bed. I am going, too, good-night."
+
+Marguerite went up to her room, saying to herself,--
+
+"Young girls will always be young girls. The most virtuous of them will
+allow themselves to be favorably impressed by fine compliments, a
+handsome face, and rich clothing. These are terrible talismans with the
+women."
+
+When Marguerite had left the lower room, the barber shut the door. His
+manner disclosed a violent agitation; however, he awaited the marquis'
+explanation, and the latter narrowly watched and appeared to enjoy his
+uneasiness.
+
+"May I know, monseigneur," said Touquet at last, "how it is that you are
+at my house when you appointed another meeting place?"
+
+"What, Touquet, don't you understand it? I made a distant appointment
+with you in order that I might represent myself as sent by you to this
+young girl, whom you have hidden from me and whom I ardently desired to
+see. This is one of the little tricks which you yourself formerly taught
+me, and which are nearly always successful."
+
+The barber bit his lips, but did not answer.
+
+"Well, to be sure," resumed the marquis, "that you should possess such a
+treasure, an angel of beauty and grace, and hide her from me, your old
+master! From me, when you know my partiality for the sex which has led
+me to commit so many follies."
+
+"It was precisely because of that partiality, monsieur le marquis, that
+I hoped to shield Blanche from your notice; I am interested in that
+young girl, to whom I stand in the place of her parents. I know the
+impetuosity of your passions, and I don't think the honor of being your
+mistress for a fortnight will assure the child's happiness."
+
+"And how long, clown, have you made similar reflections," said the
+marquis, looking witheringly at the barber. "After lending aid in all my
+intrigues, after leading me to commit actions which, but for you, I
+should never have thought of, should you allow yourself to control my
+morals and enact the knight errant of the beauties I deign to
+distinguish."
+
+"Monseigneur!"
+
+"Remember that though your hypocrisy and lies may serve you sometimes,
+they can never deceive me. It is not from me only that you hide this
+young girl, for you hold her a prisoner in her chamber and do not permit
+her to go out. It is not because you are in love with Blanche, since you
+are about to give her in marriage; besides, love is a feeling unknown to
+you; your heart knows nothing but a thirst for gold. There is in all
+this some mystery which I must discover."
+
+Touquet became pale and trembling, and murmured, lowering his eyes,--
+
+"I swear to you, monsieur le marquis--"
+
+"Make an end of this," said Villebelle, interrupting him. "Listen to me.
+I love, what do I say, I adore this young girl whom I have seen only for
+a moment; for a very long time I have not experienced sensations similar
+to those I felt in her presence. This is not a passing caprice; these
+are not desires to which the heart is a stranger. No, on seeing Blanche
+I felt moved, uneasy, softened. I cannot define all that passed within
+me. It seemed to me that I recognized that lovely child--that my love
+for her had existed for a long time. After that you must divine that it
+is impossible henceforth to live without her. Blanche must be mine; I am
+capable of every sacrifice in order to arrive at that end."
+
+"Ah, monsieur, that is what I feared," said Touquet, who appeared to be
+really grieved at what he heard. "You wish to make Blanche your
+mistress!"
+
+"I wish to make her happiness; I feel that my love for her will be
+lifelong."
+
+"That is impossible, monseigneur. Blanche is about to be married to a
+young man whom she loves. You must see that your love cannot render her
+happy."
+
+For some moments the marquis walked up and down the room, then he cried
+passionately,--
+
+"I repeat to you, Blanche must be mine--it must be so. I will leave no
+means unemployed to attain this end. She cannot yet love her destined
+husband; she has only known him for a few days."
+
+"Monseigneur, who has informed you as to all this?"
+
+"What does that matter to you? That love is but a passing sentiment and
+I shall know how to make her forget it by overwhelming her with
+presents, with jewels, and by seeking to invent new pleasures to make
+each day delightful to her."
+
+"Monseigneur, Blanche is accustomed to retirement; she is not a
+coquette; your ornaments, your gifts will have no effect upon her."
+
+"Enough of this," said the marquis, "your objections weary me; I have
+now some orders to give you. I wish you to give me Blanche, on whom I
+swear to settle an independent fortune. Such a treasure I feel is worthy
+of a great price. Wait, here are six thousand crowns in notes and gold.
+You shall have as much more when you have fulfilled my commands."
+
+The barber eyed with avaricious looks the money which the marquis had
+spread upon the table; then he turned his eyes away, saying in a gloomy
+voice,--
+
+"Gold! yes, it is always that which draws me on; but this time--no, I
+cannot. Remember, monseigneur, that within two days Blanche should be
+united to her lover."
+
+"Then at once, tonight even, it is necessary that she be given into my
+hands."
+
+The barber appeared to be weighing the proposition in his mind; from
+time to time he looked at the money on the table, and, finally, speaking
+with a great effort, he said,--
+
+"It cannot be, monseigneur, I am extremely grieved to have to disappoint
+you, but matters are too far advanced."
+
+The marquis drew near Touquet, and grasping him tightly by the arm, said
+in a low tone,--
+
+"It will, then, be necessary that I beg my uncle, the grand provost, to
+cause a new inquiry to be held in regard to the murder of Blanche's
+father. Do you think, scoundrel, that I do not partly divine the cause
+which has induced you to keep this young girl so carefully hidden from
+everybody's sight? Her beauty would be remarked, and could not fail to
+draw a throng of admirers who would have much to say of Blanche, and in
+seeking to learn who she is and what family she belongs to they would
+obtain new facts about that unfortunate traveller who was murdered on
+the evening of his arrival in Paris. They would make reflections on the
+fortune which came to you, nobody knows how, some time after that
+event."
+
+"Monseigneur," said the barber, whose face had become livid, while a
+convulsive trembling seized his limbs; "monseigneur, what do you say?
+Could you believe it of me?"
+
+"I believe nothing yet, but tomorrow I shall urge the magistrates to
+make an effort to pierce this mystery."
+
+"Monseigneur, you shall have Blanche," said Touquet dropping into a
+chair as though he were perfectly helpless.
+
+The marquis smiled triumphantly and seemed to forget all but his love.
+Touquet who had been thrown into a state of the deepest depression and
+consternation, remained for some minutes without daring to raise his
+eyes, and unable to resume his ordinary expression. Finally, he rose
+and murmured, in a broken voice,--
+
+"Believe me, monsieur le marquis, that it is not the suspicions you have
+conceived which determine me to obey you--my devotion alone--"
+
+"Enough," said the marquis interrupting him; "not another word about
+that. I am quite willing to believe that appearances are deceitful. We
+will occupy ourselves only with my love. I don't wish to lose a single
+instant in obtaining possession of Blanche, and, since you tell me that
+in two days she was to have been married, it is necessary that she
+should leave this house tonight."
+
+"I agree with you," said Touquet, "since she is to go the sooner the
+better. But how can it be done tonight?"
+
+"I don't recognize you, Touquet; you see nothing but obstacles, as for
+me, I don't know of any. It is not yet midnight, we have some time
+remaining. I'll go to my hotel and send Germain, my valet de chambre, to
+get a carriage--and to go only as far as my little house."
+
+"Monseigneur, you must not take Blanche there; she would not be safe;
+the place is too near Paris. Urbain Dorgeville, the person she was to
+marry, will make every effort to discover her. The young man adores her;
+he is enterprising; you have everything to fear from his despair."
+
+"I fear nobody, and you know it. However, I think your advice is wise.
+Blanche is so pretty; I already feel jealous of a glance given by her to
+another, and a good many giddy fellows know my little house. But wait,
+wait, I have just what will suit me; amongst all the property that came
+to me from my mother is a château situated in the neighborhood of
+Grandvilliers, about twenty-two leagues from here, and far enough from
+the town and the highway to avoid the notice of travellers."
+
+"Very well, monsieur, that will suit perfectly."
+
+"I have only once visited this château, which is called Sarcus, but
+although I only made a short stay there, I was greatly struck by the
+elegance of the beautiful estate. The château, built in 1522, was given
+to Mademoiselle de Sarcus by Francis the First, and in the neighborhood
+is noted for the marvellous beauty of its architecture, and especially
+of its façade, in which the artist excelled all his previous works. That
+is the place to which I shall take, or rather, to which I shall have
+Blanche taken. Twenty-eight leagues--two trusty men--she will be at the
+château in ten hours or so. As for myself, after tomorrow I shall
+arrange my affairs, and pretending at court that I am obliged to go to
+England, I shall repair secretly to Sarcus to her whom I never more wish
+to leave. You see, Touquet, my plan is perfect and no one will suspect
+that I have abducted the young orphan."
+
+"Yes, monseigneur, no one among your brilliant acquaintances; but how
+shall we induce Blanche to go with you quietly and prevent a noise and
+cries which will attract the attention of the neighbors?"
+
+"Oh, hang it! it will be necessary to mislead her at first--that's your
+look out. Is your invention so sterile that you can think of nothing to
+deceive a mere child. You can make her believe that she is going to
+rejoin her future husband."
+
+"Wait, monseigneur, I've thought of a way, but Blanche mustn't see you.
+She would suspect something, and my stratagem would fail."
+
+"I repeat to you she will start alone--a postilion and two well-armed
+men behind the carriage will answer to me for her safety."
+
+"That is all that is necessary."
+
+"It is midnight. I'll go and settle everything. My valet de chambre
+shall start before at full speed, that he may give my orders at the
+château and that he may be there to receive our beautiful girl; at two
+o'clock in the morning I shall be at your door with a coach; you
+understand me, at two o'clock."
+
+"Yes, monsieur le marquis," said the barber, "I will not forget the
+hour."
+
+"Manage so as to have Blanche ready to get into the carriage. I leave it
+to you. Do not try to evade your promise or my vengeance will be
+terrible."
+
+"You may rely on me, monseigneur."
+
+The marquis wrapped himself in his mantle and hastily left the barber's
+shop. Touquet remained alone for some time, thoughtful and depressed; at
+length he rose abruptly.
+
+"What does it matter after all," said he, "whether Blanche be with
+Urbain or the marquis? Shall I be foolish enough to sympathize with the
+love of two children? In keeping this young girl with me I hoped to
+avoid all suspicion. But at last I shall be relieved of the burden that
+oppresses me. Come let's put up this gold; the marquis has promised me
+as much more--and I would have refused him. No. My destiny must be
+accomplished; this metal has always served as its compass. I was only
+sixteen years old when it caused me to commit actions which drew down
+upon me my father's curse; arrived in Paris, which I had yearned to
+know, I soon found myself robbed of everything I possessed by people who
+were more adroit than myself; I had been deceived and I wished to make
+others suffer as I had suffered. I gave scope to my talents. Up to that
+time I had done no great wrong--but this cursed thirst for gold. Ten
+years have passed and have not effaced from my memory that horrible
+night--when--since then I have not tasted a moment's peace. I will
+return to my birthplace and if my father is still alive I will try to
+obtain his pardon; perhaps then I may regain quiet of mind. But if he
+knew how I enriched myself."
+
+The barber again gave himself to his reflections. Soon Saint-Eustache's
+clock struck one. Touquet slowly took the money from the table, and,
+after locking it in his room upstairs, he went to Blanche's chamber and
+knocked at the door.
+
+The poor little girl was not asleep; she had been too greatly excited by
+the events of the evening. She still seemed to see the stranger seated
+near her, holding her hand and looking at her with an expression that
+she could not define. She felt oppressed; it seemed to her that she
+should never see Urbain more. The marquis' figure appeared constantly
+between herself and Urbain, and the sadness the latter had felt on
+leaving her heightened her own premonitions. Yielding to this indefinite
+anxiety, often harder to bear than a real sorrow, Blanche could not
+rest, and the sound of a knock at her door in the middle of the night
+awoke in her fresh terror.
+
+"Who is there?" she cried, in a faltering voice.
+
+"It is I, Blanche," answered the barber; "open the door. I have
+something of importance to tell you."
+
+The young girl, who had recognized Touquet's voice, rose, hastily put on
+a dressing gown, and opened the door. The barber held the lamp in his
+hand and avoided looking at the young girl, who, on the contrary, wished
+to question him and said,--
+
+"Mercy, my good friend, what has happened?"
+
+These words, "my good friend," uttered in Blanche's sweet voice, always
+agitated Touquet; he forced himself to hide his feelings.
+
+"Calm yourself, Blanche," he said, "and listen to me; Urbain has had a
+quarrel tonight--a duel."
+
+"O heavens! He is wounded!"
+
+"No, no, nothing has happened to him, but it was necessary to his safety
+that he should leave Paris immediately; had he not done so they would
+have arrested him; he therefore left for the country."
+
+"He left without me?"
+
+"Let me finish; you should have been married here, in place of which you
+will be married at his house; but to quiet Urbain's anxiety I had to
+promise that tonight you should rejoin him."
+
+"Oh, at once, my friend, as soon as you please; but why did he not take
+me with him?"
+
+"That was impossible; Urbain had not an instant to lose; by a lucky
+chance, one of my friends is sending his valet into the country to find
+a wife. The carriage will come to take you in an hour. Get ready,
+therefore. He will charge you nothing and you will find everything down
+there that you need--do you understand me?"
+
+"Oh, I shall be ready in a moment, and what about Marguerite?"
+
+"She can follow you later; I need her to make divers arrangements. In a
+few days I shall come to see you. I'll leave you now; make your
+preparations. I shall come for you when the carriage arrives."
+
+The barber departed, and Blanche, who had not the slightest suspicion
+that anyone would deceive her, continued her toilet.
+
+"Poor Urbain," she said to herself, "I was sure that something would
+happen to him; and he, also, had a presentiment. How fortunate that he
+was able to escape; but I shall rejoin him and I shall nevermore leave
+him."
+
+During this time Touquet had returned to his room, saying to himself,--
+
+"Everything is going well--the little one will start without making the
+least difficulty. But if Marguerite is not asleep; if she should have
+heard some words of my conversation with the marquis and if she wishes
+to follow Blanche. It is important that the old woman should know
+nothing--it is easy to assure myself she is sleeping, since she now
+sleeps in the room occupied by Blanche's father. Come, I mustn't be
+weak. I'll go up."
+
+The barber took his light, and directed his steps towards a closet which
+was at the end of his room. When he reached it he still hesitated; then,
+making an effort to command himself, he touched a button hidden by the
+hangings, and a small door opened and discovered a small and very narrow
+staircase which led to the floor above. Touquet turned his eyes,
+murmuring,--
+
+"Since that fatal night I have not been in this passage."
+
+He mounted the stairs, his wild eyes seeming to fear that they would
+meet some frightful object, the hand in which he held the lamp
+trembling, while with the other he held to the wall to steady his
+tottering steps.
+
+At the top of the staircase was a door closed by two bolts, which he
+withdrew with as little noise as possible, and entered the little dark
+closet at the back of Marguerite's alcove, which the old nurse and
+Blanche had entered without perceiving the door on the staircase,
+because it was artistically hidden in the woodwork. The barber placed
+his lamp on the floor, and put his ear to the door which led into the
+alcove; he soon heard a prolonged snore, which announced that Marguerite
+was sleeping soundly; however, he softly opened the door so as to
+thoroughly assure himself of the fact; then he reentered the little room
+and left by the secret door, drew the bolts and went down, saying,--
+
+"There is nothing to fear from her."
+
+Suddenly the barber made a false step, he lowered his lamp and perceived
+some reddish stains on the staircase. Although it was difficult to
+distinguish what had produced these stains, Touquet recoiled with
+horror, his hair stood up on his head, his feet refused to carry him
+over the steps on which were imprinted the marks which caused his fear;
+in his agitation he allowed the lamp to fall from his hands; it rolled
+and was extinguished. The barber was left in the most profound darkness
+in the secret passage. Showing every sign of the most ungovernable
+terror, he ran as fast as possible down the stairs, bumping his head
+against the wall, falling and crawling on the stairs.
+
+"Mercy! mercy!" he cried, in a suffocating voice, "do not pursue me. Is
+it because I am giving up your daughter that you come anew to torment
+me? Well, I won't give her to the marquis. No, but leave me. Don't touch
+me with your bloody hands."
+
+At length he came to the foot of the stairs; he reclosed the door hidden
+by the hangings and without pausing in his room, where he had no light,
+he went down into the lower room, which was lit by one lamp and by the
+fire which still burned on the hearth.
+
+He threw himself upon a seat, and looked wildly about him, gradually
+becoming more assured; finally, he passed his hand over his brow
+saying,--
+
+"It was a dream."
+
+At that moment he heard the sound of a carriage, which stopped in front
+of the house, and having entirely recovered his wits he went to open the
+street door.
+
+"Here I am," said the marquis, alighting from the travelling carriage.
+"I have come even sooner than I promised. My valet de chambre is
+already on the way to Grandvilliers. The postilion is in the saddle,
+these two efficiently armed men will follow the coach, all is ready; and
+Blanche?"
+
+"I will go and get her; she believes that she is going to rejoin her
+future husband who has been wounded tonight in a duel; she has not the
+slightest suspicion that there is any trickery, and goes of her own free
+will."
+
+"That's excellent!"
+
+"But hide yourself, monseigneur, that she may not perceive you, or all
+will be lost."
+
+"Fear nothing; I will ensconce myself in the angle of this doorway--I
+only wish to see her enter the carriage--tomorrow I shall be at Sarcus,
+and I shall dry her tears."
+
+"I will go and fetch her."
+
+The barber went up to call Blanche, who had heard the carriage and was
+ready.
+
+"I am here, my good friend," said she, hastily leaving her room, "I knew
+the carriage had come."
+
+Touquet walked first, and Blanche followed; her heart was palpitating
+and, although she thought she was going to rejoin Urbain, this departure
+in the middle of the night had about it something mysterious, singular,
+which almost frightened her. When they had reached the lower room the
+sweet girl glanced around her, saying,--
+
+"What! has not Marguerite come to bid me good-by and kiss me?"
+
+"No, no, we haven't time for that," said Touquet taking her hand and
+leading her into the passage. When they reached the front door the
+barber put out his head to assure himself that the marquis was not
+within sight, then he opened the carriage door.
+
+"Come quickly," said he to Blanche, "get in; don't lose any time."
+
+Blanche darted into the street and stepped into the vehicle; her heart
+grew heavy as she found herself alone in it in the darkness of the
+night; but Touquet had already closed the door.
+
+"Good-by, my dear friend," she said to him, "I am going to rejoin
+Urbain, but I shall never forget you. All you have done for me is graven
+on my heart by gratitude."
+
+"Go on, go on, postilion," cried the barber, in a voice faltering with
+the emotions he experienced. At this moment two o'clock struck, the
+postilion cracked his whip, and the carriage which held Blanche started.
+
+"She is mine!" cried the marquis, and the barber hastily reëntered his
+dwelling.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE RENDEZVOUS. STROKES OF FORTUNE. THE HÔTEL DE BOURGOGNE. THE SEDAN
+CHAIR
+
+
+On taking his departure from the marquis' little house in the Faubourg
+Saint-Antoine, at daybreak, the Chevalier Chaudoreille did not feel
+entirely reassured as to the outcome of his duel with Turlupin, whom he
+believed to be a great personage; and whom, incredible as it may seem,
+he firmly believed he had slain; however, the idea that he was now the
+confidential agent of one so powerful as the Marquis de Villebelle,
+which gave him the right to claim that nobleman's protection if it
+should be necessary to him, gave him the courage to return to Paris,
+where he summed up the events of the preceding night and their probable
+consequences. The marquis had promised him a hundred pistoles if Blanche
+should happen to please him, and Chaudoreille was confident that he
+should have that sum; but should Touquet discover that it was through
+him that the marquis had learned of Blanche's existence, he would have
+everything to fear from the barber's anger. However, he did not forget
+his rendezvous for the evening.
+
+Forcing himself to banish all thoughts of the barber, and chinking the
+crowns which he had won from Marcel, he went into a wine shop, where he
+passed a great part of the day trying to obtain courage by emptying
+several bottles of wine. Towards evening he felt more enterprising, and
+returned to his lodging to iron out his ruff, renovate his complexion,
+dye his mustache and imperial, dust his shoes, and brush his hat; he
+then set out for his rendezvous, saying,--
+
+"Though she should possess the grace of a princess, I must not forget
+that I have to return this evening to the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, in
+order to receive a hundred pistoles from the marquis. Zounds! for a
+hundred pistoles I would leave the Sultan's favorite and all the
+odalisks of the Grand Turk."
+
+The day was waning; for the last half hour Chaudoreille had been
+strolling in the neighborhood where the old woman had accosted him the
+evening before, looking up at all the windows, having first carefully
+assured himself that the water carrier was not to be seen. Finally, the
+servant who had spoken to him previously issued from a
+respectable-looking house, and, as she passed near him, said in a
+whisper,--
+
+"Follow me, but do not appear to be with me."
+
+"Very well, Marton," answered Chaudoreille; and he followed on the heels
+of the old woman, so as not to lose her from sight.
+
+They entered the house; the servant mounted the stairs, put her finger
+on her lips and signed to Chaudoreille to follow her. The chevalier did
+so, but all of a sudden he seized the old woman's petticoat and stopped
+her, saying,--
+
+"Is your mistress married?"
+
+"Why?" asked the old woman, looking at him mockingly.
+
+"Why! by jingo! because some husbands have very little patience in an
+affair of this kind. Hang it! a stroke of the sword is soon given, and I
+can't throw myself thus into the wolf's den."
+
+"Are you not armed, monsieur? and if anyone should attack you, can you
+not defend yourself?"
+
+"Yes, I know how to defend myself," said Chaudoreille, going down some
+stairs, "but I have an infinite respect for the marriage vow, and,
+taking everything into consideration, I should prefer to take myself
+off."
+
+"Come I tell you, monsieur," said the domestic running after him, "my
+mistress is not married, and you have nothing to fear."
+
+"Well, by jingo! You should explain yourself, my good woman. My life is
+too precious for me to expose it with temerity. Come, Lisette, go up! I
+will follow you, but if you have lied to me, tremble!"
+
+The old woman paused on the second landing; she opened a door and took
+Chaudoreille into a pretty dining-room and from thence into a small
+well-furnished parlor, where she left him, saying,--
+
+"Wait here, I will go and tell madame."
+
+"Do not be long, for I am not fond of waiting," cried he, looking around
+him anxiously.
+
+Left alone he examined the apartment curiously, saying,--
+
+"It is pretty enough, it is all in very good taste; this is a woman of
+distinction. Come, Chaudoreille, you're in great luck. Don't act like a
+novice, but show some self-possession. Everything has come to me at
+once; fortune--money--love--I am sure that I shall finish by making my
+way. Oh, the deuce! here's a hole in my doublet! But I must pull my hat
+up in front, it will hinder me from seeing my princess; I feel in
+advance that I can adore her. But it's dark and they have left me
+without a light, that's very singular. My heart beats, this is certainly
+love."
+
+Here Chaudoreille raised his voice, saying,--
+
+"Besides, if anyone should dare to rub against me, Rolande has an edge
+and four men could not frighten me."
+
+At this moment the door creaked and opened behind Chaudoreille, who
+started back against a table, overturning several porcelain cups, as he
+exclaimed,--
+
+"Who goes there?"
+
+"It's me, monsieur," answered the servant. "I came to conduct you to
+madame."
+
+"Oh! that's right; but you left me without a light and I mistook you for
+a rat, of which I have a great horror. I would much rather fight with a
+lion than see only the tail of one of these little animals, but show me
+the way, my good woman."
+
+The servant led him through another room and opened a door into a
+handsome boudoir lighted by many candles; a young woman was seated on a
+sofa at the end of the room. The old woman retired. Chaudoreille, very
+uneasy in this tête-à-tête, to which he had looked forward, dared not
+look at the person with whom he found himself, and racked his
+imagination to find a compliment suitable for the occasion; but his
+Phoebus was stubborn, and nothing had occurred to him when he heard
+these words,--
+
+"Will not Monsieur Chaudoreille speak to his old acquaintances?"
+
+Struck by the voice, the little man raised his eyes and uttered an
+exclamation of surprise on recognizing Julia, the young Italian, who
+looked smilingly at him.
+
+"Can it be? Is it indeed you whom I see?" said Chaudoreille.
+
+"And what do you find so extraordinary in that, monsieur le chevalier?
+Did you think that the marquis would always leave me in his little
+house?"
+
+"No--undoubtedly not, beautiful lady--I do not know--but I was so far
+from expecting to see you," and he glanced tenderly at her, saying to
+himself: "I always thought that she loved me, behold me now the rival of
+a marquis; it's a tremendously ticklish position."
+
+"Be seated, Monsieur Chaudoreille," said Julia, who appeared for some
+moments very much amused by the embarrassment and the oglings of the
+little man. The latter, however, resumed his audacity, and was about to
+seat himself on the sofa beside Julia, but, by a gesture, the young
+woman indicated to him a folding chair, and signed to him to seat
+himself opposite her.
+
+"She's afraid of me," said Chaudoreille, seating himself on the folding
+chair, "she felt that she could not resist me and wished to defer her
+defeat. There's no need to hurry matters, my eyes can accomplish the
+business for me."
+
+"Can you imagine why I sent for you?" said the young woman, looking at
+him mischievously.
+
+"Why beautiful lady--I flatter myself, I presume there are some things
+that one divines when one lives in society."
+
+"And I think that you are mistaken," said Julia, assuming a serious
+tone, "and I will explain myself."
+
+"Mon Dieu," said Chaudoreille to himself, dismayed by Julia's change of
+tone, "Is she going to kill herself on account of me?"
+
+"I am the marquis' mistress; you are not ignorant of that fact."
+
+"Undoubtedly not, since I myself was the messenger of--"
+
+"Silence! do not interrupt me! If I do not seek to hide my frailty it is
+because, far from having yielded to interest or ambition, love only has
+caused my fall, and, in the eyes of a woman, love excuses many faults.
+Yes, I have loved the marquis for a long time. I had often seen him on
+the promenades, and in spite of all that I heard said about him, I could
+not resist the feeling which he inspired. My heart yielded itself to
+him. Be not astonished that I yielded so readily to your proposition. I
+flattered myself that the marquis shared the devouring flame which
+consumed me. I hoped to have enough strength not to show my love until I
+was certain of his. Alas! I counted too much on myself and it was very
+easy for him to persuade me that he loved me. Ungrateful man! the love
+which he swore to me has already given place to indifference, and I!--I
+feel that I love him more than ever."
+
+In speaking of the marquis, Julia became animated; her glance was fiery
+and her whole person indicated the violent passion to which she was a
+prey; Chaudoreille, much surprised at what he had heard, and almost
+alarmed at Julia's fate, drew his stool farther away as she grew warmer.
+
+"Yes," said the young woman who had apparently forgotten that
+Chaudoreille was there, and gave way to all her feelings; "yes, I shall
+always love you, fascinating Villebelle--this burning heart beats but
+for you! But I cannot bear your indifference; and if you should love
+another then my fury would know no bounds, and in your blood and that of
+my rival, I would revenge my outrage."
+
+"O my God! she wants me to stab the marquis," said Chaudoreille, and he
+tried to draw his chair still farther away, but, as it was now up
+against the wall, it was impossible for him to go any further, and he
+could only glance towards the door from the corner of his eye,
+murmuring,--
+
+"This is a fine rendezvous! That woman's possessed of the devil. I like
+my portress much better."
+
+Julia had ceased speaking, little by little she became calmer and
+resumed her ordinary manner, and, glancing at Chaudoreille, she could
+not prevent a smile on seeing him glued against the tapestry.
+
+"Come nearer! come nearer," she said to him, "that I may tell you what I
+desire of you. You are, you have told me, very intimate with the barber
+Touquet?"
+
+"Yes--mada--mademois--signora."
+
+"The barber is a man who habitually serves the marquis in his gallant
+intrigues; and I think that through him it would be very easy for you
+to learn if Villebelle has any new conquest in sight. Do you understand
+me?"
+
+"Yes, yes; I understand you perfectly."
+
+"Are you willing to serve me?--to inform me of all you can learn from
+the barber in regard to the marquis? and if you yourself should be
+employed in some love intrigues to come and impart to me immediately the
+plans which they have formed."
+
+"Yes, certainly. I consent with all my heart. Zounds!" added he to
+himself, "if she knew what I said to her lover yesterday, I shouldn't
+get out of here alive."
+
+"What are you trembling for?"
+
+"Oh, it's nothing, it's my nerves; that happens to me often."
+
+"Wait, take this purse; if you serve me zealously and faithfully, you
+will see that Julia is grateful."
+
+The sight of a well-filled purse somewhat restored Chaudoreille's
+resolution. He took the money, bowing nearly to the floor, and cried,--
+
+"From this moment, I am entirely devoted to you; dispose of my arm, of
+my sword, of--"
+
+"It is neither a question of your arm nor of your sword, it is of your
+eyes and your ears only that I have need. Be on the watch, make the
+barber talk, inform yourself of the slightest actions of the marquis,
+and come and give me an account of them. Let nobody have the least
+suspicion of you and that is all that is necessary to us. Go! and
+remember to inform me of the slightest circumstance if it has any
+connection with my love."
+
+"You shall be obeyed," responded Chaudoreille, bowing humbly. Julia
+rang, the old woman arrived, and, at her mistress' signal, led the
+chevalier to the door without saying a word.
+
+Once in the street, Chaudoreille breathed more freely.
+
+"Zounds!" said he, "here I am in intrigues up to my neck; Julia's agent,
+confidential man of the marquis, confidant of the barber, and, what is
+even more satisfactory, receiving money from all three of them. That's
+doing pretty well. Hang it! this purse is well-filled. Tomorrow I will
+clothe myself entirely anew. I shall get some flesh-colored breeches
+that will make me look like an angel! But I mustn't forget the most
+interesting item--the hundred pistoles that the marquis is to give me if
+Blanche pleases him--and I must go to the little house. O Fortune! you
+are treating me like a spoilt child, but it must be confessed that your
+favors are directed to a very adroit fellow."
+
+While making these reflections, Chaudoreille had taken his course toward
+the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, arriving at the little house at eight
+o'clock in the evening. He rang nearly as loudly as the marquis, and
+Marcel on opening the door to him said,--
+
+"You make as much noise as monseigneur."
+
+"Apparently it is because I have a right to do so," responded the
+Gascon, entering with an impertinent manner; then, striding across the
+garden, he went immediately into the dining-room and threw himself on a
+seat, saying,--
+
+"Has my friend, the marquis, been here since yesterday?"
+
+"Your friend, the marquis," answered Marcel, opening his eyes wide.
+
+"Why, yes, caitiff! Or the marquis, my friend, if that pleases you
+better."
+
+"Nobody has been here."
+
+"And has he sent nothing for me?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"I must wait for him then. Serve supper quickly for me, all that you
+have of the best, some of your oldest wines, some liqueur. Come! go
+about it, in place of standing and looking at me like a statue."
+
+"But what the devil is the matter with you?"
+
+"Marcel, no reflections, I beg of you, and, if you wish to keep your
+place, render yourself worthy of my protection."
+
+Marcel contented himself with smiling, then he laid the table and served
+the supper. Chaudoreille placed himself at table, Marcel did likewise.
+
+"Your conduct is a little familiar," said the chevalier to him; "but, as
+we are alone, I may as well allow you to seat yourself near me--"
+
+"That's very fortunate."
+
+"On condition that you serve me first, always."
+
+During supper, Chaudoreille chinked his money, counted his crowns,
+calculated what remained to him, and what he expected to receive. Marcel
+looked at him with surprise, saying,--
+
+"Have you inherited some money?"
+
+"Yes, I inherit like that very often. Zounds! if the marquis keeps his
+word with me, I shall be able to keep the pace."
+
+The supper lasted long; Chaudoreille was so much preoccupied by his
+affairs that he did not dream of playing; however, midnight had struck,
+he had received no message from the marquis, and the chevalier's hopes
+began to vanish. He sighed, listened and exclaimed,--
+
+"He doesn't come! If he should not have found her charming that would be
+very difficult for me. Zounds! in place of a hundred pistoles I should
+receive a hundred blows of a stick."
+
+As his hope diminished, his impertinence became tempered and he clinked
+his glass against Marcel's, saying,--
+
+"To your health my dear and true friend, for you are my friend. Don't
+talk to me about noblemen of the court, no one can put any faith in
+them; my good Marcel, what a good cook he is and what a pleasure it is
+to me to drink with him."
+
+"You don't think now that I did so ill in seating myself at the table?"
+
+"What! was I so unlucky as to say that to you?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Me,--could I have said such a stupid thing?"
+
+"Yes, there is no doubt of it."
+
+"I was tipsy then, I'd lost my senses."
+
+"I don't know what you had lost, but you said it."
+
+"Listen, Marcel! when I say such things as that to you, I give you
+permission to curse me."
+
+"That's all right, we'll speak no more of it."
+
+At that moment the bell of the gate was heard. Chaudoreille uttered an
+exclamation, half rose, and dropped on his chair again.
+
+"That will be monseigneur," said Marcel, taking a light, and he ran to
+open the door, leaving his guest divided between fear and hope.
+
+Marcel soon returned; he was alone, but he held a small roll which he
+placed on the table before Chaudoreille, and presented him with a paper
+on which somebody had written two lines in pencil, saying,--
+
+"Here is what monseigneur has sent you; read it!"
+
+Chaudoreille could not believe his eyes, he looked in turn at the roll,
+at the paper, and at Marcel.
+
+"Why don't you read it," said the latter to him.
+
+Finally, he took the paper with a trembling hand, and read: "I have seen
+her; you have surpassed my hopes and I double the promised recompense."
+
+"O my God, Marcel! he's doubled the hundred pistoles."
+
+"Then that makes two hundred; that is to say, that there is, in that
+roll, two thousand livres tournois in gold."
+
+"Two thousand livres!"
+
+"Well, what's the matter with you now?"
+
+"Marcel, give me a little vinegar, I beg of you. I don't feel very
+well."
+
+"It seems to me that a present like that should make you feel very well.
+Wait, drink a drop of brandy, that will put you in good shape."
+
+Chaudoreille, a little restored by the liquor, opened the roll, and the
+sight of the pieces of gold which it held deprived him for some moments
+of the faculty of speech. Finally, he murmured, in a voice faint with
+emotion,--
+
+"Marcel, all this belongs to me."
+
+"I know it, all right."
+
+"And then, there's this purse still; and these six crowns which I had
+left--"
+
+"Yes, from the game of piquet, yesterday."
+
+"And I am rich! Oh, it produces a terrible effect, my poor fellow, to
+pass all of a sudden from poverty to opulence. Alas! I shall suffocate!"
+
+"Drink a little more. My faith! if good fortune produces such an effect,
+I'd rather remain without a sou and breathe freely."
+
+"O Marcel, you're very stupid, my boy!"
+
+"I don't know at this moment which is the stupider of us two."
+
+"Two thousand livres! Who would believe that one could thus hold his
+fortune in the palm of his hand."
+
+"Hang it! one should hold it there as long as he can."
+
+"Marcel, do you know of any property for sale in the neighborhood?"
+
+"No, why do you ask that?"
+
+"It's very necessary that I should place my funds. What the deuce shall
+I do with all this! Come! after tomorrow, I shall set up my house, but
+first I shall leave my lodging in the Rue Brise-Miche and I shall take
+one near the cardinal's palace; I shall need a jockey. Marcel, will you
+be my jockey? No, in fact, you are too big. Ah, if it were not so late,
+I should visit some of the gambling houses; but I can't expose myself at
+night in this neighborhood with so much gold on me. What a figure I can
+cut in the gambling dens and at faro. I shall place first a louis on the
+card, I shall win, I shall double my stakes, I shall still win. I shan't
+take it up, I shall win ten times following, and I shall carry away a
+heap of gold. How can I spend all that. Oh, what an excellent idea! I
+can dine and sup twice every day, that will indemnify me for the times
+that I have had to fast."
+
+Marcel, whom fortune had not overwhelmed with her favors, went to sleep
+while Chaudoreille made his plans and counted his pieces of gold, but
+day dawned without the latter having closed his eyes, for, at the least
+sound, he started and carried his hand to his treasure, which he had
+rolled in his belt.
+
+Chaudoreille awoke Marcel and ordered him to go and find a sedan chair;
+but Marcel would not leave the house, under the pretence that he must
+obey the marquis' orders. Chaudoreille became very insolent again and
+shouted and threatened, but seeing that nothing would move Marcel, he
+took leave, and decided to return on foot to Paris.
+
+The little man felt larger by six inches since he had so much gold in
+his possession. He hardly looked at the passers-by, his nose seemed to
+threaten the heavens, and he was astonished that the sentinel on guard
+at the barrier did not present arms to him.
+
+After breakfasting as copiously as possible he walked to the palace
+which Richelieu had built, and on which he had lavished all that the
+luxury and taste of the time afforded to please the eye and to leave to
+posterity a monument worthy of the one who had erected it.
+
+Chaudoreille went into several shops, but he found nothing fine enough
+or fresh enough or brilliant enough for him. He ordered a doublet of
+rose-colored velvet slashed with white satin; breeches of a similar
+color; a cherry-colored mantle embroidered with silver and a fringed
+belt with golden tassels. These articles would take the larger part of
+his fortune; but as he was certain of breaking the bank at faro, he
+refused himself nothing, and within two days hoped to be arrayed like
+the most elegant nobleman of the court.
+
+Having ordered his costume, he went into one of the inns in the city,
+where he was served with a rich dinner and exquisite wines; and having
+already perceived that it was not so easy as he had believed to dine
+twice a day, which would be a very great resource for rich people who do
+not know what to do with their time, he tried to make his repast last
+twice as long as usual.
+
+At five o'clock in the evening, he finally got up from the table; his
+face flushed, his eyes brilliant, his legs a little unsteady, and left
+the inn. It was still too early to go to the gambling house, where the
+high players do not put in an appearance until towards nine o'clock, and
+to pass his time until then Chaudoreille decided to go to the play,
+which he had not visited for a long time. He therefore took his way
+towards the Hôtel de Bourgogne, which he preferred to the Théâtre des
+Italiens, because Turlupin, Gros-Guillaume and Gautier-Garguille, famous
+for the farces which they had played in their little Théâtre de
+l'Estrapade had obtained permission from Richelieu to play there.
+
+The theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne was situated in the Rue
+Mauconseil; the entrance was very narrow and the corridors very
+incommodious; the body of the house was composed of a pit and several
+tiers of boxes. When the court attended the theatre the courtiers
+carried their seats with them. Here were represented, following the
+privilege granted to comedians in January, 1613, all mysteries, and
+decent and amusing plays; presently, comedies, rather more elevated in
+tone than the usual buffooneries, were played there; and also some plays
+in which mythological divinities figured as characters, the poets of the
+day mingling the sacred and profane; but the low jokes and puns were
+what captivated and attracted the public.
+
+Chaudoreille entered the house and slipped into the pit, where everyone
+was standing, and where the fluctuations of the crowd often carried one
+from one corner to another. The chevalier found himself behind a very
+tall man and could not see the stage. In vain he drew himself up and
+stood on his tiptoes; he could see nothing except the backs and the wigs
+of his neighbors. He tried to protest, but everybody hushed him, for
+Gautier-Garguille appeared and was about to speak the prologue which
+preceded the piece. Listen to the buffoon, that you may have an idea of
+the style of prologue in use under Louis the Thirteenth.
+
+"Gentlemen and ladies, one thing I ought to say to you, and that is not
+to incline your ears to the symphony of this pastime as manual operators
+who do not coöperate with the nonsense; and do not treat it as a
+deluding music or voice, rather for the spoliation and express capture
+of your purses than to win praise from your ears; the field of my
+invention being so sterile that if it is not watered by the cordial of
+your kindness it is difficult for it to produce flowers worthy to be
+offered to you. Philippot will appear immediately, and he hopes, under
+the assurance of your indulgence, to make you laugh and cry both
+together, so that finally the moderation of one feeling shall temper the
+violence of the other. Gentlemen and ladies, I shall desire, I shall
+wish, I shall will, I shall demand, and I shall require, desideratively,
+wishfully, willingly, demandatively, and requireatively, with my
+desiderations and my requireations, etc, to thank you for your kind
+presence and attention to a little jovial and jolly farce which we are
+about to represent, before which I wish to make a large, small, wide,
+narrow, and spacious remonstrance, which will make you laugh."
+
+While Gautier-Garguille was delivering this bombastic nonsense,
+Chaudoreille was being tortured, pressed, pushed on all sides, and
+struck in the face by his neighbors' elbows; in addition to which he
+suffered much anxiety in regard to the safety of his purse. The little
+man had urgently begged them to let him go out, but nobody would listen
+to him. In his despair, and having immediate need of a little air, he
+adopted the plan of pulling the wigs of two of his neighbors to hoist
+himself to their height, but the wigs came off, and the heads of two
+respectable tradesmen of Paris appeared naked before the assembly. The
+two spectators who felt their wigs pulled off, cried,--
+
+"Thief! watch!" and Chaudoreille mingled his voice with theirs, crying,
+"Help." The play was interrupted and at last, Chaudoreille was
+discovered struggling among the legs of the spectators, and rolling on
+the floor of the pit with the two wigs, which he had not dropped.
+
+The two bald heads treated him as a thief; he returned the wigs and
+explained his conduct as well as he could; they put him out of the door
+of the pit, which was all that he wished. He mounted to the boxes and
+found a place in front and, from time to time, glanced angrily at the
+public.
+
+However, the piece was commencing. Turlupin and Gros-Guillaume were on
+the stage and Chaudoreille rubbed his eyes, saying,--
+
+"Why! by jingo! if I had not killed him, I should believe that that was
+the Prince of Cochin-China."
+
+Presently Gautier-Garguille reappeared; he had counterfeited the Gascon
+to a marvel, his costume was exactly the same as that of Chaudoreille
+and he had copied his manners and grimaces so well that the latter
+cried,--
+
+"Is it another self, I see?--can I have a double?"
+
+The comedian having seen his model in the box, saluted him and made
+faces at him; the spectators' eyes were turned on Chaudoreille, they
+recognized in the little man that they had chased from the pit the one
+whom Gautier-Garguille had copied, and the shouts of laughter redoubled.
+The chevalier perceived that they were mocking at him and was furious;
+he drew his sword and threatened the pit, because when one defies
+everybody together it is as if one defied nobody. The spectators laughed
+louder still, and Chaudoreille left his box, swearing that he would
+never again go to the Hôtel de Bourgogne.
+
+Arrived in the street, where some persons had followed him, he again
+gave way to his anger, exclaiming that he would punish the buffoon who
+had dared to copy him, that nobody could mock with impunity at a man
+like him, and that he would spend, if necessary, a hundred pistoles to
+avenge himself.
+
+While speaking thus, he drew out his purse, chinked his gold, took it
+out and put it back in his pockets, and finally exclaimed,--
+
+"Who will go and bring me a sedan chair!"
+
+Two men immediately went to execute this commission. While waiting for
+them to return, Chaudoreille promenaded before the theatre, swinging
+himself in the manner which he judged the most noble, and striking his
+belt every minute to make his gold pieces chink.
+
+The two men returned presently, they had obtained a chair, and would
+themselves have the honor of carrying Chaudoreille, or so they said to
+him on their arrival, exclaiming,--
+
+"Here, master! get in, master, you'll be pleased with us."
+
+Chaudoreille, whom nobody had ever called master, felt much pleased, and
+was about to bow low to the porters, but he restrained himself and
+darted into the chair, quivering with delight on the cushion which was
+at the bottom.
+
+"Where shall we go, master?" said one of them.
+
+"To Rue Bertrand-qui-Dort. You will see a lantern at the door of the
+house where I stop."
+
+"All right, master!"
+
+They closed the door of the chair, and Chaudoreille felt himself raised,
+and gently carried through the streets of Paris. It was the first time
+he had been in a chair. The pleasure which he experienced in being
+carried made him forget the disagreeable scene of the play. He reflected
+on his dazzling situation, and on the pleasure which he should taste in
+playing high, and laid new plans. However it seemed to him that he had
+been a long time in the chair, and the porters were still walking.
+Chaudoreille wished to know if he were near his destination. There was a
+very narrow little window on each side of the seat, but these windows
+could not be lowered. It was late, one could not see clearly in the
+streets, and Chaudoreille could distinguish nothing.
+
+"Are we almost there," cried he, leaning towards the front; nobody
+answered, and they continued to carry him. He began to think the motion
+of his carriage not quite so pleasant, he tried to open the door in
+front, the only vent by which one could leave a sedan chair, but that
+door would not open from the inside.
+
+A cold sweat bathed the little man's brow. He conceived a thousand
+suspicions, recalled divers adventures in which sedan chairs figured,
+and was bitterly repenting having taken one when at last he felt that
+they had stopped. He breathed more freely and prepared to descend, but
+after being deposited on the ground the chair was stood up on end, in
+such a manner that when they opened the door it was above Chaudoreille's
+head.
+
+"How do you think I can get out like that?" cried he, trying to climb.
+
+"Before coming out there is a little ceremony to be observed, master,"
+said the porters, in a jeering tone.
+
+"A ceremony, what is it, my boys?"
+
+"It is to give us all the silver and gold that you have about you. We'll
+relieve you of that."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"What is that you say? Scoundrels! Rascals!"
+
+"Come, do as we bid you and no noise, or that will be worse for you."
+
+As they gave this order, they flashed the blades of their swords before
+Chaudoreille's eyes, and he fell back in the bottom of the chair, unable
+to support himself. The two porters were obliged to draw him from the
+chair themselves. He glanced around him, but he was in a lonely, narrow
+road, surrounded by marshes, where nobody would venture so late. The
+robbers searched him, and despoiled him of all that he possessed, then
+they escaped with their sedan chair, leaving him lying beside a huge
+stone, half dead with fright.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+POOR URBAIN
+
+
+The morning after Blanche's hurried and unexpected departure, old
+Marguerite left her room at her usual time. The good woman had heard
+nothing; she had slept soundly, for it was long since the pleasures and
+the pains of love had caused her to suffer from insomnia. Her first
+movement on arising was to go to her dear Blanche's room to kiss her, as
+she was in the habit of doing every morning. She found the door of the
+room half open; but Blanche was not there, and the extreme disorder of
+the apartment, the bed which had been slept in but had not been made,
+the clothing spread upon the furniture, all indicated that some
+extraordinary event had taken place. The young girl had never left her
+room without Marguerite, and the latter called Blanche, and receiving no
+answer and alarmed at this departure from her customary habits, and
+perhaps by a secret presentiment, went downstairs to see if the young
+girl was with her master, but the barber was alone in the lower room,
+and then Marguerite said, in a frightened tone,--
+
+"O my God! where can the dear child be?"
+
+"What is the matter, Marguerite," said Touquet, who was prepared for
+this scene.
+
+"Blanche, monsieur, Blanche is not in her room. I have sought her vainly
+for a long time; someone has taken the dear child away from us."
+
+"Taken her away!" exclaimed the barber, pretending to be struck with
+astonishment. He immediately went to Blanche's room, followed by the old
+servant, who went as quickly as her legs would permit. After a search,
+which Touquet knew would be fruitless, he threw himself on a seat,
+crying,--
+
+"The wretch has fulfilled his threats!"
+
+"Who do you mean, monsieur!"
+
+"That man you saw here yesterday evening."
+
+"I believe you're right, monsieur, it can be nobody except him."
+
+"He was fascinated with Blanche, he ventured to ask her hand of me. I
+refused it to him and this is how he has revenged himself."
+
+"But, monsieur, you must know where this man lives. He had the bearing
+of a great nobleman. You can recover our dear child."
+
+"I have very little hope of it. This wretch assumed a brilliant costume
+in the hope of seducing Blanche, but he is a schemer without name,
+without a roof, without position."
+
+"A schemer," said Marguerite, looking at her master in astonishment;
+"but, monsieur, it seemed to me that he was the same friend that you
+were waiting for so late some time ago."
+
+The barber was for an instant rendered uneasy by Marguerite's remark,
+but soon recovering himself, he resumed,--
+
+"You are mistaken, it was not he; I forbid you to speak to anybody of
+that again."
+
+"And Urbain, monsieur,--that poor Urbain--when he comes here this
+evening--"
+
+"Urbain will unite his efforts with mine to recover her whom he was
+about to marry."
+
+The barber went out and Marguerite then gave free course to her tears.
+The good woman loved Blanche with a mother's tenderness. She could not
+bear to be deprived of her presence, and impatiently awaited Urbain's
+arrival; for it seemed to her that he would know better than anybody
+else how to discover and restore her lost darling.
+
+Touquet was absent during a large part of the day. On his return,
+Marguerite inquired as to the success of his search, but he answered her
+coldly,--
+
+"I have no hope of finding her." These words chilled the poor old
+woman's heart; she could not understand how anyone could be consoled at
+the loss of Blanche.
+
+The hour drew near when Urbain could recompense himself for the day's
+absence.
+
+"Only one day more," said he, as he approached the barber's house, "and
+she will be mine." He hurried, his heart palpitating with love, but on
+looking up at Blanche's window he saw no light, and this slight
+circumstance astonished him and rendered him uneasy; or rather a secret
+presentiment warned him of his misfortune, for, in love, presentiments
+are not chimeras.
+
+Urbain knocked and Marguerite appeared, but the grief depicted on her
+face, her eyes filled with tears, announced that something had happened.
+
+"Where is Blanche?" cried Urbain, looking fearfully at Marguerite.
+
+The old woman could only sigh deeply, but Urbain was no longer near her,
+he ran, he flew to the room of his beloved, but that room was deserted,
+its charming occupant was gone. Marguerite slowly followed the young
+man.
+
+"In mercy tell me," cried Urbain, "where is she? Hide nothing from me."
+
+"My poor boy, collect all your courage. Last night somebody carried off
+our dear child."
+
+Urbain remained motionless and overwhelmed, while Marguerite told him
+all that she knew. He listened without interrupting her, and seemed as
+if he could hardly yet realize his misfortune, but presently, dropping
+on Blanche's favorite seat, he yielded to the profoundest despair. The
+tears rolled down his face; at nineteen years of age one sheds them
+still in the troubles of life; one has not then that strength of mind
+which is later acquired in the school of misfortune.
+
+Marguerite tried to calm Urbain by saying to him,--
+
+"You will recover her, that dear child, for you are not capable of
+forgetting her, and coldly consoling yourself for her loss."
+
+"I forget her?" said Urbain, pressing the hands of the good old woman.
+"Ah, Marguerite, is not my life bound up in that of Blanche? I shall
+take no rest until she is with me again."
+
+"That's right, my dear Urbain, to hear you speak thus renders me
+hopeful; besides, our poor little one has with her a talisman, and that
+lightens my anxiety a little."
+
+"Tell me all the circumstances again; a man came here, you say?"
+
+"Yes, he said he was sent by my master, and came to speak to Blanche."
+
+"The scoundrel! and what did he say to her?"
+
+"Oh, he merely paid her some compliments. He spoke like a great
+nobleman, and he had the costume and bearing of one, although M. Touquet
+pretends that he is a wretch without position and without home."
+
+"He knows him, then?"
+
+"There's no doubt of it. I confess to you that I am afraid, although he
+did not have a wicked appearance, rather a look of pride, and an
+imperious tone. I was sorry at having opened the door for him, and
+Blanche, the poor little thing, trembled. But all this didn't last very
+long. He heard M. Touquet come in, and immediately the stranger took his
+mantle, saluted Blanche, and went down to monsieur. I followed him, but
+they sent me away, and I know nothing further."
+
+Urbain left Marguerite, he darted from the chamber and, in an instant,
+he faced the barber, whose cold and gloomy look contrasted with Urbain's
+excitement.
+
+"Well, monsieur, what have you learned? what have you done to recover my
+bride," cried he. "Speak! what do you know?"
+
+The barber, rendered rather uneasy by the vivacity of Urbain's
+questions, answered hesitatingly,--
+
+"I have made a thousand inquiries, I can discover nothing."
+
+"And this scoundrel who came here yesterday, who is he?"
+
+"I hardly know him. He sometimes came into my shop, for what purpose I
+do not know, and I swear to you that he must have heard of Blanche's
+beauty, for he had never seen her, and formed the idea of introducing
+himself to her."
+
+The barber appeared so sincere in pronouncing these words that Urbain
+repented of having suspected him.
+
+"Forgive me," said he, "for daring to think--but you would not make us
+unhappy. You have given me Blanche, you have been to her as a father.
+Oh, you will join with me, will you not, in endeavoring to find her
+ravishers?"
+
+"Yes," answered Touquet in a low tone, "I shall second you, I promise
+you."
+
+"And the name of that man, you must know it?"
+
+"I never dreamt of asking him his name. Yesterday, on my showing him
+immediately that his love for Blanche was a folly, he retired, making
+many threats to which I paid little attention."
+
+"Who could have given him the information which led him to wish to see
+her? and how could he get into Blanche's room?"
+
+"A few false keys would be sufficient for that, and in this city, you
+know, nobody is safe in his own house."
+
+Urbain remained silent for some moments and the barber avoided his
+looks; finally the bachelor exclaimed,--
+
+"Good-by, monsieur, I am going to seek for her whom you gave me to be my
+bride."
+
+"May you be successful," answered the barber in a gloomy voice, as
+Urbain abruptly departed, thinking of nothing but Blanche, but not
+knowing where to direct his steps.
+
+Urbain went first to the different gates of Paris; there he demanded if
+during the previous night anyone had seen a young woman pass, and gave a
+description of her. He was sure that everybody would notice Blanche, and
+that her charming features would fix themselves upon the memory; but he
+did not obtain the slightest information, they hardly answered him. His
+simple costume prevented their putting themselves out to oblige him, for
+in the good old times, as well as today, it was necessary to scatter
+gold in order to expedite any business.
+
+"If all these people could know Blanche," said Urbain, "they would not
+show so much indifference."
+
+Not daring to leave Paris without having some indication as to the way
+that he should take, Urbain continued to walk as chance led him in the
+capital, though the inhabitants had for some time retired to rest.
+Thieves, lovers, and soldiers of the watch, alone showed themselves in
+the gloomy streets of Paris. The young bachelor traversed many streets
+without meeting anybody, but he still walked on, saying,--
+
+"Why should I go in, I could not sleep, and what could I do with myself
+at home?"
+
+However, love and despair do not render one indefatigable. Urbain had
+been walking since eight o'clock in the evening, and it was now nearly
+three o'clock in the morning. His legs began to fail him, he felt that
+it would soon be impossible for him to go any further. He looked around
+him. The moon, which showed at intervals, allowed him to distinguish the
+junction of some lonely cross roads into which converged some lanes
+which led to the marshes. Urbain turned towards a large stone which he
+perceived some steps from him, for he thought he would there seat
+himself and wait for day, but as he reached the stone his feet struck
+against something which he had not perceived, and a voice immediately
+exclaimed,--
+
+"Oh, by jingo! don't kill me; I haven't a sou now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CHÂTEAU DE SARCUS
+
+
+The carriage which contained the unfortunate Blanche bowled steadily
+along for several hours, and in the excitement occasioned by this novel
+journey, the lovely child hardly remembered her former fears. After
+living in the most absolute retirement, shut up for years in a single
+room except at meal times, it seemed like a dream to find herself in a
+carriage in the middle of the night, and alone journeying into the wide
+world, she knew not whither. However, the noise of the wheels and of the
+horses' feet, mingled with the cracking of the postilion's whip, as he
+sought to increase the speed of his horses, which were already going
+like the wind, and the rocking of the vehicle as it swayed from side to
+side alarmed her very much and persuaded her of the reality of her
+situation.
+
+"I am going to see Urbain," said the trembling traveller to herself, "I
+am going to rejoin him; I should not give way to my fears, we are going
+to be so happy. Why, since we are about to be united forever, should I
+feel anything but pleasure at hastening the moment? But then, I had
+hoped to travel with Urbain and everything has turned out so
+differently. Poor Urbain, it's not his fault; but why did he fight? Oh,
+I am so anxious to be with him!--and Marguerite didn't even say good-by
+to me. It seems as though everybody had abandoned me."
+
+The sweet girl dried the tears which had moistened her eyes, then she
+looked out of the windows, but the darkness prevented her from seeing
+anything; she sighed and sank back in the carriage.
+
+"Where are we? I don't know, but it seems to me they are going very
+fast. Well, so much the better, I shall be the sooner with Urbain."
+
+As soon as day began to break, Blanche, who kept looking out of the
+windows, could partly distinguish trees, fields, and houses. Presently
+the mist was entirely dissipated, and the young traveller admired the
+glory of the dawn, and the varied scenes which seemed to fly before her.
+Soon the carriage rolled along a road bordered only by trees and hedges;
+the branches of some old trees from time to time brushed the top of the
+carriage, and this unexpected sound made the inexperienced traveller
+tremble. All of a sudden the view extended widely; the road was edged
+with meadows and rich fields. The laborers were already going to their
+work; already the furrows made by the plough could be seen, and the
+spade had newly broken the sweet-smelling earth. The trees were still
+bare of foliage, but the tips of the branches were reddened and about to
+break into bud. Everything announced the return of spring. Farther on
+they passed through a village, the early rising inhabitants of which
+could be seen at their doors or their windows, hastening to watch the
+carriage passing so rapidly. Contentment and health were pictured on the
+face of each peasant; it was their only ornament, for cleanliness and
+neatness are not distinguishing traits of the country people, whose
+children play on the manure heap, pell-mell with the ducks and geese.
+But nature is not always pleasing, and it is not in the outskirts of
+Paris that one must seek for the shepherds of Florian, the herdsmen of
+Bertin, the seductive villagers of our comic operas.
+
+Country scenes always please the pure and simple mind, and Blanche, as
+she passed the villages and farms, and hamlets, exclaimed,--
+
+"How delightful to live here, to walk, to run in the fields and in the
+woods! Oh, how happy I shall be with Urbain!"
+
+Indeed, the fields and the woods bore a more smiling aspect than the Rue
+des Bourdonnais, and the barber's gloomy house.
+
+The carriage did not stop; the postilions had orders to speed straight
+to the château, though the horses should die at the journey's end.
+Blanche did not know how far from Paris was Urbain's house and country,
+besides, she did not remember ever before being in a carriage, and it
+seemed to her that in moving so quickly they must have gone a very long
+way. About an hour after midday they passed through the pretty town of
+Grandvilliers, where a great number of manufactories afforded work and
+means to the inhabitants; but they did not stop there, and the carriage,
+turning to the right, crossed a wide plain and diverged towards a
+building which could be seen at a little distance, and which was justly
+called the wonder of the country side. It was the Château de Sarcus, of
+which the elegant façade could be discerned in the distance. Blanche
+perceived the château, but she was far from thinking that her journey
+would terminate there, though she gazed at that magnificent dwelling
+and, as the carriage rolled nearer, she could easily distinguish the
+sculptures and admire the work of artists who had surpassed themselves
+in order to merit the approbation of that gallant monarch, who
+patronized the arts as much as he admired beauty.
+
+At last they reached the front of the château, and the carriage, in
+place of passing, entered the confines of this handsome domain.
+
+"Well, now, what is the matter?" said Blanche trying to open the door.
+"This is not the place, this cannot be right; Urbain hasn't a big house
+like this--the coachman is mistaken."
+
+However, the carriage stopped in a spacious courtyard. A servant in rich
+livery opened the door, and with a respectful air offered his hand to
+help Blanche alight.
+
+"Oh, no, I don't wish to get down," said the innocent child, looking at
+the servant in astonishment, "this is not the place I was coming to;
+certainly they are mistaken, this is a château, it cannot be Urbain's
+house; besides, he would have been very prompt to meet me."
+
+"No, madame, they are not mistaken," answered Germain, the marquis's
+valet, who had arrived two hours before the carriage, in order that he
+might give instructions to the house porter, and have rooms prepared for
+Blanche. "Your journey terminates here, and everything is in readiness
+to receive you."
+
+"Here?" said Blanche, as she lightly stepped from the carriage, and
+looked around her in surprise, "but where is he?"
+
+"He has not yet arrived, madame," said Germain, who had received strict
+orders to name nobody and to answer the young girl in conformity with
+the ideas she had formed in regard to her journey.
+
+"What, he's not here yet? and I believe he started before me. He hasn't
+come here directly, then? Oh, I understand! fearing lest he be pursued,
+he has been obliged to hide and to make some detours."
+
+"That's it, I am quite sure," answered the valet, smiling, "and I don't
+think he can get here before evening."
+
+"Poor Urbain, how tiresome to have to wait until this evening."
+
+"If madame desires to follow me, I will lead her to the apartments which
+have been hastily prepared for her."
+
+"I'm not madame, my name is Blanche. We are not yet married, but as soon
+as he arrives I hope to be his wife. Show me the way, monsieur, I will
+follow you."
+
+The man entered a spacious vestibule and mounted a marble staircase,
+then he led Blanche through some superb galleries, along one side of
+which were windows of stained glass, while upon the other the walls were
+adorned with pictures representing the most pleasing mythological
+subjects. In viewing all that met her sight, Blanche could not restrain
+her astonishment. She paused and said to Germain,--in a voice which she
+tried to render still more touching,--
+
+"Monsieur, I beg of you, tell me the truth,--does this superb dwelling
+belong to him?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle, indeed this château does belong to him."
+
+"Ah, I thought it was a château! and he said he had only a little house,
+and this one appears to me immense; he must be very rich to have a
+château like this, and Urbain sometimes regretted that he had not a
+large fortune to share with me."
+
+"Perhaps he wished to surprise you, mademoiselle."
+
+"That was wrong of him; rich or poor I should love him just as much. Mon
+Dieu! how large it is, these galleries, these beautiful rooms, we shall
+be lost here; and how surprised Marguerite will be. Monsieur, are there
+cows and rabbits here?"
+
+"There shall be everything here that you desire, mademoiselle."
+
+"Urbain has promised me a beautiful cow, and I should like to milk her
+and to make butter and cheese, that would be so amusing."
+
+Germain turned away to hide his smiles, because the country taste of the
+young girl appeared very singular to the servant of the great nobleman,
+but soon he opened a door saying,--
+
+"This is the apartment which they have prepared for you, mademoiselle;
+if it does not please you, you will choose any other in the château and
+they will hasten to execute your orders."
+
+"Oh, I like this above everything," said Blanche, as she entered a
+richly furnished room, adorned with full-length mirrors, "It is very
+fine here," said she, examining the hangings, draperies and candelabras
+which ornamented the apartment. She then passed into a second room,
+decorated with the same sumptuousness, in which was a bed hung with silk
+curtains, with silver fringe.
+
+"If he were here," said Blanche, sighing, "all this would please me much
+better. And these windows, what do they look on?"
+
+Germain hastened to open the windows which were all provided with vast
+balconies. Blanche advanced, and could not restrain an exclamation of
+pleasure on perceiving a lake which bathed the walls of that part of the
+château in which her apartments were situated. The lake extended into
+the middle of a wide meadow, and finally lost itself in some rocks,
+where the water fell in a cascade into an immense basin. On the right of
+the meadows one could see woods and shrubberies, and on the other side
+the view extended itself, far and wide, over a country dotted with hills
+which afforded a charming landscape.
+
+"Oh, how charming it is," cried Blanche, "what a beautiful view!"
+
+"Mademoiselle can hardly have an idea of what the view is when the
+fields are covered with verdure."
+
+"But I should like very much to walk in all these places which I see, to
+run in those meadows and to go on that lake, whose waters bathe these
+walls and seem to me so pure."
+
+"That is very easy, mademoiselle, for the park belonging to this château
+extends as far as you can see. When you wish to visit the gardens, run
+about the park, or boat on the lake, I will hasten to attend you."
+
+"What! does all that I see belong to Urbain?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle, all that pertains to the château."
+
+Each word of Germain augmented Blanche's surprise. She could not
+conceive that her beloved could have deceived her so far. However, she
+had not the least suspicion of the treason of which she was the victim.
+The servant pulled the bell and a young country woman came into the room
+and awkwardly curtseyed to Blanche, who returned her salutation with
+good will.
+
+"Mademoiselle, this young girl is at your orders. She will serve you as
+chambermaid if you are willing to accept her services."
+
+"Oh, I can do everything for myself very well; I do not need anybody, I
+thank you."
+
+"In any case, Marie will come as soon as you ring. Mademoiselle must
+need rest after the fatigue of the journey; we will retire."
+
+"Yes, since he will not come until evening I will try to sleep a little.
+The time will seem shorter."
+
+Germain made a sign to Marie, who after having made two other curtseys,
+left, followed by the marquis' valet. Left alone in her new apartment,
+Blanche glanced around her with surprise. All that had happened to her
+since the evening before seemed like a dream. She paused before the
+furniture, the mirrors, and murmured, sighing,--
+
+"All this belongs to him, but why this mystery? He feared, perhaps, to
+be loved only for his fortune. Ah, dear Urbain, it is you only whom I
+love, and I should very quickly leave this fine château if it were
+necessary for me to dwell in it without you. But we shall be very happy
+here together, although it will be rather large for us two."
+
+Fatigued by her journey, Blanche threw herself upon the bed. Soon
+slumber closed her eyes, she rested tranquilly, believing that she was
+under Urbain's roof.
+
+It was four o'clock when the young girl awakened. Her first care on
+rising from the bed was to go and look at a clock on the mantelpiece.
+
+"Evening is still far distant," said she sighing, "and what can I do
+until then? It seems to me that I'm lost in this fine château. If only
+Marguerite were here, we could talk about Urbain, that would make the
+time pass quicker."
+
+In glancing about the chamber she perceived a little door which she had
+not remarked before; she opened it and found herself in a dressing-room
+where everything was gathered that could be agreeable to a woman of
+fashion, but Blanche looked indifferently at a handsome dressing-case
+furnished with rarely beautiful objects. In her plans for a happy future
+she had seen only a small farm, a stable, a dovecot, and a garden, and
+her mind could not become accustomed to replace it by the château. She
+left the dressing-room and returned to the first room, where she saw a
+table covered with all that could tempt the appetite.
+
+"How attentive they are," said Blanche, "really they treat me like a
+queen. Urbain must have told them to take every care of me."
+
+Blanche rang and Marie answered, but she was followed by Germain, who
+did not wish to lose sight of the chambermaid before the arrival of his
+master for fear she might inform Blanche of that which he still wished
+to conceal.
+
+"Was this table laid for me?" said Blanche.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle," answered Germain, "I thought you would need some
+breakfast. Excuse me if I offer you nothing but that, but not being
+forewarned--"
+
+"Nothing but that! You are laughing, no doubt. There is enough here to
+suffice ten persons, and at M. Touquet's we never had more than two
+dishes for our dinner."
+
+Blanche seated herself at the table. Germain remained at some distance,
+and Marie served her without opening her mouth, but curtseyed to her
+every time that she handed her a dish. So much ceremony fatigued the
+young girl, who was accustomed to a simple, frugal life. She soon left
+the table and evinced a desire to walk in the park. Germain immediately
+led her through a gallery and several passages to a staircase, at the
+foot of which was an entrance to the gardens. Blanche breathed more
+freely in the meadows than under the sculptured ceilings of the château.
+She left the borders of the lake, crossed a little wood and found
+herself presently in what was designated as the English park, of which
+the paths crossed each other and formed a thousand detours, but when
+Blanche turned she always saw Germain in the distance, who had never
+lost sight of her.
+
+"He's no doubt afraid that I shall lose myself," said she, "this is all
+so vast that it would be easy to lose one's way."
+
+Blanche returned to the château; Germain led her back to her apartments,
+and then asked at what hour she wished to dine.
+
+"I would much rather wait and sup with Urbain, for he will come this
+evening, will he not, monsieur?"
+
+"I think so," answered the valet, bowing, and he departed, leaving her
+sad and thoughtful, for these words, "I think so," did not seem positive
+enough for her. She stationed herself on one of the balconies which
+looked on the lake and there, her eyes fixed on the horizon, gave
+herself up to her thoughts, and invoked the night which should reunite
+her with her lover. Soon her eyes could not distinguish distant objects,
+a light mist seemed to rise and obscure the scene; presently the
+perspective diminished, the horizon dosed in; finally, she could see
+only a few steps before her, and Blanche left the balcony, saying,--
+
+"Night is here, he will come."
+
+Germain entered the room and lighted several candles.
+
+"As soon as he arrives," said Blanche to the man, "do not fail to tell
+him I am here--that I am waiting for him."
+
+"His first care will be to seek you, mademoiselle," answered the valet
+smiling, and he departed, inviting Blanche to ring if she should desire
+anything else.
+
+Had not Urbain's face been incessantly before the mind of the young
+girl, perhaps she would have experienced some fear on finding herself
+alone at night in a place which she hardly knew, in the middle of a room
+which seemed to her immense in comparison with the little room which she
+had occupied at the barber's, but love is the best remedy against fear,
+and the young girl, who would not go down into the cellar without
+trembling, although she had a light in her hand, would willingly go
+there without a candle were she sure of finding her lover. The clock
+struck nine.
+
+"He cannot be much later," said Blanche, "provided nothing has stopped
+him on the way, for M. Touquet told me he would be here before me."
+
+She sighed, and opening a window went on to the balcony to contemplate
+the reflection of the moon on the tranquil surface of the lake; she was
+astonished at the silence which reigned in the château, where everything
+seemed as still as the moonlit landscape. This profound quietude did not
+indicate the arrival of Urbain, and at that moment Blanche wished to
+hear some sound which would at least break the solitude of the night.
+She tried to console herself by saying,--
+
+"My rooms are probably distant from the entrance to the château; this
+house is so big I cannot hear what passes in other parts of it."
+
+An hour rolled by, and the uneasiness, the sadness, which had taken
+possession of the young girl caused her to pass alternately from her
+room to the balcony. Sometimes she opened the door of her room and
+ventured into the gallery.
+
+Joy and hope no longer animated her beautiful eyes, and she could hardly
+restrain her tears. At last she dropped into an immense easy chair and
+said in a broken voice,--
+
+"What new misfortune could have happened to him?"
+
+Suddenly a loud noise was heard. Blanche rose, listened, and thought she
+distinguished the sound of carriage wheels, the hoofs of horses, and the
+barking of dogs. Presently the opening and shutting of doors was heard.
+
+"He is come," cried the young girl, and she was about to pass along the
+gallery to go and meet her lover, but there was no light, she did not
+know the way and would become lost in all these immense rooms; it would
+be much better to wait for him in her own. She still listened. The sound
+of wheels had ceased, but she occasionally heard steps and voices.
+
+"Somebody surely has arrived," said Blanche. "It can be nobody but
+Urbain; but why does he not come to me?"
+
+She ran to the bell and pulled the cord several times. Nobody came.
+Greatly astonished at this, she was about to take a light and venture
+into the gallery when hasty steps approached.
+
+"Here he is at last," exclaimed she, running immediately to the door,
+and remaining motionless with surprise and fear on seeing before her the
+stranger who, on the preceding night, had visited the barber's house.
+
+The marquis paused on the doorsill. He bowed to Blanche with a look at
+once tender and respectful. The latter had hardly recovered from her
+surprise, and looked anxiously into the gallery, saying to the marquis
+in a touching voice,--
+
+"Is not Urbain with you?"
+
+Blanche's accents were so sweet, her voice expressed so much anxiety of
+mind, that Villebelle felt profoundly moved, and for the first time,
+perhaps, experienced some remorse at the pain which he was about to
+cause the young girl. Blanche repeated her question in a supplicating
+tone, and the marquis answered, turning away his eyes,--
+
+"I came alone."
+
+"O monsieur, in mercy tell me what has happened to him!" exclaimed
+Blanche, approaching the marquis and extending her arms towards him in
+her anxiety.
+
+Villebelle looked at her and in that moment the various feelings which
+agitated the charming child, rendered her still more seductive. Her eyes
+were more animated than usual, her lips, half opened, disclosed two rows
+of pearls, and her hair falling in disorder over her forehead, gave a
+new expression to her angelic face. The marquis felt his remorse vanish
+at the sight of so many charms. Habituated, besides, to treat virtue as
+a chimera and constancy as a folly, he flattered himself that he would
+soon be able to dissipate Blanche's grief, and now, wishing to undeceive
+her, he fell on his knees, saying,--
+
+"Deign to forgive me, lovely girl; this château belongs to me. You are
+not in Urbain's house, but in the house of a man who adores you and will
+use every means to promote your happiness."
+
+Blanche seemed as though she did not comprehend him; she looked at him
+affrightedly, repeating,--
+
+"I am not at Urbain's house? But, monsieur, where is he then?"
+
+"I'm not very uneasy about that, and I should advise him not to come
+here to seek you."
+
+"But it is with Urbain that I should be, monsieur. They were mistaken in
+bringing me here, I said so at the time; I knew Urbain could not have
+such a grand house. You are going to make them take me away immediately,
+are you not, monsieur?"
+
+"No, my dear child, it was I who caused you to be abducted and I will
+yield you to nobody."
+
+"Abducted?" she cried, "what are you saying? Urbain had fought a duel
+and had to flee, that is why I started in the middle of the night."
+
+"It was necessary to tell you that, in order that you might leave
+willingly."
+
+"O my God! could that be so? But, no, it was my protector, it was M.
+Touquet himself, who put me in the carriage."
+
+"Yes, adorable Blanche, it was your protector, it was the honest Touquet
+who aided my plans and gave you up to my love."
+
+The frightful truth flashed into her mind, her knees failed her, the
+color left her cheeks, and without uttering a single cry she was about
+to fall upon the floor. Happily the marquis received her in his arms, he
+laid her on the bed and rang the bell violently. Germain immediately
+appeared.
+
+"Call someone, call for help," said the marquis, greatly agitated, "she
+has lost consciousness. Is there not a woman here in the château?"
+
+"Pardon me, monseigneur." Germain called Marie, and the stout country
+girl came running.
+
+"Give all your care to this young girl," said the marquis to the woman,
+"and do not leave her for an instant. If she is long in coming to her
+senses, send me word."
+
+"Very well, monseigneur," said Marie, curtseying, and Villebelle left
+the room with Germain.
+
+The marquis, fatigued by his rapid journey from Paris, threw himself
+upon a lounge as soon as he reached his apartment, and while Germain
+relieved him of his travelling dress he inquired as to what Blanche had
+said and done since her arrival.
+
+"Monseigneur," said Germain, "she believed that she was at the house of
+M. Urbain, and following your orders I have not undeceived her."
+
+"She appears to love him more than I had believed," said Villebelle,
+sighing.
+
+"'Tis but the love of a young girl, monseigneur, a fierce fire, which
+soon burns itself out."
+
+"May what you say be true, but Blanche bears no resemblance to other
+women whom I have seen up to this day. There is about her a candor, a
+frankness, finally, a something, I know not what, which commands
+respect. I cannot explain to you the feeling with which she inspires me.
+Her tears sear my heart. I wish to win her love by the attentions which
+I shall lavish upon her. It will take some time, perhaps; but no matter,
+I feel capable of restraining my passion, of submitting to everything
+which she may exact of me. You see, Germain, that I am truly in love,
+for I no longer recognize self, and near Blanche I feel as timid as a
+child."
+
+"We must see if that will last, monseigneur."
+
+"Ah, you don't understand what I experience. Germain, you must start
+tomorrow morning for Paris; I will give you what money is necessary,
+and you will bring back everything you can find of the prettiest and
+newest in ornaments, stuffs, and jewels. Spare nothing, that we may find
+something to please Blanche."
+
+"Rely on me, monseigneur."
+
+"How many servants are in the château?"
+
+"The old porter, who never leaves his door, believing himself the
+guardian of a citadel; his daughter Marie, whom monseigneur saw just
+now, and who is the only woman I found at the château."
+
+"Is she capable of waiting on Blanche?"
+
+"Oh, yes, monseigneur, she's rather stupid, rather awkward, but very
+faithful and obedient. Her father answered to me for that; besides,
+Mademoiselle Blanche seemed to prefer to do without a chambermaid."
+
+"Well, go on."
+
+"The gardener, an old idiot, who knows nothing except plants. As to the
+country people whom we employ, they never come inside the house. Oh, I
+forgot, an old cook and cellarman, very drunken, so far as I can see,
+but he is never permitted to leave his kitchen and, in the absence of
+his masters, shuts himself up in the cellars."
+
+"That is well, but it is necessary to have some people here who can
+watch Blanche or else she will doubtless find some way to escape, if, in
+time, she should form such a plan, and I brought from Paris two lackeys
+who will acquit themselves perfectly in this employment. Ah, Germain,
+if I can only make Blanche love me, how happy I shall be; but I am
+anxious to have news of her, go down and call Marie, I cannot remain in
+this anxiety."
+
+Germain went down, but soon returned with the young peasant, who had
+already left Blanche.
+
+"Well, how is she?"
+
+"That young lady, monseigneur?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Oh, she returned to her senses some time ago, monseigneur."
+
+"And what did she say then?"
+
+"On my word, monseigneur, lots of things that I couldn't understand--Oh,
+wait, I remember, she asked me if you were master of the château, and as
+soon as I said 'Yes,' she began to cry."
+
+"She wept?"
+
+"Oh, yes, monseigneur, she did nothing else, and then she asked me your
+name."
+
+"What did you answer?"
+
+"Mercy, I said that you were called monseigneur le marquis."
+
+"She asked you no other questions?"
+
+"No, monseigneur."
+
+"And why did you leave her?"
+
+"Monseigneur, it was because she told me she would like me to leave
+her."
+
+The marquis signed to them to leave him. He did not wish anyone to
+witness the emotion which he felt. It gave him satisfaction to know
+that Blanche was within his walls, but the sorrow which she showed
+disturbed his content. He dared not go back to her yet, deeming it wiser
+to allow her time to recover from the first pangs of her grief. He threw
+himself upon his bed, but he could not sleep. The image of Blanche was
+incessantly before his eyes, and with her came the remembrance of the
+many errors of his youth which he wished in vain to drive from his mind.
+
+While Villebelle endeavored to account for his insomnia and agitation by
+attributing it to love, Blanche passed in tears that night which she had
+awaited with so much impatience. Convinced at last that she was in the
+power of the man to whom the barber had delivered her, she felt all the
+horror of her situation; but accustomed by Marguerite to put all her
+confidence in a Supreme Being, and to have no doubt of His power, she
+prayed and besought Heaven to reunite her with Urbain. Upon her knees,
+her hands raised toward Heaven, and her eyes bathed in tears, she passed
+part of the night, and morning found her still so occupied.
+
+Marie came to take her orders. Blanche wished for nothing, she desired
+nothing but her liberty, and, in answer to that request, Marie brought
+her breakfast. An hour later the marquis entered the room. Blanche did
+not see him; she was seated with her head supported by one of her hands
+and appeared absorbed in sorrow.
+
+Villebelle signed to Marie to leave them, and looked for some moments in
+silence at this young girl who had been, since the evening before,
+reduced to despair because she was pretty and had had the misfortune to
+please a rich and powerful man, who thought that she should be only too
+happy to be the object of his passion. However the change which had
+taken place in Blanche's features, her eyes reddened and still filled
+with tears, made a painful impression upon the great nobleman. He would
+have preferred reproaches rather than this silent grief. He drew nearer,
+that his victim might perceive his presence.
+
+Blanche raised her eyes and looked at the marquis, showing only a slight
+uneasiness, and let her head fall again upon her hand. Villebelle had
+expected complaints and reproaches. Surprised at this silence he took a
+chair, and seated himself near Blanche, who remained silent and
+continued to weep.
+
+"Are you so very unhappy then?" said the marquis at last, with emotion;
+and Blanche answered sobbing, but with the sweet tone which never left
+her,--
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"Can you regret the barber's gloomy house where you never had any
+pleasure?"
+
+"It is not the house that I regret, monsieur."
+
+"Here there is nothing to hinder you from being the most happy woman;
+all your desires shall be laws here, you shall have the most beautiful
+ornaments, the richest jewelry."
+
+"I don't wish for them, monsieur."
+
+"You will not always think so, my dear child. Formed to please, to
+attract homage, one day by your features and your toilets you will
+eclipse the most seductive ladies of Paris."
+
+"I don't understand you, monsieur."
+
+"Forget the years passed in retirement and commence a new life. This
+dwelling shall become a place of delight; parties and pleasures shall
+succeed each other here without interruption as soon as your beautiful
+eyes repay my efforts with a smile. The barber did not deserve your
+friendship; the wretch would not have brought you up had it not been for
+his interest to do so; you may dismiss all thoughts of gratitude from
+your heart. As to the young man to whom he wished to marry you, he is
+but a boy, somebody has told me, and will soon forget you."
+
+"Urbain forget me!" cried Blanche, starting convulsively. Then she said
+in a calmer tone, falling back in her chair,--
+
+"No, monsieur, Urbain will not forget me, for I feel sure I shall love
+him always, and our hearts had but a single thought."
+
+The marquis rose, greatly annoyed, and walked about the room. In a
+moment he said,--
+
+"It is, however, useless, mademoiselle, to nourish a sentiment which
+must henceforth be hopeless, for you shall never more see this Urbain,
+whom I hate without knowing."
+
+Blanche looked supplicatingly at the marquis, approached him and threw
+herself on her knees, saying, in a voice broken by sobs,--
+
+"Monsieur, what have I done to you that you should punish me like this?
+If, unknowingly, I have been guilty of any fault, forgive me, I beg of
+you, but do not separate me from Urbain."
+
+"Rise, I beseech you," said Villebelle, who yielded in spite of himself
+to the emotion which he felt. "No, you are not guilty, lovely girl, it
+is I, I alone; yes, I am a monster to make you shed tears. Ah, why did I
+ever see you--but you are so pretty!"
+
+"Monsieur, has any one the right to shut up a girl because she is
+pretty? If you punish me by shutting me up a prisoner in your château,
+that should be forbidden. Is it permitted to a great nobleman to torment
+poor people at his will? O my God! and the talisman which Marguerite
+gave me to preserve me from all danger! O poor Marguerite! if she only
+knew how unfortunate I am."
+
+"Oh, well," said he, leaning towards Blanche, "since you hate me, since
+I am only an object of dislike to you--"
+
+"I hate you!" said the innocent child, raising her sweet eyes to his.
+"Oh, no, monsieur, don't believe that; despite all the grief you have
+caused me, I don't know how it is, but I feel that I should like to
+forgive you, I feel that I could even love you."
+
+"You could love me, delightful girl," exclaimed the marquis, intoxicated
+by these words. "O heavens, she could love me and I was just about to
+consent--oh, never; rather would I die than lose you or yield you to
+another. You have given me a foretaste of so much happiness that the
+idea of it alone transports me. Blanche, Blanche, I shall do everything
+to merit the love which you allow me to hope for, but to renounce
+you--ah, that is henceforth impossible. I must leave you, that I may not
+see those tears which make me detest my love."
+
+Villebelle left precipitantly. Blanche looked after him in surprise,
+understanding nothing of the transport which he had shown. She was far
+from conceiving that she had riveted her chains in confessing to the
+marquis that she had a feeling of friendship for him. Her pure heart did
+not know how to feign, and the feeling which she wished to give to the
+marquis was so different from the love she had for Urbain that she saw
+no harm in allowing it to appear. But Villebelle did not know how to
+read this ingenuous heart. He imagined that Blanche was about to respond
+to his love, and did not doubt but that he should, in time, cause her to
+forget Urbain.
+
+The day rolled by without the marquis again approaching Blanche. The
+latter tried to summon her courage, but could not persuade herself that
+the marquis had any intention except to keep her prisoner, and she had
+recourse to her talisman, hoping by means of it to abridge her sojourn
+in the château. In the afternoon, Blanche asked Marie the way into the
+park, and the stout peasant hastened to lead her to the entrance, where
+she left her, making a curtsey. Despite her innocent air, the country
+girl understood that her lord was in love with the young damsel. Marie
+had remarked Blanche's red eyes, and heard her deep sighs, and, while
+leaving her, she said to herself,--
+
+"Zooks! if monseigneur was in love with me, that would not make me cry;
+far otherwise."
+
+Although she was alone in the park, Blanche did not even conceive the
+idea of seeking to recover her liberty. She did not know the way, and
+was ignorant as to what place she was in, and how far from Paris. She
+felt that it would be impossible to leave without again falling into the
+power of the marquis, and she resigned herself to wait until he should
+send her to her lover. She did not suppose the marquis capable of
+keeping her always a prisoner, and did not yet divine all the dangers
+which surrounded her in the château.
+
+Villebelle, learning that Blanche was in the park, hastened to join her
+there, and the young girl received him almost smiling, and although her
+features still wore a plaintive expression, she chatted with him on the
+objects which surrounded them, and answered him with her accustomed
+sweetness and grace. This conduct appeared so extraordinary to the
+marquis that he regarded Blanche with as much astonishment as love.
+However, far from emboldening him, he felt for her a most profound
+respect, and dared not speak of his love, and, not understanding the
+power which the child exerted over him, he remained for some time silent
+and thoughtful, walking at her side.
+
+The next day Marie carried into Blanche's room the things which Germain
+had brought from Paris; an infinite quantity of those charming nothings
+invented so that rich men may more easily spend their money. The stout
+peasant looked on each object with ecstasy, while Blanche hardly took
+the trouble to look at them.
+
+The marquis came to see his young captive, and perceived that she had
+not touched his presents.
+
+"Do you disdain that which I am so happy to offer you?" said he to
+Blanche.
+
+"I don't wish for any of those things," answered she, sighing. "I do not
+need all of these ornaments in order to please Urbain. What would he say
+if he saw me in them?"
+
+"Still thinking of Urbain? Have I not told you, mademoiselle, that you
+will not see him again?"
+
+"Yes, but I don't think you're so wicked as you wish to appear. How
+would it help you always to vex me so?"
+
+"Blanche, have you not confessed that you were not far from loving me?"
+
+"Yes, and I still feel the same. With Urbain and you I should be very
+happy."
+
+"May I not hope by the ardor of my attentions, my love, that I may cause
+you to forget a first fancy, and that I alone shall occupy your heart?"
+
+"You don't understand me, monsieur. I love Urbain as my lover, my
+husband; and you--I should like--I don't know, it seems to me that I
+could with pleasure call you my brother--or my father."
+
+This confession did not entirely satisfy Villebelle, but he hoped
+everything from time and the constancy of his attentions.
+
+Towards evening Blanche again went into the park, and as on the previous
+evening the marquis joined her. He walked near her, feeling his love
+increase every moment. The marquis could not recognize himself. This
+libertine, this seducer, who had triumphed over the most rebellious
+beauties, had become timid and fearful before a child who had no other
+safeguards than her innocence and her virtue.
+
+Twelve days had passed since Blanche had come to the Château de Sarcus,
+and had wrought no change in the situation. Every morning the marquis
+paid her a visit, but when, yielding to the grief which she experienced
+on being separated from him she loved, the sweet child allowed her tears
+to flow, the marquis left her abruptly. In the evening they walked
+together in the park, but often in silence or exchanging only a few
+words. Blanche dreamed of Urbain, and Villebelle, satisfied in being
+near her, had not yet conceived guilty designs.
+
+At the end of this time, a message from Paris apprised the marquis that
+his uncle was very ill, and desired to see him before he died.
+Villebelle, the sole heir of this relative, who was very rich, was
+obliged to go to him, and decided, although with regret, to leave
+Blanche for some days. He took Germain with him, but the men servants
+whom he left at the château had received their instructions; besides the
+sad Blanche had no idea of escaping. The marquis judged it better not to
+forewarn the young girl of his departure; and he left the château more
+in love than ever, and vowing to hasten his return.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE MEETING. PROJECTS OF REVENGE.
+
+
+We left our disconsolate young lover at the moment when he was about to
+seat himself upon a huge stone, and was arrested in the act of doing so
+by an exclamation uttered by an unseen man.
+
+The words pronounced by this individual have no doubt already caused the
+reader to recognize our Chaudoreille, who had remained in the place
+where the robbers, disguised as chair porters, had left him.
+
+Urbain was startled on hearing himself thus addressed, but being one of
+those persons who are insensible to fear, he calmly seated himself on
+the stone, saying,--
+
+"Pardon me, monsieur, I did not see you."
+
+Chaudoreille half rose, looked at Urbain, and began to feel reassured.
+Besides, what had he to fear now? His money was gone and his costume
+would not be likely to tempt robbers. Rolande, it is true, was still
+left him, for the thieves had perceived that in his hands the weapon was
+not dangerous.
+
+"By jingo! you woke me up, comrade; and I was having a delightful dream.
+I still had the two thousand livres of gold in my pockets, when I
+awakened to the sad reality. O thousand million mustaches! The thieves,
+the scoundrels! they have taken everything from me. I've had a fine
+experience; I don't own so much as an obole. O death! O fury! O
+despair!"
+
+Chaudoreille again threw himself upon the ground, and pulled two or
+three hairs from his mustache. Feeling that this would not restore his
+crowns, he quieted himself, and again looked at Urbain, who was sighing
+deeply, and appeared to pay no attention to the despair of the despoiled
+man.
+
+"What the deuce! this is a taciturn fellow," said the Gascon to himself;
+and then he again addressed Urbain.
+
+"I'll wager that you have been robbed, also, comrade. This town is
+indeed infested with thieves and bandits; one is safe only in the midst
+of a patrol, and yet one can't be proud of the watch. It was that cursed
+theatre brought this misfortune upon me; those wretched comedians at the
+Hôtel de Bourgogne dared to mock at a gentleman of my race. Ah,
+Turlupin, my friend, I'll get even with you. Tomorrow I'll lay a
+complaint before the criminal magistrate, and I'll put you and
+Gautier-Garguille in a dungeon. But, alas, that won't restore my two
+hundred pistoles. I'll wager you haven't as much on you, comrade--hey?
+By jingo, you sigh as though they had despoiled you of the towers of
+Notre-Dame. Were you robbed in a sedan chair?"
+
+A deep sigh was Urbain's only response; then he murmured to himself,--
+
+"Alas, I have lost her forever!"
+
+"I was sure he'd lost his purse," said Chaudoreille, "or rather, that
+some one had taken it from him. Did you lose it in this neighborhood,
+comrade?"
+
+Urbain looked at him in surprise, then he said,--
+
+"I don't know where she can be. I have been running all over Paris since
+eight o'clock, and I have learned nothing."
+
+"If you only had a lantern, that would help you--was it very large? If
+we recover it full, comrade, you must share it with me. That's
+understood."
+
+Urbain rose and seized Chaudoreille by the throat, and holding him
+tightly to the ground, exclaimed,--
+
+"Wretch! do you dare to insult my sorrow? If I should listen to my
+anger--"
+
+"O mercy! do not listen to it, I beg of you. Ugh, I can't bear it any
+longer. What the devil sort of man are you? Did you come from the
+Château de Vincennes? Because I offer to help you look for your lost
+purse, you try to strangle me!"
+
+"My purse? what, you were talking about money?"
+
+"How could I talk about anything else after having had so much of it as
+I have."
+
+"Excuse me, monsieur, I didn't understand you."
+
+"I'm beginning to see that; but, by jingo, we were nearly choked, that
+is to say, you choked me. What a grip you have, it's like mine when I
+hold Rolande. It appears that it's not money you've lost, then?"
+
+"O monsieur, would to heaven it were! I would give all I possess to
+recover her whom I adore--she who was about to become my wife!"
+
+"Poor simpleton," said Chaudoreille to himself, "it's on account of a
+woman that he's lamenting thus. He doesn't know what it is to lose two
+hundred pistoles, without counting the small change. But since he's not
+been robbed, I'll try to make him useful--if I could replenish my
+pockets by helping him to find his lass!"
+
+The chevalier rose, and seating himself on a stone near Urbain, said to
+him, in a feeling voice,--
+
+"Tell me your troubles, young man, I'm the protector of everything in
+nature that suffers--in consideration of a slight gratuity; but I never
+charge anything, trusting to the generosity of those whom I oblige."
+
+"What could you do for me, monsieur? I have not the least trace of the
+abductors, nor of the route they have taken. Oh, I feel that courage
+has abandoned me."
+
+"What a thing to say, young man! Courage should never leave you. For
+shame!--in all the phases of life it is courage which makes us equal the
+gods, who, in truth, should not fear death itself, since they are
+immortal. But to return to you. If you have money it is always a
+resource. I shall help you to find your sweetheart; two of my friends
+are detectives, that is to say, they operate as amateurs for the good of
+humanity. Tell me in what neighborhood did the little one live?"
+
+"In the Rue des Bourdonnais, with the barber Touquet, who brought her
+up."
+
+"At the barber's? Rue des Bourdonnais--and your sweetheart is named
+Blanche?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, do you know her? Oh, pray tell me."
+
+"One moment, one moment, my young friend. Hang it! this is an event for
+which I--give us your hand; by jingo, you're very fortunate to have met
+me."
+
+"What! can you help me to find Blanche?" and Urbain threw himself on
+Chaudoreille's neck.
+
+"This young man is the one Blanche was going to marry," said the Gascon
+to himself, as he disengaged himself from Urbain's grasp. "It appears as
+though the marquis had already carried the little one off; but he has
+paid me, I have nothing more to hope for from him; so I must turn to
+the young lover's side. However, I shall be prudent and not let him
+know who I am, nor what I have done in this intrigue."
+
+Urbain pressed Chaudoreille to explain himself, and the latter answered,
+in a mysterious tone,--
+
+"I am acquainted with neither Blanche nor the barber, but one of my
+friends goes often to Touquet's shop. I remember now that he has often
+spoken to me of your approaching marriage."
+
+"That's singular! M. Touquet advised the greatest secrecy, and he
+himself--"
+
+"But, you see, some one must have spoken of it, since I know it. But a
+man of high rank, a great nobleman, was in love with your promised
+wife."
+
+"A great nobleman! what is his name?"
+
+"I don't know yet, but I shall learn it."
+
+"And you are sure of this?"
+
+"Oh, very sure; and it must be this nobleman who has taken away your
+sweetheart."
+
+"I entreat you to let me know his name."
+
+"Tomorrow, that is, to say, this evening, I hope to learn it. But be
+prudent, young man, and do not compromise me. I expose myself to great
+risk in thus helping you."
+
+"Monsieur, you may count on my gratitude."
+
+"I will count on it, you may be sure."
+
+"And I may expect the information this evening?"
+
+"Yes; be near the Porte Montmartre at nine o'clock this evening. Take
+care to bring along with you all the money you can get together, and I
+will tell you all I have learned."
+
+"Enough! Oh, that evening were here--"
+
+"And, while waiting for it, I shall have need of some crowns to give to
+the friend of whom I spoke to you, and my pockets are empty because I
+have been robbed so much."
+
+"Here is all that I have upon me, monsieur; take it, I beg of you."
+
+"Very willingly, my young friend," said Chaudoreille; "but day is
+dawning; we must part until this evening, at the Porte Montmartre."
+
+"Oh, I shan't fail to be there, monsieur."
+
+"And don't forget anything I have told you. Good-by; I'm going to work
+for you."
+
+Chaudoreille departed, and Urbain, slightly restored by the hope
+imparted to him by this man, went to his dwelling that he might there
+wait for evening.
+
+While walking alongside the Pont-Neuf, the Gascon said to himself,--
+
+"It seems to me that the marquis did the business very quickly. The
+little one is abducted; this rascal of a Touquet is in connivance with
+the marquis, I am certain. I must be audacious now; the marquis is
+incapable of speaking of me; I must go to Touquet's house without
+appearing to know anything, and see what he will say to me; besides,
+from prudential motives I shall remain in the shop, and the first angry
+movement that I see him make, I will spring out of the door and draw a
+hundred people around me."
+
+This plan settled, Chaudoreille began by going into the first
+eating-house which he saw, and, for fear of being again robbed, ate and
+drank to the extent of all the money which Urbain had given him. It was
+nearly ten o'clock when he left the table. This was the time when the
+barber's was always the most crowded, and it was the moment which
+Chaudoreille chose to go there. Before he went into the shop, he
+ascertained that Touquet was not alone; then he presented himself, and
+wished him good morning with a wheedling air. The barber answered in his
+customary tone. Nothing in his manner indicated that he had any
+suspicion, and Chaudoreille was reassured. However, when they were alone
+he did not lose sight of the door, while asking indifferently if there
+was any news.
+
+"Everything is finished," said the barber, "they are married, they are
+gone, and I hope I shall hear nothing further."
+
+"Oh, they are married," said Chaudoreille, compressing his lips, "the
+little one has a husband. Her little lover?"
+
+"Why, of course," answered Touquet, brusquely. "What is there surprising
+to you in that?"
+
+"Me? By jingo! I'm no more surprised than a fly."
+
+"Wait, here is what I promised you. I intend shortly to sell this house,
+and to retire from business. I have no further need of your visits; you
+have no more music lessons to give here, so you need not take the
+trouble to come again. Good-by, I will make you a present of all the
+shaves for which you owe me."
+
+"Very much obliged, my dear friend, may I be able to prove all my
+gratitude to you some day."
+
+So saying, Chaudoreille passed through the doorway, and departed from
+the barber's house.
+
+"He forbids me to return to his house," said the Gascon. "That's very
+polite. The rascal is afraid that I shall meet the marquis there. The
+latter probably ordered him to share with me the gratuity he gave him on
+receiving the pretty little sweetheart at his hands; but patience! if
+you are a scoundrel, my dear Touquet, I flatter myself that I am also an
+adroit enough chap. I have no desire to return into your hornets' nest.
+Come, Chaudoreille, we must show some genius here, my friend. I must set
+to work to repair last night's losses and to make my fortune over again.
+Devil take me, though, if I ever again take a sedan chair. First I'll go
+to the little house in the Faubourg and learn from Marcel if it was
+there that the marquis led Blanche; after that I shall come back into
+Paris and go to our jealous Italian's house; there I shall tell her all
+about it,--I shall tell her all about it! She'll go into convulsions
+over it. Finally, I'll keep the appointment I made with the young lover,
+and after having made him pay me well, I'll tell him all that I know.
+After that each one of them may win out of it as they best can. As for
+me, as soon as my pockets are full, I shall settle myself in a faro
+house, and I will there dare fortune in the midst of players and
+bankers. By jingo! what a pleasing prospect."
+
+While laying these plans he took his way towards the Faubourg
+Saint-Antoine. He arrived all out of breath at the little house, and,
+while opening to him, Marcel asked him if by chance he had again killed
+a strange prince.
+
+"Not today," said Chaudoreille, affectionately squeezing his friend's
+hand, which made the latter presume that his great fortune was already
+dissipated.
+
+"Have you come for the purpose of buying a house in this neighborhood,"
+said Marcel.
+
+"There's no more question of that; I have been robbed, my friend,
+completely robbed. I took a sedan chair and the wretches who carried me
+took me into a den and put a dozen or fifteen men after me. Valor could
+do nothing against numbers; I think, however, that I killed three or
+four while defending myself. But let us drop that. Tell me, my dear
+Marcel, has the marquis brought here a new conquest?"
+
+"I have seen neither monseigneur nor anybody from him."
+
+"Marcel, you're lying."
+
+"I'm telling you the truth. There's no one except me in the house."
+
+"The devil! that upsets my ideas a little. You are very sure that you
+are not lying to me?"
+
+"Why, hang it! if there had been anybody here I should have sent you
+away before this."
+
+"Do you know if your master possesses any other little properties on the
+outskirts of Paris?"
+
+"I know nothing except to follow the orders which he has given me, to
+eat and to sleep; for the rest I'm neither curious nor a gossip."
+
+"You're very wrong, you'll never push yourself. Good-by, Marcel."
+
+Chaudoreille took his way back to Paris, extremely dissatisfied that he
+had not discovered where Blanche was. Not wishing to go to Julia's house
+until he had learned more, he decided to make some inquiries at the
+marquis' hotel.
+
+The brilliant Villebelle's hotel was worthy of its master, and was
+situated at a little distance from the Louvre. Chaudoreille slipped into
+an immense court and bowed low to the porter, while asking if
+monseigneur was in Paris.
+
+"Monsieur le marquis is in England," said the porter, looking at
+Chaudoreille from the height of his grandeur, and the latter, seeing
+that he had no way of entering into conversation with the proud
+guardian, left the hotel, saying to himself,--
+
+"In England? Does he wish to seduce the little one with plum pudding? My
+faith! I've done all that I can. Come now, let's go and tell the
+beautiful Julia all that I know. It's not more than five o'clock, I
+shall have plenty of time to keep my appointment."
+
+Chaudoreille ran to the young Italian's house, where a servant opened
+the door.
+
+"Is your mistress in?" said he.
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"Is she alone?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"Go and inform her that the Chevalier Chaudoreille has something of
+great importance to communicate to her."
+
+The domestic returned shortly, and immediately took Chaudoreille to her
+mistress. Julia was walking up and down her room, deeply agitated.
+
+"I was waiting for you," said she to the chevalier, signing to him to be
+seated.
+
+"You were waiting for me, signora?"
+
+"Yes, for I have not seen the marquis since I spoke to you. Never yet
+has he been so long without coming and I do not doubt but some new
+intrigue is the cause of his abandonment of me."
+
+"Alas, signora, you have divined the truth only too well.
+
+"Then I have been betrayed," cried Julia, making a movement of fury,
+while Chaudoreille went to seat himself at a respectful distance,
+putting Rolande across his knee.
+
+"What did you expect, signora? Men are--men. The marquis did not know
+how to appreciate your grace, your charms, your--"
+
+"Hold your tongue, and tell me immediately all that you know."
+
+"She wants me to hold my tongue and yet speak," answered Chaudoreille,
+rolling his eyes affrightedly.
+
+"The name of my rival? Answer me, wretch."
+
+"It's this way, signora--but I beg you let me tell you that by order--"
+
+"The name of my rival, I tell you," resumed Julia, approaching
+Chaudoreille furiously. The little man, trembling in all his limbs,
+muttered,--
+
+"Blanche, an orphan, a young girl whom the barber was caring for."
+
+"The scoundrel! I should have known it."
+
+"Blanche was to have been married today to a young man whom she loved
+and who adored her. The barber had given his consent. I don't know by
+what chance monsieur le marquis came to see the young girl, but he must
+have fallen in love with her and abducted her, for the night before last
+she disappeared, and I strongly suspect my friend Touquet of having
+aided monseigneur's plans. At all events, the little one is not at the
+Faubourg Saint-Antoine; I have been there and the marquis is not in
+Paris, since I come from his hotel, where they told me he was in
+England."
+
+Chaudoreille told all this without taking breath, fearing that Julia
+would do him some ill if he did not hasten his story.
+
+"This voyage to England is a falsehood," cried Julia.
+
+"I thought so myself."
+
+"The marquis has taken the young girl to one of his châteaux."
+
+"That is probable."
+
+"But to which one? That's what we must discover."
+
+"I'm of your opinion, that's what we must discover."
+
+"Perhaps this young girl is still in Paris."
+
+"That might very well be. This city is a gulf, a young girl could be
+lost here like a piece of six liards."
+
+Julia reflected for some moments, and Chaudoreille remained silent,
+waiting till she should speak that he might echo her words. The young
+woman walked up and down the room; one could perceive by the trembling
+which had possession of her that it was only by a great effort that she
+restrained her fury. Finally, she stopped before Chaudoreille, and said
+to him,--
+
+"You think, then, that this Blanche does not love Villebelle?"
+
+"I think that, at least, she does not yet love him, since she had never
+seen him."
+
+"How can you be certain of that?"
+
+"In fact--you are right, I'm not certain of it at all."
+
+"Tell me everything that you know in regard to this young girl, how long
+she has lived at the barber's and his motive for adopting her."
+
+Chaudoreille told Julia the same story that he had told the marquis, and
+she listened to him with the greatest attention. When he had finished
+she fell into deep thought, and Chaudoreille dared not disturb her.
+
+"Touquet is a scoundrel," said Julia, "I have known it for a long time,
+but I wish now to obtain proofs of his crime, and if, in fact, it is he
+who has given Blanche to the marquis, he should tremble."
+
+"That's right, crime must be punished," and Chaudoreille added to
+himself, "If she would only hang him, I should not have to fear him any
+longer."
+
+"Is that really all that you know?" asked Julia.
+
+"Oh, forgive me, signora; in the ardor of my zeal I forgot to tell you
+that by the greatest chance, I met Blanche's lover tonight. The poor
+devil was seated on a stone, and I was seated on the ground; I had been
+despoiled by bandits, who, by the way, have robbed me of the fruits of
+three years of economy and privations, which I was carrying to a
+savings bank. The unfortunate love to talk of their troubles; we chatted
+and he told me that he was searching for his future wife. I didn't wish
+to tell him that I strongly suspected the Marquis de Villebelle of being
+the abductor of his sweetheart, before seeing you; but I gave him a
+rendezvous for this evening at nine o'clock."
+
+"Very good, go to this rendezvous and bring this young man to me."
+
+"You want me to bring him to you, signora?"
+
+"Yes, bring him to my house; we will plan together, we will unite our
+efforts; he that he may recover his mistress, and I that I may punish
+the ungrateful man who has abandoned me."
+
+"Indeed, that's very sensible, in acting together, you will hear more
+and do more. I will go to the rendezvous then, and I will bring young
+Urbain to you. Ah, by jingo! I haven't yet taken anything today and I am
+afraid that I have no money about me."
+
+"Wait, wait, take that," said Julia, "serve me faithfully and do not
+spare that gold."
+
+"For fidelity I'm a veritable spaniel," said Chaudoreille, putting the
+purse in his belt. "I will go to an eating-house, I shall have time to
+eat a little and take a glass of spirits; then I will go to the Porte
+Montmartre and bring our lover to you immediately."
+
+Chaudoreille hurriedly left; when he was in the street he counted the
+money that was in the purse and said to himself,--
+
+"Really, if the young lover gives me as much more I shall be in
+possession of a nice capital again, without counting the small change;
+for this Julia is a mine of gold waiting to be explored."
+
+At nine o'clock he was in the neighborhood which he had indicated to
+Urbain, but he did not find the young bachelor there; which surprised
+him after the desire which the latter had evinced to see him again
+promptly. Chaudoreille walked up and down, being careful to hold his
+purse in his hand and to keep away from chair porters. However, ten
+o'clock had struck and Urbain had not come. The chevalier struck his
+foot impatiently, muttering,--
+
+"Plague take all lovers! they're always half fools; this one may have
+misunderstood me and is perhaps waiting for me at the Porte Saint
+Honoré, while I am waiting for him here. If I only knew his address;
+this is a nuisance, by all the devils."
+
+Poor Urbain had understood very well, and in going into his lodging at
+daybreak his only desire had been to see the moment of his appointment
+arrive. But who can foresee events. We are but sorry creatures, and yet
+we form great plans for the future.
+
+    Today belongs to us;
+    Tomorrow, to nobody.
+
+Today, even, does not always belong to us entirely. Hardly had he
+reached his room when Urbain felt a shiver run through all his body;
+attributing this indisposition to the fatigue of the night, he got into
+bed, hoping that a few hours' rest would restore him to his usual
+health, but nature had not so ordered; a high fever ensued, and delirium
+took possession of the young man who, since the evening before, had
+entirely yielded to despair. The young neighbor who had assisted him in
+disguising himself, established herself at his bedside to watch; because
+she had a friendly feeling for Urbain, and because women are always
+ready to prove their friendship in pain as well as in pleasure.
+
+This was the reason why Chaudoreille waited fruitlessly by the Porte
+Montmartre. Finally, at half-past ten, deeming it unwise to wait longer,
+he returned in a very ill-temper to the young Italian's house, who,
+seeing him alone, exclaimed,--
+
+"Why did you not bring him with you?"
+
+"By jingo! because I didn't see him."
+
+"What do you say?"
+
+"I say, signora, that I have vainly watched for him since nine o'clock;
+Urbain did not come to the place of meeting."
+
+"How vexatious! and you haven't his address?"
+
+"No, if I'd had it I should have gone to his house. What the deuce could
+have prevented his coming?"
+
+"Perhaps he has discovered Blanche's retreat; no matter, we shall find
+this young man again. Chaudoreille, tomorrow at daybreak place yourself
+in hiding near the barber's house; watch all his movements, if he goes
+out follow him, and should the marquis go to see him, run and let me
+know. For my part, I shall go and watch the Hôtel de Villebelle; it is
+more than probable that the marquis will repair there shortly. By
+watching the movements of the marquis and the barber we shall discover
+where Blanche is hidden, and then I shall know what I ought to do."
+
+"Your orders shall all be executed," said Chaudoreille, bowing to Julia
+as he left.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LITTLE CLOSET AGAIN
+
+
+A week had elapsed during which Julia had spent almost her whole time in
+loitering around the Marquis de Villebelle's hotel; she had not gained
+much by this however, for all that she could be sure of was that
+Villebelle was not there. Chaudoreille, for his part, had made no better
+progress; he was very sure that the marquis had not been to the
+barber's, and the latter kept very closely to his shop, rarely leaving
+home except to go to his customers' residences. What most surprised
+Chaudoreille was the fact that since he had watched he had not once seen
+young Urbain go to the barber's house nor had he encountered him in his
+prowling about the streets. He was ignorant of the fact of which the
+reader is well aware, that the young bachelor was still kept in bed by
+fever, and that the impatience and grief which had caused his illness
+had greatly retarded his convalescence.
+
+Julia whose proud and haughty spirit could not endure the situation in
+which she found herself, keenly desired to wreak her vengeance on the
+lover who had betrayed and abandoned her, and Villebelle being still
+absent, she charged Chaudoreille to take her place in the neighborhood
+of the hotel, and stationed herself in the Rue des Bourdonnais;
+Chaudoreille accepted this change with great pleasure, delighted to
+leave the neighborhood of the barber's house. The young woman did not
+intend merely to watch Touquet's dwelling, she wished to introduce
+herself there, to talk with Marguerite, to learn from the good old woman
+all the details of Blanche's disappearance. Julia was courageous and
+enterprising; she was Italian, and she wished to revenge herself; and
+thus possessed three times as much as was necessary to compass her ends.
+
+She was not afraid of Touquet, but she readily felt that it was only in
+his absence that she could hope to speak to Marguerite, and she formed
+her plan in accordance with the information which she had received in
+the neighborhood, in regard to the old servant. Towards evening, Julia
+saw the barber leave his dwelling. As soon as he had departed, she went
+and knocked at the door of the house. Marguerite was disconsolate at
+having no news of her dear Blanche, and what completed the despair of
+the good old woman was that she could hear nothing of Urbain. When she
+uttered the name of Blanche before her master he ordered her to be
+silent in a severe tone, and it was only in solitude that she dared to
+give way without constraint to her grief.
+
+"Who is there?" asked Marguerite, following her custom.
+
+"Someone who brings you news of Blanche," answered Julia.
+
+On hearing her dear child's name, Marguerite unhesitatingly opened the
+door; she had, besides, recognized a woman's voice, and grief had
+rendered her less fearful than formerly. Julia entered; she was wrapped
+in a black mantilla, larger than those in use among the Spaniards, and
+wore a cap of the same hue, from which two black feathers fell
+gracefully on her left shoulder. This costume, her decided step, and the
+animation which sparkled in her black eyes, gave to the whole person of
+the young Italian, a strangely fantastic distinction, but Marguerite did
+not notice all this, and exclaimed on seeing her,--
+
+"Have you brought me back my dear Blanche?"
+
+"Not yet, but I shall make every effort that you may soon see her again.
+In order to do this it is necessary that I should talk with you; take me
+to your room."
+
+"But my master has forbidden me to receive anybody," said Marguerite,
+who began to regard Julia more attentively.
+
+"Your master has gone out."
+
+"He may come in at any moment."
+
+"I know how to avoid him. You are very much afraid of him, are you not?"
+
+"He's so strict."
+
+"Come, my good Marguerite, don't let the fear you feel for the barber
+make you forget your dear Blanche. Upon the conversation which we shall
+have together, upon the information which you will give me, depends
+perhaps the success of my enterprise."
+
+"Oh, to see my darling girl again, I feel that I would dare everything!
+Come, madame, follow me."
+
+Marguerite went up to her room, followed by Julia, who closely
+scrutinized everything that she saw. While the old woman placed her lamp
+on the table and drew up some chairs, Julia took off her mantle; she
+wore beneath it a red robe, and in a black belt which surrounded her
+waist, she had stuck a little stiletto with an ebony handle.
+
+This combination of red and black, which, following the old woman's
+chronicles, had always been the costume favored by magicians, the weapon
+which glittered in Julia's belt, all united to inspire Marguerite with a
+secret terror. She looked uneasily at the young woman and murmured,
+while offering her a seat,--
+
+"May I know, madame, who you are, and where you have known my poor
+Blanche?"
+
+"Who I am," answered Julia, smiling bitterly, "has no connection with
+the motive which brings me here. What does it matter, in fact, who I am,
+provided that I am willing to help you find the one for whose loss you
+are grieving, and that I have the power to do so."
+
+"The power," repeated Marguerite, who began to be afraid of a private
+conversation with one who frequented witches' sabbaths, "Oh, you have
+the power?"
+
+"As to your dear Blanche, I do not know her, and I have never even seen
+her."
+
+These words greatly increased Marguerite's terror, but Julia continued
+without paying any attention to it,--
+
+"Listen to me, good woman, my personal interest leads me to seek
+Blanche. The one who abducted her was everything to me, I adored him, I
+would have sacrificed my life for him, and the ungrateful man has
+forgotten me. Do you understand now, the motive which has caused me to
+act?"
+
+"Oh, I breathe more freely," said Marguerite, "yes, madame, I
+understand; this seigneur who came here is perhaps your husband. Alas!
+that does not astonish me, men are truly most unaccountable creatures."
+
+"Tell me all that you know, good Marguerite."
+
+Marguerite told her of the marquis' visit and of all that he had said.
+
+"He had never seen her before that day?"
+
+"Never, I can certify to that."
+
+"And you left the marquis with the barber?"
+
+"The marquis? was he a marquis then? Well, I had my doubts about it."
+
+"Please answer me."
+
+"Yes, madame, my master ordered me to go, and I left him with this
+marquis."
+
+"And what followed?"
+
+"I went to bed, madame, and I think that my dear Blanche did the same."
+
+"That wretch Touquet was in league with the marquis. It was he who
+delivered up to him that young girl."
+
+"What do you say, madame? do you think that my master?--"
+
+"Is a scoundrel!"
+
+"Speak lower, I beg of you; if he should come in, if he should hear you.
+But you are mistaken, madame, my master had consented to Blanche's
+marriage to Urbain."
+
+"The better to hide his plans."
+
+"Poor Urbain, I never see him; no doubt he is still looking for our dear
+little one."
+
+"Where was Blanche's chamber?" said Julia, looking curiously around her.
+
+"On the first floor looking on the street, madame. Since she came to
+this house she had occupied no other."
+
+"It was to this house that she came, then, with her father who was
+murdered?"
+
+"Yes, madame."
+
+"Were you then in the barber's service?"
+
+"No, madame, I didn't come here until three years after."
+
+"Where does your master sleep?"
+
+"Directly underneath this. This is why, if he should come in, I am
+afraid that he would hear us speak."
+
+"Have you always had this room?"
+
+"No, madame, I formerly had the one above Blanche's, and I liked it much
+better than this gloomy chamber, which has been unoccupied for a long
+time, and which I believe was formerly the dwelling of a magician named
+Odoard."
+
+Julia arose and for some moments walked silently about the room. All of
+a sudden she exclaimed,--
+
+"Oh, if these walls could only speak!"
+
+"In fact," said Marguerite shaking her head, "I believe that we should
+learn some terrible things; a tier of tags, a sorcerer."
+
+Julia seemed to be thinking deeply when they heard the street door shut.
+
+"O my God! here is my master, I am lost," cried Marguerite; "he has
+expressly forbidden me to receive anybody."
+
+"Keep still, he shall not know that I am here. Does he sometimes come up
+into your room?"
+
+"No, but--good Saint Margaret--if he should discover--"
+
+Julia put a finger on her mouth, as a sign for the old servant to be
+silent. Presently the barber was heard calling Marguerite; who was
+trembling so that she did not know how to stand.
+
+"Tell him that you are going down," said Julia.
+
+Marguerite approached the door, then, thinking she heard her master
+coming upstairs,--
+
+"Here he is--he'll see you," said she to Julia.
+
+"You must hide me."
+
+"Wait, I had forgotten it--quick--quick--in this closet."
+
+Marguerite ran to her alcove, passed behind the bed, opened the little
+door hidden by the tapestry, and Julia, as quick as lightning, entered
+the closet. The old servant shut the door on her, took her lamp and
+hastened to go downstairs. Her master was in the lower room.
+
+"You were very slow in coming down," said the barber, looking at
+Marguerite.
+
+"Monsieur, at my age one cannot move quickly."
+
+"Has anybody been here during my absence?"
+
+"No, monsieur, nobody."
+
+"Urbain, perhaps?"
+
+"I assure you I haven't seen him."
+
+"Chaudoreille?"
+
+"No, nor him either."
+
+The barber asked for what he needed and then made a sign to Marguerite
+to retire.
+
+"Is monsieur going to stay up late?" asked she.
+
+"What does that matter to you?" asked Touquet looking sternly at her,
+"I've already told you that I hate curious people as well as gossips."
+
+"That's true. I'm going to bed, monsieur."
+
+The old woman regained her room, closed the door carefully, and then
+went to release Julia, who had remained without a light in the little
+closet.
+
+"Come, madame," said she, "come, you needn't stay in there now."
+
+"A moment," said Julia, taking the lamp from Marguerite's hand, "I
+should like to examine this place."
+
+"Oh, mercy! you will find nothing curious there. We went into it once,
+Blanche and I--"
+
+"There is a door here," said Julia holding the light to the wall at the
+back.
+
+"A door? do you think so? We didn't see it, but then we only remained
+for a moment and without a light."
+
+Julia tried to open the door which led to the staircase, but she was not
+successful.
+
+"This door is closed from the other side," said she, "it must
+communicate with some secret passage."
+
+"What does it matter to you, madame? Come, I beg of you."
+
+"It matters greatly to me. Oh, if I could acquire some proof to undo
+him."
+
+"Proof of what, madame?"
+
+"It's impossible to force this door."
+
+Julia lowered the lamp and examined the floor to see if she could
+discover a trap door, while Marguerite remained at the entrance to the
+alcove to listen if her master should come up.
+
+"What is in this big chest?" said Julia.
+
+"It is empty, as you see. I don't know what use it is here, I shall burn
+it some day."
+
+Julia stooped and lifted the chest, the better to examine it, then she
+thought she saw some object on the floor. She carried her light there,
+and found that it was an old portfolio of brown leather, which seemed to
+have been hidden beneath the chest, and appeared to have been there for
+some years, for the dust was thick around it. Julia uttered a joyful cry
+and seized the portfolio.
+
+"What is it?" said Marguerite, "what have you got there?"
+
+"Something tells me that in this portfolio I shall find that for which I
+am looking."
+
+"This portfolio? O my God! where was it, then?"
+
+"Silence--come, let us shut this door again."
+
+Julia left the closet, shutting the door, and when she had replaced the
+lamp on the table, hastened to examine the portfolio and the papers
+which it held. Meanwhile, Marguerite, still uneasy, remained listening
+near the door, but while doing so she watched Julia, whose features
+expressed the most lively agitation. Suddenly a cruel joy flashed in
+the young Italian's eyes, and she dropped on a seat near the table,
+exclaiming,--
+
+"I shall be avenged."
+
+"But who can that portfolio belong to?" said Marguerite.
+
+"To an unfortunate man whom your master murdered."
+
+"Murdered! ah, madame, what are you saying?"
+
+"Yes, everything proves it to me. This was the chamber in which he was
+lodged, because the secret passage would assist the murderer in the
+perpetration of his crime. The unfortunate man had, no doubt, visited
+this closet, and, without divining the misfortune which awaited him, had
+judged it prudent to hide under the chest his portfolio, which contains
+the proofs of an important secret."
+
+"Ah, you make me shudder, madame."
+
+Julia continued to examine the papers. Joy, surprise, hope, vengeance,
+were expressed in turn on her face.
+
+"At last his fate is in my hands," exclaimed she, "perfidious man, to
+have betrayed me; tremble lest I inflict upon you torments more cruel
+than those you have made me suffer. And you, his odious accomplice, I
+will see that the marquis knows the monster who has assisted him in his
+amours."
+
+Tremblingly Marguerite listened to Julia. The latter put back the
+papers in the portfolio and carefully hid it in her bosom, then resuming
+her mantle she prepared to depart.
+
+"And Blanche," said the good old woman, "you have not told me more about
+Blanche, madame."
+
+"Reassure yourself," answered Julia in a solemn tone, "Blanche's
+condition will now be changed, you will see her again. Good-by, my good
+woman, keep the closest silence in regard to the portfolio; Blanche's
+fate depends upon it."
+
+"Fear nothing, madame."
+
+"I'm going down without a light; Touquet should be in his room by now."
+
+"If you should meet him?"
+
+"I will not make the least noise."
+
+"But it is necessary that I should go with you to open the door."
+
+"You need not, I can open it myself."
+
+"There is a secret in opening it. O my God, for a mere nothing I would
+go with you from this house. All that you've said about my master makes
+me shudder, and since my dear child is no longer here I find this
+dwelling very gloomy."
+
+"It's very necessary that you should remain here in order to give me, as
+well as Urbain, information in regard to all that the barber does.
+Before long, good Marguerite, you shall be happier, and reunited to your
+dear Blanche."
+
+"Oh, may all that you say prove true."
+
+"Open your door; I don't hear the least sound on the staircase; let us
+hasten."
+
+The old woman groped her way down, Julia followed her; they arrived at
+the foot of the stairs and were about to enter the alleyway when the
+barber, coming brusquely from the corridor which led to the lower room,
+met them, bearing a light in his hand. Marguerite uttered a cry of fear;
+the barber quickly held the light against Julia's face.
+
+"Well, do you recognize me?" she said to him in an imperious tone.
+
+Touquet started with surprise, but forcing himself to restrain his
+anger, he answered,--
+
+"You, at my house, madame! and what did you come to seek here?"
+
+"Some news of Blanche."
+
+"Of Blanche?"
+
+"Yes, that astonishes you! you did not suppose that I knew this young
+girl? You believed that the Marquis de Villebelle could yield to his new
+passion without my knowing the object of it, without my learning that
+you were still the confidant of his amours."
+
+Touquet's eyes blazed with fury as he said to Julia,--
+
+"Jealousy has disturbed your reason, madame. If your lover has left you
+is it to me that you should betake yourself? Why should you suppose that
+the marquis is the abductor of a young girl whom he has never seen?"
+
+"Your falsehoods are useless. I know a great deal more than you think.
+If you should see the marquis before I do, advise him to hasten to
+restore Blanche to Urbain. If by your perfidious counsels he should
+become guilty of--he would be the first to punish you for your crime. As
+for me, you will see me again; I also have a secret to reveal to you."
+
+Thus speaking, Julia walked towards the door. The barber made a movement
+as if to stop her, but she turned and her hand still grasped her
+stiletto. Turning on Touquet a terrible look, she rapidly left his
+house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE STORM BREWS
+
+
+Too greatly agitated by what she had learned to retire and compose
+herself to rest, Julia several times during the night reperused the
+papers contained in the portfolio which she had found at the barber's,
+and she busied herself in forming new plans and meditating other
+projects of vengeance. The sleep she had defied did not once greet her
+eyelids, and dawn found her seated before a little table on which the
+portfolio was lying examining again a letter which she had taken from
+it.
+
+At this moment, however, the bell rang thrice, and Julia hastened to
+lock the papers into their receptacle, and presently Chaudoreille
+entered her room.
+
+"Well," was Julia's brusque greeting to the chevalier, "what have you
+learned?"
+
+"Thanks to my assiduity I am at last enabled to bring you some important
+news," cried the little Gascon with a self-satisfied air. "For the past
+forty-eight hours I have not budged from before the marquis' hotel,
+minutely examining all who came or went."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, indeed! The marquis has returned."
+
+"He is here?"
+
+"Yes, signora, at his hotel. I saw him arrive this morning in a
+travelling carriage."
+
+"Very well, I shall see him, I hope."
+
+"What orders have you to give me now? Where is it necessary for me to
+go? I am ready."
+
+"You have not yet seen this young Urbain?"
+
+"Alas, no, I'm of the opinion that the poor boy is dead from love; he
+was as thin as a cuckoo. I don't see what could have prevented his
+coming to our rendezvous."
+
+"Return to the hotel. I tremble lest the marquis should leave without
+our knowing it, and in order to recover Blanche it is important that I
+should know the least step that Villebelle takes."
+
+"That's very right. I'll return then to my post."
+
+"Take this gold, but redouble your zeal; hasten; if you are tired, take
+a chair."
+
+"I, take a sedan chair? I would much rather crawl all the way there.
+Don't disturb yourself, signora, my legs are always at my service."
+
+Chaudoreille gone, Julia seated herself at her desk and prepared to
+write, but suddenly, throwing the pen far from her, she rose,
+exclaiming,--
+
+"It's urgently necessary that I should see him, that I should speak to
+him; I will go to his hotel."
+
+She immediately rang for her maid, and began to make her toilet. Despite
+the uneasiness she experienced, her mirror was often consulted, and she
+neglected nothing that would add to her charm. This important task
+accomplished, Julia sent for a sedan chair, and was carried to the
+marquis' dwelling. On entering the immense court of this magnificent
+hotel, the young Italian could hardly master her agitation.
+
+"What does madame desire?" said the porter.
+
+"To see the Marquis de Villebelle."
+
+"Monseigneur returned from England only this morning, and as yet
+receives nobody."
+
+"It is absolutely necessary that I should speak to him."
+
+"That is impossible."
+
+"Go, at least, and tell him that the Signora Julia desires to see him
+immediately."
+
+The porter sent a lackey with this message, who soon returned, and said
+to Julia, with an impertinent air,--
+
+"Monseigneur cannot receive you, and begs you to leave the hotel."
+
+Julia could not swallow this affront; she looked furiously at the valet
+and abruptly left. Arrived at home she went to her desk and wrote the
+following note to the marquis,--
+
+     You refuse to see me; it depends, however, upon me to render you
+     the most happy or most unhappy of men. I know that you are
+     Blanche's abductor. Respect that young girl. Hasten to listen to
+     me; I still wish to forgive you, but at some moments I listen to
+     nothing but my fury.
+
+The letter written, she entrusted it to a faithful man, and awaited his
+return with the most lively impatience. The messenger at length came and
+brought an answer from the marquis. Julia seized it, and hastily read
+the following,--
+
+     My little Julia: your sweet note made me laugh a good deal; I find
+     nothing more pleasing than those women who threaten us with their
+     fury. The only vengeance which a woman in your situation can take
+     upon a man is to deceive him,--and God knows whether you would use
+     this means; but it is necessary, in order that the charm may work
+     effectually, that it should be taken while he still loves you,
+     without which it fails of its object. Your reign is past, my dear
+     friend. You undoubtedly did not think to captivate the Marquis de
+     Villebelle for long, and I sent you a check on my banker to settle
+     the account. I do not know who could have told you that I had
+     abducted a certain Blanche; once more, what does it matter to you?
+     Am I not entitled to abduct ten women if that pleases me. Believe
+     me, you had better not disquiet yourself about my actions or give
+     yourself the further trouble of writing to me, for your letters
+     will be returned to you unopened. Good-by, hot-head, I wish you a
+     faithful lover, since you hold so much to fidelity.
+
+Julia remained motionless, the letter was still in her hands, but she
+did not see it; one thought alone occupied her, the thought of
+vengeance, she seemed to give herself up to it with delight.
+
+"You will have it, will you?" said she, "I will not hesitate longer."
+
+However, the marquis was very much surprised that the young Italian
+should know who had abducted Blanche, and as soon as night came he
+wrapped himself in his cloak and went to the barber's house. Touquet
+himself opened to the nobleman, for the events of the night before and
+the fear which she had experienced seemed to have paralyzed old
+Marguerite, who was unable to leave her room.
+
+"You here, monseigneur?" said the barber, with surprise, "I imagined
+that you were at your château, all taken up with your new love. Can it
+be that Blanche is already forgotten?"
+
+"Forgotten? Why, I love her more than ever. But I was forced to come to
+Paris for some days, though I hope soon to return to Sarcus; each moment
+that I pass away from Blanche seems to me a century. However, I have not
+yet succeeded, and the remembrance of her Urbain--but let us come to the
+motive which has brought me hither. How is it that Julia knows that I
+have abducted Blanche? how could she have come to know this lovely child
+whom you kept with so much care?"
+
+"You find me as much surprised as yourself, monseigneur. This young
+Italian had the audacity to introduce herself into my house yesterday
+evening; she presented herself, so my old house-keeper tells me, as
+bringing news of Blanche, but really she came to gather the details of
+her flight."
+
+"She came also to my hotel; I refused to see her; she wrote to me, she
+threatened me. My fate is, said she, in her hands. You may imagine that
+I only laughed at these threats as inspired by the jealousy and spite of
+a woman. However, there's something very singular to me about it all."
+
+"Wait, monseigneur, I believe I have a glimpse of light. Who informed
+you yourself that there was a charming young girl in my house?"
+
+"Hang it! you recall it to my recollection. It was an original, a little
+man whom I found at my house in the Faubourg, hidden under a statue, and
+who pretended to have helped in the abduction of Julia."
+
+"Chaudoreille?"
+
+"It's that same."
+
+"I should have divined it; there's no doubt of it, it was he who told
+Julia that you had abducted Blanche. If he should happen to know Urbain,
+I should not be astonished if he has told him also."
+
+"The little clown! I paid him well enough for everything."
+
+"After having caused the abduction, he does his best to help someone to
+find Blanche."
+
+"Truly, that is not so very stupid; this is a boy who follows in your
+footsteps; but if you meet him, I recommend him to you. Give him a good
+beating."
+
+"Be easy about that, monseigneur."
+
+"For the rest, they may do what they please, they cannot snatch Blanche
+from my hands. This young girl has more power than all of them put
+together; one tear from her could, I feel, change all my resolutions.
+When I see her beautiful eyes turned towards me with a supplicating
+look, I am often about to sacrifice my love and to restore her to him
+whom she regrets, in the hope of at least obtaining her friendship."
+
+"O monseigneur, what folly! Why, Blanche is in your power, and you are
+going--"
+
+"No, no, she must belong to me; henceforth for me to separate from her
+is impossible. Besides, has she not told me that she is disposed to love
+me?"
+
+"Come, monseigneur, pull yourself together. They will say that you yield
+to the threats of this little Julia."
+
+"My uncle is very ill, perhaps he will not last through the night. I
+shall soon return to Sarcus, then I will not again leave Blanche, I will
+listen to nothing but my love."
+
+"With women, monseigneur, that causes everything to be forgiven."
+
+Since the barber knew that the marquis suspected where he had obtained
+his fortune, he believed that it was for his interest to lose sight of
+Blanche. If Villebelle dreamed of reëntering the path of honor, Touquet
+could no longer feel easy as to himself.
+
+The marquis regained his hotel. As he had foreseen, his uncle expired
+during the night, leaving him immense wealth; which would lead one to
+think that fortune does not show her preference to those who make good
+use of her favors. But someone answers to that, that fortune does not
+make happiness; it is, therefore, necessary to console the unhappy a
+little.
+
+A week sufficed the marquis to settle his affairs. At the end of that
+time he prepared to return to Blanche, to whom he carried presents of
+every kind, which were carefully packed in the travelling carriage.
+
+Chaudoreille, who was continually on the watch about the hotel, saw
+these preparations for departure, and ran to tell Julia.
+
+"Enough," said the young Italian, "I have long been prepared for this,
+and I have bought two good horses. You shall come with me."
+
+"To the end of the world; I am devoted to you."
+
+"I do not think that we shall have to go very far, we shall have nothing
+to do but follow the marquis' carriage."
+
+"I understand you."
+
+"You can ride a horse?"
+
+"Perfectly; however, I prefer donkeys, they don't trot so fast."
+
+"Idiot! can one hope to follow a post-chaise on an ass? Make all your
+preparations."
+
+"They are made. I have my wardrobe upon me; as to my purse, yesterday
+evening I had some cursed ill-luck while you relieved me at the hotel. I
+didn't remain in the gambling-house longer than between five and ten
+minutes, and I had well calculated my play; well, I can say with Francis
+the First, I have lost everything but honor."
+
+While Chaudoreille rattled on, Julia donned a large cloak, and took all
+the money which remained to her. Then she sent the Gascon to his post,
+while she went to get the horses. Towards seven o'clock in the evening
+the marquis got into his carriage with Germain and started for the
+Château de Sarcus, not for one moment thinking that Julia and
+Chaudoreille were following his carriage from afar.
+
+Leaving the travellers to make their way we will return to poor Urbain,
+who, for a long time past, had languished on his bed, kept there by
+illness and grief. He was heartbroken at being without strength to go in
+search of his dear Blanche, and the good girl who gave him every care,
+incessantly repeated to him,--
+
+"The more you disquiet yourself, the longer you retard your cure."
+
+Someone had told him that a great nobleman was Blanche's abductor, and
+he was in despair at not having been able to keep his appointment with
+this man, who would have told him his rival's name. But at last he felt
+better and could go out, and the first use which he made of his
+returning strength was to go to the barber's house. It was closed on
+every side, the shutters had not been taken down from the shop, although
+the hours of labor had long since begun; Urbain knocked, but no one
+opened to him.
+
+"It is useless for you to knock," said a neighbor to him, "the house is
+empty and is for sale. You must inquire at the agent's, Rue des
+Mauvaises-Paroles."
+
+"And the barber?"
+
+"The barber has left it, I tell you, there's nobody there."
+
+"And Marguerite?"
+
+"She died a week ago."
+
+"Marguerite is dead--is it possible?"
+
+"Why, what is there so extraordinary in that? The poor woman wasn't
+young."
+
+"Where can I find M. Touquet now?"
+
+"I can't give you any information. That man was a bear, and he spoke to
+nobody."
+
+Urbain departed, discouraged at this new event. He grieved for the good
+Marguerite, who had been the witness of his love and his happiness. He
+had no idea of any way in which he could obtain information as to
+Blanche's fate. He went to the Porte Montmartre and waited for three
+hours, in the hope that he who had given him an appointment would come
+there; but he waited in vain, and then turned despairingly towards his
+lodging. The good-natured girl, to whom he made his lament, tried to
+console him by saying,--
+
+"If it's a nobleman who has abducted your mistress, you must go and ask
+for her at all the great noblemen's houses."
+
+Suddenly Urbain uttered a joyful exclamation, and a slight smile
+animated his pale and sorrowful features.
+
+"There still remains one hope," he said.
+
+"And what is that, monsieur?"
+
+"In the midst of all these events I had forgotten that adventure,
+however, it may yet serve me."
+
+"What adventure; monsieur?"
+
+"Listen to me. You remember that in order to see Blanche I was for some
+time obliged to disguise myself as a woman."
+
+"Oh, yes, monsieur, I remember very well. Didn't I help to dress you and
+to put in your pins?"
+
+The girl smiled. Urbain paid no attention and continued,--
+
+"One evening, I think it was the first time that I wore my disguise,
+having been accosted by several men, I escaped them by traversing many
+streets and it was very late when I found myself in the Grand
+Pré-aux-Clercs. I had almost reached my dwelling when I was stopped by
+four men, whom by their language I recognized as noblemen of the court.
+I confessed to them that I was a man, hoping by that means to escape
+them, but one of them wanted me to tell him the motive for my disguise.
+I refused, he persisted; I got angry, he threatened; in short, one of
+his companions lent me his sword and we fought, I wounded my adversary,
+but very slightly, I think. 'My friend,' he said to me then, tendering
+me his hand, 'you are a brave man and I am very pleased to have made
+your acquaintance; if you should some day have need of a protector, come
+to my hotel, ask for the Marquis de Villebelle and you shall find me
+ready to oblige you.' Those are his exact words."
+
+"The Marquis de Villebelle? Oh, I have sometimes heard my master speak
+of him. They say that he is a great nobleman, very generous, but a very
+wild fellow."
+
+"No matter, he offered me his protection, and I shall have recourse to
+it."
+
+"Mercy, monsieur, you will do well, and who knows whether he's not
+acquainted with the rascal who has stolen your darling."
+
+"Yes, I hope that the marquis will help me to recover Blanche. These
+great noblemen tell each other their adventures, their good luck; such a
+brave man should have some pity on my torture. Why have I not already
+spoken to him--but his hotel?"
+
+"Oh, he's very well known, monsieur, and it will be very easy for you to
+find that out."
+
+On the morrow, as soon as it was day, Urbain went out to try and find
+the one on whom he placed his last hopes. He obtained information as to
+the marquis' hotel, and he soon arrived there.
+
+"Monsieur le Marquis de Villebelle?" said he entering the court, and
+timidly addressing the porter.
+
+"This is his hotel, but monsieur le marquis is not in Paris."
+
+"Is not in Paris?" exclaimed Urbain, his heart contracting.
+
+"No, he is travelling."
+
+"Travelling? And will he soon be back?"
+
+"He'll come back when he pleases. Do you think monseigneur needs your
+permission in order to go travelling?"
+
+"That was not what I wished to say, monsieur, but I am in such haste to
+see monsieur le marquis, to speak to him."
+
+"You can see him when he comes back, whenever monseigneur is willing to
+receive you."
+
+The insolent porter returned to his lodge, took his glass and his fork,
+and resumed a copious breakfast, without paying any further attention to
+the young student, who remained in the court, heaving big sighs, as he
+said,--
+
+"He's not in Paris; how unfortunate I am."
+
+Ten minutes later Urbain softly approached the porter's lodge, and said
+to him in a supplicating tone,--
+
+"Monsieur, can you not tell me where the marquis has gone?"
+
+"What? Are you still there?" answered the porter without turning his
+head. "Can't you leave me to eat my breakfast in peace? I tell you that
+monseigneur is travelling. There are some people who are so stubborn;
+they all say the same thing, 'I wish to see monseigneur,' and they
+bother my head from morning till night."
+
+Urbain would not be repulsed; he knew the customs of Paris, and took out
+his purse, in which he had put several crowns, and made it chink in his
+hand. Then the porter deigned to turn towards him, and said to him, a
+little more politely,--
+
+"I'm truly sorry, but monseigneur is really absent, and between
+ourselves, I believe he will be so for a long time."
+
+"O heavens!" said Urbain, "and he is my only hope. Oh, monsieur, if you
+know where monseigneur is, I entreat you to give me his address."
+
+The young man held out his purse and advanced.
+
+"Come in for a moment," said the porter opening the little door of his
+lodge; "yes, of course, I know where monseigneur is. It's very necessary
+that we should know that, in order that we may send him any important
+letters that may be addressed to him; but it's a secret. However, if
+you'll promise to be discreet, and to let nobody know that it was I who
+told you,--"
+
+"I swear to you not to do so."
+
+"Then I'll tell you. Monsieur le marquis is at his Château de Sarcus,
+situated in the neighborhood of Grandvilliers. Take the road to Beauvais
+and--"
+
+Urbain did not wait to hear more; he threw his purse on the porter's
+table, hastily left the hotel, ran to his lodging, took all the money he
+had left, and the same day set out to seek the marquis at his château.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE RETURN TO THE CHÂTEAU
+
+
+During the absence of the marquis from the Château de Sarcus the unhappy
+Blanche had passed some sad and monotonous days; she had grown used to
+seeing and talking with him, and hoped to induce him to allow her to
+rejoin Urbain; so the day after Villebelle's departure, astonished at
+not receiving his accustomed visit, she believed that he was disposed to
+take her back to Paris; but in the evening, not meeting him in the park
+as usual, Blanche, on her return to her room, asked the maid for some
+news of her host.
+
+"Monseigneur has gone, he went away yesterday," answered the country
+girl.
+
+"Gone without me!" exclaimed Blanche, raising to heaven her beautiful
+eyes, filled with tears and despair; "can it be possible that he wishes
+to keep me always a prisoner in this château, then?"
+
+"Don't grieve, mademoiselle," said the good-natured girl, "monseigneur
+said that he would not be long absent."
+
+Blanche made no answer, but returned to her room, and there passed her
+days in grief and discouragement. She regretted the absence of the
+marquis, for the sweet child flattered herself that he would yet yield
+to her prayers. She had several times seen that her tears caused him
+emotion, and she still hoped that he would reunite her to Urbain; but
+left alone she no longer hoped, and the days rolled slowly by for the
+young prisoner. However, the return of springtime embellished the earth;
+the trees regained their foliage and the grass its verdure, the meadows
+were dotted with flowers, and the birds came again to the groves to sing
+the season of love. But, indifferent to the scenes which spread before
+her eyes, Blanche looked without pleasure on this charming perspective,
+with which at any other time she would have been delighted. The sorrow
+with which her heart was filled, threw a gloomy veil over all the
+objects which surrounded her.
+
+Sometimes while walking in the park, Blanche considered the idea of
+escaping; but in what direction could she take her flight? Besides, the
+park was surrounded with very high walls, and the doors which led to the
+country were always scrupulously closed. The young girl was ignorant of
+the fact that in the absence of the marquis, two men servants watched
+her every step.
+
+A deep melancholy seized her, the servant, Marie, tried in vain to
+distract her; sighs and tears were the only response which she obtained.
+Ten days had passed when Marie came running one morning to tell Blanche
+her master had arrived.
+
+This news seemed to reanimate the young prisoner, and she waited
+impatiently for the marquis to come and speak to her. Villebelle, who
+ardently desired to see his captive, did not tarry in coming to her, and
+was greatly struck by the changes which had been wrought in her whole
+person.
+
+"You have forgotten me, then, in this château?" said Blanche sighing.
+
+"I forgotten you?"
+
+"Why did you not take me to Paris, then? Are you going to keep me here
+long?"
+
+"At least, Blanche, I will not leave you again."
+
+"Let Urbain come to us, and I will not ask you to let me go away again."
+
+The marquis knit his brows and tried to distract Blanche by offering her
+several pretty trifles which he had brought from Paris; but these
+presents were no better received than the first, and did not even evoke
+a smile from the young girl. In the evening Blanche and the marquis
+again walked in the park. Villebelle, more in love than ever, recalled
+the barber's counsels and promised himself the conquest of his captive,
+but when he was near Blanche, he felt all his resolutions vanish. One
+look from the lovely child put a curb on his desire, though it
+penetrated to the depth of his heart, and Villebelle said to himself,--
+
+"By what magic does this young girl inspire me with a respect that is
+stronger than my love?"
+
+Blanche, rendered confiding by her innocence, was seated at the entrance
+of a grotto which was surrounded by thick shrubbery. The marquis placed
+himself beside her. For a long time he remained silent, tenderly
+watching her. Then he took Blanche in his arms and was about to cull a
+kiss from her charming mouth, when she turned her supplicating eyes
+towards him, saying,--
+
+"In pity, monseigneur, let me go."
+
+Without knowing why he did so, he allowed the lovely girl to escape from
+his arms. He remained alone in the grotto; Blanche, experiencing a novel
+fear of the marquis, had fled, and the latter, cursing his weakness,
+returned to the château, vowing that he would no longer tremble before a
+child.
+
+Julia and her companion had arrived at Sarcus and had seen the marquis
+enter the château. Chaudoreille had only fallen three times on the way,
+but he asserted that that was because his horse had been frightened.
+However, he complained greatly of fatigue, to which his companion
+appeared insensible, as she scrutinized the château which the marquis
+had entered, and its high towers illuminated by the sun.
+
+"This is where he went, then," said the young Amazon, guiding her horse
+close against the walls.
+
+"Yes, signora, there's not the least doubt that he went there, since we
+have seen him go in," answered Chaudoreille, who had alighted from his
+horse, where he was not comfortable.
+
+"That's the Château de Sarcus, according to what a peasant told me."
+
+"It is, in faith, a very fine castle. My ancestors had ten or a dozen
+like that; but they played for one every evening at piquet, and you know
+that luck is not always favorable. But ugh! how tired I am, this palfrey
+trotted so hard."
+
+"And within these walls Blanche is shut up."
+
+"That's very probable. By jingo! but we came at a good pace, and at the
+present time I would defy the best jockey in France."
+
+"How shall we know on which side this young girl is?"
+
+"I think it's first necessary to know where we can get some breakfast;
+you must be terribly fatigued, signora."
+
+"I don't feel in the least tired, the hope of vengeance has doubled my
+strength."
+
+"I have had nothing to double mine; I'm knocked up, exhausted, and I'm
+as hungry as a hunter."
+
+Julia alighted from her horse and led the animal to Chaudoreille.
+
+"Mount him," she said, "and take the other by the bridle. Go to the
+village, which you see over there, find an inn, and there wait for me. I
+wish to examine the château."
+
+"Enough, I'll go and make them get breakfast ready. Oh, under what
+title shall we present ourselves? I have been thinking that it would be
+better to preserve our incognito in this part of the country."
+
+"Say what you like."
+
+"I shall say that we are Moors from Spain, that we have come from
+Granada to give lessons in castanets. That will prevent all suspicion,
+and our rather dark skins will foster the supposition."
+
+Julia did not listen further to Chaudoreille and walked towards the
+château, while the chevalier, not caring to remount, took both horses by
+their bridles and went hobbling along to the village.
+
+Chaudoreille inquired for the best inn. There was only one in the
+village and he reached it, leading his two horses after him. The master
+of the inn came to meet him, and Chaudoreille, trying to pull himself
+up, said to him,--
+
+"I am Malek-al-Chiras of Granada, professor of castanets in the two
+Spains, and come to France with my sister, Salamalech, to dance the
+bolero before Cardinal Richelieu. We shall perhaps stay for some time in
+this village, but we wish to preserve the strictest incognito. Do you
+understand?"
+
+"I don't understand very well," said the innkeeper, looking stupidly at
+him.
+
+"In that case, prepare at once an omelette with bacon, give me a room,
+and take care of my horses, which are Arabian."
+
+The innkeeper understood this better, and led his guest to a chamber on
+the first floor, to which Chaudoreille mounted with pain, so greatly had
+his long ride on horseback discommoded him.
+
+After resting for some hours he went to the table, and had been there
+for a long time when Julia came in search of him.
+
+"I awaited you with impatience," said Chaudoreille, while dismembering
+his third pigeon.
+
+"Well, what have you learned?"
+
+"My faith, I've learned that we shall not have fish for dinner."
+
+"Idiot! I was speaking to you of the marquis."
+
+"It seems to me that as I left you at the château, you should know more
+than me."
+
+"I have been all around it, but I did not see anybody. You should have
+asked these peasants what they know of the château."
+
+"They look as stupid as geese. How should these people know anything? By
+the way, you are my sister and you are called Salamalech."
+
+"Chaudoreille, do you think that I brought you here to listen to your
+foolishness? Make haste and rest yourself and we will visit the
+neighborhood of the château; we will see if there is any way of
+introducing ourselves into the park."
+
+"Begging your pardon, it will be very difficult for me to stir today. I
+am nailed before this table."
+
+Finding it would be impossible to get her companion on his feet again,
+Julia left the inn, after taking a little nourishment, and again went to
+prowl around the walls of the château.
+
+"The devil's in that woman," said Chaudoreille to himself as he got into
+bed, "she would be worthy to carry Rolande at her side." "My good host,
+put Rolande there, under my bolster. That's it, so that at the first
+alarm I can get him. Now see that you shut my door, and when my sister
+Salamalech returns tell her that I beg of her not to waken me before
+tomorrow at midday."
+
+While Chaudoreille slept, Julia made the tour of the park and noticed a
+place where the wall was broken, and where it was possible to introduce
+one's self into the interior of the garden; but not wishing yet to risk
+it, she returned to her inn and tried to obtain some information about
+the inhabitants of the château. The peasants knew but one thing, and
+that was, that for the present, their lord was at Sarcus.
+
+"But did not somebody bring a young girl to the chateau, some days ago?"
+asked Julia.
+
+"When monseigneur is here the house is full of ladies and gentlemen,"
+answered the host; who believed that the brother and sister had come to
+play their castanets before the marquis.
+
+Julia decided to take a little rest, but the next day at dawn she
+repaired to Chaudoreille's room.
+
+"Monsieur, your brother, is still sleeping," said the host whom she
+met, "and M. Malek-Al-de Granada has forbidden that anyone should wake
+him before noon."
+
+Julia, without listening to the host, went into the chevalier's room. He
+was sleeping soundly, and she pulled him rudely by the ear.
+
+"Did I bring you here with me," said she, "that you might sleep?"
+
+"Oh, by jingo! how cruel you are, I was in my first slumber."
+
+"Come, get up!"
+
+"Get up? get up? I respect decency too much to rise before you."
+
+"Get up, I tell you."
+
+"Well, since you will have it so," and Chaudoreille put his two little
+thin legs out of bed, saying, "It appears that I cannot make her run
+away."
+
+"You will go to the château, you will enter the first court, under the
+pretext of admiring the architecture, and you will chat with the
+porter."
+
+"And if I am recognized?"
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"By monseigneur."
+
+"Do you think he amuses himself by walking in the court? He is with his
+young captive."
+
+"That is presumable."
+
+"We will meet here presently and you will tell me all that you shall
+have learned. For my part, I am going to find my way into the park."
+
+After a good breakfast, Chaudoreille started, enveloping himself in a
+mantle or cloak which Julia had given him, and which was so much too
+large for him that part of it dragged on the ground; but he admired
+himself very much in it, and felt himself six inches taller.
+
+As he drew near the château, his first care was to look and see if there
+were a sentinel upon the wall, but perceiving nothing that seemed to
+indicate that the castle was upon a war footing he decided to advance.
+On arriving before the principal gate he walked for an hour, far and
+wide, before knowing if he should go into the château or not. The old
+porter, smoking his pipe before his door, perceived this little figure,
+trailing a cloak, and coming and going for a long while in the same
+circle. Irritated by this conduct, the porter left the château and
+walked towards Chaudoreille, to ask him what he did there. The latter,
+seeing a man walk with long steps towards him, imagined that the porter
+suspected him and was about to arrest him. Immediately he began to run
+on the sward, but presently his feet became entangled in the train of
+his cloak and he rolled on the grass. The porter, hearing someone
+calling in the château, did not continue his walk, and on rising
+Chaudoreille saw nobody. He then hastened to take the way to the
+village.
+
+"This is enough of it for today," said he, "another time I shall not be
+so imprudent, I'll hide in the thickets which are within cannon shot of
+the castle," and he returned to his inn where, while awaiting dinner, he
+played at little quoits with his host, and insisted on teaching madame,
+his wife, to dance the bolero. Julia, hearing the noise, found
+Chaudoreille in the courtyard of the inn, in the midst of the fowls and
+manure, making many bows to a little woman of forty years, and beating
+time with Rolande, saying,--
+
+"In Granada nobody dances except sword in hand. Ah, here is my sister
+Salamalech, she can make curtseys without touching her heels."
+
+Julia pushed the dancing master into her room, saying to him,--
+
+"What are you doing in that courtyard?"
+
+"What the deuce! I did it the better to preserve our incognito, for
+prudence' sake."
+
+"What have you learned this morning?"
+
+"Many things. I believe there is a garrison at the château. I saw an
+armed man come out. As to little Blanche, I have a suspicion that they
+are keeping her in a subterranean dungeon."
+
+"You're a fool. I've spoken to a young girl who lives at the château; I
+made her gossip. Blanche is in one of the towers which overlook the
+lake."
+
+"Then the soldier whom I questioned must have lied to me. I had him,
+however, with my sword at his throat."
+
+"Nobody has arrived at the château?"
+
+"Oh, nobody, I'm sure of that, I have not lost sight of it."
+
+"This evening I shall introduce myself into the park and I hope--"
+
+"I hope that I'm not to introduce myself there."
+
+"No, you are to watch outside."
+
+"Ah, I'm good at watching outside; besides, I have the eyes of a cat, I
+can see clearly at night."
+
+According to his custom the marquis went to visit Blanche on the day
+after the scene in the grotto, but she experienced a new dread at sight
+of him. She recalled how passionately he had folded her in his arms, and
+despite her innocence she felt a degree of fear as she saw him approach
+and seat himself at her side. The marquis knew women too well not to
+perceive the change in Blanche's manner. He tried to read the young
+girl's eyes, he wished to see again the sweet expression which so
+charmed him, but Blanche kept her eyes downcast, she trembled, and
+feared to meet those of the marquis. After a shorter visit than usual
+Villebelle left Blanche, and went to reflect on the means which he
+should employ to overcome her resistance. He awaited the evening
+impatiently, he flattered himself that he should be more fortunate in
+the gardens in making his peace with his young prisoner; but Blanche
+listened to a secret voice which told her she was not safe in the park
+with the marquis, and she did not intend to go there.
+
+It had long been night, and vainly had Villebelle walked up and down the
+pathways where the young girl walked every evening. He did not meet her.
+
+"She fears me," said he, "however, she does not hate me, she herself has
+told me so."
+
+On passing before the grotto where they had sat the evening before, the
+marquis believed that he saw a shadow flit before him. Persuaded that it
+was Blanche, he ran to seize her. The person whom he pursued paused,
+turned, and, by the light of the moon, the marquis recognized Julia.
+
+"You in this neighborhood, and in my park?" said Villebelle, with the
+greatest astonishment.
+
+"Yes, monsieur le marquis," said Julia with a bitter smile, "does that
+astonish you? Monsieur de Villebelle should, however, understand all the
+pleasure which I experience in being near him."
+
+"Once more, what are you doing here?"
+
+"There was a time, monsieur le marquis, when my presence caused you no
+weariness, when you told me with the most tender vows that you would
+love me forever. Remember how often it was necessary to repeat those
+vows in order to make me yours."
+
+The marquis made a gesture of impatience and exclaimed,--
+
+"And is it to tell me this that you introduced yourself at night into my
+chateau?"
+
+"No," said Julia, giving way to all her fury. "Another motive led me to
+this place; it was the hope of vengeance. You have laughed at my love,
+at my grief; I will revel in your sufferings, you shall shed tears of
+blood when it will be too late."
+
+"This is too much; your threats weary and make me despise you. If you
+have the power to fulfil them, why are you waiting for your revenge?"
+
+"I am awaiting the presence of an indispensable witness, your worthy
+confidant, the barber Touquet."
+
+Saying these words Julia glided among the trees, and disappeared before
+the marquis could stop her. Greatly surprised at this singular meeting,
+he was careful on reëntering the château to warn Germain; and ordered
+him to redouble his watchfulness in order that no one might gain access
+to Blanche.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE MARQUIS VISITS BLANCHE AT NIGHT
+
+
+The marquis returned in great agitation to his apartments. He was
+greatly incensed, but not at all intimidated by Julia's threats, which
+he attributed to spite and her jealousy. However, despite his lack of
+consideration for her he had cast off, there was something in the voice
+of the young Italian which carried conviction, and her eyes appeared to
+be animated by a barbaric joy when she had fixed them on those of the
+marquis, and warned him to beware.
+
+Vexed at not having forced Julia to explain herself, Villebelle called
+his valet, and ordered him to search the park with some of his people,
+and if he met a woman to bring her immediately to the château. Germain,
+the gardener, and three men servants hastened to investigate the park
+and gardens, but they returned to the château without meeting anybody,
+and the marquis passed the night in reflecting upon the event. The
+presence of Julia had disturbed his peace; he feared that she would come
+and bring Blanche news of her lover. At daybreak he wrote to the barber
+and ordered him to come to the château.
+
+Marguerite was dead; the old servant could not bear the loss of Blanche,
+and the fury of her master after Julia's visit. The barber, who had for
+a long time desired to sell his house, was about to go to a lawyer, when
+a letter was brought to him by a messenger from the marquis.
+
+"He wishes that I should go to Sarcus," said Touquet to himself, after
+reading the note; "the marquis still has need of me. He has at times, an
+inclination for virtue which causes me uneasiness, but he pays
+generously; besides I can refuse him nothing. He has divined a part of
+my conduct, and if some day he should desire to ruin me as an expiation
+for all his own follies--for it is often in this manner that great folks
+repair their errors--but no, the marquis will commit follies as long as
+he lives; it is above all necessary that he should triumph over
+Blanche's virtue, for that would insure my safety."
+
+Touquet made the preparations for his departure, and on the next day but
+one he arrived at the château, and presented himself to the marquis, who
+was awaiting him in his apartment.
+
+"You see, monseigneur, with what haste I have obeyed your orders," said
+the barber, bowing.
+
+"That is well; your presence here may be very useful to me. I feel that
+I need someone who will make me ashamed of my weakness. Would you
+believe that I am no further advanced in regard to Blanche?"
+
+"I shouldn't believe it unless you told me so, monseigneur."
+
+"It is certain that I should never have dreamed of it myself. She has
+been for three weeks at the château, and I have hardly dared to kiss her
+hand. Some days ago we were in the park, and I tried to advance a little
+further, but she supplicated me to let her go in so touching a voice, it
+affects me in a manner which I cannot account for, but I was nearly
+heartbroken at having caused her pain; since that time she has not left
+her room. When near me, she is fearful, embarrassed, and always in
+tears."
+
+"All that will end, when you have made her yours, monseigneur."
+
+"Have you seen her lover? This Urbain of whom she talks incessantly, and
+whom she calls at every moment of the day."
+
+"No, monseigneur, and I presume that young Urbain, more reasonable than
+Blanche, has already forgotten that little love affair."
+
+"The poor little thing is always thinking of him. If I could persuade
+her that he no longer loves her,--she would not, however, believe me.
+But in speaking to you of Blanche I forget the motive which induced me
+to send for you. You can never divine whom I met the day before
+yesterday, in the evening, in my park--Julia."
+
+"Julia!" cried the barber, starting with surprise.
+
+"Yes, she had entered these premises. But how could she have discovered
+that I was here?"
+
+"I can't imagine, monseigneur."
+
+"She had the audacity to threaten me, jealousy and rage shone in her
+eyes; she also spoke to me of you. I didn't understand all she was
+saying to me, and she disappeared when I was about to force her to
+explain further."
+
+"Monseigneur, this young girl has some evil design."
+
+"I think that, also. However, she has not reappeared since, and every
+evening my people make a general search in the park."
+
+"No matter, Julia will do her utmost to take Blanche away from you."
+
+"How do you think she will do it? You must visit the neighborhood, and
+if you discover Julia, tell her from me that I forbid her to present
+herself on these premises. If she still dares to come I can easily
+obtain a lettre-de-cachet, which will relieve me from her
+importunities."
+
+"That will be the best thing you can do, monseigneur. Tomorrow I'll
+begin my researches."
+
+"During the time which you are at the château, avoid passing through the
+park by the side of the lake, for you might be seen by Blanche, and I
+don't wish that she shall know you are here; I don't think that the
+sight of you would give her pleasure, and I desire to keep her from all
+that might add to her grief."
+
+"I've never seen monseigneur so much in love."
+
+"No, never has any woman inspired me with that which I feel for
+Blanche."
+
+"I'm going to get some rest. Tomorrow at daybreak I shall take my way; I
+will search the neighborhood, I will visit the smallest cottages; Julia
+cannot evade my search, and as soon as I know where she is, I answer for
+it, monseigneur, that you will not see her again."
+
+The barber was about to go as he said these words, but there was an
+expression on his face which did not escape the marquis. Villebelle ran
+to him and stopped him, saying in a severe tone,--
+
+"Touquet, you have misunderstood me. Remember that I do not wish that
+any harm should come to Julia. That young girl is passionate,
+headstrong, but her love excuses it. One should always forgive the
+faults of which one is the first cause. I should, perhaps, have further
+considered her sensibility; I have treated her with too much disdain. If
+she will consent to become reasonable, promise her all that she shall
+ask. Scatter gold, that she may be happy. In addition to that, I wish to
+speak to her myself, that she may explain to me what she wished to tell
+in her letter."
+
+"In that case, monseigneur, as soon as I have discovered her retreat, I
+will hasten to let you know it."
+
+The barber bowed low to the marquis and left the apartment.
+
+"That man is a deep scoundrel," said Villebelle, as he watched Touquet
+depart. "For a long time I thought he was only a schemer and a thief;
+why should he still be necessary to me? But I can't charge Germain to
+speak to Julia. Julia! I believed for a little while that I loved her.
+Ah, what a difference there is between that passionate, vindictive woman
+and the sweet and charming Blanche. Why should Julia love me so
+passionately, and yet I cannot kindle in the breast of that timid child
+a spark of the fire which consumes me?"
+
+While the marquis was dreaming of Blanche, who, sad and solitary in her
+lonely room, passed her days in praying to Heaven and weeping for her
+lover, Julia, after her nocturnal meeting with Villebelle, sought to
+gain speech with the young prisoner. The watchfulness of the marquis'
+people did not prevent her from gliding through the park; but though she
+drew near the lake it was impossible to reach the tower; they had taken
+away all the boats for fear that one of them should serve as a means of
+approaching Blanche's windows. As for Chaudoreille, being ordered to
+watch all who entered or left the château, he hid himself in a thick
+bush, which was about two cannon shots from the entrance to the castle;
+and there, having Rolande bare at one side by way of precaution, and a
+bottle of wine at the other, he passed his day with a pack of cards,
+studying a new manner of turning the king and of re-turning the aces,
+hiding entirely under his immense mantle at the slightest sound.
+
+The day after his arrival at the château, the barber commenced his
+search. Not imagining for a moment that Julia would conceal herself at
+Sarcus, he visited Damerancourt, and Grandvilliers, and returned towards
+the evening to Sarcus. As he approached the village, he perceived in
+front of him a little man enveloped in a brown cloak, under which it was
+difficult to distinguish his body, but a long sword, whose handle
+protruded from one side of his cloak, betrayed who carried it.
+
+"It's Chaudoreille," said the barber to himself, and he hastened that he
+might catch up with him. The little man, when he heard someone behind
+him, was seized with terror, and also tried to walk faster, but the
+unfortunate cloak entangled his legs at every step, and soon he felt
+himself pulled by the handle of his sword. He turned and was petrified
+at seeing the barber Touquet.
+
+"Where are you going, Chevalier Chaudoreille?" said the barber, in a
+mocking tone.
+
+"Where am I going? By jingo! How are you, my good friend?"
+
+"You clown," said the barber, "I've heard some fine things about you."
+
+"One mustn't believe all that one hears, my dear Touquet."
+
+"And don't you think I ought to believe monsieur le marquis? It was you
+who told him about Blanche, despite your vows."
+
+"You know very well that between ourselves an oath is not binding, and
+what have you to complain of? I was the means of your obtaining a large
+sum of money."
+
+"And do you serve Julia now?"
+
+"Yes, I serve Julia. I will serve you, if you wish, I will serve
+anybody; I have always been very obliging."
+
+"Where is Julia?"
+
+"She wishes to preserve her incognito."
+
+"Answer, wretch, no more lies."
+
+"Ow! leave go of my ear, you are hurting me. We are lodging in this
+village at the inn; there is only one here. Julia passes as my sister,
+and I for a Moor of Granada, professor of castanets."
+
+"What are Julia's plans?"
+
+"The devil carry me away if I have any idea of them. She passes her days
+and a part of her nights in prowling about the château, like a fox
+watching a chicken. Between ourselves I believe she's a little cracked."
+
+"And with what design did she bring you here?"
+
+"Simply to keep her company. She likes my society very much, I sing
+villanelles to her."
+
+"Listen to me, I ought to break your back to punish you for what you've
+done."
+
+"O my dear Touquet, that was a joke."
+
+"Get along with you, I despise you too much to strike you."
+
+"That's very civil on your part."
+
+"Have you told me the truth?"
+
+"If you doubt it, come with me to the inn. Julia will not be long before
+she comes in."
+
+"No, I can't go there this evening; but I forbid you to say a word to
+her about our meeting."
+
+"As soon as you forbid me, it's as if you had cut out my tongue."
+
+"If I don't find Julia tomorrow in the place you have told me of,
+monsieur le marquis himself will see that you are punished, and this
+time there will be no quarter given you."
+
+"You may be sure I'll obey you."
+
+"Good-by, I'm going back to the château."
+
+"And I to the village--where I shall not await your visit," said
+Chaudoreille, in a low tone, gathering his cloak up under his arm that
+he might walk more quickly.
+
+Touquet returned to the château and sought the marquis. It was night,
+and Villebelle was seated before a table as sumptuously furnished as was
+possible at the château; but the marquis, presuming that he should make
+a long sojourn there, had had his cellars replenished, and if the fare
+was not so delicate as in Paris, the wines were no less exquisite. The
+marquis appeared gayer than usual. He had already emptied several
+bottles, and near him were several letters which he read while supping.
+
+"What news?" said he, on perceiving the barber.
+
+"My researches have not proved vain, monseigneur. Julia is at the
+village; she is living at the inn under an assumed name. I have seen
+Chaudoreille, who is now her confidant."
+
+"Ah, the little Gascon. Have you thrashed him soundly?"
+
+"Not yet, monseigneur, I wished first to get your orders, and I have not
+seen Julia."
+
+"You have done well, I will speak to her myself. Tomorrow we will go
+together to the village; I shall make the heedless girl hear reason, and
+we shall know this grand secret which she pretends she has to tell me."
+
+"A secret?"
+
+"Yes, and it's necessary, she says, that you should be present when she
+tells it."
+
+"Me? monseigneur."
+
+"Tomorrow she shall be satisfied. Do you see those letters? All of those
+were sent to me from Paris. They are from the great ladies who regret
+me; there are reproaches, promises, vows, and a little of everything.
+Here, throw all that in the fire."
+
+"What, monsieur le marquis, even those which are unopened?"
+
+"Yes, of course; do they not all say the same thing? Ah, a single smile
+from Blanche is worth all the sweet nothings of these ladies. Why is she
+not here, near me?"
+
+"If monseigneur desires it--"
+
+"That she may come with her eyes full of tears? No."
+
+The marquis filled a large glass with wine, which he drank at a draught,
+when he exclaimed,--
+
+"I'm commencing, however, to fear that I sigh in vain; Blanche is near
+me, in my château, but I dare not--but to employ violence, I cannot
+resort to that."
+
+"Without employing violence, monseigneur, are there not a thousand ways?
+She sleeps undefended--and you have double keys to all the rooms."
+
+"What perfidy!"
+
+"Not greater, monseigneur, than taking her in a carriage, telling her
+that she was going to join Urbain."
+
+"Be silent, you are a monster; and to listen to your horrible counsels
+renders me more criminal than yourself."
+
+"It was not I, monseigneur, who counselled you to fall in love with
+Blanche, but since she is in your power, it seems to me that your
+scruples are a little tardy."
+
+The marquis remained silent for some moments; then he resumed,--
+
+"This morning she spoke to me less coldly; I remained several hours
+with her; she seemed to me less timid. I took her hand, and she left it
+for a long time in mine."
+
+"What more do you wish for, monseigneur? In secret Blanche loves you;
+but do you think that so timid a young girl will confess what is passing
+in her heart? It is not until after she has yielded that she banishes
+all constraint."
+
+"Blanche loves me, say you? Ah, if it were true. But it is late; go and
+take some rest. Tomorrow we will go and see Julia."
+
+Touquet bowed to the marquis, and looked stealthily and scrutinizingly
+at him; then he took a candle, and departed in silence. For a long while
+the marquis remained at the table, buried in thought, or drinking glass
+after glass of wine. He seemed to wish to drown in the liquor the
+thoughts which pursued him. Finally he rang for Germain, and said to him
+in a gloomy voice,--
+
+"Who has the double keys to the château?"
+
+"The porter should have them, monseigneur."
+
+"Bid him come here, I wish to speak to him."
+
+The old porter hastened to obey his master's orders.
+
+"Are there some double keys for these apartments?" said the marquis.
+
+"Yes, monseigneur, there are even triple keys; 'tis an ancient usage
+that dates from--"
+
+"Go and get me those of the tower which looks on the lake."
+
+The porter departed, and soon returned with a bunch of keys, saying,--
+
+"If monseigneur wishes I will conduct him through the château."
+
+"Give me those and go, I do not need your assistance," said the marquis,
+snatching the keys from his hand.
+
+The old man, stupefied, bowed and departed, without daring to raise his
+eyes on his master. The marquis dismissed his servants, saying that he
+had need of rest, and presently the most profound silence reigned in the
+château and in the grounds pertaining to it.
+
+As for the Marquis de Villebelle, he walked irresolutely about his
+apartment, holding the bunch of keys in his hand, and meditating deeply.
+He was apparently still undecided as to what course he should take, and
+muttered to himself from time to time,--
+
+"No, I cannot make use of these keys--she seemed to give me her
+confidence and I dare not abuse it; but must she pass her life thus? To
+be so near her, to have abducted her in vain. What would all the
+libertines say of me, all the people of fashion, if they knew of my
+conduct? But if they could see Blanche! Why did that cursed Touquet
+speak to me of these keys? I should have divined that when he entered
+this château, that man would advise me to commit some wicked action."
+
+Some moments passed, and at last the marquis took up a candle, and
+exclaimed,--
+
+"It is settled; I will listen only to the passion which leads me."
+
+He left his room, which was separated from the tower where Blanche was
+lodged by a long gallery adorned with portraits of the marquis'
+ancestors. Villebelle walked slowly, pausing often to listen, and
+trembling for fear he should meet someone; he kept his eyes down, and
+seemed afraid to look at the portraits of his ancestors, who, for the
+most part, had honored their country by their bravery and virtue. At
+this moment something told him he was about to commit an act which was
+unworthy of the name which they had transmitted to him, and when his
+eyes met by chance one of those noble faces with which the gallery was
+hung, he seemed to read in it an expression of indignation and scorn. At
+last he reached the end of the gallery, and never had it seemed to him
+so long; he mounted a grand staircase, crossed several rooms, and
+entered the tower which held the young girl. A violent trembling seized
+him. Wishing to master his uneasiness, he hastened his walk. All the
+doors of communication were open, and he soon found Blanche's room. He
+paused, and looked at the keys which he held in his hand; he still
+hesitated, but, seeking to deaden himself to the crime which he was
+about to commit, he tried several keys, and was soon in Blanche's room.
+The deepest silence reigned in this place; the marquis stepped very
+softly, taking each step with precaution. The door of the bedroom was
+not closed. Villebelle looked in, and by the light of the lamp placed on
+the hearth, perceived the young girl asleep.
+
+"She sleeps," said the marquis; "she thinks herself safe in this
+shelter, but her breathing is oppressed; she seems as though she were
+going to speak; if I could but hear her."
+
+He approached the bed. Blanche was dreaming of her lover; softly she
+breathed Urbain's name, and extended her arms as if imploring someone;
+then she murmured,--
+
+"O dear God! they still keep us apart."
+
+Villebelle felt moved and softened.
+
+"No, she does not love me," said he softly; "in her sleep she is always
+thinking of Urbain."
+
+He sighed profoundly, and was about to depart, when Blanche awakened,
+opened her eyes, and called out in terror,--
+
+"O heavens! who is there?"
+
+"It is I, Blanche," answered the marquis in a halting voice.
+
+"You seigneur? so late in my room? What do you want with me?"
+
+"Be calm, I beg of you."
+
+"But you are trembling yourself, seigneur, what has happened?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing; I wished to see you--to speak to you, to look at you
+once more."
+
+"Ah, don't look at me so, monsieur le marquis, you frighten me."
+
+"Frighten you? Ah, Blanche, is that the feeling with which the most
+faithful lover should inspire you? Yes, my love is at its height; I can
+no longer master it; you must make me happy; you must be mine."
+
+The marquis already held Blanche in his arms. The young girl uttered a
+piercing cry, and gathering her strength, disengaged herself, jumping
+lightly from her bed, but Villebelle again seized her; he tried to cover
+her with kisses; he tried to stifle her cries. Blanche threw herself at
+his feet, extended her arms towards him, supplicatingly, and cried in a
+heart-breaking-voice,--
+
+"Mercy! mercy! if only for today."
+
+These accents penetrated to the depths of the marquis' soul. The sight
+of Blanche at his feet, of her tears and of her despair, restored him to
+reason, but fearing that he might no longer be able to master his
+passion, he precipitately left the young girl, and distractedly fled to
+his room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+URBAIN'S VISIT TO THE MARQUIS. CHAUDOREILLE'S LAST ADVENTURE
+
+
+Blanche remained motionless and silent for a long time in the place
+where she had implored, and her loveliness and the nameless charm of her
+innocence had obtained, the pity, the forbearance of a man who had been
+about to wrong her womanhood. At last a flood of tears relieved her
+heart. She rose and then looked about her with terror; she listened
+tremblingly; at the least sound caused by the wind on the lake she
+shuddered, and imagined she heard the marquis returning. She passed the
+night in cruel anxiety.
+
+"All is over," she said, weeping; "my hope of happiness is completely
+shattered. O my well-beloved Urbain, I shall see you no more; they will
+separate us forever, but I will die rather than cease to be worthy of
+thee."
+
+The marquis had rested no better than his victim. Divided between love
+and remorse, regretting at times having yielded to what he called his
+weakness, and cursing a passion which made Blanche unhappy, he saw day
+break without having closed his eyes.
+
+Astonished at having received no orders in regard to Julia, Touquet
+presented himself before the marquis; he remarked the dejection of the
+latter's features, and sought to divine the cause of it. Villebelle's
+gloomy and melancholy tone did not indicate that he was happy; he
+remained silent, and the barber dared not question him. At this moment
+Germain entered the room, and announced to his master that a young man
+had presented himself at the château, and begged the favor of speech
+with him.
+
+"A young man?" said the marquis. "Is he an inhabitant of the
+neighborhood?"
+
+"No, monseigneur, his dress is that of a young student; he expresses
+himself well, and appears to have the greatest desire to see you."
+
+"He did not tell you his name?"
+
+"He says that you know him without knowing his name."
+
+"How very singular, can he be a messenger from Julia?" said Villebelle,
+looking at the barber.
+
+"I don't think so, monsieur le marquis. The description which Germain
+has given of the stranger is not that of Chaudoreille."
+
+"When they introduce this young man, Touquet, step into the next room;
+it is possible he wishes to speak to me alone."
+
+The barber departed and Germain returned with Urbain, who, having
+travelled without stopping, had arrived at Sarcus, and was waiting
+impatiently at the porter's lodge for the answer which the marquis
+should send him.
+
+"My master consents to see you. Follow me, monsieur, I will take you to
+him," said Germain to Urbain; the latter joyfully hastened to follow the
+valet, who introduced him to the marquis.
+
+Urbain entered the room trembling; approaching with embarrassment the
+great nobleman, who was seated on a sofa, and who looked curiously at
+the young man, unable to resist a certain interest which Urbain's
+refined and distinguished face inspired.
+
+"Deign to excuse, seigneur, the liberty which I take," said the young
+bachelor, bowing low to the marquis.
+
+"Speak, monsieur, what do you want of me?"
+
+"I come to implore your protection. You gave me permission to have
+recourse to it. We have already seen each other at Paris, some time ago;
+I was disguised, I met you at night in the Grand Pré-aux-Clercs, fought
+a duel--"
+
+"What, my brave fellow, was that you, who were dressed as a girl?"
+
+"Yes, seigneur, I had the misfortune to wound you in the arm."
+
+"And I tell you that that was just, for I was wrong, as I usually am.
+Hang it! I'm delighted to see you again; give me your hand, you are a
+brave fellow."
+
+The marquis rose, came towards Urbain and cordially shook him by the
+hand. The latter, delighted by this welcome, did not know how to evince
+his gratitude.
+
+"Seat yourself near me," said Villebelle, "and tell me what has procured
+me the pleasure of receiving you in my château."
+
+"Monseigneur, you had the goodness to offer me your protection if I were
+unfortunate, and I come to claim it."
+
+"You do well, my dear fellow; speak without fear. Is it money that you
+need, I have it at your service; don't spare it, I often enough make a
+bad use of it, once at least let it serve me in making somebody happy."
+
+"Fortune could not render me happy, for it is love which causes my
+trouble, monseigneur."
+
+"Oh, you are in love; that's different, I am in love, also; and at this
+moment it does not make me very happy, either. But come, tell me your
+love affairs."
+
+"I love, I adore, a charming young girl--ah, monseigneur, there is
+nobody to be compared to her."
+
+"Perhaps, but go on."
+
+"She did not know her parents, but the man who had brought her up gave
+me her hand. Only one day and we should have been united, when a wretch
+introduced himself into the house where she lived and carried off from
+me the one who was about to become my wife."
+
+"That's very singular," said the marquis, struck by Urbain's recital,
+"and do you know the name of this ravisher?"'
+
+"No, monsieur le marquis, but after that I learned that it was a great
+nobleman, a rich and powerful man--Ah, my only hope of discovering this
+monster lies in you, for you perhaps know the place where he lives.
+Monseigneur, have pity on my torture, help me to recover her whom they
+have stolen from me, help me to recover Blanche, and the unfortunate
+Urbain will owe you more than life."
+
+At the name of Blanche the marquis rose abruptly. Urbain threw himself
+at his feet, seized one of his hands and looked imploringly at him; but
+Villebelle turned his head that the young man might not see the change
+which had come over his face.
+
+"Get up, get up," said the marquis, seeking to master his emotion; "I
+wish to serve you, yes, but I cannot promise to restore to you the one
+whom you have loved."
+
+"Among the noblemen of the court, there are men who glory in betraying
+innocence and snatching a young girl from her relations; seigneur, if
+you have the least suspicion--sometimes the slightest indication will
+put one on the track."
+
+The marquis appeared to reflect deeply; Urbain, who believed that he
+sought to recall some circumstance which had interested him, waited
+with most lively anxiety for him to speak. After a long silence
+Villebelle said,--
+
+"You are very young, Urbain."
+
+"I am nineteen years old, seigneur."
+
+"This--Blanche is, no doubt, the first woman whom you have loved?"
+
+"Yes, seigneur, and she will be the last."
+
+"You are mistaken, my friend; at your age one loves ardently, but it is
+a flame which quickly evaporates. It is only to one like me that--bereft
+of the illusions of youth and wearied with change--a true love is a need
+of the heart and should be an insurmountable feeling. Like you, at
+nineteen years of age, I believed that I should love for life; I
+deceived myself. Believe me, you will still be happy."
+
+"Without Blanche? That is impossible."
+
+"You have some little fortune?"
+
+"I have a little country house which my father left me, and twelve
+hundred livres income."
+
+"With so little, distraction is not easy. I wish that you could taste
+some of the pleasures of your age, and in their vortex you would soon
+forget your first love."
+
+"I thank you, seigneur, but I cannot accept your benefits. I repeat to
+you, I can never taste pleasure separated from her I love."
+
+"Well, what I have offered you would facilitate your researches. Do not
+refuse me, it is only on that condition that I promise you to second
+your efforts. Wait for me here, do not leave this room."
+
+So saying, the marquis went into the room where Touquet was waiting.
+
+"Urbain is there," said he, "the young stranger who asked to see me is
+Blanche's lover."
+
+"I know it, seigneur, I recognized his voice and I listened."
+
+"He comes to beg my help in discovering the abductor of her he loves."
+
+"He could not better address himself."
+
+"I almost felt ready to give him his sweetheart."
+
+"What folly!"
+
+"But Blanche's image is too deeply graven in my heart. However, I wish
+to try and indemnify poor Urbain for the evil which I have caused him;
+and the power of gold--"
+
+"It is the remedy for all evils, seigneur."
+
+"Yes, to a venial soul like yours; you have never known the sweetness of
+love."
+
+"But it is necessary, seigneur, to get rid of this young man for a long
+time. What prevents you--by means of false advice--from sending him to
+England, to Turkey, to the devil even?"
+
+"In fact, I comprehend."
+
+"Travel will distract him from his love; you are a generous rival. Some
+others in your place, profiting by the occasion, would shut this young
+man up in some dungeon in this château."
+
+"Oh, how horrible! to betray the confidence of this mere boy."
+
+"In place of that you will give him money, so that he can live like a
+great lord."
+
+"Could I ever pay him for the treasure I have taken from him?"
+
+The marquis opened a desk, took sixty thousand livres in notes, which he
+placed in a pocketbook and returned to find Urbain. The young bachelor,
+as he noted the elegance of the interior of the château, said to
+himself,--
+
+"It is, perhaps, in a similar abode that Blanche is lamenting at this
+moment."
+
+"In thinking of what you have told me," said Villebelle, "I recall
+certain circumstances which might, perhaps, put you on the track of her
+whom you are seeking."
+
+"O monsieur le marquis, deign to tell me."
+
+"The Marquis de Chavagnac has often made people talk about him by
+abducting beautiful girls; he has suddenly left Paris, and one may
+presume that it was on some similar adventure."
+
+"Ah, it is he who has stolen Blanche from me."
+
+"Remember well that I do not affirm anything."
+
+"And does anyone know to which of his châteaux he has gone?"
+
+"He is not in France, and, according to what I have learned, has betaken
+himself to Italy."
+
+"To Italy? Then that is where I must go."
+
+"Take this pocketbook as a mark of my esteem, and do not spare that
+which it holds."
+
+"Seigneur, I do not know if I should."
+
+"Believe my experience; with gold one may gain the duennas, one may
+seduce jailers, one may surmount many obstacles."
+
+"It will be to you, then, that I shall owe my happiness, my felicity. O
+seigneur, I do not know how to express my gratitude to you."
+
+"Go, Urbain, make a tour of Italy, and perhaps you will there find
+happiness."
+
+The young bachelor still wished to express to the marquis all his
+gratitude, but the latter would not permit him, and again wishing him a
+pleasant journey, he rang for Germain, who conducted Urbain to the door
+of the château. Hardly had the young lover quitted the marquis'
+apartments, when Villebelle called Touquet, and ordered him to follow
+Urbain at a distance, and not to lose sight of him until he was certain
+that the bachelor had left Sarcus. Urbain departed, penetrated with
+gratitude to the marquis, but while passing through the great gate, he
+experienced a sadness for which he could not account. He could hardly
+leave the château, and turned to cast a last glance at the antique
+towers of Sarcus. Wrapped in thought, he walked slowly down the first
+road which he came to, greatly touched at the welcome which he had
+received at the château. He hoped, thanks to the benevolence of the
+marquis, soon to be in Italy, not doubting that it could be any other
+than the Seigneur de Chavagnac who had carried Blanche off.
+
+Urbain had already gone some distance from the château, and was about to
+enter a lane which led to the village, when a shout of, "Take care
+there!" made him raise his head, and he saw before him a man on
+horseback. The rider, however, managed his horse so badly that the
+animal was standing across the path, having his head resting on a bush,
+to which he seemed to be attached.
+
+"By jingo! won't you turn, proud animal; beware lest in place of the
+spur I bury Rolande's point in your side. Take care there, what the
+deuce! My horse is skittish, you frighten him."
+
+The voice and accent of the chevalier immediately struck Urbain; he
+recognized the man who had made an appointment with him at the Porte
+Montmartre. Chaudoreille, after his meeting with the barber, had had no
+thought except to leave the neighborhood of the château, and without
+making his resolution known to Julia, who would, he was very certain,
+oppose it, he had waited till the next day, when she had left the inn;
+then, taking the bag which contained the effects and money of his
+companion, he had sold one of their horses and, under the pretext of
+exploring the neighborhood had started on his way, with the intention of
+escaping to parts unknown. But the fugitive did not know how to hold
+his horse, although since his journey to Sarcus he had believed himself
+one of the best jockeys in France. Continually twitching the bridle of
+his horse for fear the animal should run away, it had taken him an hour
+to cover barely half a mile of road. He commenced to fear that he could
+not depart quickly enough by this mode of travel, when Urbain met him in
+the little lane, which the horse refused to leave.
+
+Urbain, delighted at seeing the man again who had promised to tell him
+the name of Blanche's ravisher, uttered a joyful exclamation, and ran
+towards Chaudoreille. The sudden cry and approach of the young man
+frightened the horse, which jumped, and sent his rider six feet from him
+into a thick hedge.
+
+"All the bones in my body are broken," cried Chaudoreille, while
+falling.
+
+Urbain ran to help him up, and to make his excuses, but the chevalier
+drew away from him, and while rubbing himself looked at Urbain, who did
+not cease to repeat,--
+
+"I am Blanche's lover, the young man whom you met that night, and whom
+you promised to meet at Porte Montmartre."
+
+"My faith, that's true, I recognize you now; but why the deuce did you
+run at me, and shout so loud? This is the first time that I have been
+unhorsed."
+
+"Monsieur, oblige me by keeping your promise; tell me the name of
+Blanche's abductor. I can now recompense you beyond your hopes."
+
+"Hush!" said Chaudoreille, drawing Urbain towards the hedge which hid
+them from sight of the château; "imprudent young man, don't speak so
+loud."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Silence, I tell you. What! you are at Sarcus, and you don't know the
+name of your sweetheart's abductor?"
+
+"No, of course not; I came to beg the Marquis de Villebelle's
+protection, and thanks to him I hope--"
+
+"Oh, for once this is too much! Young man, you interest me. I am about
+to risk myself for you; but you have promised me a liberal recompense."
+
+"Here, take this gold, these notes, and speak at once."
+
+"Your sweetheart's abductor is no other than the Marquis de Villebelle."
+
+"The marquis?"
+
+"Why yes, by jingo! and your little girl is now at the Château de
+Sarcus."
+
+"No, that is not possible; you are deceiving me. The marquis has heaped
+benefits upon me."
+
+"The better to disarm your suspicions. Zounds! how young you still are.
+I tell you that your Blanche is at the château, and that the barber--"
+
+"Is before you," said a stern voice, which came from the other side of
+the hedge, and, at the same moment, the foliage parted and Touquet
+appeared before the astonished Urbain; while Chaudoreille, whose legs
+failed him at this sudden apparition, fell again into the hedge,
+muttering,--
+
+"It's the devil."
+
+"This wretch has not told you all, Seigneur Urbain," said the barber.
+"Under pretext of serving you he has given you some half confidences,
+but I wish you should know all the obligation under which you lie to
+him. You were about to wed Blanche, and nothing was opposed to your
+marriage; the marquis had never heard of that young girl, whom I had
+carefully kept from his sight, foreseeing to what excesses he would be
+carried; but Chaudoreille, in spite of his promises, gave the marquis a
+most seductive portrait of your sweetheart and told him of your
+approaching marriage. Finally, it is to him that you owe Blanche's
+abduction and the loss of your happiness. Answer, clown, is not this the
+truth?"
+
+"I cannot deny it," answered the chevalier, half dead with fright,
+"however, circumstances--"
+
+"Wretch!" cried Urbain, "you are the cause of all my suffering, defend
+yourself. The first act of my vengeance shall be your death."
+
+While travelling, Urbain carried a sword; he drew his weapon from the
+scabbard and advanced towards Chaudoreille, but the words, "by your
+death," and the sight of the naked sword put new strength into the legs
+of the little man. Abandoning the cloak which impeded his flight, he ran
+with all his might, pursued by Urbain, who still threatened him with his
+sword; while the barber, mounting Chaudoreille's horse, went at full
+gallop to the château. The chevalier, who imagined that he felt the
+point of Urbain's sword pricking his back, redoubled his speed; but
+Urbain, animated by a desire for vengeance, had very nearly caught up to
+him, and was not more than twenty paces behind him when they entered the
+village. This flying man, pursued by another with a sword in his hand,
+attracted everyone's attention.
+
+"Out of the way! out of the way!" cried Chaudoreille to the crowd, while
+Urbain shouted,--
+
+"Stop that wretch."
+
+The innkeeper who was at his door said,--
+
+"Why, that's Monsieur Malek-Al-Chiras, castanet teacher. What can he
+have done with his Arabian steed?"
+
+The fugitive entered the first door that he found open, which was one in
+the house of an old dowager. Chaudoreille mounted the staircase; arrived
+at the first floor he perceived a key in a door, he entered
+precipitantly, carefully taking the key with him and locking it after
+him. At the same instant, a voice cried,--
+
+"Monsieur, what are you doing here? Nobody can come in, I am not
+visible."
+
+It was the dowager, who was dressing at the moment when the chevalier,
+entered her chamber, desperate. Chaudoreille did not answer, he heard
+nothing but Urbain's steps.
+
+"Monsieur, I am making my toilet."
+
+"Make anything you please," said he at last, "I shall scarcely worry
+myself about it."
+
+"Leave this room, monsieur."
+
+"Me, leave the room? By jingo! I'll take very good care not to do that.
+Do you wish me to go to my death? I'm pursued by a man who absolutely
+wishes to fight with me."
+
+"Well, then, fight. Can't you defend yourself?"
+
+"I can only defend myself when I am not attacked."
+
+"What use is your sword then, monsieur?"
+
+"That does not matter to you. Ah, zounds! I hear him."
+
+In fact, Urbain had discovered Chaudoreille's retreat. He knocked at the
+door and ordered him to open.
+
+"Answer that there is nobody here," said Chaudoreille to the dowager,
+"you will save the life of the most amiable man in Europe."
+
+The old woman answered on the contrary,--
+
+"He is here, but he has locked himself up with me and he has taken the
+key."
+
+"Oh, well, one can break in the door," said Urbain, "if this wretch
+refuses to open it."
+
+Chaudoreille looked round in search of a hiding-place, but feared the
+dowager would betray him. Finally his glance rested on the chimney, and
+seeing no other means of escape, he ran and climbed into it with the
+agility of a squirrel. At that moment someone forced the door, and
+Urbain entered, followed by some of the village people. They did not see
+Chaudoreille, but the dowager indicated the way by which he had fled.
+Going down into the court they perceived the chevalier on the roof,
+creeping along a gutter and endeavoring to reach the neighboring house.
+The way was dangerous, but the fear of fighting seemed to have blinded
+Chaudoreille to all other perils. Already his foot touched the next
+roof, and, using Rolande to feel his way, he turned his head to see if
+Urbain was behind him; this movement made him lose his equilibrium, he
+slipped, then disappeared. They ran to the place where he had fallen;
+the descendant of Delilah had fallen on some cabbages, but not having
+loosened his hold of Rolande, the long sword had passed through the
+middle of his body. Thus perished the prudent Chaudoreille, while trying
+to avoid a combat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+JULIA'S STORY. WHAT WAS CONTAINED IN THE PORTFOLIO
+
+
+The barber left Urbain in full pursuit of the luckless chevalier and
+putting his horse at full gallop tore back to the Château de Sarcus, in
+order that he might immediately apprise the marquis of that which had
+taken place. He arrived in short order at the château and hastened to
+present himself to Villebelle, whom he informed of the meeting of Urbain
+and Chaudoreille and the disclosures that had been made.
+
+"Then this young man is aware that I have grossly deceived him, that I
+am Blanche's abductor and that she is now at the château?" said the
+marquis. "He is young and ingenuous, his love for this hapless child is
+pure and virtuous, he sought to honor her in making her his wife,--how
+vile and dishonorable must I appear in his eyes!"
+
+"What does the opinion of this beardless boy matter to you, monsieur le
+marquis? The most important thing you have to think of is how to prevent
+his coming in contact with Blanche, and that, now, will be rather
+difficult. Now that he is sure that she is here, he will employ a
+thousand stratagems to introduce himself into the château--"
+
+"No, this boy shall not rob me of the woman whom I love."
+
+"If he comes, as I am certain he will, to demand satisfaction, it's a
+sure thing that you cannot refuse to fight him, and that will be the
+best means of disembarrassing yourself of him. With your cool blood and
+your skill with the sword, you ought easily to be able to vanquish a man
+blinded by fury."
+
+"Wretch! do you wish that I should be bathed in the blood of this child?
+No, I am already guilty enough. But what prevents me from leaving
+Sarcus, from carrying Blanche to a country where Urbain cannot discover
+her? Yes, tonight even, we will start. We will go to unknown parts. Go
+immediately and find Germain. The preparations for our departure must be
+made in the greatest secrecy, and Blanche must not know of them until
+the last moment; at midnight we will leave the château. By this means I
+hope to make all traces of Blanche lost to Urbain forever."
+
+"That is a very good idea, monseigneur, but Julia--"
+
+"I shall trouble myself no more about her now, besides, this step will
+also relieve me from her importunities. Go, run, and order everything
+for tonight."
+
+Touquet hastened to execute the marquis' orders; it was already late,
+and there remained only a short time to Villebelle in which to make his
+preparations for a voyage which he presumed would be of long duration.
+The more he reflected, the more he approved of his plan. He imagined
+that Blanche would find, in travelling in strange countries,
+distractions which would make her soon forget the persons whom she had
+left in France, and he flattered himself that he would soon see the
+consummation of all his wishes.
+
+Eleven o'clock struck. The night was fine; everything was in readiness
+for their start, some fresh and lively horses were harnessed to a
+travelling carriage. The marquis was still in his apartment, occupied in
+finishing some letters to his stewards and some intimate friends in
+Paris. Near him was the barber, to whom he gave his last instructions;
+charging him in case he should see Urbain again, to advise that young
+man to forget a woman whom he could never possess; and to enjoy himself
+with the large fortune which Villebelle had placed at his disposal.
+
+The barber listened quietly to the marquis; his eyes were fixed on the
+gold and the bills of exchange spread on the desk by the side of a pair
+of travelling pistols. A few moments later Villebelle was about to tell
+Marie to go and call Blanche, when the door of the room opened softly.
+The marquis, surprised that anyone should dare to come into his room so
+late, raised his eyes and recognized Julia, wrapped in her black mantle.
+
+"This woman again!" exclaimed Villebelle, while Touquet turned and
+remained struck with astonishment on perceiving the Italian.
+
+"Calm yourself, seigneur," said Julia, closing the door of the room,
+"this visit will be the last that I shall make you."
+
+"How did you come here? What do you want? Speak, hasten to answer me
+unless you expect me to punish you for your strange conduct."
+
+"I fear nothing, seigneur, it is very little matter what becomes of me
+after this. I find you here with your confidant, which is just what I
+wish. Deign to listen attentively to me. That which I am about to tell
+you will, I am sure, change all your resolutions, and your departure
+will not take place."
+
+Julia's singular tone, and her unexpected appearance at so late an hour,
+inspired Villebelle with curiosity and a secret terror. He signed to the
+young Italian to speak. The latter seated herself between the marquis
+and the barber, who waited impatiently for her explanation, and after
+looking attentively at them for some time with a peculiar expression,
+she at length began her story.
+
+"It is first necessary, monsieur le marquis, that you should know that I
+am the daughter of a man named César Perditor, who passed for a sorcerer
+in the eyes of ignorant people, and whose reputation became such that
+he was obliged to quit Paris to protect himself from death, or, at
+least, from a perpetual prison in the dungeons of the Bastile."
+
+"César! I often heard speak of that famous sorcerer," said the marquis.
+"Did he not hold his conferences in a quarry near Gentilly?"
+
+"Yes, seigneur; and there it was that an old man came to consult him, an
+old man whose daughter you had abducted, and whom you had wounded with
+your sword--the unfortunate Delmar."
+
+"Estrelle's father?"
+
+"Exactly, monseigneur. Old Delmar told his troubles to my father, and
+begged him to give him the means to revenge himself upon you; but
+despite all his skill César would have had difficulty in satisfying the
+old man if, while receiving the confidences of a great part of the
+noblemen and of the women of fashion, he had not learned where your
+little house was situated, and to what neighborhood you had taken the
+young Estrelle. He told it to the old man, and the latter rescued his
+daughter from your hands."
+
+"What? It was her father who took her from the shelter where I had
+placed her?" said the marquis with surprise, and appearing at every
+moment more interested in Julia's tale. "And what became of her?"
+
+"One moment, seigneur, you will learn all if you will allow me to
+continue. Old Delmar had regained his daughter, but you had dishonored
+her, and the adventure had caused too much stir to allow them to remain
+in the city that you lived in. He possessed some fortune; he sold
+everything, realized his property, recompensed my father for the service
+he had rendered him, and carried Estrelle to the depths of Lorraine, and
+there she gave birth to her child."
+
+"Good God! she was a mother! can it be possible that Estrelle made me a
+father? Ah, Julia, in mercy finish."
+
+Julia seemed to enjoy for some moments the marquis' uneasiness, then she
+resumed her story.
+
+"It was at this time that my father was obliged to escape from Paris in
+order to avoid arrest, and the report spread that he had perished in a
+dungeon of the Bastile; but he had amassed sufficient for his
+subsistence, and leaving his dangerous occupation, he had no thought but
+to live in peace. I was then in Italy, my birthplace. My father came to
+seek me, and brought me to France, the climate of which pleased him.
+Unable to return to Paris, where he would have been recognized, my
+father settled in the neighborhood of Nancy; there he again saw old
+Delmar and his sad daughter, secretly bringing up a child of whom she
+could only call herself the mother with blushes. Later he became
+acquainted with a poor farmer who had been reduced to poverty by the
+misconduct of his son, a wretch who, after committing a crime in the
+country where he was born, had fled, carrying away from his parents all
+that they possessed, and leaving them in the direst poverty."
+
+"The history of this man can have no connection with Estrelle's child,"
+said the marquis, impatiently; "in pity, Julia, finish what you have to
+say to me."
+
+"Pardon me, monsieur le marquis, that is more important than you think,
+and it is very interesting to your worthy confidant, who has already
+recognized his father in the old farmer of whom I have spoken."
+
+The barber, who had given great attention to Julia's last words,
+immediately exclaimed,--
+
+"Oh, was that my father? I was guilty towards him I confess; love of
+gold made me commit many faults, but I always had the intention of
+repairing the wrong I had done, and there is still time for it."
+
+"No, it is too late," said Julia, casting at the barber a terrible look.
+
+"Is he dead?"
+
+Julia remained silent. The marquis rose abruptly, exclaiming,--
+
+"Well, then, cruel woman, have you amused yourself sufficiently with my
+torture? When are you going to make an end of this?"
+
+"You are both very impatient," said the young Italian, smiling bitterly;
+"but there is little more to tell you. Old Touquet asked my father
+whether he had, in his travels, heard his son spoken of. My father could
+tell him nothing satisfactory. Soon after we went to dwell in a village
+near Amiens; it was there that I lived up to the age of fifteen years.
+Then my father died; and I came to Paris, where I went into a shop as a
+simple workwoman. My father had left me no property except a manuscript
+containing the most curious adventures of his life, and the secret
+history of the persons who had consulted him. This is how I learned,
+monsieur le marquis, of the abduction of poor Estrelle, and it was in
+examining these notes of my father that I saw in what manner the barber
+Touquet had acted toward his parents."
+
+"Is that all that you know?" said the marquis. "Have you learned nothing
+more in regard to Estrelle and her child?"
+
+"A short time ago I did not know anything further, seigneur, but chance
+has put me in possession of all that you would know, thanks to a visit
+which I paid to the barber, for it was at his house that I found the
+clew to the mystery."
+
+"At my house?" said Touquet, looking at Julia in surprise.
+
+"Yes, at your house, in the closet hidden at the back of the alcove in
+Marguerite's chamber."
+
+Pale and trembling, the barber muttered,--
+
+"You have been in that closet--but there was nothing there; no, I am
+very certain of it."
+
+"You are mistaken, for in disturbing, by chance, a chest which stood on
+the floor, I found this portfolio, which probably had been hidden by the
+person whom you lodged there, who, not knowing how to dispose of these
+important papers, had deemed it wise to put them in this secret place
+during the time that he stayed at your house."
+
+The barber looked with terror on the portfolio which Julia had drawn
+from beneath her cloak, while the marquis exclaimed,--
+
+"Do these papers come from Blanche's father?"
+
+"They come, in fact, from the person who brought that young girl to the
+barber's house. Seigneur, read first that one."
+
+Julia gave a paper to Villebelle, who uttered a cry of surprise as he
+read,--
+
+"Certificate of the birth of Blanche, daughter of Estrelle Delmar."
+
+"O my God!" said the marquis, breathing with difficulty, "can it be?"
+
+"Wait, seigneur, do you know Estrelle's writing?"
+
+"Yes, that is it, I recognize it."
+
+"Read this note."
+
+The marquis took the letter and eagerly read it,--
+
+     I feel that I am about to die, but, at least, my father has
+     forgiven me. He had forbidden me to make Blanche's existence known
+     to her father, and, as long as he lived, I respected his orders;
+     but he is no more, and I am about to follow him to the tomb.
+     Villebelle, Blanche is your daughter, the fruit of our love.
+     Good-by. Love her more than you have loved her mother. I forgive
+     you.
+
+      ESTRELLE DELMAR.
+
+
+"O Blanche, O my daughter!" exclaimed the marquis, abandoning himself by
+turns to his joy and his remorse, "I am your father and I have made you
+unhappy."
+
+"Finish this letter, seigneur," said Julia, "there is something there
+which concerns your confidant."
+
+The marquis saw some lines added by Estrelle's hand and read,--
+
+     I have no relations; my daughter will be presented to you by a
+     worthy friend in whom I have every confidence, and who goes to
+     Paris under a fictitious name to try to obtain some information
+     about a son who has dishonored him. I have confided to him the
+     fortune which I have left Blanche; my daughter needs nothing but
+     her father's friendship, but if he repulses her, the old Touquet
+     will take his place.
+
+"Touquet," cried the marquis, looking at the barber.
+
+The latter appeared thunderstruck. He looked at the letter, a cold sweat
+stood out on his forehead; he could not utter a word.
+
+"Yes," said Julia, "yes, unhappy wretch, it was your father who came to
+your house with Blanche, whom he was taking to the marquis; he had taken
+the name of Moranval, no doubt, that he might be more likely to get news
+of his son in Paris. Perhaps he even knew in whose house he was taking
+lodgings. Answer, wretch, how did you treat that traveller?"
+
+"Do not question me," said the barber, walking wildly about the room, "I
+am a monster. Do not come near me; I have murdered my father!"
+
+"And for ten years you have deprived me of my daughter," cried the
+marquis, starting from Touquet with horror. "You were about to make me
+the most guilty of men, your horrible counsels were thrusting me to a
+crime--wait, wretch, and receive the price of all your misdeeds."
+
+The marquis seized one of the pistols which were on the desk and
+directed it towards Touquet. The shot sped, and Julia looked coldly on,
+as the barber fell at her feet.
+
+"That death was too kind for you," said the marquis, "but, thanks to
+Heaven, I have not committed the last crime. O my dear Blanche, you are
+my daughter; that was the cause of the secret feeling which pled for
+you. I will make you happy, and you shall forget my unworthy love;
+henceforth, it is only a father who presses you in his arms."
+
+The marquis left the room followed by Julia. He did not walk, he flew
+towards the tower inhabited by Blanche. As he approached, his voice,
+calling Blanche, woke the echoes. They reached the door of the room,
+which was locked on the inside; the marquis, who had not taken his keys,
+knocked and reknocked, calling Blanche and begging her to open. Nobody
+answered, but presently a sound reached the marquis' ears, which seemed
+to be caused by the fall of some object in the waters of the lake.
+Villebelle experienced a sensation which he could not define; he ran and
+called Germain, obtained his keys and entered Blanche's apartment; it
+was empty, and everything announced that the young girl had not gone to
+bed; but one of the windows looking on the lake was open. Led by a
+secret presentiment, the marquis went on to the balcony. His eyes
+searched the lake, and he called again,--
+
+"Blanche, my daughter."
+
+Nobody answered, but an object showed at intervals on the surface of the
+lake, and seemed to move.
+
+"It is she," cried Villebelle, and immediately jumped into the lake. It
+was indeed the unfortunate Blanche, who, since the scene of the
+preceding night, expecting at every moment some new attempt on the part
+of the marquis, had not tasted a moment's rest. She had not gone to bed,
+fearing to be surprised in her sleep, and watched trembling, believing
+at the slightest noise, that her abductor was about to appear. Blanche
+had decided to die rather than cease to be worthy of Urbain. On hearing
+hasty steps approaching her room, and recognizing Villebelle's voice
+calling her loudly, a most violent terror had seized her; and not
+doubting but that he had come to accomplish his infamous purpose, she
+had thrown herself into the lake, pronouncing Urbain's name.
+
+The marquis swam towards the object which he perceived in the water, but
+another person who had been in the park, had also thrown himself into
+the lake. It was Urbain, who, certain that his sweetheart was in the
+château, had profited by the night to introduce himself into the
+gardens. The young bachelor had heard Blanche's sweet voice uttering his
+name, then a sudden sound caused him to look towards the lake and he had
+flown to the help of the unfortunate girl, with whom he had at length
+reached the brink; where presently he was joined by the marquis, Julia,
+and the people of the château, attracted by their master's shouts.
+Blanche was stretched on the grass, while Urbain on his knees beside her
+called her loudly, when the marquis came running in the greatest despair
+and threw himself on the ground, supplicating Heaven to give him back
+his daughter.
+
+"His daughter?" cried all those around him.
+
+"Yes," said Villebelle, gazing on Blanche's discolored features with
+despair, "yes, it is my daughter, my child, whom I have made unhappy,
+whose death I have caused. Ah, I would have given all my fortune to kiss
+Estrelle's daughter, to hear her call me father, and by my passions, my
+vices, I am deprived of my greatest treasure. Oh, my dear Blanche,
+return to life; before death closes your mouth, tell me, at least, that
+you will forgive me. But no, I shall not have even that last
+consolation; she is dead without having once called me father."
+
+The marquis threw himself on the body of his daughter, which Urbain
+watered with his tears; he took Blanche's hands and held them against
+his heart, seeking to rewarm them, to reanimate them, but all efforts
+were vain. Blanche could no longer hear her father's cries, nor the sobs
+of her lover.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Barber of Paris, by Charles Paul de Kock
+
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
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+  The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Barber of Paris, by Charles Paul de Kock.
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Barber of Paris, by Charles Paul de Kock
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+Title: The Barber of Paris
+
+Author: Charles Paul de Kock
+
+Translator: Edith May Norris
+
+Release Date: September 16, 2011 [EBook #37453]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BARBER OF PARIS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
+produced from scanned images of public domain material
+from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/frontispiece_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/frontispiece_sml.jpg" width="287" height="550" alt="frontispiece" title="frontispiece" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/cover_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="328" height="550" alt="THE WORKS OF
+Charles Paul de Kock;
+The Barber of Paris;
+Translated into English by
+EDITH MARY NORRIS;
+The C. T. Brainard
+Publishing Co.;
+Boston New York" title="THE WORKS OF Charles Paul de Kock;
+The Barber of Paris;
+Translated into English by EDITH MARY NORRIS;
+The C. T. Brainard Publishing Co.;
+Boston New York" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="c"><small>COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY<br />
+T<small>HE</small> F<small>REDERICK</small> J. Q<small>UINBY</small> C<small>OMPANY</small><br />
+&mdash;&mdash;<br />
+<i>All rights reserved</i></small><br />
+<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+<i>LOUIS E. CROSSCUP<br />
+Printer<br />
+Boston, Mass., U. S. A.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr><th colspan="2" align="center"><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a><big><big>CONTENTS</big></big></th></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><th colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#VOLUME_I"><big>VOLUME I</big></a></th></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-a">CHAPTER I</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>The Barber's House</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_001">1</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-a">CHAPTER II</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Great Nobleman and the Barber</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_014">14</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-a">CHAPTER III</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Blanche. A History of Sorcerers</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_035">35</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-a">CHAPTER IV</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Chevalier Chaudoreille</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_054">54</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-a">CHAPTER V</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Music Lesson</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_074">74</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-a">CHAPTER VI</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Lovers. The Gossips</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_087">87</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-a">CHAPTER VII</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Intrigues Thicken</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_106">106</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-a">CHAPTER VIII</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Conversation by the Fireside</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_129">129</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-a">CHAPTER IX</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Closet. The Abduction</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_140">140</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_X-a">CHAPTER X</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Little House. A New Game</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_155">155</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI-a">CHAPTER XI</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Pont-Neuf. Tabarin</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_177">177</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII-a">CHAPTER XII</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>A Nocturnal Adventure</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_189">189</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII-a">CHAPTER XIII</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Tête-à-Tête</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_198">198</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV-a">CHAPTER XIV</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Ursule and the Sorcerer of Verberie</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_218">218</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV-a">CHAPTER XV</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Love and Innocence. A Shower of Rain and the Talisman &nbsp; &nbsp;</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_239">239</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI-a">CHAPTER XVI</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>How Will It End</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_1_260">260</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><th colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#VOLUME_II"><big>VOLUME II</big></a></th></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-b">CHAPTER I</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Who Could Have Expected It? </td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_001">1</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-b">CHAPTER II</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Happy Moments</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_023">23</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-b">CHAPTER III</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>A Day with Chaudoreille</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_038">38</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-b">CHAPTER IV</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>The Little Supper</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_054">54</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-b">CHAPTER V</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Having Money and Power One May Dare Everything</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_074">74</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-b">CHAPTER VI</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>The Rendezvous. Strokes of Fortune. The Hotel de Bourgogne. The Sedan Chair &nbsp; &nbsp; </td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_102">102</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-b">CHAPTER VII</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Poor Urbain</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_126">126</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-b">CHAPTER VIII</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>The Château de Sarcus</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_135">135</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-b">CHAPTER IX</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>The Meeting. Projects of Revenge</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_164">164</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_X-b">CHAPTER X</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>The Little Closet Again</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_183">183</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI-b">CHAPTER XI</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>The Storm Brews</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_197">197</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII-b">CHAPTER XII</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>The Return to the Château</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_212">212</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII-b">CHAPTER XIII</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>The Marquis Visits Blanche at Night</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_226">226</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV-b">CHAPTER XIV</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Urbain's Visit to the Marquis. Chaudoreille's Last Adventure</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_242">242</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV-b">CHAPTER XV</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Julia's Story. What was Contained in the Portfolio</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol_2_258">258</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<h1>THE BARBER OF PARIS<br /><br /><a name="VOLUME_I" id="VOLUME_I"></a>
+V<small>OLUME</small> I</h1>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol_1_001" id="page_vol_1_001"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I-a" id="CHAPTER_I-a"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Barber's House</span></h2>
+
+<p>U<small>PON</small> a certain evening in the month of December, of the year one
+thousand six hundred and thirty-two, a man walked at a rapid pace down
+the Rue Saint-Honoré and directed his steps towards the Rue Bourdonnais.</p>
+
+<p>The individual appeared to be forty years old or thereabouts; he was
+tall as to his figure and sufficiently good-looking as to his face; the
+expression of the latter, however, was rather austere and at times even
+melancholy; and in his black eyes might sometimes be noted an ironical
+light, which belied the suspicion of a smile.</p>
+
+<p>This ungenial personage, on the occasion of which we are writing, was
+wrapped, one might almost say disguised, and he looked like one who
+would lend his personality to disguise; he was wrapped, then, in a long
+brown cloak which only came down just below his knees, and he wore,
+drawn low down over his eyes, a broad-brimmed hat, which, contrary to
+the fashion of the day, was ungarnished by a single feather, but which
+effectually protected his face from the rain which was now beginning to
+fall very heavily.<a name="page_vol_1_002" id="page_vol_1_002"></a></p>
+
+<p>The Paris of that time was very different from the Paris of today. The
+condition of the beautiful capital was then deplorable; many of the
+streets were unpaved, many of them were only partly paved; heaps of
+rubbish and filth accumulated here and there before the houses,
+obstructing the course of the water and stopping the openings of the
+drains. These waters being without outlet, overflowed on all sides,
+forming puddles and filthy holes which exhaled miasmatic and f&oelig;tid
+odors. Then one might have alluded with truth to&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="c">Paris, city of noise, of mud and of smoke.</p>
+
+<p>The streets were unlighted. People carried lanterns, it is true; but
+everybody did not have these, nor were lanterns any defence against the
+robbers who existed in very large numbers, committing a thousand
+excesses, a thousand disorders, even in broad daylight, being only too
+well authorized in crime by the example of the pages and lackeys whose
+habit it was to amuse themselves each night by insulting the passers-by,
+abducting the girls, mocking at the watch, beating the sergeants,
+breaking in the doors of shops, and annoying the peace of the
+inhabitants in a multiplicity of ways, excesses against which parliament
+had in vain promulgated statutes, which were incessantly renewed, and
+just as incessantly violated with impunity.</p>
+
+<p>The stealing of purses, and even of cloaks, was then a thing so common
+that the witnesses of the<a name="page_vol_1_003" id="page_vol_1_003"></a> robbery contented themselves with laughing at
+the expense of the victim, without ever running after the thief. Murders
+were committed in broad daylight on the squares and on the walks, the
+criminals insulting their victims as they departed.</p>
+
+<p>There were two kinds of thieves,&mdash;cut-purses and tire-laines. The first
+nimbly cut the strings of the purse, which it was then the habit to
+carry hung at the belt; the second, approaching from behind, rudely tore
+the passer's cloak from his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>Vainly from time to time they executed some of these criminals. These
+examples seemed to redouble the audacity of the vagabonds, the insolence
+of the pages and lackeys. Justice waxed feeble, while custom allowed
+each one to execute it for himself. Duels were nearly as common as
+robberies; it was considered a great honor to have the power to boast of
+having sent many people into the other world. Indubitably this was not
+the golden age, nor the good old times so vaunted by some poets, so
+regretted by those gloomy minds which admire only hoops and
+farthingales.</p>
+
+<p>We do not pretend to write history, but we have thought it necessary to
+recall to the reader the state of Paris at the time in which our barber
+lived. Undoubtedly he has already divined, by the title alone, that the
+story is not of our time; for now we have in Paris many artistes in
+hairdressing, many coiffeurs, and many wigmakers, but we have no longer
+any barbers.<a name="page_vol_1_004" id="page_vol_1_004"></a></p>
+
+<p>The individual whose portrait we have just drawn, having reached a
+corner of the Rue des Bourdonnais, stopped before a pretty house on
+which was written in big letters, "Touquet, Barber and Bathkeeper." At
+that time the luxury of signs was not known, and the streets of Paris
+did not offer to the consideration of loiterers a character from Greek
+or Roman history at the front of each grocer's or haberdasher's shop.
+The portrait of Mary Stuart did not invite one to go in and buy an ell
+of calico; nor did Absalom, hung by the nape, indicate to one that he
+was passing a hairdresser's parlors. We have made great progress in such
+matters.</p>
+
+<p>The man who had stopped before the barber's house would have had, no
+doubt, much trouble in reading what was written on the front of the
+shop, which was shut; for the night was dark, and, as we have already
+said, there were no street lamps to aid those who ventured to be out in
+the evening in the capital. However, he seized the knocker of the
+smaller door, which served as an entrance, and gave a double knock
+without hesitating, and as one who was not afraid of making a mistake;
+in fact, it was the barber himself. In a few moments heavy steps were
+heard, and a light shone against the lattice-work above the door, which
+opened, and an old woman appeared, holding a candle in her hand. She
+nodded, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Good God, my dear master! you have had<a name="page_vol_1_005" id="page_vol_1_005"></a> horrible weather. You must be
+very wet. I have been praying to my patron saint that nothing should
+happen to you. Oh, if one only had a secret for preserving one's self
+from the rain! I'm very sure there are some people who can command the
+elements."</p>
+
+<p>The barber made no answer, but passed toward a passage which led to a
+lower room in which there was a big fire. On entering the apartment he
+began by removing his cloak and hat, from which latter escaped a mass of
+black hair which fell in ringlets on his collar; he unfastened a large
+dagger from his belt, it being then the custom not to venture out
+without being armed. Touquet hung the dagger over the mantelpiece, then
+threw himself into a wicker armchair and placed himself before the fire.</p>
+
+<p>While her master rested, the old servant came and went about the room;
+she placed the table beside the barber's armchair, drew from a buffet a
+pewter cup, some plates, a cover. She placed on the table tankards
+containing wine or brandy, and some dishes of meat which she had
+prepared for the supper.</p>
+
+<p>"Has anyone been here during my absence?" said the barber, after a
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur; first, some pages, to know the news and adventures of
+the neighborhood, to talk evil about everybody, and to mock at the poor
+women who were weak enough to listen to them.<a name="page_vol_1_006" id="page_vol_1_006"></a> Oh, the young men of
+today are wicked. How they boasted of their conquests! Some bachelors
+came to be shaved, then the little dandy who's delighted to wear powder,
+protesting that soon everybody will wear it. Perhaps they'll powder the
+hair likewise; still, that may preserve it from something worse. Ah, I
+forgot; and that big, noisy and insolent lout who, because he has a
+satin doublet and a velvet mantle, a hat adorned with a fine plume, and
+beautiful silver points, believes that he has the right to play the
+master over everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, you're speaking about Monbart?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of that same. He made a great shouting when he found you were not
+here. He said that since monsieur is rich he neglects his business."</p>
+
+<p>"Why should he meddle with it?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's just what I thought, monsieur. M. le Chevalier Chaudoreille also
+came. He fought a duel yesterday in the little Pré-aux-Clercs and killed
+his adversary, and he had still another duel for this evening. Blessed
+Holy Virgin! that men should kill each other like that, and often for
+some mere trifle."</p>
+
+<p>"Let them fight as much as they please; it's of little importance; it's
+not my business. Did anybody else come?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the gentleman who is so droll that he makes me laugh, and whom I
+have sometimes<a name="page_vol_1_007" id="page_vol_1_007"></a> seen play in the farces which everybody runs to see at
+his theatre in the Hôtel de Bourgogne,&mdash;M. Henry Legrand."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you say Turlupin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Turlupin, since that's the name they give him at the theatre, and
+by which he's also known in the city. He does not make one melancholy.
+He came with that other who plays with him, and acts, they say, the old
+men, and delivers the prologues which precede the pieces."</p>
+
+<p>"That's Gautier-Garguille?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur, that's his name. He wanted to be shaved, bathed and have
+his hair dressed; but as you were not here, one of them played the
+barber and shaved his comrade; then the other took the comb and soapball
+and rendered him the same service. I wished at first to prevent them,
+but they wouldn't listen to me; if they didn't make me sit in the shop
+and talk downright nonsense about scent and soap. Some people who in
+passing had recognized Turlupin and his companion stopped before the
+shop; presently the crowd grew dense, and when they wanted to leave they
+could not find a way through; but you know Turlupin is never
+embarrassed, and, having uselessly begged the curious to let them pass,
+he went into the back shop and brought a bucketful of water, which he
+emptied entirely upon the crowd. Then you can imagine, monsieur, the
+excitement, the shouts of everybody. Turlupin and Gautier-<a name="page_vol_1_008" id="page_vol_1_008"></a>Garguille
+profited by the confusion to make their escape."</p>
+
+<p>"And Blanche," said the barber, who appeared to listen impatiently to
+old Marguerite's story,&mdash;"I hope that she was not downstairs when these
+merry-andrews attracted such a crowd about my house."</p>
+
+<p>"No, monsieur, no; you know very well that Mademoiselle Blanche seldom
+comes down to the shop, and never when there is anybody there. Today, as
+you were away, she did not leave her room, as you had advised her."</p>
+
+<p>"That's well; that's very well," said the barber.</p>
+
+<p>Then he drew near the fire, supporting one of his elbows on the table,
+and appeared to fall again into reflection without listening to the
+chatter of his servant, which continued as if her master were paying the
+greatest attention to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle Blanche is a charming girl; oh, yes, she is a charming
+child,&mdash;pretty, very pretty. I defy all your court ladies to have more
+beautiful eyes, or a fresher mouth, or whiter teeth; and such beautiful
+hair, black as jet and falling below her knees. And with all that, so
+sweet, so frank, without the least idea of coquetry. Ah, she is candor,
+innocence, itself. Of course, she's not yet sixteen years old; but there
+are many young girls at that age who already listen to lovers. What a
+pity if such a treasure as that should fall into the claws<a name="page_vol_1_009" id="page_vol_1_009"></a> of a demon!
+But we shall save her from that. Yes, yes; I'm sure of it. I shall do
+all that's necessary for that, for it's not enough to watch over a young
+girl; the devil is so malicious, and all these bachelors, these
+students, these pages, are so enterprising, without counting the young
+noblemen, who make no scruple of abducting young girls and women, and
+for all compensation give a stroke of the sword, or cause to be whipped
+by their lackeys those who complain of their treatment. Good Saint
+Marguerite! what a time we live in! One must allow one's self to be
+outraged, offended, robbed even,&mdash;yes, robbed,&mdash;for if you should have
+taken your man in the act, if you demand justice, they will ask you if
+you yourself were a witness to it. If you say no, they will dismiss the
+guilty person, and if you say yes, they will first find out if you have
+the means of paying the expenses of the law, in which case you may have
+the pleasure of seeing the thief flogged before your door, and that will
+cost you a heap. But if it is someone with a title who has offended you,
+it's necessary for you to be silent about it, unless you wish to finish
+your days at the Bastile or at the Châtelet."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite was silent for some minutes, awaiting a response from her
+master. Receiving none, she presumed that he tacitly approved of all she
+was saying, and resumed her discourse.</p>
+
+<p>"Finally, they pretend that it's always been<a name="page_vol_1_010" id="page_vol_1_010"></a> thus. They hang the little
+ones, the bigger ones save themselves, and the biggest mock at everyone.
+One's ill advised to go to law now that the advocates and the attorneys
+drag a lawsuit along for five or six years, receiving money from all
+hands, so as to maintain their wives and their daughters in luxury,
+playing the Jew to ruin their poor clients. As to the sergeants, they
+run all over to find criminals; but if they arrest some thieves, they
+let them go very quickly, for fear that the latter will give them some
+money. Poor city! Don't we hear a frightful noise every night? And still
+we're in the best neighborhood. And that does not prevent them from
+committing vandalisms, robberies, murders. There are shouts, a clash of
+arms; what is the use of provosts, sheriffs, sergeants, archers, if the
+police do so badly? It's not the merchants I pity; they'll give
+themselves to the devil for a sou; they sell their goods for four times
+more than they cost; to draw customers, they allow every passer-by to go
+into their shops, leaving them at leisure to chat with their women, to
+take them by the chin, to talk soft nonsense, to make love to their
+face,&mdash;all that to sell a collar, some rouge, a dozen of needles. It's a
+shame to see everything that goes on amongst us. If I go to market to
+get my provisions, I'm surrounded by thieves who amuse themselves by
+stealing from the buyers and the sellers; they rummage in the creels and
+baskets, then they sing<a name="page_vol_1_011" id="page_vol_1_011"></a> in my ears indecent and obscene songs. Good
+Saint Marguerite! where are we in all this? The scholars, more debauched
+than ever, insulting, pillaging, doing a thousand wickednesses; the
+young men of family who haunt the gambling-dens, the drinking-houses,
+always armed with daggers or swords. Ah, my dear master, Satan has taken
+possession of our poor city and will make us his prey."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite stopped anew and listened. The barber still kept the deepest
+silence, but he was not asleep. Several times he had passed his right
+hand over his forehead and pushed back his curls. For those who love to
+talk, it is much the same whether they are listened to or believe
+themselves to be listened to. The old servant was enjoying herself; she
+did not often find so good an opportunity to talk, and she began again
+after a short pause:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks to Heaven, I am in a good house, and I can say with pride that,
+during the eight years that I have lived with monsieur, nothing has
+passed contrary to decency and good manners. I remember very well that
+when they said to me, eight years ago, 'Marguerite, M. Touquet, the
+barber-bathkeeper of the Rue des Bourdonnais, is looking for a servant
+for his house,' I considered it twice. I beg your pardon, monsieur; for
+bath-keepers' houses and lodging-houses don't have a very good
+reputation. But they said to me, 'M.<a name="page_vol_1_012" id="page_vol_1_012"></a> Touquet is in easy circumstances
+now; he doesn't take lodgers; he is contented to exercise his calling in
+the morning, and for the rest he hardly ever sees anybody at his house,
+where he is carefully educating a little girl whom he's adopted.' My
+faith! that decided me, and I've not had cause to repent my decision. If
+there come in the morning to the shop a crowd of men of all professions,
+not one of them penetrates to the interior of the house. Monsieur does
+his business honorably, I am proud to say; and that which I admire above
+all is the interest which he bears for the orphan he has taken under his
+care, for I believe that monsieur has told me that she is an orphan.
+Yes, monsieur has told me so. She surely merits all that anyone can do
+for her, that dear Blanche; but I believe I have not told monsieur by
+what means I preserve her from the snares that wait for innocence. Oh,
+it's a secret, it's a marvellous secret, which I shall confide to
+monsieur. The neighbor opposite the silk merchant told me how to make
+it; it is a little skin of vellum, on which some words are written; then
+one signs it, and it becomes a talisman to prevent all misfortunes.
+Queen Catherine de Médicis had a similar one which she wore always; the
+talisman which I have given to Mademoiselle Blanche, very far from
+attracting evil spirits, should make them fly from a place and prevent
+the effect of all sorceries which anyone could employ to triumph over
+her virtue.<a name="page_vol_1_013" id="page_vol_1_013"></a> Oh, the precious talisman, monsieur! Alas! if I had had one
+eight years ago!&mdash;But you don't sup, monsieur; haven't you any
+appetite?"</p>
+
+<p>Touquet rose abruptly and went to look at a wooden timepiece which stood
+at the end of the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Nine o'clock," said the barber impatiently; "nine o'clock, and he has
+not come."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, are you waiting for someone, monsieur?" said the old servant in
+surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I'm waiting for a friend. Put another drinking-cup on the table;
+he will sup with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I very much doubt whether he will come," said Marguerite, while
+executing her master's orders; "it's late and the weather is frightful;
+one must be very bold to risk himself in the streets at this hour."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment somebody knocked violently at the door of the passageway,
+and the barber, smiling to himself, cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is he!"<a name="page_vol_1_014" id="page_vol_1_014"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II-a" id="CHAPTER_II-a"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Great Nobleman and the Barber</span></h2>
+
+<p>O<small>N</small> hearing the knock old Marguerite started affrightedly and looked at
+her master, as she faltered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Must we open the door at this time of night, monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, haven't I told you already that I was waiting for a friend?"
+replied the barber, putting some more wood on the fire, "go to the door
+at once."</p>
+
+<p>The old servant was very fearful; she stood and hesitated; but a single
+look from her master decided her; she took a lamp and directed her steps
+towards the corridor which opened into the passageway of the house.
+Marguerite was sixty-eight years old; work and the weight of years had
+long since bent her body and deprived her limbs of their natural
+agility; she could only walk slowly, and the high heels of her large
+slippers made a uniform flapping noise which the poor old hand-maid
+could not prevent and of which she was, indeed, unconscious.</p>
+
+<p>The good woman had shuffled as far as the middle of the passageway, when
+another knock, louder<a name="page_vol_1_015" id="page_vol_1_015"></a> than the first one, shook all the windows of the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, mon Dieu!" said Marguerite; "he's in a great hurry. Which of my
+master's friends would allow himself to knock in that manner? There are
+some panes broken, I'm sure. Can it be Chaudoreille? Oh, no; he only
+gives a very soft little knock. Turlupin? Of course not; I should hear
+him sing in the street. Besides, he's not my master's friend. Ah, I'm
+very curious to know who it can be."</p>
+
+<p>Despite her curiosity Marguerite did not advance more quickly. However,
+she arrived at the door, and, having mentally recommended herself to her
+dear patron saint, she decided to open it.</p>
+
+<p>A man wrapped in a large cloak which he held against his face, his head
+covered with a hat ornamented on the edge with white feathers, and drawn
+well down over his eyes, so that no one could see them, appeared at the
+end of the passageway, and asked in a loud voice if this was Barber
+Touquet's house.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur," said Marguerite, trying, but in vain, to discover the
+features of the person before her. "Yes, this is it; and it's you, no
+doubt, for whom my master's waiting."</p>
+
+<p>"In that case conduct me to him," said the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite closed the door and bade the unknown follow her. While
+guiding him along the<a name="page_vol_1_016" id="page_vol_1_016"></a> passageway and the long corridor which they had
+to traverse, she turned often and held her lamp to the stranger, under
+the pretence of lighting him, but in fact to try to see something by
+which she could recognize the person whom she had introduced into the
+house. Her efforts were in vain. The stranger walked with his head down,
+holding his cloak against his face. Marguerite was reduced to examining
+his boots, which were white, with turned-over mushroom-shaped tops, and
+garnished with spurs. This seemed to indicate a refined dress; but many
+men then wore similar ones, and this part of his dress could not help
+Marguerite in her conjectures. They reached the lower room, and the
+stranger entered with a light step, while the servant said to her
+master,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here's the person who knocked. I do not know if it is the friend you
+were waiting for; I was not able to see him."</p>
+
+<p>The barber did not allow Marguerite time to finish her phrase. He ran
+toward the stranger and made him come to the fire, saying to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast arrived at last, then. I feared that the night, that the bad
+weather&mdash;But place thyself here; we will sup together."</p>
+
+<p>"Good," said the servant to herself; "in order for him to sup it will be
+necessary for him to remove his mantle, and I shall at last be able to
+see his face. I don't know why, but I have the greatest curiosity to
+know this man. If it is one of my<a name="page_vol_1_017" id="page_vol_1_017"></a> master's friends, it must be that he
+has come here very rarely. I did not recognize his voice; his height is
+ordinary,&mdash;rather tall than short; he should be young. Yes, he's not a
+scholar; however, I bet he's a pretty fellow; by his walk I judge him to
+be a military man. We shall see if I'm mistaken."</p>
+
+<p>The old maid did not take her eyes from the stranger, who had thrown
+himself on a chair, and made no sign that he wished to relieve himself
+of his cloak and hat, both of which were drenched with rain.</p>
+
+<p>"If monsieur desires it," said Marguerite, approaching the stranger's
+chair, "I will relieve him of his cloak, which is all wet; and I can dry
+it while he is supping."</p>
+
+<p>"It is unnecessary," said the barber, putting himself precipitately
+between the old woman and the stranger, who had not stirred; "we have no
+need of your services. Leave us, and go to rest; I will shut the street
+door myself when my friend leaves."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite seemed petrified on receiving this order. She looked at her
+master, and was about to allow herself to indulge in some observations;
+but the barber fixed his eyes upon her, and Master Touquet's eyes had at
+times an expression which compelled obedience.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave us," said he again to his servant; "and above all, do not come
+down again."<a name="page_vol_1_018" id="page_vol_1_018"></a></p>
+
+<p>Marguerite was silent. She took her lamp, bowed to her master and turned
+to leave the room, throwing a last glance on the man of the mantle, who
+remained motionless before the fire and whose features she could not
+see. She was obliged to go to bed without being able to base her
+conjectures on facts, without knowing if she had rightly divined the
+age, the condition, the face of the unknown. What a punishment for the
+old maid! But her master pointed with his finger to the door of the
+room, and Marguerite went at once.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the old servant had departed, and when the sound of her steps
+was no longer heard, the stranger burst into a shout of laughter and
+threw his hat and his cloak far from him. Then one perceived a man of
+thirty-six years or thereabouts; his features were fine, noble and
+spirituel. His brown mustache was lightly outlined above his mouth,
+which in smiling disclosed very beautiful teeth. His expressive eyes, in
+turn tender, proud and passionate, denoted one who was in the habit of
+expressing all his sentiments; but the disgust, the weariness, which
+were depicted also on the pale and worn features of the stranger seemed
+to indicate that, having once indulged his passion, it was only with an
+effort that he could bring himself to experience it again.</p>
+
+<p>His costume was rich and tasteful; the color of his doublet was a light
+blue; silver and silk were blended on the velvet which formed the
+foundation;<a name="page_019" id="page_019"></a> superb lace bordered the collar which fell on his
+shoulders; a large white belt surrounded his figure, and a sword
+ornamented with precious stones glittered at his side.</p>
+
+<p>Since the departure of his servant the barber had changed his tone
+toward the stranger. Respect, humility, had replaced the familiarity
+which Touquet had affected in Marguerite's presence.</p>
+
+<p>"Deign to excuse me, monsieur le marquis," said he, bowing profoundly to
+his guest, "if I permitted myself to be too familiar, with my thee-ing
+and thou-ing; but it was only according to your orders, the better to
+deceive my servant and prevent her from having any suspicions as to your
+rank."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right, my dear Touquet," said the marquis, displaying
+himself before the fire; "I assure you I had the greatest trouble to
+maintain my gravity before the poor woman, who did not know by what ruse
+she could see my face, which would not have been a very great matter,
+for it is hardly presumable that she would have known me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, monseigneur, she does not know you; I think so at least, for M. le
+Marquis de Villebelle has made so much talk about himself with his
+gallantry, his conquests, his feats of arms. His name has become so
+famous, his adventures have made so much noise, that the lowest classes
+of society know him,&mdash;the bugbear of fathers, of tutors, of<a name="page_vol_1_020" id="page_vol_1_020"></a> husbands,
+of lovers even; for monseigneur knows no rival. Your name is spoken with
+terror by all the men, and makes all the women sigh, some with hope and
+the others in remembrance; besides, as monsieur le marquis sought
+pleasure wherever he found beauty, since he sometimes stooped to the
+humble middle classes, and has deigned to honor with his regards some
+pretty shop girl or simple villager, it would not be impossible that my
+old Marguerite might have served with some house where monsieur le
+marquis had left souvenirs. It was, therefore, much better that she
+should not see monseigneur when he came to my house incognito."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly; I wish to remain unknown; it is necessary now that I
+should put more mystery into my love affairs. Be seated, Touquet; I have
+many things to tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Be seated; I wish it. Here I lay aside my rank and my grandeur; in you
+I see the first confidant of my loves, the clever servant of my
+passions, the audacious rascal for whom gold excited the imagination,
+and who knew no obstacle when a purse filled with pistoles was the
+recompense of his services. You are still the same, I am certain."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, monsieur, age makes us more reasonable. Seventeen years have passed
+since I had the honor of serving you for the first time; but since that
+time my head is steadier; I have learned to reflect."<a name="page_vol_1_021" id="page_vol_1_021"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Do you wish to become an honest man? But it is not more than ten years
+ago that you were serving me; you were still a knave then. Does your
+conversion date from that epoch?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur le marquis is incessantly joking. He calls those services
+knaveries which I rendered to him because I was so strongly attached to
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Call it what you will, it matters little to me. It's not necessary with
+me, Master Touquet, to play the hypocrite, and man of scruples. In fact,
+are you disposed to be useful to me? Is your genius extinguished, and
+will gold no longer resuscitate it?"</p>
+
+<p>"To serve you, monsieur le marquis, I shall be always the same; you need
+not doubt my zeal or my devotion."</p>
+
+<p>"All in good time. That is all that I ask of you; be a saint with other
+people if that pleases you, but see that I always find you the same to
+me as you were formerly."</p>
+
+<p>Touquet did not answer, but he turned his head and his features seemed
+to grow sad. However, he soon recovered himself and turned smilingly
+toward his guest, who was tapping the wall of the chimney with his feet,
+and who remained for some time silent, as if he had forgotten that he
+was still at the barber's. The latter waited with impatience for the
+marquis to resume his discourse. At the end of five minutes the noble
+seigneur broke the silence.<a name="page_vol_1_022" id="page_vol_1_022"></a></p>
+
+<p>"My dear Touquet, when I recall the events of my life to my memory, I am
+truly astonished that I am still in the world. Why, during all this
+time, has not the dagger of a jealous husband or father fallen upon my
+head? How many men have sworn to ruin me! And the women,&mdash;if all those I
+have betrayed had executed their projects of vengeance! Thanks to
+Heaven, we are not in Italy or in Spain; and, while we have among the
+French some vindictive spirits, who hold rancor toward one who has
+betrayed them, the total is small. Inconstancy is not an unforgivable
+crime among these ladies, who deign sometimes to put themselves in our
+places and say they would not have done differently to us."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, monseigneur, your life, at least since I have had the honor
+to be attached to you, has been a continued series of very spicy
+adventures, and some very dangerous ones. Abductions, seductions, duels,
+attacks with force, made openly,&mdash;nothing stopped you when you had
+resolved upon anything. Could you find any obstacles? Rich, noble,
+generous, fortune and nature have done everything for you, monsieur le
+marquis. You have profited by it; you have enjoyed life; many men have
+envied you your good fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"My good fortune! Do you truly imagine that I have been happy?"</p>
+
+<p>"And what should have prevented your being so, monseigneur?"<a name="page_vol_1_023" id="page_vol_1_023"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Nothing; and that is perhaps why weariness and disgust have often
+attacked me in the midst of the pleasures, the voluptuousness, I have
+tasted. Sometimes, without doubt, I have felt happiness, but it has been
+so short and has fled so rapidly. The appearance of beauty has inflamed
+my senses and made my heart palpitate. The charming sex, which I
+idolize, has always exercised an absolute empire over me. At the sight
+of a pretty woman I love, or at least believe I love; but no sooner are
+my desires satisfied than my love expires, and I am obliged to seek a
+new object to reanimate my benumbed senses."</p>
+
+<p>"Happily, this capital contains any quantity of pretty faces; the city
+and the court afford you sufficient to vary your pleasures."</p>
+
+<p>"Sentiment and memory are alike exhausted. I fear that, having once had
+force to take fire, my poor heart has become like those imperfect gun
+flints on which the hammer strikes without effect. I am tired of the
+intrigues of the court, which are even easier than the others. Where do
+you think I could find something more spicy? There everything is done
+with etiquette, and everyone is so polished. We know life too well to
+get angry at the least infidelity; one leaves or one takes with the most
+profound obeisances, and this wearies one to death; courtiers have
+nothing new to offer one. What should I accomplish in Marion de Lorme's
+circle? I should see always the same faces. When<a name="page_vol_1_024" id="page_vol_1_024"></a> the Cardinal had made
+her fashionable, I didn't find the woman so witty that one would wish to
+have anything to do with her. How different with this young and
+beautiful Ninon! People will long speak of her; her name will go down
+the centuries. But she has too much wit and too little love, for me. My
+heart, cold before its time, needs to come in contact with a passionate
+heart in order to rewarm itself. In the city one does not fare much
+better with the women. The little bourgeoises have become coquettes.
+Still, if they only knew how to be cruel; but a name, a figure, a rich
+cloak, seems to turn their heads. The merchants know how to rob us, and
+the grisettes entice us; and in the midst of all that the husbands are
+so kind, so complacent; they fear us as they would fire; our titles
+render them mute; of honor they are hopeless. If this continues, it will
+be necessary to make love à la turque; we should only have then to throw
+the handkerchief."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, monsieur le marquis, one always has the resource of wisdom; and,
+since I have not had the honor of serving you for ten years, without
+doubt you have acquired that."</p>
+
+<p>"My faith, yes; for it's not necessary to speak of common adventures,
+which are not worth the trouble of reciting. I have been in the army; I
+have been in battle; that afforded me much pleasure, and I would
+willingly have stayed there much longer; but peace is made, I have
+returned, I have<a name="page_vol_1_025" id="page_vol_1_025"></a> visited my lands, and have laughed with some little
+peasants who were sufficiently pleasing, but so awkward, so simple. By
+the way, I forgot to tell you; I married."</p>
+
+<p>"Married! What, monseigneur! you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly; my marriage was very necessary; my rank, my place at the
+court&mdash;and then I was overloaded with debt. That didn't make me uneasy;
+but they had arranged this marriage; the Cardinal, the Queen herself,
+desired it. I married the daughter of the Count of Laroche. My wife was
+very good, of very sweet character; she didn't trouble herself about my
+intrigues; she had what was necessary to me. I loved her&mdash;very honestly,
+as one can love his wife; but she died two years ago and left me no
+heir, which is intensely disagreeable. I had an idea that I should love
+children very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are a widower, monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and I find myself the possessor of a considerable fortune, very
+well considered at court, in favor with the Cardinal, and even able to
+obtain, should I desire it, the most important employment."</p>
+
+<p>"I conceive, then, that monsieur le marquis wishes more secrecy in his
+love affairs."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my poor Touquet, I don't believe that ambition will ever have much
+charm for me, but nobody knows; and there are some convenances at the
+court which one must not break; besides,<a name="page_vol_1_026" id="page_vol_1_026"></a> secrecy lends a charm to the
+most simple act. But why have you not enrolled yourself under Hymen's
+flag? I find that you are more thoughtful, less cheerful, less lively,
+than formerly."</p>
+
+<p>"No, monsieur le marquis; I am still a bachelor."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, I believe you are better so. In your position a wife would
+restrain you,&mdash;you who are so clever, so discreet, in conducting an
+intrigue. Women are so curious; she would want to know everything, which
+would be troublesome for you. Besides, you have never been very gallant;
+you care for nothing but gold. It is your god, your idol; a well-filled
+purse makes you inventive, capable of working marvels. It's true that
+you play with it a quarter of an hour afterwards and at dice or cards
+soon increase the fruit of the efforts of your genius."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, monseigneur!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you are as big a gambler as you are a knave; I remember it very
+well. Perhaps in ten years you have become wiser; I almost believe so,
+for you appear in very easy circumstances, and this house does not
+indicate poverty; this servant, this supper served for you&mdash;The deuce! I
+must taste your wine."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, monseigneur, it is not worth offering to you."</p>
+
+<p>"I always like best that which is not offered to me."<a name="page_vol_1_027" id="page_vol_1_027"></a></p>
+
+<p>While he was saying these words the marquis filled one of the cups with
+wine and swallowed it at a draught.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, it's not so very bad."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, monseigneur, if it were on your table&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I should find it detestable; but what will you have? Variety is
+the spice of life. And you have become rich, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not rich, but well enough off to buy this house."</p>
+
+<p>"What! the house belongs to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur le marquis."</p>
+
+<p>"Deuce take it, Master Touquet, it must be that you have made some big
+hauls in order to become a proprietor."</p>
+
+<p>The barber's face contracted; his black eyebrows frowned and almost met;
+he slowly rolled his eyes around him, and murmured with an effort,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur le marquis, I swear to you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"O mon Dieu! I do not ask you to swear, my poor Touquet," said the
+marquis, laughing. "You are as uneasy as if you had become a lieutenant
+in crime. Do you think that I came here to inquire as to the manner in
+which you made your fortune? But by all the devils, I do not believe
+that you earned this house in your barber shop."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, I assure you that my economies&mdash;"<a name="page_vol_1_028" id="page_vol_1_028"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's all very well; let's leave all that and speak of the
+subject which brought me here, for, of course, I came to you for
+something, and I'll be damned if I remember what it was."</p>
+
+<p>The barber appeared to breathe more freely; his face assumed its
+habitual expression, and he raised his eyes to the marquis, who seemed
+to throw aside his insolence to explain the motive of his nocturnal
+visit.</p>
+
+<p>"When I saw you this morning on the Pont-Neuf, I was following a young
+girl, a pretty little puss; without being a perfect beauty, she was
+graceful and interesting in appearance, with sparkling and very
+intelligent eyes. I do not believe that we should have much trouble in
+making a conquest of her. However, she walked faster, and would not
+answer any of my compliments. I carefully wrapped myself in my cloak,
+not wishing to be recognized by our amiable profligates, who would have
+made sport of me for running after a grisette. The little girl stopped
+to listen for a moment to Tabarin's songs, and it was while she was
+before the quack that I saw you and recognized you immediately; you have
+one of those faces that nobody forgets."</p>
+
+<p>"I had also recognized you, monseigneur, in spite of the cloak in which
+you were enveloped; for ten years have not changed your features,
+monsieur le marquis, and one could not easily mistake that noble figure
+which captivates all the belles."<a name="page_vol_1_029" id="page_vol_1_029"></a></p>
+
+<p>"You flatter me, rascal; which means that I have aged. But let's go on.
+As soon as you had given me your address, I returned to the side of the
+little one."</p>
+
+<p>"If monsieur le marquis had explained to me this morning what he was
+after, I would have spared him the trouble of following this young
+girl."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I had a good opportunity of examining her further; besides, I had
+nothing else to do. She took the road to the city, which she entered by
+the Rue de la Calandre, I still talking to her; she only smiled, without
+answering me, but her look was not severe. At last she stopped before a
+perfumer's shop; I wished to go in with her, but she opposed me, saying
+in a very singular tone, 'Monsieur le Marquis de Villebelle is too well
+known for him to go into this shop with me; I should lose my reputation,
+and I beg monsieur le marquis not to compromise me.' Well now, my dear,
+Touquet, can you imagine this grisette who pretends that I should cause
+her to lose her reputation? As for me, I confess that I was so much
+surprised by finding myself known to the young girl and hearing her
+speak thus, that I remained like a fool in the middle of the street;
+meanwhile my beautiful conquest had entered, and disappeared by the back
+of the shop."</p>
+
+<p>"As I told you, monseigneur, you are known in all classes of society;
+even a young girl of<a name="page_vol_1_030" id="page_vol_1_030"></a> twelve years is as much afraid of you as she would
+be of Count Ory of gallant memory."</p>
+
+<p>"Better and better! Women are always curious to know these men who have
+been pictured to them as so dangerous. Poor parents! When they tell them
+to fly from me, it makes them run after me. Here, Touquet; here's some
+gold. You will see this young girl, then; since she knows who I am, you
+cannot easily promise her that I will be faithful. No matter; promise
+her anyhow. In three days let me find her at my little house in the
+Faubourg Saint-Antoine; you know it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monseigneur; I remember it; it is the one that you formerly
+possessed."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but I have made it a delightful retreat. You shall see it;
+pictures, mirrors, marble, alabaster, are there mingled with silk,
+velvet and the most precious stuffs. I have spent more than fifty
+thousand francs upon it. Oh, it is divine! I have had some charming
+suppers there with Montglas, Chavagnac, Villempré, Monteille, and some
+other profligates of the court."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it not there, monsieur le marquis, that I led that young girl whose
+abduction made such an uproar? That was, I believe, our first affair of
+this kind; you were then a little more than nineteen years of age; and
+the little girl&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Why the devil do you recall that?" said the marquis, making an angry
+movement, and pressing in his hand the purse he was about to take<a name="page_vol_1_031" id="page_vol_1_031"></a> from
+his belt, and on which the barber had already laid avaricious eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon, monsieur le marquis," said Touquet; "but I did not think I
+should displease you in recalling the adventure which commenced your
+reputation. The young person was beautiful and good, and the father, one
+of King Henry's old archers, did not understand joking. His arquebus was
+aimed at you, the ball went through your hat; but your sword stopped the
+old man, and he fell at your feet, while I bore off in my arms his
+insensible daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"Be silent, wretch," cried the marquis, suddenly rising, and looking
+angrily at the barber, who received his glances with perfect
+indifference.</p>
+
+<p>The conversation was again interrupted; the marquis walked rapidly up
+and down the room, and appeared buried in his reflections; soon,
+however, broken words escaped him, but they were not addressed to
+Touquet. The marquis seemed violently agitated as he said in a low
+voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Estrelle! what has become of you? She loved me&mdash;she believed me to
+be a simple student. I loved her also; yes, never since that time have I
+experienced a feeling which I can compare with the love with which she
+inspired me. I was young&mdash;ah, Heaven is my witness that I did not wish
+to fight with her father. Thanks to Heaven, his wound was very trifling
+and was soon cured; but Estrelle, when she learned my name and that<a name="page_vol_1_032" id="page_vol_1_032"></a>
+event, cursed me. Yes, I believe I can hear her still. Then she escaped
+from that house where I had hidden her. I love her still. Since that
+time I have never heard of her; and you, Touquet,&mdash;have you never met
+her since?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never, monseigneur; I have neither seen her nor heard her speak."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Estrelle!" said the marquis after a moment; and the barber added
+in a low tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"She would now be thirty-four years of age, or very near that."</p>
+
+<p>This remark appeared to lessen somewhat the marquis' regret.</p>
+
+<p>"In fact," said he, again approaching the fire, "she would be nearly
+that age if she were living, and would not appear the same to me as the
+one I formerly knew. How time passes! Come, let's forget all that; after
+all, it is much the same as any other adventure,&mdash;a chapter in the
+history of my life."</p>
+
+<p>"And did the marquis say that the young girl lived in the Rue de la
+Calandre in the city?"</p>
+
+<p>"The young girl? What young girl?"</p>
+
+<p>"The one monseigneur followed this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, to be sure; I had forgotten. You will easily recognize her: her
+figure unconstrained, her walk brisk; twenty years or thereabouts, I
+presume; nut-brown hair, black eyes, beautiful teeth, her skin a little
+brown. I do not think she's French. Something lively in her
+countenance;<a name="page_vol_1_033" id="page_vol_1_033"></a> nothing that indicates timidity or simplicity. This is all
+the information which I can give you."</p>
+
+<p>"It is sufficient, monseigneur; in two days I hope that the young person
+will be at your little house."</p>
+
+<p>"That's very good.&mdash;Wait; this is for your expenses, and I promise you
+as much more if you are successful."</p>
+
+<p>While saying these words the marquis threw on the table the purse filled
+with gold, which he still held in his hand, and a smile escaped the lips
+of the barber. His guest resumed his cloak and replaced his hat on his
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"It is late," said the marquis, wrapping himself in his mantle, "and I
+must go home. The day after tomorrow, toward ten o'clock, I will return
+to learn the result of your proceedings."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I find anybody at your little house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Marcel, one of my people, a devoted servant who lives there
+constantly. I will warn him."</p>
+
+<p>"That is enough, monseigneur, and I hope that you will be pleased with
+me on this occasion."</p>
+
+<p>"I leave it all to your zeal; in fact, the little one is very pleasing,
+and ought to amuse me for some time. Come, my dear Touquet, let us
+follow our destiny. Gallantry, voluptuousness, pleasure,&mdash;that is my
+life; that is the road which I follow where my passions lead me. I
+should not know how to follow any other walk now; like a blind man who
+trusts in Providence, I do not know if<a name="page_vol_1_034" id="page_vol_1_034"></a> this road will lead me to
+happiness; but I cannot turn aside from it."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis turned his steps toward the door, and Touquet proposed to
+his distinguished guest that he should guide him to his dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said the marquis, "it is unnecessary; I have my sword, and
+I fear nothing."</p>
+
+<p>While uttering these words the marquis had plunged into the street and
+disappeared from the barber's sight. The latter closed the door and
+returned to the little room. Arrived there, he hastened to take the
+purse which lay on the table; he counted the pieces which it contained,
+nor could he raise his eyes from the sight of the gold. But soon a dull,
+melancholy sound was heard; it was Saint-Eustache's clock striking two.
+The barber turned pale; his hair seemed to stand up on his head; he
+threw about him gloomy glances, as if he feared to perceive some
+frightful object; then he placed the purse in his bosom, took a lamp and
+went toward the door at the end of the room, murmuring in a sad voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Two o'clock! Let's go to bed. Ah, if I could only sleep!"<a name="page_vol_1_035" id="page_vol_1_035"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III-a" id="CHAPTER_III-a"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Blanche. A History of Sorcerers</span></h2>
+
+<p>T<small>HE</small> welcome day had succeeded to the long and rainy night; the merchants
+had opened their shops, the watchmen were taking their much-needed rest
+after their fatiguing nocturnal duties, while the more hardy robbers of
+the darkness had given place to the sneaking pickpockets and thieves who
+exercised their calling in broad daylight in the most populous quarters.
+The servant maids were up and about, briskly performing their morning
+tasks; husbands left the nuptial couch, for then it was usual for one to
+sleep with his wife, at least among middle-class people, to betake
+themselves to their daily avocations; wives and mothers were attending
+to the needs of their households and their children; lovers who had
+dreamt of their sweethearts went to endeavor to realize some of their
+dreams; and the young girls who always thought of their sweethearts
+whether they were sleeping or waking, went, thinking of them still, to
+their daily work. In that time, as in this, love was the dream of youth,
+the distraction of the middle-aged, and the memory of the old.<a name="page_vol_1_036" id="page_vol_1_036"></a></p>
+
+<p>The barber was always the first to rise in the house. He had no
+servants, although his means would well have allowed it; but when anyone
+asked him why he did not take a boy to help him and to watch in the
+shop, Touquet answered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I do not need anyone; I can conduct my business alone, and I'm not fond
+of feeding idlers who are good for nothing but to spy on their master's
+actions and go and talk about them in the neighborhood."</p>
+
+<p>The barber knew that Marguerite, though a little curious and somewhat of
+a gossip, was incapable of disobeying him in anything; she went out to
+buy the necessary provisions for the house, then she went upstairs again
+to the young girl of whom we have heard her speak, and with whom we
+shall soon have a better acquaintance. Marguerite went down only when
+her master was absent, which was rarely. Finally, the barber could not
+dispense with a maid since he had taken the little Blanche to grow up
+under his roof.</p>
+
+<p>Touquet himself opened his shop; he looked up and down the street, but
+it was yet too early for customers to come. The barber was dreamy,
+preoccupied; he was thinking of the commission which had been given him
+by the marquis; then he returned indoors, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Chaudoreille is late this morning; however, it's his day to be shaved."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite appeared at the entrance to the<a name="page_vol_1_037" id="page_vol_1_037"></a> room; and, after looking
+about her on all sides, perhaps to assure herself that the stranger of
+the night before was not still there, she greeted her master
+respectfully, and said to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, Mademoiselle Blanche is up and wishes to know if she may come
+and say good-morning to you."</p>
+
+<p>The barber still threw a glance into the street; then he passed into his
+back shop, saying to his servant,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche may come."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite had hardly made a sign to someone in the passage when a young
+girl, light as a deer and fresh as a rose, sprang into the little room
+where Touquet was waiting, and ran toward him with the most lovely
+smile, saying to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Good-morning, my good friend!"</p>
+
+<p>Then she offered Touquet her candid forehead, and the barber approached
+her and brushed it lightly with his lips. One would have said that a
+painful feeling restrained him, and that he feared to wither that tender
+flower.</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite's portrait had not flattered Blanche. The young girl was as
+pretty as she appeared innocent and ingenuous. Her dark hair, smoothed
+in bands on her forehead, fell in ringlets on her right shoulder.
+Powder, which the court ladies had then begun to use, had not spoiled
+Blanche's beautiful tresses. Her skin accorded perfectly with her name.
+Her mouth was fresh and tender;<a name="page_vol_1_038" id="page_vol_1_038"></a> and her blue eyes, shaded by long
+lashes, had an innocent and sweet expression, as rare then as now.</p>
+
+<p>What a pity that her pretty body should be imprisoned in a long corset,
+the bones of which seemed forcibly to compress its charms! But it was
+then the fashion. Today we have better taste; we wish that the figure
+should be in its place; we wish, above all, to be able to embrace it
+without being hindered by farthingales, basquines, paniers or hoops.
+Happily, the ladies are of our opinion, and everybody gains thereby.</p>
+
+<p>Despite her long figure, straight corset, frilled sleeves, and her
+high-heeled shoes, Blanche was no less pretty. Beauty adorns everything
+that it wears, and innocence lends a more bewitching and genuine charm
+to beauty. Blanche had, then, every quality which could please. However,
+the barber did not appear to remark the attractions of the young girl;
+one would have said that he feared to look at her, as he had feared to
+touch his lips to her forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you have a good night?" asked Blanche of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, I thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"Marguerite was afraid that you went to bed very late because you had
+one of your friends to supper with you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know why Marguerite should make such a remark, nor what
+necessity there was that she should tell you I had anyone here last
+night."<a name="page_vol_1_039" id="page_vol_1_039"></a></p>
+
+<p>While uttering these words Touquet looked severely at Marguerite, who
+dusted and wiped the furniture without daring to look at her master.</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear," answered Blanche, "is there anything bad in one's
+supping with one of his friends?"</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly not."</p>
+
+<p>"What harm, then, has Marguerite done in telling me that?"</p>
+
+<p>"A servant should not incessantly tell tales about everything her master
+does. It should be very indifferent to you, Blanche, whether anyone
+comes to see me in the evening or not."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mercy, yes, since you won't let me come down, though that would
+amuse me much better than staying in my room."</p>
+
+<p>"A young girl should not talk to everybody, and many people come here of
+whom I know very little."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, in the morning; but in the evening you only receive your friends."</p>
+
+<p>"I receive very few visitors in the evening except Chaudoreille, whom
+you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; and he makes me laugh every time I see him, for he will give
+me lessons in music, and I believe at the present time I know much more
+about it than he does. You will never let me leave my room."</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche, isn't it apparent to you that that is not convenient?"<a name="page_vol_1_040" id="page_vol_1_040"></a></p>
+
+<p>"But when you are alone I should like much better to keep you company
+and chat to you, than to listen to Marguerite's stories, which often
+make me very timorous and prevent me from going to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"You know that I'm not very chatty; after a day's work I'm tired and I
+like to rest."</p>
+
+<p>"And Marguerite said that you didn't go to bed until very late, that you
+kept the light burning a long time, and that she doesn't know if you
+sleep one hour every night."</p>
+
+<p>The old servant coughed, but unsuccessfully, to make Blanche stop
+talking; but the latter, not thinking that she had done anything wrong
+in repeating all that, paid no attention to her and continued to speak.
+Marguerite, in order to avoid her master's look, wiped and dusted with
+new ardor; but this time the voice of the barber made itself heard, and
+it was she whom he addressed.</p>
+
+<p>"Marguerite, I said to you when you came into my house that I detested
+curious, indiscreet people,&mdash;servants who spy on their master. Do you
+remember it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, monsieur," said the old servant, continuing to rub the top of
+the table.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know, then, whether I sleep late, whether I keep the light
+burning a long time, whether I am awake at night?&mdash;you who should be in
+your room at nine o'clock every evening and go to bed immediately."<a name="page_vol_1_041" id="page_vol_1_041"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, I beg your pardon; but at times, when the wind blows or the
+thunder growls, it's impossible for me to sleep; then, monsieur, I get
+up to pray to my patron saint, or cross my shovel and tongs, or to place
+a branch of boxwood on my bed. You know boxwood conjures the storm; and
+if they had taken some of it formerly to the Arsenal, on the Billi
+Tower, it would not have been entirely destroyed by lightning in the
+year 1537 or '38&mdash;I don't know which exactly."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it! leave your boxwood and the Billi Tower alone; answer the
+question I asked you."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I'm doing, monsieur; it's always the wind or the storm
+which makes me wakeful, and as my window faces yours (when I say faces,
+it's a story above), then I see your light sometimes, and it seems to me
+that monsieur is walking about in his room. I'm not very certain of it,
+for there are curtains, and the shade deceives one sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"As I wish to prevent you from having the trouble of making sure that I
+am asleep, this evening you will change your room, and you will sleep in
+that which is above my apartments."</p>
+
+<p>"What, monsieur! in that room where nobody ever goes? I do not believe
+that it has been inhabited since I came here, and I fear&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's enough; see that you obey; and take care not to spy again on my
+actions, or I shall be forced to send you away from the house."<a name="page_vol_1_042" id="page_vol_1_042"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Mercy! how ashamed I am at having made you scold Marguerite!" said
+Blanche, again approaching the barber. "If she said that, my friend, it
+was because of the interest she takes in your health. You know well that
+she is very much attached to you; but since it makes you angry, I
+promise you it shall not occur again. Come, that's the last of it; you
+won't say any more to her about it&mdash;will you?"</p>
+
+<p>Blanche's voice was so sweet, so touching, that Touquet lost his air of
+severity and very nearly smiled as he answered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's the last of it; let us there leave it. As to you, Blanche,
+continue to be good, docile."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will let me go out a little&mdash;will you not? You will allow me to
+go to walk in the Pré-aux-Clercs or on the Place Royale?"</p>
+
+<p>"We shall see; we shall see a little later. To amuse yourself, vary your
+employments."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I do, my dear; I often leave my needle to spin some thread;
+or, better still, I take my tapestry work. Oh, you shall see; I'm making
+something very pretty."</p>
+
+<p>"I know your talent&mdash;your taste. You have a sitar; you can amuse
+yourself by playing on it. Chaudoreille has given you some lessons."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; now I can play as well as he can, for I believe he's not very
+practised on it, although he says he's a great musician. But all that
+hardly ever amuses me; I should like much better to sit at<a name="page_vol_1_043" id="page_vol_1_043"></a> the window
+which looks on the street, but you won't let me open it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Blanche; too many people are passing in this neighborhood; you
+would be seen, ogled, insulted, by the bachelors, the pages, who take
+pleasure in annoying people."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I won't open my window. However, if you were willing I could put
+a mask on my face; then they could not see me."</p>
+
+<p>"They would notice you none the less; besides, Blanche, only the court
+ladies are permitted to wear masks. I repeat to you, avoid the glances
+of these impertinent louts who run the streets, ogling at all the
+windows. You are not yet sixteen years old. In some years I shall leave
+Paris; I shall sell this house, and I shall retire into the country;
+there you can enjoy more liberty, and there you will taste pleasures
+which are worth more than any this city could offer you.&mdash;But someone is
+coming into the shop; go, Blanche, upstairs to your room."</p>
+
+<p>The young girl kissed the barber and quickly regained the passage, from
+which a staircase led to her chamber. She sighed lightly as she entered
+it, and said to herself, while glancing around her,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Always here! Always to see the same things! No one to speak to except
+Marguerite! She is very good, she loves me very much; but sometimes her
+stories are very wearisome to me. Well, then, if I must&mdash;" and Blanche
+took up a piece<a name="page_vol_1_044" id="page_vol_1_044"></a> of tapestry which she was making and sang, while
+working, one of the three airs which her music master had taught her.
+Soon the door of the room opened; Marguerite had followed the young
+girl, but did not arrive as soon as she, because her legs had not the
+vivacity of sixteen years. The old nurse pouted, for Blanche was the
+cause of her having to change her room, which was no small matter to
+Marguerite. Blanche perceived it; she ran in front of the old woman,
+made her sit down, and took her hands, while saying to her with a
+calming smile,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Are you vexed with me, nurse? You must have seen that I said all that
+without thinking that there was anything wrong in it."</p>
+
+<p>Who could resist Blanche's smile? The old woman was much more sensitive
+to such sweet manners because people rarely used them with her; and that
+is why sometimes an old man loses his reason when a pretty girl casts a
+tender glance at him, because for a long time he has not been in the
+habit of receiving such glances.</p>
+
+<p>"Who could remain angry with you?" said Marguerite, pressing Blanche's
+hand; "but for all that, it's very disagreeable to change rooms&mdash;to move
+at my age."</p>
+
+<p>"I will help you, dear nurse; I will carry everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's not that; it's on the same landing; it's not far to carry
+things. But the room I've<a name="page_vol_1_045" id="page_vol_1_045"></a> lived in for eight years, ever since I came
+here, was, thanks to my prayers and precautions, protected from the
+visits of all evil spirits. There I could defy all attempts of sorcerers
+and magicians; and all that I did there I shall have to do over again in
+the new room where I am to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe, then, Marguerite, that sorcerers will come to visit you
+if you don't take all your precautions?"</p>
+
+<p>"And why not, mademoiselle? Don't those people get in wherever they can
+penetrate? There are a great number of them in Paris. They carry away
+the corpses off the gibbets of Montfaucon; they commit a thousand
+horrors to make their sorceries successful. It is now nearly fifty years
+ago (it was my mother who told me that story) that a lackey, ruined by
+play, sold himself to the devil for ten crowns. The demon transformed
+himself into a serpent and took possession of the lackey, introducing
+himself into the latter's body by the mouth; and from that time on the
+unlucky man made horrible grimaces, because the devil was in his body.
+Some years later a watchman was carried off by a sorcerer."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, dear nurse, you are going to tell me some more of those stories
+which will make me timorous at night."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't tell you these to make you tremble, but to prove to you that
+it's necessary to be on one's guard against magicians, and not to be
+like<a name="page_vol_1_046" id="page_vol_1_046"></a> those incredulous people who doubt everything when we have so many
+examples of the power of magic. I'll not do more than cite to you the
+Maréchale d'Ancre and Urbain Grandier, who lodged some devils in the
+bodies of some pious Ursulines at Loudun; that is too frightful. But I
+will only tell you what happened to a magician called César Perditor;
+that dates seventeen years back, or thereabouts. You see, my dear child,
+that's not very ancient."</p>
+
+<p>"But, dear nurse, aren't you going to begin your moving?" said Blanche,
+who did not seem very eager to hear Marguerite's story.</p>
+
+<p>"We've plenty of time," answered the old servant as she drew her chair
+close to Blanche's, delighted to relate a story about sorcerers,
+although that would make her tremble also. Marguerite commenced
+immediately:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This César was, said they, very well versed in his magic art, and
+produced at his will both hail and thunder. He had a familiar spirit,
+and a dog that carried his letters and brought back the answers to him.
+At a quarter of a league distant from this city, on the Gentilly side,
+he lived in a cave, in which he caused the devil and all his infernal
+court to appear. Ah, my poor child; they say that at a great distance
+from the cave a frightful noise might be heard every night. He made love
+philters, and wax images, by means of which he caused the persons they
+represented to languish and die.<a name="page_vol_1_047" id="page_vol_1_047"></a></p>
+
+<p>"One day&mdash;no, it must have been one night&mdash;an old man came to the cave,
+who appeared to be suffering and in great distress. A great lord, a
+libertine, a worthless fellow, had stolen away his daughter, his only
+child; the old man in his despair, unable to obtain justice, went to the
+magician to procure the means of revenging himself upon the man who had
+outraged him."</p>
+
+<p>"Nurse, it seems to me your master is calling you," said Blanche,
+interrupting Marguerite.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; he did not call me. Except at meal times, what need has M.
+Touquet of me? But as we were saying, the old man went to seek a
+magician, and the latter promised him help; in fact, they heard more
+noise than usual in the cave that night,&mdash;so much that the lieutenant of
+police sent some people there, and César was taken and led to the
+Bastile, where soon after the devil strangled him."</p>
+
+<p>"And the old man, nurse?"</p>
+
+<p>"He never returned to his dwelling; without doubt the devil carried him
+away also, or else the great nobleman, having learned that he had gone
+to the magician's house. But nobody knows anything further about it.
+Still, that will prove to you, my dear, how dangerous it is to have
+anything to do with those people."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear nurse, this little talisman which you gave me, that I wear,&mdash;is
+not that the work of a sorcerer?"<a name="page_vol_1_048" id="page_vol_1_048"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not, darling; on the contrary, it is to preserve you from
+their snares that I gave it to you. It is under the protection of my
+patron saint; with that, my dear Blanche, you could go about, run
+anywhere; your innocence would not be in the slightest danger."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, then, does my good friend never permit me to leave my room?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my dear Blanche, it is because M. Touquet does not believe in
+talismans; and it is very unfortunate for him."</p>
+
+<p>"But you, Marguerite, who are afraid of everything,&mdash;why don't you carry
+a similar talisman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my child, the quality of yours consists principally in preserving
+your virtue, and at my age one has no need of a talisman to preserve
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"My virtue! Do magicians take virtue from young girls?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not only magicians, but fascinating gallants,&mdash;finally, all the
+worthless fellows of whom M. Touquet was talking to you this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"And what would these people do with my virtue?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child, that is to say, they would seek to turn your head, to
+give you a taste for coquetry, dissipation, baubles, vanity and deceit;
+then you would be no longer my good, sweet Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I understand; but, dear nurse, without a talisman I fully believe
+that I should never have<a name="page_vol_1_049" id="page_vol_1_049"></a> those tastes. I would do nothing that should
+cause trouble to those who had taken care of me from my infancy, who
+have done so much for me since I lost my father."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all very well, my child, but with a talisman you see I am much
+easier; and if M. Touquet believed about it as I do, he would give you a
+little more liberty. Not that I blame him for fearing for you the
+attempts of worthless fellows; you are growing every day so pretty."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear nurse, do worthless fellows trouble pretty girls, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, yes, my dearie. I have seen them often do so; and, unfortunately,
+the pretty girls listen willingly to the good-for-nothing fellows."</p>
+
+<p>"They listen willingly to them, nurse? Is it because they speak better
+than other men?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not better, but they know so well how to dissemble; their speech is
+golden, their eyes deceptive, their manners&mdash;Ah, how glad I am that you
+have a talisman!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, nurse, since I do not leave my room&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's true, my dear; but you will not always keep your room, and under
+my watchful care it seems to me that one could very well allow you to
+take a little walk from time to time. M. Touquet is severe&mdash;very
+severe&mdash;to make me change my lodging because I noticed that he did not
+sleep at night. Is it my fault&mdash;mine&mdash;that he does not sleep?"<a name="page_vol_1_050" id="page_vol_1_050"></a></p>
+
+<p>"He prevents me from opening my window."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, that is because it opens on the street; and if he knew you looked
+so often through the lattice&mdash;But no one can possibly see you; the panes
+are so small, so close together."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; it is like a grating."</p>
+
+<p>"A father could not be more strict."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Marguerite, he stands to me in the place of mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes; I know it well; however, he is no relation&mdash;is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Marguerite; I believe not."</p>
+
+<p>"According to what I heard in the neighborhood, before I came into his
+service, you are the daughter of a poor gentleman who came to Paris to
+follow a lawsuit about ten years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear nurse; I was then five years and some months of age. It seems
+to me, however, that I still remember my father; he was very good, and
+he often kissed me."</p>
+
+<p>"And your mother,&mdash;do you remember her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, no; but I believe I can still remember the time when my father
+and I arrived here; we had been a long time in a carriage, and came from
+far off."</p>
+
+<p>"And M. Touquet lodged you, for then he kept lodgings; and after that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was very tired; they gave me something to eat and put me to bed in
+this room, and I have always occupied it since."<a name="page_vol_1_051" id="page_vol_1_051"></a></p>
+
+<p>"And after that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not see my father again. The next day M. Touquet told me he was
+dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; it was very unfortunate, they say. There were then, as there are
+very often still, fights in the night between pages and lackeys and
+honest men, who were often attacked by these cursed scoundrels while
+entering their own houses. That night they committed a thousand
+disorders in the streets of Paris; several persons were assassinated;
+and your poor father, who had gone out, was, while returning, drawn into
+a brawl, and perished trying to defend himself. That is all that I have
+learned; do you know anything further?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Marguerite; besides, you know very well that my protector does not
+wish me to talk about that."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, because he fears that it will give you pain."</p>
+
+<p>"He has deigned to keep me near him, to educate me as his daughter and
+give me some accomplishments; and I have for him the most lively
+gratitude."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; he has done very well by you. He loves you, although he is not
+caressing, nor does he say much; and I am very sure that he has the
+greatest interest in you. It seems that he does not intend himself to
+marry, although he is still young. He is in easy circumstances,&mdash;more so
+than he wishes it to appear."<a name="page_vol_1_052" id="page_vol_1_052"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe that, Marguerite?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, hush! If he knew that I had said that, and that I had sometimes
+seen him counting gold, he would send me away for it."</p>
+
+<p>"You have seen him counting gold?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not say that to you, mademoiselle. No, no; I have seen nothing.
+Ah, mon Dieu! what a gossip I am! I had much better go and attend to my
+moving."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go with you, dear nurse."</p>
+
+<p>"Come then, if you like, Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche followed Marguerite as she went up, and hastened to carry the
+furniture and clothing of the old servant to the opposite room. In vain
+Marguerite cried to her,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Slowly, mademoiselle; don't carry anything until I have sprinkled it
+with holy water."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche, to spare Marguerite fatigue, had very soon finished the moving.</p>
+
+<p>"You will be better here," said Blanche; "this room is more convenient,
+larger."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall find it pretty sad," said Marguerite, casting fearful glances
+around her. "That large alcove, those dark hangings, those recesses&mdash;Oh,
+mademoiselle, do see, if you please, if there is anything in that big
+closet."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche ran to open the closet, and, after having looked through it,
+brought to Marguerite a little book, thick with dust.</p>
+
+<p>"That's all I've found, dear nurse," said she,<a name="page_vol_1_053" id="page_vol_1_053"></a> presenting the book to
+the old woman, who put on her spectacles and said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Let's see a bit what it is."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite succeeded, with no little trouble, in reading,
+"Conjuring-book of the Sorcerer Odoard, the Famous Tier of Tags."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, mon Dieu!" said Marguerite, letting the book fall; "I am lost if
+that sorcerer has slept in this room. Miséricorde! a tier of&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What does that mean,&mdash;a tier of tags?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is to say&mdash;that is to say, mademoiselle, a very wicked man, who
+doesn't love his kind; a man who casts spells to make folks unlucky."</p>
+
+<p>"Are there any of those sorcerers now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, yes, my dear child; they are always casting spells, for I have
+met during my life several persons who have been bewitched by them. Let
+us burn that; let's burn that quick."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite hurried to throw the book of sorceries on to the hearth,
+where she lit a fire; then she began to pray to her patron saint, and
+Blanche went down to her work.<a name="page_vol_1_054" id="page_vol_1_054"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV-a" id="CHAPTER_IV-a"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Chevalier Chaudoreille</span></h2>
+
+<p>B<small>LANCHE</small> and Marguerite had no sooner taken their departure from the back
+room and returned to their customary avocations, than Touquet hastened
+to meet a man who had come into the shop, saying to him, in a friendly
+tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Come in, come in, my dear Chaudoreille, you've made me wait a deuce of
+a time and today I have something really important to say to you."</p>
+
+<p>The personage who had just come into Maître Touquet's house was a man of
+a very striking and peculiar appearance, about thirty-five years of age,
+though he appeared at least forty-five, so worn was his face and so
+hollow his cheeks. His yellow skin was only relieved by two little
+scarlet spots formed on the prominence of his cheek bones, which by
+their brightness and their gloss betrayed their origin. His eyes were
+small but bright; and M. Chaudoreille rolled them continually, never, by
+any chance, fixing them on the person to whom he was speaking. His short
+snub nose contrasted with his large mouth, which was surmounted by an
+immense red mustache, the color<a name="page_vol_1_055" id="page_vol_1_055"></a> of his hair; while beneath his lower
+lip a tuft of beard terminated in a point on his chin.</p>
+
+<p>The height of the chevalier was barely five feet, and the leanness of
+his body was accentuated by the threadbare close jacket which enveloped
+it; the buttons of his doublet were missing in many places, and some
+ill-executed darns seemed ready to gape into holes; his breeches, being
+much too large, made his thighs appear of enormous size, and made the
+legs which issued from them appear still more lanky, for his boots, with
+flaring tops which drooped to his ankles, could not hide the absence of
+calves. These boots, of a dark yellow, had heels two inches high, and
+were habitually adorned with spurs; the doublet and smallclothes were of
+a faded rose color, and accompanied by a little cloak of the same tint,
+which barely covered his figure; in addition to these, he wore a very
+high ruff; a small hat surmounted by an old red plume, worn slanted over
+one eye, an old belt of green silk, a sword which was very much longer
+than anyone else carried, and of which the handle came up to his breast.
+The above is a very faithful portrait of the one who called himself the
+Chevalier de Chaudoreille, if we add that his slight Gascon accent
+denoted his origin; that he marched with his head high, his nose in the
+air, his hand on his hip, his legs stiff, as though ready to put himself
+on his guard; and that he appeared disposed to defy all passers-by.<a name="page_vol_1_056" id="page_vol_1_056"></a></p>
+
+<p>On entering the shop Chaudoreille threw himself on a bench, like one
+overcome by fatigue, and placed his hat near him, crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Let us rest. By George! I well deserve to. Oh! what a night! Good God!
+what a night!"</p>
+
+<p>"And what the devil did you do last night to make you so tired?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing more than usual for me, it's true: flogged three or four
+big rascals who wished to stop the chair of a countess, wounded two
+pages who were insulting a young girl, gave a big stroke with my sword
+to a student who was going to introduce himself into a house by the
+window, delivered over to the watch four robbers who were about to
+plunder a poor gentleman. That's nearly all that I did last night."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it!" said Touquet, smiling ironically, "do you know, Chaudoreille,
+that you yourself are worth three patrols of the watch? It seems to me
+that the King or Monsieur le Cardinal should recompense such fine
+conduct and nominate you to some important place in the police of this
+city, in place of leaving a man so brave, so useful, to ramble about the
+streets all day, and haunt the gambling-hells in order to try to borrow
+a crown."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Chaudoreille, without appearing to notice the latter part of
+the barber's phrase, "I know that I am very brave, and that my sword has
+often been very useful to the State&mdash;that is to say, to the oppressed. I
+work without pay;<a name="page_vol_1_057" id="page_vol_1_057"></a> I yield to every movement of my heart; it's in the
+blood. Zounds! honor before everything; and in this century we do not
+jest. I am what somebody at court calls a 'rake of honor': an offensive
+twinkle of the eye, a rather cold bow, a cloak which rubs against mine,
+presto! my sword is in my hand; I am conscious of nothing but that; I
+would fight with a child of five years if he treated me with
+disrespect."</p>
+
+<p>"I know that we live in the age when one fights for a mere trifle, but I
+never heard it said that your duels had caused much stir."</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil, my dear Touquet! the dead cannot speak; and those who
+have an affair with me never return. You have heard tell of the famous
+Balagni, nicknamed the 'Brave,' who was killed in a duel about fifteen
+years ago. Well, my friend, I am his pupil and his successor."</p>
+
+<p>"It's unfortunate for you that you didn't come into the world two
+centuries earlier; tourneys are beginning to be out of fashion, and
+chevaliers who right all wrongs, giant killers, one no longer sees
+except on the stage at plays."</p>
+
+<p>"It's very certain that if I had lived in the time of the Crusades I
+should have brought from Palestine a thousand Saracens' ears, but my
+dear Rolande was there. This redoubtable sword, which came to me from a
+distant cousin, was the one carried by Rolande the Furious; it has sent
+a devil of a lot of men into the other world."<a name="page_vol_1_058" id="page_vol_1_058"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I'm always afraid that you will fall over it; it seems to me too big
+for you."</p>
+
+<p>"It has, however, been curtailed an inch since I have had it, and that
+by reason of its having been used so much. I fear that if I should
+continue in the same style, it will become a little dagger."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop talking about your prowess, Chaudoreille; I have to speak to you
+of matters more interesting than that."</p>
+
+<p>"If you will shave me first; I have great need of it. My beard grows
+twice as quickly at night when I do not sup in the evening."</p>
+
+<p>"It looks as if you had dieted for some days, then."</p>
+
+<p>While the barber prepared everything that was necessary for shaving
+Chaudoreille, the latter detached his sword. After having looked all
+over the shop in search of a place in which it seemed convenient to put
+it, he decided to keep it on his knees; he relieved himself of his
+cloak, then he took off the faded ruff which surrounded his neck, and
+abandoned his odd, lean little figure to the cares of Touquet, who came
+forward bearing a basin and a soapball. The barber began by taking and
+throwing into a corner of the shop the sword which Chaudoreille was
+holding on his knees. The chevalier made a movement of despair,
+crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing, unhappy man? You will break Rolande, the sword
+which Charlemagne's nephew carried."<a name="page_vol_1_059" id="page_vol_1_059"></a></p>
+
+<p>"If it's such a good blade it won't break. How do you think I can shave
+you holding that great halberd on your knee?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's necessary to handle it with care at least. Zounds! you are nearly
+as quick as I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want me to cut your mustaches?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no,&mdash;never. A chevalier without mustaches! What are you thinking
+of? Do you want people to take me for a young girl?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think anyone could so deceive himself."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right; I especially pride myself on my mustaches, and the
+imperial that gives a masculine air. Ah, King Francis the First knew
+very well what he was doing when he wore that little pointed beard on
+his chin. Don't you think that I bear some resemblance to that monarch?"</p>
+
+<p>"You resemble him so much, in fact, that I defy anyone, no matter who it
+might be, to perceive it. But let's get to my business: I wish to employ
+you. Your time is free?"</p>
+
+<p>"Free? Yes; that is to say, for you there is nothing that I won't leave.
+I've only two or three amorous appointments and five or six affairs of
+honor; but those can be put off."</p>
+
+<p>"There's some money to be earned."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm a man who would put myself in the fire to make myself useful."</p>
+
+<p>"The business is not positively my own."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I understand,&mdash;a delicate mission. You<a name="page_vol_1_060" id="page_vol_1_060"></a> know that I've already
+served you in many such cases."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope that you'll be more adroit this time; for the manner in which
+you conducted yourself in the last matters in which I employed you
+should have prevented me from asking you to serve me again."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear Touquet, don't be unjust; it seems to me that I managed
+them passably well. First, you desired me to carry a letter to a young
+lady without letting her parents know of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and you positively gave the note to her mother."</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil! how should I know it was her mother? That woman had
+rouge, flowers, laces, a corset which made her waist about as thick as
+my purse; I believed her to be the young lady. With their hoops,
+basquines and immense head-dresses, it will soon be impossible to
+distinguish the sexes."</p>
+
+<p>"Another time I told you to feign a quarrel with one of your friends, so
+as to draw a crowd together in the street in order to stop the chair of
+a young woman to whom someone wished to speak; but after two or three
+blows had passed you ran away."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my friend, but that does not detract from my bravery. I knew that
+the quarrel was only pretended; despite that, at the third blow I felt
+the blood mount to my face, and I ran away for fear of getting angry."<a name="page_vol_1_061" id="page_vol_1_061"></a></p>
+
+<p>"This time I hope you will conduct yourself better."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak, if you have need of my valor."</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank God, I shan't have to put your valor to the proof; the matter
+is very simple and will not cost you a great effort of genius."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the worse; I swear by Rolande that I feel disposed to brave
+every terror.&mdash;Take care, my friend; your razor almost touched my nose;
+you will end by taking off a piece, and that would destroy the charm of
+my physiognomy."</p>
+
+<p>"Fear nothing, most valorous Chaudoreille; I will respect your face; it
+would be a pity to spoil it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, most assuredly; it would cause tears to more than one great lady
+who deigns to look with favor upon your humble servant."</p>
+
+<p>"Those great ladies would do well if they gave you another doublet, for
+yours has well earned its retirement."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, love doesn't pause for such trifles; I please with or
+without a doublet; the figure is everything, and I'm more than a match
+for many a chevalier covered with tinsel and gewgaws; besides, if I
+wished to have some lace or cuffs or trinkets, I should not have to give
+more than a smile for them. Ah, by Jove!&mdash;Take care there, my brave
+Touquet. See! your neighbor's dog is going to take my ruff. Ah, the
+rogue! he's holding it in his chops."<a name="page_vol_1_062" id="page_vol_1_062"></a></p>
+
+<p>"You must take it away from him."</p>
+
+<p>"That's very easy for you to say. That cursed dog bites everybody."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille got up, half shaved, and ran and took his sword, which he
+drew from the scabbard; but during this time the dog had left the shop,
+carrying off the ruff, and the boastful chevalier pursued him into the
+street, crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My ruff! Zounds, my ruff! Stop thief!"</p>
+
+<p>The shouts of Chaudoreille made the dog run more quickly, and the
+passers-by looked on with astonishment at the half-dressed man, with one
+cheek shaven and the other covered with soap, who ran, sword in hand,
+crying, "Stop thief!" The idlers gathered&mdash;for there were idlers as
+early as 1632&mdash;and followed Chaudoreille, that they might see the end of
+the adventure. The children stoned the dog, which redoubled its speed,
+passed through an alleyway and disappeared from Chaudoreille's sight.
+The latter, who could do no more, stopped at length, heaving a big sigh.
+His anger was redoubled when he saw everybody looking and laughing at
+him; he swore then, but so low that nobody could hear him; and, making
+the best of his way through the crowd which surrounded him, he sadly
+regained the barber's house.</p>
+
+<p>"You must be a fool, to run through the street like that," said Touquet,
+who had grown impatient during Chaudoreille's race; "you deserve that I
+shouldn't finish shaving you."<a name="page_vol_1_063" id="page_vol_1_063"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, zounds! that is very easy for you to say; I have been robbed&mdash;a
+magnificent ruff."</p>
+
+<p>"You can put on another."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't another."</p>
+
+<p>"With a smile you could have as many as you wish."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes; but I'm not by way of smiling just now."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, calm yourself. If our affair is successful, as I've no doubt it
+will be, I'll give you some crowns with which you can buy other collars;
+for ruffs are no longer in fashion."</p>
+
+<p>This assurance alleviated somewhat Chaudoreille's grief, and he reseated
+himself, that the barber might finish shaving him.</p>
+
+<p>"You will go today into the city," resumed the barber, while finishing
+the chevalier's toilet,&mdash;"into the Rue de la Calandre; you will go into
+a perfumer's shop which is about half-way down the street."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I know; that is where I supply myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Better and better! It will be easier for you to obtain an entrance. You
+should know, then, the young girl whom I will describe to you: twenty
+years old, of medium height, unrestrained figure, brown hair and
+intelligent black eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen; I don't believe that I know her, seeing that it's two or three
+years since I bought any perfumery, because scents make me nervous."<a name="page_vol_1_064" id="page_vol_1_064"></a></p>
+
+<p>"If you could dispense with lying to me, Chaudoreille, at every turn,
+you would give me great pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"What do I understand by that? I lie? By jingo! I swear to you, by
+Rolande&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue and listen. A great nobleman is in love with the young
+girl whose portrait I have just given you. This great nobleman is the
+Marquis de Villebelle."</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! What, the Marquis de Villebelle! He's a jolly fellow, who
+makes everybody talk about him. I'm delighted to work for a man of that
+stamp; he's as brave as he is generous. That's a profligate after my own
+heart. I shall be glad to give him proofs of my zeal and my genius."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll have to begin by holding your tongue; remember, the least
+indiscretion will cost you dear. I should not have told you the name of
+the one who is concerned in this matter if the young girl had not known;
+but as she might herself tell you, it is better that you should learn it
+from me. Remember, you are still in my employ, and not in that of the
+marquis. I could myself have discharged the commission which he gave me,
+but I am beginning to have a reputation for probity and wisdom; it is
+generally thought that, turning from the errors of my youth, I no longer
+mix in intrigues, and I don't wish to disturb the good opinion they now
+have of me in this neighborhood."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, rascal, you're as mischievous as a monkey;<a name="page_065" id="page_065"></a> you think of nothing
+but increasing your business, and your cold, severe air deceives some
+people. You're right, by jingo! One must dissemble; it's the essence of
+intrigue, and I shall try to throw off the appearance of being a
+libertine and a profligate in order that I may be more successful in
+wheedling the little innocent."</p>
+
+<p>The barber shrugged his shoulders impatiently, and again approached the
+blade of his razor to Chaudoreille's nose. The latter's face became
+still paler, except the spots on his cheeks, where the color seemed
+immovable.</p>
+
+<p>"Curse it!" cried Touquet, while holding the end of Chaudoreille's nose
+between his fingers, to prevent him from moving, while he plied the
+razor; "can't you ever keep still and refrain from trembling beneath my
+razor blade? You deserve to be slashed all over your face.&mdash;Come, get
+up; it's finished."</p>
+
+<p>"Many thanks," said Chaudoreille, breathing more freely; "I am shaved
+like a cherubim. Oh, you have a hand as dexterous as it's nimble. That
+makes seventy-seven shaves that I owe you for."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right; we'll reckon that later."</p>
+
+<p>"I know that you'll recall it to me; you're not like the barber who
+shaved one of my friends on credit, and who made a notch in him every
+time, to mark the shave, he said."</p>
+
+<p>"Before the people come in, let us agree on what we have to do."<a name="page_vol_1_066" id="page_vol_1_066"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Speak on; I am listening while I am washing myself."</p>
+
+<p>"You will go, then, to the perfumer's shop, and while buying
+something&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; a collar or a ruff."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter,&mdash;no matter what."</p>
+
+<p>"I find that ruffs suit me better."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue, cursed chatterer; there's nobody here to notice your
+face. You will enter into conversation with the young girl I have
+depicted; you will say to her that M. le Marquis is in love with her to
+the point of distraction."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I shall say to her that he will stab himself before her eyes if
+she won't meet him."</p>
+
+<p>"It's not a question of killing himself, idiot. That's a fine way to
+seduce a grisette!"</p>
+
+<p>"I never seduced them any other way."</p>
+
+<p>"Talk about presents, jewelry; they respond to that much quicker."</p>
+
+<p>"Each one to his own method; as for me, I never make love that way; for
+the rest, I'll say everything that you wish; I'll make the marquis as
+generous and magnificent as a native of Gascony."</p>
+
+<p>"Finally, you will demand a rendezvous, in the name of the marquis, for
+tomorrow evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Where shall it be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wherever you like, but preferentially in an unfrequented quarter."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; and after?"<a name="page_vol_1_067" id="page_vol_1_067"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the rest is my affair."</p>
+
+<p>"A moment: if the little one doesn't grant an interview?"</p>
+
+<p>"What are you thinking of? A shop girl who knows that she is pleasing to
+the noble Seigneur de Villebelle&mdash;I am certain that she's on
+tenter-hooks already because no messenger has reached her. You must
+beware of committing any blunder which will render you unsuccessful."</p>
+
+<p>"Be easy; I'm not a clown, I flatter myself, and I wish by this affair
+to put myself in the good graces of the marquis."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet again, it is not for him, but for me, that you are doing the
+business; if you should allow a single word of this adventure to escape
+in the town, if you should have the misfortune to mention the marquis,
+remember that then the blade of my razor won't leave that face whole
+about which you seem to make such a fuss."</p>
+
+<p>The barber's eyes evinced his firm determination of keeping his promise;
+Chaudoreille hastened to get his sword and attach it to his side while
+murmuring,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, undoubtedly I make much of my face; it is very worthy of the
+trouble, and has given me many happy moments. This devil of a Touquet is
+always joking, but between friends one should not get angry. We are both
+aware of our mutual bravery, and it's superfluous for us to give proofs
+of it. I swear to you by Rolande that I will use<a name="page_vol_1_068" id="page_vol_1_068"></a> the greatest
+discretion, that I may be relied on. Our acquaintance doesn't date from
+today; for nearly fifteen years we have been united in friendship. We
+are two jolly fellows who have played our pranks. How many intrigues
+have we conducted by our skill, without counting our personal prowess!
+You, built like a Hercules, an antique figure, noble carriage,&mdash;you
+would have adored big women&mdash;that is to say, tall women; I, smaller but
+well made, with a more modern physiognomy,&mdash;I prefer them more graceful
+and slender. But love never troubled you much; you prefer money. Ah,
+money and play,&mdash;those have been your pleasures. As for me, I'm fond of
+gaming also; I play a very strong game of piquet. But gallantry employs
+a great part of my time. I can't help it; I love the women. But that's
+not astonishing; I am their spoilt child; they have strewn the path of
+my life with flowers, without counting all those that still remain for
+me to cull. I dedicated to them my heart and my sword. But love and
+valor do not always lead to fortune; you have gathered wealth quicker
+than I, and I compliment you upon it. While I have been following after
+some Venus, you have conducted without my aid some intricate intrigues;
+for this house did not belong to you formerly, and now you are the
+proprietor of it; it did not fall to you from the clouds."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you meddling with?" said the barber<a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a> angrily. "What does it
+matter to you how I acquired this house? When I've employed you haven't
+I paid you, and often a good deal better than you deserve? I've already
+told you, Chaudoreille, that if you wish that we remain friends, and if
+you desire through me to earn money from time to time, you had better
+not begin your foolish questions, nor seek to learn that which I do not
+judge fit to confide to you; otherwise I shall show you my door and you
+will never enter it again."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not so fast. By jingo! he's a little Vesuvius,&mdash;this dear Touquet.
+If I gave way to my natural temper we should see some fine things;
+however, that's ended; silence on that subject. Now I am dressed; I lack
+nothing but my ruff; how can I go out without that?"</p>
+
+<p>"You went out very well a minute ago, half dressed."</p>
+
+<p>"But a minute ago I was sword in hand, and in those moments I see
+nothing but my victim. It's all right; I will pull my cloak up a little
+higher. Ah, I was forgetting an essential. That I may buy something in
+the little one's shop it's necessary that I should have some money, and
+my pockets are empty this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait; take these ten crowns, on account of what I shall give you if you
+fulfil my instructions correctly."</p>
+
+<p>"That's well understood," said Chaudoreille,<a name="page_vol_1_070" id="page_vol_1_070"></a> taking the money and
+drawing from his belt an old silk purse, which had formerly been red, in
+which he placed, one by one, with an air of respect, the ten pieces
+which the barber had given him.</p>
+
+<p>"It's still too early," said Touquet, "for you to go to the perfumer's;
+those dames do not open their shops as early as we do ours; while
+waiting till the time comes for you to execute your commission couldn't
+you go up and see Blanche, and give her a music lesson? That will amuse
+her, and I notice that she does not find much to distract her in her
+room, where she sees no one but Marguerite."</p>
+
+<p>At the name of Blanche, Chaudoreille raised his eyes to Heaven, and
+heaved a sigh which he stifled immediately, crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, how is she, the pretty child? I was going to ask you about
+her, for it is a century since I have seen her."</p>
+
+<p>"She's very well, but she's tired of being in the house and wishes to go
+out."</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil! why don't you send me more often to keep her company? I
+can amuse her, my beautiful Blanche, and I can play something for her."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not sure that you can amuse her much. Blanche said to me that you
+always sang the same things, and that she now knew as much as you do of
+the sitar."<a name="page_vol_1_071" id="page_vol_1_071"></a></p>
+
+<p>"These young girls are full of conceit. I confess that she's made rapid
+progress, and that is not astonishing; I have a way of teaching which
+would make a donkey capable of singing songs; besides, the little one is
+intelligent, but I flatter myself that I can still teach her something
+more."</p>
+
+<p>"Chaudoreille, I have given you a great proof of my confidence in
+permitting you to see Blanche; you must swear to me that you will never
+speak of her beauty."</p>
+
+<p>"Be easy; when by chance anyone asks me if I know the young girl who is
+under your care, I answer&mdash;since we are on the subject&mdash;that I have seen
+her three or four times, and that she is neither one thing nor the
+other,&mdash;one of those faces which people say nothing about."</p>
+
+<p>"That's well; if anyone imagined that this house held one of the
+prettiest women in Paris, I should nevermore have a moment's peace; I
+should be incessantly tormented by a crowd of gallants, of profligates,
+of libertines; I should see this house become the rendezvous of all the
+worthless fellows of the neighborhood. I couldn't go away for a moment
+without one of them trying to introduce himself to Blanche, and
+Marguerite's watchfulness would be as insufficient as my own to
+frustrate all the enterprises of these gallants. It is to avoid all this
+annoyance that I withdraw Blanche from the notice of curious people."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, as far as that goes, you do very well;<a name="page_vol_1_072" id="page_vol_1_072"></a> I quite approve your
+conduct; you must not let them see her, nor allow her to go out for a
+moment. If you wish, I can say everywhere that she's horrible,&mdash;blind of
+one eye, lame, and hump-backed."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; one must never overdo one's precautions and fall into a
+contrary excess."</p>
+
+<p>"It would be so sorrowful if some miserable adventurer should carry this
+beautiful flower away from us."</p>
+
+<p>"How? carry her away from us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should say carry her away from you; it is only by favor that I see
+her. She is, in truth, a jewel; she has the candor, the innocence of
+childhood. Ah, zounds! how happy you are, Touquet, for you are guarding
+this treasure for yourself, I'll wager."</p>
+
+<p>"For myself?" said the barber, knitting his brows; then he was silent
+for a moment, while Chaudoreille, placed before a little mirror,
+occupied himself in studying some smiles and glances of the eye. "I have
+already told you that I do not like questions," responded Touquet at
+last; "but I see that you will be incorrigible until your shoulders have
+felt the weight of my arm."</p>
+
+<p>"Always joking. You are really a most ironical man."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, go up to Blanche's room; you can stay three-quarters of an hour.
+You must leave by the passageway; I don't wish the people who will be<a name="page_vol_1_073" id="page_vol_1_073"></a>
+here to see you come from the interior of the house. You will go where I
+told you, and you will come and give me an account of the result of your
+enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>"At your dinner hour?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, this evening, at dusk."</p>
+
+<p>"As you please, as you will. Ah, mon Dieu! I am thinking how I can go up
+to my young pupil without a ruff."</p>
+
+<p>"Will that prevent you from singing?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, but decency&mdash;this naked neck. Lend me a collar,&mdash;anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it! is it necessary to make so much fuss? Do you think that
+Blanche will pay much attention to your face?"</p>
+
+<p>"My face! my face! It would seem, to hear you, that I am an Albino."</p>
+
+<p>"Here's somebody coming; get out."</p>
+
+<p>The barber pushed Chaudoreille into the passage, where the latter
+remained for a quarter of an hour, seeking by what manner he could hold
+his cloak, and deciding at last to go up to his pupil.<a name="page_vol_1_074" id="page_vol_1_074"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V-a" id="CHAPTER_V-a"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Music Lesson</span></h2>
+
+<p>B<small>LANCHE</small> was seated at work near her window, the small, dim panes of
+which scarcely permitted her to distinguish anything in the street.</p>
+
+<p>However, from time to time she glanced downward in that direction to
+distract her thoughts; not that she was at all sad, or that she had
+anything to trouble her, but a young girl who is nearly sixteen years of
+age experiences in the depths of her innocent heart certain void, vague
+desires which she cannot easily account for. She sighs, she becomes
+dreamy; a mere nothing renders her uneasy; the least noise, the sound of
+an unknown voice, makes her heart beat more quickly; she looks oftener
+in the mirror; she pays more attention to her toilet, though, as yet,
+there is nobody in particular whom she wishes to charm. But a secret
+instinct implants in her the desire to please, a sure symptom that she
+begins to feel the need of loving; and, for that reason, she falls into
+reveries and sighs without knowing why&mdash;so it was, at least, in the time
+of which we are speaking. As to the young girls of our own time, they
+dream, also, but they sigh less.<a name="page_vol_1_075" id="page_vol_1_075"></a></p>
+
+<p>The character of the barber, the cold, serious manner which he wore
+before Blanche, did not invite confidence, and imposed a restraint on
+the young girl, whose ingenuous heart seemed to seek a friend. She
+respected Touquet and obeyed him; she regarded him as her benefactor,
+but she could not chat freely with him, for the barber's laconic answers
+always appeared to indicate little desire to engage in a long
+conversation. To make up for this, Marguerite was very chatty, and would
+willingly have passed the entire day in gossip; but the sole subjects of
+her conversation were sorcerers, magicians and robbers, and these were
+not at all amusing to Blanche, who preferred, to Marguerite's appalling
+stories, a tender love-song or a story of chivalry, the heroes of which
+were very strong on love; and one of that ilk had no less prowess as a
+paladin because he was faithful to his lady for twenty years.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche was dreaming, then, when somebody rapped softly at her door; and
+immediately Chaudoreille's odd little head appeared between the door and
+the wall, and he said in mellifluous accents,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"May one come in, interesting scholar?"</p>
+
+<p>Blanche raised her eyes and burst into a fit of laughter on perceiving
+Chaudoreille's face, this being the effect his appearance ordinarily
+produced on the young girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in, come in, my dear master," said she,<a name="page_vol_1_076" id="page_vol_1_076"></a> rising to curtsey to
+Chaudoreille, who then introduced himself entirely into the room, bowing
+to Blanche three times, so low that each time his sword fell before him,
+and on rising he was obliged to put Rolande into his scabbard again.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so much in the habit of drawing him," said Chaudoreille, "that he
+can't rest quietly in his sheath for two hours at a time.&mdash;Come, be
+quiet, Rolande; you know well, my dear companion, that the night never
+passes without my giving you some occupation."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Monsieur Chaudoreille, do you fight every day?"</p>
+
+<p>"What else could you expect, beautiful angel? It is my element; I should
+not sleep if I had not drawn my sword, and I should fall ill if three
+days were to elapse without my ridding the earth of an impertinent
+fellow or a rival."</p>
+
+<p>"O good Heavens!"</p>
+
+<p>"But let us leave that subject and speak of you, delightful creature.
+You seem to me fresher and more beautiful than ever; it is the unfolding
+of the bud, it is the opening of the flower, it is the fruit which&mdash;By
+the way, how are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. Did you come to give me a music lesson?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if you will permit me the pleasure. It is a long time since I had
+that happiness."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you're going to teach me something new."<a name="page_vol_1_077" id="page_vol_1_077"></a></p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! I'm not at the end of my tether. Besides, were new songs
+lacking, your beautiful eyes would inspire me to improvise a ballad in
+sixteen couplets."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche brought her sitar and handed it to Chaudoreille, who raised his
+eyes to Heaven and heaved a big sigh as he took it.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to be ill, Monsieur Chaudoreille?" questioned the young
+girl, astonished at this moaning.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not ill; however, I feel rather uneasy," answered
+Chaudoreille, venturing to try the effect of the glances and smiles
+which he had studied before the glass.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to have difficulty in breathing," responded Blanche; "perhaps
+your supper last night did not agree with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me; I swear to you it did not trouble me in the least. I have a
+horror of indigestion. Out upon it! I never put myself in the way of
+having it."</p>
+
+<p>"Sing to me the air you are going to teach me; that will make you feel
+better."</p>
+
+<p>"She is innocence itself," said Chaudoreille to himself while tuning the
+sitar; "she doesn't understand what makes me sigh. Despite that,
+however, I can see that she's glad to see me. Patience; before long her
+heart will awaken, and I shall be its conqueror."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche took up her work again; Chaudoreille<a name="page_vol_1_078" id="page_vol_1_078"></a> seated himself near her,
+and after a quarter of an hour's tuning of the sitar, coughed,
+expectorated, blew his nose, turned around on his chair, arranged his
+cape, pursed his mouth, passed his tongue over his lips, and at last
+commenced in a shrill voice, which pierced the ears, an ancient ditty
+which Blanche had heard a hundred times before.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that, my dear master," said she, interrupting Chaudoreille in
+the middle of a point d'orgue, which he seemed willing to prolong
+indefinitely; "that's one of the three you have already taught me."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait; I'll sing it for you."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche took the instrument, and, gracefully accompanying herself, sang,
+in a melodious voice which gave a charm to the old ballad.</p>
+
+<p>"That's very well, indeed," said Chaudoreille; "you sing the passages
+precisely in my manner; I seem to hear myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Teach me another, then," said the young girl, returning the instrument
+to him; and Chaudoreille intoned a virelay on the great feats of Pepin
+the Short.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that, too," said Blanche, stopping him.</p>
+
+<p>"In that case I will sing you a charming villanelle."</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy! that will be the third of those you have taught me. Don't you
+know any others?"</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/ill_078_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/ill_078_sml.jpg" width="386" height="550" alt="" title="" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol_1_079" id="page_vol_1_079"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, but as a cursed dog ran off with my ruff while I was being
+shaved, I cannot venture a new song while my throat is naked; it would
+embarrass the middle notes. Nevertheless, the villanelle is always a
+novelty, since I ever sing it with variations."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll listen," said Blanche, glancing towards the street.
+Chaudoreille heaved another sigh, and when he had taken a position which
+seemed to him more favorable for displaying his graces, he commenced the
+villanelle, which he sang to Blanche every time that he gave her a
+lesson:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">I have lost my turtle-dove,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">And her flight I must pursue,&mdash;</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">Is she not the one I love?</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">You regret your own fond dove,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">As the loss of mine I rue;</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">I have lost my turtle-dove.</span></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>At this moment some perambulating singers came into the street. They
+stationed themselves in front of the barber's house and, accompanying
+themselves on their mandolins, sang some Italian songs. Blanche listened
+eagerly; this music, so different from that which she heard from her
+master of the sitar, stirred her pulses deliciously, and approaching the
+window she cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how pretty that is!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, undoubtedly it's pretty," said Chaudoreille, who believed the
+young girl to be speaking<a name="page_vol_1_080" id="page_vol_1_080"></a> of the villanelle; "but it's necessary to
+acquire the same expression that I have given it. Notice it well, 'I
+have lost my turtle-dove,'&mdash;the accent tremulous with grief; raise the
+eyes to the ceiling, beat time with the left foot. 'And her flight I
+must pursue,'&mdash;a distracted air, and always the same accompaniment with
+the thumb and index finger. 'Is she not the one I love?'&mdash;a soft,
+flute-like sound, and make a movement of surprise while sustaining the
+falsetto. 'You regret your own fond dove,&mdash;' that demands much
+expression. 'You regret,'&mdash;an exquisitely performed shake,&mdash;'your own
+fond dove,'&mdash;inflate the sound and ascend still."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I should be contented if I could only hear such music often," said
+Blanche, who had paid no attention to what Chaudoreille was saying, and
+had listened only to the Italians.</p>
+
+<p>"I should much like to give you a lesson every day, lovely damsel; but
+my occupations overwhelm me&mdash;and then, Master Touquet does not often
+permit me the pleasure of seeing you; when far from you I sing without
+ceasing,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="c">You regret your own fond dove."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a barcarolle&mdash;is it not, monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear girl; that's called a villanelle, the favorite song of our
+ancient troubadours, and of shepherds who bemoaned their shepherdesses."</p>
+
+<p>"What a pity that I don't know Italian!"<a name="page_vol_1_081" id="page_vol_1_081"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What do you require Italian for,&mdash;in order to say,</p>
+
+<p class="c">Is she not the one I love?"</p>
+
+<p>"Be quiet, be quiet; they're singing in French now," said Blanche,
+pressing close to the window-panes, and signing with her hand to
+Chaudoreille not to stir.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that you're saying?" cried the sitar master, rising in
+surprise,&mdash;"for me to be quiet! Does that noise out there disturb you
+too much? To the devil with the street singers who prevent you from
+hearing me! I hardly know how to restrain myself from going to drive
+them away with a few blows from my good blade Rolande!"</p>
+
+<p>"If I only dared open my window for a few moments," sighed Blanche. "But
+no, I must not, for M. Touquet has firmly forbidden me to do so. What a
+pretty, pretty air! Ah, I shall easily remember that,</p>
+
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">I love to eternity</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">My darling is all to me;</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="nind">that's the refrain."</p>
+
+<p>"No, divine Blanche, you are mistaken; these are the words,&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">I have lost my turtle-dove,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">And her flight I must pursue,&mdash;</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">Is she not the one I love?"</span></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The singers departed. Blanche then left the casement, and, on turning,
+saw Chaudoreille with<a name="page_vol_1_082" id="page_vol_1_082"></a> his neck elongated, the better to execute a note.
+She could not restrain a desire to laugh, which was evoked by the face
+of the chevalier; and the latter remained with his mouth open, not
+knowing how to take the young girl's laughter, when Marguerite entered
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>"It's burned at last," said the old woman as she came in.</p>
+
+<p>"What is burned," cried Chaudoreille,&mdash;"the roast?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes, indeed; it's a book of witchcraft, of magic. It was very hard
+to get it to burn, those books are so accustomed to fire."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that you say, Marguerite? You have books of magic,&mdash;you who are
+afraid of everything? Do you wish to enter into communication with the
+spirits of the other world?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, God keep me from it, Monsieur Chaudoreille. But I'll tell you how
+that book came into my hands, where it didn't stay long, for it seemed
+to me that that cursed conjuring-book burned my fingers. My master
+wished me to change my room&mdash;because&mdash;but I oughtn't to tell you that."</p>
+
+<p>"Try to remember what you wished to tell me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it seems I must quit the room I've occupied, to go into one in
+which no one has set foot during the eight years I have been in the
+house; and, to judge by the look of it, no one had visited it for a long
+time before. It's so dark, so dismal;<a name="page_vol_1_083" id="page_vol_1_083"></a> the window-panes, which are two
+inches thick with dust, hardly allow the daylight to penetrate into the
+room."</p>
+
+<p>"I had an idea&mdash;God forgive me&mdash;that she was going to recount to me all
+the spiders' webs she had found there. What do you think of it, my
+charming pupil?"</p>
+
+<p>Blanche did not answer, for she had paid no attention to what Marguerite
+said; she was committing to memory the sweet refrain which had appeared
+so pretty to her, and was repeating in a low voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="c">"I love to eternity;"</p>
+
+<p class="nind">and Chaudoreille, seeing her steeped in reverie, would not disturb her,
+fully persuaded that the young girl could not defend her heart against
+the charms of the villanelle.</p>
+
+<p>"It's not a question of spiders," resumed the old servant, rather
+ill-humoredly; "if I had not seen that which&mdash;but at the bottom of a
+closet Mademoiselle Blanche found a diabolical book; it was the
+conjuring-book of a sorcerer named Odoard. Have you ever heard tell of a
+sorcerer by that name?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not that I remember. If you were to ask me about a brave man, a man
+of spirit, a rake of honor, most certainly I should have known him; but
+a sorcerer! What the devil do you think I should have to do with him?
+These people don't fight."<a name="page_vol_1_084" id="page_vol_1_084"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Chaudoreille,&mdash;you who are so brave,&mdash;you must render me a
+service."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" inquired Chaudoreille, paying more attention to
+Marguerite's words.</p>
+
+<p>"Just now, after having burned the conjuring-book of that Odoard,
+surnamed the great Tier of Tags, I made another inspection of my room,
+sprinkling holy water everywhere, as you may well suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"And what followed?"</p>
+
+<p>"At the end of the alcove I perceived a little door,&mdash;one would never
+have supposed there was a door there; but, though old, I have good eyes,
+and, while pushing the bed, which made the wainscot creak, I saw the
+door."</p>
+
+<p>"To the point, I beg of you," resumed Chaudoreille, whose eyes betrayed
+the uneasiness he tried in vain to dissemble.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, I confess to you, monsieur, that I didn't dare open that
+door. It was no doubt the door of a closet; but that alcove is so
+gloomy, so dark. Finally, I'll be very much obliged if you'll come up
+with me and go first into whatever place we find there. I daren't ask M.
+Touquet, for he'd scoff at me."</p>
+
+<p>"And he would be right, by jingo! Why, Marguerite, at your age, not to
+have more courage than that!"</p>
+
+<p>"What can you expect? I'm afraid there may be a goblin in that closet,
+who will jump in my<a name="page_vol_1_085" id="page_vol_1_085"></a> face when I open the door, which has perhaps been
+closed for many years; for I've never seen M. Touquet enter the room."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't goblins pass through keyholes? Come, Marguerite, I blush for your
+cowardice."</p>
+
+<p>"No one can say that sorcerers are rare in Paris. Haven't they
+established a Chamber at the Arsenal expressly to judge them?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's true, I confess; but I don't see what makes you imagine there
+are any in this house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Monsieur Chaudoreille, if I was to tell you all I have seen and
+heard&mdash;and at night the noises which&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What have you seen, dear nurse?" inquired Blanche, whose reverie had
+flown, and who had heard the last words of the old woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing&mdash;nothing&mdash;mademoiselle;" and the old servant added, addressing
+the chevalier in a low tone, "My master doesn't like me to talk of it,
+and he'll send me away if he learns&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's enough; I don't wish to hear anything further," said
+Chaudoreille, rising and taking his hat. "And since Touquet has
+forbidden you to tell these idle stories, I beg you not to deafen my
+ears with them."</p>
+
+<p>"But you'll come upstairs with me and look in the closet&mdash;won't you,
+monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, mon Dieu! I hear ten o'clock striking; I should be in the city now;
+I didn't receive ten crowns for listening to your old stories; I must<a name="page_vol_1_086" id="page_vol_1_086"></a>
+run. Au revoir, my interesting pupil. I am delighted that my last
+variations gave you pleasure. I hope before long to give you another
+lesson. With a master like me, you should be a virtuoso."</p>
+
+<p>While saying these words Chaudoreille drew himself up, placed his left
+hand on his hip, arranged his right arm as though he were about to take
+his weapon; but, instead of drawing Rolande from the scabbard, he
+carried his hand to his hat and bowed respectfully to Blanche; then,
+passing quickly by Marguerite, who tried vainly to restrain him, he
+opened the door and went downstairs humming,&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">You regret your own fond dove,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">As the loss of mine I rue.</span></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol_1_087" id="page_vol_1_087"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI-a" id="CHAPTER_VI-a"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Lovers. The Gossips.</span></h2>
+
+<p>T<small>HE</small> barber Touquet's shop was as usual filled with a motley crowd of
+people of all classes. There were gathered students, shopkeepers, pages,
+poets, bachelors, adventurers, and even young noblemen; for the fashion
+of the time permitted these amiable libertines to mingle sometimes with
+persons in the lower classes of society, whether they sought new
+sensations in listening to a language which for them had all the
+fascinating charm of novelty, or whether it was for the purpose of
+playing tricks on the persons with whom they thus mixed.</p>
+
+<p>Master Touquet's shop was large, and moreover furnished with benches,
+which latter conveniences were an almost unheard-of luxury in a time
+when people took their diversions standing, and when no one was seated
+even at the play. The barber by this means extended his custom; he
+attended to everything, answered everybody, and did more himself than
+ten hairdressers of today. His hand, which was skilful, nimble and
+accurate with scissors or razor, had earned him the reputation of being
+one of the best barbers in<a name="page_vol_1_088" id="page_vol_1_088"></a> Paris, and drew to his shop many fops,
+because in the middle class one held it an honor to be able to say,
+while caressing one's chin, "I've been shaved by Touquet." But those
+whom he had served sometimes remained for a long time in conversation
+with the persons who were awaiting their turn, the greater part of these
+idlers desiring to chat for a moment on the news of the day and the
+adventures of the night. Towards ten o'clock in the morning there was
+always a numerous gathering at Master Touquet's shop.</p>
+
+<p>There one saw all kinds of toilets; but then, as today, rich garments
+did not always betoken rank or fortune in those who wore them. The taste
+for luxury was becoming general, because consideration was accorded only
+to those who had splendid equipages and magnificent clothing. An
+appearance of wealth and power obtained all the honors; true merit
+without distinction, without renown, remained forgotten and in poverty.
+And one assuredly sees the same thing today.</p>
+
+<p>Access to court was easy. For a parvenu to introduce himself there,
+often nothing more was necessary than a costume similar to those worn by
+courtiers,&mdash;the hat adorned by a feather, a doublet and mantle of satin
+or velvet, the sword at the belt, the whole enlivened by trimmings of
+gold or silver braid. Each sought to procure for himself the most
+splendid personal appearance, and many ruined themselves in order to
+appear wealthy.<a name="page_vol_1_089" id="page_vol_1_089"></a></p>
+
+<p>An attempt was, however, made to arrest this tendency to luxurious
+habits, which could not hide the poverty of the time. By an edict of the
+month of November of the year 1633, it was forbidden to all subjects to
+wear on their shirts, cuffs, head-dresses, or on other linen, all
+openwork, embroideries of gold or silver thread, braids, laces or cut
+points, manufactured either within or without the realm.</p>
+
+<p>In the following year a second edict appeared, which prohibited the
+employment, in habiliments, of any kind of cloth of gold or silver, real
+or imitation, and decreed that the richest garments should be of velvet,
+satin or taffetas, without other ornament than two bands of silk
+embroidery; it also forbade that the liveries of pages, lackeys and
+coachmen should be made of any other than woollen stuffs. But these laws
+were soon infringed; men will always have the desire to appear more than
+they are, and women to hide what they are.</p>
+
+<p>Among the different personages assembled in the barber's shop there was
+one who chatted with nobody and seemed to take not the slightest
+interest in the relation of the scandalous adventures of the night. This
+was a young man who appeared about nineteen years of age or a little
+over, endowed with a physiognomy by no means cheerful; for one
+ordinarily applies that term to those round, fresh faces, red and plump,
+which breathe health and gayety. He had beautiful eyes, but was pale;<a name="page_vol_1_090" id="page_vol_1_090"></a>
+noble features, but rather a melancholy expression; finally, he had what
+one calls an interesting face, and this sort are in general more
+fortunate in love than those of cheerful physiognomy. The young man's
+costume was very simple; neither ornament nor embroidery adorned his
+gray coat, buttoned just to the knee and cut like our frock coat of
+today; his belt was black; no ribbons floated from his knees and his
+arms; he neither had a sword nor laces, nor plumes on the broad brim of
+his hat.</p>
+
+<p>He had been for a very long time in the barber's shop. On entering, his
+eyes had appeared to search for something other than the master of the
+place; he had thrown glances towards the back shop, and still continued
+to do so. Several times already his turn had come and Touquet had said
+to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Whenever you wish, seigneur bachelor."</p>
+
+<p>The young man's simple costume was, in fact, that which was ordinarily
+worn by law students in Paris; but to each invitation of the barber the
+bachelor only answered, "I am not pressed for time," and another took
+his place.</p>
+
+<p>After a time the loiterers and gossips departed and the young man found
+himself alone with Touquet, to whom his conduct began to appear
+singular.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you can no longer yield your turn to anybody," said the barber,
+offering a chair to the stranger. "In truth I cannot shave you; you have
+not enough on your chin; but without doubt you<a name="page_vol_1_091" id="page_vol_1_091"></a> came for something, and
+I am at your service, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the young man with an embarrassed air, turning his eyes
+towards the back shop, "I should like&mdash;my hair is too long, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Seat yourself here, seigneur bachelor; you will find that I am skilful;
+my hand is as well accustomed to the scissors as to the razor."</p>
+
+<p>The young man decided at last to intrust his head to the barber, but as
+soon as the latter paused for a moment he profited by it to turn and
+look into the back shop.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you looking for anything, monsieur?" said Touquet, whom this trick
+did not escape.</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;no. I was only looking to see if you were alone here."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur; you see I have no need of anybody to help me in order to
+satisfy my customers."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, someone told me you were extremely skilful."</p>
+
+<p>"And monsieur has had time to judge of my talent, he has been nearly two
+hours in my shop."</p>
+
+<p>"I had nothing pressing to do; and then, I wished to obtain some
+information of you. Tell me, my friend, who occupies the first story of
+this house."</p>
+
+<p>"I do, monsieur," said Touquet, after a moment's hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>The young man seemed vexed then that he had asked the question.<a name="page_vol_1_092" id="page_vol_1_092"></a></p>
+
+<p>"May I learn, monsieur, how that interests you?" resumed Touquet,
+looking at the unknown attentively.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, it is that I am looking for a lodging&mdash;in this quarter. One chamber
+would suffice me. Do you not take lodgers, and could you give me a room
+if this house belongs to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"This house does belong to me; in fact, monsieur, I cannot grant your
+request. For a long time I have let no lodgings, and I have no room in
+the house, which is not very large."</p>
+
+<p>"What! you cannot let me a single chamber, a closet even? I repeat to
+you, I wish to have one in this neighborhood; I often have business in
+the Louvre. I will pay you anything that you ask."</p>
+
+<p>"Anything?" said the barber, glancing ironically at the young man's
+simple garments. "You are getting on, perhaps, a little, monsieur
+student. All the same, your desires cannot be gratified, and I advise
+you to renounce your plans."</p>
+
+<p>Touquet dwelt on this last phrase, and the young man's face reddened a
+little; but the barber had finished his ministrations, and the former
+had no way of prolonging his stay with a man who did not appear to wish
+to continue the conversation, and to whom he feared he had said too
+much. The bachelor rose, paid, and at last left the shop, but not
+without looking up at the windows of the house.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a lover," said Touquet, as soon as the<a name="page_vol_1_093" id="page_vol_1_093"></a> young man had taken his
+departure. "Yes, his uneasiness, his looks, his questions&mdash;oh, I
+understand it all. I have served too many lovers ever to be deceived
+about that. Curse it! this is just what I feared. What vexations I
+foresee! What anxieties are about to assail me! He must have seen
+Blanche, but where? when? how? She never leaves the house without me,
+and that very rarely; however, this young man is in love with her, I'll
+bet a hundred pieces of gold. Halloo there, Marguerite! Marguerite!"</p>
+
+<p>The old servant had heard her master's loud voice; she mentally invoked
+her patron saint and went down to the shop.</p>
+
+<p>"How long is it since Blanche went out without my knowing it?" said the
+barber suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Went out? Mademoiselle Blanche?" said Marguerite, looking at her master
+in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes,&mdash;went out with you. Why don't you answer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Blessed Holy Virgin! that hasn't happened for two years; then
+Mademoiselle Blanche was still a child, and you sometimes allowed her to
+go with me to take a turn in the big Pré-aux-Clercs. But since that time
+the poor little thing has not been out, I believe, except twice with
+you, and that was at night, and Mademoiselle Blanche had a very thick
+veil."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't ask you if she had been out with me. And has any young man
+been here in my<a name="page_vol_1_094" id="page_vol_1_094"></a> absence who has asked you about her, or who has sought
+to be introduced to her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, I would have given him a warm reception. Monsieur doesn't know
+me. Except the Chevalier Chaudoreille, mademoiselle has seen no one; as
+to the latter, he came this morning to give her a music lesson."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Chaudoreille isn't dangerous; but if some student, some young page,
+should come in my absence and seek to see Blanche, remember to send such
+heedless fellows away promptly."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur, yes. Oh, you may be easy. Besides, hasn't the beautiful
+child always about her a precious talisman which will preserve her from
+all danger? I defy ten gallants to turn her head so long as she carries
+it, and I will see that she does not leave it off."</p>
+
+<p>"Watch, rather, that she does not open her window; that will be better.
+If that should happen, I should be obliged to give her the little room
+which opens on the court."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, monsieur, Mademoiselle Blanche would die there of weariness; there
+one can barely see the light, and the poor little thing does not go out,
+and could only work during the daytime with a candle."</p>
+
+<p>"Unless she opens her window, it will be a long time before she occupies
+it," said Touquet in a low voice, making a sign to the servant to leave
+him, which the latter did, saying,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_1_095" id="page_vol_1_095"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What a misfortune not to have faith in talismans! If monsieur believed
+in them, he would not deprive that poor little thing of every
+amusement."</p>
+
+<p>The barber had not been mistaken in judging that the young man, who had
+had so much difficulty in tearing himself away from the shop, was a
+lover.</p>
+
+<p>The Italian's song had so captivated Blanche's ears that the young girl
+had stood close to her casement, and had not budged from it during the
+time that her music master had made his variations on the villanelle. At
+the same moment Urbain was passing, and he had stopped to listen to the
+music, and while listening his glance was carried to Blanche's window.
+At first he had seen nothing but some very small panes; but at last,
+through these panes, his eyes could distinguish a face so pretty, eyes
+so blue and so full of the pleasure that Blanche was experiencing, that
+the young man had remained motionless, his looks fixed upon that window,
+near which the charming apparition remained. When the music ceased the
+pretty face disappeared, and the young man had said to himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I was not in error; there is an angel, a divinity, in that house."</p>
+
+<p>And as that angel, that divinity, lived in the modest house of a barber,
+the bachelor had believed he should penetrate into the third heaven<a name="page_vol_1_096" id="page_vol_1_096"></a> in
+entering Master Touquet's shop; but he returned to ideas more
+terrestrial on seeing nothing but men who had come to be shaved, who had
+about them nothing divine, despite all the essences with which their
+chins were besmeared. Urbain had glanced towards the back shop, hoping
+to perceive the pretty figure of the first floor, and had prolonged as
+much as possible his stay in the barber's shop. We have witnessed the
+result of his conversation with the barber.</p>
+
+<p>The young man departed, very much out of sorts; he perceived that he had
+made a blunder in questioning the barber, who was probably his adored
+one's father; for the young men of that time were inflamed with love as
+quickly as those of today. He felt that before going into the shop he
+should have obtained some information in the neighborhood, and he
+decided to finish as he should have begun. In all times the bakers have
+had very correct ideas about their neighbors, because the neighbors are
+all obliged to go or to send to the baker's. Urbain went into a shop at
+a little distance, and while paying for some rolls entered into
+conversation with the woman who was behind the counter,&mdash;a conversation
+in which all the servants who arrived at that moment took part.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know a barber in this street?"</p>
+
+<p>"A barber? Yes, my good monsieur; down there at the corner of the Rue
+Saint-Honoré,&mdash;Master Touquet. Has monsieur some business<a name="page_vol_1_097" id="page_vol_1_097"></a> with him? Oh,
+he's a very skilful man at his trade, and has made lots of money, by
+shaving beards, or in some other way. What that is I won't pretend to
+tell you. That's so&mdash;isn't it, Madame Ledoux?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," said Madame Ledoux, resting a basket of vegetables on the
+counter, "that Touquet has not always enjoyed an excellent reputation. I
+have lived in the neighborhood for eight years and, thank God, I know
+everything that has passed here,&mdash;all that everybody has done here, and
+all that everybody is still doing; and that reminds me that yesterday
+evening I saw Madame Grippart come home at ten o'clock with a young man,
+who left her in front of the grocer's shop after having held her hand in
+his for more than two hours, while that poor Grippart was peacefully
+slumbering, for he goes to bed at nine o'clock. That doesn't trouble
+him; he well deserves it, for he went about everywhere saying that his
+wife had a strong breath, and those things need not be said.&mdash;But to
+return to Master Touquet. Oh, that's a sly blade, a crafty, cunning
+fellow. I've known him since he settled in this street; he's been here
+nearly fifteen years. He rented the house which belonged to M. Richard.
+You know, my neighbor, the old cloth merchant?"</p>
+
+<p>"The one whose wife had two fat, plump twins seven months after they
+were married?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who didn't look at all like their father. It's<a name="page_vol_1_098" id="page_vol_1_098"></a> the same. Well, this
+Touquet was then barber, bathkeeper and lodging-house keeper, and report
+says that beside that he helped young men of family in their love
+affairs. He then kept two shop-men, and should have made money; however,
+he was for a long time miserably poor, since his shop-men left him
+because he did not pay them. Everyone was very much astonished ten years
+ago when Touquet kept with him, and began to educate as his own child,
+the daughter of a man whom he did not know, who had come to lodge with
+him by chance, and who was killed the same night in a fight between some
+worthless fellows and the officers of the watch. The poor man! they
+found his corpse down there,&mdash;Rue Saint-Honoré, before the draper's
+shop. Do you remember it, Madame Legras?"</p>
+
+<p>Madame Legras, who had just come into the baker's shop, began by
+throwing herself on a chair and crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Good-day, ladies! Good Heavens! how dear the fish is today, nobody can
+look at it."</p>
+
+<p>And Urbain sighed, saying, "The fish will take us away from the barber";
+but to advance in love one must often have patience, and in the midst of
+all this gossip that which concerned Touquet was precious to the young
+bachelor.</p>
+
+<p>"I wished to have an eel to feast my husband, but it was impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it his birthday?"<a name="page_vol_1_099" id="page_vol_1_099"></a></p>
+
+<p>"No; but he took me yesterday for a walk around the Bastile, and one
+compliment brings on another. I can say with pride that there are few
+households so united as ours. During the four years that I have been
+married to my second husband, M. Legras, we have quarrelled only five
+times; but that was always for some trifling cause. What were you
+talking about, ladies?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of our neighbor Touquet, about whom this gentleman desired some
+information."</p>
+
+<p>"Touquet the barber? My word, ladies, you may say whatever you will, but
+I don't like that man."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a very handsome man, however."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of the same height as M. Legras; but there is something hard and
+false and stern in his appearance."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, for some time past; formerly he was gayer, more open. Now monsieur
+never chats; he has grown proud."</p>
+
+<p>"That's not surprising; he has made money."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, by shaving beards perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a good deal more likely he has made it by assisting the love
+affairs of some great nobleman, in procuring and abducting some beauty."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, ladies, don't be so malicious. As for me, you know I haven't a
+bad tongue. Touquet is very skilful at his trade. I know very well that
+in order to buy and pay for that house where he now is he must have
+shaved a good many faces;<a name="page_vol_1_100" id="page_vol_1_100"></a> but they say now the barber is very steady
+and economical."</p>
+
+<p>"When the devil is old&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Touquet is not old; he's hardly over forty years."</p>
+
+<p>"Adopting that little girl should have brought him good luck."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I was telling monsieur. Poor little thing! Nobody knows
+anything about her, except that she had a father."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, neighbor, somebody found a letter on him having for an address,
+'To Monsieur Moranval, gentleman.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, he was a gentleman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my dear. Oh, I remember all that as if it were yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"How fortunate one is in having such a memory! And what did the letter
+say?"</p>
+
+<p>"It seemed that there were only a few lines of which nobody could make
+much of anything; someone recommended to this Moranval to take great
+precautions in the business which brought him to Paris. But what
+business? Nobody knows anything about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they find nothing else on him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; there is little doubt that the poor man was robbed after being
+murdered."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they go to Touquet's to inquire what he knew about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Touquet answered the officers of justice that<a name="page_vol_1_102" id="page_vol_1_102"></a> the man had come down to
+his house the evening before, and had introduced himself as a gentleman
+who was about to remain for some time in Paris; that he had first asked
+him to put his little girl to bed, and that later he had gone out,
+saying he should be absent for an hour or so. Touquet had waited up for
+him a great part of the night, and it was not till the next day that he
+learned from public rumor that a man had been found murdered in the Rue
+Saint-Honoré, a short distance from his house; that, being already
+uneasy about his guest, he had gone to see the victim, and had
+recognized the man who had arrived at his place the evening before."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope that's a history. Unfortunately, one hears only too many similar
+stories. Ours are really cut-throat streets, and it is not well, after
+nine o'clock, to be out in them. The gentlemen of the parliament make
+decrees often enough, but it doesn't do much good. A little while ago,
+it seems a counsellor of the Chamber of Investigation was similarly
+murdered. The parliament has just promulgated a new ordinance against
+these worthless fellows&mdash;haven't they, monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Urbain; "the public prosecutor has just complained of
+murders, assassinations and robberies, which take place every day, as
+many upon the highways as in the city or the suburbs, by armed persons
+who forcibly break into houses, and that through the negligence of the
+police officers<a name="page_vol_1_103" id="page_vol_1_103"></a> who do not properly perform their duty. Parliament
+yesterday passed a new decree, ordering that vagabonds, men of bad
+character, and robbers, should vacate the city and the faubourgs of
+Paris within twenty-four hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you'll see, tonight we shall hear a bigger rumpus than ever."</p>
+
+<p>"And the barber Touquet is not married?" resumed Urbain, who wished to
+return to the subject of conversation which was interesting to him.</p>
+
+<p>"No, he's a bachelor," said Madame Ledoux.</p>
+
+<p>"And this young girl that lodges with him&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"She's the little one whom he adopted."</p>
+
+<p>"She had no other protectors?"</p>
+
+<p>"What could you expect, since nobody knew her parents? Touquet has, they
+say, taken very good care of her; I will do him the justice to say that.
+He has taken into his house, to wait on the little one, a servant, old
+Marguerite, a gossip, who is always seeking for preservatives against
+the wind, the thunder, the sorcerers, or even for talismans to guard her
+dear Blanche against the snares of the gallants."</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche, then, is the name of the young girl?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that is her name."</p>
+
+<p>"And this old woman is the only one about her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy! isn't that enough? Besides, the little one never goes out, and
+no one ever sees her even put her nose out of the window."<a name="page_vol_1_104" id="page_vol_1_104"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, ladies, don't you think, with me, that the barber has brought
+up this pretty child for himself, and that he would not take so much
+care of her unless he was in love with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, that might very well be possible. Touquet is still young, and
+perhaps wishes to marry her."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense! I don't believe that; and besides, they say that the young
+person is not good-looking. I have heard it said by an ugly little thin
+man, with a long sword, who is often at the barber's shop, that the
+orphan is very ugly."</p>
+
+<p>"Ugly!" cried Urbain quickly. "That's a frightful lie!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, monsieur has seen her, then?" immediately said the gossips, looking
+at the young man with a mischievous air.</p>
+
+<p>The latter felt that he had committed an imprudence; but having nothing
+more to learn from these dames, he made them a low bow and left the
+shop, leaving the gossips to talk among themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if he hasn't gone, and he didn't tell us what he wanted with
+Touquet."</p>
+
+<p>But Urbain had learned enough; and while directing his steps toward the
+Rue Montmartre, where he dwelt, our lover cogitated thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"She's not the barber's daughter; he has stood to her in place of a
+father, but he has no rights over her except those accorded to a
+benefactor by<a name="page_vol_1_105" id="page_vol_1_105"></a> a grateful heart. She's the daughter of a gentleman,
+which is much better; my father was a gentleman also, who valiantly
+fought under King Henry. The old soldiers still remember Captain
+Dorgeville, and the name which he has transmitted to me is pure and
+without stain. I am alone in the world; I am my own master. Like her I
+have no parents, for a year ago death deprived me of my good mother. My
+fortune is very moderate,&mdash;twelve hundred livres income and a little
+house by the seaside. That is all my father left me; but she has nothing
+more, and by working I could render her happy. I am about to take my
+bachelor's degree, but I shall now leave this unfruitful career; science
+brings fortune too slowly. I don't know, however, if I could please her.
+Yes, that's the first task with which I should occupy myself. If she
+loves me, I will ask her hand of the barber. He will wish to assure her
+happiness; he could not refuse me unless he himself&mdash;&mdash; If these women said
+rightly he is in love with her. The hard tone with which he answered me
+this morning, his refusal to lodge me in his house, make me believe it.
+And that wretch who dared to say that she was ugly!&mdash;when object more
+enchanting never met my eyes. Ah, it wasn't of her he was speaking. If
+such a thing could happen, I should like to see her, to tell her of the
+love which she has inspired; and, if I could manage to please her,
+nothing then could prevent me from becoming her husband."<a name="page_vol_1_106" id="page_vol_1_106"></a></p>
+
+<p>These were, somebody will say, very foolish plans concerning a young
+girl whose face one had only perceived through some very dim
+window-panes; and it was on the possession of this almost ideal object
+that Urbain already based the happiness of his life. But let us look
+back on our own lives. We were hardly more reasonable,&mdash;happy if between
+us and the chimeras which enchanted us there was nothing thicker than a
+pane of glass.<a name="page_vol_1_107" id="page_vol_1_107"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII-a" id="CHAPTER_VII-a"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Intrigues Thicken</span></h2>
+
+<p>C<small>HAUDOREILLE</small> now started off at a great pace towards the city. The ten
+crowns which he felt in his purse, on which he prudently kept his hand
+while walking, caused him to hold his head even more arrogantly than he
+usually did. He had placed his little hat over his left eye in such a
+manner that the old red feather with which it was adorned fell precisely
+over his right eye, and as he walked mincingly along, at each step that
+he took the chevalier could thus enjoy the waving of his ridiculous
+plume.</p>
+
+<p>Never had the Chevalier de Chaudoreille felt so clever, so inordinately
+satisfied with himself. Blanche's image, so sweet, so beautiful, her
+delightful manner, which possessed all the innocent witchery of
+girlhood, was still before his eyes, and as he was never lacking in
+confidence as to his own merits, he readily persuaded himself that the
+young beauty could not see him with indifference, and was even a little
+taken with him. On the other hand, the enterprise with which he was
+charged by the barber, as the agent of the Marquis de Villebelle,
+flattered his self-love. He<a name="page_vol_1_108" id="page_vol_1_108"></a> believed himself the friend, the confidant,
+of the Marquis de Villebelle, although the latter had never spoken to
+him; but he thought that the adroitness with which he would serve him in
+his amorous plan would be sooner or later known to the great nobleman
+and would win his favor. Full of this idea, he hastened to reach the
+shop of which Touquet had spoken. Before entering, Chaudoreille resumed
+to himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"One mustn't go in here," said he, "looking like a snob, and turn the
+shop upside down without buying anything. I must not forget that I am
+sent by a great personage. They have given me ten crowns on account, as
+the price of my services, but I can very well spend twenty-four sous."</p>
+
+<p>This determination taken, he opened the door of the shop and entered
+nimbly; but in wheeling round in order to appear more graceful and to
+bow at the same time to the right and left, he sent Rolande's scabbard
+through one of the panes of the glass door, and it broke in a thousand
+pieces.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille's face lengthened and he felt some confusion, for he
+calculated that the price of the pane already exceeded the sum he had
+intended to lay out. Two young persons seated behind the counter burst
+into laughter, while an old woman placed opposite murmured between her
+teeth,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"He must be very awkward."</p>
+
+<p>"I will pay for it," said Chaudoreille at last, heaving a big sigh.<a name="page_vol_1_109" id="page_vol_1_109"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I should hope so," responded the shopkeeper; "but has anyone
+ever seen a man carry a sword bigger than himself?"</p>
+
+<p>At these words the chevalier drew himself up and stood on his tiptoes,
+and glanced angrily at the old woman.</p>
+
+<p>"It's very astonishing," said he, "that anyone should permit herself
+such reflections. I carry the weapon that suits me, and if a bearded
+chin had said the same thing to me, my sword would have immediately
+taken the measure of his body."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't intend to say anything to make you angry," replied the
+shopkeeper, softening; "only it seemed to me that that long sword would
+embarrass you in walking."</p>
+
+<p>"Embarrass me! That is a different thing," and Chaudoreille turned his
+back to the shopkeeper to approach the young ladies, saying to
+himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't come here to discuss the length of my sword. Let's leave this
+woman's twaddle."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you wish, monsieur?" said a young, squint-eyed girl, with a
+flat nose, thick lips and crooked chin, whose dark-red skin seemed
+covered with a coat of varnish.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille looked at her for some moments, saying to himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"By jingo! she's not very much like the portrait of the little one which
+they gave me. It's true that love is blind, and that great noblemen like
+original faces."<a name="page_vol_1_110" id="page_vol_1_110"></a></p>
+
+<p>But after looking at the person who addressed him, Chaudoreille glanced
+a little farther and perceived another woman measuring some ribbons. At
+the first glance the barber's messenger recognized the young girl whose
+portrait had been drawn for him. She was all Touquet had painted her,
+though he could not then see the color of her eyes, which were bent on
+the ribbon. Chaudoreille approached her and, bowing graciously, said to
+himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This is our affair. I have an astonishing tact for divining correctly.
+Other people hesitate for an hour; but I recognize immediately those who
+have been pointed out to me, and I am never deceived. Here are some
+delightful ribbons," said Chaudoreille, leaning on the counter,
+carelessly caressing his chin, and trying to imitate the free manners
+and impertinent tone of the profligates of the day.</p>
+
+<p>The young girl then raised her eyes to the chevalier; their brightness,
+their expression, arrested Chaudoreille in the midst of a compliment
+from which he expected the most happy results.</p>
+
+<p>"By jingo! what a glance! what fire!" said he, taking a step backward,
+while the damsel continued to look at him.</p>
+
+<p>In order to enchant her he attempted to turn a light pirouette, in which
+Rolande's scabbard just missed putting out the eye of the cat, which was
+lying on a neighboring stool. A mocking smile<a name="page_vol_1_111" id="page_vol_1_111"></a> played on the lips of the
+young girl, who said, "What ribbon does monsieur wish?"</p>
+
+<p>"What ribbon? My faith! I don't much know. Something to match the rest
+of my costume. It is to make a knot for Rolande."</p>
+
+<p>"And who is Rolande, monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"My sword, beautiful brunette, which I will pass through the body of him
+who denies that you have the most beautiful eyes in the world."</p>
+
+<p>Delighted at his compliment, Chaudoreille said to himself in an
+undertone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Take care; we mustn't go too far, or be too amiable; I must not forget
+that I did not come here on my own account. This young girl appears
+somewhat smitten, from the way she looks at me. Zounds! if I had a ruff
+I would with good-will cheat the Marquis de Villebelle of the little
+one. Come, Chaudoreille, hide your charms if you can; don't dart your
+glances at this pretty person, and hasten to tell her that she must not
+occupy herself with you."</p>
+
+<p>While saying this Chaudoreille unrolled and examined twenty different
+ribbons, approaching them to the handle of his sword and throwing from
+time to time a glance about him, to assure himself that he could speak
+without being heard by the other two women in the shop.</p>
+
+<p>This man&oelig;uvre did not escape the eyes of the young girl, who smiled,
+and seemed to wait for Chaudoreille to explain himself. Happily for
+Chaudoreille, two people came into the shop, and while the old woman and
+the other damsel were serving them, he opened a conversation in a low
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not come here only to buy a ribbon, celestial merchant."</p>
+
+<p>"If you wish anything else, speak, monsieur, and you shall be served."</p>
+
+<p>"Julia, have you not finished with monsieur?" said the old woman
+impatiently, looking angrily at the long falchion of the chevalier,
+which, every time he moved, threatened her cat's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur has not decided yet," answered Julia, while Chaudoreille cried
+with an impertinent air,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me that I should be allowed to choose my own colors. When a
+man like me comes into a shop, one should, my good woman, keep him there
+as long as possible; if you wish to have my custom, leave me to chat as
+much as I please with this beautiful child."</p>
+
+<p>This insolent mode of speech was then so much in fashion, that she
+remained silent, in place of putting the chevalier out, as would be done
+now to a coxcomb who behaved like Chaudoreille.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, by jingo! if one did not keep these little shopkeepers in their
+place I believe they would permit themselves to make observations to
+us," said Chaudoreille, approaching for the twentieth time a
+gold-colored ribbon to his doublet. "This<a name="page_vol_1_112" id="page_vol_1_112"></a> color goes very well with my
+cloak. What do you think of it, adorable damsel?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think that these ribbons are too fresh to blend with monsieur's
+clothing, and that that one swears at them."</p>
+
+<p>"I confess that the velvet of my jerkin is a little tarnished, but what
+could you expect? When a man fights he necessarily attracts dust and
+powder. Here's a cloak that I've not had more than six weeks, and I'll
+wager that you would say it had been worn for some months."</p>
+
+<p>"Decide on your ribbon, monsieur," said the young girl, without
+answering.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me a gold-colored rosette," said Chaudoreille; and he added in a
+mysterious tone, "I have something very important to communicate to
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt it," said Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Chaudoreille to himself, "I'll wager that she believes that
+I'm in love with her and is impatiently awaiting my declaration. I'm
+incorrigible; I let myself go, and I have turned her head without even
+perceiving it. Let us hasten to disabuse her.&mdash;No, beautiful brunette,
+you need not doubt it," responded he, lowering his eyes with a
+coquettish air; "I ought to confess to you that it is not of myself that
+I seek you, and that I am only the ambassador of Love, when you would
+have taken me for Love himself."</p>
+
+<p>Julia's hearty laughter prevented Chaudoreille<a name="page_vol_1_113" id="page_vol_1_113"></a> from continuing, and he
+did not know at first how to take this excessive gayety; but his
+self-love always made him place things to his own advantage, and he
+decided to laugh also, while saying in a low tone to the young girl,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it very funny to behold in me a lover's messenger?&mdash;I, who could
+cheat them all of their conquests. It's a great joke, in truth."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, monsieur ambassador, give me your message," said Julia, looking
+pityingly at the envoy.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille threw a glance all around him, put a finger on his mouth,
+examined the persons who were in the shop, pushed from him a stool on
+which the cat was lying, then leaning toward Julia with the air of a
+conspirator, he whispered in her ear,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"A great lord sent me to you. He's a rich and powerful man; he's a
+personage in favor; he's the gallant who&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He's the Marquis de Villebelle," said Julia impatiently. "I've known
+him for a long time. What does he want with me? What has he bidden you
+say to me? Come, monsieur, speak."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be that I am very adroit," said Chaudoreille, "when without my
+speaking she divines everything that I wish to say to her.&mdash;Since you
+know his name," resumed he, again approaching his face to Julia's ear,
+the latter brusquely pushing him away, "I have no need of telling you.
+This great nobleman adores you."<a name="page_vol_1_114" id="page_vol_1_114"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly he did not employ you to express his sentiments."</p>
+
+<p>"No, but he sent me to ask you to meet him. If you do not accord him
+this favor, he will set fire to the four corners of this street, that he
+may have the pleasure of saving you, fair Julia,&mdash;for it is thus I
+believe that you are called, which makes me think that you are not
+French. Have I rightly divined?"</p>
+
+<p>"Has anyone commissioned you to ask that question?" asked Julia, looking
+at Chaudoreille disdainfully.</p>
+
+<p>The latter bit his lips, put his left hand on his hip, and said in a
+bass voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I say to the noble Marquis de Villebelle, of whom I am the
+intimate confidant, and whom I represent at this moment?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him to choose his messengers better," said Julia in a dry tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I was sure of it," said Chaudoreille, taking some steps backward; "she
+has fallen in love with me; it is my personal attractions that have
+played me this trick. All this is very disagreeable; I should have
+disguised myself a little, or at least should not have permitted my eyes
+to make fresh wounds. There is money to be got here. By jingo! I must
+not lose sight of that;" and Chaudoreille repeated to Julia, not
+allowing her, as a matter of prudence, to see more than his profile,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_1_115" id="page_vol_1_115"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What shall I say to the marquis? Where will you walk tomorrow evening?"</p>
+
+<p>The young girl waited for some moments in silence, appearing to reflect
+deeply; while Chaudoreille fingered his purse, very anxious as to her
+answer, and saying to himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"In any case, I shall not give them back the ten crowns.</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow evening at eight o'clock, on the Pont de la Tournelle," said
+the young Italian at last; for Julia, in fact, was not French.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis enough," responded Chaudoreille, continuing to hold himself in
+such a manner as to show only his profile; "I have nothing more to ask
+of you; let us part, for fear the sight of me make you change your
+resolution."</p>
+
+<p>The messenger already had hold of the knob of the door when Julia
+recalled him.</p>
+
+<p>"You have forgotten to pay for your ribbon, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! that's true. What the devil has got me? I'm as stupid as
+possible."</p>
+
+<p>While saying this Chaudoreille drew forth his purse, rattling the ten
+crowns that it held as loudly as possible, counting and recounting them
+several times in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know if I have any change about me," said he. "Ordinarily I
+carry nothing but gold, it is so much lighter. How much is it, beautiful
+merchant?"<a name="page_vol_1_116" id="page_vol_1_116"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Thirty sous, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Thirty sous for a rosette!" cried Chaudoreille to himself, making a
+grimace, and putting the coins back in his purse. "That seems to me a
+considerable price. You must notice that the ribbon is very narrow."</p>
+
+<p>"For a man who carries nothing but gold," said Julia, "I am astonished
+that monsieur should bargain over such a trifle."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not bargaining; but still it seems to me that you might knock
+something off, and that for twenty-four sous one ought to have a superb
+rosette. No matter; I'll pay it with a good grace; give me my change."</p>
+
+<p>He presented one of the crowns with a sigh, and while Julia was counting
+out his change he fastened the gold-colored rosette to Rolande's handle.
+The effect that the ribbon would produce somewhat mitigated his regrets
+at paying thirty sous for it. He took the money, and, recalling to
+himself that they could ask him to pay for something else, he ran to the
+door, darted into the street and disappeared as quickly as possible.</p>
+
+<p>"And my window-pane," said the old shopkeeper,&mdash;"did he pay for my
+pane?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, mon Dieu! no, madame," answered Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"I was sure of it. Run, my good girls, run as fast as you can. That
+wicked coxcomb, trying to play the spark, with his old threadbare
+mantle, with his old feather that I wouldn't take to dust<a name="page_vol_1_117" id="page_vol_1_117"></a> my shelves!
+He turned everything upside down here, and just barely missed putting
+out my cat's eyes; he was impertinent to me, bargained for two hours
+over a rosette, and ran away without paying for the pane. He's some
+pickpocket, some cutpurse."</p>
+
+<p>The two damsels opened the shop door and looked down the street, but
+could see nothing of monsieur le chevalier.</p>
+
+<p>"It's my fault, madame," said Julia; "I should have asked him for the
+price of the window. I will pay for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle; that will teach you another time not to listen to
+the conversation of these gentlemen who make so much trouble and haven't
+a sou in their pockets."</p>
+
+<p>The young Italian did not answer. It is probable that at that moment she
+was not interested in the pane of glass or in Chaudoreille.</p>
+
+<p>Night approached. For some hours all had been silent in the barber's
+shop; for he, following his habitual custom, had closed his shutters as
+soon as day declined, since he was not in the habit of receiving
+strangers and waited on no customers in the evening. This was the time
+that Touquet had chosen for his dinner hour, although people commonly
+took this meal much earlier. The barber's dinner, therefore, also passed
+for a supper.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Marguerite called from her kitchen, "We are waiting for you,
+mademoiselle," Blanche<a name="page_vol_1_118" id="page_vol_1_118"></a> left her room and quickly went down into the
+lower room where the meal was served. Touquet dined with the young girl.
+This was the moment of the day when they were longest together, although
+the barber always appeared to wish to abridge the time as much as
+possible, remaining at the table only as long as was absolutely
+necessary in order to satisfy his appetite, and answering only in
+monosyllables to all that Blanche said to him, so as not to prolong the
+duration of the repast.</p>
+
+<p>This time the barber was, as usual, seated near the hearth, waiting for
+Blanche to come down; but when she appeared, contrary to his custom, he
+raised his eyes to the young girl and seemed to wish to read hers.
+Surprised at being thus regarded by him whose looks had always evaded
+her smile, Blanche involuntarily lowered her eyes, which beamed with
+truth and innocence, and a little more color appeared in her cheeks; for
+the barber's look was more piercing than usual.</p>
+
+<p>Touquet already seemed reassured. The expression of Blanche's features
+had dissipated the uneasiness which he had felt; he placed himself at
+the table and made a sign to the lovely girl to take her accustomed
+place. The meal seemed as though it would pass in silence as usual;
+Marguerite only, while changing the dishes, ventured some remarks, to
+which Blanche answered a few words.</p>
+
+<p>But all of a sudden the young girl appeared to recall an agreeable idea,
+and cried,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_1_119" id="page_vol_1_119"></a></p>
+
+<p>"My friend, did you hear the music this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"The music," said Touquet, glancing furtively at Blanche; "yes, I
+believe I heard it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it was so pretty! They sang in Italian at first; then afterwards in
+French,&mdash;a romance. Wait; I believe I can remember the refrain," and
+Blanche sang with expression,&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"I love to eternity,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp; My darling is all to me."</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The barber knitted his thick eyebrows while listening to Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>"What! you have already learned the romance?" said he in an ironical
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not all the romance; the refrain only."</p>
+
+<p>"And that was the first time you had heard it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you open your window then?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, though I should very much have liked to do so; but I glued myself
+against the window so as to hear better."</p>
+
+<p>"And to see better, no doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"See! Oh, I like to hear much better," answered Blanche, almost
+frightened at the barber's glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Are there no curtains at your window?" asked Touquet in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur, there are curtains," answered the young girl timidly.<a name="page_vol_1_120" id="page_vol_1_120"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Blanche, I've told you that I don't like you to expose yourself to the
+oglings of the coxcombs who pass and repass in the street."</p>
+
+<p>"But, my friend, can anyone see me through the windows?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; no doubt of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, my friend, if that displeases you, I won't go to the window
+again."</p>
+
+<p>Touched by Blanche's sweetness, the barber assumed a less severe
+expression, and, rising from the table, he said, almost kindly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Go back to your room, Blanche; I will try soon to render your life less
+monotonous. Yes, I feel that you cannot continually remain in such dull
+retirement."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I am all right, my friend; and if I could only learn that romance
+altogether, but M. Chaudoreille only sings me his villanelle, and that
+is not amusing."</p>
+
+<p>"I will buy you some others."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, try to get me the one I heard this morning,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="c">I love to eternity.</p>
+
+<p>Can you remember it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes; I will remember it.&mdash;But I am waiting for someone to come; go
+upstairs to your room."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche curtseyed to the barber and gayly went up to her room, while
+Touquet said to himself, following her with his eyes,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_1_121" id="page_vol_1_121"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Come, I was wrong to make myself uneasy; she knows nothing of him."</p>
+
+<p>An hour after this conversation somebody knocked at the barber's door
+and Marguerite admitted Chaudoreille, who came into the lower room with
+the important air of a man who is very well pleased with himself.</p>
+
+<p>"You're very late," said Touquet, signing to him to seat himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what the deuce, my dear fellow! Do you think that these affairs
+are so speedily arranged?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe, however, that you've been all this time in the shop
+where I sent you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, undoubtedly; but I passed a greater part of the time there. After
+that it was necessary for me to have some dinner, for you did not invite
+me to partake of yours, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, were you successful? Give me an account of your mission."</p>
+
+<p>"I went there. Wait, while I dry my forehead a little."</p>
+
+<p>The barber made a movement of impatience and Chaudoreille passed over
+his face a little silk handkerchief, which for prudence' sake he never
+unrolled. After emitting some exclamations of fatigue, during which
+Touquet impatiently stamped his foot, he commenced his story.</p>
+
+<p>"To go to that place in the city I could take two roads; I don't know
+but I could take three."<a name="page_vol_1_122" id="page_vol_1_122"></a></p>
+
+<p>"You wretch! take a dozen if you like, but get there."</p>
+
+<p>"It was necessary for me to get there, and then to return here. I
+decided on going by the Pont-Neuf, then down the quay into the street.
+You know, where they sell such good tarts."</p>
+
+<p>"Chaudoreille, you're mocking at me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm not; but it seemed to me I should tell you everything that I
+did. But you are so petulant. Finally, I took the shortest way. I went
+into the shop where the young girl works."</p>
+
+<p>"That's good luck."</p>
+
+<p>"I entered with that grace which characterizes me; I bowed first to an
+old woman who was on the right, and afterwards bowed to two young girls
+who were on the left. In the middle of the shop I saw nobody but a cat
+sleeping on a stool."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt you bowed to the cat also."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if you interrupt me I shall get all mixed up. They asked me what I
+wanted; I answered, dissembling my designs, 'Let me see some ribbons.'
+They showed me some reds, some blues, some greens, some yellows, some
+oranges; during this time I examined the two little ones. As nature has
+endowed me with a penetrating eye, I recognized immediately the one you
+depicted for me."</p>
+
+<p>"You spoke to her?"</p>
+
+<p>"A moment and you shall see how I conducted the matter. I was
+sufficiently adroit to get her to serve me. She asked me what color I
+had decided<a name="page_vol_1_123" id="page_vol_1_123"></a> upon; but I, with careful cunning, did not decide in order
+that I might prolong the conversation. At last, by a happy chance, some
+other people came into the shop; then we were less observed."</p>
+
+<p>"And you told her what had brought you there?"</p>
+
+<p>"I decided first for a gold color, and I got her to make a rosette for
+Rolande. Wait; don't you think this becomes me well?"</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Chaudoreille rose and put his sword near Touquet's face, who
+pushed the chevalier rather brusquely into his seat, exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If I didn't restrain myself I should break every bone in your body to
+teach you not to abuse my patience thus."</p>
+
+<p>"There's no pleasure in conducting an intrigue with you," said
+Chaudoreille, a little disconcerted at being reseated so heavily; "but
+if you wish that I should come to the facts, here I am. I made known to
+her the intentions of the Marquis de Villebelle."</p>
+
+<p>"His intentions? I didn't communicate them to you."</p>
+
+<p>"That is to say, his love, his passion. At last I demanded a meeting for
+tomorrow evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"She hesitated for a long time, reflected for a long time; then I
+redoubled my eloquence; I pictured the marquis dying of despair if she
+repulsed his vows."<a name="page_vol_1_124" id="page_vol_1_124"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Idiot! was that necessary?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly; it was highly necessary; the little one was weighing
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Did she make any wry faces?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; on the contrary, she gave me the most interesting glances."</p>
+
+<p>"Finally, is she coming?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, by jingo! she's coming. Yes; but it took me to decide her."</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, at eight o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is she to be?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the Pont de la Tournelle."</p>
+
+<p>"That's good."</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as I had got her answer, I attached my rosette."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me from the rest; I know enough."</p>
+
+<p>"You must know that in bowing too precipitately I broke a pane, for
+which they made me pay a crown, and for which I hope I shall be
+reimbursed.&mdash;Ah, that's not all; I know that the lady is named Julia,
+and also that she is an Italian. You see I did not lose any time. Are
+you pleased with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it's not so bad," said Touquet, with a less gloomy expression,
+approaching a table on which Marguerite had, according to her usual
+custom, placed some cups and a pewter pot full of wine. "Stop your
+eternal chatter; I'm well enough pleased with you. Drink a cup of
+wine."<a name="page_vol_1_125" id="page_vol_1_125"></a></p>
+
+<p>"You call exactitude of detail chatter," said Chaudoreille, filling one
+of the cups up to the brim; "but I was trying to show you that I did not
+steal the money which you gave me. As for the pane of glass, I had to
+make that circumstance known to you, for I had only nine crowns
+remaining.&mdash;Ah, I forgot; the gold-colored rosette cost me two crowns,
+so I've only received seven."</p>
+
+<p>"Two crowns for that miserable knot," said the barber, glancing
+mockingly at the handle of the sword. "Chaudoreille, you have missed
+your vocation; you should be a steward; you know how to swell your
+bills."</p>
+
+<p>"What must I understand by these words, I beg of you?"</p>
+
+<p>"That that rosette did not cost over fifteen sous."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, for a passer-by, for an unknown, perhaps; but when one represents
+a great nobleman, shopkeepers fleece him, and I didn't believe that I
+should haggle. If anyone had asked me three times the price, I should
+have given it without uttering a word."</p>
+
+<p>"Calm yourself," said Touquet, smiling at the heat with which
+Chaudoreille tried to prove that he had spent three crowns; "we must
+reimburse you for your ruff."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm not uneasy about that, but what shall I do tomorrow? Shall I go
+to the rendezvous? Shall I carry off the little one?"<a name="page_vol_1_126" id="page_vol_1_126"></a></p>
+
+<p>"No; that concerns me only. I can trust you to startle the game for me,
+but I don't think proper to let you bring it down."</p>
+
+<p>"You know me very little still, my dear Touquet. I believe that you
+should render more justice to my adroitness and my valor. If you knew
+how many intrigues I have drawn to a successful end! It's necessary to
+see me in moments of difficulty. I take precedence over everybody; I
+would abduct a Venus under the eyes of Mars, and all the Vulcans would
+not make me afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't doubt it, but I don't want to put you to the proof."</p>
+
+<p>"All the worse for you, for you would see some very surprising things.
+No obstacle would stop me; when I'm excited I'm an Achilles. Wait; I
+should just like once, by chance, that you should find yourself in some
+danger, that you should have need of help; then, as quick as lightning,
+with Rolande in my hand&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a noise was heard in the street, and Touquet, squeezing
+Chaudoreille's arm exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Be quiet! be quiet! I hear something."</p>
+
+<p>"What does it matter to us what they are doing in the street? There are,
+perhaps, some young men laughing and amusing themselves. Let them do it.
+I tell you, then, that, brandishing my redoubtable sword&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Be quiet, then, stupid," resumed the barber,<a name="page_vol_1_127" id="page_vol_1_127"></a> holding the chevalier's
+arm still more tightly; "they are beginning again."</p>
+
+<p>They then distinctly heard the sound of a guitar which someone was
+playing near the house.</p>
+
+<p>"Someone who loves music," said Chaudoreille.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! let us listen," said Touquet, whose features expressed the most
+lively anxiety, while the chevalier murmured in a bass voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"They don't play at all well; they have need of some of my lessons."</p>
+
+<p>Almost immediately a voice was heard which, accompanied by the guitar,
+sang a tender romance, of which the refrain recalled to the barber the
+words which Blanche had quoted to him.</p>
+
+<p>"No more doubt of it," said Touquet, rising suddenly; "they are singing
+to her. Ah, reckless fellow, I'll go and take away from you all desire
+to return here."</p>
+
+<p>While saying these words the barber ran to get his poniard, which hung
+over the fireplace, while Chaudoreille changed color and murmured,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil is the matter with you? What are you going to do? and
+who are you going to do it to?"</p>
+
+<p>"To an insolent fellow who is in front of this house. Come,
+Chaudoreille; follow me. If there were ten of them, they should have the
+pleasure of feeling my poniard. You shall also have the pleasure of
+chasing and chastising these blackguards."<a name="page_vol_1_128" id="page_vol_1_128"></a></p>
+
+<p>While saying this Touquet ran into the shop and hastened to open the
+door, being by that means sooner in the street than if he had gone by
+the passageway. While he precipitately drew the bolts, Chaudoreille rose
+with a good deal of fury and ran three times round the hall, crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Where the devil have I laid my sword?"</p>
+
+<p>This feat accomplished, he perceived that Rolande had not left his side,
+and cried to Touquet, who could not hear him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Stupid that I am! In my hurry I did not see him. I am with you; I have
+only to draw him from the scabbard.&mdash;Come then, Rolande.&mdash;It is this
+cursed knot which holds him. Plague be on the rosette! Touquet, here I
+am; amuse them a little until I can draw Rolande from the scabbard."</p>
+
+<p>But the barber was already in the street, while Chaudoreille remained at
+the back of the room, appearing to be making futile efforts to draw his
+sword, crying all the while,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am with you! Cursed rosette! Without it I should have already killed
+five or six."<a name="page_vol_1_129" id="page_vol_1_129"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII-a" id="CHAPTER_VIII-a"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Conversation by the Fireside</span></h2>
+
+<p>I<small>T</small> was really for little Blanche that somebody was singing and
+accompanying himself on the guitar. Lovers are the most imprudent of
+mortals. Urbain in loving Blanche was experiencing love for the first
+time, for he would have scorned to have given the name of love to those
+momentary caprices of the fancy which are extinguished as soon as
+gratified; and even at the early date at which we are writing, the young
+men permitted themselves to have such whims; but when they loved truly
+that lasted in those good old times, or so they say, much longer than it
+does today, at least among the little shopkeepers. The great have always
+had their privileges, in love as in everything else.</p>
+
+<p>A first love causes one to commit many imprudences; but the second time
+that one's heart is assailed by the tender passion, one has a little
+more experience; and the third time, one knows how to hide his play. It
+is necessary to become habituated to everything; and if women do not
+invariably hold to their first love, are not invariably faithful to it,
+it is only that they may acquire<a name="page_vol_1_130" id="page_vol_1_130"></a> this habituation, and it would ill
+become us to call it a crime in them.</p>
+
+<p>But Urbain disturbed himself very little, as it will appear; he had
+unceasingly before his eyes the face of the enchantress he had perceived
+at the window, and he ardently desired to see her when there should be
+nothing between them. What he had heard from the gossips of the
+neighborhood had strengthened his hope and perhaps added to the feeling
+he already experienced for her, for there was something romantic in the
+history of the young orphan; extraordinary events inflame the
+imagination, and that of a lover takes fire very easily.</p>
+
+<p>But before seeking to surmount the obstacles which stood in the way of
+gaining the one he loved it was first necessary to obtain her love,
+without which all his plans could avail him nothing. One may brave the
+jealousy of a rival, the watchfulness of a tutor, anger, vengeance, and
+the daggers of a thousand Arguses; but one cannot brave the indifference
+of the beloved object. Before that obstacle all prospects of happiness
+vanish. A very much smitten lover wishes to find a heart which responds
+to his own. That brutal love which is satisfied with the possession of
+the body, without caring for that of the soul, could only exist among
+the petty tyrants of former times, who plundered travellers and achieved
+the conquest of women at the point of the sword; then, putting their<a name="page_vol_1_131" id="page_vol_1_131"></a>
+victims behind them on their horses, as a custom-house officer possesses
+himself of contraband goods, went off to enjoy themselves with their
+booty in the depths of their fastness, troubling themselves very little
+that the unhappy creatures responded to their loathsome caresses only
+with tears.</p>
+
+<p>Today love is more delicate. Before everything, one desires to please;
+and with his guineas the great lord wishes to touch the heart as well as
+the hand of the pretty dancer; and he succeeds, because dancers
+generally carry their hearts in their hands.</p>
+
+<p>While taking his humble meal Urbain said to himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How shall I see her? How shall I make myself known to her?
+Blanche&mdash;what a pretty name! and how well it suits her! But the barber
+doesn't seem very tractable; his house is a veritable fortress. It is
+necessary, before everything, that that charming girl should know that I
+love her, that I adore her. This morning she listened to the musicians,
+and appeared to be greatly pleased with the last romance they sang. I
+know that romance; I'll go this evening and sing it under her window;
+perhaps she will show herself; perhaps at night she opens her window to
+take the air."</p>
+
+<p>The air was a little nipping, for the season was severe; but a lover
+always believes it is springtime.<a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a> Delighted by the idea Urbain went
+home to get his guitar, and waited impatiently, until the streets should
+be deserted, to go and serenade a woman whom he did not know.</p>
+
+<p>This Spanish custom was then much in fashion in France. There are still
+some little towns where it is preserved, and where one may hear between
+ten and eleven o'clock sentimental songs accompanied by the guitar; but
+in the great capitals it is only the blind and the organ-grinders who
+sing love in the streets.</p>
+
+<p>The hour propitious to lovers having arrived, Urbain went to the Rue des
+Bourdonnais; he had easily recognized the barber's house, having
+specially noted it in the morning; a feeble light which shone between
+the curtains of Blanche's window seemed to indicate that the young girl
+was not yet sleeping, and, without reflecting that the other dwellers in
+the house would hear him, Urbain had sung with the most tender
+expression he could put in his voice.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen what followed on this imprudence. At the sound of bolts
+being drawn, the young man softly departed, and, hiding at the entrance
+of the Rue des Mauvaises-Paroles, he heard the threats and the swearing
+of Touquet.</p>
+
+<p>"He's escaped," said the barber, reëntering the lower room and angrily
+throwing his sword on the table. These words seemed to break the charm
+which held Rolande in his scabbard; and Chaudoreille,<a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a> drawing his sword
+suddenly, and making it flash in the air, ran precipitately into the
+shop, crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"And now, master singers, I'll let you see something fierce."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't I tell you there's no one there," repeated Touquet, while
+Chaudoreille appeared to wish to draw the bolts of the door. "I made too
+much noise; the rascal heard me and ran off."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you quite certain there's nobody there?" said Chaudoreille, still
+brandishing his sword.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, quite sure."</p>
+
+<p>"I have a great inclination to go into the street and satisfy myself as
+to that."</p>
+
+<p>"Do as you please about it; you are your own master."</p>
+
+<p>"No; on reflection, I believe that would be a blunder; they may perhaps
+come back; it will be better to let them approach without fear; then we
+can fell suddenly upon them, and give them no quarter."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the chevalier put Rolande into the scabbard and returned to
+the lower room, where he seated himself before the fire and again filled
+his cup with wine, which he swallowed at one draught, to cool&mdash;so he
+said&mdash;his anger.</p>
+
+<p>The barber strode up and down; he was strongly agitated, and appeared to
+have forgotten the presence of Chaudoreille, as he murmured at intervals
+in a gloomy voice,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_1_134" id="page_vol_1_134"></a></p>
+
+<p>"That which I feared has happened at last! That beautiful bud has been
+seen, and they will all wish to cull it. They will seek to learn who she
+is, where she comes from; there will be a thousand remarks, a thousand
+inquiries, and who knows where that will lead? Bungling fellow that I
+am! I well had need to guard the child. I believed I had made a master
+stroke which would disarm all suspicion. I ought to have foreseen that
+one day she would be sixteen, that she would be charming, and that in
+order to possess her they would employ all the stratagems which I have
+often used on behalf of others."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," said Chaudoreille, carrying to his lips for the third
+time a goblet filled to the brim, "my honest Touquet, if you don't want
+to take care of the little one any longer, give her to me, and I'll
+answer to you for it that no fop shall be allowed to see her face."</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I give you?" said the barber, as if he had only just become
+aware of Chaudoreille's presence. "What are you talking about? Answer
+me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, by jingo, you were speaking of the young flower you have sheltered;
+I heard you very plainly."</p>
+
+<p>"You heard me!" cried Touquet, seizing Chaudoreille by the arm with
+which he was holding his full cup; "and what did I say? What did you
+hear? Speak, wretch! Speak, will you?"<a name="page_vol_1_135" id="page_vol_1_135"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Take care! you're shaking my arm. Here's my doublet all stained with
+wine now. What the deuce! You'll have to give me another."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you heard?" repeated the barber in a threatening voice,
+raising his closed fist on Chaudoreille, while with the other hand he
+shook him so briskly by the arm that a great part of the wine covered
+the jaws and neck of the chevalier.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, nothing, I swear to you," murmured the latter, lowering his
+eyes, so as to avoid the barber's gaze. "I only said to you that this
+wine has a fine bouquet, and that if you wished to give me some bottles
+to keep I should carefully guard it from all eyes. I believe that's what
+I was saying; for, in truth, you've turned me upside down with your
+irritable conduct, and I don't know what I'm saying."</p>
+
+<p>Touquet loosened his hold of Chaudoreille's arm, as if ashamed of his
+hasty movements, and, resuming his calmer tone, seated himself near the
+latter.</p>
+
+<p>"There are some things I wish to keep secret&mdash;not that they're of any
+great importance; and, for the matter of that, I don't think that you
+will ever allow yourself to prate about my affairs; you are too well
+aware that my dagger would at once deprive you of the organ of which you
+made such use."</p>
+
+<p>"What the deuce do you suppose I could blab about you?" said
+Chaudoreille, drying his face<a name="page_vol_1_136" id="page_vol_1_136"></a> and his clothing with his little silk
+handkerchief, and pinching his lips, as if doubting whether Touquet had
+not already cut out his tongue. "You never tell me anything about your
+business, and I'm not a man to invent the slightest untruth."</p>
+
+<p>"I've told you what all the world knows,&mdash;that I have sheltered Blanche
+since she had been left an orphan at my house, and that I know no more
+than anyone else about her father or her family. She is now grown up and
+pretty. Lovers will begin to come; that's what vexes me. They'll seek to
+learn everything about this young girl, and assuredly they won't know
+more about it than I am telling you. The one who was singing just now is
+known to me; he came into my shop this morning, and stayed two hours, in
+the hope that Blanche would appear. Do you hear me, Chaudoreille?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hear you&mdash;if you wish me to," said the chevalier, continuing to rub
+his doublet; "for I don't know if I should or if I should not hear you.
+That shall be as you wish."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you weren't quite so foolish," said the barber, glancing
+scornfully at his neighbor.</p>
+
+<p>"No words of double meaning," answered Chaudoreille; "you know I don't
+like them. This cursed wine stains, and for the moment I don't know
+where to get another doublet."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a mere child, a scholar, who has not yet a beard on his chin,"
+said the barber after a moment'<a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a>s silence, which was only interrupted by
+the rubbing of the handkerchief on the spots impregnated by wine. "He
+shows the small experience he has had in love intrigues by coming to
+sing before my door&mdash;in order to let me know who was there. The poor boy
+has much need of a lesson."</p>
+
+<p>"He certainly is not first-rate at the guitar.".</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe that he can be known to Blanche. No&mdash;but that romance
+he was singing,&mdash;it's precisely the same as the one she mentioned to
+me,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="c">My darling is all to me."</p>
+
+<p>"That doesn't equal&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="c">Thou hast lost thy fond dove too.</p>
+
+<p>Zounds! what a difference in the melody!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Blanche is candor itself; she would not have spoken to me of that
+romance had she known the young man. Why the devil haven't you taught
+her something else besides that old rubbish of Louis the Twelfth's time?
+If you had taught her to sing something pretty she would not have been
+enraptured at the first romance sung by wandering minstrels."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say? Are you talking to me?" said Chaudoreille, raising his
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I am, since you call yourself a professor of singing."<a name="page_vol_1_138" id="page_vol_1_138"></a></p>
+
+<p>"My dear Touquet, listen well to what I am going to say: I don't tease
+you about your method of shaving beards, and don't you meddle with my
+way of teaching music. Each one to his own trade. You know the proverb.
+I teach my pupils nothing but masterpieces, and I'm not going to cram
+their heads with the little gurglings of those miserable clowns who
+travel from Naples here singing the same roulade."</p>
+
+<p>"It's vexatious, then, that the young girls prefer these roulades to
+your masterpieces. You gave Blanche a music lesson this morning, and she
+tells me that you have wearied her with your villanelle."</p>
+
+<p>"Had anyone but you told me that?" cried Chaudoreille, rising in
+vexation. "I should have attributed it to jealousy. But it's getting
+late; it's been a tiring day, and I must go to rest. If, however, you
+wish me to remain here for fear the singers should return, I will
+sacrifice my repose."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; it's unnecessary," said the barber, smiling. "They won't come
+back; go to bed."</p>
+
+<p>"You have no need of my services tomorrow evening, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;however, if you like to be walking on the Pont de la Tournelle at
+the hour agreed on, you could at any rate serve as a spy for us."</p>
+
+<p>"Sufficient," said Chaudoreille, pulling his hat over his eyes; "you can
+count on me in life and in death; I shall be at the rendezvous at the
+exact hour, and Rolande shall be sharp. Good-by!"<a name="page_vol_1_139" id="page_vol_1_139"></a></p>
+
+<p>So saying the chevalier passed through the passageway into the alley and
+opened the door of the house. He thrust his head out into the street,
+and, after glancing cautiously to the right and left, went on his way
+like a stag who hears the sound of the chase.<a name="page_vol_1_140" id="page_vol_1_140"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX-a" id="CHAPTER_IX-a"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Closet. The Abduction</span></h2>
+
+<p>A<small>S</small> everything coheres, everything is connected in this lower world,
+there is no chance; but there are many rebounds which transmit from one
+to another events, effects, for which we bless or curse fate,&mdash;as they
+are fortunate or unfortunate,&mdash;instead of tracing them to their original
+causes, from which, in truth, we are sometimes removed so far as to have
+no cognizance of them.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it came to pass that our young Urbain had blessed chance on
+perceiving that the light was still burning in Blanche's room; but if
+the young girl had not gone to rest it was not by chance, but because
+Marguerite could not decide to go up to bed in her new room before
+knowing where the little door in the back of her alcove led.</p>
+
+<p>Now if the garrulous old maidservant had not confessed to her master
+that she had witnessed his nightly vigils, the latter would not have
+made her change her lodging; and the fear which induced him to do so was
+due to other causes still more remote; thus, by a series of events,
+Marguerite's gossip had led to Blanche's hearing Urbain's sweet and<a name="page_vol_1_141" id="page_vol_1_141"></a>
+tender voice sing the romance which had so enchanted her in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle," said the old woman, some moments before the young
+lover began to sing, "I know I should die of fright if I should have to
+sleep alone in that horrid room, formerly inhabited by a magician,
+without knowing where that little door leads to&mdash;perhaps into that
+Odoard's laboratory. Who knows whether he isn't still there? These
+sorcerers are sometimes shut up by themselves for half a century,
+searching for secrets which will enable them to give human kind into the
+hands of the devil. I am sure that M. Touquet, who is very indifferent
+in regard to everything pertaining to sorcerers, has not once been into
+that room. Let me pass the night in your room, my child; tomorrow, when
+it's daylight, we'll go together and open that door, since the Chevalier
+Chaudoreille wasn't polite enough to do so. I can pass the night in this
+easy chair; I shall be much better here than upstairs, and I can tell
+you some interesting stories before you go to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche could not refuse Marguerite what she asked as a favor; the old
+woman was relating her third story of sorcery, and the young girl, who
+felt that her eyes were growing heavy, was about to go to bed, when the
+sounds of a guitar were heard.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche listened, and made a sign to Marguerite<a name="page_vol_1_142" id="page_vol_1_142"></a> to be silent, and soon
+recognized with delight the air which she was desirous of learning.
+There is something sweeter, more seductive, in music thus heard in the
+middle of the night; it finds its way more quickly to the heart.
+Urbain's voice was flexible and melodious. Blanche, transported,
+remained motionless, as though she feared by a single movement to lose a
+sound, while Marguerite, gaping with astonishment, looked at the
+engaging child without appearing greatly enchanted with the music. But
+Marguerite was more than sixty years old, and music had not the same
+effect upon her as upon Blanche; the sounds reached no farther than her
+ears, while they vibrated deliciously in the depths of the heart of
+sixteen.</p>
+
+<p>Very soon, however, the noise which they heard in the street put an end
+to Blanche's happiness; she recognized the barber's voice, and the
+threats which he pronounced made her tremble, as well as Marguerite, who
+cried immediately,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Go to bed! go to bed quickly, my child, and extinguish the light; if M.
+Touquet sees that we are still awake, if he should find me in here&mdash;O
+holy blessed Virgin! I shall be lost."</p>
+
+<p>"But why is he so angry?" said Blanche. "Is singing in the streets in
+the evenings forbidden? I was so pleased to hear that romance. What harm
+was the young man doing?&mdash;for it was a young man who was singing&mdash;was it
+not, dear nurse? It was not the voice of an old man, and,<a name="page_vol_1_143" id="page_vol_1_143"></a> oh, how well
+he sang! I have never heard such a pretty voice; it had a singular
+effect on me; it made my heart beat with pleasure&mdash;didn't it yours,
+Marguerite?"</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite, whose heart was beating only with fear, contented herself
+with repeating, "Go to bed quickly, put out the lamp, and above all
+don't say tomorrow that you heard the singing; that would prove that you
+were not yet asleep, and M. Touquet wishes everyone to go to sleep as
+soon as they go to bed."</p>
+
+<p>Since it was necessary to yield to the insistence of the old servant,
+Blanche went to bed, but she did not go to sleep; the young singer's
+voice still seemed to ring in her ears, and on hearing the least sound
+in the street she imagined that it was the musician again. As to
+Marguerite, after putting out the lamp, she extended herself in an
+armchair near the fire and fell asleep, murmuring a prayer to drive away
+evil spirits.</p>
+
+<p>The morning after this night, so fertile with events, Blanche arose
+early. She was pensive, preoccupied, still dreaming of the young
+singer's voice; she felt new desires, and sighed as she glanced toward
+the street. Marguerite ran to her work, saying to Blanche,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"When monsieur is most busily engaged with his customers, we'll go up
+together into my room; but, my child, above all don't say anything about
+the music."<a name="page_vol_1_144" id="page_vol_1_144"></a></p>
+
+<p>Blanche promised her, saying, "Why should he be angry because somebody
+came to sing such a pretty air under our windows?"</p>
+
+<p>The barber said nothing to the young girl about the adventure of the
+night; he contented himself with observing Blanche, and the lovely
+child, remembering the threats which she had overheard him utter against
+the singer, had no desire to chat; she hastened to return to her
+chamber, where Marguerite was not long in coming to rejoin her.</p>
+
+<p>"Now is the time," said the old servant; "monsieur has a good many
+people to shave. Come, my child; come up with me, and above all don't be
+frightened; I have taken every precaution necessary to drive away the
+goblins."</p>
+
+<p>"Frightened!" said Blanche, because she saw that Marguerite was
+trembling. "No, dear nurse, no; I assure you that I'm not thinking of
+your secret door at all."</p>
+
+<p>Thus saying, Blanche darted lightly up the stairs, while Marguerite
+followed her more slowly, saying, "Happy age when one has no fear of
+magicians, because one does not understand all their wickedness,&mdash;it is
+true that she has a talisman."</p>
+
+<p>When they reached the room, Blanche entered quickly, while the old woman
+made a genuflexion and invoked her patron saint, after which she decided
+also to go into her new room, throwing anxious glances about her.
+Blanche had run into<a name="page_vol_1_145" id="page_vol_1_145"></a> the alcove and already drawn the bed into the
+middle of the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a moment; don't be so imprudent," cried Marguerite to her. "Is it
+necessary to do things so quickly?"</p>
+
+<p>"But, dear nurse, the sooner we open that door, the sooner you'll be
+reassured."</p>
+
+<p>"Reassured! that's what I wish. Have you your talisman, my darling?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I have. Didn't you sew it yourself inside my corsets?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's true."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see the door you were talking about."</p>
+
+<p>"It is so well encased in the woodwork."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, here it is!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a moment, mademoiselle, while I throw some holy water before it."</p>
+
+<p>"But there's no key; how can we open it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we must try. I have several keys that I have picked up while
+cleaning the house, perhaps one of those will open it."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite advanced tremblingly towards the end of the alcove. She drew
+from her pocket half a dozen rusty keys of different sizes, and was
+about to try one of them, but her hand shook and she could not find the
+keyhole. Blanche seized one key and tried it unsuccessfully, then a
+second; but at the third the young girl uttered a cry of joy, for the
+key turned, and Marguerite crossed herself, murmuring,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_1_146" id="page_vol_1_146"></a></p>
+
+<p>"O my God, the door is opening!"</p>
+
+<p>In fact, the door yielded to Blanche's effort and opened, creaking and
+groaning on its hinges, and the two women beheld a square closet; but,
+as it received no light except from the little door that opened into it,
+and as that door led into a dark alcove, one may conceive that there was
+little daylight there. Blanche remained on the doorsill and Marguerite
+recoiled a few steps, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"See now, my child; I was right in thinking that that door led
+somewhere. Oh, this is as dark as a cave."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go in here, nurse."</p>
+
+<p>"But not without a light, I hope. Wait; I will go and light my lamp. I
+don't know that it is prudent of us to enter this closet."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Marguerite, you see very well that there is nobody here."</p>
+
+<p>"I can see nothing except darkness. Wait; take the lamp, and you go
+first, my darling; you have your talisman; nothing will happen to you."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche entered first; she seemed more curious than alarmed, while the
+old woman could scarcely persuade herself to follow. The closet was six
+feet square, and held nothing but two big empty chests placed on the
+floor, which time had covered with dust and spiders' webs.</p>
+
+<p>"Well now, my dear nurse," said Blanche, smiling, "where are the
+sorcerers? I don't see anything frightful here."<a name="page_vol_1_147" id="page_vol_1_147"></a></p>
+
+<p>"In fact," answered Marguerite, glancing all about her; "there's nothing
+but four walls, no other door, and these two chests are empty. I'm sure
+that no one has disturbed this place for half a century. No matter; I
+swear to you that I shall not come back here again. I don't know why I
+feel so uneasy here. How the floor creaks under our feet!"</p>
+
+<p>"It's because no one has walked here for a long time; this house is
+old."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, my dear child, let us leave this closet; I shall shut the door
+and double-lock it, and I shan't open it again while I stay in this
+room."</p>
+
+<p>Thus saying, Marguerite pushed Blanche before her, then closed the
+little door and double-locked it, murmuring between her teeth,</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! if some sorcerer should wish to open the door that lock would not
+resist him; but every night I shall cross my shovel and tongs before
+it."</p>
+
+<p>This visit terminated, Blanche went down, humming to herself the romance
+of the evening before, and Marguerite returned to her work.</p>
+
+<p>The barber had ordered dinner early; and at six o'clock in the evening
+he left the house, repeating to Marguerite:</p>
+
+<p>"Redouble your watchfulness, do not allow any man to go near Blanche
+without my permission, and inform me if you hear anyone singing in the
+street."</p>
+
+<p>The old woman promised to obey. Touquet<a name="page_vol_1_148" id="page_vol_1_148"></a> wrapped his mantle about him
+and left to execute the marquis' plan. As he was accustomed to conduct
+similar intrigues, he knew where to procure everything that was
+necessary; and at a quarter to eight he was on the Pont de la Tournelle,
+while about a hundred feet from him two men awaited his orders near a
+travelling-chaise drawn by two horses.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time Chaudoreille had been walking on the bridge. Fearing to
+miss the rendezvous, given for eight o'clock, he had arrived at six;
+burying his head between his shoulders and hiding his chin under his
+little mantle, he tried to give himself the air of a conspirator. With
+his left hand on Rolande's handle and the other holding his mantle, he
+walked sometimes slowly and sometimes with a precipitant step; and every
+time that anyone passed him he did not fail to murmur, in such a manner
+as to be heard,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How late she is in coming! What can keep her? I am burning! I am
+bursting! I shall die with impatience."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he saw Touquet he ran to him and pulled the edge of his
+mantle; then, looking to see if anybody was passing, he said to him in a
+mysterious tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, hang it, I see you!" said the barber, shrugging his shoulders;
+"but I'd much rather see the little one."<a name="page_vol_1_149" id="page_vol_1_149"></a></p>
+
+<p>"She hasn't appeared yet, I can answer for that. I've looked in every
+woman's face."</p>
+
+<p>"It's not eight o'clock; let us wait."</p>
+
+<p>"Be easy; I'll go and put myself in ambuscade and examine all the
+feminine visages."</p>
+
+<p>"Take care they don't slap you; that would draw a crowd, and wouldn't
+please me."</p>
+
+<p>"Slap me! They're more likely to kiss me, I should say; but I'll make a
+grimace, so as not to tempt them."</p>
+
+<p>And Chaudoreille, drawing his hat down over his eyes, departed, taking
+as long steps as his little legs would permit.</p>
+
+<p>In about three minutes Chaudoreille returned to say to the barber,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There's a woman who has just come along by the Pont Marie, and who is
+going to pass over this bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! Is she the one we are waiting for? You ought to know, if you've
+peered into her face."</p>
+
+<p>"No; I wasn't able to do that this time, because she was giving her arm
+to a man, and he would have been frightened."</p>
+
+<p>"If she's with a man it's not our young girl; one doesn't bring
+witnesses to a lovers' meeting."</p>
+
+<p>"That's correct," said Chaudoreille, and he started off again.</p>
+
+<p>Some minutes later he returned to Touquet, crying,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_1_150" id="page_vol_1_150"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Here's another one who is coming along this way; but this one is alone,
+I am sure of that."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it our beauty?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is not she."</p>
+
+<p>"You idiot! what did you come and tell me for?"</p>
+
+<p>"So that you should not make a mistake; I thought it was my duty to
+avert that."</p>
+
+<p>"Chaudoreille, do me the pleasure of remaining still. I know very well
+how to recognize her whom I came to meet without your help; although I
+haven't yet seen her, I am certain that I shan't make a mistake; but,
+hang it! if she doesn't come to this meeting, I shall send you to drink
+the water under the bridge, to teach you to do your errands better."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille had not heard the barber's last words; he was already far
+away, but he returned precipitately, looking scared.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it now?" said Touquet.</p>
+
+<p>"A patrol of the watch, which I can see coming, and which is going to
+pass by us."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what of that? What has the watch to do with us? It's not
+forbidden to walk on the bridge, and, even if they should see us abduct
+a young girl I can answer for it they'll hardly trouble themselves about
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't we a rather suspicious look?"</p>
+
+<p>"You make me ashamed of you."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall pretend to be laughing, to allay their suspicions."<a name="page_vol_1_151" id="page_vol_1_151"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Wait, perhaps this will give you more courage."</p>
+
+<p>So saying the barber kicked Chaudoreille; but the latter received it
+singing, contenting himself by rubbing the part attacked while executing
+his trills, because at that moment the watch was passing them. When the
+patrol had departed he breathed more freely, and cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"They have taken us for simple troubadours."</p>
+
+<p>"They should have taken you for a fool. A plague on all poltroons! They
+are good for nothing except to spoil everything."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not going to get angry at a matter which doesn't concern me; but on
+great occasions it seems to me that stratagem is often better than
+valor."</p>
+
+<p>The barber had begun to be impatient, when a young woman came on to the
+bridge, walking slowly and glancing from time to time about her.
+Chaudoreille had not perceived her, because he was in ambuscade at the
+side of the Rue des Deux-Ponts.</p>
+
+<p>Touquet approached the unknown, looked at her and saw that this really
+was the young girl whom the marquis had depicted; for her part, the
+damsel looked attentively at the barber, and seemed to wait for him to
+address her in words.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not the Signora Julia?" said the barber in a bass voice,
+approaching the young girl.</p>
+
+<p>"And you the barber Touquet?" answered she, lifting to him her animated
+black eyes.<a name="page_vol_1_152" id="page_vol_1_152"></a></p>
+
+<p>The barber was surprised at hearing himself named by a person to whom he
+believed himself unknown, but, after having considered the young girl
+anew, he resumed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Since you know me, you should also know that the Marquis de Villebelle
+has sent me to you."</p>
+
+<p>"The marquis is rather ungallant," answered Julia, "in not coming
+himself to a first meeting."</p>
+
+<p>"These great noblemen are not the masters of their time; besides, the
+marquis has no desire to converse with you about his love on this
+bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"Preferring, no doubt, his little house of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine?"</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me, signora, that you are very well acquainted with
+everything that concerns the marquis; after that I have nothing more to
+tell you, except that a carriage is waiting a hundred feet from here."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, let us go."</p>
+
+<p>"The deuce!" said the barber to himself, offering his arm to Julia, that
+he might conduct her to the coach; "here is a young girl who doesn't
+make a bit of fuss about allowing herself to be abducted. But I must
+confess that there's something in her voice and manners very decided and
+piquant, which astonishes as well as pleases."</p>
+
+<p>They had reached the carriage when Chaudoreille's voice was heard; he
+ran after the barber, crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There's a woman coming by the side of the<a name="page_vol_1_153" id="page_vol_1_153"></a> Porte de la Tournelle; it is
+our little one; I recognized her walk."</p>
+
+<p>Saying these words, Chaudoreille perceived that the barber was
+conducting a person to whom he had given his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"How is this? What does this mean? Must I believe my eyes?" cried the
+chevalier. "That's our beauty, and what the deuce way did she come? No
+matter; we've got her; that's the essential thing. I will protect your
+walk."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille then drew his sword, and, giving no ear to the barber, who
+bade him depart, ran up to the carriage, crying to the two men who were
+near,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My friends, here they are. Be adroit, be courageous. By jingo! she must
+enter your vehicle, willingly or by force."</p>
+
+<p>Somebody opened the door, and Chaudoreille was a little surprised at
+seeing the young person trip first into the carriage. He was about to do
+the same, and seat himself near her, when Touquet, taking him by the
+breeches, dropped him on all-fours on the pavement, and, following Julia
+into the carriage, said to the coachman,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Go on!"</p>
+
+<p>"What the deuce! he's going to abduct her without me," said
+Chaudoreille, picking himself up. "No, not by all the devils! It shall
+not be said that I did not finish this adventure; besides, they've only
+given me something on account, and<a name="page_vol_1_154" id="page_vol_1_154"></a> I should like to be settled with
+before the marquis gets tired of the little one."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille immediately darted after the carriage; accustomed to
+running, he caught up with it, mounted behind, and allowed himself to be
+drawn at a great gallop, taking care to hold tightly to the tassels,
+which served to support him.<a name="page_vol_1_155" id="page_vol_1_155"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X-a" id="CHAPTER_X-a"></a>CHAPTER X<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Little House. A New Game</span></h2>
+
+<p>T<small>HE</small> carriage bearing the barber and Julia had soon passed the Porte
+Saint-Antoine, which at that period had not attained the dignity of the
+Faubourg, but was in a neighborhood where the road is cut by the
+boulevards, and which served frequently, as did all thinly inhabited
+districts at the time of which we are writing, for a meeting-place for
+robbers, vagabonds, pages, lackeys and cut-purses.</p>
+
+<p>The marquis' little house was situated near the Vallée de Fécamp, which
+today is replaced by a street bearing the same name, and making the
+continuation of the Rue de la Planchette. Crossing this unlighted place
+of evil fame in the middle of the night was, at that time, to expose
+one's self to as much danger as though passing through the forest of
+Bondy. However, many noblemen had chosen this quarter for the theatre of
+their gallantries. They possessed small houses there, their ordinary
+meeting-places in their love intrigues, and often went out incognito,
+but always well armed.</p>
+
+<p>The carriage stopped before an enclosing wall;<a name="page_vol_1_156" id="page_vol_1_156"></a> Chaudoreille looked
+about him on all sides. The house was isolated, and the wall which
+enclosed the garden appeared unbroken, but Touquet had already alighted
+from the carriage; he approached a small door which the chevalier had
+not perceived, and rang a bell. Before any one could come to open it
+Chaudoreille had left the place which he had occupied, and had offered
+his hand to Julia to assist her in alighting from the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>The door was immediately opened by a man servant, who appeared holding a
+lantern in his hand, and, merely glancing at the carriage and at the
+damsel who was getting out of it, he contented himself with smiling and
+making a low bow to the barber.</p>
+
+<p>"Your master has warned you that we were coming?" said Touquet to this
+person in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur," answered the servant, "I am waiting for you."</p>
+
+<p>Here the barber, upon turning around to introduce Julia to the lackey
+perceived for the first time the redoubtable Chaudoreille, who stood
+bolt upright before the door with his sword in his hand, as though he
+were a sentinel on guard. The barber shrugged his shoulders impatiently,
+and, after handing Julia in, he unceremoniously dragged the chevalier by
+his mantle, and made him also pass into the garden, saying,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_1_157" id="page_vol_1_157"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Since you have followed us here, it is necessary that you should do
+something for us."</p>
+
+<p>"That is my duty, by jingo," responded the chevalier, while Touquet
+reclosed the garden gate, after having said to the two men who were near
+the coach,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Wait for me."</p>
+
+<p>They followed along a tiled passageway which led to the house. The
+garden was gloomy. The servant who carried the lantern walked in front,
+and Chaudoreille, who found himself the last, glanced from time to time
+anxiously from right to left; he wished to open the conversation, and
+had already exclaimed, "This garden appears to be very large," when the
+barber turned and ordered him to keep silent. To indemnify himself for
+this forced silence, Chaudoreille, who was still holding Rolande naked
+in his hand, struck every tree that he met.</p>
+
+<p>They arrived at the house and entered a vestibule, at the end of which
+was a staircase, while to the right and the left doors led to the
+apartments on the ground floor.</p>
+
+<p>Julia, who had followed her conductors without speaking, appeared to
+examine attentively everything that presented itself to her.
+Chaudoreille, finding himself near the man with the lantern, uttered a
+cry of surprise, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what the deuce! I can't be mistaken. It is Marcel, one of my old
+friends. Don't you<a name="page_vol_1_158" id="page_vol_1_158"></a> know me? I am Chaudoreille; we spent six months in
+prison together, but it was for a mere trifle. I left it as white as
+snow."</p>
+
+<p>"Be silent, idiots," cried the barber; "you can make your greetings a
+little later. Where is madame's apartment?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the first floor," answered Marcel, putting his hand in
+Chaudoreille's, who shook it as if he had found his best friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Lead us," said Touquet, "and you remain here."</p>
+
+<p>The latter part of this order was addressed to the chevalier and it did
+not afford him much pleasure; but he was forced to obey. However, when
+Chaudoreille perceived that there was no light in the vestibule where
+they left him, and where he found himself in the most complete
+obscurity, he ascended several steps of the stairs, crying in a
+quivering voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Don't leave me alone here. The night is chilly and I am afraid of
+taking cold."</p>
+
+<p>Marcel led Julia and the barber and, after making them pass through
+several rooms, lighted only by his lantern, opened a door, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here is the room in which madame can rest herself."</p>
+
+<p>Julia could not restrain an exclamation of surprise, and the barber
+himself was lost in admiration. The room which they had entered was
+lighted by a lustre hung from the ceiling, and the<a name="page_vol_1_159" id="page_vol_1_159"></a> light of many wax
+candles permitted one to admire the luxury with which this place was
+decorated. Delightful paintings of seductive and voluptuous figures
+ornamented the wainscot. The furniture was upholstered in light blue,
+where silk and silver were blended with art. There were Venetian
+glasses, Persian carpets, candelabras in which perfumes were burning,
+while natural flowers were disposed elsewhere, in pyramids, in crystal
+vases. The whole combination tended to make a sojourn in this place a
+delight, for here was united everything that would intoxicate the senses
+and inspire pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>Julia and the barber had entered the lighted room; Marcel remained
+respectfully at the door and seemed to wait some orders.</p>
+
+<p>"This place is delightful," said Julia; "but I do not see the marquis."</p>
+
+<p>"You will see him soon, madame," answered Touquet; "in an hour he will
+be here. While awaiting him you can ask for everything that is agreeable
+to you. Your desires will be accomplished immediately. This bell
+communicates with the floor below. Is not that so, Marcel?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur, and if madame would like to take something, I have
+prepared a collation in the little neighboring room."</p>
+
+<p>Marcel indicated a door hidden by a mirror. The barber pushed it and
+they saw a second room, smaller but equally well lighted, and decorated<a name="page_vol_1_160" id="page_vol_1_160"></a>
+with as much magnificence, only the furniture and the hangings were of
+poppy-colored velvet, ornamented with fringes of gold, while light blue
+and silver were the only colors in the first.</p>
+
+<p>"He did not deceive me," said Touquet to himself, glancing into the
+second room, "when he said that he had made an enchanting bower of this
+house. What luxury! What magnificence! How much money he must have spent
+to do all this! And yet he is not happy."</p>
+
+<p>Julia had thrown herself on a lounge and appeared thoughtful. The barber
+bowed to her, and, making a sign to Marcel, left the apartment with him.</p>
+
+<p>Marcel was a bachelor of twenty-eight or thirty years, short, fat and
+cheerful; obedient and exact as an Oriental, but endowed with very
+little genius and incapable of conducting the merest intrigue. The
+marquis, to whom more adroit, more active, more enterprising people were
+necessary, but who appreciated Marcel's faithfulness, had found, in
+order to keep him, no better means of employing him than to make him the
+keeper of this house. There his functions were limited to a passive
+obedience to the orders which he received; but he was a stranger to all
+the intrigues of which this abode was the theatre, and ignored sometimes
+the correct name of the person who during a short period was reigning
+sovereign in the little house. This troubled him little, and his
+indifference was<a name="page_vol_1_161" id="page_vol_1_161"></a> a guarantee of his discretion, a quality which in his
+employ was very necessary.</p>
+
+<p>"You know Chaudoreille?" said the barber to Marcel, following him into
+the passageway which led to the staircase.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur," answered the valet, "I knew him formerly in a rather
+unfortunate affair, since I had to pass six months in prison, and God
+knows if I was guilty. It is in the neighborhood of seven years ago, and
+I was not then in the marquis' service. I was drinking in an inn, and
+Chaudoreille was there also; he was playing at piquet with two other
+cavaliers, and they invited me to make one of their party. I accepted
+the invitation. I played and I lost. He took my place, put down some
+crowns for me, saying that we should be partners, and played with
+surprising good fortune. I was delighted to see him win, but our
+adversaries pretended that he cheated. Then they disputed, and in place
+of paying us wanted to fight us so badly that they made a great noise.
+The sergeants of the watch arrived with their archers and led us to
+prison,&mdash;Chaudoreille and me. That was how we made acquaintance; but
+since that time I have lost the taste for playing. I wouldn't touch a
+card now."</p>
+
+<p>"All the better for you. I advise you to keep that resolution."</p>
+
+<p>The barber and Marcel then went down the stairs which led into the
+vestibule, when cries of<a name="page_vol_1_162" id="page_vol_1_162"></a> "Thief!" "Beware!" "Murder!" came to their
+ears. The cries came from the garden, and Touquet recognized the
+chevalier's voice.</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil is he at now?" said the barber, hurrying his steps,
+while Marcel followed him, repeating,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Thieves! That is singular. However, the doors are close shut, and the
+walls of the garden are ten feet high."</p>
+
+<p>Tired of being without light in the vestibule, Chaudoreille had returned
+into the garden, where, since the moon was nearly hidden by clouds, one
+could see but a little way from him. The chevalier was singing a virelay
+which he accompanied by striking Rolande against the branches, then
+barren of foliage. All of a sudden, at the entrance to some shrubbery, a
+large white face appeared opposite Chaudoreille, who stopped and cried,
+in a faltering voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Who goes there?"</p>
+
+<p>Nobody answered him, and he judged it prudent in place of repeating his
+question to regain the house. In his alarm he mistook the way, and at a
+turn in the alley perceived before him another personage, who held a
+club in his hand, with which he seemed disposed to strike him. It was
+then that Chaudoreille, who felt his strength for flight fail him, made
+the garden echo with his cries. Guided by his voice, the barber and
+Marcel were soon near him.<a name="page_vol_1_163" id="page_vol_1_163"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter? Wherefore this noise?" said Touquet.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you see that wretch who is waiting for me down there to slay me,
+while his accomplice is hidden in another bush?"</p>
+
+<p>The barber turned to look in the direction which Chaudoreille designated
+with his hand. Marcel did likewise, holding the lantern before him. Soon
+the latter burst into a shout of laughter, and the barber cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I was sure that this clown would commit some foolishness."</p>
+
+<p>"Why foolishness? Zounds! Why did not these people answer me when I
+cried to them, 'Who goes there?'"</p>
+
+<p>"That would be very difficult for them," said Marcel. "The one that you
+perceive over there is Hercules killing the Lernean hydra, and the other
+is probably Mercury or Mars. Perhaps it was even a Venus which
+frightened you."</p>
+
+<p>"Frightened me? Oh, no. By jingo, I wasn't frightened; but they should
+warn people when they have an Olympus in their garden. In any case, if
+it is Mercury he can flatter himself that he has received five or six
+strokes from the flat of this sword, and they weren't given by a dead
+hand."</p>
+
+<p>"And if this young girl heard your cries, wretch," said the barber
+directing his steps towards the little door.<a name="page_vol_1_164" id="page_vol_1_164"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I do not think she could," said Marcel, "the room she occupies looks
+out on the other side of the garden."</p>
+
+<p>The barber then opened the door by which they had entered.</p>
+
+<p>"Remain with Marcel," said he to Chaudoreille. "The marquis will soon be
+here. If he has any orders for me you will come and communicate them to
+me immediately, but before monseigneur you must be mute. If the least
+word escapes you before him, if you commit a single awkwardness,
+remember I shall take your punishment upon myself."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Touquet sprang into the carriage, which left immediately.
+Chaudoreille was pleased to remain, thinking that he would now see the
+marquis and could find a way to prove his intelligence to him. He took
+Marcel's arm, remembering that the latter had a very sweet disposition
+and was easily led, and felicitated himself on the chance which had led
+to their meeting. The barber alighted when some steps distant from his
+house. He paid the people, sent away the carriage and hastened to enter,
+for the marquis would be there towards ten o'clock and it was not far
+from that now. Marguerite opened the door to her master, who addressed a
+few ordinary questions to her on the subject of Blanche. The old servant
+swore to her master that no man had spoken to the young girl. Touquet
+sent Marguerite away. He wished<a name="page_vol_1_165" id="page_vol_1_165"></a> to wait for the marquis alone. Ten
+o'clock had sounded some time ago and the barber, who awaited
+congratulations and a new recompense, was beginning to be astonished at
+the lack of haste on the part of the marquis when, at last, somebody
+knocked at the street door and the great nobleman entered the barber's
+house.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it, my poor Touquet, I barely missed forgetting our rendezvous,"
+said the marquis, throwing himself on a seat.</p>
+
+<p>"What, monseigneur, you forget a love affair? That astonishes me, I
+confess."</p>
+
+<p>"You should, however, be able to understand it better than another. Why
+should not one end by tiring of that which he does every day? I am
+utterly blasé in regard to these things. I had, God forgive me, totally
+forgotten the little one. I was at the Hotel de Bourgogne with
+Chavagnac, Montheil and some other of my friends. Turlupin,
+Gautier-Garguille and Gros-Guillaume very much diverted us. The rascals
+are full of jokes; they are quite the fashion. Everybody is running to
+see them. They have created a furore, above all, since they represented
+a comical scene at the cardinal's palace, and since Richelieu has
+permitted them to play at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, despite the protests
+of the comedians. On leaving there we went into an inn; we were in the
+mood for laughter; we fought with some little shopkeepers who disputed
+the possession of a table with us.<a name="page_vol_1_166" id="page_vol_1_166"></a> They shouted like the devil; the
+sergeants of the watch came, but we mentioned our names in a low tone
+and the king's archers helped us to put the rabble out of the place. We
+remained masters of the field of battle; it couldn't end otherwise. I
+never laughed so much. Chavagnac actually wished to eat an omelette off
+the face of a fat draper; the poor devil made some horrible grimaces in
+his fright; it was really very comical; he escaped by swallowing twelve
+glasses of brandy one after the other; afterwards we made him roll from
+the first story to the groundfloor. Finally, my dear fellow, you can
+conceive that with all this the little nut-brown maid went entirely out
+of my head, but just then somebody mentioned a master knave; I thought
+of you and that recalled our rendezvous. Well, now, to come to the
+point, where do we stand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, I have fulfilled your desires, and for the past hour the
+young girl has been at your little house."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't say so! What! Is the affair really terminated thus quickly.
+It doesn't seem as though mademoiselle had made many scruples."</p>
+
+<p>"I must confess, monsieur, that she got into the carriage with a very
+good grace."</p>
+
+<p>"A little resistance would have pleased me better; it's cruel that one
+can have immediately all that one desires. These young girls are so
+impressed when one speaks to them of a great nobleman.<a name="page_167" id="page_167"></a> I'm almost sorry
+I have entangled myself with this one, for the devil carry me away if
+I'm in love with her the least bit in the world. For very little I'd
+have you take her back to the place you took her from. What d'you say,
+Touquet; that would be droll, wouldn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>The barber, piqued at the little pleasure evinced by the marquis at his
+successful abduction of the young girl, answered coldly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I see that monseigneur has almost entirely forgotten the one who
+charmed him two days ago; if he could remember her he would not show so
+much indifference in her possession."</p>
+
+<p>"What, is she really so beautiful? Do you think she is capable of
+engaging my affection for any length of time?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, monsieur, whether she will have that good fortune; but I
+have seen many courtesans in the highest vogue who did not equal that
+young Italian."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she an Italian?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"All the better; that alters the case a little."</p>
+
+<p>"Her name is Julia; her face, while not regularly beautiful, has a
+nameless something that is very piquant and seductive; and there is in
+her voice, in her manner, in everything about her, something that
+denotes force and originality. In short, she is not a languorous beauty,
+such as one most often sees."<a name="page_vol_1_168" id="page_vol_1_168"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, you pique my curiosity; come, tomorrow, we'll admire all
+this."</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow! What monsieur, and the young girl is awaiting you with
+impatience?"</p>
+
+<p>"We must let her sigh until then; I have promised to rejoin my friends
+and finish the night with them. With people of honor one does not break
+his word; the beautiful Julia must be patient."</p>
+
+<p>"I also left one of my men with Marcel, in case monsieur le marquis
+should have any further orders to send me. I hope he'll be useful, since
+Marcel can't leave the house."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, very well, your man can wait; one can give him a few pistoles more.
+By the way, I must pay you. Wait! Here's some gold I won at lansquenet
+this morning. But time's passing, I wager those rascals are getting
+impatient; I must run and rejoin them. We shall have a delightful night;
+we are in just the vein for diversion. We'll make some notches in the
+good citizens of Paris, we'll flog the watch, we'll stop chair porters,
+and I won't answer for it that we don't steal some mantles on the
+Pont-Neuf."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis hastily departed and the barber closed his door, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"After all, he may do as he pleases now, since I have been paid."</p>
+
+<p>While this interview was taking place in the Rue des Bourdonnaise, the
+young girl whom they<a name="page_vol_1_169" id="page_vol_1_169"></a> had left in the luxurious boudoir, arose from the
+lounge as soon as those who brought her had departed. She approached a
+mirror which reflected the whole figure; one glance sufficed to distract
+and give her occupation. Julia arranged her hair, passing her fingers
+through it and re-formed its ringlets; she examined herself, she smiled;
+Julia was a coquette; so to some extent is every woman, they say. To
+judge whether she be more or less so it is only necessary to count the
+minutes that she passes before her mirror; ordinarily she is not the
+prettiest who there looks at herself longest.</p>
+
+<p>At last Julia appeared satisfied with herself; she left the mirror and
+ran about the boudoir and into the neighboring room, admiring everything
+which she had pretended to view with indifference as long as anyone
+could see her. She stopped before an alabaster clock which bore a little
+love. The hand pointed nearly to eleven o'clock. Julia sighed and
+frowned, and threw herself into an easy chair, murmuring,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"He does not come."</p>
+
+<p>While the young girl sighingly regarded the clock, Chaudoreille asked
+Marcel to lead him to the dining-room, saying that he was dying of
+hunger and that since the morning he had been running in the service of
+monsieur le marquis. Marcel hastened to offer his guest a good supper,
+to which the chevalier did full honor. While eating, Chaudoreille
+recounted his exploits to his old<a name="page_vol_1_170" id="page_vol_1_170"></a> friend, and as Marcel listened to
+everything in good faith, our Gascon, delighted at finding someone who
+had faith in his prowess, had already killed fifteen rivals and
+delivered eight victims of tyranny, before he had begun a second
+helping.</p>
+
+<p>"Old fellow," said Marcel, opening his eyes wide, and helping himself to
+drink, "it seems to me that you have a hot head."</p>
+
+<p>"Hot? By jingo, say boiling; say volcanic. It is not my fault, but I
+can't be moderate. I am a rake of honor, a real devil; that is the
+word."</p>
+
+<p>"But why did you call for help against the statues in the garden?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, my dear Marcel: At first I could not see that they were
+statues, and when one is brave one believes that one sees robbers
+everywhere; you don't understand that, because you are cool-blooded,
+and, besides that, you can very well understand that I could not allow
+myself to kill anybody in the Marquis de Villebelle's house without
+having asked permission."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, no one names the marquis here."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I understand. That is correct. It is necessary to have some
+mystery. Hang it! This is the abode of love incognito. Say, Marcel, have
+you been living long in this house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nearly five years."</p>
+
+<p>"You must have seen some beauties."</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen nothing, for here it is necessary to see and not to see."<a name="page_vol_1_171" id="page_vol_1_171"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I understand very well. What the deuce do you take me for, a caitiff?
+That is all right. You have a golden place. The marquis is generous, is
+he not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"You earn at least twenty pistoles a year."</p>
+
+<p>"Double that."</p>
+
+<p>"Fortunate rascal. When I say rascal, you are the most perfectly honest
+man that I know. I even believe that you are the only one that I know.
+Good old Marcel! I am very much pleased to have met you again. I have
+looked for you all over, in the gambling houses and in the gambling
+hells even."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I have not played for a long time."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, you are joking."</p>
+
+<p>"No, since our adventure I have lost my taste for playing. To go to
+prison when one is innocent is very disagreeable."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, old fellow, there are a good many thieves who don't go and
+that makes the balance correct. As for me, I confess that I still play.
+It amuses me. Besides, it is the pleasure of a great nobleman, and there
+is nothing more noble than to play and lose right down to your boots."</p>
+
+<p>"Since I am only a valet I have no need of following that fashion."</p>
+
+<p>"You are wrong. It is always necessary to follow the great. You played a
+very strong game of piquet."<a name="page_vol_1_172" id="page_vol_1_172"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Me? Oh, on the contrary, I am a very weak player."</p>
+
+<p>"Pure modesty. Hang it! I wish I could take a lesson from you. We have
+had our supper. While waiting for your master to come, let us play a
+game to pass the time."</p>
+
+<p>"That will be very difficult; for we have no cards here. When by chance
+I have found some upstairs which have been left by my master and his
+friends I have burned or sold them."</p>
+
+<p>"That is very awkward; and I, who have nearly always a pack in my
+pocket, necessarily left mine at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, Chaudoreille! taste this liqueur. That will be much better than
+playing."</p>
+
+<p>Thus saying, Marcel filled two glasses with crême de vanille and placed
+one before his comrade.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am very fond of liqueur," said Chaudoreille. "This has an
+exquisite perfume. We could have drunk and played at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>"But I tell you that I have not any cards."</p>
+
+<p>"You have some dice, at least."</p>
+
+<p>"No more than I have cards."</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy! Some dominoes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing to play with, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Devil stifle you! How shall we pass the time without playing? Oh, what
+a delightful idea! I have thought of a very agreeable little game which
+you will easily understand. You have before you<a name="page_vol_1_173" id="page_vol_1_173"></a> a full glass of liqueur
+and I have the same. They are of equal size; I will play you a crown on
+the first fly."</p>
+
+<p>"What fly?" said Marcel.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen now. There are a good many flies in this room, and he whose
+glass is first visited by one of them will win a crown from the other.
+Is it agreed?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is a droll game, but I like it well enough."</p>
+
+<p>"In that case let's shake hands on it. That settled, attend to our
+play."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille no longer budged. With his eyes fixed attentively on his
+own glass and that of his adversary, he waited impatiently for a fly to
+come and taste the sweet liqueur. Neither of them made a movement, for
+fear of frightening the winged insects. They had already remained
+motionless for five minutes before their glasses when Marcel sneezed.</p>
+
+<p>"The devil confound you?" cried Chaudoreille. "You drove away the most
+beautiful fly which was approaching my glass. She was just going in."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it my fault if I feel a desire to sneeze?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a trick, my dear fellow, and, in all conscience, you should lose
+the game.</p>
+
+<p>"You are joking, no doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"Well I will pass over the sneeze, but if you begin again that will
+count. Wait! The flies are coming."<a name="page_vol_1_174" id="page_vol_1_174"></a></p>
+
+<p>They observed silence anew. From time to time Chaudoreille looked into
+the air and seemed to implore the flies to come and taste his liqueur.
+At last, after some minutes of waiting, a fly sipped from Marcel's
+glass.</p>
+
+<p>"I have won," cried the latter.</p>
+
+<p>"One moment," said Chaudoreille, spitefully stamping his foot. "Leave me
+to judge of this affair."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me that there is nothing equivocal about it. The fly is
+still in my glass."</p>
+
+<p>"But I am anxious to know if it is really a fly. I am not going to lose
+a crown for a pig in a poke."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille arose and advanced his head, that he might look more
+closely into the glass which was before Marcel, but no sooner had he by
+this movement approached his host than he cried, carrying his hand to
+his nose,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The game is off. There is nothing more to be done."</p>
+
+<p>"This is to say," cried Marcel, in his turn rising from the table.</p>
+
+<p>"I repeat, the game is off."</p>
+
+<p>"And why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, by jingo, because your breath is strong enough to make flies fall
+in their flight. After that you see the game is not equal."</p>
+
+<p>"Chaudoreille, I will take the thing as a joke, and I don't care about
+winning your money, but<a name="page_vol_1_175" id="page_vol_1_175"></a> I flatter myself that I have a breath at least
+as fresh as yours."</p>
+
+<p>"Take the thing as a joke?" said the chevalier, putting his hand on the
+handle of his sword. "Do you wish to vex me? By jingo, if I had known."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come, calm yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think I will suffer such injuries. By Rolande, I don't know how
+to hold myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you soon be done?"</p>
+
+<p>"By George! If I believed that you wish to molest me, as if I care about
+a crown; if I had lost a hundred I should have paid you just the same."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all right. Leave all that."</p>
+
+<p>The more Marcel tried to calm his comrade, the more he lost his temper
+and shouted, for he believed that Marcel was afraid of him and he wished
+to profit by his bullying; he even went so far as to draw his sword and
+run about the room, rolling his little eyes around him as if he would
+split everything in two. Marcel grew impatient, and seeing that all of
+his entreaties were vain decided to take a broom handle from behind the
+door. Putting himself on the defensive, he waited for his enemy to come
+and attack him, but this action suddenly calmed Chaudoreille's fury. At
+sight of Marcel on guard with his broom, he stopped and struck his
+forehead as one who has suddenly received an enlightening idea.</p>
+
+<p>"Great God!" he cried, "What was I going<a name="page_vol_1_176" id="page_vol_1_176"></a> to do? It was in the house of
+the noble Marquis de Villebelle that I allowed myself to be carried away
+by anger? Oh, my courage, how much trouble you give me. All is
+forgotten, Marcel. Come to my arms. I will forgive you."</p>
+
+<p>Marcel, always a good fellow, threw aside his broom and shook hands with
+Chaudoreille. They returned to the table, but they played no more, and
+while in the room on the first floor somebody was sighing and looking at
+the hand of the clock, in the lower room the two comrades ended by
+putting themselves to sleep while sampling the fine wines and liqueurs
+of the marquis.<a name="page_vol_1_177" id="page_vol_1_177"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI-a" id="CHAPTER_XI-a"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Pont-Neuf. Tabarin</span></h2>
+
+<p>T<small>HE</small> ill-success of his serenade had not daunted the young Urbain; when
+one is really very much in love one does not lose courage for a trifle.
+Our lover returned to his dwelling cursing the jealous barber, for he
+did not doubt that jealousy was at the root of Touquet's exceedingly
+watchful care of the young girl; and though he was but little dismayed
+at the barber's threats, Urbain swore, notwithstanding them, to become
+known to Blanche, and to do everything in his power to make her love
+him. The act of swearing is in itself extremely easy of
+accomplishment&mdash;what oaths have been taken and broken within a half
+century only; but we are now speaking merely of the oaths of love, which
+are lighter, necessarily, than some others, and to break them is
+considered a pardonable offence. Urbain, who had sworn that he would see
+Blanche, was, however, greatly troubled to invent a way of doing so; but
+in love one always swears first and reflects afterwards, and in business
+it must be confessed there are a good many people who follow the very
+same course.<a name="page_vol_1_178" id="page_vol_1_178"></a></p>
+
+<p>On the day after the night on which he had sung, Urbain was walking in
+the neighborhood of the barber's, but he dared not enter the house,
+which he ogled sighingly, nor even, for fear of being noticed by
+Touquet, could he pass by the shop. It was from afar that he examined
+the windows; nobody could be seen at them. She seemed to be condemned to
+an eternal seclusion. He waited until Marguerite should leave the house.
+At last she opened the door of the alley; she was going to get some
+provisions.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain did not lose sight of the old servant, but he did not dare to go
+into the shops with her. How could he get into conversation? One is not
+apt at intrigue at nineteen years of age. At last, at the moment when
+Marguerite was passing by him, Urbain tremblingly accosted her,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Madame, I should very much like&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not a dame&mdash;I'm not married."</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle if I dared&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"If you dared what?"</p>
+
+<p>"To ask you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, why don't you speak?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some news of Mademoiselle Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle Blanche! Oh that's what you are up to, my young dandy? Go
+along, go your own way; you're addressing the wrong person. If you want
+to talk about that dear child, speak to my master; he'll answer you, I
+warrant, and in the best manner."<a name="page_vol_1_179" id="page_vol_1_179"></a></p>
+
+<p>So saying, Marguerite left Urbain and went in, murmuring,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur is right, it is necessary to redouble our watchfulness that
+such a pretty girl may not be besieged by these worthless fellows."</p>
+
+<p>"They're all bound to make me despair," said Urbain, disheartened by the
+unkind welcome accorded him by the old woman, "but, despite all their
+precautions, I shall see her, I shall speak to her." And the better to
+dream of at least seeing her Urbain departed from the house that held
+Blanche; he walked by chance and soon arrived on the Pont-Neuf.</p>
+
+<p>The Pont-Neuf was then a meeting place for strangers, for schemers, for
+idlers, for pickpockets, and people who had newly disembarked. It was
+the most crowded thoroughfare of the capital; unceasingly encumbered
+with groups of curious people who stopped before the quacks, who were
+selling their universal panaceas and playing farces, mountebanks,
+thimbleriggers, pedlers of songs, of ironmongery, of books, of jujubes,
+it offered to the observer a diverting and extremely animated scene.</p>
+
+<p>Tabarin, who became famous by the scenes which he played in public, and
+from whom our great Molière has not disdained to borrow some
+buffooneries, was then established on the Pont-Neuf, towards the Place
+Dauphine. He had succeeded the famous Signor Hieronimo who, in the<a name="page_vol_1_180" id="page_vol_1_180"></a> Cour
+du Palais, sold an ointment to cure burns, after burning himself
+publicly on the hands and curing the wounds with his balm, while
+Galinette-la-Galine attracted the passers by his parades.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to Tabarin's show there were still other theatres on the
+Pont-Neuf. Maitre Gonin, a skilful juggler, had established himself
+there, and charmed all Paris by his dexterity; while a little farther
+off Briochee had his marionette show.</p>
+
+<p>Tabarin, the simple clown of an ointment seller, played the innocent,
+and put a thousand ridiculous questions to his master who, dressed as a
+doctor, answered his facetious interrogations by calling him big ass,
+fat pig, etc., and this spectacle drew the crowd. One saw there not only
+the people but personages from the first classes of society.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain, who was walking along, dreaming of his love, that is to say
+without noticing anything before him, elbowing everybody who approached
+him, was pushed by the crowd before the theatre of the fashionable
+buffoon. The young bachelor heard shouts of laughter from all sides; he
+saw noblemen, young girls, workmen, and workwomen who, with their noses
+in the air, listened with delight to a man who was dressed in a clown's
+cap, smock frock, and large pantaloons, and whose face was covered by a
+mask; this man was Tabarin. His master, in a doctor's habit, his head
+covered<a name="page_vol_1_181" id="page_vol_1_181"></a> with a basque cap, his chin adorned with a long beard, held
+some bottles of ointment or balm in his hands. Urbain mechanically
+looked and listened with the others; in order to judge of that which
+gave so much pleasure to the idlers of that century, let us, also,
+listen for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tabarin.</span>&mdash;What people have you found to be the most courteous in the
+world?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Master.</span>&mdash;I've been in Italy, I have visited Spain, and traversed a
+great part of Germany, but nowhere have I remarked so much courtesy as
+one sees in France. You observe that the French, kiss, caress, wish each
+other well, and take off the hat.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tabarin.</span>&mdash;Do you call taking off the hat an act of courtesy? I shouldn't
+care much about such caresses.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Master.</span>&mdash;The custom of taking off the hat as a mark of friendship is
+ancient, Tabarin, and bears witness to the honor, the respect, and the
+friendliness which one should feel for those whom he salutes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tabarin.</span>&mdash;So you judge all courtesy to consist in taking off the hat?
+Would you like to know who are the most courteous people in the world?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Master.</span>&mdash;Who Tabarin?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tabarin.</span>&mdash;They are the tireurs de laine of Paris; for they are not
+content with taking off<a name="page_vol_1_182" id="page_vol_1_182"></a> the hat only, but more often take off the cloak
+also.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="c"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> General collection of the &OElig;uvres et Facéties de Tabarin,
+Paris, 1725.</p></div>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This sally was received with the applause and laughter of the assembled
+crowd, among whom might undoubtedly be found some tireurs de laine, who
+plied their trade while laughing still louder than their neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain did not share the general hilarity; however, he lent his ear to a
+new scene which the buffoon was playing. Tabarin, seeking to introduce
+himself to the presence of his Isabelle, whom Cascandre kept from sight
+as an old duenna, found no better expedient than to disguise himself as
+a woman, and under this costume to seek a tête-à-tête with his mistress.
+The harlequin mask which Tabarin wore under his feminine costume lent a
+thousand absurdities which evoked anew the gayety of the crowd and in
+which decency was not always scrupulously observed; but the public of
+the Pont-Neuf was not easily abashed, and the women of good standing who
+viewed this spectacle contented themselves with spreading their fans
+before their eyes and crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What unbecoming, scandalous actions; they should at least forbid these
+gestures."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain, watching the grotesque disguise of the buffoon, conceived a
+plan. Why should he not use the same means to introduce himself into
+the<a name="page_vol_1_183" id="page_vol_1_183"></a> barber's house? Was it not Love himself who taught him this
+strategy by making him a witness of this scene of Tabarin's at the
+moment when he was racking his brain to find out a way of approaching
+Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>Whether it were Love, Destiny, or a chance which had led our lover, he
+was none the less delighted with his idea, and, giving a thousand thanks
+to Tabarin, he thought of nothing but putting it into execution.
+Immediately, pushing from right to left, he retired from the crowd.
+Urbain elbowed a grisette, twisted an old woman's cloak, crushed the
+foot of a little woman who, supported on the arm of a young student, had
+slipped among the crowd; but, insensible to the injuries which he
+inflicted, he continued to make his way and, finding himself free at
+last, ran to his dwelling without stopping to take breath.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived there the young bachelor opened the drawer of a little
+walnut-wood secretary and counted his money, for in every affair it is
+necessary to have recourse to this cursed money in order to abolish
+obstacles and arrive more quickly at the end which one has in view. His
+treasury held only sixteen livres tournois, which is very little and
+would not, in our day, introduce one into the boudoir of a Lais; but
+when beauty is accompanied by innocence access is much easier.</p>
+
+<p>Besides Urbain would not take the costume of a grand lady. On the
+contrary he wished to disguise<a name="page_184" id="page_184"></a> himself as a peasant; his awkwardness in
+that costume would be less noticeable. He looked at himself in his
+little glass. No beard, no whiskers, not the smallest hair on his chin.
+Urbain jumped for joy; although some days previously he had sighed to
+have mustaches, today he wished to change into a girl. He was delighted
+also at not being very tall, and exclaimed to himself, while looking at
+his feet and hands which were small,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How fortunate it is that I'm not a strong, robust, fine man!"</p>
+
+<p>He had only to bestir himself to get the necessary clothing. Urbain took
+his crown and went to a second-hand clothier, where he asked for a dress
+for a servant from the country, who, he said, was about his height. They
+showed him all that constituted the feminine costume, petticoat, corset,
+apron, cap, neckerchief, shoes; they made him pay three times their
+value, but our young man was delighted.</p>
+
+<p>These little arrangements having taken some time, Urbain went to dinner.
+Then, at the close of day, he returned home with his little parcel under
+his arm, as pleased as Jason carrying the Golden Fleece, as Pluto
+ravishing Proserpine, as Apollo tearing off the skin of the Python, as
+Hercules bearing off the Golden Apples from the garden of the
+Hesperides, or as Paris abducting the wife of Menelas,&mdash;and certainly
+all of those men should have been very well pleased.<a name="page_vol_1_185" id="page_vol_1_185"></a></p>
+
+<p>Arrived in his chamber our lover rubbed his flint, for at that time
+nothing was known of sulphur matches. Having procured a light he
+immediately proceeded to change his state, keeping of his masculine
+costume only the garment which he judged to be very necessary in order
+not to freeze under his feminine skirt. Urbain put on the skirt, then
+the corset, which he endeavored to lace, but he did it very badly; he
+drew one string instead of another, he ripped and pulled, he pricked
+himself. The poor boy was in despair, he looked at himself in his little
+glass and saw well that all was not right; he never should come to the
+end. What could he do? Only a woman knows all the mysteries of the
+feminine toilet. It was necessary, then, to beg some woman to come to
+his aid, and he recalled that on the story below him lodged an old
+bachelor whose servant, polite and intelligent, always made him a
+graceful curtsey. Immediately Urbain, holding as well as he could the
+skirt and the corset, ran down stairs as quickly as possible and rang
+his neighbor's bell. The servant opened the door, and burst into a shout
+of laughter on seeing this person, half man, half woman; but no matter
+how he's dressed a pretty boy of nineteen is always interesting, and
+Urbain's voice was very touching as he said to the maid,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, mademoiselle, I'm very much in doubt. I wish to dress myself as a
+woman, and I shall<a name="page_vol_1_186" id="page_vol_1_186"></a> never come to the end. Would you be so amiable as to
+help me for a moment?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very willingly," answered the big girl and, without allowing him to beg
+further, she followed Urbain to his room, where she laughed still more
+on seeing how he had put on the costume.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to a ball?" said she to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I wish to be so well disguised that nobody could recognize
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; wait, I'll dress you, and I promise you you'll look well."</p>
+
+<p>Immediately she commenced undoing all that Urbain had done. Then she
+examined the garments.</p>
+
+<p>"They're not very elegant," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"They are all I desire, I wish to be very simply dressed."</p>
+
+<p>"But it's necessary to put another skirt on underneath, that one there
+isn't enough; you haven't hips like us. We must make some for you. And
+that cap is horrid! I wouldn't go out in it. I'll go and get you one of
+mine, and everything else that you need. Oh, I'll make you genteel."</p>
+
+<p>And the young servant, without listening to Urbain's thanks, ran to her
+room, whence she soon returned carrying all that was necessary to turn a
+young man into a passable looking girl. The new cap was tried, it suited
+perfectly. Urbain was delighted; he did not know how to testify<a name="page_vol_1_187" id="page_vol_1_187"></a> his
+gratitude to the young girl. The latter had not finished his headdress,
+there were some bows to be made and some hair which must be pushed back.
+She pinned his kerchief closely about his neck, stopped, looked at him,
+and exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Truly that does very well! Such a white skin, such a sweet air; anyone
+would be deceived in him, that's sure. Wait a moment, till I make a
+false bust."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it really necessary?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is it necessary&mdash;why, what a question!"</p>
+
+<p>"But I'm stifling in this corset."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, so do we stifle in them, but that's nothing; it's necessary to
+suffer a little if one wants to be genteel. Wait, now, I'll pull your
+waist in, then I'll make you some hips, and then, ah, yes, that's all
+that's necessary. It's by those things that one distinguishes the sex."</p>
+
+<p>The young servant kept finding something more to do for Urbain, and the
+latter, in order to be well disguised, allowed her to do as she pleased
+with the best grace in the world, repeating every moment,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How good you are, mademoiselle, how can I ever prove my gratitude?"</p>
+
+<p>Urbain's toilet had lasted more than two hours, at the end of which time
+the young girl left him, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There, that's done, you don't look a bit like a man now; there's not
+the least thing to make<a name="page_vol_1_188" id="page_vol_1_188"></a> them doubt that you're a girl. At this hour you
+can go out. Hold your eyes down, look from the side, take small steps,
+balance yourself straight from the hips, pinch your mouth, throw your
+nose up a little high, and you won't go to the end of the street without
+making a conquest. Good-by, monsieur, when you have need don't hesitate
+to call me if you please."</p>
+
+<p>The young servant departed, and Urbain, after having studied his walk
+for a little while, decided at last to venture into the streets of Paris
+in his new costume.<a name="page_vol_1_189" id="page_vol_1_189"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII-a" id="CHAPTER_XII-a"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">A Nocturnal Adventure</span></h2>
+
+<p>T<small>HE</small> bachelor in cap and crinoline felt sufficiently ill at his ease in
+the streets of Paris. Although he was protected by the darkness of the
+night, for there were few who carried lanterns, every time anyone passed
+near him Urbain was afraid that he had been recognized, and fully
+expected to be taken by the sergeants of the watch, who would doubtless
+demand the motive of his disguising himself, and fleece him to the
+extent of a heavy fine or even perhaps lock him up, if he continued to
+walk in the guise of a woman in the good city of Paris, where it was
+only by distributing money in handfuls that one was allowed to pass for
+what he was not; and, as Urbain had not a crown about him, because when
+disguising one's self as a woman one does not remember everything, even
+to the putting of money in his pocket, the young lover felt it necessary
+to avoid the police; at all events, he did not fear robbers; that was
+much, then, and may still prove something of a consolation to those who
+have nothing to lose today.</p>
+
+<p>Little by little Urbain grew more assured; he<a name="page_vol_1_190" id="page_vol_1_190"></a> began to feel accustomed
+to his costume, and certain compliments addressed to him in passing
+proved to him that people were entirely deceived as to his sex. Urbain
+was careful not to respond to the gallantries offered him by a few
+cavaliers, but contented himself by walking faster, escaping with
+muddied skirts since he did not yet know very well how to hold them up
+and they greatly embarrassed him in jumping the streams of dirty water.
+At length he reached the Rue des Bourdonnaise; and then for the first
+time he reflected that it was very late to try to introduce himself into
+the barber's house. There was no likelihood of Marguerite's venturing
+out at this hour; his disguise would therefore not serve him till the
+next day. His assumption of feminine raiment had been useless so far;
+but does a lover make such reflections? Besides, as Urbain had to
+habituate himself to wearing women's clothes, he was not displeased at
+making his first essay at night. While thus thinking he rambled past the
+barber's house, ogling Blanche's windows, and sending her a thousand
+sighs which she could not hear because she was asleep, and which
+probably she would not have heard any better had she been awake.</p>
+
+<p>Wholly engrossed in the pleasure of sighing under his lady love's
+casements, Urbain forgot that while it is natural to see a young man
+waiting and sighing in the street at night, a solitary woman doing the
+like evokes many conjectures. All<a name="page_vol_1_191" id="page_vol_1_191"></a> of a sudden the young lover was
+recalled from his ecstacy by some unknown person who pinched him very
+hard on the knee, and said to him, in a hoarse, rasping voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me, little mother, that the one you're waiting for is
+something late; if you'll only accept my arm we can go and taste some
+very fair white wine at the merchant's down yonder. I'm a good customer
+of his, and he has some comfortable private rooms."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain turned sharply round and perceived at his side a big, jolly
+fellow, in the garb of a chair porter, who was offering his arm and
+smiling almost to his ears. Without answering, and little pleased by
+this adventure, the young man began to run, soon leaving his gallant in
+the lurch. But his troubles were not to end there; some two hundred
+steps farther on, he was stopped anew by some pages who essayed to kiss
+him; he disengaged himself from them as speedily as possible, and
+resumed his course. Later he was in turn accosted by some students, some
+lackeys, and some soldiers, several of them pursuing him. Urbain, that
+he might the better escape them, redoubled his agility, and, in order to
+run faster, gathered his skirts up about his knees; but the higher he
+pulled them, the greater ardor these gentlemen evinced in following him.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it," said Urbain, while running, "I didn't disguise myself as a
+woman to be pinched<a name="page_vol_1_192" id="page_vol_1_192"></a> by all the pages and lackeys of this city. Men are
+the devil incorporate; I perceive now that it's more agreeable to wear
+breeches than petticoats, but tomorrow I shall obtain entrance to
+Blanche's dwelling. Come, courage&mdash;they'll leave me alone perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>And Urbain jumped over the puddles, wound among the streets, perspiring
+and suffocating in his corset, and under the false bosom with which the
+young servant had stuffed his chest. Turning down the streets at random
+as he came to them, in order to escape his pursuers, he did not know
+himself in what neighborhood he was.</p>
+
+<p>At last, not hearing anyone behind him, he stopped to take breath and
+recognize the place in which he stood. He had passed the bridges and had
+reached the great Pré-aux-Clercs, in which they had commenced to build
+houses and open streets; as they had done in the little Pré-aux-Clercs,
+which towards the end of the reign of Henri the Fourth was entirely
+covered with houses and gardens.</p>
+
+<p>"Good; here's the new street they call Rue de Verneuil," said Urbain to
+himself; "and this is the Chemin-aux-Vaches where they've built the Rue
+Saint-Dominique; I recognize it. But I'll rest for a minute or two, I'm
+too far from home to return there immediately&mdash;I can't walk any farther.
+Let's get my breath at least. This neighborhood's deserted, and, as
+night is far advanced, let's hope I shall make no more conquests."
+Urbain hoisted<a name="page_vol_1_193" id="page_vol_1_193"></a> his skirts and seated himself on a stone. At the
+expiration of half an hour, feeling rested, he rose and took the way to
+his lodgings. He walked quietly along congratulating himself that he
+should meet no one else when suddenly, in passing by the Rue de Bourbon,
+he saw four men who were leaving it and who, on sight of him, barred the
+way.</p>
+
+<p>"Who goes there? So late&mdash;and the game is still rising?"</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my honor a charming meeting, it's a little country wench."</p>
+
+<p>"Better still. I'm very fond of peasants."</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil, marquis! a peasant who walks about Paris in the middle
+of the night. That's an innocence which seems to me tremendously
+adventurous."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, chevalier, your thoughts are always evil. I'll wager the poor
+child came to Paris for nothing but to sell her eggs."</p>
+
+<p>"Let her have come for what she will, she sha'n't return without the
+impress of my mustaches on her pretty lips."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain realized by the language and manners of these gentlemen that they
+were profligates of the higher classes. Unable to make his escape, for
+he was surrounded on every side, he tried to relieve himself of them by
+saying in a falsetto voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen, leave me, I beg of you; I am not what you believe."</p>
+
+<p>But his prayers were unheeded; they pushed<a name="page_vol_1_194" id="page_vol_1_194"></a> him, they surrounded him.
+Urbain, rendered impatient by these manners, saw no means of regaining
+his liberty save making himself known, and he cried in his natural
+voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Leave me, gentlemen, I repeat to you, you are addressing the wrong
+person."</p>
+
+<p>These words, pronounced by the young bachelor in a manner which left no
+doubt as to his sex, produced the effect of a head of Medusa on the four
+young noblemen: they remained motionless for a moment, then they all
+burst into a shout of laughter, crying: "It's a man. What a unique
+adventure."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, gentlemen, it is a man," answered Urbain. "I hope now that you
+will allow me to continue on my way."</p>
+
+<p>"As for me, I will no longer oppose you," said one of the strangers.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Villebelle," resumed another, "let the boy go. You can see very
+well he's not a girl. I believe, deuce take it, that the wine we've
+drunk didn't allow the marquis to see our mistake. Isn't that so,
+chevalier?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, indeed, gentlemen," answered the Marquis de Villebelle; for
+it was that nobleman himself, who, as he had said to the barber, made
+merry with his friends by seeking spicy adventures in the streets of the
+capital. With a head excited by wines and liqueurs, the marquis, always
+the leader in the follies and extravagances committed in these<a name="page_vol_1_195" id="page_vol_1_195"></a>
+escapades, had pressed Urbain most closely, and on the latter making
+himself known had continued to hold the young bachelor.</p>
+
+<p>"A moment, my boy," said he, stopping Urbain. "We know you're not a
+girl, that's all very well; but, by all the devils! in this disguise you
+must necessarily have had some very comical adventures; recount them to
+us, 't will amuse us, and afterwards you shall be free to go your way."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," repeated the others; "he must tell us why he's dressed up
+like a woman."</p>
+
+<p>"I must really tell this adventure at the cardinal's little levée
+tomorrow morning.</p>
+
+<p>"And I must tell it to Marion Delorme. I'll have Bois-Robert put it into
+verse for the court."</p>
+
+<p>"Colletel shall turn it into a comedy. Come, speak on."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet, once more, gentlemen, allow me to go on my way; by what right do
+you interrogate me? I have nothing to say to you, and I wish to depart."</p>
+
+<p>Saying these words, he endeavored to repulse the marquis anew, but the
+latter barred the way and drew his sword, crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my honor, this little goodman is very fractious. It's really too
+droll. You shall speak or we will make you jump under our swords like a
+spaniel."</p>
+
+<p>"Insolent fellow," exclaimed Urbain, furiously; "had I a weapon you had
+not dared to use such<a name="page_vol_1_196" id="page_vol_1_196"></a> language to me, or I should already have
+chastised you."</p>
+
+<p>"Truly? Oh, hang it. I should like to see how you handle a sword. Come,
+chevalier, lend him yours."</p>
+
+<p>"What, Villebelle, you wish it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, undoubtedly, a duel with a peasant&mdash;that will be a joke."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, gentlemen, make a circle."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the marquis took a sword from one of his companions and
+presented it to Urbain.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold," said he, "here's a weapon, defend yourself. Guard yourself,
+girl-boy, and let us see if you are as brave as you're stubborn."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain seized the sword with ardor and immediately attacked the marquis.
+Though embarrassed by his petticoats and corset he pressed impetuously
+on his adversary, who, while parrying his strokes, exclaimed at every
+moment,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Well done; very well done, 'pon my honor! Do you see that,
+gentlemen?&mdash;and that parry&mdash;and that thrust. Deuce take it, if he goes
+on in this way I must use all my skill to&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>A stroke of his adversary's sword, which crossed his forearm, cut short
+the marquis' words; his sword dropped from his hand, his friends
+surrounded and supported him, while Urbain himself offered his help.</p>
+
+<p>"It's nothing&mdash;a mere nothing," said the marquis; "good-by, my friend,
+you're a brave fellow,<a name="page_vol_1_197" id="page_vol_1_197"></a> and I'm pleased to have made your acquaintance;
+although I don't know with whom I've fought this duel. As to you, if
+some day you find yourself in any embarrassment, if you have a bad
+business or need a protector, come to my hotel, ask for the Marquis de
+Villebelle and you will always find me ready to oblige you."<a name="page_vol_1_198" id="page_vol_1_198"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII-a" id="CHAPTER_XIII-a"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Tête-à-tête</span></h2>
+
+<p>D<small>AWN</small> had followed this night so fruitful in events, during which sleep
+had not touched Julia's eyes; uneasy, impatient, twenty times had she
+arisen from her sofa to go to the door and listen, in the belief that
+she could at last distinguish some sound, some disturbance which
+indicated the approach of the marquis. But though she had heard every
+hour strike during this to her apparently endless night, the seductive
+Villebelle had not yet arrived.</p>
+
+<p>The brow of the young Italian was clouded; her eyes, always vivacious
+and lustrous, under her change of feeling were now animated by a gloomy
+fire which boded ill for those who had caused it; Julia's breast was
+oppressed, sighs escaped her lips and she walked aimlessly and angrily
+about the apartment, the elegance of which no longer delighted her; she
+passed the mirrors without even looking at herself in them. Her vanity
+was most painfully mortified and humiliated, she felt insulted by the
+indifference of this marquis who had led her to compromise herself thus,
+and now failed to keep his appointment, whose conduct, in fact,<a name="page_vol_1_199" id="page_vol_1_199"></a> was
+inexcusable. What woman would pardon such neglect?</p>
+
+<p>To allow herself to be abducted with a good grace, and to be forced to
+spend the entire night following in solitude. Love will excuse many
+things, but self-love excuses nothing.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as daylight paled the light of the candles, Julia opened the
+door of the boudoir and, crossing several rooms, ventured into the
+corridor.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe that I can escape," she said, smiling bitterly; "they
+have taken too many precautions to keep me; but monsieur le marquis and
+his worthy agent no doubt imagine me to be in a state of ecstatic
+happiness at the mere fact of having been brought to this house.
+Patience! One day perhaps they will know me better."</p>
+
+<p>Julia went downstairs. Although it was in the depth of winter the
+morning was beautiful; the young Italian left by the peristyle and
+plunged into the gardens, where she walked up and down the long pathways
+and gave herself up to her thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>Day had surprised Marcel and his guest sleeping near the table where
+they had supped. Marcel awoke first, recalled his ideas, and could not
+conceive why his master had not returned in the night. However, the
+door-bell hung in the room where they had slept, and the marquis was a
+man who was able to make himself heard.</p>
+
+<p>Marcel pushed Chaudoreille, who opened his<a name="page_vol_1_200" id="page_vol_1_200"></a> little eyes and gazed about
+him in astonishment, murmuring,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"By jingo! I am not at home in the Rue Brise-miche nor in the gambling
+den on the Rue Vide-Gousset. Where the devil have I passed the night? My
+purse&mdash;where is my purse? I had eight crowns in it."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille quickly seized his purse and counted his money, and Marcel
+said to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Come, wake up, why don't you? and remember where you are. Do you think
+me capable of robbing you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Good-for-nothing that I am! that good fellow Marcel&mdash;I remember
+everything now. Forgive me, my friend; but at the first moment I thought
+I was at a tavern where I sleep sometimes. What the devil! it's broad
+daylight."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and monsieur le marquis did not come in during the night; I can't
+understand why."</p>
+
+<p>"It is rather singular, and that poor little thing whom we took so much
+trouble to bring here, what has she done with herself since yesterday?"</p>
+
+<p>"She's slept the same as we have."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my dear Marcel, it's easily seen that you have not studied the sex.
+Sleep!&mdash;a woman who is waiting her vanquisher for the first time? She
+would sooner keep awake all night than go to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"But when the vanquisher doesn't come, it's necessary for her to do
+something."<a name="page_vol_1_201" id="page_vol_1_201"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Never! never I tell you. Wait, here's an example: I had once arranged a
+meeting with a baroness on the borders of the Seine, near the Tour de
+Nesle; that also was in winter, and it was horribly cold. Unforeseen
+events&mdash;a duel&mdash;prevented my meeting my beauty. I was wounded, and spent
+eight days in bed. On the ninth, as I passed the neighborhood indicated,
+by chance, whom should I see there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your baroness?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. But, the poor woman, she had been frozen for four days, and
+that because she would not leave the place of rendezvous."</p>
+
+<p>"Our dame has a good fire and everything that she can desire; she won't
+freeze while awaiting my master."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say, Marcel; shall I go upstairs and chat pleasantly with
+her to distract her mind a little?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, that would be displeasing to monsieur le marquis."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you're right; I suppose he might take offence at it."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think you had much better go and find the person who brought
+her here, and tell him that monsieur has not come?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear Marcel; Touquet told me to wait here for the marquis'
+orders, and I must follow his instructions. If he does not come for a
+fortnight, it's all the same to me; I shall not leave<a name="page_vol_1_202" id="page_vol_1_202"></a> this. You have a
+good cellar and plenty of provisions of all kinds, and I find it very
+comfortable here; only, I must go out and get some cards for the coming
+night, and I'll teach you some tricks which you don't understand."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, I'll go and get our breakfast ready; then I'll go and
+inquire whether the young lady wants anything."</p>
+
+<p>"That will do; meanwhile I'll take a turn in the garden and make the
+acquaintance of your Hercules."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille arranged his mantle, put on his new ruff, which he had
+bought by chance, which pleased him greatly because it came up to his
+ears. He brushed up his hat, curled his hair anew, and went into the
+garden whistling,&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">Viens Aurore,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Je t'implore;</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="nind">a song which good King Henri had brought into fashion. He paused with an
+air of defiance before the statues, and made a grimace at those which
+had frightened him the evening before.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the pathway he perceived Julia, seated in a thicket which,
+as yet, was devoid of foliage. The young girl was deep in thought, and
+had not heard him approach. Chaudoreille reflected, uncertain whether he
+should approach her or whether he should pass on his way. He concluded
+to do the first, and drew near her, holding<a name="page_vol_1_203" id="page_vol_1_203"></a> his left hand on his hip,
+and, throwing his body back, already beginning to smile. Julia raised
+her luminous eyes; but, on recognizing Chaudoreille, a look of humor
+flashed over her features, and she said sharply,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want with me?"</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille paused, arrested in the middle of his smile, and could not
+find words to answer her.</p>
+
+<p>"Why were you coming to me?" resumed Julia; "is the marquis here, or his
+confidant, the barber Touquet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, beautiful lady, I am at present alone with you and Marcel in the
+house. I have passed the night in watching over your safety, believing
+that the marquis would arrive."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is this Marcel? the servant who opened the door to us, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely!"</p>
+
+<p>"He has served the marquis for a long time in this house?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I believe he has only been here four or five years."</p>
+
+<p>"And you, when did you come here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I came yesterday for the first time."</p>
+
+<p>Julia was silent and Chaudoreille resumed after a moment,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Are you acquainted with my intimate friend, the barber Touquet?"</p>
+
+<p>"What does that matter to you," asked the young Italian, glancing
+scornfully at Chaudoreille.<a name="page_vol_1_204" id="page_vol_1_204"></a></p>
+
+<p>"It's nothing to me, certainly&mdash;but, since you named him&mdash;he's a very
+worthy fellow, certainly, and I am honored in being his friend."</p>
+
+<p>"That reflects credit on you," said Julia, smiling ironically.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, most assuredly," resumed Chaudoreille, who had interpreted Julia's
+smile to his own advantage, "we have seen fire together. He is brave,
+I'll give him justice for that; he always conducts himself honorably."</p>
+
+<p>"Always? And has he sometimes spoken to you of his parents?&mdash;of his
+father?"</p>
+
+<p>"My faith, no; I don't believe he was born from the higher classes. In
+that matter I am infinitely before him; the Chaudoreilles are of very
+pure blood and have a stock which goes back to Noah. Under Charles the
+Bald one of my ancestors had himself shaved&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What does it matter what your ancestors did? I was talking about the
+barber's family."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right; but my friend Touquet has spoken very little to me
+about them. I believe he is from Lorraine and he has told me that he
+left his country very early and came very young to Paris, for it is only
+there that talent has a chance of success; also Touquet has made money,
+and me, thank God, I am&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here Chaudoreille's eyes wandered over his doublet, which was stained in
+many places, and he covered it with his mantle, resuming,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_1_205" id="page_vol_1_205"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I should be very rich if I had not ruined myself for women."</p>
+
+<p>Julia, who had paid little attention to this last phrase, said to
+herself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"He ought to be rich if he has helped the marquis in all his follies."</p>
+
+<p>"He is not married," resumed Chaudoreille, "although he could now find a
+good match. His house on the Rue des Bourdonnais is a very pretty
+property. Perhaps it's because of the little one that he doesn't marry;
+perhaps he is going to marry her, I shouldn't be surprised."</p>
+
+<p>"What little one," inquired Julia, curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"The young girl whom he has adopted and who is now sixteen years old."</p>
+
+<p>"The barber Touquet has adopted a child?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, of course he has. Why, if you know him, how is it that you
+are ignorant of that? That's certainly the best act of his life."</p>
+
+<p>"Touquet has done a good action," said Julia, smiling ironically; "I
+could not have imagined that, and is this young girl pretty?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it! is she pretty? Well, I believe you! She is one&mdash;but no," said
+Chaudoreille, correcting himself as if struck by a sudden remembrance,
+"she is not handsome at all; on the contrary, she is ugly, one might
+even say that she is disagreeable."</p>
+
+<p>"One minute you say she is pretty and the next you say she is very ugly;
+you don't seem<a name="page_vol_1_206" id="page_vol_1_206"></a> to know what you are saying, Monsieur Chaudoreille."</p>
+
+<p>"One can easily lose his wits when near you, beautiful damsel; but, by
+that sword, I swear to you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The bell at the garden gate was heard, Chaudoreille stopped; presuming
+that it was the marquis and that it would perhaps be dangerous for him
+to be surprised in a tête-à-tête with Julia, he escaped by the first
+pathway and ran to rejoin Marcel, while the young Italian listened
+anxiously and her cheeks assumed a more vivid color.</p>
+
+<p>Marcel opened the door, but it was not the marquis, it was Touquet, who
+came alone.</p>
+
+<p>"Your master fought a duel last night," said he to Marcel, "he was
+wounded, but very slightly, it seems. I have come to speak to the young
+girl. She is perhaps anxious to know what all this means. Where is she
+now?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the garden," said Chaudoreille, "but I assure you she is not at all
+lonely here. It is true that I have chatted with her&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And who gave you permission to do so? You're very bold to converse with
+a woman on whom a marquis has laid his eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I confess that I am very bold&mdash;but I believe you say that
+monseigneur fought a duel; do you know with whom he fought?"</p>
+
+<p>"Idiot! Is that our business? Do you suppose I asked him?"<a name="page_vol_1_207" id="page_vol_1_207"></a></p>
+
+<p>"It's true, it's not our business, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You have nothing more to do here, get out."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you wish me to take myself off?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"Without being presented to monseigneur, that is very awkward; but at
+least&mdash;it seems to me that if they have no more need of me they ought to
+settle with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait! here are ten more crowns; it's more than you are worth, a hundred
+times."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, but the rosette and the broken pane of glass&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it, stupid! you're not satisfied?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right, it's all right, I'm very well pleased. I mustn't
+grumble," added Chaudoreille to himself, "he might happen to remember
+the shaves that I owe him."</p>
+
+<p>"Go at once," said the barber, angrily, pointing with his finger to the
+garden gate. The Gascon hastily thrust the sum which he had received
+into his purse, and placed the latter carefully in his belt,
+murmuring,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Ten and eight, that's eighteen. By jingo, that will make them stare at
+the gambling place in the Rue Vide-Gousset and at the bank of the Rue
+Coupe-Gorge." Then he shook Marcel's hand, and wrapping himself in his
+mantle left by the middle gate, which was hardly wide enough for him
+since he possessed eighteen crowns.<a name="page_vol_1_208" id="page_vol_1_208"></a></p>
+
+<p>The barber hastened to acquit himself of the commission with which his
+master had charged him, that he might return promptly to his house and
+be there on the arrival of his customers. He walked hurriedly through
+the garden, and soon met Julia, who felt her hope vanish when she
+perceived him.</p>
+
+<p>"Madame," said Touquet, bowing to the young girl, "the marquis' conduct
+doubtless seems to you rather extraordinary, but you will excuse him
+when you learn that he fought a duel last night in the grand
+Pré-aux-Clercs and was wounded."</p>
+
+<p>"He is wounded," said Julia, with emotion, "and dangerously?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, madame, it is a very little thing, an arm only. Monsieur le marquis
+made this event known to me at break of day and ordered me to come and
+tell you. He hoped to be very soon recovered, and able within four or
+five days to come and excuse himself; but, if you are wearied in this
+place, you are free to return to your shop. I will go and warn you
+when&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Julia, interrupting him brusquely; "do you imagine I can
+return to the dwelling I have left? I will wait for the marquis."</p>
+
+<p>"You are the mistress, and they have orders to satisfy your slightest
+wishes."</p>
+
+<p>The barber bowed to Julia, and having given Marcel the marquis' orders,
+left the little house and returned to his home.<a name="page_vol_1_209" id="page_vol_1_209"></a></p>
+
+<p>Five days had elapsed since the young Italian had entered the luxurious
+apartments; there she had found a harpsichord, a sitar, books, some
+pencils, some sketches, and a wardrobe furnished with everything that
+could add a charm to beauty. Marcel, always obedient and discreet,
+brought her everything that she desired, without permitting himself the
+slightest question; nor did Julia address him, except to ask him for
+what she thought necessary to distract her, for the most magnificent
+dwelling does not forbid weariness.</p>
+
+<p>It was late on the evening of the sixth day; Julia was attired with
+coquetry, in the hope that the marquis would come, but her hope was
+vanishing. She lay down upon the sofa, where her reverie had yielded to
+a light slumber, when the door of the room opened softly, and the
+Marquis de Villebelle appeared at the entrance of the apartment. "She's
+not half bad," said he, looking at Julia, who was lying carelessly on
+the sofa; then he advanced towards her; the noise awoke the young
+Italian, and, opening her eyes, she perceived the great nobleman, whose
+rich and elegant costume increased the grace of his bearing. He seated
+himself, smiling, at her side. Julia was about to rise.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't move," said the marquis, "you are very well as you are. I
+reproach myself with having disturbed your slumber."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, I had about given you up,"<a name="page_vol_1_210" id="page_vol_1_210"></a> said Julia, seeking to
+restrain the uneasiness which she felt at the sight of the marquis. "I
+have been here for six days, alone in this place."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you must hare found it very tiresome I can imagine; but, ma belle,
+my messenger must have told you that it was not my fault. My arm is not
+cured yet, but I could not longer resist the desire to see this amiable
+child who for love of me was willing to live in solitude."</p>
+
+<p>"For love of you, seigneur," said Julia, turning her eyes aside so as
+not to meet those of the marquis, which were fixed amorously upon her;
+"and who has made you believe that I am in love with you, if you
+please?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, upon my honor, that is divine. Were you awaiting another here,
+then, my angel?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was waiting, monsieur, to learn from you what motive you had in
+inducing me to leave my dwelling."</p>
+
+<p>"Delightful by all the devils&mdash;delightful. She does not know why they
+brought her here. Did nobody tell you, little strategist?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was from you alone that I wished to hear it, seigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"That is correct. Love is ill made by an ambassador; the little god does
+not love pages and valets. He wishes to do his work himself. Come, a
+kiss first, and we shall understand each other better afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>Julia disengaged herself from the marquis' arms,<a name="page_vol_1_211" id="page_vol_1_211"></a> which he had wound
+about her, and withdrawing from him she cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir, cease these liberties which offend me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Which offend her!" said the marquis, bursting into laughter, while a
+vivid color sprang to Julia's cheek. "Come now, what do you mean by
+that? Are we playing a comedy? You wish to make me pay for the weariness
+of six days' waiting. Once more, sweetheart, it was not my fault; a duel
+at the moment when I was least thinking of it. I must tell you all about
+that for it was very droll. I was returning with four of my friends; we
+were a little tipsy and were trying to dispute with everybody. We broke
+windows, we beat the watch, we tore off the good shopkeepers' wigs; what
+can you expect? one must pass the time and show these gentlemen of the
+parliament that one does not regard one's self as being comprised in
+their edicts, which forbid vagabonds, pages and lackeys to make a noise
+at night in the streets of Paris. Finally, we met a girl, which girl was
+a boy; he would not tell us why he was disguised, and became angry at
+our joking; one of the others lent him a sword and we fought. For a
+youngster, zooks how he went on! it was a pleasure to fight with him. In
+short, he gave me this cut, which I still feel, and which prevents me
+from using my arm; so, sweetheart, I beg of you don't be too cruel, for
+I am not in a state to lead an assault."<a name="page_vol_1_212" id="page_vol_1_212"></a></p>
+
+<p>And the marquis again approached Julia, wishing to enfold her in his
+arms; but she disengaged herself and seated herself farther off, while
+the former extended himself on the sofa and looked at her smiling, while
+whistling a hunting tune.</p>
+
+<p>The breast of the young girl rose more frequently; she turned her head
+and carried one of her hands to her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" said the marquis, after some minutes. "Are you
+crying, by chance? Truly, little one, I can't imagine why. They told me
+that you came here with a very good grace; after which I naturally feel
+surprised at the severity which you are affecting now; be easy, I will
+be very virtuous&mdash;since you wish it."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Villebelle seated himself near Julia and took one of her
+hands, which he pressed between his own. The young Italian raised her
+eyes to the marquis; there was in the features of the latter something
+so noble, so seductive, that it was very easy for him to obtain pardon
+for his audacity; accustomed to triumph, he had trespassed through habit
+and not through fatuity, and Julia's resistance astonished, but did not
+anger him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you crying?" said he to her.</p>
+
+<p>"I believed that you loved me, and you despise me."</p>
+
+<p>"I despise you? No, beautiful girl; I love you,&mdash;as well as I can love;
+and my love will last,&mdash;as long as it will; can you ask better?"<a name="page_vol_1_213" id="page_vol_1_213"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I wish for love; a constant and sincere love."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! ha! a constant love; sweetheart, you are exacting. Can we promise
+that, we others? and in good faith, when the great ladies of the court
+cannot come by it, to a grisette; should she hope to hold the Marquis de
+Villebelle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Julia, rising proudly and walking towards the door,
+"the grisette will not yield to the caprice of the great nobleman."</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my honor, she is going, I believe," said the marquis, rushing to
+retain Julia and gently leading her to the sofa. "Come, no more
+ill-humor. Is it to quarrel that we are here? Time flies rapidly and
+carries with it, at every moment, a spark of the enkindling fires of
+love. One doesn't wait for pleasure to be extinguished before tasting of
+it. I love you. I adore you, you little wretch; but what do you offer me
+as the reward of so much ardor?"</p>
+
+<p>"A heart that knows how to love you in a manner in which you have not
+been loved before today, a heart whose only happiness will be to beat
+for you, which will not have one thought to which you will be a
+stranger, nor one desire disconnected from you!"</p>
+
+<p>While saying these words Julia's eyes were animated and she fixed them
+on the marquis, seeking no longer to hide the passion with which he had
+inspired her.</p>
+
+<p>"What magnificent eyes," said Villebelle, after<a name="page_vol_1_214" id="page_vol_1_214"></a> a moment, "but a little
+too exalted in their expression. You are Italian, that is easily seen,
+the burning skies under which you were born do not allow you to treat
+love as we French treat it, lightly, jokingly; which is, after all, the
+best way; the others are too sad."</p>
+
+<p>"Say, rather, that we know how to love truly&mdash;while you, seigneur, give
+the name of love to the most fleeting fancy, your heart being entirely a
+stranger to the real passion."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, my dear girl! All your discourses on the metaphysics of love are
+less convincing to me than one kiss from those lovely lips, and why
+should you keep up such a show of resistance? Is it generous to profit
+by my being wounded?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have you always been generous, monseigneur?" said Julia, repulsing the
+marquis; "and in this place, even, have you nothing to reprove yourself
+withal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, how's this, little girl, do you wish me to follow a course of
+morals?" said Villebelle, laughing. "It seems to me you are abusing my
+patience a little. 'Pon my honor those lovely eyes are made to express
+pleasure rather than wisdom. And sermons from your mouth! a little
+grisette who wishes to play Lucretia here. Come, sweetheart, leave such
+twaddling talk. Was it from Tabarin or from Briochée that you learned
+those sentences?"</p>
+
+<p>Julia rose, her eyes scintillating, her cheeks a<a name="page_vol_1_215" id="page_vol_1_215"></a> vivid scarlet, and
+looking angrily at the marquis cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"And you, seigneur, where did you learn to murder a father in order to
+abduct his daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>Villebelle remained as if stunned for a moment; his look fixed on Julia,
+who, dismayed herself at the change wrought in the whole appearance of
+the marquis, awaited with fear what he should say to her.</p>
+
+<p>The marquis rose, and murmured in a changed voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What made you think I had ever committed such a terrible crime? Speak,
+answer, I command you."</p>
+
+<p>"Seigneur," said the young Italian, "I have heard the story of the
+abduction of the beautiful Estrelle, old Delmar's daughter, but the
+barber Touquet was then your agent, and I don't doubt that it was he who
+wanted you to arm yourself against an old man who was defending his
+daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"You have heard some one speak of an adventure which has been forgotten
+for seventeen years and you are barely twenty. You have not told me
+all&mdash;have you known Estrelle? Is she still living? Speak, pray speak,
+and count on my gratitude if you assist me to recover that unfortunate
+woman."</p>
+
+<p>"You loved her well, did you not?" said Julia, gazing tenderly at the
+marquis.<a name="page_vol_1_216" id="page_vol_1_216"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I loved her&mdash;I should love her still. Pray tell me, is she
+still living? Answer me."</p>
+
+<p>"I know no more than you, seigneur, I swear to you. I have never met the
+woman who bore that name, and chance made the adventure known to me. On
+seeing you and on finding myself in this house, to which Estrelle was
+brought, the remembrance of these events was presented to my thoughts;
+forgive me for having recalled them to you&mdash;you were then very young; I
+know, also that old Delmar did not die of his wounds. As to his
+daughter, I repeat to you I know no more of her than you do. But you had
+outraged me in comparing me to those women whom you can purchase every
+day with your riches, while I only desire your love. I am Italian and I
+revenged myself!"</p>
+
+<p>The marquis did not answer, he walked slowly up and down the room, from
+time to time sighing and glancing around him; but he did not appear to
+perceive that Julia was there.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I passed a month with her here," said the marquis, looking around
+the boudoir, "this abode was not what it is today. I have embellished
+it, changed it, in order to drive away the remembrance of her; but never
+since have I experienced such entrancing moments as those spent near
+Estrelle."</p>
+
+<p>A long silence succeeded these words; then the<a name="page_vol_1_217" id="page_vol_1_217"></a> marquis took his hat and
+cloak and slightly inclined his head to Julia, as he said, in a low
+voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I shall see you again tomorrow."</p>
+
+<p>Then he hurriedly quitted the little house in a very different frame of
+mind from that in which he had entered it.<a name="page_vol_1_218" id="page_vol_1_218"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV-a" id="CHAPTER_XIV-a"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Ursule and the Sorcerer of Verberie</span></h2>
+
+<p>F<small>OR</small> some few days after his nocturnal adventure of the duel Urbain
+refrained from wearing his feminine costume. He was not at all anxious
+to make any further conquests and to thus expose himself to adventures
+which were hardly likely to always result to his advantage; the young
+bachelor felt that before he again disguised himself as a girl he should
+make sure that his stratagem would bring him nearer to obtaining an
+interview with Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>He began to watch Marguerite again, prowling incessantly around the
+barber's house, and obtaining all the information he could get as to the
+character of the old servant; and he promised himself that he would
+avail himself to the utmost of her credulity and superstition. His plan
+being carefully considered and arranged, an old messenger, commissioned
+by him, accosted Marguerite and asked her if she knew of a place for a
+young peasant, a very pleasant and virtuous girl, who had lately come to
+Paris and found herself without employment. The kindly old serving woman
+at once gave two addresses where she said they<a name="page_vol_1_219" id="page_vol_1_219"></a> would perhaps take the
+young girl, and continued on her way.</p>
+
+<p>The next day while going, according to custom, to buy provisions,
+Marguerite was stopped by a country woman, very modest in demeanor, but
+with an awkward air, who curtseyed to her and thanked her with lowered
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you thanking me for, my child?" said Marguerite, "I do not
+know you."</p>
+
+<p>"Because you interested yourself in me yesterday and tried to find me a
+place."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, are you the one they recommended to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they engage you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry for it, for you seem to me very pleasing, very honest. Where
+do you come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"From Verberie, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you come to Paris?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have lost both my parents and I thought I should find work more
+easily in a great city."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but great cities are dangerous places for virtuous young maids
+such as you appear to be. They should have told you that, my child."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they did, mademoiselle! but I am not afraid of anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you must believe yourself very wary, very strong, to think you can
+escape the snares they'll set for you."<a name="page_vol_1_220" id="page_vol_1_220"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Indeed it's not that, mademoiselle, but it is that&mdash;I daren't say&mdash;it's
+a mystery, a secret."</p>
+
+<p>Secret and mystery had the same effect upon the old maid as love and
+marriage have upon a young maid&mdash;they aroused all her feelings.
+Marguerite's little eyes beamed and she cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What, my child! you have a secret? I am not curious, but you interest
+me; I should like to be useful to you, but it's necessary that I should
+know everything that concerns you. What is this mystery that you dare
+not mention?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle, I did not wish to confide in anyone in Paris, for
+somebody told me there were pickpockets who would steal my treasure."</p>
+
+<p>"You possess a treasure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, mademoiselle; but one with which I could still die of hunger."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, indeed, what does that matter, my child, hasn't every young girl a
+treasure without price&mdash;her innocence, her virtue&mdash;and those who guard
+it the best are not always the richest. When I see shameless women, who
+live in luxury and abundance, riding in gilded carriages, it makes me
+feel ill. But about your secret, my child; would you refuse to confide
+in me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, mademoiselle, you appear so respectable, so good, that I
+cannot refuse you."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite half smiled and tapped the country woman on the arm, for
+praise is a flower whose perfume is grateful at any age.<a name="page_vol_1_221" id="page_vol_1_221"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Out with it then," she said. "What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle, I'll tell you with much pleasure; but it's a long story,
+and I must go into a good many houses this morning. If you would let me
+tell it to you this evening at your house, that would be better, for I
+dare not say all that in the street; some one might hear me and take me
+for a sorcerer, and I'm very much afraid of the Chambre Ardente. God
+knows, however, mademoiselle, that I understand nothing of magic, and
+I'm more afraid of the devil than I am of men."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Marguerite, whose curiosity had reached an unbearable point,
+"this mystery of yours is of itself extraordinary?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! Well, this is very embarrassing; to receive you in the house is
+difficult. Where do you live, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>Urbain hesitated for a moment, then replied:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Near the Porte Saint-Antoine."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, good heavens&mdash;that's more than a league from here. I could never
+get there; my master's a very strict man and doesn't wish that anyone
+should have visitors."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite reflected for some moments, then her curiosity carried the
+day.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said she at last, "come this evening at seven o'clock; it'll be
+dark; but look well at that house over there&mdash;that alleyway."<a name="page_vol_1_222" id="page_vol_1_222"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I shall recognize it."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't knock; keep near the door. I'll let you in, and show you up to my
+room. At that hour my master doesn't ordinarily need my services, and he
+never leaves the lower room."</p>
+
+<p>"That's enough, mademoiselle, I'll be there at seven precisely."</p>
+
+<p>"What is your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ursule Ledoux."</p>
+
+<p>"Above all, Ursule, don't gossip with anybody about this. It's no crime
+to receive you, but my master's a little ridiculous and might find it
+wrong. Besides, my child, one must be discreet in everything. You'll
+tell me your secret this evening, Ursule?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"At seven o'clock, the house over there."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain departed, delighted by the success of his stratagem, breathing
+with difficulty, partly from the hope of seeing Blanche and partly
+because his corset impeded his respiration; and Marguerite reached her
+dwelling, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This young girl looks as sweet as she looks honest, and there's no harm
+in receiving her for a moment&mdash;it'll amuse my poor little Blanche a
+little; she's been rather sad for some days and seems more lonely than
+usual; and we shall know the secret which&mdash;mon Dieu, if seven o'clock
+would only come soon."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite hastened to find Blanche. Since<a name="page_vol_1_223" id="page_vol_1_223"></a> the night of the serenade
+the lovely child had been even more dreamy than before; she sang nothing
+but the refrain of her dear romance, and the villanelles, the virelays,
+the old songs amused her no longer. Marguerite drew near to her and said
+mysteriously, in a low tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This evening we shall have a visitor."</p>
+
+<p>"A visitor," said Blanche. "Oh, M. Chaudoreille I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, a very pleasing, very honest young country girl whom you
+don't know. A poor child who possesses a treasure and who is looking for
+a place as cook; she wishes to remain virtuous, and for that reason has
+come to Paris; she is afraid of the devil, but of nothing else."</p>
+
+<p>"But dear nurse, I don't understand."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! hush! keep still! This evening she will come, and we shall hear
+her story; there is a question of a very curious mystery, but be silent;
+it is not necessary that M. Touquet should know anything about that for
+he might forbid this poor Ursule from coming to chat with us, and that
+would displease me very much because she will amuse you a little, my
+child."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, be easy, dear nurse, I shall say nothing," cried Blanche, and she
+jumped about her room for joy because the announcement of this visit was
+for her an extraordinary event. The least thing new is a great pleasure
+for those who pass their lives deprived of all gayety. It is thus that a
+storm or<a name="page_vol_1_224" id="page_vol_1_224"></a> even a shower will distract and occupy a poor prisoner; that a
+bottle of wine will make a feast for a man of small means habituated to
+drinking nothing but water; that the sound of a Barbary organ appears
+delightful to the country people; that a ticket for the play crowns the
+wishes of the poor workwoman of ten sous a day; that a little muslin
+dress makes an honest grisette happy; and that Sunday is awaited with
+impatience by those who work all the week; while for many people fêtes,
+the theatre, music, diamonds, cannot rejoice their hearts. After all,
+should not the poor be happier than the rich?</p>
+
+<p>At last seven sounded from Saint Eustache's clock. The barber had long
+since sent Blanche and Marguerite to shut themselves into their rooms.
+The old servant went softly downstairs, trying to make as little noise
+as possible with her heels, and shielding the light of her lamp with her
+hand. She opened the street door and saw the country girl, who had been
+waiting for a quarter of an hour.</p>
+
+<p>"That's well," said Marguerite, "you are here; but hush! don't speak,
+don't make any noise; let me lead you."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain nodded his head and entered the alleyway, while Marguerite softly
+closed the door. Then our lover was at the height of his joy. It seemed
+to him that he breathed a purer air in the house of the one he loved. He
+believed himself<a name="page_vol_1_225" id="page_vol_1_225"></a> in the abode of highest bliss while going up the
+little crooked staircase; and the black and crumbling walls that
+surrounded him had more charm for his eyes than the marbles or the
+sculptures of the Louvre.</p>
+
+<p>"You are going to see my mistress," said Marguerite, "I have warned her,
+but fear nothing, she is as amiable as she is good; you can speak
+without danger before her, she is discretion itself,&mdash;besides, she never
+sees anybody, and never goes out. My master wishes to shield her against
+the enterprises of these dandies, of these worthless fellows who seek to
+cajole the poor girls. It is true that my little Blanche is very pretty;
+she would turn the heads of all our noblemen, you are going to see her,
+and you can judge for yourself; here we are at her room. Come in, come,
+don't tremble so; how childish you are."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain was trembling, in fact, and his heart beat so hard that he was
+obliged to support himself for a moment against the wall. During this
+time Marguerite opened the door and said to Blanche,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here she is."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche rose and came to meet the young girl whom her nurse had brought,
+smiling pleasantly at her. Urbain raised his eyes, saw Blanche, and his
+emotion increased. He had only been able through the panes of the
+casement to perceive her features very imperfectly, and the charming
+object which now met his gaze was a hundred times more<a name="page_vol_1_226" id="page_vol_1_226"></a> beautiful than
+the image which his memory and his imagination had created. He remained
+for a moment stunned, motionless, not daring to take a step, doubting
+still whether he could believe his happiness, and looking with delight
+at the lovely girl, who smiled at him and took him by the hand, saying
+to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you come in? Come in and sit down and warm yourself. Why, you're
+not afraid of me, are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"This is the girl I told you about," announced Marguerite, "but she is a
+little timid, though she will soon lose that; may she always preserve
+her modesty in Paris."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche's soft hand slipped into that of the young bachelor and she led
+him to the fireplace. On feeling the pretty fingers imprinted on his
+own, Urbain scarcely breathed, and murmured in a feeble voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How good you are, mademoiselle?"</p>
+
+<p>"She has a very pretty voice," cried Blanche, immediately. "Don't you
+think so, Marguerite? A voice which I seem to have heard before; it is
+very singular, I can't recall where I've heard it."</p>
+
+<p>"You are mistaken, my child," said Marguerite, "for myself I think that
+Ursule's voice is a little rough. But remember that we have not much
+time to keep her here and she is going to tell us a certain thing."</p>
+
+<p>"One moment," said Blanche, "let her rest for<a name="page_vol_1_227" id="page_vol_1_227"></a> a minute, she looks
+tired. Do you need anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I thank you," said Urbain, raising his eyes on the amiable child,
+and immediately abasing them, for he feared that she would read in them
+all the love which consumed him and it seemed to him that the moment was
+very ill-chosen to make it known; besides, he was so happy near Blanche
+that he wished to prolong the time, and, thanks to his disguise, he
+could see the sweet girl practise her graces, her amiability, and learn
+her character much better than if he had appeared to her in his true
+form. Before a lover the frankest girl is always timid, embarrassed,
+reserved, while with a person of her own sex she expresses without
+constraint the feelings which she experiences.</p>
+
+<p>"And so you are looking for a place?" said Blanche, seating herself near
+Urbain.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you been long in Paris?"</p>
+
+<p>"A fortnight, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"And your parents?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have none, mademoiselle. I am an orphan."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor girl! that's like me, I am an orphan also, and if M. Touquet had
+not taken care of me I too should have had to go to work to earn my
+living."</p>
+
+<p>"You, mademoiselle," said Urbain ardently, but he restrained himself and
+finished in a low voice, "that would have been very unfortunate."<a name="page_vol_1_228" id="page_vol_1_228"></a></p>
+
+<p>"My dear Blanche," said Marguerite, "it was not that you might tell her
+your history, but that she might acquaint us with the secret she is
+keeping that she came here. Now, Ursule, speak my child!"</p>
+
+<p>Urbain sighed; he would much rather have listened to Blanche than have
+talked to Marguerite; but it was necessary to satisfy the old maid, he
+needed her; and it was by exciting her curiosity that he hoped often to
+see Blanche. He commenced his recital, disguising his voice, and while
+he spoke the beautiful child fixed her eyes on him, a favor which he
+owed to his costume, but which often made him lose the thread of his
+discourse.</p>
+
+<p>"You have doubtless heard tell of Jeanne Harviliers, so famous a century
+ago for her witcheries and sorceries."</p>
+
+<p>"No, never," said Marguerite, drawing her chair nearer and stretching
+her neck, because the word sorcery had already produced its electrical
+effect upon the old servant. "Tell us the history of this sorcery, my
+child, and try not to omit a single fact."</p>
+
+<p>"Jeanne Harviliers was born at Verberie in the year 1528. Her mother,
+they say, was a wicked woman, who dedicated her child to the devil as
+soon as she came into the world.</p>
+
+<p>"When Jeanne was twelve years old the devil presented himself to her in
+the guise of a black man, armed and booted."<a name="page_vol_1_229" id="page_vol_1_229"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Dear nurse," said Blanche, "can the devil then take any form he
+pleases?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course, I've told you so a hundred times; he changes as he
+wishes."</p>
+
+<p>"You've always said, dear nurse, that he shows himself as a black cat."</p>
+
+<p>"A cat or a man, what does it matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was only afraid of cats before, now I shall be afraid of men also."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, mademoiselle, if you interrupt this young girl like that we shall
+never know her story. Go on, my child!"</p>
+
+<p>Urbain glanced quickly at Blanche and resumed his narration.</p>
+
+<p>"The black man told Jeanne that if she would give herself to him he
+would teach her a thousand secrets by which she could work good or evil
+to people according to her will. Jeanne Harviliers yielded to the
+proposition of the devil, and pronounced the formula which he dictated;
+she soon became a famous magician, riding to the witches' sabbaths on a
+broomstick.</p>
+
+<p>"Jeanne practised her art near Verberie, but, being accused of sorcery,
+she was for some time obliged to hide herself. She had a neighbor who
+disclosed her whereabouts, and Jeanne asked the devil to give her a
+charm, that she might revenge herself. He gave her a powder, telling her
+to place it in a road where her enemy was about to pass, and it would
+give the latter a malady of<a name="page_vol_1_230" id="page_vol_1_230"></a> which she would die. Jeanne did as the
+devil had told her, and placed the charm; but another person passed
+first over the road, and it was she who was the victim. Jeanne,
+distressed at seeing the sick woman, confessed to her that she had
+caused her misfortune and promised to cure her, but she could not do as
+she wished for she was then arrested and thrown into prison. They
+questioned her; she confessed that she was a sorcerer, and was condemned
+to be burned alive. She was executed on the last day of April in the
+year 1578."</p>
+
+<p>"How is that? She was a sorcerer and she let them burn her?" said
+Blanche with astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"How funny that is, and what use was it to her to be a sorcerer then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche you are far too young to argue like that," said Marguerite.</p>
+
+<p>"And the devil, did they burn him also?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, mademoiselle, they could not do that."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a pity, for then we should not need to be afraid of him. Perhaps
+the devil has been burned now."</p>
+
+<p>"The demon will always exist, my child!"</p>
+
+<p>"You've told me, dear nurse, that St. Michael fought with him and
+vanquished him."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course he vanquished him, but that is as if he had done
+nothing. Now, Ursule, go on; for I do not yet see in all that you have
+told us<a name="page_vol_1_231" id="page_vol_1_231"></a> anything relating to yourself, since this Jeanne was burned
+close on sixty years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"I am coming to it, mademoiselle," said Urbain, recalling his ideas,
+which Blanche's beautiful eyes had turned to other things than sorcery.
+"Since the time of Jeanne Harviliers, they talk of nothing in Verberie
+and its neighborhood except the witches' sabbaths which were held at the
+Pont-aux-Reine on the highway to Compèigne, in the wood of Ajeux; and
+where noises were heard of horsemen riding in squads, witches going to
+their sabbaths, and wizards of all kinds. The good inhabitants of the
+country, wishing to put themselves on their guard against these
+emissaries of the devil, went to Charlemagne's chapel, which is now
+known as the church of Saint-Pierre, and asked the good religious to
+give them something which would guarantee them against sorceries of all
+kinds."</p>
+
+<p>"A very good idea, truly," said Marguerite, "they could not have acted
+more wisely, and what did they give them, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>"The good fathers gave them a robe which had been worn by a pious
+hermit, who during his life had always made the demons flee from any
+place where he came. A tiny morsel of that robe was sufficient to ward
+off all danger from the one who carried it. You may imagine how anxious
+everybody was to have a piece of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can well believe it. If I had been there<a name="page_vol_1_232" id="page_vol_1_232"></a> there's nothing I
+wouldn't have given to obtain a piece."</p>
+
+<p>"Well but dear nurse," said Blanche, "is it like mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! let Ursule finish, my child!"</p>
+
+<p>"Finally, mademoiselle, one of my ancestors, who lived then had the good
+fortune to get a morsel of the pious hermit's robe. She left it to her
+daughter after her, who left it to my mother, from whom I have it; and
+that is how this talisman came to me and it is that which makes me
+afraid of nothing in Paris, and with which I dare risk myself alone in
+the streets at night."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how singular!" cried Blanche, "that's like me; I also have a
+talisman which preserves me from all danger, however, they won't even
+let me look out of the window. That's because my protector, the barber,
+does not believe in talismans."</p>
+
+<p>"He's very wrong, mademoiselle," said Urbain.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, assuredly he is," said Marguerite, "but, my dear child, have you
+yours on you now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle. Oh, I always carry it."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us see this precious relic. Only to touch it will do one good."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain felt in his apron pocket and drew forth a small paper folded with
+great care; he opened it and took out a sample of his breeches which he
+presented to the old servant, pinching his lips to keep a serious face.
+Marguerite who had put on<a name="page_vol_1_233" id="page_vol_1_233"></a> her glasses took the little scrap of cloth
+respectfully, and kissed it three times, crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"That's it, oh, how good that is! that emits an odor all about it, an
+odor of sanctity."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think so, dear nurse," said Blanche, who was looking at the
+little sample of cloth in surprise, "I should never have thought that a
+little rag like that could have any power."</p>
+
+<p>"A rag! O my dear Blanche, speak more respectfully of this relic."</p>
+
+<p>"My talisman is much prettier than that. It's a little piece of
+parchment. Wait, here it is." Saying these words Blanche opened her
+kerchief, and signed to Urbain to look in her corset, half disclosing
+her virgin neck as she spoke, in order that the supposed Ursule might
+better perceive her talisman.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, how charming!" exclaimed Urbain involuntarily.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it not," said Blanche, smiling; "it's much prettier than that scrap
+of cloth."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain had no strength with which to answer, he remained motionless, his
+eyes still fixed on the place where the lovely child hid her talisman,
+while Marguerite, contemplating the fragment of smallclothes, kissed it
+anew, repeating,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The worth of that has been well proven, which makes it all the more
+precious."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche fastened her kerchief, and Urbain, still moved by what he had
+seen, sighed deeply.<a name="page_vol_1_234" id="page_vol_1_234"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter with you," said the young girl, looking with
+interest at her whom she believed to be a simple country girl. "You seem
+grieved."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, mademoiselle! I was remembering that I was alone and without
+resources in this city, that I have no parents, no friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor girl! Well, we will be your friends. Yes, I feel that I love you
+already, Ursule."</p>
+
+<p>"Can it be mademoiselle? Ah! if it were only true!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you say if it were true? I never say what is untrue; but what I
+feel I say at once. Isn't that natural? And do you think that you can
+love me also?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can I love you," said Urbain, warmly; then remembering that Marguerite
+was there, he resumed less forcibly, but with an accent that came from
+his heart,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, mademoiselle, and all my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it is so nice to have a friend of one's own age," said Blanche,
+shaking the bachelor's hand. "At least I shall have some one with whom I
+can laugh and chat. Marguerite likes to talk very well, but she never
+laughs and then she never talks of anything but magic and the devil. We
+shall find other things to talk about, shan't we, Ursule?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"I know very little about anything; always<a name="page_vol_1_235" id="page_vol_1_235"></a> alone in my room, never
+going out, though I have a great desire to do so; my protector never
+comes to chat with me; I receive visits from one man only."</p>
+
+<p>"From a man?" said Urbain, anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my music master. Formerly he made me laugh, now he wearies me, for
+he always sings the same thing to me."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain breathed more freely, and resumed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You sing, mademoiselle?"</p>
+
+<p>"A little," said Blanche, "and do you sing, Ursule?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"That's better still. You shall teach me the songs of your country and I
+will teach you the ones that I know."</p>
+
+<p>"You will let me come to see you again, then, mademoiselle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, every evening, if you can. Remember that I am very lonely by
+myself, in place of which I shall amuse myself with you. She can come to
+see us every evening, Marguerite, can't she? M. Touquet won't be angry,
+will he?"</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite during this conversation had remained in meditation and in
+ecstasy before Ursule's talisman. She would have given all the world to
+possess it in her new room, where she had much trouble in going to
+sleep, but the name of her master drew her from these reflections and
+she cried,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_1_236" id="page_vol_1_236"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What are you saying about M. Touquet; that he knows we are receiving
+this young girl without his permission? Oh, no, indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, dear nurse, that's why it is necessary to ask him."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, mademoiselle," said Urbain, "he will refuse it, and I shall be
+deprived of the pleasure of seeing you."</p>
+
+<p>"In that case we will say nothing; but if he would take you into his
+service?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur does not wish to have anybody else in the house. What could
+Ursule do here?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a pity, for Ursule must find a place to earn her living; how very
+disagreeable it is to have a talisman which preserves you from all
+danger and allows you to die of hunger. It's exactly like mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I still have time to wait I have a prospect of something before
+me," said Urbain, "and my expenses are so very little."</p>
+
+<p>"Had your ancestors ever any occasion to prove the virtue of this
+talisman?" said Marguerite.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle, many circumstances prove that, and, above all, my
+mother had a very strange adventure."</p>
+
+<p>"An adventure," said the old woman, drawing her chair to the hearth. At
+this moment the church clock struck nine. "O heavens! nine o'clock,"
+said Marguerite, "it is very late; you<a name="page_vol_1_237" id="page_vol_1_237"></a> must go, my child. If my master
+perceives that we have not gone to bed he'll want to know the reason;
+come, it's necessary to part."</p>
+
+<p>"And that adventure which she is going to tell us," said Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>"That will be for tomorrow, if you will permit it," said Urbain.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, tomorrow. Can she not come tomorrow, dear nurse."</p>
+
+<p>"So be it," said Marguerite, who was also curious to hear it. "But
+remember to be prudent, Ursule, that nobody may know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll answer to you for my silence, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"That's well. Wait, here is your talisman. Take care not to lose it.
+Good heavens! how happy I should be if I had a similar one."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain received the little scrap of cloth, dropping a curtsey and
+putting it in his pocket, while Marguerite took a lamp to lead him.</p>
+
+<p>"You are going alone," said Blanche, "perhaps a long distance."</p>
+
+<p>"To the Porte Saint-Antoine."</p>
+
+<p>"O heavens! and are you not afraid to be in the street so late?"</p>
+
+<p>"Has she not her talisman?" said Marguerite.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, that is true; I shan't think about it any more. Good-by, Ursule,
+you'll come back tomorrow, will you not?"</p>
+
+<p>The lovely child held out her hand to Urbain,<a name="page_vol_1_238" id="page_vol_1_238"></a> who was about to carry it
+to his lips, but remembering that he was a woman he was obliged to
+content himself with pressing it tenderly and followed Marguerite, after
+glancing sweetly at Blanche. The old woman reconducted him with the same
+precaution she had taken in introducing him, and closed the street door
+softly, saying to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by till tomorrow, and be sure to take good care of your
+talisman."<a name="page_vol_1_239" id="page_vol_1_239"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV-a" id="CHAPTER_XV-a"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Love and Innocence. A Shower of Rain and the Talisman</span></h2>
+
+<p>U<small>RBAIN</small> reëntered his old dwelling in a state of rapture and intoxication
+difficult of description. The sight of Blanche, the sound of her sweet
+voice, her charm, her youthful candor, her touching grace and
+simplicity, had increased his love; what he had seen of the beautiful
+girl, had immeasurably exceeded the expectations he had formed of her,
+from the slight glimpse he had obtained of her on the previous occasion,
+heightened though it was by a lover's imagination; and when he now
+reflected that he should see her again on the morrow,&mdash;on many morrows,
+perhaps&mdash;that he should hear her and speak to her again, that her soft
+hand would again rest without fear in his, he could hardly contain
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>And yet he could not but feel what a pity it was that he could not
+confess to the lovely child his real identity and the feeling with which
+she had inspired him, at first sight. For Urbain was painfully conscious
+that he must not hurry the disclosure of his secret for fear of alarming
+the timid girl, and that he should first seek to win Blanche's
+confidence;<a name="page_240" id="page_240"></a> in his feminine costume that would be very easy, she had
+already said that she loved him. It is true that the confession of this
+sentiment was made to Ursule, but, in fact, it was Urbain who had
+inspired her with it.</p>
+
+<p>During the day the bachelor resumed his masculine garments, and as soon
+as night returned he attired himself in his feminine costume, in which
+he had already begun to acquire more ease of manner; besides, the young
+servant was always ready to help the youth when he wished to disguise
+himself, she was very obliging to him, and did not neglect to give him
+lessons. Urbain profited by them, because a young man understands better
+how to tear a kerchief than to put it on, and a youth who is foolishly
+in love has many grave distractions, so that the help of the young
+servant was very necessary to him. Urbain was very prompt at his
+rendezvous, and Marguerite introduced him with the same ceremonial as on
+the evening before. Blanche gave him a most amiable welcome. She went to
+meet him, and as he was making her a modest curtsey the artless child
+kissed him on each cheek. Urbain was overwhelmed and in the ardor of his
+joy, had not the voice of Marguerite recalled him to himself, he would
+have pressed Blanche to his heart, and would have returned a hundredfold
+the kisses he had received. But the old woman, always eager to hear a
+story of extraordinary adventures, particularly<a name="page_241" id="page_241"></a> when it related to a
+talisman, pushed Urbain to the side of the hearth, and said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Come, children, don't waste time with idle ceremony; you know how
+quickly it passes when one is relating interesting things. Let us sit
+down and Ursule will tell us the adventure which her mother
+experienced."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain, still much moved by Blanche's kiss, began a story which he had
+composed in the morning, and which delighted Marguerite, because it
+proved the marvellous powers of the talisman. The story finished, the
+old woman asked to be allowed to look at the relic; she was persuaded
+that after having touched it the evening before she ran less danger
+during the night in her room. Blanche then chatted with Urbain and sang
+to him in a low tone one of the songs which she knew. The ingenuous
+child had only known the pretended Ursule since the evening before, but
+she already regarded her as a sister, called her "my dear," and related
+to her all that concerned herself; for Blanche, brought up in
+retirement, had not learned to hide her feelings or to feign those which
+she did not experience; her heart was pure and her words were only the
+expression of what she felt.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche did not fail to sing to Urbain her favorite refrain, and the
+latter trembled with pleasure on seeing that, despite the precautions of
+the barber, his accents were graven on Blanche's memory, who said to
+him,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_1_242" id="page_vol_1_242"></a></p>
+
+<p>"The first time that I heard you speak, it seemed to me that I still
+heard the voice which had sung at night under my window. That was a very
+pretty voice, and yours, Ursule, resembles it a little. What a pity that
+you don't know the romance that they were singing."</p>
+
+<p>"I do know it," said Urbain; "at least I think I know it, for I have
+often heard it sung, and that makes me remember it."</p>
+
+<p>"How fortunate! Sing it to me, Ursule, I beg."</p>
+
+<p>"But if M. Touquet&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he is in his room; besides, you can sing very low. Wait! Just as I
+expected, Marguerite is asleep; now she won't be able to scold us."</p>
+
+<p>In fact her deep contemplation of the little scrap of Urbain's
+smallclothes had put the old servant to sleep. Urbain was almost alone
+with her he adored. His heart palpitated with joy, long sighs issued
+from his breast, and he was obliged to turn away his eyes that they
+might not meet Blanche's adorable gaze.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now," said the amiable girl, pouting a little, which rendered her
+still more seductive, "aren't you going to sing to me? That would be
+very naughty, for it would give me a great deal of pleasure to hear that
+song. I should like to learn it myself. I beg of you, Ursule; you see
+Marguerite is asleep; come, don't refuse me."</p>
+
+<p>"I refuse you anything? Of course I'll sing for you, mademoiselle."<a name="page_vol_1_243" id="page_vol_1_243"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you are very obliging, and I will kiss you with a good heart."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain needed not the temptation of so sweet a recompense. However, he
+wished immediately to deserve it. He sang, and Blanche listened with
+rapture; the young man, yielding to the emotion of his heart, sang with
+much expression and feeling, but his voice no longer resembled that of a
+woman, and any other than the ingenuous Blanche would have perceived the
+change; but the latter was far from suspecting the truth, and with her
+head turned towards Urbain, remained motionless, her eyes fixed on him
+and seeming to fear lest she should lose a word, while she exclaimed
+from time to time,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mon Dieu, that is it! that's the same thing! That affects me just as it
+did the other night. Ah, Ursule, sing again."</p>
+
+<p>However, the songs ceased, for Urbain had not forgotten the promised
+recompense. For some moments Blanche remained motionless, seeming to be
+listening still; at last she aroused herself from her ecstasies,
+saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It's very singular what a strange effect that romance has upon me."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it disagreeable?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no; if it were I should not want to be always hearing it, and still
+it makes me feel rather sad; it makes me sigh; but all the same, Ursule,
+you will teach it to me, will you not?"<a name="page_vol_1_244" id="page_vol_1_244"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle; but you promised me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"To kiss you. Oh, I'll do that willingly."</p>
+
+<p>Without further asking, Blanche imprinted her cherry lips on Urbain's
+burning cheek. This time the latter was about to return her kiss, and
+had already taken the young girl in his arms when Marguerite, in
+sneezing, just missed falling into the fire, and awoke herself with a
+start, crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Dear good patron saint, save me; I see the black man and the sorcerer
+of Verberie."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he, dear nurse?" said Blanche, leaving Urbain, who was vexed
+that he had not sooner finished his singing.</p>
+
+<p>"Where?" said Marguerite, rubbing her eyes; "where is what? What did I
+say?"</p>
+
+<p>"You said you saw the sorcerer."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, that is because I was thinking of him, apparently. Come, Ursule, it
+is time for you to go, my child."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a pity, I was going to tell you of an adventure which happened
+to my aunt which was even more marvellous than the others."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's delightful; that will be for tomorrow," said Blanche. "That
+will suit you, dear nurse, won't it? You see my good friend suspects
+nothing; besides, if he should see Ursule and be angry, well, I'll take
+all the blame on myself and I can pacify him."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, then, tomorrow night, and we will learn all about your aunt's
+adventures."<a name="page_vol_1_245" id="page_vol_1_245"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Mademoiselle Marguerite, but will you have the goodness to give me
+back my talisman."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my dear child, that's right. O my God! what have I done with it?
+Has Satan tricked me out of it? I was holding it just this minute."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, dear nurse, here it is," pointing to the hearth, "you have let it
+fall in the cinders."</p>
+
+<p>"Faith, so I did," answered the old woman, picking up the little scrap
+of cloth. "Oh, my goodness! it's a little scorched."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's all right, mademoiselle," said Urbain, "that won't have
+taken away any of its virtue."</p>
+
+<p>"No, assuredly not, my dear child, and if it had been burned its ashes
+would have retained the same properties."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain took his talisman, said "good-by" to Blanche, repeating to her,
+"I shall see you, tomorrow," and left the barber's house.</p>
+
+<p>Several days rolled away and every evening the young bachelor had the
+good fortune to see Blanche. He was incessantly inventing new stories to
+pique Marguerite's curiosity, and the old woman regularly opened the
+door of the alley at seven o'clock. The fictitious Ursule's presence had
+become necessary to Blanche and Marguerite. The latter experienced great
+pleasure in hearing her relate the doings of the magicians, and the
+young girl in learning her cherished romance; but Marguerite did not
+always go to sleep, and<a name="page_vol_1_246" id="page_vol_1_246"></a> even when she was awake Blanche wished Urbain
+to sing; the latter obeyed her, but in order to prevent the old woman
+from suspecting him he was careful to disguise his voice, and Blanche
+exclaimed with vexation,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"That's not at all good! You don't sing so prettily as usual today, and
+it doesn't give me the same pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>While Urbain was elated with the happiness of seeing Blanche, and
+drinking from her eyes the sweetest sentiment; while the young girl was
+giving herself, without restraint, to the pleasure which Ursule's
+society afforded her, and in confiding to the latter her slightest
+thoughts; and while old Marguerite, her head filled with frightful
+stories and miraculous deeds done by the sorcerer of Verberie, was
+securing herself against the snares of Satan by rubbing between her
+fingers every evening the little scrap of the bachelor's breeches,&mdash;what
+was passing in the little house of the Vallée Fécamp? was the brilliant
+Julia still there? and was the Marquis de Villebelle taking the trouble
+to feign a little love in order to subdue the young Italian.</p>
+
+<p>The barber, having received the price of his services, disquieted
+himself very little as to what was passing in the small house.
+Chaudoreille, who never left the gambling-houses while he had money in
+his pocket, had not appeared at the barber's for a month, but at the end
+of that time he appeared<a name="page_vol_1_247" id="page_vol_1_247"></a> at his friend's towards the middle of the day.
+The Gascon's face was longer then usual. His ruff, all in rags, had been
+stained in several places, and the feather on his hat had been replaced
+by the gold-colored rosette which formerly decorated Rolande's handle.
+Chaudoreille's piteous face made the barber smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you come from," said he, "and what have you been doing since I
+saw you last?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've been very unfortunate," said Chaudoreille, heaving a big sigh, and
+drawing from his belt the old silk purse, which he shook without
+producing a single sou. "You see, my friend, I'm reduced to zero."</p>
+
+<p>"How's that? do you mean to say that nothing remains to you of the sum I
+gave you."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a penny, my dear fellow. I've been robbed in a shameful manner."</p>
+
+<p>"That is to say, you have been gambling."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's true; I've played, but with robbers. They have tricked me
+in an infamous fashion. If, at least, they had been amiable about it,
+one knows well that among people accustomed to play there are a thousand
+little ways in which one can make fortune favorable, but to despoil a
+friend, a comrade&mdash;it's horrible! I'll never play again in my life. Say
+now, don't you want me to go to the little house to see my dear friend
+Marcel?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the contrary, I forbid you to do so.<a name="page_vol_1_248" id="page_vol_1_248"></a> Without the marquis' order
+nobody should allow himself to go there."</p>
+
+<p>"That's vexatious, and how did the adventure end?"</p>
+
+<p>"What does that matter to you? For the matter of that I have not seen
+the marquis again, but from the moment I ceased to be employed the
+intrigue was nothing to me; besides, it will end like all the others. It
+is a caprice which will last for some days and will be succeeded by
+another."</p>
+
+<p>"That's correct; but the little one appeared to me to have some strength
+of mind. She said some very peculiar things to me; she asked me, among
+other things, if I knew your parents."</p>
+
+<p>"My parents," said the barber, with visible emotion, "that's singular."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very singular. I told her you were from Lorraine and that that was
+all I knew about you."</p>
+
+<p>"My parents," repeated Touquet, striding about the room. "I am almost
+certain that I have none. My poor father is undoubtedly dead. Oh, I was
+a very worthless fellow in my youth! Precocious in my passions, a taste
+for play and a thirst for gold caused me to commit a thousand excesses."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the follies of youth. I know all about that. As for me at six
+years old I was flogged for having stolen a leg of mutton out of the
+dripping-pan. At ten for having, in a fit of abstraction, taken my
+grandmother's purse to go and play at little quoits; at twelve years old
+I took a rabbit<a name="page_vol_1_249" id="page_vol_1_249"></a> off the spit and put in its place my old aunt's cat;
+but in my ardor to hide my larceny I forgot to skin the cat, which was
+roasted with its hair on. Happily my father was short-sighted, and he
+thought it was a little wild boar; at fifteen years&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What does it matter what you did?" cried the barber, impatiently. "Did
+the young woman say anything else about me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, but if you like, I'll go and draw it from her, adroitly."</p>
+
+<p>"Idiot! you forget that she is the marquis' mistress? When her reign is
+ended I shall see her, and I shall know." The barber said nothing
+further and would not answer Chaudoreille, and the latter, after having
+uselessly repeated several times that he had been fasting since the
+evening before, on perceiving that Touquet paid him no attention left
+the shop in an ill-humor, murmuring between his teeth,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"People who become rich are always niggardly and stingy. That's a fault
+that I shall never have."</p>
+
+<p>Some hours after this conversation, the barber, returning to his
+customers, met near the Louvre the brilliant Villebelle, who, wrapped in
+his mantle, seemed to be still in high feather.</p>
+
+<p>"I have succeeded, my dear fellow," said he, drawing Touquet under a
+portico, where no one could hear them. "Julia has given herself to me;<a name="page_vol_1_250" id="page_vol_1_250"></a>
+but truly the conquest was more difficult than I had thought. The young
+girl is passionate, romantic; she wishes to be loved, and I have made
+her believe that I love her. In fact her singular character, her pride,
+united with her tenderness, her strange conduct, and her speeches,
+nearly enthralled me. She spoke to me about Estrelle. I don't know how
+she knew that adventure."</p>
+
+<p>"The young girl knows everything, evidently," said the barber to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>"For the rest," resumed the marquis, "she doesn't seem to love you much,
+my dear Touquet; you are in her black books. She says that you are a
+master knave."</p>
+
+<p>"What, monseigneur?"</p>
+
+<p>"She refuses my presents; she wishes nothing but my love, it's truly
+superb. Despite that, I am living with her; I did not care for her to
+remain in the little house, that would have embarrassed me. I believe
+upon my honor that I love her a little. But I see two very pretty women
+going into the jewelry shop down there. I must go there in order to see
+them nearer." While saying these words the marquis departed hastily, and
+the barber returned home, thinking of Julia and vexed that he had not
+learned from the marquis where he had lodged his young Italian.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille had left Touquet's house in a very bad humor. An empty
+stomach is usually accompanied by a melancholy spirit. The Gascon
+chevalier<a name="page_251" id="page_251"></a> while making philosophical reflections on the egotism of man,
+the caprice of fortune and the manner in which one could win at piquet
+while slipping the aces to the bottom of the pack, arrived at the Saint
+Germain fair. Beside the different spectacles assembled in this place to
+attract idlers, strangers and young gentlemen came there to play
+different games of cards, of dice, ninepins and skittles.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille walked among the groups formed around these games and
+looked with a hungry eye at the pastry exposed before the booths. He
+stopped near the eating places trying to breathe at least the odor of
+the cooking, but such delights have no power to fill an empty stomach.</p>
+
+<p>"By jingo!" said Chaudoreille all of a sudden, pulling his hat down over
+his eyes and pulling his ruff up about his neck. "It shall not be said
+that I did not dine. A man of genius always has resources, and his wit
+should furnish him that which his purse refuses."</p>
+
+<p>Immediately the chevalier, walking with a determined step, threaded the
+crowd and turned towards the neighborhood where some young provincials
+were playing skittles and drinking white wine. Chaudoreille looked at
+them out of the corner of his eye then, seizing his moment, he crossed
+the place where they were playing, in such a manner as to receive a blow
+upon the legs from a ball which one of the players was rolling.<a name="page_vol_1_252" id="page_vol_1_252"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Look out! look out!" cried the young man who had hurled the ball; but
+Chaudoreille pretended not to hear and stopped only when he was struck.
+He made a horrible grimace on receiving the blow, and fell, murmuring,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Zounds! my dinner will cost me dearly."</p>
+
+<p>The two players came up to him and picked him up, offering their excuses
+although they were not in the wrong. But Chaudoreille was so pale and
+appeared to suffer so deeply and made such pitiful contortions that the
+two young men were much moved; first they offered him a glass of wine to
+restore him. The wounded man accepted and drank three glasses, one after
+the other; he could not yet walk and they proposed to him to go into the
+wine merchant's, who would give him something to eat. He did not allow
+them to repeat the invitation; the two provincials ordered dinner and
+invited Chaudoreille to be of their party. Our man was therefore
+installed at a table with them, ate and drank for four, gave them some
+lessons in skittles, and perceiving that they were novices of an
+obliging humor, and not quarrelsome, he rose at the conclusion of the
+dessert and demanded a pistole from them to indemnify him for the stroke
+of the ball which they had given him.</p>
+
+<p>The young men looked at him in surprise, perceiving that they had been
+duped and that they had entered into conversation with a gentleman of<a name="page_vol_1_253" id="page_vol_1_253"></a>
+very little delicacy. Chaudoreille held himself very upright, his left
+hand on his hip and his right hand caressing the handle of his sword,
+rolling his eyes like the damned, while passing the end of his tongue
+over his mustaches. The poor provincials, not caring to have a duel with
+a man who appeared to have decided to split everyone in two if they did
+not satisfy him, hastened to present the sum demanded by their amiable
+guest. The latter received it with a gracious smile, then, with the tone
+of a man delighted with himself, he bowed to them, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, my young friends, try to remember the strokes which I have
+taught you."</p>
+
+<p>While saying these words the chevalier quickly departed, no longer
+remembering the blow which he had received. With a full stomach and a
+pistole in his belt, Chaudoreille was very well pleased with his day's
+work. The white wine which he had drunk had aroused his enterprise and
+inclined him to undertake some adventures. He felt especially carried
+towards love, but if it is the custom of Bacchus to render one
+enterprising, the odor of wine and the speech of a tipsy man are not
+auxiliaries favorable to love. It had been dark for some time when
+Chaudoreille left the fair, ogling all the women whom he met and
+murmuring between his teeth,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"By jingo! I must make a conquest this evening. I am beginning to get
+tired of my portress,<a name="page_vol_1_254" id="page_vol_1_254"></a> who is forty-five years old and has one leg
+shorter than the other; it is true that she overwhelms me with
+kindnesses. She bleaches my linen and repairs my ruff; but what does a
+little infidelity by the way matter, my Venus will know nothing about
+it."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille had reached the Rue Montmartre when he saw a woman pass by
+him, dressed like a country woman. She was alone; the chevalier ogled
+her and turned back to follow her. The carriage of the dame had
+something very decided about it, which was pleasing to Chaudoreille; but
+she walked with such long steps that he was obliged to run to follow
+her. On reaching her side the gallant tried to enter into conversation
+with her by making one of those pretty propositions in use among those
+gentlemen who make love in the streets, and seek their conquests by
+lantern light. She did not answer Chaudoreille, but walked faster. Our
+man was not at all abashed; he continued to trot by her side doing the
+amiable, putting his feet in the streams, which he did not see, and
+splashing his beauty while whispering sweet nothings. However, the
+person whom he was following had reached the Rue Saint-Honoré, a short
+distance from the Rue des Bourdonnais. Chaudoreille, receiving no
+answer, and seeing that nothing was to be gained by his compliments,
+decided to attempt strong measures. He approached the country woman and
+pinched her sharply, and<a name="page_vol_1_255" id="page_vol_1_255"></a> received in return a slap in the face, so well
+applied that it sent him up against a stone post four feet away.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain was going according to his custom to visit Blanche, when on the
+way he made the conquest of Chaudoreille. After disengaging himself in
+so heroic a manner the young bachelor ran up to the barber's house,
+entering the passageway, where some one came immediately to open to him,
+and reached Blanche, still much agitated by the adventure.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter with you, my dear Ursule?" said Blanche. "You seem
+excited."</p>
+
+<p>"Just now in the street two men fighting frightened me."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor child, but didn't you have your talisman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, but in spite of that I was afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"I can well believe it," said Blanche, "to see men fighting must be very
+unpleasant. Come, sit down, my dear friend."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche's sweet words soon made Urbain forget his adventure. According
+to his promise, it was necessary that he should recount something
+singular which had happened to one of his cousins. He had promised to
+recite it the evening before, and Marguerite was in a hurry to hear it.
+The old servant needed distraction; she had had a frightful dream in the
+night and in the morning when she awakened she had seen a bat against
+her<a name="page_vol_1_256" id="page_vol_1_256"></a> window, all of which was very disquieting, and since the morning
+she had not been easy.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain commenced his story. He was interrupted by the rain, which fell
+in torrents, and which the wind blew violently against the panes.</p>
+
+<p>"What horrible weather!" said Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Marguerite, drawing closer to the fire at each gust of wind,
+"this night will be difficult to pass. I do not know, but it seems to me
+that something extraordinary is going to happen; that bat that I
+saw&mdash;and in my dream all those people were riding to the sabbath on
+broomsticks. That surely indicates something."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," said Urbain, and the old woman, to reassure herself, rubbed
+the talisman between her hands.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain's story had lasted for a long time. Marguerite, however, had said
+nothing, as she was not anxious to go upstairs to bed. Blanche, who
+never saw Ursule leave without regret, had taken care not to observe
+that it was getting late and the young bachelor was not the one who
+would first think of breaking up the party. However, the clock struck,
+and they counted eleven strokes.</p>
+
+<p>"O heavens! eleven o'clock," cried Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>"O my God!" said Marguerite, trembling, "in an hour it will be
+midnight."</p>
+
+<p>"But, dear nurse, Ursule cannot go so late and besides by the time she
+gets there&mdash;Wait! do you hear the rain, it is falling in torrents. How<a name="page_vol_1_257" id="page_vol_1_257"></a>
+can she go to the Porte Saint-Antoine in such weather as this? It's
+impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"It is certain," said Urbain, "that the roads are very bad. There are no
+lanterns and often one puts one's foot in holes that one does not see."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Ursule, her talisman will not prevent her from being drenched,
+will it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is true it doesn't guarantee one against the effect of rain,"
+responded Urbain, sighing.</p>
+
+<p>"What is to be done?" said Marguerite.</p>
+
+<p>"It's very easy, my dear nurse, Ursule can sleep with me, and tomorrow,
+as soon as day breaks, she can go without making a noise. Will you,
+Ursule?"</p>
+
+<p>Urbain was for some moments unable to answer, for these words of
+Blanche, "She can sleep with me," had so disturbed his whole being that
+he did not know what he was doing. At last he murmured in a changed
+voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If you think well of it, mademoiselle, I think well of it also."</p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly I wish it, do I not dear nurse? We could not let her go
+out at this time of night. Why don't you answer?"</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite saw no harm in the country woman's sleeping with Blanche, but
+rather hoped to gain an advantage thereby in keeping all night the
+precious relic; and, as her mind had been struck with the idea that some
+misfortune was going to happen to her, the possession of the little
+scrap of<a name="page_vol_1_258" id="page_vol_1_258"></a> cloth seemed to her like a benefaction of Providence.</p>
+
+<p>"It's true," said she, at last, "that the weather is frightful, and if
+Ursule will not forget to go away before daybreak&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, dear nurse, and if she is asleep I promise you I will wake
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then I'm willing that she should remain."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how delightful," said Blanche, "we shall sleep together, Ursule. I
+have never slept with anyone. How we shall chat and laugh."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, no, indeed," said Marguerite; "on the contrary you must go
+to sleep without making any noise that monsieur could hear."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, we will go to sleep, dear nurse," responded the amiable
+child, and she added in Urbain's ear, "We will talk very low."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, in that case I will go to bed," said the old servant hesitating
+to return that which she held in her hand. "My dear Ursule," she said at
+last, "you have nothing to fear here. If you would permit me to keep
+your talisman for this night only, because I sleep in a room that is not
+safe and I can't get that bat out of my head."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, keep it, Mademoiselle Marguerite," said Urbain, "may it do you much
+pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, keep it, dear nurse," said Blanche, "besides we have mine, that
+will be enough for us, will it not, Ursule?"<a name="page_vol_1_259" id="page_vol_1_259"></a></p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;yes, I believe so, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite, delighted to possess a safeguard for the whole night,
+lighted her lamp and turned towards the door, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Good night, my children, good night. Mercy, what a gust of wind.
+Ursule, you must go tomorrow before daybreak."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"Go to bed as quickly as possible, and extinguish your light, that no
+one may suspect anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Be easy, dear nurse," said Blanche, "we'll soon put it out."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite took her lamp and left the room. Blanche closed the door
+after her.</p>
+
+<p>"Shut your door tight," said the old woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear nurse," answered the young girl, and she drew the bolt.<a name="page_vol_1_260" id="page_vol_1_260"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI-a" id="CHAPTER_XVI-a"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">How Will It End</span></h2>
+
+<p>W<small>HEN</small> one loves ardently, and when one sees that moment approach which
+heralds the consummation of his dearest wishes, when one is for the
+first time entirely alone with the beloved of his heart, one experiences
+an uneasiness, an agitation which one cannot quell, and which one cannot
+reasonably account for; it is almost as though one feared that one's
+being would be unable to support the realization of this exquisite
+happiness, as though one doubted whether hopes so sweet, and which have
+hitherto been so unattainable, can ever be realized.</p>
+
+<p>It is, above all, when one loves with the candor and good faith of early
+youth that one yields himself tremblingly to the first interview which
+sounds a knell to all the cherished past. Why, at the very moment of
+happiness, should one sigh and fear? Poor mortals, it seems that
+accustomed to sorrow, we shall always be astonished at being happy. In
+truth, this astonishment passes with age and experience; then these
+delightful rendezvous do not cause us the same emotion; we regard them
+only as distractions, and laugh at the uneasiness, the<a name="page_vol_1_261" id="page_vol_1_261"></a> embarrassment,
+which accompanied our first intercourse with the ladies. Ungrateful that
+we are, we mock at the source of our happiness, at those sweet
+sensations which time has dissipated, with all the other illusions of
+our youth, after the manner of the fox in the fable.</p>
+
+<p>"How awkward we were at eighteen years of age," we say; "how embarrassed
+and constrained in a tête-à-tête, trembling like a leaf as we went to
+the rendezvous; what a difference now, we go to them singing, we reach
+that which we desire more quickly, we are a hundred times more
+pleasing." Yes, but our hair is becoming grizzly, our figure has become
+rotund, and some rather deep lines are imprinted at the corners of our
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>If the approach of long-desired happiness causes in love an inexplicable
+trouble, what should be the state of one who, all of a sudden, without
+having had even the slightest hope, finds himself in a position where he
+may obtain the greatest heights. Such was Urbain's situation; he loved
+Blanche with the delirium, the intoxication, which one experiences at
+nineteen for his first love, and he found himself at eleven o'clock at
+night alone with the object of his tenderness in a little chamber,
+separated from all neighbors, with the lovely child drawing the bolt and
+beginning to undress herself to go to bed. What lover at such a moment
+could preserve his reason? Poor Blanche, I tremble for thee! In truth
+thou hast a talisman, but I have<a name="page_vol_1_262" id="page_vol_1_262"></a> no great faith in its power; above
+all, if you allow yourself to remain with Urbain in the situation in
+which he is placed. The young bachelor tremblingly paused, sighing and
+saying not a word he remained standing in a corner of the room, while
+Blanche prepared the bed, coming and going, jumping and laughing, and
+finally began to undress herself.</p>
+
+<p>"O heavens!" said Urbain to himself, trembling, coloring, and lowering
+his eyes, but raising them from time to time to look at Blanche. "O my
+God! what must I do. This is not the moment to declare myself, to make
+known to her who I am, to implore her pardon, and to confess my love to
+her; but, yes, it is indeed the moment. However, if that confession
+should frighten her, if her cries should bring somebody here, or if she
+should drive me from the room. That will be such a pity when I can, by
+deceiving her a little longer, share her bed, and&mdash;oh, no! that would be
+very ill done! But how pretty she is! great God, how charming! Ah, I
+will not look at her." And the rascal looked at her all the time, slyly,
+it is true, but the more he looked at her the more he felt his
+resolution imperilled; for each moment Blanche took off some part of her
+costume, already only a little petticoat covered her seductive form, and
+the straight corset which had imprisoned her pretty figure was laid upon
+the bed.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche stopped; however, it was time. She<a name="page_vol_1_263" id="page_vol_1_263"></a> looked at Urbain, who was
+still standing there, motionless and silent.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Ursule, why don't you undress yourself?" said the young girl,
+approaching the bachelor.</p>
+
+<p>"Because, mademoiselle, I do not know why, I'm afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"What? you're afraid? Are you afraid with me, Ursule?"</p>
+
+<p>"Afraid, mademoiselle? Yes, I feel that I am very much afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that's just like Marguerite, and I, who am much younger, am a
+great deal braver. It is true that the wind blows very hard, but it
+won't carry us away from here. How she trembles! Why Ursule, how can you
+go every evening alone as far as the Porte Saint-Antoine and yet you
+tremble with me in my chamber."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, that's very different."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it because Marguerite has carried off your talisman? But we still
+have mine. Wait, do you see when I take off my corsets I fasten it here,
+inside my chemise, for dear nurse says that it is necessary above all to
+have it during the night, and that it is when they are in bed that the
+sorcerers come to torment young girls. Is that true, Ursule? Do they
+sometimes try to torment you in the night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;no, mademoiselle." Urbain did not know what he was saying, for his
+eyes, despite<a name="page_vol_1_264" id="page_vol_1_264"></a> himself, turned towards the perfidious talisman which
+seemed to be there, like the serpent on the tree of the knowledge of
+good and evil, to make him succumb to temptation.</p>
+
+<p>"You are shivering with cold, Ursule, we shall be much better in bed; we
+shall be warmer. Do you want me to help you undress? How you are
+sighing. Is it because you are in some trouble? You must tell me all
+about it. It is so pleasant to have some friend, to be able to tell her
+all that one thinks. Let's see; first, we'll take off this cap which
+hides all your face. I am sure that mine will become you better, let us
+try it. But sit down first; you're so big, my dear Ursule, that I can't
+reach your head."</p>
+
+<p>The young bachelor allowed himself to be led to a chair. He seated
+himself, and the lovely child, standing before him, began to loosen the
+pins which held his cap and his big brown curls. Urbain allowed Blanche
+to take off his headdress. He had decided to make himself known, besides
+sooner or later she must know the truth, and in order not to frighten
+her it was better that the metamorphosis should be gently made. The last
+pin was taken out, Blanche lifted the cap and the young man's brown
+curls escaped on all sides and fell on his forehead and on his neck. The
+young girl uttered an exclamation and stopped. Urbain, fearing already
+that she was about to fly, lightly surrounded her waist with his two
+arms.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/ill_264_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/ill_264_sml.jpg" width="389" height="550" alt="" title="" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol_1_265" id="page_vol_1_265"></a></p>
+
+<p>"How funny that is," said Blanche, at last, looking at Urbain with
+astonishment. "Your hair isn't done at all like that of all the women I
+ever saw. Is it the fashion to wear it like that in Verberie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, Ursule, that the more I look at you the more you look like
+a man to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody told me that before, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"But it's really astonishing. Your hair is dressed exactly like that of
+the men I see passing in the street."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you dislike it so?"</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;however&mdash;it produces a very singular effect on me."</p>
+
+<p>"If I were a man would you be angry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy, yes, I believe I should, for then you couldn't be my friend any
+more. I couldn't love you as a sister."</p>
+
+<p>"But Blanche, if I were a man I should be your lover. A most tender, a
+most faithful lover. I could love you to distraction, and love is much
+stronger than friendship. Then, if you will share my affection, could
+there exist a mortal happier than I? Dear Blanche, if I could only
+possess your heart. Is there anything more precious on earth? To obtain
+it, I would give the last drop of my blood."</p>
+
+<p>While speaking Urbain, engrossed by his love, no longer sought to
+disguise his voice. His arms<a name="page_vol_1_266" id="page_vol_1_266"></a> still surrounded Blanche and the young
+girl, greatly moved, dropped on the knees of the young bachelor, saying
+in a feeble voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mon Dieu, Ursule, don't say such things to me. They make me uneasy. I
+don't know what's the matter with me. I feel that I wish to cry. What
+use is it to tell such falsehoods, to speak of love and of loving?
+Ursule, somebody has told me that it is very wrong to talk about those
+things. O heavens! since you haven't your cap on, I dare not look at
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche! dear Blanche!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well now, you're still pretending to be a man, and it frightens me.
+Come, Ursule, be a woman again, I beg of you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Blanche, I will not deceive you further. It is a man&mdash;it's&mdash;the
+most tender lover who is near you."</p>
+
+<p>By a sudden movement Blanche rose and escaped to the other end of the
+room; Urbain did not seek to restrain her, but fell on his knees and
+held out his hands towards her, seeming to await her forgiveness, while
+the young girl looked at him with eyes which expressed more surprise
+than fear.</p>
+
+<p>"What? are you really a man?" said the amiable child, after a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you quite sure of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes."<a name="page_vol_1_267" id="page_vol_1_267"></a></p>
+
+<p>"O good heavens! don't come near me, I beg of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, don't tremble so, I am at your feet, the most submissive of
+lovers."</p>
+
+<p>"Of lovers! I don't know what a lover is."</p>
+
+<p>"It was that I might be successful in seeing you, that I might make
+known to you all the love that I feel for you, that I have dared to take
+this disguise. Without that how should I have managed to see you when
+they keep you in prison in this room?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never go out of it. I should not listen to you perhaps. How did you
+come to love me?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was through the window that I first saw you. Some singers were
+standing under the casement. You seemed to listen to them with great
+pleasure. That night I returned and sang under your window the romance
+which you like so much."</p>
+
+<p>"That was you?" cried Blanche, joyfully; and already forgetting her
+first fear she looked at Urbain with more assurance. Her pure and
+innocent mind could not conceive all the danger of her situation. A more
+experienced young girl would have cried and have shown much anger, but
+Blanche, whose soul was a stranger to all dissimulation evinced the same
+confidence in the young bachelor as she did in Ursule, because she had
+no other thought which could make her blush. "Why! was that you?" she
+repeated,<a name="page_vol_1_268" id="page_vol_1_268"></a> "It isn't astonishing that I found such a resemblance in your
+voice, but it wasn't good of you, monsieur, to lie to us like that. I
+was quite sure that you were Ursule and I loved you like a dear friend,
+and can I continue to love you like that now?"</p>
+
+<p>"And what should prevent you, if I have not displeased you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no! you haven't displeased me. I even think that you look better
+without a cap, but it's not allowable to love a man."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, when that man wishes to become your husband?"</p>
+
+<p>"Marguerite says that all men are deceivers and then, O heavens! the
+devil also takes the form of a man, and presented himself thus to the
+sorcerer of Verberie. O mon Dieu, if you should be the devil!"</p>
+
+<p>"O Blanche, what a thought!"</p>
+
+<p>"But no, you look too sweet&mdash;you're not all black, and you haven't any
+claws."</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Urbain Dorgeville. My parents were honest and respected. I
+am an orphan. I haven't much fortune, but when one loves truly is it
+necessary to have much in order to be happy? Dear Blanche, will you
+forgive me?"</p>
+
+<p>"He calls me his dear Blanche, how funny that is! And if I don't forgive
+you, what will happen?"</p>
+
+<p>"You will reduce me to despair and nothing will remain for me but to
+die."<a name="page_vol_1_269" id="page_vol_1_269"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't wish that you should die," cried the amiable child, "and I
+will forgive you, for I should be very vexed if I caused you any grief."</p>
+
+<p>"Can it be," said Urbain, rising and running towards Blanche. The young
+girl made a movement of fear, then, recovering herself, she smiled, and
+signed to Urbain to seat himself near her. The happy bachelor placed his
+chair close up to that of Blanche and very gently took one of her hands,
+which the ingenuous child allowed him to retain.</p>
+
+<p>"You forgive me for loving you, then?" said he, looking at her tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I'm obliged to, since you say that it will make you die if I
+forbid you to."</p>
+
+<p>"And you, also, will love me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know. I loved Ursule very much, however, but you&mdash;it
+wouldn't be the same thing, would it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would be much sweeter."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure of it, by what I experience at this moment."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very happy now, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very happy; for you are no longer afraid of me, are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not afraid of you, but why do you hold my hand like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to press it always, to hold it incessantly against my
+heart."<a name="page_vol_1_270" id="page_vol_1_270"></a></p>
+
+<p>"And is that yet another proof of love?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Blanche, but if it displeases you I will not keep this dear hand."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that doesn't displease me, but yours is burning. It makes mine
+warm. And why are you trembling? Is it love that makes you like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it burns me, it consumes me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it must be very unpleasant to love like that."</p>
+
+<p>The young bachelor, to solace, no doubt, the malady which devoured him,
+carried Blanche's hand to his lips and covered it with kisses. The young
+girl allowed him to do so, although the passionate glances of her lover
+were beginning to produce a strange feeling of uneasiness in her heart.
+Her breast rose more frequently, she sighed, and said in a faint
+voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Urbain&mdash;Ursule; mon Dieu, I don't know what's the matter with me, but I
+am afraid I've caught your malady. Wait! see how I am trembling now! Oh,
+my talisman, my talisman!"</p>
+
+<p>Poor Blanche, what will you do? While promising to himself to respect
+the virtue of the young girl, Urbain yielded to the ardor which inflamed
+him, and pressed Blanche tightly in his arms, begging her not to
+tremble; Blanche, astonished, did not repulse him, for excessive
+innocence has also its dangers, but at this moment somebody knocked
+violently at the door of the room and the barber's stern voice uttered
+these words,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Open the door, Blanche! I command you to open the door!"</p>
+
+<p>The young bachelor seemed petrified, and Blanche remained motionless in
+Urbain's arms, which still enfolded her.<a name="page_vol_1_271" id="page_vol_1_271"></a></p>
+
+<h1>THE BARBER OF PARIS<br /><br /><a name="VOLUME_II" id="VOLUME_II"></a>
+V<small>OLUME</small> II</h1>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol_2_001" id="page_vol_2_001"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I-b" id="CHAPTER_I-b"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Who Could Have Expected It</span></h2>
+
+<p>T<small>HE</small> slap in the face which had been so vigorously applied to the
+impertinent Chevalier Chaudoreille by Urbain in his character of a
+good-looking young woman, though richly deserved, had been so
+unexpected, had so thoroughly stunned the poor little specimen of
+humanity that he had remained for some moments supported by the stone
+post against which he had been flung by the force of the blow, entirely
+unconscious as to his whereabouts.</p>
+
+<p>But as his wits returned to their normal capacity, and he fully realized
+the indignity to which he had been subjected in being overcome by a blow
+from a woman, at a moment, too, when he thought his success certain, the
+little fellow drew himself up with fierce determination, and, as he
+rubbed his still tingling and burning cheek, he exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, hang it all! Is it likely I will submit to such treatment. I shall
+know how to revenge myself, young Amazon, little as you may think so at
+the present moment. Never shall it be said that Venus withdrew from the
+transports of<a name="page_vol_2_002" id="page_vol_2_002"></a> Mars; that slap in the face shall prove costly to her
+virtue."</p>
+
+<p>Immediately he followed on the steps of his Venus, who was dashing
+along, jumping over the streams which came in her way. Chaudoreille's
+sharp little eyes recognized the person whom he was pursuing just at the
+moment when Urbain reached the barber's house and entered the alleyway,
+shutting the door immediately after him.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille knew Touquet's house so well that his distance from the
+pretended country woman could not prevent him from recognizing her place
+of retreat, and it was with extreme surprise that our poursuivant
+d'amour perceived that his beauty had taken refuge in the house of his
+friend, Touquet. He approached the alley, presuming that she might
+inadvertently have left the door open, but it was closed; besides, the
+person he had followed had not hesitated for an instant in the choice of
+a hiding-place, all of which seemed to indicate that the barber's house
+had been her destination. This incident gave rise to many conjectures on
+Chaudoreille's part, awakening his lively curiosity; he decided not to
+leave the house until the departure of the one whom he had seen enter,
+and walked up and down from the Rue des Mauvaises-Paroles to the Rue
+Saint-Honoré.</p>
+
+<p>Time passed and Chaudoreille vainly watched, with his eyes directed to
+the house, noticing that there was still a light in Blanche's room. Soon
+the<a name="page_vol_2_003" id="page_vol_2_003"></a> rain began to fall and the wind blew violently; but the chevalier,
+though inadequately protected by a penthouse, under which he had taken
+refuge, did not dream of leaving the place, and wrapped himself as well
+as he could in his little cloak, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"She must come out sooner or later. What the deuce! can she be Touquet's
+mistress? Oh, hang it! I must seek the clue to this enigma. The light is
+still burning in my beautiful scholar's room. Hem! I have certain
+suspicions. That devil of a slap in the face was given to me with so
+much force that it makes me believe that my Venus may perhaps have a
+beard. Patience, she will either come out or I shall go in!"</p>
+
+<p>Poor lovers! While you were enjoying so much the pleasure of being
+together, while you were beginning to understand each other and to
+exchange loving glances, in which Blanche no longer showed any timidity,
+you had no suspicion that at a short distance from you a cursed man had
+his eyes directed to your window and proposed to disturb your happiness;
+and all because the success of his shuffling, the white wine, and
+Urbain's fictitious charms had mounted to Chaudoreille's head.</p>
+
+<p>Eleven o'clock had long since struck. We know what had taken place
+upstairs; now let us see what had taken place below.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille, unable longer to contain himself,<a name="page_vol_2_004" id="page_vol_2_004"></a> decided to knock at the
+barber's door. The lovers had not heard him, because at that moment
+Urbain was kissing Blanche's soft little hand, and in so agreeable an
+occupation one is not liable to notice what takes place in the street.
+Marguerite was snoring in a manner which did not indicate fear; in
+truth, she had gone to sleep with the precious talisman at her side.</p>
+
+<p>But the barber was not asleep; whether it was because of the storm or
+the wind, or from some other cause, Master Touquet, who rarely slept
+peacefully in his bed at night, had not yet gone up to his room, and was
+pacing slowly in his back shop, ever gloomy and preoccupied, and
+murmuring at intervals,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Cursed night! Why do these shadows incessantly disturb my rest? As soon
+as daylight disappears my torments recommence. I have gold&mdash;yes, I have
+gold, but I no longer enjoy my natural rest. I shall sell this house; I
+shall go far from here, very far. I shall return to my country, my
+father, if he is still living. He will be very much astonished at the
+change in my fortune. He cursed me when I left the country&mdash;but I will
+ask him to forgive me; yes, he will surely forgive my early faults when
+he sees that I am rich and respected. I shall not tell him all; no, I
+shall not tell him how I acquired this fortune."</p>
+
+<p>A bitter smile flickered on the barber's pale<a name="page_vol_2_005" id="page_vol_2_005"></a> lips and he returned to
+his reflections, from which he was drawn by the knocking at the door.</p>
+
+<p>Touquet started with fright, but immediately appearing ashamed of
+himself, took his lamp and went quickly towards the door. He did not
+expect anyone so late, but supposed that the Marquis de Villebelle,
+finding himself in that neighborhood, was perhaps seeking him in regard
+to some new love intrigue.</p>
+
+<p>As he drew near the door he recognized Chaudoreille's voice, calling,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Open the door, Touquet. Open the door. Don't be afraid, it's me, but it
+is absolutely necessary that I should speak to you."</p>
+
+<p>The barber opened the door; and Chaudoreille, whose soaked garments were
+glued to his lean figure, which appeared even more attenuated than
+usual, being all shrivelled up under his cloak, came into the alley
+huddled together, as if he were afraid that his head would hit the
+little lattice-work over the door.</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil has brought you here at this hour?" said the barber,
+shutting his door, while the Gascon looked towards the end of the alley
+as though he were trying to see someone. Finally, he put his finger on
+his mouth and said in a low voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Are you alone just now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"You have no visitors?"<a name="page_vol_2_006" id="page_vol_2_006"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Why, no, nobody, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is urgent that I should speak with you."</p>
+
+<p>The barber returned into the lower room, and Chaudoreille followed him,
+walking on his tiptoes and turning to the right and left, as though he
+were looking for someone.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, what have you got to say?" said Touquet. "What means this visit,
+so near midnight? Did you think that I should be inclined to sleep you?
+Go. There are still gambling dens open in Paris where you can find a
+bed, but my house shall not serve as a shelter for nighthawks."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille, without appearing in the least disconcerted, listened to
+Touquet, shaking his hat meanwhile, and wringing his mantle; he smiled
+with a mischievous air as he listened to the barber's last words, and
+answered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Your house! By jingo, you make a good deal of fuss about your house. We
+shall see presently whether you receive any suspicious persons."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?" cried Touquet, angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! Don't make so much noise, I beg of you. Don't wake the cat up,
+she is asleep."</p>
+
+<p>"Chaudoreille, I'm losing patience. Say what you want, or I'll be the
+death of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what the deuce! I came to do you a service, and it seems to me
+that that shouldn't make you angry. Listen now, but I beg of you<a name="page_vol_2_007" id="page_vol_2_007"></a> don't
+lose your temper, for that will make me break the thread of my
+discourse."</p>
+
+<p>The barber restrained himself as well as he could, and Chaudoreille,
+after passing his cuff over the edge of his hat to give it a lustre,
+commenced his story in a low voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I was going this morning to Saint-Germain's fair and found myself
+without money, something which very often happens with me. I had eaten
+nothing since yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"You have eaten and drunk since, I'll answer for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly, thanks to my genius. I was making some rather sad
+reflections on the instability of my luck at piquet, the treacherous
+chances of lansquenet and the lack of solidity in gambling&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to make you reflect at this minute on the strength of a
+good stick."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, don't interrupt me. I perceived at the fair two young men,
+youths, you know; some of those faces which seem to say, 'Who will come
+and do me?' those faces without mischief which are a veritable good
+fortune for men of parts. The poor little fellows were playing at
+skittles."</p>
+
+<p>"Come to the point. You are abusing my patience."</p>
+
+<p>"This all leads up to the matter which regards you. I approached the
+innocents and showed them a new stroke which they did not know, I'll<a name="page_vol_2_008" id="page_vol_2_008"></a>
+answer for it. In short, we dined together, and I only took a pistole
+from them for the lesson, which was very reasonable, but if they had
+refused me I would have spitted them both like sparrows. Don't stamp
+your foot, I'm nearing the end. I was returning gayly, according to my
+habit, when I met a country woman in the street who seemed to me
+agreeable, although I saw little of her. Her carriage was free and
+unconstrained, she was big and strong; I was very much taken by her. I
+caught up to her and I said some charming things to her. Would you
+believe it? not a word in response; I repeated them, still no answer; I
+approached her and pinched her, and, my dear fellow, I received a most
+vigorous slap in the face."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, hang it! she did well. Finish your chatter if you don't wish to
+receive a second."</p>
+
+<p>"Stunned for an instant, I soon recovered my wits. I pursued the
+traitress. I saw her enter&mdash;where do you suppose?&mdash;your house."</p>
+
+<p>"She came into my house? It is impossible; you are deceived."</p>
+
+<p>"No, by all the devils! I know your dwelling well enough. She came in by
+the alleyway and shut the door immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"What time was it then?"</p>
+
+<p>"About seven o'clock. And I can answer for it that she didn't come out,
+for I haven't stirred from the front of the house."<a name="page_vol_2_009" id="page_vol_2_009"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What, wretch, that woman has been so long in my house, and you only now
+come to tell me?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you expect? I didn't know what to do; between you and I, I
+thought the dame came to see you, but seeing that there was still a
+light in my scholar's room, I thought&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A light in Blanche's room?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, by jingo! There's one there at this moment, from which I
+concluded&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The barber hastily arose, lit a second lamp, took his sword and directed
+his steps towards the staircase at the back, saying to Chaudoreille,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Remain here and wait for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, don't you want me to come with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Remain, here, I tell you, but if you have deceived me, tremble; your
+chastisement shall be proportioned to my anger."</p>
+
+<p>"May the devil fly away with him," said Chaudoreille, ensconcing himself
+in a corner of the room. "I came to render him a service and he's going
+to flog me if he doesn't find the guilty person. That slap in the face
+may be followed by something still more cruel."</p>
+
+<p>Touquet ran rapidly up the stairs to Blanche's room; he knocked, and
+ordered the young girl to open the door; we have seen the effect which
+these unexpected words produced on the young couple within the chamber.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain remained motionless, his arms still embracing<a name="page_1010" id="page_1010"></a> the young girl,
+who was only half dressed. In a second all the suspicions which the
+situation would give rise to, in the mind of the person who had
+discovered them, flashed across him. Blanche, still innocent and pure,
+though her virtue had been endangered, Blanche would be adjudged guilty,
+and he was the cause of it. How could he prevent it? All these thoughts,
+rapid as lightning, transpired during the time which elapsed before the
+barber knocked for the second time, and loudly reiterated in a
+threatening voice the order which he had given. Urbain glanced at the
+chimney, seeing only that way of escaping from sight. He was about to
+run to it when Blanche stopped him. She had already recovered from her
+first fright, and said to him, with a calmness which astonished him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"To hide myself."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, it is unnecessary for you to hide. Why not tell the whole
+truth?"</p>
+
+<p>"O Blanche, if anyone finds me with you&mdash;at night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what of it? We have done nothing wrong. It is much better to
+confess everything at once than to lie about it," and the lovely child
+ran to the door, drew the bolt and opened to the barber. The latter
+darted into the room. His first looks were bent on Urbain, who was
+standing by the hearth. Touquet only looked at him for a<a name="page_vol_2_011" id="page_vol_2_011"></a> moment, for he
+had instantly recognized the young bachelor, and drawing his sword he
+rushed upon him, crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Scoundrel! You shall pay with your life for your temerity."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain remained motionless, appearing to brave Touquet's fury, but
+seeing the homicidal weapon flash, Blanche cried out, and, quick as the
+barber, ran and placed herself before Urbain, whom she covered with her
+body; then, lifting her hands towards Touquet, she cried with an accent
+which came from her heart,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"O monsieur, he has done nothing wrong."</p>
+
+<p>The barber's weapon nearly grazed Blanche's bosom, but the young girl's
+accents were so touching, her sweet features wore an expression so
+noble, that the barber himself could not resist her. His anger seemed
+vanquished. He dropped his sword, and said in a less gloomy voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This man has outraged you, and you don't wish me to avenge you? You ask
+me to pardon him? Very well, I shall not strike."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" said Blanche, surprised. "What, monsieur, is it because of me
+that you were about to hurt Urbain? Oh, you would have been very wrong.
+You say he has outraged me; but, no, monsieur, I swear to you he has
+not. He has told me that he loves me very much, that he will love me all
+his life, but there is nothing outrageous in that, for when you knocked
+at the door I believe<a name="page_vol_2_012" id="page_vol_2_012"></a> I was just going to tell him that I loved him
+also. You see that I am just as guilty as he is, and that it is
+necessary for you to punish both of us."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche's words had an accent of truth which it was impossible to
+mistake. The barber glanced in astonishment at her and at Urbain, who
+saw that he then believed, despite appearances, that Blanche still
+retained her purity. However, the disorder which reigned in the
+apartment, the singular costume of the young girl and of Urbain, which
+was divided between that of the two sexes, all appeared to confuse
+Touquet's ideas.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to us," said Blanche to him, "you shall know the whole truth.
+Urbain, to be sure, is a little to blame, for he has come to see us
+every evening for nearly a fortnight, but he came as a young girl. At
+first I was angry with him also, but finally I have forgiven him. Urbain
+has such a sweet expression, and then, I already loved Ursule very much,
+and that made me love him also. He said that he wished to be my lover,
+my husband, that he could not live without me, and that it would depend
+upon you to make us happy forever. Ah, you will be good, will you not,
+my dear friend? You have already done much for me. Give me Urbain for my
+husband, and I promise you that I will never ask anything of you again."</p>
+
+<p>The barber, while listening to Blanche, muttered to himself,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_013" id="page_vol_2_013"></a></p>
+
+<p>"For nearly a fortnight he has been coming here every evening, it is by
+a great chance that I discovered him today, and yet I believed that I
+could easily guard a young girl and brave the enterprises of lovers."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur," said Urbain, who up to that moment had kept silent, "I
+confess all the wrong I have done, and love alone must be my excuse; but
+I adored Blanche, whom I had seen through the panes of that window, and
+you would not permit any man to approach her. I tried once to begin an
+acquaintance with you, but the manner in which you received me left me
+no hope. I then consulted nothing but my love. Thanks to this disguise I
+deceived old Marguerite, who consented to introduce me here. I saw
+Blanche, and could I renounce the hope of possessing her? She was
+deceived as well as her nurse. Under the name of Ursule I had the good
+fortune to gain her confidence and, by some interesting stories, to
+amuse old Marguerite. I rejoiced in my happiness without daring to make
+myself known. Today, on account of the storm, the rain, which fell so
+violently, the advanced hour, she invited me to remain."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Blanche, with an angelic smile, "He was going to sleep with
+me. I myself begged him to do so."</p>
+
+<p>The barber knit his brows and glanced angrily at the young man. Urbain
+instantly threw himself at his feet, crying,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_014" id="page_vol_2_014"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I have respected her virtue, her innocence. O monsieur, can I not touch
+you with my love. Yes, I adore Blanche, give me her hand or deprive me
+of a life which without her would be insupportable."</p>
+
+<p>"Hear us, my friend," said Blanche. "He will absolutely die if I am not
+his wife, and if he should die I feel that I should die of grief, too."</p>
+
+<p>The barber appeared to listen to Urbain without being in the least moved
+by his prayers, when the young bachelor added,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I know, monsieur, all that you have done for Blanche. Her father was
+assassinated, she remained an orphan without any support. She owes
+everything to you."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" said Touquet, who had paid more attention to Urbain's last
+words, "you know&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur, I learned all that concerns her whom I adore. She did
+not know her parents and possessed no fortune, but it is she alone whom
+I ask of you. You have done well for her. Give me Blanche; she is
+sufficient for my happiness. I also am an orphan; my family was honest
+and respectable, but I have no relations left. My name is Urbain
+Dorgeville; I have an income of twelve hundred livres; that is very
+little, but I possess besides a little house in the country, on the
+borders of the Loire, there I shall go to live with Blanche. Far from
+the tumult of the city, which we shall not regret, nor its pleasures;
+and<a name="page_vol_2_015" id="page_vol_2_015"></a> far from society, which we do not wish to know, we shall there pass
+our days in peace and love and happiness."</p>
+
+<p>The barber appeared to reflect deeply. He rose, and strolled about the
+room with bowed head. Hope and fear were depicted in the looks of the
+two lovers, who waited with impatience his answer. Finally, he paused,
+and said to Urbain,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You are an orphan? Entirely master of your own actions?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"There is nobody to object to your marrying an orphan without means, and
+whose family is unknown?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody, I repeat to you, can oppose my wishes."</p>
+
+<p>"You will never seek, yourself, to obtain any information in regard to
+Blanche's family, which, besides, would prove entirely fruitless."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what does it matter to me who were her parents. She is a treasure
+in herself."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will go to live with her far from Paris&mdash;far from everyone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, for I shall make it my care to be all-sufficient to her
+happiness."</p>
+
+<p>"O heavens, Urbain," said Blanche, "You know very well that I never left
+this room, where I saw no one but Marguerite. If I were to live with you
+in the country do you suppose that I should wish for anything else?"<a name="page_vol_2_016" id="page_vol_2_016"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Dear Blanche, unite with me then in obtaining the consent of your
+protector."</p>
+
+<p>The two young people bent on the barber entreating looks. The latter did
+not notice them and appeared entirely wrapped in his reflections; at
+last, all of a sudden, he stopped before Urbain, and said, in a curt
+tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche is yours."</p>
+
+<p>"Can it be?" cried the young bachelor, in a delirium of happiness.
+"Blanche, do you hear? He consents to our union."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear friend, how much I thank you."</p>
+
+<p>And the two lovers fell on their knees before Touquet, their eyes bathed
+with tears of pleasure and gratitude.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing?" said the barber, who seemed ashamed to see the
+young couple at his feet. "Get up, I beg of you."</p>
+
+<p>"You have made us happy," said Urbain, "and you will not even receive
+our thanks."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I wish for nothing but silence and discretion."</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you glad now that you didn't injure Urbain? He meant no harm in
+disguising himself as a girl. It was he who sang so beautifully under my
+window. Oh, how happy I am! He can sing with me all the time now. He
+will teach me that pretty ballad and some others, too. Will you not,
+Urbain, teach me many things? Oh, how happy we shall be."<a name="page_vol_2_017" id="page_vol_2_017"></a></p>
+
+<p>The barber had some trouble in calming Urbain's transports and Blanche's
+naïve joy. Finally he succeeded in making them listen.</p>
+
+<p>"Until the time of your union," said he, "I repeat to you, I shall exact
+the greatest discretion. Urbain you must promise me not to speak of your
+marriage, and not to bring any of your acquaintances here."</p>
+
+<p>"I swear to you, monsieur, that I will do as you wish; besides, I don't
+know anybody. I have no intimate friends."</p>
+
+<p>"That is better still, you will have less to regret in leaving the city.
+Make all your preparations for departure, and procure all the necessary
+documents for your marriage. As to Blanche, I will give you the letter
+found on her father; that is all which concerns that matter. When you
+have made all the necessary arrangements, you can marry Blanche&mdash;but in
+the evening without any stir, with nothing that can draw people to the
+church to see the ceremony; I dislike idlers and curious people.
+Afterwards you will immediately start for the country; and you will not
+return to this city, where your modest means would not permit you to
+live happily."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I agree to all, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you coming with us, my friend?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, that is not necessary. Later on, perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"And Marguerite, can we take her with us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."<a name="page_vol_2_018" id="page_vol_2_018"></a></p>
+
+<p>"How nice that will be!"</p>
+
+<p>"Up to the day of your departure Urbain can come here, but in the
+evening only, and not in disguise."</p>
+
+<p>"He will come as a boy. I am very curious to see him like that."</p>
+
+<p>"You understand; it is very late. It is necessary for you to retire.
+Urbain, I repeat to you, maintain the greatest silence about all this.
+Hasten your preparations, and Blanche will soon be yours."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain renewed his promises and his thanks to the barber, and took
+Blanche's hand and covered it with kisses. The young people could hardly
+believe in their happiness, and the future that was opening before them
+still seemed a dream of their imagination, but Touquet hurried them.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall see you tomorrow," said Urbain.</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow," repeated Blanche, "and not in woman's clothes. Do you hear?
+I wish to grow accustomed to seeing you as a man."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear Blanche, yes. No more pretence now."</p>
+
+<p>The barber cut their adieux short and led away the young man, and
+Blanche closed her door, sighing and murmuring still,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow."</p>
+
+<p>Touquet guided Urbain, holding the lamp in his hand, and walking rapidly
+towards the staircase; but hardly had he taken ten steps in the<a name="page_vol_2_019" id="page_vol_2_019"></a> passage
+when his foot caught in something. He lowered his lamp and perceived a
+little shapeless heap which moved and appeared to want to glide along
+the wall. The barber ran at this object and, quickly lifting the mantle
+which covered it, perceived Chaudoreille, with his body on all fours in
+such a way as not to take more room than a big cat.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing there, clown?" cried Touquet, putting his lamp
+against Chaudoreille's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Me? Nothing. I am picking up a pin."</p>
+
+<p>"Go down to the room. I have told you before that I don't like curious
+people," and to prove this to him beyond a possibility of doubt the
+barber kicked the chevalier vigorously, and the latter, not having had
+time to straighten himself, received the kick in three parts of his
+body. Touquet did not stop to do more, but led the bachelor to the
+street door, and opening it for him said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Go, and remember all that you have promised."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain was about to renew his protestations of gratitude, but the barber
+put an end to them by telling him to go immediately to his dwelling, and
+closing the door upon him.</p>
+
+<p>Touquet returned into the lower room where he found Chaudoreille, who
+had resumed his natural size and was promenading with the air of a
+conqueror, evidently awaiting the thanks of the barber.<a name="page_vol_2_020" id="page_vol_2_020"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, by jingo!" cried he impatiently, seeing that the latter said
+nothing to him. "You have found the magpie in the nest. I haven't dim
+sight. And that slap in the face, zounds! I recognized a masculine hand.
+I am never deceived. Well, we have, according to what I see, shown the
+gallant to the door. As to the little one, hang it! With her
+sanctimonious air, who would have expected it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Be silent!" cried the barber, advancing towards Chaudoreille with a
+threatening gesture. "Do not outrage Blanche. That the young girl is
+still pure is as true as that you are a liar and a coward."</p>
+
+<p>"A coward! By jingo, if Rolande could only speak!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I confess that I found someone there, but that someone was not
+alone with Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>"That is singular. I didn't hear old Marguerite's voice."</p>
+
+<p>"You were listening, then, wretch."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it was by chance that some sounds reached my ears; some one called
+out. I thought that somebody had need of help and, following my natural
+ardor, I went towards the neighborhood from whence the noise came."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what did you hear? Speak, I tell you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing, some words. It seemed to me that you were promising to
+unite the two lovers. At least I believe that's what I caught. However,<a name="page_vol_2_021" id="page_vol_2_021"></a>
+if I had not thought that you were keeping the little one for yourself I
+would have demanded her hand of you long ago. It seems to me that I
+deserve the preference over that little masker, who if it had not been
+for his petticoat would have paid dearly for the slap on the face he
+gave me."</p>
+
+<p>"You become Blanche's husband!" said the barber, glancing scornfully at
+the little man. "Listen, Chaudoreille, it suits me to give Blanche to
+this young man; he will make her happy."</p>
+
+<p>"As to that you are the master, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But, if you say a word about what you have seen and heard tonight I
+shall draw down upon you the most terrible vengeance. Do you understand
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I understand you. By jingo, marry the little one with whom you
+please. I don't care a fig for the pair of them. However, if there is to
+be a wedding, I hope&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, there will be neither a wedding nor a repast&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That will be gay!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, if you are discreet, I promise you two pieces of gold when
+everything is finished and Blanche has left this house."</p>
+
+<p>"Agreed. That will suit me, it is as if I held them now; you might as
+well pay me in advance."</p>
+
+<p>"I prefer, however, not to pay you until afterwards. But the night is
+drawing to a close; go home, Chaudoreille, and remember your promise."<a name="page_vol_2_022" id="page_vol_2_022"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, that's settled. Is there any news of the seductive marquis
+and the young Italian?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that fire is already extinguished. But that doesn't astonish
+me; a fortnight, three weeks, is the measure of the constancy of our
+great noblemen."</p>
+
+<p>"And after that's ended it's probable that there will be one intrigue
+after another to conduct. If so remember me, my dear Touquet."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, go to your bed!"</p>
+
+<p>"In fact, it's about time. I'll go back to the Rue Brise-Miche;
+fortunately my portress has a liking for me, or else I should run a
+great risk of sleeping in the street. However, if you wish, I could wait
+for day here, on a chair."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, it's necessary for you to go; I need some rest, also, and it
+seems to me that I shall get little of it this night."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille enveloped himself as well as he could in his mantle and
+went towards the door, making a grimace. The barber closed it on him and
+went to his room, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have done well; she will go away, no one will hear tell of her again,
+and everything regarding her will soon be forgotten."<a name="page_vol_2_023" id="page_vol_2_023"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II-b" id="CHAPTER_II-b"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Happy Moments</span></h2>
+
+<p>M<small>ARGUERITE</small> alone had slept during the night which had wrought so great a
+change in the barber's household; greatly cheered and calmed by the
+possession of Ursule's talisman she slept more soundly than she had ever
+done in her new room. As for Blanche one may well suppose that she did
+not close her eyes for a moment. The amiable child, still bewildered by
+all the events which had taken place, had hardly had time to pass from
+the fear of love to the fear of happiness; she was too innocent, too
+childlike to have dreamed of love as yet, her poor heart hardly yet
+realized its own state, though one sentiment stronger than all others
+dominated its thoughts. She tossed continually on her couch, repeating
+to herself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"He's a boy, and it was he who sang so beautifully. Mercy, who could
+have expected it? He was so pleasing as a girl; however, I believe he
+will be still better as a boy. Oh, I wish it was evening now. He said
+that he loved me&mdash;how strange that is&mdash;do I also love him? I believe I
+do. However, I must ask Marguerite what love is, she ought to know that.
+Poor Marguerite,<a name="page_vol_2_024" id="page_vol_2_024"></a> how surprised she'll be when she learns that he was
+not a girl. Oh, I wish it was day now."</p>
+
+<p>The day so much desired appeared at length. Blanche had been up for a
+long time; impatient at not hearing the old nurse come down, she could
+not resist going up to Marguerite's room. She knocked at the door,
+exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Wake up, dear nurse! it's very late. I have a thousand things to tell
+you. Get up, I beg of you&mdash;you have slept long enough."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite, who never had to be awakened, because she always rose
+sufficiently early, rubbed her eyes, believing that the house was on
+fire, sought to recall her ideas, to recover the talisman which had been
+entrusted to her and which had been lost among the bedclothes, while
+invoking her patron saint, and muttering,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Where has it gone to? I've looked for it&mdash;has the devil taken it away
+from me during the night? Wait now&mdash;ah, I shan't find it again. I
+thought I felt something. It must have been the devil who took it
+maliciously!"</p>
+
+<p>Finally Marguerite found the little scrap of Urbain's breeches, and
+recalling all that had taken place on the evening before, she hastened
+to open the door to Blanche, and said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Has Ursule gone? It's necessary to hasten her away, my child."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, she's gone; that is to say, he's gone. But don't be afraid, my
+good friend is willing that<a name="page_vol_2_025" id="page_vol_2_025"></a> he should come&mdash;he wishes him to marry me;
+he's no longer angry. He's coming here this evening as a boy; you will
+see how nice he is; and when we are married, we shall go into the
+country and you shall come with us. Oh, how happy I shall be! Come,
+Marguerite, laugh too; you see it's no longer necessary to have any
+fear."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite had no desire to laugh, she would rather have wept, for she
+understood nothing that Blanche was saying; she opened her eyes as
+widely as possible and exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"O good God, my dear child, is your head turned this morning? Can that
+Ursule be a sorcerer? Don't jump like that, I beg of you."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche recommenced her narrative and at last made Marguerite understand
+that Ursule was a boy. The old woman cried, affrightedly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My God! a boy, and he slept with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, dear nurse, because Monsieur Touquet came in just at the moment
+when&mdash;mercy! I don't know what we were doing at that moment&mdash;oh, yes, I
+believe he was kissing me."</p>
+
+<p>"Holy Virgin! it was a goblin disguised as a girl."</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear nurse, he's called Urbain, he's an orphan like me; but his
+family was very respectable, and he's going to marry me."</p>
+
+<p>"To marry you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly. You won't oppose it when my protector has given his
+consent, will you?"<a name="page_vol_2_026" id="page_vol_2_026"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What, M. Touquet has consented to it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I tell you. It's finished. Everything is arranged."</p>
+
+<p>The good old woman hardly believed that her ears did not deceive her,
+but the arrival of her master put an end to her doubts.</p>
+
+<p>The barber looked very stern as he approached Marguerite, and the old
+woman trembled, for she felt that she was in fault.</p>
+
+<p>"Marguerite," he said, "I could punish you for having betrayed my
+confidence, for having, despite my orders, introduced someone into the
+house. You will tell me, like Blanche, that you have been deceived&mdash;and
+I would wish to think so, besides, as I have forgiven it, it is needless
+to dwell on what is past. The young man will be Blanche's husband; he
+will make her happy. You will go with them when they leave this house. I
+have but one command to lay upon you, and that is to keep this incident
+from all your gossips in this neighborhood. If you commit the least
+indiscretion, I'll send you away and you will prevent this marriage from
+taking place."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear nurse, don't say anything about it," cried Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>"No, mademoiselle; no, monsieur," responded Marguerite, still trembling,
+"I swear to you that&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's enough," said the barber. "You love Blanche, and her happiness
+depends upon your<a name="page_vol_2_027" id="page_vol_2_027"></a> discretion. Urbain will come in the evenings only,
+until the day he takes away his bride."</p>
+
+<p>The barber departed after thus speaking, leaving Marguerite still
+dumbfounded by all that she had heard.</p>
+
+<p>"How is this?" said she, following Blanche to her room; "M. Touquet
+consented to this at once?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear nurse."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not to be sent away."</p>
+
+<p>"That surprises me, also; I was so afraid he would refuse Urbain."</p>
+
+<p>"Urbain&mdash;Urbain&mdash;but you don't know him, my child!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, I do, dear nurse, since he is Ursule."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand that very well; but Ursule has deceived us."</p>
+
+<p>"It was that he might see me that Urbain disguised himself; it was love
+that made him do it, dear nurse."</p>
+
+<p>"Love, indeed! but you cannot yet love him, my child."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear nurse, I believe I shall love him very quickly. Urbain was
+teaching me how to love yesterday, when my protector knocked at the
+door."</p>
+
+<p>"Jesu, Maria! What, my child, in place of calling for help when you saw
+it was a man?"</p>
+
+<p>"I desired to do so at first, but if you only<a name="page_vol_2_028" id="page_vol_2_028"></a> knew! Urbain was not at
+all alarming, on the contrary; and then he threw himself at my feet and
+begged my pardon with such a sweet air, with eyes so&mdash;O Marguerite, what
+should I have forgiven him for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens! And your talisman, my girl, did you not have recourse to
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, forgive me, dear nurse, I even showed it several times to Urbain."</p>
+
+<p>"And it didn't cause him to fly?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the contrary, dear nurse, he drew still nearer."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, decidedly everything is upside down. It must be that boy is a
+magician to work such changes in this house. I shall no longer have any
+faith in his little relic."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche and the old woman awaited the evening with impatience;
+Marguerite curious to know the young man who had wrought such prodigies
+in her master's house, and the young girl ardently desiring to see again
+him who had caused her to sigh and to experience an entirely new
+feeling. But Blanche's desires were mingled with that timidity, that
+bashfulness, which accompany a first love. As the hour of Urbain's
+arrival approached she felt more restless and dreamy, and already this
+unknown sentiment inspired her with a secret desire to please; she rose,
+looked at herself in the mirror, and arranged a lock of hair, then she
+said to Marguerite,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_029" id="page_vol_2_029"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Dear nurse, do I look all right? Do you think he will love me as much
+tonight as he did yesterday?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear child," cried the old servant, "if he is capable of changing would
+he be worthy of you? When one loves truly, my dear, 'tis for life."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is much better, dear nurse; I should like to love like that.
+You will see that there's nothing about Urbain to frighten one, and I am
+sure I shall love him also."</p>
+
+<p>The young bachelor desired with no less impatience than Blanche the
+moment when he could return to the barber's house. Since the evening
+before Urbain had entirely lost his head, and his happiness had been so
+sudden, so unforeseen, that it had completely unbalanced him for the
+time. He had returned to his lodging in the night, dancing, singing and
+running in the street. In his intoxication he had lost his skirt and his
+kerchief; but he had no further need of his disguise, and without
+troubling himself to pick up those portions of his costume he had
+arrived at home partly undressed, but so happy that he would not have
+changed his lot for the fortune, the favor or the power of the cardinal;
+and in that he was right, the joys which love brings are not, as is the
+case with grandeur and power, mingled with anxieties and cares.</p>
+
+<p>The next day Urbain would have liked to tell his happiness to all the
+world, but he remembered<a name="page_vol_2_030" id="page_vol_2_030"></a> that one of the first conditions of his
+marriage with Blanche was that he should keep the matter entirely
+secret; he contented himself, therefore, with looking at everybody who
+passed with an air of satisfaction and triumph which indicated a mind
+impervious to the strokes of fortune.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening his neighbor came, as usual, to propose to help him in
+disguising himself; but Urbain thanked her; he had no further need of
+her services and the good-natured girl seemed vexed that the
+masqueradings were ended.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain wished to please as a man still more than he had wished to do so
+as a country woman; he put on his collar and his hat with more care than
+he ordinarily took. He looked to see that his hair did not fall in
+disorder over his forehead, and sighed as he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If I should not succeed in pleasing her!" However, the remembrance of
+the evening before gave him courage, and he took his way to the barber's
+house. He trembled as he knocked at the door, although the fear of being
+sent away did not present itself to his mind. The sound of the knocker
+went to Blanche's heart, and she jumped from her chair, exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It's he!" and was about to run to the street door when Marguerite
+stopped her, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How now, my child, what are you going to do? It would not be decent for
+you to go and open the door for this young man."<a name="page_vol_2_031" id="page_vol_2_031"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Do you think so, nurse. Very well; go then, Marguerite; go quickly."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite hurried as fast as she could, she was anxious to see the
+young man. She opened the door to Urbain and looked at him attentively;
+his gentle and diffident appearance made a favorable impression on the
+old woman.</p>
+
+<p>"It's singular&mdash;he appears to be more embarrassed as a boy than as a
+girl. Come in, come in, my handsome young spark; come in. Now we shall
+see if you've any more stories to relate of the adventures of your aunts
+and cousins."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my good Marguerite," said Urbain, "I shall continue to tell them
+to you if they give you pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"He wishes to please me," said Marguerite to herself. "Yes, Blanche was
+right, the young man is very charming."</p>
+
+<p>The embarrassment of these two young lovers was a very singular thing,
+inasmuch as they had in their first interview spoken so freely of their
+love, and were already engaged and certain of being married. Blanche,
+who had at first wished to run to the door, now dared not raise her
+eyes, and, on hearing Urbain's step, remained motionless on her chair.
+The latter, on entering this room where he had been every evening for a
+fortnight, experienced an uneasiness, a new embarrassment, and paused
+near the door, holding his hat in his hand, and glancing timidly at
+Blanche.<a name="page_vol_2_032" id="page_vol_2_032"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Marguerite, "here's one who dares go no farther at present.
+Come, master boy, when you were a girl you didn't thus remain standing
+motionless and mute at the door; and my poor Blanche, who is afraid to
+raise her eyes and is trembling like a leaf. My darling, it isn't
+necessary to blush like that when one has done nothing wrong. You see, I
+am obliged to encourage you."</p>
+
+<p>However, Urbain gently approached Blanche, bent his knees to the floor
+and murmured,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If you no longer feel friendly to me, if this costume has made you lose
+confidence in me&mdash;I will resume that of Ursule."</p>
+
+<p>The sweet girl timidly raised her head, and bending on Urbain a look of
+the tenderest love, she said, blushing deeper than before,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it isn't that. Excuse me, I don't know what is the matter with me."</p>
+
+<p>She turned her head to hide her face in Marguerite's bosom, and said in
+a low tone to the latter,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Dear nurse, is it love that makes me feel so shy?"</p>
+
+<p>"I remember scarcely anything about love now," answered the old woman,
+shaking her head; "however, yes, I believe in my young days it did
+evince itself somewhat in that fashion."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche turned to Urbain and said to him, with a charming smile,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_033" id="page_vol_2_033"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Don't be angry with me; if I am awkward and embarrassed it is because I
+love you."</p>
+
+<p>Delighted at the candor of the young girl, Urbain took her hand and
+pressed it against his heart, then, seating himself near her, he renewed
+the vows with which love for her inspired him. Confidence was soon
+reëstablished between them; when two hearts beat in accord, constraint
+is soon banished. Blanche resumed her gayety, her ingenuousness, and
+allowed her lover to read all her feelings, and the latter perceived
+that he had a treasure of innocence and kindness.</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite joined in the conversation of the young people; Urbain, by
+his amiability and the deference he showed for the old servant's advice,
+entirely won her friendship. The young bachelor praised the situation of
+his little property, which in the midst of a charming country offered
+delightful walks and all the pleasures of a rural existence. He promised
+the old woman to give her a room impervious to every enchantment, and to
+tell her in the long winter evenings some of the gruesome stories which
+gave her both fear and pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>While chatting with Marguerite, the tender glances, pressings of the
+hand and sweet smiles of the two lovers established between them that
+sympathy of mind which gives the first, and perhaps the sweetest, taste
+of love.</p>
+
+<p>The time passed rapidly, nine o'clock struck,<a name="page_vol_2_034" id="page_vol_2_034"></a> the hour which the barber
+had fixed for Urbain's departure, and they knew they must obey his
+commands if they wished him to keep his promises.</p>
+
+<p>"Must I leave you already?" said Urbain.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry you must go," answered Blanche, sighing tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"You will see each other again tomorrow, my children," said Marguerite,
+"and the day will soon come when you will no longer have to part.
+Monsieur Dorgeville, have you begun the necessary preparations for your
+marriage?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mon Dieu!" said Urbain, "I was so unsettled today that I could think of
+nothing but the happiness that I should enjoy this evening; and I have
+done nothing yet."</p>
+
+<p>"If you are as heedless every day, your marriage will never take place,"
+said Marguerite.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, tomorrow I will begin to put matters in train. I am anxious for the
+time when I shan't have to leave Blanche; but I haven't seen Monsieur
+Touquet this evening. Ought I not to go and say good evening to him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is needless; my master is unlike other men; he has no use for
+ceremony. He said to me, very positively, 'The young man will come at
+seven o'clock; you will conduct him to Blanche's room, where you will
+remain with them, and at nine o'clock he will go. When I wish to speak
+with him I will seek him, but it is needless for him to endeavor to see
+me.'"<a name="page_vol_2_035" id="page_vol_2_035"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What a singular man!" said Urbain; "but I ought to bless him, for he
+has made me happy, and I accused him. I had a suspicion that he wished
+to guard this treasure for himself by hiding her from everyone."</p>
+
+<p>"For himself," cried Blanche, "how could that be possible?"</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me, dear Blanche, love makes one jealous; I see well that I was
+unjust."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," said Marguerite, "but hasten to get your documents drawn and
+marry this dear child."</p>
+
+<p>The bachelor left at last, but Blanche's looks followed him and he could
+not doubt his happiness; he possessed the heart of an amiable girl who
+did not seek to hide from him the sentiments with which he inspired her.
+The next day Urbain took the preliminary steps to hasten his marriage;
+he had also to sell the little furniture he possessed, for it was very
+necessary to obtain some money for the journey; and, in regard to that,
+the bachelor soon saw that Monsieur Touquet evinced no generosity of
+disposition. But a lover who is about to marry his sweetheart always
+believes himself rich enough, and, besides, Blanche having been reared
+in retirement had no extravagant desires in regard to household
+expenses, dress or ornaments; she would be economical and simple in her
+tastes, which qualities are often of more value than the bride's dowry.<a name="page_vol_2_036" id="page_vol_2_036"></a></p>
+
+<p>Evening again brought Urbain to his sweetheart; on this occasion the
+embarrassment had disappeared, and they gave themselves up entirely to
+the pleasure they experienced in seeing each other again. The time they
+passed together rolled on as rapidly as before, but they consoled
+themselves by remembering that the day would soon come when they would
+be united forever. On the fourth evening that Urbain passed with Blanche
+the door opened, and the barber made his appearance.</p>
+
+<p>He slightly inclined his head to Urbain and said to him, in his ordinary
+brief tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Are you making preparations for your marriage?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur," said Urbain, rising and going up to Touquet, "but you
+know employers never share one's impatience. However, within six days,
+or a little later, I should have all my papers. I have seen the priest
+who is to unite us and have made all my preparations for departure."</p>
+
+<p>"That's well."</p>
+
+<p>The barber made no further remark and left the young people, who were
+for a moment astonished at his conduct; but after all they were not
+sorry to be able to give themselves up to the pleasure of lovers'
+conversation with no other witnesses than old Marguerite, who sometimes
+went to sleep while Urbain and Blanche were silently pressing each
+other's hands. The time passes<a name="page_vol_2_037" id="page_vol_2_037"></a> quickly when one is happy, and if the
+days were long for the two lovers, by way of revenge each evening seemed
+shorter than the last. The more they saw of each other the closer love
+drew his meshes about their hearts, which seemed formed for adoration,
+and now they could not conceive the possibility of an existence apart.</p>
+
+<p>But the day of their wedding approached. Only five days and they would
+pledge their vows at the altar; then they would leave the great city and
+in a peaceful retreat would enjoy pure happiness undisturbed by the
+storm and stress of life. This at least was the future they hoped for.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille, urged by a desire to receive the recompense the barber had
+promised him, had already presented himself three times at the latter's
+house, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Has the marriage taken place?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet," answered Touquet.</p>
+
+<p>Then Chaudoreille departed, muttering,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I wish they'd hurry now. What the deuce! I need some money. Why, in
+twelve days I'd have married a dozen women."<a name="page_vol_2_038" id="page_vol_2_038"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III-b" id="CHAPTER_III-b"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">A Day with Chaudoreille</span></h2>
+
+<p>C<small>HAUDOREILLE</small>, who had not yet received the two pieces of gold which the
+barber had promised him found himself in his usual penniless condition
+as he went one fine morning down the Rue des Petits Carreaux. He was
+just coming from the Saint-Germain fair, where he had not on this
+occasion found anybody disposed to receive a lesson in skittles, and he
+was going towards the Saint-Laurent fair, hoping that fortune would be
+somewhat more favorable to him in the latter haunt.</p>
+
+<p>Following his custom, Chaudoreille walked with his nose in the air,
+ogling from one side to the other; his left hand on his hip, and his
+right hand caressing his mustache. As he approached the boulevards he
+felt somebody pull gently at his mantle. The pusillanimous fellow
+started with fright, but on turning his head he perceived an old servant
+maid, and seeing he had nothing to fear he put his hand on his sword,
+and cried loudly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"By jingo! I thought it was a man and I was going to demand his reason
+for touching me.<a name="page_vol_2_039" id="page_vol_2_039"></a> What do you want with me? Don't pull my mantle so
+hard, it's a little decayed."</p>
+
+<p>The old woman put her finger on her mouth, and with a mysterious air,
+said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My mistress wishes to speak with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Your mistress," cried Chaudoreille, his features becoming cheerful, for
+he did not doubt that he had made a conquest, "oh, that's it, my good
+woman, I understand you. But is she young? is she rich? is she?&mdash;Never
+mind, it's all the same, lead me to her."</p>
+
+<p>"No, she can't receive you today, but be here tomorrow at dusk. I will
+come and look for you and will introduce you."</p>
+
+<p>"It's enough! I'll be here, I'll not fail, whether it rains or shines.
+One word, if you please, messenger of love. Can you not tell me where
+your mistress has seen me?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the street, I presume, since she was at her window. Tomorrow
+evening, monsieur; I can't stop any longer."</p>
+
+<p>"Go, Flore! go back to Cytherée," said Chaudoreille, as the old woman
+went off, then he continued on his way, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It's an amorous adventure, I know;&mdash;this mystery and a rendezvous at
+dusk. She has seen me through the window. By jingo! I do well to look my
+best; a pretty man should always carry himself as if everybody was
+looking at him." He then walked along, looking so much in the air<a name="page_vol_2_040" id="page_vol_2_040"></a> that
+he ran against a water-carrier who was advancing quietly with his two
+buckets full, and threw himself so heavily upon him that one of the
+buckets escaped from his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Cursed idiot," cried the Auvergnat. "Wait, take that to teach you to
+look before you!" Saying these words the water-carrier calmly emptied
+his other bucket over Chaudoreille. The chevalier was drenched. In his
+fury he drew Rolande from the scabbard and advanced on the Auvergnat;
+but the water-carrier, without appearing at all dismayed by the falchion
+which his adversary flashed as he capered and jumped about like one
+possessed, took one of his buckets in each hand and tranquilly awaited
+the expected onset of the doughty knight, shouting in an aggravatingly
+jeering tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, you baked apple! come on stupid, that turnspit you term a
+sword doesn't frighten me in the least."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille put Rolande in his scabbard again and then escaped by the
+boulevard, crying, "Watch," and followed by all the idlers, and these
+were not a few, of the neighborhood. The chevalier did not pause in his
+flight until he was positively sure there was no longer anybody behind
+him. He was then quite near the Fossés Jaunes, which were excavated in
+the reign of Charles the Ninth, and which extended from the Porte
+Saint-Denis nearly to the Porte Saint-Honoré. These<a name="page_vol_2_041" id="page_vol_2_041"></a> had been made to
+still further enlarge Paris. A new wall was built along the Fossés
+Jaunes, and also two new gates; one, Rue Montmartre, near the Rue des
+Jeûneurs, replaced the old Porte Montmartre, demolished in 1633; the
+other, Rue Saint-Honoré, between the boulevard and the Rue Royale,
+replaced the one situated between the Rue Richelieu and the Rue
+Saint-Honoré, which was erected in 1631. On the terrace within this new
+wall they presently laid out the Rues de Cléry, du Mail, des
+Fossés-Montmartre, de Victoires, des Petits-Champs, etc. However, in the
+midst of these new constructions the hill of Saint-Roch still preserved
+its picturesque form and its windmills.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille was trembling, he was very cold; and he could not change at
+his house, for a reason that one may easily divine. Fortunately the
+weather was fine and the sun, while it gave little heat, shone on the
+promenade, established then along the wall of Paris. The chevalier saw
+no other means of drying himself than that of running for two or three
+hours in the sun, and he gave himself immediately to that exercise,
+looking much less in the air than formerly, and only answering some of
+his acquaintances, who asked him why he ran so quickly, by these
+words,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It's a wager, don't stop me. I have put up a hundred pistoles that I
+would sweat some great drops."<a name="page_vol_2_042" id="page_vol_2_042"></a></p>
+
+<p>The chevalier's garments commenced to have more consistence and he
+stopped to take breath.</p>
+
+<p>"You have missed your vocation, my friend; you should have been a runner
+for some prince," said a man, who had stopped with two others, and
+seemed to take much pleasure in looking at Chaudoreille, while one of
+his companions, of an extraordinarily stout build, laughed at the top of
+his voice, and the third making comical gestures and extraordinary
+grimaces seemed to be trying to copy the features and the figure of the
+runner.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say, monsieur," said the son of Gascony to the three
+individuals, who had stopped before him, "can't one run if he wants to,
+capededious!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, his accent renders him even more comical," said the fat man. "Look
+at him well, comrade, it's necessary to reproduce that face for us this
+evening. It will be worth its weight in gold."</p>
+
+<p>"I have it," responded the third. "Hang it! may I stifle if I don't copy
+it this evening, feature for feature."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you looked at me long enough," said Chaudoreille, ogling them from
+the back, because he did not feel enough courage to look them in the
+face. "What do you take me to be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, hang it!" said Turlupin, to himself, for it was he who was walking
+with his two companions, Gros-Guillaume and Gautier-Garguille. "We<a name="page_vol_2_043" id="page_vol_2_043"></a> must
+try to make the little man angry. That can't fail to amuse us."</p>
+
+<p>Approaching Chaudoreille, who was reflecting on the grimace he should
+make, he commenced by striking Rolande's scabbard with the stick which
+he held in his hand, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil do you call that, seigneur chevalier?"</p>
+
+<p>The chevalier became at one moment pale, red, and yellow.</p>
+
+<p>"These men are desirous of seeking a quarrel with me," said he to
+himself, looking around him to see if he could make his retreat. But
+already some passers-by had stopped and formed a circle; for, having
+recognized the three comedians who had been drawing crowds at the Hôtel
+de Bourgogne, they did not doubt they were going to play some farce with
+the personage whom they were surrounding. The sight of all these people
+calmed Chaudoreille's fear a little.</p>
+
+<p>"It is unlikely," said he to himself, "that they will let these three
+men kill me without rescuing me." He then endeavored to put a good face
+on the matter. Glancing at the crowd with what he meant to be a look of
+assurance, he exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand why these gentlemen molest me. I take everybody to
+witness that I have not insulted them."</p>
+
+<p>A general laugh was the only answer Chaudoreille received, which had the
+effect of increasing<a name="page_vol_2_044" id="page_vol_2_044"></a> his ill-humor; he angrily drew down his little hat
+in such a way that the gold-colored rosette almost touched the tip of
+his nose, and tried to make his way through the crowd, but they drew
+closer to him on every side, and he found himself face to face with
+Turlupin, who put himself on guard with his stick; Chaudoreille turned
+another way and was confronted by Gautier-Garguille, who had placed his
+hat precisely in the same manner as Chaudoreille's, and imitated exactly
+his piteous grimaces; finally, Gros-Guillaume barred the chevalier's
+passage with his enormous corpulence.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille was exasperated, he could bear no more and he drew Rolande.
+Turlupin advanced to the combat with his cane, and the chevalier, having
+eyed his adversary's weapon out of the corner of his eye, put himself on
+guard, crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Look to it, guard yourself carefully; I ply a very strong blade."</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the third bout Turlupin feigned to be wounded; he fell,
+uttering a horrible groan, and making a frightful contortion.
+Gros-Guillaume threw himself down beside him, exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"He is dead!"</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille was stunned and bewildered; he still held his sword in his
+hand and looked at everyone as if distracted. Gautier-Garguille took him
+by the arm and led him away, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Save yourself; you have killed the son of the King of Cochin-China."<a name="page_vol_2_045" id="page_vol_2_045"></a></p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille listened no further; he went on his way, left Paris and
+darted across the fields and the marshes; the three hours he had spent
+in running in the sun had not strained his legs, he felt no fatigue;
+fear lent him wings, and he did not stop until he believed that he had
+escaped the pursuit of which he imagined himself to be the object. It
+may seem astonishing, perhaps, that the chevalier had not recognized, in
+the three men who had stopped him on the boulevard, the three comedians
+whose performances were then in great vogue, and who permitted
+themselves a thousand licenses that the Parisians authorized, and which
+delighted even the great noblemen. But when Chaudoreille had any money
+he passed the greater part of his time in gambling houses, and had been
+but rarely to the theatre called the Hôtel de Bourgogne; besides,
+Turlupin and Gautier-Garguille were so adept in the art of changing
+their physiognomies that it was difficult to recognize them unless one
+had often witnessed their performances.</p>
+
+<p>The fugitive had stopped to breathe for a moment, he looked timidly
+about him and recognized the locality; he was at the end of the Faubourg
+Saint-Antoine, near the Vallée de Fécamp, and he perceived about three
+hundred paces from him the Marquis de Villebelle's little house.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille had fasted since the evening before, he was overcome with
+fatigue and believed himself menaced by the greatest dangers. In such<a name="page_vol_2_046" id="page_vol_2_046"></a>
+circumstances he forgot that the barber had forbidden him to go there
+and decided to ring at the little house and seek refuge.</p>
+
+<p>Collecting his strength he turned towards the dwelling; he rang the
+bell, and Marcel opened the door almost immediately.</p>
+
+<p>"What, is it you?" said he in astonishment. "Did the marquis or M.
+Touquet send you here?"</p>
+
+<p>Before answering, Chaudoreille entered the garden, and closed the door
+after him.</p>
+
+<p>"But what the devil is the matter with you?" said Marcel. "What are you
+doing here?&mdash;and your face is in such a state, all in a cold sweat; one
+would believe, on my word, that you'd all the sergeants of Paris at your
+heels."</p>
+
+<p>"And you wouldn't be mistaken," said Chaudoreille, in a scarcely audible
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what are you saying?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I'm pursued, or at least I shall be. That the greatest danger
+threatens me."</p>
+
+<p>"My God! What have you done?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've killed the son of the King of Cochin-China."</p>
+
+<p>"The son of Cochin-China?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, just now, not more than a few minutes ago, against the
+Fosses-Jaunes&mdash;near the Porte Saint-Denis&mdash;but it was in honorable
+combat, a duel with equal weapons; and Rolande laid him at my feet.
+Heavens, what a cry he uttered<a name="page_vol_2_047" id="page_vol_2_047"></a> as he fell&mdash;it still rings in my ears. I
+slaughtered him like a bullock."</p>
+
+<p>Marcel listened with his habitual good-humor; however, Chaudoreille's
+story appeared so extraordinary that he could not refrain from
+exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"But, truly, can all that be possible?"</p>
+
+<p>"What, by jingo, you question its possibility,&mdash;my dear Marcel, it's
+absolutely true. You know me; you know that I'm a hot-headed fellow, a
+rake of honor. It's a habit I've formed, and what can you expect. I
+can't reform myself. But this time, at all events, it was not my fault.
+I was walking quietly along by the city wall; all of a sudden three men
+came before me and uttered some jokes which were very much out of place
+and offended me; I politely asked them to allow me to pass, but they
+still obstructed my way. I immediately drew my sword, the crowd
+surrounded us, one of my adversaries put himself on guard. I immediately
+rushed on him; the combat was terrible. My enemy fought desperately; but
+soon he fell at my feet, making frightful grimaces, and one of his
+companions told me I had killed the heir to the throne of Cochin-China."</p>
+
+<p>"And what the devil was the Prince of Cochin-China doing on the
+boulevards with two idiots who allowed him to fight with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Faith, I didn't have time to get any information<a name="page_1048" id="page_1048"></a> on that point; he had
+no doubt come to Paris to take some exercise&mdash;the poor fellow. But you
+can imagine that this adventure will become notorious; they'll send out
+a description of me; they'll put all the squads in Paris in pursuit of
+me; my dear Marcel, it's necessary that you should hide me for several
+days."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm very sorry to say that I can't do it; I thought you'd been sent
+here by my master with orders for me; since that's not the case you must
+go, for he has expressly forbidden me to receive anybody here except
+those that are sent to me. M. de Villebelle will discharge me if, on
+arriving suddenly with some of his friends, he should find a stranger in
+the place."</p>
+
+<p>"Zounds! I'm not a stranger, since I've already served your master in
+his love affairs. My dear Marcel, you don't wish my death."</p>
+
+<p>"No, but I don't wish to lose my place."</p>
+
+<p>"You are alone here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I am; but monseigneur may come when one is least expecting
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"He won't come today."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know anything about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon; I know that his presence is commanded at court. I
+only ask shelter of you until tomorrow&mdash;but, Marcel, my life is in your
+hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, your fright is very ill-timed."</p>
+
+<p>"The Cochin-Chinas will be leagued against me."<a name="page_vol_2_049" id="page_vol_2_049"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Let them league themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"I've eaten nothing since yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not to blame for that."</p>
+
+<p>"Marcel, will nothing move you; do you want me to throw myself at your
+feet? Well, behold me there. You are softening, you yield; I see tears
+in your eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, only just till tomorrow; but hang it, if monseigneur should
+arrive this evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"I promise you I'll jump over the wall."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille breathed more freely; and directed his steps towards the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, delightful purlieus, how has my destiny changed since I quitted
+you," said the chevalier, drawing out his little silk handkerchief to
+dry his eyes. But on reaching the dining-room, which he recognized, his
+sadness appeared somewhat lessened. He was the first to seat himself at
+the table; he invited Marcel to go to the cellar, and did not give him a
+moment's rest until the supper was served; for it was then five o'clock,
+and in those days everybody dined at midday.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not hungry yet," said Marcel, as he seated himself, "ordinarily I
+don't sup until eight o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never mind that, I can eat for both of us, and it needn't prevent
+our supping at eight o'clock; for I do not wish to make any change in
+your usual habits. O my friend, what a day's work; if you knew all that
+had happened to me.<a name="page_vol_2_050" id="page_vol_2_050"></a> At first it began very well; an amorous rendezvous
+given to me by a lady who fell in love with me through seeing me from
+her window."</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw!"</p>
+
+<p>"Give me a wing of that fowl. Yes, my friend, a passion I inspired while
+watching the flight of some swallows&mdash;but&mdash;I am used to that. Pour me
+out something to drink. I'm sure she's a woman of high rank. She sent to
+me by one of her slaves, I think it was a mulatto, or she must take a
+devil of a lot of snuff, for her nose was the color of terra-cotta."</p>
+
+<p>"And when are you to meet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow evening. But at present, can I think of it? This unfortunate
+duel has spoiled all my plans. They'll perhaps put me in the Bastile for
+five or six years."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you are a fool."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do you think that anyone may kill the Prince of Cochin-China like a
+little shopkeeper of the Marais. My situation is alarming. Give me some
+pasty, I beg of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you satisfy yourself that your man was dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you had heard the cry he uttered as he fell, you would not doubt it
+yourself. It's a cursed day's work; that thief of a water-carrier
+brought this ill luck upon me!"</p>
+
+<p>"A water-carrier?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, one with whom I fought this morning."<a name="page_vol_2_051" id="page_vol_2_051"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Are you always fighting?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, by jingo, I can't take twenty steps without fighting; the
+government should give me a pension to remain at home. What, another
+stroke of ill luck? Good God! it seems to me I hear a great deal of
+noise outside."</p>
+
+<p>"What does it matter to us, it's only some pages, lackeys, or students
+who are amusing themselves by fighting; oh, I'm accustomed to all that."</p>
+
+<p>"It's more likely they're coming to arrest me."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing of the kind, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Marcel, you're very fortunate in not being a man of the sword."</p>
+
+<p>"A stick serves just as well to defend me; but I don't seek a quarrel
+with anyone."</p>
+
+<p>"You're very right; I envy your gentle urbanity. But I believe I hear
+nothing more. Give me something to drink. I feel calmer."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you done eating?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I can now wait till supper. Marcel, it was here we wagered on the
+flies."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember it."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you take part in a game to pass the time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Much obliged; but I didn't like the game."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it wasn't that one I was about to propose; but I believe I happen
+to have some cards in my pocket. Come, a hand at piquet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't care to play."<a name="page_vol_2_052" id="page_vol_2_052"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Why, by jingo! it's only to pass a few hours; we shan't ruin ourselves;
+I haven't more than two pieces of gold about me; and when I shall have
+lost that, to the devil with me if I continue."</p>
+
+<p>Marcel yielded to Chaudoreille's solicitations, who immediately set out
+the table and drew a pack of cards from his pocket, looking at them
+tenderly as he placed them between himself and Marcel, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"We'll play for a crown on each side."</p>
+
+<p>"It's too much."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh! one lost, another gained; it's only between the pair of us."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but if one wins all."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, we are equally good players."</p>
+
+<p>"But you haven't laid your money down."</p>
+
+<p>"I've told you I've nothing but gold, I'll change it when I've lost some
+hundreds."</p>
+
+<p>They commenced to play. Chaudoreille's face was animated, his eyes were
+shining, and seemed as if they would leave their orbits to look at his
+adversary's play.</p>
+
+<p>"These cards are not new," said Marcel, "they are all stained or
+marked."</p>
+
+<p>"That's because they've been so much used apparently. I leave it to
+you," said Chaudoreille, looking carefully at the backs of the cards
+which were at the bottom of the pack.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it! you've made me a pretty present; there, these are the seven
+and the eight."<a name="page_vol_2_053" id="page_vol_2_053"></a></p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille won the first game, then a second and a third, because,
+thanks to the marks he had made on the back of each card, he knew them
+as well by their backs as by their faces.</p>
+
+<p>"It's singular," said Marcel, "that I never win anything; you always
+have the best cards."</p>
+
+<p>"What would you have? It's chance, luck; but it will probably turn."</p>
+
+<p>The luck did not turn and Marcel's crowns passed into Chaudoreille's
+pocket. The chevalier was scarlet, trembling, and the veins on his
+forehead were swollen by the ardor of his play, when the bell at the
+garden gate rang violently.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the deuce! there's somebody," said Marcel.</p>
+
+<p>"I am lost!" cried Chaudoreille jumping on his chair, "it is somebody
+come to arrest me."</p>
+
+<p>He immediately rose and ran around the room, went through the first door
+he saw and disappeared, without listening to Marcel, who called to
+him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It's monseigneur; it's M. de Villebelle; keep still and I'll let you
+out without his seeing you."</p>
+
+<p>But Chaudoreille had disappeared and the bell continued to ring. Marcel
+was obliged to open the gate without knowing what had become of his
+guest.<a name="page_vol_2_054" id="page_vol_2_054"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV-b" id="CHAPTER_IV-b"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Little Supper</span></h2>
+
+<p>"And pray why did you make us wait so long, clown?" said the marquis
+angrily to Marcel, as he entered the garden with three men, two of whom
+were enveloped in their cloaks, while the third had no hat and nothing
+to cover his velvet doublet, which was stained in many places with mud;
+this, however, did not prevent its owner from bursting into shouts of
+laughter as he looked at himself, as though he still enjoyed some frolic
+in which he had participated.</p>
+
+<p>"Follow me, my friends," said the marquis.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know the way to your little nest of the Faubourg," said one,
+"it's not the first time I've come here."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor me."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all very well; as for me, messieurs, I make my first appearance
+here today and in a brilliant costume I hope. Ha! Ha! What the devil! if
+anybody should happen to divine that I ought to be present this evening
+at the petit coucher, 'twould be deuced awkward for me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Marcel, show us a light," said the marquis, pushing the valet
+before him, while the<a name="page_vol_2_055" id="page_vol_2_055"></a> latter, anxious and uneasy, was constantly
+glancing around him.</p>
+
+<p>"You've been sleeping already, rascal, for you look stupefied."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monseigneur, that's true, I have been asleep."</p>
+
+<p>"He lives the life of a canon here. He does nothing but eat and sleep."</p>
+
+<p>While speaking they had reached the house. Happily for Marcel the
+marquis never went into the lower room, where the card table was still
+standing. They went up into the apartment on the first floor. Marcel
+lighted many candles, while the marquis' friends threw themselves into
+armchairs, and Villebelle took off his mantle, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Come, hasten yourself, and serve us supper of all that you can get
+together; there are always provisions here. You have a poultry yard, a
+pigeon house; put some fowls quickly on the spit. We'll play while
+waiting for them to be served. Prepare the card table. Open that drawer,
+there are some cards and dice in it. Gentlemen, you will perhaps have
+meagre fare. I did not expect the pleasure of entertaining you this
+evening, but at least you shall have some good wine. The cellar is well
+furnished and we shall not lack champagne."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it! that's the principal thing," said a big, pale young man whose
+features were regular, but who was disfigured by the scar of a sword-cut
+across his left cheek.<a name="page_vol_2_056" id="page_vol_2_056"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I, too, am of the vicomte's opinion," said his neighbor, who appeared
+to be some years older, and whose stoutness and high color contrasted
+with the physique of the first speaker.</p>
+
+<p>"Champagne before everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I recognize there that drunkard De Montgéran," said the young man
+with disordered costume. "As for me I am not displeased when the
+entertainment consists of wine. But let's play, gentlemen, let's play;
+it's necessary that I should recoup a hat and a cloak."</p>
+
+<p>"You might even add a doublet; for I don't think that you can present
+yourself anywhere in that one."</p>
+
+<p>"Those cursed shopkeepers, how they did resist this evening. That's all
+right, I had flogged three of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but except for the marquis and I you would have been in a very bad
+position."</p>
+
+<p>"Well! what the devil brought the quarrel about? for I don't know yet
+why I fought."</p>
+
+<p>"A trifling thing, a mere bagatelle; because I was carrying off with me
+a little bookkeeper's wife, the impertinent husband permitted himself to
+shout! The idiot, I should have sent his wife back at the end of two
+days. Hang it! I'd no desire to keep her."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps that's why he was angry."</p>
+
+<p>"I said a couple of words for him to the superintendent; before long our
+clerk will be destitute."<a name="page_vol_2_057" id="page_vol_2_057"></a></p>
+
+<p>"That's as it should be, it's necessary to teach these plebeians
+manners, who persuade themselves that they only take a wife for
+themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"In your place I should have asked for a lettre-de-cachet."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall see; that might still be done."</p>
+
+<p>During this conversation Marcel had prepared everything; he went down to
+the groundfloor and, while making his preparations for supper, called
+his comrade in a low tone, and looked in every corner of the room, but
+he had disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Where the devil has he hidden himself," said Marcel, who then looked in
+all the other rooms and went down to the cellar, where he called
+Chaudoreille again without receiving any answer. "He has apparently
+escaped into the garden and from there he will have jumped over the
+walls, as he said he would do. However, that astonishes me, for he would
+hardly care to leave the house."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis and his companions sat down to play, and while waiting for
+the supper they cracked several bottles of champagne to put themselves
+in good spirits; that is to say, to arouse in them the desire to commit
+new follies. The most extravagant bets were proposed and accepted, and
+while playing, drinking, singing, each one related his good fortune, his
+gallant adventures, drew his mistress' portrait, and passed in review
+the women of fashion, sparing the honest women no more than the
+courtesans.<a name="page_vol_2_058" id="page_vol_2_058"></a></p>
+
+<p>At last Marcel came to announce that supper was served in a neighboring
+room and the gentlemen left their play to go to the table. The room in
+which the supper was served equalled by its elegance the other rooms of
+this delightful retreat; while it served habitually for banquets, the
+beauty and the taste of its frescoes, the statues which decorated it,
+the sofas which furnished it, the lustres which lighted it, recalled the
+salons of ancient Rome where Horace, Propertius and Tibulus, surrounded
+by their friends and their competitors, sang of love and the charms of
+their mistresses while passing amphoræ filled with falernian, or
+carrying to their lips cups where sparkled cæcubum or massicum; and
+while crowned with myrtle and acanthus, in order to resemble their
+deities, proving only too well that they had all the weaknesses of
+mortals.</p>
+
+<p>Sybarites of a later time, the young men assembled at Villebelle's drank
+deep draughts of the generous wine with which the table was so amply
+provided; the marquis furnishing them an example by his avidity in
+emptying the flasks. Decorum and etiquette were banished from the
+repast, where liberty often degenerated into license. The convives had
+drawn the sofas to the table, and each one, half lying down like a
+pasha, held a glass of champagne which he emptied, shouting with
+laughter at the follies of which he heard or at those which he had
+himself committed.<a name="page_vol_2_059" id="page_vol_2_059"></a></p>
+
+<p>The young man who had come without a hat, and who was called the
+Chevalier de Chavagnac, was seated opposite a beautiful statue
+representing Psyche, to which he often raised his eyes. All of a sudden
+he interrupted the fat Montgéran, who was singing, by exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"May the thunder crush me, if this Psyche didn't move!"</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil are you saying now?" asked the marquis.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm saying, I'm saying your Psyche has come to life, or I must be
+blind."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, hang it, how delightful it would be if that pretty woman could come
+and take her place amongst us."</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen, it was no doubt Montgéran's voice which worked this miracle.
+A new Pygmalion, he softens marble."</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't make fun of my voice, gentlemen, it is held in no small
+estimation. It must rather have been your cynical conversation which
+made poor Psyche blush. But let me sing instead of listening to De
+Chavagnac's stupidity, who can't see clearly because he has drunk so
+much."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, assuredly, I have been drinking, but I can still see. I've been
+looking at that statue for a long while, and several times it appeared
+to me as if it moved."</p>
+
+<p>"Marquis, are there any ghosts in your little house?"<a name="page_vol_2_060" id="page_vol_2_060"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I have never seen any here, but it would be very amiable of them to
+come and pay us a visit while we are at table. We would make them
+hob-nob with us."</p>
+
+<p>"Come sing, Montgéran, we will listen to you; but be a trifle less
+artificial. I prefer the natural method."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, gentlemen, I will then give you; 'The shepherd in order to admire
+the charms of his shepherdess took the first'&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I shall know what it is," said De Chavagnac, rising precipitately
+and running towards the statue. As he neared it the Psyche made so
+lively a movement that she would have fallen from her pedestal on to the
+floor, if the young man had not received her in his arms, and placed her
+on the ground. All the convives had their eyes fixed on De Chavagnac,
+who, after placing the Psyche in safety, reapproached the pedestal,
+which was about three feet high and one and one half in circumference.</p>
+
+<p>"There is something inside it," cried the young man, who perceived that
+the pedestal was hollow, and had an opening in the side which was turned
+towards the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Someone inside it?" repeated the others, half rising. At the same
+moment a thin, trembling voice, which seemed to come out of the earth,
+uttered these words,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No violence, gentlemen, I will yield without<a name="page_vol_2_061" id="page_vol_2_061"></a> resistance," and, in a
+moment, Chaudoreille's little head peeped from behind the pedestal and
+showed itself to the gentlemen, who burst into a shout of laughter,
+exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What a handsome face!"</p>
+
+<p>However, De Chavagnac, who had remained near the niche of the statue,
+took Chaudoreille by the mustache and forced him to emerge from his
+hiding place. Then, having examined the personage whose piteous face
+rendered him still more comic, he went laughingly to take his place at
+the table, while the poor devil whom he had dislodged threw himself on
+his knees before them and without daring to raise his eyes murmured,
+clasping his hands,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen if I have killed the Prince of Cochin-China it was against my
+will and because he had provoked me, but I swear to you that I will not
+try it again; I will not even carry Rolande, if they exact it of me."</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil is he saying?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you understand any of it, marquis?"</p>
+
+<p>"My faith, no! He is speaking about the Prince of Cochin-China."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a fool!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it! we must amuse ourselves with him."</p>
+
+<p>"One moment; it is necessary that I should learn how this clown
+penetrated here. Hello! Marcel, Marcel."</p>
+
+<p>While Marcel was coming upstairs Chaudoreille'<a name="page_1062" id="page_1062"></a>s terror became somewhat
+lessened. While he had been immured in the pedestal a murmuring sound
+only penetrated to his ears, and he believed that the room was filled
+with armed men who were looking for him. Now the words which he caught,
+the name of the marquis which he heard pronounced, taught him the truth.
+Reassured that his life was in no danger, he began to glance pleadingly
+at the persons who surrounded the table, and meeting nothing but
+laughing faces he entirely recovered his spirits.</p>
+
+<p>Marcel entered and, at the sight of Chaudoreille, remained stunned and
+confused before his master.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is this man, Marcel?" said the marquis. "Is he a thief? is it he or
+you whom we ought to hang? Come, speak, clown, and tell us the truth, or
+you shall be chastised in good fashion."</p>
+
+<p>Marcel, trembling, did not know how to excuse himself for having
+received someone despite the commands of the marquis, and muttered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, I couldn't help it, I did not wish to, I refused him at
+first."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur," exclaimed Chaudoreille, rising and standing on his
+tiptoes, "if you will permit me I will relate to your excellency how all
+this happened, for I see that Marcel will find it difficult to come to
+an end."</p>
+
+<p>"The trembler has recovered his speech," said the big Montgéran, who
+could not take his eyes from Chaudoreille.<a name="page_vol_2_063" id="page_vol_2_063"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Come, marquis, let him speak."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, he will make us laugh," cried the others.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, gentlemen, since you desire it. Come, speak, you little cur;
+and you, Marcel, remain there to give him the lie if he attempts to
+deceive us."</p>
+
+<p>Though the sobriquet, little cur, made Chaudoreille knit his brow,
+permission to speak before noblemen of high rank caused him so much
+pleasure that he immediately assumed a smiling expression, and commenced
+his speech,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Messeigneurs, your excellencies behold in me Loustic-Goliath de
+Chaudoreille, Knight of the Round Table; descended on the male side from
+the famous Milo of Crotona, and on the female side from the celebrated
+Delilah, who, sacrificing herself for her country, had the courage to
+cut from Samson, her lover, that which made his strength."</p>
+
+<p>Shouts of laughter here interrupted the orator. "It's delightful! he's
+charming! He's worth his weight in gold!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it!" said Chaudoreille, "I was sure that I only had to speak."</p>
+
+<p>"In fact, descendant of Delilah," said the marquis, "what is your
+business?"</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille appeared embarrassed for the moment, then he exclaimed
+volubly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Defender and protector of beauty&mdash;and of<a name="page_vol_2_064" id="page_vol_2_064"></a> gambling houses;
+understanding how to bear arms and to play at piquet; teaching music,
+and the way to turn the king or ace at will; succoring young men of
+family and girls who have been seduced; bearer of love letters; master
+of the sitar; duellist and messenger,&mdash;and all at a very moderate
+price."</p>
+
+<p>"But what a treasure we have in this man!"</p>
+
+<p>"Finally, who led you here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your excellencies have heard me speak of my duel this morning. I killed
+the Prince of Cochin-China near the Porte Saint-Denis."</p>
+
+<p>"The Prince of Cochin-China, and where the devil did you find such a
+prince as that?"</p>
+
+<p>"By the side of the Fosses-Jaunes. I was walking quietly along, he came
+up and assaulted me, and I fought him. Isn't that true, Marcel?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it's very true that he told me all that, monseigneur. He arrived
+here wild with fright, and exhausted; he told me that he was pursued,
+and though I did not understand all his history of the prince, I saw
+that he trembled, so I consented to allow him to come in for a moment.
+We were having supper when you came in, monseigneur, and immediately he
+fled, seeing and hearing nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monseigneur," said Chaudoreille, "I believed that the archers and
+the sergeants were coming to arrest me, and I hid in the first place
+that I could see."<a name="page_vol_2_065" id="page_vol_2_065"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Do you think, clown, that I believe the story you told Marcel in order
+to get some supper?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, I swear to you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Peace!"</p>
+
+<p>"There were witnesses to the duel."</p>
+
+<p>"Silence, I tell you! To come to this house to seek Marcel, you must
+have known that he lived here. Who taught you the way to this dwelling?
+Did you know that it belonged to me? and if you knew it belonged to me,
+who gave you the audacity to present yourself here."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille, who perceived that the marquis was no longer joking,
+answered with less assurance,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, I've already had the honor of visiting here in your
+lordship's service."</p>
+
+<p>"To serve me, rascal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monseigneur; I served you indirectly in a certain matter with a
+young Italian, an elopement on the Pont de Latournelle. It was I whom
+Touquet charged to keep watch."</p>
+
+<p>"O marquis," said the three guests, smiling, "this is clear enough. The
+chevalier of the Round Table has ministered to your love."</p>
+
+<p>"I've had that honor, monseigneurs," answered Chaudoreille, bowing, and
+twisting his mustaches.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it! I don't remember it," cried the marquis, looking hard at
+Chaudoreille. "What, Touquet, so clever, so inventive, could he be<a name="page_vol_2_066" id="page_vol_2_066"></a>
+served by such a marionette. Come, that is not possible."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur," said Chaudoreille, compressing his lips, "if you knew the
+talents of the one you call marionette, you would, perhaps, speak
+differently. Touquet himself is only a beginner beside me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, as to that, clown, it is necessary that you should justify your
+boasting or that you should perish beneath the stick. For some days I
+have been suffering from ennui; I don't find anyone, at the court or in
+the town, who deserves my homage. My Italian, even, has commenced to
+tire me. I wish&mdash;I don't know&mdash;I would give all the world for the
+capacity of falling truly in love; find me a woman who is capable of
+inspiring me with this feeling. I will give you twenty-four hours to
+discover this treasure for me. A hundred pistoles for you if you gratify
+my wishes, a hundred strokes of the stick if you are not successful."</p>
+
+<p>"That's it! That's it," shouted Villebelle's guests, "if he is
+successful in what you have given him to do, tell us and we will employ
+him in turn."</p>
+
+<p>"O capededious," said Chaudoreille to himself, "a hundred pistoles if I
+render him amorous. Zounds! my fortune will be made. But a hundred blows
+of the stick if I am not successful. How can I render a man amorous who
+is tired of everything, and that in twenty-four hours. O my<a name="page_vol_2_067" id="page_vol_2_067"></a> genius
+inspire me! Ah, if my portress resembled this Psyche."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, drink that," said Montgéran, presenting Chaudoreille with a large
+glass full of madeira. "That will help you, perhaps, to find what
+Villebelle wants."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille emptied the glass at a draught, after humbly bowing to the
+company; then he struck his forehead sharply, made a leap forward, and
+exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have found her!"</p>
+
+<p>"The wine has already operated," said De Chavagnac.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, speak," cried the marquis, "what have you found?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur," said Chaudoreille, bowing with respect, "deign to permit
+me to speak to you without witnesses."</p>
+
+<p>"The clown is right," said the marquis rising from the table. "If he
+should speak before you each one would wish to assure himself of the
+truth of his recital, and we should become rivals. Marcel carry a light
+into the next room. Come, my Chaudoreille, I will give you an audience.
+Have patience, gentlemen, I shall not be long."</p>
+
+<p>Saying these words, the marquis went into the next room, and
+Chaudoreille followed him with an air so important and mysterious that
+it greatly amused the three persons who remained at the table.<a name="page_vol_2_068" id="page_vol_2_068"></a></p>
+
+<p>When Chaudoreille found himself alone with the marquis, he examined the
+doors to see if they were shut, and stooped to look under the table, but
+the marquis pulled him by the ear, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What signifies all this ceremony?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, it is that I'm about to speak of something mysterious, a
+secret, and I don't wish that anybody should know it. I shall expose
+myself to great danger in speaking; they will perhaps want to take my
+life."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll expose yourself to a great deal more by not speaking," said the
+marquis impatiently, seizing the fire shovel.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm about to do so, monseigneur. I wager you've never seen Touquet's
+daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"Touquet's daughter. Has he a daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly, monseigneur; she's only a child that he adopted about ten
+years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Touquet adopted a child? Hang it! that surprises me."</p>
+
+<p>"I was very sure, monseigneur, that you were ignorant of the
+circumstance."</p>
+
+<p>"There's something mysterious about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Very extraordinary. No one would guard a girl so closely unless he were
+keeping her for himself."</p>
+
+<p>"What is this girl like?"</p>
+
+<p>"She's an angel, monseigneur, divinely beautiful, an enchantress; hardly
+sixteen years of age, with the figure of a nymph, and Touquet spreads<a name="page_vol_2_069" id="page_vol_2_069"></a>
+it abroad that she is ugly and ill-made, that there is nothing pleasing
+about her. He has even ordered me to tell it all about. If I have seen
+young Blanche it's only because the barber, wishing to have her taught
+music, was obliged to introduce me into her room, which she never
+leaves."</p>
+
+<p>"This is all very singular," said the marquis, "and you pique my
+curiosity."</p>
+
+<p>"Good! I shall have a hundred pistoles," said Chaudoreille to himself,
+"that's much better than the two golden crowns which the barber promised
+me, to say nothing of the honor of acting as the Marquis of Villebelle's
+business man."</p>
+
+<p>"And you say it's not because he is in love with her himself that he
+hides this young girl," resumed the marquis, after a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"No, monseigneur, for a few days from now he is about to marry her."</p>
+
+<p>"To marry her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monseigneur, to a young man whom the beautiful Blanche did not
+know, I am sure; for no one ever went near her except your humble
+servant. I bet that Touquet has sacrificed her, and that the poor little
+thing hates her future husband."</p>
+
+<p>Here Chaudoreille said what he did not think, but he imagined it more
+prudent to present the matter in that aspect.</p>
+
+<p>The marquis reflected for some moments, then he said,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_070" id="page_vol_2_070"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Tell me quickly all that you know about the adoption of that young
+girl."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monseigneur. About ten years ago, Touquet, who then had not a sou,
+took lodgers in addition to his business as a barber and bath-keeper.
+One evening a gentleman went to his house, with a little girl five or
+six years old, and requested a bed. Touquet received him. The traveller
+went out the same evening, leaving his little girl with Touquet, and
+that night he was murdered in the Rue Saint-Honoré near the Barrière des
+Sergents."</p>
+
+<p>"Were the murderers discovered," said the marquis, looking attentively
+at Chaudoreille.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, monseigneur," responded the latter, smiling almost
+imperceptibly, "but&mdash;sometime afterwards Touquet was possessed of enough
+to buy the house which he had rented."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis made a sudden movement, like that of a man who is about to
+step on a snake. A long silence succeeded, during which Chaudoreille
+kept his eyes bent on the ground, not daring to seek to read those of
+the marquis.</p>
+
+<p>"And it is the daughter of that man whom he adopted," said Villebelle,
+breaking the silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monseigneur, it is she."</p>
+
+<p>"What was her father's name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Moranval, at least, so I believe. Nothing was found upon him but an
+insignificant letter, which gave no information in regard to his
+family."<a name="page_vol_2_071" id="page_vol_2_071"></a></p>
+
+<p>"And his daughter is beautiful?"</p>
+
+<p>"As far as I am competent to judge, monseigneur, and if you should see
+her&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I shall see her."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, I have the honor to inform you that Touquet has expressly
+forbidden me to speak of young Blanche and of her coming marriage. In
+order to be agreeable to your lordship I have sacrificed myself; but the
+barber is wicked, very wicked. I beg of you, monseigneur, not to tell
+him that you learned all this from me."</p>
+
+<p>"Be easy about that."</p>
+
+<p>"In any case I beg to be allowed to claim the protection of monseigneur
+in regard to my duel with the Prince of Cochin-China, which is not a
+falsehood as monseigneur appears to believe."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis was reflecting deeply; finally he rose, saying to
+Chaudoreille,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Follow me, and not a word of all this. In twenty-four hours you will
+return here, and if you have not deceived me you will receive the
+recompense which I have promised you."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille bowed nearly to the ground and followed the marquis. They
+returned to the banquet hall, where his guests awaited with impatience
+Villebelle's return.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said De Chavagnac, as he entered, "was it worth the trouble of
+leaving the table?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so," answered the marquis; "but as to that I shall be better
+able to tell you after<a name="page_vol_2_072" id="page_vol_2_072"></a> tomorrow. Chaudoreille, go down with Marcel and
+make him give you some supper before you leave." The latter did not wait
+for this order to be repeated. He went down to look for Marcel and,
+already assuming a patronizing air, made the valet serve him with all
+that he thought best, while saying to his old friend,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am in great favor with your master, treat me well and I can say two
+words for you. Above all never refuse to play a game of piquet with me,
+or I'll cause you to lose favor with monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Marcel, who understood nothing of all this, allowed his intimate
+friend to beat him at six games. Finally, day appeared, and Chaudoreille
+left the house saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I shall come back this evening at ten o'clock. The marquis has made an
+appointment with me." Then he ventured into the Faubourg, stopping
+whenever he saw from afar two men together, and with a mysterious air
+inquiring of some shopkeepers if they had heard anyone speak of the
+death of Cochin-China. As nobody understood what he said, he finally
+persuaded himself that his prince was dead, but that nobody knew who he
+was, and more tranquil as to the result of the affair he at length
+ventured to reënter Paris.</p>
+
+<p>After the secret interview of the marquis and Chaudoreille, the four
+profligates returned to their play; but the party was no longer gay.
+Villebelle was preoccupied and took little part in the conversation;<a name="page_1073" id="page_1073"></a>
+the vicomte was sleepy; fat Montgéran no longer sang, and Chavagnac was
+tired of losing. At six o'clock in the morning these gentlemen
+separated, each one returning to his dwelling in the city and the
+marquis reëntered his hotel, reflecting on all that Chaudoreille had
+told him.<a name="page_vol_2_074" id="page_vol_2_074"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V-b" id="CHAPTER_V-b"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Having Money and Power One May Dare Everything</span></h2>
+
+<p>"Only two days more and I shall be your husband, my Blanche," said
+Urbain, pressing the young girl's hands in a tender transport.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dearest, how very happy we shall be, when we no longer have to
+part, even for a few hours," answered Blanche, smiling at her lover,
+"how much I shall like living in the country! I shall breathe more
+freely there in the pure air, I am sure, than in this close room. We
+shall play and run on the grass, shall we not, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and we will work in our own garden."</p>
+
+<p>"How delightful! We shall have flowers then, and I am so passionately
+fond of them."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall have some cows also, I hope," said Marguerite.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, dear nurse, and some pigeons, and rabbits and fowls&mdash;it will
+all be so delightful. It seems to me that when I was a very little child
+I lived in the country, in a house where they had all those things."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Blanche! and is that all you remember of your infancy?"<a name="page_vol_2_075" id="page_vol_2_075"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I still remember a lady who was always with me, who often kissed me; no
+doubt she was my mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor woman!" said Marguerite; "perhaps she is still living; and to
+think that no one knows. But away with sad thoughts!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then you'll not regret Paris, my dear Blanche," said Urbain.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you wish me to regret it, dear, when you are with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Those dear children!" said the old servant rising from her chair; "it
+is Providence which has brought them together, for they are made for one
+another. But it's nine o'clock, Monsieur Urbain, you must go."</p>
+
+<p>"Nine o'clock already! The time is approaching when we need part no
+more, but the days seem very long now, because I spend them away from
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"It's the same with me, dear; it seems to me that evening will never
+come."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't seen M. Touquet for some days."</p>
+
+<p>"And you'll not see him this evening," said Marguerite; "he received a
+letter after dinner. It was no doubt some pressing matter of business,
+for he left immediately and has not yet returned."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, then, dear Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Two days more. It seems a long time to wait."<a name="page_vol_2_076" id="page_vol_2_076"></a></p>
+
+<p>"You have managed to live through a fortnight," said Marguerite.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I don't know why, but these last few days seem to me as if they
+would be eternal."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain could not tear himself away from Blanche; his heart was
+oppressed; the eyes of both the young lovers were filled with tears; the
+young girl extended her hand to her friend and he pressed it to his
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what's the matter with me," said Blanche, "but your going
+makes me sadder than usual."</p>
+
+<p>"What childishness!" said Marguerite; "no one would suppose that you
+were going to meet within two days. Isn't M. Urbain coming tomorrow
+evening? Come, come, it's time to go to bed."</p>
+
+<p>The lovers again said good-by, sighing deeply, and Urbain finally
+followed Marguerite, who shut the street door on him and then went
+upstairs to Blanche and scolded her for her sadness. But she could not
+restore her gayety, for the dictates of reason may persuade the mind,
+but cannot allay the fears of the heart.</p>
+
+<p>Not more than a quarter of an hour after Urbain's departure some one
+rapped loudly at the street door.</p>
+
+<p>"That's Urbain, no doubt," said Blanche; "he saw that I was sad and has
+come back to console me."<a name="page_vol_2_077" id="page_vol_2_077"></a></p>
+
+<p>"That's very improbable," said Marguerite; "it's more likely M. Touquet
+who has returned. However, I am astonished that he should knock, for I
+thought he had taken his master key."</p>
+
+<p>"Go and see who it is, dear nurse."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, mademoiselle; but if it should not be monsieur? It is
+late&mdash;we are alone in the house, and I don't know if I ought to open to
+any one."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want me to look out of the window, dear nurse, I shall very soon
+see if it's Urbain."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, do so; that seems to me more prudent."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche had already opened the window, and she looked down into the
+street; the night was dark, but love renders the sight clear, and the
+young girl soon saw that it was not Urbain.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is there," demanded Marguerite, thrusting out her head.</p>
+
+<p>A deep voice answered, "I come from Master Touquet, he has charged me
+with a commission to his adopted daughter, Mademoiselle Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>"How very singular," said Marguerite to Blanche. "What! monsieur, who
+has hidden you from everybody's sight, sends a stranger to us at this
+hour?"</p>
+
+<p>"But, dear nurse, since he has sent him, it is necessary to open to this
+gentleman. Perhaps something has happened to my protector."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the man alone, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear nurse, I see nobody but him."<a name="page_vol_2_078" id="page_vol_2_078"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you open the door," cried the man in the street, "my message
+is urgent."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait one moment, somebody will be there.&mdash;Remain here, my child."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite went down, holding her lamp in her hand. She was not
+reassured, but opened the door, and a man wrapped in a large cloak, his
+head covered with a plumed hat, appeared before her.</p>
+
+<p>"You've been very slow, my good woman," said he, smiling, "however, I'll
+indemnify you for the trouble I have caused you."</p>
+
+<p>While saying these words, he slipped several pieces of gold into
+Marguerite's hand. The old woman did not know if she ought to accept
+them, but said to herself, "His manners are not those of a robber."</p>
+
+<p>The stranger quickly entered the alleyway and the old woman as she
+looked at him said to herself, "This is not the first time that I have
+seen that figure, and I remember his voice. Yes, I believe that that's
+the friend my master was waiting for so late some time ago."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite was not deceived, it was in fact the marquis who had
+introduced himself into the house, having first sent the barber a letter
+in which he gave him a rendezvous outside, and ordered him to wait there
+until ten o'clock in the evening.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur has been here before, I believe,"<a name="page_vol_2_079" id="page_vol_2_079"></a> said Marguerite, reassured
+on recognizing one whom she believed to be her master's friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, my good mother, I have often been here; but hasten to lead me
+to your young mistress. It is absolutely necessary that I should see
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"Is my master ill?&mdash;has he been involved in some quarrel? Many accidents
+happen in this city."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be uneasy, there's nothing of that kind."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis followed Marguerite, who led him to Blanche's chamber, and
+opened the door, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle, here is a gentleman who brings you a message from M.
+Touquet."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche took some steps forward to meet the stranger; the marquis had
+entered abruptly, but on perceiving the young girl he paused, and for
+some moments remained motionless, occupied in contemplating her. There
+was something in the aspect of the marquis which compelled respect, and
+while at that moment there was nothing severe in his expression, the
+astonishment and admiration depicted on his features lent additional
+animation to his naturally proud and noble look. Blanche involuntarily
+lowered her eyes, for she could not meet the fixed gaze with which the
+marquis seemed to examine her person, and Marguerite dared not utter a
+word, because the stranger intimidated her also.<a name="page_vol_2_080" id="page_vol_2_080"></a></p>
+
+<p>"This is truly beyond all that I could have imagined," said the marquis,
+as if he were speaking to himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur," said Blanche, with embarrassment, "my nurse informs me that
+you have something to say to me, some message from my benefactor; has
+anything happened to him, monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, lovely Blanche, no; your benefactor, since you deign to so call
+him, has run into no danger, but I would brave a thousand if by that
+means I could make you take the same interest in me."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche glanced timidly at the marquis as if she were waiting for him to
+explain himself better; the latter, in hastening to lead her to a chair,
+dropped a corner of his mantle, allowing his rich attire to be seen, and
+Marguerite said under her breath to the young girl,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mon Dieu, my child, look at those precious stones, that lace, this is
+at least a great nobleman."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," answered Blanche, in the same tone, "it is superb, but I like
+Urbain's costume much better."</p>
+
+<p>Villebelle, who had not taken his eyes from Blanche, remained silent.</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you come here then," said she, seeing that he was contented
+with looking at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Marguerite, who sought to resume her ordinary assurance,
+"for you must have come for something."<a name="page_vol_2_081" id="page_vol_2_081"></a></p>
+
+<p>"And I have found more than I had believed possible," said the marquis,
+smiling. Then, without appearing to notice the embarrassment which his
+presence caused, he approached Blanche, took her hand, and cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You in this retreat! you hidden from all eyes!&mdash;when you should be the
+ornament of the world and receive the homage of the whole universe."</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me, monsieur," said Blanche, "but I don't understand you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand you either," murmured Marguerite, fixing her small
+eyes on the marquis.</p>
+
+<p>"Better still, adorable girl," responded the marquis to Blanche, without
+paying the least attention to Marguerite. "They did not deceive me, this
+is innocence itself, the most perfect ingenuousness united to the most
+seductive grace and beauty."</p>
+
+<p>"But, monsieur, was that what M. Touquet told you to say to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, lovely child, not at all," said the marquis laughing, and still
+retaining Blanche's hand, which she vainly tried to disengage.</p>
+
+<p>"It's necessary however that you should explain yourself," said
+Marguerite in a dry tone, "you have been here for a quarter of an hour
+and you have not yet said why you came. It is very late and we are
+accustomed to go to bed early."<a name="page_vol_2_082" id="page_vol_2_082"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, old woman, go to your bed; I will remain with this lovely
+child until the return of Master Touquet."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think I will leave you alone with my dear Blanche," cried
+Marguerite, rendered still more suspicious by the word old, "no,
+monsieur, no, I take better care of her than that. Your laces, your
+jewelry, and your fine appearance do not inspire me with much
+confidence. Wait! take back your pieces of gold, I don't wish them, for
+I begin to believe that your intentions are not good, and Marguerite
+will never second the plans of a seducer, whether duke or prince, even
+should he offer her the mines of Peru."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis replied only by shrugging his shoulders without turning
+towards Marguerite, then he seated himself near Blanche and took off his
+hat and mantle, establishing himself in the room like one who is not
+disposed to go.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche was trembling, confused; she looked at Marguerite as if to
+implore her not to abandon her, and the old woman, whom the conduct of
+the stranger had filled with new dread, forced herself to appear calm,
+saying in a voice whose faltering accents betrayed her fright,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Be easy, my child, I am here, I will not leave you, and while monsieur
+does not appear to listen to me it is, above all, necessary that he
+should tell us what he came here to do."</p>
+
+<p>"I have told you, my good woman, I am waiting<a name="page_1083" id="page_1083"></a> for Touquet. I must speak
+to him this evening; that is very important."</p>
+
+<p>"And just now you said that it was he who had sent you; you were
+deceiving us, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," said the marquis, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, monsieur, if you are really waiting for my master, come into
+the lower room. I will give you a light, and you will find a fire
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, my good woman, I like this much better than your lower
+room; the society of this charming child will make the time seem very
+short, and surely, adorable Blanche, you will not be cruel enough to
+refuse to keep me company."</p>
+
+<p>"No, monsieur, if you desire it, if it will amuse you, I must wish it
+also."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Marguerite, "it seems that it is necessary that we should do
+monsieur's will, but patience&mdash;soon I hope&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>At this moment somebody violently shut the street door. Blanche started
+joyfully, and Marguerite cried, with a triumphant air,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! here is my master! We shall now see whether anyone can establish
+himself here in spite of us."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis rose without answering, took his mantle, put his hat on his
+head, kissed Blanche's hand, saying to her,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Au revoir, charming girl," then left the room saying to Marguerite,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Light me!"<a name="page_vol_2_084" id="page_vol_2_084"></a></p>
+
+<p>All this had happened so quickly that Blanche, who was greatly
+astonished, had not time to oppose the action of the marquis, and the
+old servant followed the great nobleman, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"O mon Dieu, what a man!"</p>
+
+<p>The barber had entered and was taking off his mantle, when the marquis,
+followed by Marguerite, appeared in the lower room. At the sight of
+Villebelle, Touquet started with surprise, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What, you here, monseigneur!"</p>
+
+<p>He paused and Marguerite cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my dear master, monseigneur has been here for three-quarters of an
+hour. He presented himself as coming from you, and he installed himself
+in Mademoiselle Blanche's room."</p>
+
+<p>"In Blanche's room," said the barber, appearing violently agitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur, in mademoiselle's room&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's enough, my good woman, leave us," said the marquis, in an
+imperious tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave you," answered Marguerite, "oh, it is necessary before all&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It is necessary to obey," said the barber, in a gloomy voice. "Go!"</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite was dumbfounded, but she dared not reply and left them,
+saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't understand all this, this man does as he pleases here, it
+troubles me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, dear nurse," said Blanche to the old woman, "and what about the
+stranger?"<a name="page_vol_2_085" id="page_vol_2_085"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know who that man can be, but M. Touquet is as submissive
+as a child before him. I left them together. This fine gentleman said to
+me, 'Go!' and it was necessary to obey him."</p>
+
+<p>"That's very surprising, dear nurse."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you like that man?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he is not so bad, dear nurse, and if I had not been a little afraid
+of him, I believe I should have thought him very agreeable."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, mon Dieu, I was very much frightened; he has something satanic in
+his looks."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear nurse, you're mistaken, he has a very fine face, features
+which inspire respect, and which are bland at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>"Fie! for shame! my child, to admire such an impertinent man. Oh, if
+your Urbain could hear you."</p>
+
+<p>"But, dear nurse, I should say the same thing before Urbain. Is it not
+necessary to tell him all that I think? That could not displease him,
+for he knows how much I love him."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, my child, it's late, go to bed. I am going, too, good-night."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite went up to her room, saying to herself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Young girls will always be young girls. The most virtuous of them will
+allow themselves to be favorably impressed by fine compliments, a
+handsome face, and rich clothing. These are terrible talismans with the
+women."<a name="page_vol_2_086" id="page_vol_2_086"></a></p>
+
+<p>When Marguerite had left the lower room, the barber shut the door. His
+manner disclosed a violent agitation; however, he awaited the marquis'
+explanation, and the latter narrowly watched and appeared to enjoy his
+uneasiness.</p>
+
+<p>"May I know, monseigneur," said Touquet at last, "how it is that you are
+at my house when you appointed another meeting place?"</p>
+
+<p>"What, Touquet, don't you understand it? I made a distant appointment
+with you in order that I might represent myself as sent by you to this
+young girl, whom you have hidden from me and whom I ardently desired to
+see. This is one of the little tricks which you yourself formerly taught
+me, and which are nearly always successful."</p>
+
+<p>The barber bit his lips, but did not answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, to be sure," resumed the marquis, "that you should possess such a
+treasure, an angel of beauty and grace, and hide her from me, your old
+master! From me, when you know my partiality for the sex which has led
+me to commit so many follies."</p>
+
+<p>"It was precisely because of that partiality, monsieur le marquis, that
+I hoped to shield Blanche from your notice; I am interested in that
+young girl, to whom I stand in the place of her parents. I know the
+impetuosity of your passions, and I don't think the honor of being your
+mistress for a fortnight will assure the child's happiness."</p>
+
+<p>"And how long, clown, have you made similar<a name="page_vol_2_087" id="page_vol_2_087"></a> reflections," said the
+marquis, looking witheringly at the barber. "After lending aid in all my
+intrigues, after leading me to commit actions which, but for you, I
+should never have thought of, should you allow yourself to control my
+morals and enact the knight errant of the beauties I deign to
+distinguish."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur!"</p>
+
+<p>"Remember that though your hypocrisy and lies may serve you sometimes,
+they can never deceive me. It is not from me only that you hide this
+young girl, for you hold her a prisoner in her chamber and do not permit
+her to go out. It is not because you are in love with Blanche, since you
+are about to give her in marriage; besides, love is a feeling unknown to
+you; your heart knows nothing but a thirst for gold. There is in all
+this some mystery which I must discover."</p>
+
+<p>Touquet became pale and trembling, and murmured, lowering his eyes,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I swear to you, monsieur le marquis&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Make an end of this," said Villebelle, interrupting him. "Listen to me.
+I love, what do I say, I adore this young girl whom I have seen only for
+a moment; for a very long time I have not experienced sensations similar
+to those I felt in her presence. This is not a passing caprice; these
+are not desires to which the heart is a stranger. No, on seeing Blanche
+I felt moved, uneasy, softened. I cannot define all that passed<a name="page_vol_2_088" id="page_vol_2_088"></a> within
+me. It seemed to me that I recognized that lovely child&mdash;that my love
+for her had existed for a long time. After that you must divine that it
+is impossible henceforth to live without her. Blanche must be mine; I am
+capable of every sacrifice in order to arrive at that end."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, monsieur, that is what I feared," said Touquet, who appeared to be
+really grieved at what he heard. "You wish to make Blanche your
+mistress!"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to make her happiness; I feel that my love for her will be
+lifelong."</p>
+
+<p>"That is impossible, monseigneur. Blanche is about to be married to a
+young man whom she loves. You must see that your love cannot render her
+happy."</p>
+
+<p>For some moments the marquis walked up and down the room, then he cried
+passionately,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I repeat to you, Blanche must be mine&mdash;it must be so. I will leave no
+means unemployed to attain this end. She cannot yet love her destined
+husband; she has only known him for a few days."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, who has informed you as to all this?"</p>
+
+<p>"What does that matter to you? That love is but a passing sentiment and
+I shall know how to make her forget it by overwhelming her with
+presents, with jewels, and by seeking to invent new pleasures to make
+each day delightful to her."<a name="page_vol_2_089" id="page_vol_2_089"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, Blanche is accustomed to retirement; she is not a
+coquette; your ornaments, your gifts will have no effect upon her."</p>
+
+<p>"Enough of this," said the marquis, "your objections weary me; I have
+now some orders to give you. I wish you to give me Blanche, on whom I
+swear to settle an independent fortune. Such a treasure I feel is worthy
+of a great price. Wait, here are six thousand crowns in notes and gold.
+You shall have as much more when you have fulfilled my commands."</p>
+
+<p>The barber eyed with avaricious looks the money which the marquis had
+spread upon the table; then he turned his eyes away, saying in a gloomy
+voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Gold! yes, it is always that which draws me on; but this time&mdash;no, I
+cannot. Remember, monseigneur, that within two days Blanche should be
+united to her lover."</p>
+
+<p>"Then at once, tonight even, it is necessary that she be given into my
+hands."</p>
+
+<p>The barber appeared to be weighing the proposition in his mind; from
+time to time he looked at the money on the table, and, finally, speaking
+with a great effort, he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It cannot be, monseigneur, I am extremely grieved to have to disappoint
+you, but matters are too far advanced."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis drew near Touquet, and grasping him tightly by the arm, said
+in a low tone,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_090" id="page_vol_2_090"></a></p>
+
+<p>"It will, then, be necessary that I beg my uncle, the grand provost, to
+cause a new inquiry to be held in regard to the murder of Blanche's
+father. Do you think, scoundrel, that I do not partly divine the cause
+which has induced you to keep this young girl so carefully hidden from
+everybody's sight? Her beauty would be remarked, and could not fail to
+draw a throng of admirers who would have much to say of Blanche, and in
+seeking to learn who she is and what family she belongs to they would
+obtain new facts about that unfortunate traveller who was murdered on
+the evening of his arrival in Paris. They would make reflections on the
+fortune which came to you, nobody knows how, some time after that
+event."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur," said the barber, whose face had become livid, while a
+convulsive trembling seized his limbs; "monseigneur, what do you say?
+Could you believe it of me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe nothing yet, but tomorrow I shall urge the magistrates to
+make an effort to pierce this mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, you shall have Blanche," said Touquet dropping into a
+chair as though he were perfectly helpless.</p>
+
+<p>The marquis smiled triumphantly and seemed to forget all but his love.
+Touquet who had been thrown into a state of the deepest depression and
+consternation, remained for some minutes without daring to raise his
+eyes, and unable to resume his<a name="page_vol_2_091" id="page_vol_2_091"></a> ordinary expression. Finally, he rose
+and murmured, in a broken voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Believe me, monsieur le marquis, that it is not the suspicions you have
+conceived which determine me to obey you&mdash;my devotion alone&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Enough," said the marquis interrupting him; "not another word about
+that. I am quite willing to believe that appearances are deceitful. We
+will occupy ourselves only with my love. I don't wish to lose a single
+instant in obtaining possession of Blanche, and, since you tell me that
+in two days she was to have been married, it is necessary that she
+should leave this house tonight."</p>
+
+<p>"I agree with you," said Touquet, "since she is to go the sooner the
+better. But how can it be done tonight?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't recognize you, Touquet; you see nothing but obstacles, as for
+me, I don't know of any. It is not yet midnight, we have some time
+remaining. I'll go to my hotel and send Germain, my valet de chambre, to
+get a carriage&mdash;and to go only as far as my little house."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, you must not take Blanche there; she would not be safe;
+the place is too near Paris. Urbain Dorgeville, the person she was to
+marry, will make every effort to discover her. The young man adores her;
+he is enterprising; you have everything to fear from his despair."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear nobody, and you know it. However, I<a name="page_vol_2_092" id="page_vol_2_092"></a> think your advice is wise.
+Blanche is so pretty; I already feel jealous of a glance given by her to
+another, and a good many giddy fellows know my little house. But wait,
+wait, I have just what will suit me; amongst all the property that came
+to me from my mother is a château situated in the neighborhood of
+Grandvilliers, about twenty-two leagues from here, and far enough from
+the town and the highway to avoid the notice of travellers."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, monsieur, that will suit perfectly."</p>
+
+<p>"I have only once visited this château, which is called Sarcus, but
+although I only made a short stay there, I was greatly struck by the
+elegance of the beautiful estate. The château, built in 1522, was given
+to Mademoiselle de Sarcus by Francis the First, and in the neighborhood
+is noted for the marvellous beauty of its architecture, and especially
+of its façade, in which the artist excelled all his previous works. That
+is the place to which I shall take, or rather, to which I shall have
+Blanche taken. Twenty-eight leagues&mdash;two trusty men&mdash;she will be at the
+château in ten hours or so. As for myself, after tomorrow I shall
+arrange my affairs, and pretending at court that I am obliged to go to
+England, I shall repair secretly to Sarcus to her whom I never more wish
+to leave. You see, Touquet, my plan is perfect and no one will suspect
+that I have abducted the young orphan."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monseigneur, no one among your brilliant acquaintances; but how
+shall we induce<a name="page_vol_2_093" id="page_vol_2_093"></a> Blanche to go with you quietly and prevent a noise and
+cries which will attract the attention of the neighbors?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, hang it! it will be necessary to mislead her at first&mdash;that's your
+look out. Is your invention so sterile that you can think of nothing to
+deceive a mere child. You can make her believe that she is going to
+rejoin her future husband."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, monseigneur, I've thought of a way, but Blanche mustn't see you.
+She would suspect something, and my stratagem would fail."</p>
+
+<p>"I repeat to you she will start alone&mdash;a postilion and two well-armed
+men behind the carriage will answer to me for her safety."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all that is necessary."</p>
+
+<p>"It is midnight. I'll go and settle everything. My valet de chambre
+shall start before at full speed, that he may give my orders at the
+château and that he may be there to receive our beautiful girl; at two
+o'clock in the morning I shall be at your door with a coach; you
+understand me, at two o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur le marquis," said the barber, "I will not forget the
+hour."</p>
+
+<p>"Manage so as to have Blanche ready to get into the carriage. I leave it
+to you. Do not try to evade your promise or my vengeance will be
+terrible."</p>
+
+<p>"You may rely on me, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis wrapped himself in his mantle and<a name="page_vol_2_094" id="page_vol_2_094"></a> hastily left the barber's
+shop. Touquet remained alone for some time, thoughtful and depressed; at
+length he rose abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"What does it matter after all," said he, "whether Blanche be with
+Urbain or the marquis? Shall I be foolish enough to sympathize with the
+love of two children? In keeping this young girl with me I hoped to
+avoid all suspicion. But at last I shall be relieved of the burden that
+oppresses me. Come let's put up this gold; the marquis has promised me
+as much more&mdash;and I would have refused him. No. My destiny must be
+accomplished; this metal has always served as its compass. I was only
+sixteen years old when it caused me to commit actions which drew down
+upon me my father's curse; arrived in Paris, which I had yearned to
+know, I soon found myself robbed of everything I possessed by people who
+were more adroit than myself; I had been deceived and I wished to make
+others suffer as I had suffered. I gave scope to my talents. Up to that
+time I had done no great wrong&mdash;but this cursed thirst for gold. Ten
+years have passed and have not effaced from my memory that horrible
+night&mdash;when&mdash;since then I have not tasted a moment's peace. I will
+return to my birthplace and if my father is still alive I will try to
+obtain his pardon; perhaps then I may regain quiet of mind. But if he
+knew how I enriched myself."<a name="page_vol_2_095" id="page_vol_2_095"></a></p>
+
+<p>The barber again gave himself to his reflections. Soon Saint-Eustache's
+clock struck one. Touquet slowly took the money from the table, and,
+after locking it in his room upstairs, he went to Blanche's chamber and
+knocked at the door.</p>
+
+<p>The poor little girl was not asleep; she had been too greatly excited by
+the events of the evening. She still seemed to see the stranger seated
+near her, holding her hand and looking at her with an expression that
+she could not define. She felt oppressed; it seemed to her that she
+should never see Urbain more. The marquis' figure appeared constantly
+between herself and Urbain, and the sadness the latter had felt on
+leaving her heightened her own premonitions. Yielding to this indefinite
+anxiety, often harder to bear than a real sorrow, Blanche could not
+rest, and the sound of a knock at her door in the middle of the night
+awoke in her fresh terror.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is there?" she cried, in a faltering voice.</p>
+
+<p>"It is I, Blanche," answered the barber; "open the door. I have
+something of importance to tell you."</p>
+
+<p>The young girl, who had recognized Touquet's voice, rose, hastily put on
+a dressing gown, and opened the door. The barber held the lamp in his
+hand and avoided looking at the young girl, who, on the contrary, wished
+to question him and said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy, my good friend, what has happened?"<a name="page_vol_2_096" id="page_vol_2_096"></a></p>
+
+<p>These words, "my good friend," uttered in Blanche's sweet voice, always
+agitated Touquet; he forced himself to hide his feelings.</p>
+
+<p>"Calm yourself, Blanche," he said, "and listen to me; Urbain has had a
+quarrel tonight&mdash;a duel."</p>
+
+<p>"O heavens! He is wounded!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, nothing has happened to him, but it was necessary to his safety
+that he should leave Paris immediately; had he not done so they would
+have arrested him; he therefore left for the country."</p>
+
+<p>"He left without me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me finish; you should have been married here, in place of which you
+will be married at his house; but to quiet Urbain's anxiety I had to
+promise that tonight you should rejoin him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, at once, my friend, as soon as you please; but why did he not take
+me with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"That was impossible; Urbain had not an instant to lose; by a lucky
+chance, one of my friends is sending his valet into the country to find
+a wife. The carriage will come to take you in an hour. Get ready,
+therefore. He will charge you nothing and you will find everything down
+there that you need&mdash;do you understand me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I shall be ready in a moment, and what about Marguerite?"</p>
+
+<p>"She can follow you later; I need her to make divers arrangements. In a
+few days I shall come<a name="page_vol_2_097" id="page_vol_2_097"></a> to see you. I'll leave you now; make your
+preparations. I shall come for you when the carriage arrives."</p>
+
+<p>The barber departed, and Blanche, who had not the slightest suspicion
+that anyone would deceive her, continued her toilet.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Urbain," she said to herself, "I was sure that something would
+happen to him; and he, also, had a presentiment. How fortunate that he
+was able to escape; but I shall rejoin him and I shall nevermore leave
+him."</p>
+
+<p>During this time Touquet had returned to his room, saying to himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Everything is going well&mdash;the little one will start without making the
+least difficulty. But if Marguerite is not asleep; if she should have
+heard some words of my conversation with the marquis and if she wishes
+to follow Blanche. It is important that the old woman should know
+nothing&mdash;it is easy to assure myself she is sleeping, since she now
+sleeps in the room occupied by Blanche's father. Come, I mustn't be
+weak. I'll go up."</p>
+
+<p>The barber took his light, and directed his steps towards a closet which
+was at the end of his room. When he reached it he still hesitated; then,
+making an effort to command himself, he touched a button hidden by the
+hangings, and a small door opened and discovered a small and very narrow
+staircase which led to the floor above. Touquet turned his eyes,
+murmuring,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_098" id="page_vol_2_098"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Since that fatal night I have not been in this passage."</p>
+
+<p>He mounted the stairs, his wild eyes seeming to fear that they would
+meet some frightful object, the hand in which he held the lamp
+trembling, while with the other he held to the wall to steady his
+tottering steps.</p>
+
+<p>At the top of the staircase was a door closed by two bolts, which he
+withdrew with as little noise as possible, and entered the little dark
+closet at the back of Marguerite's alcove, which the old nurse and
+Blanche had entered without perceiving the door on the staircase,
+because it was artistically hidden in the woodwork. The barber placed
+his lamp on the floor, and put his ear to the door which led into the
+alcove; he soon heard a prolonged snore, which announced that Marguerite
+was sleeping soundly; however, he softly opened the door so as to
+thoroughly assure himself of the fact; then he reentered the little room
+and left by the secret door, drew the bolts and went down, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing to fear from her."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the barber made a false step, he lowered his lamp and perceived
+some reddish stains on the staircase. Although it was difficult to
+distinguish what had produced these stains, Touquet recoiled with
+horror, his hair stood up on his head, his feet refused to carry him
+over the steps on which were imprinted the marks which caused his<a name="page_vol_2_099" id="page_vol_2_099"></a> fear;
+in his agitation he allowed the lamp to fall from his hands; it rolled
+and was extinguished. The barber was left in the most profound darkness
+in the secret passage. Showing every sign of the most ungovernable
+terror, he ran as fast as possible down the stairs, bumping his head
+against the wall, falling and crawling on the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy! mercy!" he cried, in a suffocating voice, "do not pursue me. Is
+it because I am giving up your daughter that you come anew to torment
+me? Well, I won't give her to the marquis. No, but leave me. Don't touch
+me with your bloody hands."</p>
+
+<p>At length he came to the foot of the stairs; he reclosed the door hidden
+by the hangings and without pausing in his room, where he had no light,
+he went down into the lower room, which was lit by one lamp and by the
+fire which still burned on the hearth.</p>
+
+<p>He threw himself upon a seat, and looked wildly about him, gradually
+becoming more assured; finally, he passed his hand over his brow
+saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It was a dream."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment he heard the sound of a carriage, which stopped in front
+of the house, and having entirely recovered his wits he went to open the
+street door.</p>
+
+<p>"Here I am," said the marquis, alighting from the travelling carriage.
+"I have come even sooner<a name="page_vol_2_100" id="page_vol_2_100"></a> than I promised. My valet de chambre is
+already on the way to Grandvilliers. The postilion is in the saddle,
+these two efficiently armed men will follow the coach, all is ready; and
+Blanche?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will go and get her; she believes that she is going to rejoin her
+future husband who has been wounded tonight in a duel; she has not the
+slightest suspicion that there is any trickery, and goes of her own free
+will."</p>
+
+<p>"That's excellent!"</p>
+
+<p>"But hide yourself, monseigneur, that she may not perceive you, or all
+will be lost."</p>
+
+<p>"Fear nothing; I will ensconce myself in the angle of this doorway&mdash;I
+only wish to see her enter the carriage&mdash;tomorrow I shall be at Sarcus,
+and I shall dry her tears."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go and fetch her."</p>
+
+<p>The barber went up to call Blanche, who had heard the carriage and was
+ready.</p>
+
+<p>"I am here, my good friend," said she, hastily leaving her room, "I knew
+the carriage had come."</p>
+
+<p>Touquet walked first, and Blanche followed; her heart was palpitating
+and, although she thought she was going to rejoin Urbain, this departure
+in the middle of the night had about it something mysterious, singular,
+which almost frightened her. When they had reached the lower room the
+sweet girl glanced around her, saying,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_101" id="page_vol_2_101"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What! has not Marguerite come to bid me good-by and kiss me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, we haven't time for that," said Touquet taking her hand and
+leading her into the passage. When they reached the front door the
+barber put out his head to assure himself that the marquis was not
+within sight, then he opened the carriage door.</p>
+
+<p>"Come quickly," said he to Blanche, "get in; don't lose any time."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche darted into the street and stepped into the vehicle; her heart
+grew heavy as she found herself alone in it in the darkness of the
+night; but Touquet had already closed the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, my dear friend," she said to him, "I am going to rejoin
+Urbain, but I shall never forget you. All you have done for me is graven
+on my heart by gratitude."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, go on, postilion," cried the barber, in a voice faltering with
+the emotions he experienced. At this moment two o'clock struck, the
+postilion cracked his whip, and the carriage which held Blanche started.</p>
+
+<p>"She is mine!" cried the marquis, and the barber hastily reëntered his
+dwelling.<a name="page_vol_2_102" id="page_vol_2_102"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI-b" id="CHAPTER_VI-b"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Rendezvous. Strokes of Fortune. The Hôtel de Bourgogne. The Sedan
+Chair</span></h2>
+
+<p>O<small>N</small> taking his departure from the marquis' little house in the Faubourg
+Saint-Antoine, at daybreak, the Chevalier Chaudoreille did not feel
+entirely reassured as to the outcome of his duel with Turlupin, whom he
+believed to be a great personage; and whom, incredible as it may seem,
+he firmly believed he had slain; however, the idea that he was now the
+confidential agent of one so powerful as the Marquis de Villebelle,
+which gave him the right to claim that nobleman's protection if it
+should be necessary to him, gave him the courage to return to Paris,
+where he summed up the events of the preceding night and their probable
+consequences. The marquis had promised him a hundred pistoles if Blanche
+should happen to please him, and Chaudoreille was confident that he
+should have that sum; but should Touquet discover that it was through
+him that the marquis had learned of Blanche's existence, he would have
+everything to fear from the barber's anger. However, he did not forget
+his rendezvous for the evening.<a name="page_vol_2_103" id="page_vol_2_103"></a></p>
+
+<p>Forcing himself to banish all thoughts of the barber, and chinking the
+crowns which he had won from Marcel, he went into a wine shop, where he
+passed a great part of the day trying to obtain courage by emptying
+several bottles of wine. Towards evening he felt more enterprising, and
+returned to his lodging to iron out his ruff, renovate his complexion,
+dye his mustache and imperial, dust his shoes, and brush his hat; he
+then set out for his rendezvous, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Though she should possess the grace of a princess, I must not forget
+that I have to return this evening to the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, in
+order to receive a hundred pistoles from the marquis. Zounds! for a
+hundred pistoles I would leave the Sultan's favorite and all the
+odalisks of the Grand Turk."</p>
+
+<p>The day was waning; for the last half hour Chaudoreille had been
+strolling in the neighborhood where the old woman had accosted him the
+evening before, looking up at all the windows, having first carefully
+assured himself that the water carrier was not to be seen. Finally, the
+servant who had spoken to him previously issued from a
+respectable-looking house, and, as she passed near him, said in a
+whisper,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Follow me, but do not appear to be with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Marton," answered Chaudoreille; and he followed on the heels
+of the old woman, so as not to lose her from sight.<a name="page_vol_2_104" id="page_vol_2_104"></a></p>
+
+<p>They entered the house; the servant mounted the stairs, put her finger
+on her lips and signed to Chaudoreille to follow her. The chevalier did
+so, but all of a sudden he seized the old woman's petticoat and stopped
+her, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Is your mistress married?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" asked the old woman, looking at him mockingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why! by jingo! because some husbands have very little patience in an
+affair of this kind. Hang it! a stroke of the sword is soon given, and I
+can't throw myself thus into the wolf's den."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not armed, monsieur? and if anyone should attack you, can you
+not defend yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know how to defend myself," said Chaudoreille, going down some
+stairs, "but I have an infinite respect for the marriage vow, and,
+taking everything into consideration, I should prefer to take myself
+off."</p>
+
+<p>"Come I tell you, monsieur," said the domestic running after him, "my
+mistress is not married, and you have nothing to fear."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, by jingo! You should explain yourself, my good woman. My life is
+too precious for me to expose it with temerity. Come, Lisette, go up! I
+will follow you, but if you have lied to me, tremble!"</p>
+
+<p>The old woman paused on the second landing; she opened a door and took
+Chaudoreille into a<a name="page_vol_2_105" id="page_vol_2_105"></a> pretty dining-room and from thence into a small
+well-furnished parlor, where she left him, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Wait here, I will go and tell madame."</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be long, for I am not fond of waiting," cried he, looking around
+him anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>Left alone he examined the apartment curiously, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is pretty enough, it is all in very good taste; this is a woman of
+distinction. Come, Chaudoreille, you're in great luck. Don't act like a
+novice, but show some self-possession. Everything has come to me at
+once; fortune&mdash;money&mdash;love&mdash;I am sure that I shall finish by making my
+way. Oh, the deuce! here's a hole in my doublet! But I must pull my hat
+up in front, it will hinder me from seeing my princess; I feel in
+advance that I can adore her. But it's dark and they have left me
+without a light, that's very singular. My heart beats, this is certainly
+love."</p>
+
+<p>Here Chaudoreille raised his voice, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Besides, if anyone should dare to rub against me, Rolande has an edge
+and four men could not frighten me."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the door creaked and opened behind Chaudoreille, who
+started back against a table, overturning several porcelain cups, as he
+exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Who goes there?"<a name="page_vol_2_106" id="page_vol_2_106"></a></p>
+
+<p>"It's me, monsieur," answered the servant. "I came to conduct you to
+madame."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! that's right; but you left me without a light and I mistook you for
+a rat, of which I have a great horror. I would much rather fight with a
+lion than see only the tail of one of these little animals, but show me
+the way, my good woman."</p>
+
+<p>The servant led him through another room and opened a door into a
+handsome boudoir lighted by many candles; a young woman was seated on a
+sofa at the end of the room. The old woman retired. Chaudoreille, very
+uneasy in this tête-à-tête, to which he had looked forward, dared not
+look at the person with whom he found himself, and racked his
+imagination to find a compliment suitable for the occasion; but his
+Ph&oelig;bus was stubborn, and nothing had occurred to him when he heard
+these words,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Will not Monsieur Chaudoreille speak to his old acquaintances?"</p>
+
+<p>Struck by the voice, the little man raised his eyes and uttered an
+exclamation of surprise on recognizing Julia, the young Italian, who
+looked smilingly at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Can it be? Is it indeed you whom I see?" said Chaudoreille.</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you find so extraordinary in that, monsieur le chevalier?
+Did you think that the marquis would always leave me in his little
+house?"<a name="page_vol_2_107" id="page_vol_2_107"></a></p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;undoubtedly not, beautiful lady&mdash;I do not know&mdash;but I was so far
+from expecting to see you," and he glanced tenderly at her, saying to
+himself: "I always thought that she loved me, behold me now the rival of
+a marquis; it's a tremendously ticklish position."</p>
+
+<p>"Be seated, Monsieur Chaudoreille," said Julia, who appeared for some
+moments very much amused by the embarrassment and the oglings of the
+little man. The latter, however, resumed his audacity, and was about to
+seat himself on the sofa beside Julia, but, by a gesture, the young
+woman indicated to him a folding chair, and signed to him to seat
+himself opposite her.</p>
+
+<p>"She's afraid of me," said Chaudoreille, seating himself on the folding
+chair, "she felt that she could not resist me and wished to defer her
+defeat. There's no need to hurry matters, my eyes can accomplish the
+business for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you imagine why I sent for you?" said the young woman, looking at
+him mischievously.</p>
+
+<p>"Why beautiful lady&mdash;I flatter myself, I presume there are some things
+that one divines when one lives in society."</p>
+
+<p>"And I think that you are mistaken," said Julia, assuming a serious
+tone, "and I will explain myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Mon Dieu," said Chaudoreille to himself, dismayed by Julia's change of
+tone, "Is she going to kill herself on account of me?"<a name="page_vol_2_108" id="page_vol_2_108"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I am the marquis' mistress; you are not ignorant of that fact."</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly not, since I myself was the messenger of&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Silence! do not interrupt me! If I do not seek to hide my frailty it is
+because, far from having yielded to interest or ambition, love only has
+caused my fall, and, in the eyes of a woman, love excuses many faults.
+Yes, I have loved the marquis for a long time. I had often seen him on
+the promenades, and in spite of all that I heard said about him, I could
+not resist the feeling which he inspired. My heart yielded itself to
+him. Be not astonished that I yielded so readily to your proposition. I
+flattered myself that the marquis shared the devouring flame which
+consumed me. I hoped to have enough strength not to show my love until I
+was certain of his. Alas! I counted too much on myself and it was very
+easy for him to persuade me that he loved me. Ungrateful man! the love
+which he swore to me has already given place to indifference, and I!&mdash;I
+feel that I love him more than ever."</p>
+
+<p>In speaking of the marquis, Julia became animated; her glance was fiery
+and her whole person indicated the violent passion to which she was a
+prey; Chaudoreille, much surprised at what he had heard, and almost
+alarmed at Julia's fate, drew his stool farther away as she grew warmer.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the young woman who had apparently<a name="page_1109" id="page_1109"></a> forgotten that
+Chaudoreille was there, and gave way to all her feelings; "yes, I shall
+always love you, fascinating Villebelle&mdash;this burning heart beats but
+for you! But I cannot bear your indifference; and if you should love
+another then my fury would know no bounds, and in your blood and that of
+my rival, I would revenge my outrage."</p>
+
+<p>"O my God! she wants me to stab the marquis," said Chaudoreille, and he
+tried to draw his chair still farther away, but, as it was now up
+against the wall, it was impossible for him to go any further, and he
+could only glance towards the door from the corner of his eye,
+murmuring,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This is a fine rendezvous! That woman's possessed of the devil. I like
+my portress much better."</p>
+
+<p>Julia had ceased speaking, little by little she became calmer and
+resumed her ordinary manner, and, glancing at Chaudoreille, she could
+not prevent a smile on seeing him glued against the tapestry.</p>
+
+<p>"Come nearer! come nearer," she said to him, "that I may tell you what I
+desire of you. You are, you have told me, very intimate with the barber
+Touquet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;mada&mdash;mademois&mdash;signora."</p>
+
+<p>"The barber is a man who habitually serves the marquis in his gallant
+intrigues; and I think that through him it would be very easy for you
+to<a name="page_vol_2_110" id="page_vol_2_110"></a> learn if Villebelle has any new conquest in sight. Do you understand
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes; I understand you perfectly."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you willing to serve me?&mdash;to inform me of all you can learn from
+the barber in regard to the marquis? and if you yourself should be
+employed in some love intrigues to come and impart to me immediately the
+plans which they have formed."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly. I consent with all my heart. Zounds!" added he to
+himself, "if she knew what I said to her lover yesterday, I shouldn't
+get out of here alive."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you trembling for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's nothing, it's my nerves; that happens to me often."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, take this purse; if you serve me zealously and faithfully, you
+will see that Julia is grateful."</p>
+
+<p>The sight of a well-filled purse somewhat restored Chaudoreille's
+resolution. He took the money, bowing nearly to the floor, and cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"From this moment, I am entirely devoted to you; dispose of my arm, of
+my sword, of&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It is neither a question of your arm nor of your sword, it is of your
+eyes and your ears only that I have need. Be on the watch, make the
+barber talk, inform yourself of the slightest actions of the marquis,
+and come and give me an account of them. Let nobody have the least
+suspicion of<a name="page_vol_2_111" id="page_vol_2_111"></a> you and that is all that is necessary to us. Go! and
+remember to inform me of the slightest circumstance if it has any
+connection with my love."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall be obeyed," responded Chaudoreille, bowing humbly. Julia
+rang, the old woman arrived, and, at her mistress' signal, led the
+chevalier to the door without saying a word.</p>
+
+<p>Once in the street, Chaudoreille breathed more freely.</p>
+
+<p>"Zounds!" said he, "here I am in intrigues up to my neck; Julia's agent,
+confidential man of the marquis, confidant of the barber, and, what is
+even more satisfactory, receiving money from all three of them. That's
+doing pretty well. Hang it! this purse is well-filled. Tomorrow I will
+clothe myself entirely anew. I shall get some flesh-colored breeches
+that will make me look like an angel! But I mustn't forget the most
+interesting item&mdash;the hundred pistoles that the marquis is to give me if
+Blanche pleases him&mdash;and I must go to the little house. O Fortune! you
+are treating me like a spoilt child, but it must be confessed that your
+favors are directed to a very adroit fellow."</p>
+
+<p>While making these reflections, Chaudoreille had taken his course toward
+the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, arriving at the little house at eight
+o'clock in the evening. He rang nearly as loudly as the marquis, and
+Marcel on opening the door to him said,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_112" id="page_vol_2_112"></a></p>
+
+<p>"You make as much noise as monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"Apparently it is because I have a right to do so," responded the
+Gascon, entering with an impertinent manner; then, striding across the
+garden, he went immediately into the dining-room and threw himself on a
+seat, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Has my friend, the marquis, been here since yesterday?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your friend, the marquis," answered Marcel, opening his eyes wide.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, caitiff! Or the marquis, my friend, if that pleases you
+better."</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody has been here."</p>
+
+<p>"And has he sent nothing for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"I must wait for him then. Serve supper quickly for me, all that you
+have of the best, some of your oldest wines, some liqueur. Come! go
+about it, in place of standing and looking at me like a statue."</p>
+
+<p>"But what the devil is the matter with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Marcel, no reflections, I beg of you, and, if you wish to keep your
+place, render yourself worthy of my protection."</p>
+
+<p>Marcel contented himself with smiling, then he laid the table and served
+the supper. Chaudoreille placed himself at table, Marcel did likewise.</p>
+
+<p>"Your conduct is a little familiar," said the chevalier to him; "but, as
+we are alone, I may as well allow you to seat yourself near me&mdash;"<a name="page_vol_2_113" id="page_vol_2_113"></a></p>
+
+<p>"That's very fortunate."</p>
+
+<p>"On condition that you serve me first, always."</p>
+
+<p>During supper, Chaudoreille chinked his money, counted his crowns,
+calculated what remained to him, and what he expected to receive. Marcel
+looked at him with surprise, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Have you inherited some money?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I inherit like that very often. Zounds! if the marquis keeps his
+word with me, I shall be able to keep the pace."</p>
+
+<p>The supper lasted long; Chaudoreille was so much preoccupied by his
+affairs that he did not dream of playing; however, midnight had struck,
+he had received no message from the marquis, and the chevalier's hopes
+began to vanish. He sighed, listened and exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"He doesn't come! If he should not have found her charming that would be
+very difficult for me. Zounds! in place of a hundred pistoles I should
+receive a hundred blows of a stick."</p>
+
+<p>As his hope diminished, his impertinence became tempered and he clinked
+his glass against Marcel's, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"To your health my dear and true friend, for you are my friend. Don't
+talk to me about noblemen of the court, no one can put any faith in
+them; my good Marcel, what a good cook he is and what a pleasure it is
+to me to drink with him."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't think now that I did so ill in seating myself at the table?"<a name="page_vol_2_114" id="page_vol_2_114"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What! was I so unlucky as to say that to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"Me,&mdash;could I have said such a stupid thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there is no doubt of it."</p>
+
+<p>"I was tipsy then, I'd lost my senses."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you had lost, but you said it."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, Marcel! when I say such things as that to you, I give you
+permission to curse me."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right, we'll speak no more of it."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the bell of the gate was heard. Chaudoreille uttered an
+exclamation, half rose, and dropped on his chair again.</p>
+
+<p>"That will be monseigneur," said Marcel, taking a light, and he ran to
+open the door, leaving his guest divided between fear and hope.</p>
+
+<p>Marcel soon returned; he was alone, but he held a small roll which he
+placed on the table before Chaudoreille, and presented him with a paper
+on which somebody had written two lines in pencil, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here is what monseigneur has sent you; read it!"</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille could not believe his eyes, he looked in turn at the roll,
+at the paper, and at Marcel.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you read it," said the latter to him.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, he took the paper with a trembling hand, and read: "I have seen
+her; you have<a name="page_vol_2_115" id="page_vol_2_115"></a> surpassed my hopes and I double the promised recompense."</p>
+
+<p>"O my God, Marcel! he's doubled the hundred pistoles."</p>
+
+<p>"Then that makes two hundred; that is to say, that there is, in that
+roll, two thousand livres tournois in gold."</p>
+
+<p>"Two thousand livres!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what's the matter with you now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Marcel, give me a little vinegar, I beg of you. I don't feel very
+well."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me that a present like that should make you feel very well.
+Wait, drink a drop of brandy, that will put you in good shape."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille, a little restored by the liquor, opened the roll, and the
+sight of the pieces of gold which it held deprived him for some moments
+of the faculty of speech. Finally, he murmured, in a voice faint with
+emotion,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Marcel, all this belongs to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it, all right."</p>
+
+<p>"And then, there's this purse still; and these six crowns which I had
+left&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, from the game of piquet, yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"And I am rich! Oh, it produces a terrible effect, my poor fellow, to
+pass all of a sudden from poverty to opulence. Alas! I shall suffocate!"</p>
+
+<p>"Drink a little more. My faith! if good fortune produces such an effect,
+I'd rather remain without a sou and breathe freely."<a name="page_vol_2_116" id="page_vol_2_116"></a></p>
+
+<p>"O Marcel, you're very stupid, my boy!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know at this moment which is the stupider of us two."</p>
+
+<p>"Two thousand livres! Who would believe that one could thus hold his
+fortune in the palm of his hand."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it! one should hold it there as long as he can."</p>
+
+<p>"Marcel, do you know of any property for sale in the neighborhood?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, why do you ask that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's very necessary that I should place my funds. What the deuce shall
+I do with all this! Come! after tomorrow, I shall set up my house, but
+first I shall leave my lodging in the Rue Brise-Miche and I shall take
+one near the cardinal's palace; I shall need a jockey. Marcel, will you
+be my jockey? No, in fact, you are too big. Ah, if it were not so late,
+I should visit some of the gambling houses; but I can't expose myself at
+night in this neighborhood with so much gold on me. What a figure I can
+cut in the gambling dens and at faro. I shall place first a louis on the
+card, I shall win, I shall double my stakes, I shall still win. I shan't
+take it up, I shall win ten times following, and I shall carry away a
+heap of gold. How can I spend all that. Oh, what an excellent idea! I
+can dine and sup twice every day, that will indemnify me for the times
+that I have had to fast."<a name="page_vol_2_117" id="page_vol_2_117"></a></p>
+
+<p>Marcel, whom fortune had not overwhelmed with her favors, went to sleep
+while Chaudoreille made his plans and counted his pieces of gold, but
+day dawned without the latter having closed his eyes, for, at the least
+sound, he started and carried his hand to his treasure, which he had
+rolled in his belt.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille awoke Marcel and ordered him to go and find a sedan chair;
+but Marcel would not leave the house, under the pretence that he must
+obey the marquis' orders. Chaudoreille became very insolent again and
+shouted and threatened, but seeing that nothing would move Marcel, he
+took leave, and decided to return on foot to Paris.</p>
+
+<p>The little man felt larger by six inches since he had so much gold in
+his possession. He hardly looked at the passers-by, his nose seemed to
+threaten the heavens, and he was astonished that the sentinel on guard
+at the barrier did not present arms to him.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfasting as copiously as possible he walked to the palace
+which Richelieu had built, and on which he had lavished all that the
+luxury and taste of the time afforded to please the eye and to leave to
+posterity a monument worthy of the one who had erected it.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille went into several shops, but he found nothing fine enough
+or fresh enough or brilliant enough for him. He ordered a doublet of
+rose-colored velvet slashed with white satin;<a name="page_vol_2_118" id="page_vol_2_118"></a> breeches of a similar
+color; a cherry-colored mantle embroidered with silver and a fringed
+belt with golden tassels. These articles would take the larger part of
+his fortune; but as he was certain of breaking the bank at faro, he
+refused himself nothing, and within two days hoped to be arrayed like
+the most elegant nobleman of the court.</p>
+
+<p>Having ordered his costume, he went into one of the inns in the city,
+where he was served with a rich dinner and exquisite wines; and having
+already perceived that it was not so easy as he had believed to dine
+twice a day, which would be a very great resource for rich people who do
+not know what to do with their time, he tried to make his repast last
+twice as long as usual.</p>
+
+<p>At five o'clock in the evening, he finally got up from the table; his
+face flushed, his eyes brilliant, his legs a little unsteady, and left
+the inn. It was still too early to go to the gambling house, where the
+high players do not put in an appearance until towards nine o'clock, and
+to pass his time until then Chaudoreille decided to go to the play,
+which he had not visited for a long time. He therefore took his way
+towards the Hôtel de Bourgogne, which he preferred to the Théâtre des
+Italiens, because Turlupin, Gros-Guillaume and Gautier-Garguille, famous
+for the farces which they had played in their little Théâtre de
+l'Estrapade had obtained permission from Richelieu to play there.<a name="page_vol_2_119" id="page_vol_2_119"></a></p>
+
+<p>The theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne was situated in the Rue
+Mauconseil; the entrance was very narrow and the corridors very
+incommodious; the body of the house was composed of a pit and several
+tiers of boxes. When the court attended the theatre the courtiers
+carried their seats with them. Here were represented, following the
+privilege granted to comedians in January, 1613, all mysteries, and
+decent and amusing plays; presently, comedies, rather more elevated in
+tone than the usual buffooneries, were played there; and also some plays
+in which mythological divinities figured as characters, the poets of the
+day mingling the sacred and profane; but the low jokes and puns were
+what captivated and attracted the public.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille entered the house and slipped into the pit, where everyone
+was standing, and where the fluctuations of the crowd often carried one
+from one corner to another. The chevalier found himself behind a very
+tall man and could not see the stage. In vain he drew himself up and
+stood on his tiptoes; he could see nothing except the backs and the wigs
+of his neighbors. He tried to protest, but everybody hushed him, for
+Gautier-Garguille appeared and was about to speak the prologue which
+preceded the piece. Listen to the buffoon, that you may have an idea of
+the style of prologue in use under Louis the Thirteenth.<a name="page_vol_2_120" id="page_vol_2_120"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen and ladies, one thing I ought to say to you, and that is not
+to incline your ears to the symphony of this pastime as manual operators
+who do not coöperate with the nonsense; and do not treat it as a
+deluding music or voice, rather for the spoliation and express capture
+of your purses than to win praise from your ears; the field of my
+invention being so sterile that if it is not watered by the cordial of
+your kindness it is difficult for it to produce flowers worthy to be
+offered to you. Philippot will appear immediately, and he hopes, under
+the assurance of your indulgence, to make you laugh and cry both
+together, so that finally the moderation of one feeling shall temper the
+violence of the other. Gentlemen and ladies, I shall desire, I shall
+wish, I shall will, I shall demand, and I shall require, desideratively,
+wishfully, willingly, demandatively, and requireatively, with my
+desiderations and my requireations, etc, to thank you for your kind
+presence and attention to a little jovial and jolly farce which we are
+about to represent, before which I wish to make a large, small, wide,
+narrow, and spacious remonstrance, which will make you laugh."</p>
+
+<p>While Gautier-Garguille was delivering this bombastic nonsense,
+Chaudoreille was being tortured, pressed, pushed on all sides, and
+struck in the face by his neighbors' elbows; in addition to which he
+suffered much anxiety in regard to the<a name="page_vol_2_121" id="page_vol_2_121"></a> safety of his purse. The little
+man had urgently begged them to let him go out, but nobody would listen
+to him. In his despair, and having immediate need of a little air, he
+adopted the plan of pulling the wigs of two of his neighbors to hoist
+himself to their height, but the wigs came off, and the heads of two
+respectable tradesmen of Paris appeared naked before the assembly. The
+two spectators who felt their wigs pulled off, cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Thief! watch!" and Chaudoreille mingled his voice with theirs, crying,
+"Help." The play was interrupted and at last, Chaudoreille was
+discovered struggling among the legs of the spectators, and rolling on
+the floor of the pit with the two wigs, which he had not dropped.</p>
+
+<p>The two bald heads treated him as a thief; he returned the wigs and
+explained his conduct as well as he could; they put him out of the door
+of the pit, which was all that he wished. He mounted to the boxes and
+found a place in front and, from time to time, glanced angrily at the
+public.</p>
+
+<p>However, the piece was commencing. Turlupin and Gros-Guillaume were on
+the stage and Chaudoreille rubbed his eyes, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Why! by jingo! if I had not killed him, I should believe that that was
+the Prince of Cochin-China."</p>
+
+<p>Presently Gautier-Garguille reappeared; he had counterfeited the Gascon
+to a marvel, his costume was exactly the same as that of Chaudoreille
+and<a name="page_vol_2_122" id="page_vol_2_122"></a> he had copied his manners and grimaces so well that the latter
+cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Is it another self, I see?&mdash;can I have a double?"</p>
+
+<p>The comedian having seen his model in the box, saluted him and made
+faces at him; the spectators' eyes were turned on Chaudoreille, they
+recognized in the little man that they had chased from the pit the one
+whom Gautier-Garguille had copied, and the shouts of laughter redoubled.
+The chevalier perceived that they were mocking at him and was furious;
+he drew his sword and threatened the pit, because when one defies
+everybody together it is as if one defied nobody. The spectators laughed
+louder still, and Chaudoreille left his box, swearing that he would
+never again go to the Hôtel de Bourgogne.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived in the street, where some persons had followed him, he again
+gave way to his anger, exclaiming that he would punish the buffoon who
+had dared to copy him, that nobody could mock with impunity at a man
+like him, and that he would spend, if necessary, a hundred pistoles to
+avenge himself.</p>
+
+<p>While speaking thus, he drew out his purse, chinked his gold, took it
+out and put it back in his pockets, and finally exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Who will go and bring me a sedan chair!"</p>
+
+<p>Two men immediately went to execute this commission. While waiting for
+them to return,<a name="page_vol_2_123" id="page_vol_2_123"></a> Chaudoreille promenaded before the theatre, swinging
+himself in the manner which he judged the most noble, and striking his
+belt every minute to make his gold pieces chink.</p>
+
+<p>The two men returned presently, they had obtained a chair, and would
+themselves have the honor of carrying Chaudoreille, or so they said to
+him on their arrival, exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here, master! get in, master, you'll be pleased with us."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille, whom nobody had ever called master, felt much pleased, and
+was about to bow low to the porters, but he restrained himself and
+darted into the chair, quivering with delight on the cushion which was
+at the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>"Where shall we go, master?" said one of them.</p>
+
+<p>"To Rue Bertrand-qui-Dort. You will see a lantern at the door of the
+house where I stop."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, master!"</p>
+
+<p>They closed the door of the chair, and Chaudoreille felt himself raised,
+and gently carried through the streets of Paris. It was the first time
+he had been in a chair. The pleasure which he experienced in being
+carried made him forget the disagreeable scene of the play. He reflected
+on his dazzling situation, and on the pleasure which he should taste in
+playing high, and laid new plans. However it seemed to him that he had
+been a long time in the chair, and the porters were still<a name="page_vol_2_124" id="page_vol_2_124"></a> walking.
+Chaudoreille wished to know if he were near his destination. There was a
+very narrow little window on each side of the seat, but these windows
+could not be lowered. It was late, one could not see clearly in the
+streets, and Chaudoreille could distinguish nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we almost there," cried he, leaning towards the front; nobody
+answered, and they continued to carry him. He began to think the motion
+of his carriage not quite so pleasant, he tried to open the door in
+front, the only vent by which one could leave a sedan chair, but that
+door would not open from the inside.</p>
+
+<p>A cold sweat bathed the little man's brow. He conceived a thousand
+suspicions, recalled divers adventures in which sedan chairs figured,
+and was bitterly repenting having taken one when at last he felt that
+they had stopped. He breathed more freely and prepared to descend, but
+after being deposited on the ground the chair was stood up on end, in
+such a manner that when they opened the door it was above Chaudoreille's
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you think I can get out like that?" cried he, trying to climb.</p>
+
+<p>"Before coming out there is a little ceremony to be observed, master,"
+said the porters, in a jeering tone.</p>
+
+<p>"A ceremony, what is it, my boys?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is to give us all the silver and gold that you have about you. We'll
+relieve you of that."</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/ill_124_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/ill_124_sml.jpg" width="550" height="418" alt="" title="" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol_2_125" id="page_vol_2_125"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What is that you say? Scoundrels! Rascals!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, do as we bid you and no noise, or that will be worse for you."</p>
+
+<p>As they gave this order, they flashed the blades of their swords before
+Chaudoreille's eyes, and he fell back in the bottom of the chair, unable
+to support himself. The two porters were obliged to draw him from the
+chair themselves. He glanced around him, but he was in a lonely, narrow
+road, surrounded by marshes, where nobody would venture so late. The
+robbers searched him, and despoiled him of all that he possessed, then
+they escaped with their sedan chair, leaving him lying beside a huge
+stone, half dead with fright.<a name="page_vol_2_126" id="page_vol_2_126"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII-b" id="CHAPTER_VII-b"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Poor Urbain</span></h2>
+
+<p>T<small>HE</small> morning after Blanche's hurried and unexpected departure, old
+Marguerite left her room at her usual time. The good woman had heard
+nothing; she had slept soundly, for it was long since the pleasures and
+the pains of love had caused her to suffer from insomnia. Her first
+movement on arising was to go to her dear Blanche's room to kiss her, as
+she was in the habit of doing every morning. She found the door of the
+room half open; but Blanche was not there, and the extreme disorder of
+the apartment, the bed which had been slept in but had not been made,
+the clothing spread upon the furniture, all indicated that some
+extraordinary event had taken place. The young girl had never left her
+room without Marguerite, and the latter called Blanche, and receiving no
+answer and alarmed at this departure from her customary habits, and
+perhaps by a secret presentiment, went downstairs to see if the young
+girl was with her master, but the barber was alone in the lower room,
+and then Marguerite said, in a frightened tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"O my God! where can the dear child be?"<a name="page_vol_2_127" id="page_vol_2_127"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, Marguerite," said Touquet, who was prepared for
+this scene.</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche, monsieur, Blanche is not in her room. I have sought her vainly
+for a long time; someone has taken the dear child away from us."</p>
+
+<p>"Taken her away!" exclaimed the barber, pretending to be struck with
+astonishment. He immediately went to Blanche's room, followed by the old
+servant, who went as quickly as her legs would permit. After a search,
+which Touquet knew would be fruitless, he threw himself on a seat,
+crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The wretch has fulfilled his threats!"</p>
+
+<p>"Who do you mean, monsieur!"</p>
+
+<p>"That man you saw here yesterday evening."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you're right, monsieur, it can be nobody except him."</p>
+
+<p>"He was fascinated with Blanche, he ventured to ask her hand of me. I
+refused it to him and this is how he has revenged himself."</p>
+
+<p>"But, monsieur, you must know where this man lives. He had the bearing
+of a great nobleman. You can recover our dear child."</p>
+
+<p>"I have very little hope of it. This wretch assumed a brilliant costume
+in the hope of seducing Blanche, but he is a schemer without name,
+without a roof, without position."</p>
+
+<p>"A schemer," said Marguerite, looking at her master in astonishment;
+"but, monsieur, it seemed to me that he was the same friend that you
+were waiting for so late some time ago."<a name="page_vol_2_128" id="page_vol_2_128"></a></p>
+
+<p>The barber was for an instant rendered uneasy by Marguerite's remark,
+but soon recovering himself, he resumed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You are mistaken, it was not he; I forbid you to speak to anybody of
+that again."</p>
+
+<p>"And Urbain, monsieur,&mdash;that poor Urbain&mdash;when he comes here this
+evening&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Urbain will unite his efforts with mine to recover her whom he was
+about to marry."</p>
+
+<p>The barber went out and Marguerite then gave free course to her tears.
+The good woman loved Blanche with a mother's tenderness. She could not
+bear to be deprived of her presence, and impatiently awaited Urbain's
+arrival; for it seemed to her that he would know better than anybody
+else how to discover and restore her lost darling.</p>
+
+<p>Touquet was absent during a large part of the day. On his return,
+Marguerite inquired as to the success of his search, but he answered her
+coldly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have no hope of finding her." These words chilled the poor old
+woman's heart; she could not understand how anyone could be consoled at
+the loss of Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>The hour drew near when Urbain could recompense himself for the day's
+absence.</p>
+
+<p>"Only one day more," said he, as he approached the barber's house, "and
+she will be mine." He hurried, his heart palpitating with love, but on
+looking up at Blanche's window he<a name="page_vol_2_129" id="page_vol_2_129"></a> saw no light, and this slight
+circumstance astonished him and rendered him uneasy; or rather a secret
+presentiment warned him of his misfortune, for, in love, presentiments
+are not chimeras.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain knocked and Marguerite appeared, but the grief depicted on her
+face, her eyes filled with tears, announced that something had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Blanche?" cried Urbain, looking fearfully at Marguerite.</p>
+
+<p>The old woman could only sigh deeply, but Urbain was no longer near her,
+he ran, he flew to the room of his beloved, but that room was deserted,
+its charming occupant was gone. Marguerite slowly followed the young
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"In mercy tell me," cried Urbain, "where is she? Hide nothing from me."</p>
+
+<p>"My poor boy, collect all your courage. Last night somebody carried off
+our dear child."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain remained motionless and overwhelmed, while Marguerite told him
+all that she knew. He listened without interrupting her, and seemed as
+if he could hardly yet realize his misfortune, but presently, dropping
+on Blanche's favorite seat, he yielded to the profoundest despair. The
+tears rolled down his face; at nineteen years of age one sheds them
+still in the troubles of life; one has not then that strength of mind
+which is later acquired in the school of misfortune.</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite tried to calm Urbain by saying to him,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_130" id="page_vol_2_130"></a></p>
+
+<p>"You will recover her, that dear child, for you are not capable of
+forgetting her, and coldly consoling yourself for her loss."</p>
+
+<p>"I forget her?" said Urbain, pressing the hands of the good old woman.
+"Ah, Marguerite, is not my life bound up in that of Blanche? I shall
+take no rest until she is with me again."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, my dear Urbain, to hear you speak thus renders me
+hopeful; besides, our poor little one has with her a talisman, and that
+lightens my anxiety a little."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me all the circumstances again; a man came here, you say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he said he was sent by my master, and came to speak to Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>"The scoundrel! and what did he say to her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he merely paid her some compliments. He spoke like a great
+nobleman, and he had the costume and bearing of one, although M. Touquet
+pretends that he is a wretch without position and without home."</p>
+
+<p>"He knows him, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's no doubt of it. I confess to you that I am afraid, although he
+did not have a wicked appearance, rather a look of pride, and an
+imperious tone. I was sorry at having opened the door for him, and
+Blanche, the poor little thing, trembled. But all this didn't last very
+long. He heard M. Touquet come in, and immediately the stranger took his
+mantle, saluted<a name="page_vol_2_131" id="page_vol_2_131"></a> Blanche, and went down to monsieur. I followed him, but
+they sent me away, and I know nothing further."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain left Marguerite, he darted from the chamber and, in an instant,
+he faced the barber, whose cold and gloomy look contrasted with Urbain's
+excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, monsieur, what have you learned? what have you done to recover my
+bride," cried he. "Speak! what do you know?"</p>
+
+<p>The barber, rendered rather uneasy by the vivacity of Urbain's
+questions, answered hesitatingly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have made a thousand inquiries, I can discover nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"And this scoundrel who came here yesterday, who is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly know him. He sometimes came into my shop, for what purpose I
+do not know, and I swear to you that he must have heard of Blanche's
+beauty, for he had never seen her, and formed the idea of introducing
+himself to her."</p>
+
+<p>The barber appeared so sincere in pronouncing these words that Urbain
+repented of having suspected him.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me," said he, "for daring to think&mdash;but you would not make us
+unhappy. You have given me Blanche, you have been to her as a father.
+Oh, you will join with me, will you not, in endeavoring to find her
+ravishers?"<a name="page_vol_2_132" id="page_vol_2_132"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Touquet in a low tone, "I shall second you, I promise
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"And the name of that man, you must know it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never dreamt of asking him his name. Yesterday, on my showing him
+immediately that his love for Blanche was a folly, he retired, making
+many threats to which I paid little attention."</p>
+
+<p>"Who could have given him the information which led him to wish to see
+her? and how could he get into Blanche's room?"</p>
+
+<p>"A few false keys would be sufficient for that, and in this city, you
+know, nobody is safe in his own house."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain remained silent for some moments and the barber avoided his
+looks; finally the bachelor exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, monsieur, I am going to seek for her whom you gave me to be my
+bride."</p>
+
+<p>"May you be successful," answered the barber in a gloomy voice, as
+Urbain abruptly departed, thinking of nothing but Blanche, but not
+knowing where to direct his steps.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain went first to the different gates of Paris; there he demanded if
+during the previous night anyone had seen a young woman pass, and gave a
+description of her. He was sure that everybody would notice Blanche, and
+that her charming features would fix themselves upon the memory; but he
+did not obtain the slightest information,<a name="page_1133" id="page_1133"></a> they hardly answered him. His
+simple costume prevented their putting themselves out to oblige him, for
+in the good old times, as well as today, it was necessary to scatter
+gold in order to expedite any business.</p>
+
+<p>"If all these people could know Blanche," said Urbain, "they would not
+show so much indifference."</p>
+
+<p>Not daring to leave Paris without having some indication as to the way
+that he should take, Urbain continued to walk as chance led him in the
+capital, though the inhabitants had for some time retired to rest.
+Thieves, lovers, and soldiers of the watch, alone showed themselves in
+the gloomy streets of Paris. The young bachelor traversed many streets
+without meeting anybody, but he still walked on, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Why should I go in, I could not sleep, and what could I do with myself
+at home?"</p>
+
+<p>However, love and despair do not render one indefatigable. Urbain had
+been walking since eight o'clock in the evening, and it was now nearly
+three o'clock in the morning. His legs began to fail him, he felt that
+it would soon be impossible for him to go any further. He looked around
+him. The moon, which showed at intervals, allowed him to distinguish the
+junction of some lonely cross roads into which converged some lanes
+which led to the marshes. Urbain turned towards a large stone which he
+perceived some<a name="page_vol_2_134" id="page_vol_2_134"></a> steps from him, for he thought he would there seat
+himself and wait for day, but as he reached the stone his feet struck
+against something which he had not perceived, and a voice immediately
+exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, by jingo! don't kill me; I haven't a sou now."<a name="page_vol_2_135" id="page_vol_2_135"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII-b" id="CHAPTER_VIII-b"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Château de Sarcus</span></h2>
+
+<p>T<small>HE</small> carriage which contained the unfortunate Blanche bowled steadily
+along for several hours, and in the excitement occasioned by this novel
+journey, the lovely child hardly remembered her former fears. After
+living in the most absolute retirement, shut up for years in a single
+room except at meal times, it seemed like a dream to find herself in a
+carriage in the middle of the night, and alone journeying into the wide
+world, she knew not whither. However, the noise of the wheels and of the
+horses' feet, mingled with the cracking of the postilion's whip, as he
+sought to increase the speed of his horses, which were already going
+like the wind, and the rocking of the vehicle as it swayed from side to
+side alarmed her very much and persuaded her of the reality of her
+situation.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to see Urbain," said the trembling traveller to herself, "I
+am going to rejoin him; I should not give way to my fears, we are going
+to be so happy. Why, since we are about to be united forever, should I
+feel anything but pleasure at hastening the moment? But then, I<a name="page_vol_2_136" id="page_vol_2_136"></a> had
+hoped to travel with Urbain and everything has turned out so
+differently. Poor Urbain, it's not his fault; but why did he fight? Oh,
+I am so anxious to be with him!&mdash;and Marguerite didn't even say good-by
+to me. It seems as though everybody had abandoned me."</p>
+
+<p>The sweet girl dried the tears which had moistened her eyes, then she
+looked out of the windows, but the darkness prevented her from seeing
+anything; she sighed and sank back in the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we? I don't know, but it seems to me they are going very
+fast. Well, so much the better, I shall be the sooner with Urbain."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as day began to break, Blanche, who kept looking out of the
+windows, could partly distinguish trees, fields, and houses. Presently
+the mist was entirely dissipated, and the young traveller admired the
+glory of the dawn, and the varied scenes which seemed to fly before her.
+Soon the carriage rolled along a road bordered only by trees and hedges;
+the branches of some old trees from time to time brushed the top of the
+carriage, and this unexpected sound made the inexperienced traveller
+tremble. All of a sudden the view extended widely; the road was edged
+with meadows and rich fields. The laborers were already going to their
+work; already the furrows made by the plough could be seen, and the
+spade had newly broken the sweet-smelling earth. The<a name="page_vol_2_137" id="page_vol_2_137"></a> trees were still
+bare of foliage, but the tips of the branches were reddened and about to
+break into bud. Everything announced the return of spring. Farther on
+they passed through a village, the early rising inhabitants of which
+could be seen at their doors or their windows, hastening to watch the
+carriage passing so rapidly. Contentment and health were pictured on the
+face of each peasant; it was their only ornament, for cleanliness and
+neatness are not distinguishing traits of the country people, whose
+children play on the manure heap, pell-mell with the ducks and geese.
+But nature is not always pleasing, and it is not in the outskirts of
+Paris that one must seek for the shepherds of Florian, the herdsmen of
+Bertin, the seductive villagers of our comic operas.</p>
+
+<p>Country scenes always please the pure and simple mind, and Blanche, as
+she passed the villages and farms, and hamlets, exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How delightful to live here, to walk, to run in the fields and in the
+woods! Oh, how happy I shall be with Urbain!"</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the fields and the woods bore a more smiling aspect than the Rue
+des Bourdonnais, and the barber's gloomy house.</p>
+
+<p>The carriage did not stop; the postilions had orders to speed straight
+to the château, though the horses should die at the journey's end.
+Blanche did not know how far from Paris was Urbain's house and country,
+besides, she did not remember<a name="page_1138" id="page_1138"></a> ever before being in a carriage, and it
+seemed to her that in moving so quickly they must have gone a very long
+way. About an hour after midday they passed through the pretty town of
+Grandvilliers, where a great number of manufactories afforded work and
+means to the inhabitants; but they did not stop there, and the carriage,
+turning to the right, crossed a wide plain and diverged towards a
+building which could be seen at a little distance, and which was justly
+called the wonder of the country side. It was the Château de Sarcus, of
+which the elegant façade could be discerned in the distance. Blanche
+perceived the château, but she was far from thinking that her journey
+would terminate there, though she gazed at that magnificent dwelling
+and, as the carriage rolled nearer, she could easily distinguish the
+sculptures and admire the work of artists who had surpassed themselves
+in order to merit the approbation of that gallant monarch, who
+patronized the arts as much as he admired beauty.</p>
+
+<p>At last they reached the front of the château, and the carriage, in
+place of passing, entered the confines of this handsome domain.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, what is the matter?" said Blanche trying to open the door.
+"This is not the place, this cannot be right; Urbain hasn't a big house
+like this&mdash;the coachman is mistaken."</p>
+
+<p>However, the carriage stopped in a spacious courtyard. A servant in rich
+livery opened the<a name="page_vol_2_139" id="page_vol_2_139"></a> door, and with a respectful air offered his hand to
+help Blanche alight.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, I don't wish to get down," said the innocent child, looking at
+the servant in astonishment, "this is not the place I was coming to;
+certainly they are mistaken, this is a château, it cannot be Urbain's
+house; besides, he would have been very prompt to meet me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, madame, they are not mistaken," answered Germain, the marquis's
+valet, who had arrived two hours before the carriage, in order that he
+might give instructions to the house porter, and have rooms prepared for
+Blanche. "Your journey terminates here, and everything is in readiness
+to receive you."</p>
+
+<p>"Here?" said Blanche, as she lightly stepped from the carriage, and
+looked around her in surprise, "but where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"He has not yet arrived, madame," said Germain, who had received strict
+orders to name nobody and to answer the young girl in conformity with
+the ideas she had formed in regard to her journey.</p>
+
+<p>"What, he's not here yet? and I believe he started before me. He hasn't
+come here directly, then? Oh, I understand! fearing lest he be pursued,
+he has been obliged to hide and to make some detours."</p>
+
+<p>"That's it, I am quite sure," answered the valet, smiling, "and I don't
+think he can get here before evening."<a name="page_vol_2_140" id="page_vol_2_140"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Poor Urbain, how tiresome to have to wait until this evening."</p>
+
+<p>"If madame desires to follow me, I will lead her to the apartments which
+have been hastily prepared for her."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not madame, my name is Blanche. We are not yet married, but as soon
+as he arrives I hope to be his wife. Show me the way, monsieur, I will
+follow you."</p>
+
+<p>The man entered a spacious vestibule and mounted a marble staircase,
+then he led Blanche through some superb galleries, along one side of
+which were windows of stained glass, while upon the other the walls were
+adorned with pictures representing the most pleasing mythological
+subjects. In viewing all that met her sight, Blanche could not restrain
+her astonishment. She paused and said to Germain,&mdash;in a voice which she
+tried to render still more touching,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, I beg of you, tell me the truth,&mdash;does this superb dwelling
+belong to him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle, indeed this château does belong to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I thought it was a château! and he said he had only a little house,
+and this one appears to me immense; he must be very rich to have a
+château like this, and Urbain sometimes regretted that he had not a
+large fortune to share with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he wished to surprise you, mademoiselle."<a name="page_vol_2_141" id="page_vol_2_141"></a></p>
+
+<p>"That was wrong of him; rich or poor I should love him just as much. Mon
+Dieu! how large it is, these galleries, these beautiful rooms, we shall
+be lost here; and how surprised Marguerite will be. Monsieur, are there
+cows and rabbits here?"</p>
+
+<p>"There shall be everything here that you desire, mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"Urbain has promised me a beautiful cow, and I should like to milk her
+and to make butter and cheese, that would be so amusing."</p>
+
+<p>Germain turned away to hide his smiles, because the country taste of the
+young girl appeared very singular to the servant of the great nobleman,
+but soon he opened a door saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This is the apartment which they have prepared for you, mademoiselle;
+if it does not please you, you will choose any other in the château and
+they will hasten to execute your orders."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I like this above everything," said Blanche, as she entered a
+richly furnished room, adorned with full-length mirrors, "It is very
+fine here," said she, examining the hangings, draperies and candelabras
+which ornamented the apartment. She then passed into a second room,
+decorated with the same sumptuousness, in which was a bed hung with silk
+curtains, with silver fringe.</p>
+
+<p>"If he were here," said Blanche, sighing, "all this would please me much
+better. And these windows, what do they look on?"<a name="page_vol_2_142" id="page_vol_2_142"></a></p>
+
+<p>Germain hastened to open the windows which were all provided with vast
+balconies. Blanche advanced, and could not restrain an exclamation of
+pleasure on perceiving a lake which bathed the walls of that part of the
+château in which her apartments were situated. The lake extended into
+the middle of a wide meadow, and finally lost itself in some rocks,
+where the water fell in a cascade into an immense basin. On the right of
+the meadows one could see woods and shrubberies, and on the other side
+the view extended itself, far and wide, over a country dotted with hills
+which afforded a charming landscape.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how charming it is," cried Blanche, "what a beautiful view!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle can hardly have an idea of what the view is when the
+fields are covered with verdure."</p>
+
+<p>"But I should like very much to walk in all these places which I see, to
+run in those meadows and to go on that lake, whose waters bathe these
+walls and seem to me so pure."</p>
+
+<p>"That is very easy, mademoiselle, for the park belonging to this château
+extends as far as you can see. When you wish to visit the gardens, run
+about the park, or boat on the lake, I will hasten to attend you."</p>
+
+<p>"What! does all that I see belong to Urbain?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle, all that pertains to the château."<a name="page_vol_2_143" id="page_vol_2_143"></a></p>
+
+<p>Each word of Germain augmented Blanche's surprise. She could not
+conceive that her beloved could have deceived her so far. However, she
+had not the least suspicion of the treason of which she was the victim.
+The servant pulled the bell and a young country woman came into the room
+and awkwardly curtseyed to Blanche, who returned her salutation with
+good will.</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle, this young girl is at your orders. She will serve you as
+chambermaid if you are willing to accept her services."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can do everything for myself very well; I do not need anybody, I
+thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"In any case, Marie will come as soon as you ring. Mademoiselle must
+need rest after the fatigue of the journey; we will retire."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, since he will not come until evening I will try to sleep a little.
+The time will seem shorter."</p>
+
+<p>Germain made a sign to Marie, who after having made two other curtseys,
+left, followed by the marquis' valet. Left alone in her new apartment,
+Blanche glanced around her with surprise. All that had happened to her
+since the evening before seemed like a dream. She paused before the
+furniture, the mirrors, and murmured, sighing,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"All this belongs to him, but why this mystery? He feared, perhaps, to
+be loved only for his fortune. Ah, dear Urbain, it is you only whom I
+love, and I should very quickly leave this fine<a name="page_vol_2_144" id="page_vol_2_144"></a> château if it were
+necessary for me to dwell in it without you. But we shall be very happy
+here together, although it will be rather large for us two."</p>
+
+<p>Fatigued by her journey, Blanche threw herself upon the bed. Soon
+slumber closed her eyes, she rested tranquilly, believing that she was
+under Urbain's roof.</p>
+
+<p>It was four o'clock when the young girl awakened. Her first care on
+rising from the bed was to go and look at a clock on the mantelpiece.</p>
+
+<p>"Evening is still far distant," said she sighing, "and what can I do
+until then? It seems to me that I'm lost in this fine château. If only
+Marguerite were here, we could talk about Urbain, that would make the
+time pass quicker."</p>
+
+<p>In glancing about the chamber she perceived a little door which she had
+not remarked before; she opened it and found herself in a dressing-room
+where everything was gathered that could be agreeable to a woman of
+fashion, but Blanche looked indifferently at a handsome dressing-case
+furnished with rarely beautiful objects. In her plans for a happy future
+she had seen only a small farm, a stable, a dovecot, and a garden, and
+her mind could not become accustomed to replace it by the château. She
+left the dressing-room and returned to the first room, where she saw a
+table covered with all that could tempt the appetite.</p>
+
+<p>"How attentive they are," said Blanche, "really<a name="page_vol_2_145" id="page_vol_2_145"></a> they treat me like a
+queen. Urbain must have told them to take every care of me."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche rang and Marie answered, but she was followed by Germain, who
+did not wish to lose sight of the chambermaid before the arrival of his
+master for fear she might inform Blanche of that which he still wished
+to conceal.</p>
+
+<p>"Was this table laid for me?" said Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mademoiselle," answered Germain, "I thought you would need some
+breakfast. Excuse me if I offer you nothing but that, but not being
+forewarned&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing but that! You are laughing, no doubt. There is enough here to
+suffice ten persons, and at M. Touquet's we never had more than two
+dishes for our dinner."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche seated herself at the table. Germain remained at some distance,
+and Marie served her without opening her mouth, but curtseyed to her
+every time that she handed her a dish. So much ceremony fatigued the
+young girl, who was accustomed to a simple, frugal life. She soon left
+the table and evinced a desire to walk in the park. Germain immediately
+led her through a gallery and several passages to a staircase, at the
+foot of which was an entrance to the gardens. Blanche breathed more
+freely in the meadows than under the sculptured ceilings of the château.
+She left the borders of the lake, crossed a little wood and found
+herself presently in what was designated as<a name="page_vol_2_146" id="page_vol_2_146"></a> the English park, of which
+the paths crossed each other and formed a thousand detours, but when
+Blanche turned she always saw Germain in the distance, who had never
+lost sight of her.</p>
+
+<p>"He's no doubt afraid that I shall lose myself," said she, "this is all
+so vast that it would be easy to lose one's way."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche returned to the château; Germain led her back to her apartments,
+and then asked at what hour she wished to dine.</p>
+
+<p>"I would much rather wait and sup with Urbain, for he will come this
+evening, will he not, monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so," answered the valet, bowing, and he departed, leaving her
+sad and thoughtful, for these words, "I think so," did not seem positive
+enough for her. She stationed herself on one of the balconies which
+looked on the lake and there, her eyes fixed on the horizon, gave
+herself up to her thoughts, and invoked the night which should reunite
+her with her lover. Soon her eyes could not distinguish distant objects,
+a light mist seemed to rise and obscure the scene; presently the
+perspective diminished, the horizon dosed in; finally, she could see
+only a few steps before her, and Blanche left the balcony, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Night is here, he will come."</p>
+
+<p>Germain entered the room and lighted several candles.</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as he arrives," said Blanche to the<a name="page_vol_2_147" id="page_vol_2_147"></a> man, "do not fail to tell
+him I am here&mdash;that I am waiting for him."</p>
+
+<p>"His first care will be to seek you, mademoiselle," answered the valet
+smiling, and he departed, inviting Blanche to ring if she should desire
+anything else.</p>
+
+<p>Had not Urbain's face been incessantly before the mind of the young
+girl, perhaps she would have experienced some fear on finding herself
+alone at night in a place which she hardly knew, in the middle of a room
+which seemed to her immense in comparison with the little room which she
+had occupied at the barber's, but love is the best remedy against fear,
+and the young girl, who would not go down into the cellar without
+trembling, although she had a light in her hand, would willingly go
+there without a candle were she sure of finding her lover. The clock
+struck nine.</p>
+
+<p>"He cannot be much later," said Blanche, "provided nothing has stopped
+him on the way, for M. Touquet told me he would be here before me."</p>
+
+<p>She sighed, and opening a window went on to the balcony to contemplate
+the reflection of the moon on the tranquil surface of the lake; she was
+astonished at the silence which reigned in the château, where everything
+seemed as still as the moonlit landscape. This profound quietude did not
+indicate the arrival of Urbain, and at that moment Blanche wished to
+hear some sound which would<a name="page_vol_2_148" id="page_vol_2_148"></a> at least break the solitude of the night.
+She tried to console herself by saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My rooms are probably distant from the entrance to the château; this
+house is so big I cannot hear what passes in other parts of it."</p>
+
+<p>An hour rolled by, and the uneasiness, the sadness, which had taken
+possession of the young girl caused her to pass alternately from her
+room to the balcony. Sometimes she opened the door of her room and
+ventured into the gallery.</p>
+
+<p>Joy and hope no longer animated her beautiful eyes, and she could hardly
+restrain her tears. At last she dropped into an immense easy chair and
+said in a broken voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What new misfortune could have happened to him?"</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a loud noise was heard. Blanche rose, listened, and thought she
+distinguished the sound of carriage wheels, the hoofs of horses, and the
+barking of dogs. Presently the opening and shutting of doors was heard.</p>
+
+<p>"He is come," cried the young girl, and she was about to pass along the
+gallery to go and meet her lover, but there was no light, she did not
+know the way and would become lost in all these immense rooms; it would
+be much better to wait for him in her own. She still listened. The sound
+of wheels had ceased, but she occasionally heard steps and voices.</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody surely has arrived," said Blanche.<a name="page_vol_2_149" id="page_vol_2_149"></a> "It can be nobody but
+Urbain; but why does he not come to me?"</p>
+
+<p>She ran to the bell and pulled the cord several times. Nobody came.
+Greatly astonished at this, she was about to take a light and venture
+into the gallery when hasty steps approached.</p>
+
+<p>"Here he is at last," exclaimed she, running immediately to the door,
+and remaining motionless with surprise and fear on seeing before her the
+stranger who, on the preceding night, had visited the barber's house.</p>
+
+<p>The marquis paused on the doorsill. He bowed to Blanche with a look at
+once tender and respectful. The latter had hardly recovered from her
+surprise, and looked anxiously into the gallery, saying to the marquis
+in a touching voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Is not Urbain with you?"</p>
+
+<p>Blanche's accents were so sweet, her voice expressed so much anxiety of
+mind, that Villebelle felt profoundly moved, and for the first time,
+perhaps, experienced some remorse at the pain which he was about to
+cause the young girl. Blanche repeated her question in a supplicating
+tone, and the marquis answered, turning away his eyes,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I came alone."</p>
+
+<p>"O monsieur, in mercy tell me what has happened to him!" exclaimed
+Blanche, approaching the marquis and extending her arms towards him in
+her anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>Villebelle looked at her and in that moment the<a name="page_vol_2_150" id="page_vol_2_150"></a> various feelings which
+agitated the charming child, rendered her still more seductive. Her eyes
+were more animated than usual, her lips, half opened, disclosed two rows
+of pearls, and her hair falling in disorder over her forehead, gave a
+new expression to her angelic face. The marquis felt his remorse vanish
+at the sight of so many charms. Habituated, besides, to treat virtue as
+a chimera and constancy as a folly, he flattered himself that he would
+soon be able to dissipate Blanche's grief, and now, wishing to undeceive
+her, he fell on his knees, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Deign to forgive me, lovely girl; this château belongs to me. You are
+not in Urbain's house, but in the house of a man who adores you and will
+use every means to promote your happiness."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche seemed as though she did not comprehend him; she looked at him
+affrightedly, repeating,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am not at Urbain's house? But, monsieur, where is he then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not very uneasy about that, and I should advise him not to come
+here to seek you."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is with Urbain that I should be, monsieur. They were mistaken in
+bringing me here, I said so at the time; I knew Urbain could not have
+such a grand house. You are going to make them take me away immediately,
+are you not, monsieur?"<a name="page_vol_2_151" id="page_vol_2_151"></a></p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear child, it was I who caused you to be abducted and I will
+yield you to nobody."</p>
+
+<p>"Abducted?" she cried, "what are you saying? Urbain had fought a duel
+and had to flee, that is why I started in the middle of the night."</p>
+
+<p>"It was necessary to tell you that, in order that you might leave
+willingly."</p>
+
+<p>"O my God! could that be so? But, no, it was my protector, it was M.
+Touquet himself, who put me in the carriage."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, adorable Blanche, it was your protector, it was the honest Touquet
+who aided my plans and gave you up to my love."</p>
+
+<p>The frightful truth flashed into her mind, her knees failed her, the
+color left her cheeks, and without uttering a single cry she was about
+to fall upon the floor. Happily the marquis received her in his arms, he
+laid her on the bed and rang the bell violently. Germain immediately
+appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Call someone, call for help," said the marquis, greatly agitated, "she
+has lost consciousness. Is there not a woman here in the château?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, monseigneur." Germain called Marie, and the stout country
+girl came running.</p>
+
+<p>"Give all your care to this young girl," said the marquis to the woman,
+"and do not leave her for an instant. If she is long in coming to her
+senses, send me word."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, monseigneur," said Marie, curtseying, and Villebelle left
+the room with Germain.<a name="page_vol_2_152" id="page_vol_2_152"></a></p>
+
+<p>The marquis, fatigued by his rapid journey from Paris, threw himself
+upon a lounge as soon as he reached his apartment, and while Germain
+relieved him of his travelling dress he inquired as to what Blanche had
+said and done since her arrival.</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur," said Germain, "she believed that she was at the house of
+M. Urbain, and following your orders I have not undeceived her."</p>
+
+<p>"She appears to love him more than I had believed," said Villebelle,
+sighing.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis but the love of a young girl, monseigneur, a fierce fire, which
+soon burns itself out."</p>
+
+<p>"May what you say be true, but Blanche bears no resemblance to other
+women whom I have seen up to this day. There is about her a candor, a
+frankness, finally, a something, I know not what, which commands
+respect. I cannot explain to you the feeling with which she inspires me.
+Her tears sear my heart. I wish to win her love by the attentions which
+I shall lavish upon her. It will take some time, perhaps; but no matter,
+I feel capable of restraining my passion, of submitting to everything
+which she may exact of me. You see, Germain, that I am truly in love,
+for I no longer recognize self, and near Blanche I feel as timid as a
+child."</p>
+
+<p>"We must see if that will last, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, you don't understand what I experience. Germain, you must start
+tomorrow morning for Paris; I will give you what money is necessary,<a name="page_vol_2_153" id="page_vol_2_153"></a>
+and you will bring back everything you can find of the prettiest and
+newest in ornaments, stuffs, and jewels. Spare nothing, that we may find
+something to please Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>"Rely on me, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"How many servants are in the château?"</p>
+
+<p>"The old porter, who never leaves his door, believing himself the
+guardian of a citadel; his daughter Marie, whom monseigneur saw just
+now, and who is the only woman I found at the château."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she capable of waiting on Blanche?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, monseigneur, she's rather stupid, rather awkward, but very
+faithful and obedient. Her father answered to me for that; besides,
+Mademoiselle Blanche seemed to prefer to do without a chambermaid."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, go on."</p>
+
+<p>"The gardener, an old idiot, who knows nothing except plants. As to the
+country people whom we employ, they never come inside the house. Oh, I
+forgot, an old cook and cellarman, very drunken, so far as I can see,
+but he is never permitted to leave his kitchen and, in the absence of
+his masters, shuts himself up in the cellars."</p>
+
+<p>"That is well, but it is necessary to have some people here who can
+watch Blanche or else she will doubtless find some way to escape, if, in
+time, she should form such a plan, and I brought from Paris two lackeys
+who will acquit themselves perfectly<a name="page_1154" id="page_1154"></a> in this employment. Ah, Germain,
+if I can only make Blanche love me, how happy I shall be; but I am
+anxious to have news of her, go down and call Marie, I cannot remain in
+this anxiety."</p>
+
+<p>Germain went down, but soon returned with the young peasant, who had
+already left Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how is she?"</p>
+
+<p>"That young lady, monseigneur?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she returned to her senses some time ago, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did she say then?"</p>
+
+<p>"On my word, monseigneur, lots of things that I couldn't understand&mdash;Oh,
+wait, I remember, she asked me if you were master of the château, and as
+soon as I said 'Yes,' she began to cry."</p>
+
+<p>"She wept?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, monseigneur, she did nothing else, and then she asked me your
+name."</p>
+
+<p>"What did you answer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy, I said that you were called monseigneur le marquis."</p>
+
+<p>"She asked you no other questions?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"And why did you leave her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, it was because she told me she would like me to leave
+her."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis signed to them to leave him. He did not wish anyone to
+witness the emotion which<a name="page_vol_2_155" id="page_vol_2_155"></a> he felt. It gave him satisfaction to know
+that Blanche was within his walls, but the sorrow which she showed
+disturbed his content. He dared not go back to her yet, deeming it wiser
+to allow her time to recover from the first pangs of her grief. He threw
+himself upon his bed, but he could not sleep. The image of Blanche was
+incessantly before his eyes, and with her came the remembrance of the
+many errors of his youth which he wished in vain to drive from his mind.</p>
+
+<p>While Villebelle endeavored to account for his insomnia and agitation by
+attributing it to love, Blanche passed in tears that night which she had
+awaited with so much impatience. Convinced at last that she was in the
+power of the man to whom the barber had delivered her, she felt all the
+horror of her situation; but accustomed by Marguerite to put all her
+confidence in a Supreme Being, and to have no doubt of His power, she
+prayed and besought Heaven to reunite her with Urbain. Upon her knees,
+her hands raised toward Heaven, and her eyes bathed in tears, she passed
+part of the night, and morning found her still so occupied.</p>
+
+<p>Marie came to take her orders. Blanche wished for nothing, she desired
+nothing but her liberty, and, in answer to that request, Marie brought
+her breakfast. An hour later the marquis entered the room. Blanche did
+not see him; she was seated with her head supported by one of her hands
+and appeared absorbed in sorrow.<a name="page_vol_2_156" id="page_vol_2_156"></a></p>
+
+<p>Villebelle signed to Marie to leave them, and looked for some moments in
+silence at this young girl who had been, since the evening before,
+reduced to despair because she was pretty and had had the misfortune to
+please a rich and powerful man, who thought that she should be only too
+happy to be the object of his passion. However the change which had
+taken place in Blanche's features, her eyes reddened and still filled
+with tears, made a painful impression upon the great nobleman. He would
+have preferred reproaches rather than this silent grief. He drew nearer,
+that his victim might perceive his presence.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche raised her eyes and looked at the marquis, showing only a slight
+uneasiness, and let her head fall again upon her hand. Villebelle had
+expected complaints and reproaches. Surprised at this silence he took a
+chair, and seated himself near Blanche, who remained silent and
+continued to weep.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you so very unhappy then?" said the marquis at last, with emotion;
+and Blanche answered sobbing, but with the sweet tone which never left
+her,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you regret the barber's gloomy house where you never had any
+pleasure?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is not the house that I regret, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Here there is nothing to hinder you from being the most happy woman;
+all your desires<a name="page_vol_2_157" id="page_vol_2_157"></a> shall be laws here, you shall have the most beautiful
+ornaments, the richest jewelry."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wish for them, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"You will not always think so, my dear child. Formed to please, to
+attract homage, one day by your features and your toilets you will
+eclipse the most seductive ladies of Paris."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand you, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Forget the years passed in retirement and commence a new life. This
+dwelling shall become a place of delight; parties and pleasures shall
+succeed each other here without interruption as soon as your beautiful
+eyes repay my efforts with a smile. The barber did not deserve your
+friendship; the wretch would not have brought you up had it not been for
+his interest to do so; you may dismiss all thoughts of gratitude from
+your heart. As to the young man to whom he wished to marry you, he is
+but a boy, somebody has told me, and will soon forget you."</p>
+
+<p>"Urbain forget me!" cried Blanche, starting convulsively. Then she said
+in a calmer tone, falling back in her chair,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No, monsieur, Urbain will not forget me, for I feel sure I shall love
+him always, and our hearts had but a single thought."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis rose, greatly annoyed, and walked about the room. In a
+moment he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is, however, useless, mademoiselle, to nourish a sentiment which
+must henceforth be hopeless,<a name="page_1158" id="page_1158"></a> for you shall never more see this Urbain,
+whom I hate without knowing."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche looked supplicatingly at the marquis, approached him and threw
+herself on her knees, saying, in a voice broken by sobs,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, what have I done to you that you should punish me like this?
+If, unknowingly, I have been guilty of any fault, forgive me, I beg of
+you, but do not separate me from Urbain."</p>
+
+<p>"Rise, I beseech you," said Villebelle, who yielded in spite of himself
+to the emotion which he felt. "No, you are not guilty, lovely girl, it
+is I, I alone; yes, I am a monster to make you shed tears. Ah, why did I
+ever see you&mdash;but you are so pretty!"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, has any one the right to shut up a girl because she is
+pretty? If you punish me by shutting me up a prisoner in your château,
+that should be forbidden. Is it permitted to a great nobleman to torment
+poor people at his will? O my God! and the talisman which Marguerite
+gave me to preserve me from all danger! O poor Marguerite! if she only
+knew how unfortunate I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well," said he, leaning towards Blanche, "since you hate me, since
+I am only an object of dislike to you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I hate you!" said the innocent child, raising her sweet eyes to his.
+"Oh, no, monsieur, don't believe that; despite all the grief you have
+caused<a name="page_vol_2_159" id="page_vol_2_159"></a> me, I don't know how it is, but I feel that I should like to
+forgive you, I feel that I could even love you."</p>
+
+<p>"You could love me, delightful girl," exclaimed the marquis, intoxicated
+by these words. "O heavens, she could love me and I was just about to
+consent&mdash;oh, never; rather would I die than lose you or yield you to
+another. You have given me a foretaste of so much happiness that the
+idea of it alone transports me. Blanche, Blanche, I shall do everything
+to merit the love which you allow me to hope for, but to renounce
+you&mdash;ah, that is henceforth impossible. I must leave you, that I may not
+see those tears which make me detest my love."</p>
+
+<p>Villebelle left precipitantly. Blanche looked after him in surprise,
+understanding nothing of the transport which he had shown. She was far
+from conceiving that she had riveted her chains in confessing to the
+marquis that she had a feeling of friendship for him. Her pure heart did
+not know how to feign, and the feeling which she wished to give to the
+marquis was so different from the love she had for Urbain that she saw
+no harm in allowing it to appear. But Villebelle did not know how to
+read this ingenuous heart. He imagined that Blanche was about to respond
+to his love, and did not doubt but that he should, in time, cause her to
+forget Urbain.</p>
+
+<p>The day rolled by without the marquis again<a name="page_vol_2_160" id="page_vol_2_160"></a> approaching Blanche. The
+latter tried to summon her courage, but could not persuade herself that
+the marquis had any intention except to keep her prisoner, and she had
+recourse to her talisman, hoping by means of it to abridge her sojourn
+in the château. In the afternoon, Blanche asked Marie the way into the
+park, and the stout peasant hastened to lead her to the entrance, where
+she left her, making a curtsey. Despite her innocent air, the country
+girl understood that her lord was in love with the young damsel. Marie
+had remarked Blanche's red eyes, and heard her deep sighs, and, while
+leaving her, she said to herself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Zooks! if monseigneur was in love with me, that would not make me cry;
+far otherwise."</p>
+
+<p>Although she was alone in the park, Blanche did not even conceive the
+idea of seeking to recover her liberty. She did not know the way, and
+was ignorant as to what place she was in, and how far from Paris. She
+felt that it would be impossible to leave without again falling into the
+power of the marquis, and she resigned herself to wait until he should
+send her to her lover. She did not suppose the marquis capable of
+keeping her always a prisoner, and did not yet divine all the dangers
+which surrounded her in the château.</p>
+
+<p>Villebelle, learning that Blanche was in the park, hastened to join her
+there, and the young girl received him almost smiling, and although<a name="page_vol_2_161" id="page_vol_2_161"></a> her
+features still wore a plaintive expression, she chatted with him on the
+objects which surrounded them, and answered him with her accustomed
+sweetness and grace. This conduct appeared so extraordinary to the
+marquis that he regarded Blanche with as much astonishment as love.
+However, far from emboldening him, he felt for her a most profound
+respect, and dared not speak of his love, and, not understanding the
+power which the child exerted over him, he remained for some time silent
+and thoughtful, walking at her side.</p>
+
+<p>The next day Marie carried into Blanche's room the things which Germain
+had brought from Paris; an infinite quantity of those charming nothings
+invented so that rich men may more easily spend their money. The stout
+peasant looked on each object with ecstasy, while Blanche hardly took
+the trouble to look at them.</p>
+
+<p>The marquis came to see his young captive, and perceived that she had
+not touched his presents.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you disdain that which I am so happy to offer you?" said he to
+Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wish for any of those things," answered she, sighing. "I do not
+need all of these ornaments in order to please Urbain. What would he say
+if he saw me in them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Still thinking of Urbain? Have I not told you, mademoiselle, that you
+will not see him again?"<a name="page_vol_2_162" id="page_vol_2_162"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but I don't think you're so wicked as you wish to appear. How
+would it help you always to vex me so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche, have you not confessed that you were not far from loving me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I still feel the same. With Urbain and you I should be very
+happy."</p>
+
+<p>"May I not hope by the ardor of my attentions, my love, that I may cause
+you to forget a first fancy, and that I alone shall occupy your heart?"</p>
+
+<p>"You don't understand me, monsieur. I love Urbain as my lover, my
+husband; and you&mdash;I should like&mdash;I don't know, it seems to me that I
+could with pleasure call you my brother&mdash;or my father."</p>
+
+<p>This confession did not entirely satisfy Villebelle, but he hoped
+everything from time and the constancy of his attentions.</p>
+
+<p>Towards evening Blanche again went into the park, and as on the previous
+evening the marquis joined her. He walked near her, feeling his love
+increase every moment. The marquis could not recognize himself. This
+libertine, this seducer, who had triumphed over the most rebellious
+beauties, had become timid and fearful before a child who had no other
+safeguards than her innocence and her virtue.</p>
+
+<p>Twelve days had passed since Blanche had come to the Château de Sarcus,
+and had wrought<a name="page_vol_2_163" id="page_vol_2_163"></a> no change in the situation. Every morning the marquis
+paid her a visit, but when, yielding to the grief which she experienced
+on being separated from him she loved, the sweet child allowed her tears
+to flow, the marquis left her abruptly. In the evening they walked
+together in the park, but often in silence or exchanging only a few
+words. Blanche dreamed of Urbain, and Villebelle, satisfied in being
+near her, had not yet conceived guilty designs.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of this time, a message from Paris apprised the marquis that
+his uncle was very ill, and desired to see him before he died.
+Villebelle, the sole heir of this relative, who was very rich, was
+obliged to go to him, and decided, although with regret, to leave
+Blanche for some days. He took Germain with him, but the men servants
+whom he left at the château had received their instructions; besides the
+sad Blanche had no idea of escaping. The marquis judged it better not to
+forewarn the young girl of his departure; and he left the château more
+in love than ever, and vowing to hasten his return.<a name="page_vol_2_164" id="page_vol_2_164"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX-b" id="CHAPTER_IX-b"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Meeting. Projects of Revenge.</span></h2>
+
+<p>W<small>E</small> left our disconsolate young lover at the moment when he was about to
+seat himself upon a huge stone, and was arrested in the act of doing so
+by an exclamation uttered by an unseen man.</p>
+
+<p>The words pronounced by this individual have no doubt already caused the
+reader to recognize our Chaudoreille, who had remained in the place
+where the robbers, disguised as chair porters, had left him.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain was startled on hearing himself thus addressed, but being one of
+those persons who are insensible to fear, he calmly seated himself on
+the stone, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, monsieur, I did not see you."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille half rose, looked at Urbain, and began to feel reassured.
+Besides, what had he to fear now? His money was gone and his costume
+would not be likely to tempt robbers. Rolande, it is true, was still
+left him, for the thieves had perceived that in his hands the weapon was
+not dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>"By jingo! you woke me up, comrade; and I was having a delightful dream.
+I still had the two<a name="page_vol_2_165" id="page_vol_2_165"></a> thousand livres of gold in my pockets, when I
+awakened to the sad reality. O thousand million mustaches! The thieves,
+the scoundrels! they have taken everything from me. I've had a fine
+experience; I don't own so much as an obole. O death! O fury! O
+despair!"</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille again threw himself upon the ground, and pulled two or
+three hairs from his mustache. Feeling that this would not restore his
+crowns, he quieted himself, and again looked at Urbain, who was sighing
+deeply, and appeared to pay no attention to the despair of the despoiled
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"What the deuce! this is a taciturn fellow," said the Gascon to himself;
+and then he again addressed Urbain.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll wager that you have been robbed, also, comrade. This town is
+indeed infested with thieves and bandits; one is safe only in the midst
+of a patrol, and yet one can't be proud of the watch. It was that cursed
+theatre brought this misfortune upon me; those wretched comedians at the
+Hôtel de Bourgogne dared to mock at a gentleman of my race. Ah,
+Turlupin, my friend, I'll get even with you. Tomorrow I'll lay a
+complaint before the criminal magistrate, and I'll put you and
+Gautier-Garguille in a dungeon. But, alas, that won't restore my two
+hundred pistoles. I'll wager you haven't as much on you, comrade&mdash;hey?
+By jingo, you sigh as though they had despoiled you<a name="page_vol_2_166" id="page_vol_2_166"></a> of the towers of
+Notre-Dame. Were you robbed in a sedan chair?"</p>
+
+<p>A deep sigh was Urbain's only response; then he murmured to himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, I have lost her forever!"</p>
+
+<p>"I was sure he'd lost his purse," said Chaudoreille, "or rather, that
+some one had taken it from him. Did you lose it in this neighborhood,
+comrade?"</p>
+
+<p>Urbain looked at him in surprise, then he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know where she can be. I have been running all over Paris since
+eight o'clock, and I have learned nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"If you only had a lantern, that would help you&mdash;was it very large? If
+we recover it full, comrade, you must share it with me. That's
+understood."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain rose and seized Chaudoreille by the throat, and holding him
+tightly to the ground, exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Wretch! do you dare to insult my sorrow? If I should listen to my
+anger&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"O mercy! do not listen to it, I beg of you. Ugh, I can't bear it any
+longer. What the devil sort of man are you? Did you come from the
+Château de Vincennes? Because I offer to help you look for your lost
+purse, you try to strangle me!"</p>
+
+<p>"My purse? what, you were talking about money?"<a name="page_vol_2_167" id="page_vol_2_167"></a></p>
+
+<p>"How could I talk about anything else after having had so much of it as
+I have."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, monsieur, I didn't understand you."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm beginning to see that; but, by jingo, we were nearly choked, that
+is to say, you choked me. What a grip you have, it's like mine when I
+hold Rolande. It appears that it's not money you've lost, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"O monsieur, would to heaven it were! I would give all I possess to
+recover her whom I adore&mdash;she who was about to become my wife!"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor simpleton," said Chaudoreille to himself, "it's on account of a
+woman that he's lamenting thus. He doesn't know what it is to lose two
+hundred pistoles, without counting the small change. But since he's not
+been robbed, I'll try to make him useful&mdash;if I could replenish my
+pockets by helping him to find his lass!"</p>
+
+<p>The chevalier rose, and seating himself on a stone near Urbain, said to
+him, in a feeling voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me your troubles, young man, I'm the protector of everything in
+nature that suffers&mdash;in consideration of a slight gratuity; but I never
+charge anything, trusting to the generosity of those whom I oblige."</p>
+
+<p>"What could you do for me, monsieur? I have not the least trace of the
+abductors, nor of the<a name="page_vol_2_168" id="page_vol_2_168"></a> route they have taken. Oh, I feel that courage
+has abandoned me."</p>
+
+<p>"What a thing to say, young man! Courage should never leave you. For
+shame!&mdash;in all the phases of life it is courage which makes us equal the
+gods, who, in truth, should not fear death itself, since they are
+immortal. But to return to you. If you have money it is always a
+resource. I shall help you to find your sweetheart; two of my friends
+are detectives, that is to say, they operate as amateurs for the good of
+humanity. Tell me in what neighborhood did the little one live?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the Rue des Bourdonnais, with the barber Touquet, who brought her
+up."</p>
+
+<p>"At the barber's? Rue des Bourdonnais&mdash;and your sweetheart is named
+Blanche?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur, do you know her? Oh, pray tell me."</p>
+
+<p>"One moment, one moment, my young friend. Hang it! this is an event for
+which I&mdash;give us your hand; by jingo, you're very fortunate to have met
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"What! can you help me to find Blanche?" and Urbain threw himself on
+Chaudoreille's neck.</p>
+
+<p>"This young man is the one Blanche was going to marry," said the Gascon
+to himself, as he disengaged himself from Urbain's grasp. "It appears as
+though the marquis had already carried the little one off; but he has
+paid me, I have nothing more to hope for from him; so I must turn to
+the<a name="page_vol_2_169" id="page_vol_2_169"></a> young lover's side. However, I shall be prudent and not let him
+know who I am, nor what I have done in this intrigue."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain pressed Chaudoreille to explain himself, and the latter answered,
+in a mysterious tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am acquainted with neither Blanche nor the barber, but one of my
+friends goes often to Touquet's shop. I remember now that he has often
+spoken to me of your approaching marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"That's singular! M. Touquet advised the greatest secrecy, and he
+himself&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But, you see, some one must have spoken of it, since I know it. But a
+man of high rank, a great nobleman, was in love with your promised
+wife."</p>
+
+<p>"A great nobleman! what is his name?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know yet, but I shall learn it."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are sure of this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, very sure; and it must be this nobleman who has taken away your
+sweetheart."</p>
+
+<p>"I entreat you to let me know his name."</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow, that is, to say, this evening, I hope to learn it. But be
+prudent, young man, and do not compromise me. I expose myself to great
+risk in thus helping you."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, you may count on my gratitude."</p>
+
+<p>"I will count on it, you may be sure."</p>
+
+<p>"And I may expect the information this evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; be near the Porte Montmartre at nine<a name="page_vol_2_170" id="page_vol_2_170"></a> o'clock this evening. Take
+care to bring along with you all the money you can get together, and I
+will tell you all I have learned."</p>
+
+<p>"Enough! Oh, that evening were here&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And, while waiting for it, I shall have need of some crowns to give to
+the friend of whom I spoke to you, and my pockets are empty because I
+have been robbed so much."</p>
+
+<p>"Here is all that I have upon me, monsieur; take it, I beg of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Very willingly, my young friend," said Chaudoreille; "but day is
+dawning; we must part until this evening, at the Porte Montmartre."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I shan't fail to be there, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"And don't forget anything I have told you. Good-by; I'm going to work
+for you."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille departed, and Urbain, slightly restored by the hope
+imparted to him by this man, went to his dwelling that he might there
+wait for evening.</p>
+
+<p>While walking alongside the Pont-Neuf, the Gascon said to himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me that the marquis did the business very quickly. The
+little one is abducted; this rascal of a Touquet is in connivance with
+the marquis, I am certain. I must be audacious now; the marquis is
+incapable of speaking of me; I must go to Touquet's house without
+appearing to know anything, and see what he will say to me; besides,
+from prudential motives I shall remain<a name="page_vol_2_171" id="page_vol_2_171"></a> in the shop, and the first angry
+movement that I see him make, I will spring out of the door and draw a
+hundred people around me."</p>
+
+<p>This plan settled, Chaudoreille began by going into the first
+eating-house which he saw, and, for fear of being again robbed, ate and
+drank to the extent of all the money which Urbain had given him. It was
+nearly ten o'clock when he left the table. This was the time when the
+barber's was always the most crowded, and it was the moment which
+Chaudoreille chose to go there. Before he went into the shop, he
+ascertained that Touquet was not alone; then he presented himself, and
+wished him good morning with a wheedling air. The barber answered in his
+customary tone. Nothing in his manner indicated that he had any
+suspicion, and Chaudoreille was reassured. However, when they were alone
+he did not lose sight of the door, while asking indifferently if there
+was any news.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything is finished," said the barber, "they are married, they are
+gone, and I hope I shall hear nothing further."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they are married," said Chaudoreille, compressing his lips, "the
+little one has a husband. Her little lover?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course," answered Touquet, brusquely. "What is there surprising
+to you in that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Me? By jingo! I'm no more surprised than a fly."<a name="page_vol_2_172" id="page_vol_2_172"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Wait, here is what I promised you. I intend shortly to sell this house,
+and to retire from business. I have no further need of your visits; you
+have no more music lessons to give here, so you need not take the
+trouble to come again. Good-by, I will make you a present of all the
+shaves for which you owe me."</p>
+
+<p>"Very much obliged, my dear friend, may I be able to prove all my
+gratitude to you some day."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Chaudoreille passed through the doorway, and departed from
+the barber's house.</p>
+
+<p>"He forbids me to return to his house," said the Gascon. "That's very
+polite. The rascal is afraid that I shall meet the marquis there. The
+latter probably ordered him to share with me the gratuity he gave him on
+receiving the pretty little sweetheart at his hands; but patience! if
+you are a scoundrel, my dear Touquet, I flatter myself that I am also an
+adroit enough chap. I have no desire to return into your hornets' nest.
+Come, Chaudoreille, we must show some genius here, my friend. I must set
+to work to repair last night's losses and to make my fortune over again.
+Devil take me, though, if I ever again take a sedan chair. First I'll go
+to the little house in the Faubourg and learn from Marcel if it was
+there that the marquis led Blanche; after that I shall come back into
+Paris and go to our jealous Italian's house; there I shall tell her all
+about it,<a name="page_vol_2_173" id="page_vol_2_173"></a>&mdash;I shall tell her all about it! She'll go into convulsions
+over it. Finally, I'll keep the appointment I made with the young lover,
+and after having made him pay me well, I'll tell him all that I know.
+After that each one of them may win out of it as they best can. As for
+me, as soon as my pockets are full, I shall settle myself in a faro
+house, and I will there dare fortune in the midst of players and
+bankers. By jingo! what a pleasing prospect."</p>
+
+<p>While laying these plans he took his way towards the Faubourg
+Saint-Antoine. He arrived all out of breath at the little house, and,
+while opening to him, Marcel asked him if by chance he had again killed
+a strange prince.</p>
+
+<p>"Not today," said Chaudoreille, affectionately squeezing his friend's
+hand, which made the latter presume that his great fortune was already
+dissipated.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you come for the purpose of buying a house in this neighborhood,"
+said Marcel.</p>
+
+<p>"There's no more question of that; I have been robbed, my friend,
+completely robbed. I took a sedan chair and the wretches who carried me
+took me into a den and put a dozen or fifteen men after me. Valor could
+do nothing against numbers; I think, however, that I killed three or
+four while defending myself. But let us drop that. Tell me, my dear
+Marcel, has the marquis brought here a new conquest?"<a name="page_vol_2_174" id="page_vol_2_174"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I have seen neither monseigneur nor anybody from him."</p>
+
+<p>"Marcel, you're lying."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm telling you the truth. There's no one except me in the house."</p>
+
+<p>"The devil! that upsets my ideas a little. You are very sure that you
+are not lying to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, hang it! if there had been anybody here I should have sent you
+away before this."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know if your master possesses any other little properties on the
+outskirts of Paris?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know nothing except to follow the orders which he has given me, to
+eat and to sleep; for the rest I'm neither curious nor a gossip."</p>
+
+<p>"You're very wrong, you'll never push yourself. Good-by, Marcel."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille took his way back to Paris, extremely dissatisfied that he
+had not discovered where Blanche was. Not wishing to go to Julia's house
+until he had learned more, he decided to make some inquiries at the
+marquis' hotel.</p>
+
+<p>The brilliant Villebelle's hotel was worthy of its master, and was
+situated at a little distance from the Louvre. Chaudoreille slipped into
+an immense court and bowed low to the porter, while asking if
+monseigneur was in Paris.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur le marquis is in England," said the porter, looking at
+Chaudoreille from the height of his grandeur, and the latter, seeing
+that he had no<a name="page_vol_2_175" id="page_vol_2_175"></a> way of entering into conversation with the proud
+guardian, left the hotel, saying to himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"In England? Does he wish to seduce the little one with plum pudding? My
+faith! I've done all that I can. Come now, let's go and tell the
+beautiful Julia all that I know. It's not more than five o'clock, I
+shall have plenty of time to keep my appointment."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille ran to the young Italian's house, where a servant opened
+the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Is your mistress in?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Go and inform her that the Chevalier Chaudoreille has something of
+great importance to communicate to her."</p>
+
+<p>The domestic returned shortly, and immediately took Chaudoreille to her
+mistress. Julia was walking up and down her room, deeply agitated.</p>
+
+<p>"I was waiting for you," said she to the chevalier, signing to him to be
+seated.</p>
+
+<p>"You were waiting for me, signora?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, for I have not seen the marquis since I spoke to you. Never yet
+has he been so long without coming and I do not doubt but some new
+intrigue is the cause of his abandonment of me."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, signora, you have divined the truth only too well.<a name="page_vol_2_176" id="page_vol_2_176"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Then I have been betrayed," cried Julia, making a movement of fury,
+while Chaudoreille went to seat himself at a respectful distance,
+putting Rolande across his knee.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you expect, signora? Men are&mdash;men. The marquis did not know
+how to appreciate your grace, your charms, your&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue, and tell me immediately all that you know."</p>
+
+<p>"She wants me to hold my tongue and yet speak," answered Chaudoreille,
+rolling his eyes affrightedly.</p>
+
+<p>"The name of my rival? Answer me, wretch."</p>
+
+<p>"It's this way, signora&mdash;but I beg you let me tell you that by order&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The name of my rival, I tell you," resumed Julia, approaching
+Chaudoreille furiously. The little man, trembling in all his limbs,
+muttered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche, an orphan, a young girl whom the barber was caring for."</p>
+
+<p>"The scoundrel! I should have known it."</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche was to have been married today to a young man whom she loved
+and who adored her. The barber had given his consent. I don't know by
+what chance monsieur le marquis came to see the young girl, but he must
+have fallen in love with her and abducted her, for the night before last
+she disappeared, and I strongly suspect my friend Touquet of having
+aided monseigneur's plans. At all events, the little one is not at the<a name="page_vol_2_177" id="page_vol_2_177"></a>
+Faubourg Saint-Antoine; I have been there and the marquis is not in
+Paris, since I come from his hotel, where they told me he was in
+England."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille told all this without taking breath, fearing that Julia
+would do him some ill if he did not hasten his story.</p>
+
+<p>"This voyage to England is a falsehood," cried Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought so myself."</p>
+
+<p>"The marquis has taken the young girl to one of his châteaux."</p>
+
+<p>"That is probable."</p>
+
+<p>"But to which one? That's what we must discover."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm of your opinion, that's what we must discover."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps this young girl is still in Paris."</p>
+
+<p>"That might very well be. This city is a gulf, a young girl could be
+lost here like a piece of six liards."</p>
+
+<p>Julia reflected for some moments, and Chaudoreille remained silent,
+waiting till she should speak that he might echo her words. The young
+woman walked up and down the room; one could perceive by the trembling
+which had possession of her that it was only by a great effort that she
+restrained her fury. Finally, she stopped before Chaudoreille, and said
+to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You think, then, that this Blanche does not love Villebelle?"<a name="page_vol_2_178" id="page_vol_2_178"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I think that, at least, she does not yet love him, since she had never
+seen him."</p>
+
+<p>"How can you be certain of that?"</p>
+
+<p>"In fact&mdash;you are right, I'm not certain of it at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me everything that you know in regard to this young girl, how long
+she has lived at the barber's and his motive for adopting her."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille told Julia the same story that he had told the marquis, and
+she listened to him with the greatest attention. When he had finished
+she fell into deep thought, and Chaudoreille dared not disturb her.</p>
+
+<p>"Touquet is a scoundrel," said Julia, "I have known it for a long time,
+but I wish now to obtain proofs of his crime, and if, in fact, it is he
+who has given Blanche to the marquis, he should tremble."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, crime must be punished," and Chaudoreille added to
+himself, "If she would only hang him, I should not have to fear him any
+longer."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that really all that you know?" asked Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, forgive me, signora; in the ardor of my zeal I forgot to tell you
+that by the greatest chance, I met Blanche's lover tonight. The poor
+devil was seated on a stone, and I was seated on the ground; I had been
+despoiled by bandits, who, by the way, have robbed me of the fruits of
+three<a name="page_vol_2_179" id="page_vol_2_179"></a> years of economy and privations, which I was carrying to a
+savings bank. The unfortunate love to talk of their troubles; we chatted
+and he told me that he was searching for his future wife. I didn't wish
+to tell him that I strongly suspected the Marquis de Villebelle of being
+the abductor of his sweetheart, before seeing you; but I gave him a
+rendezvous for this evening at nine o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, go to this rendezvous and bring this young man to me."</p>
+
+<p>"You want me to bring him to you, signora?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, bring him to my house; we will plan together, we will unite our
+efforts; he that he may recover his mistress, and I that I may punish
+the ungrateful man who has abandoned me."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, that's very sensible, in acting together, you will hear more
+and do more. I will go to the rendezvous then, and I will bring young
+Urbain to you. Ah, by jingo! I haven't yet taken anything today and I am
+afraid that I have no money about me."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, wait, take that," said Julia, "serve me faithfully and do not
+spare that gold."</p>
+
+<p>"For fidelity I'm a veritable spaniel," said Chaudoreille, putting the
+purse in his belt. "I will go to an eating-house, I shall have time to
+eat a little and take a glass of spirits; then I will go to the Porte
+Montmartre and bring our lover to you immediately."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille hurriedly left; when he was in the<a name="page_vol_2_180" id="page_vol_2_180"></a> street he counted the
+money that was in the purse and said to himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Really, if the young lover gives me as much more I shall be in
+possession of a nice capital again, without counting the small change;
+for this Julia is a mine of gold waiting to be explored."</p>
+
+<p>At nine o'clock he was in the neighborhood which he had indicated to
+Urbain, but he did not find the young bachelor there; which surprised
+him after the desire which the latter had evinced to see him again
+promptly. Chaudoreille walked up and down, being careful to hold his
+purse in his hand and to keep away from chair porters. However, ten
+o'clock had struck and Urbain had not come. The chevalier struck his
+foot impatiently, muttering,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Plague take all lovers! they're always half fools; this one may have
+misunderstood me and is perhaps waiting for me at the Porte Saint
+Honoré, while I am waiting for him here. If I only knew his address;
+this is a nuisance, by all the devils."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Urbain had understood very well, and in going into his lodging at
+daybreak his only desire had been to see the moment of his appointment
+arrive. But who can foresee events. We are but sorry creatures, and yet
+we form great plans for the future.</p>
+
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">Today belongs to us;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Tomorrow, to nobody.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol_2_181" id="page_vol_2_181"></a></p>
+
+<p>Today, even, does not always belong to us entirely. Hardly had he
+reached his room when Urbain felt a shiver run through all his body;
+attributing this indisposition to the fatigue of the night, he got into
+bed, hoping that a few hours' rest would restore him to his usual
+health, but nature had not so ordered; a high fever ensued, and delirium
+took possession of the young man who, since the evening before, had
+entirely yielded to despair. The young neighbor who had assisted him in
+disguising himself, established herself at his bedside to watch; because
+she had a friendly feeling for Urbain, and because women are always
+ready to prove their friendship in pain as well as in pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>This was the reason why Chaudoreille waited fruitlessly by the Porte
+Montmartre. Finally, at half-past ten, deeming it unwise to wait longer,
+he returned in a very ill-temper to the young Italian's house, who,
+seeing him alone, exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you not bring him with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"By jingo! because I didn't see him."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say?"</p>
+
+<p>"I say, signora, that I have vainly watched for him since nine o'clock;
+Urbain did not come to the place of meeting."</p>
+
+<p>"How vexatious! and you haven't his address?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, if I'd had it I should have gone to his house. What the deuce could
+have prevented his coming?"<a name="page_vol_2_182" id="page_vol_2_182"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he has discovered Blanche's retreat; no matter, we shall find
+this young man again. Chaudoreille, tomorrow at daybreak place yourself
+in hiding near the barber's house; watch all his movements, if he goes
+out follow him, and should the marquis go to see him, run and let me
+know. For my part, I shall go and watch the Hôtel de Villebelle; it is
+more than probable that the marquis will repair there shortly. By
+watching the movements of the marquis and the barber we shall discover
+where Blanche is hidden, and then I shall know what I ought to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Your orders shall all be executed," said Chaudoreille, bowing to Julia
+as he left.<a name="page_vol_2_183" id="page_vol_2_183"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X-b" id="CHAPTER_X-b"></a>CHAPTER X<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Little Closet Again</span></h2>
+
+<p>A week had elapsed during which Julia had spent almost her whole time in
+loitering around the Marquis de Villebelle's hotel; she had not gained
+much by this however, for all that she could be sure of was that
+Villebelle was not there. Chaudoreille, for his part, had made no better
+progress; he was very sure that the marquis had not been to the
+barber's, and the latter kept very closely to his shop, rarely leaving
+home except to go to his customers' residences. What most surprised
+Chaudoreille was the fact that since he had watched he had not once seen
+young Urbain go to the barber's house nor had he encountered him in his
+prowling about the streets. He was ignorant of the fact of which the
+reader is well aware, that the young bachelor was still kept in bed by
+fever, and that the impatience and grief which had caused his illness
+had greatly retarded his convalescence.</p>
+
+<p>Julia whose proud and haughty spirit could not endure the situation in
+which she found herself, keenly desired to wreak her vengeance on the
+lover who had betrayed and abandoned her, and<a name="page_vol_2_184" id="page_vol_2_184"></a> Villebelle being still
+absent, she charged Chaudoreille to take her place in the neighborhood
+of the hotel, and stationed herself in the Rue des Bourdonnais;
+Chaudoreille accepted this change with great pleasure, delighted to
+leave the neighborhood of the barber's house. The young woman did not
+intend merely to watch Touquet's dwelling, she wished to introduce
+herself there, to talk with Marguerite, to learn from the good old woman
+all the details of Blanche's disappearance. Julia was courageous and
+enterprising; she was Italian, and she wished to revenge herself; and
+thus possessed three times as much as was necessary to compass her ends.</p>
+
+<p>She was not afraid of Touquet, but she readily felt that it was only in
+his absence that she could hope to speak to Marguerite, and she formed
+her plan in accordance with the information which she had received in
+the neighborhood, in regard to the old servant. Towards evening, Julia
+saw the barber leave his dwelling. As soon as he had departed, she went
+and knocked at the door of the house. Marguerite was disconsolate at
+having no news of her dear Blanche, and what completed the despair of
+the good old woman was that she could hear nothing of Urbain. When she
+uttered the name of Blanche before her master he ordered her to be
+silent in a severe tone, and it was only in solitude that she dared to
+give way without constraint to her grief.<a name="page_vol_2_185" id="page_vol_2_185"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Who is there?" asked Marguerite, following her custom.</p>
+
+<p>"Someone who brings you news of Blanche," answered Julia.</p>
+
+<p>On hearing her dear child's name, Marguerite unhesitatingly opened the
+door; she had, besides, recognized a woman's voice, and grief had
+rendered her less fearful than formerly. Julia entered; she was wrapped
+in a black mantilla, larger than those in use among the Spaniards, and
+wore a cap of the same hue, from which two black feathers fell
+gracefully on her left shoulder. This costume, her decided step, and the
+animation which sparkled in her black eyes, gave to the whole person of
+the young Italian, a strangely fantastic distinction, but Marguerite did
+not notice all this, and exclaimed on seeing her,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Have you brought me back my dear Blanche?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, but I shall make every effort that you may soon see her again.
+In order to do this it is necessary that I should talk with you; take me
+to your room."</p>
+
+<p>"But my master has forbidden me to receive anybody," said Marguerite,
+who began to regard Julia more attentively.</p>
+
+<p>"Your master has gone out."</p>
+
+<p>"He may come in at any moment."</p>
+
+<p>"I know how to avoid him. You are very much afraid of him, are you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's so strict."<a name="page_vol_2_186" id="page_vol_2_186"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Come, my good Marguerite, don't let the fear you feel for the barber
+make you forget your dear Blanche. Upon the conversation which we shall
+have together, upon the information which you will give me, depends
+perhaps the success of my enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, to see my darling girl again, I feel that I would dare everything!
+Come, madame, follow me."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite went up to her room, followed by Julia, who closely
+scrutinized everything that she saw. While the old woman placed her lamp
+on the table and drew up some chairs, Julia took off her mantle; she
+wore beneath it a red robe, and in a black belt which surrounded her
+waist, she had stuck a little stiletto with an ebony handle.</p>
+
+<p>This combination of red and black, which, following the old woman's
+chronicles, had always been the costume favored by magicians, the weapon
+which glittered in Julia's belt, all united to inspire Marguerite with a
+secret terror. She looked uneasily at the young woman and murmured,
+while offering her a seat,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"May I know, madame, who you are, and where you have known my poor
+Blanche?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who I am," answered Julia, smiling bitterly, "has no connection with
+the motive which brings me here. What does it matter, in fact, who I am,
+provided that I am willing to help you find<a name="page_vol_2_187" id="page_vol_2_187"></a> the one for whose loss you
+are grieving, and that I have the power to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"The power," repeated Marguerite, who began to be afraid of a private
+conversation with one who frequented witches' sabbaths, "Oh, you have
+the power?"</p>
+
+<p>"As to your dear Blanche, I do not know her, and I have never even seen
+her."</p>
+
+<p>These words greatly increased Marguerite's terror, but Julia continued
+without paying any attention to it,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to me, good woman, my personal interest leads me to seek
+Blanche. The one who abducted her was everything to me, I adored him, I
+would have sacrificed my life for him, and the ungrateful man has
+forgotten me. Do you understand now, the motive which has caused me to
+act?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I breathe more freely," said Marguerite, "yes, madame, I
+understand; this seigneur who came here is perhaps your husband. Alas!
+that does not astonish me, men are truly most unaccountable creatures."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me all that you know, good Marguerite."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite told her of the marquis' visit and of all that he had said.</p>
+
+<p>"He had never seen her before that day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never, I can certify to that."</p>
+
+<p>"And you left the marquis with the barber?"<a name="page_vol_2_188" id="page_vol_2_188"></a></p>
+
+<p>"The marquis? was he a marquis then? Well, I had my doubts about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Please answer me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madame, my master ordered me to go, and I left him with this
+marquis."</p>
+
+<p>"And what followed?"</p>
+
+<p>"I went to bed, madame, and I think that my dear Blanche did the same."</p>
+
+<p>"That wretch Touquet was in league with the marquis. It was he who
+delivered up to him that young girl."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say, madame? do you think that my master?&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Is a scoundrel!"</p>
+
+<p>"Speak lower, I beg of you; if he should come in, if he should hear you.
+But you are mistaken, madame, my master had consented to Blanche's
+marriage to Urbain."</p>
+
+<p>"The better to hide his plans."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Urbain, I never see him; no doubt he is still looking for our dear
+little one."</p>
+
+<p>"Where was Blanche's chamber?" said Julia, looking curiously around her.</p>
+
+<p>"On the first floor looking on the street, madame. Since she came to
+this house she had occupied no other."</p>
+
+<p>"It was to this house that she came, then, with her father who was
+murdered?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madame."</p>
+
+<p>"Were you then in the barber's service?"<a name="page_vol_2_189" id="page_vol_2_189"></a></p>
+
+<p>"No, madame, I didn't come here until three years after."</p>
+
+<p>"Where does your master sleep?"</p>
+
+<p>"Directly underneath this. This is why, if he should come in, I am
+afraid that he would hear us speak."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you always had this room?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, madame, I formerly had the one above Blanche's, and I liked it much
+better than this gloomy chamber, which has been unoccupied for a long
+time, and which I believe was formerly the dwelling of a magician named
+Odoard."</p>
+
+<p>Julia arose and for some moments walked silently about the room. All of
+a sudden she exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if these walls could only speak!"</p>
+
+<p>"In fact," said Marguerite shaking her head, "I believe that we should
+learn some terrible things; a tier of tags, a sorcerer."</p>
+
+<p>Julia seemed to be thinking deeply when they heard the street door shut.</p>
+
+<p>"O my God! here is my master, I am lost," cried Marguerite; "he has
+expressly forbidden me to receive anybody."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep still, he shall not know that I am here. Does he sometimes come up
+into your room?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, but&mdash;good Saint Margaret&mdash;if he should discover&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Julia put a finger on her mouth, as a sign for the old servant to be
+silent. Presently the barber<a name="page_1190" id="page_1190"></a> was heard calling Marguerite; who was
+trembling so that she did not know how to stand.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him that you are going down," said Julia.</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite approached the door, then, thinking she heard her master
+coming upstairs,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here he is&mdash;he'll see you," said she to Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"You must hide me."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, I had forgotten it&mdash;quick&mdash;quick&mdash;in this closet."</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite ran to her alcove, passed behind the bed, opened the little
+door hidden by the tapestry, and Julia, as quick as lightning, entered
+the closet. The old servant shut the door on her, took her lamp and
+hastened to go downstairs. Her master was in the lower room.</p>
+
+<p>"You were very slow in coming down," said the barber, looking at
+Marguerite.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, at my age one cannot move quickly."</p>
+
+<p>"Has anybody been here during my absence?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, monsieur, nobody."</p>
+
+<p>"Urbain, perhaps?"</p>
+
+<p>"I assure you I haven't seen him."</p>
+
+<p>"Chaudoreille?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, nor him either."</p>
+
+<p>The barber asked for what he needed and then made a sign to Marguerite
+to retire.</p>
+
+<p>"Is monsieur going to stay up late?" asked she.<a name="page_vol_2_191" id="page_vol_2_191"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What does that matter to you?" asked Touquet looking sternly at her,
+"I've already told you that I hate curious people as well as gossips."</p>
+
+<p>"That's true. I'm going to bed, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>The old woman regained her room, closed the door carefully, and then
+went to release Julia, who had remained without a light in the little
+closet.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, madame," said she, "come, you needn't stay in there now."</p>
+
+<p>"A moment," said Julia, taking the lamp from Marguerite's hand, "I
+should like to examine this place."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mercy! you will find nothing curious there. We went into it once,
+Blanche and I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There is a door here," said Julia holding the light to the wall at the
+back.</p>
+
+<p>"A door? do you think so? We didn't see it, but then we only remained
+for a moment and without a light."</p>
+
+<p>Julia tried to open the door which led to the staircase, but she was not
+successful.</p>
+
+<p>"This door is closed from the other side," said she, "it must
+communicate with some secret passage."</p>
+
+<p>"What does it matter to you, madame? Come, I beg of you."</p>
+
+<p>"It matters greatly to me. Oh, if I could acquire some proof to undo
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Proof of what, madame?"<a name="page_vol_2_192" id="page_vol_2_192"></a></p>
+
+<p>"It's impossible to force this door."</p>
+
+<p>Julia lowered the lamp and examined the floor to see if she could
+discover a trap door, while Marguerite remained at the entrance to the
+alcove to listen if her master should come up.</p>
+
+<p>"What is in this big chest?" said Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"It is empty, as you see. I don't know what use it is here, I shall burn
+it some day."</p>
+
+<p>Julia stooped and lifted the chest, the better to examine it, then she
+thought she saw some object on the floor. She carried her light there,
+and found that it was an old portfolio of brown leather, which seemed to
+have been hidden beneath the chest, and appeared to have been there for
+some years, for the dust was thick around it. Julia uttered a joyful cry
+and seized the portfolio.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" said Marguerite, "what have you got there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Something tells me that in this portfolio I shall find that for which I
+am looking."</p>
+
+<p>"This portfolio? O my God! where was it, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Silence&mdash;come, let us shut this door again."</p>
+
+<p>Julia left the closet, shutting the door, and when she had replaced the
+lamp on the table, hastened to examine the portfolio and the papers
+which it held. Meanwhile, Marguerite, still uneasy, remained listening
+near the door, but while doing so she watched Julia, whose features
+expressed the most lively agitation. Suddenly a cruel joy<a name="page_vol_2_193" id="page_vol_2_193"></a> flashed in
+the young Italian's eyes, and she dropped on a seat near the table,
+exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be avenged."</p>
+
+<p>"But who can that portfolio belong to?" said Marguerite.</p>
+
+<p>"To an unfortunate man whom your master murdered."</p>
+
+<p>"Murdered! ah, madame, what are you saying?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, everything proves it to me. This was the chamber in which he was
+lodged, because the secret passage would assist the murderer in the
+perpetration of his crime. The unfortunate man had, no doubt, visited
+this closet, and, without divining the misfortune which awaited him, had
+judged it prudent to hide under the chest his portfolio, which contains
+the proofs of an important secret."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, you make me shudder, madame."</p>
+
+<p>Julia continued to examine the papers. Joy, surprise, hope, vengeance,
+were expressed in turn on her face.</p>
+
+<p>"At last his fate is in my hands," exclaimed she, "perfidious man, to
+have betrayed me; tremble lest I inflict upon you torments more cruel
+than those you have made me suffer. And you, his odious accomplice, I
+will see that the marquis knows the monster who has assisted him in his
+amours."</p>
+
+<p>Tremblingly Marguerite listened to Julia. The<a name="page_vol_2_194" id="page_vol_2_194"></a> latter put back the
+papers in the portfolio and carefully hid it in her bosom, then resuming
+her mantle she prepared to depart.</p>
+
+<p>"And Blanche," said the good old woman, "you have not told me more about
+Blanche, madame."</p>
+
+<p>"Reassure yourself," answered Julia in a solemn tone, "Blanche's
+condition will now be changed, you will see her again. Good-by, my good
+woman, keep the closest silence in regard to the portfolio; Blanche's
+fate depends upon it."</p>
+
+<p>"Fear nothing, madame."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going down without a light; Touquet should be in his room by now."</p>
+
+<p>"If you should meet him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will not make the least noise."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is necessary that I should go with you to open the door."</p>
+
+<p>"You need not, I can open it myself."</p>
+
+<p>"There is a secret in opening it. O my God, for a mere nothing I would
+go with you from this house. All that you've said about my master makes
+me shudder, and since my dear child is no longer here I find this
+dwelling very gloomy."</p>
+
+<p>"It's very necessary that you should remain here in order to give me, as
+well as Urbain, information in regard to all that the barber does.
+Before long, good Marguerite, you shall be happier, and reunited to your
+dear Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, may all that you say prove true."<a name="page_vol_2_195" id="page_vol_2_195"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Open your door; I don't hear the least sound on the staircase; let us
+hasten."</p>
+
+<p>The old woman groped her way down, Julia followed her; they arrived at
+the foot of the stairs and were about to enter the alleyway when the
+barber, coming brusquely from the corridor which led to the lower room,
+met them, bearing a light in his hand. Marguerite uttered a cry of fear;
+the barber quickly held the light against Julia's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, do you recognize me?" she said to him in an imperious tone.</p>
+
+<p>Touquet started with surprise, but forcing himself to restrain his
+anger, he answered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You, at my house, madame! and what did you come to seek here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some news of Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>"Of Blanche?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that astonishes you! you did not suppose that I knew this young
+girl? You believed that the Marquis de Villebelle could yield to his new
+passion without my knowing the object of it, without my learning that
+you were still the confidant of his amours."</p>
+
+<p>Touquet's eyes blazed with fury as he said to Julia,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Jealousy has disturbed your reason, madame. If your lover has left you
+is it to me that you should betake yourself? Why should you suppose that
+the marquis is the abductor of a young girl whom he has never seen?"<a name="page_vol_2_196" id="page_vol_2_196"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Your falsehoods are useless. I know a great deal more than you think.
+If you should see the marquis before I do, advise him to hasten to
+restore Blanche to Urbain. If by your perfidious counsels he should
+become guilty of&mdash;he would be the first to punish you for your crime. As
+for me, you will see me again; I also have a secret to reveal to you."</p>
+
+<p>Thus speaking, Julia walked towards the door. The barber made a movement
+as if to stop her, but she turned and her hand still grasped her
+stiletto. Turning on Touquet a terrible look, she rapidly left his
+house.<a name="page_vol_2_197" id="page_vol_2_197"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI-b" id="CHAPTER_XI-b"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Storm Brews</span></h2>
+
+<p>T<small>OO</small> greatly agitated by what she had learned to retire and compose
+herself to rest, Julia several times during the night reperused the
+papers contained in the portfolio which she had found at the barber's,
+and she busied herself in forming new plans and meditating other
+projects of vengeance. The sleep she had defied did not once greet her
+eyelids, and dawn found her seated before a little table on which the
+portfolio was lying examining again a letter which she had taken from
+it.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, however, the bell rang thrice, and Julia hastened to
+lock the papers into their receptacle, and presently Chaudoreille
+entered her room.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," was Julia's brusque greeting to the chevalier, "what have you
+learned?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks to my assiduity I am at last enabled to bring you some important
+news," cried the little Gascon with a self-satisfied air. "For the past
+forty-eight hours I have not budged from before the marquis' hotel,
+minutely examining all who came or went."<a name="page_vol_2_198" id="page_vol_2_198"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, indeed! The marquis has returned."</p>
+
+<p>"He is here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, signora, at his hotel. I saw him arrive this morning in a
+travelling carriage."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I shall see him, I hope."</p>
+
+<p>"What orders have you to give me now? Where is it necessary for me to
+go? I am ready."</p>
+
+<p>"You have not yet seen this young Urbain?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, no, I'm of the opinion that the poor boy is dead from love; he
+was as thin as a cuckoo. I don't see what could have prevented his
+coming to our rendezvous."</p>
+
+<p>"Return to the hotel. I tremble lest the marquis should leave without
+our knowing it, and in order to recover Blanche it is important that I
+should know the least step that Villebelle takes."</p>
+
+<p>"That's very right. I'll return then to my post."</p>
+
+<p>"Take this gold, but redouble your zeal; hasten; if you are tired, take
+a chair."</p>
+
+<p>"I, take a sedan chair? I would much rather crawl all the way there.
+Don't disturb yourself, signora, my legs are always at my service."</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille gone, Julia seated herself at her desk and prepared to
+write, but suddenly, throwing the pen far from her, she rose,
+exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It's urgently necessary that I should see him, that I should speak to
+him; I will go to his hotel."<a name="page_vol_2_199" id="page_vol_2_199"></a></p>
+
+<p>She immediately rang for her maid, and began to make her toilet. Despite
+the uneasiness she experienced, her mirror was often consulted, and she
+neglected nothing that would add to her charm. This important task
+accomplished, Julia sent for a sedan chair, and was carried to the
+marquis' dwelling. On entering the immense court of this magnificent
+hotel, the young Italian could hardly master her agitation.</p>
+
+<p>"What does madame desire?" said the porter.</p>
+
+<p>"To see the Marquis de Villebelle."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur returned from England only this morning, and as yet
+receives nobody."</p>
+
+<p>"It is absolutely necessary that I should speak to him."</p>
+
+<p>"That is impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"Go, at least, and tell him that the Signora Julia desires to see him
+immediately."</p>
+
+<p>The porter sent a lackey with this message, who soon returned, and said
+to Julia, with an impertinent air,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur cannot receive you, and begs you to leave the hotel."</p>
+
+<p>Julia could not swallow this affront; she looked furiously at the valet
+and abruptly left. Arrived at home she went to her desk and wrote the
+following note to the marquis,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>You refuse to see me; it depends, however, upon me to render you
+the most happy or most unhappy of men. I know that you are
+Blanche's abductor. Respect that young girl.<a name="page_vol_2_200" id="page_vol_2_200"></a> Hasten to listen to
+me; I still wish to forgive you, but at some moments I listen to
+nothing but my fury.</p></div>
+
+<p>The letter written, she entrusted it to a faithful man, and awaited his
+return with the most lively impatience. The messenger at length came and
+brought an answer from the marquis. Julia seized it, and hastily read
+the following,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>My little Julia: your sweet note made me laugh a good deal; I find
+nothing more pleasing than those women who threaten us with their
+fury. The only vengeance which a woman in your situation can take
+upon a man is to deceive him,&mdash;and God knows whether you would use
+this means; but it is necessary, in order that the charm may work
+effectually, that it should be taken while he still loves you,
+without which it fails of its object. Your reign is past, my dear
+friend. You undoubtedly did not think to captivate the Marquis de
+Villebelle for long, and I sent you a check on my banker to settle
+the account. I do not know who could have told you that I had
+abducted a certain Blanche; once more, what does it matter to you?
+Am I not entitled to abduct ten women if that pleases me. Believe
+me, you had better not disquiet yourself about my actions or give
+yourself the further trouble of writing to me, for your letters
+will be returned to you unopened. Good-by, hot-head, I wish you a
+faithful lover, since you hold so much to fidelity.</p></div>
+
+<p>Julia remained motionless, the letter was still in her hands, but she
+did not see it; one thought alone occupied her, the thought of
+vengeance, she seemed to give herself up to it with delight.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have it, will you?" said she, "I will not hesitate longer."<a name="page_vol_2_201" id="page_vol_2_201"></a></p>
+
+<p>However, the marquis was very much surprised that the young Italian
+should know who had abducted Blanche, and as soon as night came he
+wrapped himself in his cloak and went to the barber's house. Touquet
+himself opened to the nobleman, for the events of the night before and
+the fear which she had experienced seemed to have paralyzed old
+Marguerite, who was unable to leave her room.</p>
+
+<p>"You here, monseigneur?" said the barber, with surprise, "I imagined
+that you were at your château, all taken up with your new love. Can it
+be that Blanche is already forgotten?"</p>
+
+<p>"Forgotten? Why, I love her more than ever. But I was forced to come to
+Paris for some days, though I hope soon to return to Sarcus; each moment
+that I pass away from Blanche seems to me a century. However, I have not
+yet succeeded, and the remembrance of her Urbain&mdash;but let us come to the
+motive which has brought me hither. How is it that Julia knows that I
+have abducted Blanche? how could she have come to know this lovely child
+whom you kept with so much care?"</p>
+
+<p>"You find me as much surprised as yourself, monseigneur. This young
+Italian had the audacity to introduce herself into my house yesterday
+evening; she presented herself, so my old house-keeper tells me, as
+bringing news of Blanche, but really she came to gather the details of
+her flight."<a name="page_vol_2_202" id="page_vol_2_202"></a></p>
+
+<p>"She came also to my hotel; I refused to see her; she wrote to me, she
+threatened me. My fate is, said she, in her hands. You may imagine that
+I only laughed at these threats as inspired by the jealousy and spite of
+a woman. However, there's something very singular to me about it all."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, monseigneur, I believe I have a glimpse of light. Who informed
+you yourself that there was a charming young girl in my house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it! you recall it to my recollection. It was an original, a little
+man whom I found at my house in the Faubourg, hidden under a statue, and
+who pretended to have helped in the abduction of Julia."</p>
+
+<p>"Chaudoreille?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's that same."</p>
+
+<p>"I should have divined it; there's no doubt of it, it was he who told
+Julia that you had abducted Blanche. If he should happen to know Urbain,
+I should not be astonished if he has told him also."</p>
+
+<p>"The little clown! I paid him well enough for everything."</p>
+
+<p>"After having caused the abduction, he does his best to help someone to
+find Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>"Truly, that is not so very stupid; this is a boy who follows in your
+footsteps; but if you meet him, I recommend him to you. Give him a good
+beating."</p>
+
+<p>"Be easy about that, monseigneur."<a name="page_vol_2_203" id="page_vol_2_203"></a></p>
+
+<p>"For the rest, they may do what they please, they cannot snatch Blanche
+from my hands. This young girl has more power than all of them put
+together; one tear from her could, I feel, change all my resolutions.
+When I see her beautiful eyes turned towards me with a supplicating
+look, I am often about to sacrifice my love and to restore her to him
+whom she regrets, in the hope of at least obtaining her friendship."</p>
+
+<p>"O monseigneur, what folly! Why, Blanche is in your power, and you are
+going&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, she must belong to me; henceforth for me to separate from her
+is impossible. Besides, has she not told me that she is disposed to love
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, monseigneur, pull yourself together. They will say that you yield
+to the threats of this little Julia."</p>
+
+<p>"My uncle is very ill, perhaps he will not last through the night. I
+shall soon return to Sarcus, then I will not again leave Blanche, I will
+listen to nothing but my love."</p>
+
+<p>"With women, monseigneur, that causes everything to be forgiven."</p>
+
+<p>Since the barber knew that the marquis suspected where he had obtained
+his fortune, he believed that it was for his interest to lose sight of
+Blanche. If Villebelle dreamed of reëntering the path of honor, Touquet
+could no longer feel easy as to himself.<a name="page_vol_2_204" id="page_vol_2_204"></a></p>
+
+<p>The marquis regained his hotel. As he had foreseen, his uncle expired
+during the night, leaving him immense wealth; which would lead one to
+think that fortune does not show her preference to those who make good
+use of her favors. But someone answers to that, that fortune does not
+make happiness; it is, therefore, necessary to console the unhappy a
+little.</p>
+
+<p>A week sufficed the marquis to settle his affairs. At the end of that
+time he prepared to return to Blanche, to whom he carried presents of
+every kind, which were carefully packed in the travelling carriage.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille, who was continually on the watch about the hotel, saw
+these preparations for departure, and ran to tell Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"Enough," said the young Italian, "I have long been prepared for this,
+and I have bought two good horses. You shall come with me."</p>
+
+<p>"To the end of the world; I am devoted to you."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think that we shall have to go very far, we shall have nothing
+to do but follow the marquis' carriage."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand you."</p>
+
+<p>"You can ride a horse?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly; however, I prefer donkeys, they don't trot so fast."</p>
+
+<p>"Idiot! can one hope to follow a post-chaise on an ass? Make all your
+preparations."<a name="page_vol_2_205" id="page_vol_2_205"></a></p>
+
+<p>"They are made. I have my wardrobe upon me; as to my purse, yesterday
+evening I had some cursed ill-luck while you relieved me at the hotel. I
+didn't remain in the gambling-house longer than between five and ten
+minutes, and I had well calculated my play; well, I can say with Francis
+the First, I have lost everything but honor."</p>
+
+<p>While Chaudoreille rattled on, Julia donned a large cloak, and took all
+the money which remained to her. Then she sent the Gascon to his post,
+while she went to get the horses. Towards seven o'clock in the evening
+the marquis got into his carriage with Germain and started for the
+Château de Sarcus, not for one moment thinking that Julia and
+Chaudoreille were following his carriage from afar.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the travellers to make their way we will return to poor Urbain,
+who, for a long time past, had languished on his bed, kept there by
+illness and grief. He was heartbroken at being without strength to go in
+search of his dear Blanche, and the good girl who gave him every care,
+incessantly repeated to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The more you disquiet yourself, the longer you retard your cure."</p>
+
+<p>Someone had told him that a great nobleman was Blanche's abductor, and
+he was in despair at not having been able to keep his appointment with
+this man, who would have told him his rival's<a name="page_vol_2_206" id="page_vol_2_206"></a> name. But at last he felt
+better and could go out, and the first use which he made of his
+returning strength was to go to the barber's house. It was closed on
+every side, the shutters had not been taken down from the shop, although
+the hours of labor had long since begun; Urbain knocked, but no one
+opened to him.</p>
+
+<p>"It is useless for you to knock," said a neighbor to him, "the house is
+empty and is for sale. You must inquire at the agent's, Rue des
+Mauvaises-Paroles."</p>
+
+<p>"And the barber?"</p>
+
+<p>"The barber has left it, I tell you, there's nobody there."</p>
+
+<p>"And Marguerite?"</p>
+
+<p>"She died a week ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Marguerite is dead&mdash;is it possible?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what is there so extraordinary in that? The poor woman wasn't
+young."</p>
+
+<p>"Where can I find M. Touquet now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't give you any information. That man was a bear, and he spoke to
+nobody."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain departed, discouraged at this new event. He grieved for the good
+Marguerite, who had been the witness of his love and his happiness. He
+had no idea of any way in which he could obtain information as to
+Blanche's fate. He went to the Porte Montmartre and waited for three
+hours, in the hope that he who had given him an appointment would come
+there; but he waited in<a name="page_vol_2_207" id="page_vol_2_207"></a> vain, and then turned despairingly towards his
+lodging. The good-natured girl, to whom he made his lament, tried to
+console him by saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If it's a nobleman who has abducted your mistress, you must go and ask
+for her at all the great noblemen's houses."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Urbain uttered a joyful exclamation, and a slight smile
+animated his pale and sorrowful features.</p>
+
+<p>"There still remains one hope," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"And what is that, monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the midst of all these events I had forgotten that adventure,
+however, it may yet serve me."</p>
+
+<p>"What adventure; monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to me. You remember that in order to see Blanche I was for some
+time obliged to disguise myself as a woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, monsieur, I remember very well. Didn't I help to dress you and
+to put in your pins?"</p>
+
+<p>The girl smiled. Urbain paid no attention and continued,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"One evening, I think it was the first time that I wore my disguise,
+having been accosted by several men, I escaped them by traversing many
+streets and it was very late when I found myself in the Grand
+Pré-aux-Clercs. I had almost reached my dwelling when I was stopped by
+four men, whom by their language I recognized as noblemen of the court.
+I confessed to them that I was<a name="page_vol_2_208" id="page_vol_2_208"></a> a man, hoping by that means to escape
+them, but one of them wanted me to tell him the motive for my disguise.
+I refused, he persisted; I got angry, he threatened; in short, one of
+his companions lent me his sword and we fought, I wounded my adversary,
+but very slightly, I think. 'My friend,' he said to me then, tendering
+me his hand, 'you are a brave man and I am very pleased to have made
+your acquaintance; if you should some day have need of a protector, come
+to my hotel, ask for the Marquis de Villebelle and you shall find me
+ready to oblige you.' Those are his exact words."</p>
+
+<p>"The Marquis de Villebelle? Oh, I have sometimes heard my master speak
+of him. They say that he is a great nobleman, very generous, but a very
+wild fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter, he offered me his protection, and I shall have recourse to
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy, monsieur, you will do well, and who knows whether he's not
+acquainted with the rascal who has stolen your darling."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I hope that the marquis will help me to recover Blanche. These
+great noblemen tell each other their adventures, their good luck; such a
+brave man should have some pity on my torture. Why have I not already
+spoken to him&mdash;but his hotel?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he's very well known, monsieur, and it will be very easy for you to
+find that out."<a name="page_vol_2_209" id="page_vol_2_209"></a></p>
+
+<p>On the morrow, as soon as it was day, Urbain went out to try and find
+the one on whom he placed his last hopes. He obtained information as to
+the marquis' hotel, and he soon arrived there.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur le Marquis de Villebelle?" said he entering the court, and
+timidly addressing the porter.</p>
+
+<p>"This is his hotel, but monsieur le marquis is not in Paris."</p>
+
+<p>"Is not in Paris?" exclaimed Urbain, his heart contracting.</p>
+
+<p>"No, he is travelling."</p>
+
+<p>"Travelling? And will he soon be back?"</p>
+
+<p>"He'll come back when he pleases. Do you think monseigneur needs your
+permission in order to go travelling?"</p>
+
+<p>"That was not what I wished to say, monsieur, but I am in such haste to
+see monsieur le marquis, to speak to him."</p>
+
+<p>"You can see him when he comes back, whenever monseigneur is willing to
+receive you."</p>
+
+<p>The insolent porter returned to his lodge, took his glass and his fork,
+and resumed a copious breakfast, without paying any further attention to
+the young student, who remained in the court, heaving big sighs, as he
+said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"He's not in Paris; how unfortunate I am."</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes later Urbain softly approached the porter's lodge, and said
+to him in a supplicating tone,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_210" id="page_vol_2_210"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, can you not tell me where the marquis has gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"What? Are you still there?" answered the porter without turning his
+head. "Can't you leave me to eat my breakfast in peace? I tell you that
+monseigneur is travelling. There are some people who are so stubborn;
+they all say the same thing, 'I wish to see monseigneur,' and they
+bother my head from morning till night."</p>
+
+<p>Urbain would not be repulsed; he knew the customs of Paris, and took out
+his purse, in which he had put several crowns, and made it chink in his
+hand. Then the porter deigned to turn towards him, and said to him, a
+little more politely,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I'm truly sorry, but monseigneur is really absent, and between
+ourselves, I believe he will be so for a long time."</p>
+
+<p>"O heavens!" said Urbain, "and he is my only hope. Oh, monsieur, if you
+know where monseigneur is, I entreat you to give me his address."</p>
+
+<p>The young man held out his purse and advanced.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in for a moment," said the porter opening the little door of his
+lodge; "yes, of course, I know where monseigneur is. It's very necessary
+that we should know that, in order that we may send him any important
+letters that may be addressed to him; but it's a secret. However,<a name="page_vol_2_211" id="page_vol_2_211"></a> if
+you'll promise to be discreet, and to let nobody know that it was I who
+told you,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I swear to you not to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll tell you. Monsieur le marquis is at his Château de Sarcus,
+situated in the neighborhood of Grandvilliers. Take the road to Beauvais
+and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Urbain did not wait to hear more; he threw his purse on the porter's
+table, hastily left the hotel, ran to his lodging, took all the money he
+had left, and the same day set out to seek the marquis at his château.<a name="page_vol_2_212" id="page_vol_2_212"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII-b" id="CHAPTER_XII-b"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Return to the Château</span></h2>
+
+<p>D<small>URING</small> the absence of the marquis from the Château de Sarcus the unhappy
+Blanche had passed some sad and monotonous days; she had grown used to
+seeing and talking with him, and hoped to induce him to allow her to
+rejoin Urbain; so the day after Villebelle's departure, astonished at
+not receiving his accustomed visit, she believed that he was disposed to
+take her back to Paris; but in the evening, not meeting him in the park
+as usual, Blanche, on her return to her room, asked the maid for some
+news of her host.</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur has gone, he went away yesterday," answered the country
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone without me!" exclaimed Blanche, raising to heaven her beautiful
+eyes, filled with tears and despair; "can it be possible that he wishes
+to keep me always a prisoner in this château, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't grieve, mademoiselle," said the good-natured girl, "monseigneur
+said that he would not be long absent."</p>
+
+<p>Blanche made no answer, but returned to her<a name="page_vol_2_213" id="page_vol_2_213"></a> room, and there passed her
+days in grief and discouragement. She regretted the absence of the
+marquis, for the sweet child flattered herself that he would yet yield
+to her prayers. She had several times seen that her tears caused him
+emotion, and she still hoped that he would reunite her to Urbain; but
+left alone she no longer hoped, and the days rolled slowly by for the
+young prisoner. However, the return of springtime embellished the earth;
+the trees regained their foliage and the grass its verdure, the meadows
+were dotted with flowers, and the birds came again to the groves to sing
+the season of love. But, indifferent to the scenes which spread before
+her eyes, Blanche looked without pleasure on this charming perspective,
+with which at any other time she would have been delighted. The sorrow
+with which her heart was filled, threw a gloomy veil over all the
+objects which surrounded her.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes while walking in the park, Blanche considered the idea of
+escaping; but in what direction could she take her flight? Besides, the
+park was surrounded with very high walls, and the doors which led to the
+country were always scrupulously closed. The young girl was ignorant of
+the fact that in the absence of the marquis, two men servants watched
+her every step.</p>
+
+<p>A deep melancholy seized her, the servant, Marie, tried in vain to
+distract her; sighs and tears were the only response which she obtained.
+Ten<a name="page_vol_2_214" id="page_vol_2_214"></a> days had passed when Marie came running one morning to tell Blanche
+her master had arrived.</p>
+
+<p>This news seemed to reanimate the young prisoner, and she waited
+impatiently for the marquis to come and speak to her. Villebelle, who
+ardently desired to see his captive, did not tarry in coming to her, and
+was greatly struck by the changes which had been wrought in her whole
+person.</p>
+
+<p>"You have forgotten me, then, in this château?" said Blanche sighing.</p>
+
+<p>"I forgotten you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you not take me to Paris, then? Are you going to keep me here
+long?"</p>
+
+<p>"At least, Blanche, I will not leave you again."</p>
+
+<p>"Let Urbain come to us, and I will not ask you to let me go away again."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis knit his brows and tried to distract Blanche by offering her
+several pretty trifles which he had brought from Paris; but these
+presents were no better received than the first, and did not even evoke
+a smile from the young girl. In the evening Blanche and the marquis
+again walked in the park. Villebelle, more in love than ever, recalled
+the barber's counsels and promised himself the conquest of his captive,
+but when he was near Blanche, he felt all his resolutions vanish. One
+look from the lovely child put a curb on his desire, though it
+penetrated to the depth of his heart, and Villebelle said to himself,&mdash;<a name="page_vol_2_215" id="page_vol_2_215"></a></p>
+
+<p>"By what magic does this young girl inspire me with a respect that is
+stronger than my love?"</p>
+
+<p>Blanche, rendered confiding by her innocence, was seated at the entrance
+of a grotto which was surrounded by thick shrubbery. The marquis placed
+himself beside her. For a long time he remained silent, tenderly
+watching her. Then he took Blanche in his arms and was about to cull a
+kiss from her charming mouth, when she turned her supplicating eyes
+towards him, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"In pity, monseigneur, let me go."</p>
+
+<p>Without knowing why he did so, he allowed the lovely girl to escape from
+his arms. He remained alone in the grotto; Blanche, experiencing a novel
+fear of the marquis, had fled, and the latter, cursing his weakness,
+returned to the château, vowing that he would no longer tremble before a
+child.</p>
+
+<p>Julia and her companion had arrived at Sarcus and had seen the marquis
+enter the château. Chaudoreille had only fallen three times on the way,
+but he asserted that that was because his horse had been frightened.
+However, he complained greatly of fatigue, to which his companion
+appeared insensible, as she scrutinized the château which the marquis
+had entered, and its high towers illuminated by the sun.</p>
+
+<p>"This is where he went, then," said the young Amazon, guiding her horse
+close against the walls.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, signora, there's not the least doubt that he went there, since we
+have seen him go in,"<a name="page_vol_2_216" id="page_vol_2_216"></a> answered Chaudoreille, who had alighted from his
+horse, where he was not comfortable.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the Château de Sarcus, according to what a peasant told me."</p>
+
+<p>"It is, in faith, a very fine castle. My ancestors had ten or a dozen
+like that; but they played for one every evening at piquet, and you know
+that luck is not always favorable. But ugh! how tired I am, this palfrey
+trotted so hard."</p>
+
+<p>"And within these walls Blanche is shut up."</p>
+
+<p>"That's very probable. By jingo! but we came at a good pace, and at the
+present time I would defy the best jockey in France."</p>
+
+<p>"How shall we know on which side this young girl is?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it's first necessary to know where we can get some breakfast;
+you must be terribly fatigued, signora."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't feel in the least tired, the hope of vengeance has doubled my
+strength."</p>
+
+<p>"I have had nothing to double mine; I'm knocked up, exhausted, and I'm
+as hungry as a hunter."</p>
+
+<p>Julia alighted from her horse and led the animal to Chaudoreille.</p>
+
+<p>"Mount him," she said, "and take the other by the bridle. Go to the
+village, which you see over there, find an inn, and there wait for me. I
+wish to examine the château."</p>
+
+<p>"Enough, I'll go and make them get breakfast<a name="page_vol_2_217" id="page_vol_2_217"></a> ready. Oh, under what
+title shall we present ourselves? I have been thinking that it would be
+better to preserve our incognito in this part of the country."</p>
+
+<p>"Say what you like."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall say that we are Moors from Spain, that we have come from
+Granada to give lessons in castanets. That will prevent all suspicion,
+and our rather dark skins will foster the supposition."</p>
+
+<p>Julia did not listen further to Chaudoreille and walked towards the
+château, while the chevalier, not caring to remount, took both horses by
+their bridles and went hobbling along to the village.</p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille inquired for the best inn. There was only one in the
+village and he reached it, leading his two horses after him. The master
+of the inn came to meet him, and Chaudoreille, trying to pull himself
+up, said to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am Malek-al-Chiras of Granada, professor of castanets in the two
+Spains, and come to France with my sister, Salamalech, to dance the
+bolero before Cardinal Richelieu. We shall perhaps stay for some time in
+this village, but we wish to preserve the strictest incognito. Do you
+understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand very well," said the innkeeper, looking stupidly at
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"In that case, prepare at once an omelette with bacon, give me a room,
+and take care of my horses, which are Arabian."<a name="page_vol_2_218" id="page_vol_2_218"></a></p>
+
+<p>The innkeeper understood this better, and led his guest to a chamber on
+the first floor, to which Chaudoreille mounted with pain, so greatly had
+his long ride on horseback discommoded him.</p>
+
+<p>After resting for some hours he went to the table, and had been there
+for a long time when Julia came in search of him.</p>
+
+<p>"I awaited you with impatience," said Chaudoreille, while dismembering
+his third pigeon.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what have you learned?"</p>
+
+<p>"My faith, I've learned that we shall not have fish for dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"Idiot! I was speaking to you of the marquis."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me that as I left you at the château, you should know more
+than me."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been all around it, but I did not see anybody. You should have
+asked these peasants what they know of the château."</p>
+
+<p>"They look as stupid as geese. How should these people know anything? By
+the way, you are my sister and you are called Salamalech."</p>
+
+<p>"Chaudoreille, do you think that I brought you here to listen to your
+foolishness? Make haste and rest yourself and we will visit the
+neighborhood of the château; we will see if there is any way of
+introducing ourselves into the park."</p>
+
+<p>"Begging your pardon, it will be very difficult for me to stir today. I
+am nailed before this table."<a name="page_vol_2_219" id="page_vol_2_219"></a></p>
+
+<p>Finding it would be impossible to get her companion on his feet again,
+Julia left the inn, after taking a little nourishment, and again went to
+prowl around the walls of the château.</p>
+
+<p>"The devil's in that woman," said Chaudoreille to himself as he got into
+bed, "she would be worthy to carry Rolande at her side." "My good host,
+put Rolande there, under my bolster. That's it, so that at the first
+alarm I can get him. Now see that you shut my door, and when my sister
+Salamalech returns tell her that I beg of her not to waken me before
+tomorrow at midday."</p>
+
+<p>While Chaudoreille slept, Julia made the tour of the park and noticed a
+place where the wall was broken, and where it was possible to introduce
+one's self into the interior of the garden; but not wishing yet to risk
+it, she returned to her inn and tried to obtain some information about
+the inhabitants of the château. The peasants knew but one thing, and
+that was, that for the present, their lord was at Sarcus.</p>
+
+<p>"But did not somebody bring a young girl to the chateau, some days ago?"
+asked Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"When monseigneur is here the house is full of ladies and gentlemen,"
+answered the host; who believed that the brother and sister had come to
+play their castanets before the marquis.</p>
+
+<p>Julia decided to take a little rest, but the next day at dawn she
+repaired to Chaudoreille's room.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, your brother, is still sleeping," said<a name="page_vol_2_220" id="page_vol_2_220"></a> the host whom she
+met, "and M. Malek-Al-de Granada has forbidden that anyone should wake
+him before noon."</p>
+
+<p>Julia, without listening to the host, went into the chevalier's room. He
+was sleeping soundly, and she pulled him rudely by the ear.</p>
+
+<p>"Did I bring you here with me," said she, "that you might sleep?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, by jingo! how cruel you are, I was in my first slumber."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, get up!"</p>
+
+<p>"Get up? get up? I respect decency too much to rise before you."</p>
+
+<p>"Get up, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, since you will have it so," and Chaudoreille put his two little
+thin legs out of bed, saying, "It appears that I cannot make her run
+away."</p>
+
+<p>"You will go to the château, you will enter the first court, under the
+pretext of admiring the architecture, and you will chat with the
+porter."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I am recognized?"</p>
+
+<p>"By whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"By monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think he amuses himself by walking in the court? He is with his
+young captive."</p>
+
+<p>"That is presumable."</p>
+
+<p>"We will meet here presently and you will tell me all that you shall
+have learned. For my part, I am going to find my way into the park."<a name="page_vol_2_221" id="page_vol_2_221"></a></p>
+
+<p>After a good breakfast, Chaudoreille started, enveloping himself in a
+mantle or cloak which Julia had given him, and which was so much too
+large for him that part of it dragged on the ground; but he admired
+himself very much in it, and felt himself six inches taller.</p>
+
+<p>As he drew near the château, his first care was to look and see if there
+were a sentinel upon the wall, but perceiving nothing that seemed to
+indicate that the castle was upon a war footing he decided to advance.
+On arriving before the principal gate he walked for an hour, far and
+wide, before knowing if he should go into the château or not. The old
+porter, smoking his pipe before his door, perceived this little figure,
+trailing a cloak, and coming and going for a long while in the same
+circle. Irritated by this conduct, the porter left the château and
+walked towards Chaudoreille, to ask him what he did there. The latter,
+seeing a man walk with long steps towards him, imagined that the porter
+suspected him and was about to arrest him. Immediately he began to run
+on the sward, but presently his feet became entangled in the train of
+his cloak and he rolled on the grass. The porter, hearing someone
+calling in the château, did not continue his walk, and on rising
+Chaudoreille saw nobody. He then hastened to take the way to the
+village.</p>
+
+<p>"This is enough of it for today," said he, "another time I shall not be
+so imprudent, I'll hide<a name="page_vol_2_222" id="page_vol_2_222"></a> in the thickets which are within cannon shot of
+the castle," and he returned to his inn where, while awaiting dinner, he
+played at little quoits with his host, and insisted on teaching madame,
+his wife, to dance the bolero. Julia, hearing the noise, found
+Chaudoreille in the courtyard of the inn, in the midst of the fowls and
+manure, making many bows to a little woman of forty years, and beating
+time with Rolande, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"In Granada nobody dances except sword in hand. Ah, here is my sister
+Salamalech, she can make curtseys without touching her heels."</p>
+
+<p>Julia pushed the dancing master into her room, saying to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing in that courtyard?"</p>
+
+<p>"What the deuce! I did it the better to preserve our incognito, for
+prudence' sake."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you learned this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Many things. I believe there is a garrison at the château. I saw an
+armed man come out. As to little Blanche, I have a suspicion that they
+are keeping her in a subterranean dungeon."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a fool. I've spoken to a young girl who lives at the château; I
+made her gossip. Blanche is in one of the towers which overlook the
+lake."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the soldier whom I questioned must have lied to me. I had him,
+however, with my sword at his throat."</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody has arrived at the château?"<a name="page_vol_2_223" id="page_vol_2_223"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nobody, I'm sure of that, I have not lost sight of it."</p>
+
+<p>"This evening I shall introduce myself into the park and I hope&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope that I'm not to introduce myself there."</p>
+
+<p>"No, you are to watch outside."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I'm good at watching outside; besides, I have the eyes of a cat, I
+can see clearly at night."</p>
+
+<p>According to his custom the marquis went to visit Blanche on the day
+after the scene in the grotto, but she experienced a new dread at sight
+of him. She recalled how passionately he had folded her in his arms, and
+despite her innocence she felt a degree of fear as she saw him approach
+and seat himself at her side. The marquis knew women too well not to
+perceive the change in Blanche's manner. He tried to read the young
+girl's eyes, he wished to see again the sweet expression which so
+charmed him, but Blanche kept her eyes downcast, she trembled, and
+feared to meet those of the marquis. After a shorter visit than usual
+Villebelle left Blanche, and went to reflect on the means which he
+should employ to overcome her resistance. He awaited the evening
+impatiently, he flattered himself that he should be more fortunate in
+the gardens in making his peace with his young prisoner; but Blanche
+listened to a secret voice which told her she was not safe in the park
+with the marquis, and she did not intend to go there.<a name="page_vol_2_224" id="page_vol_2_224"></a></p>
+
+<p>It had long been night, and vainly had Villebelle walked up and down the
+pathways where the young girl walked every evening. He did not meet her.</p>
+
+<p>"She fears me," said he, "however, she does not hate me, she herself has
+told me so."</p>
+
+<p>On passing before the grotto where they had sat the evening before, the
+marquis believed that he saw a shadow flit before him. Persuaded that it
+was Blanche, he ran to seize her. The person whom he pursued paused,
+turned, and, by the light of the moon, the marquis recognized Julia.</p>
+
+<p>"You in this neighborhood, and in my park?" said Villebelle, with the
+greatest astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur le marquis," said Julia with a bitter smile, "does that
+astonish you? Monsieur de Villebelle should, however, understand all the
+pleasure which I experience in being near him."</p>
+
+<p>"Once more, what are you doing here?"</p>
+
+<p>"There was a time, monsieur le marquis, when my presence caused you no
+weariness, when you told me with the most tender vows that you would
+love me forever. Remember how often it was necessary to repeat those
+vows in order to make me yours."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis made a gesture of impatience and exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"And is it to tell me this that you introduced yourself at night into my
+chateau?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Julia, giving way to all her fury.<a name="page_vol_2_225" id="page_vol_2_225"></a> "Another motive led me to
+this place; it was the hope of vengeance. You have laughed at my love,
+at my grief; I will revel in your sufferings, you shall shed tears of
+blood when it will be too late."</p>
+
+<p>"This is too much; your threats weary and make me despise you. If you
+have the power to fulfil them, why are you waiting for your revenge?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am awaiting the presence of an indispensable witness, your worthy
+confidant, the barber Touquet."</p>
+
+<p>Saying these words Julia glided among the trees, and disappeared before
+the marquis could stop her. Greatly surprised at this singular meeting,
+he was careful on reëntering the château to warn Germain; and ordered
+him to redouble his watchfulness in order that no one might gain access
+to Blanche.<a name="page_vol_2_226" id="page_vol_2_226"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII-b" id="CHAPTER_XIII-b"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Marquis Visits Blanche at Night</span></h2>
+
+<p>T<small>HE</small> marquis returned in great agitation to his apartments. He was
+greatly incensed, but not at all intimidated by Julia's threats, which
+he attributed to spite and her jealousy. However, despite his lack of
+consideration for her he had cast off, there was something in the voice
+of the young Italian which carried conviction, and her eyes appeared to
+be animated by a barbaric joy when she had fixed them on those of the
+marquis, and warned him to beware.</p>
+
+<p>Vexed at not having forced Julia to explain herself, Villebelle called
+his valet, and ordered him to search the park with some of his people,
+and if he met a woman to bring her immediately to the château. Germain,
+the gardener, and three men servants hastened to investigate the park
+and gardens, but they returned to the château without meeting anybody,
+and the marquis passed the night in reflecting upon the event. The
+presence of Julia had disturbed his peace; he feared that she would come
+and bring Blanche news of her lover. At daybreak he wrote to the barber
+and ordered him to come to the château.<a name="page_vol_2_227" id="page_vol_2_227"></a></p>
+
+<p>Marguerite was dead; the old servant could not bear the loss of Blanche,
+and the fury of her master after Julia's visit. The barber, who had for
+a long time desired to sell his house, was about to go to a lawyer, when
+a letter was brought to him by a messenger from the marquis.</p>
+
+<p>"He wishes that I should go to Sarcus," said Touquet to himself, after
+reading the note; "the marquis still has need of me. He has at times, an
+inclination for virtue which causes me uneasiness, but he pays
+generously; besides I can refuse him nothing. He has divined a part of
+my conduct, and if some day he should desire to ruin me as an expiation
+for all his own follies&mdash;for it is often in this manner that great folks
+repair their errors&mdash;but no, the marquis will commit follies as long as
+he lives; it is above all necessary that he should triumph over
+Blanche's virtue, for that would insure my safety."</p>
+
+<p>Touquet made the preparations for his departure, and on the next day but
+one he arrived at the château, and presented himself to the marquis, who
+was awaiting him in his apartment.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, monseigneur, with what haste I have obeyed your orders," said
+the barber, bowing.</p>
+
+<p>"That is well; your presence here may be very useful to me. I feel that
+I need someone who will make me ashamed of my weakness. Would you
+believe that I am no further advanced in regard to Blanche?"<a name="page_vol_2_228" id="page_vol_2_228"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't believe it unless you told me so, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"It is certain that I should never have dreamed of it myself. She has
+been for three weeks at the château, and I have hardly dared to kiss her
+hand. Some days ago we were in the park, and I tried to advance a little
+further, but she supplicated me to let her go in so touching a voice, it
+affects me in a manner which I cannot account for, but I was nearly
+heartbroken at having caused her pain; since that time she has not left
+her room. When near me, she is fearful, embarrassed, and always in
+tears."</p>
+
+<p>"All that will end, when you have made her yours, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen her lover? This Urbain of whom she talks incessantly, and
+whom she calls at every moment of the day."</p>
+
+<p>"No, monseigneur, and I presume that young Urbain, more reasonable than
+Blanche, has already forgotten that little love affair."</p>
+
+<p>"The poor little thing is always thinking of him. If I could persuade
+her that he no longer loves her,&mdash;she would not, however, believe me.
+But in speaking to you of Blanche I forget the motive which induced me
+to send for you. You can never divine whom I met the day before
+yesterday, in the evening, in my park&mdash;Julia."</p>
+
+<p>"Julia!" cried the barber, starting with surprise.<a name="page_vol_2_229" id="page_vol_2_229"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she had entered these premises. But how could she have discovered
+that I was here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't imagine, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"She had the audacity to threaten me, jealousy and rage shone in her
+eyes; she also spoke to me of you. I didn't understand all she was
+saying to me, and she disappeared when I was about to force her to
+explain further."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, this young girl has some evil design."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that, also. However, she has not reappeared since, and every
+evening my people make a general search in the park."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter, Julia will do her utmost to take Blanche away from you."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you think she will do it? You must visit the neighborhood, and
+if you discover Julia, tell her from me that I forbid her to present
+herself on these premises. If she still dares to come I can easily
+obtain a lettre-de-cachet, which will relieve me from her
+importunities."</p>
+
+<p>"That will be the best thing you can do, monseigneur. Tomorrow I'll
+begin my researches."</p>
+
+<p>"During the time which you are at the château, avoid passing through the
+park by the side of the lake, for you might be seen by Blanche, and I
+don't wish that she shall know you are here; I don't think that the
+sight of you would give her pleasure, and I desire to keep her from all
+that might add to her grief."<a name="page_vol_2_230" id="page_vol_2_230"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I've never seen monseigneur so much in love."</p>
+
+<p>"No, never has any woman inspired me with that which I feel for
+Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to get some rest. Tomorrow at daybreak I shall take my way; I
+will search the neighborhood, I will visit the smallest cottages; Julia
+cannot evade my search, and as soon as I know where she is, I answer for
+it, monseigneur, that you will not see her again."</p>
+
+<p>The barber was about to go as he said these words, but there was an
+expression on his face which did not escape the marquis. Villebelle ran
+to him and stopped him, saying in a severe tone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Touquet, you have misunderstood me. Remember that I do not wish that
+any harm should come to Julia. That young girl is passionate,
+headstrong, but her love excuses it. One should always forgive the
+faults of which one is the first cause. I should, perhaps, have further
+considered her sensibility; I have treated her with too much disdain. If
+she will consent to become reasonable, promise her all that she shall
+ask. Scatter gold, that she may be happy. In addition to that, I wish to
+speak to her myself, that she may explain to me what she wished to tell
+in her letter."</p>
+
+<p>"In that case, monseigneur, as soon as I have discovered her retreat, I
+will hasten to let you know it."</p>
+
+<p>The barber bowed low to the marquis and left the apartment.<a name="page_vol_2_231" id="page_vol_2_231"></a></p>
+
+<p>"That man is a deep scoundrel," said Villebelle, as he watched Touquet
+depart. "For a long time I thought he was only a schemer and a thief;
+why should he still be necessary to me? But I can't charge Germain to
+speak to Julia. Julia! I believed for a little while that I loved her.
+Ah, what a difference there is between that passionate, vindictive woman
+and the sweet and charming Blanche. Why should Julia love me so
+passionately, and yet I cannot kindle in the breast of that timid child
+a spark of the fire which consumes me?"</p>
+
+<p>While the marquis was dreaming of Blanche, who, sad and solitary in her
+lonely room, passed her days in praying to Heaven and weeping for her
+lover, Julia, after her nocturnal meeting with Villebelle, sought to
+gain speech with the young prisoner. The watchfulness of the marquis'
+people did not prevent her from gliding through the park; but though she
+drew near the lake it was impossible to reach the tower; they had taken
+away all the boats for fear that one of them should serve as a means of
+approaching Blanche's windows. As for Chaudoreille, being ordered to
+watch all who entered or left the château, he hid himself in a thick
+bush, which was about two cannon shots from the entrance to the castle;
+and there, having Rolande bare at one side by way of precaution, and a
+bottle of wine at the other, he passed his day with a pack of cards,
+studying a new manner<a name="page_1232" id="page_1232"></a> of turning the king and of re-turning the aces,
+hiding entirely under his immense mantle at the slightest sound.</p>
+
+<p>The day after his arrival at the château, the barber commenced his
+search. Not imagining for a moment that Julia would conceal herself at
+Sarcus, he visited Damerancourt, and Grandvilliers, and returned towards
+the evening to Sarcus. As he approached the village, he perceived in
+front of him a little man enveloped in a brown cloak, under which it was
+difficult to distinguish his body, but a long sword, whose handle
+protruded from one side of his cloak, betrayed who carried it.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Chaudoreille," said the barber to himself, and he hastened that he
+might catch up with him. The little man, when he heard someone behind
+him, was seized with terror, and also tried to walk faster, but the
+unfortunate cloak entangled his legs at every step, and soon he felt
+himself pulled by the handle of his sword. He turned and was petrified
+at seeing the barber Touquet.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going, Chevalier Chaudoreille?" said the barber, in a
+mocking tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Where am I going? By jingo! How are you, my good friend?"</p>
+
+<p>"You clown," said the barber, "I've heard some fine things about you."</p>
+
+<p>"One mustn't believe all that one hears, my dear Touquet."</p>
+
+<p>"And don't you think I ought to believe monsieur<a name="page_1233" id="page_1233"></a> le marquis? It was you
+who told him about Blanche, despite your vows."</p>
+
+<p>"You know very well that between ourselves an oath is not binding, and
+what have you to complain of? I was the means of your obtaining a large
+sum of money."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you serve Julia now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I serve Julia. I will serve you, if you wish, I will serve
+anybody; I have always been very obliging."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Julia?"</p>
+
+<p>"She wishes to preserve her incognito."</p>
+
+<p>"Answer, wretch, no more lies."</p>
+
+<p>"Ow! leave go of my ear, you are hurting me. We are lodging in this
+village at the inn; there is only one here. Julia passes as my sister,
+and I for a Moor of Granada, professor of castanets."</p>
+
+<p>"What are Julia's plans?"</p>
+
+<p>"The devil carry me away if I have any idea of them. She passes her days
+and a part of her nights in prowling about the château, like a fox
+watching a chicken. Between ourselves I believe she's a little cracked."</p>
+
+<p>"And with what design did she bring you here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Simply to keep her company. She likes my society very much, I sing
+villanelles to her."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to me, I ought to break your back to punish you for what you've
+done."</p>
+
+<p>"O my dear Touquet, that was a joke."<a name="page_vol_2_234" id="page_vol_2_234"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Get along with you, I despise you too much to strike you."</p>
+
+<p>"That's very civil on your part."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you told me the truth?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you doubt it, come with me to the inn. Julia will not be long before
+she comes in."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I can't go there this evening; but I forbid you to say a word to
+her about our meeting."</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as you forbid me, it's as if you had cut out my tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"If I don't find Julia tomorrow in the place you have told me of,
+monsieur le marquis himself will see that you are punished, and this
+time there will be no quarter given you."</p>
+
+<p>"You may be sure I'll obey you."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, I'm going back to the château."</p>
+
+<p>"And I to the village&mdash;where I shall not await your visit," said
+Chaudoreille, in a low tone, gathering his cloak up under his arm that
+he might walk more quickly.</p>
+
+<p>Touquet returned to the château and sought the marquis. It was night,
+and Villebelle was seated before a table as sumptuously furnished as was
+possible at the château; but the marquis, presuming that he should make
+a long sojourn there, had had his cellars replenished, and if the fare
+was not so delicate as in Paris, the wines were no less exquisite. The
+marquis appeared gayer than usual. He had already emptied several
+bottles, and near<a name="page_vol_2_235" id="page_vol_2_235"></a> him were several letters which he read while supping.</p>
+
+<p>"What news?" said he, on perceiving the barber.</p>
+
+<p>"My researches have not proved vain, monseigneur. Julia is at the
+village; she is living at the inn under an assumed name. I have seen
+Chaudoreille, who is now her confidant."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, the little Gascon. Have you thrashed him soundly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, monseigneur, I wished first to get your orders, and I have not
+seen Julia."</p>
+
+<p>"You have done well, I will speak to her myself. Tomorrow we will go
+together to the village; I shall make the heedless girl hear reason, and
+we shall know this grand secret which she pretends she has to tell me."</p>
+
+<p>"A secret?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and it's necessary, she says, that you should be present when she
+tells it."</p>
+
+<p>"Me? monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow she shall be satisfied. Do you see those letters? All of those
+were sent to me from Paris. They are from the great ladies who regret
+me; there are reproaches, promises, vows, and a little of everything.
+Here, throw all that in the fire."</p>
+
+<p>"What, monsieur le marquis, even those which are unopened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course; do they not all say the same<a name="page_vol_2_236" id="page_vol_2_236"></a> thing? Ah, a single smile
+from Blanche is worth all the sweet nothings of these ladies. Why is she
+not here, near me?"</p>
+
+<p>"If monseigneur desires it&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That she may come with her eyes full of tears? No."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis filled a large glass with wine, which he drank at a draught,
+when he exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I'm commencing, however, to fear that I sigh in vain; Blanche is near
+me, in my château, but I dare not&mdash;but to employ violence, I cannot
+resort to that."</p>
+
+<p>"Without employing violence, monseigneur, are there not a thousand ways?
+She sleeps undefended&mdash;and you have double keys to all the rooms."</p>
+
+<p>"What perfidy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not greater, monseigneur, than taking her in a carriage, telling her
+that she was going to join Urbain."</p>
+
+<p>"Be silent, you are a monster; and to listen to your horrible counsels
+renders me more criminal than yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"It was not I, monseigneur, who counselled you to fall in love with
+Blanche, but since she is in your power, it seems to me that your
+scruples are a little tardy."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis remained silent for some moments; then he resumed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This morning she spoke to me less coldly; I<a name="page_vol_2_237" id="page_vol_2_237"></a> remained several hours
+with her; she seemed to me less timid. I took her hand, and she left it
+for a long time in mine."</p>
+
+<p>"What more do you wish for, monseigneur? In secret Blanche loves you;
+but do you think that so timid a young girl will confess what is passing
+in her heart? It is not until after she has yielded that she banishes
+all constraint."</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche loves me, say you? Ah, if it were true. But it is late; go and
+take some rest. Tomorrow we will go and see Julia."</p>
+
+<p>Touquet bowed to the marquis, and looked stealthily and scrutinizingly
+at him; then he took a candle, and departed in silence. For a long while
+the marquis remained at the table, buried in thought, or drinking glass
+after glass of wine. He seemed to wish to drown in the liquor the
+thoughts which pursued him. Finally he rang for Germain, and said to him
+in a gloomy voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Who has the double keys to the château?"</p>
+
+<p>"The porter should have them, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"Bid him come here, I wish to speak to him."</p>
+
+<p>The old porter hastened to obey his master's orders.</p>
+
+<p>"Are there some double keys for these apartments?" said the marquis.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monseigneur, there are even triple keys; 'tis an ancient usage
+that dates from&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Go and get me those of the tower which looks on the lake."<a name="page_vol_2_238" id="page_vol_2_238"></a></p>
+
+<p>The porter departed, and soon returned with a bunch of keys, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If monseigneur wishes I will conduct him through the château."</p>
+
+<p>"Give me those and go, I do not need your assistance," said the marquis,
+snatching the keys from his hand.</p>
+
+<p>The old man, stupefied, bowed and departed, without daring to raise his
+eyes on his master. The marquis dismissed his servants, saying that he
+had need of rest, and presently the most profound silence reigned in the
+château and in the grounds pertaining to it.</p>
+
+<p>As for the Marquis de Villebelle, he walked irresolutely about his
+apartment, holding the bunch of keys in his hand, and meditating deeply.
+He was apparently still undecided as to what course he should take, and
+muttered to himself from time to time,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No, I cannot make use of these keys&mdash;she seemed to give me her
+confidence and I dare not abuse it; but must she pass her life thus? To
+be so near her, to have abducted her in vain. What would all the
+libertines say of me, all the people of fashion, if they knew of my
+conduct? But if they could see Blanche! Why did that cursed Touquet
+speak to me of these keys? I should have divined that when he entered
+this château, that man would advise me to commit some wicked action."<a name="page_vol_2_239" id="page_vol_2_239"></a></p>
+
+<p>Some moments passed, and at last the marquis took up a candle, and
+exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is settled; I will listen only to the passion which leads me."</p>
+
+<p>He left his room, which was separated from the tower where Blanche was
+lodged by a long gallery adorned with portraits of the marquis'
+ancestors. Villebelle walked slowly, pausing often to listen, and
+trembling for fear he should meet someone; he kept his eyes down, and
+seemed afraid to look at the portraits of his ancestors, who, for the
+most part, had honored their country by their bravery and virtue. At
+this moment something told him he was about to commit an act which was
+unworthy of the name which they had transmitted to him, and when his
+eyes met by chance one of those noble faces with which the gallery was
+hung, he seemed to read in it an expression of indignation and scorn. At
+last he reached the end of the gallery, and never had it seemed to him
+so long; he mounted a grand staircase, crossed several rooms, and
+entered the tower which held the young girl. A violent trembling seized
+him. Wishing to master his uneasiness, he hastened his walk. All the
+doors of communication were open, and he soon found Blanche's room. He
+paused, and looked at the keys which he held in his hand; he still
+hesitated, but, seeking to deaden himself to the crime which he was
+about to commit, he tried several keys,<a name="page_vol_2_240" id="page_vol_2_240"></a> and was soon in Blanche's room.
+The deepest silence reigned in this place; the marquis stepped very
+softly, taking each step with precaution. The door of the bedroom was
+not closed. Villebelle looked in, and by the light of the lamp placed on
+the hearth, perceived the young girl asleep.</p>
+
+<p>"She sleeps," said the marquis; "she thinks herself safe in this
+shelter, but her breathing is oppressed; she seems as though she were
+going to speak; if I could but hear her."</p>
+
+<p>He approached the bed. Blanche was dreaming of her lover; softly she
+breathed Urbain's name, and extended her arms as if imploring someone;
+then she murmured,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"O dear God! they still keep us apart."</p>
+
+<p>Villebelle felt moved and softened.</p>
+
+<p>"No, she does not love me," said he softly; "in her sleep she is always
+thinking of Urbain."</p>
+
+<p>He sighed profoundly, and was about to depart, when Blanche awakened,
+opened her eyes, and called out in terror,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"O heavens! who is there?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is I, Blanche," answered the marquis in a halting voice.</p>
+
+<p>"You seigneur? so late in my room? What do you want with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Be calm, I beg of you."</p>
+
+<p>"But you are trembling yourself, seigneur, what has happened?"<a name="page_vol_2_241" id="page_vol_2_241"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, nothing; I wished to see you&mdash;to speak to you, to look at you
+once more."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, don't look at me so, monsieur le marquis, you frighten me."</p>
+
+<p>"Frighten you? Ah, Blanche, is that the feeling with which the most
+faithful lover should inspire you? Yes, my love is at its height; I can
+no longer master it; you must make me happy; you must be mine."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis already held Blanche in his arms. The young girl uttered a
+piercing cry, and gathering her strength, disengaged herself, jumping
+lightly from her bed, but Villebelle again seized her; he tried to cover
+her with kisses; he tried to stifle her cries. Blanche threw herself at
+his feet, extended her arms towards him, supplicatingly, and cried in a
+heart-breaking-voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy! mercy! if only for today."</p>
+
+<p>These accents penetrated to the depths of the marquis' soul. The sight
+of Blanche at his feet, of her tears and of her despair, restored him to
+reason, but fearing that he might no longer be able to master his
+passion, he precipitately left the young girl, and distractedly fled to
+his room.<a name="page_vol_2_242" id="page_vol_2_242"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV-b" id="CHAPTER_XIV-b"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Urbain's Visit to the Marquis. Chaudoreille's Last Adventure</span></h2>
+
+<p>B<small>LANCHE</small> remained motionless and silent for a long time in the place
+where she had implored, and her loveliness and the nameless charm of her
+innocence had obtained, the pity, the forbearance of a man who had been
+about to wrong her womanhood. At last a flood of tears relieved her
+heart. She rose and then looked about her with terror; she listened
+tremblingly; at the least sound caused by the wind on the lake she
+shuddered, and imagined she heard the marquis returning. She passed the
+night in cruel anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"All is over," she said, weeping; "my hope of happiness is completely
+shattered. O my well-beloved Urbain, I shall see you no more; they will
+separate us forever, but I will die rather than cease to be worthy of
+thee."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis had rested no better than his victim. Divided between love
+and remorse, regretting at times having yielded to what he called his
+weakness, and cursing a passion which made Blanche unhappy, he saw day
+break without having closed his eyes.<a name="page_vol_2_243" id="page_vol_2_243"></a></p>
+
+<p>Astonished at having received no orders in regard to Julia, Touquet
+presented himself before the marquis; he remarked the dejection of the
+latter's features, and sought to divine the cause of it. Villebelle's
+gloomy and melancholy tone did not indicate that he was happy; he
+remained silent, and the barber dared not question him. At this moment
+Germain entered the room, and announced to his master that a young man
+had presented himself at the château, and begged the favor of speech
+with him.</p>
+
+<p>"A young man?" said the marquis. "Is he an inhabitant of the
+neighborhood?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, monseigneur, his dress is that of a young student; he expresses
+himself well, and appears to have the greatest desire to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"He did not tell you his name?"</p>
+
+<p>"He says that you know him without knowing his name."</p>
+
+<p>"How very singular, can he be a messenger from Julia?" said Villebelle,
+looking at the barber.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so, monsieur le marquis. The description which Germain
+has given of the stranger is not that of Chaudoreille."</p>
+
+<p>"When they introduce this young man, Touquet, step into the next room;
+it is possible he wishes to speak to me alone."</p>
+
+<p>The barber departed and Germain returned with Urbain, who, having
+travelled without stopping, had arrived at Sarcus, and was waiting
+impatiently<a name="page_vol_2_244" id="page_vol_2_244"></a> at the porter's lodge for the answer which the marquis
+should send him.</p>
+
+<p>"My master consents to see you. Follow me, monsieur, I will take you to
+him," said Germain to Urbain; the latter joyfully hastened to follow the
+valet, who introduced him to the marquis.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain entered the room trembling; approaching with embarrassment the
+great nobleman, who was seated on a sofa, and who looked curiously at
+the young man, unable to resist a certain interest which Urbain's
+refined and distinguished face inspired.</p>
+
+<p>"Deign to excuse, seigneur, the liberty which I take," said the young
+bachelor, bowing low to the marquis.</p>
+
+<p>"Speak, monsieur, what do you want of me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I come to implore your protection. You gave me permission to have
+recourse to it. We have already seen each other at Paris, some time ago;
+I was disguised, I met you at night in the Grand Pré-aux-Clercs, fought
+a duel&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What, my brave fellow, was that you, who were dressed as a girl?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, seigneur, I had the misfortune to wound you in the arm."</p>
+
+<p>"And I tell you that that was just, for I was wrong, as I usually am.
+Hang it! I'm delighted to see you again; give me your hand, you are a
+brave fellow."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis rose, came towards Urbain and<a name="page_vol_2_245" id="page_vol_2_245"></a> cordially shook him by the
+hand. The latter, delighted by this welcome, did not know how to evince
+his gratitude.</p>
+
+<p>"Seat yourself near me," said Villebelle, "and tell me what has procured
+me the pleasure of receiving you in my château."</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, you had the goodness to offer me your protection if I were
+unfortunate, and I come to claim it."</p>
+
+<p>"You do well, my dear fellow; speak without fear. Is it money that you
+need, I have it at your service; don't spare it, I often enough make a
+bad use of it, once at least let it serve me in making somebody happy."</p>
+
+<p>"Fortune could not render me happy, for it is love which causes my
+trouble, monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you are in love; that's different, I am in love, also; and at this
+moment it does not make me very happy, either. But come, tell me your
+love affairs."</p>
+
+<p>"I love, I adore, a charming young girl&mdash;ah, monseigneur, there is
+nobody to be compared to her."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, but go on."</p>
+
+<p>"She did not know her parents, but the man who had brought her up gave
+me her hand. Only one day and we should have been united, when a wretch
+introduced himself into the house where she lived and carried off from
+me the one who was about to become my wife."<a name="page_vol_2_246" id="page_vol_2_246"></a></p>
+
+<p>"That's very singular," said the marquis, struck by Urbain's recital,
+"and do you know the name of this ravisher?"'</p>
+
+<p>"No, monsieur le marquis, but after that I learned that it was a great
+nobleman, a rich and powerful man&mdash;Ah, my only hope of discovering this
+monster lies in you, for you perhaps know the place where he lives.
+Monseigneur, have pity on my torture, help me to recover her whom they
+have stolen from me, help me to recover Blanche, and the unfortunate
+Urbain will owe you more than life."</p>
+
+<p>At the name of Blanche the marquis rose abruptly. Urbain threw himself
+at his feet, seized one of his hands and looked imploringly at him; but
+Villebelle turned his head that the young man might not see the change
+which had come over his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up, get up," said the marquis, seeking to master his emotion; "I
+wish to serve you, yes, but I cannot promise to restore to you the one
+whom you have loved."</p>
+
+<p>"Among the noblemen of the court, there are men who glory in betraying
+innocence and snatching a young girl from her relations; seigneur, if
+you have the least suspicion&mdash;sometimes the slightest indication will
+put one on the track."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis appeared to reflect deeply; Urbain, who believed that he
+sought to recall some circumstance which had interested him, waited
+with<a name="page_vol_2_247" id="page_vol_2_247"></a> most lively anxiety for him to speak. After a long silence
+Villebelle said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You are very young, Urbain."</p>
+
+<p>"I am nineteen years old, seigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"This&mdash;Blanche is, no doubt, the first woman whom you have loved?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, seigneur, and she will be the last."</p>
+
+<p>"You are mistaken, my friend; at your age one loves ardently, but it is
+a flame which quickly evaporates. It is only to one like me that&mdash;bereft
+of the illusions of youth and wearied with change&mdash;a true love is a need
+of the heart and should be an insurmountable feeling. Like you, at
+nineteen years of age, I believed that I should love for life; I
+deceived myself. Believe me, you will still be happy."</p>
+
+<p>"Without Blanche? That is impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"You have some little fortune?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have a little country house which my father left me, and twelve
+hundred livres income."</p>
+
+<p>"With so little, distraction is not easy. I wish that you could taste
+some of the pleasures of your age, and in their vortex you would soon
+forget your first love."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you, seigneur, but I cannot accept your benefits. I repeat to
+you, I can never taste pleasure separated from her I love."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what I have offered you would facilitate your researches. Do not
+refuse me, it is only on that condition that I promise you to second<a name="page_vol_2_248" id="page_vol_2_248"></a>
+your efforts. Wait for me here, do not leave this room."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the marquis went into the room where Touquet was waiting.</p>
+
+<p>"Urbain is there," said he, "the young stranger who asked to see me is
+Blanche's lover."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it, seigneur, I recognized his voice and I listened."</p>
+
+<p>"He comes to beg my help in discovering the abductor of her he loves."</p>
+
+<p>"He could not better address himself."</p>
+
+<p>"I almost felt ready to give him his sweetheart."</p>
+
+<p>"What folly!"</p>
+
+<p>"But Blanche's image is too deeply graven in my heart. However, I wish
+to try and indemnify poor Urbain for the evil which I have caused him;
+and the power of gold&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the remedy for all evils, seigneur."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, to a venial soul like yours; you have never known the sweetness of
+love."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is necessary, seigneur, to get rid of this young man for a long
+time. What prevents you&mdash;by means of false advice&mdash;from sending him to
+England, to Turkey, to the devil even?"</p>
+
+<p>"In fact, I comprehend."</p>
+
+<p>"Travel will distract him from his love; you are a generous rival. Some
+others in your place, profiting by the occasion, would shut this young
+man up in some dungeon in this château."<a name="page_vol_2_249" id="page_vol_2_249"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how horrible! to betray the confidence of this mere boy."</p>
+
+<p>"In place of that you will give him money, so that he can live like a
+great lord."</p>
+
+<p>"Could I ever pay him for the treasure I have taken from him?"</p>
+
+<p>The marquis opened a desk, took sixty thousand livres in notes, which he
+placed in a pocketbook and returned to find Urbain. The young bachelor,
+as he noted the elegance of the interior of the château, said to
+himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is, perhaps, in a similar abode that Blanche is lamenting at this
+moment."</p>
+
+<p>"In thinking of what you have told me," said Villebelle, "I recall
+certain circumstances which might, perhaps, put you on the track of her
+whom you are seeking."</p>
+
+<p>"O monsieur le marquis, deign to tell me."</p>
+
+<p>"The Marquis de Chavagnac has often made people talk about him by
+abducting beautiful girls; he has suddenly left Paris, and one may
+presume that it was on some similar adventure."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, it is he who has stolen Blanche from me."</p>
+
+<p>"Remember well that I do not affirm anything."</p>
+
+<p>"And does anyone know to which of his châteaux he has gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is not in France, and, according to what I have learned, has betaken
+himself to Italy."</p>
+
+<p>"To Italy? Then that is where I must go."<a name="page_vol_2_250" id="page_vol_2_250"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Take this pocketbook as a mark of my esteem, and do not spare that
+which it holds."</p>
+
+<p>"Seigneur, I do not know if I should."</p>
+
+<p>"Believe my experience; with gold one may gain the duennas, one may
+seduce jailers, one may surmount many obstacles."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be to you, then, that I shall owe my happiness, my felicity. O
+seigneur, I do not know how to express my gratitude to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Go, Urbain, make a tour of Italy, and perhaps you will there find
+happiness."</p>
+
+<p>The young bachelor still wished to express to the marquis all his
+gratitude, but the latter would not permit him, and again wishing him a
+pleasant journey, he rang for Germain, who conducted Urbain to the door
+of the château. Hardly had the young lover quitted the marquis'
+apartments, when Villebelle called Touquet, and ordered him to follow
+Urbain at a distance, and not to lose sight of him until he was certain
+that the bachelor had left Sarcus. Urbain departed, penetrated with
+gratitude to the marquis, but while passing through the great gate, he
+experienced a sadness for which he could not account. He could hardly
+leave the château, and turned to cast a last glance at the antique
+towers of Sarcus. Wrapped in thought, he walked slowly down the first
+road which he came to, greatly touched at the welcome which he had
+received at the château. He hoped, thanks to the benevolence of the
+marquis, soon<a name="page_vol_2_251" id="page_vol_2_251"></a> to be in Italy, not doubting that it could be any other
+than the Seigneur de Chavagnac who had carried Blanche off.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain had already gone some distance from the château, and was about to
+enter a lane which led to the village, when a shout of, "Take care
+there!" made him raise his head, and he saw before him a man on
+horseback. The rider, however, managed his horse so badly that the
+animal was standing across the path, having his head resting on a bush,
+to which he seemed to be attached.</p>
+
+<p>"By jingo! won't you turn, proud animal; beware lest in place of the
+spur I bury Rolande's point in your side. Take care there, what the
+deuce! My horse is skittish, you frighten him."</p>
+
+<p>The voice and accent of the chevalier immediately struck Urbain; he
+recognized the man who had made an appointment with him at the Porte
+Montmartre. Chaudoreille, after his meeting with the barber, had had no
+thought except to leave the neighborhood of the château, and without
+making his resolution known to Julia, who would, he was very certain,
+oppose it, he had waited till the next day, when she had left the inn;
+then, taking the bag which contained the effects and money of his
+companion, he had sold one of their horses and, under the pretext of
+exploring the neighborhood had started on his way, with the intention of
+escaping to parts unknown. But<a name="page_vol_2_252" id="page_vol_2_252"></a> the fugitive did not know how to hold
+his horse, although since his journey to Sarcus he had believed himself
+one of the best jockeys in France. Continually twitching the bridle of
+his horse for fear the animal should run away, it had taken him an hour
+to cover barely half a mile of road. He commenced to fear that he could
+not depart quickly enough by this mode of travel, when Urbain met him in
+the little lane, which the horse refused to leave.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain, delighted at seeing the man again who had promised to tell him
+the name of Blanche's ravisher, uttered a joyful exclamation, and ran
+towards Chaudoreille. The sudden cry and approach of the young man
+frightened the horse, which jumped, and sent his rider six feet from him
+into a thick hedge.</p>
+
+<p>"All the bones in my body are broken," cried Chaudoreille, while
+falling.</p>
+
+<p>Urbain ran to help him up, and to make his excuses, but the chevalier
+drew away from him, and while rubbing himself looked at Urbain, who did
+not cease to repeat,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am Blanche's lover, the young man whom you met that night, and whom
+you promised to meet at Porte Montmartre."</p>
+
+<p>"My faith, that's true, I recognize you now; but why the deuce did you
+run at me, and shout so loud? This is the first time that I have been
+unhorsed."<a name="page_vol_2_253" id="page_vol_2_253"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, oblige me by keeping your promise; tell me the name of
+Blanche's abductor. I can now recompense you beyond your hopes."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" said Chaudoreille, drawing Urbain towards the hedge which hid
+them from sight of the château; "imprudent young man, don't speak so
+loud."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Silence, I tell you. What! you are at Sarcus, and you don't know the
+name of your sweetheart's abductor?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, of course not; I came to beg the Marquis de Villebelle's
+protection, and thanks to him I hope&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for once this is too much! Young man, you interest me. I am about
+to risk myself for you; but you have promised me a liberal recompense."</p>
+
+<p>"Here, take this gold, these notes, and speak at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Your sweetheart's abductor is no other than the Marquis de Villebelle."</p>
+
+<p>"The marquis?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why yes, by jingo! and your little girl is now at the Château de
+Sarcus."</p>
+
+<p>"No, that is not possible; you are deceiving me. The marquis has heaped
+benefits upon me."</p>
+
+<p>"The better to disarm your suspicions. Zounds! how young you still are.
+I tell you that your Blanche is at the château, and that the barber&mdash;"<a name="page_vol_2_254" id="page_vol_2_254"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Is before you," said a stern voice, which came from the other side of
+the hedge, and, at the same moment, the foliage parted and Touquet
+appeared before the astonished Urbain; while Chaudoreille, whose legs
+failed him at this sudden apparition, fell again into the hedge,
+muttering,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It's the devil."</p>
+
+<p>"This wretch has not told you all, Seigneur Urbain," said the barber.
+"Under pretext of serving you he has given you some half confidences,
+but I wish you should know all the obligation under which you lie to
+him. You were about to wed Blanche, and nothing was opposed to your
+marriage; the marquis had never heard of that young girl, whom I had
+carefully kept from his sight, foreseeing to what excesses he would be
+carried; but Chaudoreille, in spite of his promises, gave the marquis a
+most seductive portrait of your sweetheart and told him of your
+approaching marriage. Finally, it is to him that you owe Blanche's
+abduction and the loss of your happiness. Answer, clown, is not this the
+truth?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot deny it," answered the chevalier, half dead with fright,
+"however, circumstances&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Wretch!" cried Urbain, "you are the cause of all my suffering, defend
+yourself. The first act of my vengeance shall be your death."</p>
+
+<p>While travelling, Urbain carried a sword; he drew his weapon from the
+scabbard and advanced towards Chaudoreille, but the words, "by your<a name="page_vol_2_255" id="page_vol_2_255"></a>
+death," and the sight of the naked sword put new strength into the legs
+of the little man. Abandoning the cloak which impeded his flight, he ran
+with all his might, pursued by Urbain, who still threatened him with his
+sword; while the barber, mounting Chaudoreille's horse, went at full
+gallop to the château. The chevalier, who imagined that he felt the
+point of Urbain's sword pricking his back, redoubled his speed; but
+Urbain, animated by a desire for vengeance, had very nearly caught up to
+him, and was not more than twenty paces behind him when they entered the
+village. This flying man, pursued by another with a sword in his hand,
+attracted everyone's attention.</p>
+
+<p>"Out of the way! out of the way!" cried Chaudoreille to the crowd, while
+Urbain shouted,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Stop that wretch."</p>
+
+<p>The innkeeper who was at his door said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that's Monsieur Malek-Al-Chiras, castanet teacher. What can he
+have done with his Arabian steed?"</p>
+
+<p>The fugitive entered the first door that he found open, which was one in
+the house of an old dowager. Chaudoreille mounted the staircase; arrived
+at the first floor he perceived a key in a door, he entered
+precipitantly, carefully taking the key with him and locking it after
+him. At the same instant, a voice cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, what are you doing here? Nobody can come in, I am not
+visible."<a name="page_vol_2_256" id="page_vol_2_256"></a></p>
+
+<p>It was the dowager, who was dressing at the moment when the chevalier,
+entered her chamber, desperate. Chaudoreille did not answer, he heard
+nothing but Urbain's steps.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, I am making my toilet."</p>
+
+<p>"Make anything you please," said he at last, "I shall scarcely worry
+myself about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Leave this room, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Me, leave the room? By jingo! I'll take very good care not to do that.
+Do you wish me to go to my death? I'm pursued by a man who absolutely
+wishes to fight with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, fight. Can't you defend yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can only defend myself when I am not attacked."</p>
+
+<p>"What use is your sword then, monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"That does not matter to you. Ah, zounds! I hear him."</p>
+
+<p>In fact, Urbain had discovered Chaudoreille's retreat. He knocked at the
+door and ordered him to open.</p>
+
+<p>"Answer that there is nobody here," said Chaudoreille to the dowager,
+"you will save the life of the most amiable man in Europe."</p>
+
+<p>The old woman answered on the contrary,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"He is here, but he has locked himself up with me and he has taken the
+key."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, one can break in the door," said Urbain, "if this wretch
+refuses to open it."<a name="page_vol_2_257" id="page_vol_2_257"></a></p>
+
+<p>Chaudoreille looked round in search of a hiding-place, but feared the
+dowager would betray him. Finally his glance rested on the chimney, and
+seeing no other means of escape, he ran and climbed into it with the
+agility of a squirrel. At that moment someone forced the door, and
+Urbain entered, followed by some of the village people. They did not see
+Chaudoreille, but the dowager indicated the way by which he had fled.
+Going down into the court they perceived the chevalier on the roof,
+creeping along a gutter and endeavoring to reach the neighboring house.
+The way was dangerous, but the fear of fighting seemed to have blinded
+Chaudoreille to all other perils. Already his foot touched the next
+roof, and, using Rolande to feel his way, he turned his head to see if
+Urbain was behind him; this movement made him lose his equilibrium, he
+slipped, then disappeared. They ran to the place where he had fallen;
+the descendant of Delilah had fallen on some cabbages, but not having
+loosened his hold of Rolande, the long sword had passed through the
+middle of his body. Thus perished the prudent Chaudoreille, while trying
+to avoid a combat.<a name="page_vol_2_258" id="page_vol_2_258"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV-b" id="CHAPTER_XV-b"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Julia's Story. What Was Contained in the Portfolio</span></h2>
+
+<p>T<small>HE</small> barber left Urbain in full pursuit of the luckless chevalier and
+putting his horse at full gallop tore back to the Château de Sarcus, in
+order that he might immediately apprise the marquis of that which had
+taken place. He arrived in short order at the château and hastened to
+present himself to Villebelle, whom he informed of the meeting of Urbain
+and Chaudoreille and the disclosures that had been made.</p>
+
+<p>"Then this young man is aware that I have grossly deceived him, that I
+am Blanche's abductor and that she is now at the château?" said the
+marquis. "He is young and ingenuous, his love for this hapless child is
+pure and virtuous, he sought to honor her in making her his wife,&mdash;how
+vile and dishonorable must I appear in his eyes!"</p>
+
+<p>"What does the opinion of this beardless boy matter to you, monsieur le
+marquis? The most important thing you have to think of is how to prevent
+his coming in contact with Blanche, and that, now, will be rather
+difficult. Now that he<a name="page_vol_2_259" id="page_vol_2_259"></a> is sure that she is here, he will employ a
+thousand stratagems to introduce himself into the château&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, this boy shall not rob me of the woman whom I love."</p>
+
+<p>"If he comes, as I am certain he will, to demand satisfaction, it's a
+sure thing that you cannot refuse to fight him, and that will be the
+best means of disembarrassing yourself of him. With your cool blood and
+your skill with the sword, you ought easily to be able to vanquish a man
+blinded by fury."</p>
+
+<p>"Wretch! do you wish that I should be bathed in the blood of this child?
+No, I am already guilty enough. But what prevents me from leaving
+Sarcus, from carrying Blanche to a country where Urbain cannot discover
+her? Yes, tonight even, we will start. We will go to unknown parts. Go
+immediately and find Germain. The preparations for our departure must be
+made in the greatest secrecy, and Blanche must not know of them until
+the last moment; at midnight we will leave the château. By this means I
+hope to make all traces of Blanche lost to Urbain forever."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a very good idea, monseigneur, but Julia&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall trouble myself no more about her now, besides, this step will
+also relieve me from her importunities. Go, run, and order everything
+for tonight."<a name="page_vol_2_260" id="page_vol_2_260"></a></p>
+
+<p>Touquet hastened to execute the marquis' orders; it was already late,
+and there remained only a short time to Villebelle in which to make his
+preparations for a voyage which he presumed would be of long duration.
+The more he reflected, the more he approved of his plan. He imagined
+that Blanche would find, in travelling in strange countries,
+distractions which would make her soon forget the persons whom she had
+left in France, and he flattered himself that he would soon see the
+consummation of all his wishes.</p>
+
+<p>Eleven o'clock struck. The night was fine; everything was in readiness
+for their start, some fresh and lively horses were harnessed to a
+travelling carriage. The marquis was still in his apartment, occupied in
+finishing some letters to his stewards and some intimate friends in
+Paris. Near him was the barber, to whom he gave his last instructions;
+charging him in case he should see Urbain again, to advise that young
+man to forget a woman whom he could never possess; and to enjoy himself
+with the large fortune which Villebelle had placed at his disposal.</p>
+
+<p>The barber listened quietly to the marquis; his eyes were fixed on the
+gold and the bills of exchange spread on the desk by the side of a pair
+of travelling pistols. A few moments later Villebelle was about to tell
+Marie to go and call Blanche, when the door of the room opened softly.
+The marquis, surprised that anyone should dare to<a name="page_vol_2_261" id="page_vol_2_261"></a> come into his room so
+late, raised his eyes and recognized Julia, wrapped in her black mantle.</p>
+
+<p>"This woman again!" exclaimed Villebelle, while Touquet turned and
+remained struck with astonishment on perceiving the Italian.</p>
+
+<p>"Calm yourself, seigneur," said Julia, closing the door of the room,
+"this visit will be the last that I shall make you."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you come here? What do you want? Speak, hasten to answer me
+unless you expect me to punish you for your strange conduct."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear nothing, seigneur, it is very little matter what becomes of me
+after this. I find you here with your confidant, which is just what I
+wish. Deign to listen attentively to me. That which I am about to tell
+you will, I am sure, change all your resolutions, and your departure
+will not take place."</p>
+
+<p>Julia's singular tone, and her unexpected appearance at so late an hour,
+inspired Villebelle with curiosity and a secret terror. He signed to the
+young Italian to speak. The latter seated herself between the marquis
+and the barber, who waited impatiently for her explanation, and after
+looking attentively at them for some time with a peculiar expression,
+she at length began her story.</p>
+
+<p>"It is first necessary, monsieur le marquis, that you should know that I
+am the daughter of a man named César Perditor, who passed for a sorcerer
+in the eyes of ignorant people, and whose reputation<a name="page_1262" id="page_1262"></a> became such that
+he was obliged to quit Paris to protect himself from death, or, at
+least, from a perpetual prison in the dungeons of the Bastile."</p>
+
+<p>"César! I often heard speak of that famous sorcerer," said the marquis.
+"Did he not hold his conferences in a quarry near Gentilly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, seigneur; and there it was that an old man came to consult him, an
+old man whose daughter you had abducted, and whom you had wounded with
+your sword&mdash;the unfortunate Delmar."</p>
+
+<p>"Estrelle's father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly, monseigneur. Old Delmar told his troubles to my father, and
+begged him to give him the means to revenge himself upon you; but
+despite all his skill César would have had difficulty in satisfying the
+old man if, while receiving the confidences of a great part of the
+noblemen and of the women of fashion, he had not learned where your
+little house was situated, and to what neighborhood you had taken the
+young Estrelle. He told it to the old man, and the latter rescued his
+daughter from your hands."</p>
+
+<p>"What? It was her father who took her from the shelter where I had
+placed her?" said the marquis with surprise, and appearing at every
+moment more interested in Julia's tale. "And what became of her?"</p>
+
+<p>"One moment, seigneur, you will learn all if you will allow me to
+continue. Old Delmar had<a name="page_vol_2_263" id="page_vol_2_263"></a> regained his daughter, but you had dishonored
+her, and the adventure had caused too much stir to allow them to remain
+in the city that you lived in. He possessed some fortune; he sold
+everything, realized his property, recompensed my father for the service
+he had rendered him, and carried Estrelle to the depths of Lorraine, and
+there she gave birth to her child."</p>
+
+<p>"Good God! she was a mother! can it be possible that Estrelle made me a
+father? Ah, Julia, in mercy finish."</p>
+
+<p>Julia seemed to enjoy for some moments the marquis' uneasiness, then she
+resumed her story.</p>
+
+<p>"It was at this time that my father was obliged to escape from Paris in
+order to avoid arrest, and the report spread that he had perished in a
+dungeon of the Bastile; but he had amassed sufficient for his
+subsistence, and leaving his dangerous occupation, he had no thought but
+to live in peace. I was then in Italy, my birthplace. My father came to
+seek me, and brought me to France, the climate of which pleased him.
+Unable to return to Paris, where he would have been recognized, my
+father settled in the neighborhood of Nancy; there he again saw old
+Delmar and his sad daughter, secretly bringing up a child of whom she
+could only call herself the mother with blushes. Later he became
+acquainted with a poor farmer who had been reduced to poverty by the
+misconduct of his son, a wretch who, after committing a crime<a name="page_vol_2_264" id="page_vol_2_264"></a> in the
+country where he was born, had fled, carrying away from his parents all
+that they possessed, and leaving them in the direst poverty."</p>
+
+<p>"The history of this man can have no connection with Estrelle's child,"
+said the marquis, impatiently; "in pity, Julia, finish what you have to
+say to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, monsieur le marquis, that is more important than you think,
+and it is very interesting to your worthy confidant, who has already
+recognized his father in the old farmer of whom I have spoken."</p>
+
+<p>The barber, who had given great attention to Julia's last words,
+immediately exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, was that my father? I was guilty towards him I confess; love of
+gold made me commit many faults, but I always had the intention of
+repairing the wrong I had done, and there is still time for it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is too late," said Julia, casting at the barber a terrible look.</p>
+
+<p>"Is he dead?"</p>
+
+<p>Julia remained silent. The marquis rose abruptly, exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, cruel woman, have you amused yourself sufficiently with my
+torture? When are you going to make an end of this?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are both very impatient," said the young Italian, smiling bitterly;
+"but there is little more to tell you. Old Touquet asked my father<a name="page_vol_2_265" id="page_vol_2_265"></a>
+whether he had, in his travels, heard his son spoken of. My father could
+tell him nothing satisfactory. Soon after we went to dwell in a village
+near Amiens; it was there that I lived up to the age of fifteen years.
+Then my father died; and I came to Paris, where I went into a shop as a
+simple workwoman. My father had left me no property except a manuscript
+containing the most curious adventures of his life, and the secret
+history of the persons who had consulted him. This is how I learned,
+monsieur le marquis, of the abduction of poor Estrelle, and it was in
+examining these notes of my father that I saw in what manner the barber
+Touquet had acted toward his parents."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that all that you know?" said the marquis. "Have you learned nothing
+more in regard to Estrelle and her child?"</p>
+
+<p>"A short time ago I did not know anything further, seigneur, but chance
+has put me in possession of all that you would know, thanks to a visit
+which I paid to the barber, for it was at his house that I found the
+clew to the mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"At my house?" said Touquet, looking at Julia in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, at your house, in the closet hidden at the back of the alcove in
+Marguerite's chamber."</p>
+
+<p>Pale and trembling, the barber muttered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You have been in that closet&mdash;but there was nothing there; no, I am
+very certain of it."<a name="page_vol_2_266" id="page_vol_2_266"></a></p>
+
+<p>"You are mistaken, for in disturbing, by chance, a chest which stood on
+the floor, I found this portfolio, which probably had been hidden by the
+person whom you lodged there, who, not knowing how to dispose of these
+important papers, had deemed it wise to put them in this secret place
+during the time that he stayed at your house."</p>
+
+<p>The barber looked with terror on the portfolio which Julia had drawn
+from beneath her cloak, while the marquis exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Do these papers come from Blanche's father?"</p>
+
+<p>"They come, in fact, from the person who brought that young girl to the
+barber's house. Seigneur, read first that one."</p>
+
+<p>Julia gave a paper to Villebelle, who uttered a cry of surprise as he
+read,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Certificate of the birth of Blanche, daughter of Estrelle Delmar."</p>
+
+<p>"O my God!" said the marquis, breathing with difficulty, "can it be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, seigneur, do you know Estrelle's writing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is it, I recognize it."</p>
+
+<p>"Read this note."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis took the letter and eagerly read it,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>I feel that I am about to die, but, at least, my father has
+forgiven me. He had forbidden me to make Blanche's existence known
+to her father, and, as long as he lived, I respected his orders;
+but he is no more, and I am about to follow him to<a name="page_vol_2_267" id="page_vol_2_267"></a> the tomb.
+Villebelle, Blanche is your daughter, the fruit of our love.
+Good-by. Love her more than you have loved her mother. I forgive
+you.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Estrelle Delmar.</span></p></div>
+
+<p>"O Blanche, O my daughter!" exclaimed the marquis, abandoning himself by
+turns to his joy and his remorse, "I am your father and I have made you
+unhappy."</p>
+
+<p>"Finish this letter, seigneur," said Julia, "there is something there
+which concerns your confidant."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis saw some lines added by Estrelle's hand and read,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>I have no relations; my daughter will be presented to you by a
+worthy friend in whom I have every confidence, and who goes to
+Paris under a fictitious name to try to obtain some information
+about a son who has dishonored him. I have confided to him the
+fortune which I have left Blanche; my daughter needs nothing but
+her father's friendship, but if he repulses her, the old Touquet
+will take his place.</p></div>
+
+<p>"Touquet," cried the marquis, looking at the barber.</p>
+
+<p>The latter appeared thunderstruck. He looked at the letter, a cold sweat
+stood out on his forehead; he could not utter a word.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Julia, "yes, unhappy wretch, it was your father who came to
+your house with Blanche, whom he was taking to the marquis; he had taken
+the name of Moranval, no doubt, that he might be more likely to get news
+of his son in Paris. Perhaps he even knew in whose house he was taking<a name="page_1268" id="page_1268"></a>
+lodgings. Answer, wretch, how did you treat that traveller?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not question me," said the barber, walking wildly about the room, "I
+am a monster. Do not come near me; I have murdered my father!"</p>
+
+<p>"And for ten years you have deprived me of my daughter," cried the
+marquis, starting from Touquet with horror. "You were about to make me
+the most guilty of men, your horrible counsels were thrusting me to a
+crime&mdash;wait, wretch, and receive the price of all your misdeeds."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis seized one of the pistols which were on the desk and
+directed it towards Touquet. The shot sped, and Julia looked coldly on,
+as the barber fell at her feet.</p>
+
+<p>"That death was too kind for you," said the marquis, "but, thanks to
+Heaven, I have not committed the last crime. O my dear Blanche, you are
+my daughter; that was the cause of the secret feeling which pled for
+you. I will make you happy, and you shall forget my unworthy love;
+henceforth, it is only a father who presses you in his arms."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis left the room followed by Julia. He did not walk, he flew
+towards the tower inhabited by Blanche. As he approached, his voice,
+calling Blanche, woke the echoes. They reached the door of the room,
+which was locked on the inside; the marquis, who had not taken his keys,
+knocked and reknocked, calling Blanche and<a name="page_vol_2_269" id="page_vol_2_269"></a> begging her to open. Nobody
+answered, but presently a sound reached the marquis' ears, which seemed
+to be caused by the fall of some object in the waters of the lake.
+Villebelle experienced a sensation which he could not define; he ran and
+called Germain, obtained his keys and entered Blanche's apartment; it
+was empty, and everything announced that the young girl had not gone to
+bed; but one of the windows looking on the lake was open. Led by a
+secret presentiment, the marquis went on to the balcony. His eyes
+searched the lake, and he called again,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Blanche, my daughter."</p>
+
+<p>Nobody answered, but an object showed at intervals on the surface of the
+lake, and seemed to move.</p>
+
+<p>"It is she," cried Villebelle, and immediately jumped into the lake. It
+was indeed the unfortunate Blanche, who, since the scene of the
+preceding night, expecting at every moment some new attempt on the part
+of the marquis, had not tasted a moment's rest. She had not gone to bed,
+fearing to be surprised in her sleep, and watched trembling, believing
+at the slightest noise, that her abductor was about to appear. Blanche
+had decided to die rather than cease to be worthy of Urbain. On hearing
+hasty steps approaching her room, and recognizing Villebelle's voice
+calling her loudly, a most violent terror had seized her; and not
+doubting but that he had come to accomplish<a name="page_1270" id="page_1270"></a> his infamous purpose, she
+had thrown herself into the lake, pronouncing Urbain's name.</p>
+
+<p>The marquis swam towards the object which he perceived in the water, but
+another person who had been in the park, had also thrown himself into
+the lake. It was Urbain, who, certain that his sweetheart was in the
+château, had profited by the night to introduce himself into the
+gardens. The young bachelor had heard Blanche's sweet voice uttering his
+name, then a sudden sound caused him to look towards the lake and he had
+flown to the help of the unfortunate girl, with whom he had at length
+reached the brink; where presently he was joined by the marquis, Julia,
+and the people of the château, attracted by their master's shouts.
+Blanche was stretched on the grass, while Urbain on his knees beside her
+called her loudly, when the marquis came running in the greatest despair
+and threw himself on the ground, supplicating Heaven to give him back
+his daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"His daughter?" cried all those around him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Villebelle, gazing on Blanche's discolored features with
+despair, "yes, it is my daughter, my child, whom I have made unhappy,
+whose death I have caused. Ah, I would have given all my fortune to kiss
+Estrelle's daughter, to hear her call me father, and by my passions, my
+vices, I am deprived of my greatest treasure. Oh, my dear Blanche,
+return to life; before death<a name="page_vol_2_271" id="page_vol_2_271"></a> closes your mouth, tell me, at least, that
+you will forgive me. But no, I shall not have even that last
+consolation; she is dead without having once called me father."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis threw himself on the body of his daughter, which Urbain
+watered with his tears; he took Blanche's hands and held them against
+his heart, seeking to rewarm them, to reanimate them, but all efforts
+were vain. Blanche could no longer hear her father's cries, nor the sobs
+of her lover.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Barber of Paris, by Charles Paul de Kock
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,15610 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Barber of Paris, by Charles Paul de Kock
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Barber of Paris
+
+Author: Charles Paul de Kock
+
+Translator: Edith May Norris
+
+Release Date: September 16, 2011 [EBook #37453]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BARBER OF PARIS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
+produced from scanned images of public domain material
+from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: frontispiece]
+
+
+
+
+THE WORKS OF
+
+CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK
+
+_The Barber of Paris_
+
+TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY
+EDITH MARY NORRIS
+
+The C. T. Brainard
+Publishing Co.
+
+Boston New York
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY
+
+THE FREDERICK J. QUINBY COMPANY
+
+_All rights reserved_
+
+_LOUIS E. CROSSCUP
+Printer
+Boston, Mass., U. S. A._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+VOLUME I
+
+
+CHAPTER I                                                           PAGE
+The Barber's House                                                     1
+
+CHAPTER II
+The Great Nobleman and the Barber                                     14
+
+CHAPTER III
+Blanche. A History of Sorcerers                                       35
+
+CHAPTER IV
+The Chevalier Chaudoreille                                            54
+
+CHAPTER V
+The Music Lesson                                                      74
+
+CHAPTER VI
+The Lovers. The Gossips                                               87
+
+CHAPTER VII
+Intrigues Thicken                                                    106
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+Conversation by the Fireside                                         129
+
+CHAPTER IX
+The Closet. The Abduction                                            140
+
+CHAPTER X
+The Little House. A New Game                                         155
+
+CHAPTER XI
+The Pont-Neuf. Tabarin                                               177
+
+CHAPTER XII
+A Nocturnal Adventure                                                189
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+The Tete-a-Tete                                                      198
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+Ursule and the Sorcerer of Verberie                                  218
+
+CHAPTER XV
+Love and Innocence. A Shower of Rain and the
+Talisman                                                             239
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+How Will It End                                                      260
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Who Could Have Expected It?                                            1
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Happy Moments                                                         23
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A Day with Chaudoreille                                               38
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+The Little Supper                                                     54
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Having Money and Power One May Dare
+Everything                                                            74
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Rendezvous. Strokes of Fortune. The Hotel
+de Bourgogne. The Sedan Chair                                        102
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Poor Urbain                                                          126
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+The Chateau de Sarcus                                                135
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The Meeting. Projects of Revenge                                     164
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The Little Closet Again                                              183
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The Storm Brews                                                      197
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The Return to the Chateau                                            212
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+The Marquis Visits Blanche at Night                                  226
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Urbain's Visit to the Marquis. Chaudoreille's
+Last Adventure                                                       242
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Julia's Story. What was Contained in the Portfolio                   258
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE BARBER'S HOUSE
+
+
+Upon a certain evening in the month of December, of the year one
+thousand six hundred and thirty-two, a man walked at a rapid pace down
+the Rue Saint-Honore and directed his steps towards the Rue Bourdonnais.
+
+The individual appeared to be forty years old or thereabouts; he was
+tall as to his figure and sufficiently good-looking as to his face; the
+expression of the latter, however, was rather austere and at times even
+melancholy; and in his black eyes might sometimes be noted an ironical
+light, which belied the suspicion of a smile.
+
+This ungenial personage, on the occasion of which we are writing, was
+wrapped, one might almost say disguised, and he looked like one who
+would lend his personality to disguise; he was wrapped, then, in a long
+brown cloak which only came down just below his knees, and he wore,
+drawn low down over his eyes, a broad-brimmed hat, which, contrary to
+the fashion of the day, was ungarnished by a single feather, but which
+effectually protected his face from the rain which was now beginning to
+fall very heavily.
+
+The Paris of that time was very different from the Paris of today. The
+condition of the beautiful capital was then deplorable; many of the
+streets were unpaved, many of them were only partly paved; heaps of
+rubbish and filth accumulated here and there before the houses,
+obstructing the course of the water and stopping the openings of the
+drains. These waters being without outlet, overflowed on all sides,
+forming puddles and filthy holes which exhaled miasmatic and foetid
+odors. Then one might have alluded with truth to--
+
+    Paris, city of noise, of mud and of smoke.
+
+The streets were unlighted. People carried lanterns, it is true; but
+everybody did not have these, nor were lanterns any defence against the
+robbers who existed in very large numbers, committing a thousand
+excesses, a thousand disorders, even in broad daylight, being only too
+well authorized in crime by the example of the pages and lackeys whose
+habit it was to amuse themselves each night by insulting the passers-by,
+abducting the girls, mocking at the watch, beating the sergeants,
+breaking in the doors of shops, and annoying the peace of the
+inhabitants in a multiplicity of ways, excesses against which parliament
+had in vain promulgated statutes, which were incessantly renewed, and
+just as incessantly violated with impunity.
+
+The stealing of purses, and even of cloaks, was then a thing so common
+that the witnesses of the robbery contented themselves with laughing at
+the expense of the victim, without ever running after the thief. Murders
+were committed in broad daylight on the squares and on the walks, the
+criminals insulting their victims as they departed.
+
+There were two kinds of thieves,--cut-purses and tire-laines. The first
+nimbly cut the strings of the purse, which it was then the habit to
+carry hung at the belt; the second, approaching from behind, rudely tore
+the passer's cloak from his shoulders.
+
+Vainly from time to time they executed some of these criminals. These
+examples seemed to redouble the audacity of the vagabonds, the insolence
+of the pages and lackeys. Justice waxed feeble, while custom allowed
+each one to execute it for himself. Duels were nearly as common as
+robberies; it was considered a great honor to have the power to boast of
+having sent many people into the other world. Indubitably this was not
+the golden age, nor the good old times so vaunted by some poets, so
+regretted by those gloomy minds which admire only hoops and
+farthingales.
+
+We do not pretend to write history, but we have thought it necessary to
+recall to the reader the state of Paris at the time in which our barber
+lived. Undoubtedly he has already divined, by the title alone, that the
+story is not of our time; for now we have in Paris many artistes in
+hairdressing, many coiffeurs, and many wigmakers, but we have no longer
+any barbers.
+
+The individual whose portrait we have just drawn, having reached a
+corner of the Rue des Bourdonnais, stopped before a pretty house on
+which was written in big letters, "Touquet, Barber and Bathkeeper." At
+that time the luxury of signs was not known, and the streets of Paris
+did not offer to the consideration of loiterers a character from Greek
+or Roman history at the front of each grocer's or haberdasher's shop.
+The portrait of Mary Stuart did not invite one to go in and buy an ell
+of calico; nor did Absalom, hung by the nape, indicate to one that he
+was passing a hairdresser's parlors. We have made great progress in such
+matters.
+
+The man who had stopped before the barber's house would have had, no
+doubt, much trouble in reading what was written on the front of the
+shop, which was shut; for the night was dark, and, as we have already
+said, there were no street lamps to aid those who ventured to be out in
+the evening in the capital. However, he seized the knocker of the
+smaller door, which served as an entrance, and gave a double knock
+without hesitating, and as one who was not afraid of making a mistake;
+in fact, it was the barber himself. In a few moments heavy steps were
+heard, and a light shone against the lattice-work above the door, which
+opened, and an old woman appeared, holding a candle in her hand. She
+nodded, saying,--
+
+"Good God, my dear master! you have had horrible weather. You must be
+very wet. I have been praying to my patron saint that nothing should
+happen to you. Oh, if one only had a secret for preserving one's self
+from the rain! I'm very sure there are some people who can command the
+elements."
+
+The barber made no answer, but passed toward a passage which led to a
+lower room in which there was a big fire. On entering the apartment he
+began by removing his cloak and hat, from which latter escaped a mass of
+black hair which fell in ringlets on his collar; he unfastened a large
+dagger from his belt, it being then the custom not to venture out
+without being armed. Touquet hung the dagger over the mantelpiece, then
+threw himself into a wicker armchair and placed himself before the fire.
+
+While her master rested, the old servant came and went about the room;
+she placed the table beside the barber's armchair, drew from a buffet a
+pewter cup, some plates, a cover. She placed on the table tankards
+containing wine or brandy, and some dishes of meat which she had
+prepared for the supper.
+
+"Has anyone been here during my absence?" said the barber, after a
+moment.
+
+"Yes, monsieur; first, some pages, to know the news and adventures of
+the neighborhood, to talk evil about everybody, and to mock at the poor
+women who were weak enough to listen to them. Oh, the young men of
+today are wicked. How they boasted of their conquests! Some bachelors
+came to be shaved, then the little dandy who's delighted to wear powder,
+protesting that soon everybody will wear it. Perhaps they'll powder the
+hair likewise; still, that may preserve it from something worse. Ah, I
+forgot; and that big, noisy and insolent lout who, because he has a
+satin doublet and a velvet mantle, a hat adorned with a fine plume, and
+beautiful silver points, believes that he has the right to play the
+master over everything."
+
+"Ah, you're speaking about Monbart?"
+
+"Yes, of that same. He made a great shouting when he found you were not
+here. He said that since monsieur is rich he neglects his business."
+
+"Why should he meddle with it?"
+
+"That's just what I thought, monsieur. M. le Chevalier Chaudoreille also
+came. He fought a duel yesterday in the little Pre-aux-Clercs and killed
+his adversary, and he had still another duel for this evening. Blessed
+Holy Virgin! that men should kill each other like that, and often for
+some mere trifle."
+
+"Let them fight as much as they please; it's of little importance; it's
+not my business. Did anybody else come?"
+
+"Oh, the gentleman who is so droll that he makes me laugh, and whom I
+have sometimes seen play in the farces which everybody runs to see at
+his theatre in the Hotel de Bourgogne,--M. Henry Legrand."
+
+"Why don't you say Turlupin?"
+
+"Well, Turlupin, since that's the name they give him at the theatre, and
+by which he's also known in the city. He does not make one melancholy.
+He came with that other who plays with him, and acts, they say, the old
+men, and delivers the prologues which precede the pieces."
+
+"That's Gautier-Garguille?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, that's his name. He wanted to be shaved, bathed and have
+his hair dressed; but as you were not here, one of them played the
+barber and shaved his comrade; then the other took the comb and soapball
+and rendered him the same service. I wished at first to prevent them,
+but they wouldn't listen to me; if they didn't make me sit in the shop
+and talk downright nonsense about scent and soap. Some people who in
+passing had recognized Turlupin and his companion stopped before the
+shop; presently the crowd grew dense, and when they wanted to leave they
+could not find a way through; but you know Turlupin is never
+embarrassed, and, having uselessly begged the curious to let them pass,
+he went into the back shop and brought a bucketful of water, which he
+emptied entirely upon the crowd. Then you can imagine, monsieur, the
+excitement, the shouts of everybody. Turlupin and Gautier-Garguille
+profited by the confusion to make their escape."
+
+"And Blanche," said the barber, who appeared to listen impatiently to
+old Marguerite's story,--"I hope that she was not downstairs when these
+merry-andrews attracted such a crowd about my house."
+
+"No, monsieur, no; you know very well that Mademoiselle Blanche seldom
+comes down to the shop, and never when there is anybody there. Today, as
+you were away, she did not leave her room, as you had advised her."
+
+"That's well; that's very well," said the barber.
+
+Then he drew near the fire, supporting one of his elbows on the table,
+and appeared to fall again into reflection without listening to the
+chatter of his servant, which continued as if her master were paying the
+greatest attention to her.
+
+"Mademoiselle Blanche is a charming girl; oh, yes, she is a charming
+child,--pretty, very pretty. I defy all your court ladies to have more
+beautiful eyes, or a fresher mouth, or whiter teeth; and such beautiful
+hair, black as jet and falling below her knees. And with all that, so
+sweet, so frank, without the least idea of coquetry. Ah, she is candor,
+innocence, itself. Of course, she's not yet sixteen years old; but there
+are many young girls at that age who already listen to lovers. What a
+pity if such a treasure as that should fall into the claws of a demon!
+But we shall save her from that. Yes, yes; I'm sure of it. I shall do
+all that's necessary for that, for it's not enough to watch over a young
+girl; the devil is so malicious, and all these bachelors, these
+students, these pages, are so enterprising, without counting the young
+noblemen, who make no scruple of abducting young girls and women, and
+for all compensation give a stroke of the sword, or cause to be whipped
+by their lackeys those who complain of their treatment. Good Saint
+Marguerite! what a time we live in! One must allow one's self to be
+outraged, offended, robbed even,--yes, robbed,--for if you should have
+taken your man in the act, if you demand justice, they will ask you if
+you yourself were a witness to it. If you say no, they will dismiss the
+guilty person, and if you say yes, they will first find out if you have
+the means of paying the expenses of the law, in which case you may have
+the pleasure of seeing the thief flogged before your door, and that will
+cost you a heap. But if it is someone with a title who has offended you,
+it's necessary for you to be silent about it, unless you wish to finish
+your days at the Bastile or at the Chatelet."
+
+Marguerite was silent for some minutes, awaiting a response from her
+master. Receiving none, she presumed that he tacitly approved of all she
+was saying, and resumed her discourse.
+
+"Finally, they pretend that it's always been thus. They hang the little
+ones, the bigger ones save themselves, and the biggest mock at everyone.
+One's ill advised to go to law now that the advocates and the attorneys
+drag a lawsuit along for five or six years, receiving money from all
+hands, so as to maintain their wives and their daughters in luxury,
+playing the Jew to ruin their poor clients. As to the sergeants, they
+run all over to find criminals; but if they arrest some thieves, they
+let them go very quickly, for fear that the latter will give them some
+money. Poor city! Don't we hear a frightful noise every night? And still
+we're in the best neighborhood. And that does not prevent them from
+committing vandalisms, robberies, murders. There are shouts, a clash of
+arms; what is the use of provosts, sheriffs, sergeants, archers, if the
+police do so badly? It's not the merchants I pity; they'll give
+themselves to the devil for a sou; they sell their goods for four times
+more than they cost; to draw customers, they allow every passer-by to go
+into their shops, leaving them at leisure to chat with their women, to
+take them by the chin, to talk soft nonsense, to make love to their
+face,--all that to sell a collar, some rouge, a dozen of needles. It's a
+shame to see everything that goes on amongst us. If I go to market to
+get my provisions, I'm surrounded by thieves who amuse themselves by
+stealing from the buyers and the sellers; they rummage in the creels and
+baskets, then they sing in my ears indecent and obscene songs. Good
+Saint Marguerite! where are we in all this? The scholars, more debauched
+than ever, insulting, pillaging, doing a thousand wickednesses; the
+young men of family who haunt the gambling-dens, the drinking-houses,
+always armed with daggers or swords. Ah, my dear master, Satan has taken
+possession of our poor city and will make us his prey."
+
+Marguerite stopped anew and listened. The barber still kept the deepest
+silence, but he was not asleep. Several times he had passed his right
+hand over his forehead and pushed back his curls. For those who love to
+talk, it is much the same whether they are listened to or believe
+themselves to be listened to. The old servant was enjoying herself; she
+did not often find so good an opportunity to talk, and she began again
+after a short pause:--
+
+"Thanks to Heaven, I am in a good house, and I can say with pride that,
+during the eight years that I have lived with monsieur, nothing has
+passed contrary to decency and good manners. I remember very well that
+when they said to me, eight years ago, 'Marguerite, M. Touquet, the
+barber-bathkeeper of the Rue des Bourdonnais, is looking for a servant
+for his house,' I considered it twice. I beg your pardon, monsieur; for
+bath-keepers' houses and lodging-houses don't have a very good
+reputation. But they said to me, 'M. Touquet is in easy circumstances
+now; he doesn't take lodgers; he is contented to exercise his calling in
+the morning, and for the rest he hardly ever sees anybody at his house,
+where he is carefully educating a little girl whom he's adopted.' My
+faith! that decided me, and I've not had cause to repent my decision. If
+there come in the morning to the shop a crowd of men of all professions,
+not one of them penetrates to the interior of the house. Monsieur does
+his business honorably, I am proud to say; and that which I admire above
+all is the interest which he bears for the orphan he has taken under his
+care, for I believe that monsieur has told me that she is an orphan.
+Yes, monsieur has told me so. She surely merits all that anyone can do
+for her, that dear Blanche; but I believe I have not told monsieur by
+what means I preserve her from the snares that wait for innocence. Oh,
+it's a secret, it's a marvellous secret, which I shall confide to
+monsieur. The neighbor opposite the silk merchant told me how to make
+it; it is a little skin of vellum, on which some words are written; then
+one signs it, and it becomes a talisman to prevent all misfortunes.
+Queen Catherine de Medicis had a similar one which she wore always; the
+talisman which I have given to Mademoiselle Blanche, very far from
+attracting evil spirits, should make them fly from a place and prevent
+the effect of all sorceries which anyone could employ to triumph over
+her virtue. Oh, the precious talisman, monsieur! Alas! if I had had one
+eight years ago!--But you don't sup, monsieur; haven't you any
+appetite?"
+
+Touquet rose abruptly and went to look at a wooden timepiece which stood
+at the end of the room.
+
+"Nine o'clock," said the barber impatiently; "nine o'clock, and he has
+not come."
+
+"Why, are you waiting for someone, monsieur?" said the old servant in
+surprise.
+
+"Yes; I'm waiting for a friend. Put another drinking-cup on the table;
+he will sup with me."
+
+"I very much doubt whether he will come," said Marguerite, while
+executing her master's orders; "it's late and the weather is frightful;
+one must be very bold to risk himself in the streets at this hour."
+
+At this moment somebody knocked violently at the door of the passageway,
+and the barber, smiling to himself, cried,--
+
+"It is he!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE GREAT NOBLEMAN AND THE BARBER
+
+
+On hearing the knock old Marguerite started affrightedly and looked at
+her master, as she faltered,--
+
+"Must we open the door at this time of night, monsieur?"
+
+"Of course, haven't I told you already that I was waiting for a friend?"
+replied the barber, putting some more wood on the fire, "go to the door
+at once."
+
+The old servant was very fearful; she stood and hesitated; but a single
+look from her master decided her; she took a lamp and directed her steps
+towards the corridor which opened into the passageway of the house.
+Marguerite was sixty-eight years old; work and the weight of years had
+long since bent her body and deprived her limbs of their natural
+agility; she could only walk slowly, and the high heels of her large
+slippers made a uniform flapping noise which the poor old hand-maid
+could not prevent and of which she was, indeed, unconscious.
+
+The good woman had shuffled as far as the middle of the passageway, when
+another knock, louder than the first one, shook all the windows of the
+house.
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu!" said Marguerite; "he's in a great hurry. Which of my
+master's friends would allow himself to knock in that manner? There are
+some panes broken, I'm sure. Can it be Chaudoreille? Oh, no; he only
+gives a very soft little knock. Turlupin? Of course not; I should hear
+him sing in the street. Besides, he's not my master's friend. Ah, I'm
+very curious to know who it can be."
+
+Despite her curiosity Marguerite did not advance more quickly. However,
+she arrived at the door, and, having mentally recommended herself to her
+dear patron saint, she decided to open it.
+
+A man wrapped in a large cloak which he held against his face, his head
+covered with a hat ornamented on the edge with white feathers, and drawn
+well down over his eyes, so that no one could see them, appeared at the
+end of the passageway, and asked in a loud voice if this was Barber
+Touquet's house.
+
+"Yes, monsieur," said Marguerite, trying, but in vain, to discover the
+features of the person before her. "Yes, this is it; and it's you, no
+doubt, for whom my master's waiting."
+
+"In that case conduct me to him," said the stranger.
+
+Marguerite closed the door and bade the unknown follow her. While
+guiding him along the passageway and the long corridor which they had
+to traverse, she turned often and held her lamp to the stranger, under
+the pretence of lighting him, but in fact to try to see something by
+which she could recognize the person whom she had introduced into the
+house. Her efforts were in vain. The stranger walked with his head down,
+holding his cloak against his face. Marguerite was reduced to examining
+his boots, which were white, with turned-over mushroom-shaped tops, and
+garnished with spurs. This seemed to indicate a refined dress; but many
+men then wore similar ones, and this part of his dress could not help
+Marguerite in her conjectures. They reached the lower room, and the
+stranger entered with a light step, while the servant said to her
+master,--
+
+"Here's the person who knocked. I do not know if it is the friend you
+were waiting for; I was not able to see him."
+
+The barber did not allow Marguerite time to finish her phrase. He ran
+toward the stranger and made him come to the fire, saying to him,--
+
+"Thou hast arrived at last, then. I feared that the night, that the bad
+weather--But place thyself here; we will sup together."
+
+"Good," said the servant to herself; "in order for him to sup it will be
+necessary for him to remove his mantle, and I shall at last be able to
+see his face. I don't know why, but I have the greatest curiosity to
+know this man. If it is one of my master's friends, it must be that he
+has come here very rarely. I did not recognize his voice; his height is
+ordinary,--rather tall than short; he should be young. Yes, he's not a
+scholar; however, I bet he's a pretty fellow; by his walk I judge him to
+be a military man. We shall see if I'm mistaken."
+
+The old maid did not take her eyes from the stranger, who had thrown
+himself on a chair, and made no sign that he wished to relieve himself
+of his cloak and hat, both of which were drenched with rain.
+
+"If monsieur desires it," said Marguerite, approaching the stranger's
+chair, "I will relieve him of his cloak, which is all wet; and I can dry
+it while he is supping."
+
+"It is unnecessary," said the barber, putting himself precipitately
+between the old woman and the stranger, who had not stirred; "we have no
+need of your services. Leave us, and go to rest; I will shut the street
+door myself when my friend leaves."
+
+Marguerite seemed petrified on receiving this order. She looked at her
+master, and was about to allow herself to indulge in some observations;
+but the barber fixed his eyes upon her, and Master Touquet's eyes had at
+times an expression which compelled obedience.
+
+"Leave us," said he again to his servant; "and above all, do not come
+down again."
+
+Marguerite was silent. She took her lamp, bowed to her master and turned
+to leave the room, throwing a last glance on the man of the mantle, who
+remained motionless before the fire and whose features she could not
+see. She was obliged to go to bed without being able to base her
+conjectures on facts, without knowing if she had rightly divined the
+age, the condition, the face of the unknown. What a punishment for the
+old maid! But her master pointed with his finger to the door of the
+room, and Marguerite went at once.
+
+As soon as the old servant had departed, and when the sound of her steps
+was no longer heard, the stranger burst into a shout of laughter and
+threw his hat and his cloak far from him. Then one perceived a man of
+thirty-six years or thereabouts; his features were fine, noble and
+spirituel. His brown mustache was lightly outlined above his mouth,
+which in smiling disclosed very beautiful teeth. His expressive eyes, in
+turn tender, proud and passionate, denoted one who was in the habit of
+expressing all his sentiments; but the disgust, the weariness, which
+were depicted also on the pale and worn features of the stranger seemed
+to indicate that, having once indulged his passion, it was only with an
+effort that he could bring himself to experience it again.
+
+His costume was rich and tasteful; the color of his doublet was a light
+blue; silver and silk were blended on the velvet which formed the
+foundation; superb lace bordered the collar which fell on his
+shoulders; a large white belt surrounded his figure, and a sword
+ornamented with precious stones glittered at his side.
+
+Since the departure of his servant the barber had changed his tone
+toward the stranger. Respect, humility, had replaced the familiarity
+which Touquet had affected in Marguerite's presence.
+
+"Deign to excuse me, monsieur le marquis," said he, bowing profoundly to
+his guest, "if I permitted myself to be too familiar, with my thee-ing
+and thou-ing; but it was only according to your orders, the better to
+deceive my servant and prevent her from having any suspicions as to your
+rank."
+
+"That's all right, my dear Touquet," said the marquis, displaying
+himself before the fire; "I assure you I had the greatest trouble to
+maintain my gravity before the poor woman, who did not know by what ruse
+she could see my face, which would not have been a very great matter,
+for it is hardly presumable that she would have known me."
+
+"No, monseigneur, she does not know you; I think so at least, for M. le
+Marquis de Villebelle has made so much talk about himself with his
+gallantry, his conquests, his feats of arms. His name has become so
+famous, his adventures have made so much noise, that the lowest classes
+of society know him,--the bugbear of fathers, of tutors, of husbands,
+of lovers even; for monseigneur knows no rival. Your name is spoken with
+terror by all the men, and makes all the women sigh, some with hope and
+the others in remembrance; besides, as monsieur le marquis sought
+pleasure wherever he found beauty, since he sometimes stooped to the
+humble middle classes, and has deigned to honor with his regards some
+pretty shop girl or simple villager, it would not be impossible that my
+old Marguerite might have served with some house where monsieur le
+marquis had left souvenirs. It was, therefore, much better that she
+should not see monseigneur when he came to my house incognito."
+
+"Yes, certainly; I wish to remain unknown; it is necessary now that I
+should put more mystery into my love affairs. Be seated, Touquet; I have
+many things to tell you."
+
+"Monseigneur--"
+
+"Be seated; I wish it. Here I lay aside my rank and my grandeur; in you
+I see the first confidant of my loves, the clever servant of my
+passions, the audacious rascal for whom gold excited the imagination,
+and who knew no obstacle when a purse filled with pistoles was the
+recompense of his services. You are still the same, I am certain."
+
+"Ah, monsieur, age makes us more reasonable. Seventeen years have passed
+since I had the honor of serving you for the first time; but since that
+time my head is steadier; I have learned to reflect."
+
+"Do you wish to become an honest man? But it is not more than ten years
+ago that you were serving me; you were still a knave then. Does your
+conversion date from that epoch?"
+
+"Monsieur le marquis is incessantly joking. He calls those services
+knaveries which I rendered to him because I was so strongly attached to
+him."
+
+"Call it what you will, it matters little to me. It's not necessary with
+me, Master Touquet, to play the hypocrite, and man of scruples. In fact,
+are you disposed to be useful to me? Is your genius extinguished, and
+will gold no longer resuscitate it?"
+
+"To serve you, monsieur le marquis, I shall be always the same; you need
+not doubt my zeal or my devotion."
+
+"All in good time. That is all that I ask of you; be a saint with other
+people if that pleases you, but see that I always find you the same to
+me as you were formerly."
+
+Touquet did not answer, but he turned his head and his features seemed
+to grow sad. However, he soon recovered himself and turned smilingly
+toward his guest, who was tapping the wall of the chimney with his feet,
+and who remained for some time silent, as if he had forgotten that he
+was still at the barber's. The latter waited with impatience for the
+marquis to resume his discourse. At the end of five minutes the noble
+seigneur broke the silence.
+
+"My dear Touquet, when I recall the events of my life to my memory, I am
+truly astonished that I am still in the world. Why, during all this
+time, has not the dagger of a jealous husband or father fallen upon my
+head? How many men have sworn to ruin me! And the women,--if all those I
+have betrayed had executed their projects of vengeance! Thanks to
+Heaven, we are not in Italy or in Spain; and, while we have among the
+French some vindictive spirits, who hold rancor toward one who has
+betrayed them, the total is small. Inconstancy is not an unforgivable
+crime among these ladies, who deign sometimes to put themselves in our
+places and say they would not have done differently to us."
+
+"Certainly, monseigneur, your life, at least since I have had the honor
+to be attached to you, has been a continued series of very spicy
+adventures, and some very dangerous ones. Abductions, seductions, duels,
+attacks with force, made openly,--nothing stopped you when you had
+resolved upon anything. Could you find any obstacles? Rich, noble,
+generous, fortune and nature have done everything for you, monsieur le
+marquis. You have profited by it; you have enjoyed life; many men have
+envied you your good fortune."
+
+"My good fortune! Do you truly imagine that I have been happy?"
+
+"And what should have prevented your being so, monseigneur?"
+
+"Nothing; and that is perhaps why weariness and disgust have often
+attacked me in the midst of the pleasures, the voluptuousness, I have
+tasted. Sometimes, without doubt, I have felt happiness, but it has been
+so short and has fled so rapidly. The appearance of beauty has inflamed
+my senses and made my heart palpitate. The charming sex, which I
+idolize, has always exercised an absolute empire over me. At the sight
+of a pretty woman I love, or at least believe I love; but no sooner are
+my desires satisfied than my love expires, and I am obliged to seek a
+new object to reanimate my benumbed senses."
+
+"Happily, this capital contains any quantity of pretty faces; the city
+and the court afford you sufficient to vary your pleasures."
+
+"Sentiment and memory are alike exhausted. I fear that, having once had
+force to take fire, my poor heart has become like those imperfect gun
+flints on which the hammer strikes without effect. I am tired of the
+intrigues of the court, which are even easier than the others. Where do
+you think I could find something more spicy? There everything is done
+with etiquette, and everyone is so polished. We know life too well to
+get angry at the least infidelity; one leaves or one takes with the most
+profound obeisances, and this wearies one to death; courtiers have
+nothing new to offer one. What should I accomplish in Marion de Lorme's
+circle? I should see always the same faces. When the Cardinal had made
+her fashionable, I didn't find the woman so witty that one would wish to
+have anything to do with her. How different with this young and
+beautiful Ninon! People will long speak of her; her name will go down
+the centuries. But she has too much wit and too little love, for me. My
+heart, cold before its time, needs to come in contact with a passionate
+heart in order to rewarm itself. In the city one does not fare much
+better with the women. The little bourgeoises have become coquettes.
+Still, if they only knew how to be cruel; but a name, a figure, a rich
+cloak, seems to turn their heads. The merchants know how to rob us, and
+the grisettes entice us; and in the midst of all that the husbands are
+so kind, so complacent; they fear us as they would fire; our titles
+render them mute; of honor they are hopeless. If this continues, it will
+be necessary to make love a la turque; we should only have then to throw
+the handkerchief."
+
+"Then, monsieur le marquis, one always has the resource of wisdom; and,
+since I have not had the honor of serving you for ten years, without
+doubt you have acquired that."
+
+"My faith, yes; for it's not necessary to speak of common adventures,
+which are not worth the trouble of reciting. I have been in the army; I
+have been in battle; that afforded me much pleasure, and I would
+willingly have stayed there much longer; but peace is made, I have
+returned, I have visited my lands, and have laughed with some little
+peasants who were sufficiently pleasing, but so awkward, so simple. By
+the way, I forgot to tell you; I married."
+
+"Married! What, monseigneur! you?"
+
+"Undoubtedly; my marriage was very necessary; my rank, my place at the
+court--and then I was overloaded with debt. That didn't make me uneasy;
+but they had arranged this marriage; the Cardinal, the Queen herself,
+desired it. I married the daughter of the Count of Laroche. My wife was
+very good, of very sweet character; she didn't trouble herself about my
+intrigues; she had what was necessary to me. I loved her--very honestly,
+as one can love his wife; but she died two years ago and left me no
+heir, which is intensely disagreeable. I had an idea that I should love
+children very much."
+
+"Then you are a widower, monsieur?"
+
+"Yes; and I find myself the possessor of a considerable fortune, very
+well considered at court, in favor with the Cardinal, and even able to
+obtain, should I desire it, the most important employment."
+
+"I conceive, then, that monsieur le marquis wishes more secrecy in his
+love affairs."
+
+"Ah, my poor Touquet, I don't believe that ambition will ever have much
+charm for me, but nobody knows; and there are some convenances at the
+court which one must not break; besides, secrecy lends a charm to the
+most simple act. But why have you not enrolled yourself under Hymen's
+flag? I find that you are more thoughtful, less cheerful, less lively,
+than formerly."
+
+"No, monsieur le marquis; I am still a bachelor."
+
+"Oh, well, I believe you are better so. In your position a wife would
+restrain you,--you who are so clever, so discreet, in conducting an
+intrigue. Women are so curious; she would want to know everything, which
+would be troublesome for you. Besides, you have never been very gallant;
+you care for nothing but gold. It is your god, your idol; a well-filled
+purse makes you inventive, capable of working marvels. It's true that
+you play with it a quarter of an hour afterwards and at dice or cards
+soon increase the fruit of the efforts of your genius."
+
+"Ah, monseigneur!"
+
+"Yes, you are as big a gambler as you are a knave; I remember it very
+well. Perhaps in ten years you have become wiser; I almost believe so,
+for you appear in very easy circumstances, and this house does not
+indicate poverty; this servant, this supper served for you--The deuce! I
+must taste your wine."
+
+"Ah, monseigneur, it is not worth offering to you."
+
+"I always like best that which is not offered to me."
+
+While he was saying these words the marquis filled one of the cups with
+wine and swallowed it at a draught.
+
+"Really, it's not so very bad."
+
+"Ah, monseigneur, if it were on your table--"
+
+"Then I should find it detestable; but what will you have? Variety is
+the spice of life. And you have become rich, then?"
+
+"No, not rich, but well enough off to buy this house."
+
+"What! the house belongs to you?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur le marquis."
+
+"Deuce take it, Master Touquet, it must be that you have made some big
+hauls in order to become a proprietor."
+
+The barber's face contracted; his black eyebrows frowned and almost met;
+he slowly rolled his eyes around him, and murmured with an effort,--
+
+"Monsieur le marquis, I swear to you--"
+
+"O mon Dieu! I do not ask you to swear, my poor Touquet," said the
+marquis, laughing. "You are as uneasy as if you had become a lieutenant
+in crime. Do you think that I came here to inquire as to the manner in
+which you made your fortune? But by all the devils, I do not believe
+that you earned this house in your barber shop."
+
+"Monseigneur, I assure you that my economies--"
+
+"Yes, that's all very well; let's leave all that and speak of the
+subject which brought me here, for, of course, I came to you for
+something, and I'll be damned if I remember what it was."
+
+The barber appeared to breathe more freely; his face assumed its
+habitual expression, and he raised his eyes to the marquis, who seemed
+to throw aside his insolence to explain the motive of his nocturnal
+visit.
+
+"When I saw you this morning on the Pont-Neuf, I was following a young
+girl, a pretty little puss; without being a perfect beauty, she was
+graceful and interesting in appearance, with sparkling and very
+intelligent eyes. I do not believe that we should have much trouble in
+making a conquest of her. However, she walked faster, and would not
+answer any of my compliments. I carefully wrapped myself in my cloak,
+not wishing to be recognized by our amiable profligates, who would have
+made sport of me for running after a grisette. The little girl stopped
+to listen for a moment to Tabarin's songs, and it was while she was
+before the quack that I saw you and recognized you immediately; you have
+one of those faces that nobody forgets."
+
+"I had also recognized you, monseigneur, in spite of the cloak in which
+you were enveloped; for ten years have not changed your features,
+monsieur le marquis, and one could not easily mistake that noble figure
+which captivates all the belles."
+
+"You flatter me, rascal; which means that I have aged. But let's go on.
+As soon as you had given me your address, I returned to the side of the
+little one."
+
+"If monsieur le marquis had explained to me this morning what he was
+after, I would have spared him the trouble of following this young
+girl."
+
+"No, I had a good opportunity of examining her further; besides, I had
+nothing else to do. She took the road to the city, which she entered by
+the Rue de la Calandre, I still talking to her; she only smiled, without
+answering me, but her look was not severe. At last she stopped before a
+perfumer's shop; I wished to go in with her, but she opposed me, saying
+in a very singular tone, 'Monsieur le Marquis de Villebelle is too well
+known for him to go into this shop with me; I should lose my reputation,
+and I beg monsieur le marquis not to compromise me.' Well now, my dear,
+Touquet, can you imagine this grisette who pretends that I should cause
+her to lose her reputation? As for me, I confess that I was so much
+surprised by finding myself known to the young girl and hearing her
+speak thus, that I remained like a fool in the middle of the street;
+meanwhile my beautiful conquest had entered, and disappeared by the back
+of the shop."
+
+"As I told you, monseigneur, you are known in all classes of society;
+even a young girl of twelve years is as much afraid of you as she would
+be of Count Ory of gallant memory."
+
+"Better and better! Women are always curious to know these men who have
+been pictured to them as so dangerous. Poor parents! When they tell them
+to fly from me, it makes them run after me. Here, Touquet; here's some
+gold. You will see this young girl, then; since she knows who I am, you
+cannot easily promise her that I will be faithful. No matter; promise
+her anyhow. In three days let me find her at my little house in the
+Faubourg Saint-Antoine; you know it."
+
+"Yes, monseigneur; I remember it; it is the one that you formerly
+possessed."
+
+"Yes; but I have made it a delightful retreat. You shall see it;
+pictures, mirrors, marble, alabaster, are there mingled with silk,
+velvet and the most precious stuffs. I have spent more than fifty
+thousand francs upon it. Oh, it is divine! I have had some charming
+suppers there with Montglas, Chavagnac, Villempre, Monteille, and some
+other profligates of the court."
+
+"Was it not there, monsieur le marquis, that I led that young girl whose
+abduction made such an uproar? That was, I believe, our first affair of
+this kind; you were then a little more than nineteen years of age; and
+the little girl--"
+
+"Why the devil do you recall that?" said the marquis, making an angry
+movement, and pressing in his hand the purse he was about to take from
+his belt, and on which the barber had already laid avaricious eyes.
+
+"Pardon, monsieur le marquis," said Touquet; "but I did not think I
+should displease you in recalling the adventure which commenced your
+reputation. The young person was beautiful and good, and the father, one
+of King Henry's old archers, did not understand joking. His arquebus was
+aimed at you, the ball went through your hat; but your sword stopped the
+old man, and he fell at your feet, while I bore off in my arms his
+insensible daughter."
+
+"Be silent, wretch," cried the marquis, suddenly rising, and looking
+angrily at the barber, who received his glances with perfect
+indifference.
+
+The conversation was again interrupted; the marquis walked rapidly up
+and down the room, and appeared buried in his reflections; soon,
+however, broken words escaped him, but they were not addressed to
+Touquet. The marquis seemed violently agitated as he said in a low
+voice,--
+
+"Poor Estrelle! what has become of you? She loved me--she believed me to
+be a simple student. I loved her also; yes, never since that time have I
+experienced a feeling which I can compare with the love with which she
+inspired me. I was young--ah, Heaven is my witness that I did not wish
+to fight with her father. Thanks to Heaven, his wound was very trifling
+and was soon cured; but Estrelle, when she learned my name and that
+event, cursed me. Yes, I believe I can hear her still. Then she escaped
+from that house where I had hidden her. I love her still. Since that
+time I have never heard of her; and you, Touquet,--have you never met
+her since?"
+
+"Never, monseigneur; I have neither seen her nor heard her speak."
+
+"Poor Estrelle!" said the marquis after a moment; and the barber added
+in a low tone,--
+
+"She would now be thirty-four years of age, or very near that."
+
+This remark appeared to lessen somewhat the marquis' regret.
+
+"In fact," said he, again approaching the fire, "she would be nearly
+that age if she were living, and would not appear the same to me as the
+one I formerly knew. How time passes! Come, let's forget all that; after
+all, it is much the same as any other adventure,--a chapter in the
+history of my life."
+
+"And did the marquis say that the young girl lived in the Rue de la
+Calandre in the city?"
+
+"The young girl? What young girl?"
+
+"The one monseigneur followed this morning."
+
+"Yes, to be sure; I had forgotten. You will easily recognize her: her
+figure unconstrained, her walk brisk; twenty years or thereabouts, I
+presume; nut-brown hair, black eyes, beautiful teeth, her skin a little
+brown. I do not think she's French. Something lively in her
+countenance; nothing that indicates timidity or simplicity. This is all
+the information which I can give you."
+
+"It is sufficient, monseigneur; in two days I hope that the young person
+will be at your little house."
+
+"That's very good.--Wait; this is for your expenses, and I promise you
+as much more if you are successful."
+
+While saying these words the marquis threw on the table the purse filled
+with gold, which he still held in his hand, and a smile escaped the lips
+of the barber. His guest resumed his cloak and replaced his hat on his
+head.
+
+"It is late," said the marquis, wrapping himself in his mantle, "and I
+must go home. The day after tomorrow, toward ten o'clock, I will return
+to learn the result of your proceedings."
+
+"Shall I find anybody at your little house?"
+
+"Yes, Marcel, one of my people, a devoted servant who lives there
+constantly. I will warn him."
+
+"That is enough, monseigneur, and I hope that you will be pleased with
+me on this occasion."
+
+"I leave it all to your zeal; in fact, the little one is very pleasing,
+and ought to amuse me for some time. Come, my dear Touquet, let us
+follow our destiny. Gallantry, voluptuousness, pleasure,--that is my
+life; that is the road which I follow where my passions lead me. I
+should not know how to follow any other walk now; like a blind man who
+trusts in Providence, I do not know if this road will lead me to
+happiness; but I cannot turn aside from it."
+
+The marquis turned his steps toward the door, and Touquet proposed to
+his distinguished guest that he should guide him to his dwelling.
+
+"Thank you," said the marquis, "it is unnecessary; I have my sword, and
+I fear nothing."
+
+While uttering these words the marquis had plunged into the street and
+disappeared from the barber's sight. The latter closed the door and
+returned to the little room. Arrived there, he hastened to take the
+purse which lay on the table; he counted the pieces which it contained,
+nor could he raise his eyes from the sight of the gold. But soon a dull,
+melancholy sound was heard; it was Saint-Eustache's clock striking two.
+The barber turned pale; his hair seemed to stand up on his head; he
+threw about him gloomy glances, as if he feared to perceive some
+frightful object; then he placed the purse in his bosom, took a lamp and
+went toward the door at the end of the room, murmuring in a sad voice,--
+
+"Two o'clock! Let's go to bed. Ah, if I could only sleep!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+BLANCHE. A HISTORY OF SORCERERS
+
+
+The welcome day had succeeded to the long and rainy night; the merchants
+had opened their shops, the watchmen were taking their much-needed rest
+after their fatiguing nocturnal duties, while the more hardy robbers of
+the darkness had given place to the sneaking pickpockets and thieves who
+exercised their calling in broad daylight in the most populous quarters.
+The servant maids were up and about, briskly performing their morning
+tasks; husbands left the nuptial couch, for then it was usual for one to
+sleep with his wife, at least among middle-class people, to betake
+themselves to their daily avocations; wives and mothers were attending
+to the needs of their households and their children; lovers who had
+dreamt of their sweethearts went to endeavor to realize some of their
+dreams; and the young girls who always thought of their sweethearts
+whether they were sleeping or waking, went, thinking of them still, to
+their daily work. In that time, as in this, love was the dream of youth,
+the distraction of the middle-aged, and the memory of the old.
+
+The barber was always the first to rise in the house. He had no
+servants, although his means would well have allowed it; but when anyone
+asked him why he did not take a boy to help him and to watch in the
+shop, Touquet answered,--
+
+"I do not need anyone; I can conduct my business alone, and I'm not fond
+of feeding idlers who are good for nothing but to spy on their master's
+actions and go and talk about them in the neighborhood."
+
+The barber knew that Marguerite, though a little curious and somewhat of
+a gossip, was incapable of disobeying him in anything; she went out to
+buy the necessary provisions for the house, then she went upstairs again
+to the young girl of whom we have heard her speak, and with whom we
+shall soon have a better acquaintance. Marguerite went down only when
+her master was absent, which was rarely. Finally, the barber could not
+dispense with a maid since he had taken the little Blanche to grow up
+under his roof.
+
+Touquet himself opened his shop; he looked up and down the street, but
+it was yet too early for customers to come. The barber was dreamy,
+preoccupied; he was thinking of the commission which had been given him
+by the marquis; then he returned indoors, saying,--
+
+"Chaudoreille is late this morning; however, it's his day to be shaved."
+
+Marguerite appeared at the entrance to the room; and, after looking
+about her on all sides, perhaps to assure herself that the stranger of
+the night before was not still there, she greeted her master
+respectfully, and said to him,--
+
+"Monsieur, Mademoiselle Blanche is up and wishes to know if she may come
+and say good-morning to you."
+
+The barber still threw a glance into the street; then he passed into his
+back shop, saying to his servant,--
+
+"Blanche may come."
+
+Marguerite had hardly made a sign to someone in the passage when a young
+girl, light as a deer and fresh as a rose, sprang into the little room
+where Touquet was waiting, and ran toward him with the most lovely
+smile, saying to him,--
+
+"Good-morning, my good friend!"
+
+Then she offered Touquet her candid forehead, and the barber approached
+her and brushed it lightly with his lips. One would have said that a
+painful feeling restrained him, and that he feared to wither that tender
+flower.
+
+Marguerite's portrait had not flattered Blanche. The young girl was as
+pretty as she appeared innocent and ingenuous. Her dark hair, smoothed
+in bands on her forehead, fell in ringlets on her right shoulder.
+Powder, which the court ladies had then begun to use, had not spoiled
+Blanche's beautiful tresses. Her skin accorded perfectly with her name.
+Her mouth was fresh and tender; and her blue eyes, shaded by long
+lashes, had an innocent and sweet expression, as rare then as now.
+
+What a pity that her pretty body should be imprisoned in a long corset,
+the bones of which seemed forcibly to compress its charms! But it was
+then the fashion. Today we have better taste; we wish that the figure
+should be in its place; we wish, above all, to be able to embrace it
+without being hindered by farthingales, basquines, paniers or hoops.
+Happily, the ladies are of our opinion, and everybody gains thereby.
+
+Despite her long figure, straight corset, frilled sleeves, and her
+high-heeled shoes, Blanche was no less pretty. Beauty adorns everything
+that it wears, and innocence lends a more bewitching and genuine charm
+to beauty. Blanche had, then, every quality which could please. However,
+the barber did not appear to remark the attractions of the young girl;
+one would have said that he feared to look at her, as he had feared to
+touch his lips to her forehead.
+
+"Did you have a good night?" asked Blanche of him.
+
+"Very good, I thank you."
+
+"Marguerite was afraid that you went to bed very late because you had
+one of your friends to supper with you."
+
+"I don't know why Marguerite should make such a remark, nor what
+necessity there was that she should tell you I had anyone here last
+night."
+
+While uttering these words Touquet looked severely at Marguerite, who
+dusted and wiped the furniture without daring to look at her master.
+
+"But, my dear," answered Blanche, "is there anything bad in one's
+supping with one of his friends?"
+
+"Undoubtedly not."
+
+"What harm, then, has Marguerite done in telling me that?"
+
+"A servant should not incessantly tell tales about everything her master
+does. It should be very indifferent to you, Blanche, whether anyone
+comes to see me in the evening or not."
+
+"Oh, mercy, yes, since you won't let me come down, though that would
+amuse me much better than staying in my room."
+
+"A young girl should not talk to everybody, and many people come here of
+whom I know very little."
+
+"Yes, in the morning; but in the evening you only receive your friends."
+
+"I receive very few visitors in the evening except Chaudoreille, whom
+you know."
+
+"Oh, yes; and he makes me laugh every time I see him, for he will give
+me lessons in music, and I believe at the present time I know much more
+about it than he does. You will never let me leave my room."
+
+"Blanche, isn't it apparent to you that that is not convenient?"
+
+"But when you are alone I should like much better to keep you company
+and chat to you, than to listen to Marguerite's stories, which often
+make me very timorous and prevent me from going to sleep."
+
+"You know that I'm not very chatty; after a day's work I'm tired and I
+like to rest."
+
+"And Marguerite said that you didn't go to bed until very late, that you
+kept the light burning a long time, and that she doesn't know if you
+sleep one hour every night."
+
+The old servant coughed, but unsuccessfully, to make Blanche stop
+talking; but the latter, not thinking that she had done anything wrong
+in repeating all that, paid no attention to her and continued to speak.
+Marguerite, in order to avoid her master's look, wiped and dusted with
+new ardor; but this time the voice of the barber made itself heard, and
+it was she whom he addressed.
+
+"Marguerite, I said to you when you came into my house that I detested
+curious, indiscreet people,--servants who spy on their master. Do you
+remember it?"
+
+"Yes, yes, monsieur," said the old servant, continuing to rub the top of
+the table.
+
+"How do you know, then, whether I sleep late, whether I keep the light
+burning a long time, whether I am awake at night?--you who should be in
+your room at nine o'clock every evening and go to bed immediately."
+
+"Monsieur, I beg your pardon; but at times, when the wind blows or the
+thunder growls, it's impossible for me to sleep; then, monsieur, I get
+up to pray to my patron saint, or cross my shovel and tongs, or to place
+a branch of boxwood on my bed. You know boxwood conjures the storm; and
+if they had taken some of it formerly to the Arsenal, on the Billi
+Tower, it would not have been entirely destroyed by lightning in the
+year 1537 or '38--I don't know which exactly."
+
+"Hang it! leave your boxwood and the Billi Tower alone; answer the
+question I asked you."
+
+"That's what I'm doing, monsieur; it's always the wind or the storm
+which makes me wakeful, and as my window faces yours (when I say faces,
+it's a story above), then I see your light sometimes, and it seems to me
+that monsieur is walking about in his room. I'm not very certain of it,
+for there are curtains, and the shade deceives one sometimes."
+
+"As I wish to prevent you from having the trouble of making sure that I
+am asleep, this evening you will change your room, and you will sleep in
+that which is above my apartments."
+
+"What, monsieur! in that room where nobody ever goes? I do not believe
+that it has been inhabited since I came here, and I fear--"
+
+"That's enough; see that you obey; and take care not to spy again on my
+actions, or I shall be forced to send you away from the house."
+
+"Mercy! how ashamed I am at having made you scold Marguerite!" said
+Blanche, again approaching the barber. "If she said that, my friend, it
+was because of the interest she takes in your health. You know well that
+she is very much attached to you; but since it makes you angry, I
+promise you it shall not occur again. Come, that's the last of it; you
+won't say any more to her about it--will you?"
+
+Blanche's voice was so sweet, so touching, that Touquet lost his air of
+severity and very nearly smiled as he answered,--
+
+"Yes, that's the last of it; let us there leave it. As to you, Blanche,
+continue to be good, docile."
+
+"And you will let me go out a little--will you not? You will allow me to
+go to walk in the Pre-aux-Clercs or on the Place Royale?"
+
+"We shall see; we shall see a little later. To amuse yourself, vary your
+employments."
+
+"That's what I do, my dear; I often leave my needle to spin some thread;
+or, better still, I take my tapestry work. Oh, you shall see; I'm making
+something very pretty."
+
+"I know your talent--your taste. You have a sitar; you can amuse
+yourself by playing on it. Chaudoreille has given you some lessons."
+
+"Yes; now I can play as well as he can, for I believe he's not very
+practised on it, although he says he's a great musician. But all that
+hardly ever amuses me; I should like much better to sit at the window
+which looks on the street, but you won't let me open it."
+
+"No, Blanche; too many people are passing in this neighborhood; you
+would be seen, ogled, insulted, by the bachelors, the pages, who take
+pleasure in annoying people."
+
+"Well, I won't open my window. However, if you were willing I could put
+a mask on my face; then they could not see me."
+
+"They would notice you none the less; besides, Blanche, only the court
+ladies are permitted to wear masks. I repeat to you, avoid the glances
+of these impertinent louts who run the streets, ogling at all the
+windows. You are not yet sixteen years old. In some years I shall leave
+Paris; I shall sell this house, and I shall retire into the country;
+there you can enjoy more liberty, and there you will taste pleasures
+which are worth more than any this city could offer you.--But someone is
+coming into the shop; go, Blanche, upstairs to your room."
+
+The young girl kissed the barber and quickly regained the passage, from
+which a staircase led to her chamber. She sighed lightly as she entered
+it, and said to herself, while glancing around her,--
+
+"Always here! Always to see the same things! No one to speak to except
+Marguerite! She is very good, she loves me very much; but sometimes her
+stories are very wearisome to me. Well, then, if I must--" and Blanche
+took up a piece of tapestry which she was making and sang, while
+working, one of the three airs which her music master had taught her.
+Soon the door of the room opened; Marguerite had followed the young
+girl, but did not arrive as soon as she, because her legs had not the
+vivacity of sixteen years. The old nurse pouted, for Blanche was the
+cause of her having to change her room, which was no small matter to
+Marguerite. Blanche perceived it; she ran in front of the old woman,
+made her sit down, and took her hands, while saying to her with a
+calming smile,--
+
+"Are you vexed with me, nurse? You must have seen that I said all that
+without thinking that there was anything wrong in it."
+
+Who could resist Blanche's smile? The old woman was much more sensitive
+to such sweet manners because people rarely used them with her; and that
+is why sometimes an old man loses his reason when a pretty girl casts a
+tender glance at him, because for a long time he has not been in the
+habit of receiving such glances.
+
+"Who could remain angry with you?" said Marguerite, pressing Blanche's
+hand; "but for all that, it's very disagreeable to change rooms--to move
+at my age."
+
+"I will help you, dear nurse; I will carry everything."
+
+"Oh, it's not that; it's on the same landing; it's not far to carry
+things. But the room I've lived in for eight years, ever since I came
+here, was, thanks to my prayers and precautions, protected from the
+visits of all evil spirits. There I could defy all attempts of sorcerers
+and magicians; and all that I did there I shall have to do over again in
+the new room where I am to sleep."
+
+"Do you believe, then, Marguerite, that sorcerers will come to visit you
+if you don't take all your precautions?"
+
+"And why not, mademoiselle? Don't those people get in wherever they can
+penetrate? There are a great number of them in Paris. They carry away
+the corpses off the gibbets of Montfaucon; they commit a thousand
+horrors to make their sorceries successful. It is now nearly fifty years
+ago (it was my mother who told me that story) that a lackey, ruined by
+play, sold himself to the devil for ten crowns. The demon transformed
+himself into a serpent and took possession of the lackey, introducing
+himself into the latter's body by the mouth; and from that time on the
+unlucky man made horrible grimaces, because the devil was in his body.
+Some years later a watchman was carried off by a sorcerer."
+
+"Ah, dear nurse, you are going to tell me some more of those stories
+which will make me timorous at night."
+
+"I don't tell you these to make you tremble, but to prove to you that
+it's necessary to be on one's guard against magicians, and not to be
+like those incredulous people who doubt everything when we have so many
+examples of the power of magic. I'll not do more than cite to you the
+Marechale d'Ancre and Urbain Grandier, who lodged some devils in the
+bodies of some pious Ursulines at Loudun; that is too frightful. But I
+will only tell you what happened to a magician called Cesar Perditor;
+that dates seventeen years back, or thereabouts. You see, my dear child,
+that's not very ancient."
+
+"But, dear nurse, aren't you going to begin your moving?" said Blanche,
+who did not seem very eager to hear Marguerite's story.
+
+"We've plenty of time," answered the old servant as she drew her chair
+close to Blanche's, delighted to relate a story about sorcerers,
+although that would make her tremble also. Marguerite commenced
+immediately:--
+
+"This Cesar was, said they, very well versed in his magic art, and
+produced at his will both hail and thunder. He had a familiar spirit,
+and a dog that carried his letters and brought back the answers to him.
+At a quarter of a league distant from this city, on the Gentilly side,
+he lived in a cave, in which he caused the devil and all his infernal
+court to appear. Ah, my poor child; they say that at a great distance
+from the cave a frightful noise might be heard every night. He made love
+philters, and wax images, by means of which he caused the persons they
+represented to languish and die.
+
+"One day--no, it must have been one night--an old man came to the cave,
+who appeared to be suffering and in great distress. A great lord, a
+libertine, a worthless fellow, had stolen away his daughter, his only
+child; the old man in his despair, unable to obtain justice, went to the
+magician to procure the means of revenging himself upon the man who had
+outraged him."
+
+"Nurse, it seems to me your master is calling you," said Blanche,
+interrupting Marguerite.
+
+"No, no; he did not call me. Except at meal times, what need has M.
+Touquet of me? But as we were saying, the old man went to seek a
+magician, and the latter promised him help; in fact, they heard more
+noise than usual in the cave that night,--so much that the lieutenant of
+police sent some people there, and Cesar was taken and led to the
+Bastile, where soon after the devil strangled him."
+
+"And the old man, nurse?"
+
+"He never returned to his dwelling; without doubt the devil carried him
+away also, or else the great nobleman, having learned that he had gone
+to the magician's house. But nobody knows anything further about it.
+Still, that will prove to you, my dear, how dangerous it is to have
+anything to do with those people."
+
+"Dear nurse, this little talisman which you gave me, that I wear,--is
+not that the work of a sorcerer?"
+
+"Certainly not, darling; on the contrary, it is to preserve you from
+their snares that I gave it to you. It is under the protection of my
+patron saint; with that, my dear Blanche, you could go about, run
+anywhere; your innocence would not be in the slightest danger."
+
+"Why, then, does my good friend never permit me to leave my room?"
+
+"Ah, my dear Blanche, it is because M. Touquet does not believe in
+talismans; and it is very unfortunate for him."
+
+"But you, Marguerite, who are afraid of everything,--why don't you carry
+a similar talisman?"
+
+"Ah, my child, the quality of yours consists principally in preserving
+your virtue, and at my age one has no need of a talisman to preserve
+that."
+
+"My virtue! Do magicians take virtue from young girls?"
+
+"Not only magicians, but fascinating gallants,--finally, all the
+worthless fellows of whom M. Touquet was talking to you this morning."
+
+"And what would these people do with my virtue?"
+
+"My dear child, that is to say, they would seek to turn your head, to
+give you a taste for coquetry, dissipation, baubles, vanity and deceit;
+then you would be no longer my good, sweet Blanche."
+
+"Ah, I understand; but, dear nurse, without a talisman I fully believe
+that I should never have those tastes. I would do nothing that should
+cause trouble to those who had taken care of me from my infancy, who
+have done so much for me since I lost my father."
+
+"That's all very well, my child, but with a talisman you see I am much
+easier; and if M. Touquet believed about it as I do, he would give you a
+little more liberty. Not that I blame him for fearing for you the
+attempts of worthless fellows; you are growing every day so pretty."
+
+"Dear nurse, do worthless fellows trouble pretty girls, then?"
+
+"Alas, yes, my dearie. I have seen them often do so; and, unfortunately,
+the pretty girls listen willingly to the good-for-nothing fellows."
+
+"They listen willingly to them, nurse? Is it because they speak better
+than other men?"
+
+"No, not better, but they know so well how to dissemble; their speech is
+golden, their eyes deceptive, their manners--Ah, how glad I am that you
+have a talisman!"
+
+"But, nurse, since I do not leave my room--"
+
+"That's true, my dear; but you will not always keep your room, and under
+my watchful care it seems to me that one could very well allow you to
+take a little walk from time to time. M. Touquet is severe--very
+severe--to make me change my lodging because I noticed that he did not
+sleep at night. Is it my fault--mine--that he does not sleep?"
+
+"He prevents me from opening my window."
+
+"Ah, that is because it opens on the street; and if he knew you looked
+so often through the lattice--But no one can possibly see you; the panes
+are so small, so close together."
+
+"Oh, yes; it is like a grating."
+
+"A father could not be more strict."
+
+"Ah, Marguerite, he stands to me in the place of mine."
+
+"Yes, yes; I know it well; however, he is no relation--is he?"
+
+"No, Marguerite; I believe not."
+
+"According to what I heard in the neighborhood, before I came into his
+service, you are the daughter of a poor gentleman who came to Paris to
+follow a lawsuit about ten years ago."
+
+"Yes, dear nurse; I was then five years and some months of age. It seems
+to me, however, that I still remember my father; he was very good, and
+he often kissed me."
+
+"And your mother,--do you remember her?"
+
+"Alas, no; but I believe I can still remember the time when my father
+and I arrived here; we had been a long time in a carriage, and came from
+far off."
+
+"And M. Touquet lodged you, for then he kept lodgings; and after that?"
+
+"I was very tired; they gave me something to eat and put me to bed in
+this room, and I have always occupied it since."
+
+"And after that?"
+
+"I did not see my father again. The next day M. Touquet told me he was
+dead."
+
+"Yes; it was very unfortunate, they say. There were then, as there are
+very often still, fights in the night between pages and lackeys and
+honest men, who were often attacked by these cursed scoundrels while
+entering their own houses. That night they committed a thousand
+disorders in the streets of Paris; several persons were assassinated;
+and your poor father, who had gone out, was, while returning, drawn into
+a brawl, and perished trying to defend himself. That is all that I have
+learned; do you know anything further?"
+
+"No, Marguerite; besides, you know very well that my protector does not
+wish me to talk about that."
+
+"Yes, because he fears that it will give you pain."
+
+"He has deigned to keep me near him, to educate me as his daughter and
+give me some accomplishments; and I have for him the most lively
+gratitude."
+
+"Oh, yes; he has done very well by you. He loves you, although he is not
+caressing, nor does he say much; and I am very sure that he has the
+greatest interest in you. It seems that he does not intend himself to
+marry, although he is still young. He is in easy circumstances,--more so
+than he wishes it to appear."
+
+"Do you believe that, Marguerite?"
+
+"Ah, hush! If he knew that I had said that, and that I had sometimes
+seen him counting gold, he would send me away for it."
+
+"You have seen him counting gold?"
+
+"I did not say that to you, mademoiselle. No, no; I have seen nothing.
+Ah, mon Dieu! what a gossip I am! I had much better go and attend to my
+moving."
+
+"I will go with you, dear nurse."
+
+"Come then, if you like, Blanche."
+
+Blanche followed Marguerite as she went up, and hastened to carry the
+furniture and clothing of the old servant to the opposite room. In vain
+Marguerite cried to her,--
+
+"Slowly, mademoiselle; don't carry anything until I have sprinkled it
+with holy water."
+
+Blanche, to spare Marguerite fatigue, had very soon finished the moving.
+
+"You will be better here," said Blanche; "this room is more convenient,
+larger."
+
+"I shall find it pretty sad," said Marguerite, casting fearful glances
+around her. "That large alcove, those dark hangings, those recesses--Oh,
+mademoiselle, do see, if you please, if there is anything in that big
+closet."
+
+Blanche ran to open the closet, and, after having looked through it,
+brought to Marguerite a little book, thick with dust.
+
+"That's all I've found, dear nurse," said she, presenting the book to
+the old woman, who put on her spectacles and said,--
+
+"Let's see a bit what it is."
+
+Marguerite succeeded, with no little trouble, in reading,
+"Conjuring-book of the Sorcerer Odoard, the Famous Tier of Tags."
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu!" said Marguerite, letting the book fall; "I am lost if
+that sorcerer has slept in this room. Misericorde! a tier of--"
+
+"What does that mean,--a tier of tags?"
+
+"That is to say--that is to say, mademoiselle, a very wicked man, who
+doesn't love his kind; a man who casts spells to make folks unlucky."
+
+"Are there any of those sorcerers now?"
+
+"Alas, yes, my dear child; they are always casting spells, for I have
+met during my life several persons who have been bewitched by them. Let
+us burn that; let's burn that quick."
+
+Marguerite hurried to throw the book of sorceries on to the hearth,
+where she lit a fire; then she began to pray to her patron saint, and
+Blanche went down to her work.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE CHEVALIER CHAUDOREILLE
+
+
+Blanche and Marguerite had no sooner taken their departure from the back
+room and returned to their customary avocations, than Touquet hastened
+to meet a man who had come into the shop, saying to him, in a friendly
+tone,--
+
+"Come in, come in, my dear Chaudoreille, you've made me wait a deuce of
+a time and today I have something really important to say to you."
+
+The personage who had just come into Maitre Touquet's house was a man of
+a very striking and peculiar appearance, about thirty-five years of age,
+though he appeared at least forty-five, so worn was his face and so
+hollow his cheeks. His yellow skin was only relieved by two little
+scarlet spots formed on the prominence of his cheek bones, which by
+their brightness and their gloss betrayed their origin. His eyes were
+small but bright; and M. Chaudoreille rolled them continually, never, by
+any chance, fixing them on the person to whom he was speaking. His short
+snub nose contrasted with his large mouth, which was surmounted by an
+immense red mustache, the color of his hair; while beneath his lower
+lip a tuft of beard terminated in a point on his chin.
+
+The height of the chevalier was barely five feet, and the leanness of
+his body was accentuated by the threadbare close jacket which enveloped
+it; the buttons of his doublet were missing in many places, and some
+ill-executed darns seemed ready to gape into holes; his breeches, being
+much too large, made his thighs appear of enormous size, and made the
+legs which issued from them appear still more lanky, for his boots, with
+flaring tops which drooped to his ankles, could not hide the absence of
+calves. These boots, of a dark yellow, had heels two inches high, and
+were habitually adorned with spurs; the doublet and smallclothes were of
+a faded rose color, and accompanied by a little cloak of the same tint,
+which barely covered his figure; in addition to these, he wore a very
+high ruff; a small hat surmounted by an old red plume, worn slanted over
+one eye, an old belt of green silk, a sword which was very much longer
+than anyone else carried, and of which the handle came up to his breast.
+The above is a very faithful portrait of the one who called himself the
+Chevalier de Chaudoreille, if we add that his slight Gascon accent
+denoted his origin; that he marched with his head high, his nose in the
+air, his hand on his hip, his legs stiff, as though ready to put himself
+on his guard; and that he appeared disposed to defy all passers-by.
+
+On entering the shop Chaudoreille threw himself on a bench, like one
+overcome by fatigue, and placed his hat near him, crying,--
+
+"Let us rest. By George! I well deserve to. Oh! what a night! Good God!
+what a night!"
+
+"And what the devil did you do last night to make you so tired?"
+
+"Oh, nothing more than usual for me, it's true: flogged three or four
+big rascals who wished to stop the chair of a countess, wounded two
+pages who were insulting a young girl, gave a big stroke with my sword
+to a student who was going to introduce himself into a house by the
+window, delivered over to the watch four robbers who were about to
+plunder a poor gentleman. That's nearly all that I did last night."
+
+"Hang it!" said Touquet, smiling ironically, "do you know, Chaudoreille,
+that you yourself are worth three patrols of the watch? It seems to me
+that the King or Monsieur le Cardinal should recompense such fine
+conduct and nominate you to some important place in the police of this
+city, in place of leaving a man so brave, so useful, to ramble about the
+streets all day, and haunt the gambling-hells in order to try to borrow
+a crown."
+
+"Yes," said Chaudoreille, without appearing to notice the latter part of
+the barber's phrase, "I know that I am very brave, and that my sword has
+often been very useful to the State--that is to say, to the oppressed. I
+work without pay; I yield to every movement of my heart; it's in the
+blood. Zounds! honor before everything; and in this century we do not
+jest. I am what somebody at court calls a 'rake of honor': an offensive
+twinkle of the eye, a rather cold bow, a cloak which rubs against mine,
+presto! my sword is in my hand; I am conscious of nothing but that; I
+would fight with a child of five years if he treated me with
+disrespect."
+
+"I know that we live in the age when one fights for a mere trifle, but I
+never heard it said that your duels had caused much stir."
+
+"What the devil, my dear Touquet! the dead cannot speak; and those who
+have an affair with me never return. You have heard tell of the famous
+Balagni, nicknamed the 'Brave,' who was killed in a duel about fifteen
+years ago. Well, my friend, I am his pupil and his successor."
+
+"It's unfortunate for you that you didn't come into the world two
+centuries earlier; tourneys are beginning to be out of fashion, and
+chevaliers who right all wrongs, giant killers, one no longer sees
+except on the stage at plays."
+
+"It's very certain that if I had lived in the time of the Crusades I
+should have brought from Palestine a thousand Saracens' ears, but my
+dear Rolande was there. This redoubtable sword, which came to me from a
+distant cousin, was the one carried by Rolande the Furious; it has sent
+a devil of a lot of men into the other world."
+
+"I'm always afraid that you will fall over it; it seems to me too big
+for you."
+
+"It has, however, been curtailed an inch since I have had it, and that
+by reason of its having been used so much. I fear that if I should
+continue in the same style, it will become a little dagger."
+
+"Stop talking about your prowess, Chaudoreille; I have to speak to you
+of matters more interesting than that."
+
+"If you will shave me first; I have great need of it. My beard grows
+twice as quickly at night when I do not sup in the evening."
+
+"It looks as if you had dieted for some days, then."
+
+While the barber prepared everything that was necessary for shaving
+Chaudoreille, the latter detached his sword. After having looked all
+over the shop in search of a place in which it seemed convenient to put
+it, he decided to keep it on his knees; he relieved himself of his
+cloak, then he took off the faded ruff which surrounded his neck, and
+abandoned his odd, lean little figure to the cares of Touquet, who came
+forward bearing a basin and a soapball. The barber began by taking and
+throwing into a corner of the shop the sword which Chaudoreille was
+holding on his knees. The chevalier made a movement of despair,
+crying,--
+
+"What are you doing, unhappy man? You will break Rolande, the sword
+which Charlemagne's nephew carried."
+
+"If it's such a good blade it won't break. How do you think I can shave
+you holding that great halberd on your knee?"
+
+"It's necessary to handle it with care at least. Zounds! you are nearly
+as quick as I am."
+
+"Do you want me to cut your mustaches?"
+
+"No, no,--never. A chevalier without mustaches! What are you thinking
+of? Do you want people to take me for a young girl?"
+
+"I don't think anyone could so deceive himself."
+
+"That's all right; I especially pride myself on my mustaches, and the
+imperial that gives a masculine air. Ah, King Francis the First knew
+very well what he was doing when he wore that little pointed beard on
+his chin. Don't you think that I bear some resemblance to that monarch?"
+
+"You resemble him so much, in fact, that I defy anyone, no matter who it
+might be, to perceive it. But let's get to my business: I wish to employ
+you. Your time is free?"
+
+"Free? Yes; that is to say, for you there is nothing that I won't leave.
+I've only two or three amorous appointments and five or six affairs of
+honor; but those can be put off."
+
+"There's some money to be earned."
+
+"I'm a man who would put myself in the fire to make myself useful."
+
+"The business is not positively my own."
+
+"Yes, I understand,--a delicate mission. You know that I've already
+served you in many such cases."
+
+"I hope that you'll be more adroit this time; for the manner in which
+you conducted yourself in the last matters in which I employed you
+should have prevented me from asking you to serve me again."
+
+"Oh, my dear Touquet, don't be unjust; it seems to me that I managed
+them passably well. First, you desired me to carry a letter to a young
+lady without letting her parents know of it."
+
+"Yes; and you positively gave the note to her mother."
+
+"What the devil! how should I know it was her mother? That woman had
+rouge, flowers, laces, a corset which made her waist about as thick as
+my purse; I believed her to be the young lady. With their hoops,
+basquines and immense head-dresses, it will soon be impossible to
+distinguish the sexes."
+
+"Another time I told you to feign a quarrel with one of your friends, so
+as to draw a crowd together in the street in order to stop the chair of
+a young woman to whom someone wished to speak; but after two or three
+blows had passed you ran away."
+
+"Ah, my friend, but that does not detract from my bravery. I knew that
+the quarrel was only pretended; despite that, at the third blow I felt
+the blood mount to my face, and I ran away for fear of getting angry."
+
+"This time I hope you will conduct yourself better."
+
+"Speak, if you have need of my valor."
+
+"No, thank God, I shan't have to put your valor to the proof; the matter
+is very simple and will not cost you a great effort of genius."
+
+"So much the worse; I swear by Rolande that I feel disposed to brave
+every terror.--Take care, my friend; your razor almost touched my nose;
+you will end by taking off a piece, and that would destroy the charm of
+my physiognomy."
+
+"Fear nothing, most valorous Chaudoreille; I will respect your face; it
+would be a pity to spoil it."
+
+"Yes, most assuredly; it would cause tears to more than one great lady
+who deigns to look with favor upon your humble servant."
+
+"Those great ladies would do well if they gave you another doublet, for
+yours has well earned its retirement."
+
+"My dear fellow, love doesn't pause for such trifles; I please with or
+without a doublet; the figure is everything, and I'm more than a match
+for many a chevalier covered with tinsel and gewgaws; besides, if I
+wished to have some lace or cuffs or trinkets, I should not have to give
+more than a smile for them. Ah, by Jove!--Take care there, my brave
+Touquet. See! your neighbor's dog is going to take my ruff. Ah, the
+rogue! he's holding it in his chops."
+
+"You must take it away from him."
+
+"That's very easy for you to say. That cursed dog bites everybody."
+
+Chaudoreille got up, half shaved, and ran and took his sword, which he
+drew from the scabbard; but during this time the dog had left the shop,
+carrying off the ruff, and the boastful chevalier pursued him into the
+street, crying,--
+
+"My ruff! Zounds, my ruff! Stop thief!"
+
+The shouts of Chaudoreille made the dog run more quickly, and the
+passers-by looked on with astonishment at the half-dressed man, with one
+cheek shaven and the other covered with soap, who ran, sword in hand,
+crying, "Stop thief!" The idlers gathered--for there were idlers as
+early as 1632--and followed Chaudoreille, that they might see the end of
+the adventure. The children stoned the dog, which redoubled its speed,
+passed through an alleyway and disappeared from Chaudoreille's sight.
+The latter, who could do no more, stopped at length, heaving a big sigh.
+His anger was redoubled when he saw everybody looking and laughing at
+him; he swore then, but so low that nobody could hear him; and, making
+the best of his way through the crowd which surrounded him, he sadly
+regained the barber's house.
+
+"You must be a fool, to run through the street like that," said Touquet,
+who had grown impatient during Chaudoreille's race; "you deserve that I
+shouldn't finish shaving you."
+
+"Oh, zounds! that is very easy for you to say; I have been robbed--a
+magnificent ruff."
+
+"You can put on another."
+
+"I haven't another."
+
+"With a smile you could have as many as you wish."
+
+"Yes, yes; but I'm not by way of smiling just now."
+
+"Come, calm yourself. If our affair is successful, as I've no doubt it
+will be, I'll give you some crowns with which you can buy other collars;
+for ruffs are no longer in fashion."
+
+This assurance alleviated somewhat Chaudoreille's grief, and he reseated
+himself, that the barber might finish shaving him.
+
+"You will go today into the city," resumed the barber, while finishing
+the chevalier's toilet,--"into the Rue de la Calandre; you will go into
+a perfumer's shop which is about half-way down the street."
+
+"Yes, yes, I know; that is where I supply myself."
+
+"Better and better! It will be easier for you to obtain an entrance. You
+should know, then, the young girl whom I will describe to you: twenty
+years old, of medium height, unrestrained figure, brown hair and
+intelligent black eyes."
+
+"Listen; I don't believe that I know her, seeing that it's two or three
+years since I bought any perfumery, because scents make me nervous."
+
+"If you could dispense with lying to me, Chaudoreille, at every turn,
+you would give me great pleasure."
+
+"What do I understand by that? I lie? By jingo! I swear to you, by
+Rolande--"
+
+"Hold your tongue and listen. A great nobleman is in love with the young
+girl whose portrait I have just given you. This great nobleman is the
+Marquis de Villebelle."
+
+"By Jove! What, the Marquis de Villebelle! He's a jolly fellow, who
+makes everybody talk about him. I'm delighted to work for a man of that
+stamp; he's as brave as he is generous. That's a profligate after my own
+heart. I shall be glad to give him proofs of my zeal and my genius."
+
+"You'll have to begin by holding your tongue; remember, the least
+indiscretion will cost you dear. I should not have told you the name of
+the one who is concerned in this matter if the young girl had not known;
+but as she might herself tell you, it is better that you should learn it
+from me. Remember, you are still in my employ, and not in that of the
+marquis. I could myself have discharged the commission which he gave me,
+but I am beginning to have a reputation for probity and wisdom; it is
+generally thought that, turning from the errors of my youth, I no longer
+mix in intrigues, and I don't wish to disturb the good opinion they now
+have of me in this neighborhood."
+
+"Ah, rascal, you're as mischievous as a monkey; you think of nothing
+but increasing your business, and your cold, severe air deceives some
+people. You're right, by jingo! One must dissemble; it's the essence of
+intrigue, and I shall try to throw off the appearance of being a
+libertine and a profligate in order that I may be more successful in
+wheedling the little innocent."
+
+The barber shrugged his shoulders impatiently, and again approached the
+blade of his razor to Chaudoreille's nose. The latter's face became
+still paler, except the spots on his cheeks, where the color seemed
+immovable.
+
+"Curse it!" cried Touquet, while holding the end of Chaudoreille's nose
+between his fingers, to prevent him from moving, while he plied the
+razor; "can't you ever keep still and refrain from trembling beneath my
+razor blade? You deserve to be slashed all over your face.--Come, get
+up; it's finished."
+
+"Many thanks," said Chaudoreille, breathing more freely; "I am shaved
+like a cherubim. Oh, you have a hand as dexterous as it's nimble. That
+makes seventy-seven shaves that I owe you for."
+
+"That's all right; we'll reckon that later."
+
+"I know that you'll recall it to me; you're not like the barber who
+shaved one of my friends on credit, and who made a notch in him every
+time, to mark the shave, he said."
+
+"Before the people come in, let us agree on what we have to do."
+
+"Speak on; I am listening while I am washing myself."
+
+"You will go, then, to the perfumer's shop, and while buying
+something--"
+
+"Oh, yes; a collar or a ruff."
+
+"No matter,--no matter what."
+
+"I find that ruffs suit me better."
+
+"Hold your tongue, cursed chatterer; there's nobody here to notice your
+face. You will enter into conversation with the young girl I have
+depicted; you will say to her that M. le Marquis is in love with her to
+the point of distraction."
+
+"Yes; I shall say to her that he will stab himself before her eyes if
+she won't meet him."
+
+"It's not a question of killing himself, idiot. That's a fine way to
+seduce a grisette!"
+
+"I never seduced them any other way."
+
+"Talk about presents, jewelry; they respond to that much quicker."
+
+"Each one to his own method; as for me, I never make love that way; for
+the rest, I'll say everything that you wish; I'll make the marquis as
+generous and magnificent as a native of Gascony."
+
+"Finally, you will demand a rendezvous, in the name of the marquis, for
+tomorrow evening."
+
+"Where shall it be?"
+
+"Wherever you like, but preferentially in an unfrequented quarter."
+
+"Very well; and after?"
+
+"Oh, the rest is my affair."
+
+"A moment: if the little one doesn't grant an interview?"
+
+"What are you thinking of? A shop girl who knows that she is pleasing to
+the noble Seigneur de Villebelle--I am certain that she's on
+tenter-hooks already because no messenger has reached her. You must
+beware of committing any blunder which will render you unsuccessful."
+
+"Be easy; I'm not a clown, I flatter myself, and I wish by this affair
+to put myself in the good graces of the marquis."
+
+"Yet again, it is not for him, but for me, that you are doing the
+business; if you should allow a single word of this adventure to escape
+in the town, if you should have the misfortune to mention the marquis,
+remember that then the blade of my razor won't leave that face whole
+about which you seem to make such a fuss."
+
+The barber's eyes evinced his firm determination of keeping his promise;
+Chaudoreille hastened to get his sword and attach it to his side while
+murmuring,--
+
+"Yes, undoubtedly I make much of my face; it is very worthy of the
+trouble, and has given me many happy moments. This devil of a Touquet is
+always joking, but between friends one should not get angry. We are both
+aware of our mutual bravery, and it's superfluous for us to give proofs
+of it. I swear to you by Rolande that I will use the greatest
+discretion, that I may be relied on. Our acquaintance doesn't date from
+today; for nearly fifteen years we have been united in friendship. We
+are two jolly fellows who have played our pranks. How many intrigues
+have we conducted by our skill, without counting our personal prowess!
+You, built like a Hercules, an antique figure, noble carriage,--you
+would have adored big women--that is to say, tall women; I, smaller but
+well made, with a more modern physiognomy,--I prefer them more graceful
+and slender. But love never troubled you much; you prefer money. Ah,
+money and play,--those have been your pleasures. As for me, I'm fond of
+gaming also; I play a very strong game of piquet. But gallantry employs
+a great part of my time. I can't help it; I love the women. But that's
+not astonishing; I am their spoilt child; they have strewn the path of
+my life with flowers, without counting all those that still remain for
+me to cull. I dedicated to them my heart and my sword. But love and
+valor do not always lead to fortune; you have gathered wealth quicker
+than I, and I compliment you upon it. While I have been following after
+some Venus, you have conducted without my aid some intricate intrigues;
+for this house did not belong to you formerly, and now you are the
+proprietor of it; it did not fall to you from the clouds."
+
+"What are you meddling with?" said the barber angrily. "What does it
+matter to you how I acquired this house? When I've employed you haven't
+I paid you, and often a good deal better than you deserve? I've already
+told you, Chaudoreille, that if you wish that we remain friends, and if
+you desire through me to earn money from time to time, you had better
+not begin your foolish questions, nor seek to learn that which I do not
+judge fit to confide to you; otherwise I shall show you my door and you
+will never enter it again."
+
+"Oh, not so fast. By jingo! he's a little Vesuvius,--this dear Touquet.
+If I gave way to my natural temper we should see some fine things;
+however, that's ended; silence on that subject. Now I am dressed; I lack
+nothing but my ruff; how can I go out without that?"
+
+"You went out very well a minute ago, half dressed."
+
+"But a minute ago I was sword in hand, and in those moments I see
+nothing but my victim. It's all right; I will pull my cloak up a little
+higher. Ah, I was forgetting an essential. That I may buy something in
+the little one's shop it's necessary that I should have some money, and
+my pockets are empty this morning."
+
+"Wait; take these ten crowns, on account of what I shall give you if you
+fulfil my instructions correctly."
+
+"That's well understood," said Chaudoreille, taking the money and
+drawing from his belt an old silk purse, which had formerly been red, in
+which he placed, one by one, with an air of respect, the ten pieces
+which the barber had given him.
+
+"It's still too early," said Touquet, "for you to go to the perfumer's;
+those dames do not open their shops as early as we do ours; while
+waiting till the time comes for you to execute your commission couldn't
+you go up and see Blanche, and give her a music lesson? That will amuse
+her, and I notice that she does not find much to distract her in her
+room, where she sees no one but Marguerite."
+
+At the name of Blanche, Chaudoreille raised his eyes to Heaven, and
+heaved a sigh which he stifled immediately, crying,--
+
+"By the way, how is she, the pretty child? I was going to ask you about
+her, for it is a century since I have seen her."
+
+"She's very well, but she's tired of being in the house and wishes to go
+out."
+
+"What the devil! why don't you send me more often to keep her company? I
+can amuse her, my beautiful Blanche, and I can play something for her."
+
+"I'm not sure that you can amuse her much. Blanche said to me that you
+always sang the same things, and that she now knew as much as you do of
+the sitar."
+
+"These young girls are full of conceit. I confess that she's made rapid
+progress, and that is not astonishing; I have a way of teaching which
+would make a donkey capable of singing songs; besides, the little one is
+intelligent, but I flatter myself that I can still teach her something
+more."
+
+"Chaudoreille, I have given you a great proof of my confidence in
+permitting you to see Blanche; you must swear to me that you will never
+speak of her beauty."
+
+"Be easy; when by chance anyone asks me if I know the young girl who is
+under your care, I answer--since we are on the subject--that I have seen
+her three or four times, and that she is neither one thing nor the
+other,--one of those faces which people say nothing about."
+
+"That's well; if anyone imagined that this house held one of the
+prettiest women in Paris, I should nevermore have a moment's peace; I
+should be incessantly tormented by a crowd of gallants, of profligates,
+of libertines; I should see this house become the rendezvous of all the
+worthless fellows of the neighborhood. I couldn't go away for a moment
+without one of them trying to introduce himself to Blanche, and
+Marguerite's watchfulness would be as insufficient as my own to
+frustrate all the enterprises of these gallants. It is to avoid all this
+annoyance that I withdraw Blanche from the notice of curious people."
+
+"Oh, as far as that goes, you do very well; I quite approve your
+conduct; you must not let them see her, nor allow her to go out for a
+moment. If you wish, I can say everywhere that she's horrible,--blind of
+one eye, lame, and hump-backed."
+
+"No, no; one must never overdo one's precautions and fall into a
+contrary excess."
+
+"It would be so sorrowful if some miserable adventurer should carry this
+beautiful flower away from us."
+
+"How? carry her away from us?"
+
+"I should say carry her away from you; it is only by favor that I see
+her. She is, in truth, a jewel; she has the candor, the innocence of
+childhood. Ah, zounds! how happy you are, Touquet, for you are guarding
+this treasure for yourself, I'll wager."
+
+"For myself?" said the barber, knitting his brows; then he was silent
+for a moment, while Chaudoreille, placed before a little mirror,
+occupied himself in studying some smiles and glances of the eye. "I have
+already told you that I do not like questions," responded Touquet at
+last; "but I see that you will be incorrigible until your shoulders have
+felt the weight of my arm."
+
+"Always joking. You are really a most ironical man."
+
+"Come, go up to Blanche's room; you can stay three-quarters of an hour.
+You must leave by the passageway; I don't wish the people who will be
+here to see you come from the interior of the house. You will go where I
+told you, and you will come and give me an account of the result of your
+enterprise."
+
+"At your dinner hour?"
+
+"No, this evening, at dusk."
+
+"As you please, as you will. Ah, mon Dieu! I am thinking how I can go up
+to my young pupil without a ruff."
+
+"Will that prevent you from singing?"
+
+"No, but decency--this naked neck. Lend me a collar,--anything."
+
+"Hang it! is it necessary to make so much fuss? Do you think that
+Blanche will pay much attention to your face?"
+
+"My face! my face! It would seem, to hear you, that I am an Albino."
+
+"Here's somebody coming; get out."
+
+The barber pushed Chaudoreille into the passage, where the latter
+remained for a quarter of an hour, seeking by what manner he could hold
+his cloak, and deciding at last to go up to his pupil.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE MUSIC LESSON
+
+
+Blanche was seated at work near her window, the small, dim panes of
+which scarcely permitted her to distinguish anything in the street.
+
+However, from time to time she glanced downward in that direction to
+distract her thoughts; not that she was at all sad, or that she had
+anything to trouble her, but a young girl who is nearly sixteen years of
+age experiences in the depths of her innocent heart certain void, vague
+desires which she cannot easily account for. She sighs, she becomes
+dreamy; a mere nothing renders her uneasy; the least noise, the sound of
+an unknown voice, makes her heart beat more quickly; she looks oftener
+in the mirror; she pays more attention to her toilet, though, as yet,
+there is nobody in particular whom she wishes to charm. But a secret
+instinct implants in her the desire to please, a sure symptom that she
+begins to feel the need of loving; and, for that reason, she falls into
+reveries and sighs without knowing why--so it was, at least, in the time
+of which we are speaking. As to the young girls of our own time, they
+dream, also, but they sigh less.
+
+The character of the barber, the cold, serious manner which he wore
+before Blanche, did not invite confidence, and imposed a restraint on
+the young girl, whose ingenuous heart seemed to seek a friend. She
+respected Touquet and obeyed him; she regarded him as her benefactor,
+but she could not chat freely with him, for the barber's laconic answers
+always appeared to indicate little desire to engage in a long
+conversation. To make up for this, Marguerite was very chatty, and would
+willingly have passed the entire day in gossip; but the sole subjects of
+her conversation were sorcerers, magicians and robbers, and these were
+not at all amusing to Blanche, who preferred, to Marguerite's appalling
+stories, a tender love-song or a story of chivalry, the heroes of which
+were very strong on love; and one of that ilk had no less prowess as a
+paladin because he was faithful to his lady for twenty years.
+
+Blanche was dreaming, then, when somebody rapped softly at her door; and
+immediately Chaudoreille's odd little head appeared between the door and
+the wall, and he said in mellifluous accents,--
+
+"May one come in, interesting scholar?"
+
+Blanche raised her eyes and burst into a fit of laughter on perceiving
+Chaudoreille's face, this being the effect his appearance ordinarily
+produced on the young girl.
+
+"Come in, come in, my dear master," said she, rising to curtsey to
+Chaudoreille, who then introduced himself entirely into the room, bowing
+to Blanche three times, so low that each time his sword fell before him,
+and on rising he was obliged to put Rolande into his scabbard again.
+
+"I am so much in the habit of drawing him," said Chaudoreille, "that he
+can't rest quietly in his sheath for two hours at a time.--Come, be
+quiet, Rolande; you know well, my dear companion, that the night never
+passes without my giving you some occupation."
+
+"Why, Monsieur Chaudoreille, do you fight every day?"
+
+"What else could you expect, beautiful angel? It is my element; I should
+not sleep if I had not drawn my sword, and I should fall ill if three
+days were to elapse without my ridding the earth of an impertinent
+fellow or a rival."
+
+"O good Heavens!"
+
+"But let us leave that subject and speak of you, delightful creature.
+You seem to me fresher and more beautiful than ever; it is the unfolding
+of the bud, it is the opening of the flower, it is the fruit which--By
+the way, how are you?"
+
+"Very well. Did you come to give me a music lesson?"
+
+"Yes, if you will permit me the pleasure. It is a long time since I had
+that happiness."
+
+"I hope you're going to teach me something new."
+
+"By Jove! I'm not at the end of my tether. Besides, were new songs
+lacking, your beautiful eyes would inspire me to improvise a ballad in
+sixteen couplets."
+
+Blanche brought her sitar and handed it to Chaudoreille, who raised his
+eyes to Heaven and heaved a big sigh as he took it.
+
+"Are you going to be ill, Monsieur Chaudoreille?" questioned the young
+girl, astonished at this moaning.
+
+"No, I am not ill; however, I feel rather uneasy," answered
+Chaudoreille, venturing to try the effect of the glances and smiles
+which he had studied before the glass.
+
+"You seem to have difficulty in breathing," responded Blanche; "perhaps
+your supper last night did not agree with you."
+
+"Pardon me; I swear to you it did not trouble me in the least. I have a
+horror of indigestion. Out upon it! I never put myself in the way of
+having it."
+
+"Sing to me the air you are going to teach me; that will make you feel
+better."
+
+"She is innocence itself," said Chaudoreille to himself while tuning the
+sitar; "she doesn't understand what makes me sigh. Despite that,
+however, I can see that she's glad to see me. Patience; before long her
+heart will awaken, and I shall be its conqueror."
+
+Blanche took up her work again; Chaudoreille seated himself near her,
+and after a quarter of an hour's tuning of the sitar, coughed,
+expectorated, blew his nose, turned around on his chair, arranged his
+cape, pursed his mouth, passed his tongue over his lips, and at last
+commenced in a shrill voice, which pierced the ears, an ancient ditty
+which Blanche had heard a hundred times before.
+
+"I know that, my dear master," said she, interrupting Chaudoreille in
+the middle of a point d'orgue, which he seemed willing to prolong
+indefinitely; "that's one of the three you have already taught me."
+
+"Do you think so?"
+
+"Wait; I'll sing it for you."
+
+Blanche took the instrument, and, gracefully accompanying herself, sang,
+in a melodious voice which gave a charm to the old ballad.
+
+"That's very well, indeed," said Chaudoreille; "you sing the passages
+precisely in my manner; I seem to hear myself."
+
+"Teach me another, then," said the young girl, returning the instrument
+to him; and Chaudoreille intoned a virelay on the great feats of Pepin
+the Short.
+
+"I know that, too," said Blanche, stopping him.
+
+"In that case I will sing you a charming villanelle."
+
+"Mercy! that will be the third of those you have taught me. Don't you
+know any others?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Pardon me, but as a cursed dog ran off with my ruff while I was being
+shaved, I cannot venture a new song while my throat is naked; it would
+embarrass the middle notes. Nevertheless, the villanelle is always a
+novelty, since I ever sing it with variations."
+
+"Well, I'll listen," said Blanche, glancing towards the street.
+Chaudoreille heaved another sigh, and when he had taken a position which
+seemed to him more favorable for displaying his graces, he commenced the
+villanelle, which he sang to Blanche every time that he gave her a
+lesson:--
+
+    I have lost my turtle-dove,
+      And her flight I must pursue,--
+    Is she not the one I love?
+
+    You regret your own fond dove,
+      As the loss of mine I rue;
+    I have lost my turtle-dove.
+
+At this moment some perambulating singers came into the street. They
+stationed themselves in front of the barber's house and, accompanying
+themselves on their mandolins, sang some Italian songs. Blanche listened
+eagerly; this music, so different from that which she heard from her
+master of the sitar, stirred her pulses deliciously, and approaching the
+window she cried,--
+
+"Oh, how pretty that is!"
+
+"Yes, undoubtedly it's pretty," said Chaudoreille, who believed the
+young girl to be speaking of the villanelle; "but it's necessary to
+acquire the same expression that I have given it. Notice it well, 'I
+have lost my turtle-dove,'--the accent tremulous with grief; raise the
+eyes to the ceiling, beat time with the left foot. 'And her flight I
+must pursue,'--a distracted air, and always the same accompaniment with
+the thumb and index finger. 'Is she not the one I love?'--a soft,
+flute-like sound, and make a movement of surprise while sustaining the
+falsetto. 'You regret your own fond dove,--' that demands much
+expression. 'You regret,'--an exquisitely performed shake,--'your own
+fond dove,'--inflate the sound and ascend still."
+
+"Ah, I should be contented if I could only hear such music often," said
+Blanche, who had paid no attention to what Chaudoreille was saying, and
+had listened only to the Italians.
+
+"I should much like to give you a lesson every day, lovely damsel; but
+my occupations overwhelm me--and then, Master Touquet does not often
+permit me the pleasure of seeing you; when far from you I sing without
+ceasing,--
+
+    You regret your own fond dove."
+
+"It's a barcarolle--is it not, monsieur?"
+
+"No, my dear girl; that's called a villanelle, the favorite song of our
+ancient troubadours, and of shepherds who bemoaned their shepherdesses."
+
+"What a pity that I don't know Italian!"
+
+"What do you require Italian for,--in order to say,
+
+    Is she not the one I love?"
+
+"Be quiet, be quiet; they're singing in French now," said Blanche,
+pressing close to the window-panes, and signing with her hand to
+Chaudoreille not to stir.
+
+"What's that you're saying?" cried the sitar master, rising in
+surprise,--"for me to be quiet! Does that noise out there disturb you
+too much? To the devil with the street singers who prevent you from
+hearing me! I hardly know how to restrain myself from going to drive
+them away with a few blows from my good blade Rolande!"
+
+"If I only dared open my window for a few moments," sighed Blanche. "But
+no, I must not, for M. Touquet has firmly forbidden me to do so. What a
+pretty, pretty air! Ah, I shall easily remember that,
+
+    I love to eternity
+    My darling is all to me;
+
+that's the refrain."
+
+"No, divine Blanche, you are mistaken; these are the words,--
+
+    I have lost my turtle-dove,
+      And her flight I must pursue,--
+    Is she not the one I love?"
+
+The singers departed. Blanche then left the casement, and, on turning,
+saw Chaudoreille with his neck elongated, the better to execute a note.
+She could not restrain a desire to laugh, which was evoked by the face
+of the chevalier; and the latter remained with his mouth open, not
+knowing how to take the young girl's laughter, when Marguerite entered
+the room.
+
+"It's burned at last," said the old woman as she came in.
+
+"What is burned," cried Chaudoreille,--"the roast?"
+
+"Ah, yes, indeed; it's a book of witchcraft, of magic. It was very hard
+to get it to burn, those books are so accustomed to fire."
+
+"What is that you say, Marguerite? You have books of magic,--you who are
+afraid of everything? Do you wish to enter into communication with the
+spirits of the other world?"
+
+"Ah, God keep me from it, Monsieur Chaudoreille. But I'll tell you how
+that book came into my hands, where it didn't stay long, for it seemed
+to me that that cursed conjuring-book burned my fingers. My master
+wished me to change my room--because--but I oughtn't to tell you that."
+
+"Try to remember what you wished to tell me."
+
+"Well, it seems I must quit the room I've occupied, to go into one in
+which no one has set foot during the eight years I have been in the
+house; and, to judge by the look of it, no one had visited it for a long
+time before. It's so dark, so dismal; the window-panes, which are two
+inches thick with dust, hardly allow the daylight to penetrate into the
+room."
+
+"I had an idea--God forgive me--that she was going to recount to me all
+the spiders' webs she had found there. What do you think of it, my
+charming pupil?"
+
+Blanche did not answer, for she had paid no attention to what Marguerite
+said; she was committing to memory the sweet refrain which had appeared
+so pretty to her, and was repeating in a low voice,--
+
+    "I love to eternity;"
+
+and Chaudoreille, seeing her steeped in reverie, would not disturb her,
+fully persuaded that the young girl could not defend her heart against
+the charms of the villanelle.
+
+"It's not a question of spiders," resumed the old servant, rather
+ill-humoredly; "if I had not seen that which--but at the bottom of a
+closet Mademoiselle Blanche found a diabolical book; it was the
+conjuring-book of a sorcerer named Odoard. Have you ever heard tell of a
+sorcerer by that name?"
+
+"No, not that I remember. If you were to ask me about a brave man, a man
+of spirit, a rake of honor, most certainly I should have known him; but
+a sorcerer! What the devil do you think I should have to do with him?
+These people don't fight."
+
+"Monsieur Chaudoreille,--you who are so brave,--you must render me a
+service."
+
+"What is it?" inquired Chaudoreille, paying more attention to
+Marguerite's words.
+
+"Just now, after having burned the conjuring-book of that Odoard,
+surnamed the great Tier of Tags, I made another inspection of my room,
+sprinkling holy water everywhere, as you may well suppose."
+
+"And what followed?"
+
+"At the end of the alcove I perceived a little door,--one would never
+have supposed there was a door there; but, though old, I have good eyes,
+and, while pushing the bed, which made the wainscot creak, I saw the
+door."
+
+"To the point, I beg of you," resumed Chaudoreille, whose eyes betrayed
+the uneasiness he tried in vain to dissemble.
+
+"Well, now, I confess to you, monsieur, that I didn't dare open that
+door. It was no doubt the door of a closet; but that alcove is so
+gloomy, so dark. Finally, I'll be very much obliged if you'll come up
+with me and go first into whatever place we find there. I daren't ask M.
+Touquet, for he'd scoff at me."
+
+"And he would be right, by jingo! Why, Marguerite, at your age, not to
+have more courage than that!"
+
+"What can you expect? I'm afraid there may be a goblin in that closet,
+who will jump in my face when I open the door, which has perhaps been
+closed for many years; for I've never seen M. Touquet enter the room."
+
+"Don't goblins pass through keyholes? Come, Marguerite, I blush for your
+cowardice."
+
+"No one can say that sorcerers are rare in Paris. Haven't they
+established a Chamber at the Arsenal expressly to judge them?"
+
+"That's true, I confess; but I don't see what makes you imagine there
+are any in this house?"
+
+"Ah, Monsieur Chaudoreille, if I was to tell you all I have seen and
+heard--and at night the noises which--"
+
+"What have you seen, dear nurse?" inquired Blanche, whose reverie had
+flown, and who had heard the last words of the old woman.
+
+"Nothing--nothing--mademoiselle;" and the old servant added, addressing
+the chevalier in a low tone, "My master doesn't like me to talk of it,
+and he'll send me away if he learns--"
+
+"That's enough; I don't wish to hear anything further," said
+Chaudoreille, rising and taking his hat. "And since Touquet has
+forbidden you to tell these idle stories, I beg you not to deafen my
+ears with them."
+
+"But you'll come upstairs with me and look in the closet--won't you,
+monsieur?"
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu! I hear ten o'clock striking; I should be in the city now;
+I didn't receive ten crowns for listening to your old stories; I must
+run. Au revoir, my interesting pupil. I am delighted that my last
+variations gave you pleasure. I hope before long to give you another
+lesson. With a master like me, you should be a virtuoso."
+
+While saying these words Chaudoreille drew himself up, placed his left
+hand on his hip, arranged his right arm as though he were about to take
+his weapon; but, instead of drawing Rolande from the scabbard, he
+carried his hand to his hat and bowed respectfully to Blanche; then,
+passing quickly by Marguerite, who tried vainly to restrain him, he
+opened the door and went downstairs humming,--
+
+    You regret your own fond dove,
+      As the loss of mine I rue.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE LOVERS. THE GOSSIPS.
+
+
+The barber Touquet's shop was as usual filled with a motley crowd of
+people of all classes. There were gathered students, shopkeepers, pages,
+poets, bachelors, adventurers, and even young noblemen; for the fashion
+of the time permitted these amiable libertines to mingle sometimes with
+persons in the lower classes of society, whether they sought new
+sensations in listening to a language which for them had all the
+fascinating charm of novelty, or whether it was for the purpose of
+playing tricks on the persons with whom they thus mixed.
+
+Master Touquet's shop was large, and moreover furnished with benches,
+which latter conveniences were an almost unheard-of luxury in a time
+when people took their diversions standing, and when no one was seated
+even at the play. The barber by this means extended his custom; he
+attended to everything, answered everybody, and did more himself than
+ten hairdressers of today. His hand, which was skilful, nimble and
+accurate with scissors or razor, had earned him the reputation of being
+one of the best barbers in Paris, and drew to his shop many fops,
+because in the middle class one held it an honor to be able to say,
+while caressing one's chin, "I've been shaved by Touquet." But those
+whom he had served sometimes remained for a long time in conversation
+with the persons who were awaiting their turn, the greater part of these
+idlers desiring to chat for a moment on the news of the day and the
+adventures of the night. Towards ten o'clock in the morning there was
+always a numerous gathering at Master Touquet's shop.
+
+There one saw all kinds of toilets; but then, as today, rich garments
+did not always betoken rank or fortune in those who wore them. The taste
+for luxury was becoming general, because consideration was accorded only
+to those who had splendid equipages and magnificent clothing. An
+appearance of wealth and power obtained all the honors; true merit
+without distinction, without renown, remained forgotten and in poverty.
+And one assuredly sees the same thing today.
+
+Access to court was easy. For a parvenu to introduce himself there,
+often nothing more was necessary than a costume similar to those worn by
+courtiers,--the hat adorned by a feather, a doublet and mantle of satin
+or velvet, the sword at the belt, the whole enlivened by trimmings of
+gold or silver braid. Each sought to procure for himself the most
+splendid personal appearance, and many ruined themselves in order to
+appear wealthy.
+
+An attempt was, however, made to arrest this tendency to luxurious
+habits, which could not hide the poverty of the time. By an edict of the
+month of November of the year 1633, it was forbidden to all subjects to
+wear on their shirts, cuffs, head-dresses, or on other linen, all
+openwork, embroideries of gold or silver thread, braids, laces or cut
+points, manufactured either within or without the realm.
+
+In the following year a second edict appeared, which prohibited the
+employment, in habiliments, of any kind of cloth of gold or silver, real
+or imitation, and decreed that the richest garments should be of velvet,
+satin or taffetas, without other ornament than two bands of silk
+embroidery; it also forbade that the liveries of pages, lackeys and
+coachmen should be made of any other than woollen stuffs. But these laws
+were soon infringed; men will always have the desire to appear more than
+they are, and women to hide what they are.
+
+Among the different personages assembled in the barber's shop there was
+one who chatted with nobody and seemed to take not the slightest
+interest in the relation of the scandalous adventures of the night. This
+was a young man who appeared about nineteen years of age or a little
+over, endowed with a physiognomy by no means cheerful; for one
+ordinarily applies that term to those round, fresh faces, red and plump,
+which breathe health and gayety. He had beautiful eyes, but was pale;
+noble features, but rather a melancholy expression; finally, he had what
+one calls an interesting face, and this sort are in general more
+fortunate in love than those of cheerful physiognomy. The young man's
+costume was very simple; neither ornament nor embroidery adorned his
+gray coat, buttoned just to the knee and cut like our frock coat of
+today; his belt was black; no ribbons floated from his knees and his
+arms; he neither had a sword nor laces, nor plumes on the broad brim of
+his hat.
+
+He had been for a very long time in the barber's shop. On entering, his
+eyes had appeared to search for something other than the master of the
+place; he had thrown glances towards the back shop, and still continued
+to do so. Several times already his turn had come and Touquet had said
+to him,--
+
+"Whenever you wish, seigneur bachelor."
+
+The young man's simple costume was, in fact, that which was ordinarily
+worn by law students in Paris; but to each invitation of the barber the
+bachelor only answered, "I am not pressed for time," and another took
+his place.
+
+After a time the loiterers and gossips departed and the young man found
+himself alone with Touquet, to whom his conduct began to appear
+singular.
+
+"Now you can no longer yield your turn to anybody," said the barber,
+offering a chair to the stranger. "In truth I cannot shave you; you have
+not enough on your chin; but without doubt you came for something, and
+I am at your service, monsieur."
+
+"Yes," said the young man with an embarrassed air, turning his eyes
+towards the back shop, "I should like--my hair is too long, and--"
+
+"Seat yourself here, seigneur bachelor; you will find that I am skilful;
+my hand is as well accustomed to the scissors as to the razor."
+
+The young man decided at last to intrust his head to the barber, but as
+soon as the latter paused for a moment he profited by it to turn and
+look into the back shop.
+
+"Are you looking for anything, monsieur?" said Touquet, whom this trick
+did not escape.
+
+"No--no. I was only looking to see if you were alone here."
+
+"Yes, monsieur; you see I have no need of anybody to help me in order to
+satisfy my customers."
+
+"Indeed, someone told me you were extremely skilful."
+
+"And monsieur has had time to judge of my talent, he has been nearly two
+hours in my shop."
+
+"I had nothing pressing to do; and then, I wished to obtain some
+information of you. Tell me, my friend, who occupies the first story of
+this house."
+
+"I do, monsieur," said Touquet, after a moment's hesitation.
+
+The young man seemed vexed then that he had asked the question.
+
+"May I learn, monsieur, how that interests you?" resumed Touquet,
+looking at the unknown attentively.
+
+"Ah, it is that I am looking for a lodging--in this quarter. One chamber
+would suffice me. Do you not take lodgers, and could you give me a room
+if this house belongs to you?"
+
+"This house does belong to me; in fact, monsieur, I cannot grant your
+request. For a long time I have let no lodgings, and I have no room in
+the house, which is not very large."
+
+"What! you cannot let me a single chamber, a closet even? I repeat to
+you, I wish to have one in this neighborhood; I often have business in
+the Louvre. I will pay you anything that you ask."
+
+"Anything?" said the barber, glancing ironically at the young man's
+simple garments. "You are getting on, perhaps, a little, monsieur
+student. All the same, your desires cannot be gratified, and I advise
+you to renounce your plans."
+
+Touquet dwelt on this last phrase, and the young man's face reddened a
+little; but the barber had finished his ministrations, and the former
+had no way of prolonging his stay with a man who did not appear to wish
+to continue the conversation, and to whom he feared he had said too
+much. The bachelor rose, paid, and at last left the shop, but not
+without looking up at the windows of the house.
+
+"That's a lover," said Touquet, as soon as the young man had taken his
+departure. "Yes, his uneasiness, his looks, his questions--oh, I
+understand it all. I have served too many lovers ever to be deceived
+about that. Curse it! this is just what I feared. What vexations I
+foresee! What anxieties are about to assail me! He must have seen
+Blanche, but where? when? how? She never leaves the house without me,
+and that very rarely; however, this young man is in love with her, I'll
+bet a hundred pieces of gold. Halloo there, Marguerite! Marguerite!"
+
+The old servant had heard her master's loud voice; she mentally invoked
+her patron saint and went down to the shop.
+
+"How long is it since Blanche went out without my knowing it?" said the
+barber suddenly.
+
+"Went out? Mademoiselle Blanche?" said Marguerite, looking at her master
+in surprise.
+
+"Yes,--went out with you. Why don't you answer?"
+
+"Blessed Holy Virgin! that hasn't happened for two years; then
+Mademoiselle Blanche was still a child, and you sometimes allowed her to
+go with me to take a turn in the big Pre-aux-Clercs. But since that time
+the poor little thing has not been out, I believe, except twice with
+you, and that was at night, and Mademoiselle Blanche had a very thick
+veil."
+
+"I didn't ask you if she had been out with me. And has any young man
+been here in my absence who has asked you about her, or who has sought
+to be introduced to her?"
+
+"Indeed, I would have given him a warm reception. Monsieur doesn't know
+me. Except the Chevalier Chaudoreille, mademoiselle has seen no one; as
+to the latter, he came this morning to give her a music lesson."
+
+"Oh, Chaudoreille isn't dangerous; but if some student, some young page,
+should come in my absence and seek to see Blanche, remember to send such
+heedless fellows away promptly."
+
+"Yes, monsieur, yes. Oh, you may be easy. Besides, hasn't the beautiful
+child always about her a precious talisman which will preserve her from
+all danger? I defy ten gallants to turn her head so long as she carries
+it, and I will see that she does not leave it off."
+
+"Watch, rather, that she does not open her window; that will be better.
+If that should happen, I should be obliged to give her the little room
+which opens on the court."
+
+"Ah, monsieur, Mademoiselle Blanche would die there of weariness; there
+one can barely see the light, and the poor little thing does not go out,
+and could only work during the daytime with a candle."
+
+"Unless she opens her window, it will be a long time before she occupies
+it," said Touquet in a low voice, making a sign to the servant to leave
+him, which the latter did, saying,--
+
+"What a misfortune not to have faith in talismans! If monsieur believed
+in them, he would not deprive that poor little thing of every
+amusement."
+
+The barber had not been mistaken in judging that the young man, who had
+had so much difficulty in tearing himself away from the shop, was a
+lover.
+
+The Italian's song had so captivated Blanche's ears that the young girl
+had stood close to her casement, and had not budged from it during the
+time that her music master had made his variations on the villanelle. At
+the same moment Urbain was passing, and he had stopped to listen to the
+music, and while listening his glance was carried to Blanche's window.
+At first he had seen nothing but some very small panes; but at last,
+through these panes, his eyes could distinguish a face so pretty, eyes
+so blue and so full of the pleasure that Blanche was experiencing, that
+the young man had remained motionless, his looks fixed upon that window,
+near which the charming apparition remained. When the music ceased the
+pretty face disappeared, and the young man had said to himself,--
+
+"I was not in error; there is an angel, a divinity, in that house."
+
+And as that angel, that divinity, lived in the modest house of a barber,
+the bachelor had believed he should penetrate into the third heaven in
+entering Master Touquet's shop; but he returned to ideas more
+terrestrial on seeing nothing but men who had come to be shaved, who had
+about them nothing divine, despite all the essences with which their
+chins were besmeared. Urbain had glanced towards the back shop, hoping
+to perceive the pretty figure of the first floor, and had prolonged as
+much as possible his stay in the barber's shop. We have witnessed the
+result of his conversation with the barber.
+
+The young man departed, very much out of sorts; he perceived that he had
+made a blunder in questioning the barber, who was probably his adored
+one's father; for the young men of that time were inflamed with love as
+quickly as those of today. He felt that before going into the shop he
+should have obtained some information in the neighborhood, and he
+decided to finish as he should have begun. In all times the bakers have
+had very correct ideas about their neighbors, because the neighbors are
+all obliged to go or to send to the baker's. Urbain went into a shop at
+a little distance, and while paying for some rolls entered into
+conversation with the woman who was behind the counter,--a conversation
+in which all the servants who arrived at that moment took part.
+
+"Do you know a barber in this street?"
+
+"A barber? Yes, my good monsieur; down there at the corner of the Rue
+Saint-Honore,--Master Touquet. Has monsieur some business with him? Oh,
+he's a very skilful man at his trade, and has made lots of money, by
+shaving beards, or in some other way. What that is I won't pretend to
+tell you. That's so--isn't it, Madame Ledoux?"
+
+"It is true," said Madame Ledoux, resting a basket of vegetables on the
+counter, "that Touquet has not always enjoyed an excellent reputation. I
+have lived in the neighborhood for eight years and, thank God, I know
+everything that has passed here,--all that everybody has done here, and
+all that everybody is still doing; and that reminds me that yesterday
+evening I saw Madame Grippart come home at ten o'clock with a young man,
+who left her in front of the grocer's shop after having held her hand in
+his for more than two hours, while that poor Grippart was peacefully
+slumbering, for he goes to bed at nine o'clock. That doesn't trouble
+him; he well deserves it, for he went about everywhere saying that his
+wife had a strong breath, and those things need not be said.--But to
+return to Master Touquet. Oh, that's a sly blade, a crafty, cunning
+fellow. I've known him since he settled in this street; he's been here
+nearly fifteen years. He rented the house which belonged to M. Richard.
+You know, my neighbor, the old cloth merchant?"
+
+"The one whose wife had two fat, plump twins seven months after they
+were married?"
+
+"Who didn't look at all like their father. It's the same. Well, this
+Touquet was then barber, bathkeeper and lodging-house keeper, and report
+says that beside that he helped young men of family in their love
+affairs. He then kept two shop-men, and should have made money; however,
+he was for a long time miserably poor, since his shop-men left him
+because he did not pay them. Everyone was very much astonished ten years
+ago when Touquet kept with him, and began to educate as his own child,
+the daughter of a man whom he did not know, who had come to lodge with
+him by chance, and who was killed the same night in a fight between some
+worthless fellows and the officers of the watch. The poor man! they
+found his corpse down there,--Rue Saint-Honore, before the draper's
+shop. Do you remember it, Madame Legras?"
+
+Madame Legras, who had just come into the baker's shop, began by
+throwing herself on a chair and crying,--
+
+"Good-day, ladies! Good Heavens! how dear the fish is today, nobody can
+look at it."
+
+And Urbain sighed, saying, "The fish will take us away from the barber";
+but to advance in love one must often have patience, and in the midst of
+all this gossip that which concerned Touquet was precious to the young
+bachelor.
+
+"I wished to have an eel to feast my husband, but it was impossible."
+
+"Is it his birthday?"
+
+"No; but he took me yesterday for a walk around the Bastile, and one
+compliment brings on another. I can say with pride that there are few
+households so united as ours. During the four years that I have been
+married to my second husband, M. Legras, we have quarrelled only five
+times; but that was always for some trifling cause. What were you
+talking about, ladies?"
+
+"Of our neighbor Touquet, about whom this gentleman desired some
+information."
+
+"Touquet the barber? My word, ladies, you may say whatever you will, but
+I don't like that man."
+
+"He's a very handsome man, however."
+
+"Yes, of the same height as M. Legras; but there is something hard and
+false and stern in his appearance."
+
+"Yes, for some time past; formerly he was gayer, more open. Now monsieur
+never chats; he has grown proud."
+
+"That's not surprising; he has made money."
+
+"Yes, by shaving beards perhaps."
+
+"It's a good deal more likely he has made it by assisting the love
+affairs of some great nobleman, in procuring and abducting some beauty."
+
+"Come, ladies, don't be so malicious. As for me, you know I haven't a
+bad tongue. Touquet is very skilful at his trade. I know very well that
+in order to buy and pay for that house where he now is he must have
+shaved a good many faces; but they say now the barber is very steady
+and economical."
+
+"When the devil is old--"
+
+"Touquet is not old; he's hardly over forty years."
+
+"Adopting that little girl should have brought him good luck."
+
+"That's what I was telling monsieur. Poor little thing! Nobody knows
+anything about her, except that she had a father."
+
+"Well, neighbor, somebody found a letter on him having for an address,
+'To Monsieur Moranval, gentleman.'"
+
+"Ah, he was a gentleman?"
+
+"Yes, my dear. Oh, I remember all that as if it were yesterday."
+
+"How fortunate one is in having such a memory! And what did the letter
+say?"
+
+"It seemed that there were only a few lines of which nobody could make
+much of anything; someone recommended to this Moranval to take great
+precautions in the business which brought him to Paris. But what
+business? Nobody knows anything about it."
+
+"Did they find nothing else on him?"
+
+"No; there is little doubt that the poor man was robbed after being
+murdered."
+
+"Did they go to Touquet's to inquire what he knew about it?"
+
+"Touquet answered the officers of justice that the man had come down to
+his house the evening before, and had introduced himself as a gentleman
+who was about to remain for some time in Paris; that he had first asked
+him to put his little girl to bed, and that later he had gone out,
+saying he should be absent for an hour or so. Touquet had waited up for
+him a great part of the night, and it was not till the next day that he
+learned from public rumor that a man had been found murdered in the Rue
+Saint-Honore, a short distance from his house; that, being already
+uneasy about his guest, he had gone to see the victim, and had
+recognized the man who had arrived at his place the evening before."
+
+"I hope that's a history. Unfortunately, one hears only too many similar
+stories. Ours are really cut-throat streets, and it is not well, after
+nine o'clock, to be out in them. The gentlemen of the parliament make
+decrees often enough, but it doesn't do much good. A little while ago,
+it seems a counsellor of the Chamber of Investigation was similarly
+murdered. The parliament has just promulgated a new ordinance against
+these worthless fellows--haven't they, monsieur?"
+
+"Yes," said Urbain; "the public prosecutor has just complained of
+murders, assassinations and robberies, which take place every day, as
+many upon the highways as in the city or the suburbs, by armed persons
+who forcibly break into houses, and that through the negligence of the
+police officers who do not properly perform their duty. Parliament
+yesterday passed a new decree, ordering that vagabonds, men of bad
+character, and robbers, should vacate the city and the faubourgs of
+Paris within twenty-four hours."
+
+"Well, you'll see, tonight we shall hear a bigger rumpus than ever."
+
+"And the barber Touquet is not married?" resumed Urbain, who wished to
+return to the subject of conversation which was interesting to him.
+
+"No, he's a bachelor," said Madame Ledoux.
+
+"And this young girl that lodges with him--"
+
+"She's the little one whom he adopted."
+
+"She had no other protectors?"
+
+"What could you expect, since nobody knew her parents? Touquet has, they
+say, taken very good care of her; I will do him the justice to say that.
+He has taken into his house, to wait on the little one, a servant, old
+Marguerite, a gossip, who is always seeking for preservatives against
+the wind, the thunder, the sorcerers, or even for talismans to guard her
+dear Blanche against the snares of the gallants."
+
+"Blanche, then, is the name of the young girl?"
+
+"Yes; that is her name."
+
+"And this old woman is the only one about her?"
+
+"Mercy! isn't that enough? Besides, the little one never goes out, and
+no one ever sees her even put her nose out of the window."
+
+"Tell me, ladies, don't you think, with me, that the barber has brought
+up this pretty child for himself, and that he would not take so much
+care of her unless he was in love with her?"
+
+"Indeed, that might very well be possible. Touquet is still young, and
+perhaps wishes to marry her."
+
+"Nonsense! I don't believe that; and besides, they say that the young
+person is not good-looking. I have heard it said by an ugly little thin
+man, with a long sword, who is often at the barber's shop, that the
+orphan is very ugly."
+
+"Ugly!" cried Urbain quickly. "That's a frightful lie!"
+
+"Ah, monsieur has seen her, then?" immediately said the gossips, looking
+at the young man with a mischievous air.
+
+The latter felt that he had committed an imprudence; but having nothing
+more to learn from these dames, he made them a low bow and left the
+shop, leaving the gossips to talk among themselves.
+
+"Well, if he hasn't gone, and he didn't tell us what he wanted with
+Touquet."
+
+But Urbain had learned enough; and while directing his steps toward the
+Rue Montmartre, where he dwelt, our lover cogitated thus:--
+
+"She's not the barber's daughter; he has stood to her in place of a
+father, but he has no rights over her except those accorded to a
+benefactor by a grateful heart. She's the daughter of a gentleman,
+which is much better; my father was a gentleman also, who valiantly
+fought under King Henry. The old soldiers still remember Captain
+Dorgeville, and the name which he has transmitted to me is pure and
+without stain. I am alone in the world; I am my own master. Like her I
+have no parents, for a year ago death deprived me of my good mother. My
+fortune is very moderate,--twelve hundred livres income and a little
+house by the seaside. That is all my father left me; but she has nothing
+more, and by working I could render her happy. I am about to take my
+bachelor's degree, but I shall now leave this unfruitful career; science
+brings fortune too slowly. I don't know, however, if I could please her.
+Yes, that's the first task with which I should occupy myself. If she
+loves me, I will ask her hand of the barber. He will wish to assure her
+happiness; he could not refuse me unless he himself---- If these women said
+rightly he is in love with her. The hard tone with which he answered me
+this morning, his refusal to lodge me in his house, make me believe it.
+And that wretch who dared to say that she was ugly!--when object more
+enchanting never met my eyes. Ah, it wasn't of her he was speaking. If
+such a thing could happen, I should like to see her, to tell her of the
+love which she has inspired; and, if I could manage to please her,
+nothing then could prevent me from becoming her husband."
+
+These were, somebody will say, very foolish plans concerning a young
+girl whose face one had only perceived through some very dim
+window-panes; and it was on the possession of this almost ideal object
+that Urbain already based the happiness of his life. But let us look
+back on our own lives. We were hardly more reasonable,--happy if between
+us and the chimeras which enchanted us there was nothing thicker than a
+pane of glass.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+INTRIGUES THICKEN
+
+
+Chaudoreille now started off at a great pace towards the city. The ten
+crowns which he felt in his purse, on which he prudently kept his hand
+while walking, caused him to hold his head even more arrogantly than he
+usually did. He had placed his little hat over his left eye in such a
+manner that the old red feather with which it was adorned fell precisely
+over his right eye, and as he walked mincingly along, at each step that
+he took the chevalier could thus enjoy the waving of his ridiculous
+plume.
+
+Never had the Chevalier de Chaudoreille felt so clever, so inordinately
+satisfied with himself. Blanche's image, so sweet, so beautiful, her
+delightful manner, which possessed all the innocent witchery of
+girlhood, was still before his eyes, and as he was never lacking in
+confidence as to his own merits, he readily persuaded himself that the
+young beauty could not see him with indifference, and was even a little
+taken with him. On the other hand, the enterprise with which he was
+charged by the barber, as the agent of the Marquis de Villebelle,
+flattered his self-love. He believed himself the friend, the confidant,
+of the Marquis de Villebelle, although the latter had never spoken to
+him; but he thought that the adroitness with which he would serve him in
+his amorous plan would be sooner or later known to the great nobleman
+and would win his favor. Full of this idea, he hastened to reach the
+shop of which Touquet had spoken. Before entering, Chaudoreille resumed
+to himself,--
+
+"One mustn't go in here," said he, "looking like a snob, and turn the
+shop upside down without buying anything. I must not forget that I am
+sent by a great personage. They have given me ten crowns on account, as
+the price of my services, but I can very well spend twenty-four sous."
+
+This determination taken, he opened the door of the shop and entered
+nimbly; but in wheeling round in order to appear more graceful and to
+bow at the same time to the right and left, he sent Rolande's scabbard
+through one of the panes of the glass door, and it broke in a thousand
+pieces.
+
+Chaudoreille's face lengthened and he felt some confusion, for he
+calculated that the price of the pane already exceeded the sum he had
+intended to lay out. Two young persons seated behind the counter burst
+into laughter, while an old woman placed opposite murmured between her
+teeth,--
+
+"He must be very awkward."
+
+"I will pay for it," said Chaudoreille at last, heaving a big sigh.
+
+"Indeed I should hope so," responded the shopkeeper; "but has anyone
+ever seen a man carry a sword bigger than himself?"
+
+At these words the chevalier drew himself up and stood on his tiptoes,
+and glanced angrily at the old woman.
+
+"It's very astonishing," said he, "that anyone should permit herself
+such reflections. I carry the weapon that suits me, and if a bearded
+chin had said the same thing to me, my sword would have immediately
+taken the measure of his body."
+
+"I didn't intend to say anything to make you angry," replied the
+shopkeeper, softening; "only it seemed to me that that long sword would
+embarrass you in walking."
+
+"Embarrass me! That is a different thing," and Chaudoreille turned his
+back to the shopkeeper to approach the young ladies, saying to
+himself,--
+
+"I didn't come here to discuss the length of my sword. Let's leave this
+woman's twaddle."
+
+"What do you wish, monsieur?" said a young, squint-eyed girl, with a
+flat nose, thick lips and crooked chin, whose dark-red skin seemed
+covered with a coat of varnish.
+
+Chaudoreille looked at her for some moments, saying to himself,--
+
+"By jingo! she's not very much like the portrait of the little one which
+they gave me. It's true that love is blind, and that great noblemen like
+original faces."
+
+But after looking at the person who addressed him, Chaudoreille glanced
+a little farther and perceived another woman measuring some ribbons. At
+the first glance the barber's messenger recognized the young girl whose
+portrait had been drawn for him. She was all Touquet had painted her,
+though he could not then see the color of her eyes, which were bent on
+the ribbon. Chaudoreille approached her and, bowing graciously, said to
+himself,--
+
+"This is our affair. I have an astonishing tact for divining correctly.
+Other people hesitate for an hour; but I recognize immediately those who
+have been pointed out to me, and I am never deceived. Here are some
+delightful ribbons," said Chaudoreille, leaning on the counter,
+carelessly caressing his chin, and trying to imitate the free manners
+and impertinent tone of the profligates of the day.
+
+The young girl then raised her eyes to the chevalier; their brightness,
+their expression, arrested Chaudoreille in the midst of a compliment
+from which he expected the most happy results.
+
+"By jingo! what a glance! what fire!" said he, taking a step backward,
+while the damsel continued to look at him.
+
+In order to enchant her he attempted to turn a light pirouette, in which
+Rolande's scabbard just missed putting out the eye of the cat, which was
+lying on a neighboring stool. A mocking smile played on the lips of the
+young girl, who said, "What ribbon does monsieur wish?"
+
+"What ribbon? My faith! I don't much know. Something to match the rest
+of my costume. It is to make a knot for Rolande."
+
+"And who is Rolande, monsieur?"
+
+"My sword, beautiful brunette, which I will pass through the body of him
+who denies that you have the most beautiful eyes in the world."
+
+Delighted at his compliment, Chaudoreille said to himself in an
+undertone,--
+
+"Take care; we mustn't go too far, or be too amiable; I must not forget
+that I did not come here on my own account. This young girl appears
+somewhat smitten, from the way she looks at me. Zounds! if I had a ruff
+I would with good-will cheat the Marquis de Villebelle of the little
+one. Come, Chaudoreille, hide your charms if you can; don't dart your
+glances at this pretty person, and hasten to tell her that she must not
+occupy herself with you."
+
+While saying this Chaudoreille unrolled and examined twenty different
+ribbons, approaching them to the handle of his sword and throwing from
+time to time a glance about him, to assure himself that he could speak
+without being heard by the other two women in the shop.
+
+This manoeuvre did not escape the eyes of the young girl, who smiled,
+and seemed to wait for Chaudoreille to explain himself. Happily for
+Chaudoreille, two people came into the shop, and while the old woman and
+the other damsel were serving them, he opened a conversation in a low
+tone.
+
+"I did not come here only to buy a ribbon, celestial merchant."
+
+"If you wish anything else, speak, monsieur, and you shall be served."
+
+"Julia, have you not finished with monsieur?" said the old woman
+impatiently, looking angrily at the long falchion of the chevalier,
+which, every time he moved, threatened her cat's eyes.
+
+"Monsieur has not decided yet," answered Julia, while Chaudoreille cried
+with an impertinent air,--
+
+"It seems to me that I should be allowed to choose my own colors. When a
+man like me comes into a shop, one should, my good woman, keep him there
+as long as possible; if you wish to have my custom, leave me to chat as
+much as I please with this beautiful child."
+
+This insolent mode of speech was then so much in fashion, that she
+remained silent, in place of putting the chevalier out, as would be done
+now to a coxcomb who behaved like Chaudoreille.
+
+"Oh, by jingo! if one did not keep these little shopkeepers in their
+place I believe they would permit themselves to make observations to
+us," said Chaudoreille, approaching for the twentieth time a
+gold-colored ribbon to his doublet. "This color goes very well with my
+cloak. What do you think of it, adorable damsel?"
+
+"I think that these ribbons are too fresh to blend with monsieur's
+clothing, and that that one swears at them."
+
+"I confess that the velvet of my jerkin is a little tarnished, but what
+could you expect? When a man fights he necessarily attracts dust and
+powder. Here's a cloak that I've not had more than six weeks, and I'll
+wager that you would say it had been worn for some months."
+
+"Decide on your ribbon, monsieur," said the young girl, without
+answering.
+
+"Give me a gold-colored rosette," said Chaudoreille; and he added in a
+mysterious tone, "I have something very important to communicate to
+you."
+
+"I doubt it," said Julia.
+
+"Come," said Chaudoreille to himself, "I'll wager that she believes that
+I'm in love with her and is impatiently awaiting my declaration. I'm
+incorrigible; I let myself go, and I have turned her head without even
+perceiving it. Let us hasten to disabuse her.--No, beautiful brunette,
+you need not doubt it," responded he, lowering his eyes with a
+coquettish air; "I ought to confess to you that it is not of myself that
+I seek you, and that I am only the ambassador of Love, when you would
+have taken me for Love himself."
+
+Julia's hearty laughter prevented Chaudoreille from continuing, and he
+did not know at first how to take this excessive gayety; but his
+self-love always made him place things to his own advantage, and he
+decided to laugh also, while saying in a low tone to the young girl,--
+
+"Isn't it very funny to behold in me a lover's messenger?--I, who could
+cheat them all of their conquests. It's a great joke, in truth."
+
+"Come, monsieur ambassador, give me your message," said Julia, looking
+pityingly at the envoy.
+
+Chaudoreille threw a glance all around him, put a finger on his mouth,
+examined the persons who were in the shop, pushed from him a stool on
+which the cat was lying, then leaning toward Julia with the air of a
+conspirator, he whispered in her ear,--
+
+"A great lord sent me to you. He's a rich and powerful man; he's a
+personage in favor; he's the gallant who--"
+
+"He's the Marquis de Villebelle," said Julia impatiently. "I've known
+him for a long time. What does he want with me? What has he bidden you
+say to me? Come, monsieur, speak."
+
+"It must be that I am very adroit," said Chaudoreille, "when without my
+speaking she divines everything that I wish to say to her.--Since you
+know his name," resumed he, again approaching his face to Julia's ear,
+the latter brusquely pushing him away, "I have no need of telling you.
+This great nobleman adores you."
+
+"Undoubtedly he did not employ you to express his sentiments."
+
+"No, but he sent me to ask you to meet him. If you do not accord him
+this favor, he will set fire to the four corners of this street, that he
+may have the pleasure of saving you, fair Julia,--for it is thus I
+believe that you are called, which makes me think that you are not
+French. Have I rightly divined?"
+
+"Has anyone commissioned you to ask that question?" asked Julia, looking
+at Chaudoreille disdainfully.
+
+The latter bit his lips, put his left hand on his hip, and said in a
+bass voice,--
+
+"What shall I say to the noble Marquis de Villebelle, of whom I am the
+intimate confidant, and whom I represent at this moment?"
+
+"Tell him to choose his messengers better," said Julia in a dry tone.
+
+"I was sure of it," said Chaudoreille, taking some steps backward; "she
+has fallen in love with me; it is my personal attractions that have
+played me this trick. All this is very disagreeable; I should have
+disguised myself a little, or at least should not have permitted my eyes
+to make fresh wounds. There is money to be got here. By jingo! I must
+not lose sight of that;" and Chaudoreille repeated to Julia, not
+allowing her, as a matter of prudence, to see more than his profile,--
+
+"What shall I say to the marquis? Where will you walk tomorrow evening?"
+
+The young girl waited for some moments in silence, appearing to reflect
+deeply; while Chaudoreille fingered his purse, very anxious as to her
+answer, and saying to himself,--
+
+"In any case, I shall not give them back the ten crowns.
+
+"Tomorrow evening at eight o'clock, on the Pont de la Tournelle," said
+the young Italian at last; for Julia, in fact, was not French.
+
+"'Tis enough," responded Chaudoreille, continuing to hold himself in
+such a manner as to show only his profile; "I have nothing more to ask
+of you; let us part, for fear the sight of me make you change your
+resolution."
+
+The messenger already had hold of the knob of the door when Julia
+recalled him.
+
+"You have forgotten to pay for your ribbon, monsieur."
+
+"By Jove! that's true. What the devil has got me? I'm as stupid as
+possible."
+
+While saying this Chaudoreille drew forth his purse, rattling the ten
+crowns that it held as loudly as possible, counting and recounting them
+several times in his hand.
+
+"I don't know if I have any change about me," said he. "Ordinarily I
+carry nothing but gold, it is so much lighter. How much is it, beautiful
+merchant?"
+
+"Thirty sous, monsieur."
+
+"Thirty sous for a rosette!" cried Chaudoreille to himself, making a
+grimace, and putting the coins back in his purse. "That seems to me a
+considerable price. You must notice that the ribbon is very narrow."
+
+"For a man who carries nothing but gold," said Julia, "I am astonished
+that monsieur should bargain over such a trifle."
+
+"I'm not bargaining; but still it seems to me that you might knock
+something off, and that for twenty-four sous one ought to have a superb
+rosette. No matter; I'll pay it with a good grace; give me my change."
+
+He presented one of the crowns with a sigh, and while Julia was counting
+out his change he fastened the gold-colored rosette to Rolande's handle.
+The effect that the ribbon would produce somewhat mitigated his regrets
+at paying thirty sous for it. He took the money, and, recalling to
+himself that they could ask him to pay for something else, he ran to the
+door, darted into the street and disappeared as quickly as possible.
+
+"And my window-pane," said the old shopkeeper,--"did he pay for my
+pane?"
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu! no, madame," answered Julia.
+
+"I was sure of it. Run, my good girls, run as fast as you can. That
+wicked coxcomb, trying to play the spark, with his old threadbare
+mantle, with his old feather that I wouldn't take to dust my shelves!
+He turned everything upside down here, and just barely missed putting
+out my cat's eyes; he was impertinent to me, bargained for two hours
+over a rosette, and ran away without paying for the pane. He's some
+pickpocket, some cutpurse."
+
+The two damsels opened the shop door and looked down the street, but
+could see nothing of monsieur le chevalier.
+
+"It's my fault, madame," said Julia; "I should have asked him for the
+price of the window. I will pay for it."
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle; that will teach you another time not to listen to
+the conversation of these gentlemen who make so much trouble and haven't
+a sou in their pockets."
+
+The young Italian did not answer. It is probable that at that moment she
+was not interested in the pane of glass or in Chaudoreille.
+
+Night approached. For some hours all had been silent in the barber's
+shop; for he, following his habitual custom, had closed his shutters as
+soon as day declined, since he was not in the habit of receiving
+strangers and waited on no customers in the evening. This was the time
+that Touquet had chosen for his dinner hour, although people commonly
+took this meal much earlier. The barber's dinner, therefore, also passed
+for a supper.
+
+As soon as Marguerite called from her kitchen, "We are waiting for you,
+mademoiselle," Blanche left her room and quickly went down into the
+lower room where the meal was served. Touquet dined with the young girl.
+This was the moment of the day when they were longest together, although
+the barber always appeared to wish to abridge the time as much as
+possible, remaining at the table only as long as was absolutely
+necessary in order to satisfy his appetite, and answering only in
+monosyllables to all that Blanche said to him, so as not to prolong the
+duration of the repast.
+
+This time the barber was, as usual, seated near the hearth, waiting for
+Blanche to come down; but when she appeared, contrary to his custom, he
+raised his eyes to the young girl and seemed to wish to read hers.
+Surprised at being thus regarded by him whose looks had always evaded
+her smile, Blanche involuntarily lowered her eyes, which beamed with
+truth and innocence, and a little more color appeared in her cheeks; for
+the barber's look was more piercing than usual.
+
+Touquet already seemed reassured. The expression of Blanche's features
+had dissipated the uneasiness which he had felt; he placed himself at
+the table and made a sign to the lovely girl to take her accustomed
+place. The meal seemed as though it would pass in silence as usual;
+Marguerite only, while changing the dishes, ventured some remarks, to
+which Blanche answered a few words.
+
+But all of a sudden the young girl appeared to recall an agreeable idea,
+and cried,--
+
+"My friend, did you hear the music this morning?"
+
+"The music," said Touquet, glancing furtively at Blanche; "yes, I
+believe I heard it."
+
+"Oh, it was so pretty! They sang in Italian at first; then afterwards in
+French,--a romance. Wait; I believe I can remember the refrain," and
+Blanche sang with expression,--
+
+    "I love to eternity,
+    My darling is all to me."
+
+The barber knitted his thick eyebrows while listening to Blanche.
+
+"What! you have already learned the romance?" said he in an ironical
+tone.
+
+"No, not all the romance; the refrain only."
+
+"And that was the first time you had heard it?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"Did you open your window then?"
+
+"No, though I should very much have liked to do so; but I glued myself
+against the window so as to hear better."
+
+"And to see better, no doubt."
+
+"See! Oh, I like to hear much better," answered Blanche, almost
+frightened at the barber's glance.
+
+"Are there no curtains at your window?" asked Touquet in a moment.
+
+"Yes, monsieur, there are curtains," answered the young girl timidly.
+
+"Blanche, I've told you that I don't like you to expose yourself to the
+oglings of the coxcombs who pass and repass in the street."
+
+"But, my friend, can anyone see me through the windows?"
+
+"Yes; no doubt of it."
+
+"Oh, well, my friend, if that displeases you, I won't go to the window
+again."
+
+Touched by Blanche's sweetness, the barber assumed a less severe
+expression, and, rising from the table, he said, almost kindly,--
+
+"Go back to your room, Blanche; I will try soon to render your life less
+monotonous. Yes, I feel that you cannot continually remain in such dull
+retirement."
+
+"Why, I am all right, my friend; and if I could only learn that romance
+altogether, but M. Chaudoreille only sings me his villanelle, and that
+is not amusing."
+
+"I will buy you some others."
+
+"Oh, try to get me the one I heard this morning,--
+
+    I love to eternity.
+
+Can you remember it?"
+
+"Yes, yes; I will remember it.--But I am waiting for someone to come; go
+upstairs to your room."
+
+Blanche curtseyed to the barber and gayly went up to her room, while
+Touquet said to himself, following her with his eyes,--
+
+"Come, I was wrong to make myself uneasy; she knows nothing of him."
+
+An hour after this conversation somebody knocked at the barber's door
+and Marguerite admitted Chaudoreille, who came into the lower room with
+the important air of a man who is very well pleased with himself.
+
+"You're very late," said Touquet, signing to him to seat himself.
+
+"Why, what the deuce, my dear fellow! Do you think that these affairs
+are so speedily arranged?"
+
+"I don't believe, however, that you've been all this time in the shop
+where I sent you."
+
+"No, undoubtedly; but I passed a greater part of the time there. After
+that it was necessary for me to have some dinner, for you did not invite
+me to partake of yours, I believe."
+
+"Well, were you successful? Give me an account of your mission."
+
+"I went there. Wait, while I dry my forehead a little."
+
+The barber made a movement of impatience and Chaudoreille passed over
+his face a little silk handkerchief, which for prudence' sake he never
+unrolled. After emitting some exclamations of fatigue, during which
+Touquet impatiently stamped his foot, he commenced his story.
+
+"To go to that place in the city I could take two roads; I don't know
+but I could take three."
+
+"You wretch! take a dozen if you like, but get there."
+
+"It was necessary for me to get there, and then to return here. I
+decided on going by the Pont-Neuf, then down the quay into the street.
+You know, where they sell such good tarts."
+
+"Chaudoreille, you're mocking at me."
+
+"No, I'm not; but it seemed to me I should tell you everything that I
+did. But you are so petulant. Finally, I took the shortest way. I went
+into the shop where the young girl works."
+
+"That's good luck."
+
+"I entered with that grace which characterizes me; I bowed first to an
+old woman who was on the right, and afterwards bowed to two young girls
+who were on the left. In the middle of the shop I saw nobody but a cat
+sleeping on a stool."
+
+"No doubt you bowed to the cat also."
+
+"Oh, if you interrupt me I shall get all mixed up. They asked me what I
+wanted; I answered, dissembling my designs, 'Let me see some ribbons.'
+They showed me some reds, some blues, some greens, some yellows, some
+oranges; during this time I examined the two little ones. As nature has
+endowed me with a penetrating eye, I recognized immediately the one you
+depicted for me."
+
+"You spoke to her?"
+
+"A moment and you shall see how I conducted the matter. I was
+sufficiently adroit to get her to serve me. She asked me what color I
+had decided upon; but I, with careful cunning, did not decide in order
+that I might prolong the conversation. At last, by a happy chance, some
+other people came into the shop; then we were less observed."
+
+"And you told her what had brought you there?"
+
+"I decided first for a gold color, and I got her to make a rosette for
+Rolande. Wait; don't you think this becomes me well?"
+
+So saying, Chaudoreille rose and put his sword near Touquet's face, who
+pushed the chevalier rather brusquely into his seat, exclaiming,--
+
+"If I didn't restrain myself I should break every bone in your body to
+teach you not to abuse my patience thus."
+
+"There's no pleasure in conducting an intrigue with you," said
+Chaudoreille, a little disconcerted at being reseated so heavily; "but
+if you wish that I should come to the facts, here I am. I made known to
+her the intentions of the Marquis de Villebelle."
+
+"His intentions? I didn't communicate them to you."
+
+"That is to say, his love, his passion. At last I demanded a meeting for
+tomorrow evening."
+
+"Well, what then?"
+
+"She hesitated for a long time, reflected for a long time; then I
+redoubled my eloquence; I pictured the marquis dying of despair if she
+repulsed his vows."
+
+"Idiot! was that necessary?"
+
+"Yes, certainly; it was highly necessary; the little one was weighing
+it."
+
+"Did she make any wry faces?"
+
+"No; on the contrary, she gave me the most interesting glances."
+
+"Finally, is she coming?"
+
+"Yes, by jingo! she's coming. Yes; but it took me to decide her."
+
+"Tomorrow evening?"
+
+"Yes, at eight o'clock."
+
+"Where is she to be?"
+
+"On the Pont de la Tournelle."
+
+"That's good."
+
+"As soon as I had got her answer, I attached my rosette."
+
+"Excuse me from the rest; I know enough."
+
+"You must know that in bowing too precipitately I broke a pane, for
+which they made me pay a crown, and for which I hope I shall be
+reimbursed.--Ah, that's not all; I know that the lady is named Julia,
+and also that she is an Italian. You see I did not lose any time. Are
+you pleased with me?"
+
+"Yes, it's not so bad," said Touquet, with a less gloomy expression,
+approaching a table on which Marguerite had, according to her usual
+custom, placed some cups and a pewter pot full of wine. "Stop your
+eternal chatter; I'm well enough pleased with you. Drink a cup of
+wine."
+
+"You call exactitude of detail chatter," said Chaudoreille, filling one
+of the cups up to the brim; "but I was trying to show you that I did not
+steal the money which you gave me. As for the pane of glass, I had to
+make that circumstance known to you, for I had only nine crowns
+remaining.--Ah, I forgot; the gold-colored rosette cost me two crowns,
+so I've only received seven."
+
+"Two crowns for that miserable knot," said the barber, glancing
+mockingly at the handle of the sword. "Chaudoreille, you have missed
+your vocation; you should be a steward; you know how to swell your
+bills."
+
+"What must I understand by these words, I beg of you?"
+
+"That that rosette did not cost over fifteen sous."
+
+"Yes, for a passer-by, for an unknown, perhaps; but when one represents
+a great nobleman, shopkeepers fleece him, and I didn't believe that I
+should haggle. If anyone had asked me three times the price, I should
+have given it without uttering a word."
+
+"Calm yourself," said Touquet, smiling at the heat with which
+Chaudoreille tried to prove that he had spent three crowns; "we must
+reimburse you for your ruff."
+
+"Oh, I'm not uneasy about that, but what shall I do tomorrow? Shall I go
+to the rendezvous? Shall I carry off the little one?"
+
+"No; that concerns me only. I can trust you to startle the game for me,
+but I don't think proper to let you bring it down."
+
+"You know me very little still, my dear Touquet. I believe that you
+should render more justice to my adroitness and my valor. If you knew
+how many intrigues I have drawn to a successful end! It's necessary to
+see me in moments of difficulty. I take precedence over everybody; I
+would abduct a Venus under the eyes of Mars, and all the Vulcans would
+not make me afraid."
+
+"I don't doubt it, but I don't want to put you to the proof."
+
+"All the worse for you, for you would see some very surprising things.
+No obstacle would stop me; when I'm excited I'm an Achilles. Wait; I
+should just like once, by chance, that you should find yourself in some
+danger, that you should have need of help; then, as quick as lightning,
+with Rolande in my hand--"
+
+At this moment a noise was heard in the street, and Touquet, squeezing
+Chaudoreille's arm exclaimed,--
+
+"Be quiet! be quiet! I hear something."
+
+"What does it matter to us what they are doing in the street? There are,
+perhaps, some young men laughing and amusing themselves. Let them do it.
+I tell you, then, that, brandishing my redoubtable sword--"
+
+"Be quiet, then, stupid," resumed the barber, holding the chevalier's
+arm still more tightly; "they are beginning again."
+
+They then distinctly heard the sound of a guitar which someone was
+playing near the house.
+
+"Someone who loves music," said Chaudoreille.
+
+"Hush! let us listen," said Touquet, whose features expressed the most
+lively anxiety, while the chevalier murmured in a bass voice,--
+
+"They don't play at all well; they have need of some of my lessons."
+
+Almost immediately a voice was heard which, accompanied by the guitar,
+sang a tender romance, of which the refrain recalled to the barber the
+words which Blanche had quoted to him.
+
+"No more doubt of it," said Touquet, rising suddenly; "they are singing
+to her. Ah, reckless fellow, I'll go and take away from you all desire
+to return here."
+
+While saying these words the barber ran to get his poniard, which hung
+over the fireplace, while Chaudoreille changed color and murmured,--
+
+"What the devil is the matter with you? What are you going to do? and
+who are you going to do it to?"
+
+"To an insolent fellow who is in front of this house. Come,
+Chaudoreille; follow me. If there were ten of them, they should have the
+pleasure of feeling my poniard. You shall also have the pleasure of
+chasing and chastising these blackguards."
+
+While saying this Touquet ran into the shop and hastened to open the
+door, being by that means sooner in the street than if he had gone by
+the passageway. While he precipitately drew the bolts, Chaudoreille rose
+with a good deal of fury and ran three times round the hall, crying,--
+
+"Where the devil have I laid my sword?"
+
+This feat accomplished, he perceived that Rolande had not left his side,
+and cried to Touquet, who could not hear him,--
+
+"Stupid that I am! In my hurry I did not see him. I am with you; I have
+only to draw him from the scabbard.--Come then, Rolande.--It is this
+cursed knot which holds him. Plague be on the rosette! Touquet, here I
+am; amuse them a little until I can draw Rolande from the scabbard."
+
+But the barber was already in the street, while Chaudoreille remained at
+the back of the room, appearing to be making futile efforts to draw his
+sword, crying all the while,--
+
+"I am with you! Cursed rosette! Without it I should have already killed
+five or six."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+CONVERSATION BY THE FIRESIDE
+
+
+It was really for little Blanche that somebody was singing and
+accompanying himself on the guitar. Lovers are the most imprudent of
+mortals. Urbain in loving Blanche was experiencing love for the first
+time, for he would have scorned to have given the name of love to those
+momentary caprices of the fancy which are extinguished as soon as
+gratified; and even at the early date at which we are writing, the young
+men permitted themselves to have such whims; but when they loved truly
+that lasted in those good old times, or so they say, much longer than it
+does today, at least among the little shopkeepers. The great have always
+had their privileges, in love as in everything else.
+
+A first love causes one to commit many imprudences; but the second time
+that one's heart is assailed by the tender passion, one has a little
+more experience; and the third time, one knows how to hide his play. It
+is necessary to become habituated to everything; and if women do not
+invariably hold to their first love, are not invariably faithful to it,
+it is only that they may acquire this habituation, and it would ill
+become us to call it a crime in them.
+
+But Urbain disturbed himself very little, as it will appear; he had
+unceasingly before his eyes the face of the enchantress he had perceived
+at the window, and he ardently desired to see her when there should be
+nothing between them. What he had heard from the gossips of the
+neighborhood had strengthened his hope and perhaps added to the feeling
+he already experienced for her, for there was something romantic in the
+history of the young orphan; extraordinary events inflame the
+imagination, and that of a lover takes fire very easily.
+
+But before seeking to surmount the obstacles which stood in the way of
+gaining the one he loved it was first necessary to obtain her love,
+without which all his plans could avail him nothing. One may brave the
+jealousy of a rival, the watchfulness of a tutor, anger, vengeance, and
+the daggers of a thousand Arguses; but one cannot brave the indifference
+of the beloved object. Before that obstacle all prospects of happiness
+vanish. A very much smitten lover wishes to find a heart which responds
+to his own. That brutal love which is satisfied with the possession of
+the body, without caring for that of the soul, could only exist among
+the petty tyrants of former times, who plundered travellers and achieved
+the conquest of women at the point of the sword; then, putting their
+victims behind them on their horses, as a custom-house officer possesses
+himself of contraband goods, went off to enjoy themselves with their
+booty in the depths of their fastness, troubling themselves very little
+that the unhappy creatures responded to their loathsome caresses only
+with tears.
+
+Today love is more delicate. Before everything, one desires to please;
+and with his guineas the great lord wishes to touch the heart as well as
+the hand of the pretty dancer; and he succeeds, because dancers
+generally carry their hearts in their hands.
+
+While taking his humble meal Urbain said to himself,--
+
+"How shall I see her? How shall I make myself known to her?
+Blanche--what a pretty name! and how well it suits her! But the barber
+doesn't seem very tractable; his house is a veritable fortress. It is
+necessary, before everything, that that charming girl should know that I
+love her, that I adore her. This morning she listened to the musicians,
+and appeared to be greatly pleased with the last romance they sang. I
+know that romance; I'll go this evening and sing it under her window;
+perhaps she will show herself; perhaps at night she opens her window to
+take the air."
+
+The air was a little nipping, for the season was severe; but a lover
+always believes it is springtime. Delighted by the idea Urbain went
+home to get his guitar, and waited impatiently, until the streets should
+be deserted, to go and serenade a woman whom he did not know.
+
+This Spanish custom was then much in fashion in France. There are still
+some little towns where it is preserved, and where one may hear between
+ten and eleven o'clock sentimental songs accompanied by the guitar; but
+in the great capitals it is only the blind and the organ-grinders who
+sing love in the streets.
+
+The hour propitious to lovers having arrived, Urbain went to the Rue des
+Bourdonnais; he had easily recognized the barber's house, having
+specially noted it in the morning; a feeble light which shone between
+the curtains of Blanche's window seemed to indicate that the young girl
+was not yet sleeping, and, without reflecting that the other dwellers in
+the house would hear him, Urbain had sung with the most tender
+expression he could put in his voice.
+
+We have seen what followed on this imprudence. At the sound of bolts
+being drawn, the young man softly departed, and, hiding at the entrance
+of the Rue des Mauvaises-Paroles, he heard the threats and the swearing
+of Touquet.
+
+"He's escaped," said the barber, reentering the lower room and angrily
+throwing his sword on the table. These words seemed to break the charm
+which held Rolande in his scabbard; and Chaudoreille, drawing his sword
+suddenly, and making it flash in the air, ran precipitately into the
+shop, crying,--
+
+"And now, master singers, I'll let you see something fierce."
+
+"Don't I tell you there's no one there," repeated Touquet, while
+Chaudoreille appeared to wish to draw the bolts of the door. "I made too
+much noise; the rascal heard me and ran off."
+
+"Are you quite certain there's nobody there?" said Chaudoreille, still
+brandishing his sword.
+
+"Yes, quite sure."
+
+"I have a great inclination to go into the street and satisfy myself as
+to that."
+
+"Do as you please about it; you are your own master."
+
+"No; on reflection, I believe that would be a blunder; they may perhaps
+come back; it will be better to let them approach without fear; then we
+can fell suddenly upon them, and give them no quarter."
+
+So saying, the chevalier put Rolande into the scabbard and returned to
+the lower room, where he seated himself before the fire and again filled
+his cup with wine, which he swallowed at one draught, to cool--so he
+said--his anger.
+
+The barber strode up and down; he was strongly agitated, and appeared to
+have forgotten the presence of Chaudoreille, as he murmured at intervals
+in a gloomy voice,--
+
+"That which I feared has happened at last! That beautiful bud has been
+seen, and they will all wish to cull it. They will seek to learn who she
+is, where she comes from; there will be a thousand remarks, a thousand
+inquiries, and who knows where that will lead? Bungling fellow that I
+am! I well had need to guard the child. I believed I had made a master
+stroke which would disarm all suspicion. I ought to have foreseen that
+one day she would be sixteen, that she would be charming, and that in
+order to possess her they would employ all the stratagems which I have
+often used on behalf of others."
+
+"My dear fellow," said Chaudoreille, carrying to his lips for the third
+time a goblet filled to the brim, "my honest Touquet, if you don't want
+to take care of the little one any longer, give her to me, and I'll
+answer to you for it that no fop shall be allowed to see her face."
+
+"What shall I give you?" said the barber, as if he had only just become
+aware of Chaudoreille's presence. "What are you talking about? Answer
+me!"
+
+"Oh, by jingo, you were speaking of the young flower you have sheltered;
+I heard you very plainly."
+
+"You heard me!" cried Touquet, seizing Chaudoreille by the arm with
+which he was holding his full cup; "and what did I say? What did you
+hear? Speak, wretch! Speak, will you?"
+
+"Take care! you're shaking my arm. Here's my doublet all stained with
+wine now. What the deuce! You'll have to give me another."
+
+"What have you heard?" repeated the barber in a threatening voice,
+raising his closed fist on Chaudoreille, while with the other hand he
+shook him so briskly by the arm that a great part of the wine covered
+the jaws and neck of the chevalier.
+
+"Nothing, nothing, I swear to you," murmured the latter, lowering his
+eyes, so as to avoid the barber's gaze. "I only said to you that this
+wine has a fine bouquet, and that if you wished to give me some bottles
+to keep I should carefully guard it from all eyes. I believe that's what
+I was saying; for, in truth, you've turned me upside down with your
+irritable conduct, and I don't know what I'm saying."
+
+Touquet loosened his hold of Chaudoreille's arm, as if ashamed of his
+hasty movements, and, resuming his calmer tone, seated himself near the
+latter.
+
+"There are some things I wish to keep secret--not that they're of any
+great importance; and, for the matter of that, I don't think that you
+will ever allow yourself to prate about my affairs; you are too well
+aware that my dagger would at once deprive you of the organ of which you
+made such use."
+
+"What the deuce do you suppose I could blab about you?" said
+Chaudoreille, drying his face and his clothing with his little silk
+handkerchief, and pinching his lips, as if doubting whether Touquet had
+not already cut out his tongue. "You never tell me anything about your
+business, and I'm not a man to invent the slightest untruth."
+
+"I've told you what all the world knows,--that I have sheltered Blanche
+since she had been left an orphan at my house, and that I know no more
+than anyone else about her father or her family. She is now grown up and
+pretty. Lovers will begin to come; that's what vexes me. They'll seek to
+learn everything about this young girl, and assuredly they won't know
+more about it than I am telling you. The one who was singing just now is
+known to me; he came into my shop this morning, and stayed two hours, in
+the hope that Blanche would appear. Do you hear me, Chaudoreille?"
+
+"I hear you--if you wish me to," said the chevalier, continuing to rub
+his doublet; "for I don't know if I should or if I should not hear you.
+That shall be as you wish."
+
+"I wish you weren't quite so foolish," said the barber, glancing
+scornfully at his neighbor.
+
+"No words of double meaning," answered Chaudoreille; "you know I don't
+like them. This cursed wine stains, and for the moment I don't know
+where to get another doublet."
+
+"He's a mere child, a scholar, who has not yet a beard on his chin,"
+said the barber after a moment's silence, which was only interrupted by
+the rubbing of the handkerchief on the spots impregnated by wine. "He
+shows the small experience he has had in love intrigues by coming to
+sing before my door--in order to let me know who was there. The poor boy
+has much need of a lesson."
+
+"He certainly is not first-rate at the guitar.".
+
+"I don't believe that he can be known to Blanche. No--but that romance
+he was singing,--it's precisely the same as the one she mentioned to
+me,--
+
+    My darling is all to me."
+
+"That doesn't equal--
+
+    Thou hast lost thy fond dove too.
+
+Zounds! what a difference in the melody!"
+
+"No, Blanche is candor itself; she would not have spoken to me of that
+romance had she known the young man. Why the devil haven't you taught
+her something else besides that old rubbish of Louis the Twelfth's time?
+If you had taught her to sing something pretty she would not have been
+enraptured at the first romance sung by wandering minstrels."
+
+"What do you say? Are you talking to me?" said Chaudoreille, raising his
+head.
+
+"Of course I am, since you call yourself a professor of singing."
+
+"My dear Touquet, listen well to what I am going to say: I don't tease
+you about your method of shaving beards, and don't you meddle with my
+way of teaching music. Each one to his own trade. You know the proverb.
+I teach my pupils nothing but masterpieces, and I'm not going to cram
+their heads with the little gurglings of those miserable clowns who
+travel from Naples here singing the same roulade."
+
+"It's vexatious, then, that the young girls prefer these roulades to
+your masterpieces. You gave Blanche a music lesson this morning, and she
+tells me that you have wearied her with your villanelle."
+
+"Had anyone but you told me that?" cried Chaudoreille, rising in
+vexation. "I should have attributed it to jealousy. But it's getting
+late; it's been a tiring day, and I must go to rest. If, however, you
+wish me to remain here for fear the singers should return, I will
+sacrifice my repose."
+
+"No, no; it's unnecessary," said the barber, smiling. "They won't come
+back; go to bed."
+
+"You have no need of my services tomorrow evening, then?"
+
+"No--however, if you like to be walking on the Pont de la Tournelle at
+the hour agreed on, you could at any rate serve as a spy for us."
+
+"Sufficient," said Chaudoreille, pulling his hat over his eyes; "you can
+count on me in life and in death; I shall be at the rendezvous at the
+exact hour, and Rolande shall be sharp. Good-by!"
+
+So saying the chevalier passed through the passageway into the alley and
+opened the door of the house. He thrust his head out into the street,
+and, after glancing cautiously to the right and left, went on his way
+like a stag who hears the sound of the chase.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE CLOSET. THE ABDUCTION
+
+
+As everything coheres, everything is connected in this lower world,
+there is no chance; but there are many rebounds which transmit from one
+to another events, effects, for which we bless or curse fate,--as they
+are fortunate or unfortunate,--instead of tracing them to their original
+causes, from which, in truth, we are sometimes removed so far as to have
+no cognizance of them.
+
+Thus it came to pass that our young Urbain had blessed chance on
+perceiving that the light was still burning in Blanche's room; but if
+the young girl had not gone to rest it was not by chance, but because
+Marguerite could not decide to go up to bed in her new room before
+knowing where the little door in the back of her alcove led.
+
+Now if the garrulous old maidservant had not confessed to her master
+that she had witnessed his nightly vigils, the latter would not have
+made her change her lodging; and the fear which induced him to do so was
+due to other causes still more remote; thus, by a series of events,
+Marguerite's gossip had led to Blanche's hearing Urbain's sweet and
+tender voice sing the romance which had so enchanted her in the morning.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle," said the old woman, some moments before the young
+lover began to sing, "I know I should die of fright if I should have to
+sleep alone in that horrid room, formerly inhabited by a magician,
+without knowing where that little door leads to--perhaps into that
+Odoard's laboratory. Who knows whether he isn't still there? These
+sorcerers are sometimes shut up by themselves for half a century,
+searching for secrets which will enable them to give human kind into the
+hands of the devil. I am sure that M. Touquet, who is very indifferent
+in regard to everything pertaining to sorcerers, has not once been into
+that room. Let me pass the night in your room, my child; tomorrow, when
+it's daylight, we'll go together and open that door, since the Chevalier
+Chaudoreille wasn't polite enough to do so. I can pass the night in this
+easy chair; I shall be much better here than upstairs, and I can tell
+you some interesting stories before you go to sleep."
+
+Blanche could not refuse Marguerite what she asked as a favor; the old
+woman was relating her third story of sorcery, and the young girl, who
+felt that her eyes were growing heavy, was about to go to bed, when the
+sounds of a guitar were heard.
+
+Blanche listened, and made a sign to Marguerite to be silent, and soon
+recognized with delight the air which she was desirous of learning.
+There is something sweeter, more seductive, in music thus heard in the
+middle of the night; it finds its way more quickly to the heart.
+Urbain's voice was flexible and melodious. Blanche, transported,
+remained motionless, as though she feared by a single movement to lose a
+sound, while Marguerite, gaping with astonishment, looked at the
+engaging child without appearing greatly enchanted with the music. But
+Marguerite was more than sixty years old, and music had not the same
+effect upon her as upon Blanche; the sounds reached no farther than her
+ears, while they vibrated deliciously in the depths of the heart of
+sixteen.
+
+Very soon, however, the noise which they heard in the street put an end
+to Blanche's happiness; she recognized the barber's voice, and the
+threats which he pronounced made her tremble, as well as Marguerite, who
+cried immediately,--
+
+"Go to bed! go to bed quickly, my child, and extinguish the light; if M.
+Touquet sees that we are still awake, if he should find me in here--O
+holy blessed Virgin! I shall be lost."
+
+"But why is he so angry?" said Blanche. "Is singing in the streets in
+the evenings forbidden? I was so pleased to hear that romance. What harm
+was the young man doing?--for it was a young man who was singing--was it
+not, dear nurse? It was not the voice of an old man, and, oh, how well
+he sang! I have never heard such a pretty voice; it had a singular
+effect on me; it made my heart beat with pleasure--didn't it yours,
+Marguerite?"
+
+Marguerite, whose heart was beating only with fear, contented herself
+with repeating, "Go to bed quickly, put out the lamp, and above all
+don't say tomorrow that you heard the singing; that would prove that you
+were not yet asleep, and M. Touquet wishes everyone to go to sleep as
+soon as they go to bed."
+
+Since it was necessary to yield to the insistence of the old servant,
+Blanche went to bed, but she did not go to sleep; the young singer's
+voice still seemed to ring in her ears, and on hearing the least sound
+in the street she imagined that it was the musician again. As to
+Marguerite, after putting out the lamp, she extended herself in an
+armchair near the fire and fell asleep, murmuring a prayer to drive away
+evil spirits.
+
+The morning after this night, so fertile with events, Blanche arose
+early. She was pensive, preoccupied, still dreaming of the young
+singer's voice; she felt new desires, and sighed as she glanced toward
+the street. Marguerite ran to her work, saying to Blanche,--
+
+"When monsieur is most busily engaged with his customers, we'll go up
+together into my room; but, my child, above all don't say anything about
+the music."
+
+Blanche promised her, saying, "Why should he be angry because somebody
+came to sing such a pretty air under our windows?"
+
+The barber said nothing to the young girl about the adventure of the
+night; he contented himself with observing Blanche, and the lovely
+child, remembering the threats which she had overheard him utter against
+the singer, had no desire to chat; she hastened to return to her
+chamber, where Marguerite was not long in coming to rejoin her.
+
+"Now is the time," said the old servant; "monsieur has a good many
+people to shave. Come, my child; come up with me, and above all don't be
+frightened; I have taken every precaution necessary to drive away the
+goblins."
+
+"Frightened!" said Blanche, because she saw that Marguerite was
+trembling. "No, dear nurse, no; I assure you that I'm not thinking of
+your secret door at all."
+
+Thus saying, Blanche darted lightly up the stairs, while Marguerite
+followed her more slowly, saying, "Happy age when one has no fear of
+magicians, because one does not understand all their wickedness,--it is
+true that she has a talisman."
+
+When they reached the room, Blanche entered quickly, while the old woman
+made a genuflexion and invoked her patron saint, after which she decided
+also to go into her new room, throwing anxious glances about her.
+Blanche had run into the alcove and already drawn the bed into the
+middle of the room.
+
+"Wait a moment; don't be so imprudent," cried Marguerite to her. "Is it
+necessary to do things so quickly?"
+
+"But, dear nurse, the sooner we open that door, the sooner you'll be
+reassured."
+
+"Reassured! that's what I wish. Have you your talisman, my darling?"
+
+"Of course I have. Didn't you sew it yourself inside my corsets?"
+
+"That's true."
+
+"I don't see the door you were talking about."
+
+"It is so well encased in the woodwork."
+
+"Ah, here it is!"
+
+"Wait a moment, mademoiselle, while I throw some holy water before it."
+
+"But there's no key; how can we open it?"
+
+"Well, we must try. I have several keys that I have picked up while
+cleaning the house, perhaps one of those will open it."
+
+Marguerite advanced tremblingly towards the end of the alcove. She drew
+from her pocket half a dozen rusty keys of different sizes, and was
+about to try one of them, but her hand shook and she could not find the
+keyhole. Blanche seized one key and tried it unsuccessfully, then a
+second; but at the third the young girl uttered a cry of joy, for the
+key turned, and Marguerite crossed herself, murmuring,--
+
+"O my God, the door is opening!"
+
+In fact, the door yielded to Blanche's effort and opened, creaking and
+groaning on its hinges, and the two women beheld a square closet; but,
+as it received no light except from the little door that opened into it,
+and as that door led into a dark alcove, one may conceive that there was
+little daylight there. Blanche remained on the doorsill and Marguerite
+recoiled a few steps, saying,--
+
+"See now, my child; I was right in thinking that that door led
+somewhere. Oh, this is as dark as a cave."
+
+"Let us go in here, nurse."
+
+"But not without a light, I hope. Wait; I will go and light my lamp. I
+don't know that it is prudent of us to enter this closet."
+
+"But, Marguerite, you see very well that there is nobody here."
+
+"I can see nothing except darkness. Wait; take the lamp, and you go
+first, my darling; you have your talisman; nothing will happen to you."
+
+Blanche entered first; she seemed more curious than alarmed, while the
+old woman could scarcely persuade herself to follow. The closet was six
+feet square, and held nothing but two big empty chests placed on the
+floor, which time had covered with dust and spiders' webs.
+
+"Well now, my dear nurse," said Blanche, smiling, "where are the
+sorcerers? I don't see anything frightful here."
+
+"In fact," answered Marguerite, glancing all about her; "there's nothing
+but four walls, no other door, and these two chests are empty. I'm sure
+that no one has disturbed this place for half a century. No matter; I
+swear to you that I shall not come back here again. I don't know why I
+feel so uneasy here. How the floor creaks under our feet!"
+
+"It's because no one has walked here for a long time; this house is
+old."
+
+"Come, my dear child, let us leave this closet; I shall shut the door
+and double-lock it, and I shan't open it again while I stay in this
+room."
+
+Thus saying, Marguerite pushed Blanche before her, then closed the
+little door and double-locked it, murmuring between her teeth,
+
+"Alas! if some sorcerer should wish to open the door that lock would not
+resist him; but every night I shall cross my shovel and tongs before
+it."
+
+This visit terminated, Blanche went down, humming to herself the romance
+of the evening before, and Marguerite returned to her work.
+
+The barber had ordered dinner early; and at six o'clock in the evening
+he left the house, repeating to Marguerite:
+
+"Redouble your watchfulness, do not allow any man to go near Blanche
+without my permission, and inform me if you hear anyone singing in the
+street."
+
+The old woman promised to obey. Touquet wrapped his mantle about him
+and left to execute the marquis' plan. As he was accustomed to conduct
+similar intrigues, he knew where to procure everything that was
+necessary; and at a quarter to eight he was on the Pont de la Tournelle,
+while about a hundred feet from him two men awaited his orders near a
+travelling-chaise drawn by two horses.
+
+For a long time Chaudoreille had been walking on the bridge. Fearing to
+miss the rendezvous, given for eight o'clock, he had arrived at six;
+burying his head between his shoulders and hiding his chin under his
+little mantle, he tried to give himself the air of a conspirator. With
+his left hand on Rolande's handle and the other holding his mantle, he
+walked sometimes slowly and sometimes with a precipitant step; and every
+time that anyone passed him he did not fail to murmur, in such a manner
+as to be heard,--
+
+"How late she is in coming! What can keep her? I am burning! I am
+bursting! I shall die with impatience."
+
+As soon as he saw Touquet he ran to him and pulled the edge of his
+mantle; then, looking to see if anybody was passing, he said to him in a
+mysterious tone,--
+
+"Here I am."
+
+"Well, hang it, I see you!" said the barber, shrugging his shoulders;
+"but I'd much rather see the little one."
+
+"She hasn't appeared yet, I can answer for that. I've looked in every
+woman's face."
+
+"It's not eight o'clock; let us wait."
+
+"Be easy; I'll go and put myself in ambuscade and examine all the
+feminine visages."
+
+"Take care they don't slap you; that would draw a crowd, and wouldn't
+please me."
+
+"Slap me! They're more likely to kiss me, I should say; but I'll make a
+grimace, so as not to tempt them."
+
+And Chaudoreille, drawing his hat down over his eyes, departed, taking
+as long steps as his little legs would permit.
+
+In about three minutes Chaudoreille returned to say to the barber,--
+
+"There's a woman who has just come along by the Pont Marie, and who is
+going to pass over this bridge."
+
+"Indeed! Is she the one we are waiting for? You ought to know, if you've
+peered into her face."
+
+"No; I wasn't able to do that this time, because she was giving her arm
+to a man, and he would have been frightened."
+
+"If she's with a man it's not our young girl; one doesn't bring
+witnesses to a lovers' meeting."
+
+"That's correct," said Chaudoreille, and he started off again.
+
+Some minutes later he returned to Touquet, crying,--
+
+"Here's another one who is coming along this way; but this one is alone,
+I am sure of that."
+
+"Is it our beauty?"
+
+"No, it is not she."
+
+"You idiot! what did you come and tell me for?"
+
+"So that you should not make a mistake; I thought it was my duty to
+avert that."
+
+"Chaudoreille, do me the pleasure of remaining still. I know very well
+how to recognize her whom I came to meet without your help; although I
+haven't yet seen her, I am certain that I shan't make a mistake; but,
+hang it! if she doesn't come to this meeting, I shall send you to drink
+the water under the bridge, to teach you to do your errands better."
+
+Chaudoreille had not heard the barber's last words; he was already far
+away, but he returned precipitately, looking scared.
+
+"What is it now?" said Touquet.
+
+"A patrol of the watch, which I can see coming, and which is going to
+pass by us."
+
+"Well, what of that? What has the watch to do with us? It's not
+forbidden to walk on the bridge, and, even if they should see us abduct
+a young girl I can answer for it they'll hardly trouble themselves about
+that."
+
+"Haven't we a rather suspicious look?"
+
+"You make me ashamed of you."
+
+"I shall pretend to be laughing, to allay their suspicions."
+
+"Wait, perhaps this will give you more courage."
+
+So saying the barber kicked Chaudoreille; but the latter received it
+singing, contenting himself by rubbing the part attacked while executing
+his trills, because at that moment the watch was passing them. When the
+patrol had departed he breathed more freely, and cried,--
+
+"They have taken us for simple troubadours."
+
+"They should have taken you for a fool. A plague on all poltroons! They
+are good for nothing except to spoil everything."
+
+"I'm not going to get angry at a matter which doesn't concern me; but on
+great occasions it seems to me that stratagem is often better than
+valor."
+
+The barber had begun to be impatient, when a young woman came on to the
+bridge, walking slowly and glancing from time to time about her.
+Chaudoreille had not perceived her, because he was in ambuscade at the
+side of the Rue des Deux-Ponts.
+
+Touquet approached the unknown, looked at her and saw that this really
+was the young girl whom the marquis had depicted; for her part, the
+damsel looked attentively at the barber, and seemed to wait for him to
+address her in words.
+
+"Are you not the Signora Julia?" said the barber in a bass voice,
+approaching the young girl.
+
+"And you the barber Touquet?" answered she, lifting to him her animated
+black eyes.
+
+The barber was surprised at hearing himself named by a person to whom he
+believed himself unknown, but, after having considered the young girl
+anew, he resumed,--
+
+"Since you know me, you should also know that the Marquis de Villebelle
+has sent me to you."
+
+"The marquis is rather ungallant," answered Julia, "in not coming
+himself to a first meeting."
+
+"These great noblemen are not the masters of their time; besides, the
+marquis has no desire to converse with you about his love on this
+bridge."
+
+"Preferring, no doubt, his little house of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine?"
+
+"It seems to me, signora, that you are very well acquainted with
+everything that concerns the marquis; after that I have nothing more to
+tell you, except that a carriage is waiting a hundred feet from here."
+
+"Very well, let us go."
+
+"The deuce!" said the barber to himself, offering his arm to Julia, that
+he might conduct her to the coach; "here is a young girl who doesn't
+make a bit of fuss about allowing herself to be abducted. But I must
+confess that there's something in her voice and manners very decided and
+piquant, which astonishes as well as pleases."
+
+They had reached the carriage when Chaudoreille's voice was heard; he
+ran after the barber, crying,--
+
+"There's a woman coming by the side of the Porte de la Tournelle; it is
+our little one; I recognized her walk."
+
+Saying these words, Chaudoreille perceived that the barber was
+conducting a person to whom he had given his arm.
+
+"How is this? What does this mean? Must I believe my eyes?" cried the
+chevalier. "That's our beauty, and what the deuce way did she come? No
+matter; we've got her; that's the essential thing. I will protect your
+walk."
+
+Chaudoreille then drew his sword, and, giving no ear to the barber, who
+bade him depart, ran up to the carriage, crying to the two men who were
+near,--
+
+"My friends, here they are. Be adroit, be courageous. By jingo! she must
+enter your vehicle, willingly or by force."
+
+Somebody opened the door, and Chaudoreille was a little surprised at
+seeing the young person trip first into the carriage. He was about to do
+the same, and seat himself near her, when Touquet, taking him by the
+breeches, dropped him on all-fours on the pavement, and, following Julia
+into the carriage, said to the coachman,--
+
+"Go on!"
+
+"What the deuce! he's going to abduct her without me," said
+Chaudoreille, picking himself up. "No, not by all the devils! It shall
+not be said that I did not finish this adventure; besides, they've only
+given me something on account, and I should like to be settled with
+before the marquis gets tired of the little one."
+
+Chaudoreille immediately darted after the carriage; accustomed to
+running, he caught up with it, mounted behind, and allowed himself to be
+drawn at a great gallop, taking care to hold tightly to the tassels,
+which served to support him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LITTLE HOUSE. A NEW GAME
+
+
+The carriage bearing the barber and Julia had soon passed the Porte
+Saint-Antoine, which at that period had not attained the dignity of the
+Faubourg, but was in a neighborhood where the road is cut by the
+boulevards, and which served frequently, as did all thinly inhabited
+districts at the time of which we are writing, for a meeting-place for
+robbers, vagabonds, pages, lackeys and cut-purses.
+
+The marquis' little house was situated near the Vallee de Fecamp, which
+today is replaced by a street bearing the same name, and making the
+continuation of the Rue de la Planchette. Crossing this unlighted place
+of evil fame in the middle of the night was, at that time, to expose
+one's self to as much danger as though passing through the forest of
+Bondy. However, many noblemen had chosen this quarter for the theatre of
+their gallantries. They possessed small houses there, their ordinary
+meeting-places in their love intrigues, and often went out incognito,
+but always well armed.
+
+The carriage stopped before an enclosing wall; Chaudoreille looked
+about him on all sides. The house was isolated, and the wall which
+enclosed the garden appeared unbroken, but Touquet had already alighted
+from the carriage; he approached a small door which the chevalier had
+not perceived, and rang a bell. Before any one could come to open it
+Chaudoreille had left the place which he had occupied, and had offered
+his hand to Julia to assist her in alighting from the carriage.
+
+The door was immediately opened by a man servant, who appeared holding a
+lantern in his hand, and, merely glancing at the carriage and at the
+damsel who was getting out of it, he contented himself with smiling and
+making a low bow to the barber.
+
+"Your master has warned you that we were coming?" said Touquet to this
+person in a low voice.
+
+"Yes, monsieur," answered the servant, "I am waiting for you."
+
+Here the barber, upon turning around to introduce Julia to the lackey
+perceived for the first time the redoubtable Chaudoreille, who stood
+bolt upright before the door with his sword in his hand, as though he
+were a sentinel on guard. The barber shrugged his shoulders impatiently,
+and, after handing Julia in, he unceremoniously dragged the chevalier by
+his mantle, and made him also pass into the garden, saying,--
+
+"Since you have followed us here, it is necessary that you should do
+something for us."
+
+"That is my duty, by jingo," responded the chevalier, while Touquet
+reclosed the garden gate, after having said to the two men who were near
+the coach,--
+
+"Wait for me."
+
+They followed along a tiled passageway which led to the house. The
+garden was gloomy. The servant who carried the lantern walked in front,
+and Chaudoreille, who found himself the last, glanced from time to time
+anxiously from right to left; he wished to open the conversation, and
+had already exclaimed, "This garden appears to be very large," when the
+barber turned and ordered him to keep silent. To indemnify himself for
+this forced silence, Chaudoreille, who was still holding Rolande naked
+in his hand, struck every tree that he met.
+
+They arrived at the house and entered a vestibule, at the end of which
+was a staircase, while to the right and the left doors led to the
+apartments on the ground floor.
+
+Julia, who had followed her conductors without speaking, appeared to
+examine attentively everything that presented itself to her.
+Chaudoreille, finding himself near the man with the lantern, uttered a
+cry of surprise, saying,--
+
+"Why, what the deuce! I can't be mistaken. It is Marcel, one of my old
+friends. Don't you know me? I am Chaudoreille; we spent six months in
+prison together, but it was for a mere trifle. I left it as white as
+snow."
+
+"Be silent, idiots," cried the barber; "you can make your greetings a
+little later. Where is madame's apartment?"
+
+"On the first floor," answered Marcel, putting his hand in
+Chaudoreille's, who shook it as if he had found his best friend.
+
+"Lead us," said Touquet, "and you remain here."
+
+The latter part of this order was addressed to the chevalier and it did
+not afford him much pleasure; but he was forced to obey. However, when
+Chaudoreille perceived that there was no light in the vestibule where
+they left him, and where he found himself in the most complete
+obscurity, he ascended several steps of the stairs, crying in a
+quivering voice,--
+
+"Don't leave me alone here. The night is chilly and I am afraid of
+taking cold."
+
+Marcel led Julia and the barber and, after making them pass through
+several rooms, lighted only by his lantern, opened a door, saying,--
+
+"Here is the room in which madame can rest herself."
+
+Julia could not restrain an exclamation of surprise, and the barber
+himself was lost in admiration. The room which they had entered was
+lighted by a lustre hung from the ceiling, and the light of many wax
+candles permitted one to admire the luxury with which this place was
+decorated. Delightful paintings of seductive and voluptuous figures
+ornamented the wainscot. The furniture was upholstered in light blue,
+where silk and silver were blended with art. There were Venetian
+glasses, Persian carpets, candelabras in which perfumes were burning,
+while natural flowers were disposed elsewhere, in pyramids, in crystal
+vases. The whole combination tended to make a sojourn in this place a
+delight, for here was united everything that would intoxicate the senses
+and inspire pleasure.
+
+Julia and the barber had entered the lighted room; Marcel remained
+respectfully at the door and seemed to wait some orders.
+
+"This place is delightful," said Julia; "but I do not see the marquis."
+
+"You will see him soon, madame," answered Touquet; "in an hour he will
+be here. While awaiting him you can ask for everything that is agreeable
+to you. Your desires will be accomplished immediately. This bell
+communicates with the floor below. Is not that so, Marcel?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, and if madame would like to take something, I have
+prepared a collation in the little neighboring room."
+
+Marcel indicated a door hidden by a mirror. The barber pushed it and
+they saw a second room, smaller but equally well lighted, and decorated
+with as much magnificence, only the furniture and the hangings were of
+poppy-colored velvet, ornamented with fringes of gold, while light blue
+and silver were the only colors in the first.
+
+"He did not deceive me," said Touquet to himself, glancing into the
+second room, "when he said that he had made an enchanting bower of this
+house. What luxury! What magnificence! How much money he must have spent
+to do all this! And yet he is not happy."
+
+Julia had thrown herself on a lounge and appeared thoughtful. The barber
+bowed to her, and, making a sign to Marcel, left the apartment with him.
+
+Marcel was a bachelor of twenty-eight or thirty years, short, fat and
+cheerful; obedient and exact as an Oriental, but endowed with very
+little genius and incapable of conducting the merest intrigue. The
+marquis, to whom more adroit, more active, more enterprising people were
+necessary, but who appreciated Marcel's faithfulness, had found, in
+order to keep him, no better means of employing him than to make him the
+keeper of this house. There his functions were limited to a passive
+obedience to the orders which he received; but he was a stranger to all
+the intrigues of which this abode was the theatre, and ignored sometimes
+the correct name of the person who during a short period was reigning
+sovereign in the little house. This troubled him little, and his
+indifference was a guarantee of his discretion, a quality which in his
+employ was very necessary.
+
+"You know Chaudoreille?" said the barber to Marcel, following him into
+the passageway which led to the staircase.
+
+"Yes, monsieur," answered the valet, "I knew him formerly in a rather
+unfortunate affair, since I had to pass six months in prison, and God
+knows if I was guilty. It is in the neighborhood of seven years ago, and
+I was not then in the marquis' service. I was drinking in an inn, and
+Chaudoreille was there also; he was playing at piquet with two other
+cavaliers, and they invited me to make one of their party. I accepted
+the invitation. I played and I lost. He took my place, put down some
+crowns for me, saying that we should be partners, and played with
+surprising good fortune. I was delighted to see him win, but our
+adversaries pretended that he cheated. Then they disputed, and in place
+of paying us wanted to fight us so badly that they made a great noise.
+The sergeants of the watch arrived with their archers and led us to
+prison,--Chaudoreille and me. That was how we made acquaintance; but
+since that time I have lost the taste for playing. I wouldn't touch a
+card now."
+
+"All the better for you. I advise you to keep that resolution."
+
+The barber and Marcel then went down the stairs which led into the
+vestibule, when cries of "Thief!" "Beware!" "Murder!" came to their
+ears. The cries came from the garden, and Touquet recognized the
+chevalier's voice.
+
+"What the devil is he at now?" said the barber, hurrying his steps,
+while Marcel followed him, repeating,--
+
+"Thieves! That is singular. However, the doors are close shut, and the
+walls of the garden are ten feet high."
+
+Tired of being without light in the vestibule, Chaudoreille had returned
+into the garden, where, since the moon was nearly hidden by clouds, one
+could see but a little way from him. The chevalier was singing a virelay
+which he accompanied by striking Rolande against the branches, then
+barren of foliage. All of a sudden, at the entrance to some shrubbery, a
+large white face appeared opposite Chaudoreille, who stopped and cried,
+in a faltering voice,--
+
+"Who goes there?"
+
+Nobody answered him, and he judged it prudent in place of repeating his
+question to regain the house. In his alarm he mistook the way, and at a
+turn in the alley perceived before him another personage, who held a
+club in his hand, with which he seemed disposed to strike him. It was
+then that Chaudoreille, who felt his strength for flight fail him, made
+the garden echo with his cries. Guided by his voice, the barber and
+Marcel were soon near him.
+
+"What is the matter? Wherefore this noise?" said Touquet.
+
+"Don't you see that wretch who is waiting for me down there to slay me,
+while his accomplice is hidden in another bush?"
+
+The barber turned to look in the direction which Chaudoreille designated
+with his hand. Marcel did likewise, holding the lantern before him. Soon
+the latter burst into a shout of laughter, and the barber cried,--
+
+"I was sure that this clown would commit some foolishness."
+
+"Why foolishness? Zounds! Why did not these people answer me when I
+cried to them, 'Who goes there?'"
+
+"That would be very difficult for them," said Marcel. "The one that you
+perceive over there is Hercules killing the Lernean hydra, and the other
+is probably Mercury or Mars. Perhaps it was even a Venus which
+frightened you."
+
+"Frightened me? Oh, no. By jingo, I wasn't frightened; but they should
+warn people when they have an Olympus in their garden. In any case, if
+it is Mercury he can flatter himself that he has received five or six
+strokes from the flat of this sword, and they weren't given by a dead
+hand."
+
+"And if this young girl heard your cries, wretch," said the barber
+directing his steps towards the little door.
+
+"I do not think she could," said Marcel, "the room she occupies looks
+out on the other side of the garden."
+
+The barber then opened the door by which they had entered.
+
+"Remain with Marcel," said he to Chaudoreille. "The marquis will soon be
+here. If he has any orders for me you will come and communicate them to
+me immediately, but before monseigneur you must be mute. If the least
+word escapes you before him, if you commit a single awkwardness,
+remember I shall take your punishment upon myself."
+
+So saying, Touquet sprang into the carriage, which left immediately.
+Chaudoreille was pleased to remain, thinking that he would now see the
+marquis and could find a way to prove his intelligence to him. He took
+Marcel's arm, remembering that the latter had a very sweet disposition
+and was easily led, and felicitated himself on the chance which had led
+to their meeting. The barber alighted when some steps distant from his
+house. He paid the people, sent away the carriage and hastened to enter,
+for the marquis would be there towards ten o'clock and it was not far
+from that now. Marguerite opened the door to her master, who addressed a
+few ordinary questions to her on the subject of Blanche. The old servant
+swore to her master that no man had spoken to the young girl. Touquet
+sent Marguerite away. He wished to wait for the marquis alone. Ten
+o'clock had sounded some time ago and the barber, who awaited
+congratulations and a new recompense, was beginning to be astonished at
+the lack of haste on the part of the marquis when, at last, somebody
+knocked at the street door and the great nobleman entered the barber's
+house.
+
+"Hang it, my poor Touquet, I barely missed forgetting our rendezvous,"
+said the marquis, throwing himself on a seat.
+
+"What, monseigneur, you forget a love affair? That astonishes me, I
+confess."
+
+"You should, however, be able to understand it better than another. Why
+should not one end by tiring of that which he does every day? I am
+utterly blase in regard to these things. I had, God forgive me, totally
+forgotten the little one. I was at the Hotel de Bourgogne with
+Chavagnac, Montheil and some other of my friends. Turlupin,
+Gautier-Garguille and Gros-Guillaume very much diverted us. The rascals
+are full of jokes; they are quite the fashion. Everybody is running to
+see them. They have created a furore, above all, since they represented
+a comical scene at the cardinal's palace, and since Richelieu has
+permitted them to play at the Hotel de Bourgogne, despite the protests
+of the comedians. On leaving there we went into an inn; we were in the
+mood for laughter; we fought with some little shopkeepers who disputed
+the possession of a table with us. They shouted like the devil; the
+sergeants of the watch came, but we mentioned our names in a low tone
+and the king's archers helped us to put the rabble out of the place. We
+remained masters of the field of battle; it couldn't end otherwise. I
+never laughed so much. Chavagnac actually wished to eat an omelette off
+the face of a fat draper; the poor devil made some horrible grimaces in
+his fright; it was really very comical; he escaped by swallowing twelve
+glasses of brandy one after the other; afterwards we made him roll from
+the first story to the groundfloor. Finally, my dear fellow, you can
+conceive that with all this the little nut-brown maid went entirely out
+of my head, but just then somebody mentioned a master knave; I thought
+of you and that recalled our rendezvous. Well, now, to come to the
+point, where do we stand?"
+
+"Monseigneur, I have fulfilled your desires, and for the past hour the
+young girl has been at your little house."
+
+"You don't say so! What! Is the affair really terminated thus quickly.
+It doesn't seem as though mademoiselle had made many scruples."
+
+"I must confess, monsieur, that she got into the carriage with a very
+good grace."
+
+"A little resistance would have pleased me better; it's cruel that one
+can have immediately all that one desires. These young girls are so
+impressed when one speaks to them of a great nobleman. I'm almost sorry
+I have entangled myself with this one, for the devil carry me away if
+I'm in love with her the least bit in the world. For very little I'd
+have you take her back to the place you took her from. What d'you say,
+Touquet; that would be droll, wouldn't it?"
+
+The barber, piqued at the little pleasure evinced by the marquis at his
+successful abduction of the young girl, answered coldly,--
+
+"I see that monseigneur has almost entirely forgotten the one who
+charmed him two days ago; if he could remember her he would not show so
+much indifference in her possession."
+
+"What, is she really so beautiful? Do you think she is capable of
+engaging my affection for any length of time?"
+
+"I don't know, monsieur, whether she will have that good fortune; but I
+have seen many courtesans in the highest vogue who did not equal that
+young Italian."
+
+"Is she an Italian?"
+
+"Yes, monseigneur."
+
+"All the better; that alters the case a little."
+
+"Her name is Julia; her face, while not regularly beautiful, has a
+nameless something that is very piquant and seductive; and there is in
+her voice, in her manner, in everything about her, something that
+denotes force and originality. In short, she is not a languorous beauty,
+such as one most often sees."
+
+"Do you know, you pique my curiosity; come, tomorrow, we'll admire all
+this."
+
+"Tomorrow! What monsieur, and the young girl is awaiting you with
+impatience?"
+
+"We must let her sigh until then; I have promised to rejoin my friends
+and finish the night with them. With people of honor one does not break
+his word; the beautiful Julia must be patient."
+
+"I also left one of my men with Marcel, in case monsieur le marquis
+should have any further orders to send me. I hope he'll be useful, since
+Marcel can't leave the house."
+
+"Oh, very well, your man can wait; one can give him a few pistoles more.
+By the way, I must pay you. Wait! Here's some gold I won at lansquenet
+this morning. But time's passing, I wager those rascals are getting
+impatient; I must run and rejoin them. We shall have a delightful night;
+we are in just the vein for diversion. We'll make some notches in the
+good citizens of Paris, we'll flog the watch, we'll stop chair porters,
+and I won't answer for it that we don't steal some mantles on the
+Pont-Neuf."
+
+The marquis hastily departed and the barber closed his door, saying,--
+
+"After all, he may do as he pleases now, since I have been paid."
+
+While this interview was taking place in the Rue des Bourdonnaise, the
+young girl whom they had left in the luxurious boudoir, arose from the
+lounge as soon as those who brought her had departed. She approached a
+mirror which reflected the whole figure; one glance sufficed to distract
+and give her occupation. Julia arranged her hair, passing her fingers
+through it and re-formed its ringlets; she examined herself, she smiled;
+Julia was a coquette; so to some extent is every woman, they say. To
+judge whether she be more or less so it is only necessary to count the
+minutes that she passes before her mirror; ordinarily she is not the
+prettiest who there looks at herself longest.
+
+At last Julia appeared satisfied with herself; she left the mirror and
+ran about the boudoir and into the neighboring room, admiring everything
+which she had pretended to view with indifference as long as anyone
+could see her. She stopped before an alabaster clock which bore a little
+love. The hand pointed nearly to eleven o'clock. Julia sighed and
+frowned, and threw herself into an easy chair, murmuring,--
+
+"He does not come."
+
+While the young girl sighingly regarded the clock, Chaudoreille asked
+Marcel to lead him to the dining-room, saying that he was dying of
+hunger and that since the morning he had been running in the service of
+monsieur le marquis. Marcel hastened to offer his guest a good supper,
+to which the chevalier did full honor. While eating, Chaudoreille
+recounted his exploits to his old friend, and as Marcel listened to
+everything in good faith, our Gascon, delighted at finding someone who
+had faith in his prowess, had already killed fifteen rivals and
+delivered eight victims of tyranny, before he had begun a second
+helping.
+
+"Old fellow," said Marcel, opening his eyes wide, and helping himself to
+drink, "it seems to me that you have a hot head."
+
+"Hot? By jingo, say boiling; say volcanic. It is not my fault, but I
+can't be moderate. I am a rake of honor, a real devil; that is the
+word."
+
+"But why did you call for help against the statues in the garden?"
+
+"Listen, my dear Marcel: At first I could not see that they were
+statues, and when one is brave one believes that one sees robbers
+everywhere; you don't understand that, because you are cool-blooded,
+and, besides that, you can very well understand that I could not allow
+myself to kill anybody in the Marquis de Villebelle's house without
+having asked permission."
+
+"Hush, no one names the marquis here."
+
+"Ah, I understand. That is correct. It is necessary to have some
+mystery. Hang it! This is the abode of love incognito. Say, Marcel, have
+you been living long in this house?"
+
+"Nearly five years."
+
+"You must have seen some beauties."
+
+"I have seen nothing, for here it is necessary to see and not to see."
+
+"I understand very well. What the deuce do you take me for, a caitiff?
+That is all right. You have a golden place. The marquis is generous, is
+he not?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You earn at least twenty pistoles a year."
+
+"Double that."
+
+"Fortunate rascal. When I say rascal, you are the most perfectly honest
+man that I know. I even believe that you are the only one that I know.
+Good old Marcel! I am very much pleased to have met you again. I have
+looked for you all over, in the gambling houses and in the gambling
+hells even."
+
+"Oh, I have not played for a long time."
+
+"Nonsense, you are joking."
+
+"No, since our adventure I have lost my taste for playing. To go to
+prison when one is innocent is very disagreeable."
+
+"Oh, well, old fellow, there are a good many thieves who don't go and
+that makes the balance correct. As for me, I confess that I still play.
+It amuses me. Besides, it is the pleasure of a great nobleman, and there
+is nothing more noble than to play and lose right down to your boots."
+
+"Since I am only a valet I have no need of following that fashion."
+
+"You are wrong. It is always necessary to follow the great. You played a
+very strong game of piquet."
+
+"Me? Oh, on the contrary, I am a very weak player."
+
+"Pure modesty. Hang it! I wish I could take a lesson from you. We have
+had our supper. While waiting for your master to come, let us play a
+game to pass the time."
+
+"That will be very difficult; for we have no cards here. When by chance
+I have found some upstairs which have been left by my master and his
+friends I have burned or sold them."
+
+"That is very awkward; and I, who have nearly always a pack in my
+pocket, necessarily left mine at home."
+
+"Wait, Chaudoreille! taste this liqueur. That will be much better than
+playing."
+
+Thus saying, Marcel filled two glasses with creme de vanille and placed
+one before his comrade.
+
+"Yes, I am very fond of liqueur," said Chaudoreille. "This has an
+exquisite perfume. We could have drunk and played at the same time."
+
+"But I tell you that I have not any cards."
+
+"You have some dice, at least."
+
+"No more than I have cards."
+
+"Mercy! Some dominoes?"
+
+"Nothing to play with, I tell you."
+
+"Devil stifle you! How shall we pass the time without playing? Oh, what
+a delightful idea! I have thought of a very agreeable little game which
+you will easily understand. You have before you a full glass of liqueur
+and I have the same. They are of equal size; I will play you a crown on
+the first fly."
+
+"What fly?" said Marcel.
+
+"Listen now. There are a good many flies in this room, and he whose
+glass is first visited by one of them will win a crown from the other.
+Is it agreed?"
+
+"That is a droll game, but I like it well enough."
+
+"In that case let's shake hands on it. That settled, attend to our
+play."
+
+Chaudoreille no longer budged. With his eyes fixed attentively on his
+own glass and that of his adversary, he waited impatiently for a fly to
+come and taste the sweet liqueur. Neither of them made a movement, for
+fear of frightening the winged insects. They had already remained
+motionless for five minutes before their glasses when Marcel sneezed.
+
+"The devil confound you?" cried Chaudoreille. "You drove away the most
+beautiful fly which was approaching my glass. She was just going in."
+
+"Is it my fault if I feel a desire to sneeze?"
+
+"It is a trick, my dear fellow, and, in all conscience, you should lose
+the game.
+
+"You are joking, no doubt."
+
+"Well I will pass over the sneeze, but if you begin again that will
+count. Wait! The flies are coming."
+
+They observed silence anew. From time to time Chaudoreille looked into
+the air and seemed to implore the flies to come and taste his liqueur.
+At last, after some minutes of waiting, a fly sipped from Marcel's
+glass.
+
+"I have won," cried the latter.
+
+"One moment," said Chaudoreille, spitefully stamping his foot. "Leave me
+to judge of this affair."
+
+"It seems to me that there is nothing equivocal about it. The fly is
+still in my glass."
+
+"But I am anxious to know if it is really a fly. I am not going to lose
+a crown for a pig in a poke."
+
+Chaudoreille arose and advanced his head, that he might look more
+closely into the glass which was before Marcel, but no sooner had he by
+this movement approached his host than he cried, carrying his hand to
+his nose,--
+
+"The game is off. There is nothing more to be done."
+
+"This is to say," cried Marcel, in his turn rising from the table.
+
+"I repeat, the game is off."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Why, by jingo, because your breath is strong enough to make flies fall
+in their flight. After that you see the game is not equal."
+
+"Chaudoreille, I will take the thing as a joke, and I don't care about
+winning your money, but I flatter myself that I have a breath at least
+as fresh as yours."
+
+"Take the thing as a joke?" said the chevalier, putting his hand on the
+handle of his sword. "Do you wish to vex me? By jingo, if I had known."
+
+"Come, come, calm yourself."
+
+"Do you think I will suffer such injuries. By Rolande, I don't know how
+to hold myself."
+
+"Will you soon be done?"
+
+"By George! If I believed that you wish to molest me, as if I care about
+a crown; if I had lost a hundred I should have paid you just the same."
+
+"That is all right. Leave all that."
+
+The more Marcel tried to calm his comrade, the more he lost his temper
+and shouted, for he believed that Marcel was afraid of him and he wished
+to profit by his bullying; he even went so far as to draw his sword and
+run about the room, rolling his little eyes around him as if he would
+split everything in two. Marcel grew impatient, and seeing that all of
+his entreaties were vain decided to take a broom handle from behind the
+door. Putting himself on the defensive, he waited for his enemy to come
+and attack him, but this action suddenly calmed Chaudoreille's fury. At
+sight of Marcel on guard with his broom, he stopped and struck his
+forehead as one who has suddenly received an enlightening idea.
+
+"Great God!" he cried, "What was I going to do? It was in the house of
+the noble Marquis de Villebelle that I allowed myself to be carried away
+by anger? Oh, my courage, how much trouble you give me. All is
+forgotten, Marcel. Come to my arms. I will forgive you."
+
+Marcel, always a good fellow, threw aside his broom and shook hands with
+Chaudoreille. They returned to the table, but they played no more, and
+while in the room on the first floor somebody was sighing and looking at
+the hand of the clock, in the lower room the two comrades ended by
+putting themselves to sleep while sampling the fine wines and liqueurs
+of the marquis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE PONT-NEUF. TABARIN
+
+
+The ill-success of his serenade had not daunted the young Urbain; when
+one is really very much in love one does not lose courage for a trifle.
+Our lover returned to his dwelling cursing the jealous barber, for he
+did not doubt that jealousy was at the root of Touquet's exceedingly
+watchful care of the young girl; and though he was but little dismayed
+at the barber's threats, Urbain swore, notwithstanding them, to become
+known to Blanche, and to do everything in his power to make her love
+him. The act of swearing is in itself extremely easy of
+accomplishment--what oaths have been taken and broken within a half
+century only; but we are now speaking merely of the oaths of love, which
+are lighter, necessarily, than some others, and to break them is
+considered a pardonable offence. Urbain, who had sworn that he would see
+Blanche, was, however, greatly troubled to invent a way of doing so; but
+in love one always swears first and reflects afterwards, and in business
+it must be confessed there are a good many people who follow the very
+same course.
+
+On the day after the night on which he had sung, Urbain was walking in
+the neighborhood of the barber's, but he dared not enter the house,
+which he ogled sighingly, nor even, for fear of being noticed by
+Touquet, could he pass by the shop. It was from afar that he examined
+the windows; nobody could be seen at them. She seemed to be condemned to
+an eternal seclusion. He waited until Marguerite should leave the house.
+At last she opened the door of the alley; she was going to get some
+provisions.
+
+Urbain did not lose sight of the old servant, but he did not dare to go
+into the shops with her. How could he get into conversation? One is not
+apt at intrigue at nineteen years of age. At last, at the moment when
+Marguerite was passing by him, Urbain tremblingly accosted her,--
+
+"Madame, I should very much like--"
+
+"I'm not a dame--I'm not married."
+
+"Mademoiselle if I dared--"
+
+"If you dared what?"
+
+"To ask you--"
+
+"Well, why don't you speak?"
+
+"Some news of Mademoiselle Blanche."
+
+"Mademoiselle Blanche! Oh that's what you are up to, my young dandy? Go
+along, go your own way; you're addressing the wrong person. If you want
+to talk about that dear child, speak to my master; he'll answer you, I
+warrant, and in the best manner."
+
+So saying, Marguerite left Urbain and went in, murmuring,--
+
+"Monsieur is right, it is necessary to redouble our watchfulness that
+such a pretty girl may not be besieged by these worthless fellows."
+
+"They're all bound to make me despair," said Urbain, disheartened by the
+unkind welcome accorded him by the old woman, "but, despite all their
+precautions, I shall see her, I shall speak to her." And the better to
+dream of at least seeing her Urbain departed from the house that held
+Blanche; he walked by chance and soon arrived on the Pont-Neuf.
+
+The Pont-Neuf was then a meeting place for strangers, for schemers, for
+idlers, for pickpockets, and people who had newly disembarked. It was
+the most crowded thoroughfare of the capital; unceasingly encumbered
+with groups of curious people who stopped before the quacks, who were
+selling their universal panaceas and playing farces, mountebanks,
+thimbleriggers, pedlers of songs, of ironmongery, of books, of jujubes,
+it offered to the observer a diverting and extremely animated scene.
+
+Tabarin, who became famous by the scenes which he played in public, and
+from whom our great Moliere has not disdained to borrow some
+buffooneries, was then established on the Pont-Neuf, towards the Place
+Dauphine. He had succeeded the famous Signor Hieronimo who, in the Cour
+du Palais, sold an ointment to cure burns, after burning himself
+publicly on the hands and curing the wounds with his balm, while
+Galinette-la-Galine attracted the passers by his parades.
+
+In addition to Tabarin's show there were still other theatres on the
+Pont-Neuf. Maitre Gonin, a skilful juggler, had established himself
+there, and charmed all Paris by his dexterity; while a little farther
+off Briochee had his marionette show.
+
+Tabarin, the simple clown of an ointment seller, played the innocent,
+and put a thousand ridiculous questions to his master who, dressed as a
+doctor, answered his facetious interrogations by calling him big ass,
+fat pig, etc., and this spectacle drew the crowd. One saw there not only
+the people but personages from the first classes of society.
+
+Urbain, who was walking along, dreaming of his love, that is to say
+without noticing anything before him, elbowing everybody who approached
+him, was pushed by the crowd before the theatre of the fashionable
+buffoon. The young bachelor heard shouts of laughter from all sides; he
+saw noblemen, young girls, workmen, and workwomen who, with their noses
+in the air, listened with delight to a man who was dressed in a clown's
+cap, smock frock, and large pantaloons, and whose face was covered by a
+mask; this man was Tabarin. His master, in a doctor's habit, his head
+covered with a basque cap, his chin adorned with a long beard, held
+some bottles of ointment or balm in his hands. Urbain mechanically
+looked and listened with the others; in order to judge of that which
+gave so much pleasure to the idlers of that century, let us, also,
+listen for a moment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+TABARIN.--What people have you found to be the most courteous in the
+world?
+
+THE MASTER.--I've been in Italy, I have visited Spain, and traversed a
+great part of Germany, but nowhere have I remarked so much courtesy as
+one sees in France. You observe that the French, kiss, caress, wish each
+other well, and take off the hat.
+
+TABARIN.--Do you call taking off the hat an act of courtesy? I shouldn't
+care much about such caresses.
+
+THE MASTER.--The custom of taking off the hat as a mark of friendship is
+ancient, Tabarin, and bears witness to the honor, the respect, and the
+friendliness which one should feel for those whom he salutes.
+
+TABARIN.--So you judge all courtesy to consist in taking off the hat?
+Would you like to know who are the most courteous people in the world?
+
+THE MASTER.--Who Tabarin?
+
+TABARIN.--They are the tireurs de laine of Paris; for they are not
+content with taking off the hat only, but more often take off the cloak
+also.[1]
+
+       [* General collection of the OEuvres et Faceties de Tabarin,
+          Paris, 1725.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+This sally was received with the applause and laughter of the assembled
+crowd, among whom might undoubtedly be found some tireurs de laine, who
+plied their trade while laughing still louder than their neighbors.
+
+Urbain did not share the general hilarity; however, he lent his ear to a
+new scene which the buffoon was playing. Tabarin, seeking to introduce
+himself to the presence of his Isabelle, whom Cascandre kept from sight
+as an old duenna, found no better expedient than to disguise himself as
+a woman, and under this costume to seek a tete-a-tete with his mistress.
+The harlequin mask which Tabarin wore under his feminine costume lent a
+thousand absurdities which evoked anew the gayety of the crowd and in
+which decency was not always scrupulously observed; but the public of
+the Pont-Neuf was not easily abashed, and the women of good standing who
+viewed this spectacle contented themselves with spreading their fans
+before their eyes and crying,--
+
+"What unbecoming, scandalous actions; they should at least forbid these
+gestures."
+
+Urbain, watching the grotesque disguise of the buffoon, conceived a
+plan. Why should he not use the same means to introduce himself into
+the barber's house? Was it not Love himself who taught him this
+strategy by making him a witness of this scene of Tabarin's at the
+moment when he was racking his brain to find out a way of approaching
+Blanche.
+
+Whether it were Love, Destiny, or a chance which had led our lover, he
+was none the less delighted with his idea, and, giving a thousand thanks
+to Tabarin, he thought of nothing but putting it into execution.
+Immediately, pushing from right to left, he retired from the crowd.
+Urbain elbowed a grisette, twisted an old woman's cloak, crushed the
+foot of a little woman who, supported on the arm of a young student, had
+slipped among the crowd; but, insensible to the injuries which he
+inflicted, he continued to make his way and, finding himself free at
+last, ran to his dwelling without stopping to take breath.
+
+Arrived there the young bachelor opened the drawer of a little
+walnut-wood secretary and counted his money, for in every affair it is
+necessary to have recourse to this cursed money in order to abolish
+obstacles and arrive more quickly at the end which one has in view. His
+treasury held only sixteen livres tournois, which is very little and
+would not, in our day, introduce one into the boudoir of a Lais; but
+when beauty is accompanied by innocence access is much easier.
+
+Besides Urbain would not take the costume of a grand lady. On the
+contrary he wished to disguise himself as a peasant; his awkwardness in
+that costume would be less noticeable. He looked at himself in his
+little glass. No beard, no whiskers, not the smallest hair on his chin.
+Urbain jumped for joy; although some days previously he had sighed to
+have mustaches, today he wished to change into a girl. He was delighted
+also at not being very tall, and exclaimed to himself, while looking at
+his feet and hands which were small,--
+
+"How fortunate it is that I'm not a strong, robust, fine man!"
+
+He had only to bestir himself to get the necessary clothing. Urbain took
+his crown and went to a second-hand clothier, where he asked for a dress
+for a servant from the country, who, he said, was about his height. They
+showed him all that constituted the feminine costume, petticoat, corset,
+apron, cap, neckerchief, shoes; they made him pay three times their
+value, but our young man was delighted.
+
+These little arrangements having taken some time, Urbain went to dinner.
+Then, at the close of day, he returned home with his little parcel under
+his arm, as pleased as Jason carrying the Golden Fleece, as Pluto
+ravishing Proserpine, as Apollo tearing off the skin of the Python, as
+Hercules bearing off the Golden Apples from the garden of the
+Hesperides, or as Paris abducting the wife of Menelas,--and certainly
+all of those men should have been very well pleased.
+
+Arrived in his chamber our lover rubbed his flint, for at that time
+nothing was known of sulphur matches. Having procured a light he
+immediately proceeded to change his state, keeping of his masculine
+costume only the garment which he judged to be very necessary in order
+not to freeze under his feminine skirt. Urbain put on the skirt, then
+the corset, which he endeavored to lace, but he did it very badly; he
+drew one string instead of another, he ripped and pulled, he pricked
+himself. The poor boy was in despair, he looked at himself in his little
+glass and saw well that all was not right; he never should come to the
+end. What could he do? Only a woman knows all the mysteries of the
+feminine toilet. It was necessary, then, to beg some woman to come to
+his aid, and he recalled that on the story below him lodged an old
+bachelor whose servant, polite and intelligent, always made him a
+graceful curtsey. Immediately Urbain, holding as well as he could the
+skirt and the corset, ran down stairs as quickly as possible and rang
+his neighbor's bell. The servant opened the door, and burst into a shout
+of laughter on seeing this person, half man, half woman; but no matter
+how he's dressed a pretty boy of nineteen is always interesting, and
+Urbain's voice was very touching as he said to the maid,--
+
+"Ah, mademoiselle, I'm very much in doubt. I wish to dress myself as a
+woman, and I shall never come to the end. Would you be so amiable as to
+help me for a moment?"
+
+"Very willingly," answered the big girl and, without allowing him to beg
+further, she followed Urbain to his room, where she laughed still more
+on seeing how he had put on the costume.
+
+"Are you going to a ball?" said she to him.
+
+"Yes, and I wish to be so well disguised that nobody could recognize
+me."
+
+"All right; wait, I'll dress you, and I promise you you'll look well."
+
+Immediately she commenced undoing all that Urbain had done. Then she
+examined the garments.
+
+"They're not very elegant," she said.
+
+"They are all I desire, I wish to be very simply dressed."
+
+"But it's necessary to put another skirt on underneath, that one there
+isn't enough; you haven't hips like us. We must make some for you. And
+that cap is horrid! I wouldn't go out in it. I'll go and get you one of
+mine, and everything else that you need. Oh, I'll make you genteel."
+
+And the young servant, without listening to Urbain's thanks, ran to her
+room, whence she soon returned carrying all that was necessary to turn a
+young man into a passable looking girl. The new cap was tried, it suited
+perfectly. Urbain was delighted; he did not know how to testify his
+gratitude to the young girl. The latter had not finished his headdress,
+there were some bows to be made and some hair which must be pushed back.
+She pinned his kerchief closely about his neck, stopped, looked at him,
+and exclaimed,--
+
+"Truly that does very well! Such a white skin, such a sweet air; anyone
+would be deceived in him, that's sure. Wait a moment, till I make a
+false bust."
+
+"Is it really necessary?"
+
+"Is it necessary--why, what a question!"
+
+"But I'm stifling in this corset."
+
+"Well, so do we stifle in them, but that's nothing; it's necessary to
+suffer a little if one wants to be genteel. Wait, now, I'll pull your
+waist in, then I'll make you some hips, and then, ah, yes, that's all
+that's necessary. It's by those things that one distinguishes the sex."
+
+The young servant kept finding something more to do for Urbain, and the
+latter, in order to be well disguised, allowed her to do as she pleased
+with the best grace in the world, repeating every moment,--
+
+"How good you are, mademoiselle, how can I ever prove my gratitude?"
+
+Urbain's toilet had lasted more than two hours, at the end of which time
+the young girl left him, saying,--
+
+"There, that's done, you don't look a bit like a man now; there's not
+the least thing to make them doubt that you're a girl. At this hour you
+can go out. Hold your eyes down, look from the side, take small steps,
+balance yourself straight from the hips, pinch your mouth, throw your
+nose up a little high, and you won't go to the end of the street without
+making a conquest. Good-by, monsieur, when you have need don't hesitate
+to call me if you please."
+
+The young servant departed, and Urbain, after having studied his walk
+for a little while, decided at last to venture into the streets of Paris
+in his new costume.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE
+
+
+The bachelor in cap and crinoline felt sufficiently ill at his ease in
+the streets of Paris. Although he was protected by the darkness of the
+night, for there were few who carried lanterns, every time anyone passed
+near him Urbain was afraid that he had been recognized, and fully
+expected to be taken by the sergeants of the watch, who would doubtless
+demand the motive of his disguising himself, and fleece him to the
+extent of a heavy fine or even perhaps lock him up, if he continued to
+walk in the guise of a woman in the good city of Paris, where it was
+only by distributing money in handfuls that one was allowed to pass for
+what he was not; and, as Urbain had not a crown about him, because when
+disguising one's self as a woman one does not remember everything, even
+to the putting of money in his pocket, the young lover felt it necessary
+to avoid the police; at all events, he did not fear robbers; that was
+much, then, and may still prove something of a consolation to those who
+have nothing to lose today.
+
+Little by little Urbain grew more assured; he began to feel accustomed
+to his costume, and certain compliments addressed to him in passing
+proved to him that people were entirely deceived as to his sex. Urbain
+was careful not to respond to the gallantries offered him by a few
+cavaliers, but contented himself by walking faster, escaping with
+muddied skirts since he did not yet know very well how to hold them up
+and they greatly embarrassed him in jumping the streams of dirty water.
+At length he reached the Rue des Bourdonnaise; and then for the first
+time he reflected that it was very late to try to introduce himself into
+the barber's house. There was no likelihood of Marguerite's venturing
+out at this hour; his disguise would therefore not serve him till the
+next day. His assumption of feminine raiment had been useless so far;
+but does a lover make such reflections? Besides, as Urbain had to
+habituate himself to wearing women's clothes, he was not displeased at
+making his first essay at night. While thus thinking he rambled past the
+barber's house, ogling Blanche's windows, and sending her a thousand
+sighs which she could not hear because she was asleep, and which
+probably she would not have heard any better had she been awake.
+
+Wholly engrossed in the pleasure of sighing under his lady love's
+casements, Urbain forgot that while it is natural to see a young man
+waiting and sighing in the street at night, a solitary woman doing the
+like evokes many conjectures. All of a sudden the young lover was
+recalled from his ecstacy by some unknown person who pinched him very
+hard on the knee, and said to him, in a hoarse, rasping voice,--
+
+"It seems to me, little mother, that the one you're waiting for is
+something late; if you'll only accept my arm we can go and taste some
+very fair white wine at the merchant's down yonder. I'm a good customer
+of his, and he has some comfortable private rooms."
+
+Urbain turned sharply round and perceived at his side a big, jolly
+fellow, in the garb of a chair porter, who was offering his arm and
+smiling almost to his ears. Without answering, and little pleased by
+this adventure, the young man began to run, soon leaving his gallant in
+the lurch. But his troubles were not to end there; some two hundred
+steps farther on, he was stopped anew by some pages who essayed to kiss
+him; he disengaged himself from them as speedily as possible, and
+resumed his course. Later he was in turn accosted by some students, some
+lackeys, and some soldiers, several of them pursuing him. Urbain, that
+he might the better escape them, redoubled his agility, and, in order to
+run faster, gathered his skirts up about his knees; but the higher he
+pulled them, the greater ardor these gentlemen evinced in following him.
+
+"Hang it," said Urbain, while running, "I didn't disguise myself as a
+woman to be pinched by all the pages and lackeys of this city. Men are
+the devil incorporate; I perceive now that it's more agreeable to wear
+breeches than petticoats, but tomorrow I shall obtain entrance to
+Blanche's dwelling. Come, courage--they'll leave me alone perhaps."
+
+And Urbain jumped over the puddles, wound among the streets, perspiring
+and suffocating in his corset, and under the false bosom with which the
+young servant had stuffed his chest. Turning down the streets at random
+as he came to them, in order to escape his pursuers, he did not know
+himself in what neighborhood he was.
+
+At last, not hearing anyone behind him, he stopped to take breath and
+recognize the place in which he stood. He had passed the bridges and had
+reached the great Pre-aux-Clercs, in which they had commenced to build
+houses and open streets; as they had done in the little Pre-aux-Clercs,
+which towards the end of the reign of Henri the Fourth was entirely
+covered with houses and gardens.
+
+"Good; here's the new street they call Rue de Verneuil," said Urbain to
+himself; "and this is the Chemin-aux-Vaches where they've built the Rue
+Saint-Dominique; I recognize it. But I'll rest for a minute or two, I'm
+too far from home to return there immediately--I can't walk any farther.
+Let's get my breath at least. This neighborhood's deserted, and, as
+night is far advanced, let's hope I shall make no more conquests."
+Urbain hoisted his skirts and seated himself on a stone. At the
+expiration of half an hour, feeling rested, he rose and took the way to
+his lodgings. He walked quietly along congratulating himself that he
+should meet no one else when suddenly, in passing by the Rue de Bourbon,
+he saw four men who were leaving it and who, on sight of him, barred the
+way.
+
+"Who goes there? So late--and the game is still rising?"
+
+"Upon my honor a charming meeting, it's a little country wench."
+
+"Better still. I'm very fond of peasants."
+
+"What the devil, marquis! a peasant who walks about Paris in the middle
+of the night. That's an innocence which seems to me tremendously
+adventurous."
+
+"Come, chevalier, your thoughts are always evil. I'll wager the poor
+child came to Paris for nothing but to sell her eggs."
+
+"Let her have come for what she will, she sha'n't return without the
+impress of my mustaches on her pretty lips."
+
+Urbain realized by the language and manners of these gentlemen that they
+were profligates of the higher classes. Unable to make his escape, for
+he was surrounded on every side, he tried to relieve himself of them by
+saying in a falsetto voice,--
+
+"Gentlemen, leave me, I beg of you; I am not what you believe."
+
+But his prayers were unheeded; they pushed him, they surrounded him.
+Urbain, rendered impatient by these manners, saw no means of regaining
+his liberty save making himself known, and he cried in his natural
+voice,--
+
+"Leave me, gentlemen, I repeat to you, you are addressing the wrong
+person."
+
+These words, pronounced by the young bachelor in a manner which left no
+doubt as to his sex, produced the effect of a head of Medusa on the four
+young noblemen: they remained motionless for a moment, then they all
+burst into a shout of laughter, crying: "It's a man. What a unique
+adventure."
+
+"Yes, gentlemen, it is a man," answered Urbain. "I hope now that you
+will allow me to continue on my way."
+
+"As for me, I will no longer oppose you," said one of the strangers.
+
+"Come, Villebelle," resumed another, "let the boy go. You can see very
+well he's not a girl. I believe, deuce take it, that the wine we've
+drunk didn't allow the marquis to see our mistake. Isn't that so,
+chevalier?"
+
+"Yes, yes, indeed, gentlemen," answered the Marquis de Villebelle; for
+it was that nobleman himself, who, as he had said to the barber, made
+merry with his friends by seeking spicy adventures in the streets of the
+capital. With a head excited by wines and liqueurs, the marquis, always
+the leader in the follies and extravagances committed in these
+escapades, had pressed Urbain most closely, and on the latter making
+himself known had continued to hold the young bachelor.
+
+"A moment, my boy," said he, stopping Urbain. "We know you're not a
+girl, that's all very well; but, by all the devils! in this disguise you
+must necessarily have had some very comical adventures; recount them to
+us, 't will amuse us, and afterwards you shall be free to go your way."
+
+"Yes, yes," repeated the others; "he must tell us why he's dressed up
+like a woman."
+
+"I must really tell this adventure at the cardinal's little levee
+tomorrow morning.
+
+"And I must tell it to Marion Delorme. I'll have Bois-Robert put it into
+verse for the court."
+
+"Colletel shall turn it into a comedy. Come, speak on."
+
+"Yet, once more, gentlemen, allow me to go on my way; by what right do
+you interrogate me? I have nothing to say to you, and I wish to depart."
+
+Saying these words, he endeavored to repulse the marquis anew, but the
+latter barred the way and drew his sword, crying,--
+
+"Upon my honor, this little goodman is very fractious. It's really too
+droll. You shall speak or we will make you jump under our swords like a
+spaniel."
+
+"Insolent fellow," exclaimed Urbain, furiously; "had I a weapon you had
+not dared to use such language to me, or I should already have
+chastised you."
+
+"Truly? Oh, hang it. I should like to see how you handle a sword. Come,
+chevalier, lend him yours."
+
+"What, Villebelle, you wish it?"
+
+"Yes, undoubtedly, a duel with a peasant--that will be a joke."
+
+"Come, gentlemen, make a circle."
+
+So saying, the marquis took a sword from one of his companions and
+presented it to Urbain.
+
+"Hold," said he, "here's a weapon, defend yourself. Guard yourself,
+girl-boy, and let us see if you are as brave as you're stubborn."
+
+Urbain seized the sword with ardor and immediately attacked the marquis.
+Though embarrassed by his petticoats and corset he pressed impetuously
+on his adversary, who, while parrying his strokes, exclaimed at every
+moment,--
+
+"Well done; very well done, 'pon my honor! Do you see that,
+gentlemen?--and that parry--and that thrust. Deuce take it, if he goes
+on in this way I must use all my skill to--"
+
+A stroke of his adversary's sword, which crossed his forearm, cut short
+the marquis' words; his sword dropped from his hand, his friends
+surrounded and supported him, while Urbain himself offered his help.
+
+"It's nothing--a mere nothing," said the marquis; "good-by, my friend,
+you're a brave fellow, and I'm pleased to have made your acquaintance;
+although I don't know with whom I've fought this duel. As to you, if
+some day you find yourself in any embarrassment, if you have a bad
+business or need a protector, come to my hotel, ask for the Marquis de
+Villebelle and you will always find me ready to oblige you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE TETE-A-TETE
+
+
+Dawn had followed this night so fruitful in events, during which sleep
+had not touched Julia's eyes; uneasy, impatient, twenty times had she
+arisen from her sofa to go to the door and listen, in the belief that
+she could at last distinguish some sound, some disturbance which
+indicated the approach of the marquis. But though she had heard every
+hour strike during this to her apparently endless night, the seductive
+Villebelle had not yet arrived.
+
+The brow of the young Italian was clouded; her eyes, always vivacious
+and lustrous, under her change of feeling were now animated by a gloomy
+fire which boded ill for those who had caused it; Julia's breast was
+oppressed, sighs escaped her lips and she walked aimlessly and angrily
+about the apartment, the elegance of which no longer delighted her; she
+passed the mirrors without even looking at herself in them. Her vanity
+was most painfully mortified and humiliated, she felt insulted by the
+indifference of this marquis who had led her to compromise herself thus,
+and now failed to keep his appointment, whose conduct, in fact, was
+inexcusable. What woman would pardon such neglect?
+
+To allow herself to be abducted with a good grace, and to be forced to
+spend the entire night following in solitude. Love will excuse many
+things, but self-love excuses nothing.
+
+As soon as daylight paled the light of the candles, Julia opened the
+door of the boudoir and, crossing several rooms, ventured into the
+corridor.
+
+"I don't believe that I can escape," she said, smiling bitterly; "they
+have taken too many precautions to keep me; but monsieur le marquis and
+his worthy agent no doubt imagine me to be in a state of ecstatic
+happiness at the mere fact of having been brought to this house.
+Patience! One day perhaps they will know me better."
+
+Julia went downstairs. Although it was in the depth of winter the
+morning was beautiful; the young Italian left by the peristyle and
+plunged into the gardens, where she walked up and down the long pathways
+and gave herself up to her thoughts.
+
+Day had surprised Marcel and his guest sleeping near the table where
+they had supped. Marcel awoke first, recalled his ideas, and could not
+conceive why his master had not returned in the night. However, the
+door-bell hung in the room where they had slept, and the marquis was a
+man who was able to make himself heard.
+
+Marcel pushed Chaudoreille, who opened his little eyes and gazed about
+him in astonishment, murmuring,--
+
+"By jingo! I am not at home in the Rue Brise-miche nor in the gambling
+den on the Rue Vide-Gousset. Where the devil have I passed the night? My
+purse--where is my purse? I had eight crowns in it."
+
+Chaudoreille quickly seized his purse and counted his money, and Marcel
+said to him,--
+
+"Come, wake up, why don't you? and remember where you are. Do you think
+me capable of robbing you?"
+
+"Good-for-nothing that I am! that good fellow Marcel--I remember
+everything now. Forgive me, my friend; but at the first moment I thought
+I was at a tavern where I sleep sometimes. What the devil! it's broad
+daylight."
+
+"Yes, and monsieur le marquis did not come in during the night; I can't
+understand why."
+
+"It is rather singular, and that poor little thing whom we took so much
+trouble to bring here, what has she done with herself since yesterday?"
+
+"She's slept the same as we have."
+
+"Ah, my dear Marcel, it's easily seen that you have not studied the sex.
+Sleep!--a woman who is waiting her vanquisher for the first time? She
+would sooner keep awake all night than go to sleep."
+
+"But when the vanquisher doesn't come, it's necessary for her to do
+something."
+
+"Never! never I tell you. Wait, here's an example: I had once arranged a
+meeting with a baroness on the borders of the Seine, near the Tour de
+Nesle; that also was in winter, and it was horribly cold. Unforeseen
+events--a duel--prevented my meeting my beauty. I was wounded, and spent
+eight days in bed. On the ninth, as I passed the neighborhood indicated,
+by chance, whom should I see there?"
+
+"Your baroness?"
+
+"Exactly. But, the poor woman, she had been frozen for four days, and
+that because she would not leave the place of rendezvous."
+
+"Our dame has a good fire and everything that she can desire; she won't
+freeze while awaiting my master."
+
+"What do you say, Marcel; shall I go upstairs and chat pleasantly with
+her to distract her mind a little?"
+
+"No, indeed, that would be displeasing to monsieur le marquis."
+
+"Well, you're right; I suppose he might take offence at it."
+
+"Don't you think you had much better go and find the person who brought
+her here, and tell him that monsieur has not come?"
+
+"No, my dear Marcel; Touquet told me to wait here for the marquis'
+orders, and I must follow his instructions. If he does not come for a
+fortnight, it's all the same to me; I shall not leave this. You have a
+good cellar and plenty of provisions of all kinds, and I find it very
+comfortable here; only, I must go out and get some cards for the coming
+night, and I'll teach you some tricks which you don't understand."
+
+"All right, I'll go and get our breakfast ready; then I'll go and
+inquire whether the young lady wants anything."
+
+"That will do; meanwhile I'll take a turn in the garden and make the
+acquaintance of your Hercules."
+
+Chaudoreille arranged his mantle, put on his new ruff, which he had
+bought by chance, which pleased him greatly because it came up to his
+ears. He brushed up his hat, curled his hair anew, and went into the
+garden whistling,--
+
+    Viens Aurore,
+    Je t'implore;
+
+a song which good King Henri had brought into fashion. He paused with an
+air of defiance before the statues, and made a grimace at those which
+had frightened him the evening before.
+
+At the end of the pathway he perceived Julia, seated in a thicket which,
+as yet, was devoid of foliage. The young girl was deep in thought, and
+had not heard him approach. Chaudoreille reflected, uncertain whether he
+should approach her or whether he should pass on his way. He concluded
+to do the first, and drew near her, holding his left hand on his hip,
+and, throwing his body back, already beginning to smile. Julia raised
+her luminous eyes; but, on recognizing Chaudoreille, a look of humor
+flashed over her features, and she said sharply,--
+
+"What do you want with me?"
+
+Chaudoreille paused, arrested in the middle of his smile, and could not
+find words to answer her.
+
+"Why were you coming to me?" resumed Julia; "is the marquis here, or his
+confidant, the barber Touquet?"
+
+"No, beautiful lady, I am at present alone with you and Marcel in the
+house. I have passed the night in watching over your safety, believing
+that the marquis would arrive."
+
+"Who is this Marcel? the servant who opened the door to us, I suppose."
+
+"Precisely!"
+
+"He has served the marquis for a long time in this house?"
+
+"No, I believe he has only been here four or five years."
+
+"And you, when did you come here?"
+
+"I came yesterday for the first time."
+
+Julia was silent and Chaudoreille resumed after a moment,--
+
+"Are you acquainted with my intimate friend, the barber Touquet?"
+
+"What does that matter to you," asked the young Italian, glancing
+scornfully at Chaudoreille.
+
+"It's nothing to me, certainly--but, since you named him--he's a very
+worthy fellow, certainly, and I am honored in being his friend."
+
+"That reflects credit on you," said Julia, smiling ironically.
+
+"Yes, most assuredly," resumed Chaudoreille, who had interpreted Julia's
+smile to his own advantage, "we have seen fire together. He is brave,
+I'll give him justice for that; he always conducts himself honorably."
+
+"Always? And has he sometimes spoken to you of his parents?--of his
+father?"
+
+"My faith, no; I don't believe he was born from the higher classes. In
+that matter I am infinitely before him; the Chaudoreilles are of very
+pure blood and have a stock which goes back to Noah. Under Charles the
+Bald one of my ancestors had himself shaved--"
+
+"What does it matter what your ancestors did? I was talking about the
+barber's family."
+
+"That's all right; but my friend Touquet has spoken very little to me
+about them. I believe he is from Lorraine and he has told me that he
+left his country very early and came very young to Paris, for it is only
+there that talent has a chance of success; also Touquet has made money,
+and me, thank God, I am--"
+
+Here Chaudoreille's eyes wandered over his doublet, which was stained in
+many places, and he covered it with his mantle, resuming,--
+
+"I should be very rich if I had not ruined myself for women."
+
+Julia, who had paid little attention to this last phrase, said to
+herself,--
+
+"He ought to be rich if he has helped the marquis in all his follies."
+
+"He is not married," resumed Chaudoreille, "although he could now find a
+good match. His house on the Rue des Bourdonnais is a very pretty
+property. Perhaps it's because of the little one that he doesn't marry;
+perhaps he is going to marry her, I shouldn't be surprised."
+
+"What little one," inquired Julia, curiously.
+
+"The young girl whom he has adopted and who is now sixteen years old."
+
+"The barber Touquet has adopted a child?"
+
+"Why, yes, of course he has. Why, if you know him, how is it that you
+are ignorant of that? That's certainly the best act of his life."
+
+"Touquet has done a good action," said Julia, smiling ironically; "I
+could not have imagined that, and is this young girl pretty?"
+
+"Hang it! is she pretty? Well, I believe you! She is one--but no," said
+Chaudoreille, correcting himself as if struck by a sudden remembrance,
+"she is not handsome at all; on the contrary, she is ugly, one might
+even say that she is disagreeable."
+
+"One minute you say she is pretty and the next you say she is very ugly;
+you don't seem to know what you are saying, Monsieur Chaudoreille."
+
+"One can easily lose his wits when near you, beautiful damsel; but, by
+that sword, I swear to you--"
+
+The bell at the garden gate was heard, Chaudoreille stopped; presuming
+that it was the marquis and that it would perhaps be dangerous for him
+to be surprised in a tete-a-tete with Julia, he escaped by the first
+pathway and ran to rejoin Marcel, while the young Italian listened
+anxiously and her cheeks assumed a more vivid color.
+
+Marcel opened the door, but it was not the marquis, it was Touquet, who
+came alone.
+
+"Your master fought a duel last night," said he to Marcel, "he was
+wounded, but very slightly, it seems. I have come to speak to the young
+girl. She is perhaps anxious to know what all this means. Where is she
+now?"
+
+"In the garden," said Chaudoreille, "but I assure you she is not at all
+lonely here. It is true that I have chatted with her--"
+
+"And who gave you permission to do so? You're very bold to converse with
+a woman on whom a marquis has laid his eyes."
+
+"Yes, I confess that I am very bold--but I believe you say that
+monseigneur fought a duel; do you know with whom he fought?"
+
+"Idiot! Is that our business? Do you suppose I asked him?"
+
+"It's true, it's not our business, but--"
+
+"You have nothing more to do here, get out."
+
+"Do you wish me to take myself off?"
+
+"Yes, and immediately."
+
+"Without being presented to monseigneur, that is very awkward; but at
+least--it seems to me that if they have no more need of me they ought to
+settle with me."
+
+"Wait! here are ten more crowns; it's more than you are worth, a hundred
+times."
+
+"Very well, but the rosette and the broken pane of glass--"
+
+"Hang it, stupid! you're not satisfied?"
+
+"It's all right, it's all right, I'm very well pleased. I mustn't
+grumble," added Chaudoreille to himself, "he might happen to remember
+the shaves that I owe him."
+
+"Go at once," said the barber, angrily, pointing with his finger to the
+garden gate. The Gascon hastily thrust the sum which he had received
+into his purse, and placed the latter carefully in his belt,
+murmuring,--
+
+"Ten and eight, that's eighteen. By jingo, that will make them stare at
+the gambling place in the Rue Vide-Gousset and at the bank of the Rue
+Coupe-Gorge." Then he shook Marcel's hand, and wrapping himself in his
+mantle left by the middle gate, which was hardly wide enough for him
+since he possessed eighteen crowns.
+
+The barber hastened to acquit himself of the commission with which his
+master had charged him, that he might return promptly to his house and
+be there on the arrival of his customers. He walked hurriedly through
+the garden, and soon met Julia, who felt her hope vanish when she
+perceived him.
+
+"Madame," said Touquet, bowing to the young girl, "the marquis' conduct
+doubtless seems to you rather extraordinary, but you will excuse him
+when you learn that he fought a duel last night in the grand
+Pre-aux-Clercs and was wounded."
+
+"He is wounded," said Julia, with emotion, "and dangerously?"
+
+"No, madame, it is a very little thing, an arm only. Monsieur le marquis
+made this event known to me at break of day and ordered me to come and
+tell you. He hoped to be very soon recovered, and able within four or
+five days to come and excuse himself; but, if you are wearied in this
+place, you are free to return to your shop. I will go and warn you
+when--"
+
+"No," said Julia, interrupting him brusquely; "do you imagine I can
+return to the dwelling I have left? I will wait for the marquis."
+
+"You are the mistress, and they have orders to satisfy your slightest
+wishes."
+
+The barber bowed to Julia, and having given Marcel the marquis' orders,
+left the little house and returned to his home.
+
+Five days had elapsed since the young Italian had entered the luxurious
+apartments; there she had found a harpsichord, a sitar, books, some
+pencils, some sketches, and a wardrobe furnished with everything that
+could add a charm to beauty. Marcel, always obedient and discreet,
+brought her everything that she desired, without permitting himself the
+slightest question; nor did Julia address him, except to ask him for
+what she thought necessary to distract her, for the most magnificent
+dwelling does not forbid weariness.
+
+It was late on the evening of the sixth day; Julia was attired with
+coquetry, in the hope that the marquis would come, but her hope was
+vanishing. She lay down upon the sofa, where her reverie had yielded to
+a light slumber, when the door of the room opened softly, and the
+Marquis de Villebelle appeared at the entrance of the apartment. "She's
+not half bad," said he, looking at Julia, who was lying carelessly on
+the sofa; then he advanced towards her; the noise awoke the young
+Italian, and, opening her eyes, she perceived the great nobleman, whose
+rich and elegant costume increased the grace of his bearing. He seated
+himself, smiling, at her side. Julia was about to rise.
+
+"Don't move," said the marquis, "you are very well as you are. I
+reproach myself with having disturbed your slumber."
+
+"Monseigneur, I had about given you up," said Julia, seeking to
+restrain the uneasiness which she felt at the sight of the marquis. "I
+have been here for six days, alone in this place."
+
+"Yes, you must hare found it very tiresome I can imagine; but, ma belle,
+my messenger must have told you that it was not my fault. My arm is not
+cured yet, but I could not longer resist the desire to see this amiable
+child who for love of me was willing to live in solitude."
+
+"For love of you, seigneur," said Julia, turning her eyes aside so as
+not to meet those of the marquis, which were fixed amorously upon her;
+"and who has made you believe that I am in love with you, if you
+please?"
+
+"Ah, upon my honor, that is divine. Were you awaiting another here,
+then, my angel?"
+
+"I was waiting, monsieur, to learn from you what motive you had in
+inducing me to leave my dwelling."
+
+"Delightful by all the devils--delightful. She does not know why they
+brought her here. Did nobody tell you, little strategist?"
+
+"It was from you alone that I wished to hear it, seigneur."
+
+"That is correct. Love is ill made by an ambassador; the little god does
+not love pages and valets. He wishes to do his work himself. Come, a
+kiss first, and we shall understand each other better afterwards."
+
+Julia disengaged herself from the marquis' arms, which he had wound
+about her, and withdrawing from him she cried,--
+
+"Please, sir, cease these liberties which offend me!"
+
+"Which offend her!" said the marquis, bursting into laughter, while a
+vivid color sprang to Julia's cheek. "Come now, what do you mean by
+that? Are we playing a comedy? You wish to make me pay for the weariness
+of six days' waiting. Once more, sweetheart, it was not my fault; a duel
+at the moment when I was least thinking of it. I must tell you all about
+that for it was very droll. I was returning with four of my friends; we
+were a little tipsy and were trying to dispute with everybody. We broke
+windows, we beat the watch, we tore off the good shopkeepers' wigs; what
+can you expect? one must pass the time and show these gentlemen of the
+parliament that one does not regard one's self as being comprised in
+their edicts, which forbid vagabonds, pages and lackeys to make a noise
+at night in the streets of Paris. Finally, we met a girl, which girl was
+a boy; he would not tell us why he was disguised, and became angry at
+our joking; one of the others lent him a sword and we fought. For a
+youngster, zooks how he went on! it was a pleasure to fight with him. In
+short, he gave me this cut, which I still feel, and which prevents me
+from using my arm; so, sweetheart, I beg of you don't be too cruel, for
+I am not in a state to lead an assault."
+
+And the marquis again approached Julia, wishing to enfold her in his
+arms; but she disengaged herself and seated herself farther off, while
+the former extended himself on the sofa and looked at her smiling, while
+whistling a hunting tune.
+
+The breast of the young girl rose more frequently; she turned her head
+and carried one of her hands to her eyes.
+
+"What is the matter?" said the marquis, after some minutes. "Are you
+crying, by chance? Truly, little one, I can't imagine why. They told me
+that you came here with a very good grace; after which I naturally feel
+surprised at the severity which you are affecting now; be easy, I will
+be very virtuous--since you wish it."
+
+So saying, Villebelle seated himself near Julia and took one of her
+hands, which he pressed between his own. The young Italian raised her
+eyes to the marquis; there was in the features of the latter something
+so noble, so seductive, that it was very easy for him to obtain pardon
+for his audacity; accustomed to triumph, he had trespassed through habit
+and not through fatuity, and Julia's resistance astonished, but did not
+anger him.
+
+"Why are you crying?" said he to her.
+
+"I believed that you loved me, and you despise me."
+
+"I despise you? No, beautiful girl; I love you,--as well as I can love;
+and my love will last,--as long as it will; can you ask better?"
+
+"I wish for love; a constant and sincere love."
+
+"Ha! ha! a constant love; sweetheart, you are exacting. Can we promise
+that, we others? and in good faith, when the great ladies of the court
+cannot come by it, to a grisette; should she hope to hold the Marquis de
+Villebelle?"
+
+"Very well," said Julia, rising proudly and walking towards the door,
+"the grisette will not yield to the caprice of the great nobleman."
+
+"Upon my honor, she is going, I believe," said the marquis, rushing to
+retain Julia and gently leading her to the sofa. "Come, no more
+ill-humor. Is it to quarrel that we are here? Time flies rapidly and
+carries with it, at every moment, a spark of the enkindling fires of
+love. One doesn't wait for pleasure to be extinguished before tasting of
+it. I love you. I adore you, you little wretch; but what do you offer me
+as the reward of so much ardor?"
+
+"A heart that knows how to love you in a manner in which you have not
+been loved before today, a heart whose only happiness will be to beat
+for you, which will not have one thought to which you will be a
+stranger, nor one desire disconnected from you!"
+
+While saying these words Julia's eyes were animated and she fixed them
+on the marquis, seeking no longer to hide the passion with which he had
+inspired her.
+
+"What magnificent eyes," said Villebelle, after a moment, "but a little
+too exalted in their expression. You are Italian, that is easily seen,
+the burning skies under which you were born do not allow you to treat
+love as we French treat it, lightly, jokingly; which is, after all, the
+best way; the others are too sad."
+
+"Say, rather, that we know how to love truly--while you, seigneur, give
+the name of love to the most fleeting fancy, your heart being entirely a
+stranger to the real passion."
+
+"Wait, my dear girl! All your discourses on the metaphysics of love are
+less convincing to me than one kiss from those lovely lips, and why
+should you keep up such a show of resistance? Is it generous to profit
+by my being wounded?"
+
+"Have you always been generous, monseigneur?" said Julia, repulsing the
+marquis; "and in this place, even, have you nothing to reprove yourself
+withal?"
+
+"Why, how's this, little girl, do you wish me to follow a course of
+morals?" said Villebelle, laughing. "It seems to me you are abusing my
+patience a little. 'Pon my honor those lovely eyes are made to express
+pleasure rather than wisdom. And sermons from your mouth! a little
+grisette who wishes to play Lucretia here. Come, sweetheart, leave such
+twaddling talk. Was it from Tabarin or from Briochee that you learned
+those sentences?"
+
+Julia rose, her eyes scintillating, her cheeks a vivid scarlet, and
+looking angrily at the marquis cried,--
+
+"And you, seigneur, where did you learn to murder a father in order to
+abduct his daughter?"
+
+Villebelle remained as if stunned for a moment; his look fixed on Julia,
+who, dismayed herself at the change wrought in the whole appearance of
+the marquis, awaited with fear what he should say to her.
+
+The marquis rose, and murmured in a changed voice,--
+
+"What made you think I had ever committed such a terrible crime? Speak,
+answer, I command you."
+
+"Seigneur," said the young Italian, "I have heard the story of the
+abduction of the beautiful Estrelle, old Delmar's daughter, but the
+barber Touquet was then your agent, and I don't doubt that it was he who
+wanted you to arm yourself against an old man who was defending his
+daughter."
+
+"You have heard some one speak of an adventure which has been forgotten
+for seventeen years and you are barely twenty. You have not told me
+all--have you known Estrelle? Is she still living? Speak, pray speak,
+and count on my gratitude if you assist me to recover that unfortunate
+woman."
+
+"You loved her well, did you not?" said Julia, gazing tenderly at the
+marquis.
+
+"Yes, yes, I loved her--I should love her still. Pray tell me, is she
+still living? Answer me."
+
+"I know no more than you, seigneur, I swear to you. I have never met the
+woman who bore that name, and chance made the adventure known to me. On
+seeing you and on finding myself in this house, to which Estrelle was
+brought, the remembrance of these events was presented to my thoughts;
+forgive me for having recalled them to you--you were then very young; I
+know, also that old Delmar did not die of his wounds. As to his
+daughter, I repeat to you I know no more of her than you do. But you had
+outraged me in comparing me to those women whom you can purchase every
+day with your riches, while I only desire your love. I am Italian and I
+revenged myself!"
+
+The marquis did not answer, he walked slowly up and down the room, from
+time to time sighing and glancing around him; but he did not appear to
+perceive that Julia was there.
+
+"Yes, I passed a month with her here," said the marquis, looking around
+the boudoir, "this abode was not what it is today. I have embellished
+it, changed it, in order to drive away the remembrance of her; but never
+since have I experienced such entrancing moments as those spent near
+Estrelle."
+
+A long silence succeeded these words; then the marquis took his hat and
+cloak and slightly inclined his head to Julia, as he said, in a low
+voice,--
+
+"I shall see you again tomorrow."
+
+Then he hurriedly quitted the little house in a very different frame of
+mind from that in which he had entered it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+URSULE AND THE SORCERER OF VERBERIE
+
+
+For some few days after his nocturnal adventure of the duel Urbain
+refrained from wearing his feminine costume. He was not at all anxious
+to make any further conquests and to thus expose himself to adventures
+which were hardly likely to always result to his advantage; the young
+bachelor felt that before he again disguised himself as a girl he should
+make sure that his stratagem would bring him nearer to obtaining an
+interview with Blanche.
+
+He began to watch Marguerite again, prowling incessantly around the
+barber's house, and obtaining all the information he could get as to the
+character of the old servant; and he promised himself that he would
+avail himself to the utmost of her credulity and superstition. His plan
+being carefully considered and arranged, an old messenger, commissioned
+by him, accosted Marguerite and asked her if she knew of a place for a
+young peasant, a very pleasant and virtuous girl, who had lately come to
+Paris and found herself without employment. The kindly old serving woman
+at once gave two addresses where she said they would perhaps take the
+young girl, and continued on her way.
+
+The next day while going, according to custom, to buy provisions,
+Marguerite was stopped by a country woman, very modest in demeanor, but
+with an awkward air, who curtseyed to her and thanked her with lowered
+eyes.
+
+"What are you thanking me for, my child?" said Marguerite, "I do not
+know you."
+
+"Because you interested yourself in me yesterday and tried to find me a
+place."
+
+"Oh, are you the one they recommended to me?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Did they engage you?"
+
+"No, mademoiselle."
+
+"I am sorry for it, for you seem to me very pleasing, very honest. Where
+do you come from?"
+
+"From Verberie, mademoiselle."
+
+"Why did you come to Paris?"
+
+"I have lost both my parents and I thought I should find work more
+easily in a great city."
+
+"Yes, but great cities are dangerous places for virtuous young maids
+such as you appear to be. They should have told you that, my child."
+
+"Yes, they did, mademoiselle! but I am not afraid of anything."
+
+"Why, you must believe yourself very wary, very strong, to think you can
+escape the snares they'll set for you."
+
+"Indeed it's not that, mademoiselle, but it is that--I daren't say--it's
+a mystery, a secret."
+
+Secret and mystery had the same effect upon the old maid as love and
+marriage have upon a young maid--they aroused all her feelings.
+Marguerite's little eyes beamed and she cried,--
+
+"What, my child! you have a secret? I am not curious, but you interest
+me; I should like to be useful to you, but it's necessary that I should
+know everything that concerns you. What is this mystery that you dare
+not mention?"
+
+"Mademoiselle, I did not wish to confide in anyone in Paris, for
+somebody told me there were pickpockets who would steal my treasure."
+
+"You possess a treasure?"
+
+"Oh, yes, mademoiselle; but one with which I could still die of hunger."
+
+"Why, indeed, what does that matter, my child, hasn't every young girl a
+treasure without price--her innocence, her virtue--and those who guard
+it the best are not always the richest. When I see shameless women, who
+live in luxury and abundance, riding in gilded carriages, it makes me
+feel ill. But about your secret, my child; would you refuse to confide
+in me?"
+
+"No, indeed, mademoiselle, you appear so respectable, so good, that I
+cannot refuse you."
+
+Marguerite half smiled and tapped the country woman on the arm, for
+praise is a flower whose perfume is grateful at any age.
+
+"Out with it then," she said. "What is it?"
+
+"Mademoiselle, I'll tell you with much pleasure; but it's a long story,
+and I must go into a good many houses this morning. If you would let me
+tell it to you this evening at your house, that would be better, for I
+dare not say all that in the street; some one might hear me and take me
+for a sorcerer, and I'm very much afraid of the Chambre Ardente. God
+knows, however, mademoiselle, that I understand nothing of magic, and
+I'm more afraid of the devil than I am of men."
+
+"Oh," said Marguerite, whose curiosity had reached an unbearable point,
+"this mystery of yours is of itself extraordinary?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Indeed! Well, this is very embarrassing; to receive you in the house is
+difficult. Where do you live, my child?"
+
+Urbain hesitated for a moment, then replied:--
+
+"Near the Porte Saint-Antoine."
+
+"Oh, good heavens--that's more than a league from here. I could never
+get there; my master's a very strict man and doesn't wish that anyone
+should have visitors."
+
+Marguerite reflected for some moments, then her curiosity carried the
+day.
+
+"Well," said she at last, "come this evening at seven o'clock; it'll be
+dark; but look well at that house over there--that alleyway."
+
+"Oh, I shall recognize it."
+
+"Don't knock; keep near the door. I'll let you in, and show you up to my
+room. At that hour my master doesn't ordinarily need my services, and he
+never leaves the lower room."
+
+"That's enough, mademoiselle, I'll be there at seven precisely."
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"Ursule Ledoux."
+
+"Above all, Ursule, don't gossip with anybody about this. It's no crime
+to receive you, but my master's a little ridiculous and might find it
+wrong. Besides, my child, one must be discreet in everything. You'll
+tell me your secret this evening, Ursule?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"At seven o'clock, the house over there."
+
+Urbain departed, delighted by the success of his stratagem, breathing
+with difficulty, partly from the hope of seeing Blanche and partly
+because his corset impeded his respiration; and Marguerite reached her
+dwelling, saying,--
+
+"This young girl looks as sweet as she looks honest, and there's no harm
+in receiving her for a moment--it'll amuse my poor little Blanche a
+little; she's been rather sad for some days and seems more lonely than
+usual; and we shall know the secret which--mon Dieu, if seven o'clock
+would only come soon."
+
+Marguerite hastened to find Blanche. Since the night of the serenade
+the lovely child had been even more dreamy than before; she sang nothing
+but the refrain of her dear romance, and the villanelles, the virelays,
+the old songs amused her no longer. Marguerite drew near to her and said
+mysteriously, in a low tone,--
+
+"This evening we shall have a visitor."
+
+"A visitor," said Blanche. "Oh, M. Chaudoreille I suppose."
+
+"No, indeed, a very pleasing, very honest young country girl whom you
+don't know. A poor child who possesses a treasure and who is looking for
+a place as cook; she wishes to remain virtuous, and for that reason has
+come to Paris; she is afraid of the devil, but of nothing else."
+
+"But dear nurse, I don't understand."
+
+"Hush! hush! keep still! This evening she will come, and we shall hear
+her story; there is a question of a very curious mystery, but be silent;
+it is not necessary that M. Touquet should know anything about that for
+he might forbid this poor Ursule from coming to chat with us, and that
+would displease me very much because she will amuse you a little, my
+child."
+
+"Oh, be easy, dear nurse, I shall say nothing," cried Blanche, and she
+jumped about her room for joy because the announcement of this visit was
+for her an extraordinary event. The least thing new is a great pleasure
+for those who pass their lives deprived of all gayety. It is thus that a
+storm or even a shower will distract and occupy a poor prisoner; that a
+bottle of wine will make a feast for a man of small means habituated to
+drinking nothing but water; that the sound of a Barbary organ appears
+delightful to the country people; that a ticket for the play crowns the
+wishes of the poor workwoman of ten sous a day; that a little muslin
+dress makes an honest grisette happy; and that Sunday is awaited with
+impatience by those who work all the week; while for many people fetes,
+the theatre, music, diamonds, cannot rejoice their hearts. After all,
+should not the poor be happier than the rich?
+
+At last seven sounded from Saint Eustache's clock. The barber had long
+since sent Blanche and Marguerite to shut themselves into their rooms.
+The old servant went softly downstairs, trying to make as little noise
+as possible with her heels, and shielding the light of her lamp with her
+hand. She opened the street door and saw the country girl, who had been
+waiting for a quarter of an hour.
+
+"That's well," said Marguerite, "you are here; but hush! don't speak,
+don't make any noise; let me lead you."
+
+Urbain nodded his head and entered the alleyway, while Marguerite softly
+closed the door. Then our lover was at the height of his joy. It seemed
+to him that he breathed a purer air in the house of the one he loved. He
+believed himself in the abode of highest bliss while going up the
+little crooked staircase; and the black and crumbling walls that
+surrounded him had more charm for his eyes than the marbles or the
+sculptures of the Louvre.
+
+"You are going to see my mistress," said Marguerite, "I have warned her,
+but fear nothing, she is as amiable as she is good; you can speak
+without danger before her, she is discretion itself,--besides, she never
+sees anybody, and never goes out. My master wishes to shield her against
+the enterprises of these dandies, of these worthless fellows who seek to
+cajole the poor girls. It is true that my little Blanche is very pretty;
+she would turn the heads of all our noblemen, you are going to see her,
+and you can judge for yourself; here we are at her room. Come in, come,
+don't tremble so; how childish you are."
+
+Urbain was trembling, in fact, and his heart beat so hard that he was
+obliged to support himself for a moment against the wall. During this
+time Marguerite opened the door and said to Blanche,--
+
+"Here she is."
+
+Blanche rose and came to meet the young girl whom her nurse had brought,
+smiling pleasantly at her. Urbain raised his eyes, saw Blanche, and his
+emotion increased. He had only been able through the panes of the
+casement to perceive her features very imperfectly, and the charming
+object which now met his gaze was a hundred times more beautiful than
+the image which his memory and his imagination had created. He remained
+for a moment stunned, motionless, not daring to take a step, doubting
+still whether he could believe his happiness, and looking with delight
+at the lovely girl, who smiled at him and took him by the hand, saying
+to him,--
+
+"Won't you come in? Come in and sit down and warm yourself. Why, you're
+not afraid of me, are you?"
+
+"This is the girl I told you about," announced Marguerite, "but she is a
+little timid, though she will soon lose that; may she always preserve
+her modesty in Paris."
+
+Blanche's soft hand slipped into that of the young bachelor and she led
+him to the fireplace. On feeling the pretty fingers imprinted on his
+own, Urbain scarcely breathed, and murmured in a feeble voice,--
+
+"How good you are, mademoiselle?"
+
+"She has a very pretty voice," cried Blanche, immediately. "Don't you
+think so, Marguerite? A voice which I seem to have heard before; it is
+very singular, I can't recall where I've heard it."
+
+"You are mistaken, my child," said Marguerite, "for myself I think that
+Ursule's voice is a little rough. But remember that we have not much
+time to keep her here and she is going to tell us a certain thing."
+
+"One moment," said Blanche, "let her rest for a minute, she looks
+tired. Do you need anything?"
+
+"No, I thank you," said Urbain, raising his eyes on the amiable child,
+and immediately abasing them, for he feared that she would read in them
+all the love which consumed him and it seemed to him that the moment was
+very ill-chosen to make it known; besides, he was so happy near Blanche
+that he wished to prolong the time, and, thanks to his disguise, he
+could see the sweet girl practise her graces, her amiability, and learn
+her character much better than if he had appeared to her in his true
+form. Before a lover the frankest girl is always timid, embarrassed,
+reserved, while with a person of her own sex she expresses without
+constraint the feelings which she experiences.
+
+"And so you are looking for a place?" said Blanche, seating herself near
+Urbain.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Have you been long in Paris?"
+
+"A fortnight, mademoiselle."
+
+"And your parents?"
+
+"I have none, mademoiselle. I am an orphan."
+
+"Poor girl! that's like me, I am an orphan also, and if M. Touquet had
+not taken care of me I too should have had to go to work to earn my
+living."
+
+"You, mademoiselle," said Urbain ardently, but he restrained himself and
+finished in a low voice, "that would have been very unfortunate."
+
+"My dear Blanche," said Marguerite, "it was not that you might tell her
+your history, but that she might acquaint us with the secret she is
+keeping that she came here. Now, Ursule, speak my child!"
+
+Urbain sighed; he would much rather have listened to Blanche than have
+talked to Marguerite; but it was necessary to satisfy the old maid, he
+needed her; and it was by exciting her curiosity that he hoped often to
+see Blanche. He commenced his recital, disguising his voice, and while
+he spoke the beautiful child fixed her eyes on him, a favor which he
+owed to his costume, but which often made him lose the thread of his
+discourse.
+
+"You have doubtless heard tell of Jeanne Harviliers, so famous a century
+ago for her witcheries and sorceries."
+
+"No, never," said Marguerite, drawing her chair nearer and stretching
+her neck, because the word sorcery had already produced its electrical
+effect upon the old servant. "Tell us the history of this sorcery, my
+child, and try not to omit a single fact."
+
+"Jeanne Harviliers was born at Verberie in the year 1528. Her mother,
+they say, was a wicked woman, who dedicated her child to the devil as
+soon as she came into the world.
+
+"When Jeanne was twelve years old the devil presented himself to her in
+the guise of a black man, armed and booted."
+
+"Dear nurse," said Blanche, "can the devil then take any form he
+pleases?"
+
+"Yes, of course, I've told you so a hundred times; he changes as he
+wishes."
+
+"You've always said, dear nurse, that he shows himself as a black cat."
+
+"A cat or a man, what does it matter?"
+
+"I was only afraid of cats before, now I shall be afraid of men also."
+
+"Come, mademoiselle, if you interrupt this young girl like that we shall
+never know her story. Go on, my child!"
+
+Urbain glanced quickly at Blanche and resumed his narration.
+
+"The black man told Jeanne that if she would give herself to him he
+would teach her a thousand secrets by which she could work good or evil
+to people according to her will. Jeanne Harviliers yielded to the
+proposition of the devil, and pronounced the formula which he dictated;
+she soon became a famous magician, riding to the witches' sabbaths on a
+broomstick.
+
+"Jeanne practised her art near Verberie, but, being accused of sorcery,
+she was for some time obliged to hide herself. She had a neighbor who
+disclosed her whereabouts, and Jeanne asked the devil to give her a
+charm, that she might revenge herself. He gave her a powder, telling her
+to place it in a road where her enemy was about to pass, and it would
+give the latter a malady of which she would die. Jeanne did as the
+devil had told her, and placed the charm; but another person passed
+first over the road, and it was she who was the victim. Jeanne,
+distressed at seeing the sick woman, confessed to her that she had
+caused her misfortune and promised to cure her, but she could not do as
+she wished for she was then arrested and thrown into prison. They
+questioned her; she confessed that she was a sorcerer, and was condemned
+to be burned alive. She was executed on the last day of April in the
+year 1578."
+
+"How is that? She was a sorcerer and she let them burn her?" said
+Blanche with astonishment.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"How funny that is, and what use was it to her to be a sorcerer then?"
+
+"Blanche you are far too young to argue like that," said Marguerite.
+
+"And the devil, did they burn him also?"
+
+"No, mademoiselle, they could not do that."
+
+"That's a pity, for then we should not need to be afraid of him. Perhaps
+the devil has been burned now."
+
+"The demon will always exist, my child!"
+
+"You've told me, dear nurse, that St. Michael fought with him and
+vanquished him."
+
+"Yes, of course he vanquished him, but that is as if he had done
+nothing. Now, Ursule, go on; for I do not yet see in all that you have
+told us anything relating to yourself, since this Jeanne was burned
+close on sixty years ago."
+
+"I am coming to it, mademoiselle," said Urbain, recalling his ideas,
+which Blanche's beautiful eyes had turned to other things than sorcery.
+"Since the time of Jeanne Harviliers, they talk of nothing in Verberie
+and its neighborhood except the witches' sabbaths which were held at the
+Pont-aux-Reine on the highway to Compeigne, in the wood of Ajeux; and
+where noises were heard of horsemen riding in squads, witches going to
+their sabbaths, and wizards of all kinds. The good inhabitants of the
+country, wishing to put themselves on their guard against these
+emissaries of the devil, went to Charlemagne's chapel, which is now
+known as the church of Saint-Pierre, and asked the good religious to
+give them something which would guarantee them against sorceries of all
+kinds."
+
+"A very good idea, truly," said Marguerite, "they could not have acted
+more wisely, and what did they give them, my child?"
+
+"The good fathers gave them a robe which had been worn by a pious
+hermit, who during his life had always made the demons flee from any
+place where he came. A tiny morsel of that robe was sufficient to ward
+off all danger from the one who carried it. You may imagine how anxious
+everybody was to have a piece of it."
+
+"Oh, I can well believe it. If I had been there there's nothing I
+wouldn't have given to obtain a piece."
+
+"Well but dear nurse," said Blanche, "is it like mine."
+
+"Hush! let Ursule finish, my child!"
+
+"Finally, mademoiselle, one of my ancestors, who lived then had the good
+fortune to get a morsel of the pious hermit's robe. She left it to her
+daughter after her, who left it to my mother, from whom I have it; and
+that is how this talisman came to me and it is that which makes me
+afraid of nothing in Paris, and with which I dare risk myself alone in
+the streets at night."
+
+"Oh, how singular!" cried Blanche, "that's like me; I also have a
+talisman which preserves me from all danger, however, they won't even
+let me look out of the window. That's because my protector, the barber,
+does not believe in talismans."
+
+"He's very wrong, mademoiselle," said Urbain.
+
+"Yes, assuredly he is," said Marguerite, "but, my dear child, have you
+yours on you now?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle. Oh, I always carry it."
+
+"Let us see this precious relic. Only to touch it will do one good."
+
+Urbain felt in his apron pocket and drew forth a small paper folded with
+great care; he opened it and took out a sample of his breeches which he
+presented to the old servant, pinching his lips to keep a serious face.
+Marguerite who had put on her glasses took the little scrap of cloth
+respectfully, and kissed it three times, crying,--
+
+"That's it, oh, how good that is! that emits an odor all about it, an
+odor of sanctity."
+
+"Do you think so, dear nurse," said Blanche, who was looking at the
+little sample of cloth in surprise, "I should never have thought that a
+little rag like that could have any power."
+
+"A rag! O my dear Blanche, speak more respectfully of this relic."
+
+"My talisman is much prettier than that. It's a little piece of
+parchment. Wait, here it is." Saying these words Blanche opened her
+kerchief, and signed to Urbain to look in her corset, half disclosing
+her virgin neck as she spoke, in order that the supposed Ursule might
+better perceive her talisman.
+
+"Ah, how charming!" exclaimed Urbain involuntarily.
+
+"Is it not," said Blanche, smiling; "it's much prettier than that scrap
+of cloth."
+
+Urbain had no strength with which to answer, he remained motionless, his
+eyes still fixed on the place where the lovely child hid her talisman,
+while Marguerite, contemplating the fragment of smallclothes, kissed it
+anew, repeating,--
+
+"The worth of that has been well proven, which makes it all the more
+precious."
+
+Blanche fastened her kerchief, and Urbain, still moved by what he had
+seen, sighed deeply.
+
+"What is the matter with you," said the young girl, looking with
+interest at her whom she believed to be a simple country girl. "You seem
+grieved."
+
+"Alas, mademoiselle! I was remembering that I was alone and without
+resources in this city, that I have no parents, no friends."
+
+"Poor girl! Well, we will be your friends. Yes, I feel that I love you
+already, Ursule."
+
+"Can it be mademoiselle? Ah! if it were only true!"
+
+"Why do you say if it were true? I never say what is untrue; but what I
+feel I say at once. Isn't that natural? And do you think that you can
+love me also?"
+
+"Can I love you," said Urbain, warmly; then remembering that Marguerite
+was there, he resumed less forcibly, but with an accent that came from
+his heart,--
+
+"Yes, yes, mademoiselle, and all my life."
+
+"Oh, it is so nice to have a friend of one's own age," said Blanche,
+shaking the bachelor's hand. "At least I shall have some one with whom I
+can laugh and chat. Marguerite likes to talk very well, but she never
+laughs and then she never talks of anything but magic and the devil. We
+shall find other things to talk about, shan't we, Ursule?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"I know very little about anything; always alone in my room, never
+going out, though I have a great desire to do so; my protector never
+comes to chat with me; I receive visits from one man only."
+
+"From a man?" said Urbain, anxiously.
+
+"Yes, my music master. Formerly he made me laugh, now he wearies me, for
+he always sings the same thing to me."
+
+Urbain breathed more freely, and resumed,--
+
+"You sing, mademoiselle?"
+
+"A little," said Blanche, "and do you sing, Ursule?"
+
+"Sometimes."
+
+"That's better still. You shall teach me the songs of your country and I
+will teach you the ones that I know."
+
+"You will let me come to see you again, then, mademoiselle?"
+
+"Certainly, every evening, if you can. Remember that I am very lonely by
+myself, in place of which I shall amuse myself with you. She can come to
+see us every evening, Marguerite, can't she? M. Touquet won't be angry,
+will he?"
+
+Marguerite during this conversation had remained in meditation and in
+ecstasy before Ursule's talisman. She would have given all the world to
+possess it in her new room, where she had much trouble in going to
+sleep, but the name of her master drew her from these reflections and
+she cried,--
+
+"What are you saying about M. Touquet; that he knows we are receiving
+this young girl without his permission? Oh, no, indeed!"
+
+"But, dear nurse, that's why it is necessary to ask him."
+
+"Ah, mademoiselle," said Urbain, "he will refuse it, and I shall be
+deprived of the pleasure of seeing you."
+
+"In that case we will say nothing; but if he would take you into his
+service?"
+
+"Monsieur does not wish to have anybody else in the house. What could
+Ursule do here?"
+
+"It's a pity, for Ursule must find a place to earn her living; how very
+disagreeable it is to have a talisman which preserves you from all
+danger and allows you to die of hunger. It's exactly like mine."
+
+"Oh, I still have time to wait I have a prospect of something before
+me," said Urbain, "and my expenses are so very little."
+
+"Had your ancestors ever any occasion to prove the virtue of this
+talisman?" said Marguerite.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle, many circumstances prove that, and, above all, my
+mother had a very strange adventure."
+
+"An adventure," said the old woman, drawing her chair to the hearth. At
+this moment the church clock struck nine. "O heavens! nine o'clock,"
+said Marguerite, "it is very late; you must go, my child. If my master
+perceives that we have not gone to bed he'll want to know the reason;
+come, it's necessary to part."
+
+"And that adventure which she is going to tell us," said Blanche.
+
+"That will be for tomorrow, if you will permit it," said Urbain.
+
+"Oh, yes, tomorrow. Can she not come tomorrow, dear nurse."
+
+"So be it," said Marguerite, who was also curious to hear it. "But
+remember to be prudent, Ursule, that nobody may know."
+
+"Oh, I'll answer to you for my silence, mademoiselle."
+
+"That's well. Wait, here is your talisman. Take care not to lose it.
+Good heavens! how happy I should be if I had a similar one."
+
+Urbain received the little scrap of cloth, dropping a curtsey and
+putting it in his pocket, while Marguerite took a lamp to lead him.
+
+"You are going alone," said Blanche, "perhaps a long distance."
+
+"To the Porte Saint-Antoine."
+
+"O heavens! and are you not afraid to be in the street so late?"
+
+"Has she not her talisman?" said Marguerite.
+
+"Ah, that is true; I shan't think about it any more. Good-by, Ursule,
+you'll come back tomorrow, will you not?"
+
+The lovely child held out her hand to Urbain, who was about to carry it
+to his lips, but remembering that he was a woman he was obliged to
+content himself with pressing it tenderly and followed Marguerite, after
+glancing sweetly at Blanche. The old woman reconducted him with the same
+precaution she had taken in introducing him, and closed the street door
+softly, saying to him,--
+
+"Good-by till tomorrow, and be sure to take good care of your
+talisman."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+LOVE AND INNOCENCE. A SHOWER OF RAIN AND THE TALISMAN
+
+
+Urbain reentered his old dwelling in a state of rapture and intoxication
+difficult of description. The sight of Blanche, the sound of her sweet
+voice, her charm, her youthful candor, her touching grace and
+simplicity, had increased his love; what he had seen of the beautiful
+girl, had immeasurably exceeded the expectations he had formed of her,
+from the slight glimpse he had obtained of her on the previous occasion,
+heightened though it was by a lover's imagination; and when he now
+reflected that he should see her again on the morrow,--on many morrows,
+perhaps--that he should hear her and speak to her again, that her soft
+hand would again rest without fear in his, he could hardly contain
+himself.
+
+And yet he could not but feel what a pity it was that he could not
+confess to the lovely child his real identity and the feeling with which
+she had inspired him, at first sight. For Urbain was painfully conscious
+that he must not hurry the disclosure of his secret for fear of alarming
+the timid girl, and that he should first seek to win Blanche's
+confidence; in his feminine costume that would be very easy, she had
+already said that she loved him. It is true that the confession of this
+sentiment was made to Ursule, but, in fact, it was Urbain who had
+inspired her with it.
+
+During the day the bachelor resumed his masculine garments, and as soon
+as night returned he attired himself in his feminine costume, in which
+he had already begun to acquire more ease of manner; besides, the young
+servant was always ready to help the youth when he wished to disguise
+himself, she was very obliging to him, and did not neglect to give him
+lessons. Urbain profited by them, because a young man understands better
+how to tear a kerchief than to put it on, and a youth who is foolishly
+in love has many grave distractions, so that the help of the young
+servant was very necessary to him. Urbain was very prompt at his
+rendezvous, and Marguerite introduced him with the same ceremonial as on
+the evening before. Blanche gave him a most amiable welcome. She went to
+meet him, and as he was making her a modest curtsey the artless child
+kissed him on each cheek. Urbain was overwhelmed and in the ardor of his
+joy, had not the voice of Marguerite recalled him to himself, he would
+have pressed Blanche to his heart, and would have returned a hundredfold
+the kisses he had received. But the old woman, always eager to hear a
+story of extraordinary adventures, particularly when it related to a
+talisman, pushed Urbain to the side of the hearth, and said,--
+
+"Come, children, don't waste time with idle ceremony; you know how
+quickly it passes when one is relating interesting things. Let us sit
+down and Ursule will tell us the adventure which her mother
+experienced."
+
+Urbain, still much moved by Blanche's kiss, began a story which he had
+composed in the morning, and which delighted Marguerite, because it
+proved the marvellous powers of the talisman. The story finished, the
+old woman asked to be allowed to look at the relic; she was persuaded
+that after having touched it the evening before she ran less danger
+during the night in her room. Blanche then chatted with Urbain and sang
+to him in a low tone one of the songs which she knew. The ingenuous
+child had only known the pretended Ursule since the evening before, but
+she already regarded her as a sister, called her "my dear," and related
+to her all that concerned herself; for Blanche, brought up in
+retirement, had not learned to hide her feelings or to feign those which
+she did not experience; her heart was pure and her words were only the
+expression of what she felt.
+
+Blanche did not fail to sing to Urbain her favorite refrain, and the
+latter trembled with pleasure on seeing that, despite the precautions of
+the barber, his accents were graven on Blanche's memory, who said to
+him,--
+
+"The first time that I heard you speak, it seemed to me that I still
+heard the voice which had sung at night under my window. That was a very
+pretty voice, and yours, Ursule, resembles it a little. What a pity that
+you don't know the romance that they were singing."
+
+"I do know it," said Urbain; "at least I think I know it, for I have
+often heard it sung, and that makes me remember it."
+
+"How fortunate! Sing it to me, Ursule, I beg."
+
+"But if M. Touquet--"
+
+"Oh, he is in his room; besides, you can sing very low. Wait! Just as I
+expected, Marguerite is asleep; now she won't be able to scold us."
+
+In fact her deep contemplation of the little scrap of Urbain's
+smallclothes had put the old servant to sleep. Urbain was almost alone
+with her he adored. His heart palpitated with joy, long sighs issued
+from his breast, and he was obliged to turn away his eyes that they
+might not meet Blanche's adorable gaze.
+
+"Well, now," said the amiable girl, pouting a little, which rendered her
+still more seductive, "aren't you going to sing to me? That would be
+very naughty, for it would give me a great deal of pleasure to hear that
+song. I should like to learn it myself. I beg of you, Ursule; you see
+Marguerite is asleep; come, don't refuse me."
+
+"I refuse you anything? Of course I'll sing for you, mademoiselle."
+
+"Oh, you are very obliging, and I will kiss you with a good heart."
+
+Urbain needed not the temptation of so sweet a recompense. However, he
+wished immediately to deserve it. He sang, and Blanche listened with
+rapture; the young man, yielding to the emotion of his heart, sang with
+much expression and feeling, but his voice no longer resembled that of a
+woman, and any other than the ingenuous Blanche would have perceived the
+change; but the latter was far from suspecting the truth, and with her
+head turned towards Urbain, remained motionless, her eyes fixed on him
+and seeming to fear lest she should lose a word, while she exclaimed
+from time to time,--
+
+"Mon Dieu, that is it! that's the same thing! That affects me just as it
+did the other night. Ah, Ursule, sing again."
+
+However, the songs ceased, for Urbain had not forgotten the promised
+recompense. For some moments Blanche remained motionless, seeming to be
+listening still; at last she aroused herself from her ecstasies,
+saying,--
+
+"It's very singular what a strange effect that romance has upon me."
+
+"Is it disagreeable?"
+
+"Oh, no; if it were I should not want to be always hearing it, and still
+it makes me feel rather sad; it makes me sigh; but all the same, Ursule,
+you will teach it to me, will you not?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle; but you promised me--"
+
+"To kiss you. Oh, I'll do that willingly."
+
+Without further asking, Blanche imprinted her cherry lips on Urbain's
+burning cheek. This time the latter was about to return her kiss, and
+had already taken the young girl in his arms when Marguerite, in
+sneezing, just missed falling into the fire, and awoke herself with a
+start, crying,--
+
+"Dear good patron saint, save me; I see the black man and the sorcerer
+of Verberie."
+
+"Where is he, dear nurse?" said Blanche, leaving Urbain, who was vexed
+that he had not sooner finished his singing.
+
+"Where?" said Marguerite, rubbing her eyes; "where is what? What did I
+say?"
+
+"You said you saw the sorcerer."
+
+"Ah, that is because I was thinking of him, apparently. Come, Ursule, it
+is time for you to go, my child."
+
+"That's a pity, I was going to tell you of an adventure which happened
+to my aunt which was even more marvellous than the others."
+
+"Oh, that's delightful; that will be for tomorrow," said Blanche. "That
+will suit you, dear nurse, won't it? You see my good friend suspects
+nothing; besides, if he should see Ursule and be angry, well, I'll take
+all the blame on myself and I can pacify him."
+
+"Come, then, tomorrow night, and we will learn all about your aunt's
+adventures."
+
+"Yes, Mademoiselle Marguerite, but will you have the goodness to give me
+back my talisman."
+
+"Yes, my dear child, that's right. O my God! what have I done with it?
+Has Satan tricked me out of it? I was holding it just this minute."
+
+"Wait, dear nurse, here it is," pointing to the hearth, "you have let it
+fall in the cinders."
+
+"Faith, so I did," answered the old woman, picking up the little scrap
+of cloth. "Oh, my goodness! it's a little scorched."
+
+"Oh, that's all right, mademoiselle," said Urbain, "that won't have
+taken away any of its virtue."
+
+"No, assuredly not, my dear child, and if it had been burned its ashes
+would have retained the same properties."
+
+Urbain took his talisman, said "good-by" to Blanche, repeating to her,
+"I shall see you, tomorrow," and left the barber's house.
+
+Several days rolled away and every evening the young bachelor had the
+good fortune to see Blanche. He was incessantly inventing new stories to
+pique Marguerite's curiosity, and the old woman regularly opened the
+door of the alley at seven o'clock. The fictitious Ursule's presence had
+become necessary to Blanche and Marguerite. The latter experienced great
+pleasure in hearing her relate the doings of the magicians, and the
+young girl in learning her cherished romance; but Marguerite did not
+always go to sleep, and even when she was awake Blanche wished Urbain
+to sing; the latter obeyed her, but in order to prevent the old woman
+from suspecting him he was careful to disguise his voice, and Blanche
+exclaimed with vexation,--
+
+"That's not at all good! You don't sing so prettily as usual today, and
+it doesn't give me the same pleasure."
+
+While Urbain was elated with the happiness of seeing Blanche, and
+drinking from her eyes the sweetest sentiment; while the young girl was
+giving herself, without restraint, to the pleasure which Ursule's
+society afforded her, and in confiding to the latter her slightest
+thoughts; and while old Marguerite, her head filled with frightful
+stories and miraculous deeds done by the sorcerer of Verberie, was
+securing herself against the snares of Satan by rubbing between her
+fingers every evening the little scrap of the bachelor's breeches,--what
+was passing in the little house of the Vallee Fecamp? was the brilliant
+Julia still there? and was the Marquis de Villebelle taking the trouble
+to feign a little love in order to subdue the young Italian.
+
+The barber, having received the price of his services, disquieted
+himself very little as to what was passing in the small house.
+Chaudoreille, who never left the gambling-houses while he had money in
+his pocket, had not appeared at the barber's for a month, but at the end
+of that time he appeared at his friend's towards the middle of the day.
+The Gascon's face was longer then usual. His ruff, all in rags, had been
+stained in several places, and the feather on his hat had been replaced
+by the gold-colored rosette which formerly decorated Rolande's handle.
+Chaudoreille's piteous face made the barber smile.
+
+"Where do you come from," said he, "and what have you been doing since I
+saw you last?"
+
+"I've been very unfortunate," said Chaudoreille, heaving a big sigh, and
+drawing from his belt the old silk purse, which he shook without
+producing a single sou. "You see, my friend, I'm reduced to zero."
+
+"How's that? do you mean to say that nothing remains to you of the sum I
+gave you."
+
+"Not a penny, my dear fellow. I've been robbed in a shameful manner."
+
+"That is to say, you have been gambling."
+
+"Yes, that's true; I've played, but with robbers. They have tricked me
+in an infamous fashion. If, at least, they had been amiable about it,
+one knows well that among people accustomed to play there are a thousand
+little ways in which one can make fortune favorable, but to despoil a
+friend, a comrade--it's horrible! I'll never play again in my life. Say
+now, don't you want me to go to the little house to see my dear friend
+Marcel?"
+
+"On the contrary, I forbid you to do so. Without the marquis' order
+nobody should allow himself to go there."
+
+"That's vexatious, and how did the adventure end?"
+
+"What does that matter to you? For the matter of that I have not seen
+the marquis again, but from the moment I ceased to be employed the
+intrigue was nothing to me; besides, it will end like all the others. It
+is a caprice which will last for some days and will be succeeded by
+another."
+
+"That's correct; but the little one appeared to me to have some strength
+of mind. She said some very peculiar things to me; she asked me, among
+other things, if I knew your parents."
+
+"My parents," said the barber, with visible emotion, "that's singular."
+
+"Yes, very singular. I told her you were from Lorraine and that that was
+all I knew about you."
+
+"My parents," repeated Touquet, striding about the room. "I am almost
+certain that I have none. My poor father is undoubtedly dead. Oh, I was
+a very worthless fellow in my youth! Precocious in my passions, a taste
+for play and a thirst for gold caused me to commit a thousand excesses."
+
+"Yes, the follies of youth. I know all about that. As for me at six
+years old I was flogged for having stolen a leg of mutton out of the
+dripping-pan. At ten for having, in a fit of abstraction, taken my
+grandmother's purse to go and play at little quoits; at twelve years old
+I took a rabbit off the spit and put in its place my old aunt's cat;
+but in my ardor to hide my larceny I forgot to skin the cat, which was
+roasted with its hair on. Happily my father was short-sighted, and he
+thought it was a little wild boar; at fifteen years--"
+
+"What does it matter what you did?" cried the barber, impatiently. "Did
+the young woman say anything else about me?"
+
+"No, but if you like, I'll go and draw it from her, adroitly."
+
+"Idiot! you forget that she is the marquis' mistress? When her reign is
+ended I shall see her, and I shall know." The barber said nothing
+further and would not answer Chaudoreille, and the latter, after having
+uselessly repeated several times that he had been fasting since the
+evening before, on perceiving that Touquet paid him no attention left
+the shop in an ill-humor, murmuring between his teeth,--
+
+"People who become rich are always niggardly and stingy. That's a fault
+that I shall never have."
+
+Some hours after this conversation, the barber, returning to his
+customers, met near the Louvre the brilliant Villebelle, who, wrapped in
+his mantle, seemed to be still in high feather.
+
+"I have succeeded, my dear fellow," said he, drawing Touquet under a
+portico, where no one could hear them. "Julia has given herself to me;
+but truly the conquest was more difficult than I had thought. The young
+girl is passionate, romantic; she wishes to be loved, and I have made
+her believe that I love her. In fact her singular character, her pride,
+united with her tenderness, her strange conduct, and her speeches,
+nearly enthralled me. She spoke to me about Estrelle. I don't know how
+she knew that adventure."
+
+"The young girl knows everything, evidently," said the barber to
+himself.
+
+"For the rest," resumed the marquis, "she doesn't seem to love you much,
+my dear Touquet; you are in her black books. She says that you are a
+master knave."
+
+"What, monseigneur?"
+
+"She refuses my presents; she wishes nothing but my love, it's truly
+superb. Despite that, I am living with her; I did not care for her to
+remain in the little house, that would have embarrassed me. I believe
+upon my honor that I love her a little. But I see two very pretty women
+going into the jewelry shop down there. I must go there in order to see
+them nearer." While saying these words the marquis departed hastily, and
+the barber returned home, thinking of Julia and vexed that he had not
+learned from the marquis where he had lodged his young Italian.
+
+Chaudoreille had left Touquet's house in a very bad humor. An empty
+stomach is usually accompanied by a melancholy spirit. The Gascon
+chevalier while making philosophical reflections on the egotism of man,
+the caprice of fortune and the manner in which one could win at piquet
+while slipping the aces to the bottom of the pack, arrived at the Saint
+Germain fair. Beside the different spectacles assembled in this place to
+attract idlers, strangers and young gentlemen came there to play
+different games of cards, of dice, ninepins and skittles.
+
+Chaudoreille walked among the groups formed around these games and
+looked with a hungry eye at the pastry exposed before the booths. He
+stopped near the eating places trying to breathe at least the odor of
+the cooking, but such delights have no power to fill an empty stomach.
+
+"By jingo!" said Chaudoreille all of a sudden, pulling his hat down over
+his eyes and pulling his ruff up about his neck. "It shall not be said
+that I did not dine. A man of genius always has resources, and his wit
+should furnish him that which his purse refuses."
+
+Immediately the chevalier, walking with a determined step, threaded the
+crowd and turned towards the neighborhood where some young provincials
+were playing skittles and drinking white wine. Chaudoreille looked at
+them out of the corner of his eye then, seizing his moment, he crossed
+the place where they were playing, in such a manner as to receive a blow
+upon the legs from a ball which one of the players was rolling.
+
+"Look out! look out!" cried the young man who had hurled the ball; but
+Chaudoreille pretended not to hear and stopped only when he was struck.
+He made a horrible grimace on receiving the blow, and fell, murmuring,--
+
+"Zounds! my dinner will cost me dearly."
+
+The two players came up to him and picked him up, offering their excuses
+although they were not in the wrong. But Chaudoreille was so pale and
+appeared to suffer so deeply and made such pitiful contortions that the
+two young men were much moved; first they offered him a glass of wine to
+restore him. The wounded man accepted and drank three glasses, one after
+the other; he could not yet walk and they proposed to him to go into the
+wine merchant's, who would give him something to eat. He did not allow
+them to repeat the invitation; the two provincials ordered dinner and
+invited Chaudoreille to be of their party. Our man was therefore
+installed at a table with them, ate and drank for four, gave them some
+lessons in skittles, and perceiving that they were novices of an
+obliging humor, and not quarrelsome, he rose at the conclusion of the
+dessert and demanded a pistole from them to indemnify him for the stroke
+of the ball which they had given him.
+
+The young men looked at him in surprise, perceiving that they had been
+duped and that they had entered into conversation with a gentleman of
+very little delicacy. Chaudoreille held himself very upright, his left
+hand on his hip and his right hand caressing the handle of his sword,
+rolling his eyes like the damned, while passing the end of his tongue
+over his mustaches. The poor provincials, not caring to have a duel with
+a man who appeared to have decided to split everyone in two if they did
+not satisfy him, hastened to present the sum demanded by their amiable
+guest. The latter received it with a gracious smile, then, with the tone
+of a man delighted with himself, he bowed to them, saying,--
+
+"Good-by, my young friends, try to remember the strokes which I have
+taught you."
+
+While saying these words the chevalier quickly departed, no longer
+remembering the blow which he had received. With a full stomach and a
+pistole in his belt, Chaudoreille was very well pleased with his day's
+work. The white wine which he had drunk had aroused his enterprise and
+inclined him to undertake some adventures. He felt especially carried
+towards love, but if it is the custom of Bacchus to render one
+enterprising, the odor of wine and the speech of a tipsy man are not
+auxiliaries favorable to love. It had been dark for some time when
+Chaudoreille left the fair, ogling all the women whom he met and
+murmuring between his teeth,--
+
+"By jingo! I must make a conquest this evening. I am beginning to get
+tired of my portress, who is forty-five years old and has one leg
+shorter than the other; it is true that she overwhelms me with
+kindnesses. She bleaches my linen and repairs my ruff; but what does a
+little infidelity by the way matter, my Venus will know nothing about
+it."
+
+Chaudoreille had reached the Rue Montmartre when he saw a woman pass by
+him, dressed like a country woman. She was alone; the chevalier ogled
+her and turned back to follow her. The carriage of the dame had
+something very decided about it, which was pleasing to Chaudoreille; but
+she walked with such long steps that he was obliged to run to follow
+her. On reaching her side the gallant tried to enter into conversation
+with her by making one of those pretty propositions in use among those
+gentlemen who make love in the streets, and seek their conquests by
+lantern light. She did not answer Chaudoreille, but walked faster. Our
+man was not at all abashed; he continued to trot by her side doing the
+amiable, putting his feet in the streams, which he did not see, and
+splashing his beauty while whispering sweet nothings. However, the
+person whom he was following had reached the Rue Saint-Honore, a short
+distance from the Rue des Bourdonnais. Chaudoreille, receiving no
+answer, and seeing that nothing was to be gained by his compliments,
+decided to attempt strong measures. He approached the country woman and
+pinched her sharply, and received in return a slap in the face, so well
+applied that it sent him up against a stone post four feet away.
+
+Urbain was going according to his custom to visit Blanche, when on the
+way he made the conquest of Chaudoreille. After disengaging himself in
+so heroic a manner the young bachelor ran up to the barber's house,
+entering the passageway, where some one came immediately to open to him,
+and reached Blanche, still much agitated by the adventure.
+
+"What is the matter with you, my dear Ursule?" said Blanche. "You seem
+excited."
+
+"Just now in the street two men fighting frightened me."
+
+"Poor child, but didn't you have your talisman?"
+
+"Oh, yes, but in spite of that I was afraid."
+
+"I can well believe it," said Blanche, "to see men fighting must be very
+unpleasant. Come, sit down, my dear friend."
+
+Blanche's sweet words soon made Urbain forget his adventure. According
+to his promise, it was necessary that he should recount something
+singular which had happened to one of his cousins. He had promised to
+recite it the evening before, and Marguerite was in a hurry to hear it.
+The old servant needed distraction; she had had a frightful dream in the
+night and in the morning when she awakened she had seen a bat against
+her window, all of which was very disquieting, and since the morning
+she had not been easy.
+
+Urbain commenced his story. He was interrupted by the rain, which fell
+in torrents, and which the wind blew violently against the panes.
+
+"What horrible weather!" said Blanche.
+
+"Yes," said Marguerite, drawing closer to the fire at each gust of wind,
+"this night will be difficult to pass. I do not know, but it seems to me
+that something extraordinary is going to happen; that bat that I
+saw--and in my dream all those people were riding to the sabbath on
+broomsticks. That surely indicates something."
+
+"Certainly," said Urbain, and the old woman, to reassure herself, rubbed
+the talisman between her hands.
+
+Urbain's story had lasted for a long time. Marguerite, however, had said
+nothing, as she was not anxious to go upstairs to bed. Blanche, who
+never saw Ursule leave without regret, had taken care not to observe
+that it was getting late and the young bachelor was not the one who
+would first think of breaking up the party. However, the clock struck,
+and they counted eleven strokes.
+
+"O heavens! eleven o'clock," cried Blanche.
+
+"O my God!" said Marguerite, trembling, "in an hour it will be
+midnight."
+
+"But, dear nurse, Ursule cannot go so late and besides by the time she
+gets there--Wait! do you hear the rain, it is falling in torrents. How
+can she go to the Porte Saint-Antoine in such weather as this? It's
+impossible."
+
+"It is certain," said Urbain, "that the roads are very bad. There are no
+lanterns and often one puts one's foot in holes that one does not see."
+
+"Poor Ursule, her talisman will not prevent her from being drenched,
+will it?"
+
+"It is true it doesn't guarantee one against the effect of rain,"
+responded Urbain, sighing.
+
+"What is to be done?" said Marguerite.
+
+"It's very easy, my dear nurse, Ursule can sleep with me, and tomorrow,
+as soon as day breaks, she can go without making a noise. Will you,
+Ursule?"
+
+Urbain was for some moments unable to answer, for these words of
+Blanche, "She can sleep with me," had so disturbed his whole being that
+he did not know what he was doing. At last he murmured in a changed
+voice,--
+
+"If you think well of it, mademoiselle, I think well of it also."
+
+"Most certainly I wish it, do I not dear nurse? We could not let her go
+out at this time of night. Why don't you answer?"
+
+Marguerite saw no harm in the country woman's sleeping with Blanche, but
+rather hoped to gain an advantage thereby in keeping all night the
+precious relic; and, as her mind had been struck with the idea that some
+misfortune was going to happen to her, the possession of the little
+scrap of cloth seemed to her like a benefaction of Providence.
+
+"It's true," said she, at last, "that the weather is frightful, and if
+Ursule will not forget to go away before daybreak--"
+
+"Oh, yes, dear nurse, and if she is asleep I promise you I will wake
+her."
+
+"Very well, then I'm willing that she should remain."
+
+"Oh, how delightful," said Blanche, "we shall sleep together, Ursule. I
+have never slept with anyone. How we shall chat and laugh."
+
+"No, indeed, no, indeed," said Marguerite; "on the contrary you must go
+to sleep without making any noise that monsieur could hear."
+
+"Very well, we will go to sleep, dear nurse," responded the amiable
+child, and she added in Urbain's ear, "We will talk very low."
+
+"Well, in that case I will go to bed," said the old servant hesitating
+to return that which she held in her hand. "My dear Ursule," she said at
+last, "you have nothing to fear here. If you would permit me to keep
+your talisman for this night only, because I sleep in a room that is not
+safe and I can't get that bat out of my head."
+
+"Oh, keep it, Mademoiselle Marguerite," said Urbain, "may it do you much
+pleasure."
+
+"Yes, keep it, dear nurse," said Blanche, "besides we have mine, that
+will be enough for us, will it not, Ursule?"
+
+"But--yes, I believe so, mademoiselle."
+
+Marguerite, delighted to possess a safeguard for the whole night,
+lighted her lamp and turned towards the door, saying,--
+
+"Good night, my children, good night. Mercy, what a gust of wind.
+Ursule, you must go tomorrow before daybreak."
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Go to bed as quickly as possible, and extinguish your light, that no
+one may suspect anything."
+
+"Be easy, dear nurse," said Blanche, "we'll soon put it out."
+
+Marguerite took her lamp and left the room. Blanche closed the door
+after her.
+
+"Shut your door tight," said the old woman.
+
+"Yes, dear nurse," answered the young girl, and she drew the bolt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+HOW WILL IT END
+
+
+When one loves ardently, and when one sees that moment approach which
+heralds the consummation of his dearest wishes, when one is for the
+first time entirely alone with the beloved of his heart, one experiences
+an uneasiness, an agitation which one cannot quell, and which one cannot
+reasonably account for; it is almost as though one feared that one's
+being would be unable to support the realization of this exquisite
+happiness, as though one doubted whether hopes so sweet, and which have
+hitherto been so unattainable, can ever be realized.
+
+It is, above all, when one loves with the candor and good faith of early
+youth that one yields himself tremblingly to the first interview which
+sounds a knell to all the cherished past. Why, at the very moment of
+happiness, should one sigh and fear? Poor mortals, it seems that
+accustomed to sorrow, we shall always be astonished at being happy. In
+truth, this astonishment passes with age and experience; then these
+delightful rendezvous do not cause us the same emotion; we regard them
+only as distractions, and laugh at the uneasiness, the embarrassment,
+which accompanied our first intercourse with the ladies. Ungrateful that
+we are, we mock at the source of our happiness, at those sweet
+sensations which time has dissipated, with all the other illusions of
+our youth, after the manner of the fox in the fable.
+
+"How awkward we were at eighteen years of age," we say; "how embarrassed
+and constrained in a tete-a-tete, trembling like a leaf as we went to
+the rendezvous; what a difference now, we go to them singing, we reach
+that which we desire more quickly, we are a hundred times more
+pleasing." Yes, but our hair is becoming grizzly, our figure has become
+rotund, and some rather deep lines are imprinted at the corners of our
+eyes.
+
+If the approach of long-desired happiness causes in love an inexplicable
+trouble, what should be the state of one who, all of a sudden, without
+having had even the slightest hope, finds himself in a position where he
+may obtain the greatest heights. Such was Urbain's situation; he loved
+Blanche with the delirium, the intoxication, which one experiences at
+nineteen for his first love, and he found himself at eleven o'clock at
+night alone with the object of his tenderness in a little chamber,
+separated from all neighbors, with the lovely child drawing the bolt and
+beginning to undress herself to go to bed. What lover at such a moment
+could preserve his reason? Poor Blanche, I tremble for thee! In truth
+thou hast a talisman, but I have no great faith in its power; above
+all, if you allow yourself to remain with Urbain in the situation in
+which he is placed. The young bachelor tremblingly paused, sighing and
+saying not a word he remained standing in a corner of the room, while
+Blanche prepared the bed, coming and going, jumping and laughing, and
+finally began to undress herself.
+
+"O heavens!" said Urbain to himself, trembling, coloring, and lowering
+his eyes, but raising them from time to time to look at Blanche. "O my
+God! what must I do. This is not the moment to declare myself, to make
+known to her who I am, to implore her pardon, and to confess my love to
+her; but, yes, it is indeed the moment. However, if that confession
+should frighten her, if her cries should bring somebody here, or if she
+should drive me from the room. That will be such a pity when I can, by
+deceiving her a little longer, share her bed, and--oh, no! that would be
+very ill done! But how pretty she is! great God, how charming! Ah, I
+will not look at her." And the rascal looked at her all the time, slyly,
+it is true, but the more he looked at her the more he felt his
+resolution imperilled; for each moment Blanche took off some part of her
+costume, already only a little petticoat covered her seductive form, and
+the straight corset which had imprisoned her pretty figure was laid upon
+the bed.
+
+Blanche stopped; however, it was time. She looked at Urbain, who was
+still standing there, motionless and silent.
+
+"Come, Ursule, why don't you undress yourself?" said the young girl,
+approaching the bachelor.
+
+"Because, mademoiselle, I do not know why, I'm afraid."
+
+"What? you're afraid? Are you afraid with me, Ursule?"
+
+"Afraid, mademoiselle? Yes, I feel that I am very much afraid."
+
+"Why, that's just like Marguerite, and I, who am much younger, am a
+great deal braver. It is true that the wind blows very hard, but it
+won't carry us away from here. How she trembles! Why Ursule, how can you
+go every evening alone as far as the Porte Saint-Antoine and yet you
+tremble with me in my chamber."
+
+"Ah, that's very different."
+
+"Is it because Marguerite has carried off your talisman? But we still
+have mine. Wait, do you see when I take off my corsets I fasten it here,
+inside my chemise, for dear nurse says that it is necessary above all to
+have it during the night, and that it is when they are in bed that the
+sorcerers come to torment young girls. Is that true, Ursule? Do they
+sometimes try to torment you in the night?"
+
+"Yes--no, mademoiselle." Urbain did not know what he was saying, for his
+eyes, despite himself, turned towards the perfidious talisman which
+seemed to be there, like the serpent on the tree of the knowledge of
+good and evil, to make him succumb to temptation.
+
+"You are shivering with cold, Ursule, we shall be much better in bed; we
+shall be warmer. Do you want me to help you undress? How you are
+sighing. Is it because you are in some trouble? You must tell me all
+about it. It is so pleasant to have some friend, to be able to tell her
+all that one thinks. Let's see; first, we'll take off this cap which
+hides all your face. I am sure that mine will become you better, let us
+try it. But sit down first; you're so big, my dear Ursule, that I can't
+reach your head."
+
+The young bachelor allowed himself to be led to a chair. He seated
+himself, and the lovely child, standing before him, began to loosen the
+pins which held his cap and his big brown curls. Urbain allowed Blanche
+to take off his headdress. He had decided to make himself known, besides
+sooner or later she must know the truth, and in order not to frighten
+her it was better that the metamorphosis should be gently made. The last
+pin was taken out, Blanche lifted the cap and the young man's brown
+curls escaped on all sides and fell on his forehead and on his neck. The
+young girl uttered an exclamation and stopped. Urbain, fearing already
+that she was about to fly, lightly surrounded her waist with his two
+arms.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"How funny that is," said Blanche, at last, looking at Urbain with
+astonishment. "Your hair isn't done at all like that of all the women I
+ever saw. Is it the fashion to wear it like that in Verberie?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Do you know, Ursule, that the more I look at you the more you look like
+a man to me."
+
+"Somebody told me that before, mademoiselle."
+
+"But it's really astonishing. Your hair is dressed exactly like that of
+the men I see passing in the street."
+
+"Do you dislike it so?"
+
+"No--however--it produces a very singular effect on me."
+
+"If I were a man would you be angry?"
+
+"Mercy, yes, I believe I should, for then you couldn't be my friend any
+more. I couldn't love you as a sister."
+
+"But Blanche, if I were a man I should be your lover. A most tender, a
+most faithful lover. I could love you to distraction, and love is much
+stronger than friendship. Then, if you will share my affection, could
+there exist a mortal happier than I? Dear Blanche, if I could only
+possess your heart. Is there anything more precious on earth? To obtain
+it, I would give the last drop of my blood."
+
+While speaking Urbain, engrossed by his love, no longer sought to
+disguise his voice. His arms still surrounded Blanche and the young
+girl, greatly moved, dropped on the knees of the young bachelor, saying
+in a feeble voice,--
+
+"Mon Dieu, Ursule, don't say such things to me. They make me uneasy. I
+don't know what's the matter with me. I feel that I wish to cry. What
+use is it to tell such falsehoods, to speak of love and of loving?
+Ursule, somebody has told me that it is very wrong to talk about those
+things. O heavens! since you haven't your cap on, I dare not look at
+you."
+
+"Blanche! dear Blanche!"
+
+"Well now, you're still pretending to be a man, and it frightens me.
+Come, Ursule, be a woman again, I beg of you."
+
+"No, Blanche, I will not deceive you further. It is a man--it's--the
+most tender lover who is near you."
+
+By a sudden movement Blanche rose and escaped to the other end of the
+room; Urbain did not seek to restrain her, but fell on his knees and
+held out his hands towards her, seeming to await her forgiveness, while
+the young girl looked at him with eyes which expressed more surprise
+than fear.
+
+"What? are you really a man?" said the amiable child, after a moment.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle."
+
+"Are you quite sure of it?"
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+"O good heavens! don't come near me, I beg of you."
+
+"Ah, don't tremble so, I am at your feet, the most submissive of
+lovers."
+
+"Of lovers! I don't know what a lover is."
+
+"It was that I might be successful in seeing you, that I might make
+known to you all the love that I feel for you, that I have dared to take
+this disguise. Without that how should I have managed to see you when
+they keep you in prison in this room?"
+
+"I never go out of it. I should not listen to you perhaps. How did you
+come to love me?"
+
+"It was through the window that I first saw you. Some singers were
+standing under the casement. You seemed to listen to them with great
+pleasure. That night I returned and sang under your window the romance
+which you like so much."
+
+"That was you?" cried Blanche, joyfully; and already forgetting her
+first fear she looked at Urbain with more assurance. Her pure and
+innocent mind could not conceive all the danger of her situation. A more
+experienced young girl would have cried and have shown much anger, but
+Blanche, whose soul was a stranger to all dissimulation evinced the same
+confidence in the young bachelor as she did in Ursule, because she had
+no other thought which could make her blush. "Why! was that you?" she
+repeated, "It isn't astonishing that I found such a resemblance in your
+voice, but it wasn't good of you, monsieur, to lie to us like that. I
+was quite sure that you were Ursule and I loved you like a dear friend,
+and can I continue to love you like that now?"
+
+"And what should prevent you, if I have not displeased you?"
+
+"Oh, no! you haven't displeased me. I even think that you look better
+without a cap, but it's not allowable to love a man."
+
+"Why not, when that man wishes to become your husband?"
+
+"Marguerite says that all men are deceivers and then, O heavens! the
+devil also takes the form of a man, and presented himself thus to the
+sorcerer of Verberie. O mon Dieu, if you should be the devil!"
+
+"O Blanche, what a thought!"
+
+"But no, you look too sweet--you're not all black, and you haven't any
+claws."
+
+"My name is Urbain Dorgeville. My parents were honest and respected. I
+am an orphan. I haven't much fortune, but when one loves truly is it
+necessary to have much in order to be happy? Dear Blanche, will you
+forgive me?"
+
+"He calls me his dear Blanche, how funny that is! And if I don't forgive
+you, what will happen?"
+
+"You will reduce me to despair and nothing will remain for me but to
+die."
+
+"Oh, I don't wish that you should die," cried the amiable child, "and I
+will forgive you, for I should be very vexed if I caused you any grief."
+
+"Can it be," said Urbain, rising and running towards Blanche. The young
+girl made a movement of fear, then, recovering herself, she smiled, and
+signed to Urbain to seat himself near her. The happy bachelor placed his
+chair close up to that of Blanche and very gently took one of her hands,
+which the ingenuous child allowed him to retain.
+
+"You forgive me for loving you, then?" said he, looking at her tenderly.
+
+"Of course, I'm obliged to, since you say that it will make you die if I
+forbid you to."
+
+"And you, also, will love me?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know. I loved Ursule very much, however, but you--it
+wouldn't be the same thing, would it?"
+
+"It would be much sweeter."
+
+"Do you think so?"
+
+"I am sure of it, by what I experience at this moment."
+
+"You are very happy now, then?"
+
+"Yes, very happy; for you are no longer afraid of me, are you?"
+
+"No, I am not afraid of you, but why do you hold my hand like that?"
+
+"I should like to press it always, to hold it incessantly against my
+heart."
+
+"And is that yet another proof of love?"
+
+"Yes, Blanche, but if it displeases you I will not keep this dear hand."
+
+"Oh, that doesn't displease me, but yours is burning. It makes mine
+warm. And why are you trembling? Is it love that makes you like that?"
+
+"Yes, it burns me, it consumes me."
+
+"Oh, it must be very unpleasant to love like that."
+
+The young bachelor, to solace, no doubt, the malady which devoured him,
+carried Blanche's hand to his lips and covered it with kisses. The young
+girl allowed him to do so, although the passionate glances of her lover
+were beginning to produce a strange feeling of uneasiness in her heart.
+Her breast rose more frequently, she sighed, and said in a faint
+voice,--
+
+"Urbain--Ursule; mon Dieu, I don't know what's the matter with me, but I
+am afraid I've caught your malady. Wait! see how I am trembling now! Oh,
+my talisman, my talisman!"
+
+Poor Blanche, what will you do? While promising to himself to respect
+the virtue of the young girl, Urbain yielded to the ardor which inflamed
+him, and pressed Blanche tightly in his arms, begging her not to
+tremble; Blanche, astonished, did not repulse him, for excessive
+innocence has also its dangers, but at this moment somebody knocked
+violently at the door of the room and the barber's stern voice uttered
+these words,--
+
+"Open the door, Blanche! I command you to open the door!"
+
+The young bachelor seemed petrified, and Blanche remained motionless in
+Urbain's arms, which still enfolded her.
+
+
+
+
+THE BARBER OF PARIS
+
+VOLUME II
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+WHO COULD HAVE EXPECTED IT
+
+
+The slap in the face which had been so vigorously applied to the
+impertinent Chevalier Chaudoreille by Urbain in his character of a
+good-looking young woman, though richly deserved, had been so
+unexpected, had so thoroughly stunned the poor little specimen of
+humanity that he had remained for some moments supported by the stone
+post against which he had been flung by the force of the blow, entirely
+unconscious as to his whereabouts.
+
+But as his wits returned to their normal capacity, and he fully realized
+the indignity to which he had been subjected in being overcome by a blow
+from a woman, at a moment, too, when he thought his success certain, the
+little fellow drew himself up with fierce determination, and, as he
+rubbed his still tingling and burning cheek, he exclaimed,--
+
+"Oh, hang it all! Is it likely I will submit to such treatment. I shall
+know how to revenge myself, young Amazon, little as you may think so at
+the present moment. Never shall it be said that Venus withdrew from the
+transports of Mars; that slap in the face shall prove costly to her
+virtue."
+
+Immediately he followed on the steps of his Venus, who was dashing
+along, jumping over the streams which came in her way. Chaudoreille's
+sharp little eyes recognized the person whom he was pursuing just at the
+moment when Urbain reached the barber's house and entered the alleyway,
+shutting the door immediately after him.
+
+Chaudoreille knew Touquet's house so well that his distance from the
+pretended country woman could not prevent him from recognizing her place
+of retreat, and it was with extreme surprise that our poursuivant
+d'amour perceived that his beauty had taken refuge in the house of his
+friend, Touquet. He approached the alley, presuming that she might
+inadvertently have left the door open, but it was closed; besides, the
+person he had followed had not hesitated for an instant in the choice of
+a hiding-place, all of which seemed to indicate that the barber's house
+had been her destination. This incident gave rise to many conjectures on
+Chaudoreille's part, awakening his lively curiosity; he decided not to
+leave the house until the departure of the one whom he had seen enter,
+and walked up and down from the Rue des Mauvaises-Paroles to the Rue
+Saint-Honore.
+
+Time passed and Chaudoreille vainly watched, with his eyes directed to
+the house, noticing that there was still a light in Blanche's room. Soon
+the rain began to fall and the wind blew violently; but the chevalier,
+though inadequately protected by a penthouse, under which he had taken
+refuge, did not dream of leaving the place, and wrapped himself as well
+as he could in his little cloak, saying,--
+
+"She must come out sooner or later. What the deuce! can she be Touquet's
+mistress? Oh, hang it! I must seek the clue to this enigma. The light is
+still burning in my beautiful scholar's room. Hem! I have certain
+suspicions. That devil of a slap in the face was given to me with so
+much force that it makes me believe that my Venus may perhaps have a
+beard. Patience, she will either come out or I shall go in!"
+
+Poor lovers! While you were enjoying so much the pleasure of being
+together, while you were beginning to understand each other and to
+exchange loving glances, in which Blanche no longer showed any timidity,
+you had no suspicion that at a short distance from you a cursed man had
+his eyes directed to your window and proposed to disturb your happiness;
+and all because the success of his shuffling, the white wine, and
+Urbain's fictitious charms had mounted to Chaudoreille's head.
+
+Eleven o'clock had long since struck. We know what had taken place
+upstairs; now let us see what had taken place below.
+
+Chaudoreille, unable longer to contain himself, decided to knock at the
+barber's door. The lovers had not heard him, because at that moment
+Urbain was kissing Blanche's soft little hand, and in so agreeable an
+occupation one is not liable to notice what takes place in the street.
+Marguerite was snoring in a manner which did not indicate fear; in
+truth, she had gone to sleep with the precious talisman at her side.
+
+But the barber was not asleep; whether it was because of the storm or
+the wind, or from some other cause, Master Touquet, who rarely slept
+peacefully in his bed at night, had not yet gone up to his room, and was
+pacing slowly in his back shop, ever gloomy and preoccupied, and
+murmuring at intervals,--
+
+"Cursed night! Why do these shadows incessantly disturb my rest? As soon
+as daylight disappears my torments recommence. I have gold--yes, I have
+gold, but I no longer enjoy my natural rest. I shall sell this house; I
+shall go far from here, very far. I shall return to my country, my
+father, if he is still living. He will be very much astonished at the
+change in my fortune. He cursed me when I left the country--but I will
+ask him to forgive me; yes, he will surely forgive my early faults when
+he sees that I am rich and respected. I shall not tell him all; no, I
+shall not tell him how I acquired this fortune."
+
+A bitter smile flickered on the barber's pale lips and he returned to
+his reflections, from which he was drawn by the knocking at the door.
+
+Touquet started with fright, but immediately appearing ashamed of
+himself, took his lamp and went quickly towards the door. He did not
+expect anyone so late, but supposed that the Marquis de Villebelle,
+finding himself in that neighborhood, was perhaps seeking him in regard
+to some new love intrigue.
+
+As he drew near the door he recognized Chaudoreille's voice, calling,--
+
+"Open the door, Touquet. Open the door. Don't be afraid, it's me, but it
+is absolutely necessary that I should speak to you."
+
+The barber opened the door; and Chaudoreille, whose soaked garments were
+glued to his lean figure, which appeared even more attenuated than
+usual, being all shrivelled up under his cloak, came into the alley
+huddled together, as if he were afraid that his head would hit the
+little lattice-work over the door.
+
+"What the devil has brought you here at this hour?" said the barber,
+shutting his door, while the Gascon looked towards the end of the alley
+as though he were trying to see someone. Finally, he put his finger on
+his mouth and said in a low voice,--
+
+"Are you alone just now?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+"You have no visitors?"
+
+"Why, no, nobody, I tell you."
+
+"Then it is urgent that I should speak with you."
+
+The barber returned into the lower room, and Chaudoreille followed him,
+walking on his tiptoes and turning to the right and left, as though he
+were looking for someone.
+
+"Come, what have you got to say?" said Touquet. "What means this visit,
+so near midnight? Did you think that I should be inclined to sleep you?
+Go. There are still gambling dens open in Paris where you can find a
+bed, but my house shall not serve as a shelter for nighthawks."
+
+Chaudoreille, without appearing in the least disconcerted, listened to
+Touquet, shaking his hat meanwhile, and wringing his mantle; he smiled
+with a mischievous air as he listened to the barber's last words, and
+answered,--
+
+"Your house! By jingo, you make a good deal of fuss about your house. We
+shall see presently whether you receive any suspicious persons."
+
+"What do you mean by that?" cried Touquet, angrily.
+
+"Hush! Don't make so much noise, I beg of you. Don't wake the cat up,
+she is asleep."
+
+"Chaudoreille, I'm losing patience. Say what you want, or I'll be the
+death of you."
+
+"Well, what the deuce! I came to do you a service, and it seems to me
+that that shouldn't make you angry. Listen now, but I beg of you don't
+lose your temper, for that will make me break the thread of my
+discourse."
+
+The barber restrained himself as well as he could, and Chaudoreille,
+after passing his cuff over the edge of his hat to give it a lustre,
+commenced his story in a low voice,--
+
+"I was going this morning to Saint-Germain's fair and found myself
+without money, something which very often happens with me. I had eaten
+nothing since yesterday."
+
+"You have eaten and drunk since, I'll answer for it."
+
+"Yes, certainly, thanks to my genius. I was making some rather sad
+reflections on the instability of my luck at piquet, the treacherous
+chances of lansquenet and the lack of solidity in gambling--"
+
+"I should like to make you reflect at this minute on the strength of a
+good stick."
+
+"Hush, don't interrupt me. I perceived at the fair two young men,
+youths, you know; some of those faces which seem to say, 'Who will come
+and do me?' those faces without mischief which are a veritable good
+fortune for men of parts. The poor little fellows were playing at
+skittles."
+
+"Come to the point. You are abusing my patience."
+
+"This all leads up to the matter which regards you. I approached the
+innocents and showed them a new stroke which they did not know, I'll
+answer for it. In short, we dined together, and I only took a pistole
+from them for the lesson, which was very reasonable, but if they had
+refused me I would have spitted them both like sparrows. Don't stamp
+your foot, I'm nearing the end. I was returning gayly, according to my
+habit, when I met a country woman in the street who seemed to me
+agreeable, although I saw little of her. Her carriage was free and
+unconstrained, she was big and strong; I was very much taken by her. I
+caught up to her and I said some charming things to her. Would you
+believe it? not a word in response; I repeated them, still no answer; I
+approached her and pinched her, and, my dear fellow, I received a most
+vigorous slap in the face."
+
+"Well, hang it! she did well. Finish your chatter if you don't wish to
+receive a second."
+
+"Stunned for an instant, I soon recovered my wits. I pursued the
+traitress. I saw her enter--where do you suppose?--your house."
+
+"She came into my house? It is impossible; you are deceived."
+
+"No, by all the devils! I know your dwelling well enough. She came in by
+the alleyway and shut the door immediately."
+
+"What time was it then?"
+
+"About seven o'clock. And I can answer for it that she didn't come out,
+for I haven't stirred from the front of the house."
+
+"What, wretch, that woman has been so long in my house, and you only now
+come to tell me?"
+
+"What do you expect? I didn't know what to do; between you and I, I
+thought the dame came to see you, but seeing that there was still a
+light in my scholar's room, I thought--"
+
+"A light in Blanche's room?"
+
+"Why, yes, by jingo! There's one there at this moment, from which I
+concluded--"
+
+The barber hastily arose, lit a second lamp, took his sword and directed
+his steps towards the staircase at the back, saying to Chaudoreille,--
+
+"Remain here and wait for me."
+
+"Why, don't you want me to come with you?"
+
+"Remain, here, I tell you, but if you have deceived me, tremble; your
+chastisement shall be proportioned to my anger."
+
+"May the devil fly away with him," said Chaudoreille, ensconcing himself
+in a corner of the room. "I came to render him a service and he's going
+to flog me if he doesn't find the guilty person. That slap in the face
+may be followed by something still more cruel."
+
+Touquet ran rapidly up the stairs to Blanche's room; he knocked, and
+ordered the young girl to open the door; we have seen the effect which
+these unexpected words produced on the young couple within the chamber.
+
+Urbain remained motionless, his arms still embracing the young girl,
+who was only half dressed. In a second all the suspicions which the
+situation would give rise to, in the mind of the person who had
+discovered them, flashed across him. Blanche, still innocent and pure,
+though her virtue had been endangered, Blanche would be adjudged guilty,
+and he was the cause of it. How could he prevent it? All these thoughts,
+rapid as lightning, transpired during the time which elapsed before the
+barber knocked for the second time, and loudly reiterated in a
+threatening voice the order which he had given. Urbain glanced at the
+chimney, seeing only that way of escaping from sight. He was about to
+run to it when Blanche stopped him. She had already recovered from her
+first fright, and said to him, with a calmness which astonished him,--
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"To hide myself."
+
+"No, no, it is unnecessary for you to hide. Why not tell the whole
+truth?"
+
+"O Blanche, if anyone finds me with you--at night?"
+
+"Well, what of it? We have done nothing wrong. It is much better to
+confess everything at once than to lie about it," and the lovely child
+ran to the door, drew the bolt and opened to the barber. The latter
+darted into the room. His first looks were bent on Urbain, who was
+standing by the hearth. Touquet only looked at him for a moment, for he
+had instantly recognized the young bachelor, and drawing his sword he
+rushed upon him, crying,--
+
+"Scoundrel! You shall pay with your life for your temerity."
+
+Urbain remained motionless, appearing to brave Touquet's fury, but
+seeing the homicidal weapon flash, Blanche cried out, and, quick as the
+barber, ran and placed herself before Urbain, whom she covered with her
+body; then, lifting her hands towards Touquet, she cried with an accent
+which came from her heart,--
+
+"O monsieur, he has done nothing wrong."
+
+The barber's weapon nearly grazed Blanche's bosom, but the young girl's
+accents were so touching, her sweet features wore an expression so
+noble, that the barber himself could not resist her. His anger seemed
+vanquished. He dropped his sword, and said in a less gloomy voice,--
+
+"This man has outraged you, and you don't wish me to avenge you? You ask
+me to pardon him? Very well, I shall not strike."
+
+"What?" said Blanche, surprised. "What, monsieur, is it because of me
+that you were about to hurt Urbain? Oh, you would have been very wrong.
+You say he has outraged me; but, no, monsieur, I swear to you he has
+not. He has told me that he loves me very much, that he will love me all
+his life, but there is nothing outrageous in that, for when you knocked
+at the door I believe I was just going to tell him that I loved him
+also. You see that I am just as guilty as he is, and that it is
+necessary for you to punish both of us."
+
+Blanche's words had an accent of truth which it was impossible to
+mistake. The barber glanced in astonishment at her and at Urbain, who
+saw that he then believed, despite appearances, that Blanche still
+retained her purity. However, the disorder which reigned in the
+apartment, the singular costume of the young girl and of Urbain, which
+was divided between that of the two sexes, all appeared to confuse
+Touquet's ideas.
+
+"Listen to us," said Blanche to him, "you shall know the whole truth.
+Urbain, to be sure, is a little to blame, for he has come to see us
+every evening for nearly a fortnight, but he came as a young girl. At
+first I was angry with him also, but finally I have forgiven him. Urbain
+has such a sweet expression, and then, I already loved Ursule very much,
+and that made me love him also. He said that he wished to be my lover,
+my husband, that he could not live without me, and that it would depend
+upon you to make us happy forever. Ah, you will be good, will you not,
+my dear friend? You have already done much for me. Give me Urbain for my
+husband, and I promise you that I will never ask anything of you again."
+
+The barber, while listening to Blanche, muttered to himself,--
+
+"For nearly a fortnight he has been coming here every evening, it is by
+a great chance that I discovered him today, and yet I believed that I
+could easily guard a young girl and brave the enterprises of lovers."
+
+"Monsieur," said Urbain, who up to that moment had kept silent, "I
+confess all the wrong I have done, and love alone must be my excuse; but
+I adored Blanche, whom I had seen through the panes of that window, and
+you would not permit any man to approach her. I tried once to begin an
+acquaintance with you, but the manner in which you received me left me
+no hope. I then consulted nothing but my love. Thanks to this disguise I
+deceived old Marguerite, who consented to introduce me here. I saw
+Blanche, and could I renounce the hope of possessing her? She was
+deceived as well as her nurse. Under the name of Ursule I had the good
+fortune to gain her confidence and, by some interesting stories, to
+amuse old Marguerite. I rejoiced in my happiness without daring to make
+myself known. Today, on account of the storm, the rain, which fell so
+violently, the advanced hour, she invited me to remain."
+
+"Yes," said Blanche, with an angelic smile, "He was going to sleep with
+me. I myself begged him to do so."
+
+The barber knit his brows and glanced angrily at the young man. Urbain
+instantly threw himself at his feet, crying,--
+
+"I have respected her virtue, her innocence. O monsieur, can I not touch
+you with my love. Yes, I adore Blanche, give me her hand or deprive me
+of a life which without her would be insupportable."
+
+"Hear us, my friend," said Blanche. "He will absolutely die if I am not
+his wife, and if he should die I feel that I should die of grief, too."
+
+The barber appeared to listen to Urbain without being in the least moved
+by his prayers, when the young bachelor added,--
+
+"I know, monsieur, all that you have done for Blanche. Her father was
+assassinated, she remained an orphan without any support. She owes
+everything to you."
+
+"What?" said Touquet, who had paid more attention to Urbain's last
+words, "you know--"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, I learned all that concerns her whom I adore. She did
+not know her parents and possessed no fortune, but it is she alone whom
+I ask of you. You have done well for her. Give me Blanche; she is
+sufficient for my happiness. I also am an orphan; my family was honest
+and respectable, but I have no relations left. My name is Urbain
+Dorgeville; I have an income of twelve hundred livres; that is very
+little, but I possess besides a little house in the country, on the
+borders of the Loire, there I shall go to live with Blanche. Far from
+the tumult of the city, which we shall not regret, nor its pleasures;
+and far from society, which we do not wish to know, we shall there pass
+our days in peace and love and happiness."
+
+The barber appeared to reflect deeply. He rose, and strolled about the
+room with bowed head. Hope and fear were depicted in the looks of the
+two lovers, who waited with impatience his answer. Finally, he paused,
+and said to Urbain,--
+
+"You are an orphan? Entirely master of your own actions?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"There is nobody to object to your marrying an orphan without means, and
+whose family is unknown?"
+
+"Nobody, I repeat to you, can oppose my wishes."
+
+"You will never seek, yourself, to obtain any information in regard to
+Blanche's family, which, besides, would prove entirely fruitless."
+
+"Why, what does it matter to me who were her parents. She is a treasure
+in herself."
+
+"And you will go to live with her far from Paris--far from everyone?"
+
+"Yes, for I shall make it my care to be all-sufficient to her
+happiness."
+
+"O heavens, Urbain," said Blanche, "You know very well that I never left
+this room, where I saw no one but Marguerite. If I were to live with you
+in the country do you suppose that I should wish for anything else?"
+
+"Dear Blanche, unite with me then in obtaining the consent of your
+protector."
+
+The two young people bent on the barber entreating looks. The latter did
+not notice them and appeared entirely wrapped in his reflections; at
+last, all of a sudden, he stopped before Urbain, and said, in a curt
+tone,--
+
+"Blanche is yours."
+
+"Can it be?" cried the young bachelor, in a delirium of happiness.
+"Blanche, do you hear? He consents to our union."
+
+"Oh, my dear friend, how much I thank you."
+
+And the two lovers fell on their knees before Touquet, their eyes bathed
+with tears of pleasure and gratitude.
+
+"What are you doing?" said the barber, who seemed ashamed to see the
+young couple at his feet. "Get up, I beg of you."
+
+"You have made us happy," said Urbain, "and you will not even receive
+our thanks."
+
+"No, no, I wish for nothing but silence and discretion."
+
+"Aren't you glad now that you didn't injure Urbain? He meant no harm in
+disguising himself as a girl. It was he who sang so beautifully under my
+window. Oh, how happy I am! He can sing with me all the time now. He
+will teach me that pretty ballad and some others, too. Will you not,
+Urbain, teach me many things? Oh, how happy we shall be."
+
+The barber had some trouble in calming Urbain's transports and Blanche's
+naive joy. Finally he succeeded in making them listen.
+
+"Until the time of your union," said he, "I repeat to you, I shall exact
+the greatest discretion. Urbain you must promise me not to speak of your
+marriage, and not to bring any of your acquaintances here."
+
+"I swear to you, monsieur, that I will do as you wish; besides, I don't
+know anybody. I have no intimate friends."
+
+"That is better still, you will have less to regret in leaving the city.
+Make all your preparations for departure, and procure all the necessary
+documents for your marriage. As to Blanche, I will give you the letter
+found on her father; that is all which concerns that matter. When you
+have made all the necessary arrangements, you can marry Blanche--but in
+the evening without any stir, with nothing that can draw people to the
+church to see the ceremony; I dislike idlers and curious people.
+Afterwards you will immediately start for the country; and you will not
+return to this city, where your modest means would not permit you to
+live happily."
+
+"Yes, I agree to all, monsieur."
+
+"Are you coming with us, my friend?"
+
+"No, that is not necessary. Later on, perhaps."
+
+"And Marguerite, can we take her with us?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How nice that will be!"
+
+"Up to the day of your departure Urbain can come here, but in the
+evening only, and not in disguise."
+
+"He will come as a boy. I am very curious to see him like that."
+
+"You understand; it is very late. It is necessary for you to retire.
+Urbain, I repeat to you, maintain the greatest silence about all this.
+Hasten your preparations, and Blanche will soon be yours."
+
+Urbain renewed his promises and his thanks to the barber, and took
+Blanche's hand and covered it with kisses. The young people could hardly
+believe in their happiness, and the future that was opening before them
+still seemed a dream of their imagination, but Touquet hurried them.
+
+"I shall see you tomorrow," said Urbain.
+
+"Tomorrow," repeated Blanche, "and not in woman's clothes. Do you hear?
+I wish to grow accustomed to seeing you as a man."
+
+"Yes, dear Blanche, yes. No more pretence now."
+
+The barber cut their adieux short and led away the young man, and
+Blanche closed her door, sighing and murmuring still,--
+
+"Tomorrow."
+
+Touquet guided Urbain, holding the lamp in his hand, and walking rapidly
+towards the staircase; but hardly had he taken ten steps in the passage
+when his foot caught in something. He lowered his lamp and perceived a
+little shapeless heap which moved and appeared to want to glide along
+the wall. The barber ran at this object and, quickly lifting the mantle
+which covered it, perceived Chaudoreille, with his body on all fours in
+such a way as not to take more room than a big cat.
+
+"What are you doing there, clown?" cried Touquet, putting his lamp
+against Chaudoreille's face.
+
+"Me? Nothing. I am picking up a pin."
+
+"Go down to the room. I have told you before that I don't like curious
+people," and to prove this to him beyond a possibility of doubt the
+barber kicked the chevalier vigorously, and the latter, not having had
+time to straighten himself, received the kick in three parts of his
+body. Touquet did not stop to do more, but led the bachelor to the
+street door, and opening it for him said,--
+
+"Go, and remember all that you have promised."
+
+Urbain was about to renew his protestations of gratitude, but the barber
+put an end to them by telling him to go immediately to his dwelling, and
+closing the door upon him.
+
+Touquet returned into the lower room where he found Chaudoreille, who
+had resumed his natural size and was promenading with the air of a
+conqueror, evidently awaiting the thanks of the barber.
+
+"Well, now, by jingo!" cried he impatiently, seeing that the latter said
+nothing to him. "You have found the magpie in the nest. I haven't dim
+sight. And that slap in the face, zounds! I recognized a masculine hand.
+I am never deceived. Well, we have, according to what I see, shown the
+gallant to the door. As to the little one, hang it! With her
+sanctimonious air, who would have expected it?"
+
+"Be silent!" cried the barber, advancing towards Chaudoreille with a
+threatening gesture. "Do not outrage Blanche. That the young girl is
+still pure is as true as that you are a liar and a coward."
+
+"A coward! By jingo, if Rolande could only speak!"
+
+"Yes, I confess that I found someone there, but that someone was not
+alone with Blanche."
+
+"That is singular. I didn't hear old Marguerite's voice."
+
+"You were listening, then, wretch."
+
+"No, it was by chance that some sounds reached my ears; some one called
+out. I thought that somebody had need of help and, following my natural
+ardor, I went towards the neighborhood from whence the noise came."
+
+"Well, what did you hear? Speak, I tell you!"
+
+"Oh, nothing, some words. It seemed to me that you were promising to
+unite the two lovers. At least I believe that's what I caught. However,
+if I had not thought that you were keeping the little one for yourself I
+would have demanded her hand of you long ago. It seems to me that I
+deserve the preference over that little masker, who if it had not been
+for his petticoat would have paid dearly for the slap on the face he
+gave me."
+
+"You become Blanche's husband!" said the barber, glancing scornfully at
+the little man. "Listen, Chaudoreille, it suits me to give Blanche to
+this young man; he will make her happy."
+
+"As to that you are the master, but--"
+
+"But, if you say a word about what you have seen and heard tonight I
+shall draw down upon you the most terrible vengeance. Do you understand
+me?"
+
+"Yes, I understand you. By jingo, marry the little one with whom you
+please. I don't care a fig for the pair of them. However, if there is to
+be a wedding, I hope--"
+
+"No, there will be neither a wedding nor a repast--"
+
+"That will be gay!"
+
+"But, if you are discreet, I promise you two pieces of gold when
+everything is finished and Blanche has left this house."
+
+"Agreed. That will suit me, it is as if I held them now; you might as
+well pay me in advance."
+
+"I prefer, however, not to pay you until afterwards. But the night is
+drawing to a close; go home, Chaudoreille, and remember your promise."
+
+"Yes, yes, that's settled. Is there any news of the seductive marquis
+and the young Italian?"
+
+"I believe that fire is already extinguished. But that doesn't astonish
+me; a fortnight, three weeks, is the measure of the constancy of our
+great noblemen."
+
+"And after that's ended it's probable that there will be one intrigue
+after another to conduct. If so remember me, my dear Touquet."
+
+"Very good, go to your bed!"
+
+"In fact, it's about time. I'll go back to the Rue Brise-Miche;
+fortunately my portress has a liking for me, or else I should run a
+great risk of sleeping in the street. However, if you wish, I could wait
+for day here, on a chair."
+
+"No, no, it's necessary for you to go; I need some rest, also, and it
+seems to me that I shall get little of it this night."
+
+Chaudoreille enveloped himself as well as he could in his mantle and
+went towards the door, making a grimace. The barber closed it on him and
+went to his room, saying,--
+
+"I have done well; she will go away, no one will hear tell of her again,
+and everything regarding her will soon be forgotten."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+HAPPY MOMENTS
+
+
+Marguerite alone had slept during the night which had wrought so great a
+change in the barber's household; greatly cheered and calmed by the
+possession of Ursule's talisman she slept more soundly than she had ever
+done in her new room. As for Blanche one may well suppose that she did
+not close her eyes for a moment. The amiable child, still bewildered by
+all the events which had taken place, had hardly had time to pass from
+the fear of love to the fear of happiness; she was too innocent, too
+childlike to have dreamed of love as yet, her poor heart hardly yet
+realized its own state, though one sentiment stronger than all others
+dominated its thoughts. She tossed continually on her couch, repeating
+to herself,--
+
+"He's a boy, and it was he who sang so beautifully. Mercy, who could
+have expected it? He was so pleasing as a girl; however, I believe he
+will be still better as a boy. Oh, I wish it was evening now. He said
+that he loved me--how strange that is--do I also love him? I believe I
+do. However, I must ask Marguerite what love is, she ought to know that.
+Poor Marguerite, how surprised she'll be when she learns that he was
+not a girl. Oh, I wish it was day now."
+
+The day so much desired appeared at length. Blanche had been up for a
+long time; impatient at not hearing the old nurse come down, she could
+not resist going up to Marguerite's room. She knocked at the door,
+exclaiming,--
+
+"Wake up, dear nurse! it's very late. I have a thousand things to tell
+you. Get up, I beg of you--you have slept long enough."
+
+Marguerite, who never had to be awakened, because she always rose
+sufficiently early, rubbed her eyes, believing that the house was on
+fire, sought to recall her ideas, to recover the talisman which had been
+entrusted to her and which had been lost among the bedclothes, while
+invoking her patron saint, and muttering,--
+
+"Where has it gone to? I've looked for it--has the devil taken it away
+from me during the night? Wait now--ah, I shan't find it again. I
+thought I felt something. It must have been the devil who took it
+maliciously!"
+
+Finally Marguerite found the little scrap of Urbain's breeches, and
+recalling all that had taken place on the evening before, she hastened
+to open the door to Blanche, and said,--
+
+"Has Ursule gone? It's necessary to hasten her away, my child."
+
+"Oh, yes, she's gone; that is to say, he's gone. But don't be afraid, my
+good friend is willing that he should come--he wishes him to marry me;
+he's no longer angry. He's coming here this evening as a boy; you will
+see how nice he is; and when we are married, we shall go into the
+country and you shall come with us. Oh, how happy I shall be! Come,
+Marguerite, laugh too; you see it's no longer necessary to have any
+fear."
+
+Marguerite had no desire to laugh, she would rather have wept, for she
+understood nothing that Blanche was saying; she opened her eyes as
+widely as possible and exclaimed,--
+
+"O good God, my dear child, is your head turned this morning? Can that
+Ursule be a sorcerer? Don't jump like that, I beg of you."
+
+Blanche recommenced her narrative and at last made Marguerite understand
+that Ursule was a boy. The old woman cried, affrightedly,--
+
+"My God! a boy, and he slept with you?"
+
+"Oh, no, dear nurse, because Monsieur Touquet came in just at the moment
+when--mercy! I don't know what we were doing at that moment--oh, yes, I
+believe he was kissing me."
+
+"Holy Virgin! it was a goblin disguised as a girl."
+
+"No, dear nurse, he's called Urbain, he's an orphan like me; but his
+family was very respectable, and he's going to marry me."
+
+"To marry you?"
+
+"Yes, certainly. You won't oppose it when my protector has given his
+consent, will you?"
+
+"What, M. Touquet has consented to it?"
+
+"Yes, yes, I tell you. It's finished. Everything is arranged."
+
+The good old woman hardly believed that her ears did not deceive her,
+but the arrival of her master put an end to her doubts.
+
+The barber looked very stern as he approached Marguerite, and the old
+woman trembled, for she felt that she was in fault.
+
+"Marguerite," he said, "I could punish you for having betrayed my
+confidence, for having, despite my orders, introduced someone into the
+house. You will tell me, like Blanche, that you have been deceived--and
+I would wish to think so, besides, as I have forgiven it, it is needless
+to dwell on what is past. The young man will be Blanche's husband; he
+will make her happy. You will go with them when they leave this house. I
+have but one command to lay upon you, and that is to keep this incident
+from all your gossips in this neighborhood. If you commit the least
+indiscretion, I'll send you away and you will prevent this marriage from
+taking place."
+
+"Oh, dear nurse, don't say anything about it," cried Blanche.
+
+"No, mademoiselle; no, monsieur," responded Marguerite, still trembling,
+"I swear to you that--"
+
+"That's enough," said the barber. "You love Blanche, and her happiness
+depends upon your discretion. Urbain will come in the evenings only,
+until the day he takes away his bride."
+
+The barber departed after thus speaking, leaving Marguerite still
+dumbfounded by all that she had heard.
+
+"How is this?" said she, following Blanche to her room; "M. Touquet
+consented to this at once?"
+
+"Yes, dear nurse."
+
+"I'm not to be sent away."
+
+"That surprises me, also; I was so afraid he would refuse Urbain."
+
+"Urbain--Urbain--but you don't know him, my child!"
+
+"Why, yes, I do, dear nurse, since he is Ursule."
+
+"I understand that very well; but Ursule has deceived us."
+
+"It was that he might see me that Urbain disguised himself; it was love
+that made him do it, dear nurse."
+
+"Love, indeed! but you cannot yet love him, my child."
+
+"Oh, dear nurse, I believe I shall love him very quickly. Urbain was
+teaching me how to love yesterday, when my protector knocked at the
+door."
+
+"Jesu, Maria! What, my child, in place of calling for help when you saw
+it was a man?"
+
+"I desired to do so at first, but if you only knew! Urbain was not at
+all alarming, on the contrary; and then he threw himself at my feet and
+begged my pardon with such a sweet air, with eyes so--O Marguerite, what
+should I have forgiven him for?"
+
+"Good heavens! And your talisman, my girl, did you not have recourse to
+that?"
+
+"Oh, forgive me, dear nurse, I even showed it several times to Urbain."
+
+"And it didn't cause him to fly?"
+
+"On the contrary, dear nurse, he drew still nearer."
+
+"Come, decidedly everything is upside down. It must be that boy is a
+magician to work such changes in this house. I shall no longer have any
+faith in his little relic."
+
+Blanche and the old woman awaited the evening with impatience;
+Marguerite curious to know the young man who had wrought such prodigies
+in her master's house, and the young girl ardently desiring to see again
+him who had caused her to sigh and to experience an entirely new
+feeling. But Blanche's desires were mingled with that timidity, that
+bashfulness, which accompany a first love. As the hour of Urbain's
+arrival approached she felt more restless and dreamy, and already this
+unknown sentiment inspired her with a secret desire to please; she rose,
+looked at herself in the mirror, and arranged a lock of hair, then she
+said to Marguerite,--
+
+"Dear nurse, do I look all right? Do you think he will love me as much
+tonight as he did yesterday?"
+
+"Dear child," cried the old servant, "if he is capable of changing would
+he be worthy of you? When one loves truly, my dear, 'tis for life."
+
+"Oh, that is much better, dear nurse; I should like to love like that.
+You will see that there's nothing about Urbain to frighten one, and I am
+sure I shall love him also."
+
+The young bachelor desired with no less impatience than Blanche the
+moment when he could return to the barber's house. Since the evening
+before Urbain had entirely lost his head, and his happiness had been so
+sudden, so unforeseen, that it had completely unbalanced him for the
+time. He had returned to his lodging in the night, dancing, singing and
+running in the street. In his intoxication he had lost his skirt and his
+kerchief; but he had no further need of his disguise, and without
+troubling himself to pick up those portions of his costume he had
+arrived at home partly undressed, but so happy that he would not have
+changed his lot for the fortune, the favor or the power of the cardinal;
+and in that he was right, the joys which love brings are not, as is the
+case with grandeur and power, mingled with anxieties and cares.
+
+The next day Urbain would have liked to tell his happiness to all the
+world, but he remembered that one of the first conditions of his
+marriage with Blanche was that he should keep the matter entirely
+secret; he contented himself, therefore, with looking at everybody who
+passed with an air of satisfaction and triumph which indicated a mind
+impervious to the strokes of fortune.
+
+In the evening his neighbor came, as usual, to propose to help him in
+disguising himself; but Urbain thanked her; he had no further need of
+her services and the good-natured girl seemed vexed that the
+masqueradings were ended.
+
+Urbain wished to please as a man still more than he had wished to do so
+as a country woman; he put on his collar and his hat with more care than
+he ordinarily took. He looked to see that his hair did not fall in
+disorder over his forehead, and sighed as he said,--
+
+"If I should not succeed in pleasing her!" However, the remembrance of
+the evening before gave him courage, and he took his way to the barber's
+house. He trembled as he knocked at the door, although the fear of being
+sent away did not present itself to his mind. The sound of the knocker
+went to Blanche's heart, and she jumped from her chair, exclaiming,--
+
+"It's he!" and was about to run to the street door when Marguerite
+stopped her, saying,--
+
+"How now, my child, what are you going to do? It would not be decent for
+you to go and open the door for this young man."
+
+"Do you think so, nurse. Very well; go then, Marguerite; go quickly."
+
+Marguerite hurried as fast as she could, she was anxious to see the
+young man. She opened the door to Urbain and looked at him attentively;
+his gentle and diffident appearance made a favorable impression on the
+old woman.
+
+"It's singular--he appears to be more embarrassed as a boy than as a
+girl. Come in, come in, my handsome young spark; come in. Now we shall
+see if you've any more stories to relate of the adventures of your aunts
+and cousins."
+
+"Yes, my good Marguerite," said Urbain, "I shall continue to tell them
+to you if they give you pleasure."
+
+"He wishes to please me," said Marguerite to herself. "Yes, Blanche was
+right, the young man is very charming."
+
+The embarrassment of these two young lovers was a very singular thing,
+inasmuch as they had in their first interview spoken so freely of their
+love, and were already engaged and certain of being married. Blanche,
+who had at first wished to run to the door, now dared not raise her
+eyes, and, on hearing Urbain's step, remained motionless on her chair.
+The latter, on entering this room where he had been every evening for a
+fortnight, experienced an uneasiness, a new embarrassment, and paused
+near the door, holding his hat in his hand, and glancing timidly at
+Blanche.
+
+"Well," said Marguerite, "here's one who dares go no farther at present.
+Come, master boy, when you were a girl you didn't thus remain standing
+motionless and mute at the door; and my poor Blanche, who is afraid to
+raise her eyes and is trembling like a leaf. My darling, it isn't
+necessary to blush like that when one has done nothing wrong. You see, I
+am obliged to encourage you."
+
+However, Urbain gently approached Blanche, bent his knees to the floor
+and murmured,--
+
+"If you no longer feel friendly to me, if this costume has made you lose
+confidence in me--I will resume that of Ursule."
+
+The sweet girl timidly raised her head, and bending on Urbain a look of
+the tenderest love, she said, blushing deeper than before,--
+
+"Oh, it isn't that. Excuse me, I don't know what is the matter with me."
+
+She turned her head to hide her face in Marguerite's bosom, and said in
+a low tone to the latter,--
+
+"Dear nurse, is it love that makes me feel so shy?"
+
+"I remember scarcely anything about love now," answered the old woman,
+shaking her head; "however, yes, I believe in my young days it did
+evince itself somewhat in that fashion."
+
+Blanche turned to Urbain and said to him, with a charming smile,--
+
+"Don't be angry with me; if I am awkward and embarrassed it is because I
+love you."
+
+Delighted at the candor of the young girl, Urbain took her hand and
+pressed it against his heart, then, seating himself near her, he renewed
+the vows with which love for her inspired him. Confidence was soon
+reestablished between them; when two hearts beat in accord, constraint
+is soon banished. Blanche resumed her gayety, her ingenuousness, and
+allowed her lover to read all her feelings, and the latter perceived
+that he had a treasure of innocence and kindness.
+
+Marguerite joined in the conversation of the young people; Urbain, by
+his amiability and the deference he showed for the old servant's advice,
+entirely won her friendship. The young bachelor praised the situation of
+his little property, which in the midst of a charming country offered
+delightful walks and all the pleasures of a rural existence. He promised
+the old woman to give her a room impervious to every enchantment, and to
+tell her in the long winter evenings some of the gruesome stories which
+gave her both fear and pleasure.
+
+While chatting with Marguerite, the tender glances, pressings of the
+hand and sweet smiles of the two lovers established between them that
+sympathy of mind which gives the first, and perhaps the sweetest, taste
+of love.
+
+The time passed rapidly, nine o'clock struck, the hour which the barber
+had fixed for Urbain's departure, and they knew they must obey his
+commands if they wished him to keep his promises.
+
+"Must I leave you already?" said Urbain.
+
+"I'm sorry you must go," answered Blanche, sighing tenderly.
+
+"You will see each other again tomorrow, my children," said Marguerite,
+"and the day will soon come when you will no longer have to part.
+Monsieur Dorgeville, have you begun the necessary preparations for your
+marriage?"
+
+"Mon Dieu!" said Urbain, "I was so unsettled today that I could think of
+nothing but the happiness that I should enjoy this evening; and I have
+done nothing yet."
+
+"If you are as heedless every day, your marriage will never take place,"
+said Marguerite.
+
+"Oh, tomorrow I will begin to put matters in train. I am anxious for the
+time when I shan't have to leave Blanche; but I haven't seen Monsieur
+Touquet this evening. Ought I not to go and say good evening to him?"
+
+"No, it is needless; my master is unlike other men; he has no use for
+ceremony. He said to me, very positively, 'The young man will come at
+seven o'clock; you will conduct him to Blanche's room, where you will
+remain with them, and at nine o'clock he will go. When I wish to speak
+with him I will seek him, but it is needless for him to endeavor to see
+me.'"
+
+"What a singular man!" said Urbain; "but I ought to bless him, for he
+has made me happy, and I accused him. I had a suspicion that he wished
+to guard this treasure for himself by hiding her from everyone."
+
+"For himself," cried Blanche, "how could that be possible?"
+
+"Forgive me, dear Blanche, love makes one jealous; I see well that I was
+unjust."
+
+"Yes, yes," said Marguerite, "but hasten to get your documents drawn and
+marry this dear child."
+
+The bachelor left at last, but Blanche's looks followed him and he could
+not doubt his happiness; he possessed the heart of an amiable girl who
+did not seek to hide from him the sentiments with which he inspired her.
+The next day Urbain took the preliminary steps to hasten his marriage;
+he had also to sell the little furniture he possessed, for it was very
+necessary to obtain some money for the journey; and, in regard to that,
+the bachelor soon saw that Monsieur Touquet evinced no generosity of
+disposition. But a lover who is about to marry his sweetheart always
+believes himself rich enough, and, besides, Blanche having been reared
+in retirement had no extravagant desires in regard to household
+expenses, dress or ornaments; she would be economical and simple in her
+tastes, which qualities are often of more value than the bride's dowry.
+
+Evening again brought Urbain to his sweetheart; on this occasion the
+embarrassment had disappeared, and they gave themselves up entirely to
+the pleasure they experienced in seeing each other again. The time they
+passed together rolled on as rapidly as before, but they consoled
+themselves by remembering that the day would soon come when they would
+be united forever. On the fourth evening that Urbain passed with Blanche
+the door opened, and the barber made his appearance.
+
+He slightly inclined his head to Urbain and said to him, in his ordinary
+brief tone,--
+
+"Are you making preparations for your marriage?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur," said Urbain, rising and going up to Touquet, "but you
+know employers never share one's impatience. However, within six days,
+or a little later, I should have all my papers. I have seen the priest
+who is to unite us and have made all my preparations for departure."
+
+"That's well."
+
+The barber made no further remark and left the young people, who were
+for a moment astonished at his conduct; but after all they were not
+sorry to be able to give themselves up to the pleasure of lovers'
+conversation with no other witnesses than old Marguerite, who sometimes
+went to sleep while Urbain and Blanche were silently pressing each
+other's hands. The time passes quickly when one is happy, and if the
+days were long for the two lovers, by way of revenge each evening seemed
+shorter than the last. The more they saw of each other the closer love
+drew his meshes about their hearts, which seemed formed for adoration,
+and now they could not conceive the possibility of an existence apart.
+
+But the day of their wedding approached. Only five days and they would
+pledge their vows at the altar; then they would leave the great city and
+in a peaceful retreat would enjoy pure happiness undisturbed by the
+storm and stress of life. This at least was the future they hoped for.
+
+Chaudoreille, urged by a desire to receive the recompense the barber had
+promised him, had already presented himself three times at the latter's
+house, saying,--
+
+"Has the marriage taken place?"
+
+"Not yet," answered Touquet.
+
+Then Chaudoreille departed, muttering,--
+
+"I wish they'd hurry now. What the deuce! I need some money. Why, in
+twelve days I'd have married a dozen women."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A DAY WITH CHAUDOREILLE
+
+
+Chaudoreille, who had not yet received the two pieces of gold which the
+barber had promised him found himself in his usual penniless condition
+as he went one fine morning down the Rue des Petits Carreaux. He was
+just coming from the Saint-Germain fair, where he had not on this
+occasion found anybody disposed to receive a lesson in skittles, and he
+was going towards the Saint-Laurent fair, hoping that fortune would be
+somewhat more favorable to him in the latter haunt.
+
+Following his custom, Chaudoreille walked with his nose in the air,
+ogling from one side to the other; his left hand on his hip, and his
+right hand caressing his mustache. As he approached the boulevards he
+felt somebody pull gently at his mantle. The pusillanimous fellow
+started with fright, but on turning his head he perceived an old servant
+maid, and seeing he had nothing to fear he put his hand on his sword,
+and cried loudly,--
+
+"By jingo! I thought it was a man and I was going to demand his reason
+for touching me. What do you want with me? Don't pull my mantle so
+hard, it's a little decayed."
+
+The old woman put her finger on her mouth, and with a mysterious air,
+said,--
+
+"My mistress wishes to speak with you."
+
+"Your mistress," cried Chaudoreille, his features becoming cheerful, for
+he did not doubt that he had made a conquest, "oh, that's it, my good
+woman, I understand you. But is she young? is she rich? is she?--Never
+mind, it's all the same, lead me to her."
+
+"No, she can't receive you today, but be here tomorrow at dusk. I will
+come and look for you and will introduce you."
+
+"It's enough! I'll be here, I'll not fail, whether it rains or shines.
+One word, if you please, messenger of love. Can you not tell me where
+your mistress has seen me?"
+
+"In the street, I presume, since she was at her window. Tomorrow
+evening, monsieur; I can't stop any longer."
+
+"Go, Flore! go back to Cytheree," said Chaudoreille, as the old woman
+went off, then he continued on his way, saying,--
+
+"It's an amorous adventure, I know;--this mystery and a rendezvous at
+dusk. She has seen me through the window. By jingo! I do well to look my
+best; a pretty man should always carry himself as if everybody was
+looking at him." He then walked along, looking so much in the air that
+he ran against a water-carrier who was advancing quietly with his two
+buckets full, and threw himself so heavily upon him that one of the
+buckets escaped from his hand.
+
+"Cursed idiot," cried the Auvergnat. "Wait, take that to teach you to
+look before you!" Saying these words the water-carrier calmly emptied
+his other bucket over Chaudoreille. The chevalier was drenched. In his
+fury he drew Rolande from the scabbard and advanced on the Auvergnat;
+but the water-carrier, without appearing at all dismayed by the falchion
+which his adversary flashed as he capered and jumped about like one
+possessed, took one of his buckets in each hand and tranquilly awaited
+the expected onset of the doughty knight, shouting in an aggravatingly
+jeering tone,--
+
+"Come on, you baked apple! come on stupid, that turnspit you term a
+sword doesn't frighten me in the least."
+
+Chaudoreille put Rolande in his scabbard again and then escaped by the
+boulevard, crying, "Watch," and followed by all the idlers, and these
+were not a few, of the neighborhood. The chevalier did not pause in his
+flight until he was positively sure there was no longer anybody behind
+him. He was then quite near the Fosses Jaunes, which were excavated in
+the reign of Charles the Ninth, and which extended from the Porte
+Saint-Denis nearly to the Porte Saint-Honore. These had been made to
+still further enlarge Paris. A new wall was built along the Fosses
+Jaunes, and also two new gates; one, Rue Montmartre, near the Rue des
+Jeuneurs, replaced the old Porte Montmartre, demolished in 1633; the
+other, Rue Saint-Honore, between the boulevard and the Rue Royale,
+replaced the one situated between the Rue Richelieu and the Rue
+Saint-Honore, which was erected in 1631. On the terrace within this new
+wall they presently laid out the Rues de Clery, du Mail, des
+Fosses-Montmartre, de Victoires, des Petits-Champs, etc. However, in the
+midst of these new constructions the hill of Saint-Roch still preserved
+its picturesque form and its windmills.
+
+Chaudoreille was trembling, he was very cold; and he could not change at
+his house, for a reason that one may easily divine. Fortunately the
+weather was fine and the sun, while it gave little heat, shone on the
+promenade, established then along the wall of Paris. The chevalier saw
+no other means of drying himself than that of running for two or three
+hours in the sun, and he gave himself immediately to that exercise,
+looking much less in the air than formerly, and only answering some of
+his acquaintances, who asked him why he ran so quickly, by these
+words,--
+
+"It's a wager, don't stop me. I have put up a hundred pistoles that I
+would sweat some great drops."
+
+The chevalier's garments commenced to have more consistence and he
+stopped to take breath.
+
+"You have missed your vocation, my friend; you should have been a runner
+for some prince," said a man, who had stopped with two others, and
+seemed to take much pleasure in looking at Chaudoreille, while one of
+his companions, of an extraordinarily stout build, laughed at the top of
+his voice, and the third making comical gestures and extraordinary
+grimaces seemed to be trying to copy the features and the figure of the
+runner.
+
+"What do you say, monsieur," said the son of Gascony to the three
+individuals, who had stopped before him, "can't one run if he wants to,
+capededious!"
+
+"Oh, his accent renders him even more comical," said the fat man. "Look
+at him well, comrade, it's necessary to reproduce that face for us this
+evening. It will be worth its weight in gold."
+
+"I have it," responded the third. "Hang it! may I stifle if I don't copy
+it this evening, feature for feature."
+
+"Have you looked at me long enough," said Chaudoreille, ogling them from
+the back, because he did not feel enough courage to look them in the
+face. "What do you take me to be?"
+
+"Oh, hang it!" said Turlupin, to himself, for it was he who was walking
+with his two companions, Gros-Guillaume and Gautier-Garguille. "We must
+try to make the little man angry. That can't fail to amuse us."
+
+Approaching Chaudoreille, who was reflecting on the grimace he should
+make, he commenced by striking Rolande's scabbard with the stick which
+he held in his hand, saying,--
+
+"What the devil do you call that, seigneur chevalier?"
+
+The chevalier became at one moment pale, red, and yellow.
+
+"These men are desirous of seeking a quarrel with me," said he to
+himself, looking around him to see if he could make his retreat. But
+already some passers-by had stopped and formed a circle; for, having
+recognized the three comedians who had been drawing crowds at the Hotel
+de Bourgogne, they did not doubt they were going to play some farce with
+the personage whom they were surrounding. The sight of all these people
+calmed Chaudoreille's fear a little.
+
+"It is unlikely," said he to himself, "that they will let these three
+men kill me without rescuing me." He then endeavored to put a good face
+on the matter. Glancing at the crowd with what he meant to be a look of
+assurance, he exclaimed,--
+
+"I don't understand why these gentlemen molest me. I take everybody to
+witness that I have not insulted them."
+
+A general laugh was the only answer Chaudoreille received, which had the
+effect of increasing his ill-humor; he angrily drew down his little hat
+in such a way that the gold-colored rosette almost touched the tip of
+his nose, and tried to make his way through the crowd, but they drew
+closer to him on every side, and he found himself face to face with
+Turlupin, who put himself on guard with his stick; Chaudoreille turned
+another way and was confronted by Gautier-Garguille, who had placed his
+hat precisely in the same manner as Chaudoreille's, and imitated exactly
+his piteous grimaces; finally, Gros-Guillaume barred the chevalier's
+passage with his enormous corpulence.
+
+Chaudoreille was exasperated, he could bear no more and he drew Rolande.
+Turlupin advanced to the combat with his cane, and the chevalier, having
+eyed his adversary's weapon out of the corner of his eye, put himself on
+guard, crying,--
+
+"Look to it, guard yourself carefully; I ply a very strong blade."
+
+At the end of the third bout Turlupin feigned to be wounded; he fell,
+uttering a horrible groan, and making a frightful contortion.
+Gros-Guillaume threw himself down beside him, exclaiming,--
+
+"He is dead!"
+
+Chaudoreille was stunned and bewildered; he still held his sword in his
+hand and looked at everyone as if distracted. Gautier-Garguille took him
+by the arm and led him away, saying,--
+
+"Save yourself; you have killed the son of the King of Cochin-China."
+
+Chaudoreille listened no further; he went on his way, left Paris and
+darted across the fields and the marshes; the three hours he had spent
+in running in the sun had not strained his legs, he felt no fatigue;
+fear lent him wings, and he did not stop until he believed that he had
+escaped the pursuit of which he imagined himself to be the object. It
+may seem astonishing, perhaps, that the chevalier had not recognized, in
+the three men who had stopped him on the boulevard, the three comedians
+whose performances were then in great vogue, and who permitted
+themselves a thousand licenses that the Parisians authorized, and which
+delighted even the great noblemen. But when Chaudoreille had any money
+he passed the greater part of his time in gambling houses, and had been
+but rarely to the theatre called the Hotel de Bourgogne; besides,
+Turlupin and Gautier-Garguille were so adept in the art of changing
+their physiognomies that it was difficult to recognize them unless one
+had often witnessed their performances.
+
+The fugitive had stopped to breathe for a moment, he looked timidly
+about him and recognized the locality; he was at the end of the Faubourg
+Saint-Antoine, near the Vallee de Fecamp, and he perceived about three
+hundred paces from him the Marquis de Villebelle's little house.
+
+Chaudoreille had fasted since the evening before, he was overcome with
+fatigue and believed himself menaced by the greatest dangers. In such
+circumstances he forgot that the barber had forbidden him to go there
+and decided to ring at the little house and seek refuge.
+
+Collecting his strength he turned towards the dwelling; he rang the
+bell, and Marcel opened the door almost immediately.
+
+"What, is it you?" said he in astonishment. "Did the marquis or M.
+Touquet send you here?"
+
+Before answering, Chaudoreille entered the garden, and closed the door
+after him.
+
+"But what the devil is the matter with you?" said Marcel. "What are you
+doing here?--and your face is in such a state, all in a cold sweat; one
+would believe, on my word, that you'd all the sergeants of Paris at your
+heels."
+
+"And you wouldn't be mistaken," said Chaudoreille, in a scarcely audible
+voice.
+
+"Why, what are you saying?"
+
+"That I'm pursued, or at least I shall be. That the greatest danger
+threatens me."
+
+"My God! What have you done?"
+
+"I've killed the son of the King of Cochin-China."
+
+"The son of Cochin-China?"
+
+"Why, yes, just now, not more than a few minutes ago, against the
+Fosses-Jaunes--near the Porte Saint-Denis--but it was in honorable
+combat, a duel with equal weapons; and Rolande laid him at my feet.
+Heavens, what a cry he uttered as he fell--it still rings in my ears. I
+slaughtered him like a bullock."
+
+Marcel listened with his habitual good-humor; however, Chaudoreille's
+story appeared so extraordinary that he could not refrain from
+exclaiming,--
+
+"But, truly, can all that be possible?"
+
+"What, by jingo, you question its possibility,--my dear Marcel, it's
+absolutely true. You know me; you know that I'm a hot-headed fellow, a
+rake of honor. It's a habit I've formed, and what can you expect. I
+can't reform myself. But this time, at all events, it was not my fault.
+I was walking quietly along by the city wall; all of a sudden three men
+came before me and uttered some jokes which were very much out of place
+and offended me; I politely asked them to allow me to pass, but they
+still obstructed my way. I immediately drew my sword, the crowd
+surrounded us, one of my adversaries put himself on guard. I immediately
+rushed on him; the combat was terrible. My enemy fought desperately; but
+soon he fell at my feet, making frightful grimaces, and one of his
+companions told me I had killed the heir to the throne of Cochin-China."
+
+"And what the devil was the Prince of Cochin-China doing on the
+boulevards with two idiots who allowed him to fight with you?"
+
+"Faith, I didn't have time to get any information on that point; he had
+no doubt come to Paris to take some exercise--the poor fellow. But you
+can imagine that this adventure will become notorious; they'll send out
+a description of me; they'll put all the squads in Paris in pursuit of
+me; my dear Marcel, it's necessary that you should hide me for several
+days."
+
+"I'm very sorry to say that I can't do it; I thought you'd been sent
+here by my master with orders for me; since that's not the case you must
+go, for he has expressly forbidden me to receive anybody here except
+those that are sent to me. M. de Villebelle will discharge me if, on
+arriving suddenly with some of his friends, he should find a stranger in
+the place."
+
+"Zounds! I'm not a stranger, since I've already served your master in
+his love affairs. My dear Marcel, you don't wish my death."
+
+"No, but I don't wish to lose my place."
+
+"You are alone here?"
+
+"Of course I am; but monseigneur may come when one is least expecting
+him."
+
+"He won't come today."
+
+"You don't know anything about it."
+
+"I beg your pardon; I know that his presence is commanded at court. I
+only ask shelter of you until tomorrow--but, Marcel, my life is in your
+hands."
+
+"Come, your fright is very ill-timed."
+
+"The Cochin-Chinas will be leagued against me."
+
+"Let them league themselves."
+
+"I've eaten nothing since yesterday."
+
+"I'm not to blame for that."
+
+"Marcel, will nothing move you; do you want me to throw myself at your
+feet? Well, behold me there. You are softening, you yield; I see tears
+in your eyes."
+
+"Well, only just till tomorrow; but hang it, if monseigneur should
+arrive this evening?"
+
+"I promise you I'll jump over the wall."
+
+Chaudoreille breathed more freely; and directed his steps towards the
+house.
+
+"Oh, delightful purlieus, how has my destiny changed since I quitted
+you," said the chevalier, drawing out his little silk handkerchief to
+dry his eyes. But on reaching the dining-room, which he recognized, his
+sadness appeared somewhat lessened. He was the first to seat himself at
+the table; he invited Marcel to go to the cellar, and did not give him a
+moment's rest until the supper was served; for it was then five o'clock,
+and in those days everybody dined at midday.
+
+"I'm not hungry yet," said Marcel, as he seated himself, "ordinarily I
+don't sup until eight o'clock."
+
+"Oh, never mind that, I can eat for both of us, and it needn't prevent
+our supping at eight o'clock; for I do not wish to make any change in
+your usual habits. O my friend, what a day's work; if you knew all that
+had happened to me. At first it began very well; an amorous rendezvous
+given to me by a lady who fell in love with me through seeing me from
+her window."
+
+"Pshaw!"
+
+"Give me a wing of that fowl. Yes, my friend, a passion I inspired while
+watching the flight of some swallows--but--I am used to that. Pour me
+out something to drink. I'm sure she's a woman of high rank. She sent to
+me by one of her slaves, I think it was a mulatto, or she must take a
+devil of a lot of snuff, for her nose was the color of terra-cotta."
+
+"And when are you to meet?"
+
+"Tomorrow evening. But at present, can I think of it? This unfortunate
+duel has spoiled all my plans. They'll perhaps put me in the Bastile for
+five or six years."
+
+"Well, you are a fool."
+
+"Oh, do you think that anyone may kill the Prince of Cochin-China like a
+little shopkeeper of the Marais. My situation is alarming. Give me some
+pasty, I beg of you."
+
+"Did you satisfy yourself that your man was dead?"
+
+"If you had heard the cry he uttered as he fell, you would not doubt it
+yourself. It's a cursed day's work; that thief of a water-carrier
+brought this ill luck upon me!"
+
+"A water-carrier?"
+
+"Yes, one with whom I fought this morning."
+
+"Are you always fighting?"
+
+"Well, by jingo, I can't take twenty steps without fighting; the
+government should give me a pension to remain at home. What, another
+stroke of ill luck? Good God! it seems to me I hear a great deal of
+noise outside."
+
+"What does it matter to us, it's only some pages, lackeys, or students
+who are amusing themselves by fighting; oh, I'm accustomed to all that."
+
+"It's more likely they're coming to arrest me."
+
+"Nothing of the kind, I tell you."
+
+"Well, Marcel, you're very fortunate in not being a man of the sword."
+
+"A stick serves just as well to defend me; but I don't seek a quarrel
+with anyone."
+
+"You're very right; I envy your gentle urbanity. But I believe I hear
+nothing more. Give me something to drink. I feel calmer."
+
+"Have you done eating?"
+
+"Yes, I can now wait till supper. Marcel, it was here we wagered on the
+flies."
+
+"I remember it."
+
+"Will you take part in a game to pass the time?"
+
+"Much obliged; but I didn't like the game."
+
+"Oh, it wasn't that one I was about to propose; but I believe I happen
+to have some cards in my pocket. Come, a hand at piquet?"
+
+"No, I don't care to play."
+
+"Why, by jingo! it's only to pass a few hours; we shan't ruin ourselves;
+I haven't more than two pieces of gold about me; and when I shall have
+lost that, to the devil with me if I continue."
+
+Marcel yielded to Chaudoreille's solicitations, who immediately set out
+the table and drew a pack of cards from his pocket, looking at them
+tenderly as he placed them between himself and Marcel, saying,--
+
+"We'll play for a crown on each side."
+
+"It's too much."
+
+"Pooh! one lost, another gained; it's only between the pair of us."
+
+"Yes, but if one wins all."
+
+"Nonsense, we are equally good players."
+
+"But you haven't laid your money down."
+
+"I've told you I've nothing but gold, I'll change it when I've lost some
+hundreds."
+
+They commenced to play. Chaudoreille's face was animated, his eyes were
+shining, and seemed as if they would leave their orbits to look at his
+adversary's play.
+
+"These cards are not new," said Marcel, "they are all stained or
+marked."
+
+"That's because they've been so much used apparently. I leave it to
+you," said Chaudoreille, looking carefully at the backs of the cards
+which were at the bottom of the pack.
+
+"Hang it! you've made me a pretty present; there, these are the seven
+and the eight."
+
+Chaudoreille won the first game, then a second and a third, because,
+thanks to the marks he had made on the back of each card, he knew them
+as well by their backs as by their faces.
+
+"It's singular," said Marcel, "that I never win anything; you always
+have the best cards."
+
+"What would you have? It's chance, luck; but it will probably turn."
+
+The luck did not turn and Marcel's crowns passed into Chaudoreille's
+pocket. The chevalier was scarlet, trembling, and the veins on his
+forehead were swollen by the ardor of his play, when the bell at the
+garden gate rang violently.
+
+"Oh, the deuce! there's somebody," said Marcel.
+
+"I am lost!" cried Chaudoreille jumping on his chair, "it is somebody
+come to arrest me."
+
+He immediately rose and ran around the room, went through the first door
+he saw and disappeared, without listening to Marcel, who called to
+him,--
+
+"It's monseigneur; it's M. de Villebelle; keep still and I'll let you
+out without his seeing you."
+
+But Chaudoreille had disappeared and the bell continued to ring. Marcel
+was obliged to open the gate without knowing what had become of his
+guest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE LITTLE SUPPER
+
+
+"And pray why did you make us wait so long, clown?" said the marquis
+angrily to Marcel, as he entered the garden with three men, two of whom
+were enveloped in their cloaks, while the third had no hat and nothing
+to cover his velvet doublet, which was stained in many places with mud;
+this, however, did not prevent its owner from bursting into shouts of
+laughter as he looked at himself, as though he still enjoyed some frolic
+in which he had participated.
+
+"Follow me, my friends," said the marquis.
+
+"Oh, I know the way to your little nest of the Faubourg," said one,
+"it's not the first time I've come here."
+
+"Nor me."
+
+"That's all very well; as for me, messieurs, I make my first appearance
+here today and in a brilliant costume I hope. Ha! Ha! What the devil! if
+anybody should happen to divine that I ought to be present this evening
+at the petit coucher, 'twould be deuced awkward for me!"
+
+"Come, Marcel, show us a light," said the marquis, pushing the valet
+before him, while the latter, anxious and uneasy, was constantly
+glancing around him.
+
+"You've been sleeping already, rascal, for you look stupefied."
+
+"Yes, monseigneur, that's true, I have been asleep."
+
+"He lives the life of a canon here. He does nothing but eat and sleep."
+
+While speaking they had reached the house. Happily for Marcel the
+marquis never went into the lower room, where the card table was still
+standing. They went up into the apartment on the first floor. Marcel
+lighted many candles, while the marquis' friends threw themselves into
+armchairs, and Villebelle took off his mantle, saying,--
+
+"Come, hasten yourself, and serve us supper of all that you can get
+together; there are always provisions here. You have a poultry yard, a
+pigeon house; put some fowls quickly on the spit. We'll play while
+waiting for them to be served. Prepare the card table. Open that drawer,
+there are some cards and dice in it. Gentlemen, you will perhaps have
+meagre fare. I did not expect the pleasure of entertaining you this
+evening, but at least you shall have some good wine. The cellar is well
+furnished and we shall not lack champagne."
+
+"Hang it! that's the principal thing," said a big, pale young man whose
+features were regular, but who was disfigured by the scar of a sword-cut
+across his left cheek.
+
+"I, too, am of the vicomte's opinion," said his neighbor, who appeared
+to be some years older, and whose stoutness and high color contrasted
+with the physique of the first speaker.
+
+"Champagne before everything."
+
+"Oh, I recognize there that drunkard De Montgeran," said the young man
+with disordered costume. "As for me I am not displeased when the
+entertainment consists of wine. But let's play, gentlemen, let's play;
+it's necessary that I should recoup a hat and a cloak."
+
+"You might even add a doublet; for I don't think that you can present
+yourself anywhere in that one."
+
+"Those cursed shopkeepers, how they did resist this evening. That's all
+right, I had flogged three of them."
+
+"Yes, but except for the marquis and I you would have been in a very bad
+position."
+
+"Well! what the devil brought the quarrel about? for I don't know yet
+why I fought."
+
+"A trifling thing, a mere bagatelle; because I was carrying off with me
+a little bookkeeper's wife, the impertinent husband permitted himself to
+shout! The idiot, I should have sent his wife back at the end of two
+days. Hang it! I'd no desire to keep her."
+
+"Perhaps that's why he was angry."
+
+"I said a couple of words for him to the superintendent; before long our
+clerk will be destitute."
+
+"That's as it should be, it's necessary to teach these plebeians
+manners, who persuade themselves that they only take a wife for
+themselves."
+
+"In your place I should have asked for a lettre-de-cachet."
+
+"We shall see; that might still be done."
+
+During this conversation Marcel had prepared everything; he went down to
+the groundfloor and, while making his preparations for supper, called
+his comrade in a low tone, and looked in every corner of the room, but
+he had disappeared.
+
+"Where the devil has he hidden himself," said Marcel, who then looked in
+all the other rooms and went down to the cellar, where he called
+Chaudoreille again without receiving any answer. "He has apparently
+escaped into the garden and from there he will have jumped over the
+walls, as he said he would do. However, that astonishes me, for he would
+hardly care to leave the house."
+
+The marquis and his companions sat down to play, and while waiting for
+the supper they cracked several bottles of champagne to put themselves
+in good spirits; that is to say, to arouse in them the desire to commit
+new follies. The most extravagant bets were proposed and accepted, and
+while playing, drinking, singing, each one related his good fortune, his
+gallant adventures, drew his mistress' portrait, and passed in review
+the women of fashion, sparing the honest women no more than the
+courtesans.
+
+At last Marcel came to announce that supper was served in a neighboring
+room and the gentlemen left their play to go to the table. The room in
+which the supper was served equalled by its elegance the other rooms of
+this delightful retreat; while it served habitually for banquets, the
+beauty and the taste of its frescoes, the statues which decorated it,
+the sofas which furnished it, the lustres which lighted it, recalled the
+salons of ancient Rome where Horace, Propertius and Tibulus, surrounded
+by their friends and their competitors, sang of love and the charms of
+their mistresses while passing amphorae filled with falernian, or
+carrying to their lips cups where sparkled caecubum or massicum; and
+while crowned with myrtle and acanthus, in order to resemble their
+deities, proving only too well that they had all the weaknesses of
+mortals.
+
+Sybarites of a later time, the young men assembled at Villebelle's drank
+deep draughts of the generous wine with which the table was so amply
+provided; the marquis furnishing them an example by his avidity in
+emptying the flasks. Decorum and etiquette were banished from the
+repast, where liberty often degenerated into license. The convives had
+drawn the sofas to the table, and each one, half lying down like a
+pasha, held a glass of champagne which he emptied, shouting with
+laughter at the follies of which he heard or at those which he had
+himself committed.
+
+The young man who had come without a hat, and who was called the
+Chevalier de Chavagnac, was seated opposite a beautiful statue
+representing Psyche, to which he often raised his eyes. All of a sudden
+he interrupted the fat Montgeran, who was singing, by exclaiming,--
+
+"May the thunder crush me, if this Psyche didn't move!"
+
+"What the devil are you saying now?" asked the marquis.
+
+"I'm saying, I'm saying your Psyche has come to life, or I must be
+blind."
+
+"Oh, hang it, how delightful it would be if that pretty woman could come
+and take her place amongst us."
+
+"Gentlemen, it was no doubt Montgeran's voice which worked this miracle.
+A new Pygmalion, he softens marble."
+
+"You needn't make fun of my voice, gentlemen, it is held in no small
+estimation. It must rather have been your cynical conversation which
+made poor Psyche blush. But let me sing instead of listening to De
+Chavagnac's stupidity, who can't see clearly because he has drunk so
+much."
+
+"Yes, assuredly, I have been drinking, but I can still see. I've been
+looking at that statue for a long while, and several times it appeared
+to me as if it moved."
+
+"Marquis, are there any ghosts in your little house?"
+
+"I have never seen any here, but it would be very amiable of them to
+come and pay us a visit while we are at table. We would make them
+hob-nob with us."
+
+"Come sing, Montgeran, we will listen to you; but be a trifle less
+artificial. I prefer the natural method."
+
+"Yes, gentlemen, I will then give you; 'The shepherd in order to admire
+the charms of his shepherdess took the first'--"
+
+"Now, I shall know what it is," said De Chavagnac, rising precipitately
+and running towards the statue. As he neared it the Psyche made so
+lively a movement that she would have fallen from her pedestal on to the
+floor, if the young man had not received her in his arms, and placed her
+on the ground. All the convives had their eyes fixed on De Chavagnac,
+who, after placing the Psyche in safety, reapproached the pedestal,
+which was about three feet high and one and one half in circumference.
+
+"There is something inside it," cried the young man, who perceived that
+the pedestal was hollow, and had an opening in the side which was turned
+towards the wall.
+
+"Someone inside it?" repeated the others, half rising. At the same
+moment a thin, trembling voice, which seemed to come out of the earth,
+uttered these words,--
+
+"No violence, gentlemen, I will yield without resistance," and, in a
+moment, Chaudoreille's little head peeped from behind the pedestal and
+showed itself to the gentlemen, who burst into a shout of laughter,
+exclaiming,--
+
+"What a handsome face!"
+
+However, De Chavagnac, who had remained near the niche of the statue,
+took Chaudoreille by the mustache and forced him to emerge from his
+hiding place. Then, having examined the personage whose piteous face
+rendered him still more comic, he went laughingly to take his place at
+the table, while the poor devil whom he had dislodged threw himself on
+his knees before them and without daring to raise his eyes murmured,
+clasping his hands,--
+
+"Gentlemen if I have killed the Prince of Cochin-China it was against my
+will and because he had provoked me, but I swear to you that I will not
+try it again; I will not even carry Rolande, if they exact it of me."
+
+"What the devil is he saying?"
+
+"Do you understand any of it, marquis?"
+
+"My faith, no! He is speaking about the Prince of Cochin-China."
+
+"He's a fool!"
+
+"Hang it! we must amuse ourselves with him."
+
+"One moment; it is necessary that I should learn how this clown
+penetrated here. Hello! Marcel, Marcel."
+
+While Marcel was coming upstairs Chaudoreille's terror became somewhat
+lessened. While he had been immured in the pedestal a murmuring sound
+only penetrated to his ears, and he believed that the room was filled
+with armed men who were looking for him. Now the words which he caught,
+the name of the marquis which he heard pronounced, taught him the truth.
+Reassured that his life was in no danger, he began to glance pleadingly
+at the persons who surrounded the table, and meeting nothing but
+laughing faces he entirely recovered his spirits.
+
+Marcel entered and, at the sight of Chaudoreille, remained stunned and
+confused before his master.
+
+"Who is this man, Marcel?" said the marquis. "Is he a thief? is it he or
+you whom we ought to hang? Come, speak, clown, and tell us the truth, or
+you shall be chastised in good fashion."
+
+Marcel, trembling, did not know how to excuse himself for having
+received someone despite the commands of the marquis, and muttered,--
+
+"Monseigneur, I couldn't help it, I did not wish to, I refused him at
+first."
+
+"Monseigneur," exclaimed Chaudoreille, rising and standing on his
+tiptoes, "if you will permit me I will relate to your excellency how all
+this happened, for I see that Marcel will find it difficult to come to
+an end."
+
+"The trembler has recovered his speech," said the big Montgeran, who
+could not take his eyes from Chaudoreille.
+
+"Come, marquis, let him speak."
+
+"Yes, yes, he will make us laugh," cried the others.
+
+"Very well, gentlemen, since you desire it. Come, speak, you little cur;
+and you, Marcel, remain there to give him the lie if he attempts to
+deceive us."
+
+Though the sobriquet, little cur, made Chaudoreille knit his brow,
+permission to speak before noblemen of high rank caused him so much
+pleasure that he immediately assumed a smiling expression, and commenced
+his speech,--
+
+"Messeigneurs, your excellencies behold in me Loustic-Goliath de
+Chaudoreille, Knight of the Round Table; descended on the male side from
+the famous Milo of Crotona, and on the female side from the celebrated
+Delilah, who, sacrificing herself for her country, had the courage to
+cut from Samson, her lover, that which made his strength."
+
+Shouts of laughter here interrupted the orator. "It's delightful! he's
+charming! He's worth his weight in gold!"
+
+"Hang it!" said Chaudoreille, "I was sure that I only had to speak."
+
+"In fact, descendant of Delilah," said the marquis, "what is your
+business?"
+
+Chaudoreille appeared embarrassed for the moment, then he exclaimed
+volubly,--
+
+"Defender and protector of beauty--and of gambling houses;
+understanding how to bear arms and to play at piquet; teaching music,
+and the way to turn the king or ace at will; succoring young men of
+family and girls who have been seduced; bearer of love letters; master
+of the sitar; duellist and messenger,--and all at a very moderate
+price."
+
+"But what a treasure we have in this man!"
+
+"Finally, who led you here?"
+
+"Your excellencies have heard me speak of my duel this morning. I killed
+the Prince of Cochin-China near the Porte Saint-Denis."
+
+"The Prince of Cochin-China, and where the devil did you find such a
+prince as that?"
+
+"By the side of the Fosses-Jaunes. I was walking quietly along, he came
+up and assaulted me, and I fought him. Isn't that true, Marcel?"
+
+"Yes, it's very true that he told me all that, monseigneur. He arrived
+here wild with fright, and exhausted; he told me that he was pursued,
+and though I did not understand all his history of the prince, I saw
+that he trembled, so I consented to allow him to come in for a moment.
+We were having supper when you came in, monseigneur, and immediately he
+fled, seeing and hearing nothing."
+
+"Yes, monseigneur," said Chaudoreille, "I believed that the archers and
+the sergeants were coming to arrest me, and I hid in the first place
+that I could see."
+
+"Do you think, clown, that I believe the story you told Marcel in order
+to get some supper?"
+
+"Monseigneur, I swear to you!"
+
+"Peace!"
+
+"There were witnesses to the duel."
+
+"Silence, I tell you! To come to this house to seek Marcel, you must
+have known that he lived here. Who taught you the way to this dwelling?
+Did you know that it belonged to me? and if you knew it belonged to me,
+who gave you the audacity to present yourself here."
+
+Chaudoreille, who perceived that the marquis was no longer joking,
+answered with less assurance,--
+
+"Monseigneur, I've already had the honor of visiting here in your
+lordship's service."
+
+"To serve me, rascal?"
+
+"Yes, monseigneur; I served you indirectly in a certain matter with a
+young Italian, an elopement on the Pont de Latournelle. It was I whom
+Touquet charged to keep watch."
+
+"O marquis," said the three guests, smiling, "this is clear enough. The
+chevalier of the Round Table has ministered to your love."
+
+"I've had that honor, monseigneurs," answered Chaudoreille, bowing, and
+twisting his mustaches.
+
+"Hang it! I don't remember it," cried the marquis, looking hard at
+Chaudoreille. "What, Touquet, so clever, so inventive, could he be
+served by such a marionette. Come, that is not possible."
+
+"Monseigneur," said Chaudoreille, compressing his lips, "if you knew the
+talents of the one you call marionette, you would, perhaps, speak
+differently. Touquet himself is only a beginner beside me."
+
+"Oh, as to that, clown, it is necessary that you should justify your
+boasting or that you should perish beneath the stick. For some days I
+have been suffering from ennui; I don't find anyone, at the court or in
+the town, who deserves my homage. My Italian, even, has commenced to
+tire me. I wish--I don't know--I would give all the world for the
+capacity of falling truly in love; find me a woman who is capable of
+inspiring me with this feeling. I will give you twenty-four hours to
+discover this treasure for me. A hundred pistoles for you if you gratify
+my wishes, a hundred strokes of the stick if you are not successful."
+
+"That's it! That's it," shouted Villebelle's guests, "if he is
+successful in what you have given him to do, tell us and we will employ
+him in turn."
+
+"O capededious," said Chaudoreille to himself, "a hundred pistoles if I
+render him amorous. Zounds! my fortune will be made. But a hundred blows
+of the stick if I am not successful. How can I render a man amorous who
+is tired of everything, and that in twenty-four hours. O my genius
+inspire me! Ah, if my portress resembled this Psyche."
+
+"Wait, drink that," said Montgeran, presenting Chaudoreille with a large
+glass full of madeira. "That will help you, perhaps, to find what
+Villebelle wants."
+
+Chaudoreille emptied the glass at a draught, after humbly bowing to the
+company; then he struck his forehead sharply, made a leap forward, and
+exclaimed,--
+
+"I have found her!"
+
+"The wine has already operated," said De Chavagnac.
+
+"Come, speak," cried the marquis, "what have you found?"
+
+"Monseigneur," said Chaudoreille, bowing with respect, "deign to permit
+me to speak to you without witnesses."
+
+"The clown is right," said the marquis rising from the table. "If he
+should speak before you each one would wish to assure himself of the
+truth of his recital, and we should become rivals. Marcel carry a light
+into the next room. Come, my Chaudoreille, I will give you an audience.
+Have patience, gentlemen, I shall not be long."
+
+Saying these words, the marquis went into the next room, and
+Chaudoreille followed him with an air so important and mysterious that
+it greatly amused the three persons who remained at the table.
+
+When Chaudoreille found himself alone with the marquis, he examined the
+doors to see if they were shut, and stooped to look under the table, but
+the marquis pulled him by the ear, saying,--
+
+"What signifies all this ceremony?"
+
+"Monseigneur, it is that I'm about to speak of something mysterious, a
+secret, and I don't wish that anybody should know it. I shall expose
+myself to great danger in speaking; they will perhaps want to take my
+life."
+
+"You'll expose yourself to a great deal more by not speaking," said the
+marquis impatiently, seizing the fire shovel.
+
+"I'm about to do so, monseigneur. I wager you've never seen Touquet's
+daughter."
+
+"Touquet's daughter. Has he a daughter?"
+
+"Not exactly, monseigneur; she's only a child that he adopted about ten
+years ago."
+
+"Touquet adopted a child? Hang it! that surprises me."
+
+"I was very sure, monseigneur, that you were ignorant of the
+circumstance."
+
+"There's something mysterious about it."
+
+"Very extraordinary. No one would guard a girl so closely unless he were
+keeping her for himself."
+
+"What is this girl like?"
+
+"She's an angel, monseigneur, divinely beautiful, an enchantress; hardly
+sixteen years of age, with the figure of a nymph, and Touquet spreads
+it abroad that she is ugly and ill-made, that there is nothing pleasing
+about her. He has even ordered me to tell it all about. If I have seen
+young Blanche it's only because the barber, wishing to have her taught
+music, was obliged to introduce me into her room, which she never
+leaves."
+
+"This is all very singular," said the marquis, "and you pique my
+curiosity."
+
+"Good! I shall have a hundred pistoles," said Chaudoreille to himself,
+"that's much better than the two golden crowns which the barber promised
+me, to say nothing of the honor of acting as the Marquis of Villebelle's
+business man."
+
+"And you say it's not because he is in love with her himself that he
+hides this young girl," resumed the marquis, after a moment.
+
+"No, monseigneur, for a few days from now he is about to marry her."
+
+"To marry her?"
+
+"Yes, monseigneur, to a young man whom the beautiful Blanche did not
+know, I am sure; for no one ever went near her except your humble
+servant. I bet that Touquet has sacrificed her, and that the poor little
+thing hates her future husband."
+
+Here Chaudoreille said what he did not think, but he imagined it more
+prudent to present the matter in that aspect.
+
+The marquis reflected for some moments, then he said,--
+
+"Tell me quickly all that you know about the adoption of that young
+girl."
+
+"Yes, monseigneur. About ten years ago, Touquet, who then had not a sou,
+took lodgers in addition to his business as a barber and bath-keeper.
+One evening a gentleman went to his house, with a little girl five or
+six years old, and requested a bed. Touquet received him. The traveller
+went out the same evening, leaving his little girl with Touquet, and
+that night he was murdered in the Rue Saint-Honore near the Barriere des
+Sergents."
+
+"Were the murderers discovered," said the marquis, looking attentively
+at Chaudoreille.
+
+"Oh, no, monseigneur," responded the latter, smiling almost
+imperceptibly, "but--sometime afterwards Touquet was possessed of enough
+to buy the house which he had rented."
+
+The marquis made a sudden movement, like that of a man who is about to
+step on a snake. A long silence succeeded, during which Chaudoreille
+kept his eyes bent on the ground, not daring to seek to read those of
+the marquis.
+
+"And it is the daughter of that man whom he adopted," said Villebelle,
+breaking the silence.
+
+"Yes, monseigneur, it is she."
+
+"What was her father's name?"
+
+"Moranval, at least, so I believe. Nothing was found upon him but an
+insignificant letter, which gave no information in regard to his
+family."
+
+"And his daughter is beautiful?"
+
+"As far as I am competent to judge, monseigneur, and if you should see
+her--"
+
+"Yes, I shall see her."
+
+"Monseigneur, I have the honor to inform you that Touquet has expressly
+forbidden me to speak of young Blanche and of her coming marriage. In
+order to be agreeable to your lordship I have sacrificed myself; but the
+barber is wicked, very wicked. I beg of you, monseigneur, not to tell
+him that you learned all this from me."
+
+"Be easy about that."
+
+"In any case I beg to be allowed to claim the protection of monseigneur
+in regard to my duel with the Prince of Cochin-China, which is not a
+falsehood as monseigneur appears to believe."
+
+The marquis was reflecting deeply; finally he rose, saying to
+Chaudoreille,--
+
+"Follow me, and not a word of all this. In twenty-four hours you will
+return here, and if you have not deceived me you will receive the
+recompense which I have promised you."
+
+Chaudoreille bowed nearly to the ground and followed the marquis. They
+returned to the banquet hall, where his guests awaited with impatience
+Villebelle's return.
+
+"Well," said De Chavagnac, as he entered, "was it worth the trouble of
+leaving the table?"
+
+"I think so," answered the marquis; "but as to that I shall be better
+able to tell you after tomorrow. Chaudoreille, go down with Marcel and
+make him give you some supper before you leave." The latter did not wait
+for this order to be repeated. He went down to look for Marcel and,
+already assuming a patronizing air, made the valet serve him with all
+that he thought best, while saying to his old friend,--
+
+"I am in great favor with your master, treat me well and I can say two
+words for you. Above all never refuse to play a game of piquet with me,
+or I'll cause you to lose favor with monseigneur."
+
+Poor Marcel, who understood nothing of all this, allowed his intimate
+friend to beat him at six games. Finally, day appeared, and Chaudoreille
+left the house saying,--
+
+"I shall come back this evening at ten o'clock. The marquis has made an
+appointment with me." Then he ventured into the Faubourg, stopping
+whenever he saw from afar two men together, and with a mysterious air
+inquiring of some shopkeepers if they had heard anyone speak of the
+death of Cochin-China. As nobody understood what he said, he finally
+persuaded himself that his prince was dead, but that nobody knew who he
+was, and more tranquil as to the result of the affair he at length
+ventured to reenter Paris.
+
+After the secret interview of the marquis and Chaudoreille, the four
+profligates returned to their play; but the party was no longer gay.
+Villebelle was preoccupied and took little part in the conversation;
+the vicomte was sleepy; fat Montgeran no longer sang, and Chavagnac was
+tired of losing. At six o'clock in the morning these gentlemen
+separated, each one returning to his dwelling in the city and the
+marquis reentered his hotel, reflecting on all that Chaudoreille had
+told him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HAVING MONEY AND POWER ONE MAY DARE EVERYTHING
+
+
+"Only two days more and I shall be your husband, my Blanche," said
+Urbain, pressing the young girl's hands in a tender transport.
+
+"Oh, my dearest, how very happy we shall be, when we no longer have to
+part, even for a few hours," answered Blanche, smiling at her lover,
+"how much I shall like living in the country! I shall breathe more
+freely there in the pure air, I am sure, than in this close room. We
+shall play and run on the grass, shall we not, dear?"
+
+"Yes, and we will work in our own garden."
+
+"How delightful! We shall have flowers then, and I am so passionately
+fond of them."
+
+"We shall have some cows also, I hope," said Marguerite.
+
+"Oh, yes, dear nurse, and some pigeons, and rabbits and fowls--it will
+all be so delightful. It seems to me that when I was a very little child
+I lived in the country, in a house where they had all those things."
+
+"Poor Blanche! and is that all you remember of your infancy?"
+
+"I still remember a lady who was always with me, who often kissed me; no
+doubt she was my mother."
+
+"Poor woman!" said Marguerite; "perhaps she is still living; and to
+think that no one knows. But away with sad thoughts!"
+
+"Then you'll not regret Paris, my dear Blanche," said Urbain.
+
+"Would you wish me to regret it, dear, when you are with me?"
+
+"Those dear children!" said the old servant rising from her chair; "it
+is Providence which has brought them together, for they are made for one
+another. But it's nine o'clock, Monsieur Urbain, you must go."
+
+"Nine o'clock already! The time is approaching when we need part no
+more, but the days seem very long now, because I spend them away from
+you."
+
+"It's the same with me, dear; it seems to me that evening will never
+come."
+
+"I haven't seen M. Touquet for some days."
+
+"And you'll not see him this evening," said Marguerite; "he received a
+letter after dinner. It was no doubt some pressing matter of business,
+for he left immediately and has not yet returned."
+
+"Good-by, then, dear Blanche."
+
+"Good-by, my dear."
+
+"Two days more. It seems a long time to wait."
+
+"You have managed to live through a fortnight," said Marguerite.
+
+"Yes, I don't know why, but these last few days seem to me as if they
+would be eternal."
+
+Urbain could not tear himself away from Blanche; his heart was
+oppressed; the eyes of both the young lovers were filled with tears; the
+young girl extended her hand to her friend and he pressed it to his
+heart.
+
+"I don't know what's the matter with me," said Blanche, "but your going
+makes me sadder than usual."
+
+"What childishness!" said Marguerite; "no one would suppose that you
+were going to meet within two days. Isn't M. Urbain coming tomorrow
+evening? Come, come, it's time to go to bed."
+
+The lovers again said good-by, sighing deeply, and Urbain finally
+followed Marguerite, who shut the street door on him and then went
+upstairs to Blanche and scolded her for her sadness. But she could not
+restore her gayety, for the dictates of reason may persuade the mind,
+but cannot allay the fears of the heart.
+
+Not more than a quarter of an hour after Urbain's departure some one
+rapped loudly at the street door.
+
+"That's Urbain, no doubt," said Blanche; "he saw that I was sad and has
+come back to console me."
+
+"That's very improbable," said Marguerite; "it's more likely M. Touquet
+who has returned. However, I am astonished that he should knock, for I
+thought he had taken his master key."
+
+"Go and see who it is, dear nurse."
+
+"Yes, yes, mademoiselle; but if it should not be monsieur? It is
+late--we are alone in the house, and I don't know if I ought to open to
+any one."
+
+"Do you want me to look out of the window, dear nurse, I shall very soon
+see if it's Urbain."
+
+"Yes, do so; that seems to me more prudent."
+
+Blanche had already opened the window, and she looked down into the
+street; the night was dark, but love renders the sight clear, and the
+young girl soon saw that it was not Urbain.
+
+"Who is there," demanded Marguerite, thrusting out her head.
+
+A deep voice answered, "I come from Master Touquet, he has charged me
+with a commission to his adopted daughter, Mademoiselle Blanche."
+
+"How very singular," said Marguerite to Blanche. "What! monsieur, who
+has hidden you from everybody's sight, sends a stranger to us at this
+hour?"
+
+"But, dear nurse, since he has sent him, it is necessary to open to this
+gentleman. Perhaps something has happened to my protector."
+
+"Is the man alone, my child?"
+
+"Yes, dear nurse, I see nobody but him."
+
+"Why don't you open the door," cried the man in the street, "my message
+is urgent."
+
+"Wait one moment, somebody will be there.--Remain here, my child."
+
+Marguerite went down, holding her lamp in her hand. She was not
+reassured, but opened the door, and a man wrapped in a large cloak, his
+head covered with a plumed hat, appeared before her.
+
+"You've been very slow, my good woman," said he, smiling, "however, I'll
+indemnify you for the trouble I have caused you."
+
+While saying these words, he slipped several pieces of gold into
+Marguerite's hand. The old woman did not know if she ought to accept
+them, but said to herself, "His manners are not those of a robber."
+
+The stranger quickly entered the alleyway and the old woman as she
+looked at him said to herself, "This is not the first time that I have
+seen that figure, and I remember his voice. Yes, I believe that that's
+the friend my master was waiting for so late some time ago."
+
+Marguerite was not deceived, it was in fact the marquis who had
+introduced himself into the house, having first sent the barber a letter
+in which he gave him a rendezvous outside, and ordered him to wait there
+until ten o'clock in the evening.
+
+"Monsieur has been here before, I believe," said Marguerite, reassured
+on recognizing one whom she believed to be her master's friend.
+
+"Yes, yes, my good mother, I have often been here; but hasten to lead me
+to your young mistress. It is absolutely necessary that I should see
+her."
+
+"Is my master ill?--has he been involved in some quarrel? Many accidents
+happen in this city."
+
+"Don't be uneasy, there's nothing of that kind."
+
+The marquis followed Marguerite, who led him to Blanche's chamber, and
+opened the door, saying,--
+
+"Mademoiselle, here is a gentleman who brings you a message from M.
+Touquet."
+
+Blanche took some steps forward to meet the stranger; the marquis had
+entered abruptly, but on perceiving the young girl he paused, and for
+some moments remained motionless, occupied in contemplating her. There
+was something in the aspect of the marquis which compelled respect, and
+while at that moment there was nothing severe in his expression, the
+astonishment and admiration depicted on his features lent additional
+animation to his naturally proud and noble look. Blanche involuntarily
+lowered her eyes, for she could not meet the fixed gaze with which the
+marquis seemed to examine her person, and Marguerite dared not utter a
+word, because the stranger intimidated her also.
+
+"This is truly beyond all that I could have imagined," said the marquis,
+as if he were speaking to himself.
+
+"Monsieur," said Blanche, with embarrassment, "my nurse informs me that
+you have something to say to me, some message from my benefactor; has
+anything happened to him, monsieur?"
+
+"No, lovely Blanche, no; your benefactor, since you deign to so call
+him, has run into no danger, but I would brave a thousand if by that
+means I could make you take the same interest in me."
+
+Blanche glanced timidly at the marquis as if she were waiting for him to
+explain himself better; the latter, in hastening to lead her to a chair,
+dropped a corner of his mantle, allowing his rich attire to be seen, and
+Marguerite said under her breath to the young girl,--
+
+"Mon Dieu, my child, look at those precious stones, that lace, this is
+at least a great nobleman."
+
+"Oh, yes," answered Blanche, in the same tone, "it is superb, but I like
+Urbain's costume much better."
+
+Villebelle, who had not taken his eyes from Blanche, remained silent.
+
+"Why did you come here then," said she, seeing that he was contented
+with looking at her.
+
+"Yes," said Marguerite, who sought to resume her ordinary assurance,
+"for you must have come for something."
+
+"And I have found more than I had believed possible," said the marquis,
+smiling. Then, without appearing to notice the embarrassment which his
+presence caused, he approached Blanche, took her hand, and cried,--
+
+"You in this retreat! you hidden from all eyes!--when you should be the
+ornament of the world and receive the homage of the whole universe."
+
+"Forgive me, monsieur," said Blanche, "but I don't understand you."
+
+"I don't understand you either," murmured Marguerite, fixing her small
+eyes on the marquis.
+
+"Better still, adorable girl," responded the marquis to Blanche, without
+paying the least attention to Marguerite. "They did not deceive me, this
+is innocence itself, the most perfect ingenuousness united to the most
+seductive grace and beauty."
+
+"But, monsieur, was that what M. Touquet told you to say to me?"
+
+"No, lovely child, not at all," said the marquis laughing, and still
+retaining Blanche's hand, which she vainly tried to disengage.
+
+"It's necessary however that you should explain yourself," said
+Marguerite in a dry tone, "you have been here for a quarter of an hour
+and you have not yet said why you came. It is very late and we are
+accustomed to go to bed early."
+
+"Oh, well, old woman, go to your bed; I will remain with this lovely
+child until the return of Master Touquet."
+
+"Do you think I will leave you alone with my dear Blanche," cried
+Marguerite, rendered still more suspicious by the word old, "no,
+monsieur, no, I take better care of her than that. Your laces, your
+jewelry, and your fine appearance do not inspire me with much
+confidence. Wait! take back your pieces of gold, I don't wish them, for
+I begin to believe that your intentions are not good, and Marguerite
+will never second the plans of a seducer, whether duke or prince, even
+should he offer her the mines of Peru."
+
+The marquis replied only by shrugging his shoulders without turning
+towards Marguerite, then he seated himself near Blanche and took off his
+hat and mantle, establishing himself in the room like one who is not
+disposed to go.
+
+Blanche was trembling, confused; she looked at Marguerite as if to
+implore her not to abandon her, and the old woman, whom the conduct of
+the stranger had filled with new dread, forced herself to appear calm,
+saying in a voice whose faltering accents betrayed her fright,--
+
+"Be easy, my child, I am here, I will not leave you, and while monsieur
+does not appear to listen to me it is, above all, necessary that he
+should tell us what he came here to do."
+
+"I have told you, my good woman, I am waiting for Touquet. I must speak
+to him this evening; that is very important."
+
+"And just now you said that it was he who had sent you; you were
+deceiving us, then?"
+
+"Perhaps," said the marquis, laughing.
+
+"Very well, monsieur, if you are really waiting for my master, come into
+the lower room. I will give you a light, and you will find a fire
+there."
+
+"No, indeed, my good woman, I like this much better than your lower
+room; the society of this charming child will make the time seem very
+short, and surely, adorable Blanche, you will not be cruel enough to
+refuse to keep me company."
+
+"No, monsieur, if you desire it, if it will amuse you, I must wish it
+also."
+
+"Yes," said Marguerite, "it seems that it is necessary that we should do
+monsieur's will, but patience--soon I hope--"
+
+At this moment somebody violently shut the street door. Blanche started
+joyfully, and Marguerite cried, with a triumphant air,--
+
+"Ah! here is my master! We shall now see whether anyone can establish
+himself here in spite of us."
+
+The marquis rose without answering, took his mantle, put his hat on his
+head, kissed Blanche's hand, saying to her,--
+
+"Au revoir, charming girl," then left the room saying to Marguerite,--
+
+"Light me!"
+
+All this had happened so quickly that Blanche, who was greatly
+astonished, had not time to oppose the action of the marquis, and the
+old servant followed the great nobleman, saying,--
+
+"O mon Dieu, what a man!"
+
+The barber had entered and was taking off his mantle, when the marquis,
+followed by Marguerite, appeared in the lower room. At the sight of
+Villebelle, Touquet started with surprise, saying,--
+
+"What, you here, monseigneur!"
+
+He paused and Marguerite cried,--
+
+"Yes, my dear master, monseigneur has been here for three-quarters of an
+hour. He presented himself as coming from you, and he installed himself
+in Mademoiselle Blanche's room."
+
+"In Blanche's room," said the barber, appearing violently agitated.
+
+"Yes, monsieur, in mademoiselle's room--"
+
+"That's enough, my good woman, leave us," said the marquis, in an
+imperious tone.
+
+"Leave you," answered Marguerite, "oh, it is necessary before all--"
+
+"It is necessary to obey," said the barber, in a gloomy voice. "Go!"
+
+Marguerite was dumbfounded, but she dared not reply and left them,
+saying,--
+
+"Well, I don't understand all this, this man does as he pleases here, it
+troubles me."
+
+"Well, dear nurse," said Blanche to the old woman, "and what about the
+stranger?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know who that man can be, but M. Touquet is as submissive
+as a child before him. I left them together. This fine gentleman said to
+me, 'Go!' and it was necessary to obey him."
+
+"That's very surprising, dear nurse."
+
+"How did you like that man?"
+
+"Oh, he is not so bad, dear nurse, and if I had not been a little afraid
+of him, I believe I should have thought him very agreeable."
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu, I was very much frightened; he has something satanic in
+his looks."
+
+"Oh, dear nurse, you're mistaken, he has a very fine face, features
+which inspire respect, and which are bland at the same time."
+
+"Fie! for shame! my child, to admire such an impertinent man. Oh, if
+your Urbain could hear you."
+
+"But, dear nurse, I should say the same thing before Urbain. Is it not
+necessary to tell him all that I think? That could not displease him,
+for he knows how much I love him."
+
+"Come, my child, it's late, go to bed. I am going, too, good-night."
+
+Marguerite went up to her room, saying to herself,--
+
+"Young girls will always be young girls. The most virtuous of them will
+allow themselves to be favorably impressed by fine compliments, a
+handsome face, and rich clothing. These are terrible talismans with the
+women."
+
+When Marguerite had left the lower room, the barber shut the door. His
+manner disclosed a violent agitation; however, he awaited the marquis'
+explanation, and the latter narrowly watched and appeared to enjoy his
+uneasiness.
+
+"May I know, monseigneur," said Touquet at last, "how it is that you are
+at my house when you appointed another meeting place?"
+
+"What, Touquet, don't you understand it? I made a distant appointment
+with you in order that I might represent myself as sent by you to this
+young girl, whom you have hidden from me and whom I ardently desired to
+see. This is one of the little tricks which you yourself formerly taught
+me, and which are nearly always successful."
+
+The barber bit his lips, but did not answer.
+
+"Well, to be sure," resumed the marquis, "that you should possess such a
+treasure, an angel of beauty and grace, and hide her from me, your old
+master! From me, when you know my partiality for the sex which has led
+me to commit so many follies."
+
+"It was precisely because of that partiality, monsieur le marquis, that
+I hoped to shield Blanche from your notice; I am interested in that
+young girl, to whom I stand in the place of her parents. I know the
+impetuosity of your passions, and I don't think the honor of being your
+mistress for a fortnight will assure the child's happiness."
+
+"And how long, clown, have you made similar reflections," said the
+marquis, looking witheringly at the barber. "After lending aid in all my
+intrigues, after leading me to commit actions which, but for you, I
+should never have thought of, should you allow yourself to control my
+morals and enact the knight errant of the beauties I deign to
+distinguish."
+
+"Monseigneur!"
+
+"Remember that though your hypocrisy and lies may serve you sometimes,
+they can never deceive me. It is not from me only that you hide this
+young girl, for you hold her a prisoner in her chamber and do not permit
+her to go out. It is not because you are in love with Blanche, since you
+are about to give her in marriage; besides, love is a feeling unknown to
+you; your heart knows nothing but a thirst for gold. There is in all
+this some mystery which I must discover."
+
+Touquet became pale and trembling, and murmured, lowering his eyes,--
+
+"I swear to you, monsieur le marquis--"
+
+"Make an end of this," said Villebelle, interrupting him. "Listen to me.
+I love, what do I say, I adore this young girl whom I have seen only for
+a moment; for a very long time I have not experienced sensations similar
+to those I felt in her presence. This is not a passing caprice; these
+are not desires to which the heart is a stranger. No, on seeing Blanche
+I felt moved, uneasy, softened. I cannot define all that passed within
+me. It seemed to me that I recognized that lovely child--that my love
+for her had existed for a long time. After that you must divine that it
+is impossible henceforth to live without her. Blanche must be mine; I am
+capable of every sacrifice in order to arrive at that end."
+
+"Ah, monsieur, that is what I feared," said Touquet, who appeared to be
+really grieved at what he heard. "You wish to make Blanche your
+mistress!"
+
+"I wish to make her happiness; I feel that my love for her will be
+lifelong."
+
+"That is impossible, monseigneur. Blanche is about to be married to a
+young man whom she loves. You must see that your love cannot render her
+happy."
+
+For some moments the marquis walked up and down the room, then he cried
+passionately,--
+
+"I repeat to you, Blanche must be mine--it must be so. I will leave no
+means unemployed to attain this end. She cannot yet love her destined
+husband; she has only known him for a few days."
+
+"Monseigneur, who has informed you as to all this?"
+
+"What does that matter to you? That love is but a passing sentiment and
+I shall know how to make her forget it by overwhelming her with
+presents, with jewels, and by seeking to invent new pleasures to make
+each day delightful to her."
+
+"Monseigneur, Blanche is accustomed to retirement; she is not a
+coquette; your ornaments, your gifts will have no effect upon her."
+
+"Enough of this," said the marquis, "your objections weary me; I have
+now some orders to give you. I wish you to give me Blanche, on whom I
+swear to settle an independent fortune. Such a treasure I feel is worthy
+of a great price. Wait, here are six thousand crowns in notes and gold.
+You shall have as much more when you have fulfilled my commands."
+
+The barber eyed with avaricious looks the money which the marquis had
+spread upon the table; then he turned his eyes away, saying in a gloomy
+voice,--
+
+"Gold! yes, it is always that which draws me on; but this time--no, I
+cannot. Remember, monseigneur, that within two days Blanche should be
+united to her lover."
+
+"Then at once, tonight even, it is necessary that she be given into my
+hands."
+
+The barber appeared to be weighing the proposition in his mind; from
+time to time he looked at the money on the table, and, finally, speaking
+with a great effort, he said,--
+
+"It cannot be, monseigneur, I am extremely grieved to have to disappoint
+you, but matters are too far advanced."
+
+The marquis drew near Touquet, and grasping him tightly by the arm, said
+in a low tone,--
+
+"It will, then, be necessary that I beg my uncle, the grand provost, to
+cause a new inquiry to be held in regard to the murder of Blanche's
+father. Do you think, scoundrel, that I do not partly divine the cause
+which has induced you to keep this young girl so carefully hidden from
+everybody's sight? Her beauty would be remarked, and could not fail to
+draw a throng of admirers who would have much to say of Blanche, and in
+seeking to learn who she is and what family she belongs to they would
+obtain new facts about that unfortunate traveller who was murdered on
+the evening of his arrival in Paris. They would make reflections on the
+fortune which came to you, nobody knows how, some time after that
+event."
+
+"Monseigneur," said the barber, whose face had become livid, while a
+convulsive trembling seized his limbs; "monseigneur, what do you say?
+Could you believe it of me?"
+
+"I believe nothing yet, but tomorrow I shall urge the magistrates to
+make an effort to pierce this mystery."
+
+"Monseigneur, you shall have Blanche," said Touquet dropping into a
+chair as though he were perfectly helpless.
+
+The marquis smiled triumphantly and seemed to forget all but his love.
+Touquet who had been thrown into a state of the deepest depression and
+consternation, remained for some minutes without daring to raise his
+eyes, and unable to resume his ordinary expression. Finally, he rose
+and murmured, in a broken voice,--
+
+"Believe me, monsieur le marquis, that it is not the suspicions you have
+conceived which determine me to obey you--my devotion alone--"
+
+"Enough," said the marquis interrupting him; "not another word about
+that. I am quite willing to believe that appearances are deceitful. We
+will occupy ourselves only with my love. I don't wish to lose a single
+instant in obtaining possession of Blanche, and, since you tell me that
+in two days she was to have been married, it is necessary that she
+should leave this house tonight."
+
+"I agree with you," said Touquet, "since she is to go the sooner the
+better. But how can it be done tonight?"
+
+"I don't recognize you, Touquet; you see nothing but obstacles, as for
+me, I don't know of any. It is not yet midnight, we have some time
+remaining. I'll go to my hotel and send Germain, my valet de chambre, to
+get a carriage--and to go only as far as my little house."
+
+"Monseigneur, you must not take Blanche there; she would not be safe;
+the place is too near Paris. Urbain Dorgeville, the person she was to
+marry, will make every effort to discover her. The young man adores her;
+he is enterprising; you have everything to fear from his despair."
+
+"I fear nobody, and you know it. However, I think your advice is wise.
+Blanche is so pretty; I already feel jealous of a glance given by her to
+another, and a good many giddy fellows know my little house. But wait,
+wait, I have just what will suit me; amongst all the property that came
+to me from my mother is a chateau situated in the neighborhood of
+Grandvilliers, about twenty-two leagues from here, and far enough from
+the town and the highway to avoid the notice of travellers."
+
+"Very well, monsieur, that will suit perfectly."
+
+"I have only once visited this chateau, which is called Sarcus, but
+although I only made a short stay there, I was greatly struck by the
+elegance of the beautiful estate. The chateau, built in 1522, was given
+to Mademoiselle de Sarcus by Francis the First, and in the neighborhood
+is noted for the marvellous beauty of its architecture, and especially
+of its facade, in which the artist excelled all his previous works. That
+is the place to which I shall take, or rather, to which I shall have
+Blanche taken. Twenty-eight leagues--two trusty men--she will be at the
+chateau in ten hours or so. As for myself, after tomorrow I shall
+arrange my affairs, and pretending at court that I am obliged to go to
+England, I shall repair secretly to Sarcus to her whom I never more wish
+to leave. You see, Touquet, my plan is perfect and no one will suspect
+that I have abducted the young orphan."
+
+"Yes, monseigneur, no one among your brilliant acquaintances; but how
+shall we induce Blanche to go with you quietly and prevent a noise and
+cries which will attract the attention of the neighbors?"
+
+"Oh, hang it! it will be necessary to mislead her at first--that's your
+look out. Is your invention so sterile that you can think of nothing to
+deceive a mere child. You can make her believe that she is going to
+rejoin her future husband."
+
+"Wait, monseigneur, I've thought of a way, but Blanche mustn't see you.
+She would suspect something, and my stratagem would fail."
+
+"I repeat to you she will start alone--a postilion and two well-armed
+men behind the carriage will answer to me for her safety."
+
+"That is all that is necessary."
+
+"It is midnight. I'll go and settle everything. My valet de chambre
+shall start before at full speed, that he may give my orders at the
+chateau and that he may be there to receive our beautiful girl; at two
+o'clock in the morning I shall be at your door with a coach; you
+understand me, at two o'clock."
+
+"Yes, monsieur le marquis," said the barber, "I will not forget the
+hour."
+
+"Manage so as to have Blanche ready to get into the carriage. I leave it
+to you. Do not try to evade your promise or my vengeance will be
+terrible."
+
+"You may rely on me, monseigneur."
+
+The marquis wrapped himself in his mantle and hastily left the barber's
+shop. Touquet remained alone for some time, thoughtful and depressed; at
+length he rose abruptly.
+
+"What does it matter after all," said he, "whether Blanche be with
+Urbain or the marquis? Shall I be foolish enough to sympathize with the
+love of two children? In keeping this young girl with me I hoped to
+avoid all suspicion. But at last I shall be relieved of the burden that
+oppresses me. Come let's put up this gold; the marquis has promised me
+as much more--and I would have refused him. No. My destiny must be
+accomplished; this metal has always served as its compass. I was only
+sixteen years old when it caused me to commit actions which drew down
+upon me my father's curse; arrived in Paris, which I had yearned to
+know, I soon found myself robbed of everything I possessed by people who
+were more adroit than myself; I had been deceived and I wished to make
+others suffer as I had suffered. I gave scope to my talents. Up to that
+time I had done no great wrong--but this cursed thirst for gold. Ten
+years have passed and have not effaced from my memory that horrible
+night--when--since then I have not tasted a moment's peace. I will
+return to my birthplace and if my father is still alive I will try to
+obtain his pardon; perhaps then I may regain quiet of mind. But if he
+knew how I enriched myself."
+
+The barber again gave himself to his reflections. Soon Saint-Eustache's
+clock struck one. Touquet slowly took the money from the table, and,
+after locking it in his room upstairs, he went to Blanche's chamber and
+knocked at the door.
+
+The poor little girl was not asleep; she had been too greatly excited by
+the events of the evening. She still seemed to see the stranger seated
+near her, holding her hand and looking at her with an expression that
+she could not define. She felt oppressed; it seemed to her that she
+should never see Urbain more. The marquis' figure appeared constantly
+between herself and Urbain, and the sadness the latter had felt on
+leaving her heightened her own premonitions. Yielding to this indefinite
+anxiety, often harder to bear than a real sorrow, Blanche could not
+rest, and the sound of a knock at her door in the middle of the night
+awoke in her fresh terror.
+
+"Who is there?" she cried, in a faltering voice.
+
+"It is I, Blanche," answered the barber; "open the door. I have
+something of importance to tell you."
+
+The young girl, who had recognized Touquet's voice, rose, hastily put on
+a dressing gown, and opened the door. The barber held the lamp in his
+hand and avoided looking at the young girl, who, on the contrary, wished
+to question him and said,--
+
+"Mercy, my good friend, what has happened?"
+
+These words, "my good friend," uttered in Blanche's sweet voice, always
+agitated Touquet; he forced himself to hide his feelings.
+
+"Calm yourself, Blanche," he said, "and listen to me; Urbain has had a
+quarrel tonight--a duel."
+
+"O heavens! He is wounded!"
+
+"No, no, nothing has happened to him, but it was necessary to his safety
+that he should leave Paris immediately; had he not done so they would
+have arrested him; he therefore left for the country."
+
+"He left without me?"
+
+"Let me finish; you should have been married here, in place of which you
+will be married at his house; but to quiet Urbain's anxiety I had to
+promise that tonight you should rejoin him."
+
+"Oh, at once, my friend, as soon as you please; but why did he not take
+me with him?"
+
+"That was impossible; Urbain had not an instant to lose; by a lucky
+chance, one of my friends is sending his valet into the country to find
+a wife. The carriage will come to take you in an hour. Get ready,
+therefore. He will charge you nothing and you will find everything down
+there that you need--do you understand me?"
+
+"Oh, I shall be ready in a moment, and what about Marguerite?"
+
+"She can follow you later; I need her to make divers arrangements. In a
+few days I shall come to see you. I'll leave you now; make your
+preparations. I shall come for you when the carriage arrives."
+
+The barber departed, and Blanche, who had not the slightest suspicion
+that anyone would deceive her, continued her toilet.
+
+"Poor Urbain," she said to herself, "I was sure that something would
+happen to him; and he, also, had a presentiment. How fortunate that he
+was able to escape; but I shall rejoin him and I shall nevermore leave
+him."
+
+During this time Touquet had returned to his room, saying to himself,--
+
+"Everything is going well--the little one will start without making the
+least difficulty. But if Marguerite is not asleep; if she should have
+heard some words of my conversation with the marquis and if she wishes
+to follow Blanche. It is important that the old woman should know
+nothing--it is easy to assure myself she is sleeping, since she now
+sleeps in the room occupied by Blanche's father. Come, I mustn't be
+weak. I'll go up."
+
+The barber took his light, and directed his steps towards a closet which
+was at the end of his room. When he reached it he still hesitated; then,
+making an effort to command himself, he touched a button hidden by the
+hangings, and a small door opened and discovered a small and very narrow
+staircase which led to the floor above. Touquet turned his eyes,
+murmuring,--
+
+"Since that fatal night I have not been in this passage."
+
+He mounted the stairs, his wild eyes seeming to fear that they would
+meet some frightful object, the hand in which he held the lamp
+trembling, while with the other he held to the wall to steady his
+tottering steps.
+
+At the top of the staircase was a door closed by two bolts, which he
+withdrew with as little noise as possible, and entered the little dark
+closet at the back of Marguerite's alcove, which the old nurse and
+Blanche had entered without perceiving the door on the staircase,
+because it was artistically hidden in the woodwork. The barber placed
+his lamp on the floor, and put his ear to the door which led into the
+alcove; he soon heard a prolonged snore, which announced that Marguerite
+was sleeping soundly; however, he softly opened the door so as to
+thoroughly assure himself of the fact; then he reentered the little room
+and left by the secret door, drew the bolts and went down, saying,--
+
+"There is nothing to fear from her."
+
+Suddenly the barber made a false step, he lowered his lamp and perceived
+some reddish stains on the staircase. Although it was difficult to
+distinguish what had produced these stains, Touquet recoiled with
+horror, his hair stood up on his head, his feet refused to carry him
+over the steps on which were imprinted the marks which caused his fear;
+in his agitation he allowed the lamp to fall from his hands; it rolled
+and was extinguished. The barber was left in the most profound darkness
+in the secret passage. Showing every sign of the most ungovernable
+terror, he ran as fast as possible down the stairs, bumping his head
+against the wall, falling and crawling on the stairs.
+
+"Mercy! mercy!" he cried, in a suffocating voice, "do not pursue me. Is
+it because I am giving up your daughter that you come anew to torment
+me? Well, I won't give her to the marquis. No, but leave me. Don't touch
+me with your bloody hands."
+
+At length he came to the foot of the stairs; he reclosed the door hidden
+by the hangings and without pausing in his room, where he had no light,
+he went down into the lower room, which was lit by one lamp and by the
+fire which still burned on the hearth.
+
+He threw himself upon a seat, and looked wildly about him, gradually
+becoming more assured; finally, he passed his hand over his brow
+saying,--
+
+"It was a dream."
+
+At that moment he heard the sound of a carriage, which stopped in front
+of the house, and having entirely recovered his wits he went to open the
+street door.
+
+"Here I am," said the marquis, alighting from the travelling carriage.
+"I have come even sooner than I promised. My valet de chambre is
+already on the way to Grandvilliers. The postilion is in the saddle,
+these two efficiently armed men will follow the coach, all is ready; and
+Blanche?"
+
+"I will go and get her; she believes that she is going to rejoin her
+future husband who has been wounded tonight in a duel; she has not the
+slightest suspicion that there is any trickery, and goes of her own free
+will."
+
+"That's excellent!"
+
+"But hide yourself, monseigneur, that she may not perceive you, or all
+will be lost."
+
+"Fear nothing; I will ensconce myself in the angle of this doorway--I
+only wish to see her enter the carriage--tomorrow I shall be at Sarcus,
+and I shall dry her tears."
+
+"I will go and fetch her."
+
+The barber went up to call Blanche, who had heard the carriage and was
+ready.
+
+"I am here, my good friend," said she, hastily leaving her room, "I knew
+the carriage had come."
+
+Touquet walked first, and Blanche followed; her heart was palpitating
+and, although she thought she was going to rejoin Urbain, this departure
+in the middle of the night had about it something mysterious, singular,
+which almost frightened her. When they had reached the lower room the
+sweet girl glanced around her, saying,--
+
+"What! has not Marguerite come to bid me good-by and kiss me?"
+
+"No, no, we haven't time for that," said Touquet taking her hand and
+leading her into the passage. When they reached the front door the
+barber put out his head to assure himself that the marquis was not
+within sight, then he opened the carriage door.
+
+"Come quickly," said he to Blanche, "get in; don't lose any time."
+
+Blanche darted into the street and stepped into the vehicle; her heart
+grew heavy as she found herself alone in it in the darkness of the
+night; but Touquet had already closed the door.
+
+"Good-by, my dear friend," she said to him, "I am going to rejoin
+Urbain, but I shall never forget you. All you have done for me is graven
+on my heart by gratitude."
+
+"Go on, go on, postilion," cried the barber, in a voice faltering with
+the emotions he experienced. At this moment two o'clock struck, the
+postilion cracked his whip, and the carriage which held Blanche started.
+
+"She is mine!" cried the marquis, and the barber hastily reentered his
+dwelling.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE RENDEZVOUS. STROKES OF FORTUNE. THE HOTEL DE BOURGOGNE. THE SEDAN
+CHAIR
+
+
+On taking his departure from the marquis' little house in the Faubourg
+Saint-Antoine, at daybreak, the Chevalier Chaudoreille did not feel
+entirely reassured as to the outcome of his duel with Turlupin, whom he
+believed to be a great personage; and whom, incredible as it may seem,
+he firmly believed he had slain; however, the idea that he was now the
+confidential agent of one so powerful as the Marquis de Villebelle,
+which gave him the right to claim that nobleman's protection if it
+should be necessary to him, gave him the courage to return to Paris,
+where he summed up the events of the preceding night and their probable
+consequences. The marquis had promised him a hundred pistoles if Blanche
+should happen to please him, and Chaudoreille was confident that he
+should have that sum; but should Touquet discover that it was through
+him that the marquis had learned of Blanche's existence, he would have
+everything to fear from the barber's anger. However, he did not forget
+his rendezvous for the evening.
+
+Forcing himself to banish all thoughts of the barber, and chinking the
+crowns which he had won from Marcel, he went into a wine shop, where he
+passed a great part of the day trying to obtain courage by emptying
+several bottles of wine. Towards evening he felt more enterprising, and
+returned to his lodging to iron out his ruff, renovate his complexion,
+dye his mustache and imperial, dust his shoes, and brush his hat; he
+then set out for his rendezvous, saying,--
+
+"Though she should possess the grace of a princess, I must not forget
+that I have to return this evening to the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, in
+order to receive a hundred pistoles from the marquis. Zounds! for a
+hundred pistoles I would leave the Sultan's favorite and all the
+odalisks of the Grand Turk."
+
+The day was waning; for the last half hour Chaudoreille had been
+strolling in the neighborhood where the old woman had accosted him the
+evening before, looking up at all the windows, having first carefully
+assured himself that the water carrier was not to be seen. Finally, the
+servant who had spoken to him previously issued from a
+respectable-looking house, and, as she passed near him, said in a
+whisper,--
+
+"Follow me, but do not appear to be with me."
+
+"Very well, Marton," answered Chaudoreille; and he followed on the heels
+of the old woman, so as not to lose her from sight.
+
+They entered the house; the servant mounted the stairs, put her finger
+on her lips and signed to Chaudoreille to follow her. The chevalier did
+so, but all of a sudden he seized the old woman's petticoat and stopped
+her, saying,--
+
+"Is your mistress married?"
+
+"Why?" asked the old woman, looking at him mockingly.
+
+"Why! by jingo! because some husbands have very little patience in an
+affair of this kind. Hang it! a stroke of the sword is soon given, and I
+can't throw myself thus into the wolf's den."
+
+"Are you not armed, monsieur? and if anyone should attack you, can you
+not defend yourself?"
+
+"Yes, I know how to defend myself," said Chaudoreille, going down some
+stairs, "but I have an infinite respect for the marriage vow, and,
+taking everything into consideration, I should prefer to take myself
+off."
+
+"Come I tell you, monsieur," said the domestic running after him, "my
+mistress is not married, and you have nothing to fear."
+
+"Well, by jingo! You should explain yourself, my good woman. My life is
+too precious for me to expose it with temerity. Come, Lisette, go up! I
+will follow you, but if you have lied to me, tremble!"
+
+The old woman paused on the second landing; she opened a door and took
+Chaudoreille into a pretty dining-room and from thence into a small
+well-furnished parlor, where she left him, saying,--
+
+"Wait here, I will go and tell madame."
+
+"Do not be long, for I am not fond of waiting," cried he, looking around
+him anxiously.
+
+Left alone he examined the apartment curiously, saying,--
+
+"It is pretty enough, it is all in very good taste; this is a woman of
+distinction. Come, Chaudoreille, you're in great luck. Don't act like a
+novice, but show some self-possession. Everything has come to me at
+once; fortune--money--love--I am sure that I shall finish by making my
+way. Oh, the deuce! here's a hole in my doublet! But I must pull my hat
+up in front, it will hinder me from seeing my princess; I feel in
+advance that I can adore her. But it's dark and they have left me
+without a light, that's very singular. My heart beats, this is certainly
+love."
+
+Here Chaudoreille raised his voice, saying,--
+
+"Besides, if anyone should dare to rub against me, Rolande has an edge
+and four men could not frighten me."
+
+At this moment the door creaked and opened behind Chaudoreille, who
+started back against a table, overturning several porcelain cups, as he
+exclaimed,--
+
+"Who goes there?"
+
+"It's me, monsieur," answered the servant. "I came to conduct you to
+madame."
+
+"Oh! that's right; but you left me without a light and I mistook you for
+a rat, of which I have a great horror. I would much rather fight with a
+lion than see only the tail of one of these little animals, but show me
+the way, my good woman."
+
+The servant led him through another room and opened a door into a
+handsome boudoir lighted by many candles; a young woman was seated on a
+sofa at the end of the room. The old woman retired. Chaudoreille, very
+uneasy in this tete-a-tete, to which he had looked forward, dared not
+look at the person with whom he found himself, and racked his
+imagination to find a compliment suitable for the occasion; but his
+Phoebus was stubborn, and nothing had occurred to him when he heard
+these words,--
+
+"Will not Monsieur Chaudoreille speak to his old acquaintances?"
+
+Struck by the voice, the little man raised his eyes and uttered an
+exclamation of surprise on recognizing Julia, the young Italian, who
+looked smilingly at him.
+
+"Can it be? Is it indeed you whom I see?" said Chaudoreille.
+
+"And what do you find so extraordinary in that, monsieur le chevalier?
+Did you think that the marquis would always leave me in his little
+house?"
+
+"No--undoubtedly not, beautiful lady--I do not know--but I was so far
+from expecting to see you," and he glanced tenderly at her, saying to
+himself: "I always thought that she loved me, behold me now the rival of
+a marquis; it's a tremendously ticklish position."
+
+"Be seated, Monsieur Chaudoreille," said Julia, who appeared for some
+moments very much amused by the embarrassment and the oglings of the
+little man. The latter, however, resumed his audacity, and was about to
+seat himself on the sofa beside Julia, but, by a gesture, the young
+woman indicated to him a folding chair, and signed to him to seat
+himself opposite her.
+
+"She's afraid of me," said Chaudoreille, seating himself on the folding
+chair, "she felt that she could not resist me and wished to defer her
+defeat. There's no need to hurry matters, my eyes can accomplish the
+business for me."
+
+"Can you imagine why I sent for you?" said the young woman, looking at
+him mischievously.
+
+"Why beautiful lady--I flatter myself, I presume there are some things
+that one divines when one lives in society."
+
+"And I think that you are mistaken," said Julia, assuming a serious
+tone, "and I will explain myself."
+
+"Mon Dieu," said Chaudoreille to himself, dismayed by Julia's change of
+tone, "Is she going to kill herself on account of me?"
+
+"I am the marquis' mistress; you are not ignorant of that fact."
+
+"Undoubtedly not, since I myself was the messenger of--"
+
+"Silence! do not interrupt me! If I do not seek to hide my frailty it is
+because, far from having yielded to interest or ambition, love only has
+caused my fall, and, in the eyes of a woman, love excuses many faults.
+Yes, I have loved the marquis for a long time. I had often seen him on
+the promenades, and in spite of all that I heard said about him, I could
+not resist the feeling which he inspired. My heart yielded itself to
+him. Be not astonished that I yielded so readily to your proposition. I
+flattered myself that the marquis shared the devouring flame which
+consumed me. I hoped to have enough strength not to show my love until I
+was certain of his. Alas! I counted too much on myself and it was very
+easy for him to persuade me that he loved me. Ungrateful man! the love
+which he swore to me has already given place to indifference, and I!--I
+feel that I love him more than ever."
+
+In speaking of the marquis, Julia became animated; her glance was fiery
+and her whole person indicated the violent passion to which she was a
+prey; Chaudoreille, much surprised at what he had heard, and almost
+alarmed at Julia's fate, drew his stool farther away as she grew warmer.
+
+"Yes," said the young woman who had apparently forgotten that
+Chaudoreille was there, and gave way to all her feelings; "yes, I shall
+always love you, fascinating Villebelle--this burning heart beats but
+for you! But I cannot bear your indifference; and if you should love
+another then my fury would know no bounds, and in your blood and that of
+my rival, I would revenge my outrage."
+
+"O my God! she wants me to stab the marquis," said Chaudoreille, and he
+tried to draw his chair still farther away, but, as it was now up
+against the wall, it was impossible for him to go any further, and he
+could only glance towards the door from the corner of his eye,
+murmuring,--
+
+"This is a fine rendezvous! That woman's possessed of the devil. I like
+my portress much better."
+
+Julia had ceased speaking, little by little she became calmer and
+resumed her ordinary manner, and, glancing at Chaudoreille, she could
+not prevent a smile on seeing him glued against the tapestry.
+
+"Come nearer! come nearer," she said to him, "that I may tell you what I
+desire of you. You are, you have told me, very intimate with the barber
+Touquet?"
+
+"Yes--mada--mademois--signora."
+
+"The barber is a man who habitually serves the marquis in his gallant
+intrigues; and I think that through him it would be very easy for you
+to learn if Villebelle has any new conquest in sight. Do you understand
+me?"
+
+"Yes, yes; I understand you perfectly."
+
+"Are you willing to serve me?--to inform me of all you can learn from
+the barber in regard to the marquis? and if you yourself should be
+employed in some love intrigues to come and impart to me immediately the
+plans which they have formed."
+
+"Yes, certainly. I consent with all my heart. Zounds!" added he to
+himself, "if she knew what I said to her lover yesterday, I shouldn't
+get out of here alive."
+
+"What are you trembling for?"
+
+"Oh, it's nothing, it's my nerves; that happens to me often."
+
+"Wait, take this purse; if you serve me zealously and faithfully, you
+will see that Julia is grateful."
+
+The sight of a well-filled purse somewhat restored Chaudoreille's
+resolution. He took the money, bowing nearly to the floor, and cried,--
+
+"From this moment, I am entirely devoted to you; dispose of my arm, of
+my sword, of--"
+
+"It is neither a question of your arm nor of your sword, it is of your
+eyes and your ears only that I have need. Be on the watch, make the
+barber talk, inform yourself of the slightest actions of the marquis,
+and come and give me an account of them. Let nobody have the least
+suspicion of you and that is all that is necessary to us. Go! and
+remember to inform me of the slightest circumstance if it has any
+connection with my love."
+
+"You shall be obeyed," responded Chaudoreille, bowing humbly. Julia
+rang, the old woman arrived, and, at her mistress' signal, led the
+chevalier to the door without saying a word.
+
+Once in the street, Chaudoreille breathed more freely.
+
+"Zounds!" said he, "here I am in intrigues up to my neck; Julia's agent,
+confidential man of the marquis, confidant of the barber, and, what is
+even more satisfactory, receiving money from all three of them. That's
+doing pretty well. Hang it! this purse is well-filled. Tomorrow I will
+clothe myself entirely anew. I shall get some flesh-colored breeches
+that will make me look like an angel! But I mustn't forget the most
+interesting item--the hundred pistoles that the marquis is to give me if
+Blanche pleases him--and I must go to the little house. O Fortune! you
+are treating me like a spoilt child, but it must be confessed that your
+favors are directed to a very adroit fellow."
+
+While making these reflections, Chaudoreille had taken his course toward
+the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, arriving at the little house at eight
+o'clock in the evening. He rang nearly as loudly as the marquis, and
+Marcel on opening the door to him said,--
+
+"You make as much noise as monseigneur."
+
+"Apparently it is because I have a right to do so," responded the
+Gascon, entering with an impertinent manner; then, striding across the
+garden, he went immediately into the dining-room and threw himself on a
+seat, saying,--
+
+"Has my friend, the marquis, been here since yesterday?"
+
+"Your friend, the marquis," answered Marcel, opening his eyes wide.
+
+"Why, yes, caitiff! Or the marquis, my friend, if that pleases you
+better."
+
+"Nobody has been here."
+
+"And has he sent nothing for me?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"I must wait for him then. Serve supper quickly for me, all that you
+have of the best, some of your oldest wines, some liqueur. Come! go
+about it, in place of standing and looking at me like a statue."
+
+"But what the devil is the matter with you?"
+
+"Marcel, no reflections, I beg of you, and, if you wish to keep your
+place, render yourself worthy of my protection."
+
+Marcel contented himself with smiling, then he laid the table and served
+the supper. Chaudoreille placed himself at table, Marcel did likewise.
+
+"Your conduct is a little familiar," said the chevalier to him; "but, as
+we are alone, I may as well allow you to seat yourself near me--"
+
+"That's very fortunate."
+
+"On condition that you serve me first, always."
+
+During supper, Chaudoreille chinked his money, counted his crowns,
+calculated what remained to him, and what he expected to receive. Marcel
+looked at him with surprise, saying,--
+
+"Have you inherited some money?"
+
+"Yes, I inherit like that very often. Zounds! if the marquis keeps his
+word with me, I shall be able to keep the pace."
+
+The supper lasted long; Chaudoreille was so much preoccupied by his
+affairs that he did not dream of playing; however, midnight had struck,
+he had received no message from the marquis, and the chevalier's hopes
+began to vanish. He sighed, listened and exclaimed,--
+
+"He doesn't come! If he should not have found her charming that would be
+very difficult for me. Zounds! in place of a hundred pistoles I should
+receive a hundred blows of a stick."
+
+As his hope diminished, his impertinence became tempered and he clinked
+his glass against Marcel's, saying,--
+
+"To your health my dear and true friend, for you are my friend. Don't
+talk to me about noblemen of the court, no one can put any faith in
+them; my good Marcel, what a good cook he is and what a pleasure it is
+to me to drink with him."
+
+"You don't think now that I did so ill in seating myself at the table?"
+
+"What! was I so unlucky as to say that to you?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Me,--could I have said such a stupid thing?"
+
+"Yes, there is no doubt of it."
+
+"I was tipsy then, I'd lost my senses."
+
+"I don't know what you had lost, but you said it."
+
+"Listen, Marcel! when I say such things as that to you, I give you
+permission to curse me."
+
+"That's all right, we'll speak no more of it."
+
+At that moment the bell of the gate was heard. Chaudoreille uttered an
+exclamation, half rose, and dropped on his chair again.
+
+"That will be monseigneur," said Marcel, taking a light, and he ran to
+open the door, leaving his guest divided between fear and hope.
+
+Marcel soon returned; he was alone, but he held a small roll which he
+placed on the table before Chaudoreille, and presented him with a paper
+on which somebody had written two lines in pencil, saying,--
+
+"Here is what monseigneur has sent you; read it!"
+
+Chaudoreille could not believe his eyes, he looked in turn at the roll,
+at the paper, and at Marcel.
+
+"Why don't you read it," said the latter to him.
+
+Finally, he took the paper with a trembling hand, and read: "I have seen
+her; you have surpassed my hopes and I double the promised recompense."
+
+"O my God, Marcel! he's doubled the hundred pistoles."
+
+"Then that makes two hundred; that is to say, that there is, in that
+roll, two thousand livres tournois in gold."
+
+"Two thousand livres!"
+
+"Well, what's the matter with you now?"
+
+"Marcel, give me a little vinegar, I beg of you. I don't feel very
+well."
+
+"It seems to me that a present like that should make you feel very well.
+Wait, drink a drop of brandy, that will put you in good shape."
+
+Chaudoreille, a little restored by the liquor, opened the roll, and the
+sight of the pieces of gold which it held deprived him for some moments
+of the faculty of speech. Finally, he murmured, in a voice faint with
+emotion,--
+
+"Marcel, all this belongs to me."
+
+"I know it, all right."
+
+"And then, there's this purse still; and these six crowns which I had
+left--"
+
+"Yes, from the game of piquet, yesterday."
+
+"And I am rich! Oh, it produces a terrible effect, my poor fellow, to
+pass all of a sudden from poverty to opulence. Alas! I shall suffocate!"
+
+"Drink a little more. My faith! if good fortune produces such an effect,
+I'd rather remain without a sou and breathe freely."
+
+"O Marcel, you're very stupid, my boy!"
+
+"I don't know at this moment which is the stupider of us two."
+
+"Two thousand livres! Who would believe that one could thus hold his
+fortune in the palm of his hand."
+
+"Hang it! one should hold it there as long as he can."
+
+"Marcel, do you know of any property for sale in the neighborhood?"
+
+"No, why do you ask that?"
+
+"It's very necessary that I should place my funds. What the deuce shall
+I do with all this! Come! after tomorrow, I shall set up my house, but
+first I shall leave my lodging in the Rue Brise-Miche and I shall take
+one near the cardinal's palace; I shall need a jockey. Marcel, will you
+be my jockey? No, in fact, you are too big. Ah, if it were not so late,
+I should visit some of the gambling houses; but I can't expose myself at
+night in this neighborhood with so much gold on me. What a figure I can
+cut in the gambling dens and at faro. I shall place first a louis on the
+card, I shall win, I shall double my stakes, I shall still win. I shan't
+take it up, I shall win ten times following, and I shall carry away a
+heap of gold. How can I spend all that. Oh, what an excellent idea! I
+can dine and sup twice every day, that will indemnify me for the times
+that I have had to fast."
+
+Marcel, whom fortune had not overwhelmed with her favors, went to sleep
+while Chaudoreille made his plans and counted his pieces of gold, but
+day dawned without the latter having closed his eyes, for, at the least
+sound, he started and carried his hand to his treasure, which he had
+rolled in his belt.
+
+Chaudoreille awoke Marcel and ordered him to go and find a sedan chair;
+but Marcel would not leave the house, under the pretence that he must
+obey the marquis' orders. Chaudoreille became very insolent again and
+shouted and threatened, but seeing that nothing would move Marcel, he
+took leave, and decided to return on foot to Paris.
+
+The little man felt larger by six inches since he had so much gold in
+his possession. He hardly looked at the passers-by, his nose seemed to
+threaten the heavens, and he was astonished that the sentinel on guard
+at the barrier did not present arms to him.
+
+After breakfasting as copiously as possible he walked to the palace
+which Richelieu had built, and on which he had lavished all that the
+luxury and taste of the time afforded to please the eye and to leave to
+posterity a monument worthy of the one who had erected it.
+
+Chaudoreille went into several shops, but he found nothing fine enough
+or fresh enough or brilliant enough for him. He ordered a doublet of
+rose-colored velvet slashed with white satin; breeches of a similar
+color; a cherry-colored mantle embroidered with silver and a fringed
+belt with golden tassels. These articles would take the larger part of
+his fortune; but as he was certain of breaking the bank at faro, he
+refused himself nothing, and within two days hoped to be arrayed like
+the most elegant nobleman of the court.
+
+Having ordered his costume, he went into one of the inns in the city,
+where he was served with a rich dinner and exquisite wines; and having
+already perceived that it was not so easy as he had believed to dine
+twice a day, which would be a very great resource for rich people who do
+not know what to do with their time, he tried to make his repast last
+twice as long as usual.
+
+At five o'clock in the evening, he finally got up from the table; his
+face flushed, his eyes brilliant, his legs a little unsteady, and left
+the inn. It was still too early to go to the gambling house, where the
+high players do not put in an appearance until towards nine o'clock, and
+to pass his time until then Chaudoreille decided to go to the play,
+which he had not visited for a long time. He therefore took his way
+towards the Hotel de Bourgogne, which he preferred to the Theatre des
+Italiens, because Turlupin, Gros-Guillaume and Gautier-Garguille, famous
+for the farces which they had played in their little Theatre de
+l'Estrapade had obtained permission from Richelieu to play there.
+
+The theatre of the Hotel de Bourgogne was situated in the Rue
+Mauconseil; the entrance was very narrow and the corridors very
+incommodious; the body of the house was composed of a pit and several
+tiers of boxes. When the court attended the theatre the courtiers
+carried their seats with them. Here were represented, following the
+privilege granted to comedians in January, 1613, all mysteries, and
+decent and amusing plays; presently, comedies, rather more elevated in
+tone than the usual buffooneries, were played there; and also some plays
+in which mythological divinities figured as characters, the poets of the
+day mingling the sacred and profane; but the low jokes and puns were
+what captivated and attracted the public.
+
+Chaudoreille entered the house and slipped into the pit, where everyone
+was standing, and where the fluctuations of the crowd often carried one
+from one corner to another. The chevalier found himself behind a very
+tall man and could not see the stage. In vain he drew himself up and
+stood on his tiptoes; he could see nothing except the backs and the wigs
+of his neighbors. He tried to protest, but everybody hushed him, for
+Gautier-Garguille appeared and was about to speak the prologue which
+preceded the piece. Listen to the buffoon, that you may have an idea of
+the style of prologue in use under Louis the Thirteenth.
+
+"Gentlemen and ladies, one thing I ought to say to you, and that is not
+to incline your ears to the symphony of this pastime as manual operators
+who do not cooeperate with the nonsense; and do not treat it as a
+deluding music or voice, rather for the spoliation and express capture
+of your purses than to win praise from your ears; the field of my
+invention being so sterile that if it is not watered by the cordial of
+your kindness it is difficult for it to produce flowers worthy to be
+offered to you. Philippot will appear immediately, and he hopes, under
+the assurance of your indulgence, to make you laugh and cry both
+together, so that finally the moderation of one feeling shall temper the
+violence of the other. Gentlemen and ladies, I shall desire, I shall
+wish, I shall will, I shall demand, and I shall require, desideratively,
+wishfully, willingly, demandatively, and requireatively, with my
+desiderations and my requireations, etc, to thank you for your kind
+presence and attention to a little jovial and jolly farce which we are
+about to represent, before which I wish to make a large, small, wide,
+narrow, and spacious remonstrance, which will make you laugh."
+
+While Gautier-Garguille was delivering this bombastic nonsense,
+Chaudoreille was being tortured, pressed, pushed on all sides, and
+struck in the face by his neighbors' elbows; in addition to which he
+suffered much anxiety in regard to the safety of his purse. The little
+man had urgently begged them to let him go out, but nobody would listen
+to him. In his despair, and having immediate need of a little air, he
+adopted the plan of pulling the wigs of two of his neighbors to hoist
+himself to their height, but the wigs came off, and the heads of two
+respectable tradesmen of Paris appeared naked before the assembly. The
+two spectators who felt their wigs pulled off, cried,--
+
+"Thief! watch!" and Chaudoreille mingled his voice with theirs, crying,
+"Help." The play was interrupted and at last, Chaudoreille was
+discovered struggling among the legs of the spectators, and rolling on
+the floor of the pit with the two wigs, which he had not dropped.
+
+The two bald heads treated him as a thief; he returned the wigs and
+explained his conduct as well as he could; they put him out of the door
+of the pit, which was all that he wished. He mounted to the boxes and
+found a place in front and, from time to time, glanced angrily at the
+public.
+
+However, the piece was commencing. Turlupin and Gros-Guillaume were on
+the stage and Chaudoreille rubbed his eyes, saying,--
+
+"Why! by jingo! if I had not killed him, I should believe that that was
+the Prince of Cochin-China."
+
+Presently Gautier-Garguille reappeared; he had counterfeited the Gascon
+to a marvel, his costume was exactly the same as that of Chaudoreille
+and he had copied his manners and grimaces so well that the latter
+cried,--
+
+"Is it another self, I see?--can I have a double?"
+
+The comedian having seen his model in the box, saluted him and made
+faces at him; the spectators' eyes were turned on Chaudoreille, they
+recognized in the little man that they had chased from the pit the one
+whom Gautier-Garguille had copied, and the shouts of laughter redoubled.
+The chevalier perceived that they were mocking at him and was furious;
+he drew his sword and threatened the pit, because when one defies
+everybody together it is as if one defied nobody. The spectators laughed
+louder still, and Chaudoreille left his box, swearing that he would
+never again go to the Hotel de Bourgogne.
+
+Arrived in the street, where some persons had followed him, he again
+gave way to his anger, exclaiming that he would punish the buffoon who
+had dared to copy him, that nobody could mock with impunity at a man
+like him, and that he would spend, if necessary, a hundred pistoles to
+avenge himself.
+
+While speaking thus, he drew out his purse, chinked his gold, took it
+out and put it back in his pockets, and finally exclaimed,--
+
+"Who will go and bring me a sedan chair!"
+
+Two men immediately went to execute this commission. While waiting for
+them to return, Chaudoreille promenaded before the theatre, swinging
+himself in the manner which he judged the most noble, and striking his
+belt every minute to make his gold pieces chink.
+
+The two men returned presently, they had obtained a chair, and would
+themselves have the honor of carrying Chaudoreille, or so they said to
+him on their arrival, exclaiming,--
+
+"Here, master! get in, master, you'll be pleased with us."
+
+Chaudoreille, whom nobody had ever called master, felt much pleased, and
+was about to bow low to the porters, but he restrained himself and
+darted into the chair, quivering with delight on the cushion which was
+at the bottom.
+
+"Where shall we go, master?" said one of them.
+
+"To Rue Bertrand-qui-Dort. You will see a lantern at the door of the
+house where I stop."
+
+"All right, master!"
+
+They closed the door of the chair, and Chaudoreille felt himself raised,
+and gently carried through the streets of Paris. It was the first time
+he had been in a chair. The pleasure which he experienced in being
+carried made him forget the disagreeable scene of the play. He reflected
+on his dazzling situation, and on the pleasure which he should taste in
+playing high, and laid new plans. However it seemed to him that he had
+been a long time in the chair, and the porters were still walking.
+Chaudoreille wished to know if he were near his destination. There was a
+very narrow little window on each side of the seat, but these windows
+could not be lowered. It was late, one could not see clearly in the
+streets, and Chaudoreille could distinguish nothing.
+
+"Are we almost there," cried he, leaning towards the front; nobody
+answered, and they continued to carry him. He began to think the motion
+of his carriage not quite so pleasant, he tried to open the door in
+front, the only vent by which one could leave a sedan chair, but that
+door would not open from the inside.
+
+A cold sweat bathed the little man's brow. He conceived a thousand
+suspicions, recalled divers adventures in which sedan chairs figured,
+and was bitterly repenting having taken one when at last he felt that
+they had stopped. He breathed more freely and prepared to descend, but
+after being deposited on the ground the chair was stood up on end, in
+such a manner that when they opened the door it was above Chaudoreille's
+head.
+
+"How do you think I can get out like that?" cried he, trying to climb.
+
+"Before coming out there is a little ceremony to be observed, master,"
+said the porters, in a jeering tone.
+
+"A ceremony, what is it, my boys?"
+
+"It is to give us all the silver and gold that you have about you. We'll
+relieve you of that."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"What is that you say? Scoundrels! Rascals!"
+
+"Come, do as we bid you and no noise, or that will be worse for you."
+
+As they gave this order, they flashed the blades of their swords before
+Chaudoreille's eyes, and he fell back in the bottom of the chair, unable
+to support himself. The two porters were obliged to draw him from the
+chair themselves. He glanced around him, but he was in a lonely, narrow
+road, surrounded by marshes, where nobody would venture so late. The
+robbers searched him, and despoiled him of all that he possessed, then
+they escaped with their sedan chair, leaving him lying beside a huge
+stone, half dead with fright.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+POOR URBAIN
+
+
+The morning after Blanche's hurried and unexpected departure, old
+Marguerite left her room at her usual time. The good woman had heard
+nothing; she had slept soundly, for it was long since the pleasures and
+the pains of love had caused her to suffer from insomnia. Her first
+movement on arising was to go to her dear Blanche's room to kiss her, as
+she was in the habit of doing every morning. She found the door of the
+room half open; but Blanche was not there, and the extreme disorder of
+the apartment, the bed which had been slept in but had not been made,
+the clothing spread upon the furniture, all indicated that some
+extraordinary event had taken place. The young girl had never left her
+room without Marguerite, and the latter called Blanche, and receiving no
+answer and alarmed at this departure from her customary habits, and
+perhaps by a secret presentiment, went downstairs to see if the young
+girl was with her master, but the barber was alone in the lower room,
+and then Marguerite said, in a frightened tone,--
+
+"O my God! where can the dear child be?"
+
+"What is the matter, Marguerite," said Touquet, who was prepared for
+this scene.
+
+"Blanche, monsieur, Blanche is not in her room. I have sought her vainly
+for a long time; someone has taken the dear child away from us."
+
+"Taken her away!" exclaimed the barber, pretending to be struck with
+astonishment. He immediately went to Blanche's room, followed by the old
+servant, who went as quickly as her legs would permit. After a search,
+which Touquet knew would be fruitless, he threw himself on a seat,
+crying,--
+
+"The wretch has fulfilled his threats!"
+
+"Who do you mean, monsieur!"
+
+"That man you saw here yesterday evening."
+
+"I believe you're right, monsieur, it can be nobody except him."
+
+"He was fascinated with Blanche, he ventured to ask her hand of me. I
+refused it to him and this is how he has revenged himself."
+
+"But, monsieur, you must know where this man lives. He had the bearing
+of a great nobleman. You can recover our dear child."
+
+"I have very little hope of it. This wretch assumed a brilliant costume
+in the hope of seducing Blanche, but he is a schemer without name,
+without a roof, without position."
+
+"A schemer," said Marguerite, looking at her master in astonishment;
+"but, monsieur, it seemed to me that he was the same friend that you
+were waiting for so late some time ago."
+
+The barber was for an instant rendered uneasy by Marguerite's remark,
+but soon recovering himself, he resumed,--
+
+"You are mistaken, it was not he; I forbid you to speak to anybody of
+that again."
+
+"And Urbain, monsieur,--that poor Urbain--when he comes here this
+evening--"
+
+"Urbain will unite his efforts with mine to recover her whom he was
+about to marry."
+
+The barber went out and Marguerite then gave free course to her tears.
+The good woman loved Blanche with a mother's tenderness. She could not
+bear to be deprived of her presence, and impatiently awaited Urbain's
+arrival; for it seemed to her that he would know better than anybody
+else how to discover and restore her lost darling.
+
+Touquet was absent during a large part of the day. On his return,
+Marguerite inquired as to the success of his search, but he answered her
+coldly,--
+
+"I have no hope of finding her." These words chilled the poor old
+woman's heart; she could not understand how anyone could be consoled at
+the loss of Blanche.
+
+The hour drew near when Urbain could recompense himself for the day's
+absence.
+
+"Only one day more," said he, as he approached the barber's house, "and
+she will be mine." He hurried, his heart palpitating with love, but on
+looking up at Blanche's window he saw no light, and this slight
+circumstance astonished him and rendered him uneasy; or rather a secret
+presentiment warned him of his misfortune, for, in love, presentiments
+are not chimeras.
+
+Urbain knocked and Marguerite appeared, but the grief depicted on her
+face, her eyes filled with tears, announced that something had happened.
+
+"Where is Blanche?" cried Urbain, looking fearfully at Marguerite.
+
+The old woman could only sigh deeply, but Urbain was no longer near her,
+he ran, he flew to the room of his beloved, but that room was deserted,
+its charming occupant was gone. Marguerite slowly followed the young
+man.
+
+"In mercy tell me," cried Urbain, "where is she? Hide nothing from me."
+
+"My poor boy, collect all your courage. Last night somebody carried off
+our dear child."
+
+Urbain remained motionless and overwhelmed, while Marguerite told him
+all that she knew. He listened without interrupting her, and seemed as
+if he could hardly yet realize his misfortune, but presently, dropping
+on Blanche's favorite seat, he yielded to the profoundest despair. The
+tears rolled down his face; at nineteen years of age one sheds them
+still in the troubles of life; one has not then that strength of mind
+which is later acquired in the school of misfortune.
+
+Marguerite tried to calm Urbain by saying to him,--
+
+"You will recover her, that dear child, for you are not capable of
+forgetting her, and coldly consoling yourself for her loss."
+
+"I forget her?" said Urbain, pressing the hands of the good old woman.
+"Ah, Marguerite, is not my life bound up in that of Blanche? I shall
+take no rest until she is with me again."
+
+"That's right, my dear Urbain, to hear you speak thus renders me
+hopeful; besides, our poor little one has with her a talisman, and that
+lightens my anxiety a little."
+
+"Tell me all the circumstances again; a man came here, you say?"
+
+"Yes, he said he was sent by my master, and came to speak to Blanche."
+
+"The scoundrel! and what did he say to her?"
+
+"Oh, he merely paid her some compliments. He spoke like a great
+nobleman, and he had the costume and bearing of one, although M. Touquet
+pretends that he is a wretch without position and without home."
+
+"He knows him, then?"
+
+"There's no doubt of it. I confess to you that I am afraid, although he
+did not have a wicked appearance, rather a look of pride, and an
+imperious tone. I was sorry at having opened the door for him, and
+Blanche, the poor little thing, trembled. But all this didn't last very
+long. He heard M. Touquet come in, and immediately the stranger took his
+mantle, saluted Blanche, and went down to monsieur. I followed him, but
+they sent me away, and I know nothing further."
+
+Urbain left Marguerite, he darted from the chamber and, in an instant,
+he faced the barber, whose cold and gloomy look contrasted with Urbain's
+excitement.
+
+"Well, monsieur, what have you learned? what have you done to recover my
+bride," cried he. "Speak! what do you know?"
+
+The barber, rendered rather uneasy by the vivacity of Urbain's
+questions, answered hesitatingly,--
+
+"I have made a thousand inquiries, I can discover nothing."
+
+"And this scoundrel who came here yesterday, who is he?"
+
+"I hardly know him. He sometimes came into my shop, for what purpose I
+do not know, and I swear to you that he must have heard of Blanche's
+beauty, for he had never seen her, and formed the idea of introducing
+himself to her."
+
+The barber appeared so sincere in pronouncing these words that Urbain
+repented of having suspected him.
+
+"Forgive me," said he, "for daring to think--but you would not make us
+unhappy. You have given me Blanche, you have been to her as a father.
+Oh, you will join with me, will you not, in endeavoring to find her
+ravishers?"
+
+"Yes," answered Touquet in a low tone, "I shall second you, I promise
+you."
+
+"And the name of that man, you must know it?"
+
+"I never dreamt of asking him his name. Yesterday, on my showing him
+immediately that his love for Blanche was a folly, he retired, making
+many threats to which I paid little attention."
+
+"Who could have given him the information which led him to wish to see
+her? and how could he get into Blanche's room?"
+
+"A few false keys would be sufficient for that, and in this city, you
+know, nobody is safe in his own house."
+
+Urbain remained silent for some moments and the barber avoided his
+looks; finally the bachelor exclaimed,--
+
+"Good-by, monsieur, I am going to seek for her whom you gave me to be my
+bride."
+
+"May you be successful," answered the barber in a gloomy voice, as
+Urbain abruptly departed, thinking of nothing but Blanche, but not
+knowing where to direct his steps.
+
+Urbain went first to the different gates of Paris; there he demanded if
+during the previous night anyone had seen a young woman pass, and gave a
+description of her. He was sure that everybody would notice Blanche, and
+that her charming features would fix themselves upon the memory; but he
+did not obtain the slightest information, they hardly answered him. His
+simple costume prevented their putting themselves out to oblige him, for
+in the good old times, as well as today, it was necessary to scatter
+gold in order to expedite any business.
+
+"If all these people could know Blanche," said Urbain, "they would not
+show so much indifference."
+
+Not daring to leave Paris without having some indication as to the way
+that he should take, Urbain continued to walk as chance led him in the
+capital, though the inhabitants had for some time retired to rest.
+Thieves, lovers, and soldiers of the watch, alone showed themselves in
+the gloomy streets of Paris. The young bachelor traversed many streets
+without meeting anybody, but he still walked on, saying,--
+
+"Why should I go in, I could not sleep, and what could I do with myself
+at home?"
+
+However, love and despair do not render one indefatigable. Urbain had
+been walking since eight o'clock in the evening, and it was now nearly
+three o'clock in the morning. His legs began to fail him, he felt that
+it would soon be impossible for him to go any further. He looked around
+him. The moon, which showed at intervals, allowed him to distinguish the
+junction of some lonely cross roads into which converged some lanes
+which led to the marshes. Urbain turned towards a large stone which he
+perceived some steps from him, for he thought he would there seat
+himself and wait for day, but as he reached the stone his feet struck
+against something which he had not perceived, and a voice immediately
+exclaimed,--
+
+"Oh, by jingo! don't kill me; I haven't a sou now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CHATEAU DE SARCUS
+
+
+The carriage which contained the unfortunate Blanche bowled steadily
+along for several hours, and in the excitement occasioned by this novel
+journey, the lovely child hardly remembered her former fears. After
+living in the most absolute retirement, shut up for years in a single
+room except at meal times, it seemed like a dream to find herself in a
+carriage in the middle of the night, and alone journeying into the wide
+world, she knew not whither. However, the noise of the wheels and of the
+horses' feet, mingled with the cracking of the postilion's whip, as he
+sought to increase the speed of his horses, which were already going
+like the wind, and the rocking of the vehicle as it swayed from side to
+side alarmed her very much and persuaded her of the reality of her
+situation.
+
+"I am going to see Urbain," said the trembling traveller to herself, "I
+am going to rejoin him; I should not give way to my fears, we are going
+to be so happy. Why, since we are about to be united forever, should I
+feel anything but pleasure at hastening the moment? But then, I had
+hoped to travel with Urbain and everything has turned out so
+differently. Poor Urbain, it's not his fault; but why did he fight? Oh,
+I am so anxious to be with him!--and Marguerite didn't even say good-by
+to me. It seems as though everybody had abandoned me."
+
+The sweet girl dried the tears which had moistened her eyes, then she
+looked out of the windows, but the darkness prevented her from seeing
+anything; she sighed and sank back in the carriage.
+
+"Where are we? I don't know, but it seems to me they are going very
+fast. Well, so much the better, I shall be the sooner with Urbain."
+
+As soon as day began to break, Blanche, who kept looking out of the
+windows, could partly distinguish trees, fields, and houses. Presently
+the mist was entirely dissipated, and the young traveller admired the
+glory of the dawn, and the varied scenes which seemed to fly before her.
+Soon the carriage rolled along a road bordered only by trees and hedges;
+the branches of some old trees from time to time brushed the top of the
+carriage, and this unexpected sound made the inexperienced traveller
+tremble. All of a sudden the view extended widely; the road was edged
+with meadows and rich fields. The laborers were already going to their
+work; already the furrows made by the plough could be seen, and the
+spade had newly broken the sweet-smelling earth. The trees were still
+bare of foliage, but the tips of the branches were reddened and about to
+break into bud. Everything announced the return of spring. Farther on
+they passed through a village, the early rising inhabitants of which
+could be seen at their doors or their windows, hastening to watch the
+carriage passing so rapidly. Contentment and health were pictured on the
+face of each peasant; it was their only ornament, for cleanliness and
+neatness are not distinguishing traits of the country people, whose
+children play on the manure heap, pell-mell with the ducks and geese.
+But nature is not always pleasing, and it is not in the outskirts of
+Paris that one must seek for the shepherds of Florian, the herdsmen of
+Bertin, the seductive villagers of our comic operas.
+
+Country scenes always please the pure and simple mind, and Blanche, as
+she passed the villages and farms, and hamlets, exclaimed,--
+
+"How delightful to live here, to walk, to run in the fields and in the
+woods! Oh, how happy I shall be with Urbain!"
+
+Indeed, the fields and the woods bore a more smiling aspect than the Rue
+des Bourdonnais, and the barber's gloomy house.
+
+The carriage did not stop; the postilions had orders to speed straight
+to the chateau, though the horses should die at the journey's end.
+Blanche did not know how far from Paris was Urbain's house and country,
+besides, she did not remember ever before being in a carriage, and it
+seemed to her that in moving so quickly they must have gone a very long
+way. About an hour after midday they passed through the pretty town of
+Grandvilliers, where a great number of manufactories afforded work and
+means to the inhabitants; but they did not stop there, and the carriage,
+turning to the right, crossed a wide plain and diverged towards a
+building which could be seen at a little distance, and which was justly
+called the wonder of the country side. It was the Chateau de Sarcus, of
+which the elegant facade could be discerned in the distance. Blanche
+perceived the chateau, but she was far from thinking that her journey
+would terminate there, though she gazed at that magnificent dwelling
+and, as the carriage rolled nearer, she could easily distinguish the
+sculptures and admire the work of artists who had surpassed themselves
+in order to merit the approbation of that gallant monarch, who
+patronized the arts as much as he admired beauty.
+
+At last they reached the front of the chateau, and the carriage, in
+place of passing, entered the confines of this handsome domain.
+
+"Well, now, what is the matter?" said Blanche trying to open the door.
+"This is not the place, this cannot be right; Urbain hasn't a big house
+like this--the coachman is mistaken."
+
+However, the carriage stopped in a spacious courtyard. A servant in rich
+livery opened the door, and with a respectful air offered his hand to
+help Blanche alight.
+
+"Oh, no, I don't wish to get down," said the innocent child, looking at
+the servant in astonishment, "this is not the place I was coming to;
+certainly they are mistaken, this is a chateau, it cannot be Urbain's
+house; besides, he would have been very prompt to meet me."
+
+"No, madame, they are not mistaken," answered Germain, the marquis's
+valet, who had arrived two hours before the carriage, in order that he
+might give instructions to the house porter, and have rooms prepared for
+Blanche. "Your journey terminates here, and everything is in readiness
+to receive you."
+
+"Here?" said Blanche, as she lightly stepped from the carriage, and
+looked around her in surprise, "but where is he?"
+
+"He has not yet arrived, madame," said Germain, who had received strict
+orders to name nobody and to answer the young girl in conformity with
+the ideas she had formed in regard to her journey.
+
+"What, he's not here yet? and I believe he started before me. He hasn't
+come here directly, then? Oh, I understand! fearing lest he be pursued,
+he has been obliged to hide and to make some detours."
+
+"That's it, I am quite sure," answered the valet, smiling, "and I don't
+think he can get here before evening."
+
+"Poor Urbain, how tiresome to have to wait until this evening."
+
+"If madame desires to follow me, I will lead her to the apartments which
+have been hastily prepared for her."
+
+"I'm not madame, my name is Blanche. We are not yet married, but as soon
+as he arrives I hope to be his wife. Show me the way, monsieur, I will
+follow you."
+
+The man entered a spacious vestibule and mounted a marble staircase,
+then he led Blanche through some superb galleries, along one side of
+which were windows of stained glass, while upon the other the walls were
+adorned with pictures representing the most pleasing mythological
+subjects. In viewing all that met her sight, Blanche could not restrain
+her astonishment. She paused and said to Germain,--in a voice which she
+tried to render still more touching,--
+
+"Monsieur, I beg of you, tell me the truth,--does this superb dwelling
+belong to him?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle, indeed this chateau does belong to him."
+
+"Ah, I thought it was a chateau! and he said he had only a little house,
+and this one appears to me immense; he must be very rich to have a
+chateau like this, and Urbain sometimes regretted that he had not a
+large fortune to share with me."
+
+"Perhaps he wished to surprise you, mademoiselle."
+
+"That was wrong of him; rich or poor I should love him just as much. Mon
+Dieu! how large it is, these galleries, these beautiful rooms, we shall
+be lost here; and how surprised Marguerite will be. Monsieur, are there
+cows and rabbits here?"
+
+"There shall be everything here that you desire, mademoiselle."
+
+"Urbain has promised me a beautiful cow, and I should like to milk her
+and to make butter and cheese, that would be so amusing."
+
+Germain turned away to hide his smiles, because the country taste of the
+young girl appeared very singular to the servant of the great nobleman,
+but soon he opened a door saying,--
+
+"This is the apartment which they have prepared for you, mademoiselle;
+if it does not please you, you will choose any other in the chateau and
+they will hasten to execute your orders."
+
+"Oh, I like this above everything," said Blanche, as she entered a
+richly furnished room, adorned with full-length mirrors, "It is very
+fine here," said she, examining the hangings, draperies and candelabras
+which ornamented the apartment. She then passed into a second room,
+decorated with the same sumptuousness, in which was a bed hung with silk
+curtains, with silver fringe.
+
+"If he were here," said Blanche, sighing, "all this would please me much
+better. And these windows, what do they look on?"
+
+Germain hastened to open the windows which were all provided with vast
+balconies. Blanche advanced, and could not restrain an exclamation of
+pleasure on perceiving a lake which bathed the walls of that part of the
+chateau in which her apartments were situated. The lake extended into
+the middle of a wide meadow, and finally lost itself in some rocks,
+where the water fell in a cascade into an immense basin. On the right of
+the meadows one could see woods and shrubberies, and on the other side
+the view extended itself, far and wide, over a country dotted with hills
+which afforded a charming landscape.
+
+"Oh, how charming it is," cried Blanche, "what a beautiful view!"
+
+"Mademoiselle can hardly have an idea of what the view is when the
+fields are covered with verdure."
+
+"But I should like very much to walk in all these places which I see, to
+run in those meadows and to go on that lake, whose waters bathe these
+walls and seem to me so pure."
+
+"That is very easy, mademoiselle, for the park belonging to this chateau
+extends as far as you can see. When you wish to visit the gardens, run
+about the park, or boat on the lake, I will hasten to attend you."
+
+"What! does all that I see belong to Urbain?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle, all that pertains to the chateau."
+
+Each word of Germain augmented Blanche's surprise. She could not
+conceive that her beloved could have deceived her so far. However, she
+had not the least suspicion of the treason of which she was the victim.
+The servant pulled the bell and a young country woman came into the room
+and awkwardly curtseyed to Blanche, who returned her salutation with
+good will.
+
+"Mademoiselle, this young girl is at your orders. She will serve you as
+chambermaid if you are willing to accept her services."
+
+"Oh, I can do everything for myself very well; I do not need anybody, I
+thank you."
+
+"In any case, Marie will come as soon as you ring. Mademoiselle must
+need rest after the fatigue of the journey; we will retire."
+
+"Yes, since he will not come until evening I will try to sleep a little.
+The time will seem shorter."
+
+Germain made a sign to Marie, who after having made two other curtseys,
+left, followed by the marquis' valet. Left alone in her new apartment,
+Blanche glanced around her with surprise. All that had happened to her
+since the evening before seemed like a dream. She paused before the
+furniture, the mirrors, and murmured, sighing,--
+
+"All this belongs to him, but why this mystery? He feared, perhaps, to
+be loved only for his fortune. Ah, dear Urbain, it is you only whom I
+love, and I should very quickly leave this fine chateau if it were
+necessary for me to dwell in it without you. But we shall be very happy
+here together, although it will be rather large for us two."
+
+Fatigued by her journey, Blanche threw herself upon the bed. Soon
+slumber closed her eyes, she rested tranquilly, believing that she was
+under Urbain's roof.
+
+It was four o'clock when the young girl awakened. Her first care on
+rising from the bed was to go and look at a clock on the mantelpiece.
+
+"Evening is still far distant," said she sighing, "and what can I do
+until then? It seems to me that I'm lost in this fine chateau. If only
+Marguerite were here, we could talk about Urbain, that would make the
+time pass quicker."
+
+In glancing about the chamber she perceived a little door which she had
+not remarked before; she opened it and found herself in a dressing-room
+where everything was gathered that could be agreeable to a woman of
+fashion, but Blanche looked indifferently at a handsome dressing-case
+furnished with rarely beautiful objects. In her plans for a happy future
+she had seen only a small farm, a stable, a dovecot, and a garden, and
+her mind could not become accustomed to replace it by the chateau. She
+left the dressing-room and returned to the first room, where she saw a
+table covered with all that could tempt the appetite.
+
+"How attentive they are," said Blanche, "really they treat me like a
+queen. Urbain must have told them to take every care of me."
+
+Blanche rang and Marie answered, but she was followed by Germain, who
+did not wish to lose sight of the chambermaid before the arrival of his
+master for fear she might inform Blanche of that which he still wished
+to conceal.
+
+"Was this table laid for me?" said Blanche.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle," answered Germain, "I thought you would need some
+breakfast. Excuse me if I offer you nothing but that, but not being
+forewarned--"
+
+"Nothing but that! You are laughing, no doubt. There is enough here to
+suffice ten persons, and at M. Touquet's we never had more than two
+dishes for our dinner."
+
+Blanche seated herself at the table. Germain remained at some distance,
+and Marie served her without opening her mouth, but curtseyed to her
+every time that she handed her a dish. So much ceremony fatigued the
+young girl, who was accustomed to a simple, frugal life. She soon left
+the table and evinced a desire to walk in the park. Germain immediately
+led her through a gallery and several passages to a staircase, at the
+foot of which was an entrance to the gardens. Blanche breathed more
+freely in the meadows than under the sculptured ceilings of the chateau.
+She left the borders of the lake, crossed a little wood and found
+herself presently in what was designated as the English park, of which
+the paths crossed each other and formed a thousand detours, but when
+Blanche turned she always saw Germain in the distance, who had never
+lost sight of her.
+
+"He's no doubt afraid that I shall lose myself," said she, "this is all
+so vast that it would be easy to lose one's way."
+
+Blanche returned to the chateau; Germain led her back to her apartments,
+and then asked at what hour she wished to dine.
+
+"I would much rather wait and sup with Urbain, for he will come this
+evening, will he not, monsieur?"
+
+"I think so," answered the valet, bowing, and he departed, leaving her
+sad and thoughtful, for these words, "I think so," did not seem positive
+enough for her. She stationed herself on one of the balconies which
+looked on the lake and there, her eyes fixed on the horizon, gave
+herself up to her thoughts, and invoked the night which should reunite
+her with her lover. Soon her eyes could not distinguish distant objects,
+a light mist seemed to rise and obscure the scene; presently the
+perspective diminished, the horizon dosed in; finally, she could see
+only a few steps before her, and Blanche left the balcony, saying,--
+
+"Night is here, he will come."
+
+Germain entered the room and lighted several candles.
+
+"As soon as he arrives," said Blanche to the man, "do not fail to tell
+him I am here--that I am waiting for him."
+
+"His first care will be to seek you, mademoiselle," answered the valet
+smiling, and he departed, inviting Blanche to ring if she should desire
+anything else.
+
+Had not Urbain's face been incessantly before the mind of the young
+girl, perhaps she would have experienced some fear on finding herself
+alone at night in a place which she hardly knew, in the middle of a room
+which seemed to her immense in comparison with the little room which she
+had occupied at the barber's, but love is the best remedy against fear,
+and the young girl, who would not go down into the cellar without
+trembling, although she had a light in her hand, would willingly go
+there without a candle were she sure of finding her lover. The clock
+struck nine.
+
+"He cannot be much later," said Blanche, "provided nothing has stopped
+him on the way, for M. Touquet told me he would be here before me."
+
+She sighed, and opening a window went on to the balcony to contemplate
+the reflection of the moon on the tranquil surface of the lake; she was
+astonished at the silence which reigned in the chateau, where everything
+seemed as still as the moonlit landscape. This profound quietude did not
+indicate the arrival of Urbain, and at that moment Blanche wished to
+hear some sound which would at least break the solitude of the night.
+She tried to console herself by saying,--
+
+"My rooms are probably distant from the entrance to the chateau; this
+house is so big I cannot hear what passes in other parts of it."
+
+An hour rolled by, and the uneasiness, the sadness, which had taken
+possession of the young girl caused her to pass alternately from her
+room to the balcony. Sometimes she opened the door of her room and
+ventured into the gallery.
+
+Joy and hope no longer animated her beautiful eyes, and she could hardly
+restrain her tears. At last she dropped into an immense easy chair and
+said in a broken voice,--
+
+"What new misfortune could have happened to him?"
+
+Suddenly a loud noise was heard. Blanche rose, listened, and thought she
+distinguished the sound of carriage wheels, the hoofs of horses, and the
+barking of dogs. Presently the opening and shutting of doors was heard.
+
+"He is come," cried the young girl, and she was about to pass along the
+gallery to go and meet her lover, but there was no light, she did not
+know the way and would become lost in all these immense rooms; it would
+be much better to wait for him in her own. She still listened. The sound
+of wheels had ceased, but she occasionally heard steps and voices.
+
+"Somebody surely has arrived," said Blanche. "It can be nobody but
+Urbain; but why does he not come to me?"
+
+She ran to the bell and pulled the cord several times. Nobody came.
+Greatly astonished at this, she was about to take a light and venture
+into the gallery when hasty steps approached.
+
+"Here he is at last," exclaimed she, running immediately to the door,
+and remaining motionless with surprise and fear on seeing before her the
+stranger who, on the preceding night, had visited the barber's house.
+
+The marquis paused on the doorsill. He bowed to Blanche with a look at
+once tender and respectful. The latter had hardly recovered from her
+surprise, and looked anxiously into the gallery, saying to the marquis
+in a touching voice,--
+
+"Is not Urbain with you?"
+
+Blanche's accents were so sweet, her voice expressed so much anxiety of
+mind, that Villebelle felt profoundly moved, and for the first time,
+perhaps, experienced some remorse at the pain which he was about to
+cause the young girl. Blanche repeated her question in a supplicating
+tone, and the marquis answered, turning away his eyes,--
+
+"I came alone."
+
+"O monsieur, in mercy tell me what has happened to him!" exclaimed
+Blanche, approaching the marquis and extending her arms towards him in
+her anxiety.
+
+Villebelle looked at her and in that moment the various feelings which
+agitated the charming child, rendered her still more seductive. Her eyes
+were more animated than usual, her lips, half opened, disclosed two rows
+of pearls, and her hair falling in disorder over her forehead, gave a
+new expression to her angelic face. The marquis felt his remorse vanish
+at the sight of so many charms. Habituated, besides, to treat virtue as
+a chimera and constancy as a folly, he flattered himself that he would
+soon be able to dissipate Blanche's grief, and now, wishing to undeceive
+her, he fell on his knees, saying,--
+
+"Deign to forgive me, lovely girl; this chateau belongs to me. You are
+not in Urbain's house, but in the house of a man who adores you and will
+use every means to promote your happiness."
+
+Blanche seemed as though she did not comprehend him; she looked at him
+affrightedly, repeating,--
+
+"I am not at Urbain's house? But, monsieur, where is he then?"
+
+"I'm not very uneasy about that, and I should advise him not to come
+here to seek you."
+
+"But it is with Urbain that I should be, monsieur. They were mistaken in
+bringing me here, I said so at the time; I knew Urbain could not have
+such a grand house. You are going to make them take me away immediately,
+are you not, monsieur?"
+
+"No, my dear child, it was I who caused you to be abducted and I will
+yield you to nobody."
+
+"Abducted?" she cried, "what are you saying? Urbain had fought a duel
+and had to flee, that is why I started in the middle of the night."
+
+"It was necessary to tell you that, in order that you might leave
+willingly."
+
+"O my God! could that be so? But, no, it was my protector, it was M.
+Touquet himself, who put me in the carriage."
+
+"Yes, adorable Blanche, it was your protector, it was the honest Touquet
+who aided my plans and gave you up to my love."
+
+The frightful truth flashed into her mind, her knees failed her, the
+color left her cheeks, and without uttering a single cry she was about
+to fall upon the floor. Happily the marquis received her in his arms, he
+laid her on the bed and rang the bell violently. Germain immediately
+appeared.
+
+"Call someone, call for help," said the marquis, greatly agitated, "she
+has lost consciousness. Is there not a woman here in the chateau?"
+
+"Pardon me, monseigneur." Germain called Marie, and the stout country
+girl came running.
+
+"Give all your care to this young girl," said the marquis to the woman,
+"and do not leave her for an instant. If she is long in coming to her
+senses, send me word."
+
+"Very well, monseigneur," said Marie, curtseying, and Villebelle left
+the room with Germain.
+
+The marquis, fatigued by his rapid journey from Paris, threw himself
+upon a lounge as soon as he reached his apartment, and while Germain
+relieved him of his travelling dress he inquired as to what Blanche had
+said and done since her arrival.
+
+"Monseigneur," said Germain, "she believed that she was at the house of
+M. Urbain, and following your orders I have not undeceived her."
+
+"She appears to love him more than I had believed," said Villebelle,
+sighing.
+
+"'Tis but the love of a young girl, monseigneur, a fierce fire, which
+soon burns itself out."
+
+"May what you say be true, but Blanche bears no resemblance to other
+women whom I have seen up to this day. There is about her a candor, a
+frankness, finally, a something, I know not what, which commands
+respect. I cannot explain to you the feeling with which she inspires me.
+Her tears sear my heart. I wish to win her love by the attentions which
+I shall lavish upon her. It will take some time, perhaps; but no matter,
+I feel capable of restraining my passion, of submitting to everything
+which she may exact of me. You see, Germain, that I am truly in love,
+for I no longer recognize self, and near Blanche I feel as timid as a
+child."
+
+"We must see if that will last, monseigneur."
+
+"Ah, you don't understand what I experience. Germain, you must start
+tomorrow morning for Paris; I will give you what money is necessary,
+and you will bring back everything you can find of the prettiest and
+newest in ornaments, stuffs, and jewels. Spare nothing, that we may find
+something to please Blanche."
+
+"Rely on me, monseigneur."
+
+"How many servants are in the chateau?"
+
+"The old porter, who never leaves his door, believing himself the
+guardian of a citadel; his daughter Marie, whom monseigneur saw just
+now, and who is the only woman I found at the chateau."
+
+"Is she capable of waiting on Blanche?"
+
+"Oh, yes, monseigneur, she's rather stupid, rather awkward, but very
+faithful and obedient. Her father answered to me for that; besides,
+Mademoiselle Blanche seemed to prefer to do without a chambermaid."
+
+"Well, go on."
+
+"The gardener, an old idiot, who knows nothing except plants. As to the
+country people whom we employ, they never come inside the house. Oh, I
+forgot, an old cook and cellarman, very drunken, so far as I can see,
+but he is never permitted to leave his kitchen and, in the absence of
+his masters, shuts himself up in the cellars."
+
+"That is well, but it is necessary to have some people here who can
+watch Blanche or else she will doubtless find some way to escape, if, in
+time, she should form such a plan, and I brought from Paris two lackeys
+who will acquit themselves perfectly in this employment. Ah, Germain,
+if I can only make Blanche love me, how happy I shall be; but I am
+anxious to have news of her, go down and call Marie, I cannot remain in
+this anxiety."
+
+Germain went down, but soon returned with the young peasant, who had
+already left Blanche.
+
+"Well, how is she?"
+
+"That young lady, monseigneur?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Oh, she returned to her senses some time ago, monseigneur."
+
+"And what did she say then?"
+
+"On my word, monseigneur, lots of things that I couldn't understand--Oh,
+wait, I remember, she asked me if you were master of the chateau, and as
+soon as I said 'Yes,' she began to cry."
+
+"She wept?"
+
+"Oh, yes, monseigneur, she did nothing else, and then she asked me your
+name."
+
+"What did you answer?"
+
+"Mercy, I said that you were called monseigneur le marquis."
+
+"She asked you no other questions?"
+
+"No, monseigneur."
+
+"And why did you leave her?"
+
+"Monseigneur, it was because she told me she would like me to leave
+her."
+
+The marquis signed to them to leave him. He did not wish anyone to
+witness the emotion which he felt. It gave him satisfaction to know
+that Blanche was within his walls, but the sorrow which she showed
+disturbed his content. He dared not go back to her yet, deeming it wiser
+to allow her time to recover from the first pangs of her grief. He threw
+himself upon his bed, but he could not sleep. The image of Blanche was
+incessantly before his eyes, and with her came the remembrance of the
+many errors of his youth which he wished in vain to drive from his mind.
+
+While Villebelle endeavored to account for his insomnia and agitation by
+attributing it to love, Blanche passed in tears that night which she had
+awaited with so much impatience. Convinced at last that she was in the
+power of the man to whom the barber had delivered her, she felt all the
+horror of her situation; but accustomed by Marguerite to put all her
+confidence in a Supreme Being, and to have no doubt of His power, she
+prayed and besought Heaven to reunite her with Urbain. Upon her knees,
+her hands raised toward Heaven, and her eyes bathed in tears, she passed
+part of the night, and morning found her still so occupied.
+
+Marie came to take her orders. Blanche wished for nothing, she desired
+nothing but her liberty, and, in answer to that request, Marie brought
+her breakfast. An hour later the marquis entered the room. Blanche did
+not see him; she was seated with her head supported by one of her hands
+and appeared absorbed in sorrow.
+
+Villebelle signed to Marie to leave them, and looked for some moments in
+silence at this young girl who had been, since the evening before,
+reduced to despair because she was pretty and had had the misfortune to
+please a rich and powerful man, who thought that she should be only too
+happy to be the object of his passion. However the change which had
+taken place in Blanche's features, her eyes reddened and still filled
+with tears, made a painful impression upon the great nobleman. He would
+have preferred reproaches rather than this silent grief. He drew nearer,
+that his victim might perceive his presence.
+
+Blanche raised her eyes and looked at the marquis, showing only a slight
+uneasiness, and let her head fall again upon her hand. Villebelle had
+expected complaints and reproaches. Surprised at this silence he took a
+chair, and seated himself near Blanche, who remained silent and
+continued to weep.
+
+"Are you so very unhappy then?" said the marquis at last, with emotion;
+and Blanche answered sobbing, but with the sweet tone which never left
+her,--
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"Can you regret the barber's gloomy house where you never had any
+pleasure?"
+
+"It is not the house that I regret, monsieur."
+
+"Here there is nothing to hinder you from being the most happy woman;
+all your desires shall be laws here, you shall have the most beautiful
+ornaments, the richest jewelry."
+
+"I don't wish for them, monsieur."
+
+"You will not always think so, my dear child. Formed to please, to
+attract homage, one day by your features and your toilets you will
+eclipse the most seductive ladies of Paris."
+
+"I don't understand you, monsieur."
+
+"Forget the years passed in retirement and commence a new life. This
+dwelling shall become a place of delight; parties and pleasures shall
+succeed each other here without interruption as soon as your beautiful
+eyes repay my efforts with a smile. The barber did not deserve your
+friendship; the wretch would not have brought you up had it not been for
+his interest to do so; you may dismiss all thoughts of gratitude from
+your heart. As to the young man to whom he wished to marry you, he is
+but a boy, somebody has told me, and will soon forget you."
+
+"Urbain forget me!" cried Blanche, starting convulsively. Then she said
+in a calmer tone, falling back in her chair,--
+
+"No, monsieur, Urbain will not forget me, for I feel sure I shall love
+him always, and our hearts had but a single thought."
+
+The marquis rose, greatly annoyed, and walked about the room. In a
+moment he said,--
+
+"It is, however, useless, mademoiselle, to nourish a sentiment which
+must henceforth be hopeless, for you shall never more see this Urbain,
+whom I hate without knowing."
+
+Blanche looked supplicatingly at the marquis, approached him and threw
+herself on her knees, saying, in a voice broken by sobs,--
+
+"Monsieur, what have I done to you that you should punish me like this?
+If, unknowingly, I have been guilty of any fault, forgive me, I beg of
+you, but do not separate me from Urbain."
+
+"Rise, I beseech you," said Villebelle, who yielded in spite of himself
+to the emotion which he felt. "No, you are not guilty, lovely girl, it
+is I, I alone; yes, I am a monster to make you shed tears. Ah, why did I
+ever see you--but you are so pretty!"
+
+"Monsieur, has any one the right to shut up a girl because she is
+pretty? If you punish me by shutting me up a prisoner in your chateau,
+that should be forbidden. Is it permitted to a great nobleman to torment
+poor people at his will? O my God! and the talisman which Marguerite
+gave me to preserve me from all danger! O poor Marguerite! if she only
+knew how unfortunate I am."
+
+"Oh, well," said he, leaning towards Blanche, "since you hate me, since
+I am only an object of dislike to you--"
+
+"I hate you!" said the innocent child, raising her sweet eyes to his.
+"Oh, no, monsieur, don't believe that; despite all the grief you have
+caused me, I don't know how it is, but I feel that I should like to
+forgive you, I feel that I could even love you."
+
+"You could love me, delightful girl," exclaimed the marquis, intoxicated
+by these words. "O heavens, she could love me and I was just about to
+consent--oh, never; rather would I die than lose you or yield you to
+another. You have given me a foretaste of so much happiness that the
+idea of it alone transports me. Blanche, Blanche, I shall do everything
+to merit the love which you allow me to hope for, but to renounce
+you--ah, that is henceforth impossible. I must leave you, that I may not
+see those tears which make me detest my love."
+
+Villebelle left precipitantly. Blanche looked after him in surprise,
+understanding nothing of the transport which he had shown. She was far
+from conceiving that she had riveted her chains in confessing to the
+marquis that she had a feeling of friendship for him. Her pure heart did
+not know how to feign, and the feeling which she wished to give to the
+marquis was so different from the love she had for Urbain that she saw
+no harm in allowing it to appear. But Villebelle did not know how to
+read this ingenuous heart. He imagined that Blanche was about to respond
+to his love, and did not doubt but that he should, in time, cause her to
+forget Urbain.
+
+The day rolled by without the marquis again approaching Blanche. The
+latter tried to summon her courage, but could not persuade herself that
+the marquis had any intention except to keep her prisoner, and she had
+recourse to her talisman, hoping by means of it to abridge her sojourn
+in the chateau. In the afternoon, Blanche asked Marie the way into the
+park, and the stout peasant hastened to lead her to the entrance, where
+she left her, making a curtsey. Despite her innocent air, the country
+girl understood that her lord was in love with the young damsel. Marie
+had remarked Blanche's red eyes, and heard her deep sighs, and, while
+leaving her, she said to herself,--
+
+"Zooks! if monseigneur was in love with me, that would not make me cry;
+far otherwise."
+
+Although she was alone in the park, Blanche did not even conceive the
+idea of seeking to recover her liberty. She did not know the way, and
+was ignorant as to what place she was in, and how far from Paris. She
+felt that it would be impossible to leave without again falling into the
+power of the marquis, and she resigned herself to wait until he should
+send her to her lover. She did not suppose the marquis capable of
+keeping her always a prisoner, and did not yet divine all the dangers
+which surrounded her in the chateau.
+
+Villebelle, learning that Blanche was in the park, hastened to join her
+there, and the young girl received him almost smiling, and although her
+features still wore a plaintive expression, she chatted with him on the
+objects which surrounded them, and answered him with her accustomed
+sweetness and grace. This conduct appeared so extraordinary to the
+marquis that he regarded Blanche with as much astonishment as love.
+However, far from emboldening him, he felt for her a most profound
+respect, and dared not speak of his love, and, not understanding the
+power which the child exerted over him, he remained for some time silent
+and thoughtful, walking at her side.
+
+The next day Marie carried into Blanche's room the things which Germain
+had brought from Paris; an infinite quantity of those charming nothings
+invented so that rich men may more easily spend their money. The stout
+peasant looked on each object with ecstasy, while Blanche hardly took
+the trouble to look at them.
+
+The marquis came to see his young captive, and perceived that she had
+not touched his presents.
+
+"Do you disdain that which I am so happy to offer you?" said he to
+Blanche.
+
+"I don't wish for any of those things," answered she, sighing. "I do not
+need all of these ornaments in order to please Urbain. What would he say
+if he saw me in them?"
+
+"Still thinking of Urbain? Have I not told you, mademoiselle, that you
+will not see him again?"
+
+"Yes, but I don't think you're so wicked as you wish to appear. How
+would it help you always to vex me so?"
+
+"Blanche, have you not confessed that you were not far from loving me?"
+
+"Yes, and I still feel the same. With Urbain and you I should be very
+happy."
+
+"May I not hope by the ardor of my attentions, my love, that I may cause
+you to forget a first fancy, and that I alone shall occupy your heart?"
+
+"You don't understand me, monsieur. I love Urbain as my lover, my
+husband; and you--I should like--I don't know, it seems to me that I
+could with pleasure call you my brother--or my father."
+
+This confession did not entirely satisfy Villebelle, but he hoped
+everything from time and the constancy of his attentions.
+
+Towards evening Blanche again went into the park, and as on the previous
+evening the marquis joined her. He walked near her, feeling his love
+increase every moment. The marquis could not recognize himself. This
+libertine, this seducer, who had triumphed over the most rebellious
+beauties, had become timid and fearful before a child who had no other
+safeguards than her innocence and her virtue.
+
+Twelve days had passed since Blanche had come to the Chateau de Sarcus,
+and had wrought no change in the situation. Every morning the marquis
+paid her a visit, but when, yielding to the grief which she experienced
+on being separated from him she loved, the sweet child allowed her tears
+to flow, the marquis left her abruptly. In the evening they walked
+together in the park, but often in silence or exchanging only a few
+words. Blanche dreamed of Urbain, and Villebelle, satisfied in being
+near her, had not yet conceived guilty designs.
+
+At the end of this time, a message from Paris apprised the marquis that
+his uncle was very ill, and desired to see him before he died.
+Villebelle, the sole heir of this relative, who was very rich, was
+obliged to go to him, and decided, although with regret, to leave
+Blanche for some days. He took Germain with him, but the men servants
+whom he left at the chateau had received their instructions; besides the
+sad Blanche had no idea of escaping. The marquis judged it better not to
+forewarn the young girl of his departure; and he left the chateau more
+in love than ever, and vowing to hasten his return.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE MEETING. PROJECTS OF REVENGE.
+
+
+We left our disconsolate young lover at the moment when he was about to
+seat himself upon a huge stone, and was arrested in the act of doing so
+by an exclamation uttered by an unseen man.
+
+The words pronounced by this individual have no doubt already caused the
+reader to recognize our Chaudoreille, who had remained in the place
+where the robbers, disguised as chair porters, had left him.
+
+Urbain was startled on hearing himself thus addressed, but being one of
+those persons who are insensible to fear, he calmly seated himself on
+the stone, saying,--
+
+"Pardon me, monsieur, I did not see you."
+
+Chaudoreille half rose, looked at Urbain, and began to feel reassured.
+Besides, what had he to fear now? His money was gone and his costume
+would not be likely to tempt robbers. Rolande, it is true, was still
+left him, for the thieves had perceived that in his hands the weapon was
+not dangerous.
+
+"By jingo! you woke me up, comrade; and I was having a delightful dream.
+I still had the two thousand livres of gold in my pockets, when I
+awakened to the sad reality. O thousand million mustaches! The thieves,
+the scoundrels! they have taken everything from me. I've had a fine
+experience; I don't own so much as an obole. O death! O fury! O
+despair!"
+
+Chaudoreille again threw himself upon the ground, and pulled two or
+three hairs from his mustache. Feeling that this would not restore his
+crowns, he quieted himself, and again looked at Urbain, who was sighing
+deeply, and appeared to pay no attention to the despair of the despoiled
+man.
+
+"What the deuce! this is a taciturn fellow," said the Gascon to himself;
+and then he again addressed Urbain.
+
+"I'll wager that you have been robbed, also, comrade. This town is
+indeed infested with thieves and bandits; one is safe only in the midst
+of a patrol, and yet one can't be proud of the watch. It was that cursed
+theatre brought this misfortune upon me; those wretched comedians at the
+Hotel de Bourgogne dared to mock at a gentleman of my race. Ah,
+Turlupin, my friend, I'll get even with you. Tomorrow I'll lay a
+complaint before the criminal magistrate, and I'll put you and
+Gautier-Garguille in a dungeon. But, alas, that won't restore my two
+hundred pistoles. I'll wager you haven't as much on you, comrade--hey?
+By jingo, you sigh as though they had despoiled you of the towers of
+Notre-Dame. Were you robbed in a sedan chair?"
+
+A deep sigh was Urbain's only response; then he murmured to himself,--
+
+"Alas, I have lost her forever!"
+
+"I was sure he'd lost his purse," said Chaudoreille, "or rather, that
+some one had taken it from him. Did you lose it in this neighborhood,
+comrade?"
+
+Urbain looked at him in surprise, then he said,--
+
+"I don't know where she can be. I have been running all over Paris since
+eight o'clock, and I have learned nothing."
+
+"If you only had a lantern, that would help you--was it very large? If
+we recover it full, comrade, you must share it with me. That's
+understood."
+
+Urbain rose and seized Chaudoreille by the throat, and holding him
+tightly to the ground, exclaimed,--
+
+"Wretch! do you dare to insult my sorrow? If I should listen to my
+anger--"
+
+"O mercy! do not listen to it, I beg of you. Ugh, I can't bear it any
+longer. What the devil sort of man are you? Did you come from the
+Chateau de Vincennes? Because I offer to help you look for your lost
+purse, you try to strangle me!"
+
+"My purse? what, you were talking about money?"
+
+"How could I talk about anything else after having had so much of it as
+I have."
+
+"Excuse me, monsieur, I didn't understand you."
+
+"I'm beginning to see that; but, by jingo, we were nearly choked, that
+is to say, you choked me. What a grip you have, it's like mine when I
+hold Rolande. It appears that it's not money you've lost, then?"
+
+"O monsieur, would to heaven it were! I would give all I possess to
+recover her whom I adore--she who was about to become my wife!"
+
+"Poor simpleton," said Chaudoreille to himself, "it's on account of a
+woman that he's lamenting thus. He doesn't know what it is to lose two
+hundred pistoles, without counting the small change. But since he's not
+been robbed, I'll try to make him useful--if I could replenish my
+pockets by helping him to find his lass!"
+
+The chevalier rose, and seating himself on a stone near Urbain, said to
+him, in a feeling voice,--
+
+"Tell me your troubles, young man, I'm the protector of everything in
+nature that suffers--in consideration of a slight gratuity; but I never
+charge anything, trusting to the generosity of those whom I oblige."
+
+"What could you do for me, monsieur? I have not the least trace of the
+abductors, nor of the route they have taken. Oh, I feel that courage
+has abandoned me."
+
+"What a thing to say, young man! Courage should never leave you. For
+shame!--in all the phases of life it is courage which makes us equal the
+gods, who, in truth, should not fear death itself, since they are
+immortal. But to return to you. If you have money it is always a
+resource. I shall help you to find your sweetheart; two of my friends
+are detectives, that is to say, they operate as amateurs for the good of
+humanity. Tell me in what neighborhood did the little one live?"
+
+"In the Rue des Bourdonnais, with the barber Touquet, who brought her
+up."
+
+"At the barber's? Rue des Bourdonnais--and your sweetheart is named
+Blanche?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, do you know her? Oh, pray tell me."
+
+"One moment, one moment, my young friend. Hang it! this is an event for
+which I--give us your hand; by jingo, you're very fortunate to have met
+me."
+
+"What! can you help me to find Blanche?" and Urbain threw himself on
+Chaudoreille's neck.
+
+"This young man is the one Blanche was going to marry," said the Gascon
+to himself, as he disengaged himself from Urbain's grasp. "It appears as
+though the marquis had already carried the little one off; but he has
+paid me, I have nothing more to hope for from him; so I must turn to
+the young lover's side. However, I shall be prudent and not let him
+know who I am, nor what I have done in this intrigue."
+
+Urbain pressed Chaudoreille to explain himself, and the latter answered,
+in a mysterious tone,--
+
+"I am acquainted with neither Blanche nor the barber, but one of my
+friends goes often to Touquet's shop. I remember now that he has often
+spoken to me of your approaching marriage."
+
+"That's singular! M. Touquet advised the greatest secrecy, and he
+himself--"
+
+"But, you see, some one must have spoken of it, since I know it. But a
+man of high rank, a great nobleman, was in love with your promised
+wife."
+
+"A great nobleman! what is his name?"
+
+"I don't know yet, but I shall learn it."
+
+"And you are sure of this?"
+
+"Oh, very sure; and it must be this nobleman who has taken away your
+sweetheart."
+
+"I entreat you to let me know his name."
+
+"Tomorrow, that is, to say, this evening, I hope to learn it. But be
+prudent, young man, and do not compromise me. I expose myself to great
+risk in thus helping you."
+
+"Monsieur, you may count on my gratitude."
+
+"I will count on it, you may be sure."
+
+"And I may expect the information this evening?"
+
+"Yes; be near the Porte Montmartre at nine o'clock this evening. Take
+care to bring along with you all the money you can get together, and I
+will tell you all I have learned."
+
+"Enough! Oh, that evening were here--"
+
+"And, while waiting for it, I shall have need of some crowns to give to
+the friend of whom I spoke to you, and my pockets are empty because I
+have been robbed so much."
+
+"Here is all that I have upon me, monsieur; take it, I beg of you."
+
+"Very willingly, my young friend," said Chaudoreille; "but day is
+dawning; we must part until this evening, at the Porte Montmartre."
+
+"Oh, I shan't fail to be there, monsieur."
+
+"And don't forget anything I have told you. Good-by; I'm going to work
+for you."
+
+Chaudoreille departed, and Urbain, slightly restored by the hope
+imparted to him by this man, went to his dwelling that he might there
+wait for evening.
+
+While walking alongside the Pont-Neuf, the Gascon said to himself,--
+
+"It seems to me that the marquis did the business very quickly. The
+little one is abducted; this rascal of a Touquet is in connivance with
+the marquis, I am certain. I must be audacious now; the marquis is
+incapable of speaking of me; I must go to Touquet's house without
+appearing to know anything, and see what he will say to me; besides,
+from prudential motives I shall remain in the shop, and the first angry
+movement that I see him make, I will spring out of the door and draw a
+hundred people around me."
+
+This plan settled, Chaudoreille began by going into the first
+eating-house which he saw, and, for fear of being again robbed, ate and
+drank to the extent of all the money which Urbain had given him. It was
+nearly ten o'clock when he left the table. This was the time when the
+barber's was always the most crowded, and it was the moment which
+Chaudoreille chose to go there. Before he went into the shop, he
+ascertained that Touquet was not alone; then he presented himself, and
+wished him good morning with a wheedling air. The barber answered in his
+customary tone. Nothing in his manner indicated that he had any
+suspicion, and Chaudoreille was reassured. However, when they were alone
+he did not lose sight of the door, while asking indifferently if there
+was any news.
+
+"Everything is finished," said the barber, "they are married, they are
+gone, and I hope I shall hear nothing further."
+
+"Oh, they are married," said Chaudoreille, compressing his lips, "the
+little one has a husband. Her little lover?"
+
+"Why, of course," answered Touquet, brusquely. "What is there surprising
+to you in that?"
+
+"Me? By jingo! I'm no more surprised than a fly."
+
+"Wait, here is what I promised you. I intend shortly to sell this house,
+and to retire from business. I have no further need of your visits; you
+have no more music lessons to give here, so you need not take the
+trouble to come again. Good-by, I will make you a present of all the
+shaves for which you owe me."
+
+"Very much obliged, my dear friend, may I be able to prove all my
+gratitude to you some day."
+
+So saying, Chaudoreille passed through the doorway, and departed from
+the barber's house.
+
+"He forbids me to return to his house," said the Gascon. "That's very
+polite. The rascal is afraid that I shall meet the marquis there. The
+latter probably ordered him to share with me the gratuity he gave him on
+receiving the pretty little sweetheart at his hands; but patience! if
+you are a scoundrel, my dear Touquet, I flatter myself that I am also an
+adroit enough chap. I have no desire to return into your hornets' nest.
+Come, Chaudoreille, we must show some genius here, my friend. I must set
+to work to repair last night's losses and to make my fortune over again.
+Devil take me, though, if I ever again take a sedan chair. First I'll go
+to the little house in the Faubourg and learn from Marcel if it was
+there that the marquis led Blanche; after that I shall come back into
+Paris and go to our jealous Italian's house; there I shall tell her all
+about it,--I shall tell her all about it! She'll go into convulsions
+over it. Finally, I'll keep the appointment I made with the young lover,
+and after having made him pay me well, I'll tell him all that I know.
+After that each one of them may win out of it as they best can. As for
+me, as soon as my pockets are full, I shall settle myself in a faro
+house, and I will there dare fortune in the midst of players and
+bankers. By jingo! what a pleasing prospect."
+
+While laying these plans he took his way towards the Faubourg
+Saint-Antoine. He arrived all out of breath at the little house, and,
+while opening to him, Marcel asked him if by chance he had again killed
+a strange prince.
+
+"Not today," said Chaudoreille, affectionately squeezing his friend's
+hand, which made the latter presume that his great fortune was already
+dissipated.
+
+"Have you come for the purpose of buying a house in this neighborhood,"
+said Marcel.
+
+"There's no more question of that; I have been robbed, my friend,
+completely robbed. I took a sedan chair and the wretches who carried me
+took me into a den and put a dozen or fifteen men after me. Valor could
+do nothing against numbers; I think, however, that I killed three or
+four while defending myself. But let us drop that. Tell me, my dear
+Marcel, has the marquis brought here a new conquest?"
+
+"I have seen neither monseigneur nor anybody from him."
+
+"Marcel, you're lying."
+
+"I'm telling you the truth. There's no one except me in the house."
+
+"The devil! that upsets my ideas a little. You are very sure that you
+are not lying to me?"
+
+"Why, hang it! if there had been anybody here I should have sent you
+away before this."
+
+"Do you know if your master possesses any other little properties on the
+outskirts of Paris?"
+
+"I know nothing except to follow the orders which he has given me, to
+eat and to sleep; for the rest I'm neither curious nor a gossip."
+
+"You're very wrong, you'll never push yourself. Good-by, Marcel."
+
+Chaudoreille took his way back to Paris, extremely dissatisfied that he
+had not discovered where Blanche was. Not wishing to go to Julia's house
+until he had learned more, he decided to make some inquiries at the
+marquis' hotel.
+
+The brilliant Villebelle's hotel was worthy of its master, and was
+situated at a little distance from the Louvre. Chaudoreille slipped into
+an immense court and bowed low to the porter, while asking if
+monseigneur was in Paris.
+
+"Monsieur le marquis is in England," said the porter, looking at
+Chaudoreille from the height of his grandeur, and the latter, seeing
+that he had no way of entering into conversation with the proud
+guardian, left the hotel, saying to himself,--
+
+"In England? Does he wish to seduce the little one with plum pudding? My
+faith! I've done all that I can. Come now, let's go and tell the
+beautiful Julia all that I know. It's not more than five o'clock, I
+shall have plenty of time to keep my appointment."
+
+Chaudoreille ran to the young Italian's house, where a servant opened
+the door.
+
+"Is your mistress in?" said he.
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"Is she alone?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"Go and inform her that the Chevalier Chaudoreille has something of
+great importance to communicate to her."
+
+The domestic returned shortly, and immediately took Chaudoreille to her
+mistress. Julia was walking up and down her room, deeply agitated.
+
+"I was waiting for you," said she to the chevalier, signing to him to be
+seated.
+
+"You were waiting for me, signora?"
+
+"Yes, for I have not seen the marquis since I spoke to you. Never yet
+has he been so long without coming and I do not doubt but some new
+intrigue is the cause of his abandonment of me."
+
+"Alas, signora, you have divined the truth only too well.
+
+"Then I have been betrayed," cried Julia, making a movement of fury,
+while Chaudoreille went to seat himself at a respectful distance,
+putting Rolande across his knee.
+
+"What did you expect, signora? Men are--men. The marquis did not know
+how to appreciate your grace, your charms, your--"
+
+"Hold your tongue, and tell me immediately all that you know."
+
+"She wants me to hold my tongue and yet speak," answered Chaudoreille,
+rolling his eyes affrightedly.
+
+"The name of my rival? Answer me, wretch."
+
+"It's this way, signora--but I beg you let me tell you that by order--"
+
+"The name of my rival, I tell you," resumed Julia, approaching
+Chaudoreille furiously. The little man, trembling in all his limbs,
+muttered,--
+
+"Blanche, an orphan, a young girl whom the barber was caring for."
+
+"The scoundrel! I should have known it."
+
+"Blanche was to have been married today to a young man whom she loved
+and who adored her. The barber had given his consent. I don't know by
+what chance monsieur le marquis came to see the young girl, but he must
+have fallen in love with her and abducted her, for the night before last
+she disappeared, and I strongly suspect my friend Touquet of having
+aided monseigneur's plans. At all events, the little one is not at the
+Faubourg Saint-Antoine; I have been there and the marquis is not in
+Paris, since I come from his hotel, where they told me he was in
+England."
+
+Chaudoreille told all this without taking breath, fearing that Julia
+would do him some ill if he did not hasten his story.
+
+"This voyage to England is a falsehood," cried Julia.
+
+"I thought so myself."
+
+"The marquis has taken the young girl to one of his chateaux."
+
+"That is probable."
+
+"But to which one? That's what we must discover."
+
+"I'm of your opinion, that's what we must discover."
+
+"Perhaps this young girl is still in Paris."
+
+"That might very well be. This city is a gulf, a young girl could be
+lost here like a piece of six liards."
+
+Julia reflected for some moments, and Chaudoreille remained silent,
+waiting till she should speak that he might echo her words. The young
+woman walked up and down the room; one could perceive by the trembling
+which had possession of her that it was only by a great effort that she
+restrained her fury. Finally, she stopped before Chaudoreille, and said
+to him,--
+
+"You think, then, that this Blanche does not love Villebelle?"
+
+"I think that, at least, she does not yet love him, since she had never
+seen him."
+
+"How can you be certain of that?"
+
+"In fact--you are right, I'm not certain of it at all."
+
+"Tell me everything that you know in regard to this young girl, how long
+she has lived at the barber's and his motive for adopting her."
+
+Chaudoreille told Julia the same story that he had told the marquis, and
+she listened to him with the greatest attention. When he had finished
+she fell into deep thought, and Chaudoreille dared not disturb her.
+
+"Touquet is a scoundrel," said Julia, "I have known it for a long time,
+but I wish now to obtain proofs of his crime, and if, in fact, it is he
+who has given Blanche to the marquis, he should tremble."
+
+"That's right, crime must be punished," and Chaudoreille added to
+himself, "If she would only hang him, I should not have to fear him any
+longer."
+
+"Is that really all that you know?" asked Julia.
+
+"Oh, forgive me, signora; in the ardor of my zeal I forgot to tell you
+that by the greatest chance, I met Blanche's lover tonight. The poor
+devil was seated on a stone, and I was seated on the ground; I had been
+despoiled by bandits, who, by the way, have robbed me of the fruits of
+three years of economy and privations, which I was carrying to a
+savings bank. The unfortunate love to talk of their troubles; we chatted
+and he told me that he was searching for his future wife. I didn't wish
+to tell him that I strongly suspected the Marquis de Villebelle of being
+the abductor of his sweetheart, before seeing you; but I gave him a
+rendezvous for this evening at nine o'clock."
+
+"Very good, go to this rendezvous and bring this young man to me."
+
+"You want me to bring him to you, signora?"
+
+"Yes, bring him to my house; we will plan together, we will unite our
+efforts; he that he may recover his mistress, and I that I may punish
+the ungrateful man who has abandoned me."
+
+"Indeed, that's very sensible, in acting together, you will hear more
+and do more. I will go to the rendezvous then, and I will bring young
+Urbain to you. Ah, by jingo! I haven't yet taken anything today and I am
+afraid that I have no money about me."
+
+"Wait, wait, take that," said Julia, "serve me faithfully and do not
+spare that gold."
+
+"For fidelity I'm a veritable spaniel," said Chaudoreille, putting the
+purse in his belt. "I will go to an eating-house, I shall have time to
+eat a little and take a glass of spirits; then I will go to the Porte
+Montmartre and bring our lover to you immediately."
+
+Chaudoreille hurriedly left; when he was in the street he counted the
+money that was in the purse and said to himself,--
+
+"Really, if the young lover gives me as much more I shall be in
+possession of a nice capital again, without counting the small change;
+for this Julia is a mine of gold waiting to be explored."
+
+At nine o'clock he was in the neighborhood which he had indicated to
+Urbain, but he did not find the young bachelor there; which surprised
+him after the desire which the latter had evinced to see him again
+promptly. Chaudoreille walked up and down, being careful to hold his
+purse in his hand and to keep away from chair porters. However, ten
+o'clock had struck and Urbain had not come. The chevalier struck his
+foot impatiently, muttering,--
+
+"Plague take all lovers! they're always half fools; this one may have
+misunderstood me and is perhaps waiting for me at the Porte Saint
+Honore, while I am waiting for him here. If I only knew his address;
+this is a nuisance, by all the devils."
+
+Poor Urbain had understood very well, and in going into his lodging at
+daybreak his only desire had been to see the moment of his appointment
+arrive. But who can foresee events. We are but sorry creatures, and yet
+we form great plans for the future.
+
+    Today belongs to us;
+    Tomorrow, to nobody.
+
+Today, even, does not always belong to us entirely. Hardly had he
+reached his room when Urbain felt a shiver run through all his body;
+attributing this indisposition to the fatigue of the night, he got into
+bed, hoping that a few hours' rest would restore him to his usual
+health, but nature had not so ordered; a high fever ensued, and delirium
+took possession of the young man who, since the evening before, had
+entirely yielded to despair. The young neighbor who had assisted him in
+disguising himself, established herself at his bedside to watch; because
+she had a friendly feeling for Urbain, and because women are always
+ready to prove their friendship in pain as well as in pleasure.
+
+This was the reason why Chaudoreille waited fruitlessly by the Porte
+Montmartre. Finally, at half-past ten, deeming it unwise to wait longer,
+he returned in a very ill-temper to the young Italian's house, who,
+seeing him alone, exclaimed,--
+
+"Why did you not bring him with you?"
+
+"By jingo! because I didn't see him."
+
+"What do you say?"
+
+"I say, signora, that I have vainly watched for him since nine o'clock;
+Urbain did not come to the place of meeting."
+
+"How vexatious! and you haven't his address?"
+
+"No, if I'd had it I should have gone to his house. What the deuce could
+have prevented his coming?"
+
+"Perhaps he has discovered Blanche's retreat; no matter, we shall find
+this young man again. Chaudoreille, tomorrow at daybreak place yourself
+in hiding near the barber's house; watch all his movements, if he goes
+out follow him, and should the marquis go to see him, run and let me
+know. For my part, I shall go and watch the Hotel de Villebelle; it is
+more than probable that the marquis will repair there shortly. By
+watching the movements of the marquis and the barber we shall discover
+where Blanche is hidden, and then I shall know what I ought to do."
+
+"Your orders shall all be executed," said Chaudoreille, bowing to Julia
+as he left.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LITTLE CLOSET AGAIN
+
+
+A week had elapsed during which Julia had spent almost her whole time in
+loitering around the Marquis de Villebelle's hotel; she had not gained
+much by this however, for all that she could be sure of was that
+Villebelle was not there. Chaudoreille, for his part, had made no better
+progress; he was very sure that the marquis had not been to the
+barber's, and the latter kept very closely to his shop, rarely leaving
+home except to go to his customers' residences. What most surprised
+Chaudoreille was the fact that since he had watched he had not once seen
+young Urbain go to the barber's house nor had he encountered him in his
+prowling about the streets. He was ignorant of the fact of which the
+reader is well aware, that the young bachelor was still kept in bed by
+fever, and that the impatience and grief which had caused his illness
+had greatly retarded his convalescence.
+
+Julia whose proud and haughty spirit could not endure the situation in
+which she found herself, keenly desired to wreak her vengeance on the
+lover who had betrayed and abandoned her, and Villebelle being still
+absent, she charged Chaudoreille to take her place in the neighborhood
+of the hotel, and stationed herself in the Rue des Bourdonnais;
+Chaudoreille accepted this change with great pleasure, delighted to
+leave the neighborhood of the barber's house. The young woman did not
+intend merely to watch Touquet's dwelling, she wished to introduce
+herself there, to talk with Marguerite, to learn from the good old woman
+all the details of Blanche's disappearance. Julia was courageous and
+enterprising; she was Italian, and she wished to revenge herself; and
+thus possessed three times as much as was necessary to compass her ends.
+
+She was not afraid of Touquet, but she readily felt that it was only in
+his absence that she could hope to speak to Marguerite, and she formed
+her plan in accordance with the information which she had received in
+the neighborhood, in regard to the old servant. Towards evening, Julia
+saw the barber leave his dwelling. As soon as he had departed, she went
+and knocked at the door of the house. Marguerite was disconsolate at
+having no news of her dear Blanche, and what completed the despair of
+the good old woman was that she could hear nothing of Urbain. When she
+uttered the name of Blanche before her master he ordered her to be
+silent in a severe tone, and it was only in solitude that she dared to
+give way without constraint to her grief.
+
+"Who is there?" asked Marguerite, following her custom.
+
+"Someone who brings you news of Blanche," answered Julia.
+
+On hearing her dear child's name, Marguerite unhesitatingly opened the
+door; she had, besides, recognized a woman's voice, and grief had
+rendered her less fearful than formerly. Julia entered; she was wrapped
+in a black mantilla, larger than those in use among the Spaniards, and
+wore a cap of the same hue, from which two black feathers fell
+gracefully on her left shoulder. This costume, her decided step, and the
+animation which sparkled in her black eyes, gave to the whole person of
+the young Italian, a strangely fantastic distinction, but Marguerite did
+not notice all this, and exclaimed on seeing her,--
+
+"Have you brought me back my dear Blanche?"
+
+"Not yet, but I shall make every effort that you may soon see her again.
+In order to do this it is necessary that I should talk with you; take me
+to your room."
+
+"But my master has forbidden me to receive anybody," said Marguerite,
+who began to regard Julia more attentively.
+
+"Your master has gone out."
+
+"He may come in at any moment."
+
+"I know how to avoid him. You are very much afraid of him, are you not?"
+
+"He's so strict."
+
+"Come, my good Marguerite, don't let the fear you feel for the barber
+make you forget your dear Blanche. Upon the conversation which we shall
+have together, upon the information which you will give me, depends
+perhaps the success of my enterprise."
+
+"Oh, to see my darling girl again, I feel that I would dare everything!
+Come, madame, follow me."
+
+Marguerite went up to her room, followed by Julia, who closely
+scrutinized everything that she saw. While the old woman placed her lamp
+on the table and drew up some chairs, Julia took off her mantle; she
+wore beneath it a red robe, and in a black belt which surrounded her
+waist, she had stuck a little stiletto with an ebony handle.
+
+This combination of red and black, which, following the old woman's
+chronicles, had always been the costume favored by magicians, the weapon
+which glittered in Julia's belt, all united to inspire Marguerite with a
+secret terror. She looked uneasily at the young woman and murmured,
+while offering her a seat,--
+
+"May I know, madame, who you are, and where you have known my poor
+Blanche?"
+
+"Who I am," answered Julia, smiling bitterly, "has no connection with
+the motive which brings me here. What does it matter, in fact, who I am,
+provided that I am willing to help you find the one for whose loss you
+are grieving, and that I have the power to do so."
+
+"The power," repeated Marguerite, who began to be afraid of a private
+conversation with one who frequented witches' sabbaths, "Oh, you have
+the power?"
+
+"As to your dear Blanche, I do not know her, and I have never even seen
+her."
+
+These words greatly increased Marguerite's terror, but Julia continued
+without paying any attention to it,--
+
+"Listen to me, good woman, my personal interest leads me to seek
+Blanche. The one who abducted her was everything to me, I adored him, I
+would have sacrificed my life for him, and the ungrateful man has
+forgotten me. Do you understand now, the motive which has caused me to
+act?"
+
+"Oh, I breathe more freely," said Marguerite, "yes, madame, I
+understand; this seigneur who came here is perhaps your husband. Alas!
+that does not astonish me, men are truly most unaccountable creatures."
+
+"Tell me all that you know, good Marguerite."
+
+Marguerite told her of the marquis' visit and of all that he had said.
+
+"He had never seen her before that day?"
+
+"Never, I can certify to that."
+
+"And you left the marquis with the barber?"
+
+"The marquis? was he a marquis then? Well, I had my doubts about it."
+
+"Please answer me."
+
+"Yes, madame, my master ordered me to go, and I left him with this
+marquis."
+
+"And what followed?"
+
+"I went to bed, madame, and I think that my dear Blanche did the same."
+
+"That wretch Touquet was in league with the marquis. It was he who
+delivered up to him that young girl."
+
+"What do you say, madame? do you think that my master?--"
+
+"Is a scoundrel!"
+
+"Speak lower, I beg of you; if he should come in, if he should hear you.
+But you are mistaken, madame, my master had consented to Blanche's
+marriage to Urbain."
+
+"The better to hide his plans."
+
+"Poor Urbain, I never see him; no doubt he is still looking for our dear
+little one."
+
+"Where was Blanche's chamber?" said Julia, looking curiously around her.
+
+"On the first floor looking on the street, madame. Since she came to
+this house she had occupied no other."
+
+"It was to this house that she came, then, with her father who was
+murdered?"
+
+"Yes, madame."
+
+"Were you then in the barber's service?"
+
+"No, madame, I didn't come here until three years after."
+
+"Where does your master sleep?"
+
+"Directly underneath this. This is why, if he should come in, I am
+afraid that he would hear us speak."
+
+"Have you always had this room?"
+
+"No, madame, I formerly had the one above Blanche's, and I liked it much
+better than this gloomy chamber, which has been unoccupied for a long
+time, and which I believe was formerly the dwelling of a magician named
+Odoard."
+
+Julia arose and for some moments walked silently about the room. All of
+a sudden she exclaimed,--
+
+"Oh, if these walls could only speak!"
+
+"In fact," said Marguerite shaking her head, "I believe that we should
+learn some terrible things; a tier of tags, a sorcerer."
+
+Julia seemed to be thinking deeply when they heard the street door shut.
+
+"O my God! here is my master, I am lost," cried Marguerite; "he has
+expressly forbidden me to receive anybody."
+
+"Keep still, he shall not know that I am here. Does he sometimes come up
+into your room?"
+
+"No, but--good Saint Margaret--if he should discover--"
+
+Julia put a finger on her mouth, as a sign for the old servant to be
+silent. Presently the barber was heard calling Marguerite; who was
+trembling so that she did not know how to stand.
+
+"Tell him that you are going down," said Julia.
+
+Marguerite approached the door, then, thinking she heard her master
+coming upstairs,--
+
+"Here he is--he'll see you," said she to Julia.
+
+"You must hide me."
+
+"Wait, I had forgotten it--quick--quick--in this closet."
+
+Marguerite ran to her alcove, passed behind the bed, opened the little
+door hidden by the tapestry, and Julia, as quick as lightning, entered
+the closet. The old servant shut the door on her, took her lamp and
+hastened to go downstairs. Her master was in the lower room.
+
+"You were very slow in coming down," said the barber, looking at
+Marguerite.
+
+"Monsieur, at my age one cannot move quickly."
+
+"Has anybody been here during my absence?"
+
+"No, monsieur, nobody."
+
+"Urbain, perhaps?"
+
+"I assure you I haven't seen him."
+
+"Chaudoreille?"
+
+"No, nor him either."
+
+The barber asked for what he needed and then made a sign to Marguerite
+to retire.
+
+"Is monsieur going to stay up late?" asked she.
+
+"What does that matter to you?" asked Touquet looking sternly at her,
+"I've already told you that I hate curious people as well as gossips."
+
+"That's true. I'm going to bed, monsieur."
+
+The old woman regained her room, closed the door carefully, and then
+went to release Julia, who had remained without a light in the little
+closet.
+
+"Come, madame," said she, "come, you needn't stay in there now."
+
+"A moment," said Julia, taking the lamp from Marguerite's hand, "I
+should like to examine this place."
+
+"Oh, mercy! you will find nothing curious there. We went into it once,
+Blanche and I--"
+
+"There is a door here," said Julia holding the light to the wall at the
+back.
+
+"A door? do you think so? We didn't see it, but then we only remained
+for a moment and without a light."
+
+Julia tried to open the door which led to the staircase, but she was not
+successful.
+
+"This door is closed from the other side," said she, "it must
+communicate with some secret passage."
+
+"What does it matter to you, madame? Come, I beg of you."
+
+"It matters greatly to me. Oh, if I could acquire some proof to undo
+him."
+
+"Proof of what, madame?"
+
+"It's impossible to force this door."
+
+Julia lowered the lamp and examined the floor to see if she could
+discover a trap door, while Marguerite remained at the entrance to the
+alcove to listen if her master should come up.
+
+"What is in this big chest?" said Julia.
+
+"It is empty, as you see. I don't know what use it is here, I shall burn
+it some day."
+
+Julia stooped and lifted the chest, the better to examine it, then she
+thought she saw some object on the floor. She carried her light there,
+and found that it was an old portfolio of brown leather, which seemed to
+have been hidden beneath the chest, and appeared to have been there for
+some years, for the dust was thick around it. Julia uttered a joyful cry
+and seized the portfolio.
+
+"What is it?" said Marguerite, "what have you got there?"
+
+"Something tells me that in this portfolio I shall find that for which I
+am looking."
+
+"This portfolio? O my God! where was it, then?"
+
+"Silence--come, let us shut this door again."
+
+Julia left the closet, shutting the door, and when she had replaced the
+lamp on the table, hastened to examine the portfolio and the papers
+which it held. Meanwhile, Marguerite, still uneasy, remained listening
+near the door, but while doing so she watched Julia, whose features
+expressed the most lively agitation. Suddenly a cruel joy flashed in
+the young Italian's eyes, and she dropped on a seat near the table,
+exclaiming,--
+
+"I shall be avenged."
+
+"But who can that portfolio belong to?" said Marguerite.
+
+"To an unfortunate man whom your master murdered."
+
+"Murdered! ah, madame, what are you saying?"
+
+"Yes, everything proves it to me. This was the chamber in which he was
+lodged, because the secret passage would assist the murderer in the
+perpetration of his crime. The unfortunate man had, no doubt, visited
+this closet, and, without divining the misfortune which awaited him, had
+judged it prudent to hide under the chest his portfolio, which contains
+the proofs of an important secret."
+
+"Ah, you make me shudder, madame."
+
+Julia continued to examine the papers. Joy, surprise, hope, vengeance,
+were expressed in turn on her face.
+
+"At last his fate is in my hands," exclaimed she, "perfidious man, to
+have betrayed me; tremble lest I inflict upon you torments more cruel
+than those you have made me suffer. And you, his odious accomplice, I
+will see that the marquis knows the monster who has assisted him in his
+amours."
+
+Tremblingly Marguerite listened to Julia. The latter put back the
+papers in the portfolio and carefully hid it in her bosom, then resuming
+her mantle she prepared to depart.
+
+"And Blanche," said the good old woman, "you have not told me more about
+Blanche, madame."
+
+"Reassure yourself," answered Julia in a solemn tone, "Blanche's
+condition will now be changed, you will see her again. Good-by, my good
+woman, keep the closest silence in regard to the portfolio; Blanche's
+fate depends upon it."
+
+"Fear nothing, madame."
+
+"I'm going down without a light; Touquet should be in his room by now."
+
+"If you should meet him?"
+
+"I will not make the least noise."
+
+"But it is necessary that I should go with you to open the door."
+
+"You need not, I can open it myself."
+
+"There is a secret in opening it. O my God, for a mere nothing I would
+go with you from this house. All that you've said about my master makes
+me shudder, and since my dear child is no longer here I find this
+dwelling very gloomy."
+
+"It's very necessary that you should remain here in order to give me, as
+well as Urbain, information in regard to all that the barber does.
+Before long, good Marguerite, you shall be happier, and reunited to your
+dear Blanche."
+
+"Oh, may all that you say prove true."
+
+"Open your door; I don't hear the least sound on the staircase; let us
+hasten."
+
+The old woman groped her way down, Julia followed her; they arrived at
+the foot of the stairs and were about to enter the alleyway when the
+barber, coming brusquely from the corridor which led to the lower room,
+met them, bearing a light in his hand. Marguerite uttered a cry of fear;
+the barber quickly held the light against Julia's face.
+
+"Well, do you recognize me?" she said to him in an imperious tone.
+
+Touquet started with surprise, but forcing himself to restrain his
+anger, he answered,--
+
+"You, at my house, madame! and what did you come to seek here?"
+
+"Some news of Blanche."
+
+"Of Blanche?"
+
+"Yes, that astonishes you! you did not suppose that I knew this young
+girl? You believed that the Marquis de Villebelle could yield to his new
+passion without my knowing the object of it, without my learning that
+you were still the confidant of his amours."
+
+Touquet's eyes blazed with fury as he said to Julia,--
+
+"Jealousy has disturbed your reason, madame. If your lover has left you
+is it to me that you should betake yourself? Why should you suppose that
+the marquis is the abductor of a young girl whom he has never seen?"
+
+"Your falsehoods are useless. I know a great deal more than you think.
+If you should see the marquis before I do, advise him to hasten to
+restore Blanche to Urbain. If by your perfidious counsels he should
+become guilty of--he would be the first to punish you for your crime. As
+for me, you will see me again; I also have a secret to reveal to you."
+
+Thus speaking, Julia walked towards the door. The barber made a movement
+as if to stop her, but she turned and her hand still grasped her
+stiletto. Turning on Touquet a terrible look, she rapidly left his
+house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE STORM BREWS
+
+
+Too greatly agitated by what she had learned to retire and compose
+herself to rest, Julia several times during the night reperused the
+papers contained in the portfolio which she had found at the barber's,
+and she busied herself in forming new plans and meditating other
+projects of vengeance. The sleep she had defied did not once greet her
+eyelids, and dawn found her seated before a little table on which the
+portfolio was lying examining again a letter which she had taken from
+it.
+
+At this moment, however, the bell rang thrice, and Julia hastened to
+lock the papers into their receptacle, and presently Chaudoreille
+entered her room.
+
+"Well," was Julia's brusque greeting to the chevalier, "what have you
+learned?"
+
+"Thanks to my assiduity I am at last enabled to bring you some important
+news," cried the little Gascon with a self-satisfied air. "For the past
+forty-eight hours I have not budged from before the marquis' hotel,
+minutely examining all who came or went."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, indeed! The marquis has returned."
+
+"He is here?"
+
+"Yes, signora, at his hotel. I saw him arrive this morning in a
+travelling carriage."
+
+"Very well, I shall see him, I hope."
+
+"What orders have you to give me now? Where is it necessary for me to
+go? I am ready."
+
+"You have not yet seen this young Urbain?"
+
+"Alas, no, I'm of the opinion that the poor boy is dead from love; he
+was as thin as a cuckoo. I don't see what could have prevented his
+coming to our rendezvous."
+
+"Return to the hotel. I tremble lest the marquis should leave without
+our knowing it, and in order to recover Blanche it is important that I
+should know the least step that Villebelle takes."
+
+"That's very right. I'll return then to my post."
+
+"Take this gold, but redouble your zeal; hasten; if you are tired, take
+a chair."
+
+"I, take a sedan chair? I would much rather crawl all the way there.
+Don't disturb yourself, signora, my legs are always at my service."
+
+Chaudoreille gone, Julia seated herself at her desk and prepared to
+write, but suddenly, throwing the pen far from her, she rose,
+exclaiming,--
+
+"It's urgently necessary that I should see him, that I should speak to
+him; I will go to his hotel."
+
+She immediately rang for her maid, and began to make her toilet. Despite
+the uneasiness she experienced, her mirror was often consulted, and she
+neglected nothing that would add to her charm. This important task
+accomplished, Julia sent for a sedan chair, and was carried to the
+marquis' dwelling. On entering the immense court of this magnificent
+hotel, the young Italian could hardly master her agitation.
+
+"What does madame desire?" said the porter.
+
+"To see the Marquis de Villebelle."
+
+"Monseigneur returned from England only this morning, and as yet
+receives nobody."
+
+"It is absolutely necessary that I should speak to him."
+
+"That is impossible."
+
+"Go, at least, and tell him that the Signora Julia desires to see him
+immediately."
+
+The porter sent a lackey with this message, who soon returned, and said
+to Julia, with an impertinent air,--
+
+"Monseigneur cannot receive you, and begs you to leave the hotel."
+
+Julia could not swallow this affront; she looked furiously at the valet
+and abruptly left. Arrived at home she went to her desk and wrote the
+following note to the marquis,--
+
+     You refuse to see me; it depends, however, upon me to render you
+     the most happy or most unhappy of men. I know that you are
+     Blanche's abductor. Respect that young girl. Hasten to listen to
+     me; I still wish to forgive you, but at some moments I listen to
+     nothing but my fury.
+
+The letter written, she entrusted it to a faithful man, and awaited his
+return with the most lively impatience. The messenger at length came and
+brought an answer from the marquis. Julia seized it, and hastily read
+the following,--
+
+     My little Julia: your sweet note made me laugh a good deal; I find
+     nothing more pleasing than those women who threaten us with their
+     fury. The only vengeance which a woman in your situation can take
+     upon a man is to deceive him,--and God knows whether you would use
+     this means; but it is necessary, in order that the charm may work
+     effectually, that it should be taken while he still loves you,
+     without which it fails of its object. Your reign is past, my dear
+     friend. You undoubtedly did not think to captivate the Marquis de
+     Villebelle for long, and I sent you a check on my banker to settle
+     the account. I do not know who could have told you that I had
+     abducted a certain Blanche; once more, what does it matter to you?
+     Am I not entitled to abduct ten women if that pleases me. Believe
+     me, you had better not disquiet yourself about my actions or give
+     yourself the further trouble of writing to me, for your letters
+     will be returned to you unopened. Good-by, hot-head, I wish you a
+     faithful lover, since you hold so much to fidelity.
+
+Julia remained motionless, the letter was still in her hands, but she
+did not see it; one thought alone occupied her, the thought of
+vengeance, she seemed to give herself up to it with delight.
+
+"You will have it, will you?" said she, "I will not hesitate longer."
+
+However, the marquis was very much surprised that the young Italian
+should know who had abducted Blanche, and as soon as night came he
+wrapped himself in his cloak and went to the barber's house. Touquet
+himself opened to the nobleman, for the events of the night before and
+the fear which she had experienced seemed to have paralyzed old
+Marguerite, who was unable to leave her room.
+
+"You here, monseigneur?" said the barber, with surprise, "I imagined
+that you were at your chateau, all taken up with your new love. Can it
+be that Blanche is already forgotten?"
+
+"Forgotten? Why, I love her more than ever. But I was forced to come to
+Paris for some days, though I hope soon to return to Sarcus; each moment
+that I pass away from Blanche seems to me a century. However, I have not
+yet succeeded, and the remembrance of her Urbain--but let us come to the
+motive which has brought me hither. How is it that Julia knows that I
+have abducted Blanche? how could she have come to know this lovely child
+whom you kept with so much care?"
+
+"You find me as much surprised as yourself, monseigneur. This young
+Italian had the audacity to introduce herself into my house yesterday
+evening; she presented herself, so my old house-keeper tells me, as
+bringing news of Blanche, but really she came to gather the details of
+her flight."
+
+"She came also to my hotel; I refused to see her; she wrote to me, she
+threatened me. My fate is, said she, in her hands. You may imagine that
+I only laughed at these threats as inspired by the jealousy and spite of
+a woman. However, there's something very singular to me about it all."
+
+"Wait, monseigneur, I believe I have a glimpse of light. Who informed
+you yourself that there was a charming young girl in my house?"
+
+"Hang it! you recall it to my recollection. It was an original, a little
+man whom I found at my house in the Faubourg, hidden under a statue, and
+who pretended to have helped in the abduction of Julia."
+
+"Chaudoreille?"
+
+"It's that same."
+
+"I should have divined it; there's no doubt of it, it was he who told
+Julia that you had abducted Blanche. If he should happen to know Urbain,
+I should not be astonished if he has told him also."
+
+"The little clown! I paid him well enough for everything."
+
+"After having caused the abduction, he does his best to help someone to
+find Blanche."
+
+"Truly, that is not so very stupid; this is a boy who follows in your
+footsteps; but if you meet him, I recommend him to you. Give him a good
+beating."
+
+"Be easy about that, monseigneur."
+
+"For the rest, they may do what they please, they cannot snatch Blanche
+from my hands. This young girl has more power than all of them put
+together; one tear from her could, I feel, change all my resolutions.
+When I see her beautiful eyes turned towards me with a supplicating
+look, I am often about to sacrifice my love and to restore her to him
+whom she regrets, in the hope of at least obtaining her friendship."
+
+"O monseigneur, what folly! Why, Blanche is in your power, and you are
+going--"
+
+"No, no, she must belong to me; henceforth for me to separate from her
+is impossible. Besides, has she not told me that she is disposed to love
+me?"
+
+"Come, monseigneur, pull yourself together. They will say that you yield
+to the threats of this little Julia."
+
+"My uncle is very ill, perhaps he will not last through the night. I
+shall soon return to Sarcus, then I will not again leave Blanche, I will
+listen to nothing but my love."
+
+"With women, monseigneur, that causes everything to be forgiven."
+
+Since the barber knew that the marquis suspected where he had obtained
+his fortune, he believed that it was for his interest to lose sight of
+Blanche. If Villebelle dreamed of reentering the path of honor, Touquet
+could no longer feel easy as to himself.
+
+The marquis regained his hotel. As he had foreseen, his uncle expired
+during the night, leaving him immense wealth; which would lead one to
+think that fortune does not show her preference to those who make good
+use of her favors. But someone answers to that, that fortune does not
+make happiness; it is, therefore, necessary to console the unhappy a
+little.
+
+A week sufficed the marquis to settle his affairs. At the end of that
+time he prepared to return to Blanche, to whom he carried presents of
+every kind, which were carefully packed in the travelling carriage.
+
+Chaudoreille, who was continually on the watch about the hotel, saw
+these preparations for departure, and ran to tell Julia.
+
+"Enough," said the young Italian, "I have long been prepared for this,
+and I have bought two good horses. You shall come with me."
+
+"To the end of the world; I am devoted to you."
+
+"I do not think that we shall have to go very far, we shall have nothing
+to do but follow the marquis' carriage."
+
+"I understand you."
+
+"You can ride a horse?"
+
+"Perfectly; however, I prefer donkeys, they don't trot so fast."
+
+"Idiot! can one hope to follow a post-chaise on an ass? Make all your
+preparations."
+
+"They are made. I have my wardrobe upon me; as to my purse, yesterday
+evening I had some cursed ill-luck while you relieved me at the hotel. I
+didn't remain in the gambling-house longer than between five and ten
+minutes, and I had well calculated my play; well, I can say with Francis
+the First, I have lost everything but honor."
+
+While Chaudoreille rattled on, Julia donned a large cloak, and took all
+the money which remained to her. Then she sent the Gascon to his post,
+while she went to get the horses. Towards seven o'clock in the evening
+the marquis got into his carriage with Germain and started for the
+Chateau de Sarcus, not for one moment thinking that Julia and
+Chaudoreille were following his carriage from afar.
+
+Leaving the travellers to make their way we will return to poor Urbain,
+who, for a long time past, had languished on his bed, kept there by
+illness and grief. He was heartbroken at being without strength to go in
+search of his dear Blanche, and the good girl who gave him every care,
+incessantly repeated to him,--
+
+"The more you disquiet yourself, the longer you retard your cure."
+
+Someone had told him that a great nobleman was Blanche's abductor, and
+he was in despair at not having been able to keep his appointment with
+this man, who would have told him his rival's name. But at last he felt
+better and could go out, and the first use which he made of his
+returning strength was to go to the barber's house. It was closed on
+every side, the shutters had not been taken down from the shop, although
+the hours of labor had long since begun; Urbain knocked, but no one
+opened to him.
+
+"It is useless for you to knock," said a neighbor to him, "the house is
+empty and is for sale. You must inquire at the agent's, Rue des
+Mauvaises-Paroles."
+
+"And the barber?"
+
+"The barber has left it, I tell you, there's nobody there."
+
+"And Marguerite?"
+
+"She died a week ago."
+
+"Marguerite is dead--is it possible?"
+
+"Why, what is there so extraordinary in that? The poor woman wasn't
+young."
+
+"Where can I find M. Touquet now?"
+
+"I can't give you any information. That man was a bear, and he spoke to
+nobody."
+
+Urbain departed, discouraged at this new event. He grieved for the good
+Marguerite, who had been the witness of his love and his happiness. He
+had no idea of any way in which he could obtain information as to
+Blanche's fate. He went to the Porte Montmartre and waited for three
+hours, in the hope that he who had given him an appointment would come
+there; but he waited in vain, and then turned despairingly towards his
+lodging. The good-natured girl, to whom he made his lament, tried to
+console him by saying,--
+
+"If it's a nobleman who has abducted your mistress, you must go and ask
+for her at all the great noblemen's houses."
+
+Suddenly Urbain uttered a joyful exclamation, and a slight smile
+animated his pale and sorrowful features.
+
+"There still remains one hope," he said.
+
+"And what is that, monsieur?"
+
+"In the midst of all these events I had forgotten that adventure,
+however, it may yet serve me."
+
+"What adventure; monsieur?"
+
+"Listen to me. You remember that in order to see Blanche I was for some
+time obliged to disguise myself as a woman."
+
+"Oh, yes, monsieur, I remember very well. Didn't I help to dress you and
+to put in your pins?"
+
+The girl smiled. Urbain paid no attention and continued,--
+
+"One evening, I think it was the first time that I wore my disguise,
+having been accosted by several men, I escaped them by traversing many
+streets and it was very late when I found myself in the Grand
+Pre-aux-Clercs. I had almost reached my dwelling when I was stopped by
+four men, whom by their language I recognized as noblemen of the court.
+I confessed to them that I was a man, hoping by that means to escape
+them, but one of them wanted me to tell him the motive for my disguise.
+I refused, he persisted; I got angry, he threatened; in short, one of
+his companions lent me his sword and we fought, I wounded my adversary,
+but very slightly, I think. 'My friend,' he said to me then, tendering
+me his hand, 'you are a brave man and I am very pleased to have made
+your acquaintance; if you should some day have need of a protector, come
+to my hotel, ask for the Marquis de Villebelle and you shall find me
+ready to oblige you.' Those are his exact words."
+
+"The Marquis de Villebelle? Oh, I have sometimes heard my master speak
+of him. They say that he is a great nobleman, very generous, but a very
+wild fellow."
+
+"No matter, he offered me his protection, and I shall have recourse to
+it."
+
+"Mercy, monsieur, you will do well, and who knows whether he's not
+acquainted with the rascal who has stolen your darling."
+
+"Yes, I hope that the marquis will help me to recover Blanche. These
+great noblemen tell each other their adventures, their good luck; such a
+brave man should have some pity on my torture. Why have I not already
+spoken to him--but his hotel?"
+
+"Oh, he's very well known, monsieur, and it will be very easy for you to
+find that out."
+
+On the morrow, as soon as it was day, Urbain went out to try and find
+the one on whom he placed his last hopes. He obtained information as to
+the marquis' hotel, and he soon arrived there.
+
+"Monsieur le Marquis de Villebelle?" said he entering the court, and
+timidly addressing the porter.
+
+"This is his hotel, but monsieur le marquis is not in Paris."
+
+"Is not in Paris?" exclaimed Urbain, his heart contracting.
+
+"No, he is travelling."
+
+"Travelling? And will he soon be back?"
+
+"He'll come back when he pleases. Do you think monseigneur needs your
+permission in order to go travelling?"
+
+"That was not what I wished to say, monsieur, but I am in such haste to
+see monsieur le marquis, to speak to him."
+
+"You can see him when he comes back, whenever monseigneur is willing to
+receive you."
+
+The insolent porter returned to his lodge, took his glass and his fork,
+and resumed a copious breakfast, without paying any further attention to
+the young student, who remained in the court, heaving big sighs, as he
+said,--
+
+"He's not in Paris; how unfortunate I am."
+
+Ten minutes later Urbain softly approached the porter's lodge, and said
+to him in a supplicating tone,--
+
+"Monsieur, can you not tell me where the marquis has gone?"
+
+"What? Are you still there?" answered the porter without turning his
+head. "Can't you leave me to eat my breakfast in peace? I tell you that
+monseigneur is travelling. There are some people who are so stubborn;
+they all say the same thing, 'I wish to see monseigneur,' and they
+bother my head from morning till night."
+
+Urbain would not be repulsed; he knew the customs of Paris, and took out
+his purse, in which he had put several crowns, and made it chink in his
+hand. Then the porter deigned to turn towards him, and said to him, a
+little more politely,--
+
+"I'm truly sorry, but monseigneur is really absent, and between
+ourselves, I believe he will be so for a long time."
+
+"O heavens!" said Urbain, "and he is my only hope. Oh, monsieur, if you
+know where monseigneur is, I entreat you to give me his address."
+
+The young man held out his purse and advanced.
+
+"Come in for a moment," said the porter opening the little door of his
+lodge; "yes, of course, I know where monseigneur is. It's very necessary
+that we should know that, in order that we may send him any important
+letters that may be addressed to him; but it's a secret. However, if
+you'll promise to be discreet, and to let nobody know that it was I who
+told you,--"
+
+"I swear to you not to do so."
+
+"Then I'll tell you. Monsieur le marquis is at his Chateau de Sarcus,
+situated in the neighborhood of Grandvilliers. Take the road to Beauvais
+and--"
+
+Urbain did not wait to hear more; he threw his purse on the porter's
+table, hastily left the hotel, ran to his lodging, took all the money he
+had left, and the same day set out to seek the marquis at his chateau.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE RETURN TO THE CHATEAU
+
+
+During the absence of the marquis from the Chateau de Sarcus the unhappy
+Blanche had passed some sad and monotonous days; she had grown used to
+seeing and talking with him, and hoped to induce him to allow her to
+rejoin Urbain; so the day after Villebelle's departure, astonished at
+not receiving his accustomed visit, she believed that he was disposed to
+take her back to Paris; but in the evening, not meeting him in the park
+as usual, Blanche, on her return to her room, asked the maid for some
+news of her host.
+
+"Monseigneur has gone, he went away yesterday," answered the country
+girl.
+
+"Gone without me!" exclaimed Blanche, raising to heaven her beautiful
+eyes, filled with tears and despair; "can it be possible that he wishes
+to keep me always a prisoner in this chateau, then?"
+
+"Don't grieve, mademoiselle," said the good-natured girl, "monseigneur
+said that he would not be long absent."
+
+Blanche made no answer, but returned to her room, and there passed her
+days in grief and discouragement. She regretted the absence of the
+marquis, for the sweet child flattered herself that he would yet yield
+to her prayers. She had several times seen that her tears caused him
+emotion, and she still hoped that he would reunite her to Urbain; but
+left alone she no longer hoped, and the days rolled slowly by for the
+young prisoner. However, the return of springtime embellished the earth;
+the trees regained their foliage and the grass its verdure, the meadows
+were dotted with flowers, and the birds came again to the groves to sing
+the season of love. But, indifferent to the scenes which spread before
+her eyes, Blanche looked without pleasure on this charming perspective,
+with which at any other time she would have been delighted. The sorrow
+with which her heart was filled, threw a gloomy veil over all the
+objects which surrounded her.
+
+Sometimes while walking in the park, Blanche considered the idea of
+escaping; but in what direction could she take her flight? Besides, the
+park was surrounded with very high walls, and the doors which led to the
+country were always scrupulously closed. The young girl was ignorant of
+the fact that in the absence of the marquis, two men servants watched
+her every step.
+
+A deep melancholy seized her, the servant, Marie, tried in vain to
+distract her; sighs and tears were the only response which she obtained.
+Ten days had passed when Marie came running one morning to tell Blanche
+her master had arrived.
+
+This news seemed to reanimate the young prisoner, and she waited
+impatiently for the marquis to come and speak to her. Villebelle, who
+ardently desired to see his captive, did not tarry in coming to her, and
+was greatly struck by the changes which had been wrought in her whole
+person.
+
+"You have forgotten me, then, in this chateau?" said Blanche sighing.
+
+"I forgotten you?"
+
+"Why did you not take me to Paris, then? Are you going to keep me here
+long?"
+
+"At least, Blanche, I will not leave you again."
+
+"Let Urbain come to us, and I will not ask you to let me go away again."
+
+The marquis knit his brows and tried to distract Blanche by offering her
+several pretty trifles which he had brought from Paris; but these
+presents were no better received than the first, and did not even evoke
+a smile from the young girl. In the evening Blanche and the marquis
+again walked in the park. Villebelle, more in love than ever, recalled
+the barber's counsels and promised himself the conquest of his captive,
+but when he was near Blanche, he felt all his resolutions vanish. One
+look from the lovely child put a curb on his desire, though it
+penetrated to the depth of his heart, and Villebelle said to himself,--
+
+"By what magic does this young girl inspire me with a respect that is
+stronger than my love?"
+
+Blanche, rendered confiding by her innocence, was seated at the entrance
+of a grotto which was surrounded by thick shrubbery. The marquis placed
+himself beside her. For a long time he remained silent, tenderly
+watching her. Then he took Blanche in his arms and was about to cull a
+kiss from her charming mouth, when she turned her supplicating eyes
+towards him, saying,--
+
+"In pity, monseigneur, let me go."
+
+Without knowing why he did so, he allowed the lovely girl to escape from
+his arms. He remained alone in the grotto; Blanche, experiencing a novel
+fear of the marquis, had fled, and the latter, cursing his weakness,
+returned to the chateau, vowing that he would no longer tremble before a
+child.
+
+Julia and her companion had arrived at Sarcus and had seen the marquis
+enter the chateau. Chaudoreille had only fallen three times on the way,
+but he asserted that that was because his horse had been frightened.
+However, he complained greatly of fatigue, to which his companion
+appeared insensible, as she scrutinized the chateau which the marquis
+had entered, and its high towers illuminated by the sun.
+
+"This is where he went, then," said the young Amazon, guiding her horse
+close against the walls.
+
+"Yes, signora, there's not the least doubt that he went there, since we
+have seen him go in," answered Chaudoreille, who had alighted from his
+horse, where he was not comfortable.
+
+"That's the Chateau de Sarcus, according to what a peasant told me."
+
+"It is, in faith, a very fine castle. My ancestors had ten or a dozen
+like that; but they played for one every evening at piquet, and you know
+that luck is not always favorable. But ugh! how tired I am, this palfrey
+trotted so hard."
+
+"And within these walls Blanche is shut up."
+
+"That's very probable. By jingo! but we came at a good pace, and at the
+present time I would defy the best jockey in France."
+
+"How shall we know on which side this young girl is?"
+
+"I think it's first necessary to know where we can get some breakfast;
+you must be terribly fatigued, signora."
+
+"I don't feel in the least tired, the hope of vengeance has doubled my
+strength."
+
+"I have had nothing to double mine; I'm knocked up, exhausted, and I'm
+as hungry as a hunter."
+
+Julia alighted from her horse and led the animal to Chaudoreille.
+
+"Mount him," she said, "and take the other by the bridle. Go to the
+village, which you see over there, find an inn, and there wait for me. I
+wish to examine the chateau."
+
+"Enough, I'll go and make them get breakfast ready. Oh, under what
+title shall we present ourselves? I have been thinking that it would be
+better to preserve our incognito in this part of the country."
+
+"Say what you like."
+
+"I shall say that we are Moors from Spain, that we have come from
+Granada to give lessons in castanets. That will prevent all suspicion,
+and our rather dark skins will foster the supposition."
+
+Julia did not listen further to Chaudoreille and walked towards the
+chateau, while the chevalier, not caring to remount, took both horses by
+their bridles and went hobbling along to the village.
+
+Chaudoreille inquired for the best inn. There was only one in the
+village and he reached it, leading his two horses after him. The master
+of the inn came to meet him, and Chaudoreille, trying to pull himself
+up, said to him,--
+
+"I am Malek-al-Chiras of Granada, professor of castanets in the two
+Spains, and come to France with my sister, Salamalech, to dance the
+bolero before Cardinal Richelieu. We shall perhaps stay for some time in
+this village, but we wish to preserve the strictest incognito. Do you
+understand?"
+
+"I don't understand very well," said the innkeeper, looking stupidly at
+him.
+
+"In that case, prepare at once an omelette with bacon, give me a room,
+and take care of my horses, which are Arabian."
+
+The innkeeper understood this better, and led his guest to a chamber on
+the first floor, to which Chaudoreille mounted with pain, so greatly had
+his long ride on horseback discommoded him.
+
+After resting for some hours he went to the table, and had been there
+for a long time when Julia came in search of him.
+
+"I awaited you with impatience," said Chaudoreille, while dismembering
+his third pigeon.
+
+"Well, what have you learned?"
+
+"My faith, I've learned that we shall not have fish for dinner."
+
+"Idiot! I was speaking to you of the marquis."
+
+"It seems to me that as I left you at the chateau, you should know more
+than me."
+
+"I have been all around it, but I did not see anybody. You should have
+asked these peasants what they know of the chateau."
+
+"They look as stupid as geese. How should these people know anything? By
+the way, you are my sister and you are called Salamalech."
+
+"Chaudoreille, do you think that I brought you here to listen to your
+foolishness? Make haste and rest yourself and we will visit the
+neighborhood of the chateau; we will see if there is any way of
+introducing ourselves into the park."
+
+"Begging your pardon, it will be very difficult for me to stir today. I
+am nailed before this table."
+
+Finding it would be impossible to get her companion on his feet again,
+Julia left the inn, after taking a little nourishment, and again went to
+prowl around the walls of the chateau.
+
+"The devil's in that woman," said Chaudoreille to himself as he got into
+bed, "she would be worthy to carry Rolande at her side." "My good host,
+put Rolande there, under my bolster. That's it, so that at the first
+alarm I can get him. Now see that you shut my door, and when my sister
+Salamalech returns tell her that I beg of her not to waken me before
+tomorrow at midday."
+
+While Chaudoreille slept, Julia made the tour of the park and noticed a
+place where the wall was broken, and where it was possible to introduce
+one's self into the interior of the garden; but not wishing yet to risk
+it, she returned to her inn and tried to obtain some information about
+the inhabitants of the chateau. The peasants knew but one thing, and
+that was, that for the present, their lord was at Sarcus.
+
+"But did not somebody bring a young girl to the chateau, some days ago?"
+asked Julia.
+
+"When monseigneur is here the house is full of ladies and gentlemen,"
+answered the host; who believed that the brother and sister had come to
+play their castanets before the marquis.
+
+Julia decided to take a little rest, but the next day at dawn she
+repaired to Chaudoreille's room.
+
+"Monsieur, your brother, is still sleeping," said the host whom she
+met, "and M. Malek-Al-de Granada has forbidden that anyone should wake
+him before noon."
+
+Julia, without listening to the host, went into the chevalier's room. He
+was sleeping soundly, and she pulled him rudely by the ear.
+
+"Did I bring you here with me," said she, "that you might sleep?"
+
+"Oh, by jingo! how cruel you are, I was in my first slumber."
+
+"Come, get up!"
+
+"Get up? get up? I respect decency too much to rise before you."
+
+"Get up, I tell you."
+
+"Well, since you will have it so," and Chaudoreille put his two little
+thin legs out of bed, saying, "It appears that I cannot make her run
+away."
+
+"You will go to the chateau, you will enter the first court, under the
+pretext of admiring the architecture, and you will chat with the
+porter."
+
+"And if I am recognized?"
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"By monseigneur."
+
+"Do you think he amuses himself by walking in the court? He is with his
+young captive."
+
+"That is presumable."
+
+"We will meet here presently and you will tell me all that you shall
+have learned. For my part, I am going to find my way into the park."
+
+After a good breakfast, Chaudoreille started, enveloping himself in a
+mantle or cloak which Julia had given him, and which was so much too
+large for him that part of it dragged on the ground; but he admired
+himself very much in it, and felt himself six inches taller.
+
+As he drew near the chateau, his first care was to look and see if there
+were a sentinel upon the wall, but perceiving nothing that seemed to
+indicate that the castle was upon a war footing he decided to advance.
+On arriving before the principal gate he walked for an hour, far and
+wide, before knowing if he should go into the chateau or not. The old
+porter, smoking his pipe before his door, perceived this little figure,
+trailing a cloak, and coming and going for a long while in the same
+circle. Irritated by this conduct, the porter left the chateau and
+walked towards Chaudoreille, to ask him what he did there. The latter,
+seeing a man walk with long steps towards him, imagined that the porter
+suspected him and was about to arrest him. Immediately he began to run
+on the sward, but presently his feet became entangled in the train of
+his cloak and he rolled on the grass. The porter, hearing someone
+calling in the chateau, did not continue his walk, and on rising
+Chaudoreille saw nobody. He then hastened to take the way to the
+village.
+
+"This is enough of it for today," said he, "another time I shall not be
+so imprudent, I'll hide in the thickets which are within cannon shot of
+the castle," and he returned to his inn where, while awaiting dinner, he
+played at little quoits with his host, and insisted on teaching madame,
+his wife, to dance the bolero. Julia, hearing the noise, found
+Chaudoreille in the courtyard of the inn, in the midst of the fowls and
+manure, making many bows to a little woman of forty years, and beating
+time with Rolande, saying,--
+
+"In Granada nobody dances except sword in hand. Ah, here is my sister
+Salamalech, she can make curtseys without touching her heels."
+
+Julia pushed the dancing master into her room, saying to him,--
+
+"What are you doing in that courtyard?"
+
+"What the deuce! I did it the better to preserve our incognito, for
+prudence' sake."
+
+"What have you learned this morning?"
+
+"Many things. I believe there is a garrison at the chateau. I saw an
+armed man come out. As to little Blanche, I have a suspicion that they
+are keeping her in a subterranean dungeon."
+
+"You're a fool. I've spoken to a young girl who lives at the chateau; I
+made her gossip. Blanche is in one of the towers which overlook the
+lake."
+
+"Then the soldier whom I questioned must have lied to me. I had him,
+however, with my sword at his throat."
+
+"Nobody has arrived at the chateau?"
+
+"Oh, nobody, I'm sure of that, I have not lost sight of it."
+
+"This evening I shall introduce myself into the park and I hope--"
+
+"I hope that I'm not to introduce myself there."
+
+"No, you are to watch outside."
+
+"Ah, I'm good at watching outside; besides, I have the eyes of a cat, I
+can see clearly at night."
+
+According to his custom the marquis went to visit Blanche on the day
+after the scene in the grotto, but she experienced a new dread at sight
+of him. She recalled how passionately he had folded her in his arms, and
+despite her innocence she felt a degree of fear as she saw him approach
+and seat himself at her side. The marquis knew women too well not to
+perceive the change in Blanche's manner. He tried to read the young
+girl's eyes, he wished to see again the sweet expression which so
+charmed him, but Blanche kept her eyes downcast, she trembled, and
+feared to meet those of the marquis. After a shorter visit than usual
+Villebelle left Blanche, and went to reflect on the means which he
+should employ to overcome her resistance. He awaited the evening
+impatiently, he flattered himself that he should be more fortunate in
+the gardens in making his peace with his young prisoner; but Blanche
+listened to a secret voice which told her she was not safe in the park
+with the marquis, and she did not intend to go there.
+
+It had long been night, and vainly had Villebelle walked up and down the
+pathways where the young girl walked every evening. He did not meet her.
+
+"She fears me," said he, "however, she does not hate me, she herself has
+told me so."
+
+On passing before the grotto where they had sat the evening before, the
+marquis believed that he saw a shadow flit before him. Persuaded that it
+was Blanche, he ran to seize her. The person whom he pursued paused,
+turned, and, by the light of the moon, the marquis recognized Julia.
+
+"You in this neighborhood, and in my park?" said Villebelle, with the
+greatest astonishment.
+
+"Yes, monsieur le marquis," said Julia with a bitter smile, "does that
+astonish you? Monsieur de Villebelle should, however, understand all the
+pleasure which I experience in being near him."
+
+"Once more, what are you doing here?"
+
+"There was a time, monsieur le marquis, when my presence caused you no
+weariness, when you told me with the most tender vows that you would
+love me forever. Remember how often it was necessary to repeat those
+vows in order to make me yours."
+
+The marquis made a gesture of impatience and exclaimed,--
+
+"And is it to tell me this that you introduced yourself at night into my
+chateau?"
+
+"No," said Julia, giving way to all her fury. "Another motive led me to
+this place; it was the hope of vengeance. You have laughed at my love,
+at my grief; I will revel in your sufferings, you shall shed tears of
+blood when it will be too late."
+
+"This is too much; your threats weary and make me despise you. If you
+have the power to fulfil them, why are you waiting for your revenge?"
+
+"I am awaiting the presence of an indispensable witness, your worthy
+confidant, the barber Touquet."
+
+Saying these words Julia glided among the trees, and disappeared before
+the marquis could stop her. Greatly surprised at this singular meeting,
+he was careful on reentering the chateau to warn Germain; and ordered
+him to redouble his watchfulness in order that no one might gain access
+to Blanche.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE MARQUIS VISITS BLANCHE AT NIGHT
+
+
+The marquis returned in great agitation to his apartments. He was
+greatly incensed, but not at all intimidated by Julia's threats, which
+he attributed to spite and her jealousy. However, despite his lack of
+consideration for her he had cast off, there was something in the voice
+of the young Italian which carried conviction, and her eyes appeared to
+be animated by a barbaric joy when she had fixed them on those of the
+marquis, and warned him to beware.
+
+Vexed at not having forced Julia to explain herself, Villebelle called
+his valet, and ordered him to search the park with some of his people,
+and if he met a woman to bring her immediately to the chateau. Germain,
+the gardener, and three men servants hastened to investigate the park
+and gardens, but they returned to the chateau without meeting anybody,
+and the marquis passed the night in reflecting upon the event. The
+presence of Julia had disturbed his peace; he feared that she would come
+and bring Blanche news of her lover. At daybreak he wrote to the barber
+and ordered him to come to the chateau.
+
+Marguerite was dead; the old servant could not bear the loss of Blanche,
+and the fury of her master after Julia's visit. The barber, who had for
+a long time desired to sell his house, was about to go to a lawyer, when
+a letter was brought to him by a messenger from the marquis.
+
+"He wishes that I should go to Sarcus," said Touquet to himself, after
+reading the note; "the marquis still has need of me. He has at times, an
+inclination for virtue which causes me uneasiness, but he pays
+generously; besides I can refuse him nothing. He has divined a part of
+my conduct, and if some day he should desire to ruin me as an expiation
+for all his own follies--for it is often in this manner that great folks
+repair their errors--but no, the marquis will commit follies as long as
+he lives; it is above all necessary that he should triumph over
+Blanche's virtue, for that would insure my safety."
+
+Touquet made the preparations for his departure, and on the next day but
+one he arrived at the chateau, and presented himself to the marquis, who
+was awaiting him in his apartment.
+
+"You see, monseigneur, with what haste I have obeyed your orders," said
+the barber, bowing.
+
+"That is well; your presence here may be very useful to me. I feel that
+I need someone who will make me ashamed of my weakness. Would you
+believe that I am no further advanced in regard to Blanche?"
+
+"I shouldn't believe it unless you told me so, monseigneur."
+
+"It is certain that I should never have dreamed of it myself. She has
+been for three weeks at the chateau, and I have hardly dared to kiss her
+hand. Some days ago we were in the park, and I tried to advance a little
+further, but she supplicated me to let her go in so touching a voice, it
+affects me in a manner which I cannot account for, but I was nearly
+heartbroken at having caused her pain; since that time she has not left
+her room. When near me, she is fearful, embarrassed, and always in
+tears."
+
+"All that will end, when you have made her yours, monseigneur."
+
+"Have you seen her lover? This Urbain of whom she talks incessantly, and
+whom she calls at every moment of the day."
+
+"No, monseigneur, and I presume that young Urbain, more reasonable than
+Blanche, has already forgotten that little love affair."
+
+"The poor little thing is always thinking of him. If I could persuade
+her that he no longer loves her,--she would not, however, believe me.
+But in speaking to you of Blanche I forget the motive which induced me
+to send for you. You can never divine whom I met the day before
+yesterday, in the evening, in my park--Julia."
+
+"Julia!" cried the barber, starting with surprise.
+
+"Yes, she had entered these premises. But how could she have discovered
+that I was here?"
+
+"I can't imagine, monseigneur."
+
+"She had the audacity to threaten me, jealousy and rage shone in her
+eyes; she also spoke to me of you. I didn't understand all she was
+saying to me, and she disappeared when I was about to force her to
+explain further."
+
+"Monseigneur, this young girl has some evil design."
+
+"I think that, also. However, she has not reappeared since, and every
+evening my people make a general search in the park."
+
+"No matter, Julia will do her utmost to take Blanche away from you."
+
+"How do you think she will do it? You must visit the neighborhood, and
+if you discover Julia, tell her from me that I forbid her to present
+herself on these premises. If she still dares to come I can easily
+obtain a lettre-de-cachet, which will relieve me from her
+importunities."
+
+"That will be the best thing you can do, monseigneur. Tomorrow I'll
+begin my researches."
+
+"During the time which you are at the chateau, avoid passing through the
+park by the side of the lake, for you might be seen by Blanche, and I
+don't wish that she shall know you are here; I don't think that the
+sight of you would give her pleasure, and I desire to keep her from all
+that might add to her grief."
+
+"I've never seen monseigneur so much in love."
+
+"No, never has any woman inspired me with that which I feel for
+Blanche."
+
+"I'm going to get some rest. Tomorrow at daybreak I shall take my way; I
+will search the neighborhood, I will visit the smallest cottages; Julia
+cannot evade my search, and as soon as I know where she is, I answer for
+it, monseigneur, that you will not see her again."
+
+The barber was about to go as he said these words, but there was an
+expression on his face which did not escape the marquis. Villebelle ran
+to him and stopped him, saying in a severe tone,--
+
+"Touquet, you have misunderstood me. Remember that I do not wish that
+any harm should come to Julia. That young girl is passionate,
+headstrong, but her love excuses it. One should always forgive the
+faults of which one is the first cause. I should, perhaps, have further
+considered her sensibility; I have treated her with too much disdain. If
+she will consent to become reasonable, promise her all that she shall
+ask. Scatter gold, that she may be happy. In addition to that, I wish to
+speak to her myself, that she may explain to me what she wished to tell
+in her letter."
+
+"In that case, monseigneur, as soon as I have discovered her retreat, I
+will hasten to let you know it."
+
+The barber bowed low to the marquis and left the apartment.
+
+"That man is a deep scoundrel," said Villebelle, as he watched Touquet
+depart. "For a long time I thought he was only a schemer and a thief;
+why should he still be necessary to me? But I can't charge Germain to
+speak to Julia. Julia! I believed for a little while that I loved her.
+Ah, what a difference there is between that passionate, vindictive woman
+and the sweet and charming Blanche. Why should Julia love me so
+passionately, and yet I cannot kindle in the breast of that timid child
+a spark of the fire which consumes me?"
+
+While the marquis was dreaming of Blanche, who, sad and solitary in her
+lonely room, passed her days in praying to Heaven and weeping for her
+lover, Julia, after her nocturnal meeting with Villebelle, sought to
+gain speech with the young prisoner. The watchfulness of the marquis'
+people did not prevent her from gliding through the park; but though she
+drew near the lake it was impossible to reach the tower; they had taken
+away all the boats for fear that one of them should serve as a means of
+approaching Blanche's windows. As for Chaudoreille, being ordered to
+watch all who entered or left the chateau, he hid himself in a thick
+bush, which was about two cannon shots from the entrance to the castle;
+and there, having Rolande bare at one side by way of precaution, and a
+bottle of wine at the other, he passed his day with a pack of cards,
+studying a new manner of turning the king and of re-turning the aces,
+hiding entirely under his immense mantle at the slightest sound.
+
+The day after his arrival at the chateau, the barber commenced his
+search. Not imagining for a moment that Julia would conceal herself at
+Sarcus, he visited Damerancourt, and Grandvilliers, and returned towards
+the evening to Sarcus. As he approached the village, he perceived in
+front of him a little man enveloped in a brown cloak, under which it was
+difficult to distinguish his body, but a long sword, whose handle
+protruded from one side of his cloak, betrayed who carried it.
+
+"It's Chaudoreille," said the barber to himself, and he hastened that he
+might catch up with him. The little man, when he heard someone behind
+him, was seized with terror, and also tried to walk faster, but the
+unfortunate cloak entangled his legs at every step, and soon he felt
+himself pulled by the handle of his sword. He turned and was petrified
+at seeing the barber Touquet.
+
+"Where are you going, Chevalier Chaudoreille?" said the barber, in a
+mocking tone.
+
+"Where am I going? By jingo! How are you, my good friend?"
+
+"You clown," said the barber, "I've heard some fine things about you."
+
+"One mustn't believe all that one hears, my dear Touquet."
+
+"And don't you think I ought to believe monsieur le marquis? It was you
+who told him about Blanche, despite your vows."
+
+"You know very well that between ourselves an oath is not binding, and
+what have you to complain of? I was the means of your obtaining a large
+sum of money."
+
+"And do you serve Julia now?"
+
+"Yes, I serve Julia. I will serve you, if you wish, I will serve
+anybody; I have always been very obliging."
+
+"Where is Julia?"
+
+"She wishes to preserve her incognito."
+
+"Answer, wretch, no more lies."
+
+"Ow! leave go of my ear, you are hurting me. We are lodging in this
+village at the inn; there is only one here. Julia passes as my sister,
+and I for a Moor of Granada, professor of castanets."
+
+"What are Julia's plans?"
+
+"The devil carry me away if I have any idea of them. She passes her days
+and a part of her nights in prowling about the chateau, like a fox
+watching a chicken. Between ourselves I believe she's a little cracked."
+
+"And with what design did she bring you here?"
+
+"Simply to keep her company. She likes my society very much, I sing
+villanelles to her."
+
+"Listen to me, I ought to break your back to punish you for what you've
+done."
+
+"O my dear Touquet, that was a joke."
+
+"Get along with you, I despise you too much to strike you."
+
+"That's very civil on your part."
+
+"Have you told me the truth?"
+
+"If you doubt it, come with me to the inn. Julia will not be long before
+she comes in."
+
+"No, I can't go there this evening; but I forbid you to say a word to
+her about our meeting."
+
+"As soon as you forbid me, it's as if you had cut out my tongue."
+
+"If I don't find Julia tomorrow in the place you have told me of,
+monsieur le marquis himself will see that you are punished, and this
+time there will be no quarter given you."
+
+"You may be sure I'll obey you."
+
+"Good-by, I'm going back to the chateau."
+
+"And I to the village--where I shall not await your visit," said
+Chaudoreille, in a low tone, gathering his cloak up under his arm that
+he might walk more quickly.
+
+Touquet returned to the chateau and sought the marquis. It was night,
+and Villebelle was seated before a table as sumptuously furnished as was
+possible at the chateau; but the marquis, presuming that he should make
+a long sojourn there, had had his cellars replenished, and if the fare
+was not so delicate as in Paris, the wines were no less exquisite. The
+marquis appeared gayer than usual. He had already emptied several
+bottles, and near him were several letters which he read while supping.
+
+"What news?" said he, on perceiving the barber.
+
+"My researches have not proved vain, monseigneur. Julia is at the
+village; she is living at the inn under an assumed name. I have seen
+Chaudoreille, who is now her confidant."
+
+"Ah, the little Gascon. Have you thrashed him soundly?"
+
+"Not yet, monseigneur, I wished first to get your orders, and I have not
+seen Julia."
+
+"You have done well, I will speak to her myself. Tomorrow we will go
+together to the village; I shall make the heedless girl hear reason, and
+we shall know this grand secret which she pretends she has to tell me."
+
+"A secret?"
+
+"Yes, and it's necessary, she says, that you should be present when she
+tells it."
+
+"Me? monseigneur."
+
+"Tomorrow she shall be satisfied. Do you see those letters? All of those
+were sent to me from Paris. They are from the great ladies who regret
+me; there are reproaches, promises, vows, and a little of everything.
+Here, throw all that in the fire."
+
+"What, monsieur le marquis, even those which are unopened?"
+
+"Yes, of course; do they not all say the same thing? Ah, a single smile
+from Blanche is worth all the sweet nothings of these ladies. Why is she
+not here, near me?"
+
+"If monseigneur desires it--"
+
+"That she may come with her eyes full of tears? No."
+
+The marquis filled a large glass with wine, which he drank at a draught,
+when he exclaimed,--
+
+"I'm commencing, however, to fear that I sigh in vain; Blanche is near
+me, in my chateau, but I dare not--but to employ violence, I cannot
+resort to that."
+
+"Without employing violence, monseigneur, are there not a thousand ways?
+She sleeps undefended--and you have double keys to all the rooms."
+
+"What perfidy!"
+
+"Not greater, monseigneur, than taking her in a carriage, telling her
+that she was going to join Urbain."
+
+"Be silent, you are a monster; and to listen to your horrible counsels
+renders me more criminal than yourself."
+
+"It was not I, monseigneur, who counselled you to fall in love with
+Blanche, but since she is in your power, it seems to me that your
+scruples are a little tardy."
+
+The marquis remained silent for some moments; then he resumed,--
+
+"This morning she spoke to me less coldly; I remained several hours
+with her; she seemed to me less timid. I took her hand, and she left it
+for a long time in mine."
+
+"What more do you wish for, monseigneur? In secret Blanche loves you;
+but do you think that so timid a young girl will confess what is passing
+in her heart? It is not until after she has yielded that she banishes
+all constraint."
+
+"Blanche loves me, say you? Ah, if it were true. But it is late; go and
+take some rest. Tomorrow we will go and see Julia."
+
+Touquet bowed to the marquis, and looked stealthily and scrutinizingly
+at him; then he took a candle, and departed in silence. For a long while
+the marquis remained at the table, buried in thought, or drinking glass
+after glass of wine. He seemed to wish to drown in the liquor the
+thoughts which pursued him. Finally he rang for Germain, and said to him
+in a gloomy voice,--
+
+"Who has the double keys to the chateau?"
+
+"The porter should have them, monseigneur."
+
+"Bid him come here, I wish to speak to him."
+
+The old porter hastened to obey his master's orders.
+
+"Are there some double keys for these apartments?" said the marquis.
+
+"Yes, monseigneur, there are even triple keys; 'tis an ancient usage
+that dates from--"
+
+"Go and get me those of the tower which looks on the lake."
+
+The porter departed, and soon returned with a bunch of keys, saying,--
+
+"If monseigneur wishes I will conduct him through the chateau."
+
+"Give me those and go, I do not need your assistance," said the marquis,
+snatching the keys from his hand.
+
+The old man, stupefied, bowed and departed, without daring to raise his
+eyes on his master. The marquis dismissed his servants, saying that he
+had need of rest, and presently the most profound silence reigned in the
+chateau and in the grounds pertaining to it.
+
+As for the Marquis de Villebelle, he walked irresolutely about his
+apartment, holding the bunch of keys in his hand, and meditating deeply.
+He was apparently still undecided as to what course he should take, and
+muttered to himself from time to time,--
+
+"No, I cannot make use of these keys--she seemed to give me her
+confidence and I dare not abuse it; but must she pass her life thus? To
+be so near her, to have abducted her in vain. What would all the
+libertines say of me, all the people of fashion, if they knew of my
+conduct? But if they could see Blanche! Why did that cursed Touquet
+speak to me of these keys? I should have divined that when he entered
+this chateau, that man would advise me to commit some wicked action."
+
+Some moments passed, and at last the marquis took up a candle, and
+exclaimed,--
+
+"It is settled; I will listen only to the passion which leads me."
+
+He left his room, which was separated from the tower where Blanche was
+lodged by a long gallery adorned with portraits of the marquis'
+ancestors. Villebelle walked slowly, pausing often to listen, and
+trembling for fear he should meet someone; he kept his eyes down, and
+seemed afraid to look at the portraits of his ancestors, who, for the
+most part, had honored their country by their bravery and virtue. At
+this moment something told him he was about to commit an act which was
+unworthy of the name which they had transmitted to him, and when his
+eyes met by chance one of those noble faces with which the gallery was
+hung, he seemed to read in it an expression of indignation and scorn. At
+last he reached the end of the gallery, and never had it seemed to him
+so long; he mounted a grand staircase, crossed several rooms, and
+entered the tower which held the young girl. A violent trembling seized
+him. Wishing to master his uneasiness, he hastened his walk. All the
+doors of communication were open, and he soon found Blanche's room. He
+paused, and looked at the keys which he held in his hand; he still
+hesitated, but, seeking to deaden himself to the crime which he was
+about to commit, he tried several keys, and was soon in Blanche's room.
+The deepest silence reigned in this place; the marquis stepped very
+softly, taking each step with precaution. The door of the bedroom was
+not closed. Villebelle looked in, and by the light of the lamp placed on
+the hearth, perceived the young girl asleep.
+
+"She sleeps," said the marquis; "she thinks herself safe in this
+shelter, but her breathing is oppressed; she seems as though she were
+going to speak; if I could but hear her."
+
+He approached the bed. Blanche was dreaming of her lover; softly she
+breathed Urbain's name, and extended her arms as if imploring someone;
+then she murmured,--
+
+"O dear God! they still keep us apart."
+
+Villebelle felt moved and softened.
+
+"No, she does not love me," said he softly; "in her sleep she is always
+thinking of Urbain."
+
+He sighed profoundly, and was about to depart, when Blanche awakened,
+opened her eyes, and called out in terror,--
+
+"O heavens! who is there?"
+
+"It is I, Blanche," answered the marquis in a halting voice.
+
+"You seigneur? so late in my room? What do you want with me?"
+
+"Be calm, I beg of you."
+
+"But you are trembling yourself, seigneur, what has happened?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing; I wished to see you--to speak to you, to look at you
+once more."
+
+"Ah, don't look at me so, monsieur le marquis, you frighten me."
+
+"Frighten you? Ah, Blanche, is that the feeling with which the most
+faithful lover should inspire you? Yes, my love is at its height; I can
+no longer master it; you must make me happy; you must be mine."
+
+The marquis already held Blanche in his arms. The young girl uttered a
+piercing cry, and gathering her strength, disengaged herself, jumping
+lightly from her bed, but Villebelle again seized her; he tried to cover
+her with kisses; he tried to stifle her cries. Blanche threw herself at
+his feet, extended her arms towards him, supplicatingly, and cried in a
+heart-breaking-voice,--
+
+"Mercy! mercy! if only for today."
+
+These accents penetrated to the depths of the marquis' soul. The sight
+of Blanche at his feet, of her tears and of her despair, restored him to
+reason, but fearing that he might no longer be able to master his
+passion, he precipitately left the young girl, and distractedly fled to
+his room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+URBAIN'S VISIT TO THE MARQUIS. CHAUDOREILLE'S LAST ADVENTURE
+
+
+Blanche remained motionless and silent for a long time in the place
+where she had implored, and her loveliness and the nameless charm of her
+innocence had obtained, the pity, the forbearance of a man who had been
+about to wrong her womanhood. At last a flood of tears relieved her
+heart. She rose and then looked about her with terror; she listened
+tremblingly; at the least sound caused by the wind on the lake she
+shuddered, and imagined she heard the marquis returning. She passed the
+night in cruel anxiety.
+
+"All is over," she said, weeping; "my hope of happiness is completely
+shattered. O my well-beloved Urbain, I shall see you no more; they will
+separate us forever, but I will die rather than cease to be worthy of
+thee."
+
+The marquis had rested no better than his victim. Divided between love
+and remorse, regretting at times having yielded to what he called his
+weakness, and cursing a passion which made Blanche unhappy, he saw day
+break without having closed his eyes.
+
+Astonished at having received no orders in regard to Julia, Touquet
+presented himself before the marquis; he remarked the dejection of the
+latter's features, and sought to divine the cause of it. Villebelle's
+gloomy and melancholy tone did not indicate that he was happy; he
+remained silent, and the barber dared not question him. At this moment
+Germain entered the room, and announced to his master that a young man
+had presented himself at the chateau, and begged the favor of speech
+with him.
+
+"A young man?" said the marquis. "Is he an inhabitant of the
+neighborhood?"
+
+"No, monseigneur, his dress is that of a young student; he expresses
+himself well, and appears to have the greatest desire to see you."
+
+"He did not tell you his name?"
+
+"He says that you know him without knowing his name."
+
+"How very singular, can he be a messenger from Julia?" said Villebelle,
+looking at the barber.
+
+"I don't think so, monsieur le marquis. The description which Germain
+has given of the stranger is not that of Chaudoreille."
+
+"When they introduce this young man, Touquet, step into the next room;
+it is possible he wishes to speak to me alone."
+
+The barber departed and Germain returned with Urbain, who, having
+travelled without stopping, had arrived at Sarcus, and was waiting
+impatiently at the porter's lodge for the answer which the marquis
+should send him.
+
+"My master consents to see you. Follow me, monsieur, I will take you to
+him," said Germain to Urbain; the latter joyfully hastened to follow the
+valet, who introduced him to the marquis.
+
+Urbain entered the room trembling; approaching with embarrassment the
+great nobleman, who was seated on a sofa, and who looked curiously at
+the young man, unable to resist a certain interest which Urbain's
+refined and distinguished face inspired.
+
+"Deign to excuse, seigneur, the liberty which I take," said the young
+bachelor, bowing low to the marquis.
+
+"Speak, monsieur, what do you want of me?"
+
+"I come to implore your protection. You gave me permission to have
+recourse to it. We have already seen each other at Paris, some time ago;
+I was disguised, I met you at night in the Grand Pre-aux-Clercs, fought
+a duel--"
+
+"What, my brave fellow, was that you, who were dressed as a girl?"
+
+"Yes, seigneur, I had the misfortune to wound you in the arm."
+
+"And I tell you that that was just, for I was wrong, as I usually am.
+Hang it! I'm delighted to see you again; give me your hand, you are a
+brave fellow."
+
+The marquis rose, came towards Urbain and cordially shook him by the
+hand. The latter, delighted by this welcome, did not know how to evince
+his gratitude.
+
+"Seat yourself near me," said Villebelle, "and tell me what has procured
+me the pleasure of receiving you in my chateau."
+
+"Monseigneur, you had the goodness to offer me your protection if I were
+unfortunate, and I come to claim it."
+
+"You do well, my dear fellow; speak without fear. Is it money that you
+need, I have it at your service; don't spare it, I often enough make a
+bad use of it, once at least let it serve me in making somebody happy."
+
+"Fortune could not render me happy, for it is love which causes my
+trouble, monseigneur."
+
+"Oh, you are in love; that's different, I am in love, also; and at this
+moment it does not make me very happy, either. But come, tell me your
+love affairs."
+
+"I love, I adore, a charming young girl--ah, monseigneur, there is
+nobody to be compared to her."
+
+"Perhaps, but go on."
+
+"She did not know her parents, but the man who had brought her up gave
+me her hand. Only one day and we should have been united, when a wretch
+introduced himself into the house where she lived and carried off from
+me the one who was about to become my wife."
+
+"That's very singular," said the marquis, struck by Urbain's recital,
+"and do you know the name of this ravisher?"'
+
+"No, monsieur le marquis, but after that I learned that it was a great
+nobleman, a rich and powerful man--Ah, my only hope of discovering this
+monster lies in you, for you perhaps know the place where he lives.
+Monseigneur, have pity on my torture, help me to recover her whom they
+have stolen from me, help me to recover Blanche, and the unfortunate
+Urbain will owe you more than life."
+
+At the name of Blanche the marquis rose abruptly. Urbain threw himself
+at his feet, seized one of his hands and looked imploringly at him; but
+Villebelle turned his head that the young man might not see the change
+which had come over his face.
+
+"Get up, get up," said the marquis, seeking to master his emotion; "I
+wish to serve you, yes, but I cannot promise to restore to you the one
+whom you have loved."
+
+"Among the noblemen of the court, there are men who glory in betraying
+innocence and snatching a young girl from her relations; seigneur, if
+you have the least suspicion--sometimes the slightest indication will
+put one on the track."
+
+The marquis appeared to reflect deeply; Urbain, who believed that he
+sought to recall some circumstance which had interested him, waited
+with most lively anxiety for him to speak. After a long silence
+Villebelle said,--
+
+"You are very young, Urbain."
+
+"I am nineteen years old, seigneur."
+
+"This--Blanche is, no doubt, the first woman whom you have loved?"
+
+"Yes, seigneur, and she will be the last."
+
+"You are mistaken, my friend; at your age one loves ardently, but it is
+a flame which quickly evaporates. It is only to one like me that--bereft
+of the illusions of youth and wearied with change--a true love is a need
+of the heart and should be an insurmountable feeling. Like you, at
+nineteen years of age, I believed that I should love for life; I
+deceived myself. Believe me, you will still be happy."
+
+"Without Blanche? That is impossible."
+
+"You have some little fortune?"
+
+"I have a little country house which my father left me, and twelve
+hundred livres income."
+
+"With so little, distraction is not easy. I wish that you could taste
+some of the pleasures of your age, and in their vortex you would soon
+forget your first love."
+
+"I thank you, seigneur, but I cannot accept your benefits. I repeat to
+you, I can never taste pleasure separated from her I love."
+
+"Well, what I have offered you would facilitate your researches. Do not
+refuse me, it is only on that condition that I promise you to second
+your efforts. Wait for me here, do not leave this room."
+
+So saying, the marquis went into the room where Touquet was waiting.
+
+"Urbain is there," said he, "the young stranger who asked to see me is
+Blanche's lover."
+
+"I know it, seigneur, I recognized his voice and I listened."
+
+"He comes to beg my help in discovering the abductor of her he loves."
+
+"He could not better address himself."
+
+"I almost felt ready to give him his sweetheart."
+
+"What folly!"
+
+"But Blanche's image is too deeply graven in my heart. However, I wish
+to try and indemnify poor Urbain for the evil which I have caused him;
+and the power of gold--"
+
+"It is the remedy for all evils, seigneur."
+
+"Yes, to a venial soul like yours; you have never known the sweetness of
+love."
+
+"But it is necessary, seigneur, to get rid of this young man for a long
+time. What prevents you--by means of false advice--from sending him to
+England, to Turkey, to the devil even?"
+
+"In fact, I comprehend."
+
+"Travel will distract him from his love; you are a generous rival. Some
+others in your place, profiting by the occasion, would shut this young
+man up in some dungeon in this chateau."
+
+"Oh, how horrible! to betray the confidence of this mere boy."
+
+"In place of that you will give him money, so that he can live like a
+great lord."
+
+"Could I ever pay him for the treasure I have taken from him?"
+
+The marquis opened a desk, took sixty thousand livres in notes, which he
+placed in a pocketbook and returned to find Urbain. The young bachelor,
+as he noted the elegance of the interior of the chateau, said to
+himself,--
+
+"It is, perhaps, in a similar abode that Blanche is lamenting at this
+moment."
+
+"In thinking of what you have told me," said Villebelle, "I recall
+certain circumstances which might, perhaps, put you on the track of her
+whom you are seeking."
+
+"O monsieur le marquis, deign to tell me."
+
+"The Marquis de Chavagnac has often made people talk about him by
+abducting beautiful girls; he has suddenly left Paris, and one may
+presume that it was on some similar adventure."
+
+"Ah, it is he who has stolen Blanche from me."
+
+"Remember well that I do not affirm anything."
+
+"And does anyone know to which of his chateaux he has gone?"
+
+"He is not in France, and, according to what I have learned, has betaken
+himself to Italy."
+
+"To Italy? Then that is where I must go."
+
+"Take this pocketbook as a mark of my esteem, and do not spare that
+which it holds."
+
+"Seigneur, I do not know if I should."
+
+"Believe my experience; with gold one may gain the duennas, one may
+seduce jailers, one may surmount many obstacles."
+
+"It will be to you, then, that I shall owe my happiness, my felicity. O
+seigneur, I do not know how to express my gratitude to you."
+
+"Go, Urbain, make a tour of Italy, and perhaps you will there find
+happiness."
+
+The young bachelor still wished to express to the marquis all his
+gratitude, but the latter would not permit him, and again wishing him a
+pleasant journey, he rang for Germain, who conducted Urbain to the door
+of the chateau. Hardly had the young lover quitted the marquis'
+apartments, when Villebelle called Touquet, and ordered him to follow
+Urbain at a distance, and not to lose sight of him until he was certain
+that the bachelor had left Sarcus. Urbain departed, penetrated with
+gratitude to the marquis, but while passing through the great gate, he
+experienced a sadness for which he could not account. He could hardly
+leave the chateau, and turned to cast a last glance at the antique
+towers of Sarcus. Wrapped in thought, he walked slowly down the first
+road which he came to, greatly touched at the welcome which he had
+received at the chateau. He hoped, thanks to the benevolence of the
+marquis, soon to be in Italy, not doubting that it could be any other
+than the Seigneur de Chavagnac who had carried Blanche off.
+
+Urbain had already gone some distance from the chateau, and was about to
+enter a lane which led to the village, when a shout of, "Take care
+there!" made him raise his head, and he saw before him a man on
+horseback. The rider, however, managed his horse so badly that the
+animal was standing across the path, having his head resting on a bush,
+to which he seemed to be attached.
+
+"By jingo! won't you turn, proud animal; beware lest in place of the
+spur I bury Rolande's point in your side. Take care there, what the
+deuce! My horse is skittish, you frighten him."
+
+The voice and accent of the chevalier immediately struck Urbain; he
+recognized the man who had made an appointment with him at the Porte
+Montmartre. Chaudoreille, after his meeting with the barber, had had no
+thought except to leave the neighborhood of the chateau, and without
+making his resolution known to Julia, who would, he was very certain,
+oppose it, he had waited till the next day, when she had left the inn;
+then, taking the bag which contained the effects and money of his
+companion, he had sold one of their horses and, under the pretext of
+exploring the neighborhood had started on his way, with the intention of
+escaping to parts unknown. But the fugitive did not know how to hold
+his horse, although since his journey to Sarcus he had believed himself
+one of the best jockeys in France. Continually twitching the bridle of
+his horse for fear the animal should run away, it had taken him an hour
+to cover barely half a mile of road. He commenced to fear that he could
+not depart quickly enough by this mode of travel, when Urbain met him in
+the little lane, which the horse refused to leave.
+
+Urbain, delighted at seeing the man again who had promised to tell him
+the name of Blanche's ravisher, uttered a joyful exclamation, and ran
+towards Chaudoreille. The sudden cry and approach of the young man
+frightened the horse, which jumped, and sent his rider six feet from him
+into a thick hedge.
+
+"All the bones in my body are broken," cried Chaudoreille, while
+falling.
+
+Urbain ran to help him up, and to make his excuses, but the chevalier
+drew away from him, and while rubbing himself looked at Urbain, who did
+not cease to repeat,--
+
+"I am Blanche's lover, the young man whom you met that night, and whom
+you promised to meet at Porte Montmartre."
+
+"My faith, that's true, I recognize you now; but why the deuce did you
+run at me, and shout so loud? This is the first time that I have been
+unhorsed."
+
+"Monsieur, oblige me by keeping your promise; tell me the name of
+Blanche's abductor. I can now recompense you beyond your hopes."
+
+"Hush!" said Chaudoreille, drawing Urbain towards the hedge which hid
+them from sight of the chateau; "imprudent young man, don't speak so
+loud."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Silence, I tell you. What! you are at Sarcus, and you don't know the
+name of your sweetheart's abductor?"
+
+"No, of course not; I came to beg the Marquis de Villebelle's
+protection, and thanks to him I hope--"
+
+"Oh, for once this is too much! Young man, you interest me. I am about
+to risk myself for you; but you have promised me a liberal recompense."
+
+"Here, take this gold, these notes, and speak at once."
+
+"Your sweetheart's abductor is no other than the Marquis de Villebelle."
+
+"The marquis?"
+
+"Why yes, by jingo! and your little girl is now at the Chateau de
+Sarcus."
+
+"No, that is not possible; you are deceiving me. The marquis has heaped
+benefits upon me."
+
+"The better to disarm your suspicions. Zounds! how young you still are.
+I tell you that your Blanche is at the chateau, and that the barber--"
+
+"Is before you," said a stern voice, which came from the other side of
+the hedge, and, at the same moment, the foliage parted and Touquet
+appeared before the astonished Urbain; while Chaudoreille, whose legs
+failed him at this sudden apparition, fell again into the hedge,
+muttering,--
+
+"It's the devil."
+
+"This wretch has not told you all, Seigneur Urbain," said the barber.
+"Under pretext of serving you he has given you some half confidences,
+but I wish you should know all the obligation under which you lie to
+him. You were about to wed Blanche, and nothing was opposed to your
+marriage; the marquis had never heard of that young girl, whom I had
+carefully kept from his sight, foreseeing to what excesses he would be
+carried; but Chaudoreille, in spite of his promises, gave the marquis a
+most seductive portrait of your sweetheart and told him of your
+approaching marriage. Finally, it is to him that you owe Blanche's
+abduction and the loss of your happiness. Answer, clown, is not this the
+truth?"
+
+"I cannot deny it," answered the chevalier, half dead with fright,
+"however, circumstances--"
+
+"Wretch!" cried Urbain, "you are the cause of all my suffering, defend
+yourself. The first act of my vengeance shall be your death."
+
+While travelling, Urbain carried a sword; he drew his weapon from the
+scabbard and advanced towards Chaudoreille, but the words, "by your
+death," and the sight of the naked sword put new strength into the legs
+of the little man. Abandoning the cloak which impeded his flight, he ran
+with all his might, pursued by Urbain, who still threatened him with his
+sword; while the barber, mounting Chaudoreille's horse, went at full
+gallop to the chateau. The chevalier, who imagined that he felt the
+point of Urbain's sword pricking his back, redoubled his speed; but
+Urbain, animated by a desire for vengeance, had very nearly caught up to
+him, and was not more than twenty paces behind him when they entered the
+village. This flying man, pursued by another with a sword in his hand,
+attracted everyone's attention.
+
+"Out of the way! out of the way!" cried Chaudoreille to the crowd, while
+Urbain shouted,--
+
+"Stop that wretch."
+
+The innkeeper who was at his door said,--
+
+"Why, that's Monsieur Malek-Al-Chiras, castanet teacher. What can he
+have done with his Arabian steed?"
+
+The fugitive entered the first door that he found open, which was one in
+the house of an old dowager. Chaudoreille mounted the staircase; arrived
+at the first floor he perceived a key in a door, he entered
+precipitantly, carefully taking the key with him and locking it after
+him. At the same instant, a voice cried,--
+
+"Monsieur, what are you doing here? Nobody can come in, I am not
+visible."
+
+It was the dowager, who was dressing at the moment when the chevalier,
+entered her chamber, desperate. Chaudoreille did not answer, he heard
+nothing but Urbain's steps.
+
+"Monsieur, I am making my toilet."
+
+"Make anything you please," said he at last, "I shall scarcely worry
+myself about it."
+
+"Leave this room, monsieur."
+
+"Me, leave the room? By jingo! I'll take very good care not to do that.
+Do you wish me to go to my death? I'm pursued by a man who absolutely
+wishes to fight with me."
+
+"Well, then, fight. Can't you defend yourself?"
+
+"I can only defend myself when I am not attacked."
+
+"What use is your sword then, monsieur?"
+
+"That does not matter to you. Ah, zounds! I hear him."
+
+In fact, Urbain had discovered Chaudoreille's retreat. He knocked at the
+door and ordered him to open.
+
+"Answer that there is nobody here," said Chaudoreille to the dowager,
+"you will save the life of the most amiable man in Europe."
+
+The old woman answered on the contrary,--
+
+"He is here, but he has locked himself up with me and he has taken the
+key."
+
+"Oh, well, one can break in the door," said Urbain, "if this wretch
+refuses to open it."
+
+Chaudoreille looked round in search of a hiding-place, but feared the
+dowager would betray him. Finally his glance rested on the chimney, and
+seeing no other means of escape, he ran and climbed into it with the
+agility of a squirrel. At that moment someone forced the door, and
+Urbain entered, followed by some of the village people. They did not see
+Chaudoreille, but the dowager indicated the way by which he had fled.
+Going down into the court they perceived the chevalier on the roof,
+creeping along a gutter and endeavoring to reach the neighboring house.
+The way was dangerous, but the fear of fighting seemed to have blinded
+Chaudoreille to all other perils. Already his foot touched the next
+roof, and, using Rolande to feel his way, he turned his head to see if
+Urbain was behind him; this movement made him lose his equilibrium, he
+slipped, then disappeared. They ran to the place where he had fallen;
+the descendant of Delilah had fallen on some cabbages, but not having
+loosened his hold of Rolande, the long sword had passed through the
+middle of his body. Thus perished the prudent Chaudoreille, while trying
+to avoid a combat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+JULIA'S STORY. WHAT WAS CONTAINED IN THE PORTFOLIO
+
+
+The barber left Urbain in full pursuit of the luckless chevalier and
+putting his horse at full gallop tore back to the Chateau de Sarcus, in
+order that he might immediately apprise the marquis of that which had
+taken place. He arrived in short order at the chateau and hastened to
+present himself to Villebelle, whom he informed of the meeting of Urbain
+and Chaudoreille and the disclosures that had been made.
+
+"Then this young man is aware that I have grossly deceived him, that I
+am Blanche's abductor and that she is now at the chateau?" said the
+marquis. "He is young and ingenuous, his love for this hapless child is
+pure and virtuous, he sought to honor her in making her his wife,--how
+vile and dishonorable must I appear in his eyes!"
+
+"What does the opinion of this beardless boy matter to you, monsieur le
+marquis? The most important thing you have to think of is how to prevent
+his coming in contact with Blanche, and that, now, will be rather
+difficult. Now that he is sure that she is here, he will employ a
+thousand stratagems to introduce himself into the chateau--"
+
+"No, this boy shall not rob me of the woman whom I love."
+
+"If he comes, as I am certain he will, to demand satisfaction, it's a
+sure thing that you cannot refuse to fight him, and that will be the
+best means of disembarrassing yourself of him. With your cool blood and
+your skill with the sword, you ought easily to be able to vanquish a man
+blinded by fury."
+
+"Wretch! do you wish that I should be bathed in the blood of this child?
+No, I am already guilty enough. But what prevents me from leaving
+Sarcus, from carrying Blanche to a country where Urbain cannot discover
+her? Yes, tonight even, we will start. We will go to unknown parts. Go
+immediately and find Germain. The preparations for our departure must be
+made in the greatest secrecy, and Blanche must not know of them until
+the last moment; at midnight we will leave the chateau. By this means I
+hope to make all traces of Blanche lost to Urbain forever."
+
+"That is a very good idea, monseigneur, but Julia--"
+
+"I shall trouble myself no more about her now, besides, this step will
+also relieve me from her importunities. Go, run, and order everything
+for tonight."
+
+Touquet hastened to execute the marquis' orders; it was already late,
+and there remained only a short time to Villebelle in which to make his
+preparations for a voyage which he presumed would be of long duration.
+The more he reflected, the more he approved of his plan. He imagined
+that Blanche would find, in travelling in strange countries,
+distractions which would make her soon forget the persons whom she had
+left in France, and he flattered himself that he would soon see the
+consummation of all his wishes.
+
+Eleven o'clock struck. The night was fine; everything was in readiness
+for their start, some fresh and lively horses were harnessed to a
+travelling carriage. The marquis was still in his apartment, occupied in
+finishing some letters to his stewards and some intimate friends in
+Paris. Near him was the barber, to whom he gave his last instructions;
+charging him in case he should see Urbain again, to advise that young
+man to forget a woman whom he could never possess; and to enjoy himself
+with the large fortune which Villebelle had placed at his disposal.
+
+The barber listened quietly to the marquis; his eyes were fixed on the
+gold and the bills of exchange spread on the desk by the side of a pair
+of travelling pistols. A few moments later Villebelle was about to tell
+Marie to go and call Blanche, when the door of the room opened softly.
+The marquis, surprised that anyone should dare to come into his room so
+late, raised his eyes and recognized Julia, wrapped in her black mantle.
+
+"This woman again!" exclaimed Villebelle, while Touquet turned and
+remained struck with astonishment on perceiving the Italian.
+
+"Calm yourself, seigneur," said Julia, closing the door of the room,
+"this visit will be the last that I shall make you."
+
+"How did you come here? What do you want? Speak, hasten to answer me
+unless you expect me to punish you for your strange conduct."
+
+"I fear nothing, seigneur, it is very little matter what becomes of me
+after this. I find you here with your confidant, which is just what I
+wish. Deign to listen attentively to me. That which I am about to tell
+you will, I am sure, change all your resolutions, and your departure
+will not take place."
+
+Julia's singular tone, and her unexpected appearance at so late an hour,
+inspired Villebelle with curiosity and a secret terror. He signed to the
+young Italian to speak. The latter seated herself between the marquis
+and the barber, who waited impatiently for her explanation, and after
+looking attentively at them for some time with a peculiar expression,
+she at length began her story.
+
+"It is first necessary, monsieur le marquis, that you should know that I
+am the daughter of a man named Cesar Perditor, who passed for a sorcerer
+in the eyes of ignorant people, and whose reputation became such that
+he was obliged to quit Paris to protect himself from death, or, at
+least, from a perpetual prison in the dungeons of the Bastile."
+
+"Cesar! I often heard speak of that famous sorcerer," said the marquis.
+"Did he not hold his conferences in a quarry near Gentilly?"
+
+"Yes, seigneur; and there it was that an old man came to consult him, an
+old man whose daughter you had abducted, and whom you had wounded with
+your sword--the unfortunate Delmar."
+
+"Estrelle's father?"
+
+"Exactly, monseigneur. Old Delmar told his troubles to my father, and
+begged him to give him the means to revenge himself upon you; but
+despite all his skill Cesar would have had difficulty in satisfying the
+old man if, while receiving the confidences of a great part of the
+noblemen and of the women of fashion, he had not learned where your
+little house was situated, and to what neighborhood you had taken the
+young Estrelle. He told it to the old man, and the latter rescued his
+daughter from your hands."
+
+"What? It was her father who took her from the shelter where I had
+placed her?" said the marquis with surprise, and appearing at every
+moment more interested in Julia's tale. "And what became of her?"
+
+"One moment, seigneur, you will learn all if you will allow me to
+continue. Old Delmar had regained his daughter, but you had dishonored
+her, and the adventure had caused too much stir to allow them to remain
+in the city that you lived in. He possessed some fortune; he sold
+everything, realized his property, recompensed my father for the service
+he had rendered him, and carried Estrelle to the depths of Lorraine, and
+there she gave birth to her child."
+
+"Good God! she was a mother! can it be possible that Estrelle made me a
+father? Ah, Julia, in mercy finish."
+
+Julia seemed to enjoy for some moments the marquis' uneasiness, then she
+resumed her story.
+
+"It was at this time that my father was obliged to escape from Paris in
+order to avoid arrest, and the report spread that he had perished in a
+dungeon of the Bastile; but he had amassed sufficient for his
+subsistence, and leaving his dangerous occupation, he had no thought but
+to live in peace. I was then in Italy, my birthplace. My father came to
+seek me, and brought me to France, the climate of which pleased him.
+Unable to return to Paris, where he would have been recognized, my
+father settled in the neighborhood of Nancy; there he again saw old
+Delmar and his sad daughter, secretly bringing up a child of whom she
+could only call herself the mother with blushes. Later he became
+acquainted with a poor farmer who had been reduced to poverty by the
+misconduct of his son, a wretch who, after committing a crime in the
+country where he was born, had fled, carrying away from his parents all
+that they possessed, and leaving them in the direst poverty."
+
+"The history of this man can have no connection with Estrelle's child,"
+said the marquis, impatiently; "in pity, Julia, finish what you have to
+say to me."
+
+"Pardon me, monsieur le marquis, that is more important than you think,
+and it is very interesting to your worthy confidant, who has already
+recognized his father in the old farmer of whom I have spoken."
+
+The barber, who had given great attention to Julia's last words,
+immediately exclaimed,--
+
+"Oh, was that my father? I was guilty towards him I confess; love of
+gold made me commit many faults, but I always had the intention of
+repairing the wrong I had done, and there is still time for it."
+
+"No, it is too late," said Julia, casting at the barber a terrible look.
+
+"Is he dead?"
+
+Julia remained silent. The marquis rose abruptly, exclaiming,--
+
+"Well, then, cruel woman, have you amused yourself sufficiently with my
+torture? When are you going to make an end of this?"
+
+"You are both very impatient," said the young Italian, smiling bitterly;
+"but there is little more to tell you. Old Touquet asked my father
+whether he had, in his travels, heard his son spoken of. My father could
+tell him nothing satisfactory. Soon after we went to dwell in a village
+near Amiens; it was there that I lived up to the age of fifteen years.
+Then my father died; and I came to Paris, where I went into a shop as a
+simple workwoman. My father had left me no property except a manuscript
+containing the most curious adventures of his life, and the secret
+history of the persons who had consulted him. This is how I learned,
+monsieur le marquis, of the abduction of poor Estrelle, and it was in
+examining these notes of my father that I saw in what manner the barber
+Touquet had acted toward his parents."
+
+"Is that all that you know?" said the marquis. "Have you learned nothing
+more in regard to Estrelle and her child?"
+
+"A short time ago I did not know anything further, seigneur, but chance
+has put me in possession of all that you would know, thanks to a visit
+which I paid to the barber, for it was at his house that I found the
+clew to the mystery."
+
+"At my house?" said Touquet, looking at Julia in surprise.
+
+"Yes, at your house, in the closet hidden at the back of the alcove in
+Marguerite's chamber."
+
+Pale and trembling, the barber muttered,--
+
+"You have been in that closet--but there was nothing there; no, I am
+very certain of it."
+
+"You are mistaken, for in disturbing, by chance, a chest which stood on
+the floor, I found this portfolio, which probably had been hidden by the
+person whom you lodged there, who, not knowing how to dispose of these
+important papers, had deemed it wise to put them in this secret place
+during the time that he stayed at your house."
+
+The barber looked with terror on the portfolio which Julia had drawn
+from beneath her cloak, while the marquis exclaimed,--
+
+"Do these papers come from Blanche's father?"
+
+"They come, in fact, from the person who brought that young girl to the
+barber's house. Seigneur, read first that one."
+
+Julia gave a paper to Villebelle, who uttered a cry of surprise as he
+read,--
+
+"Certificate of the birth of Blanche, daughter of Estrelle Delmar."
+
+"O my God!" said the marquis, breathing with difficulty, "can it be?"
+
+"Wait, seigneur, do you know Estrelle's writing?"
+
+"Yes, that is it, I recognize it."
+
+"Read this note."
+
+The marquis took the letter and eagerly read it,--
+
+     I feel that I am about to die, but, at least, my father has
+     forgiven me. He had forbidden me to make Blanche's existence known
+     to her father, and, as long as he lived, I respected his orders;
+     but he is no more, and I am about to follow him to the tomb.
+     Villebelle, Blanche is your daughter, the fruit of our love.
+     Good-by. Love her more than you have loved her mother. I forgive
+     you.
+
+      ESTRELLE DELMAR.
+
+
+"O Blanche, O my daughter!" exclaimed the marquis, abandoning himself by
+turns to his joy and his remorse, "I am your father and I have made you
+unhappy."
+
+"Finish this letter, seigneur," said Julia, "there is something there
+which concerns your confidant."
+
+The marquis saw some lines added by Estrelle's hand and read,--
+
+     I have no relations; my daughter will be presented to you by a
+     worthy friend in whom I have every confidence, and who goes to
+     Paris under a fictitious name to try to obtain some information
+     about a son who has dishonored him. I have confided to him the
+     fortune which I have left Blanche; my daughter needs nothing but
+     her father's friendship, but if he repulses her, the old Touquet
+     will take his place.
+
+"Touquet," cried the marquis, looking at the barber.
+
+The latter appeared thunderstruck. He looked at the letter, a cold sweat
+stood out on his forehead; he could not utter a word.
+
+"Yes," said Julia, "yes, unhappy wretch, it was your father who came to
+your house with Blanche, whom he was taking to the marquis; he had taken
+the name of Moranval, no doubt, that he might be more likely to get news
+of his son in Paris. Perhaps he even knew in whose house he was taking
+lodgings. Answer, wretch, how did you treat that traveller?"
+
+"Do not question me," said the barber, walking wildly about the room, "I
+am a monster. Do not come near me; I have murdered my father!"
+
+"And for ten years you have deprived me of my daughter," cried the
+marquis, starting from Touquet with horror. "You were about to make me
+the most guilty of men, your horrible counsels were thrusting me to a
+crime--wait, wretch, and receive the price of all your misdeeds."
+
+The marquis seized one of the pistols which were on the desk and
+directed it towards Touquet. The shot sped, and Julia looked coldly on,
+as the barber fell at her feet.
+
+"That death was too kind for you," said the marquis, "but, thanks to
+Heaven, I have not committed the last crime. O my dear Blanche, you are
+my daughter; that was the cause of the secret feeling which pled for
+you. I will make you happy, and you shall forget my unworthy love;
+henceforth, it is only a father who presses you in his arms."
+
+The marquis left the room followed by Julia. He did not walk, he flew
+towards the tower inhabited by Blanche. As he approached, his voice,
+calling Blanche, woke the echoes. They reached the door of the room,
+which was locked on the inside; the marquis, who had not taken his keys,
+knocked and reknocked, calling Blanche and begging her to open. Nobody
+answered, but presently a sound reached the marquis' ears, which seemed
+to be caused by the fall of some object in the waters of the lake.
+Villebelle experienced a sensation which he could not define; he ran and
+called Germain, obtained his keys and entered Blanche's apartment; it
+was empty, and everything announced that the young girl had not gone to
+bed; but one of the windows looking on the lake was open. Led by a
+secret presentiment, the marquis went on to the balcony. His eyes
+searched the lake, and he called again,--
+
+"Blanche, my daughter."
+
+Nobody answered, but an object showed at intervals on the surface of the
+lake, and seemed to move.
+
+"It is she," cried Villebelle, and immediately jumped into the lake. It
+was indeed the unfortunate Blanche, who, since the scene of the
+preceding night, expecting at every moment some new attempt on the part
+of the marquis, had not tasted a moment's rest. She had not gone to bed,
+fearing to be surprised in her sleep, and watched trembling, believing
+at the slightest noise, that her abductor was about to appear. Blanche
+had decided to die rather than cease to be worthy of Urbain. On hearing
+hasty steps approaching her room, and recognizing Villebelle's voice
+calling her loudly, a most violent terror had seized her; and not
+doubting but that he had come to accomplish his infamous purpose, she
+had thrown herself into the lake, pronouncing Urbain's name.
+
+The marquis swam towards the object which he perceived in the water, but
+another person who had been in the park, had also thrown himself into
+the lake. It was Urbain, who, certain that his sweetheart was in the
+chateau, had profited by the night to introduce himself into the
+gardens. The young bachelor had heard Blanche's sweet voice uttering his
+name, then a sudden sound caused him to look towards the lake and he had
+flown to the help of the unfortunate girl, with whom he had at length
+reached the brink; where presently he was joined by the marquis, Julia,
+and the people of the chateau, attracted by their master's shouts.
+Blanche was stretched on the grass, while Urbain on his knees beside her
+called her loudly, when the marquis came running in the greatest despair
+and threw himself on the ground, supplicating Heaven to give him back
+his daughter.
+
+"His daughter?" cried all those around him.
+
+"Yes," said Villebelle, gazing on Blanche's discolored features with
+despair, "yes, it is my daughter, my child, whom I have made unhappy,
+whose death I have caused. Ah, I would have given all my fortune to kiss
+Estrelle's daughter, to hear her call me father, and by my passions, my
+vices, I am deprived of my greatest treasure. Oh, my dear Blanche,
+return to life; before death closes your mouth, tell me, at least, that
+you will forgive me. But no, I shall not have even that last
+consolation; she is dead without having once called me father."
+
+The marquis threw himself on the body of his daughter, which Urbain
+watered with his tears; he took Blanche's hands and held them against
+his heart, seeking to rewarm them, to reanimate them, but all efforts
+were vain. Blanche could no longer hear her father's cries, nor the sobs
+of her lover.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Barber of Paris, by Charles Paul de Kock
+
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