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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3915.txt b/3915.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..12480d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/3915.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2591 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Serge Panine, by Georges Ohnet, v2 +#2 in our series The French Immortals Crowned by the French Academy +#2 in our series by Georges Ohnet + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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They looked at each other attentively, like two duellists +seeking to read each other's game, so that they may ward off the fatal +stroke and prepare the decisive parry. + +"Why did you leave for England three weeks ago, without seeing me and +without speaking to me?" + +"What could I have said to you?" replied the Prince, with an air of +fatigue and dejection. + +Jeanne flashed a glance brilliant as lightning: + +"You could have told me that you had just asked for Micheline's hand!" + +"That would have been brutal!" + +"It would have been honest! But it would have necessitated an +explanation, and you don't like explaining. You have preferred leaving +me to guess this news from the acts of those around me, and the talk of +strangers." + +All these words had been spoken by Jeanne with feverish vivacity. The +sentences were as cutting as strokes from a whip. The young girl's +agitation was violent; her cheeks were red, and her breathing was hard +and stifled with emotion. She stopped for a moment; then, turning toward +the Prince, and looking him full in the face, she said: + +"And so, this marriage is decided?" + +Serge answered, + +"Yes." + +It was fainter than a whisper. As if she could not believe it, Jeanne +repeated: + +"You are going to marry Micheline?" + +And as Panine in a firmer voice answered again, "Yes!" the young girl +took two rapid steps and brought her flushed face close to him. + +"And I, then?" she cried with a violence she could no longer restrain. + +Serge made a sign. The drawing-room window was still open, and from +outside they could be heard. + +"Jeanne, in mercy calm yourself," replied he. "You are in a state of +excitement." + +"Which makes you uncomfortable?" interrupted the young girl mockingly. + +"Yes, but for your sake only," said he, coldly. + +"For mine?" + +"Certainly. I fear your committing an imprudence which might harm you." + +"Yes; but you with me! And it is that only which makes you afraid." + +The Prince looked at Mademoiselle de Cernay, smilingly. Changing his +tone, he took her hand in his. + +"How naughty you are to-night! And what temper you are showing toward +poor Serge! What an opinion he will have of himself after your +displaying such a flattering scene of jealousy!" + +Jeanne drew away her hand. + +"Ah, don't try to joke. This is not the moment, I assure you. You don't +exactly realize your situation. Don't you understand that I am prepared +to tell Madame Desvarennes everything--" + +"Everything!" said the Prince. "In truth, it would not amount to much. +You would tell her that I met you in England; that I courted you, and +that you found my attentions agreeable. And then? It pleases you to +think too seriously of that midsummer night's dream under the great trees +of Churchill Castle, and you reproach me for my errors! But what are +they? Seriously, I do not see them! We lived in a noisy world; where we +enjoyed the liberty which English manners allow to young people. Your +aunt found no fault with the charming chatter which the English call +flirtation. I told you I loved you; you allowed me to think that I was +not displeasing to you. We, thanks to that delightful agreement, spent a +most agreeable summer, and now you do not wish to put an end to that +pleasant little excursion made beyond the limits drawn by our Parisian +world, so severe, whatever people say about it. It is not reasonable, +and it is imprudent. If you carry out your menacing propositions, and if +you take my future mother-in-law as judge of the rights which you claim, +don't you understand that you would be condemned beforehand? Her +interests are directly opposed to yours. Could she hesitate between her +daughter and you?" + +"Oh! your calculations are clever and your measures were well taken," +replied Jeanne. "Still, if Madame Desvarennes were not the woman you +think her--" Then, hesitating: + +"If she took my part, and thinking that he who was an unloyal lover would +be an unfaithful husband--she would augur of the future of her daughter +by my experience; and what would happen?" + +"Simply this," returned Serge. "Weary of the precarious and hazardous +life which I lead, I would leave for Austria, and rejoin the service. +A uniform is the only garb which can hide poverty honorably." + +Jeanne looked at him with anguish; and making an effort said: + +"Then, in any case, for me it is abandonment?" And falling upon a seat, +she hid her face in her hands. Panine remained silent for a moment. The +young girl's, grief, which he knew to be sincere, troubled him more than +he wished to show. He had loved Mademoiselle de Cernay, and he loved her +still. But he felt that a sign of weakness on his part would place him +at Jeanne's mercy, and that an avowal from his lips at this grave moment +meant a breaking-off of his marriage with Micheline. He hardened himself +against his impressions, and replied, with insinuating sweetness: + +"Why do you speak of desertion, when a good man who loves you fondly, and +who possesses a handsome fortune, wishes to marry you?" + +Mademoiselle de Cernay raised her head, hastily. + +"So, it is you who advise me to marry Monsieur Cayrol? Is there nothing +revolting to you in the idea that I should follow your advice? But then, +you deceived me from the first moment you spoke to me. You have never +loved me even for a day! Not an hour!" + +Serge smiled, and resuming his light, caressing tone, replied: + +"My dear Jeanne, if I had a hundred thousand francs a year, I give you my +word of honor that I would not marry another woman but you, for you would +make an adorable Princess." + +Mademoiselle de Cernay made a gesture of perfect indifference. + +"Ah! what does the title matter to me?" she exclaimed, with passion. +"What I want is you! Nothing but you!" + +"You do not know what you ask. I love you far too much to associate you +with my destiny. If you knew that gilded misery, that white kid-gloved +poverty, which is my lot, you would be frightened, and you would +understand that in my resolution to give you up there is much of +tenderness and generosity. Do you think it is such an easy matter to +give up a woman so adorable as you are? I resign myself to it, though. + +"What could I do with my beautiful Jeanne in the three rooms in the Rue +de Madame where I live? Could I, with the ten or twelve thousand francs +which I receive through the liberality of the Russian Panines, provide a +home? I can hardly make it do for myself. I live at the club, where I +dine cheaply. I ride my friends' horses! I never touch a card, although +I love play. I go much in society; I shine there, and walk home to save +the cost of a carriage. My door-keeper cleans my rooms and keeps my +linen in order. My private life is sad, dull, and humiliating. It is +the black chrysalis of the bright butterfly which you know. That is what +Prince Panine is, my dear Jeanne. A gentleman of good appearance, who +lives as carefully as an old maid. The world sees him elegant and happy, +and its envies his luxury; but this luxury is as deluding as watch-chains +made of pinchbeck. You understand now that I cannot seriously ask you to +share such an existence." + +But if, with this sketch of his life, correctly described, Panine thought +to turn the young girl against him, he was mistaken. He had counted +without considering Jeanne's sanguine temperament, which would lead her +to make any sacrifices to keep the man she adored. + +"If you were rich, Serge," she said, "I would not have made an effort to +bring you back to me. But you are poor and I have a right to tell you +that I love you. Life with you would be all devotedness and self-denial. +Each pain endured would be a proof of love, and that is why I wish to +suffer. Your life with mine would be neither sad nor humiliated; I would +make it sweet by my tenderness, and bright by my happiness. And we +should be so happy that you would say, 'How could I ever have dreamed of +anything else?'" + +"Alas! Jeanne," replied the Prince; "it is a charming and poetic idyl +which you present to me. We should flee far from the world, eh? We +should go to an unknown spot and try to regain paradise lost. How long +would that happiness last? A season during the springtime of our youth. +Then autumn would come, sad and harsh. Our illusions would vanish like +the swallows in romances, and we should find, with alarm, that we had +taken the dream of a day for eternal happiness! Forgive my speaking +plain words of disenchantment," added Serge, seeing Jeanne rising +abruptly, "but our life is being settled at this moment. Reason alone +should guide us." + +"And I beseech you to be guided only by your heart," cried Mademoiselle +de Cernay, seizing the hands of the Prince, and pressing them with her +trembling fingers. "Remember that you loved me. Say that you love me +still!" + +Jeanne had drawn near to Serge. Her burning face almost touched his. +Her eyes, bright with excitement, pleaded passionately for a tender look. +She was most fascinating, and Panine, usually master of himself, lost his +presence of mind for a moment. His arms encircled the shoulders of the +adorable pleader, and his lips were buried in the masses of her dark +hair. + +"Serge!" cried Mademoiselle de Cernay, clinging to him whom she loved so +fondly. + +But the Prince was as quickly calmed as he had been carried away. He +gently put Jeanne aside. + +"You see," he said with a smile, "how unreasonable we are and how easily +we might commit an irreparable folly. And yet our means will not allow +us." + +"In mercy do not leave me!" pleaded Jeanne, in a tone of despair. "You +love me! I feel it; everything tells me so! And you would desert me +because you are poor and I am not rich. Is a man ever poor when he has +two arms? Work." + +The word was uttered by Jeanne with admirable energy. She possessed the +courage to overcome every difficulty. + +Serge trembled. For the second time he felt touched to the very soul by +this strange girl. He understood that he must not leave her with the +slightest hope of encouragement, but throw ice on the fire which was +devouring her. + +"My dear Jeanne," he said, with affectionate sweetness, "you are talking +nonsense. Remember this, that for Prince Panine there are only three +social'conditions possible: to be rich, a soldier, or a priest. I have +the choice. It is for you to decide." + +This put an end to Mademoiselle de Cernay's resistance. She felt how +useless was further argument, and falling on a sofa, crushed with grief, +cried: + +"Ah! this time it is finished; I am lost!" + +Panine, then, approaching her, insinuating and supple, like the serpent +with the first woman, murmured in her ear, as if afraid lest his words, +in being spoken aloud, would lose their subtle venom: + +"No, you are not lost. On the contrary, you are saved, if you will only +listen to and understand me. What are we, you and I? You, a child +adopted by a generous woman; I, a ruined nobleman. You live in luxury, +thanks to Madame Desvarennes's liberality. I can scarcely manage to keep +myself with the help of my family. Our present is precarious, our future +hazardous. And, suddenly, fortune is within our grasp. We have only to +stretch out our hands, and with one stroke we gain the uncontested power +which money brings! + +"Riches, that aim of humanity! Do you understand? We, the weak and +disdained, become strong and powerful. And what is necessary to gain +them? A flash of sense; a minute of wisdom; forget a dream and accept a +reality." + +Jeanne waited till he had finished. A bitter smile played on her lips. +Henceforth she would believe in no one. After listening to what Serge +had just said, she could listen to anything. + +"So," said she, "the dream is love; the reality is interest. And is it +you who speak thus to me? You, for whom I was prepared to endure any +sacrifice! You, whom I would have served on my knees! And what reason +do you give to justify your conduct? Money! Indispensable and stupid +money! Nothing but money! But it is odious, infamous, low!" + +Serge received this terrible broadside of abuse without flinching. He +had armed himself against contempt, and was deaf to all insults. Jeanne +went on with increasing rage: + +"Micheline has everything: family, fortune, and friends, and she is +taking away my one possession--your love. Tell me that you love her! +It will be more cruel but less vile! But no, it is not possible! +You gave way to temptation at seeing her so rich; you had a feeling of +covetousness, but you will become yourself again and will act like an +honest man. Think, that in my eyes you are dishonoring yourself! +Serge, answer me!" + +She clung to him again, and tried to regain him by her ardor, to warm him +with her passion. He remained unmoved, silent, and cold. Her conscience +rebelled. + +"Well, then," said she, "marry her." + +She remained silent and sullen, seeming to forget he was there. She was +thinking deeply. Then she walked wildly up and down the room, saying: + +"So, it is that implacable self-interest with which I have just come in +contact, which is the law of the world, the watchword of society! So, +in refusing to share the common folly, I risk remaining in isolation, +and I must be strong to make others stand in awe of me. Very well, then, +I shall henceforth act in such a manner as to be neither dupe nor victim. +In future, everything will be: self, and woe to him who hinders me. That +is the morality of the age, is it not?" + +And she laughed nervously. + +"Was I not stupid? Come, Prince, you have made me clever. Many thanks +for the lesson; it was difficult, but I shall profit by it." + +The Prince, astonished at the sudden change, listened to Jeanne with +stupor. He did not yet quite understand. + +"What do you intend to do?" asked he. + +Jeanne looked at him with a fiendish expression. Her eyes sparkled like +stars; her white teeth shone between her lips. + +"I intend," replied she, "to lay the foundation of my power, and to +follow your advice, by marrying a millionaire!" + +She ran to the window, and, looking out toward the shady garden, called: + +"Monsieur Cayrol!" + +Serge, full of surprise, and seized by a sudden fit of jealousy, went +toward her as if to recall her. + +"Jeanne," said he, vaguely holding out his arms. + +"Well! what is it?" she asked, with crushing haughtiness. "Are you +frightened at having gained your cause so quickly?" + +And as Serge did not speak: + +"Come," added she, "you will have a handsome fee; Micheline's dower will +be worth the trouble you have had." + +They heard Cayrol's hurried steps ascending the stairs. + +"You have done me the honor to call me, Mademoiselle," said he, remaining +on the threshold of the drawing-room. "Am I fortunate enough at length +to have found favor in your eyes?" + +"Here is my hand," said Mademoiselle de Cernay, simply tendering him her +white taper fingers, which he covered with kisses. + +Madame Desvarennes had come in behind the banker. She uttered a joyous +exclamation. + +"Cayrol, you shall not marry Jeanne for her beauty alone. I will give +her a dower." + +Micheline fell on her companion's neck. It was a concert of +congratulations. But Jeanne, with a serious air, led Cayrol aside: + +"I wish to act honestly toward you, sir; I yield to the pleading of which +I am the object. But you must know that my sentiments do not change so +quickly. It is my hand only which I give you today." + +"I have not the conceitedness to think that you love me, Mademoiselle," +said Cayrol, humbly. "You give me your hand; it will be for me to gain +your heart, and with time and sincere affection I do not despair of +winning it. I am truly happy, believe me, for the favor you do me, and +all my life long shall be spent in proving my gratitude to you." + +Jeanne was moved; she glanced at Cayrol, and did not think him so common- +looking as usual. She resolved to do all in her power to like this good +man. + +Serge, in taking leave of Madame Desvarennes, said: + +"In exchange for all the happiness which you give me, I have only my life +to offer; accept it, Madame, it is yours." + +The mistress looked at the Prince deeply; then, in a singular tone, said: + +"I accept it; from to-day you belong to me." + +Marechal took Pierre by the arm and led him outside. + +"The Prince has just uttered words which remind me of Antonio saying to +the Jew in 'The Merchant of Venice': 'Thy ducats in exchange for a pound +of my flesh.' Madame Desvarennes loves her daughter with a more +formidable love than Shylock had for his gold. The Prince will do well +to be exact in his payments of the happiness which he has promised." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A PLEASANT UNDERSTANDING + +The day following this memorable evening, Pierre left for Algeria, +notwithstanding the prayers of Madame Desvarennes who wished to keep him +near her. He was going to finish his labors. He promised to return in +time for the wedding. The mistress, wishing to give him some +compensation, offered him the management of the mills at Jouy, saying: + +"So that if you are not my son, you will be at least my partner. And if +I do not leave you all my money at my death, I can enrich you during my +life." + +Pierre would not accept. He would not have it said that in wishing to +marry Micheline he had tried to make a speculation. He wished to leave +that house where he had hoped to spend his life, empty-handed, so that no +one could doubt that it was the woman he loved in Micheline and not the +heiress. He had been offered a splendid appointment in Savoy as manager +of some mines; he would find there at the same time profit and happiness, +because there were interesting scientific studies to be made in order to +enable him to carry on the work creditably. He resolved to throw himself +heart and soul into the work and seek forgetfulness in study. + +In the mansion of the Rue Saint-Dominique the marriage preparations were +carried on with great despatch. On the one side the Prince, and on the +other Cayrol, were eager for the day: the one because he saw the +realization of his ambitious dreams, the other because he loved so madly. +Serge, gracious and attentive, allowed himself to be adored by Micheline, +who was never weary of listening to and looking at him whom she loved. +It was a sort of delirium that had taken possession of the young girl. +Madame Desvarennes looked on the metamorphosis in her child with +amazement. The old Micheline, naturally indolent and cold, just living +with the indolence of an odalisque stretched on silk cushions, had +changed into a lively, loving sweetheart, with sparkling eyes and +cheerful lips. Like those lowers which the sun causes to bloom and be +fragrant, so Micheline under a look from Serge became animated and grown +handsomer. + +The mother looked on with bitterness; she spoke of this transformation in +her child with ironical disdain, She was sure Micheline was not in +earnest; only a doll was capable of falling in love so foolishly with a +man for his personal beauty. For to her mind the Prince was as regards +mental power painfully deficient. No sense, dumb as soon as the +conversation took a serious turn, only able to talk dress like a woman, +or about horses like a jockey. And it was such a person upon whom +Micheline literally doted! The mistress felt humiliated; she dared not +say anything to her daughter, but she relieved herself in company of +Marechal, whose discretion she could trust, and whom she willingly called +the tomb of her secrets. + +Marechal listened patiently to the confidences of Madame Desvarennes, +and he tried to fight against the growing animosity of the mistress +toward her future son-in-law. Not that he liked the Prince--he was too +much on Pierre's side to be well disposed toward Panine; but with his +good sense he saw that Madame Desvarennes would find it advantageous to +overcome her feeling of dislike. And when the mistress, so formidable +toward everybody except her daughter, cried with rage: + +"That Micheline! I have just seen her again in the garden, hanging on +the arm of that great lanky fellow, her eyes fixed on his like a lark +fascinated by a looking-glass. What on earth has happened to her that +she should be in such a state?" + +Marechal interrupted her gently. + +"All fair people are like that," he affirmed with ironical gayety. "You +cannot understand it, Madame; you are dark." + +Then Madame Desvarennes became angry. + +"Be quiet," she said, "you are stupid! She ought to have a shower-bath! +She is mad!" + +As for Cayrol he lived in ecstasy, like an Italian kneeling before a +madonna. He had never been so happy; he was overwhelmed with joy. Until +then, he had only thought of business matters. To be rich was the aim of +his life; and now he was going to work for happiness. It was all +pleasure for him. He was not blase; he amused himself like a child, +adorning the rooms which were to be occupied by Jeanne. To his mind +nothing was too expensive for the temple of his goddess, as he said, with +a loud laugh which lighted up his whole face. And when he spoke of his +love's future nest, he exclaimed, with a voluptuous shiver: + +"It is charming; a veritable little paradise!" Then the financier shone +through all, and he added: + +"And I know what it costs!" + +But he did not grudge his money. He knew he would get the interest of it +back. On one subject he was anxious--Mademoiselle de Cernay's health. +Since the day of their engagement, Jeanne had become more serious and +dull. She had grown thin and her eyes were sunken as if she wept in +secret. When he spoke of his fears to Madame Desvarennes, the latter +said: + +"These young girls are so senseless. The notion of marriage puts them in +such an incomprehensible state! Look at my daughter. She chatters like +a magpie and skips about like a kid. She has two glow-worms under her +eyelids! As to Jeanne, that's another affair; she has the matrimonial +melancholy, and has the air of a young victim. Leave them alone; it will +all come right. But you must admit that the gayety of the one is at +least as irritating as the languor of the other!" + +Cayrol, somewhat reassured by this explanation, and thinking, like her, +that it was the uncertainties of marriage which were troubling Jeanne, +no longer attached any importance to her sad appearance. Micheline and +Serge isolated themselves completely. They fled to the garden as soon as +any one ventured into the drawing room, to interrupt their tete-a-tete. +If visitors came to the garden they took refuge in the conservatory. + +This manoeuvre pleased Serge, because he always felt uncomfortable in +Jeanne's presence. Mademoiselle de Cernay had a peculiar wrinkle on her +brow whenever she saw Micheline passing before her hanging on the arm of +the Prince, which tormented him. They were obliged to meet at table in +the evening, for Serge and Cayrol dined at the Rue Saint-Dominique. +The Prince talked in whispers to Micheline, but every now and then he was +obliged to speak to Jeanne. These were painful moments to Serge. He was +always in dread of some outburst, knowing her ardent and passionate +nature. Thus, before Jeanne, he made Micheline behave in a less +demonstrative manner. Mademoiselle Desvarennes was proud of this +reserve, and thought it was tact and good breeding on the part of the +Prince, without doubting that what she thought reserve in the man of the +world was the prudence of an anxious lover. + +Jeanne endured the tortures of Hades. Too proud to say anything after +the explanation she had had with Serge, too much smitten to bear calmly +the sight of her rival's happiness, she saw draw near with deep horror +the moment when she would belong to the man whom she had determined to +marry although she did not love him. She once thought of breaking off +the engagement; as she could not belong to the man whom she adored, +at least she could belong to herself. But the thought of the struggle +she would have to sustain with those who surrounded her, stopped her. +What would she do at Madame Desvarennes's? She would have to witness +the happiness of Micheline and Serge. She would rather leave the house. + +With Cayrol at least she could go away; she would be free, and perhaps +the esteem which she would surely have for her husband would do instead +of love. Sisterly or filial love, in fact the least affection, would +satisfy the poor man, who was willing to accept anything from Jeanne. +And she would not have that group of Serge and Micheline before her eyes, +always walking round the lawn and disappearing arm in arm down the narrow +walks. She would not have the continual murmur of their love-making in +her ears, a murmur broken by the sound of kisses when they reached shady +corners. + +One evening, when Serge appeared in the little drawing-room of the Rue +Saint-Dominique, he found Madame Desvarennes alone. She looked serious, +as if same important business were pending. She stood before the +fireplace; her hands crossed behind her back like a man. Apparently, +she had sought to be alone. Cayrol, Jeanne, and Micheline were in the +garden. Serge felt uneasy. He had a presentiment of trouble. +But determined to make the best of it, whatever it might be, he looked +pleasant and bowed to Madame Desvarennes, without his face betraying his +uneasiness. + +"Good-day, Prince; you are early this evening, though not so early as +Cayrol; but then he does not quite know what he is doing now. Sit down, +I want to talk to you. You know that a young lady like Mademoiselle +Desvarennes cannot get married without her engagement being much talked +about. Tongues have been very busy, and pens too. I have heard a lot of +scandal and have received heaps of anonymous letters about you." + +Serge gave a start of indignation. + +"Don't be uneasy," continued the mistress. "I did not heed the tales, +and I burned the letters. Some said you were a dissolute man, capable of +anything to gain your object. Others insinuated that you were not a +Prince, that you were not a Pole, but the son of a Russian coachman and a +little dressmaker of Les Ternes; that you had lived at the expense of +Mademoiselle Anna Monplaisir, the star of the Varietes Theatre, and that +you were bent on marrying to pay your debts with my daughter's money." + +Panine, pale as death, rose up and said, in a stifled voice: + +"Madame!" + +"Sit down, my dear child," interrupted the mistress. "If I tell you +these things, it is because I have the proofs that they are untrue. +Otherwise, I would not have given myself the trouble to talk to you about +them. I would have shown you the door and there would have been an end +of it. Certainly, you are not an angel; but the peccadillos which you +have been guilty of are those which one forgives in a son, and which in a +son-in-law makes some mothers smile. You are a Prince, you are handsome, +and you have been loved. You were then a bachelor; and it was your own +affair. But now, you are going to be, in about ten days, the husband of +my daughter, and it is necessary for us to make certain arrangements. +Therefore, I waited to see you, to speak of your wife, of yourself, and +of me." + +What Madame Desvarennes had just said relieved Serge of a great weight. +He felt so happy that he resolved to do everything in his power to please +the mother of his betrothed. + +"Speak, Madame," he exclaimed. "I am listening to you with attention and +confidence. I am sure that from you I can only expect goodness and +sense." + +The mistress smiled. + +"Oh, I know you have a gilt tongue, my handsome friend, but I don't pay +myself with words, and I, am not easy to be wheedled." + +"Faith," said Serge, "I won't deceive you. I will try to please you with +all my heart." + +Madame Desvarennes's face brightened as suddenly at these words as a +landscape, wrapped in a fog, which is suddenly lighted up by the sun. + +"Then we shall understand each other," she said. "For the last fortnight +we have been busy with marriage preparations, and have not been able to +think or reason. Everybody is rambling about here. Still, we are +commencing a new life, and I think it is as well to lay the foundation. +I seem to be drawing up a contract, eh? What can I do? It is an old +business habit. I like to know how I stand." + +"I think it is quite right. I think, too, that you have acted with great +delicacy in not imposing your conditions upon me before giving your +consent." + +"Has that made you feel better disposed toward me? So much the better!" +said the mistress. "Because you know that I depend on my daughter, who +will henceforth depend on you, and it is to my interest that I should be +in your good graces." + +In pronouncing these words with forced cheerfulness, Madame Desvarennes's +voice trembled slightly. She knew what an important game she was +playing, and wished to win it at any price. + +"You see," continued she, "I am not an easy woman to deal with. I am a +little despotic, I know. I have been in the habit of commanding during +the last thirty-five years. Business was heavy, and required a strong +will. I had it, and the habit is formed. But this strong will, which +has served me so well in business will, I am afraid, with you, play me +some trick. Those who have lived with me a long time know that if I am +hot-headed I have a good heart. They submit to my tyranny; but you who +are a newcomer, how will you like it?" + +"I shall do as the others do," said Serge, simply. "I shall be led, +and with pleasure. Think that I have lived for years without kindred, +without ties--at random; and, believe me, any chain will be light and +sweet which holds me to any one or anything. And then," frankly added +he, changing his tone and looking at Madame Desvarennes with tenderness, +"if I did not do everything to please you I should be ungrateful." + +"Oh!" cried Madame Desvarennes, "unfortunately that is not a reason." + +"Would you have a better one?" said the young man, in his most charming +accent. "If I had not married your daughter for her own sake, I believe +that I should have married her for yours." Madame Desvarennes was quite +pleased, and shaking her finger threateningly at Serge, said: + +"Ah, you Pole, you boaster of the North!" + +"Seriously," continued Serge, "before I knew I was to be your son-in-law, +I thought you a matchless woman. Add to the admiration I had for your +great qualities the affection which your goodness has inspired, and you +will understand that I am both proud and happy to have such a mother as +you." + +Madame Desvarennes looked at Panine attentively; she saw he was sincere. +Then, taking courage, she touched the topic of greatest interest to her. +"If that is the case, you will have no objections to live with me?" She +stopped; then emphasized the words, "With me." + +"But was not that understood?" asked Serge, gayly' "I thought so. You +must have seen that I have not been seeking a dwelling for my wife and +myself. If you had not made the offer to me, I should have asked you to +let me stay with you." + +Madame Desvarennes broke into such an outburst of joy that she astonished +Panine. It was then only that in that pallor, in that sudden trembling, +in that changed voice, he understood, the immensity of the mother's love +for her daughter. + +"I have everything to gain by that arrangement," continued he. "My wife +will be happy at not leaving you, and you will be pleased at my not +having taken away your daughter. You will both like me better, and that +is all I wish." + +"How good you are in deciding thus, and how I thank you for it," resumed +Madame Desvarennes. "I feared you would have ideas of independence." + +"I should have been happy to sacrifice them to you, but I have not even +that merit." + +All that Serge had said had been so open and plain, and expressed with +such sweetness that, little by little, Madame Desvarennes's prejudices +disappeared. He took possession of her as he had done of Micheline, +and as he did of every one whom he wished to conquer. His charm was +irresistible. He seized on one by the eyes and the ears. Naturally +fascinating, moving, captivating, bold, he always preserved his artless +and tender ways, which made him resemble a young girl. + +"I am going to tell you how we shall manage," said the mistress. +"Foreseeing my daughter's marriage, I have had my house divided into two +distinct establishments. They say that life in common with a mother-in- +law is objectionable to a son-in-law, therefore I wish you to have a home +of your own. I know that an old face like mine frightens young lovers. +I will come to you when you invite me. But even when I am shut up in my +own apartments I shall be with my daughter; I shall breathe the same air; +I shall hear her going and coming, singing, laughing, and I shall say to +myself, 'It is all right, she is happy.' That is all I ask. A little +corner, whence I can share her life." + +Serge took her hand with effusion. + +"Don't be afraid; your daughter will not leave you." + +Madame Desvarennes, unable to contain her feelings, opened her arms, and +Serge fell on her breast, like a true son. + +"Do you know, I am going to adore you!" cried Madame Desvarennes, +showing Panine a face beaming with happiness. + +"I hope so," said the young man, gayly. + +Madame Desvarennes became thoughtful. + +"What a strange thing life is!" resumed she. "I did not want you for a +son-in-law, and now you are behaving so well toward me that I am full of +remorse. Oh, I see now what a dangerous man you are, if you captivate +other women's hearts as you have caught mine." + +She looked at the Prince fixedly, and added, in her clear commanding +voice, with a shade of gayety: + +"Now, I hope you will reserve all your powers of charming for my +daughter. No more flirting, eh? She loves you; she would be jealous, +and you would get into hot water with me! Let Micheline's life be happy, +without a cloud-blue, always blue sky!" + +"That will be easy," said Serge. "To be unhappy I should have to seek +misfortune; and I certainly shall not do that." + +He began to laugh. + +"Besides, your good friends who criticised so when you gave me +Micheline's hand would be only too pleased. I will not give them the +pleasure of posing as prophets and saying, 'We knew it would be so!'" + +"You must forgive them," replied Madame Desvarennes. "You have made +enemies. Without speaking of projects which I had formed, I may say that +my daughter has had offers from the best folks in Paris; from first-rate +firms! Our circle was rather indignant. + +"People said: 'Oh, Madame Desvarennes wanted her daughter to be a +Princess. We shall see how it will turn out. Her son-in-law will spend +her money and spurn her.' The gossip of disappointed people. Give them +the lie; manage that we shall all live together, and we shall be right +against the world." + +"Do you hope it will be so?" + +"I am sure of it," answered the mistress, affectionately pressing the +hand of her future son-in-law. + +Micheline entered, anxious at the long interview between Serge and her +mother. She saw them hand in hand. She uttered a joyful cry, and threw +her arms caressingly round her mother's neck. + +"Well! you are agreed?" she said, making a gracious sign to Serge. + +"He has been charming," replied Madame Desvarennes, whispering in her +daughter's ear. "He agrees to live in this house, and that quite +gracefully. There, child, this is the happiest moment I've had since +your engagement. I admit that I regret nothing." + +Then, resuming aloud: + +"We will leave to-morrow for Cernay, where the marriage shall take place. +I shall have to order the workmen in here to get ready for your +reception. Besides the wedding will be more brilliant in the country. +We shall have all the work-people there. We will throw the park open to +the countryside; it will be a grand fete. For we are lords of the manor +there," added she, with pride. + +"You are right, mamma; it will be far better," exclaimed Micheline. +And taking Serge by the hand: + +"Come, let us go," said she, and led him into the garden. + +And amid the sweet-smelling shrubs they resumed their walk, always the +same yet ever new, their arms twined round each other, the young girl +clinging to him whom she loved, and he looking fondly at her, and with +caressing voice telling her the oft-told tale of love which she was never +tired of hearing, and which always filled her with thrills of joy. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE + +The Chateau of Cernay is a vast and beautiful structure of the time of +Louis XIII. A walled park of a hundred acres surrounds it, with trees +centuries old. A white painted gate separates the avenue from the road +leading to Pontoise by way of Conflans. A carpet of grass, on which +carriages roll as if on velvet, leads up to the park gates. Before +reaching, it there is a stone bridge which spans the moat of running +water. A lodge of stone, faced with brick, with large windows, rises at +each corner of this space. + +The chateau, surrounded by cleverly arranged trees, stands in the centre, +on a solid foundation of red granite from the Jura. A splendid double +staircase leads to the ground floor as high as an 'entresol'. A spacious +hall, rising to the roof of the building, lighted by a window filled with +old stained glass, first offers itself to the visitor. A large organ, by +Cavallie-Col, rears its long brilliant pipes at one end of the hall to a +level with the gallery of sculptured wood running round and forming a +balcony on the first floor. At each corner is a knight in armor, helmet +on head, and lance in hand, mounted on a charger, and covered with the +heavy trappings of war. Cases full of objects of art of great value, +bookshelves containing all the new books, are placed along the walls. +A billiard-table and all sorts of games are lodged under the vast +staircase. The broad bays which give admission to the reception-rooms +and grand staircase are closed by tapestry of the fifteenth century, +representing hunting scenes. Long cords of silk and gold loop back these +marvellous hangings in the Italian style. Thick carpets, into which the +feet sink, deaden the sound of footsteps. Spacious divans, covered with +Oriental materials, are placed round the room. + +Over the chimney-piece, which is splendidly carved in woodwork, is a +looking-glass in the Renaissance style, with a bronze and silver frame, +representing grinning fawns and dishevelled nymphs. Benches are placed +round the hearth, which is large enough to hold six people. Above the +divans, on the walls, are large oilpaintings by old masters. An +"Assumption," by Jordaens, which is a masterpiece; "The Gamesters," by +Valentin; "A Spanish Family on Horseback," painted by Velasquez; and the +marvel of the collection--a "Holy Family," by Francia, bought in Russia. +Then, lower down, "A Young Girl with a Canary," by Metzu; a "Kermesse," +by Braurver, a perfect treasure, glitter, like the gems they are, in the +midst of panoplies, between the high branches of palm-trees planted in +enormous delft vases. A mysterious light filters into that fresh and +picturesque apartment through the stained-glass windows. + +From the hall the left wing is reached, where the reception-rooms are, +and one's eyes are dazzled by the brightness which reigns there. It is +like coming out from a cathedral into broad daylight. The furniture, of +gilt wood and Genoese velvet, looks very bright. The walls are white and +gold; and flowers are everywhere. At the end is Madame Desvarennes's +bedroom, because she does not like mounting stairs, and lives on the +ground floor. Adjoining it is a conservatory, furnished as a drawing- +room, and serving as a boudoir for the mistress of the house. + +The dining-room, the gun-room, and the smoking-room are in the right +wing. The gun-room deserves a particular description. Four glass cases +contain guns of every description and size of the best English and French +manufacture. All the furniture is made of stags' horns, covered with +fox-skins and wolf-skins. A large rug, formed by four bears' skins, with +menacing snouts, showing their white teeth at the four corners, is in the +centre of the room. On the walls are four paintings by Princeteau, +admirably executed, and representing hunting scenes. Low couches, wide +as beds, covered with gray cloth, invite the sportsmen to rest. Large +dressing-rooms, fitted up with hot and cold water, invite them to refresh +themselves with a bath. Everything has been done to suit the most +fastidious taste. The kitchens are underground. + +On the first story are the principal rooms. Twelve bedrooms, with +dressing-rooms, upholstered in chintz of charming design. From these, a +splendid view of the park and country beyond may be obtained. In the +foreground is a piece of water, bathing, with its rapid current, the +grassy banks which border the wood, while the low-lying branches of the +trees dip into the flood, on which swans, dazzlingly white, swim in +stately fashion. Beneath an old willow, whose drooping boughs form quite +a vault of pale verdure, a squadron of multicolored boats remain fastened +to the balustrade of a landing stage. Through an opening in the trees +you see in the distance fields of yellow corn, and in the near +background, behind a row of poplars, ever moving like a flash of silver +lightning, the Oise flows on between its low banks. + +This sumptuous dwelling, on the evening of the 14th of July, was in its +greatest splendor. The trees of the park were lit up by brilliant +Venetian lanterns; little boats glided on the water of the lake carrying +musicians whose notes echoed through the air. Under a marquee, placed +midway in the large avenue, the country lads and lasses were dancing with +spirit, while the old people, more calm, were seated under the large +trees enjoying the ample fare provided. A tremendous uproar of gayety +reechoed through the night, and the sound of the cornet attracted the +people to the ball. + +It was nine o'clock. Carriages were fast arriving with guests for the +mansion. In the centre of the handsome hall, illuminated with electric +light, stood Madame Desvarennes in full dress, having put off black for +one day, doing honor to the arrivals. Behind her stood Marechal and +Savinien, like two aides-de-camp, ready, at a sign, to offer their arms +to the ladies, to conduct them to the drawing-rooms. The gathering was +numerous. Merchant-princes came for Madame Desvarennes's sake; bankers +for Cayrol's; and the aristocrats and foreign nobility for the Prince's. +An assemblage as opposed in ideas as in manners: some valuing only money, +others high birth; all proud and elbowing each other with haughty +assurance, speaking ill of each other and secretly jealous. + +There were heirs of dethroned kings; princes without portions, who were +called Highness, and who had not the income of their fathers' former +chamberlains; millionaires sprung from nothing, who made a great show and +who would have given half of their possessions for a single quartering of +the arms of these great lords whom they affected to despise. + +Serge and Cayrol went from group to group; the one with his graceful and +delicate elegance; the other with his good-humor, radiant and elated by +the consciousness of his triumphs. Herzog had just arrived, accompanied +by his daughter, a charming girl of sixteen, to whim Marechal had offered +his arm. A whispering was heard when Herzog passed. He was accustomed +to the effect which he produced in public, and quite calmly congratulated +Cayrol. + +Serge had just introduced Micheline to Count Soutzko, a gray-haired old +gentleman of military appearance, whose right sleeve was empty. He was a +veteran of the Polish wars, and an old friend of Prince Panine's, at +whose side he had received the wounds which had so frightfully mutilated +him. Micheline, smiling, was listening to flattering tales which the old +soldier was relating about Serge. Cayrol, who had got rid of Herzog, +was looking for Jeanne, who had just disappeared in the direction of the +terrace. + +The rooms were uncomfortably warm, and many of the visitors had found +their way to the terraces. Along the marble veranda, overlooking the +lake, chairs had been placed. The ladies, wrapped in their lace scarfs, +had formed into groups and were enjoying the delights of the beautiful +evening. Bursts of subdued laughter came from behind fans, while the +gentlemen talked in whispers. Above all this whispering was heard the +distant sound of the cornet at the peasants' ball. + +Leaning over the balustrade, in a shady corner, far from the noise which +troubled him and far from the fete which hurt him, Pierre was dreaming. +His eyes were fixed on the illuminations in the park, but he did not see +them. He thought of his vanished hopes. Another was beloved by +Micheline, and in a few hours he would take her away, triumphant and +happy. A great sadness stole over the young man's spirit; he was +disgusted with life and hated humanity. What was to become of him now? +His life was shattered; a heart like his could not love twice, and +Micheline's image was too deeply engraven on it for it ever to be +effaced. Of what use was all the trouble he had taken to raise himself +above others? A worthless fellow had passed that way and Micheline had +yielded to him. Now it was all over! + +And Pierre asked himself if he had not taken a wrong view of things, and +if it was not the idle and good-for-nothing fellows who were more prudent +than he. To waste his life in superhuman works, to tire his mind in +seeking to solve great problems, and to attain old age without other +satisfaction than unproductive honors and mercenary rewards. Those who +only sought happiness and joy--epicureans who drive away all care, all +pain, and only seek to soften their existence, and brighten their +horizon--were they not true sages? Death comes so quickly! And it is +with astonishment that one perceives when the hour is at hand, that one +has not lived! Then the voice of pride spoke to him: what is a man who +remains useless, and does not leave one trace of his passage through the +world by works or discoveries? And, in a state of fever, Pierre said to +himself: + +"I will throw myself heart and soul into science; I will make my name +famous, and I will make that ungrateful child regret me. She will see +the difference between me and him whom she has chosen. She will +understand that he is nobody, except by her money, whereas she would +have been all by me." + +A hand was placed on his shoulder; and Marechal's affectionate voice said +to him: + +"Well! what are you doing here, gesticulating like that?" + +Pierre turned round. + +Lost in his thoughts he had not heard his friend approaching. + +"All our guests have arrived," continued Marechal. "I have only just +been able to leave them and to come to you. I have been seeking you for +more than a quarter of an hour. You are wrong to hide yourself; people +will make remarks. Come toward the house; it is as well to show yourself +a little; people might imagine things which they must not imagine." + +"Eh! let them think what they like; what does it matter to me?" said +Pierre, sadly. "My life is a blank." + +"Your life may be a blank; but it is your duty not to let any one +perceive it. Imitate the young Spartan, who smiled although the fox, +hidden under his cloak, was gnawing his vitals. Let us avoid ridicule, +my friend. In society there is nothing that provokes laughter more than +a disappointed lover, who rolls his eyes about and looks woe-begone. +And, then, you-see, suffering is a human law; the world is an arena, life +is a conflict. Material obstacles, moral griefs, all hinder and +overwhelm us. We must go on, though, all the same, and fight. Those who +give in are trodden down! Come, pull yourself together!" + +"And for whom should I fight now? A moment ago I was making projects, +but I was a fool! All hope and ambition are dead in me." + +"Ambition will return, you may be sure! At present you are suffering +from weariness of mind; but your strength will return. As to hope, one +must never despair." + +"What can I expect in the future?" + +"What? Why, everything! In this world all sorts of things happen!" +said Marechal, gayly. "Who is to prove that the Princess will not be a +widow soon?" + +Pierre could not help laughing and said, + +"Come, don't talk such nonsense!" + +"My dear fellow," concluded Marechal, "in life it is only nonsense that +is common-sense. Come and smoke a cigar." + +They traversed several groups of people and bent their steps in the +direction of the chateau. The Prince was advancing toward the terrace, +with an elegantly dressed and beautiful woman on his arm. Savinien, in +the midst of a circle of dandies, was picking the passers-by to pieces in +his easy-going way. Pierre and Marechal came behind these young men +without being noticed. + +"Who is that hanging on the arm of our dear Prince?" asked a little fat +man, girt in a white satin waistcoat, and a spray of white lilac in his +buttonhole. + +"Eh! Why, Le Brede, my boy, you don't know anything!" cried Savinien in +a bantering, jocose tone. + +"Because I don't know that lovely fair woman?" said Le Brede, in a +piqued voice. "I don't profess to know the names of all the pretty women +in Paris!" + +"In Paris? That woman from Paris? You have not looked at her. Come, +open your eyes. Pure English style, my friend." + +The dandies roared with laughter. They had at once recognized the pure +English style. They were not men to be deceived. One of them, a tall, +dark fellow, named Du Tremblays, affected an aggrieved air, and said: + +"Le Brede, my dear fellow, you make us blush for you!" + +The Prince passed, smiling and speaking in a low voice to the beautiful +Englishwoman, who was resting the tips of her white gloved fingers on her +cavalier's arm. + +"Who is she?" inquired Le Brede, impatiently. + +"Eh, my dear fellow, it is Lady Harton, a cousin of the Prince. She is +extremely rich, and owns a district in London." + +"They say that a year ago she was very kind to Serge Panine," added Du +Tremblays, confidentially. + +"Why did he not marry her, then, since she is so rich? He has been quite +a year in the market, the dear Prince." + +"She is married." + +"Oh, that is a good reason. But where is her husband?" + +"Shut up in a castle in Scotland. Nobody ever sees him. He is out of +his mind; and is surrounded by every attention." + +"And a strait-waistcoat! Then why does not this pretty woman get a +divorce?" + +"The money belongs to the husband." + +"Really!" + +Pierre and Marechal had listened, in silence, to this cool and yet +terrible conversation. The group of young men dispersed. The two +friends looked at each other. Thus, then, Serge Panine was judged by his +companions in pleasure, by the frequenters of the clubs in which he had +spent a part of his existence. The Prince being "in the market" was +obliged to marry a rich woman. He could not marry Lady Harton, so he +had sought Micheline. And the sweet child was the wife of such a man! +And what could be done? She loved him! + +Madame Desvarennes and Micheline appeared on the terrace. Lady Harton +pointed to the bride with her fan. The Prince, leaving his companion, +advanced toward Micheline. + +"One of my English relatives, a Polish lady, married to Lord Harton, +wishes to be introduced to you," said Serge. "Are you agreeable?" + +"With all my heart," replied the young wife, looking lovingly at her +husband. "All who belong to you are dear to me, you know." + +The beautiful Englishwoman approached slowly. + +"The Princess Panine!" said Serge, gravely, introducing Micheline, who +bowed gracefully. Then, with a shade of familiarity: "Lady Harton!" +continued he, introducing his relative. + +"I am very fond of your husband, Madame," said the Englishwoman. "I hope +you will allow me to love you also; and I beg you to grant me the favor +of accepting this small remembrance." + +While speaking, she unfastened from her wrist a splendid bracelet with +the inscription, Semper. + +Serge frowned and looked stern. Micheline, lowering her eyes, and awed +by the Englishwoman's grandeur, timidly said: + +"I accept it, Madame, as a token of friendship." + +"I think I recognize this bracelet, Madame," observed Serge. + +"Yes; you gave it to me," replied Lady Harton, quietly. "Semper--I beg +your pardon, Madame, we Poles all speak Latin--Semper means 'Always!' +It is a great word. On your wife's arm this bracelet will be well +placed. Au revoir, dear Prince. I wish you every happiness." + +And bowing to Micheline with a regal bow, Lady Harton took the arm of a +tall young man whom she had beckoned, and walked away. + +Micheline, amazed, looked at the bracelet sparkling on her white wrist. +Without uttering a word Serge unfastened it, took it off his wife's arm, +and advancing on the terrace, with a rapid movement flung it in the +water. The bracelet gleamed in the night-air and made a brilliant +splash; then the water resumed its tranquillity. Micheline, astonished, +looked at Serge, who came toward her, and very humbly said: + +"I beg your pardon." + +The young wife did not answer, but her eyes filled with tears; a smile +brightened her lips, and hurriedly taking his arm, she led him into the +drawing-room. + +Dancing was going on there. The young ladies of Pontoise, and the cream +of Creil, had come to the fete, bent on not losing such an opportunity of +enjoying themselves. Under the watchful eyes of their mothers, who, +decked out in grand array, were seated along the walls, they were +gamboling, in spite of the stifling heat, with all the impetuosity of +young provincials habitually deprived of the pleasures of the ballroom. +Crossing the room, Micheline and Serge reached Madame Desvarennes's +boudoir. + +It was delightfully cool in there. Cayrol had taken refuge there with +Jeanne, and Mademoiselle Susanne Herzog. This young girl felt +uncomfortable at being a third party with the newly-married couple, and +welcomed the arrival of the Prince and Micheline with pleasure. Her +father had left her for a moment in Cayrol's care; but she had not seen +him for more than an hour. + +"Mademoiselle," said the Prince, gayly, "a little while ago, when I was +passing through the rooms, I heard these words: 'Loan, discount, +liquidation.' Your father must have been there. Shall I go and seek +him?" + +"I should be very grateful," said the young girl. + +"I will go." + +And turning lightly on his heels, happy to escape Jeanne's looks, Serge +reentered the furnace. At once he saw Herzog seated in the corner of a +bay-window with one of the principal stock-brokers of Paris. He was +speaking. The Prince went straight up to him. + +"Sorry to draw you away from the sweets of conversation," said he, +smiling; "but your daughter is waiting for you, and is anxious at your +not coming." + +"Faith! My daughter, yes. I will come and see you tomorrow," said he to +his companion. "We will talk over this association: there is much to be +gained by it." + +The other, a man with a bloated face, and fair Dundreary whiskers, was +eager to do business with him. Certainly the affair was good. + +"Oh, my dear Prince, I am happy to be alone with you for a moment!" said +Herzog, with that familiarity which was one of his means of becoming +intimate with people. "I was going to compliment you! What a splendid +position you have reached." + +"Yes; I have married a charming woman," replied the Prince, coldly. + +"And what a fortune!" insisted the financier. "Ah, it is worthy of the +lot of a great lord such as you are! Oh, you are like those masterpieces +of art which need a splendidly carved frame! Well, you have your frame, +and well gilt too!" + +He laughed and seemed pleased at Serge's happiness. He had taken one of +his hands and was patting it softly between his own. + +"Not a very 'convenient' mother-in-law, for instance," he went on, good- +naturedly; "but you are so charming! Only you could have, coaxed Madame +Desvarennes, and you have succeeded. Oh! she likes you, my dear Prince; +she told me so only a little while ago. You have won her heart. I don't +know how you manage it, but you are irresistible! By the way, I was not +there when the marriage contract was read, and I, forgot to ask Cayrol. +Under what conditions art you married?" + +The Prince looked at Herzog with a look that was hardly friendly. But +the financier appeared so indifferent, that Serge could not help +answering him: + +"My wife's fortune is settled on herself." + +"Ah! ah! that is usual in Normandy!" replied Herzog with a grave look. +"I was told Madame Desvarennes was a clever woman and she has proved it. +And you signed the contract with your eyes shut, my dear Prince. It is +perfect, just as a gentleman should do!" + +He said this with a good-natured air. Then, suddenly lifting his eyes, +and with an ironical smile playing on his lips, he added: + +"You are bowled out, my dear fellow, don't you know?" + +"Sir!" protested Serge with haughtiness. + +"Don't cry out; it is too late, and would be useless," replied the +financier. "Let me explain your position to you. Your hands are tied. +You cannot dispose of a sou belonging to your wife without her consent. +It is true, you have influence over her, happily for you. Still you must +foresee that she will be guided by her mother. A strong woman, too, +the mother! Ah, Prince, you have allowed yourself to be done completely. +I would not have thought it of you." + +Serge, nonplussed for a moment, regained his self-possession, and looked +Herzog in the face: + +"I don't know what idea you have formed of me, sir, and I don't know what +object you have in speaking thus to me." + +"My interest in you," interrupted the financier. "You are a charming +fellow: you please me much. With your tastes, it is possible that in a +brief time you may be short of money. Come and see me: I will put you +into the way of business. Au revoir, Prince." + +And without giving Serge time to answer him, Herzog reached the boudoir +where his daughter was waiting with impatience. Behind him came the +Prince looking rather troubled. The financier's words had awakened +importunate ideas in his mind. Was it true that he had been duped by +Madame Desvarennes, and that the latter, while affecting airs of +greatness and generosity, had tied him like a noodle to her daughter's +apron-string? He made an effort to regain his serenity. + +"Micheline loves me and all will be well," said he to himself. + +Madame Desvarennes joined the young married people. The rooms were +clearing by degrees. Serge took Cayrol apart. + +"What are you going to do to-night, my dear fellow? + +"You know an apartment has been prepared for you here?" + +"Yes, I have already thanked Madame Desvarennes, but I mean to go back to +Paris. Our little paradise is prepared for us, and I wish to enter it +to-night. I have my carriage and horses here. I am taking away my wife +post-haste." + +"That is an elopement," said Serge; gayly, "quite in the style of the +regency!" + +"Yes, my dear Prince, that's how we bankers do it," said Cayrol, +laughing. + +Then changing his tone: + +"See, I vibrate, I am palpitating. I am hot and cold by turns. Just +fancy, I have never loved before; my heart is whole, and I love to +distraction!" + +Serge instinctively glanced at Jeanne. She was seated, looking sad and +tired. + +Madame Desvarennes, between Jeanne and Micheline, had her arms twined +round the two young girls. Regret filled her eyes. The mother felt that +the last moments of her absolute reign were near, and she was +contemplating with supreme adoration these two children who had grown up +around her like two fragile and precious flowers. She was saying to +them, + +"Well, the great day is over. You are both married. You don't belong to +me any longer. How I shall miss you! This morning I had two children, +and now--" + +"You have four," interrupted Micheline. "Why do you complain?" + +"I don't complain," retorted Madame Desvarennes, quickly. + +"That's right!" said Micheline, gayly. + +Then going toward Jeanne: + +"But you are not speaking, you are so quiet; are you ill?" + +Jeanne shuddered, and made an effort to soften the hard lines on her +face. + +"It is nothing. A little fatigue." + +"And emotion," added Micheline. "This morning when we entered the +church, at the sound of the organ, in the midst of flowers, surrounded by +all our friends, I felt that I was whiter than my veil. And the crossing +to my place seemed so long, I thought I should never get there. I did +so, though. And now everybody calls me 'Madame' and some call me +'Princess.' It amuses me!" + +Serge had approached. + +"But you are a Princess," said he, smiling, "and everybody must call you +so." + +"Oh, not mamma, nor Jeanne, nor you," said the young wife, quickly; +"always call me Micheline. It will be less respectful, but it will be +more tender." + +Madame Desvarennes could not resist drawing her daughter once more to her +heart. + +"Dear child," she said with emotion, "you need affection, as flowers need +the sun! But I love you, there." + +She stopped and added: + +"We love you." + +And she held out her hand to her son-in-law. Then changing the subject: + +"But I am thinking, Cayrol, as you are returning to Paris, you might take +some orders for me which I will write out." + +"What? Business? Even on my wedding-day?" exclaimed Micheline. + +"Eh! my daughter, we must have flour," replied the mistress, laughing. +"While we are enjoying ourselves Paris eats, and it has a famous +appetite." + +Micheline, leaving her mother, went to her husband. + +"Serge, it is not yet late. Suppose we put in an appearance at the work- +people's ball? I promised them, and the good folks will be so happy!" + +"As you please. I am awaiting your orders. Let us make ourselves +popular!" + +Madame Desvarennes had gone to her room. Carol took the opportunity of +telling his coachman to drive round by the park to the door of the little +conservatory and wait there. Thus, his wife and he would avoid meeting +any one, and would escape the leave-taking of friends and the curiosity +of lockers-on. + +Micheline went up to Jeanne, and said: + +"As you are going away quietly, dear, I shall not see you again this +evening. Adieu!" + +And with a happy smile, she kissed her. Then taking her husband's arm +she led him toward the park. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CAYROL'S DISAPPOINTMENT + +Jeanne left alone, watched them as they disappeared with the light and +easy movements of lovers. + +Serge, bending toward Micheline, was speaking tenderly. A rush of bitter +feeling caused Jeanne's heart to swell. She was alone, she, while he +whom she loved-her whole being revolted. Unhappy one! Why did she think +of this man? Had she the right to do so now? She no longer belonged to +herself. Another, who was as kind to her as Serge was ungrateful, was +her husband. She thought thus in sincerity of heart. She wished to love +Cayrol. Alas, poor Jeanne! She would load him with attentions and +caresses! And Serge would be jealous, for he could never have forgotten +her so soon. + +Her thoughts again turned to him whom she wished to forget. She made an +effort, but in vain. Serge was uppermost; he possessed her. She was +afraid. Would she never be able to break off the remembrance? Would his +name be ever on her lips, his face ever before her eyes? + +Thank heaven! she was about to leave. Travelling, and the sight of +strange places other than those where she had lived near Serge, would +draw her attention from the persecution she suffered. Her husband was +about to take her away, to defend her. It was his duty, and she would +help him with energy. With all the strength of her will she summoned +Cayrol. She clung violently to him as a drowning person catches at a +straw, with the vigor of despair. + +There was between Jeanne and Cayrol a sympathetic communication. +Mentally called by his wife, the husband appeared. + +"Ah! at last!" said she. + +Cayrol, surprised at this welcome, smiled. Jeanne, without noticing, +added: + +"Well, Monsieur; are we leaving soon?" + +The banker's surprise increased. But as this surprise was decidedly an +agreeable one he did not protest. + +"In a moment, Jeanne, dear," he said. + +"Why this delay?" asked the young wife, nervously. + +"You will understand. There are more than twenty carriages before the +front door. Our coachman is driving round, and we will go out by the +conservatory door without being seen." + +"Very well; we will wait." + +This delay displeased Jeanne. In the ardor of her resolution, in the +first warmth of her struggle, she wished at once to put space between her +and Serge. Unfortunately, Cayrol had thwarted this effort of proud +revolt. She was vexed with him. He, without knowing the motives which +actuated his wife, guessed that something had displeased her. He wished +to change the current of her thoughts. + +"You were marvellously beautiful to-night," he said, approaching her +gallantly. "You were much admired, and I was proud of you. If you had +heard my friends! It was a concert of congratulations: What a fortunate +fellow that Cayrol is! He is rich; he has a charming wife! You see, +Jeanne, thanks to you, in the eyes of all, my happiness is complete." + +Jeanne frowned, and without answering, shook her head haughtily. Cayrol +continued, without noticing this forecast of a storm: + +"They envy me; and I can understand it! I would not change places with +anybody. There, our friend Prince Panine is very happy; he has married a +woman whom he loves and who adores him. Well, he is not happier than I +am!" + +Jeanne rose abruptly, and gave her husband a terrible look. + +"Monsieur!" she cried with rage. + +"I beg your pardon," said Cayrol, humbly; "I appear ridiculous to you, +but my happiness is stronger than I am, and I cannot hide my joy. You +will see that I can be grateful. I will spend my life in trying to +please you. I have a surprise for you to begin with." + +"What kind of surprise?" asked Jeanne, with indifference. + +Cayrol rubbed his hands with a mysterious air. He was enjoying +beforehand the pleasant surprise he had in store for his wife. + +"You think we are going to Paris to spend our honeymoon like ordinary +folk?" + +Jeanne started. Cayrol seemed unfortunate in his choice of words. + +"Well, not at all," continued the banker. "Tomorrow I leave my offices. +My customers may say what they like; I will leave my business, and we are +off." + +Jeanne showed signs of pleasure. A flash of joy lit up her face. To go +away, that was rest for her! + +"And where shall we go?" + +"That is the surprise! You know that the Prince and his wife intend +travelling!" + +"Yes; but they refused to say where they were going;" interrupted Jeanne, +with a troubled expression. + +"Not to me. They are going to Switzerland. Well, we shall join them +there." + +Jeanne arose like a startled deer when it hears the sound of a gun. + +"Join them there!" she exclaimed. + +"Yes; to continue the journey together. A party of four; two newly- +married couples. It will be charming. I spoke to Serge on the subject. +He objected at first, but the Princess came to my assistance. And when +he saw that his wife and I were agreed, he commenced to laugh, and said: +'You wish it? I consent. Don't say anything more!' It is all very well +to talk of love's solitude; in about a fortnight, passed tete-a-tete, +Serge will be glad to have us. We will go to Italy to see the lakes; and +there, in a boat, all four, of us will have such pleasant times." + +Cayrol might have gone on talking for an hour, but Jeanne was not +listening. She was thinking. Thus all the efforts which she had decided +to make to escape from him whom she loved would be useless. An +invincible fatality ever brought her toward him whom she was seeking to +avoid. And it was her husband who was aiding this inevitable and +execrable meeting. A bitter smile played on her lips. There was +something mournfully comic in this stubbornness of Cayrol's, in throwing +her in the way of Serge. + +Cayrol, embarrassed by Jeanne's silence, waited a moment. + +"What is the matter?" he asked. "You are just like the Prince when I +spoke to him on the subject." + +Jeanne turned away abruptly. Cayrol's comparison was too direct. His +blunders were becoming wearisome. + +The banker, quite discomfited on seeing the effect of his words, +continued: + +"You object to this journey? If so, I am willing to give it up." + +The young wife was touched by this humble servility. + +"Well, yes," she said, softly, "I should be grateful to you." + +"I had hoped to please you," said Cayrol. "It is for me to beg pardon +for having succeeded so badly. Let us remain in Paris. It does not +matter to me what place we are in! Being near to you is all I desire." + +He approached her, and, with beaming eyes, added: + +"You are so beautiful, Jeanne; and I have loved you so long a time!" + +She moved away, full of a vague dread. Cayrol, very excitedly, put her +cloak round her shoulders, and looking toward the door, added: + +"The carriage is there, we can go now." + +Jeanne, much troubled, did not rise. + +"Wait another minute," said she. + +Cayrol smiled constrainedly: + +"A little while ago you were hurrying me off." + +It was true. But a sudden change had come over Jeanne. Her energy had +given way. She felt very weary. The idea of going away with Cayrol, and +of being alone with him in the carriage frightened her. She looked +vaguely at her husband, and saw, in a sort of mist, this great fat man, +with a protruding shirt-front, rolls of red flesh on his neck above his +collar, long fat ears which only needed gold ear-rings, and his great +hairy hands, on the finger of one of which shone the new wedding-ring. +Then, in a rapid vision, she beheld the refined profile, the beautiful +blue eyes, and the long, fair mustache of Serge. A profound sadness came +over the young woman, and tears rushed to her eyes. + +"What is the matter with you? You are crying!" exclaimed Cayrol, +anxiously. + +"It is nothing; my nerves are shaken. I am thinking of this chateau +which bears my name. Here I spent my youth, and here my father died. +A thousand ties bind me to this dwelling, and I cannot leave it without +being overcome." + +"Another home awaits you, luxuriantly adorned," murmured Cayrol, "and +worthy of receiving you. It is there you will live henceforth with me, +happy through me, and belonging to me." + +Then, ardently supplicating her, he added: + +"Let us go, Jeanne!" + +He tried to take her in his arms, but the young wife disengaged herself. + +"Leave me alone!" she said, moving away. + +Cayrol looked at her in amazement. + +"What is it? You are trembling and frightened!" + +He tried to jest: + +"Am I so very terrible, then? Or is it the idea of leaving here that +troubles you so much? If so, why did you not tell me sooner? I can +understand things. Let us remain here for a few days, or as long as you +like. I have arranged my affairs so as to be at liberty. Our little +paradise can wait for us." + +He spoke pleasantly, but with an undercurrent of anxiety. + +Jeanne came slowly to him, and calmly taking his hand, said: + +"You are very good." + +"I am not making any efforts to be so," retorted Cayrol, smiling. "What +do I ask? That you may be happy and satisfied." + +"Well, do you wish to please me?" asked the young wife. + +"Yes!" exclaimed Cayrol, warmly, "tell me how." + +"Madame Desvarennes will be very lonely tomorrow when her daughter will +be gone. She will need consoling--" + +"Ah, ah," said Cayrol, thinking that he understood, "and you would +like--" + +"I would like to remain some time with her. You could come every day and +see us. I would be very grateful to you, and would love you very much!" + +"But--but--but--!" exclaimed Cayrol, much confounded, "you cannot mean +what you say, Jeanne! What, my dear? You wish me to return alone to +Paris to-night? What would my servants say? You would expose me to +ridicule!" + +Poor Cayrol made a piteous face. Jeanne looked at him as she had never +looked before. It made his blood boil. + +"Would you be so very ridiculous for having been delicate and tender?" + +"I don't see what tenderness has to do with it," cried Cayrol; "on the +contrary! But I love you. You don't seem to think it!" + +"Prove it," replied Jeanne, more provokingly. + +This time Cayrol lost all patience. + +"Is it in leaving you that I shall prove it? Really, Jeanne, I am +disposed to be kind and to humor your whims, but on condition that they +are reasonable. You seem to be making fun of me! If I give way on such +important points on the day of our marriage, whither will you lead me? +No; no! You are my wife. The wife must follow her husband; the law says +so!" + +"Is it by law only that you wish to keep me? Have you forgotten what I +told you when you made me an offer of marriage? It is my hand only which +I give you." + +"And I answered you, that it would be my aim to gain your heart. Well, +but give me the means. Come, dear," said the banker in a resolute tone, +"you take me for a child. I am not so simple as that! I know what this +resistance means; charming modesty so long as it is not everlasting." + +Jeanne turned away without answering. Her face had changed its +expression; it was hard and determined. + +"Really," continued Cayrol, "you would make a saint lose patience. Come, +answer me, what does this attitude mean?" + +The young wife remained silent. She felt she could not argue any longer, +and seeing no way out of her trouble, felt quite discouraged. Still she +would not yield. She shuddered at the very idea of belonging to this +man; she had never thought of the issue of this brutal and vulgar +adventure. Now that she realized it, she felt terribly disgusted. + +Cayrol anxiously watched the increasing anguish depicted on his wife's +face. He had a presentiment that she was hiding something from him, and +the thought nearly choked him. And, with this suspicion, his ingenuity +came to his aid. He approached Jeanne, and said, affectionately: + +"Come, dear child, we are misleading one another; I in speaking too +harshly, you in refusing to understand me. Forget that I am your +husband; see in me only a friend and open your heart; your resistance +hides a mystery. You have had some grief or have been deceived." + +Jeanne, softened, said, in a low tone: + +"Don't speak to me like that; leave me." + +"No," resumed Cayrol, quietly, "we are beginning life; there must be no +misunderstanding. Be frank, and you will find me indulgent. Come, young +girls are often romantic. They picture an ideal; they fall in love with +some one who does not return their love, which is sometimes even unknown +to him who is their hero. Then, suddenly, they have to return to a +reality. They find themselves face to face with a husband who is not the +expected Romeo, but who is a good man, devoted, loving, and ready to heal +the wounds he has not made. They are afraid of this husband; they +mistrust him, and will not follow him. It is wrong, because it is near +him, in honorable and right existence, that they find peace and +forgetfulness." + +Cayrol's heart was torn by anxiety, and with trembling voice he tried to +read the effect of his words on Jeanne's features. She had turned. +away. Cayrol bent toward her and said: + +"You don't answer me." + +And as she still remained silent, he took her hand and forced her to look +at him. He saw that her face was covered with tears. He shuddered, and +then flew into a terrible passion. + +"You are crying! It is true then? You have loved?" + +Jeanne rose with a bound; she saw her imprudence. She understood the +trap he had laid; her cheeks burned. Drying her tears, she turned toward +Cayrol, and cried: + +"Who has said so?" + +"You cannot deceive me," replied the banker, violently. "I saw it in +your looks. Now, I want to know the man's name!" + +Jeanne looked him straight in the face. + +"Never!" she said. + +"Ah, that is an avowal!" exclaimed Cayrol. + +"You have deceived me unworthily by your pretended kindness," interrupted +Jeanne, proudly, "I will not say anything more." + +Cayrol flew at her--the churl reappeared. He muttered a fearful oath, +and seizing her by the arm, shouted: + +"Take care! Don't play with me. Speak, I insist, or--" and he shook her +brutally. + +Jeanne, indignant, screamed and tore herself away from him. + +"Leave me," she said, "you fill me with horror!" + +The husband, beside himself, pale as death and trembling convulsively, +could not utter a word, and was about to rush upon her when the door +opened, and Madame Desvarennes appeared, holding in her hand the letters +which she had written for Cayrol to take back to Paris. Jeanne uttered a +cry of joy, and with a bound threw herself into the arms of her who had +been a mother to her. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +CONFESSION + +Madame Desvarennes understood the situation at a glance. She beheld +Cayrol livid, tottering, and excited. She felt Jeanne trembling on her +breast; she saw something serious had occurred. She calmed herself and +put on a cold manner to enable her the better to suppress any resistance +that they might offer. + +"What is the matter?" she asked, looking severely at Cayrol. + +"Something quite unexpected," replied the banker, laughing nervously. +"Madame refuses to follow me." + +"And for what reason?" she asked. + +"She dare not speak!" Cayrol resumed, whose excitement increased as he +spoke. "It appears she has in her heart an unhappy love! And as I do +not resemble the dreamed-of type, Madame has repugnances. But you +understand the affair is not going to end there. It is not usual to come +and say to a husband, twelve hours after marriage, 'Sir, I am very sorry, +but I love somebody else!' It would be too convenient. I shall not lend +myself to these whims." + +"Cayrol, oblige me by speaking in a, lower tone," said Madame +Desvarennes, quietly. "There is some misunderstanding between you and +this child." + +The husband shrugged his broad shoulders. + +"A misunderstanding? Faith! I think so! You have a delicacy of +language which pleases me! A misunderstanding! Say rather a shameful +deception! But I want to know the gentleman's name. She will have to +speak. I am not a scented, educated gentleman. I am a peasant, and if I +have to--" + +"Enough," said Madame Desvarennes, sharply tapping with the tips of her +fingers Cayrol's great fist which he held menacingly like a butcher about +to strike. Then, taking him quietly aside toward the window, she added: + +"You are a fool to go on like this! Go to my room for a moment. To you, +now, she will not say anything; to me she will confide all and we shall +know what to do." + +Cayrol's face brightened. + +"You are right," he said. "Yes, as ever, you are right. You must excuse +rile, I do not know how to talk to women. Rebuke her and put a little +sense in her head. But don't leave her; she is fit to commit any folly." + +Madame Desvarennes smiled. + +"Be easy," she answered. + +And making a sign to Cayrol, who was leaving the room, she returned to +Jeanne. + +"Come, my child, compose yourself. We are alone and you will tell me +what happened. Among women we understand each other. Come, you were +frightened, eh?" + +Jeanne was one petrified, immovable, and dumb, she fixed her eyes on a +flower which was hanging from a vase. This red flower fascinated her. +She could not take her eyes off it. Within her a persistent thought +recurred: that of her irremediable misfortune. Madame Desvarennes looked +at her for a moment; then, gently touching her shoulder, resumed; + +"Won't you answer me? Have you not confidence in me? Have I not brought +you up? And if you are not born of me, have not the tenderness and care +I have lavished upon you made me your real mother?" + +Jeanne did not answer, but her eyes filled with tears; + +"You know that I love you," continued the mistress. "Come, come to my +arms as you used to do when you were little and were suffering. Place +your head thereon my heart and let your tears flow. I see they are +choking you." + +Jeanne could no longer resist, and falling on her knees beside Madame +Desvarennes, she buried her face in the silky and scented folds of her +dress like a frightened bird that flies to the nest and hides itself +under the wings of its mother. + +This great and hopeless grief was to the mistress a certain proof that +Cayrol was right. Jeanne had loved and still loved another man than her +husband. But why had she not said anything, and why had she allowed +herself to be married to the banker? She had resisted, she remembered +now. She had struggled, and the refusals they had put down to pride they +must now attribute to passion. + +She did not wish to be separated from him whom she loved. Hence the +struggle that had ended in her abandoning her hand to Cayrol, perhaps in +a moment of despair and discouragement. But why had he whom she loved +not married her? What obstacle had arisen between him and the young +girl? Jeanne, so beautiful, and dowered by Madame Desvarennes, who then +could have hesitated to ask her hand? + +Perhaps he whom Jeanne loved was unworthy of her? No! She would not +have chosen him. Perhaps he was not free to marry? Yes, it must be +that. Some married man, perhaps! A scoundrel who did not mind breaking +a young girl's heart! Where had she met him? In society at her house in +the Rue Saint-Dominique, perhaps! Who could tell? He very likely still +continued to come there. At the thought Madame Desvarennes grew angry. +She wished to know the name of the man so that she might have an +explanation with him, and tell him what she thought of his base conduct. +The gentleman should have respectable, well-educated girls to trifle +with, should he? And he risked nothing! He should be shown to the door +with all honors due to his shameful conduct. + +Jeanne was still weeping silently at Madame Desvarennes's knee. The +latter raised her head gently and wiped away the tears with her lace +pocket-handkerchief. + +"Come, my child! all this deluge means nothing. You must make up your +mind. I can understand your hiding anything from your husband, but not +from me! What is your lover's name?" + +This question so simply put, threw a faint light on Jeanne's troubled +brain. She saw the danger she was running. To speak before Madame +Desvarennes! To tell the name of him who had been false to her! +To her! Was it possible? In a moment she understood that she was about +to destroy Micheline and Serge. Her conscience revolted and she would +not. She raised herself and looking at Madame Desvarennes with still +frightened eyes, + +"For pity's sake, forget my tears! Don't believe what my husband has +told you. Never seek to know. Remain ignorant as you are on the +subject!" + +"Then he whom you love is related to me, as: you wish to hide his name +even from me," said Madame Desvarennes with instinctive anguish. + +She was silent. Her eyes became fixed. They looked without seeing. She +was thinking. + +"I beseech you," cried Jeanne, madly placing her hands before Madame +Desvarennes's face as if to check her scrutiny. + +"If I had a, son," continued the mistress, "I would believe--" Suddenly +she ceased speaking; she became pale, and bending toward Jeanne, she +looked into her very soul. + +"Is it--"she began. + +"No! no!" interrupted Jeanne, terrified at seeing that the mistress had +found out the truth. + +"You deny it before I have pronounced the name?" said Madame Desvarennes +in a loud voice. "You read it then on my lips? Unhappy girl! The man +whom you love is the husband of my daughter!" + +My daughter! The accent with which Madame Desvarennes pronounced the +word "my" was full of tragical power. It revealed the mother capable of +doing anything to defend the happiness of the child whom she adored. +Serge had calculated well. Between Jeanne and Micheline, Madame +Desvarennes would not hesitate. She would have allowed the world to +crumble away to make of its ruins a shelter where her daughter would be +joyous and happy. + +Jeanne had fallen back overwhelmed. The mistress raised her roughly. +She had no more consideration for her. It was necessary that she should +speak. Jeanne was the sole witness, and if the truth had to be got by +main force she should be made to speak it. + +"Ah, forgive me!" moaned the young girl. + +"It is not a question of that! In one word, answer me: Does he love +you?" + +"Do I know?" + +"Did he tell you he did?" + +"Yes." + +"And he has married Micheline!" exclaimed Madame Desvarennes, with a +fearful gesture. "I distrusted him. Why did I not obey my instinct?" + +And she began walking about like a lioness in a cage. Then, suddenly +stopping and placing herself before Jeanne, she continued: + +"You must help me to save Micheline!" + +She thought only of her own flesh and blood. Without hesitation, +unconsciously, she abandoned the other--the child of adoption. She +claimed the safety of her daughter as a debt. + +"What has she to fear?" asked Jeanne, bitterly. "She triumphs, as she +is his wife." + +"If he were to abandon her," said the mother with anguish. Then, +reflecting: "Still, he has sworn to me that he loved her." + +"He lied!" cried Jeanne, with rage. "He wanted Micheline for her +fortune!" + +"But why that?" inquired Madame Desvarennes, menacingly. "Is she not +pretty enough to have pleased him? Do you think that you are the only +one to be loved?" + +"If I had been rich he would have married me!", replied Jeanne, +exasperated. + +She had risen in revolt. They were treading too heavily on her. With a +ferocious cry of triumph; she added: + +"The night he used his influence with me to get me to marry Cayrol, he +assured me so on his word of honor!" + +"Honor!" ironically repeated Madame Desvarennes, overwhelmed. "How he +has deceived us all! But what can I do? What course can I take? A +separation? Micheline would not consent. She loves him." + +And, in an outburst of fury, she cried: + +"Is it possible that that stupid girl loves that worthless dandy? And +she has my blood in her veins! If she knew the truth she would die!" + +"Am I dead?" asked Jeanne, gloomily. + +"You have an energetic nature," retorted the mistress, compassionately; +"but she is so weak, so gentle! Ah! Jeanne, think what I have been to +you; raise some insurmountable barrier between yourself and Serge! + +"Go back to your husband. You would not go with him a little while ago. +It was folly. If you separate from Cayrol, you will not be able to keep +away Serge, and you will take my daughter's husband from her!" + +"Ah! you think only of her! Her, always! She above all!" cried +Jeanne, with rage. "But me, I exist, I count, I have the right to be +protected, of being happy! And you wish me to sacrifice myself, to give +myself up to this man, whom I do not love, and who terrifies me?" + +This time the question was plainly put. Madame Desvarennes became +herself. She straightened her figure, and in her commanding voice whose +authority no one resisted, said: + +"What then? You wish to be separated from him? To regain your liberty +at the price of scandal? And what liberty? You will be repulsed, +disdained. Believe me, impose silence on your heart and listen to your +reason. Your husband is a good, loyal man. If you cannot love him, he +will command your respect. In marrying him, you have entered into +engagements toward him. Fulfil them; it is your duty." + +Jeanne felt overpowered and vanquished. "But what will my life be?" she +groaned. + +"That of an honest woman," replied Madame Desvarennes, with true +grandeur. "Be a wife; God will make you a mother, and you will be +saved." + +Jeanne bowed herself at these words. She no longer felt in them the +selfishness of the mother. What the mistress now said was sincere and +true. It was no longer her agitated and alarmed heart that inspired her; +it was her conscience, calm and sincere. + +"Very well; I will obey you," said the young wife, simply. "Kiss me +then, mother." + +She bent her brow, and Madame Desvarennes let tears of gratitude and +admiration fall on it. Then Jeanne went of her own accord to the room +door. + +"Come, Monsieur," called she to Cayrol. + +The husband, grown cooler while waiting, and troubled at the length of +the interview, showed his anxious face on the threshold. He saw Madame +Desvarennes grave, and Jeanne collected. He dared not speak. + +"Cayrol, everything is explained," said the mistress. "You have nothing +to fear from him whom you suspected. He is separated from Jeanne +forever, And; besides, nothing has passed between him and her who is your +wife that could arouse your jealousy. I will not tell you the name of +this man now. But if perchance he by some impossibility reappeared and +threatened your happiness, I would myself--you understand, me?--point him +out to you!" + +Cayrol remained thinking for, a moment; then addressing Madame +Desvarennes, replied: + +"It is well. I have confidence in you." + +Then turning toward Jeanne, he added: + +"Forgive me and let everything be forgotten." + +The mistress's face beamed with joy, as she followed their departing +figures with her eyes, and murmured: + +"Brave hearts!" + +Then, changing her expression: + +"Now for the other one!" exclaimed she. + +And she went out on to the terrace. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE FETE + +The air was mild, the night clear and bright. Cayrol's carriage rolled +rapidly along the broad avenue of the park shadowed by tall trees, the +lanterns throwing, as they passed, their quivering light on the thickets. +The rumbling carriages took the last guests to the railway station. It +was past midnight. A nightingale began singing his song of love to the +stars. + +Madame Desvarennes mechanically stopped to listen. A sense of sorrow +came over this mother who was a prey to the most cruel mental anguish. +She thought that she could have been very happy on that splendid night, +if her heart had been full of quietude and serenity. Her two daughters +were married; her last task was accomplished. She ought to have nothing +to do but enjoy life after her own fashioning, and be calm and satisfied. +Instead of that, here were fear and dissimulation taking possession of +her mind; and an ardent, pitiless struggle beginning against the man who +had deceived her daughter and lied to her. The bark which carried her +fortune, on reaching port, had caught fire, and it was necessary to begin +laboring again amid cares and pains. + +A dull rage filled her heart. To have so surely built up the edifice of +her happiness, to have embellished it every hour, and then to see an +intruder audaciously taking possession of it, and making his despotic and +hateful authority prevail! And what could she do against this new +master? Nothing. He was marvellously protected by Micheline's mad love +for him. To strike Serge would be to wound Micheline, surely and +mortally. So this scoundrel could laugh at her and dare her with +impunity! + +What must she do? Take him aside and tell him that she knew of his +disloyal conduct, and tell him of her contempt and hatred for him? And +after that? What would be the consequence of this outburst of violence? +The Prince, using his power over Micheline, would separate the daughter +from the mother. And Madame Desvarennes would be alone in her corner, +abandoned like a poor dog, and would die of despair and anger. What +other course then? She must dissemble, mask her face with indifference, +if possible with tenderness, and undertake the difficult task of +separating Micheline from the man whom she adored. It was quite a feat +of strategy to plan. To bring out the husband's faults and to make his +errors known, and give her the opportunity of proving his worthlessness. +In a word, to make the young wife understand that she had married an +elegant manikin, unworthy of her love. + +It would be an easy matter to lay snares for Serge. He was a gambler. +She could let him have ready money to satisfy his passion. Once in the +clutches of the demon of play, he would neglect his wife, and the mother +might regain a portion of the ground she had lost. Micheline's fortune +once broken into, she would interpose between her daughter and son-in- +law. She would make him pull up, and holding him tightly by her purse +strings, would lead him whither she liked. + +Already in fancy she saw her authority regained, and her daughter, her +treasure, her life, true mistress of the situation, grateful to her for +having saved her. And then, she thought, a baby will come, and if +Micheline is really my daughter, she will adore the little thing, and the +blind love which she has given to her husband will be diminished by so +much. + +Serge did not know what an adversary he had against him in his mother-in- +law. It was a bad thing to cross the mistress when business matters were +concerned, but now that her daughter's happiness was at stake! A smile +came to her lips. A firm resolution from that hour must guide her, and +the struggle between her son-in-law and herself could only end by the +crushing of one of them. + +In the distance the music from the work-people's ball was heard. Madame +Desvarennes mechanically bent her steps toward the tent under which the +heavy bounds of the dancers reechoed. Every now and then large shadows +appeared on the canvas. A joyful clamor issued from the ballroom. Loud +laughter resounded, mingled with piercing cries of tickled women. + +The voice of the master of the ceremonies could be heard jocose and +solemn: "La poule! Advance! Set to partners!" Then the stamping of +heavy shoes on the badly planed floor, and, above all, the melancholy +sounds of the clarionet and the shrill notes of the cornet were audible. + +At the entrance of the ballroom, surrounded by tables and stools, two +barrels of wine on stands presented their wooden taps, ready for those +who wanted to quench their thirst. A large red mark under each barrel +showed that the hands of the drinkers wire no longer steady. A cake- +seller had taken up his place at the other side, and was kneading a last +batch of paste, while his apprentice was ringing a bell which hung over +the iron cooking-stove to attract customers. There was an odor of rancid +butter, spilled wine, and paraffin oil. + +Adjoining the ballroom, a merry-go-round; which had been the delight of +the village urchins all day, appealed for custom by the aid of a barrel- +organ on which a woman in a white bodice was playing the waltz from 'Les +Cloches de Corneville'. + +The animation of this fete, in the midst of which Madame Desvarennes +suddenly appeared, was a happy diversion from the serious thoughts which +beset her. She remembered that Serge and Micheline must be there. She +came from under the shadow of the avenue into the full light. On +recognizing her, all the workpeople, who were seated, rose. She was +really mistress and lady of the place. And then she had fed these people +since morning. With a sign she bade them be seated, and walking quickly +toward the dancing-room, lifted the red and white cotton curtain which +hung over the entrance. + +There, in a space of a hundred square yards or so, about a hundred and +fifty people were sitting or standing. At the end, on a stage, were the +musicians, each with a bottle of wine at his feet, from which they +refreshed themselves during the intervals. An impalpable dust, raised by +the feet of the dancers, filled the air charged with acrid odors. The +women in light dresses and bareheaded, and the men arrayed in their +Sunday clothes, gave themselves up with frantic ardor to their favorite +pleasure. + +Ranged in double rows, vis-a-vis, they were waiting with impatience for +the music to strike up for the last figure. Near the orchestra, Serge +was dancing with the Mayor's daughter opposite Micheline, whose partner +was the mayor himself. An air of joyful gravity lit up the municipal +officer's face. He was enjoying the honor which the Princess had done +him. His pretty young daughter, dressed, in her confirmation dress, +which had been lengthened with a muslin flounce, a rose in her hair, and +her hands encased in straw-colored one-button kid gloves, hardly dared +raise her eyes to the Prince, and with burning cheeks, answered in +monosyllables the few remarks Serge felt forced to address to her. + +The orchestra bellowed, the floor shook; the two lines of dancers had +advanced in a body. Madame Desvarennes, leaning against the door-post, +followed with her eyes her daughter, whose light footsteps contrasted +strangely with the heavy tread of the women around her. The mayor, eager +and respectful, followed her, making efforts to keep up with her without +treading on her long train. It was, + +"Excuse me, Madame la Princesse. If Madame la Princesse will do me the +honor to give me her hand, it is our turn to cross." + +They had just crossed. Serge suddenly found himself facing his mother- +in-law. His face lit up, and he uttered a joyful exclamation. Micheline +raised her eyes, and following her husband's look, perceived her mother. +Then it was a double joy. With a mischievous wink, Serge called Madame +Desvarennes's attention to the mayor's solemn appearance as he was +galloping with Micheline, also the comical positions of the rustics. + +Micheline was smiling. She was enjoying herself. All this homely +gayety, of which she was the cause, made her feel happy. She enjoyed the +pleasure of those around her. With her compassionate eyes she thanked +her mother in the distance for having prepared this fete in honor of her +marriage. The clarionet, violin, and cornet sounded a last modulation, +then the final cadence put an end to the bounds of the dances. Each took +his lady to her place--the mayor with pompous gait, Serge with as much +grace as if he had been at an ambassador's ball and was leading a young +lady of highest rank. + +Madame Desvarennes was suddenly surrounded; cheers resounded, the band +struck up the Marseillaise. + +"Let us escape," said Serge, "because these good people will think +nothing of carrying us in triumph." + +And leading away his mother-in-law and his wife, he left the ballroom +followed by cheers. + +Outside they all three walked in silence. The night air was delightful +after coming out of that furnace. The cheering had ceased, and the +orchestra was playing a polka. Micheline had taken her husband's arm. + +They went along slowly, and close together. Not a word was exchanged; +they all three seemed to be listening within themselves. When they +reached the house, they went up the steps leading into the greenhouse, +which served also as a boudoir to Madame Desvarennes. + +The atmosphere was still warm and scented, the lamps still burning. The +guests had left; Micheline looked round. The remembrance of this happy +evening, which had been the crowning of her happiness, filled her heart +with emotion. Turning toward her mother with a radiant face, she cried: + +"Ah! mamma! I am so happy," and threw her arms around her. + +Serge started at this cry. Two tears came to his eyes, and looking a +little pale, he stretched out to Madame Desvarennes his hands, which she +felt trembling in hers, and said: + +"Thank you." + +Madame Desvarennes gazed at him for a moment. She did not see the shadow +of a wicked thought on his brow. He was sincerely affected, truly +grateful. The idea occurred to her that Jeanne had deceived her, or had +deceived herself, and that Serge had not loved her. A feeling of relief +took possession of her. But distrust had unfortunately entered her mind. +She put away that flattering hope. And giving her son-in-law such a +look, which, had he been less moved, he would have understood, she +murmured, + +"We shall see." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A uniform is the only garb which can hide poverty honorably +Forget a dream and accept a reality +I don't pay myself with words +Implacable self-interest which is the law of the world +In life it is only nonsense that is common-sense +Is a man ever poor when he has two arms? +Is it by law only that you wish to keep me? +Nothing that provokes laughter more than a disappointed lover +Suffering is a human law; the world is an arena +The uncontested power which money brings +We had taken the dream of a day for eternal happiness +What is a man who remains useless + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Serge Panine, v2 +by Georges Ohnet + diff --git a/3915.zip b/3915.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..af5ac47 --- /dev/null +++ b/3915.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8540718 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #3915 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3915) |