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diff --git a/old/5744.txt b/old/5744.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f20d859 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/5744.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13584 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fat and the Thin, by Emile Zola + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Fat and the Thin + +Author: Emile Zola + +Translator: Ernest Alfred Vizetelly + +Release Date: April 22, 2006 [EBook #5744] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FAT AND THE THIN *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny; John Bickers + + + + + +THE FAT AND THE THIN + +(LE VENTRE DE PARIS) + +By Emile Zola + + + +Translated, With An Introduction, By Ernest Alfred Vizetelly + + + Let me have men about me that are fat: + Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights: + Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look; + He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. + SHAKESPEARE: _Julius Caesar_, act i, sc. 2. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +"THE FAT AND THE THIN," or, to use the French title, "Le Ventre de +Paris," is a story of life in and around those vast Central Markets +which form a distinctive feature of modern Paris. Even the reader who +has never crossed the Channel must have heard of the Parisian _Halles_, +for much has been written about them, not only in English books on +the French metropolis, but also in English newspapers, magazines, and +reviews; so that few, I fancy, will commence the perusal of the present +volume without having, at all events, some knowledge of its subject +matter. + +The Paris markets form such a world of their own, and teem at certain +hours of the day and night with such exuberance of life, that it was +only natural they should attract the attention of a novelist like M. +Zola, who, to use his own words, delights "in any subject in which vast +masses of people can be shown in motion." Mr. Sherard tells us[*] that +the idea of "Le Ventre de Paris" first occurred to M. Zola in 1872, when +he used continually to take his friend Paul Alexis for a ramble through +the Halles. I have in my possession, however, an article written by +M. Zola some five or six years before that time, and in this one can +already detect the germ of the present work; just as the motif of +another of M. Zola's novels, "La Joie de Vivre," can be traced to a +short story written for a Russian review. + +[*] _Emile Zola: a Biographical and Critical Study_, by Robert +Harborough Sherard, pp. 103, 104. London, Chatto & Windus, 1893. + +Similar instances are frequently to be found in the writings of English +as well as French novelists, and are, of course, easily explained. A +young man unknown to fame, and unable to procure the publication of a +long novel, often contents himself with embodying some particular idea +in a short sketch or story, which finds its way into one or another +periodical, where it lies buried and forgotten by everybody--excepting +its author. Time goes by, however, the writer achieves some measure of +success, and one day it occurs to him to elaborate and perfect that old +idea of his, only a faint _apercu_ of which, for lack of opportunity, he +had been able to give in the past. With a little research, no doubt, an +interesting essay might be written on these literary resuscitations; but +if one except certain novelists who are so deficient in ideas that they +continue writing and rewriting the same story throughout their lives, it +will, I think, be generally found that the revivals in question are due +to some such reason as that given above. + +It should be mentioned that the article of M. Zola's young days to which +I have referred is not one on market life in particular, but one on +violets. It contains, however, a vigorous, if brief, picture of the +Halles in the small hours of the morning, and is instinct with that +realistic descriptive power of which M. Zola has since given so many +proofs. We hear the rumbling and clattering of the market carts, we see +the piles of red meat, the baskets of silvery fish, the mountains of +vegetables, green and white; in a few paragraphs the whole market world +passes in kaleidoscopic fashion before our eyes by the pale, dancing +light of the gas lamps and the lanterns. Several years after the paper +I speak of was published, when M. Zola began to issue "Le Ventre +de Paris," M. Tournachon, better known as Nadar, the aeronaut and +photographer, rushed into print to proclaim that the realistic novelist +had simply pilfered his ideas from an account of the Halles which he +(Tournachon) had but lately written. M. Zola, as is so often his wont, +scorned to reply to this charge of plagiarism; but, had he chosen, he +could have promptly settled the matter by producing his own forgotten +article. + +At the risk of passing for a literary ghoul, I propose to exhume some +portion of the paper in question, as, so far as translation can avail, +it will show how M. Zola wrote and what he thought in 1867. After the +description of the markets to which I have alluded, there comes the +following passage:-- + + +I was gazing at the preparations for the great daily orgy of Paris when +I espied a throng of people bustling suspiciously in a corner. A few +lanterns threw a yellow light upon this crowd. Children, women, and men +with outstretched hands were fumbling in dark piles which extended along +the footway. I thought that those piles must be remnants of meat sold +for a trifling price, and that all those wretched people were rushing +upon them to feed. I drew near, and discovered my mistake. The heaps +were not heaps of meat, but heaps of violets. All the flowery poesy of +the streets of Paris lay there, on that muddy pavement, amidst mountains +of food. The gardeners of the suburbs had brought their sweet-scented +harvests to the markets and were disposing of them to the hawkers. From +the rough fingers of their peasant growers the violets were passing to +the dirty hands of those who would cry them in the streets. At winter +time it is between four and six o'clock in the morning that the flowers +of Paris are thus sold at the Halles. Whilst the city sleeps and its +butchers are getting all ready for its daily attack of indigestion, a +trade in poetry is plied in dark, dank corners. When the sun rises the +bright red meat will be displayed in trim, carefully dressed joints, and +the violets, mounted on bits of osier, will gleam softly within their +elegant collars of green leaves. But when they arrive, in the dark +night, the bullocks, already ripped open, discharge black blood, and +the trodden flowers lie prone upon the footways. . . . I noticed just in +front of me one large bunch which had slipped off a neighbouring mound +and was almost bathing in the gutter. I picked it up. Underneath, it +was soiled with mud; the greasy, fetid sewer water had left black stains +upon the flowers. And then, gazing at these exquisite daughters of our +gardens and our woods, astray amidst all the filth of the city, I began +to ponder. On what woman's bosom would those wretched flowerets open +and bloom? Some hawker would dip them in a pail of water, and of all the +bitter odours of the Paris mud they would retain but a slight pungency, +which would remain mingled with their own sweet perfume. The water would +remove their stains, they would pale somewhat, and become a joy both for +the smell and for the sight. Nevertheless, in the depths of each corolla +there would still remain some particle of mud suggestive of impurity. +And I asked myself how much love and passion was represented by all +those heaps of flowers shivering in the bleak wind. To how many loving +ones, and how many indifferent ones, and how many egotistical ones, +would all those thousands and thousands of violets go! In a few hours' +time they would be scattered to the four corners of Paris, and for a +paltry copper the passers-by would purchase a glimpse and a whiff of +springtide in the muddy streets. + + +Imperfect as the rendering may be, I think that the above passage +will show that M. Zola was already possessed of a large amount of his +acknowledged realistic power at the early date I have mentioned. I +should also have liked to quote a rather amusing story of a priggish +Philistine who ate violets with oil and vinegar, strongly peppered, but +considerations of space forbid; so I will pass to another passage, which +is of more interest and importance. Both French and English critics have +often contended that although M. Zola is a married man, he knows +very little of women, as there has virtually never been any _feminine +romance_ in his life. There are those who are aware of the contrary, +but whose tongues are stayed by considerations of delicacy and respect. +Still, as the passage I am now about to reproduce is signed and +acknowledged as fact by M. Zola himself, I see no harm in slightly +raising the veil from a long-past episode in the master's life:-- + + +The light was rising, and as I stood there before that footway +transformed into a bed of flowers my strange night-fancies gave place to +recollections at once sweet and sad. I thought of my last excursion to +Fontenay-aux-Roses, with the loved one, the good fairy of my twentieth +year. Springtime was budding into birth, the tender foliage gleamed +in the pale April sunshine. The little pathway skirting the hill was +bordered by large fields of violets. As one passed along, a strong +perfume seemed to penetrate one and make one languid. _She_ was leaning +on my arm, faint with love from the sweet odour of the flowers. A +whiteness hovered over the country-side, little insects buzzed in the +sunshine, deep silence fell from the heavens, and so low was the sound +of our kisses that not a bird in all the hedges showed sign of fear. +At a turn of the path we perceived some old bent women, who with dry, +withered hands were hurriedly gathering violets and throwing them into +large baskets. She who was with me glanced longingly at the flowers, and +I called one of the women. "You want some violets?" said she. "How much? +A pound?" + +God of Heaven! She sold her flowers by the pound! We fled in deep +distress. It seemed as though the country-side had been transformed into +a huge grocer's shop. . . . Then we ascended to the woods of Verrieres, +and there, in the grass, under the soft, fresh foliage, we found some +tiny violets which seemed to be dreadfully afraid, and contrived to +hide themselves with all sorts of artful ruses. During two long hours +I scoured the grass and peered into every nook, and as soon as ever I +found a fresh violet I carried it to her. She bought it of me, and +the price that I exacted was a kiss. . . . And I thought of all those +things, of all that happiness, amidst the hubbub of the markets of +Paris, before those poor dead flowers whose graveyard the footway had +become. I remembered my good fairy, who is now dead and gone, and the +little bouquet of dry violets which I still preserve in a drawer. When I +returned home I counted their withered stems: there were twenty of them, +and over my lips there passed the gentle warmth of my loved one's twenty +kisses. + + +And now from violets I must, with a brutality akin to that which M. +Zola himself displays in some of his transitions, pass to very different +things, for some time back a well-known English poet and essayist wrote +of the present work that it was redolent of pork, onions, and cheese. +To one of his sensitive temperament, with a muse strictly nourished on +sugar and water, such gross edibles as pork and cheese and onions were +peculiarly offensive. That humble plant the onion, employed to flavour +wellnigh every savoury dish, can assuredly need no defence; in most +European countries, too, cheese has long been known as the poor man's +friend; whilst as for pork, apart from all other considerations, I can +claim for it a distinct place in English literature. A greater essayist +by far than the critic to whom I am referring, a certain Mr. Charles +Lamb, of the India House, has left us an immortal page on the origin of +roast pig and crackling. And, when everything is considered, I should +much like to know why novels should be confined to the aspirations of +the soul, and why they should not also treat of the requirements of +our physical nature? From the days of antiquity we have all known what +befell the members when, guided by the brain, they were foolish enough +to revolt against the stomach. The latter plays a considerable part not +only in each individual organism, but also in the life of the world. +Over and over again--I could adduce a score of historical examples--it +has thwarted the mightiest designs of the human mind. We mortals are +much addicted to talking of our minds and our souls and treating our +bodies as mere dross. But I hold--it is a personal opinion--that in the +vast majority of cases the former are largely governed by the last. I +conceive, therefore, that a novel which takes our daily sustenance as +one of its themes has the best of all _raisons d'etre_. A foreign writer +of far more consequence and ability than myself--Signor Edmondo de +Amicis--has proclaimed the present book to be "one of the most original +and happiest inventions of French genius," and I am strongly inclined to +share his opinion. + +It should be observed that the work does not merely treat of the +provisioning of a great city. That provisioning is its _scenario_; but +it also embraces a powerful allegory, the prose song of "the eternal +battle between the lean of this world and the fat--a battle in which, as +the author shows, the latter always come off successful. It is, too, in +its way an allegory of the triumph of the fat bourgeois, who lives well +and beds softly, over the gaunt and Ishmael artist--an allegory which +M. Zola has more than once introduced into his pages, another notable +instance thereof being found in 'Germinal,' with the fat, well-fed +Gregoires on the one hand, and the starving Maheus on the other." + +From this quotation from Mr. Sherard's pages it will be gathered that M. +Zola had a distinct social aim in writing this book. Wellnigh the +whole social question may, indeed, be summed up in the words "food and +comfort"; and in a series of novels like "Les Rougon-Macquart," dealing +firstly with different conditions and grades of society, and, secondly, +with the influence which the Second Empire exercised on France, the +present volume necessarily had its place marked out from the very first. + +Mr. Sherard has told us of all the labour which M. Zola expended on +the preparation of the work, of his multitudinous visits to the Paris +markets, his patient investigation of their organism, and his keen +artistic interest in their manifold phases of life. And bred as I was +in Paris, a partaker as I have been of her exultations and her woes they +have always had for me a strong attraction. My memory goes back to the +earlier years of their existence, and I can well remember many of the +old surroundings which have now disappeared. I can recollect the last +vestiges of the antique _piliers_, built by Francis I, facing the Rue de +la Tonnellerie. Paul Niquet's, with its "bowel-twisting brandy" and +its crew of drunken ragpickers, was certainly before my time; but I can +readily recall Baratte's and Bordier's and all the folly and prodigality +which raged there; I knew, too, several of the noted thieves' haunts +which took the place of Niquet's, and which one was careful never to +enter without due precaution. And then, when the German armies were +beleaguering Paris, and two millions of people were shut off from the +world, I often strolled to the Halles to view their strangely altered +aspect. The fish pavilion, of which M. Zola has so much to say, was bare +and deserted. The railway drays, laden with the comestible treasures of +the ocean, no longer thundered through the covered ways. At the most one +found an auction going on in one or another corner, and a few Seine eels +or gudgeons fetching wellnigh their weight in gold. Then, in the butter +and cheese pavilions, one could only procure some nauseous melted fat, +while in the meat department horse and mule and donkey took the place +of beef and veal and mutton. Mule and donkey were very scarce, and +commanded high prices, but both were of better flavour than horse; mule, +indeed, being quite a delicacy. I also well remember a stall at which +dog was sold, and, hunger knowing no law, I once purchased, cooked, +and ate a couple of canine cutlets which cost me two francs apiece. The +flesh was pinky and very tender, yet I would not willingly make such a +repast again. However, peace and plenty at last came round once more, +the Halles regained their old-time aspect, and in the years which +followed I more than once saw the dawn rise slowly over the mounds of +cabbages, carrots, leeks, and pumpkins, even as M. Zola describes in the +following pages. He has, I think, depicted with remarkable accuracy and +artistic skill the many varying effects of colour that are produced +as the climbing sun casts its early beams on the giant larder and its +masses of food--effects of colour which, to quote a famous saying of the +first Napoleon, show that "the markets of Paris are the Louvre of the +people" in more senses than one. + +The reader will bear in mind that the period dealt with by the author +in this work is that of 1857-60, when the new Halles Centrales were +yet young, and indeed not altogether complete. Still, although many old +landmarks have long since been swept away, the picture of life in all +essential particulars remained the same. Prior to 1860 the limits of +Paris were the so-called _boulevards exterieurs_, from which a girdle of +suburbs, such as Montmartre, Belleville, Passy, and Montrouge, extended +to the fortifications; and the population of the city was then only +1,400,000 souls. Some of the figures which will be found scattered +through M. Zola's work must therefore be taken as applying entirely to +the past. + +Nowadays the amount of business transacted at the Halles has very +largely increased, in spite of the multiplication of district markets. +Paris seems to have an insatiable appetite, though, on the other hand, +its cuisine is fast becoming all simplicity. To my thinking, few more +remarkable changes have come over the Parisians of recent years than +this change of diet. One by one great restaurants, formerly renowned for +particular dishes and special wines, have been compelled through lack +of custom to close their doors; and this has not been caused so much by +inability to defray the cost of high feeding as by inability to indulge +in it with impunity in a physical sense. In fact, Paris has become a +city of impaired digestions, which nowadays seek the simplicity without +the heaviness of the old English cuisine; and, should things continue +in their present course, I fancy that Parisians anxious for high feeding +will ultimately have to cross over to our side of the Channel. + +These remarks, I trust, will not be considered out of place in an +introduction to a work which to no small extent treats of the appetite +of Paris. The reader will find that the characters portrayed by M. Zola +are all types of humble life, but I fail to see that their circumstances +should render them any the less interesting. A faithful portrait of a +shopkeeper, a workman, or a workgirl is artistically of far more value +than all the imaginary sketches of impossible dukes and good and wicked +baronets in which so many English novels abound. Several of M. +Zola's personages seem to me extremely lifelike--Gavard, indeed, is a +_chef-d'oeuvre_ of portraiture: I have known many men like him; and no +one who lived in Paris under the Empire can deny the accuracy with +which the author has delineated his hero Florent, the dreamy and hapless +revolutionary caught in the toils of others. In those days, too, there +was many such a plot as M. Zola describes, instigated by agents like +Logre and Lebigre, and allowed to mature till the eve of an election or +some other important event which rendered its exposure desirable for the +purpose of influencing public opinion. In fact, in all that relates to +the so-called "conspiracy of the markets," M. Zola, whilst changing time +and place to suit the requirements of his story, has simply followed +historical lines. As for the Quenus, who play such prominent parts +in the narrative, the husband is a weakling with no soul above his +stewpans, whilst his wife, the beautiful Lisa, in reality wears the +breeches and rules the roast. The manner in which she cures Quenu of his +political proclivities, though savouring of persuasiveness rather than +violence, is worthy of the immortal Mrs. Caudle: Douglas Jerrold might +have signed a certain lecture which she administers to her astounded +helpmate. Of Pauline, the Quenus' daughter, we see but little in the +story, but she becomes the heroine of another of M. Zola's novels, "La +Joie de Vivre," and instead of inheriting the egotism of her parents, +develops a passionate love and devotion for others. In a like way Claude +Lantier, Florent's artist friend and son of Gervaise of the "Assommoir," +figures more particularly in "L'Oeuvre," which tells how his painful +struggle for fame resulted in madness and suicide. With reference to the +beautiful Norman and the other fishwives and gossips scattered through +the present volume, and those genuine types of Parisian _gaminerie_, +Muche, Marjolin, and Cadine, I may mention that I have frequently +chastened their language in deference to English susceptibilities, +so that the story, whilst retaining every essential feature, contains +nothing to which exception can reasonably be taken. + +E. A. V. + + + + + +THE FAT AND THE THIN + + + +CHAPTER I + +Amidst the deep silence and solitude prevailing in the avenue several +market gardeners' carts were climbing the slope which led towards Paris, +and the fronts of the houses, asleep behind the dim lines of elms on +either side of the road, echoed back the rhythmical jolting of the +wheels. At the Neuilly bridge a cart full of cabbages and another full +of peas had joined the eight waggons of carrots and turnips coming +down from Nanterre; and the horses, left to themselves, had continued +plodding along with lowered heads, at a regular though lazy pace, which +the ascent of the slope now slackened. The sleeping waggoners, wrapped +in woollen cloaks, striped black and grey, and grasping the reins +slackly in their closed hands, were stretched at full length on their +stomachs atop of the piles of vegetables. Every now and then, a gas +lamp, following some patch of gloom, would light up the hobnails of a +boot, the blue sleeve of a blouse, or the peak of a cap peering out +of the huge florescence of vegetables--red bouquets of carrots, white +bouquets of turnips, and the overflowing greenery of peas and cabbages. + +And all along the road, and along the neighbouring roads, in front and +behind, the distant rumbling of vehicles told of the presence of similar +contingents of the great caravan which was travelling onward through the +gloom and deep slumber of that matutinal hour, lulling the dark city to +continued repose with its echoes of passing food. + +Madame Francois's horse, Balthazar, an animal that was far too fat, +led the van. He was plodding on, half asleep and wagging his ears, when +suddenly, on reaching the Rue de Longchamp, he quivered with fear and +came to a dead stop. The horses behind, thus unexpectedly checked, ran +their heads against the backs of the carts in front of them, and the +procession halted amidst a clattering of bolts and chains and the oaths +of the awakened waggoners. Madame Francois, who sat in front of her +vehicle, with her back to a board which kept her vegetables in position, +looked down; but, in the dim light thrown to the left by a small square +lantern, which illuminated little beyond one of Balthazar's sheeny +flanks, she could distinguish nothing. + +"Come, old woman, let's get on!" cried one of the men, who had raised +himself to a kneeling position amongst his turnips; "it's only some +drunken sot." + +Madame Francois, however, had bent forward and on her right hand had +caught sight of a black mass, lying almost under the horse's hoofs, and +blocking the road. + +"You wouldn't have us drive over a man, would you?" said she, jumping to +the ground. + +It was indeed a man lying at full length upon the road, with his arms +stretched out and his face in the dust. He seemed to be remarkably tall, +but as withered as a dry branch, and the wonder was that Balthazar +had not broken him in half with a blow from his hoof. Madame Francois +thought that he was dead; but on stooping and taking hold of one of his +hands, she found that it was quite warm. + +"Poor fellow!" she murmured softly. + +The waggoners, however, were getting impatient. + +"Hurry up, there!" said the man kneeling amongst the turnips, in a +hoarse voice. "He's drunk till he can hold no more, the hog! Shove him +into the gutter." + +Meantime, the man on the road had opened his eyes. He looked at Madame +Francois with a startled air, but did not move. She herself now thought +that he must indeed be drunk. + +"You mustn't stop here," she said to him, "or you'll get run over and +killed. Where were you going?" + +"I don't know," replied the man in a faint voice. + +Then, with an effort and an anxious expression, he added: "I was going +to Paris; I fell down, and don't remember any more." + +Madame Francois could now see him more distinctly, and he was truly a +pitiable object, with his ragged black coat and trousers, through the +rents in which you could espy his scraggy limbs. Underneath a black +cloth cap, which was drawn low over his brows, as though he were afraid +of being recognised, could be seen two large brown eyes, gleaming with +peculiar softness in his otherwise stern and harassed countenance. It +seemed to Madame Francois that he was in far too famished a condition to +have got drunk. + +"And what part of Paris were you going to?" she continued. + +The man did not reply immediately. This questioning seemed to distress +him. He appeared to be thinking the matter over, but at last said +hesitatingly, "Over yonder, towards the markets." + +He had now, with great difficulty, got to his feet again, and seemed +anxious to resume his journey. But Madame Francois noticed that he +tottered, and clung for support to one of the shafts of her waggon. + +"Are you tired?" she asked him. + +"Yes, very tired," he replied. + +Then she suddenly assumed a grumpy tone, as though displeased, and, +giving him a push, exclaimed: "Look sharp, then, and climb into my cart. +You've made us lose a lot of time. I'm going to the markets, and I'll +turn you out there with my vegetables." + +Then, as the man seemed inclined to refuse her offer, she pushed him up +with her stout arms, and bundled him down upon the turnips and carrots. + +"Come, now, don't give us any more trouble," she cried angrily. "You are +quite enough to provoke one, my good fellow. Don't I tell you that +I'm going to the markets? Sleep away up there. I'll wake you when we +arrive." + +She herself then clambered into the cart again, and settled herself with +her back against the board, grasping the reins of Balthazar, who started +off drowsily, swaying his ears once more. The other waggons followed, +and the procession resumed its lazy march through the darkness, whilst +the rhythmical jolting of the wheels again awoke the echoes of the +sleepy house fronts, and the waggoners, wrapped in their cloaks, dozed +off afresh. The one who had called to Madame Francois growled out as he +lay down: "As if we'd nothing better to do than pick up every drunken +sot we come across! You're a scorcher, old woman!" + +The waggons rumbled on, and the horses picked their own way, with +drooping heads. The stranger whom Madame Francois had befriended was +lying on his stomach, with his long legs lost amongst the turnips which +filled the back part of the cart, whilst his face was buried amidst the +spreading piles of carrot bunches. With weary, extended arms he clutched +hold of his vegetable couch in fear of being thrown to the ground by one +of the waggon's jolts, and his eyes were fixed on the two long lines of +gas lamps which stretched away in front of him till they mingled with a +swarm of other lights in the distance atop of the slope. Far away on the +horizon floated a spreading, whitish vapour, showing where Paris slept +amidst the luminous haze of all those flamelets. + +"I come from Nanterre, and my name's Madame Francois," said the market +gardener presently. "Since my poor man died I go to the markets every +morning myself. It's a hard life, as you may guess. And who are you?" + +"My name's Florent, I come from a distance," replied the stranger, with +embarrassment. "Please excuse me, but I'm really so tired that it is +painful to me to talk." + +He was evidently unwilling to say anything more, and so Madame Francois +relapsed into silence, and allowed the reins to fall loosely on the +back of Balthazar, who went his way like an animal acquainted with every +stone of the road. + +Meantime, with his eyes still fixed upon the far-spreading glare of +Paris, Florent was pondering over the story which he had refused to +communicate to Madame Francois. After making his escape from Cayenne, +whither he had been transported for his participation in the resistance +to Louis Napoleon's Coup d'Etat, he had wandered about Dutch Guiana +for a couple of years, burning to return to France, yet dreading the +Imperial police. At last, however, he once more saw before him the +beloved and mighty city which he had so keenly regretted and so ardently +longed for. He would hide himself there, he told himself, and again lead +the quiet, peaceable life that he had lived years ago. The police would +never be any the wiser; and everyone would imagine, indeed, that he +had died over yonder, across the sea. Then he thought of his arrival at +Havre, where he had landed with only some fifteen francs tied up in a +corner of his handkerchief. He had been able to pay for a seat in +the coach as far as Rouen, but from that point he had been forced to +continue his journey on foot, as he had scarcely thirty sous left of his +little store. At Vernon his last copper had gone in bread. After that he +had no clear recollection of anything. He fancied that he could remember +having slept for several hours in a ditch, and having shown the papers +with which he had provided himself to a gendarme; however, he had only a +very confused idea of what had happened. He had left Vernon without any +breakfast, seized every now and then with hopeless despair and raging +pangs which had driven him to munch the leaves of the hedges as he +tramped along. A prey to cramp and fright, his body bent, his sight +dimmed, and his feet sore, he had continued his weary march, ever drawn +onwards in a semi-unconscious state by a vision of Paris, which, far, +far away, beyond the horizon, seemed to be summoning him and waiting for +him. + +When he at length reached Courbevoie, the night was very dark. Paris, +looking like a patch of star-sprent sky that had fallen upon the black +earth, seemed to him to wear a forbidding aspect, as though angry at his +return. Then he felt very faint, and his legs almost gave way beneath +him as he descended the hill. As he crossed the Neuilly bridge he +sustained himself by clinging to the parapet, and bent over and looked +at the Seine rolling inky waves between its dense, massy banks. A red +lamp on the water seemed to be watching him with a sanguineous eye. +And then he had to climb the hill if he would reach Paris on its summit +yonder. The hundreds of leagues which he had already travelled were +as nothing to it. That bit of a road filled him with despair. He would +never be able, he thought, to reach yonder light crowned summit. The +spacious avenue lay before him with its silence and its darkness, its +lines of tall trees and low houses, its broad grey footwalks, speckled +with the shadows of overhanging branches, and parted occasionally by the +gloomy gaps of side streets. The squat yellow flames of the gas lamps, +standing erect at regular intervals, alone imparted a little life to the +lonely wilderness. And Florent seemed to make no progress; the avenue +appeared to grow ever longer and longer, to be carrying Paris away into +the far depths of the night. At last he fancied that the gas lamps, with +their single eyes, were running off on either hand, whisking the road +away with them; and then, overcome by vertigo, he stumbled and fell on +the roadway like a log. + +Now he was lying at ease on his couch of greenery, which seemed to him +soft as a feather bed. He had slightly raised his head so as to keep his +eyes on the luminous haze which was spreading above the dark roofs which +he could divine on the horizon. He was nearing his goal, carried along +towards it, with nothing to do but to yield to the leisurely jolts of +the waggon; and, free from all further fatigue, he now only suffered +from hunger. Hunger, indeed, had once more awoke within him with +frightful and wellnigh intolerable pangs. His limbs seemed to have +fallen asleep; he was only conscious of the existence of his stomach, +horribly cramped and twisted as by a red-hot iron. The fresh odour of +the vegetables, amongst which he was lying, affected him so keenly that +he almost fainted away. He strained himself against that piled-up +mass of food with all his remaining strength, in order to compress his +stomach and silence its groans. And the nine other waggons behind him, +with their mountains of cabbages and peas, their piles of artichokes, +lettuces, celery, and leeks, seemed to him to be slowly overtaking him, +as though to bury him whilst he was thus tortured by hunger beneath +an avalanche of food. Presently the procession halted, and there was a +sound of deep voices. They had reached the barriers, and the municipal +customs officers were examining the waggons. A moment later Florent +entered Paris, in a swoon, lying atop of the carrots, with clenched +teeth. + +"Hallow! You up there!" Madame Francois called out sharply. + +And as the stranger made no attempt to move, she clambered up and shook +him. Florent rose to a sitting posture. He had slept and no longer felt +the pangs of hunger, but was dizzy and confused. + +"You'll help me to unload, won't you?" Madame Francois said to him, as +she made him get down. + +He helped her. A stout man with a felt hat on his head and a badge in +the top buttonhole of his coat was striking the ground with a stick and +grumbling loudly: + +"Come, come, now, make haste! You must get on faster than that! Bring +the waggon a little more forward. How many yards' standing have you? +Four, isn't it?" + +Then he gave a ticket to Madame Francois, who took some coppers out of a +little canvas bag and handed them to him; whereupon he went off to vent +his impatience and tap the ground with his stick a little further away. +Madame Francois took hold of Balthazar's bridle and backed him so as to +bring the wheels of the waggon close to the footway. Then, having marked +out her four yards with some wisps of straw, after removing the back of +the cart, she asked Florent to hand her the vegetables bunch by bunch. +She arranged them sort by sort on her standing, setting them out +artistically, the "tops" forming a band of greenery around each pile; +and it was with remarkable rapidity that she completed her show, which, +in the gloom of early morning, looked like some piece of symmetrically +coloured tapestry. When Florent had handed her a huge bunch of parsley, +which he had found at the bottom of the cart, she asked him for still +another service. + +"It would be very kind of you," said she, "if you would look after my +goods while I put the horse and cart up. I'm only going a couple of +yards, to the Golden Compasses, in the Rue Montorgueil." + +Florent told her that she might make herself easy. He preferred to +remain still, for his hunger had revived since he had begun to move +about. He sat down and leaned against a heap of cabbages beside Madame +Francois's stock. He was all right there, he told himself, and would +not go further afield, but wait. His head felt empty, and he had no very +clear notion as to where he was. At the beginning of September it +is quite dark in the early morning. Around him lighted lanterns were +flitting or standing stationary in the depths of the gloom. He was +sitting on one side of a broad street which he did not recognise; it +stretched far away into the blackness of the night. He could make +out nothing plainly, excepting the stock of which he had been left in +charge. All around him along the market footways rose similar piles of +goods. The middle of the roadway was blocked by huge grey tumbrels, +and from one end of the street to the other a sound of heavy breathing +passed, betokening the presence of horses which the eye could not +distinguish. + +Shouts and calls, the noise of falling wood, or of iron chains slipping +to the ground, the heavy thud of loads of vegetables discharged from the +waggons, and the grating of wheels as the carts were backed against the +footways, filled the yet sonorous awakening, whose near approach could +be felt and heard in the throbbing gloom. Glancing over the pile of +cabbages behind him. Florent caught sight of a man wrapped like a parcel +in his cloak, and snoring away with his head upon some baskets of plums. +Nearer to him, on his left, he could distinguish a lad, some ten years +old, slumbering between two heaps of endive, with an angelic smile on +his face. And as yet there seemed to be nothing on that pavement that +was really awake except the lanterns waving from invisible arms, and +flitting and skipping over the sleep of the vegetables and human beings +spread out there in heaps pending the dawn. However, what surprised +Florent was the sight of some huge pavilions on either side of the +street, pavilions with lofty roofs that seemed to expand and soar out of +sight amidst a swarm of gleams. In his weakened state of mind he fancied +he beheld a series of enormous, symmetrically built palaces, light and +airy as crystal, whose fronts sparkled with countless streaks of light +filtering through endless Venetian shutters. Gleaming between the +slender pillar shafts these narrow golden bars seemed like ladders of +light mounting to the gloomy line of the lower roofs, and then soaring +aloft till they reached the jumble of higher ones, thus describing the +open framework of immense square halls, where in the yellow flare of the +gas lights a multitude of vague, grey, slumbering things was gathered +together. + +At last Florent turned his head to look about him, distressed at not +knowing where he was, and filled with vague uneasiness by the sight of +that huge and seemingly fragile vision. And now, as he raised his eyes, +he caught sight of the luminous dial and the grey massive pile of Saint +Eustache's Church. At this he was much astonished. He was close to Saint +Eustache, yet all was novel to him. + +However, Madame Francois had come back again, and was engaged in a +heated discussion with a man who carried a sack over his shoulder and +offered to buy her carrots for a sou a bunch. + +"Really, now, you are unreasonable, Lacaille!" said she. "You know quite +well that you will sell them again to the Parisians at four and five +sous the bunch. Don't tell me that you won't! You may have them for two +sous the bunch, if you like." + +Then, as the man went off, she continued: "Upon my word, I believe some +people think that things grow of their own accord! Let him go and find +carrots at a sou the bunch elsewhere, tipsy scoundrel that he is! He'll +come back again presently, you'll see." + +These last remarks were addressed to Florent. And, seating herself by +his side, Madame Francois resumed: "If you've been a long time away from +Paris, you perhaps don't know the new markets. They haven't been built +for more than five years at the most. That pavilion you see there beside +us is the flower and fruit market. The fish and poultry markets are +farther away, and over there behind us come the vegetables and the +butter and cheese. There are six pavilions on this side, and on the +other side, across the road, there are four more, with the meat and +the tripe stalls. It's an enormous place, but it's horribly cold in the +winter. They talk about pulling down the houses near the corn market to +make room for two more pavilions. But perhaps you know all this?" + +"No, indeed," replied Florent; "I've been abroad. And what's the name of +that big street in front of us?" + +"Oh, that's a new street. It's called the Rue du Pont Neuf. It +leads from the Seine through here to the Rue Montmartre and the Rue +Montorgueil. You would soon have recognized where you were if it had +been daylight." + +Madame Francois paused and rose, for she saw a woman heading down to +examine her turnips. "Ah, is that you, Mother Chantemesse?" she said in +a friendly way. + +Florent meanwhile glanced towards the Rue Montorgueil. It was there +that a body of police officers had arrested him on the night of December +4.[*] He had been walking along the Boulevard Montmartre at about two +o'clock, quietly making his way through the crowd, and smiling at the +number of soldiers that the Elysee had sent into the streets to awe the +people, when the military suddenly began making a clean sweep of the +thoroughfare, shooting folks down at close range during a quarter of an +hour. Jostled and knocked to the ground, Florent fell at the corner +of the Rue Vivienne and knew nothing further of what happened, for the +panic-stricken crowd, in their wild terror of being shot, trampled over +his body. Presently, hearing everything quiet, he made an attempt to +rise; but across him there lay a young woman in a pink bonnet, whose +shawl had slipped aside, allowing her chemisette, pleated in little +tucks, to be seen. Two bullets had pierced the upper part of her bosom; +and when Florent gently removed the poor creature to free his legs, +two streamlets of blood oozed from her wounds on to his hands. Then he +sprang up with a sudden bound, and rushed madly away, hatless and with +his hands still wet with blood. Until evening he wandered about the +streets, with his head swimming, ever seeing the young woman lying +across his legs with her pale face, her blue staring eyes, her distorted +lips, and her expression of astonishment at thus meeting death so +suddenly. He was a shy, timid fellow. Albeit thirty years old he had +never dared to stare women in the face; and now, for the rest of his +life, he was to have that one fixed in his heart and memory. He felt as +though he had lost some loved one of his own. + +[*] 1851. Two days after the Coup d'Etat.--Translator. + +In the evening, without knowing how he had got there, still dazed and +horrified as he was by the terrible scenes of the afternoon, he had +found himself at a wine shop in the Rue Montorgueil, where several men +were drinking and talking of throwing up barricades. He went away with +them, helped them to tear up a few paving-stones, and seated himself on +the barricade, weary with his long wandering through the streets, and +reflecting that he would fight when the soldiers came up. However, he +had not even a knife with him, and was still bareheaded. Towards eleven +o'clock he dozed off, and in his sleep could see the two holes in the +dead woman's white chemisette glaring at him like eyes reddened by tears +and blood. When he awoke he found himself in the grasp of four police +officers, who were pummelling him with their fists. The men who had +built the barricade had fled. The police officers treated him with still +greater violence, and indeed almost strangled him when they noticed that +his hands were stained with blood. It was the blood of the young woman. + +Florent raised his eyes to the luminous dial of Saint Eustache with his +mind so full of these recollections that he did not notice the position +of the pointers. It was, however, nearly four o'clock. The markets were +as yet wrapped in sleep. Madame Francois was still talking to old Madame +Chantemesse, both standing and arguing about the price of turnips, and +Florent now called to mind how narrowly he had escaped being shot over +yonder by the wall of Saint Eustache. A detachment of gendarmes had just +blown out the brains of five unhappy fellows caught at a barricade in +the Rue Greneta. The five corpses were lying on the footway, at a spot +where he thought he could now distinguish a heap of rosy radishes. He +himself had escaped being shot merely because the policemen only carried +swords. They took him to a neighbouring police station and gave the +officer in charge a scrap of paper, on which were these words written +in pencil: "Taken with blood-stained hands. Very dangerous." Then he had +been dragged from station to station till the morning came. The scrap of +paper accompanied him wherever he went. He was manacled and guarded as +though he were a raving madman. At the station in the Rue de la Lingerie +some tipsy soldiers wanted to shoot him; and they had already lighted a +lantern with that object when the order arrived for the prisoners to be +taken to the depot of the Prefecture of Police. Two days afterwards he +found himself in a casemate of the fort of Bicetre. Ever since then he +had been suffering from hunger. He had felt hungry in the casemate, and +the pangs of hunger had never since left him. A hundred men were pent in +the depths of that cellar-like dungeon, where, scarce able to breathe, +they devoured the few mouthfuls of bread that were thrown to them, like +so many captive wild beasts. + +When Florent was brought before an investigating magistrate, without +anyone to defend him, and without any evidence being adduced, he was +accused of belonging to a secret society; and when he swore that this +was untrue, the magistrate produced the scrap of paper from amongst the +documents before him: "Taken with blood-stained hands. Very dangerous." +That was quite sufficient. He was condemned to transportation. Six weeks +afterwards, one January night, a gaoler awoke him and locked him up in +a courtyard with more than four hundred other prisoners. An hour later +this first detachment started for the pontoons and exile, handcuffed and +guarded by a double file of gendarmes with loaded muskets. They crossed +the Austerlitz bridge, followed the line of the boulevards, and so +reached the terminus of the Western Railway line. It was a joyous +carnival night. The windows of the restaurants on the boulevards +glittered with lights. At the top of the Rue Vivienne, just at the spot +where he ever saw the young woman lying dead--that unknown young woman +whose image he always bore with him--he now beheld a large carriage in +which a party of masked women, with bare shoulders and laughing voices, +were venting their impatience at being detained, and expressing their +horror of that endless procession of convicts. The whole of the way from +Paris to Havre the prisoners never received a mouthful of bread or a +drink of water. The officials had forgotten to give them their rations +before starting, and it was not till thirty-six hours afterwards, when +they had been stowed away in the hold of the frigate _Canada_, that they +at last broke their fast. + +No, Florent had never again been free from hunger. He recalled all the +past to mind, but could not recollect a single hour of satiety. He had +become dry and withered; his stomach seemed to have shrunk; his skin +clung to his bones. And now that he was back in Paris once more, he +found it fat and sleek and flourishing, teeming with food in the midst +of the darkness. He had returned to it on a couch of vegetables; he +lingered in its midst encompassed by unknown masses of food which still +and ever increased and disquieted him. Had that happy carnival night +continued throughout those seven years, then? Once again he saw the +glittering windows on the boulevards, the laughing women, the luxurious, +greedy city which he had quitted on that far-away January night; and it +seemed to him that everything had expanded and increased in harmony +with those huge markets, whose gigantic breathing, still heavy from the +indigestion of the previous day, he now began to hear. + +Old Mother Chantemesse had by this time made up her mind to buy a dozen +bunches of turnips. She put them in her apron, which she held closely +pressed to her person, thus making herself look yet more corpulent than +she was; and for some time longer she lingered there, still gossiping in +a drawling voice. When at last she went away, Madame Francois again sat +down by the side of Florent. + +"Poor old Mother Chantemesse!" she said; "she must be at least +seventy-two. I can remember her buying turnips of my father when I was +a mere chit. And she hasn't a relation in the world; no one but a young +hussy whom she picked up I don't know where and who does nothing but +bring her trouble. Still, she manages to live, selling things by the +ha'p'orth and clearing her couple of francs profit a day. For my own +part, I'm sure that I could never spend my days on the foot-pavement in +this horrid Paris! And she hasn't even any relations here!" + +"You have some relations in Paris, I suppose?" she asked presently, +seeing that Florent seemed disinclined to talk. + +Florent did not appear to hear her. A feeling of distrust came back to +him. His head was teeming with old stories of the police, stories of +spies prowling about at every street corner, and of women selling the +secrets which they managed to worm out of the unhappy fellows they +deluded. Madame Francois was sitting close beside him and certainly +looked perfectly straightforward and honest, with her big calm face, +above which was bound a black and yellow handkerchief. She seemed about +five and thirty years of age, and was somewhat stoutly built, with a +certain hardy beauty due to her life in the fresh air. A pair of black +eyes, which beamed with kindly tenderness, softened the more masculine +characteristics of her person. She certainly was inquisitive, but her +curiosity was probably well meant. + +"I've a nephew in Paris," she continued, without seeming at all offended +by Florent's silence. "He's turned out badly though, and has enlisted. +It's a pleasant thing to have somewhere to go to and stay at, isn't it? +I dare say there's a big surprise in store for your relations when they +see you. But it's always a pleasure to welcome one of one's own people +back again, isn't it?" + +She kept her eyes fixed upon him while she spoke, doubtless +compassionating his extreme scragginess; fancying, too, that there was +a "gentleman" inside those old black rags, and so not daring to slip a +piece of silver into his hand. At last, however, she timidly murmured: +"All the same, if you should happen just at present to be in want of +anything----" + +But Florent checked her with uneasy pride. He told her that he had +everything he required, and had a place to go to. She seemed quite +pleased to hear this, and, as though to tranquillise herself concerning +him, repeated several times: "Well, well, in that case you've only got +to wait till daylight." + +A large bell at the corner of the fruit market, just over Florent's +head, now began to ring. The slow regular peals seemed to gradually +dissipate the slumber that yet lingered all around. Carts were still +arriving, and the shouts of the waggoners, the cracking of their whips, +and the grinding of the paving-stones beneath the iron-bound wheels and +the horses' shoes sounded with an increasing din. The carts could now +only advance by a series of spasmodic jolts, and stretched in a long +line, one behind the other, till they were lost to sight in the distant +darkness, whence a confused roar ascended. + +Unloading was in progress all along the Rue du Pont Neuf, the vehicles +being drawn up close to the edge of the footways, while their teams +stood motionless in close order as at a horse fair. Florent felt +interested in one enormous tumbrel which was piled up with magnificent +cabbages, and had only been backed to the kerb with the greatest +difficulty. Its load towered above the lofty gas lamp whose bright light +fell full upon the broad leaves which looked like pieces of dark green +velvet, scalloped and goffered. A young peasant girl, some sixteen years +old, in a blue linen jacket and cap, had climbed on to the tumbrel, +where, buried in the cabbages to her shoulders, she took them one by one +and threw them to somebody concealed in the shade below. Every now and +then the girl would slip and vanish, overwhelmed by an avalanche of +the vegetables, but her rosy nose soon reappeared amidst the teeming +greenery, and she broke into a laugh while the cabbages again flew down +between Florent and the gas lamp. He counted them mechanically as they +fell. When the cart was emptied he felt worried. + +The piles of vegetables on the pavement now extended to the verge of the +roadway. Between the heaps, the market gardeners left narrow paths to +enable people to pass along. The whole of the wide footway was covered +from end to end with dark mounds. As yet, in the sudden dancing gleams +of light from the lanterns, you only just espied the luxuriant fulness +of the bundles of artichokes, the delicate green of the lettuces, the +rosy coral of the carrots, and dull ivory of the turnips. And these +gleams of rich colour flitted along the heaps, according as the lanterns +came and went. The footway was now becoming populated: a crowd of people +had awakened, and was moving hither and thither amidst the vegetables, +stopping at times, and chattering and shouting. In the distance a loud +voice could be heard crying, "Endive! who's got endive?" The gates of +the pavilion devoted to the sale of ordinary vegetables had just been +opened; and the retail dealers who had stalls there, with white caps on +their heads, fichus knotted over their black jackets, and skirts pinned +up to keep them from getting soiled, now began to secure their stock for +the day, depositing their purchases in some huge porters' baskets placed +upon the ground. Between the roadway and the pavilion these baskets were +to be seen coming and going on all sides, knocking against the +crowded heads of the bystanders, who resented the pushing with coarse +expressions, whilst all around was a clamour of voices growing hoarse +by prolonged wrangling over a sou or two. Florent was astonished by +the calmness of the female market gardeners, with bandanas and bronzed +faces, displayed amidst all this garrulous bargaining of the markets. + +Behind him, on the footway of the Rue Rambuteau, fruit was being sold. +Hampers and low baskets covered with canvas or straw stood there in long +lines, a strong odour of over-ripe mirabelle plums was wafted hither and +thither. At last a subdued and gentle voice, which he had heard for some +time past, induced him to turn his head, and he saw a charming darksome +little woman sitting on the ground and bargaining. + +"Come now, Marcel," said she, "you'll take a hundred sous, won't you?" + +The man to whom she was speaking was closely wrapped in his cloak and +made no reply; however, after a silence of five minutes or more, the +young woman returned to the charge. + +"Come now, Marcel; a hundred sous for that basket there, and four francs +for the other one; that'll make nine francs altogether." + +Then came another interval. + +"Well, tell me what you will take." + +"Ten francs. You know that well enough already; I told you so before. +But what have you done with your Jules this morning, La Sarriette?" + +The young woman began to laugh as she took a handful of small change out +of her pocket. + +"Oh," she replied, "Jules is still in bed. He says that men were not +intended to work." + +She paid for the two baskets, and carried them into the fruit pavilion, +which had just been opened. The market buildings still retained their +gloom-wrapped aspect of airy fragility, streaked with the thousand lines +of light that gleamed from the venetian shutters. People were beginning +to pass along the broad covered streets intersecting the pavilions, but +the more distant buildings still remained deserted amidst the increasing +buzz of life on the footways. By Saint Eustache the bakers and wine +sellers were taking down their shutters, and the ruddy shops, with their +gas lights flaring, showed like gaps of fire in the gloom in which the +grey house-fronts were yet steeped. Florent noticed a baker's shop on +the left-hand side of the Rue Montorgueil, replete and golden with its +last baking, and fancied he could scent the pleasant smell of the hot +bread. It was now half past four. + +Madame Francois by this time had disposed of nearly all her stock. She +had only a few bunches of carrots left when Lacaille once more made his +appearance with his sack. + +"Well," said he, "will you take a sou now?" + +"I knew I should see you again," the good woman quietly answered. "You'd +better take all I have left. There are seventeen bunches." + +"That makes seventeen sous." + +"No; thirty-four." + +At last they agreed to fix the price at twenty-five sous. Madame +Francois was anxious to be off. + +"He'd been keeping his eye upon me all the time," she said to Florent, +when Lacaille had gone off with the carrots in his sack. "That old rogue +runs things down all over the markets, and he often waits till the last +peal of the bell before spending four sous in purchase. Oh, these Paris +folk! They'll wrangle and argue for an hour to save half a sou, and then +go off and empty their purses at the wine shop." + +Whenever Madame Francois talked of Paris she always spoke in a tone of +disdain, and referred to the city as though it were some ridiculous, +contemptible, far-away place, in which she only condescended to set foot +at nighttime. + +"There!" she continued, sitting down again, beside Florent, on some +vegetables belonging to a neighbour, "I can get away now." + +Florent bent his head. He had just committed a theft. When Lacaille +went off he had caught sight of a carrot lying on the ground, and having +picked it up he was holding it tightly in his right hand. Behind him +were some bundles of celery and bunches of parsley were diffusing +pungent odours which painfully affected him. + +"Well, I'm off now!" said Madame Francois. + +However, she felt interested in this stranger, and could divine that +he was suffering there on that foot-pavement, from which he had never +stirred. She made him fresh offers of assistance, but he again refused +them, with a still more bitter show of pride. He even got up and +remained standing to prove that he was quite strong again. Then, as +Madame Francois turned her head away, he put the carrot to his mouth. +But he had to remove it for a moment, in spite of the terrible longing +which he felt to dig his teeth into it; for Madame Francois turned round +again and looking him full in the face, began to question him with +her good-natured womanly curiosity. Florent, to avoid speaking, merely +answered by nods and shakes of the head. Then, slowly and gently, he +began to eat the carrot. + +The worthy woman was at last on the point of going off, when a powerful +voice exclaimed close beside her, "Good morning, Madame Francois." + +The speaker was a slim young man, with big bones and a big head. His +face was bearded, and he had a very delicate nose and narrow sparkling +eyes. He wore on his head a rusty, battered, black felt hat, and was +buttoned up in an immense overcoat, which had once been of a soft +chestnut hue, but which rain had discoloured and streaked with +long greenish stains. Somewhat bent, and quivering with a nervous +restlessness which was doubtless habitual with him, he stood there in a +pair of heavy laced shoes, and the shortness of his trousers allowed a +glimpse of his coarse blue hose. + +"Good morning, Monsieur Claude," the market gardener replied cheerfully. +"I expected you, you know, last Monday, and, as you didn't come, I've +taken care of your canvas for you. I've hung it up on a nail in my +room." + +"You are really very kind, Madame Francois. I'll go to finish that study +of mine one of these days. I wasn't able to go on Monday. Has your big +plum tree still got all its leaves?" + +"Yes, indeed." + +"I wanted to know, because I mean to put it in a corner of the picture. +It will come in nicely by the side of the fowl house. I have been +thinking about it all the week. What lovely vegetables are in the market +this morning! I came down very early, expecting a fine sunrise effect +upon all these heaps of cabbages." + +With a wave of the arm he indicated the footway. + +"Well, well, I must be off now," said Madame Francois. "Good-bye for the +present. We shall meet again soon, I hope, Monsieur Claude." + +However, as she turned to go, she introduced Florent to the young +artist. + +"This gentleman, it seems, has just come from a distance," said she. +"He feels quite lost in your scampish Paris. I dare say you might be of +service to him." + +Then she at last took her departure, feeling pleased at having left the +two men together. Claude looked at Florent with a feeling of interest. +That tall, slight, wavy figure seemed to him original. Madame Francois's +hasty presentation was in his eyes quite sufficient, and he addressed +Florent with the easy familiarity of a lounger accustomed to all sorts +of chance encounters. + +"I'll accompany you," he said; "which way are you going?" + +Florent felt ill at ease; he was not wont to unbosom himself so readily. +However, ever since his arrival in Paris, a question had been trembling +on his lips, and now he ventured to ask it, with the evident fear of +receiving an unfavourable reply. + +"Is the Rue Pirouette still in existence?" + +"Oh, yes," answered the artist. "A very curious corner of old Paris +is the Rue Pirouette. It twists and turns like a dancing girl, and the +houses bulge out like pot-bellied gluttons. I've made an etching of it +that isn't half bad. I'll show it to you when you come to see me. Is it +to the Rue Pirouette that you want to go?" + +Florent, who felt easier and more cheerful now that he knew the street +still existed, declared that he did not want to go there; in fact, he +did not want to go anywhere in particular. All his distrust awoke into +fresh life at Claude's insistence. + +"Oh! never mind," said the artist, "let's go to the Rue Pirouette all +the same. It has such a fine colour at night time. Come along; it's only +a couple of yards away." + +Florent felt constrained to follow him, and the two men walked off, side +by side, stepping over the hampers and vegetables like a couple of old +friends. On the footway of the Rue Rambuteau there were some immense +heaps of cauliflowers, symmetrically piled up like so many cannonballs. +The soft-white flowers spread out like huge roses in the midst of their +thick green leaves, and the piles had something of the appearance +of bridal bouquets ranged in a row in colossal flower stands. Claude +stopped in front of them, venting cries of admiration. + +Then, on turning into the Rue Pirouette, which was just opposite, +he pointed out each house to his companion, and explained his views +concerning it. There was only a single gas lamp, burning in a corner. +The buildings, which had settled down and swollen, threw their +pent-houses forward in such wise as to justify Claude's allusion to +pot-bellied gluttons, whilst their gables receded, and on either side +they clung to their neighbours for support. Three or four, however, +standing in gloomy recesses, appeared to be on the point of toppling +forward. The solitary gas lamp illumined one which was snowy with a +fresh coat of whitewash, suggesting some flabby broken-down old dowager, +powdered and bedaubed in the hope of appearing young. Then the others +stretched away into the darkness, bruised, dented, and cracked, +greeny with the fall of water from their roofs, and displaying such +an extraordinary variety of attitudes and tints that Claude could not +refrain from laughing as he contemplated them. + +Florent, however, came to stand at the corner of the rue de Mondetour, +in front of the last house but one on the left. Here the three floors, +each with two shutterless windows, having little white curtains closely +drawn, seemed wrapped in sleep; but, up above, a light could be seen +flitting behind the curtains of a tiny gable casement. However, the +sight of the shop beneath the pent-house seemed to fill Florent with the +deepest emotion. It was kept by a dealer in cooked vegetables, and was +just being opened. At its far end some metal pans were glittering, while +on several earthen ones in the window there was a display of cooked +spinach and endive, reduced to a paste and arranged in conical mounds +from which customers were served with shovel-like carvers of white +metal, only the handles of which were visible. This sight seemed to +rivet Florent to the ground with surprise. He evidently could not +recognize the place. He read the name of the shopkeeper, Godeboeuf, +which was painted on a red sign board up above, and remained quite +overcome by consternation. His arms dangling beside him, he began to +examine the cooked spinach, with the despairing air of one on whom some +supreme misfortune falls. + +However, the gable casement was now opened, and a little old woman +leaned out of it, and looked first at the sky and then at the markets in +the distance. + +"Ah, Mademoiselle Saget is an early riser," exclaimed Claude, who had +just raised his head. And, turning to his companion, he added: "I once +had an aunt living in that house. It's a regular hive of tittle-tattle! +Ah, the Mehudins are stirring now, I see. There's a light on the second +floor." + +Florent would have liked to question his companion, but the latter's +long discoloured overcoat give him a disquieting appearance. So without +a word Florent followed him, whilst he went on talking about the +Mehudins. These Mehudins were fish-girls, it seemed; the older one was a +magnificent creature, while the younger one, who sold fresh-water +fish, reminded Claude of one of Murillo's virgins, whenever he saw her +standing with her fair face amidst her carps and eels. + +From this Claude went on to remark with asperity that Murillo painted +like an ignoramus. But all at once he stopped short in the middle of the +street. + +"Come!" he exclaimed, "tell me where it is that you want to go." + +"I don't want to go anywhere just at present," replied Florent in +confusion. "Let's go wherever you like." + +Just as they were leaving the Rue Pirouette, some one called to Claude +from a wine shop at the corner of the street. The young man went in, +dragging Florent with him. The shutters had been taken down on one side +only, and the gas was still burning in the sleepy atmosphere of the +shop. A forgotten napkin and some cards that had been used in the +previous evening's play were still lying on the tables; and the fresh +breeze that streamed in through the open doorway freshened the close, +warm vinous air. The landlord, Monsieur Lebigre, was serving his +customers. He wore a sleeved waistcoat, and his fat regular features, +fringed by an untidy beard, were still pale with sleep. Standing in +front of the counter, groups of men, with heavy, tired eyes, were +drinking, coughing, and spitting, whilst trying to rouse themselves +by the aid of white wine and brandy. Amongst them Florent recognised +Lacaille, whose sack now overflowed with various sorts of vegetables. +He was taking his third dram with a friend, who was telling him a long +story about the purchase of a hamper of potatoes.[*] When he had emptied +his glass, he went to chat with Monsieur Lebigre in a little glazed +compartment at the end of the room, where the gas had not yet been +lighted. + + [*] At the Paris central markets potatoes are sold by the + hamper, not by the sack as in England.--Translator. + +"What will you take?" Claude asked of Florent. + +He had on entering grasped the hand of the person who had called out +to him. This was a market porter,[*] a well-built young man of two and +twenty at the most. His cheeks and chin were clean-shaven, but he wore +a small moustache, and looked a sprightly, strapping fellow with his +broad-brimmed hat covered with chalk, and his wool-worked neck-piece, +the straps falling from which tightened his short blue blouse. Claude, +who called him Alexandre, patted his arms, and asked him when they were +going to Charentonneau again. Then they talked about a grand excursion +they had made together in a boat on the Marne, when they had eaten a +rabbit for supper in the evening. + + [*] _Fort_ is the French term, literally "a strong man," as + every market porter needs to be.--Translator. + +"Well, what will you take?" Claude again asked Florent. + +The latter looked at the counter in great embarrassment. At one end of +it some stoneware pots, encircled with brass bands and containing punch +and hot wine, were standing over the short blue flames of a gas stove. +Florent at last confessed that a glass of something warm would be +welcome. Monsieur Lebigre thereupon served them with three glasses of +punch. In a basket near the pots were some smoking hot rolls which had +only just arrived. However, as neither of the others took one, Florent +likewise refrained, and drank his punch. He felt it slipping down into +his empty stomach, like a steam of molten lead. It was Alexandre who +paid for the "shout." + +"He's a fine fellow, that Alexandre!" said Claude, when he and Florent +found themselves alone again on the footway of the Rue Rambuteau. "He's +a very amusing companion to take into the country. He's fond of showing +his strength. And then he's so magnificently built! I have seen him +stripped. Ah, if I could only get him to pose for me in the nude out in +the open air! Well, we'll go and take a turn through the markets now, if +you like." + +Florent followed, yielding entirely to his new friend's guidance. A +bright glow at the far end of the Rue Rambuteau announced the break of +day. The far-spreading voice of the markets was become more sonorous, +and every now and then the peals of a bell ringing in some distant +pavilion mingled with the swelling, rising clamour. Claude and Florent +entered one of the covered streets between the fish and poultry +pavilions. Florent raised his eyes and looked at the lofty vault +overhead, the inner timbers of which glistened amidst a black lacework +of iron supports. As he turned into the great central thoroughfare he +pictured himself in some strange town, with its various districts and +suburbs, promenades and streets, squares and cross-roads, all suddenly +placed under shelter on a rainy day by the whim of some gigantic power. +The deep gloom brooding in the hollows of the roofs multiplied, as it +were, the forest of pillars, and infinitely increased the number of the +delicate ribs, railed galleries, and transparent shutters. And over +the phantom city and far away into the depths of the shade, a teeming, +flowering vegetation of luxuriant metal-work, with spindle-shaped stems +and twining knotted branches, covered the vast expanse as with the +foliage of some ancient forest. Several departments of the markets +still slumbered behind their closed iron gates. The butter and poultry +pavilions displayed rows of little trellised stalls and long alleys, +which lines of gas lights showed to be deserted. The fish market, +however, had just been opened, and women were flitting to and fro +amongst the white slabs littered with shadowy hampers and cloths. Among +the vegetables and fruit and flowers the noise and bustle were gradually +increasing. The whole place was by degree waking up, from the popular +quarter where the cabbages are piled at four o'clock in the morning, +to the lazy and wealthy district which only hangs up its pullets and +pheasants when the hands of the clock point to eight. + +The great covered alleys were now teeming with life. All along the +footways on both sides of the road there were still many market +gardeners, with other small growers from the environs of Paris, +who displayed baskets containing their "gatherings" of the previous +evening--bundles of vegetables and clusters of fruit. Whilst the crowd +incessantly paced hither and thither, vehicles barred the road; and +Florent, in order to pass them, had to press against some dingy sacks, +like coal-sacks in appearance, and so numerous and heavy that the +axle-trees of the vans bent beneath them. They were quite damp, and +exhaled a fresh odour of seaweed. From a rent low down in the side of +one of them a black stream of big mussels was trickling. + +Florent and Claude had now to pause at every step. The fish was arriving +and one after another the drays of the railway companies drove up laden +with wooden cages full of the hampers and baskets that had come by train +from the sea coast. And to get out of the way of the fish drays, which +became more and more numerous and disquieting, the artist and Florent +rushed amongst the wheels of the drays laden with butter and eggs and +cheese, huge yellow vehicles bearing coloured lanterns, and drawn by +four horses. The market porters carried the cases of eggs, and baskets +of cheese and butter, into the auction pavilion, where clerks were +making entries in note books by the light of the gas. + +Claude was quite charmed with all this uproar, and forgot everything to +gaze at some effect of light, some group of blouses, or the picturesque +unloading of a cart. At last they extricated themselves from the crowd, +and as they continued on their way along the main artery they presently +found themselves amidst an exquisite perfume which seemed to be +following them. They were in the cut-flower market. All over the +footways, to the right and left, women were seated in front of large +rectangular baskets full of bunches of roses, violets, dahlias, and +marguerites. At times the clumps darkened and looked like splotches +of blood, at others they brightened into silvery greys of the softest +tones. A lighted candle, standing near one basket, set amidst the +general blackness quite a melody of colour--the bright variegations +of marguerites, the blood-red crimson of dahlias, the bluey purple of +violets, and the warm flesh tints of roses. And nothing could have +been sweeter or more suggestive of springtide than this soft breath of +perfume encountered on the footway, on emerging from the sharp odours of +the fish market and the pestilential smell of the butter and the cheese. + +Claude and Florent turned round and strolled about, loitering among the +flowers. They halted with some curiosity before several women who were +selling bunches of fern and bundles of vine-leaves, neatly tied up in +packets of five and twenty. Then they turned down another covered alley, +which was almost deserted, and where their footsteps echoed as though +they had been walking through a church. Here they found a little cart, +scarcely larger than a wheelbarrow, to which was harnessed a diminutive +donkey, who, no doubt, felt bored, for at sight of them he began braying +with such prolonged and sonorous force that the vast roofing of the +markets fairly trembled. Then the horses began to neigh in reply, there +was a sound of pawing and tramping, a distant uproar, which swelled, +rolled along, then died away. + +Meantime, in the Rue Berger in front of them, Claude and Florent +perceived a number of bare, frontless, salesmen's shops, where, by the +light of flaring gas jets, they could distinguish piles of hampers and +fruit, enclosed by three dirty walls which were covered with addition +sums in pencil. And the two wanderers were still standing there, +contemplating this scene, when they noticed a well-dressed woman huddled +up in a cab which looked quite lost and forlorn in the block of carts as +it stealthily made its way onwards. + +"There's Cinderella coming back without her slippers," remarked Claude +with a smile. + +They began chatting together as they went back towards the markets. +Claude whistled as he strolled along with his hands in his pockets, +and expatiated on his love for this mountain of food which rises every +morning in the very centre of Paris. He prowled about the footways night +after night, dreaming of colossal still-life subjects, paintings of an +extraordinary character. He had even started on one, having his friend +Marjolin and that jade Cadine to pose for him; but it was hard work to +paint those confounded vegetables and fruit and fish and meat--they were +all so beautiful! Florent listened to the artist's enthusiastic talk +with a void and hunger-aching stomach. It did not seem to occur to +Claude that all those things were intended to be eaten. Their charm for +him lay in their colour. Suddenly, however, he ceased speaking and, with +a gesture that was habitual to him, tightened the long red sash which he +wore under his green-stained coat. + +And then with a sly expression he resumed: + +"Besides, I breakfast here, through my eyes, at any rate, and that's +better than getting nothing at all. Sometimes, when I've forgotten to +dine on the previous day, I treat myself to a perfect fit of indigestion +in the morning by watching the carts arrive here laden with all sorts +of good things. On such mornings as those I love my vegetables more than +ever. Ah! the exasperating part, the rank injustice of it all, is that +those rascally Philistines really eat these things!" + +Then he went on to tell Florent of a supper to which a friend had +treated him at Baratte's on a day of affluence. They had partaken of +oysters, fish, and game. But Baratte's had sadly fallen, and all the +carnival life of the old Marche des Innocents was now buried. In place +thereof they had those huge central markets, that colossus of ironwork, +that new and wonderful town. Fools might say what they liked; it was the +embodiment of the spirit of the times. Florent, however, could not +at first make out whether he was condemning the picturesqueness of +Baratte's or its good cheer. + +But Claude next began to inveigh against romanticism. He preferred his +piles of vegetables, he said, to the rags of the middle ages; and he +ended by reproaching himself with guilty weakness in making an etching +of the Rue Pirouette. All those grimy old places ought to be levelled +to the ground, he declared, and modern houses ought to be built in their +stead. + +"There!" he exclaimed, coming to a halt, "look at the corner of the +footway yonder! Isn't that a picture readymade, ever so much more human +and natural than all their confounded consumptive daubs?" + +Along the covered way women were now selling hot soup and coffee. At one +corner of the foot-pavement a large circle of customers clustered round +a vendor of cabbage soup. The bright tin caldron, full of broth, was +steaming over a little low stove, through the holes of which came the +pale glow of the embers. From a napkin-lined basket the woman took some +thin slices of bread and dropped them into yellow cups; then with a +ladle she filled the cups with liquor. Around her were saleswomen neatly +dressed, market gardeners in blouses, porters with coats soiled by the +loads they had carried, poor ragged vagabonds--in fact, all the early +hungry ones of the markets, eating, and scalding their mouths, and +drawing back their chins to avoid soiling them with the drippings from +their spoons. The delighted artist blinked, and sought a point of view +so as to get a good ensemble of the picture. That cabbage soup, however, +exhaled a very strong odour. Florent, for his part, turned his head +away, distressed by the sight of the full cups which the customers +emptied in silence, glancing around them the while like suspicious +animals. As the woman began serving a fresh customer, Claude himself was +affected by the odorous steam of the soup, which was wafted full in his +face. + +He again tightened his sash, half amused and half annoyed. Then resuming +his walk, and alluding to the punch paid for by Alexandre, he said to +Florent in a low voice: + +"It's very odd, but have you ever noticed that although a man can always +find somebody to treat him to something to drink, he can never find a +soul who will stand him anything to eat?" + +The dawn was now rising. The houses on the Boulevard de Sebastopol at +the end of the Rue de la Cossonnerie were still black; but above the +sharp line of their slate roofs a patch of pale blue sky, circumscribed +by the arch-pieces of the covered way, showed like a gleaming half-moon. +Claude, who had been bending over some grated openings on a level with +the ground, through which a glimpse could be obtained of deep cellars +where gas lights glimmered, now glanced up into the air between the +lofty pillars, as though scanning the dark roofs which fringed the clear +sky. Then he halted again, with his eyes fixed on one of the light iron +ladders which connect the superposed market roofs and give access from +one to the other. Florent asked him what he was seeking there. + +"I'm looking for that scamp of a Marjolin," replied the artist. "He's +sure to be in some guttering up there, unless, indeed, he's been +spending the night in the poultry cellars. I want him to give me a +sitting." + +Then he went on to relate how a market saleswoman had found his friend +Marjolin one morning in a pile of cabbages, and how Marjolin had grown +up in all liberty on the surrounding footways. When an attempt had been +made to send him to school he had fallen ill, and it had been necessary +to bring him back to the markets. He knew every nook and corner of them, +and loved them with a filial affection, leading the agile life of a +squirrel in that forest of ironwork. He and Cadine, the hussy whom +Mother Chantemesse had picked up one night in the old Market of the +Innocents, made a pretty couple--he, a splendid foolish fellow, as +glowing as a Rubens, with a ruddy down on his skin which attracted the +sunlight; and she, slight and sly, with a comical phiz under her tangle +of black curly hair. + +Whilst talking Claude quickened his steps, and soon brought his +companion back to Saint Eustache again. Florent, whose legs were once +more giving way, dropped upon a bench near the omnibus office. The +morning air was freshening. At the far end of the Rue Rambuteau rosy +gleams were streaking the milky sky, which higher up was slashed by +broad grey rifts. Such was the sweet balsamic scent of this dawn, that +Florent for a moment fancied himself in the open country, on the brow of +a hill. But behind the bench Claude pointed out to him the many aromatic +herbs and bulbs on sale. All along the footway skirting the tripe +market there were, so to say, fields of thyme and lavender, garlic and +shallots; and round the young plane-trees on the pavement the vendors +had twined long branches of laurel, forming trophies of greenery. The +strong scent of the laurel leaves prevailed over every other odour. + +At present the luminous dial of Saint Eustache was paling as a +night-light does when surprised by the dawn. The gas jets in the wine +shops in the neighbouring streets went out one by one, like stars +extinguished by the brightness. And Florent gazed at the vast markets +now gradually emerging from the gloom, from the dreamland in which +he had beheld them, stretching out their ranges of open palaces. +Greenish-grey in hue, they looked more solid now, and even more colossal +with their prodigious masting of columns upholding an endless expanse +of roofs. They rose up in geometrically shaped masses; and when all the +inner lights had been extinguished and the square uniform buildings were +steeped in the rising dawn, they seemed typical of some gigantic modern +machine, some engine, some caldron for the supply of a whole people, +some colossal belly, bolted and riveted, built up of wood and glass and +iron, and endowed with all the elegance and power of some mechanical +motive appliance working there with flaring furnaces, and wild, +bewildering revolutions of wheels. + +Claude, however, had enthusiastically sprung on to the bench, and stood +upon it. He compelled his companion to admire the effect of the dawn +rising over the vegetables. There was a perfect sea of these extending +between the two clusters of pavilions from Saint Eustache to the Rue des +Halles. And in the two open spaces at either end the flood of greenery +rose to even greater height, and quite submerged the pavements. The dawn +appeared slowly, softly grey in hue, and spreading a light water-colour +tint over everything. These surging piles akin to hurrying waves, this +river of verdure rushing along the roadway like an autumn torrent, +assumed delicate shadowy tints--tender violet, blush-rose, and greeny +yellow, all the soft, light hues which at sunrise make the sky look like +a canopy of shot silk. And by degrees, as the fires of dawn rose higher +and higher at the far end of the Rue Rambuteau, the mass of vegetation +grew brighter and brighter, emerging more and more distinctly from the +bluey gloom that clung to the ground. Salad herbs, cabbage-lettuce, +endive, and succory, with rich soil still clinging to their roots, +exposed their swelling hearts; bundles of spinach, bundles of sorrel, +clusters of artichokes, piles of peas and beans, mounds of cos-lettuce, +tied round with straws, sounded every note in the whole gamut of +greenery, from the sheeny lacquer-like green of the pods to the +deep-toned green of the foliage; a continuous gamut with ascending and +descending scales which died away in the variegated tones of the heads +of celery and bundles of leeks. But the highest and most sonorous notes +still came from the patches of bright carrots and snowy turnips, strewn +in prodigious quantities all along the markets and lighting them up with +the medley of their two colours. + +At the crossway in the Rue des Halles cabbages were piled up in +mountains; there were white ones, hard and compact as metal balls, curly +savoys, whose great leaves made them look like basins of green bronze, +and red cabbages, which the dawn seemed to transform into superb masses +of bloom with the hue of wine-lees, splotched with dark purple and +carmine. At the other side of the markets, at the crossway near Saint +Eustache, the end of the Rue Rambuteau was blocked by a barricade of +orange-hued pumpkins, sprawling with swelling bellies in two superposed +rows. And here and there gleamed the glistening ruddy brown of a hamper +of onions, the blood-red crimson of a heap of tomatoes, the quiet yellow +of a display of marrows, and the sombre violet of the fruit of the +eggplant; while numerous fat black radishes still left patches of gloom +amidst the quivering brilliance of the general awakening. + +Claude clapped his hands at the sight. He declared that those +"blackguard vegetables" were wild, mad, sublime! He stoutly maintained +that they were not yet dead, but, gathered in the previous evening, +waited for the morning sun to bid him good-bye from the flag-stones +of the market. He could observe their vitality, he declared, see their +leaves stir and open as though their roots were yet firmly and warmly +embedded in well-manured soil. And here, in the markets, he added, he +heard the death-rattle of all the kitchen gardens of the environs of +Paris. + +A crowd of white caps, loose black jackets, and blue blouses was +swarming in the narrow paths between the various piles. The big baskets +of the market porters passed along slowly, above the heads of the +throng. Retail dealers, costermongers, and greengrocers were making +their purchases in haste. Corporals and nuns clustered round the +mountains of cabbages, and college cooks prowled about inquisitively, on +the look-out for good bargains. The unloading was still going on; +heavy tumbrels, discharging their contents as though these were so many +paving-stones, added more and more waves to the sea of greenery which +was now beating against the opposite footways. And from the far end of +the Rue du Pont Neuf fresh rows of carts were still and ever arriving. + +"What a fine sight it is!" exclaimed Claude in an ecstasy of enthusiasm. + +Florent was suffering keenly. He fancied that all this was some +supernatural temptation, and, unwilling to look at the markets any +longer, turned towards Saint Eustache, a side view of which he obtained +from the spot where he now stood. With its roses, and broad arched +windows, its bell-turret, and roofs of slate, it looked as though +painted in sepia against the blue of the sky. He fixed his eyes at last +on the sombre depths of the Rue Montorgueil, where fragments of +gaudy sign boards showed conspicuously, and on the corner of the Rue +Montmartre, where there were balconies gleaming with letters of gold. +And when he again glanced at the cross-roads, his gaze was solicited by +other sign boards, on which such inscriptions as "Druggist and Chemist," +"Flour and Grain" appeared in big red and black capital letters upon +faded backgrounds. Near these corners, houses with narrow windows were +now awakening, setting amidst the newness and airiness of the Rue du +Pont Neuf a few of the yellow ancient facades of olden Paris. Standing +at the empty windows of the great drapery shop at the corner of the +Rue Rambuteau a number of spruce-looking counter-jumpers in their shirt +sleeves, with snowy-white wristbands and tight-fitting pantaloons, +were "dressing" their goods. Farther away, in the windows of the severe +looking, barrack-like Guillot establishment, biscuits in gilt wrappers +and fancy cakes on glass stands were tastefully set out. All the shops +were now open; and workmen in white blouses, with tools under their +arms, were hurrying along the road. + +Claude had not yet got down from the bench. He was standing on tiptoe in +order to see the farther down the streets. Suddenly, in the midst of the +crowd which he overlooked, he caught sight of a fair head with long wavy +locks, followed by a little black one covered with curly tumbled hair. + +"Hallo, Marjolin! Hallo, Cadine!" he shouted; and then, as his voice was +drowned by the general uproar, he jumped to the ground and started off. +But all at once, recollecting that he had left Florent behind him, he +hastily came back. "I live at the end of the Impasse des Bourdonnais," +he said rapidly. "My name's written in chalk on the door, Claude +Lantier. Come and see the etching of the Rue Pirouette." + +Then he vanished. He was quite ignorant of Florent's name, and, after +favouring him with his views on art, parted from him as he had met him, +at the roadside. + +Florent was now alone, and at first this pleased him. Ever since Madame +Francoise had picked him up in the Avenue de Neuilly he had been +coming and going in a state of pain fraught somnolence which had quite +prevented him from forming any definite ideas of his surroundings. Now +at last he was at liberty to do what he liked, and he tried to shake +himself free from that intolerable vision of teeming food by which he +was pursued. But his head still felt empty and dizzy, and all that he +could find within him was a kind of vague fear. The day was now growing +quite bright, and he could be distinctly seen. He looked down at his +wretched shabby coat and trousers. He buttoned the first, dusted the +latter, and strove to make a bit of a toilet, fearing lest those black +rags of his should proclaim aloud whence he had come. He was seated in +the middle of the bench, by the side of some wandering vagabonds who +had settled themselves there while waiting for the sunrise. The +neighbourhood of the markets is a favourite spot with vagrants in the +small hours of the morning. However, two constables, still in night +uniform, with cloaks and _kepis_, paced up and down the footway side by +side, their hands resting behind their backs; and every time they passed +the bench they glanced at the game which they scented there. Florent +felt sure that they recognised him, and were consulting together about +arresting him. At this thought his anguish of mind became extreme. He +felt a wild desire to get up and run away; but he did not dare to do +so, and was quite at a loss as to how he might take himself off. The +repeated glances of the constables, their cold, deliberate scrutiny +caused him the keenest torture. At length he rose from the bench, making +a great effort to restrain himself from rushing off as quickly as his +long legs could carry him; and succeeded in walking quietly away, though +his shoulders quivered in the fear he felt of suddenly feeling the rough +hands of the constables clutching at his collar from behind. + +He had now only one thought, one desire, which was to get away from +the markets as quickly as possible. He would wait and make his +investigations later on, when the footways should be clear. The three +streets which met here--the Rue Montmartre, Rue Montorgueil, and Rue +Turbigo--filled him with uneasiness. They were blocked by vehicles of +all kinds, and their footways were crowded with vegetables. Florent went +straight along as far as the Rue Pierre Lescot, but there the cress and +the potato markets seemed to him insuperable obstacles. So he resolved +to take the Rue Rambuteau. On reaching the Boulevard de Sebastopol, +however, he came across such a block of vans and carts and waggonettes +that he turned back and proceeded along the Rue Saint Denis. Then he got +amongst the vegetables once more. Retail dealers had just set up their +stalls, formed of planks resting on tall hampers; and the deluge of +cabbages and carrots and turnips began all over again. The markets were +overflowing. Florent tried to make his escape from this pursuing +flood which ever overtook him in his flight. He tried the Rue de la +Cossonnerie, the Rue Berger, the Square des Innocents, the Rue de +la Ferronnerie, and the Rue des Halles. And at last he came to a +standstill, quite discouraged and scared at finding himself unable to +escape from the infernal circle of vegetables, which now seemed to dance +around him, twining clinging verdure about his legs. + +The everlasting stream of carts and horses stretched away as far as the +Rue de Rivoli and the Place de l'Hotel de Ville. Huge vans were carrying +away supplies for all the greengrocers and fruiterers of an entire +district; _chars-a-bancs_ were starting for the suburbs with straining, +groaning sides. In the Rue de Pont Neuf Florent got completely +bewildered. He stumbled upon a crowd of hand-carts, in which numerous +costermongers were arranging their purchases. Amongst them he recognised +Lacaille, who went off along the Rue Saint Honore, pushing a barrow of +carrots and cauliflowers before him. Florent followed him, in the hope +that he would guide him out of the mob. The pavement was now quite +slippery, although the weather was dry, and the litter of artichoke +stalks, turnip tops, and leaves of all kinds made walking somewhat +dangerous. Florent stumbled at almost every step. He lost sight of +Lacaille in the Rue Vauvilliers, and on approaching the corn market +he again found the streets barricaded with vehicles. Then he made no +further attempt to struggle; he was once more in the clutch of the +markets, and their stream of life bore him back. Slowly retracing his +steps, he presently found himself by Saint Eustache again. + +He now heard the loud continuous rumbling of the waggons that were +setting out from the markets. Paris was doling out the daily food of its +two million inhabitants. These markets were like some huge central organ +beating with giant force, and sending the blood of life through every +vein of the city. The uproar was akin to that of colossal jaws--a mighty +sound to which each phase of the provisioning contributed, from the +whip-cracking of the larger retail dealers as they started off for the +district markets to the dragging pit-a-pat of the old shoes worn by the +poor women who hawked their lettuces in baskets from door to door. + +Florent turned into a covered way on the left, intersecting the group of +four pavilions whose deep silent gloom he had remarked during the night. +He hoped that he might there find a refuge, discover some corner in +which he could hide himself. But these pavilions were now as busy, as +lively as the others. Florent walked on to the end of the street. Drays +were driving up at a quick trot, crowding the market with cages full of +live poultry, and square hampers in which dead birds were stowed in deep +layers. On the other side of the way were other drays from which porters +were removing freshly killed calves, wrapped in canvas, and laid at full +length in baskets, whence only the four bleeding stumps of their legs +protruded. There were also whole sheep, and sides and quarters of beef. +Butchers in long white aprons marked the meat with a stamp, carried it +off, weighted it, and hung it up on hooks in the auction room. Florent, +with his face close to the grating, stood gazing at the rows of hanging +carcasses, at the ruddy sheep and oxen and paler calves, all streaked +with yellow fat and sinews, and with bellies yawning open. Then he +passed along the sidewalk where the tripe market was held, amidst the +pallid calves' feet and heads, the rolled tripe neatly packed in boxes, +the brains delicately set out in flat baskets, the sanguineous livers, +and purplish kidneys. He checked his steps in front of some long +two-wheeled carts, covered with round awnings, and containing sides of +pork hung on each side of the vehicle over a bed of straw. Seen from +the back end, the interiors of the carts looked like recesses of some +tabernacle, like some taper-lighted chapel, such was the glow of all the +bare flesh they contained. And on the beds of straw were lines of tin +cans, full of the blood that had trickled from the pigs. Thereupon +Florent was attacked by a sort of rage. The insipid odour of the meat, +the pungent smell of the tripe exasperated him. He made his way out of +the covered road, preferring to return once more to the footwalk of the +Rue de Pont Neuf. + +He was enduring perfect agony. The shiver of early morning came upon +him; his teeth chattered, and he was afraid of falling to the ground and +finding himself unable to rise again. He looked about, but could see no +vacant place on any bench. Had he found one he would have dropped +asleep there, even at the risk of being awakened by the police. Then, as +giddiness nearly blinded him, he leaned for support against a tree, +with his eyes closed and his ears ringing. The raw carrot, which he had +swallowed almost without chewing, was torturing his stomach, and the +glass of punch which he had drunk seemed to have intoxicated him. He was +indeed intoxicated with misery, weariness, and hunger. Again he felt a +burning fire in the pit of the stomach, to which he every now and then +carried his hands, as though he were trying to stop up a hole through +which all his life was oozing away. As he stood there he fancied that +the foot-pavement rocked beneath him; and thinking that he might perhaps +lessen his sufferings by walking, he went straight on through the +vegetables again. He lost himself among them. He went along a narrow +footway, turned down another, was forced to retrace his steps, bungled +in doing so, and once more found himself amidst piles of greenery. Some +heaps were so high that people seemed to be walking between walls +of bundles and bunches. Only their heads slightly overtopped these +ramparts, and passed along showing whitely or blackly according to the +colour of their hats or caps; whilst the huge swinging baskets, carried +aloft on a level with the greenery, looked like osier boats floating on +a stagnant, mossy lake. + +Florent stumbled against a thousand obstacles--against porters taking up +their burdens, and saleswomen disputing in rough tones. He slipped over +the thick bed of waste leaves and stumps which covered the footway, and +was almost suffocated by the powerful odour of crushed verdure. At last +he halted in a sort of confused stupor, and surrendered to the pushing +of some and the insults of others; and then he became a mere waif, a +piece of wreckage tossed about on the surface of that surging sea. + +He was fast losing all self-respect, and would willingly have begged. +The recollection of his foolish pride during the night exasperated him. +If he had accepted Madame Francois's charity, if he had not felt such +idiotic fear of Claude, he would not now have been stranded there +groaning in the midst of these cabbages. And he was especially angry +with himself for not having questioned the artist when they were in the +Rue Pirouette. Now, alas! he was alone and deserted, liable to die in +the streets like a homeless dog. + +For the last time he raised his eyes and looked at the markets. At +present they were glittering in the sun. A broad ray was pouring through +the covered road from the far end, cleaving the massy pavilions with an +arcade of light, whilst fiery beams rained down upon the far expanse of +roofs. The huge iron framework grew less distinct, assumed a bluey hue, +became nothing but a shadowy silhouette outlined against the flaming +flare of the sunrise. But up above a pane of glass took fire, drops of +light trickled down the broad sloping zinc plates to the gutterings; and +then, below, a tumultuous city appeared amidst a haze of dancing golden +dust. The general awakening had spread, from the first start of the +market gardeners snoring in their cloaks, to the brisk rolling of the +food-laden railway drays. And the whole city was opening its iron gates, +the footways were humming, the pavilions roaring with life. Shouts and +cries of all kinds rent the air; it was as though the strain, which +Florent had heard gathering force in the gloom ever since four in the +morning, had now attained its fullest volume. To the right and left, on +all sides indeed, the sharp cries accompanying the auction sales sounded +shrilly like flutes amidst the sonorous bass roar of the crowd. It was +the fish, the butter, the poultry, and the meat being sold. + +The pealing of bells passed through the air, imparting a quiver to the +buzzing of the opening markets. Around Florent the sun was setting the +vegetables aflame. He no longer perceived any of those soft water-colour +tints which had predominated in the pale light of early morning. The +swelling hearts of the lettuces were now gleaming brightly, the scales +of greenery showed forth with wondrous vigour, the carrots glowed +blood-red, the turnips shone as if incandescent in the triumphant +radiance of the sun. + +On Florent's left some waggons were discharging fresh loads of cabbages. +He turned his eyes, and away in the distance saw carts yet streaming out +of the Rue Turbigo. The tide was still and ever rising. He had felt +it about his ankles, then on a level with his stomach, and now it was +threatening to drown him altogether. Blinded and submerged, his ears +buzzing, his stomach overpowered by all that he had seen, he asked for +mercy; and wild grief took possession of him at the thought of dying +there of starvation in the very heart of glutted Paris, amidst the +effulgent awakening of her markets. Big hot tears started from his eyes. + +Walking on, he had now reached one of the larger alleys. Two women, one +short and old, the other tall and withered, passed him, talking together +as they made their way towards the pavilions. + +"So you've come to do your marketing, Mademoiselle Saget?" said the tall +withered woman. + +"Well, yes, Madame Lecoeur, if you can give it such a name as marketing. +I'm a lone woman, you know, and live on next to nothing. I should have +liked a small cauliflower, but everything is so dear. How is butter +selling to-day?" + +"At thirty-four sous. I have some which is first rate. Will you come and +look at it?" + +"Well, I don't know if I shall want any to-day; I've still a little lard +left." + +Making a supreme effort, Florent followed these two women. He +recollected having heard Claude name the old one--Mademoiselle +Saget--when they were in the Rue Pirouette; and he made up his mind +to question her when she should have parted from her tall withered +acquaintance. + +"And how's your niece?" Mademoiselle Saget now asked. + +"Oh, La Sarriette does as she likes," Madame Lecoeur replied in a bitter +tone. "She's chosen to set up for herself and her affairs no longer +concern me. When her lovers have beggared her, she needn't come to me +for any bread." + +"And you were so good to her, too! She ought to do well this year; fruit +is yielding big profits. And your brother-in-law, how is he?" + +"Oh, he----" + +Madame Lecoeur bit her lips, and seemed disinclined to say anything +more. + +"Still the same as ever, I suppose?" continued Mademoiselle Saget. "He's +a very worthy man. Still, I once heard it said that he spent his money +in such a way that--" + +"But does anyone know how he spends his money?" interrupted Madame +Lecoeur, with much asperity. "He's a miserly niggard, a scurvy fellow, +that's what I say! Do you know, mademoiselle, he'd see me die of +starvation rather than lend me five francs! He knows quite well that +there's nothing to be made out of butter this season, any more than +out of cheese and eggs; whereas he can sell as much poultry as ever he +chooses. But not once, I assure you, not once has he offered to help me. +I am too proud, as you know, to accept any assistance from him; still it +would have pleased me to have had it offered." + +"Ah, by the way, there he is, your brother-in-law!" suddenly exclaimed +Mademoiselle Saget, lowering her voice. + +The two women turned and gazed at a man who was crossing the road to +enter the covered way close by. + +"I'm in a hurry," murmured Madame Lecoeur. "I left my stall without +anyone to look after it; and, besides, I don't want to speak to him." + +However, Florent also had mechanically turned round and glanced at the +individual referred to. This was a short, squarely-built man, with a +cheery look and grey, close-cut brush-like hair. Under each arm he was +carrying a fat goose, whose head hung down and flapped against his legs. +And then all at once Florent made a gesture of delight. Forgetting his +fatigue, he ran after the man, and, overtaking him, tapped him on the +shoulder. + +"Gavard!" he exclaimed. + +The other raised his head and stared with surprise at Florent's tall +black figure, which he did not at first recognise. Then all at once: +"What! is it you?" he cried, as if overcome with amazement. "Is it +really you?" + +He all but let his geese fall, and seemed unable to master his surprise. +On catching sight, however, of his sister-in-law and Mademoiselle Saget, +who were watching the meeting at a distance, he began to walk on again. + +"Come along; don't let us stop here," he said. "There are too many eyes +and tongues about." + +When they were in the covered way they began to chat. Florent related +how he had gone to the Rue Pirouette, at which Gavard seemed much amused +and laughed heartily. Then he told Florent that his brother Quenu had +moved from that street and had reopened his pork shop close by, in the +Rue Rambuteau, just in front of the markets. And afterwards he was again +highly amused to hear that Florent had been wandering about all that +morning with Claude Lantier, an odd kind of fish, who, strangely enough, +said he, was Madame Quenu's nephew. Thus chatting, Gavard was on the +point of taking Florent straight to the pork shop, but, on hearing that +he had returned to France with false papers, he suddenly assumed all +sorts of solemn and mysterious airs, and insisted upon walking some +fifteen paces in front of him, to avoid attracting attention. After +passing through the poultry pavilion, where he hung his geese up in his +stall, he began to cross the Rue Rambuteau, still followed by Florent; +and then, halting in the middle of the road, he glanced significantly +towards a large and well-appointed pork shop. + +The sun was obliquely enfilading the Rue Rambuteau, lighting up the +fronts of the houses, in the midst of which the Rue Pirouette formed a +dark gap. At the other end the great pile of Saint Eustache glittered +brightly in the sunlight like some huge reliquary. And right through +the crowd, from the distant crossway, an army of street-sweepers was +advancing in file down the road, the brooms swishing rhythmically, +while scavengers provided with forks pitched the collected refuse into +tumbrels, which at intervals of a score of paces halted with a noise +like the chattering of broken pots. However, all Florent's attention was +concentrated on the pork shop, open and radiant in the rising sun. + +It stood very near the corner of the Rue Pirouette and provided quite +a feast for the eyes. Its aspect was bright and smiling, touches of +brilliant colour showing conspicuously amidst all the snowy marble. The +sign board, on which the name of QUENU-GRADELLE glittered in fat +gilt letters encircled by leaves and branches painted on a soft-hued +background, was protected by a sheet of glass. On two panels, one on +each side of the shop-front, and both, like the board above, covered +with glass, were paintings representing various chubby little cupids +playing amidst boars' heads, pork chops and strings of sausages; and +these latter still-life subjects, embellished with scrolls and bows, +had been painted in such soft tones that the uncooked pork which they +represented had the pinkiness of raspberry jam. Within this pleasing +framework arose the window display, arranged upon a bed of fine +blue-paper shavings. Here and there fern-leaves, tastefully disposed, +changed the plates which they encircled into bouquets fringed with +foliage. There was a wealth of rich, luscious, melting things. Down +below, quite close to the window, jars of preserved sausage-meat were +interspersed with pots of mustard. Above these were some small, plump, +boned hams. Golden with their dressings of toasted bread-crumbs, and +adorned at the knuckles with green rosettes. Next came the larger +dishes, some containing preserved Strasburg tongues, enclosed in +bladders coloured a bright red and varnished, so that they looked quite +sanguineous beside the pale sausages and trotters; then there were +black-puddings coiled like harmless snakes, healthy looking chitterlings +piled up two by two; Lyons sausages in little silver copes that made +them look like choristers; hot pies, with little banner-like tickets +stuck in them; big hams, and great glazed joints of veal and pork, whose +jelly was as limpid as sugar-candy. In the rear were other dishes and +earthen pans in which meat, minced and sliced, slumbered beneath lakes +of melted fat. And betwixt the various plates and dishes, jars and +bottle of sauce, cullis, stock and preserved truffles, pans of _foie +gras_ and boxes of sardines and tunny-fish were strewn over the bed of +paper shavings. A box of creamy cheeses, and one of edible snails, the +apertures of whose shells were dressed with butter and parsley, had been +placed carelessly at either corner. Finally, from a bar overhead strings +of sausages and saveloys of various sizes hung down symmetrically like +cords and tassels; while in the rear fragments of intestinal membranes +showed like lacework, like some _guipure_ of white flesh. And on the +highest tier in this sanctuary of gluttony, amidst the membranes and +between two bouquets of purple gladioli, the window stand was crowned +by a small square aquarium, ornamented with rock-work, and containing a +couple of gold-fish, which were continually swimming round it. + +Florent's whole body thrilled at the sight. Then he perceived a woman +standing in the sunlight at the door of the shop. With her prosperous, +happy look in the midst of all those inviting things she added to the +cherry aspect of the place. She was a fine woman and quite blocked the +doorway. Still, she was not over stout, but simply buxom, with the full +ripeness of her thirty years. She had only just risen, yet her glossy +hair was already brushed smooth and arranged in little flat bands over +her temples, giving her an appearance of extreme neatness. She had the +fine skin, the pinky-white complexion common to those whose life is +spent in an atmosphere of raw meat and fat. There was a touch of gravity +about her demeanour, her movements were calm and slow; what mirth or +pleasure she felt she expressed by her eyes, her lips retaining all +their seriousness. A collar of starched linen encircled her neck, white +sleevelets reached to her elbows, and a white apron fell even over the +tips of her shoes, so that you saw but little of her black cashmere +dress, which clung tightly to her well-rounded shoulders and swelling +bosom. The sun rays poured hotly upon all the whiteness she displayed. +However, although her bluish-black hair, her rosy face, and bright +sleeves and apron were steeped in the glow of light, she never once +blinked, but enjoyed her morning bath of sunshine with blissful +tranquillity, her soft eyes smiling the while at the flow and riot of +the markets. She had the appearance of a very worthy woman. + +"That is your brother's wife, your sister-in-law, Lisa," Gavard said to +Florent. + +He had saluted her with a slight inclination of the head. Then he darted +along the house passage, continuing to take the most minute precautions, +and unwilling to let Florent enter the premises through the shop, though +there was no one there. It was evident that he felt great pleasure in +dabbling in what he considered to be a compromising business. + +"Wait here," he said, "while I go to see whether your brother is alone. +You can come in when I clap my hands." + +Thereupon he opened a door at the end of the passage. But as soon as +Florent heard his brother's voice behind it, he sprang inside at a +bound. Quenu, who was much attached to him, threw his arms round his +neck, and they kissed each other like children. + +"Ah! dash it all! Is it really you, my dear fellow?" stammered the pork +butcher. "I never expected to see you again. I felt sure you were dead! +Why, only yesterday I was saying to Lisa, 'That poor fellow, Florent!'" + +However, he stopped short, and popping his head into the shop, called +out, "Lisa! Lisa!" Then turning towards a little girl who had crept into +a corner, he added, "Pauline, go and find your mother." + +The little one did not stir, however. She was an extremely fine +child, five years of age, with a plump chubby face, bearing a strong +resemblance to that of the pork butcher's wife. In her arms she was +holding a huge yellow cat, which had cheerfully surrendered itself to +her embrace, with its legs dangling downwards; and she now squeezed +it tightly with her little arms, as if she were afraid that yonder +shabby-looking gentleman might rob her of it. + +Lisa, however, leisurely made her appearance. + +"Here is my brother Florent!" exclaimed Quenu. + +Lisa addressed him as "Monsieur," and gave him a kindly welcome. She +scanned him quietly from head to foot, without evincing any disagreeable +surprise. Merely a faint pout appeared for a moment on her lips. Then, +standing by, she began to smile at her husband's demonstrations of +affection. Quenu, however, at last recovered his calmness, and noticing +Florent's fleshless, poverty-stricken appearance, exclaimed: "Ah, my +poor fellow, you haven't improved in your looks since you were over +yonder. For my part, I've grown fat; but what would you have!" + +He had indeed grown fat, too fat for his thirty years. He seemed to be +bursting through his shirt and apron, through all the snowy-white linen +in which he was swathed like a huge doll. With advancing years his +clean-shaven face had become elongated, assuming a faint resemblance to +the snout of one of those pigs amidst whose flesh his hands worked and +lived the whole day through. Florent scarcely recognised him. He had now +seated himself, and his glance turned from his brother to handsome Lisa +and little Pauline. They were all brimful of health, squarely built, +sleek, in prime condition; and in their turn they looked at Florent with +the uneasy astonishment which corpulent people feel at the sight of a +scraggy person. The very cat, whose skin was distended by fat, dilated +its yellow eyes and scrutinised him with an air of distrust. + +"You'll wait till we have breakfast, won't you?" asked Quenu. "We have +it early, at ten o'clock." + +A penetrating odour of cookery pervaded the place; and Florent looked +back upon the terrible night which he had just spent, his arrival +amongst the vegetables, his agony in the midst of the markets, the +endless avalanches of food from which he had just escaped. And then in a +low tone and with a gentle smile he responded: + +"No; I'm really very hungry, you see." + + + +CHAPTER II + +Florent had just begun to study law in Paris when his mother died. She +lived at Le Vigan, in the department of the Gard, and had taken for +her second husband one Quenu, a native of Yvetot in Normandy, whom some +sub-prefect had transplanted to the south and then forgotten there. He +had remained in employment at the sub-prefecture, finding the country +charming, the wine good, and the women very amiable. Three years after +his marriage he had been carried off by a bad attack of indigestion, +leaving as sole legacy to his wife a sturdy boy who resembled him. It +was only with very great difficulty that the widow could pay the college +fees of Florent, her elder son, the issue of her first marriage. He +was a very gentle youth, devoted to his studies, and constantly won the +chief prizes at school. It was upon him that his mother lavished all her +affection and based all her hopes. Perhaps, in bestowing so much love on +this slim pale youth, she was giving evidence of her preference for her +first husband, a tender-hearted, caressing Provencal, who had loved +her devotedly. Quenu, whose good humour and amiability had at first +attracted her, had perhaps displayed too much self-satisfaction, and +shown too plainly that he looked upon himself as the main source +of happiness. At all events she formed the opinion that her +younger son--and in southern families younger sons are still often +sacrificed--would never do any good; so she contented herself with +sending him to a school kept by a neighbouring old maid, where the lad +learned nothing but how to idle his time away. The two brothers grew up +far apart from each other, as though they were strangers. + +When Florent arrived at Le Vigan his mother was already buried. She had +insisted upon having her illness concealed from him till the very last +moment, for fear of disturbing his studies. Thus he found little Quenu, +who was then twelve years old, sitting and sobbing alone on a table in +the middle of the kitchen. A furniture dealer, a neighbour, gave him +particulars of his mother's last hours. She had reached the end of her +resources, had killed herself by the hard work which she had undertaken +to earn sufficient money that her elder son might continue his legal +studies. To her modest trade in ribbons, the profits of which were but +small, she had been obliged to add other occupations, which kept her +up very late at night. Her one idea of seeing Florent established as an +advocate, holding a good position in the town, had gradually caused her +to become hard and miserly, without pity for either herself or others. +Little Quenu was allowed to wander about in ragged breeches, and in +blouses from which the sleeves were falling away. He never dared to +serve himself at table, but waited till he received his allowance of +bread from his mother's hands. She gave herself equally thin slices, and +it was to the effects of this regimen that she had succumbed, in deep +despair at having failed to accomplish her self-allotted task. + +This story made a most painful impression upon Florent's tender nature, +and his sobs wellnigh choked him. He took his little half brother in his +arms, held him to his breast, and kissed him as though to restore to him +the love of which he had unwittingly deprived him. Then he looked at the +lad's gaping shoes, torn sleeves, and dirty hands, at all the manifest +signs of wretchedness and neglect. And he told him that he would take +him away, and that they would both live happily together. The next day, +when he began to inquire into affairs, he felt afraid that he would not +be able to keep sufficient money to pay for the journey back to Paris. +However, he was determined to leave Le Vigan at any cost. He was +fortunately able to sell the little ribbon business, and this enabled +him to discharge his mother's debts, for despite her strictness in money +matters she had gradually run up bills. Then, as there was nothing left, +his mother's neighbour, the furniture dealer, offered him five hundred +francs for her chattels and stock of linen. It was a very good bargain +for the dealer, but the young man thanked him with tears in his eyes. +He bought his brother some new clothes, and took him away that same +evening. + +On his return to Paris he gave up all thought of continuing to attend +the Law School, and postponed every ambitious project. He obtained a +few pupils, and established himself with little Quenu in the Rue Royer +Collard, at the corner of the Rue Saint Jacques, in a big room which he +furnished with two iron bedsteads, a wardrobe, a table, and four chairs. +He now had a child to look after, and this assumed paternity was very +pleasing to him. During the earlier days he attempted to give the lad +some lessons when he returned home in the evening, but Quenu was an +unwilling pupil. He was dull of understanding, and refused to learn, +bursting into tears and regretfully recalling the time when his mother +had allowed him to run wild in the streets. Florent thereupon stopped +his lessons in despair, and to console the lad promised him a holiday of +indefinite length. As an excuse for his own weakness he repeated that he +had not brought his brother to Paris to distress him. To see him grow up +in happiness became his chief desire. He quite worshipped the boy, was +charmed with his merry laughter, and felt infinite joy in seeing him +about him, healthy and vigorous, and without a care. Florent for his +part remained very slim and lean in his threadbare coat, and his face +began to turn yellow amidst all the drudgery and worry of teaching; but +Quenu grew up plump and merry, a little dense, indeed, and scarce able +to read or write, but endowed with high spirits which nothing could +ruffle, and which filled the big gloomy room in the Rue Royer Collard +with gaiety. + +Years, meantime, passed by. Florent, who had inherited all his mother's +spirit of devotion, kept Quenu at home as though he were a big, idle +girl. He did not even suffer him to perform any petty domestic duties, +but always went to buy the provisions himself, and attended to the +cooking and other necessary matters. This kept him, he said, from +indulging in his own bad thoughts. He was given to gloominess, and +fancied that he was disposed to evil. When he returned home in the +evening, splashed with mud, and his head bowed by the annoyances to +which other people's children had subjected him, his heart melted +beneath the embrace of the sturdy lad whom he found spinning his top +on the tiled flooring of the big room. Quenu laughed at his brother's +clumsiness in making omelettes, and at the serious fashion in which he +prepared the soup-beef and vegetables. When the lamp was extinguished, +and Florent lay in bed, he sometimes gave way to feelings of sadness. He +longed to resume his legal studies, and strove to map out his duties in +such wise as to secure time to follow the programme of the faculty. +He succeeded in doing this, and was then perfectly happy. But a slight +attack of fever, which confined him to his room for a week, made such a +hole in his purse, and caused him so much alarm, that he abandoned all +idea of completing his studies. The boy was now getting a big +fellow, and Florent took a post as teacher in a school in the Rue de +l'Estrapade, at a salary of eighteen hundred francs per annum. This +seemed like a fortune to him. By dint of economy he hoped to be able to +amass a sum of money which would set Quenu going in the world. When the +lad reached his eighteenth year Florent still treated him as though he +were a daughter for whom a dowry must be provided. + +However, during his brother's brief illness Quenu himself had made +certain reflections. One morning he proclaimed his desire to work, +saying that he was now old enough to earn his own living. Florent was +deeply touched at this. Just opposite, on the other side of the street, +lived a working watchmaker whom Quenu, through the curtainless window, +could see leaning over a little table, manipulating all sorts of +delicate things, and patiently gazing at them through a magnifying glass +all day long. The lad was much attracted by the sight, and declared that +he had a taste for watchmaking. At the end of a fortnight, however, he +became restless, and began to cry like a child of ten, complaining +that the work was too complicated, and that he would never be able to +understand all the silly little things that enter into the construction +of a watch. + +His next whim was to be a locksmith; but this calling he found too +fatiguing. In a couple of years he tried more than ten different trades. +Florent opined that he acted rightly, that it was wrong to take up a +calling one did not like. However, Quenu's fine eagerness to work for +his living strained the resources of the little establishment very +seriously. Since he had begun flitting from one workshop to another +there had been a constant succession of fresh expenses; money had gone +in new clothes, in meals taken away from home, and in the payment of +footings among fellow workmen. Florent's salary of eighteen hundred +francs was no longer sufficient, and he was obliged to take a couple +of pupils in the evenings. For eight years he had continued to wear the +same old coat. + +However, the two brothers had made a friend. One side of the house in +which they lived overlooked the Rue Saint Jacques, where there was a +large poultry-roasting establishment[*] kept by a worthy man called +Gavard, whose wife was dying from consumption amidst an atmosphere +redolent of plump fowls. When Florent returned home too late to cook a +scrap of meat, he was in the habit of laying out a dozen sous or so on +a small portion of turkey or goose at this shop. Such days were feast +days. Gavard in time grew interested in this tall, scraggy customer, +learned his history, and invited Quenu into his shop. Before long the +young fellow was constantly to be found there. As soon as his brother +left the house he came downstairs and installed himself at the rear +of the roasting shop, quite enraptured with the four huge spits which +turned with a gentle sound in front of the tall bright flames. + + [*] These rotisseries, now all but extinct, were at one time + a particular feature of the Parisian provision trade. I can + myself recollect several akin to the one described by M. + Zola. I suspect that they largely owed their origin to the + form and dimensions of the ordinary Parisian kitchen stove, + which did not enable people to roast poultry at home in a + convenient way. In the old French cuisine, moreover, roast + joints of meat were virtually unknown; roasting was almost + entirely confined to chickens, geese, turkeys, pheasants, + etc.; and among the middle classes people largely bought + their poultry already cooked of the _rotisseur_, or else + confided it to him for the purpose of roasting, in the same + way as our poorer classes still send their joints to the + baker's. Roasting was also long looked upon in France as a + very delicate art. Brillat-Savarin, in his famous + _Physiologie du Gout_, lays down the dictum that "A man may + become a cook, but is born a _rotisseur_."--Translator. + +The broad copper bands of the fireplace glistened brightly, the poultry +steamed, the fat bubbled melodiously in the dripping-pan, and the spits +seemed to talk amongst themselves and to address kindly words to Quenu, +who, with a long ladle, devoutly basted the golden breasts of the fat +geese and turkeys. He would stay there for hours, quite crimson in the +dancing glow of the flames, and laughing vaguely, with a somewhat stupid +expression, at the birds roasting in front of him. Indeed, he did +not awake from this kind of trance until the geese and turkeys were +unspitted. They were placed on dishes, the spits emerged from their +carcasses smoking hot, and a rich gravy flowed from either end and +filled the shop with a penetrating odour. Then the lad, who, standing +up, had eagerly followed every phase of the dishing, would clap his +hands and begin to talk to the birds, telling them that they were very +nice, and would be eaten up, and that the cats would have nothing but +their bones. And he would give a start of delight whenever Gavard handed +him a slice of bread, which he forthwith put into the dripping-pan that +it might soak and toast there for half an hour. + +It was in this shop, no doubt, that Quenu's love of cookery took its +birth. Later on, when he had tried all sorts of crafts, he returned, +as though driven by fate, to the spits and the poultry and the savoury +gravy which induces one to lick one's fingers. At first he was afraid +of vexing his brother, who was a small eater and spoke of good fare with +the disdain of a man who is ignorant of it; but afterwards, on seeing +that Florent listened to him when he explained the preparation of some +very elaborate dish, he confessed his desires and presently found a +situation at a large restaurant. From that time forward the life of the +two brothers was settled. They continued to live in the room in the Rue +Royer Collard, whither they returned every evening; the one glowing and +radiant from his hot fire, the other with the depressed countenance of +a shabby, impecunious teacher. Florent still wore his old black coat, as +he sat absorbed in correcting his pupils' exercises; while Quenu, to +put himself more at ease, donned his white apron, cap, and jacket, and, +flitting about in front of the stove, amused himself by baking some +dainty in the oven. Sometimes they smiled at seeing themselves thus +attired, the one all in black, the other all in white. These different +garbs, one bright and the other sombre, seemed to make the big room half +gay and half mournful. Never, however, was there so much harmony in a +household marked by such dissimilarity. Though the elder brother grew +thinner and thinner, consumed by the ardent temperament which he had +inherited from his Provencal father, and the younger one waxed fatter +and fatter like a true son of Normandy, they loved each other in the +brotherhood they derived from their mother--a mother who had been all +devotion. + +They had a relation in Paris, a brother of their mother's, one Gradelle, +who was in business as a pork butcher in the Rue Pirouette, near +the central markets. He was a fat, hard-hearted, miserly fellow, and +received his nephews as though they were starving paupers the first time +they paid him a visit. They seldom went to see him afterwards. On +his nameday Quenu would take him a bunch of flowers, and receive a +half-franc piece in return for it. Florent's proud and sensitive nature +suffered keenly when Gradelle scrutinised his shabby clothes with the +anxious, suspicious glance of a miser apprehending a request for a +dinner, or the loan of a five-franc piece. One day, however, it occurred +to Florent in all artlessness to ask his uncle to change a hundred-franc +note for him, and after this the pork butcher showed less alarm at sight +of the lads, as he called them. Still, their friendship got no further +than these infrequent visits. + +These years were like a long, sweet, sad dream to Florent. As they +passed he tasted to the full all the bitter joys of self-sacrifice. At +home, in the big room, life was all love and tenderness; but out in the +world, amidst the humiliations inflicted on him by his pupils, and +the rough jostling of the streets, he felt himself yielding to wicked +thoughts. His slain ambitions embittered him. It was long before he +could bring himself to bow to his fate, and accept with equanimity the +painful lot of a poor, plain, commonplace man. At last, to guard against +the temptations of wickedness, he plunged into ideal goodness, and +sought refuge in a self-created sphere of absolute truth and justice. It +was then that he became a republican, entering into the republican idea +even as heart-broken girls enter a convent. And not finding a republic +where sufficient peace and kindliness prevailed to lull his troubles to +sleep, he created one for himself. He took no pleasure in books. All +the blackened paper amidst which he lived spoke of evil-smelling +class-rooms, of pellets of paper chewed by unruly schoolboys, of long, +profitless hours of torture. Besides, books only suggested to him a +spirit of mutiny and pride, whereas it was of peace and oblivion that he +felt most need. To lull and soothe himself with the ideal imaginings, to +dream that he was perfectly happy, and that all the world would likewise +become so, to erect in his brain the republican city in which he would +fain have lived, such now became his recreation, the task, again and +again renewed, of all his leisure hours. He no longer read any books +beyond those which his duties compelled him to peruse; he preferred +to tramp along the Rue Saint Jacques as far as the outer boulevards, +occasionally going yet a greater distance and returning by the Barriere +d'Italie; and all along the road, with his eyes on the Quartier +Mouffetard spread out at his feet, he would devise reforms of great +moral and humanitarian scope, such as he thought would change that city +of suffering into an abode of bliss. During the turmoil of February +1848, when Paris was stained with blood he became quite heartbroken, and +rushed from one to another of the public clubs demanding that the blood +which had been shed should find atonement in "the fraternal embrace +of all republicans throughout the world." He became one of those +enthusiastic orators who preached revolution as a new religion, full of +gentleness and salvation. The terrible days of December 1851, the days +of the Coup d'Etat, were required to wean him from his doctrines of +universal love. He was then without arms; allowed himself to be captured +like a sheep, and was treated as though he were a wolf. He awoke from +his sermon on universal brotherhood to find himself starving on the cold +stones of a casemate at Bicetre. + +Quenu, when two and twenty, was distressed with anguish when his brother +did not return home. On the following day he went to seek his corpse at +the cemetery of Montmartre, where the bodies of those shot down on the +boulevards had been laid out in a line and covered with straw, from +beneath which only their ghastly heads projected. However, Quenu's +courage failed him, he was blinded by his tears, and had to pass twice +along the line of corpses before acquiring the certainty that Florent's +was not among them. At last, at the end of a long and wretched week, he +learned at the Prefecture of Police that his brother was a prisoner. He +was not allowed to see him, and when he pressed the matter the police +threatened to arrest him also. Then he hastened off to his uncle +Gradelle, whom he looked upon as a person of importance, hoping that he +might be able to enlist his influence in Florent's behalf. But Gradelle +waxed wrathful, declared that Florent deserved his fate, that he ought +to have known better than to have mixed himself up with those rascally +republicans. And he even added that Florent was destined to turn out +badly, that it was written on his face. + +Quenu wept copiously and remained there, almost choked by his sobs. His +uncle, a little ashamed of his harshness, and feeling that he ought to +do something for him, offered to receive him into his house. He wanted +an assistant, and knew that his nephew was a good cook. Quenu was so +much alarmed by the mere thought of going back to live alone in the +big room in the Rue Royer Collard, that then and there he accepted +Gradelle's offer. That same night he slept in his uncle's house, in +a dark hole of a garret just under the room, where there was scarcely +space for him to lie at full length. However, he was less wretched there +than he would have been opposite his brother's empty couch. + +He succeeded at length in obtaining permission to see Florent; but on +his return from Bicetre he was obliged to take to his bed. For nearly +three weeks he lay fever-stricken, in a stupefied, comatose state. +Gradelle meantime called down all sorts of maledictions on his +republican nephew; and one morning, when he heard of Florent's departure +for Cayenne, he went upstairs, tapped Quenu on the hands, awoke him, and +bluntly told him the news, thereby bringing about such a reaction that +on the following day the young man was up and about again. His grief +wore itself out, and his soft flabby flesh seemed to absorb his tears. +A month later he laughed again, and then grew vexed and unhappy with +himself for having been merry; but his natural light-heartedness soon +gained the mastery, and he laughed afresh in unconscious happiness. + +He now learned his uncle's business, from which he derived even more +enjoyment than from cookery. Gradelle told him, however, that he must +not neglect his pots and pans, that it was rare to find a pork butcher +who was also a good cook, and that he had been lucky in serving in a +restaurant before coming to the shop. Gradelle, moreover, made full use +of his nephew's acquirements, employed him to cook the dinners sent out +to certain customers, and placed all the broiling, and the preparation +of pork chops garnished with gherkins in his special charge. As the +young man was of real service to him, he grew fond of him after his +own fashion, and would nip his plump arms when he was in a good humour. +Gradelle had sold the scanty furniture of the room in the Rue Royer +Collard and retained possession of the proceeds--some forty francs or +so--in order, said he, to prevent the foolish lad, Quenu, from making +ducks and drakes of the cash. After a time, however, he allowed his +nephew six francs a month a pocket-money. + +Quenu now became quite happy, in spite of the emptiness of his purse and +the harshness with which he was occasionally treated. He liked to have +life doled out to him; Florent had treated him too much like an indolent +girl. Moreover, he had made a friend at his uncle's. Gradelle, when his +wife died, had been obliged to engage a girl to attend to the shop, and +had taken care to choose a healthy and attractive one, knowing that a +good-looking girl would set off his viands and help to tempt custom. +Amongst his acquaintances was a widow, living in the Rue Cuvier, near +the Jardin des Plantes, whose deceased husband had been postmaster at +Plassans, the seat of a sub-prefecture in the south of France. This +lady, who lived in a very modest fashion on a small annuity, had brought +with her from Plassans a plump, pretty child, whom she treated as her +own daughter. Lisa, as the young one was called, attended upon her with +much placidity and serenity of disposition. Somewhat seriously inclined, +she looked quite beautiful when she smiled. Indeed, her great charm came +from the exquisite manner in which she allowed this infrequent smile +of hers to escape her. Her eyes then became most caressing, and her +habitual gravity imparted inestimable value to these sudden, seductive +flashes. The old lady had often said that one of Lisa's smiles would +suffice to lure her to perdition. + +When the widow died she left all her savings, amounting to some ten +thousand francs, to her adopted daughter. For a week Lisa lived alone in +the Rue Cuvier; it was there that Gradelle came in search of her. He had +become acquainted with her by often seeing her with her mistress when +the latter called on him in the Rue Pirouette; and at the funeral +she had struck him as having grown so handsome and sturdy that he had +followed the hearse all the way to the cemetery, though he had not +intended to do so. As the coffin was being lowered into the grave, he +reflected what a splendid girl she would be for the counter of a pork +butcher's shop. He thought the matter over, and finally resolved to +offer her thirty francs a month, with board and lodging. When he made +this proposal, Lisa asked for twenty-four hours to consider it. Then +she arrived one morning with a little bundle of clothes, and her ten +thousand francs concealed in the bosom of her dress. A month later the +whole place belonged to her; she enslaved Gradelle, Quenu, and even the +smallest kitchen-boy. For his part, Quenu would have cut off his fingers +to please her. When she happened to smile, he remained rooted to the +floor, laughing with delight as he gazed at her. + +Lisa was the eldest daughter of the Macquarts of Plassans, and her +father was still alive.[*] But she said that he was abroad, and never +wrote to him. Sometimes she just dropped a hint that her mother, now +deceased, had been a hard worker, and that she took after her. She +worked, indeed, very assiduously. However, she sometimes added that +the worthy woman had slaved herself to death in striving to support her +family. Then she would speak of the respective duties of husband and +wife in such a practical though modest fashion as to enchant Quenu. He +assured her that he fully shared her ideas. These were that everyone, +man or woman, ought to work for his or her living, that everyone was +charged with the duty of achieving personal happiness, that great harm +was done by encouraging habits of idleness, and that the presence of so +much misery in the world was greatly due to sloth. This theory of hers +was a sweeping condemnation of drunkenness, of all the legendary loafing +ways of her father Macquart. But, though she did not know it, there was +much of Macquart's nature in herself. She was merely a steady, sensible +Macquart with a logical desire for comfort, having grasped the truth +of the proverb that as you make your bed so you lie on it. To sleep in +blissful warmth there is no better plan than to prepare oneself a soft +and downy couch; and to the preparation of such a couch she gave all +her time and all her thoughts. When no more than six years old she +had consented to remain quietly on her chair the whole day through on +condition that she should be rewarded with a cake in the evening. + +[*] See M. Zola's novel, _The Fortune of the Rougons_.--Translator + +At Gradelle's establishment Lisa went on leading the calm, methodical +life which her exquisite smiles illumined. She had not accepted the pork +butcher's offer at random. She reckoned upon finding a guardian in him; +with the keen scent of those who are born lucky she perhaps foresaw that +the gloomy shop in the Rue Pirouette would bring her the comfortable +future she dreamed of--a life of healthy enjoyment, and work without +fatigue, each hour of which would bring its own reward. She attended to +her counter with the quiet earnestness with which she had waited upon +the postmaster's widow; and the cleanliness of her aprons soon became +proverbial in the neighbourhood. Uncle Gradelle was so charmed with this +pretty girl that sometimes, as he was stringing his sausages, he would +say to Quenu: "Upon my word, if I weren't turned sixty, I think I should +be foolish enough to marry her. A wife like she'd make is worth her +weight in gold to a shopkeeper, my lad." + +Quenu himself was growing still fonder of her, though he laughed merrily +one day when a neighbour accused him of being in love with Lisa. He was +not worried with love-sickness. The two were very good friends, however. +In the evening they went up to their bedrooms together. Lisa slept in a +little chamber adjoining the dark hole which the young man occupied. +She had made this room of hers quite bright by hanging it with muslin +curtains. The pair would stand together for a moment on the landing, +holding their candles in their hands, and chatting as they unlocked +their doors. Then, as they closed them, they said in friendly tones: + +"Good night, Mademoiselle Lisa." + +"Good night, Monsieur Quenu." + +As Quenu undressed himself he listened to Lisa making her own +preparations. The partition between the two rooms was very thin. "There, +she is drawing her curtains now," he would say to himself; "what can she +be doing, I wonder, in front of her chest of drawers? Ah! she's sitting +down now and taking off her shoes. Now she's blown her candle out. Well, +good night. I must get to sleep"; and at times, when he heard her bed +creak as she got into it, he would say to himself with a smile, "Dash +it all! Mademoiselle Lisa is no feather." This idea seemed to amuse him, +and presently he would fall asleep thinking about the hams and salt pork +that he had to prepare the next morning. + +This state of affairs went on for a year without causing Lisa a single +blush or Quenu a moment's embarrassment. When the girl came into the +kitchen in the morning at the busiest moment of the day's work, they +grasped hands over the dishes of sausage-meat. Sometimes she helped him, +holding the skins with her plump fingers while he filled them with meat +and fat. Sometimes, too, with the tips of their tongues they just tasted +the raw sausage-meat, to see if it was properly seasoned. She was able +to give Quenu some useful hints, for she knew of many favourite southern +recipes, with which he experimented with much success. He was often +aware that she was standing behind his shoulder, prying into the pans. +If he wanted a spoon or a dish, she would hand it to him. The heat of +the fire would bring their blood to their skins; still, nothing in +the world would have induced the young man to cease stirring the fatty +_bouillis_ which were thickening over the fire while the girl stood +gravely by him, discussing the amount of boiling that was necessary. +In the afternoon, when the shop lacked customers, they quietly chatted +together for hours at a time. Lisa sat behind the counter, leaning back, +and knitting in an easy, regular fashion; while Quenu installed himself +on a big oak block, dangling his legs and tapping his heels against the +wood. They got on wonderfully well together, discussing all sorts of +subjects, generally cookery, and then Uncle Gradelle and the neighbours. +Lisa also amused the young man with stories, just as though he were a +child. She knew some very pretty ones--some miraculous legends, full of +lambs and little angels, which she narrated in a piping voice, with all +her wonted seriousness. If a customer happened to come in, she saved +herself the trouble of moving by asking Quenu to get the required pot of +lard or box of snails. And at eleven o'clock they went slowly up to +bed as on the previous night. As they closed their doors, they calmly +repeated the words: + +"Good night, Mademoiselle Lisa." + +"Good night, Monsieur Quenu." + +One morning Uncle Gradelle was struck dead by apoplexy while preparing +a galantine. He fell forward, with his face against the chopping-block. +Lisa did not lose her self-possession. She remarked that the dead man +could not be left lying in the middle of the kitchen, and had the body +removed into a little back room where Gradelle had slept. Then she +arranged with the assistants what should be said. It must be given out +that the master had died in his bed; otherwise the whole district would +be disgusted, and the shop would lose its customers. Quenu helped to +carry the dead man away, feeling quite confused, and astonished at +being unable to shed any tears. Presently, however, he and Lisa cried +together. Quenu and his brother Florent were the sole heirs. The gossips +of the neighbourhood credited old Gradelle with the possession of a +considerable fortune. However, not a single crown could be discovered. +Lisa seemed very restless and uneasy. Quenu noticed how pensive she +became, how she kept on looking around her from morning till night, as +though she had lost something. At last she decided to have a thorough +cleaning of the premises, declaring that people were beginning to talk, +that the story of the old man's death had got about, and that it was +necessary they should make a great show of cleanliness. One afternoon, +after remaining in the cellar for a couple of hours, whither she herself +had gone to wash the salting-tubs, she came up again, carrying something +in her apron. Quenu was just then cutting up a pig's fry. She waited +till he had finished, talking awhile in an easy, indifferent fashion. +But there was an unusual glitter in her eyes, and she smiled her most +charming smile as she told him that she wanted to speak to him. She led +the way upstairs with seeming difficulty, impeded by what she had in her +apron, which was strained almost to bursting. + +By the time she reached the third floor she found herself short of +breath, and for a moment was obliged to lean against the balustrade. +Quenu, much astonished, followed her into her bedroom without saying a +word. It was the first time she had ever invited him to enter it. She +closed the door, and letting go the corners of her apron, which her +stiffened fingers could no longer hold up, she allowed a stream of gold +and silver coins to flow gently upon her bed. She had discovered Uncle +Gradelle's treasure at the bottom of a salting-tub. The heap of money +made a deep impression in the softy downy bed. + +Lisa and Quenu evinced a quiet delight. They sat down on the edge of the +bed, Lisa at the head and Quenu at the foot, on either side of the heap +of coins, and they counted the money out upon the counterpane, so as to +avoid making any noise. There were forty thousand francs in gold, and +three thousand francs in silver, whilst in a tin box they found bank +notes to the value of forty-two thousand francs. It took them two hours +to count up the treasure. Quenu's hands trembled slightly, and it was +Lisa who did most of the work. + +They arranged the gold on the pillow in little heaps, leaving the silver +in the hollow depression of the counterpane. When they had ascertained +the total amount--eighty-five thousand francs, to them an enormous +sum--they began to chat. And their conversation naturally turned upon +their future, and they spoke of their marriage, although there had never +been any previous mention of love between them. But this heap of money +seemed to loosen their tongues. They had gradually seated themselves +further back on the bed, leaning against the wall, beneath the white +muslin curtains; and as they talked together, their hands, playing with +the heap of silver between them, met, and remained linked amidst +the pile of five-franc pieces. Twilight surprised them still sitting +together. Then, for the first time, Lisa blushed at finding the young +man by her side. For a few moments, indeed, although not a thought of +evil had come to them, they felt much embarrassed. Then Lisa went to +get her own ten thousand francs. Quenu wanted her to put them with his +uncle's savings. He mixed the two sums together, saying with a laugh +that the money must be married also. Then it was agreed that Lisa should +keep the hoard in her chest of drawers. When she had locked it up they +both quietly went downstairs. They were now practically husband and +wife. + +The wedding took place during the following month. The neighbours +considered the match a very natural one, and in every way suitable. They +had vaguely heard the story of the treasure, and Lisa's honesty was the +subject of endless eulogy. After all, said the gossips, she might well +have kept the money herself, and not have spoken a word to Quenu about +it; if she had spoken, it was out of pure honesty, for no one had seen +her find the hoard. She well deserved, they added, that Quenu should +make her his wife. That Quenu, by the way, was a lucky fellow; he +wasn't a beauty himself, yet he had secured a beautiful wife, who had +disinterred a fortune for him. Some even went so far as to whisper that +Lisa was a simpleton for having acted as she had done; but the young +woman only smiled when people speaking to her vaguely alluded to all +these things. She and her husband lived on as previously, in happy +placidity and quiet affection. She still assisted him as before, their +hands still met amidst the sausage-meat, she still glanced over his +shoulder into the pots and pans, and still nothing but the great fire in +the kitchen brought the blood to their cheeks. + +However, Lisa was a woman of practical common sense, and speedily saw +the folly of allowing eighty-five thousand francs to lie idle in a chest +of drawers. Quenu would have willingly stowed them away again at the +bottom of the salting-tub until he had gained as much more, when they +could have retired from business and have gone to live at Suresnes, a +suburb to which both were partial. Lisa, however, had other ambitions. +The Rue Pirouette did not accord with her ideas of cleanliness, her +craving for fresh air, light, and healthy life. The shop where Uncle +Gradelle had accumulated his fortune, sou by sou, was a long, dark +place, one of those suspicious looking pork butchers' shops of the old +quarters of the city, where the well-worn flagstones retain a strong +odour of meat in spite of constant washings. Now the young woman longed +for one of those bright modern shops, ornamented like a drawing-room, +and fringing the footway of some broad street with windows of +crystalline transparence. She was not actuated by any petty ambition to +play the fine lady behind a stylish counter, but clearly realised that +commerce in its latest development needed elegant surroundings. Quenu +showed much alarm the first time his wife suggested that they ought to +move and spend some of their money in decorating a new shop. However, +Lisa only shrugged her shoulders and smiled at finding him so timorous. + +One evening, when night was falling and the shop had grown dark, Quenu +and Lisa overheard a woman of the neighbourhood talking to a friend +outside their door. + +"No, indeed! I've given up dealing with them," said she. "I wouldn't buy +a bit of black-pudding from them now on any account. They had a dead man +in their kitchen, you know." + +Quenu wept with vexation. The story of Gradelle's death in the kitchen +was clearly getting about; and his nephew began to blush before his +customers when he saw them sniffing his wares too closely. So, of his +own accord, he spoke to his wife of her proposal to take a new shop. +Lisa, without saying anything, had already been looking out for other +premises, and had found some, admirably situated, only a few yards +away, in the Rue Rambuteau. The immediate neighbourhood of the central +markets, which were being opened just opposite, would triple their +business, and make their shop known all over Paris. + +Quenu allowed himself to be drawn into a lavish expenditure of money; he +laid out over thirty thousand francs in marble, glass, and gilding. +Lisa spent hours with the workmen, giving her views about the slightest +details. When she was at last installed behind the counter, customers +arrived in a perfect procession, merely for the sake of examining the +shop. The inside walls were lined from top to bottom with white marble. +The ceiling was covered with a huge square mirror, framed by a broad +gilded cornice, richly ornamented, whilst from the centre hung a crystal +chandelier with four branches. And behind the counter, and on the left, +and at the far end of the shop were other mirrors, fitted between the +marble panels and looking like doors opening into an infinite series +of brightly lighted halls, where all sorts of appetising edibles were +displayed. The huge counter on the right hand was considered a very fine +piece of work. At intervals along the front were lozenge-shaped panels +of pinky marble. The flooring was of tiles, alternately white and pink, +with a deep red fretting as border. The whole neighbourhood was proud +of the shop, and no one again thought of referring to the kitchen in +the Rue Pirouette, where a man had died. For quite a month women stopped +short on the footway to look at Lisa between the saveloys and bladders +in the window. Her white and pink flesh excited as much admiration as +the marbles. She seemed to be the soul, the living light, the healthy, +sturdy idol of the pork trade; and thenceforth one and all baptised her +"Lisa the beauty." + +To the right of the shop was the dining-room, a neat looking apartment +containing a sideboard, a table, and several cane-seated chairs of light +oak. The matting on the floor, the wallpaper of a soft yellow tint, the +oil-cloth table-cover, coloured to imitate oak, gave the room a somewhat +cold appearance, which was relieved only by the glitter of a brass +hanging lamp, suspended from the ceiling, and spreading its big shade +of transparent porcelain over the table. One of the dining-room doors +opened into the huge square kitchen, at the end of which was a small +paved courtyard, serving for the storage of lumber--tubs, barrels +and pans, and all kinds of utensils not in use. To the left of the +water-tap, alongside the gutter which carried off the greasy water, +stood pots of faded flowers, removed from the shop window, and slowly +dying. + +Business was excellent. Quenu, who had been much alarmed by the initial +outlay, now regarded his wife with something like respect, and told his +friends that she had "a wonderful head." At the end of five years they +had nearly eighty thousand francs invested in the State funds. Lisa +would say that they were not ambitious, that they had no desire to pile +up money too quickly, or else she would have enabled her husband to +gain hundreds and thousands of francs by prompting him to embark in the +wholesale pig trade. But they were still young, and had plenty of +time before them; besides, they didn't care about a rough, scrambling +business, but preferred to work at their ease, and enjoy life, instead +of wearing themselves out with endless anxieties. + +"For instance," Lisa would add in her expansive moments, "I have, you +know, a cousin in Paris. I never see him, as the two families have +fallen out. He has taken the name of Saccard,[*] on account of certain +matters which he wants to be forgotten. Well, this cousin of mine, I'm +told, makes millions and millions of francs; but he gets no enjoyment +out of life. He's always in a state of feverish excitement, always +rushing hither and thither, up to his neck in all sorts of worrying +business. Well, it's impossible, isn't it, for such a man to eat his +dinner peaceably in the evening? We, at any rate, can take our meals +comfortably, and make sure of what we eat, and we are not harassed by +worries as he is. The only reason why people should care for money +is that money's wanted for one to live. People like comfort; that's +natural. But as for making money simply for the sake of making it, and +giving yourself far more trouble and anxiety to gain it than you can +ever get pleasure from it when it's gained, why, as for me, I'd rather +sit still and cross my arms. And besides, I should like to see all those +millions of my cousin's. I can't say that I altogether believe in +them. I caught sight of him the other day in his carriage. He was quite +yellow, and looked ever so sly. A man who's making money doesn't have +that kind of expression. But it's his business, and not mine. For our +part, we prefer to make merely a hundred sous at a time, and to get a +hundred sous' worth of enjoyment out of them." + +[*] See M. Zola's novel, _Money_. + +The household was undoubtedly thriving. A daughter had been born to the +young couple during their first year of wedlock, and all three of +them looked blooming. The business went on prosperously, without any +laborious fatigue, just as Lisa desired. She had carefully kept free of +any possible source of trouble or anxiety, and the days went by in an +atmosphere of peaceful, unctuous prosperity. Their home was a nook of +sensible happiness--a comfortable manger, so to speak, where father, +mother, and daughter could grow sleek and fat. It was only Quenu who +occasionally felt sad, through thinking of his brother Florent. Up to +the year 1856 he had received letters from him at long intervals. Then +no more came, and he had learned from a newspaper that three convicts +having attempted to escape from the Ile du Diable, had been drowned +before they were able to reach the mainland. He had made inquiries +at the Prefecture of Police, but had not learnt anything definite; it +seemed probable that his brother was dead. However, he did not lose +all hope, though months passed without any tidings. Florent, in the +meantime, was wandering about Dutch Guiana, and refrained from writing +home as he was ever in hope of being able to return to France. Quenu at +last began to mourn for him as one mourns for those whom one has been +unable to bid farewell. Lisa had never known Florent, but she spoke +very kindly whenever she saw her husband give way to his sorrow; and +she evinced no impatience when for the hundredth time or so he began to +relate stories of his early days, of his life in the big room in the +Rue Royer Collard, the thirty-six trades which he had taken up one after +another, and the dainties which he had cooked at the stove, dressed all +in white, while Florent was dressed all in black. To such talk as this, +indeed, she listened placidly, with a complacency which never wearied. + +It was into the midst of all this happiness, ripening after careful +culture, that Florent dropped one September morning just as Lisa was +taking her matutinal bath of sunshine, and Quenu, with his eyes still +heavy with sleep, was lazily applying his fingers to the congealed fat +left in the pans from the previous evening. Florent's arrival caused +a great commotion. Gavard advised them to conceal the "outlaw," as +he somewhat pompously called Florent. Lisa, who looked pale, and more +serious than was her wont, at last took him to the fifth floor, where +she gave him the room belonging to the girl who assisted her in the +shop. Quenu had cut some slices of bread and ham, but Florent was +scarcely able to eat. He was overcome by dizziness and nausea, and went +to bed, where he remained for five days in a state of delirium, +the outcome of an attack of brain-fever, which fortunately received +energetic treatment. When he recovered consciousness he perceived Lisa +sitting by his bedside, silently stirring some cooling drink in a cup. +As he tried to thank her, she told him that he must keep perfectly +quiet, and that they could talk together later on. At the end of another +three days Florent was on his feet again. Then one morning Quenu went up +to tell him that Lisa awaited them in her room on the first floor. + +Quenu and his wife there occupied a suite of three rooms and a +dressing-room. You first passed through an antechamber, containing +nothing but chairs, and then a small sitting-room, whose furniture, +shrouded in white covers, slumbered in the gloom cast by the Venetian +shutters, which were always kept closed so as to prevent the light blue +of the upholstery from fading. Then came the bedroom, the only one of +the three which was really used. It was very comfortably furnished in +mahogany. The bed, bulky and drowsy of aspect in the depths of the +damp alcove, was really wonderful, with its four mattresses, its four +pillows, its layers of blankets, and its corpulent _edredon_. It was +evidently a bed intended for slumber. A mirrored wardrobe, a washstand +with drawers, a small central table with a worked cover, and several +chairs whose seats were protected by squares of lace, gave the room an +aspect of plain but substantial middle-class luxury. On the left-hand +wall, on either side of the mantelpiece, which was ornamented with some +landscape-painted vases mounted on bronze stands, and a gilt timepiece +on which a figure of Gutenberg, also gilt, stood in an attitude of +deep thought, hung portraits in oils of Quenu and Lisa, in ornate +oval frames. Quenu had a smiling face, while Lisa wore an air of grave +propriety; and both were dressed in black and depicted in flattering +fashion, their features idealised, their skins wondrously smooth, +their complexions soft and pinky. A carpet, in the Wilton style, with +a complicated pattern of roses mingling with stars, concealed the +flooring; while in front of the bed was a fluffy mat, made out of long +pieces of curly wool, a work of patience at which Lisa herself had +toiled while seated behind her counter. But the most striking object +of all in the midst of this array of new furniture was a great square, +thick-set secretaire, which had been re-polished in vain, for the cracks +and notches in the marble top and the scratches on the old mahogany +front, quite black with age, still showed plainly. Lisa had desired to +retain this piece of furniture, however, as Uncle Gradelle had used it +for more than forty years. It would bring them good luck, she said. It's +metal fastenings were truly something terrible, it's lock was like that +of a prison gate, and it was so heavy that it could scarcely be moved. + +When Florent and Quenu entered the room they found Lisa seated at the +lowered desk of the secretaire, writing and putting down figures in a +big, round, and very legible hand. She signed to them not to disturb +her, and the two men sat down. Florent looked round the room, and +notably at the two portraits, the bed and the timepiece, with an air of +surprise. + +"There!" at last exclaimed Lisa, after having carefully verified a whole +page of calculations. "Listen to me now; we have an account to render to +you, my dear Florent." + +It was the first time that she had so addressed him. However, taking up +the page of figures, she continued: "Your Uncle Gradelle died without +leaving a will. Consequently you and your brother are his sole heirs. We +now have to hand your share over to you." + +"But I do not ask you for anything!" exclaimed Florent, "I don't wish +for anything!" + +Quenu had apparently been in ignorance of his wife's intentions. He +turned rather pale and looked at her with an expression of displeasure. +Of course, he certainly loved his brother dearly; but there was no +occasion to hurl his uncle's money at him in this way. There would have +been plenty of time to go into the matter later on. + +"I know very well, my dear Florent," continued Lisa, "that you did not +come back with the intention of claiming from us what belongs to you; +but business is business, you know, and we had better get things settled +at once. Your uncle's savings amounted to eighty-five thousand francs. I +have therefore put down forty-two thousand five hundred to your credit. +See!" + +She showed him the figures on the sheet of paper. + +"It is unfortunately not so easy to value the shop, plant, +stock-in-trade, and goodwill. I have only been able to put down +approximate amounts, but I don't think I have underestimated anything. +Well, the total valuation which I have made comes to fifteen thousand +three hundred and ten francs; your half of which is seven thousand six +hundred and fifty-five francs, so that your share amounts, in all, to +fifty thousand one hundred and fifty-five francs. Please verify it for +yourself, will you?" + +She had called out the figures in a clear, distinct voice, and she now +handed the paper to Florent, who was obliged to take it. + +"But the old man's business was certainly never worth fifteen thousand +francs!" cried Quenu. "Why, I wouldn't have given ten thousand for it!" + +He had ended by getting quite angry with his wife. Really, it was absurd +to carry honesty to such a point as that! Had Florent said one word +about the business? No, indeed, he had declared that he didn't wish for +anything. + +"The business was worth fifteen thousand three hundred and ten francs," +Lisa re-asserted, calmly. "You will agree with me, my dear Florent, that +it is quite unnecessary to bring a lawyer into our affairs. It is for us +to arrange the division between ourselves, since you have now turned up +again. I naturally thought of this as soon as you arrived; and, while +you were in bed with the fever, I did my best to draw up this little +inventory. It contains, as you see, a fairly complete statement of +everything. I have been through our old books, and have called up my +memory to help me. Read it aloud, and I will give you any additional +information you may want." + +Florent ended by smiling. He was touched by this easy and, as it were, +natural display of probity. Placing the sheet of figures on the young +woman's knee, he took hold of her hand and said, "I am very glad, my +dear Lisa, to hear that you are prosperous, but I will not take your +money. The heritage belongs to you and my brother, who took care of my +uncle up to the last. I don't require anything, and I don't intend to +hamper you in carrying on your business." + +Lisa insisted, and even showed some vexation, while Quenu gnawed his +thumbs in silence to restrain himself. + +"Ah!" resumed Florent with a laugh, "if Uncle Gradelle could hear you, +I think he'd come back and take the money away again. I was never a +favourite of his, you know." + +"Well, no," muttered Quenu, no longer able to keep still, "he certainly +wasn't over fond of you." + +Lisa, however, still pressed the matter. She did not like to have money +in her secretaire that did not belong to her; it would worry her, said +she; the thought of it would disturb her peace. Thereupon Florent, still +in a joking way, proposed to invest his share in the business. Moreover, +said he, he did not intend to refuse their help; he would, no doubt, be +unable to find employment all at once; and then, too, he would need a +complete outfit, for he was scarcely presentable. + +"Of course," cried Quenu, "you will board and lodge with us, and we will +buy you all that you want. That's understood. You know very well that we +are not likely to leave you in the streets, I hope!" + +He was quite moved now, and even felt a trifle ashamed of the alarm he +had experienced at the thought of having to hand over a large amount of +money all at once. He began to joke, and told his brother that he would +undertake to fatten him. Florent gently shook his hand; while Lisa +folded up the sheet of figures and put it away in a drawer of the +secretaire. + +"You are wrong," she said by way of conclusion. "I have done what I was +bound to do. Now it shall be as you wish. But, for my part, I should +never have had a moment's peace if I had not put things before you. Bad +thoughts would quite upset me." + +They then began to speak of another matter. It would be necessary to +give some reason for Florent's presence, and at the same time avoid +exciting the suspicion of the police. He told them that in order to +return to France he had availed himself of the papers of a poor fellow +who had died in his arms at Surinam from yellow fever. By a singular +coincidence this young fellow's Christian name was Florent. + +Florent Laquerriere, to give him his name in full, had left but one +relation in Paris, a female cousin, and had been informed of her death +while in America. Nothing could therefore be easier than for Quenu's +half brother to pass himself off as the man who had died at Surinam. +Lisa offered to take upon herself the part of the female cousin. They +then agreed to relate that their cousin Florent had returned from +abroad, where he had failed in his attempts to make a fortune, and that +they, the Quenu-Gradelles, as they were called in the neighbourhood, had +received him into their house until he could find suitable employment. +When this was all settled, Quenu insisted upon his brother making +a thorough inspection of the rooms, and would not spare him the +examination of a single stool. Whilst they were in the bare looking +chamber containing nothing but chairs, Lisa pushed open a door, and +showing Florent a small dressing room, told him that the shop girl +should sleep in it, so that he could retain the bedroom on the fifth +floor. + +In the evening Florent was arrayed in new clothes from head to foot. +He had insisted upon again having a black coat and black trousers, much +against the advice of Quenu, upon whom black had a depressing effect. +No further attempts were made to conceal his presence in the house, and +Lisa told the story which had been planned to everyone who cared to +hear it. Henceforth Florent spent almost all his time on the premises, +lingering on a chair in the kitchen or leaning against the marble-work +in the shop. At meal times Quenu plied him with food, and evinced +considerable vexation when he proved such a small eater and left half +the contents of his liberally filled plate untouched. Lisa had resumed +her old life, evincing a kindly tolerance of her brother-in-law's +presence, even in the morning, when he somewhat interfered with the +work. Then she would momentarily forget him, and on suddenly perceiving +his black form in front of her give a slight start of surprise, +followed, however, by one of her sweet smiles, lest he might feel at +all hurt. This skinny man's disinterestedness had impressed her, and she +regarded him with a feeling akin to respect, mingled with vague fear. +Florent had for his part only felt that there was great affection around +him. + +When bedtime came he went upstairs, a little wearied by his lazy day, +with the two young men whom Quenu employed as assistants, and who slept +in attics adjoining his own. Leon, the apprentice, was barely fifteen +years of age. He was a slight, gentle looking lad, addicted to stealing +stray slices of ham and bits of sausages. These he would conceal under +his pillow, eating them during the night without any bread. Several +times at about one o'clock in the morning Florent almost fancied that +Leon was giving a supper-party; for he heard low whispering followed by +a sound of munching jaws and rustling paper. And then a rippling girlish +laugh would break faintly on the deep silence of the sleeping house like +the soft trilling of a flageolet. + +The other assistant, Auguste Landois, came from Troyes. Bloated with +unhealthy fat, he had too large a head, and was already bald, although +only twenty-eight years of age. As he went upstairs with Florent on the +first evening, he told him his story in a confused, garrulous way. He +had at first come to Paris merely for the purpose of perfecting himself +in the business, intending to return to Troyes, where his cousin, +Augustine Landois, was waiting for him, and there setting up for himself +as a pork butcher. He and she had had the game godfather and bore +virtually the same Christian name. However, he had grown ambitious; and +now hoped to establish himself in business in Paris by the aid of the +money left him by his mother, which he had deposited with a notary +before leaving Champagne. + +Auguste had got so far in his narrative when the fifth floor was +reached; however, he still detained Florent, in order to sound the +praises of Madame Quenu, who had consented to send for Augustine Landois +to replace an assistant who had turned out badly. He himself was now +thoroughly acquainted with his part of the business, and his cousin was +perfecting herself in shop management. In a year or eighteen months they +would be married, and then they would set up on their own account in +some populous corner of Paris, at Plaisance most likely. They were in no +great hurry, he added, for the bacon trade was very bad that year. +Then he proceeded to tell Florent that he and his cousin had been +photographed together at the fair of St. Ouen, and he entered the attic +to have another look at the photograph, which Augustine had left on +the mantelpiece, in her desire that Madame Quenu's cousin should have a +pretty room. Auguste lingered there for a moment, looking quite livid +in the dim yellow light of his candle, and casting his eyes around the +little chamber which was still full of memorials of the young girl. +Next, stepping up to the bed, he asked Florent if it was comfortable. +His cousin slept below now, said he, and would be better there in the +winter, for the attics were very cold. Then at last he went off, leaving +Florent alone with the bed, and standing in front of the photograph. +As shown on the latter Auguste looked like a sort of pale Quenu, and +Augustine like an immature Lisa. + +Florent, although on friendly terms with the assistants, petted by his +brother, and cordially treated by Lisa, presently began to feel very +bored. He had tried, but without success, to obtain some pupils; +moreover, he purposely avoided the students' quarter for fear of being +recognised. Lisa gently suggested to him that he had better try to +obtain a situation in some commercial house, where he could take charge +of the correspondence and keep the books. She returned to this subject +again and again, and at last offered to find a berth for him herself. +She was gradually becoming impatient at finding him so often in her way, +idle, and not knowing what to do with himself. At first this impatience +was merely due to the dislike she felt of people who do nothing but +cross their arms and eat, and she had no thought of reproaching him for +consuming her substance. + +"For my own part," she would say to him, "I could never spend the whole +day in dreamy lounging. You can't have any appetite for your meals. You +ought to tire yourself." + +Gavard, also, was seeking a situation for Florent, but in a very +extraordinary and most mysterious fashion. He would have liked to find +some employment of a dramatic character, or in which there should be a +touch of bitter irony, as was suitable for an outlaw. Gavard was a man +who was always in opposition. He had just completed his fiftieth year, +and he boasted that he had already passed judgment on four Governments. +He still contemptuously shrugged his shoulders at the thought of Charles +X, the priests and nobles and other attendant rabble, whom he had helped +to sweep away. Louis Philippe, with his bourgeois following, had been an +imbecile, and he could tell how the citizen-king had hoarded his coppers +in a woollen stocking. As for the Republic of '48, that had been a +mere farce, the working classes had deceived him; however, he no longer +acknowledged that he had applauded the Coup d'Etat, for he now looked +upon Napoleon III as his personal enemy, a scoundrel who shut himself +up with Morny and others to indulge in gluttonous orgies. He was never +weary of holding forth upon this subject. Lowering his voice a little, +he would declare that women were brought to the Tuileries in closed +carriages every evening, and that he, who was speaking, had one night +heard the echoes of the orgies while crossing the Place du Carrousel. It +was Gavard's religion to make himself as disagreeable as possible to any +existing Government. He would seek to spite it in all sorts of ways, +and laugh in secret for several months at the pranks he played. To begin +with, he voted for candidates who would worry the Ministers at the Corps +Legislatif. Then, if he could rob the revenue, or baffle the police, and +bring about a row of some kind or other, he strove to give the affair as +much of an insurrectionary character as possible. He told a great many +lies, too; set himself up as being a very dangerous man; talked as +though "the satellites of the Tuileries" were well acquainted with him +and trembled at the sight of him; and asserted that one half of them +must be guillotined, and the other half transported, the next time there +was "a flare-up." His violent political creed found food in boastful, +bragging talk of this sort; he displayed all the partiality for a +lark and a rumpus which prompts a Parisian shopkeeper to take down +his shutters on a day of barricade-fighting to get a good view of the +corpses of the slain. When Florent returned from Cayenne, Gavard opined +that he had got hold of a splendid chance for some abominable trick, and +bestowed much thought upon the question of how he might best vent his +spleen on the Emperor and Ministers and everyone in office, down to the +very lowest police constable. + +Gavard's manners with Florent were altogether those of a man tasting +some forbidden pleasure. He contemplated him with blinking eyes, lowered +his voice even when making the most trifling remark, and grasped his +hand with all sorts of masonic flummery. He had at last lighted upon +something in the way of an adventure; he had a friend who was really +compromised, and could, without falsehood speak of the dangers he +incurred. He undoubtedly experienced a secret alarm at the sight of +this man who had returned from transportation, and whose fleshlessness +testified to the long sufferings he had endured; however, this touch of +alarm was delightful, for it increased his notion of his own importance, +and convinced him that he was really doing something wonderful in +treating a dangerous character as a friend. Florent became a sort of +sacred being in his eyes: he swore by him alone, and had recourse to his +name whenever arguments failed him and he wanted to crush the Government +once and for all. + +Gavard had lost his wife in the Rue Saint Jacques some months after the +Coup d'Etat; however, he had kept on his roasting shop till 1856. At +that time it was reported that he had made large sums of money by going +into partnership with a neighbouring grocer who had obtained a contract +for supplying dried vegetables to the Crimean expeditionary corps. The +truth was, however, that, having sold his shop, he lived on his income +for a year without doing anything. He himself did not care to talk +about the real origin of his fortune, for to have revealed it would have +prevented him from plainly expressing his opinion of the Crimean War, +which he referred to as a mere adventurous expedition, "undertaken +simply to consolidate the throne and to fill certain persons' pockets." +At the end of a year he had grown utterly weary of life in his bachelor +quarters. As he was in the habit of visiting the Quenu-Gradelles almost +daily, he determined to take up his residence nearer to them, and came +to live in the Rue de la Cossonnerie. The neighbouring markets, with +their noisy uproar and endless chatter, quite fascinated him; and he +decided to hire a stall in the poultry pavilion, just for the purpose +of amusing himself and occupying his idle hours with all the gossip. +Thenceforth he lived amidst ceaseless tittle-tattle, acquainted with +every little scandal in the neighbourhood, his head buzzing with +the incessant yelping around him. He blissfully tasted a thousand +titillating delights, having at last found his true element, and bathing +in it, with the voluptuous pleasure of a carp swimming in the sunshine. +Florent would sometimes go to see him at his stall. The afternoons were +still very warm. All along the narrow alleys sat women plucking +poultry. Rays of light streamed in between the awnings, and in the +warm atmosphere, in the golden dust of the sunbeams, feathers fluttered +hither and thither like dancing snowflakes. A trail of coaxing calls and +offers followed Florent as he passed along. "Can I sell you a fine duck, +monsieur?" "I've some very fine fat chickens here, monsieur; come and +see!" "Monsieur! monsieur, do just buy this pair of pigeons!" Deafened +and embarrassed he freed himself from the women, who still went on +plucking as they fought for possession of him; and the fine down flew +about and wellnigh choked him, like hot smoke reeking with the strong +odour of the poultry. At last, in the middle of the alley, near the +water-taps, he found Gavard ranting away in his shirt-sleeves, in front +of his stall, with his arms crossed over the bib of his blue apron. He +reigned there, in a gracious, condescending way, over a group of ten or +twelve women. He was the only male dealer in that part of the market. +He was so fond of wagging his tongue that he had quarrelled with five or +six girls whom he had successively engaged to attend to his stall, and +had now made up his mind to sell his goods himself, naively explaining +that the silly women spent the whole blessed day in gossiping, and that +it was beyond his power to manage them. As someone, however, was still +necessary to supply his place whenever he absented himself he took in +Marjolin, who was prowling about, after attempting in turn all the petty +market callings. + +Florent sometimes remained for an hour with Gavard, amazed by his +ceaseless flow of chatter, and his calm serenity and assurance amid the +crowd of petticoats. He would interrupt one woman, pick a quarrel with +another ten stalls away, snatch a customer from a third, and make as +much noise himself as his hundred and odd garrulous neighbours, whose +incessant clamour kept the iron plates of the pavilion vibrating +sonorously like so many gongs. + +The poultry dealer's only relations were a sister-in-law and a niece. +When his wife died, her eldest sister, Madame Lecoeur, who had become +a widow about a year previously, had mourned for her in an exaggerated +fashion, and gone almost every evening to tender consolation to the +bereaved husband. She had doubtless cherished the hope that she might +win his affection and fill the yet warm place of the deceased. Gavard, +however, abominated lean women; and would, indeed, only stroke such +cats and dogs as were very fat; so that Madame Lecoeur, who was long and +withered, failed in her designs. + +With her feelings greatly hurt, furious at the ex-roaster's five-franc +pieces eluding her grasp, she nurtured great spite against him. He +became the enemy to whom she devoted all her time. When she saw him +set up in the markets only a few yards away from the pavilion where she +herself sold butter and eggs and cheese, she accused him of doing so +simply for the sake of annoying her and bringing her bad luck. From that +moment she began to lament, and turned so yellow and melancholy that she +indeed ended by losing her customers and getting into difficulties. She +had for a long time kept with her the daughter of one of her sisters, +a peasant woman who had sent her the child and then taken no further +trouble about it. + +This child grew up in the markets. Her surname was Sarriet, and so she +soon became generally known as La Sarriette. At sixteen years of age she +had developed into such a charming sly-looking puss that gentlemen came +to buy cheeses at her aunt's stall simply for the purpose of ogling her. +She did not care for the gentlemen, however; with her dark hair, pale +face, and eyes glistening like live embers, her sympathies were with the +lower ranks of the people. At last she chose as her lover a young man +from Menilmontant who was employed by her aunt as a porter. At twenty +she set up in business as a fruit dealer with the help of some funds +procured no one knew how; and thenceforth Monsieur Jules, as her lover +was called, displayed spotless hands, a clean blouse, and a velvet cap; +and only came down to the market in the afternoon, in his slippers. +They lived together on the third storey of a large house in the Rue +Vauvilliers, on the ground floor of which was a disreputable cafe. + +Madame Lecoeur's acerbity of temper was brought to a pitch by what she +called La Sarriette's ingratitude, and she spoke of the girl in the most +violent and abusive language. They broke off all intercourse, the aunt +fairly exasperated, and the niece and Monsieur Jules concocting stories +about the aunt, which the young man would repeat to the other dealers +in the butter pavilion. Gavard found La Sarriette very entertaining, +and treated her with great indulgence. Whenever they met he would +good-naturedly pat her cheeks. + +One afternoon, whilst Florent was sitting in his brother's shop, tired +out with the fruitless pilgrimages he had made during the morning in +search of work, Marjolin made his appearance there. This big lad, +who had the massiveness and gentleness of a Fleming, was a protege of +Lisa's. She would say that there was no evil in him; that he was +indeed a little bit stupid, but as strong as a horse, and particularly +interesting from the fact that nobody knew anything of his parentage. It +was she who had got Gavard to employ him. + +Lisa was sitting behind the counter, feeling annoyed by the sight of +Florent's muddy boots which were soiling the pink and white tiles of the +flooring. Twice already had she risen to scatter sawdust about the shop. +However, she smiled at Marjolin as he entered. + +"Monsieur Gavard," began the young man, "has sent me to ask--" + +But all at once he stopped and glanced round; then in a lower voice he +resumed: "He told me to wait till there was no one with you, and then to +repeat these words, which he made me learn by heart: 'Ask them if there +is no danger, and if I can come and talk to them of the matter they know +about.'" + +"Tell Monsieur Gavard that we are expecting him," replied Lisa, who was +quite accustomed to the poultry dealer's mysterious ways. + +Marjolin, however, did not go away; but remained in ecstasy before the +handsome mistress of the shop, contemplating her with an expression of +fawning humility. + +Touched, as it were, by this mute adoration, Lisa spoke to him again. + +"Are you comfortable with Monsieur Gavard?" she asked. "He's not an +unkind man, and you ought to try to please him." + +"Yes, Madame Lisa." + +"But you don't behave as you should, you know. Only yesterday I saw you +clambering about the roofs of the market again; and, besides, you are +constantly with a lot of disreputable lads and lasses. You ought to +remember that you are a man now, and begin to think of the future." + +"Yes, Madame Lisa." + +However, Lisa had to get up to wait upon a lady who came in and wanted +a pound of pork chops. She left the counter and went to the block at +the far end of the shop. Here, with a long, slender knife, she cut three +chops in a loin of pork; and then, raising a small cleaver with her +strong hand, dealt three sharp blows which separated the chops from +the loin. At each blow she dealt, her black merino dress rose slightly +behind her, and the ribs of her stays showed beneath her tightly +stretched bodice. She slowly took up the chops and weighed them with an +air of gravity, her eyes gleaming and her lips tightly closed. + +When the lady had gone, and Lisa perceived Marjolin still full of +delight at having seen her deal those three clean, forcible blows with +the cleaver, she at once called out to him, "What! haven't you gone +yet?" + +He thereupon turned to go, but she detained him for a moment longer. + +"Now, don't let me see you again with that hussy Cadine," she said. "Oh, +it's no use to deny it! I saw you together this morning in the tripe +market, watching men breaking the sheep's heads. I can't understand +what attraction a good-looking young fellow like you can find in such a +slipshod slattern as Cadine. Now then, go and tell Monsieur Gavard that +he had better come at once, while there's no one about." + +Marjolin thereupon went off in confusion, without saying a word. + +Handsome Lisa remained standing behind her counter, with her head turned +slightly in the direction of her markets, and Florent gazed at her in +silence, surprised to see her looking so beautiful. He had never looked +at her properly before; indeed, he did not know the right way to look at +a woman. He now saw her rising above the viands on the counter. In front +of her was an array of white china dishes, containing long Arles and +Lyons sausages, slices of which had already been cut off, with tongues +and pieces of boiled pork; then a pig's head in a mass of jelly; an open +pot of preserved sausage-meat, and a large box of sardines disclosing a +pool of oil. On the right and left, upon wooden platters, were mounds +of French and Italian brawn, a common French ham, of a pinky hue, and a +Yorkshire ham, whose deep red lean showed beneath a broad band of fat. +There were other dishes too, round ones and oval ones, containing spiced +tongue, truffled galantine, and a boar's head stuffed with pistachio +nuts; while close to her, in reach of her hand, stood some yellow +earthen pans containing larded veal, _pate de foie gras_, and hare-pie. + +As there were no signs of Gavard's coming, she arranged some fore-end +bacon upon a little marble shelf at the end of the counter, put the jars +of lard and dripping back into their places, wiped the plates of each +pair of scales, and saw to the fire of the heater, which was getting +low. Then she turned her head again, and gazed in silence towards +the markets. The smell of all the viands ascended around her, she was +enveloped, as it were, by the aroma of truffles. She looked beautifully +fresh that afternoon. The whiteness of all the dishes was supplemented +by that of her sleevelets and apron, above which appeared her plump +neck and rosy cheeks, which recalled the soft tones of the hams and the +pallor of all the transparent fat. + +As Florent continued to gaze at her he began to feel intimidated, +disquieted by her prim, sedate demeanour; and in lieu of openly looking +at her he ended by glancing surreptitiously in the mirrors around the +shop, in which her back and face and profile could be seen. The mirror +on the ceiling, too, reflected the top of her head, with its tightly +rolled chignon and the little bands lowered over her temples. There +seemed, indeed, to be a perfect crowd of Lisas, with broad shoulders, +powerful arms, and round, full bosoms. At last Florent checked his +roving eyes, and let them rest on a particularly pleasing side view of +the young woman as mirrored between two pieces of pork. From the hooks +running along the whole line of mirrors and marbles hung sides of pork +and bands of larding fat; and Lisa, with her massive neck, rounded hips, +and swelling bosom seen in profile, looked like some waxwork queen in +the midst of the dangling fat and meat. However, she bent forward and +smiled in a friendly way at the two gold-fish which were ever and ever +swimming round the aquarium in the window. + +Gavard entered the shop. With an air of great importance he went to +fetch Quenu from the kitchen. Then he seated himself upon a small +marble-topped table, while Florent remained on his chair and Lisa behind +the counter; Quenu meantime leaning his back against a side of pork. +And thereupon Gavard announced that he had at last found a situation for +Florent. They would be vastly amused when they heard what it was, and +the Government would be nicely caught. + +But all at once he stopped short, for a passing neighbour, Mademoiselle +Saget, having seen such a large party gossiping together at the +Quenu-Gradelles', had opened the door and entered the shop. Carrying +her everlasting black ribbonless straw hat, which appropriately cast a +shadow over her prying white face, she saluted the men with a slight bow +and Lisa with a sharp smile. + +She was an acquaintance of the family, and still lived in the house +in the Rue Pirouette where she had resided for the last forty years, +probably on a small private income; but of that she never spoke. She +had, however, one day talked of Cherbourg, mentioning that she had been +born there. Nothing further was ever known of her antecedents. All her +conversation was about other people; she could tell the whole story of +their daily lives, even to the number of things they sent to be +washed each month; and she carried her prying curiosity concerning her +neighbours' affairs so far as to listen behind their doors and open +their letters. Her tongue was feared from the Rue Saint Denis to the +Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and from the Rue Saint Honore to the Rue +Mauconseil. All day long she went ferreting about with her empty bag, +pretending that she was marketing, but in reality buying nothing, as her +sole purpose was to retail scandal and gossip, and keep herself fully +informed of every trifling incident that happened. Indeed, she had +turned her brain into an encyclopaedia brimful of every possible +particular concerning the people of the neighbourhood and their homes. + +Quenu had always accused her of having spread the story of his Uncle +Gradelle's death on the chopping-block, and had borne her a grudge ever +since. She was extremely well posted in the history of Uncle Gradelle +and the Quenus, and knew them, she would say, by heart. For the last +fortnight, however, Florent's arrival had greatly perplexed her, filled +her, indeed, with a perfect fever of curiosity. She became quite ill +when she discovered any unforeseen gap in her information. And yet she +could have sworn that she had seen that tall lanky fellow somewhere or +other before. + +She remained standing in front of the counter, examining the dishes one +after another, and saying in a shrill voice: + +"I hardly know what to have. When the afternoon comes I feel quite +famished for my dinner, and then, later on, I don't seem able to fancy +anything at all. Have you got a cutlet rolled in bread-crumbs left, +Madame Quenu?" + +Without waiting for a reply, she removed one of the covers of the +heater. It was that of the compartment reserved for the chitterlings, +sausages, and black-puddings. However, the chafing-dish was quite cold, +and there was nothing left but one stray forgotten sausage. + +"Look under the other cover, Mademoiselle Saget," said Lisa. "I believe +there's a cutlet there." + +"No, it doesn't tempt me," muttered the little old woman, poking her +nose under the other cover, however, all the same. "I felt rather a +fancy for one, but I'm afraid a cutlet would be rather too heavy in the +evening. I'd rather have something, too, that I need not warm." + +While speaking she had turned towards Florent and looked at him; then +she looked at Gavard, who was beating a tattoo with his finger-tips +on the marble table. She smiled at them, as though inviting them to +continue their conversation. + +"Wouldn't a little piece of salt pork suit you?" asked Lisa. + +"A piece of salt pork? Yes, that might do." + +Thereupon she took up the fork with plated handle, which was lying at +the edge of the dish, and began to turn all the pieces of pork about, +prodding them, lightly tapping the bones to judge of their thickness, +and minutely scrutinising the shreds of pinky meat. And as she turned +them over she repeated, "No, no; it doesn't tempt me." + +"Well, then, have a sheep's tongue, or a bit of brawn, or a slice of +larded veal," suggested Lisa patiently. + +Mademoiselle Saget, however, shook her head. She remained there for +a few minutes longer, pulling dissatisfied faces over the different +dishes; then, seeing that the others were determined to remain silent, +and that she would not be able to learn anything, she took herself off. + +"No; I rather felt a fancy for a cutlet rolled in bread-crumbs," she +said as she left the shop, "but the one you have left is too fat. I must +come another time." + +Lisa bent forward to watch her through the sausage-skins hanging in the +shop-front, and saw her cross the road and enter the fruit market. + +"The old she-goat!" growled Gavard. + +Then, as they were now alone again, he began to tell them of the +situation he had found for Florent. A friend of his, he said, Monsieur +Verlaque, one of the fish market inspectors, was so ill that he was +obliged to take a rest; and that very morning the poor man had told +him that he should be very glad to find a substitute who would keep his +berth open for him in case he should recover. + +"Verlaque, you know, won't last another six months," added Gavard, "and +Florent will keep the place. It's a splendid idea, isn't it? And it will +be such a take-in for the police! The berth is under the Prefecture, you +know. What glorious fun to see Florent getting paid by the police, eh?" + +He burst into a hearty laugh; the idea struck him as so extremely +comical. + +"I won't take the place," Florent bluntly replied. "I've sworn I'll +never accept anything from the Empire, and I would rather die of +starvation than serve under the Prefecture. It is quite out of the +question, Gavard, quite so!" + +Gavard seemed somewhat put out on hearing this. Quenu had lowered his +head, while Lisa, turning round, looked keenly at Florent, her neck +swollen, her bosom straining her bodice almost to bursting point. She +was just going to open her mouth when La Sarriette entered the shop, and +there was another pause in the conversation. + +"Dear me!" exclaimed La Sarriette with her soft laugh, "I'd almost +forgotten to get any bacon fat. Please, Madame Quenu, cut me a dozen +thin strips--very thin ones, you know; I want them for larding larks. +Jules has taken it into his head to eat some larks. Ah! how do you do, +uncle?" + +She filled the whole shop with her dancing skirts and smiled brightly at +everyone. Her face looked fresh and creamy, and on one side her hair was +coming down, loosened by the wind which blew through the markets. Gavard +grasped her hands, while she with merry impudence resumed: "I'll bet +that you were talking about me just as I came in. Tell me what you were +saying, uncle." + +However, Lisa now called to her, "Just look and tell me if this is thin +enough." + +She was cutting the strips of bacon fat with great care on a piece of +board in front of her. Then as she wrapped them up she inquired, "Can I +give you anything else?" + +"Well, yes," replied La Sarriette; "since I'm about it, I think I'll +have a pound of lard. I'm awfully fond of fried potatoes; I can make a +breakfast off a penn'orth of potatoes and a bunch of radishes. Yes, I'll +have a pound of lard, please, Madame Quenu." + +Lisa placed a sheet of stout paper in the pan of the scales. Then she +took the lard out of a jar under the shelves with a boxwood spatula, +gently adding small quantities to the fatty heap, which began to melt +and run slightly. When the plate of the scale fell, she took up the +paper, folded it, and rapidly twisted the ends with her finger-tips. + +"That makes twenty-four sous," she said; "the bacon is six sous--thirty +sous altogether. There's nothing else you want, is there?" + +"No," said La Sarriette, "nothing." She paid her money, still laughing +and showing her teeth, and staring the men in the face. Her grey skirt +was all awry, and her loosely fastened red neckerchief allowed a little +of her white bosom to appear. Before she went away she stepped up to +Gavard again, and pretending to threaten him exclaimed: "So you won't +tell me what you were talking about as I came in? I could see you +laughing from the street. Oh, you sly fellow! Ah! I sha'n't love you any +longer!" + +Then she left the shop and ran across the road. + +"It was Mademoiselle Saget who sent her here," remarked handsome Lisa +drily. + +Then silence fell again for some moments. Gavard was dismayed at +Florent's reception of his proposal. Lisa was the first to speak. "It +was wrong of you to refuse the post, Florent," she said in the most +friendly tones. "You know how difficult it is to find any employment, +and you are not in a position to be over-exacting." + +"I have my reasons," Florent replied. + +Lisa shrugged her shoulders. "Come now," said she, "you really can't be +serious, I'm sure. I can understand that you are not in love with the +Government, but it would be too absurd to let your opinions prevent +you from earning your living. And, besides, my dear fellow, the Emperor +isn't at all a bad sort of man. You don't suppose, do you, that he knew +you were eating mouldy bread and tainted meat? He can't be everywhere, +you know, and you can see for yourself that he hasn't prevented us here +from doing pretty well. You are not at all just; indeed you are not." + +Gavard, however, was getting very fidgety. He could not bear to hear +people speak well of the Emperor. + +"No, no, Madame Quenu," he interrupted; "you are going too far. It is a +scoundrelly system altogether." + +"Oh, as for you," exclaimed Lisa vivaciously, "you'll never rest until +you've got yourself plundered and knocked on the head as the result of +all your wild talk. Don't let us discuss politics; you would only make +me angry. The question is Florent, isn't it? Well, for my part, I say +that he ought to accept this inspectorship. Don't you think so too, +Quenu?" + +Quenu, who had not yet said a word, was very much put out by his wife's +sudden appeal. + +"It's a good berth," he replied, without compromising himself. + +Then, amidst another interval of awkward silence, Florent resumed: "I +beg you, let us drop the subject. My mind is quite made up. I shall +wait." + +"You will wait!" cried Lisa, losing patience. + +Two rosy fires had risen to her cheeks. As she stood there, erect, in +her white apron, with rounded, swelling hips, it was with difficulty +that she restrained herself from breaking out into bitter words. +However, the entrance of another person into the shop arrested her +anger. The new arrival was Madame Lecoeur. + +"Can you let me have half a pound of mixed meats at fifty sous the +pound?" she asked. + +She at first pretended not to notice her brother-in-law; but presently +she just nodded her head to him, without speaking. Then she scrutinised +the three men from head to foot, doubtless hoping to divine their secret +by the manner in which they waited for her to go. She could see that she +was putting them out, and the knowledge of this rendered her yet more +sour and angular, as she stood there in her limp skirts, with her long, +spider-like arms bent and her knotted fingers clasped beneath her apron. +Then, as she coughed slightly, Gavard, whom the silence embarrassed, +inquired if she had a cold. + +She curtly answered in the negative. Her tightly stretched skin was of +a red-brick colour on those parts of her face where her bones protruded, +and the dull fire burning in her eyes and scorching their lids testified +to some liver complaint nurtured by the querulous jealousy of her +disposition. She turned round again towards the counter, and watched +each movement made by Lisa as she served her with the distrustful glance +of one who is convinced that an attempt will be made to defraud her. + +"Don't give me any saveloy," she exclaimed; "I don't like it." + +Lisa had taken up a slender knife, and was cutting some thin slices +of sausage. She next passed on to the smoked ham and the common ham, +cutting delicate slices from each, and bending forward slightly as she +did so, with her eyes ever fixed on the knife. Her plump rosy hands, +flitting about the viands with light and gentle touches, seemed to have +derived suppleness from contact with all the fat. + +"You would like some larded veal, wouldn't you?" she asked, bringing a +yellow pan towards her. + +Madame Lecoeur seemed to be thinking the matter over at considerable +length; however, she at last said that she would have some. Lisa had +now begun to cut into the contents of the pans, from which she removed +slices of larded veal and hare _pate_ on the tip of a broad-bladed +knife. And she deposited each successive slice on the middle of a sheet +of paper placed on the scales. + +"Aren't you going to give me some of the boar's head with pistachio +nuts?" asked Madame Lecoeur in her querulous voice. + +Lisa was obliged to add some of the boar's head. But the butter dealer +was getting exacting, and asked for two slices of galantine. She was +very fond of it. Lisa, who was already irritated, played impatiently +with the handles of the knives, and told her that the galantine was +truffled, and that she could only include it in an "assortment" at three +francs the pound. Madame Lecoeur, however, continued to pry into the +dishes, trying to find something else to ask for. When the "assortment" +was weighed she made Lisa add some jelly and gherkins to it. The block +of jelly, shaped like a Savoy cake, shook on its white china dish +beneath the angry violence of Lisa's hand; and as with her finger-tips +she took a couple of gherkins from a jar behind the heater, she made the +vinegar spurt over the sides. + +"Twenty-five sous, isn't it?" Madame Lecoeur leisurely inquired. + +She fully perceived Lisa's covert irritation, and greatly enjoyed the +sight of it, producing her money as slowly as possible, as though, +indeed, her silver had got lost amongst the coppers in her pocket. And +she glanced askance at Gavard, relishing the embarrassed silence which +her presence was prolonging, and vowing that she would not go off, since +they were hiding some trickery or other from her. However, Lisa at +last put the parcel in her hands, and she was then obliged to make her +departure. She went away without saying a word, but darting a searching +glance all round the shop. + +"It was that Saget who sent her too!" burst out Lisa, as soon as the old +woman was gone. "Is the old wretch going to send the whole market here +to try to find out what we talk about? What a prying, malicious set they +are! Did anyone ever hear before of crumbed cutlets and 'assortments' +being bought at five o'clock in the afternoon? But then they'd rack +themselves with indigestion rather than not find out! Upon my word, +though, if La Saget sends anyone else here, you'll see the reception +she'll get. I would bundle her out of the shop, even if she were my own +sister!" + +The three men remained silent in presence of this explosion of anger. +Gavard had gone to lean over the brass rail of the window-front, where, +seemingly lost in thought, he began playing with one of the cut-glass +balusters detached from its wire fastening. Presently, however, he +raised his head. "Well, for my part," he said, "I looked upon it all as +an excellent joke." + +"Looked upon what as a joke?" asked Lisa, still quivering with +indignation. + +"The inspectorship." + +She raised her hands, gave a last glance at Florent, and then sat down +upon the cushioned bench behind the counter and said nothing further. +Gavard, however, began to explain his views at length; the drift of his +argument being that it was the Government which would look foolish in +the matter, since Florent would be taking its money. + +"My dear fellow," he said complacently, "those scoundrels all but +starved you to death, didn't they? Well, you must make them feed you +now. It's a splendid idea; it caught my fancy at once!" + +Florent smiled, but still persisted in his refusal. Quenu, in the hope +of pleasing his wife, did his best to find some good arguments. Lisa, +however, appeared to pay no further attention to them. For the last +moment or two she had been looking attentively in the direction of the +markets. And all at once she sprang to her feet again, exclaiming, "Ah! +it is La Normande that they are sending to play the spy on us now! Well, +so much the worse for La Normande; she shall pay for the others!" + +A tall female pushed the shop door open. It was the handsome fish-girl, +Louise Mehudin, generally known as La Normande. She was a bold-looking +beauty, with a delicate white skin, and was almost as plump as Lisa, +but there was more effrontery in her glance, and her bosom heaved with +warmer life. She came into the shop with a light swinging step, her gold +chain jingling on her apron, her bare hair arranged in the latest style, +and a bow at her throat, a lace bow, which made her one of the most +coquettish-looking queens of the markets. She brought a vague odour +of fish with her, and a herring-scale showed like a tiny patch of +mother-of-pearl near the little finger of one of her hands. She and +Lisa having lived in the same house in the Rue Pirouette, were intimate +friends, linked by a touch of rivalry which kept each of them busy +with thoughts of the other. In the neighbourhood people spoke of "the +beautiful Norman," just as they spoke of "beautiful Lisa." This brought +them into opposition and comparison, and compelled each of them to do +her utmost to sustain her reputation for beauty. Lisa from her counter +could, by stooping a little, perceive the fish-girl amidst her salmon +and turbot in the pavilion opposite; and each kept a watch on the +other. Beautiful Lisa laced herself more tightly in her stays; and the +beautiful Norman replied by placing additional rings on her fingers and +additional bows on her shoulders. When they met they were very bland and +unctuous and profuse in compliments; but all the while their eyes +were furtively glancing from under their lowered lids, in the hope of +discovering some flaw. They made a point of always dealing with each +other, and professed great mutual affection. + +"I say," said La Normande, with her smiling air, "it's to-morrow evening +that you make your black-puddings, isn't it?" + +Lisa maintained a cold demeanour. She seldom showed any anger; but when +she did it was tenacious, and slow to be appeased. "Yes," she replied +drily, with the tips of her lips. + +"I'm so fond of black-puddings, you know, when they come straight out +of the pot," resumed La Normande. "I'll come and get some of you +to-morrow." + +She was conscious of her rival's unfriendly greeting. However, she +glanced at Florent, who seemed to interest her; and then, unwilling to +go off without having the last word, she was imprudent enough to add: "I +bought some black-pudding of you the day before yesterday, you know, and +it wasn't quite sweet." + +"Not quite sweet!" repeated Lisa, very pale, and her lips quivering. + +She might, perhaps, have once more restrained herself, for fear of La +Normande imagining that she was overcome by envious spite at the +sight of the lace bow; but the girl, not content with playing the spy, +proceeded to insult her, and that was beyond endurance. So, leaning +forward, with her hands clenched on the counter, she exclaimed, in a +somewhat hoarse voice: "I say! when you sold me that pair of soles +last week, did I come and tell you, before everybody that they were +stinking?" + +"Stinking! My soles stinking!" cried the fish dealer, flushing scarlet. + +For a moment they remained silent, choking with anger, but glaring +fiercely at each other over the array of dishes. All their honeyed +friendship had vanished; a word had sufficed to reveal what sharp teeth +there were behind their smiling lips. + +"You're a vulgar, low creature!" cried the beautiful Norman. "You'll +never catch me setting foot in here again, I can tell you!" + +"Get along with you, get along with you," exclaimed beautiful Lisa. "I +know quite well whom I've got to deal with!" + +The fish-girl went off, hurling behind her a coarse expression which +left Lisa quivering. The whole scene had passed so quickly that the +three men, overcome with amazement, had not had time to interfere. +Lisa soon recovered herself, and was resuming the conversation, without +making any allusion to what had just occurred, when the shop girl, +Augustine, returned from an errand on which she had been sent. Lisa +thereupon took Gavard aside, and after telling him to say nothing for +the present to Monsieur Verlaque, promised that she would undertake to +convince her brother-in-law in a couple of days' time at the utmost. +Quenu then returned to his kitchen, while Gavard took Florent off with +him. And as they were just going into Monsieur Lebigre's to drink a drop +of vermouth together he called his attention to three women standing in +the covered way between the fish and poultry pavilions. + +"They're cackling together!" he said with an envious air. + +The markets were growing empty, and Mademoiselle Saget, Madame Lecoeur, +and La Sarriette alone lingered on the edge of the footway. The old maid +was holding forth. + +"As I told you before, Madame Lecoeur," said she, "they've always got +your brother-in-law in their shop. You saw him there yourself just now, +didn't you?" + +"Oh yes, indeed! He was sitting on a table, and seemed quite at home." + +"Well, for my part," interrupted La Sarriette, "I heard nothing wrong; +and I can't understand why you're making such a fuss." + +Mademoiselle Saget shrugged her shoulders. "Ah, you're very innocent +yet, my dear," she said. "Can't you see why the Quenus are always +attracting Monsieur Gavard to their place? Well, I'll wager that he'll +leave all he has to their little Pauline." + +"You believe that, do you?" cried Madame Lecoeur, white with rage. Then, +in a mournful voice, as though she had just received some heavy blow, +she continued: "I am alone in the world, and have no one to take my +part; he is quite at liberty to do as he pleases. His niece sides with +him too--you heard her just now. She has quite forgotten all that she +cost me, and wouldn't stir a hand to help me." + +"Indeed, aunt," exclaimed La Sarriette, "you are quite wrong there! It's +you who've never had anything but unkind words for me." + +They became reconciled on the spot, and kissed one another. The niece +promised that she would play no more pranks, and the aunt swore by +all she held most sacred that she looked upon La Sarriette as her own +daughter. Then Mademoiselle Saget advised them as to the steps they +ought to take to prevent Gavard from squandering his money. And they +all agreed that the Quenu-Gradelles were very disreputable folks, and +required closely watching. + +"I don't know what they're up to just now," said the old maid, "but +there's something suspicious going on, I'm sure. What's your opinion, +now, of that fellow Florent, that cousin of Madame Quenu's?" + +The three women drew more closely together, and lowered their voices. + +"You remember," said Madame Lecoeur, "that we saw him one morning with +his boots all split, and his clothes covered with dust, looking just +like a thief who's been up to some roguery. That fellow quite frightens +me." + +"Well, he's certainly very thin," said La Sarriette, "but he isn't +ugly." + +Mademoiselle Saget was reflecting, and she expressed her thoughts +aloud. "I've been trying to find out something about him for the last +fortnight, but I can make nothing of it. Monsieur Gavard certainly knows +him. I must have met him myself somewhere before, but I can't remember +where." + +She was still ransacking her memory when La Normande swept up to them +like a whirlwind. She had just left the pork shop. + +"That big booby Lisa has got nice manners, I must say!" she cried, +delighted to be able to relieve herself. "Fancy her telling me that I +sold nothing but stinking fish! But I gave her as good as she deserved, +I can tell you! A nice den they keep, with their tainted pig meat which +poisons all their customers!" + +"But what had you been saying to her?" asked the old maid, quite +frisky with excitement, and delighted to hear that the two women had +quarrelled. + +"I! I'd said just nothing at all--no, not that! I just went into the +shop and told her very civilly that I'd buy some black-pudding to-morrow +evening, and then she overwhelmed me with abuse. A dirty hypocrite she +is, with her saint-like airs! But she'll pay more dearly for this than +she fancies!" + +The three women felt that La Normande was not telling them the truth, +but this did not prevent them from taking her part with a rush of bad +language. They turned towards the Rue Rambuteau with insulting mien, +inventing all sorts of stories about the uncleanliness of the cookery at +the Quenu's shop, and making the most extraordinary accusations. If the +Quenus had been detected selling human flesh the women could not have +displayed more violent and threatening anger. The fish-girl was obliged +to tell her story three times over. + +"And what did the cousin say?" asked Mademoiselle Saget, with wicked +intent. + +"The cousin!" repeated La Normande, in a shrill voice. "Do you really +believe that he's a cousin? He's some lover or other, I'll wager, the +great booby!" + +The three others protested against this. Lisa's honourability was an +article of faith in the neighbourhood. + +"Stuff and nonsense!" retorted La Normande. "You can never be sure about +those smug, sleek hypocrites." + +Mademoiselle Saget nodded her head as if to say that she was not +very far from sharing La Normande's opinion. And she softly added: +"Especially as this cousin has sprung from no one knows where; for it's +a very doubtful sort of account that the Quenus give of him." + +"Oh, he's the fat woman's sweetheart, I tell you!" reaffirmed the +fish-girl; "some scamp or vagabond picked up in the streets. It's easy +enough to see it." + +"She has given him a complete outfit," remarked Madame Lecoeur. "He must +be costing her a pretty penny." + +"Yes, yes," muttered the old maid; "perhaps you are right. I must really +get to know something about him." + +Then they all promised to keep one another thoroughly informed of +whatever might take place in the Quenu-Gradelle establishment. The +butter dealer pretended that she wished to open her brother-in-law's +eyes as to the sort of places he frequented. However, La Normande's +anger had by this time toned down, and, a good sort of girl at heart, +she went off, weary of having talked so much on the matter. + +"I'm sure that La Normande said something or other insolent," remarked +Madame Lecoeur knowingly, when the fish-girl had left them. "It is just +her way; and it scarcely becomes a creature like her to talk as she did +of Lisa." + +The three women looked at each other and smiled. Then, when Madame +Lecoeur also had gone off, La Sarriette remarked to Mademoiselle Saget: +"It is foolish of my aunt to worry herself so much about all these +affairs. It's that which makes her so thin. Ah! she'd have willingly +taken Gavard for a husband if she could only have got him. Yet she used +to beat me if ever a young man looked my way." + +Mademoiselle Saget smiled once more. And when she found herself alone, +and went back towards the Rue Pirouette, she reflected that those three +cackling hussies were not worth a rope to hang them. She was, indeed, +a little afraid that she might have been seen with them, and the idea +somewhat troubled her, for she realised that it would be bad policy to +fall out with the Quenu-Gradelles, who, after all, were well-to-do folks +and much esteemed. So she went a little out of her way on purpose to +call at Taboureau the baker's in the Rue Turbigo--the finest baker's +shop in the whole neighbourhood. Madame Taboureau was not only an +intimate friend of Lisa's, but an accepted authority on every subject. +When it was remarked that "Madame Taboureau had said this," or "Madame +Taboureau had said that," there was no more to be urged. So the old +maid, calling at the baker's under pretence of inquiring at what time +the oven would be hot, as she wished to bring a dish of pears to be +baked, took the opportunity to eulogise Lisa, and lavish praise upon the +sweetness and excellence of her black-puddings. Then, well pleased at +having prepared this moral alibi and delighted at having done what she +could to fan the flames of a quarrel without involving herself in it, +she briskly returned home, feeling much easier in her mind, but +still striving to recall where she had previously seen Madame Quenu's +so-called cousin. + +That same evening, after dinner, Florent went out and strolled for some +time in one of the covered ways of the markets. A fine mist was rising, +and a grey sadness, which the gas lights studded as with yellow tears, +hung over the deserted pavilions. For the first time Florent began to +feel that he was in the way, and to recognise the unmannerly fashion in +which he, thin and artless, had tumbled into this world of fat people; +and he frankly admitted to himself that his presence was disturbing +the whole neighbourhood, and that he was a source of discomfort to the +Quenus--a spurious cousin of far too compromising appearance. These +reflections made him very sad; not, indeed, that they had noticed the +slightest harshness on the part of his brother or Lisa: it was their +very kindness, rather, that was troubling him, and he accused himself of +a lack of delicacy in quartering himself upon them. He was beginning to +doubt the propriety of his conduct. The recollection of the conversation +in the shop during the afternoon caused him a vague disquietude. The +odour of the viands on Lisa's counter seemed to penetrate him; he felt +himself gliding into nerveless, satiated cowardice. Perhaps he had acted +wrongly in refusing the inspectorship offered him. This reflection gave +birth to a stormy struggle in his mind, and he was obliged to brace and +shake himself before he could recover his wonted rigidity of principles. +However, a moist breeze had risen, and was blowing along the covered +way, and he regained some degree of calmness and resolution on being +obliged to button up his coat. The wind seemingly swept from his clothes +all the greasy odour of the pork shop, which had made him feel so +languid. + +He was returning home when he met Claude Lantier. The artist, hidden +in the folds of his greenish overcoat, spoke in a hollow voice full of +suppressed anger. He was in a passion with painting, declared that it +was a dog's trade, and swore that he would not take up a brush again as +long as he lived. That very afternoon he had thrust his foot through a +study which he had been making of the head of that hussy Cadine. + +Claude was subject to these outbursts, the fruit of his inability to +execute the lasting, living works which he dreamed of. And at such times +life became an utter blank to him, and he wandered about the streets, +wrapped in the gloomiest thoughts, and waiting for the morning as for a +sort of resurrection. He used to say that he felt bright and cheerful in +the morning, and horribly miserable in the evening.[*] Each of his days +was a long effort ending in disappointment. Florent scarcely recognised +in him the careless night wanderer of the markets. They had already met +again at the pork shop, and Claude, who knew the fugitive's story, had +grasped his hand and told him that he was a sterling fellow. It was very +seldom, however, that the artist went to the Quenus'. + + [*] Claude Lantier's struggle for fame is fully described in + M. Zola's novel, _L'Oeuvre_ ("His Masterpiece"). + --Translator. + +"Are you still at my aunt's?" he asked. "I can't imagine how you manage +to exist amidst all that cookery. The places reeks with the smell of +meat. When I've been there for an hour I feel as though I shouldn't want +anything to eat for another three days. I ought not to have gone there +this morning; it was that which made me make a mess of my work." + +Then, after he and Florent had taken a few steps in silence, he resumed: + +"Ah! the good people! They quite grieve me with their fine health. I had +thought of painting their portraits, but I've never been able to succeed +with such round faces, in which there is never a bone. Ah! You wouldn't +find my aunt Lisa kicking her foot through her pans! I was an idiot to +have destroyed Cadine's head! Now that I come to think of it, it wasn't +so very bad, perhaps, after all." + +Then they began to talk about Aunt Lisa. Claude said that his mother[*] +had not seen anything of her for a long time, and he hinted that the +pork butcher's wife was somewhat ashamed of her sister having married +a common working man; moreover, she wasn't at all fond of unfortunate +folks. Speaking of himself, he told Florent that a benevolent gentleman +had sent him to college, being very pleased with the donkeys and old +women that he had managed to draw when only eight years old; but the +good soul had died, leaving him an income of a thousand francs, which +just saved him from perishing of hunger. + +[*] Gervaise, the heroine of the _Assommoir_. + +"All the same, I would rather have been a working man," continued +Claude. "Look at the carpenters, for instance. They are very happy +folks, the carpenters. They have a table to make, say; well, they make +it, and then go off to bed, happy at having finished the table, and +perfectly satisfied with themselves. Now I, on the other hand, scarcely +get any sleep at nights. All those confounded pictures which I can't +finish go flying about my brain. I never get anything finished and done +with--never, never!" + +His voice almost broke into a sob. Then he attempted to laugh; and +afterwards began to swear and pour forth coarse expressions, with the +cold rage of one who, endowed with a delicate, sensitive mind, doubts +his own powers, and dreams of wallowing in the mire. He ended by +squatting down before one of the gratings which admit air into the +cellars beneath the markets--cellars where the gas is continually kept +burning. And in the depths below he pointed out Marjolin and Cadine +tranquilly eating their supper, whilst seated on one of the stone blocks +used for killing the poultry. The two young vagabonds had discovered a +means of hiding themselves and making themselves at home in the cellars +after the doors had been closed. + +"What a magnificent animal he is, eh!" exclaimed Claude, with envious +admiration, speaking of Marjolin. "He and Cadine are happy, at all +events! All they care for is eating and kissing. They haven't a care +in the world. Ah, you do quite right, after all, to remain at the pork +shop; perhaps you'll grow sleek and plump there." + +Then he suddenly went off. Florent climbed up to his garret, disturbed +by Claude's nervous restlessness, which revived his own uncertainty. +On the morrow, he avoided the pork shop all the morning, and went for +a long walk on the quays. When he returned to lunch, however, he was +struck by Lisa's kindliness. Without any undue insistence she again +spoke to him about the inspectorship, as of something which was well +worth his consideration. As he listened to her, with a full plate in +front of him, he was affected, in spite of himself, by the prim comfort +of his surroundings. The matting beneath his feet seemed very soft; +the gleams of the brass hanging lamp, the soft, yellow tint of +the wallpaper, and the bright oak of the furniture filled him with +appreciation of a life spent in comfort, which disturbed his notions of +right and wrong. He still, however, had sufficient strength to persist +in his refusal, and repeated his reasons; albeit conscious of the bad +taste he was showing in thus ostentatiously parading his animosity and +obstinacy in such a place. Lisa showed no signs of vexation; on the +contrary, she smiled, and the sweetness of her smile embarrassed Florent +far more than her suppressed irritation of the previous evening. At +dinner the subject was not renewed; they talked solely of the great +winter saltings, which would keep the whole staff of the establishment +busily employed. + +The evenings were growing cold, and as soon as they had dined they +retired into the kitchen, where it was very warm. The room was so large, +too, that several people could sit comfortably at the square central +table, without in any way impeding the work that was going on. Lighted +by gas, the walls were coated with white and blue tiles to a height +of some five or six feet from the floor. On the left was a great iron +stove, in the three apertures of which were set three large round pots, +their bottoms black with soot. At the end was a small range, which, +fitted with an oven and a smoking-place, served for the broiling; and +up above, over the skimming-spoons, ladles, and long-handled forks, were +several numbered drawers, containing rasped bread, both fine and coarse, +toasted crumbs, spices, cloves, nutmegs, and pepper. On the right, +leaning heavily against the wall, was the chopping-block, a huge mass +of oak, slashed and scored all over. Attached to it were several +appliances, an injecting pump, a forcing-machine, and a mechanical +mincer, which, with their wheels and cranks, imparted to the place an +uncanny and mysterious aspect, suggesting some kitchen of the infernal +regions. + +Then, all round the walls upon shelves, and even under the tables, +were iron pots, earthenware pans, dishes, pails, various kinds of tin +utensils, a perfect battery of deep copper saucepans, and swelling +funnels, racks of knives and choppers, rows of larding-pins and +needles--a perfect world of greasy things. In spite of the extreme +cleanliness, grease was paramount; it oozed forth from between the blue +and white tiles on the wall, glistened on the red tiles of the flooring, +gave a greyish glitter to the stove, and polished the edges of the +chopping-block with the transparent sheen of varnished oak. And, indeed, +amidst the ever-rising steam, the continuous evaporation from the three +big pots, in which pork was boiling and melting, there was not a single +nail from ceiling to floor from which grease did not exude. + +The Quenu-Gradelles prepared nearly all their stock themselves. All that +they procured from outside were the potted meats of celebrated firms, +with jars of pickles and preserves, sardines, cheese, and edible snails. +They consequently became very busy after September in filling the +cellars which had been emptied during the summer. They continued working +even after the shop had been closed for the night. Assisted by Auguste +and Leon, Quenu would stuff sausages-skins, prepare hams, melt down +lard, and salt the different sorts of bacon. There was a tremendous +noise of cauldrons and cleavers, and the odour of cooking spread through +the whole house. All this was quite independent of the daily business +in fresh pork, _pate de fois gras_, hare patty, galantine, saveloys and +black-puddings. + +That evening, at about eleven o'clock, Quenu, after placing a couple of +pots on the fire in order to melt down some lard, began to prepare the +black-puddings. Auguste assisted him. At one corner of the square table +Lisa and Augustine sat mending linen, whilst opposite to them, on the +other side, with his face turned towards the fireplace, was Florent. +Leon was mincing some sausage-meat on the oak block in a slow, +rhythmical fashion. + +Auguste first of all went out into the yard to fetch a couple of +jug-like cans full of pigs' blood. It was he who stuck the animals in +the slaughter house. He himself would carry away the blood and interior +portions of the pigs, leaving the men who scalded the carcasses to bring +them home completely dressed in their carts. Quenu asserted that no +assistant in all Paris was Auguste' equal as a pig-sticker. The truth +was that Auguste was a wonderfully keen judge of the quality of the +blood; and the black-pudding proved good every time that he said such +would be the case. + +"Well, will the black-pudding be good this time?" asked Lisa. + +August put down the two cans and slowly answered: "I believe so, Madame +Quenu; yes, I believe so. I tell it at first by the way the blood flows. +If it spurts out very gently when I pull out the knife, that's a bad +sign, and shows that the blood is poor." + +"But doesn't that depend on how far the knife has been stuck in?" asked +Quenu. + +A smile came over Auguste's pale face. "No," he replied; "I always let +four digits of the blade go in; that's the right way to measure. But the +best sign of all is when the blood runs out and I beat it with my +hand when it pours into the pail; it ought to be of a good warmth, and +creamy, without being too thick." + +Augustine had put down her needle, and with her eyes raised was now +gazing at Auguste. On her ruddy face, crowned by wiry chestnut hair, +there was an expression of profound attention. Lisa and even little +Pauline were also listening with deep interest. + +"Well, I beat it, and beat it, and beat it," continued the young man, +whisking his hand about as though he were whipping cream. "And then, +when I take my hand out and look at it, it ought to be greased, as it +were, by the blood and equally coated all over. And if that's the case, +anyone can say without fear of mistake that the black-puddings will be +good." + +He remained for a moment in an easy attitude, complacently holding his +hand in the air. This hand, which spent so much of its time in pails of +blood, had brightly gleaming nails, and looked very rosy above his white +sleeve. Quenu had nodded his head in approbation, and an interval +of silence followed. Leon was still mincing. Pauline, however, after +remaining thoughtful for a little while, mounted upon Florent's feet +again, and in her clear voice exclaimed: "I say, cousin, tell me the +story of the gentleman who was eaten by the wild beasts!" + +It was probably the mention of the pig's blood which had aroused in the +child's mind the recollection of "the gentleman who had been eaten by +the wild beasts." Florent did not at first understand what she referred +to, and asked her what gentleman she meant. Lisa began to smile. + +"She wants you to tell her," she said, "the story of that unfortunate +man--you know whom I mean--which you told to Gavard one evening. She +must have heard you." + +At this Florent grew very grave. The little girl got up, and taking the +big cat in her arms, placed it on his knees, saying that Mouton also +would like to hear the story. Mouton, however, leapt on to the table, +where, with rounded back, he remained contemplating the tall, scraggy +individual who for the last fortnight had apparently afforded him matter +for deep reflection. Pauline meantime began to grow impatient, stamping +her feet and insisting on hearing the story. + +"Oh, tell her what she wants," said Lisa, as the child persisted and +became quite unbearable; "she'll leave us in peace then." + +Florent remained silent for a moment longer, with his eyes turned +towards the floor. Then slowly raising his head he let his gaze rest +first on the two women who were plying their needles, and next on Quenu +and Auguste, who were preparing the pot for the black-puddings. The gas +was burning quietly, the stove diffused a gentle warmth, and all the +grease of the kitchen glistened in an atmosphere of comfort such as +attends good digestion + +Then, taking little Pauline upon his knee, and smiling a sad smile, +Florent addressed himself to the child as follows[*]:-- + + [*] Florent's narrative is not romance, but is based on the + statements of several of the innocent victims whom the third + Napoleon transported to Cayenne when wading through blood to + the power which he so misused.--Translator. + +"Once upon a time there was a poor man who was sent away, a long, long +way off, right across the sea. On the ship which carried him were four +hundred convicts, and he was thrown among them. He was forced to live +for five weeks amidst all those scoundrels, dressed like them in coarse +canvas, and feeding at their mess. Foul insects preyed on him, and +terrible sweats robbed him of all his strength. The kitchen, the +bakehouse, and the engine-room made the orlop deck so terribly hot that +ten of the convicts died from it. In the daytime they were sent up in +batches of fifty to get a little fresh air from the sea; and as the crew +of the ship feared them, a couple of cannons were pointed at the little +bit of deck where they took exercise. The poor fellow was very glad +indeed when his turn to go up came. His terrible perspiration then +abated somewhat; still, he could not eat, and felt very ill. During the +night, when he was manacled again, and the rolling of the ship in the +rough sea kept knocking him against his companions, he quite broke down, +and began to cry, glad to be able to do so without being seen." + +Pauline was listening with dilated eyes, and her little hands crossed +primly in front of her. + +"But this isn't the story of the gentleman who was eaten by the wild +beasts," she interrupted. "This is quite a different story; isn't it +now, cousin?" + +"Wait a bit, and you'll see," replied Florent gently. "I shall come +to the gentleman presently. I'm telling you the whole story from the +beginning." + +"Oh, thank you," murmured the child, with a delighted expression. +However, she remained thoughtful, evidently struggling with some great +difficulty to which she could find no explanation. At last she spoke. + +"But what had the poor man done," she asked, "that he was sent away and +put in the ship?" + +Lisa and Augustine smiled. They were quite charmed with the child's +intelligence; and Lisa, without giving the little one a direct reply, +took advantage of the opportunity to teach her a lesson by telling her +that naughty children were also sent away in boats like that. + +"Oh, then," remarked Pauline judiciously, "perhaps it served my cousin's +poor man quite right if he cried all night long." + +Lisa resumed her sewing, bending over her work. Quenu had not listened. +He had been cutting some little rounds of onion over a pot placed on the +fire; and almost at once the onions began to crackle, raising a clear +shrill chirrup like that of grasshoppers basking in the heat. They gave +out a pleasant odour too, and when Quenu plunged his great wooden spoon +into the pot the chirruping became yet louder, and the whole kitchen was +filled with the penetrating perfume of the onions. Auguste meantime was +preparing some bacon fat in a dish, and Leon's chopper fell faster +and faster, and every now and then scraped the block so as to gather +together the sausage-meat, now almost a paste. + +"When they got across the sea," Florent continued, "they took the man to +an island called the Devil's Island,[*] where he found himself amongst +others who had been carried away from their own country. They were +all very unhappy. At first they were kept to hard labour, just like +convicts. The gendarme who had charge of them counted them three times +every day, so as to be sure that none were missing. Later on, they were +left free to do as they liked, being merely locked up at night in a big +wooden hut, where they slept in hammocks stretched between two bars. +At the end of the year they went about barefooted, as their boots were +quite worn out, and their clothes had become so ragged that their flesh +showed through them. They had built themselves some huts with trunks +of trees as a shelter against the sun, which is terribly hot in those +parts; but these huts did not shield them against the mosquitoes, which +covered them with pimples and swellings during the night. Many of them +died, and the others turned quite yellow, so shrunken and wretched, +with their long, unkempt beards, that one could not behold them without +pity." + + [*] The Ile du Diable. This spot was selected as the place + of detention of Captain Dreyfus, the French officer + convicted in 1894 of having divulged important military + documents to foreign powers.--Translator. + +"Auguste, give me the fat," cried Quenu; and when the apprentice had +handed him the dish he let the pieces of bacon-fat slide gently into the +pot, and then stirred them with his spoon. A yet denser steam now rose +from the fireplace. + +"What did they give them to eat?" asked little Pauline, who seemed +deeply interested. + +"They gave them maggoty rice and foul meat," answered Florent, whose +voice grew lower as he spoke. "The rice could scarcely be eaten. When +the meat was roasted and very well done it was just possible to swallow +it; but if it was boiled, it smelt so dreadfully that the men had nausea +and stomach ache." + +"I'd rather have lived upon dry bread," said the child, after thinking +the matter carefully over. + +Leon, having finished the mincing, now placed the sausage-meat upon the +square table in a dish. Mouton, who had remained seated with his eyes +fixed upon Florent, as though filled with amazement by his story, was +obliged to retreat a few steps, which he did with a very bad grace. Then +he rolled himself up, with his nose close to the sausage-meat, and began +to purr. + +Lisa was unable to conceal her disgust and amazement. That foul +rice, that evil-smelling meat, seemed to her to be scarcely credible +abominations, which disgraced those who had eaten them as much as it did +those who had provided them; and her calm, handsome face and round neck +quivered with vague fear of the man who had lived upon such horrid food. + +"No, indeed, it was not a land of delights," Florent resumed, forgetting +all about little Pauline, and fixing his dreamy eyes upon the steaming +pot. "Every day brought fresh annoyances--perpetual grinding tyranny, +the violation of every principle of justice, contempt for all human +charity, which exasperated the prisoners, and slowly consumed them with +a fever of sickly rancour. They lived like wild beasts, with the lash +ceaselessly raised over their backs. Those torturers would have liked to +kill the poor man--Oh, no; it can never be forgotten; it is impossible! +Such sufferings will some day claim vengeance." + +His voice had fallen, and the pieces of fat hissing merrily in the pot +drowned it with the sound of their boiling. Lisa, however, heard him, +and was frightened by the implacable expression which had suddenly come +over his face; and, recollecting the gentle look which he habitually +wore, she judged him to be a hypocrite. + +Florent's hollow voice had brought Pauline's interest and delight to the +highest pitch, and she fidgeted with pleasure on his knee. + +"But the man?" she exclaimed. "Go on about the man!" + +Florent looked at her, and then appeared to remember, and smiled his sad +smile again. + +"The man," he continued, "was weary of remaining on the island, and +had but one thought--that of making his escape by crossing the sea +and reaching the mainland, whose white coast line could be seen on the +horizon in clear weather. But it was no easy matter to escape. It was +necessary that a raft should be built, and as several of the prisoners +had already made their escape, all the trees on the island had been +felled to prevent the others from obtaining timber. The island was, +indeed, so bare and naked, so scorched by the blazing sun, that life in +it had become yet more perilous and terrible. However, it occurred to +the man and two of his companions to employ the timbers of which their +huts were built; and one evening they put out to sea on some rotten +beams, which they had fastened together with dry branches. The wind +carried them towards the coast. Just as daylight was about to appear, +the raft struck on a sandbank with such violence that the beams were +severed from their lashings and carried out to sea. The three poor +fellows were almost engulfed in the sand. Two of them sank in it to +their waists, while the third disappeared up to his chin, and his +companions were obliged to pull him out. At last they reached a rock, +so small that there was scarcely room for them to sit down upon it. When +the sun rose they could see the coast in front of them, a bar of grey +cliffs stretching all along the horizon. Two, who knew how to swim, +determined to reach those cliffs. They preferred to run the risk of +being drowned at once to that of slowly starving on the rock. But they +promised their companion that they would return for him when they had +reached land and had been able to procure a boat." + +"Ah, I know now!" cried little Pauline, clapping her hands with glee. +"It's the story of the gentleman who was eaten by the crabs!" + +"They succeeded in reaching the coast," continued Florent, "but it was +quite deserted; and it was only at the end of four days that they were +able to get a boat. When they returned to the rock, they found their +companion lying on his back, dead, and half-eaten by crabs, which were +still swarming over what remained of his body."[*] + + [*] In deference to the easily shocked feelings of the + average English reader I have somewhat modified this + passage. In the original M. Zola fully describes the awful + appearance of the body.--Translator. +A murmur of disgust escaped Lisa and Augustine, and a horrified grimace +passed over the face of Leon, who was preparing the skins for the +black-puddings. Quenu stopped in the midst of his work and looked +at Auguste, who seemed to have turned faint. Only little Pauline +was smiling. In imagination the others could picture those swarming, +ravenous crabs crawling all over the kitchen, and mingling gruesome +odours with the aroma of the bacon-fat and onions. + +"Give me the blood," cried Quenu, who had not been following the story. + +Auguste came up to him with the two cans, from which he slowly +poured the blood, while Quenu, as it fell, vigorously stirred the +now thickening contents of the pot. When the cans were emptied, Quenu +reached up to one of the drawers above the range, and took out some +pinches of spice. Then he added a plentiful seasoning of pepper. + +"They left him there, didn't they," Lisa now asked of Florent, "and +returned themselves in safety?" + +"As they were going back," continued Florent, "the wind changed, and +they were driven out into the open sea. A wave carried away one of their +oars, and the water swept so furiously into the boat that their whole +time was taken up in baling it out with their hands. They tossed about +in this way in sight of the coast, carried away by squalls and then +brought back again by the tide, without a mouthful of bread to eat, for +their scanty stock of provisions had been consumed. This went on for +three days." + +"Three days!" cried Lisa in stupefaction; "three days without food!" + +"Yes, three days without food. When the east wind at last brought them +to shore, one of them was so weak that he lay on the beach the whole +day. In the evening he died. His companion had vainly attempted to get +him to chew some leaves which he gathered from the trees." + +At this point Augustine broke into a slight laugh. Then, ashamed at +having done so and not wishing to be considered heartless, she stammered +out in confusion: "Oh! I wasn't laughing at that. It was Mouton. Do just +look at Mouton, madame." + +Then Lisa in her turn began to smile. Mouton, who had been lying all +this time with his nose close to the dish of sausage-meat, had probably +begun to feel distressed and disgusted by the presence of all this food, +for he had risen and was rapidly scratching the table with his paws as +though he wanted to bury the dish and its contents. At last, however, +turning his back to it and lying down on his side, he stretched himself +out, half closing his eyes and rubbing his head against the table with +languid pleasure. Then they all began to compliment Mouton. He never +stole anything, they said, and could be safely left with the meat. +Pauline related that he licked her fingers and washed her face after +dinner without trying to bite her. + +However, Lisa now came back to the question as to whether it were +possible to live for three days without food. In her opinion it was not. +"No," she said, "I can't believe it. No one ever goes three days +without food. When people talk of a person dying of hunger, it is a mere +expression. They always get something to eat, more or less. It is only +the most abandoned wretches, people who are utterly lost----" + +She was doubtless going to add, "vagrant rogues," but she stopped short +and looked at Florent. The scornful pout of her lips and the expression +of her bright eyes plainly signified that in her belief only villains +made such prolonged fasts. It seemed to her that a man able to remain +without food for three days must necessarily be a very dangerous +character. For, indeed, honest folks never placed themselves in such a +position. + +Florent was now almost stifling. In front of him the stove, into which +Leon had just thrown several shovelfuls of coal, was snoring like a lay +clerk asleep in the sun; and the heat was very great. Auguste, who had +taken charge of the lard melting in the pots, was watching over it in a +state of perspiration, and Quenu wiped his brow with his sleeve whilst +waiting for the blood to mix. A drowsiness such as follows gross +feeding, an atmosphere heavy with indigestion, pervaded the kitchen. + +"When the man had buried his comrade in the sand," Florent continued +slowly, "he walked off alone straight in front of him. Dutch Guiana, in +which country he now was, is a land of forests intermingled with rivers +and swamps. The man walked on for more than a week without coming across +a single human dwelling-place. All around, death seemed to be lurking +and lying in wait for him. Though his stomach was racked by hunger, he +often did not dare to eat the bright-coloured fruits which hung from the +trees; he was afraid to touch the glittering berries, fearing lest they +should be poisonous. For whole days he did not see a patch of sky, but +tramped on beneath a canopy of branches, amidst a greenish gloom that +swarmed with horrible living creatures. Great birds flew over his head +with a terrible flapping of wings and sudden strange calls resembling +death groans; apes sprang, wild animals rushed through the thickets +around him, bending the saplings and bringing down a rain of leaves, as +though a gale were passing. But it was particularly the serpents that +turned his blood cold when, stepping upon a matting of moving, withered +leaves, he caught sight of their slim heads gliding amidst a horrid maze +of roots. In certain nooks, nooks of dank shadow, swarming colonies +of reptiles--some black, some yellow, some purple, some striped, some +spotted, and some resembling withered reeds--suddenly awakened into life +and wriggled away. At such times the man would stop and look about for +a stone on which he might take refuge from the soft yielding ground +into which his feet sank; and there he would remain for hours, +terror-stricken on espying in some open space near by a boa, who, +with tail coiled and head erect, swayed like the trunk of a big tree +splotched with gold. + +"At night he used to sleep in the trees, alarmed by the slightest +rustling of the branches, and fancying that he could hear endless swarms +of serpents gliding through the gloom. He almost stifled beneath the +interminable expanse of foliage. The gloomy shade reeked with close, +oppressive heat, a clammy dankness and pestilential sweat, impregnated +with the coarse aroma of scented wood and malodorous flowers. + +"And when at last, after a long weary tramp, the man made his way out of +the forest and beheld the sky again, he found himself confronted by wide +rivers which barred his way. He skirted their banks, keeping a watchful +eye on the grey backs of the alligators and the masses of drifting +vegetation, and then, when he came to a less suspicious-looking spot, +he swam across. And beyond the rivers the forests began again. At other +times there were vast prairie lands, leagues of thick vegetation, in +which, at distant intervals, small lakes gleamed bluely. The man then +made a wide detour, and sounded the ground beneath him before advancing, +having but narrowly escaped from being swallowed up and buried beneath +one of those smiling plains which he could hear cracking at each step he +took. The giant grass, nourished by all the collected humus, concealed +pestiferous marshes, depths of liquid mud; and amongst the expanses of +verdure spread over the glaucous immensity to the very horizon there +were only narrow stretches of firm ground with which the traveller must +be acquainted if he would avoid disappearing for ever. One night the +man sank down as far as his waist. At each effort he made to extricate +himself the mud threatened to rise to his mouth. Then he remained +quite still for nearly a couple of hours; and when the moon rose he was +fortunately able to catch hold of a branch of a tree above his head. By +the time he reached a human dwelling his hands and feet were bruised and +bleeding, swollen with poisonous stings. He presented such a pitiable, +famished appearance that those who saw him were afraid of him. They +tossed him some food fifty yards away from the house, and the master of +it kept guard over his door with a loaded gun." + +Florent stopped, his voice choked by emotion, and his eyes gazing +blankly before him. For some minutes he had seemed to be speaking to +himself alone. Little Pauline, who had grown drowsy, was lying in his +arms with her head thrown back, though striving to keep her wondering +eyes open. And Quenu, for his part, appeared to be getting impatient. + +"Why, you stupid!" he shouted to Leon, "don't you know how to hold a +skin yet? What do you stand staring at me for? It's the skin you should +look at, not me! There, hold it like that, and don't move again!" + +With his right hand Leon was raising a long string of sausage-skin, at +one end of which a very wide funnel was inserted; while with his left +hand he coiled the black-pudding round a metal bowl as fast as Quenu +filled the funnel with big spoonfuls of the meat. The latter, black and +steaming, flowed through the funnel, gradually inflating the skin, which +fell down again, gorged to repletion and curving languidly. As Quenu had +removed the pot from the range both he and Leon stood out prominently, +he broad visaged, and the lad slender of profile, in the burning glow +which cast over their pale faces and white garments a flood of rosy +light. + +Lisa and Augustine watched the filling of the skin with great interest, +Lisa especially; and she in her turn found fault with Leon because he +nipped the skin too tightly with his fingers, which caused knots to +form, she said. When the skin was quite full, Quenu let it slip gently +into a pot of boiling water; and seemed quite easy in his mind again, +for now nothing remained but to leave it to boil. + +"And the man--go on about the man!" murmured Pauline, opening her eyes, +and surprised at no longer hearing the narrative. + +Florent rocked her on his knee, and resumed his story in a slow, +murmuring voice, suggestive of that of a nurse singing an infant to +sleep. + +"The man," he said, "arrived at a large town. There he was at first +taken for an escaped convict, and was kept in prison for several months. +Then he was released, and turned his hand to all sorts of work. He +kept accounts and taught children to read, and at one time he was even +employed as a navvy in making an embankment. He was continually hoping +to return to his own country. He had saved the necessary amount of money +when he was attacked by yellow fever. Then, believing him to be dead, +those about him divided his clothes amongst themselves; so that when he +at last recovered he had not even a shirt left. He had to begin all over +again. The man was very weak, and was afraid he might have to remain +where he was. But at last he was able to get away, and he returned." + +His voice had sunk lower and lower, and now died away altogether in a +final quivering of his lips. The close of the story had lulled little +Pauline to sleep, and she was now slumbering with her head on Florent's +shoulder. He held her with one arm, and still gently rocked her on his +knee. No one seemed to pay any further attention to him, so he remained +still and quiet where he was, holding the sleeping child. + +Now came the tug of war, as Quenu said. He had to remove the +black-puddings from the pot. In order to avoid breaking them or getting +them entangled, he coiled them round a thick wooden pin as he drew them +out, and then carried them into the yard and hung them on screens, where +they quickly dried. Leon helped him, holding up the drooping ends. And +as these reeking festoons of black-pudding crossed the kitchen they left +behind them a trail of odorous steam, which still further thickened the +dense atmosphere. + +Auguste, on his side, after giving a hasty glance at the lard moulds, +now took the covers off the two pots in which the fat was simmering, and +each bursting bubble discharged an acrid vapour into the kitchen. The +greasy haze had been gradually rising ever since the beginning of +the evening, and now it shrouded the gas and pervaded the whole room, +streaming everywhere, and veiling the ruddy whiteness of Quenu and his +two assistants. Lisa and Augustine had risen from their seats; and all +were panting as though they had eaten too much. + +Augustine carried the sleeping Pauline upstairs; and Quenu, who liked to +fasten up the kitchen himself, gave Auguste and Leon leave to go to +bed, saying that he would fetch the black-pudding himself. The younger +apprentice stole off with a very red face, having managed to secrete +under his shirt nearly a yard of the pudding, which must have almost +scalded him. Then the Quenus and Florent remained alone, in silence. +Lisa stood nibbling a little piece of the hot pudding, keeping her +pretty lips well apart all the while, for fear of burning them, and +gradually the black compound vanished in her rosy mouth. + +"Well," said she, "La Normande was foolish in behaving so rudely; the +black-pudding's excellent to-day." + +However, there was a knock at the passage door, and Gavard, who stayed +at Monsieur Lebigre's every evening until midnight, came in. He had +called for a definite answer about the fish inspectorship. + +"You must understand," he said, "that Monsieur Verlaque cannot wait any +longer; he is too ill. So Florent must make up his mind. I have promised +to give a positive answer early to-morrow." + +"Well, Florent accepts," Lisa quietly remarked, taking another nibble at +some black-pudding. + +Florent, who had remained in his chair, overcome by a strange feeling of +prostration, vainly endeavoured to rise and protest. + +"No, no, say nothing," continued Lisa; "the matter is quite settled. You +have suffered quite enough already, my dear Florent. What you have just +been telling us is enough to make one shudder. It is time now for you +to settle down. You belong to a respectable family, you received a good +education, and it is really not fitting that you should go wandering +about the highways like a vagrant. At your age childishness is no longer +excusable. You have been foolish; well, all that will be forgotten +and forgiven. You will take your place again among those of your own +class--the class of respectable folks--and live in future like other +people." + +Florent listened in astonishment, quite unable to say a word. Lisa +was, doubtless, right. She looked so healthy, so serene, that it was +impossible to imagine that she desired anything but what was proper. It +was he, with his fleshless body and dark, equivocal-looking countenance, +who must be in the wrong, and indulging in unrighteous dreams. He could, +indeed, no longer understand why he had hitherto resisted. + +Lisa, however, continued to talk to him with an abundant flow of words, +as though he were a little boy found in fault and threatened with the +police. She assumed, indeed, a most maternal manner, and plied him with +the most convincing reasons. And at last, as a final argument, she said: + +"Do it for us, Florent. We occupy a fair position in the neighbourhood +which obliges us to use a certain amount of circumspection; and, to tell +you the truth, between ourselves, I'm afraid that people will begin +to talk. This inspectorship will set everything right; you will be +somebody; you will even be an honour to us." + +Her manner had become caressingly persuasive, and Florent was penetrated +by all the surrounding plenteousness, all the aroma filling the kitchen, +where he fed, as it were, on the nourishment floating in the atmosphere. +He sank into blissful meanness, born of all the copious feeding that +went on in the sphere of plenty in which he had been living during the +last fortnight. He felt, as it were, the titillation of forming fat +which spread slowly all over his body. He experienced the languid +beatitude of shopkeepers, whose chief concern is to fill their bellies. +At this late hour of night, in the warm atmosphere of the kitchen, all +his acerbity and determination melted away. That peaceable evening, +with the odour of the black-pudding and the lard, and the sight of plump +little Pauline slumbering on his knee, had so enervated him that he +found himself wishing for a succession of such evenings--endless ones +which would make him fat. + +However, it was the sight of Mouton that chiefly decided him. Mouton was +sound asleep, with his stomach turned upwards, one of his paws resting +on his nose, and his tail twisted over this side, as though to keep him +warm; and he was slumbering with such an expression of feline happiness +that Florent, as he gazed at him, murmured: "No, it would be too +foolish! I accept the berth. Say that I accept it, Gavard." + +Then Lisa finished eating her black-pudding, and wiped her fingers on +the edge of her apron. And next she got her brother-in-law's candle +ready for him, while Gavard and Quenu congratulated him on his decision. +It was always necessary for a man to settle down, said they; the +breakneck freaks of politics did not provide one with food. And, +meantime, Lisa, standing there with the lighted candle in her hand, +looked at him with an expression of satisfaction resting on her handsome +face, placid like that of some sacred cow. + + + +CHAPTER III + +Three days later the necessary formalities were gone through, and +without demur the police authorities at the Prefecture accepted Florent +on Monsieur Verlaque's recommendation as his substitute. Gavard, by the +way, had made it a point to accompany them. When he again found himself +alone with Florent he kept nudging his ribs with his elbow as they +walked along together, and laughed, without saying anything, while +winking his eyes in a jeering way. He seemed to find something very +ridiculous in the appearance of the police officers whom they met on +the Quai de l'Horloge, for, as he passed them, he slightly shrugged his +shoulders and made the grimace of a man seeking to restrain himself from +laughing in people's faces. + +On the following morning Monsieur Verlaque began to initiate the new +inspector into the duties of his office. It had been arranged that +during the next few days he should make him acquainted with the +turbulent sphere which he would have to supervise. Poor Verlaque, +as Gavard called him was a pale little man, swathed in flannels, +handkerchiefs, and mufflers. Constantly coughing, he made his way +through the cool, moist atmosphere, and running waters of the fish +market, on a pair of scraggy legs like those of a sickly child. + +When Florent made his appearance on the first morning, at seven o'clock, +he felt quite distracted; his eyes were dazed, his head ached with +all the noise and riot. Retail dealers were already prowling about +the auction pavilion; clerks were arriving with their ledgers, and +consigners' agents, with leather bags slung over their shoulders, sat +on overturned chairs by the salesmen's desks, waiting to receive their +cash. Fish was being unloaded and unpacked not only in the enclosure, +but even on the footways. All along the latter were piles of small +baskets, an endless arrival of cases and hampers, and sacks of mussels, +from which streamlets of water trickled. The auctioneers' assistants, +all looking very busy, sprang over the heaps, tore away the straw at +the tops of the baskets, emptied the latter, and tossed them aside. +They then speedily transferred their contents in lots to huge wickerwork +trays, arranging them with a turn of the hand so that they might show +to the best advantage. And when the large tray-like baskets were all +set out, Florent could almost fancy that a whole shoal of fish had got +stranded there, still quivering with life, and gleaming with rosy nacre, +scarlet coral, and milky pearl, all the soft, pale, sheeny hues of the +ocean. + +The deep-lying forests of seaweed, in which the mysterious life of the +ocean slumbers, seemed at one haul of the nets to have yielded up all +they contained. There were cod, keeling, whiting, flounders, plaice, +dabs, and other sorts of common fish of a dingy grey with whitish +splotches; there were conger-eels, huge serpent-like creatures, with +small black eyes and muddy, bluish skins, so slimy that they still +seemed to be gliding along, yet alive. There were broad flat skate +with pale undersides edged with a soft red, and superb backs bumpy with +vertebrae, and marbled down to the tautly stretched ribs of their +fins with splotches of cinnabar, intersected by streaks of the tint of +Florentine bronze--a dark medley of colour suggestive of the hues of a +toad or some poisonous flower. Then, too, there were hideous dog-fish, +with round heads, widely-gaping mouths like those of Chinese idols, and +short fins like bats' wings; fit monsters to keep yelping guard over the +treasures of the ocean grottoes. And next came the finer fish, displayed +singly on the osier trays; salmon that gleamed like chased silver, every +scale seemingly outlined by a graving-tool on a polished metal surface; +mullet with larger scales and coarser markings; large turbot and huge +brill with firm flesh white like curdled milk; tunny-fish, smooth and +glossy, like bags of blackish leather; and rounded bass, with widely +gaping mouths which a soul too large for the body seemed to have rent +asunder as it forced its way out amidst the stupefaction of death. And +on all sides there were sole, brown and grey, in pairs; sand-eels, slim +and stiff, like shavings of pewter; herrings, slightly twisted, with +bleeding gills showing on their silver-worked skins; fat dories tinged +with just a suspicion of carmine; burnished mackerel with green-streaked +backs, and sides gleaming with ever-changing iridescence; and rosy +gurnets with white bellies, their head towards the centre of the baskets +and their tails radiating all around, so that they simulated some +strange florescence splotched with pearly white and brilliant vermilion. +There were rock mullet, too, with delicious flesh, flushed with the +pinky tinge peculiar to the Cyprinus family; boxes of whiting with +opaline reflections; and baskets of smelts--neat little baskets, pretty +as those used for strawberries, and exhaling a strong scent of violets. +And meantime the tiny black eyes of the shrimps dotted as with beads +of jet their soft-toned mass of pink and grey; and spiny crawfish and +lobsters striped with black, all still alive, raised a grating sound as +they tried to crawl along with their broken claws. + +Florent gave but indifferent attention to Monsieur Verlaque's +explanations. A flood of sunshine suddenly streamed through the lofty +glass roof of the covered way, lighting up all these precious colours, +toned and softened by the waves--the iridescent flesh-tints of the +shell-fish, the opal of the whiting, the pearly nacre of the mackerel, +the ruddy gold of the mullets, the plated skins of the herrings, and +massive silver of the salmon. It was as though the jewel-cases of some +sea-nymph had been emptied there--a mass of fantastical, undreamt-of +ornaments, a streaming and heaping of necklaces, monstrous bracelets, +gigantic brooches, barbaric gems and jewels, the use of which could not +be divined. On the backs of the skate and the dog-fish you saw, as it +were, big dull green and purple stones set in dark metal, while the +slender forms of the sand-eels and the tails and fins of the smelts +displayed all the delicacy of finely wrought silver-work. + +And meantime Florent's face was fanned by a fresh breeze, a sharp, salt +breeze redolent of the sea. It reminded him of the coasts of Guiana and +his voyages. He half fancied that he was gazing at some bay left dry by +the receding tide, with the seaweed steaming in the sun, the bare rocks +drying, and the beach smelling strongly of the brine. All around him +the fish in their perfect freshness exhaled a pleasant perfume, that +slightly sharp, irritating perfume which depraves the appetite. + +Monsieur Verlaque coughed. The dampness was affecting him, and he +wrapped his muffler more closely about his neck. + +"Now," said he, "we will pass on to the fresh water fish." + +This was in a pavilion beside the fruit market, the last one, indeed, in +the direction of the Rue Rambuteau. On either side of the space reserved +for the auctions were large circular stone basins, divided into separate +compartments by iron gratings. Slender streams of water flowed from +brass jets shaped like swan's necks; and the compartments were filled +with swarming colonies of crawfish, black-backed carp ever on the +move, and mazy tangles of eels, incessantly knotting and unknotting +themselves. Again was Monsieur Verlaque attacked by an obstinate fit +of coughing. The moisture of the atmosphere was more insipid here +than amongst the sea water fish: there was a riverside scent, as of +sun-warmed water slumbering on a bed of sand. + +A great number of crawfishes had arrived from Germany that morning in +cases and hampers, and the market was also crowded with river fish from +Holland and England. Several men were unpacking shiny carp from the +Rhine, lustrous with ruddy metallic hues, their scales resembling +bronzed _cloisonne_ enamel; and others were busy with huge pike, the +cruel iron-grey brigands of the waters, who ravenously protruded their +savage jaws; or with magnificent dark-hued with verdigris. And amidst +these suggestions of copper, iron, and bronze, the gudgeon and perch, +the trout, the bleak, and the flat-fish taken in sweep-nets showed +brightly white, the steel-blue tints of their backs gradually toning +down to the soft transparency of their bellies. However, it was the +fat snowy-white barbel that supplied the liveliest brightness in this +gigantic collection of still life. + +Bags of young carp were being gently emptied into the basins. The fish +spun round, then remained motionless for a moment, and at last shot away +and disappeared. Little eels were turned out of their hampers in a mass, +and fell to the bottom of the compartments like tangled knots of snakes; +while the larger ones--those whose bodies were about as thick as a +child's arm--raised their heads and slipped of their own accord into the +water with the supple motion of serpents gliding into the concealment +of a thicket. And meantime the other fish, whose death agony had +been lasting all the morning as they lay on the soiled osiers of the +basket-trays, slowly expired amidst all the uproar of the auctions, +opening their mouths as though to inhale the moisture of the air, with +great silent gasps, renewed every few seconds. + +However, Monsieur Verlaque brought Florent back to the salt water fish. +He took him all over the place and gave him the minutest particulars +about everything. Round the nine salesmen's desks ranged along three +sides of the pavilion there was now a dense crowd of surging, swaying +heads, above which appeared the clerks, perched upon high chairs and +making entries in their ledgers. + +"Are all these clerks employed by the salesmen?" asked Florent. + +By way of reply Monsieur Verlaque made a detour along the outside +footway, led him into the enclosure of one of the auctions, and then +explained the working of the various departments of the big yellow +office, which smelt strongly of fish and was stained all over +by drippings and splashings from the hampers. In a little glazed +compartment up above, the collector of the municipal dues took note of +the prices realised by the different lots of fish. Lower down, seated +upon high chairs and with their wrists resting upon little desks, were +two female clerks, who kept account of the business on behalf of the +salesmen. At each end of the stone table in front of the office was a +crier who brought the basket-trays forward in turn, and in a bawling +voice announced what each lot consisted of; while above him the female +clerk, pen in hand, waited to register the price at which the lots +were knocked down. And outside the enclosure, shut up in another little +office of yellow wood, Monsieur Verlaque showed Florent the cashier, a +fat old woman, who was ranging coppers and five-franc pierces in piles. + +"There is a double control, you see," said Monsieur Verlaque; "the +control of the Prefecture of the Seine and that of the Prefecture of +Police. The latter, which licenses the salesmen, claims to have the +right of supervision over them; and the municipality asserts its right +to be represented at the transactions as they are subject to taxation." + +He went on expatiating at length in his faint cold voice respecting the +rival claims of the two Prefectures. Florent, however, was paying but +little heed, his attention being concentrated on a female clerk sitting +on one of the high chairs just in front of him. She was a tall, dark +woman of thirty, with big black eyes and an easy calmness of manner, and +she wrote with outstretched fingers like a girl who had been taught the +regulation method of the art. + +However, Florent's attention was diverted by the yelping of the crier, +who was just offering a magnificent turbot for sale. + +"I've a bid of thirty francs! Thirty francs, now; thirty francs!" + +He repeated these words in all sorts of keys, running up and down a +strange scale of notes full of sudden changes. Humpbacked and with his +face twisted askew, and his hair rough and disorderly, he wore a great +blue apron with a bib; and with flaming eyes and outstretched arms he +cried vociferously: "Thirty-one! thirty-two! thirty-three! Thirty-three +francs fifty centimes! thirty-three fifty!" + +Then he paused to take breath, turning the basket-tray and pushing it +farther upon the table. The fish-wives bent forward and gently touched +the turbot with their finger-tips. Then the crier began again with +renewed energy, hurling his figures towards the buyers with a wave +of the hand and catching the slightest indication of a fresh bid--the +raising of a finger, a twist of the eyebrows, a pouting of the lips, a +wink, and all with such rapidity and such a ceaseless jumble of words +that Florent, utterly unable to follow him, felt quite disconcerted +when, in a sing-song voice like that of a priest intoning the final +words of a versicle, he chanted: "Forty-two! forty-two! The turbot goes +for forty-two francs." + +It was the beautiful Norman who had made the last bid. Florent +recognised her as she stood in the line of fish-wives crowding against +the iron rails which surrounded the enclosure. The morning was fresh +and sharp, and there was a row of tippets above the display of big white +aprons, covering the prominent bosoms and stomachs and sturdy shoulders. +With high-set chignon set off with curls, and white and dainty skin, +the beautiful Norman flaunted her lace bow amidst tangled shocks of +hair covered with dirty kerchiefs, red noses eloquent of drink, +sneering mouths, and battered faces suggestive of old pots. And she also +recognised Madame Quenu's cousin, and was so surprised to see him there +that she began gossiping to her neighbours about him. + +The uproar of voices had become so great that Monsieur Verlaque +renounced all further attempt to explain matters to Florent. On the +footway close by, men were calling out the larger fish with +prolonged shouts, which sounded as though they came from gigantic +speaking-trumpets; and there was one individual who roared "Mussels! +Mussels!" in such a hoarse, cracked, clamorous voice that the very roofs +of the market shook. Some sacks of mussels were turned upside down, +and their contents poured into hampers, while others were emptied with +shovels. And there was a ceaseless procession of basket-trays containing +skate, soles, mackerel, conger-eels, and salmon, carried backwards and +forwards amidst the ever-increasing cackle and pushing of the fish-women +as they crowded against the iron rails which creaked with their +pressure. The humpbacked crier, now fairly on the job, waved his skinny +arms in the air and protruded his jaws. Presently, seemingly lashed into +a state of frenzy by the flood of figures that spurted from his lips, he +sprang upon a stool, where, with his mouth twisted spasmodically and +his hair streaming behind him, he could force nothing more than +unintelligible hisses from his parched throat. And in the meantime, up +above, the collector of municipal dues, a little old man, muffled in +a collar of imitation astrachan, remained with nothing but his nose +showing under his black velvet skullcap. And the tall, dark-complexioned +female clerk, with eyes shining calmly in her face, which had been +slightly reddened by the cold, sat on her high wooden chair, quietly +writing, apparently unruffled by the continuous rattle which came from +the hunchback below her. + +"That fellow Logre is wonderful," muttered Monsieur Verlaque with a +smile. "He is the best crier in the markets. I believe he could make +people buy boot soles in the belief they were fish!" + +Then he and Florent went back into the pavilion. As they again passed +the spot where the fresh water fish was being sold by auction, and where +the bidding seemed much quieter, Monsieur Verlaque explained that French +river fishing was in a bad way.[*] The crier here, a fair, sorry-looking +fellow, who scarcely moved his arms, was disposing of some lots of eels +and crawfish in a monotonous voice, while the assistants fished fresh +supplies out of the stone basins with their short-handled nets. + + [*] M. Zola refers, of course, to the earlier years of the + Second Empire. Under the present republican Government, + which has largely fostered fish culture, matters have + considerably improved.--Translator. + +However, the crowd round the salesmen's desks was still increasing. +Monsieur Verlaque played his part as Florent's instructor in the most +conscientious manner, clearing the way by means of his elbows, and +guiding his successor through the busiest parts. The upper-class retail +dealers were there, quietly waiting for some of the finer fish, or +loading the porters with their purchases of turbot, tunny, and salmon. +The street-hawkers who had clubbed together to buy lots of herrings and +small flat-fish were dividing them on the pavement. There were also some +people of the smaller middle class, from distant parts of the city, who +had come down at four o'clock in the morning to buy a really fresh fish, +and had ended by allowing some enormous lot, costing from forty to fifty +francs, to be knocked down to them, with the result that they would +be obliged to spend the whole day in getting their friends and +acquaintances to take the surplus off their hands. Every now and then +some violent pushing would force a gap through part of the crowd. A +fish-wife, who had got tightly jammed, freed herself, shaking her fists +and pouring out a torrent of abuse. Then a compact mass of people again +collected, and Florent, almost suffocated, declared that he had seen +quite enough, and understood all that was necessary. + +As Monsieur Verlaque was helping him to extricate himself from the +crowd, they found themselves face to face with the handsome Norman. +She remained stock-still in front of them, and with her queenly air +inquired: + +"Well, is it quite settled? You are going to desert us, Monsieur +Verlaque?" + +"Yes, yes," replied the little man; "I am going to take a rest in the +country, at Clamart. The smell of the fish is bad for me, it seems. +Here, this is the gentleman who is going to take my place." + +So speaking he turned round to introduce Florent to her. The handsome +Norman almost choked; however, as Florent went off, he fancied he could +hear her whisper to her neighbours, with a laugh: "Well, we shall have +some fine fun now, see if we don't!" + +The fish-wives had begun to set out their stalls. From all the taps at +the corners of the marble slabs water was gushing freely; and there was +a rustling sound all round, like the plashing of rain, a streaming of +stiff jets of water hissing and spurting. And then, from the lower side +of the sloping slabs, great drops fell with a softened murmur, splashing +on the flagstones where a mass of tiny streams flowed along here +and there, turning holes and depressions into miniature lakes, and +afterwards gliding in a thousand rills down the slope towards the Rue +Rambuteau. A moist haze ascended, a sort of rainy dust, bringing fresh +whiffs of air to Florent's face, whiffs of that salt, pungent sea breeze +which he remembered so well; while in such fish as was already laid out +he once more beheld the rosy nacres, gleaming corals, and milky pearls, +all the rippling colour and glaucous pallidity of the ocean world. + +That first morning left him much in doubt; indeed, he regretted that he +had yielded to Lisa's insistence. Ever since his escape from the greasy +drowsiness of the kitchen he had been accusing himself of base weakness +with such violence that tears had almost risen in his eyes. But he did +not dare to go back on his word. He was a little afraid of Lisa, and +could see the curl of her lips and the look of mute reproach upon her +handsome face. He felt that she was too serious a woman to be trifled +with. However, Gavard happily inspired him with a consoling thought. +On the evening of the day on which Monsieur Verlaque had conducted him +through the auction sales, Gavard took him aside and told him, with a +good deal of hesitation, that "the poor devil" was not at all well off. +And after various remarks about the scoundrelly Government which ground +the life out of its servants without allowing them even the means to die +in comfort, he ended by hinting that it would be charitable on Florent's +part to surrender a part of his salary to the old inspector. Florent +welcomed the suggestion with delight. It was only right, he considered, +for he looked upon himself simply as Monsieur Verlaque's temporary +substitute; and besides, he himself really required nothing, as he +boarded and lodged with his brother. Gavard added that he thought if +Florent gave up fifty francs out of the hundred and fifty which he +would receive monthly, the arrangement would be everything that could +be desired; and, lowering his voice, he added that it would not be for +long, for the poor fellow was consumptive to his very bones. Finally +it was settled that Florent should see Monsieur Verlaque's wife, and +arrange matters with her, to avoid any possibility of hurting the old +man's feelings. + +The thought of this kindly action afforded Florent great relief, and he +now accepted his duties with the object of doing good, thus continuing +to play the part which he had been fulfilling all his life. However, he +made the poultry dealer promise that he would not speak of the matter +to anyone; and as Gavard also felt a vague fear of Lisa, he kept the +secret, which was really very meritorious in him. + +And now the whole pork shop seemed happy. Handsome Lisa manifested the +greatest friendliness towards her brother-in-law. She took care that he +went to bed early, so as to be able to rise in good time; she kept his +breakfast hot for him; and she no longer felt ashamed at being seen +talking to him on the footway, now that he wore a laced cap. Quenu, +quite delighted by all these good signs, sat down to table in the +evening between his wife and brother with a lighter heart than ever. +They often lingered over dinner till nine o'clock, leaving the shop in +Augustine's charge, and indulging in a leisurely digestion interspersed +with gossip about the neighbourhood, and the dogmatic opinions of Lisa +on political topics; Florent also had to relate how matters had gone in +the fish market that day. He gradually grew less frigid, and began +to taste the happiness of a well-regulated existence. There was a +well-to-do comfort and trimness about the light yellowish dining room +which had a softening influence upon him as soon as he crossed its +threshold. Handsome Lisa's kindly attentions wrapped him, as it were, in +cotton-wool; and mutual esteem and concord reigned paramount. + +Gavard, however, considered the Quenu-Gradelles' home to be too drowsy. +He forgave Lisa her weakness for the Emperor, because, he said, one +ought never to discuss politics with women, and beautiful Madame +Quenu was, after all, a very worthy person, who managed her business +admirably. Nevertheless, he much preferred to spend his evenings at +Monsieur Lebigre's, where he met a group of friends who shared his own +opinions. Thus when Florent was appointed to the inspectorship of the +fish market, Gavard began to lead him astray, taking him off for hours, +and prompting him to lead a bachelor's life now that he had obtained a +berth. + +Monsieur Lebigre was the proprietor of a very fine establishment, fitted +up in the modern luxurious style. Occupying the right-hand corner of the +Rue Pirouette, and looking on to the Rue Rambuteau, it formed, with its +four small Norwegian pines in green-painted tubs flanking the doorway, a +worthy pendant to the big pork shop of the Quenu-Gradelles. Through the +clear glass windows you could see the interior, which was decorated with +festoons of foliage, vine branches, and grapes, painted on a soft green +ground. The floor was tiled with large black and white squares. At +the far end was the yawning cellar entrance, above which rose a spiral +staircase hung with red drapery, and leading to the billiard-room on the +first floor. The counter or "bar" on the right looked especially rich, +and glittered like polished silver. Its zinc-work, hanging with a broad +bulging border over the sub-structure of white and red marble, edged it +with a rippling sheet of metal as if it were some high altar laden +with embroidery. At one end, over a gas stove, stood porcelain pots, +decorated with circles of brass, and containing punch and hot wine. At +the other extremity was a tall and richly sculptured marble fountain, +from which a fine stream of water, so steady and continuous that it +looked as though it were motionless, flowed into a basin. In the centre, +edged on three sides by the sloping zinc surface of the counter, was a +second basin for rinsing and cooling purposes, where quart bottles of +draught wine, partially empty, reared their greenish necks. Then on the +counter, to the right and left of this central basin, were batches +of glasses symmetrically arranged: little glasses for brandy, thick +tumblers for draught wine, cup glasses for brandied fruits, glasses for +absinthe, glass mugs for beer, and tall goblets, all turned upside down +and reflecting the glitter of the counter. On the left, moreover, was a +metal urn, serving as a receptacle for gratuities; whilst a similar one +on the right bristled with a fan-like arrangement of coffee spoons. + +Monsieur Lebigre was generally to be found enthroned behind his counter +upon a seat covered with buttoned crimson leather. Within easy reach of +his hand were the liqueurs in cut-glass decanters protruding from the +compartments of a stand. His round back rested against a huge mirror +which completely filled the panel behind him; across it ran two glass +shelves supporting an array of jars and bottles. Upon one of them the +glass jars of preserved fruits, cherries, plums, and peaches, stood out +darkly; while on the other, between symmetrically arranged packets of +finger biscuits, were bright flasks of soft green and red and yellow +glass, suggesting strange mysterious liqueurs, or floral extracts of +exquisite limpidity. Standing on the glass shelf in the white glow of +the mirror, these flasks, flashing as if on fire, seemed to be suspended +in the air. + +To give his premises the appearance of a cafe, Monsieur Lebigre had +placed two small tables of bronzed iron and four chairs against the +wall, in front of the counter. A chandelier with five lights and +frosted globes hung down from the ceiling. On the left was a round gilt +timepiece, above a _tourniquet_[*] fixed to the wall. Then at the far +end came the private "cabinet," a corner of the shop shut off by a +partition glazed with frosted glass of a small square pattern. In the +daytime this little room received a dim light from a window that looked +on to the Rue Pirouette; and in the evening, a gas jet burnt over the +two tables painted to resemble marble. It was there that Gavard and +his political friends met each evening after dinner. They looked upon +themselves as being quite at home there, and had prevailed on the +landlord to reserve the place for them. When Monsieur Lebigre had closed +the door of the glazed partition, they knew themselves to be so safely +screened from intrusion that they spoke quite unreservedly of the great +"sweep out" which they were fond of discussing. No unprivileged customer +would have dared to enter. + + [*] This is a kind of dial turning on a pivot, and usually + enclosed in a brass frame, from which radiate a few small + handles or spokes. Round the face of the dial--usually of + paper--are various numerals, and between the face and its + glass covering is a small marble or wooden ball. The + appliance is used in lieu of dice or coins when two or more + customers are "tossing" for drinks. Each in turn sends the + dial spinning round, and wins or loses according to the + numeral against which the ball rests when the dial stops. As + I can find no English name for the appliance, I have thought + it best to describe it.--Translator. + +On the first day that Gavard took Florent off he gave him some +particulars of Monsieur Lebigre. He was a good fellow, he said, who +sometimes came to drink his coffee with them; and, as he had said one +day that he had fought in '48, no one felt the least constraint in his +presence. He spoke but little, and seemed rather thick-headed. As the +gentlemen passed him on their way to the private room they grasped +his hand in silence across the glasses and bottles. By his side on +the crimson leather seat behind the counter there was generally a fair +little woman, whom he had engaged as counter assistant in addition +to the white-aproned waiter who attended to the tables and the +billiard-room. The young woman's name was Rose, and she seemed a very +gentle and submissive being. Gavard, with a wink of his eye, told +Florent that he fancied Lebigre had a weakness for her. It was she, by +the way, who waited upon the friends in the private room, coming and +going, with her happy, humble air, amidst the stormiest political +discussions. + +Upon the day on which the poultry dealer took Florent to Lebigre's to +present him to his friends, the only person whom the pair found in the +little room when they entered it was a man of some fifty years of age, +of a mild and thoughtful appearance. He wore a rather shabby-looking hat +and a long chestnut-coloured overcoat, and sat, with his chin resting +on the ivory knob of a thick cane, in front of a glass mug full of beer. +His mouth was so completely concealed by a vigorous growth of beard that +his face had a dumb, lipless appearance. + +"How are you, Robine?" exclaimed Gavard. + +Robine silently thrust out his hand, without making any reply, though +his eyes softened into a slight smile of welcome. Then he let his chin +drop on to the knob of his cane again, and looked at Florent over his +beer. Florent had made Gavard swear to keep his story a secret for fear +of some dangerous indiscretion; and he was not displeased to observe a +touch of distrust in the discreet demeanour of the gentleman with the +heavy beard. However, he was really mistaken in this, for Robine never +talked more than he did now. He was always the first to arrive, just +as the clock struck eight; and he always sat in the same corner, never +letting go his hold of his cane, and never taking off either his hat or +his overcoat. No one had ever seen him without his hat upon his head. He +remained there listening to the talk of the others till midnight, taking +four hours to empty his mug of beer, and gazing successively at the +different speakers as though he heard them with his eyes. When Florent +afterwards questioned Gavard about Robine, the poultry dealer spoke of +the latter as though he held him in high esteem. Robine, he asserted, +was an extremely clever and able man, and, though he was unable to say +exactly where he had given proof of his hostility to the established +order of things, he declared that he was one of the most dreaded of the +Government's opponents. He lived in the Rue Saint Denis, in rooms +to which no one as a rule could gain admission. The poultry dealer, +however, asserted that he himself had once been in them. The wax floors, +he said, were protected by strips of green linen; and there were covers +over the furniture, and an alabaster timepiece with columns. He had +caught a glimpse of the back of a lady, who was just disappearing +through one doorway as he was entering by another, and had taken her +to be Madame Robine. She appeared to be an old lady of very genteel +appearance, with her hair arranged in corkscrew curls; but of this he +could not be quite certain. No one knew why they had taken up their +abode amidst all the uproar of a business neighbourhood; for the husband +did nothing at all, spending his days no one knew how and living on no +one knew what, though he made his appearance every evening as though he +were tired but delighted with some excursion into the highest regions of +politics. + +"Well, have you read the speech from the throne?" asked Gavard, taking +up a newspaper that was lying on the table. + +Robine shrugged his shoulders. Just at that moment, however, the door +of the glazed partition clattered noisily, and a hunchback made his +appearance. Florent at once recognised the deformed crier of the fish +market, though his hands were now washed and he was neatly dressed, with +his neck encircled by a great red muffler, one end of which hung down +over his hump like the skirt of a Venetian cloak. + +"Ah, here's Logre!" exclaimed the poultry dealer. "Now we shall hear +what he thinks about the speech from the throne." + +Logre, however, was apparently furious. To begin with he almost broke +the pegs off in hanging up his hat and muffler. Then he threw himself +violently into a chair, and brought his fist down on the table, while +tossing away the newspaper. + +"Do you think I read their fearful lies?" he cried. + +Then he gave vent to the anger raging within him. "Did ever anyone +hear," he cried, "of masters making such fools of their people? For two +whole hours I've been waiting for my pay! There were ten of us in the +office kicking our heels there. Then at last Monsieur Manoury arrived +in a cab. Where he had come from I don't know, and don't care, but I'm +quite sure it wasn't any respectable place. Those salesmen are all a +parcel of thieves and libertines! And then, too, the hog actually gave +me all my money in small change!" + +Robine expressed his sympathy with Logre by the slight movement of his +eyelids. But suddenly the hunchback bethought him of a victim upon whom +to pour out his wrath. "Rose! Rose!" he cried, stretching his head out +of the little room. + +The young woman quickly responded to the call, trembling all over. + +"Well," shouted Logre, "what do you stand staring at me like that for? +Much good that'll do! You saw me come in, didn't you? Why haven't you +brought me my glass of black coffee, then?" + +Gavard ordered two similar glasses, and Rose made all haste to bring +what was required, while Logre glared sternly at the glasses and little +sugar trays as if studying them. When he had taken a drink he seemed to +grow somewhat calmer. + +"But it's Charvet who must be getting bored," he said presently. "He is +waiting outside on the pavement for Clemence." + +Charvet, however, now made his appearance, followed by Clemence. He was +a tall, scraggy young man, carefully shaved, with a skinny nose and +thin lips. He lived in the Rue Vavin, behind the Luxembourg, and called +himself a professor. In politics he was a disciple of Hebert.[*] He +wore his hair very long, and the collar and lapels of his threadbare +frock-coat were broadly turned back. Affecting the manner and speech of +a member of the National Convention, he would pour out such a flood of +bitter words and make such a haughty display of pedantic learning that +he generally crushed his adversaries. Gavard was afraid of him, though +he would not confess it; still, in Charvet's absence he would say that +he really went too far. Robine, for his part, expressed approval +of everything with his eyes. Logre sometimes opposed Charvet on the +question of salaries; but the other was really the autocrat of +the coterie, having the greatest fund of information and the most +overbearing manner. For more than ten years he and Clemence had lived +together as man and wife, in accordance with a previously arranged +contract, the terms of which were strictly observed by both parties to +it. Florent looked at the young woman with some little surprise, but at +last he recollected where he had previously seen her. This was at the +fish auction. She was, indeed, none other than the tall dark female +clerk whom he had observed writing with outstretched fingers, after the +manner of one who had been carefully instructed in the art of holding a +pen. + + [*] Hebert, as the reader will remember, was the furious + demagogue with the foul tongue and poisoned pen who edited + the _Pere Duchesne_ at the time of the first French + Revolution. We had a revival of his politics and his journal + in Paris during the Commune of 1871.--Translator. + +Rose made her appearance at the heels of the two newcomers. Without +saying a word she placed a mug of beer before Charvet and a tray before +Clemence, who in a leisurely way began to compound a glass of "grog," +pouring some hot water over a slice of lemon, which she crushed with +her spoon, and glancing carefully at the decanter as she poured out +some rum, so as not to add more of it than a small liqueur glass could +contain. + +Gavard now presented Florent to the company, but more especially to +Charvet. He introduced them to one another as professors, and very able +men, who would be sure to get on well together. But it was probable that +he had already been guilty of some indiscretion, for all the men at once +shook hands with a tight and somewhat masonic squeeze of each other's +fingers. Charvet, for his part, showed himself almost amiable; and +whether he and the others knew anything of Florent's antecedents, they +at all events indulged in no embarrassing allusions. + +"Did Manoury pay you in small change?" Logre asked Clemence. + +She answered affirmatively, and produced a roll of francs and another of +two-franc pieces, and unwrapped them. Charvet watched her, and his eyes +followed the rolls as she replaced them in her pocket, after counting +their contents and satisfying herself that they were correct. + +"We have our accounts to settle," he said in a low voice. + +"Yes, we'll settle up to-night," the young woman replied. "But we +are about even, I should think. I've breakfasted with you four times, +haven't I? But I lent you a hundred sous last week, you know." + +Florent, surprised at hearing this, discreetly turned his head away. +Then Clemence slipped the last roll of silver into her pocket, drank a +little of her grog, and, leaning against the glazed partition, quietly +settled herself down to listen to the men talking politics. Gavard had +taken up the newspaper again, and, in tones which he strove to render +comic, was reading out some passages of the speech from the throne which +had been delivered that morning at the opening of the Chambers. Charvet +made fine sport of the official phraseology; there was not a single line +of it which he did not tear to pieces. One sentence afforded especial +amusement to them all. It was this: "We are confident, gentlemen, +that, leaning on your lights[*] and the conservative sentiments of the +country, we shall succeed in increasing the national prosperity day by +day." + + [*] In the sense of illumination of mind. It has been + necessary to give a literal translation of this phrase to + enable the reader to realise the point of subsequent + witticisms in which Clemence and Gavard indulge. + --Translator. + +Logre rose up and repeated this sentence, and by speaking through his +nose succeeded fairly well in mimicking the Emperor's drawling voice. + +"It's lovely, that prosperity of his; why, everyone's dying of hunger!" +said Charvet. + +"Trade is shocking," asserted Gavard. + +"And what in the name of goodness is the meaning of anybody 'leaning on +lights'?" continued Clemence, who prided herself upon literary culture. + +Robine himself even allowed a faint laugh to escape from the depths of +his beard. The discussion began to grow warm. The party fell foul of +the Corps Legislatif, and spoke of it with great severity. Logre did not +cease ranting, and Florent found him the same as when he cried the fish +at the auctions--protruding his jaws and hurling his words forward with +a wave of the arm, whilst retaining the crouching attitude of a snarling +dog. Indeed, he talked politics in just the same furious manner as he +offered a tray full of soles for sale. + +Charvet, on the other hand, became quieter and colder amidst the smoke +of the pipes and the fumes of the gas which were now filling the little +den; and his voice assumed a dry incisive tone, sharp like a guillotine +blade, while Robine gently wagged his head without once removing his +chin from the ivory knob of his cane. However, some remark of Gavard's +led the conversation to the subject of women. + +"Woman," declared Charvet drily, "is the equal of man; and, that being +so, she ought not to inconvenience him in the management of his life. +Marriage is a partnership, in which everything should be halved. Isn't +that so, Clemence?" + +"Clearly so," replied the young woman, leaning back with her head +against the wall and gazing into the air. + +However, Florent now saw Lacaille, the costermonger, and Alexandre, the +porter, Claude Lantier's friend, come into the little room. In the past +these two had long remained at the other table in the sanctum; they did +not belong to the same class as the others. By the help of politics, +however, their chairs had drawn nearer, and they had ended by forming +part of the circle. Charvet, in whose eyes they represented "the +people," did his best to indoctrinate them with his advanced political +theories, while Gavard played the part of the shopkeeper free from +all social prejudices by clinking glasses with them. Alexandre was +a cheerful, good-humoured giant, with the manner of a big merry lad. +Lacaille, on the other hand, was embittered; his hair was already +grizzling; and, bent and wearied by his ceaseless perambulations through +the streets of Paris, he would at times glance loweringly at the placid +figure of Robine, and his sound boots and heavy coat. + +That evening both Lacaille and Alexandre called for a liqueur glass of +brandy, and then the conversation was renewed with increased warmth and +excitement, the party being now quite complete. A little later, +while the door of the cabinet was left ajar, Florent caught sight of +Mademoiselle Saget standing in front of the counter. She had taken a +bottle from under her apron, and was watching Rose as the latter poured +into it a large measureful of black-currant syrup and a smaller one +of brandy. Then the bottle disappeared under the apron again, and +Mademoiselle Saget, with her hands out of sight, remained talking in the +bright glow of the counter, face to face with the big mirror, in which +the flasks and bottles of liqueurs were reflected like rows of Venetian +lanterns. In the evening all the metal and glass of the establishment +helped to illuminate it with wonderful brilliancy. The old maid, +standing there in her black skirts, looked almost like some big strange +insect amidst all the crude brightness. Florent noticed that she was +trying to inveigle Rose into a conversation, and shrewdly suspected that +she had caught sight of him through the half open doorway. Since he +had been on duty at the markets he had met her at almost every step, +loitering in one or another of the covered ways, and generally in the +company of Madame Lecoeur and La Sarriette. He had noticed also that +the three women stealthily examined him, and seemed lost in amazement +at seeing him installed in the position of inspector. That evening, +however, Rose was no doubt loath to enter into conversation with the old +maid, for the latter at last turned round, apparently with the intention +of approaching Monsieur Lebigre, who was playing piquet with a customer +at one of the bronzed tables. Creeping quietly along, Mademoiselle +Saget had at last managed to install herself beside the partition of the +cabinet, when she was observed by Gavard, who detested her. + +"Shut the door, Florent!" he cried unceremoniously. "We can't even be by +ourselves, it seems!" + +When midnight came and Lacaille went away he exchanged a few whispered +words with Monsieur Lebigre, and as the latter shook hands with him he +slipped four five-franc pieces into his palm, without anyone noticing +it. "That'll make twenty-two francs that you'll have to pay to-morrow, +remember," he whispered in his ear. "The person who lends the money +won't do it for less in future. Don't forget, too, that you owe three +days' truck hire. You must pay everything off." + +Then Monsieur Lebigre wished the friends good night. He was very sleepy +and should sleep well, he said, with a yawn which revealed his big +teeth, while Rose gazed at him with an air of submissive humility. +However, he gave her a push, and told her to go and turn out the gas in +the little room. + +On reaching the pavement, Gavard stumbled and nearly fell. And being in +a humorous vein, he thereupon exclaimed: "Confound it all! At any rate, +I don't seem to be leaning on anybody's lights." + +This remark seemed to amuse the others, and the party broke up. A little +later Florent returned to Lebigre's, and indeed he became quite attached +to the "cabinet," finding a seductive charm in Robine's contemplative +silence, Logre's fiery outbursts, and Charvet's cool venom. When he went +home, he did not at once retire to bed. He had grown very fond of his +attic, that girlish bedroom, where Augustine had left scraps of ribbons, +souvenirs, and other feminine trifles lying about. There still remained +some hair-pins on the mantelpiece, with gilt cardboard boxes of buttons +and lozenges, cutout pictures, and empty pomade pots that retained an +odour of jasmine. Then there were some reels of thread, needles, and +a missal lying by the side of a soiled Dream-book in the drawer of +the rickety deal table. A white summer dress with yellow spots +hung forgotten from a nail; while upon the board which served as a +toilet-table a big stain behind the water-jug showed where a bottle of +bandoline had been overturned. The little chamber, with its narrow iron +bed, its two rush-bottomed chairs, and its faded grey wallpaper, +was instinct with innocent simplicity. The plain white curtains, the +childishness suggested by the cardboard boxes and the Dream-book, and +the clumsy coquetry which had stained the walls, all charmed Florent and +brought him back to dreams of youth. He would have preferred not to +have known that plain, wiry-haired Augustine, but to have been able to +imagine that he was occupying the room of a sister, some bright sweet +girl of whose budding womanhood every trifle around him spoke. + +Yet another pleasure which he took was to lean out of the garret window +at nighttime. In front of it was a narrow ledge of roof, enclosed by +an iron railing, and forming a sort of balcony, on which Augustine had +grown a pomegranate in a box. Since the nights had turned cold, Florent +had brought the pomegranate indoors and kept it by the foot of his bed +till morning. He would linger for a few minutes by the open window, +inhaling deep draughts of the sharp fresh air which was wafted up from +the Seine, over the housetops of the Rue de Rivoli. Below him the roofs +of the markets spread confusedly in a grey expanse, like slumbering +lakes on whose surface the furtive reflection of a pane of glass gleamed +every now and then like a silvery ripple. Farther away the roofs of the +meat and poultry pavilions lay in deeper gloom, and became mere masses +of shadow barring the horizon. Florent delighted in the great stretch of +open sky in front of him, in that spreading expanse of the markets which +amidst all the narrow city streets brought him a dim vision of some +strip of sea coast, of the still grey waters of a bay scarce quivering +from the roll of the distant billows. He used to lose himself in dreams +as he stood there; each night he conjured up the vision of some fresh +coast line. To return in mind to the eight years of despair which he had +spent away from France rendered him both very sad and very happy. Then +at last, shivering all over, he would close the window. Often, as he +stood in front of the fireplace taking off his collar, the photograph of +Auguste and Augustine would fill him with disquietude. They seemed to be +watching him as they stood there, hand in hand, smiling faintly. + +Florent's first few weeks at the fish market were very painful to him. +The Mehudins treated him with open hostility, which infected the whole +market with a spirit of opposition. The beautiful Norman intended to +revenge herself on the handsome Lisa, and the latter's cousin seemed a +victim ready to hand. + +The Mehudins came from Rouen. Louise's mother still related how she had +first arrived in Paris with a basket of eels. She had ever afterwards +remained in the fish trade. She had married a man employed in the Octroi +service, who had died leaving her with two little girls. It was she who +by her full figure and glowing freshness had won for herself in earlier +days the nickname of "the beautiful Norman," which her eldest daughter +had inherited. Now five and sixty years of age, Madame Mehudin had +become flabby and shapeless, and the damp air of the fish market had +rendered her voice rough and hoarse, and given a bluish tinge to her +skin. Sedentary life had made her extremely bulky, and her head was +thrown backwards by the exuberance of her bosom. She had never been +willing to renounce the fashions of her younger days, but still wore +the flowered gown, the yellow kerchief, and turban-like head-gear of +the classic fish-wife, besides retaining the latter's loud voice and +rapidity of gesture as she stood with her hands on her hips, shouting +out the whole abusive vocabulary of her calling. + +She looked back regretfully to the old Marche des Innocents, which the +new central markets had supplanted. She would talk of the ancient rights +of the market "ladies," and mingle stories of fisticuffs exchanged with +the police with reminiscences of the visits she had paid the Court in +the time of Charles X and Louis Philippe, dressed in silk, and carrying +a bouquet of flowers in her hand. Old Mother Mehudin, as she was now +generally called, had for a long time been the banner-bearer of the +Sisterhood of the Virgin at St. Leu. She would relate that in the +processions in the church there she had worn a dress and cap of tulle +trimmed with satin ribbons, whilst holding aloft in her puffy fingers +the gilded staff of the richly-fringed silk standard on which the figure +of the Holy Mother was embroidered. + +According to the gossip of the neighbourhood, the old woman had made a +fairly substantial fortune, though the only signs of it were the massive +gold ornaments with which she loaded her neck and arms and bosom on +important occasions. Her two daughters got on badly together as they +grew up. The younger one, Claire, an idle, fair-complexioned girl, +complained of the ill-treatment which she received from her sister +Louise, protesting, in her languid voice, that she could never submit to +be the other's servant. As they would certainly have ended by coming +to blows, their mother separated them. She gave her stall in the fish +market to Louise, while Claire, whom the smell of the skate and the +herrings affected in the lungs, installed herself among the fresh water +fish. And from that time the old mother, although she pretended to +have retired from business altogether, would flit from one stall to the +other, still interfering in the selling of the fish, and causing her +daughters continual annoyance by the foul insolence with which she would +at times speak to customers. + +Claire was a fantastical creature, very gentle in her manner, and yet +continually at loggerheads with others. People said that she invariably +followed her own whimsical inclinations. In spite of her dreamy, girlish +face she was imbued with a nature of silent firmness, a spirit of +independence which prompted her to live apart; she never took things +as other people did, but would one day evince perfect fairness, and the +next day arrant injustice. She would sometimes throw the market into +confusion by suddenly increasing or lowering the prices at her stall, +without anyone being able to guess her reason for doing so. She +herself would refuse to explain her motive. By the time she reached her +thirtieth year, her delicate physique and fine skin, which the water +of the tanks seemed to keep continually fresh and soft, her small, +faintly-marked face and lissome limbs would probably become heavy, +coarse, and flabby, till she would look like some faded saint that had +stepped from a stained-glass window into the degrading sphere of the +markets. At twenty-two, however, Claire, in the midst of her carp and +eels, was, to use Claude Lantier's expression, a Murillo. A Murillo, +that is, whose hair was often in disorder, who wore heavy shoes and +clumsily cut dresses, which left her without any figure. But she was +free from all coquetry, and she assumed an air of scornful contempt when +Louise, displaying her bows and ribbons, chaffed her about her clumsily +knotted neckerchiefs. Moreover, she was virtuous; it was said that the +son of a rich shopkeeper in the neighbourhood had gone abroad in despair +at having failed to induce her to listen to his suit. + +Louise, the beautiful Norman, was of a different nature. She had been +engaged to be married to a clerk in the corn market; but a sack of flour +falling upon the young man had broken his back and killed him. Not very +long afterwards Louise had given birth to a boy. In the Mehudins' circle +of acquaintance she was looked upon as a widow; and the old fish-wife +in conversation would occasionally refer to the time when her son-in-law +was alive. + +The Mehudins were a power in the markets. When Monsieur Verlaque had +finished instructing Florent in his new duties, he advised him to +conciliate certain of the stall-holders, if he wished his life to be +endurable; and he even carried his sympathy so far as to put him in +possession of the little secrets of the office, such as the various +little breaches of rule that it was necessary to wink at, and those +at which he would have to feign stern displeasure; and also the +circumstances under which he might accept a small present. A market +inspector is at once a constable and a magistrate; he has to maintain +proper order and cleanliness, and settle in a conciliatory spirit +all disputes between buyers and sellers. Florent, who was of a weak +disposition put on an artificial sternness when he was obliged to +exercise his authority, and generally over-acted his part. Moreover, his +gloomy, pariah-like face and bitterness of spirit, the result of long +suffering, were against him. + +The beautiful Norman's idea was to involve him in some quarrel or other. +She had sworn that he would not keep his berth a fortnight. "That fat +Lisa's much mistaken," said she one morning on meeting Madame Lecoeur, +"if she thinks that she's going to put people over us. We don't want +such ugly wretches here. That sweetheart of hers is a perfect fright!" + +After the auctions, when Florent commenced his round of inspection, +strolling slowly through the dripping alleys, he could plainly see the +beautiful Norman watching him with an impudent smile on her face. Her +stall, which was in the second row on the left, near the fresh water +fish department faced the Rue Rambuteau. She would turn round, however, +and never take her eyes off her victim whilst making fun of him with +her neighbours. And when he passed in front of her, slowly examining the +slabs, she feigned hilarious merriment, slapped her fish with her hand, +and turned her jets of water on at full stream, flooding the pathway. +Nevertheless Florent remained perfectly calm. + +At last, one morning as was bound to happen, war broke out. As Florent +reached La Normande's stall that day an unbearable stench assailed +his nostrils. On the marble slab, in addition to part of a magnificent +salmon, showing its soft roseate flesh, there lay some turbots of creamy +whiteness, a few conger-eels pierced with black pins to mark their +divisions, several pairs of soles, and some bass and red mullet--in +fact, quite a display of fresh fish. But in the midst of it, amongst +all these fish whose eyes still gleamed and whose gills were of a bright +crimson, there lay a huge skate of a ruddy tinge, splotched with dark +stains--superb, indeed, with all its strange colourings. Unfortunately, +it was rotten; its tail was falling off and the ribs of its fins were +breaking through the skin. + +"You must throw that skate away," said Florent as he came up. + +The beautiful Norman broke into a slight laugh. Florent raised his eyes +and saw her standing before him, with her back against the bronze lamp +post which lighted the stalls in her division. She had mounted upon +a box to keep her feet out of the damp, and appeared very tall as he +glanced at her. She looked also handsomer than usual, with her +hair arranged in little curls, her sly face slightly bent, her lips +compressed, and her hands showing somewhat too rosily against her big +white apron. Florent had never before seen her decked with so much +jewellery. She had long pendants in her ears, a chain round her neck, a +brooch in her dress body, and quite a collection of rings on two fingers +of her left hand and one of her right. + +As she still continued to look slyly at Florent, without making any +reply, the latter continued: "Do you hear? You must remove that skate." + +He had not yet noticed the presence of old Madame Mehudin, who sat all +of a heap on a chair in a corner. She now got up, however, and, with her +fists resting on the marble slap, insolently exclaimed: "Dear me! And +why is she to throw her skate away? You won't pay her for it, I'll bet!" + +Florent immediately understood the position. The women at the other +stalls began to titter, and he felt that he was surrounded by covert +rebellion, which a word might cause to blaze forth. He therefore +restrained himself, and in person drew the refuse-pail from under the +stall and dropped the skate into it. Old Madame Mehudin had already +stuck her hands on her hips, while the beautiful Norman, who had not +spoken a word, burst into another malicious laugh as Florent strode +sternly away amidst a chorus of jeers, which he pretended not to hear. + +Each day now some new trick was played upon him, and he was obliged to +walk through the market alleys as warily as though he were in a hostile +country. He was splashed with water from the sponges employed to +cleanse the slabs; he stumbled and almost fell over slippery refuse +intentionally spread in his way; and even the porters contrived to run +their baskets against the nape of his neck. One day, moreover, when two +of the fish-wives were quarrelling, and he hastened up to prevent them +coming to blows, he was obliged to duck in order to escape being slapped +on either cheek by a shower of little dabs which passed over his head. +There was a general outburst of laughter on this occasion, and Florent +always believed that the two fish-wives were in league with the +Mehudins. However, his old-time experiences as a teacher had endowed +him with angelic patience, and he was able to maintain a magisterial +coolness of manner even when anger was hotly rising within him, and +his whole being quivered with a sense of humiliation. Still, the young +scamps of the Rue de l'Estrapade had never manifested the savagery +of these fish-wives, the cruel tenacity of these huge females, whose +massive figures heaved and shook with a giant-like joy whenever he fell +into any trap. They stared him out of countenance with their red faces; +and in the coarse tones of their voices and the impudent gesture of +their hands he could read volumes of filthy abuse levelled at himself. +Gavard would have been quite in his element amidst all these petticoats, +and would have freely cuffed them all round; but Florent, who had +always been afraid of women, gradually felt overwhelmed as by a sort +of nightmare in which giant women, buxom beyond all imagination, +danced threateningly around him, shouting at him in hoarse voices and +brandishing bare arms, as massive as any prize-fighter's. + +Amongst this hoard of females, however, Florent had one friend. Claire +unhesitatingly declared that the new inspector was a very good fellow. +When he passed in front of her, pursued by the coarse abuse of the +others, she gave him a pleasant smile, sitting nonchalantly behind her +stall, with unruly errant locks of pale hair straying over her neck and +her brow, and the bodice of her dress pinned all askew. He also often +saw her dipping her hands into her tanks, transferring the fish from +one compartment to another, and amusing herself by turning on the brass +taps, shaped like little dolphins with open mouths, from which the water +poured in streamlets. Amidst the rustling sound of the water she had +some of the quivering grace of a girl who has just been bathing and has +hurriedly slipped on her clothes. + +One morning she was particularly amiable. She called the inspector to +her to show him a huge eel which had been the wonder of the market +when exhibited at the auction. She opened the grating, which she had +previously closed over the basin in whose depths the eel seemed to be +lying sound asleep. + +"Wait a moment," she said, "and I'll show it to you." + +Then she gently slipped her bare arm into the water; it was not a very +plump arm, and its veins showed softly blue beneath its satiny skin. As +soon as the eel felt her touch, it rapidly twisted round, and seemed to +fill the narrow trough with its glistening greenish coils. And directly +it had settled down to rest again Claire once more stirred it with her +fingertips. + +"It is an enormous creature," Florent felt bound to say. "I have rarely +seen such a fine one." + +Claire thereupon confessed to him that she had at first been frightened +of eels; but now she had learned how to tighten her grip so that they +could not slip away. From another compartment she took a smaller one, +which began to wriggle both with head and tail, as she held it about +the middle in her closed fist. This made her laugh. She let it go, then +seized another and another, scouring the basin and stirring up the whole +heap of snaky-looking creatures with her slim fingers. + +Afterwards she began to speak of the slackness of trade. The hawkers on +the foot-pavement of the covered way did the regular saleswomen a great +deal of injury, she said. Meantime her bare arm, which she had not +wiped, was glistening and dripping with water. Big drops trickled from +each finger. + +"Oh," she exclaimed suddenly, "I must show you my carp, too!" + +She now removed another grating, and, using both hands, lifted out a +large carp, which began to flap its tail and gasp. It was too big to be +held conveniently, so she sought another one. This was smaller, and she +could hold it with one hand, but the latter was forced slightly open +by the panting of the sides each time that the fish gasped. To amuse +herself it occurred to Claire to pop the tip of her thumb into the +carp's mouth whilst it was dilated. "It won't bite," said she with her +gentle laugh; "it's not spiteful. No more are the crawfishes; I'm not +the least afraid of them." + +She plunged her arm into the water again, and from a compartment full +of a confused crawling mass brought up a crawfish that had caught her +little finger in its claws. She gave the creature a shake, but it no +doubt gripped her too tightly, for she turned very red, and snapped off +its claw with a quick, angry gesture, though still continuing to smile. + +"By the way," she continued quickly, to conceal her emotion, "I wouldn't +trust myself with a pike; he'd cut off my fingers like a knife." + +She thereupon showed him some big pike arranged in order of size upon +clean scoured shelves, beside some bronze-hued tench and little heaps of +gudgeon. Her hands were now quite slimy with handling the carp, and as +she stood there in the dampness rising from the tanks, she held them +outstretched over the dripping fish on the stall. She seemed enveloped +by an odour of spawn, that heavy scent which rises from among the reeds +and water-lilies when the fish, languid in the sunlight, discharge their +eggs. Then she wiped her hands on her apron, still smiling the placid +smile of a girl who knew nothing of passion in that quivering atmosphere +of the frigid loves of the river. + +The kindliness which Claire showed to Florent was but a slight +consolation to him. By stopping to talk to the girl he only drew upon +himself still coarser jeers from the other stallkeepers. Claire shrugged +her shoulders, and said that her mother was an old jade, and her sister +a worthless creature. The injustice of the market folk towards the new +inspector filled her with indignation. The war between them, however, +grew more bitter every day. Florent had serious thoughts of resigning +his post; indeed, he would not have retained it for another twenty-four +hours if he had not been afraid that Lisa might imagine him to be a +coward. He was frightened of what she might say and what she might +think. She was naturally well aware of the contest which was going on +between the fish-wives and their inspector; for the whole echoing market +resounded with it, and the entire neighbourhood discussed each fresh +incident with endless comments. + +"Ah, well," Lisa would often say in the evening, after dinner, "I'd soon +bring them to reason if I had anything to do with them! Why, they are a +lot of dirty jades that I wouldn't touch with the tip of my finger! That +Normande is the lowest of the low! I'd soon crush her, that I would! You +should really use your authority, Florent. You are wrong to behave as +you do. Put your foot down, and they'll all come to their senses very +quickly, you'll see." + +A terrible climax was presently reached. One morning the servant of +Madame Taboureau, the baker, came to the market to buy a brill; and +the beautiful Norman, having noticed her lingering near her stall for +several minutes, began to make overtures to her in a coaxing way: "Come +and see me; I'll suit you," she said. "Would you like a pair of soles, +or a fine turbot?" + +Then as the servant at last came up, and sniffed at a brill with that +dissatisfied pout which buyers assume in the hope of getting what they +want at a lower price, La Normande continued: + +"Just feel the weight of that, now," and so saying she laid the brill, +wrapped in a sheet of thick yellow paper, on the woman's open palm. + +The servant, a mournful little woman from Auvergne, felt the weight of +the brill, and examined its gills, still pouting, and saying not a word. + +"And how much do you want for it?" she asked presently, in a reluctant +tone. + +"Fifteen francs," replied La Normande. + +At this the servant hastily laid the brill on the stall again, and +seemed anxious to hurry away, but the other detained her. "Wait a +moment," said she. "What do you offer?" + +"No, no, I can't take it. It is much too dear." + +"Come, now, make me an offer." + +"Well, will you take eight francs?" + +Old Madame Mehudin, who was there, suddenly seemed to wake up, and +broke out into a contemptuous laugh. Did people think that she and her +daughter stole the fish they sold? "Eight francs for a brill that size!" +she exclaimed. "You'll be wanting one for nothing next, to use as a +cooling plaster!" + +Meantime La Normande turned her head away, as though greatly offended. +However, the servant came back twice and offered nine francs; and +finally she increased her bid to ten. + +"All right, come on, give me your money!" cried the fish-girl, seeing +that the woman was now really going away. + +The servant took her stand in front of the stall and entered into a +friendly gossip with old Madame Mehudin. Madame Taboureau, she said, was +so exacting! She had got some people coming to dinner that evening, some +cousins from Blois a notary and his wife. Madame Taboureau's family, +she added, was a very respectable one, and she herself, although only a +baker, had received an excellent education. + +"You'll clean it nicely for me, won't you?" added the woman, pausing in +her chatter. + +With a jerk of her finger La Normande had removed the fish's entrails +and tossed them into a pail. Then she slipped a corner of her apron +under its gills to wipe away a few grains of sand. "There, my dear," she +said, putting the fish into the servant's basket, "you'll come back to +thank me." + +Certainly the servant did come back a quarter of an hour afterwards, +but it was with a flushed, red face. She had been crying, and her little +body was trembling all over with anger. Tossing the brill on to the +marble slab, she pointed to a broad gash in its belly that reached the +bone. Then a flood of broken words burst from her throat, which was +still contracted by sobbing: "Madame Taboureau won't have it. She says +she couldn't put it on her table. She told me, too, that I was an idiot, +and let myself be cheated by anyone. You can see for yourself that the +fish is spoilt. I never thought of turning it round; I quite trusted +you. Give me my ten francs back." + +"You should look at what you buy," the handsome Norman calmly observed. + +And then, as the servant was just raising her voice again, old Madame +Mehudin got up. "Just you shut up!" she cried. "We're not going to take +back a fish that's been knocking about in other people's houses. How do +we know that you didn't let it fall and damage it yourself?" + +"I! I damage it!" The little servant was choking with indignation. "Ah! +you're a couple of thieves!" she cried, sobbing bitterly. "Yes, a couple +of thieves! Madame Taboureau herself told me so!" + +Matters then became uproarious. Boiling over with rage and brandishing +their fists, both mother and daughter fairly exploded; while the poor +little servant, quite bewildered by their voices, the one hoarse and +the other shrill, which belaboured her with insults as though they were +battledores and she a shuttlecock, sobbed on more bitterly than ever. + +"Be off with you! Your Madame Taboureau would like to be half as fresh +as that fish is! She'd like us to sew it up for her, no doubt!" + +"A whole fish for ten francs! What'll she want next!" + +Then came coarse words and foul accusations. Had the servant been +the most worthless of her sex she could not have been more bitterly +upbraided. + +Florent, whom the market keeper had gone to fetch, made his appearance +when the quarrel was at its hottest. The whole pavilion seemed to be +in a state of insurrection. The fish-wives, who manifest the keenest +jealousy of each other when the sale of a penny herring is in question, +display a united front when a quarrel arises with a buyer. They sang the +popular old ditty, "The baker's wife has heaps of crowns, which cost her +precious little"; they stamped their feet, and goaded the Mehudins +as though the latter were dogs which they were urging on to bite and +devour. And there were even some, having stalls at the other end of +the alley, who rushed up wildly, as though they meant to spring at the +chignon of the poor little woman, she meantime being quite submerged by +the flood of insulting abuse poured upon her. + +"Return mademoiselle her ten francs," said Florent sternly, when he had +learned what had taken place. + +But old Madame Mehudin had her blood up. "As for you, my little man," +quoth she, "go to blazes! Here, that's how I'll return the ten francs!" + +As she spoke, she flung the brill with all her force at the head of +Madame Taboureau's servant, who received it full in the face. The blood +spurted from her nose, and the brill, after adhering for a moment to +her cheeks, fell to the ground and burst with a flop like that of a wet +clout. This brutal act threw Florent into a fury. The beautiful Norman +felt frightened and recoiled, as he cried out: "I suspend you for a +week, and I will have your licence withdrawn. You hear me?" + +Then, as the other fish-wives were still jeering behind him, he turned +round with such a threatening air that they quailed like wild beasts +mastered by the tamer, and tried to assume an expression of innocence. +When the Mehudins had returned the ten francs, Florent peremptorily +ordered them to cease selling at once. The old woman was choking with +rage, while the daughter kept silent, but turned very white. She, the +beautiful Norman, to be driven out of her stall! + +Claire said in her quiet voice that it served her mother and sister +right, a remark which nearly resulted in the two girls tearing each +other's hair out that evening when they returned home to the Rue +Pirouette. However, when the Mehudins came back to the market at the +week's end, they remained very quiet, reserved, and curt of speech, +though full of a cold-blooded wrath. Moreover, they found the pavilion +quite calm and restored to order again. From that day forward the +beautiful Norman must have harboured the thought of some terrible +vengeance. She felt that she really had Lisa to thank for what had +happened. She had met her, the day after the battle, carrying her head +so high, that she had sworn she would make her pay dearly for her glance +of triumph. She held interminable confabulations with Madame Saget, +Madame Lecoeur, and La Sarriette, in quiet corners of the market; +however, all their chatter about the shameless conduct which they +slanderously ascribed to Lisa and her cousin, and about the hairs which +they declared were found in Quenu's chitterlings, brought La Normande +little consolation. She was trying to think of some very malicious plan +of vengeance, which would strike her rival to the heart. + +Her child was growing up in the fish market in all freedom and neglect. +When but three years old the youngster had been brought there, and day +by day remained squatting on some rag amidst the fish. He would fall +asleep beside the big tunnies as though he were one of them, and awake +among the mackerel and whiting. The little rascal smelt of fish as +strongly as though he were some big fish's offspring. For a long time +his favourite pastime, whenever his mother's back was turned, was to +build walls and houses of herrings; and he would also play at soldiers +on the marble slab, arranging the red gurnets in confronting lines, +pushing them against each other, and battering their heads, while +imitating the sound of drum and trumpet with his lips; after which he +would throw them all into a heap again, and exclaim that they were dead. +When he grew older he would prowl about his aunt Claire's stall to get +hold of the bladders of the carp and pike which she gutted. He placed +them on the ground and made them burst, an amusement which afforded +him vast delight. When he was seven he rushed about the alleys, crawled +under the stalls, ferreted amongst the zinc bound fish boxes, and became +the spoiled pet of all the women. Whenever they showed him something +fresh which pleased him, he would clasp his hands and exclaim in +ecstasy, "Oh, isn't it stunning!" _Muche_ was the exact word which he +used; _muche_ being the equivalent of "stunning" in the lingo of the +markets; and he used the expression so often that it clung to him as a +nickname. He became known all over the place as "Muche." It was Muche +here, there and everywhere; no one called him anything else. He was to +be met with in every nook; in out-of-the-way corners of the offices in +the auction pavilion; among the piles of oyster baskets, and betwixt the +buckets where the refuse was thrown. With a pinky fairness of skin, he +was like a young barbel frisking and gliding about in deep water. He +was as fond of running, streaming water as any young fry. He was +ever dabbling in the pools in the alleys. He wetted himself with the +drippings from the tables, and when no one was looking often slyly +turned on the taps, rejoicing in the bursting gush of water. But it was +especially beside the fountains near the cellar steps that his mother +went to seek him in the evening, and she would bring him thence with his +hands quite blue, and his shoes, and even his pockets, full of water. + +At seven years old Muche was as pretty as an angel, and as coarse in his +manners as any carter. He had curly chestnut hair, beautiful eyes, +and an innocent-looking mouth which gave vent to language that even a +gendarme would have hesitated to use. Brought up amidst all the ribaldry +and profanity of the markets, he had the whole vocabulary of the place +on the tip of his tongue. With his hands on his hips he often mimicked +Grandmother Mehudin in her anger, and at these times the coarsest and +vilest expressions would stream from his lips in a voice of crystalline +purity that might have belonged to some little chorister chanting the +_Ave Maria_. He would even try to assume a hoarse roughness of tone, +seek to degrade and taint that exquisite freshness of childhood which +made him resemble a _bambino_ on the Madonna's knees. The fish-wives +laughed at him till they cried; and he, encouraged, could scarcely say a +couple of words without rapping out an oath. But in spite of all this he +still remained charming, understanding nothing of the dirt amidst which +he lived, kept in vigorous health by the fresh breezes and sharp odours +of the fish market, and reciting his vocabulary of coarse indecencies +with as pure a face as though he were saying his prayers. + +The winter was approaching, and Muche seemed very sensitive to the cold. +As soon as the chilly weather set in he manifested a strong predilection +for the inspector's office. This was situated in the left-hand corner of +the pavilion, on the side of the Rue Rambuteau. The furniture consisted +of a table, a stack of drawers, an easy-chair, two other chairs, and a +stove. It was this stove which attracted Muche. Florent quite worshipped +children, and when he saw the little fellow, with his dripping legs, +gazing wistfully through the window, he made him come inside. His first +conversation with the lad caused him profound amazement. Muche sat down +in front of the stove, and in his quiet voice exclaimed: "I'll just +toast my toes, do you see? It's d----d cold this morning." Then he broke +into a rippling laugh, and added: "Aunt Claire looks awfully blue this +morning. Is it true, sir, that you are sweet on her?" + +Amazed though he was, Florent felt quite interested in the odd little +fellow. The handsome Norman retained her surly bearing, but allowed +her son to frequent the inspector's office without a word of objection. +Florent consequently concluded that he had the mother's permission to +receive the boy, and every afternoon he asked him in; by degrees forming +the idea of turning him into a steady, respectable young fellow. He +could almost fancy that his brother Quenu had grown little again, and +that they were both in the big room in the Rue Royer-Collard once more. +The life which his self-sacrificing nature pictured to him as perfect +happiness was a life spent with some young being who would never grow +up, whom he could go on teaching for ever, and in whose innocence he +might still love his fellow man. On the third day of his acquaintance +with Muche he brought an alphabet to the office, and the lad delighted +him by the intelligence he manifested. He learned his letters with all +the sharp precocity which marks the Parisian street arab, and derived +great amusement from the woodcuts illustrating the alphabet. + +He found opportunities, too, for plenty of fine fun in the little +office, where the stove still remained the chief attraction and a source +of endless enjoyment. At first he cooked potatoes and chestnuts at it, +but presently these seemed insipid, and he thereupon stole some gudgeons +from his aunt Claire, roasted them one by one, suspended from a string +in front of the glowing fire, and then devoured them with gusto, though +he had no bread. One day he even brought a carp with him; but it was +impossible to roast it sufficiently, and it made such a smell in the +office that both window and door had to be thrown open. Sometimes, when +the odour of all these culinary operations became too strong, Florent +would throw the fish into the street, but as a rule he only laughed. By +the end of a couple of months Muche was able to read fairly well, and +his copy-books did him credit. + +Meantime, every evening the lad wearied his mother with his talk about +his good friend Florent. His good friend Florent had drawn him pictures +of trees and of men in huts, said he. His good friend Florent waved his +arm and said that men would be far better if they all knew how to read. +And at last La Normande heard so much about Florent that she seemed +to be almost intimate with this man against whom she harboured so much +rancour. One day she shut Muche up at home to prevent him from going to +the inspector's, but he cried so bitterly that she gave him his liberty +again on the following morning. There was very little determination +about her, in spite of her broad shoulders and bold looks. When the lad +told her how nice and warm he had been in the office, and came back to +her with his clothes quite dry, she felt a sort of vague gratitude, a +pleasure in knowing that he had found a shelter-place where he could sit +with his feet in front of a fire. Later on, she was quite touched when +he read her some words from a scrap of soiled newspaper wrapped round +a slice of conger-eel. By degrees, indeed, she began to think, though +without admitting it, that Florent could not really be a bad sort of +fellow. She felt respect for his knowledge, mingled with an increasing +curiosity to see more of him and learn something of his life. Then, all +at once, she found an excuse for gratifying this inquisitiveness. She +would use it as a means of vengeance. It would be fine fun to make +friends with Florent and embroil him with that great fat Lisa. + +"Does your good friend Florent ever speak to you about me?" she asked +Muche one morning as she was dressing him. + +"Oh, no," replied the boy. "We enjoy ourselves." + +"Well, you can tell him that I've quite forgiven him, and that I'm much +obliged to him for having taught you to read." + +Thenceforward the child was entrusted with some message every day. He +went backwards and forwards from his mother to the inspector, and from +the inspector to his mother, charged with kindly words and questions and +answers, which he repeated mechanically without knowing their meaning. +He might, indeed, have been safely trusted with the most compromising +communications. However, the beautiful Norman felt afraid of appearing +timid, and so one day she herself went to the inspector's office and sat +down on the second chair, while Muche was having his writing lesson. +She proved very suave and complimentary, and Florent was by far the more +embarrassed of the two. They only spoke of the lad; and when Florent +expressed a fear that he might not be able to continue the lessons +in the office, La Normande invited him to come to their home in the +evening. She spoke also of payment; but at this he blushed, and said +that he certainly would not come if any mention were made of money. +Thereupon the young woman determined in her own mind that she would +recompense him with presents of choice fish. + +Peace was thus made between them; the beautiful Norman even took Florent +under her protection. Apart from this, however, the whole market was +becoming reconciled to the new inspector, the fish-wives arriving at the +conclusion that he was really a better fellow than Monsieur Verlaque, +notwithstanding his strange eyes. It was only old Madame Mehudin who +still shrugged her shoulders, full of rancour as she was against the +"long lanky-guts," as she contemptuously called him. And then, too, a +strange thing happened. One morning, when Florent stopped with a smile +before Claire's tanks, the girl dropped an eel which she was holding and +angrily turned her back upon him, her cheeks quite swollen and reddened +by temper. The inspector was so much astonished that he spoke to La +Normande about it. + +"Oh, never mind her," said the young woman; "she's cracked. She makes +a point of always differing from everybody else. She only behaved like +that to annoy me." + +La Normande was now triumphant--she strutted about her stall, and became +more coquettish than ever, arranging her hair in the most elaborate +manner. Meeting the handsome Lisa one day she returned her look of +scorn, and even burst out laughing in her face. The certainty she felt +of driving the mistress of the pork shop to despair by winning her +cousin from her endowed her with a gay, sonorous laugh, which rolled up +from her chest and rippled her white plump neck. She now had the whim +of dressing Muche very showily in a little Highland costume and velvet +bonnet. The lad had never previously worn anything but a tattered +blouse. It unfortunately happened, however, that just about this time he +again became very fond of the water. The ice had melted and the weather +was mild, so he gave his Scotch jacket a bath, turning the fountain tap +on at full flow and letting the water pour down his arm from his elbow +to his hand. He called this "playing at gutters." Then a little later, +when his mother came up and caught him, she found him with two other +young scamps watching a couple of little fishes swimming about in his +velvet cap, which he had filled with water. + +For nearly eight months Florent lived in the markets, feeling continual +drowsiness. After his seven years of suffering he had lighted upon such +calm quietude, such unbroken regularity of life, that he was scarcely +conscious of existing. He gave himself up to this jog-trot peacefulness +with a dazed sort of feeling, continually experiencing surprise at +finding himself each morning in the same armchair in the little office. +This office with its bare hut-like appearance had a charm for him. He +here found a quiet and secluded refuge amidst that ceaseless roar of the +markets which made him dream of some surging sea spreading around +him, and isolating him from the world. Gradually, however, a vague +nervousness began to prey upon him; he became discontented, accused +himself of faults which he could not define, and began to rebel against +the emptiness which he experienced more and more acutely in mind and +body. Then, too, the evil smells of the fish market brought him nausea. +By degrees he became unhinged, his vague boredom developing into +restless, nervous excitement. + +All his days were precisely alike, spent among the same sounds and the +same odours. In the mornings the noisy buzzing of the auction sales +resounded in his ears like a distant echo of bells; and sometimes, when +there was a delay in the arrival of the fish, the auctions continued +till very late. Upon these occasions he remained in the pavilion till +noon, disturbed at every moment by quarrels and disputes, which he +endeavoured to settle with scrupulous justice. Hours elapsed before he +could get free of some miserable matter or other which was exciting the +market. He paced up and down amidst the crush and uproar of the sales, +slowly perambulating the alleys and occasionally stopping in front of +the stalls which fringed the Rue Rambuteau, and where lay rosy heaps of +prawns and baskets of boiled lobsters with tails tied backwards, while +live ones were gradually dying as they sprawled over the marble +slabs. And then he would watch gentlemen in silk hats and black gloves +bargaining with the fish-wives, and finally going off with boiled +lobsters wrapped in paper in the pockets of their frock-coats.[*] +Farther away, at the temporary stalls, where the commoner sorts of fish +were sold, he would recognise the bareheaded women of the neighbourhood, +who always came at the same hour to make their purchases. + + [*] The little fish-basket for the use of customers, so + familiar in London, is not known in Paris.--Translator. + +At times he took an interest in some well-dressed lady trailing her lace +petticoats over the damp stones, and escorted by a servant in a white +apron; and he would follow her at a little distance on noticing how the +fish-wives shrugged their shoulders at sight of her air of disgust. The +medley of hampers and baskets and bags, the crowd of skirts flitting +along the damp alleys, occupied his attention until lunchtime. He took a +delight in the dripping water and the fresh breeze as he passed from the +acrid smell of the shell-fish to the pungent odour of the salted fish. +It was always with the latter that he brought his official round of +inspection to a close. The cases of red herrings, the Nantes sardines on +their layers of leaves, and the rolled cod, exposed for sale under +the eyes of stout, faded fish-wives, brought him thoughts of a voyage +necessitating a vast supply of salted provisions. + +In the afternoon the markets became quieter, grew drowsy; and Florent +then shut himself up in his office, made out his reports, and enjoyed +the happiest hours of his day. If he happened to go out and cross +the fish market, he found it almost deserted. There was no longer the +crushing and pushing and uproar of ten o'clock in the morning. The +fish-wives, seated behind their stalls, leant back knitting, while a +few belated purchasers prowled about casting sidelong glances at the +remaining fish, with the thoughtful eyes and compressed lips of women +closely calculating the price of their dinner. At last the twilight +fell, there was a noise of boxes being moved, and the fish was laid for +the night on beds of ice; and then, after witnessing the closing of the +gates, Florent went off, seemingly carrying the fish market along with +him in his clothes and his beard and his hair. + +For the first few months this penetrating odour caused him no great +discomfort. The winter was a severe one, the frosts converted the alleys +into slippery mirrors, and the fountains and marble slabs were fringed +with a lacework of ice. In the mornings it was necessary to place little +braziers underneath the taps before a drop of water could be drawn. The +frozen fish had twisted tails; and, dull of hue and hard to the touch +like unpolished metal, gave out a ringing sound akin to that of pale +cast-iron when it snaps. Until February the pavilion presented a most +mournful appearance: it was deserted, and wrapped in a bristling shroud +of ice. But with March came a thaw, with mild weather and fogs and rain. +Then the fish became soft again, and unpleasant odours mingled with the +smell of mud wafted from the neighbouring streets. These odours were as +yet vague, tempered by the moisture which clung to the ground. But in +the blazing June afternoons a reeking stench arose, and the atmosphere +became heavy with a pestilential haze. The upper windows were then +opened, and huge blinds of grey canvas were drawn beneath the burning +sky. Nevertheless, a fiery rain seemed to be pouring down, heating the +market as though it were a big stove, and there was not a breath of air +to waft away the noxious emanations from the fish. A visible steam went +up from the stalls. + +The masses of food amongst which Florent lived now began to cause him +the greatest discomfort. The disgust with which the pork shop had filled +him came back in a still more intolerable fashion. He almost sickened +as he passed these masses of fish, which, despite all the water lavished +upon them, turned bad under a sudden whiff of hot air. Even when he shut +himself up in his office his discomfort continued, for the abominable +odour forced its way through the chinks in the woodwork of the window +and door. When the sky was grey and leaden, the little room remained +quite dark; and then the day was like a long twilight in the depths of +some fetid march. He was often attacked by fits of nervous excitement, +and felt a craving desire to walk; and he would then descend into the +cellars by the broad staircase opening in the middle of the pavilion. In +the pent-up air down below, in the dim light of the occasional gas jets, +he once more found the refreshing coolness diffused by pure cold water. +He would stand in front of the big tank where the reserve stock of live +fish was kept, and listen to the ceaseless murmur of the four streamlets +of water falling from the four corners of the central urn, and then +spreading into a broad stream and gliding beneath the locked gratings of +the basins with a gentle and continuous flow. This subterranean spring, +this stream murmuring in the gloom, had a tranquillising effect upon +him. Of an evening, too, he delighted in the fine sunsets which threw +the delicate lacework of the market buildings blackly against the red +glow of the heavens. The dancing dust of the last sun rays streamed +through every opening, through every chink of the Venetian shutters, +and the whole was like some luminous transparency on which the slender +shafts of the columns, the elegant curves of the girders, and the +geometrical tracery of the roofs were minutely outlined. Florent +feasted his eyes on this mighty diagram washed in with Indian ink on +phosphorescent vellum, and his mind reverted to his old fancy of a +colossal machine with wheels and levers and beams espied in the crimson +glow of the fires blazing beneath its boilers. At each consecutive hour +of the day the changing play of the light--from the bluish haze of early +morning and the black shadows of noon to the flaring of the sinking sun +and the paling of its fires in the ashy grey of the twilight--revealed +the markets under a new aspect; but on the flaming evenings, when the +foul smells arose and forced their way across the broad yellow beams +like hot puffs of steam, Florent again experienced discomfort, and +his dream changed, and he imagined himself in some gigantic knacker's +boiling-house where the fat of a whole people was being melted down. + +The coarseness of the market people, whose words and gestures seemed to +be infected with the evil smell of the place, also made him suffer. He +was very tolerant, and showed no mock modesty; still, these impudent +women often embarrassed him. Madame Francois, whom he had again met, +was the only one with whom he felt at ease. She showed such pleasure +on learning he had found a berth and was quite comfortable and out of +worry, as she put it, that he was quite touched. The laughter of Lisa, +the handsome Norman, and the others disquieted him; but of Madame +Francois he would willingly have made a confidante. She never laughed +mockingly at him; when she did laugh, it was like a woman rejoicing at +another's happiness. She was a brave, plucky creature, too; hers was a +hard business in winter, during the frosts, and the rainy weather was +still more trying. On some mornings Florent saw her arrive in a pouring +deluge which had been slowly, coldly falling ever since the previous +night. Between Nanterre and Paris the wheels of her cart had sunk up to +the axles in mud, and Balthazar was caked with mire to his belly. His +mistress would pity him and sympathise with him as she wiped him down +with some old aprons. + +"The poor creatures are very sensitive," said she; "a mere nothing gives +them a cold. Ah, my poor old Balthazar! I really thought that we had +tumbled into the Seine as we crossed the Neuilly bridge, the rain came +down in such a deluge!" + +While Balthazar was housed in the inn stable his mistress remained in +the pouring rain to sell her vegetables. The footway was transformed +into a lake of liquid mud. The cabbages, carrots, and turnips were +pelted by the grey water, quite drowned by the muddy torrent that rushed +along the pavement. There was no longer any of that glorious greenery +so apparent on bright mornings. The market gardeners, cowering in their +heavy cloaks beneath the downpour, swore at the municipality which, +after due inquiry, had declared that rain was in no way injurious to +vegetables, and that there was accordingly no necessity to erect any +shelters. + +Those rainy mornings greatly worried Florent, who thought about Madame +Francois. He always managed to slip away and get a word with her. But +he never found her at all low-spirited. She shook herself like a poodle, +saying that she was quite used to such weather, and was not made of +sugar, to melt away beneath a few drops of rain. However, he made her +seek refuge for a few minutes in one of the covered ways, and frequently +even took her to Monsieur Lebigre's, where they had some hot wine +together. While she with her peaceful face beamed on him in all +friendliness, he felt quite delighted with the healthy odour of the +fields which she brought into the midst of the foul market atmosphere. +She exhaled a scent of earth, hay, fresh air, and open skies. + +"You must come to Nanterre, my lad," she said to him, "and look at my +kitchen garden. I have put borders of thyme everywhere. How bad your +villainous Paris does smell!" + +Then she went off, dripping. Florent, on his side, felt quite +re-invigorated when he parted from her. He tried, too the effect of work +upon the nervous depression from which he suffered. He was a man of a +very methodical temperament, and sometimes carried out his plans for the +allotment of his time with a strictness that bordered on mania. He shut +himself up two evenings a week in order to write an exhaustive work on +Cayenne. His modest bedroom was excellently adapted, he thought, to +calm his mind and incline him to work. He lighted his fire, saw that +the pomegranate at the foot of the bed was looking all right, and then +seated himself at the little table, and remained working till midnight. +He had pushed the missal and Dream-book back in the drawer, which was +now filling with notes, memoranda, manuscripts of all kinds. The work +on Cayenne made but slow progress, however, as it was constantly being +interrupted by other projects, plans for enormous undertakings which +he sketched out in a few words. He successively drafted an outline of +a complete reform of the administrative system of the markets, a scheme +for transforming the city dues, levied on produce as it entered Paris, +into taxes levied upon the sales, a new system of victualling the poorer +neighbourhoods, and, lastly, a somewhat vague socialist enactment for +the storing in common warehouses of all the provisions brought to the +markets, and the ensuring of a minimum daily supply to each household in +Paris. As he sat there, with his head bent over his table, and his mind +absorbed in thoughts of all these weighty matters, his gloomy figure +cast a great black shadow on the soft peacefulness of the garret. +Sometimes a chaffinch which he had picked up one snowy day in the market +would mistake the lamplight for the day, and break the silence, which +only the scratching of Florent's pen on his paper disturbed, by a cry. + +Florent was fated to revert to politics. He had suffered too much +through them not to make them the dearest occupation of his life. Under +other conditions he might have become a good provincial schoolmaster, +happy in the peaceful life of some little town. But he had been treated +as though he were a wolf, and felt as though he had been marked out +by exile for some great combative task. His nervous discomfort was the +outcome of his long reveries at Cayenne, the brooding bitterness he had +felt at his unmerited sufferings, and the vows he had secretly sworn to +avenge humanity and justice--the former scourged with a whip, and the +latter trodden under foot. Those colossal markets and their teeming +odoriferous masses of food had hastened the crisis. To Florent they +appeared symbolical of some glutted, digesting beast, of Paris, +wallowing in its fat and silently upholding the Empire. He seemed to be +encircled by swelling forms and sleek, fat faces, which ever and +ever protested against his own martyrlike scragginess and sallow, +discontented visage. To him the markets were like the stomach of the +shopkeeping classes, the stomach of all the folks of average rectitude +puffing itself out, rejoicing, glistening in the sunshine, and declaring +that everything was for the best, since peaceable people had never +before grown so beautifully fat. As these thoughts passed through his +mind Florent clenched his fists, and felt ready for a struggle, more +irritated now by the thought of his exile than he had been when he first +returned to France. Hatred resumed entire possession of him. He often +let his pen drop and became absorbed in dreams. The dying fire cast a +bright glow upon his face; the lamp burned smokily, and the chaffinch +fell asleep again on one leg, with its head tucked under its wing. + +Sometimes Auguste, on coming upstairs at eleven o'clock and seeing the +light shining under the door, would knock, before going to bed. Florent +admitted him with some impatience. The assistant sat down in front of +the fire, speaking but little, and never saying why he had come. His +eyes would all the time remain fixed upon the photograph of himself and +Augustine in their Sunday finery. Florent came to the conclusion that +the young man took a pleasure in visiting the room for the simple reason +that it had been occupied by his sweetheart; and one evening he asked +him with a smile if he had guessed rightly. + +"Well, perhaps it is so," replied Auguste, very much surprised at the +discovery which he himself now made of the reasons which actuated him. +"I'd really never thought of that before. I came to see you without +knowing why. But if I were to tell Augustine, how she'd laugh!" + +Whenever he showed himself at all loquacious, his one eternal theme was +the pork shop which he was going to set up with Augustine at Plaisance. +He seemed so perfectly assured of arranging his life in accordance +with his desires, that Florent grew to feel a sort of respect for him, +mingled with irritation. After all, the young fellow was very resolute +and energetic, in spite of his seeming stupidity. He made straight +for the goal he had in view, and would doubtless reach it in perfect +assurance and happiness. On the evenings of these visits from the +apprentice, Florent could not settle down to work again; he went off to +bed in a discontented mood, and did not recover his equilibrium till +the thought passed through his mind, "Why, that Auguste is a perfect +animal!" + +Every month he went to Clamart to see Monsieur Verlaque. These visits +were almost a delight to him. The poor man still lingered on, to the +great astonishment of Gavard, who had not expected him to last for more +than six months. Every time that Florent went to see him Verlaque would +declare that he was feeling better, and was most anxious to resume his +work again. But the days glided by, and he had serious relapses. Florent +would sit by his bedside, chat about the fish market, and do what he +could to enliven him. He deposited on the pedestal table the fifty +francs which he surrendered to him each month; and the old inspector, +though the payment had been agreed upon, invariably protested, and +seemed disinclined to take the money. Then they would begin to speak of +something else, and the coins remained lying on the table. When Florent +went away, Madame Verlaque always accompanied him to the street door. +She was a gentle little woman, of a very tearful disposition. Her one +topic of conversation was the expense necessitated by her husband's +illness, the costliness of chicken broth, butcher's meat, Bordeaux +wine, medicine, and doctors' fees. Her doleful conversation greatly +embarrassed Florent, and on the first few occasions he did not +understand the drift of it. But at last, as the poor woman seemed always +in a state of tears, and kept saying how happy and comfortable they had +been when they had enjoyed the full salary of eighteen hundred francs +a year, he timidly offered to make her a private allowance, to be +kept secret from her husband. This offer, however, she declined, +inconsistently declaring that the fifty francs were sufficient. But in +the course of the month she frequently wrote to Florent, calling +him their saviour. Her handwriting was small and fine, yet she would +contrive to fill three pages of letter paper with humble, flowing +sentences entreating the loan of ten francs; and this she at last did so +regularly that wellnigh the whole of Florent's hundred and fifty francs +found its way to the Verlaques. The husband was probably unaware of +it; however, the wife gratefully kissed Florent's hands. This charity +afforded him the greatest pleasure, and he concealed it as though it +were some forbidden selfish indulgence. + +"That rascal Verlaque is making a fool of you," Gavard would sometimes +say. "He's coddling himself up finely now that you are doing the work +and paying him an income." + +At last one day Florent replied: + +"Oh, we've arranged matters together. I'm only to give him twenty-five +francs a month in future." + +As a matter of fact, Florent had but little need of money. The Quenus +continued to provide him with board and lodging; and the few francs +which he kept by him sufficed to pay for the refreshment he took in the +evening at Monsieur Lebigre's. His life had gradually assumed all the +regularity of clockwork. He worked in his bedroom, continued to teach +little Muche twice a week from eight to nine o'clock, devoted an evening +to Lisa, to avoid offending her, and spent the rest of his spare time in +the little "cabinet" with Gavard and his friends. + +When he went to the Mehudins' there was a touch of tutorial stiffness +in his gentle demeanour. He was pleased with the old house in the +Rue Pirouette. On the ground floor he passed through the faint odours +pervading the premises of the purveyor of cooked vegetables. Big pans of +boiled spinach and sorrel stood cooling in the little backyard. Then he +ascended the winding staircase, greasy and dark, with worn and bulging +steps which sloped in a disquieting manner. The Mehudins occupied the +whole of the second floor. Even when they had attained to comfortable +circumstances the old mother had always declined to move into fresh +quarters, despite all the supplications of her daughters, who dreamt of +living in a new house in a fine broad street. But on this point the old +woman was not to be moved; she had lived there, she said, and meant to +die there. She contented herself, moreover, with a dark little closet, +leaving the largest rooms to Claire and La Normande. The later, with +the authority of the elder born, had taken possession of the room that +overlooked the street; it was the best and largest of the suite. Claire +was so much annoyed at her sister's action in the matter that she +refused to occupy the adjoining room, whose window overlooked the yard, +and obstinately insisted on sleeping on the other side of the landing, +in a sort of garret, which she did not even have whitewashed. However, +she had her own key, and so was independent; directly anything happened +to displease her she locked herself up in her own quarters. + +As a rule, when Florent arrived the Mehudins were just finishing +their dinner. Muche sprang to his neck, and for a moment the young man +remained seated with the lad chattering between his legs. Then, when +the oilcloth cover had been wiped, the lesson began on a corner of +the table. The beautiful Norman gave Florent a cordial welcome. She +generally began to knit or mend some linen, and would draw her chair up +to the table and work by the light of the same lamp as the others; and +she frequently put down her needle to listen to the lesson, which filled +her with surprise. She soon began to feel warm esteem for this man who +seemed so clever, who, in speaking to the little one, showed himself as +gentle as a woman, and manifested angelic patience in again and again +repeating the same instructions. She no longer considered him at all +plain, but even felt somewhat jealous of beautiful Lisa. And then she +drew her chair still nearer, and gazed at Florent with an embarrassing +smile. + +"But you are jogging my elbow, mother, and I can't write," Muche +exclaimed angrily. "There! see what a blot you've made me make! Get +further away, do!" + +La Normande now gradually began to say a good many unpleasant things +about beautiful Lisa. She pretended that the latter concealed her real +age, that she laced her stays so tightly that she nearly suffocated +herself, and that if she came down of a morning looking so trim and +neat, without a single hair out of place, it must be because she looked +perfectly hideous when in dishabille. Then La Normande would raise her +arm a little, and say that there was no need for her to wear any stays +to cramp and deform her figure. At these times the lessons would be +interrupted, and Muche gazed with interest at his mother as she raised +her arms. Florent listened to her, and even laughed, thinking to himself +that women were very odd creatures. The rivalry between the beautiful +Norman and beautiful Lisa amused him. + +Muche, however, managed to finish his page of writing. Florent, who was +a good penman, set him copies in large hand and round hand on slips of +paper. The words he chose were very long and took up the whole line, and +he evinced a marked partiality for such expressions as "tyrannically," +"liberticide," "unconstitutional," and "revolutionary." At times also +he made the boy copy such sentences as these: "The day of justice will +surely come"; "The suffering of the just man is the condemnation of the +oppressor"; "When the hour strikes, the guilty shall fall." In preparing +these copy slips he was, indeed, influenced by the ideas which haunted +his brain; he would for the time become quite oblivious of Muche, the +beautiful Norman, and all his surroundings. The lad would have copied +Rousseau's "Contrat Social" had he been told to do so; and thus, +drawing each letter in turn, he filled page after page with lines of +"tyrannically" and "unconstitutional." + +As long as the tutor remained there, old Madame Mehudin kept fidgeting +round the table, muttering to herself. She still harboured terrible +rancour against Florent; and asserted that it was folly to make the lad +work in that way at a time when children should be in bed. She would +certainly have turned that "spindle-shanks" out of the house, if the +beautiful Norman, after a stormy scene, had not bluntly told her that +she would go to live elsewhere if she were not allowed to receive whom +she chose. However, the pair began quarrelling again on the subject +every evening. + +"You may say what you like," exclaimed the old woman; "but he's got +treacherous eyes. And, besides, I'm always suspicious of those skinny +people. A skinny man's capable of anything. I've never come across a +decent one yet. That one's as flat as a board. And he's got such an ugly +face, too! Though I'm sixty-five and more, I'd precious soon send him +about his business if he came a-courting of me!" + +She said this because she had a shrewd idea of how matters were likely +to turn out. And then she went on to speak in laudatory terms of +Monsieur Lebigre, who, indeed, paid the greatest attention to the +beautiful Norman. Apart from the handsome dowry which he imagined she +would bring with her, he considered that she would be a magnificent +acquisition to his counter. The old woman never missed an opportunity to +sound his praises; there was no lankiness, at any rate, about him, said +she; he was stout and strong, with a pair of calves which would have +done honour even to one of the Emperor's footmen. + +However, La Normande shrugged her shoulders and snappishly replied: +"What do I care whether he's stout or not? I don't want him or anybody. +And besides, I shall do as I please." + +Then, if the old woman became too pointed in her remarks, the other +added: "It's no business of yours, and besides, it isn't true. Hold +your tongue and don't worry me." And thereupon she would go off into +her room, banging the door behind her. Florent, however, had a yet +more bitter enemy than Madame Mehudin in the house. As soon as ever he +arrived there, Claire would get up without a word, take a candle, and go +off to her own room on the other side of the landing; and she could be +heard locking her door in a burst of sullen anger. One evening when +her sister asked the tutor to dinner, she prepared her own food on +the landing, and ate it in her bedroom; and now and again she secluded +herself so closely that nothing was seen of her for a week at a time. +She usually retained her appearance of soft lissomness, but periodically +had a fit of iron rigidity, when her eyes blazed from under her pale +tawny locks like those of a distrustful wild animal. Old Mother Mehudin, +fancying that she might relieve herself in her company, only made her +furious by speaking to her of Florent; and thereupon the old woman, in +her exasperation, told everyone that she would have gone off and left +her daughters to themselves had she not been afraid of their devouring +each other if they remained alone together. + +As Florent went away one evening, he passed in front of Claire's door, +which was standing wide open. He saw the girl look at him, and turn very +red. Her hostile demeanour annoyed him; and it was only the timidity +which he felt in the presence of women that restrained him from seeking +an explanation of her conduct. On this particular evening he would +certainly have addressed her if he had not detected Mademoiselle Saget's +pale face peering over the balustrade of the upper landing. So he went +his way, but had not taken a dozen steps before Claire's door was closed +behind him with such violence as to shake the whole staircase. It was +after this that Mademoiselle Saget, eager to propagate slander, went +about repeating everywhere that Madame Quenu's cousin was "carrying on" +most dreadfully with both the Mehudin girls. + +Florent, however, gave very little thought to these two handsome young +women. His usual manner towards them was that of a man who has but +little success with the sex. Certainly he had come to entertain a +feeling of genuine friendship for La Normande, who really displayed a +very good heart when her impetuous temper did not run away with her. But +he never went any further than this. Moreover, the queenly proportions +of her robust figure filled him with a kind of alarm; and of an evening, +whenever she drew her chair up to the lamp and bent forward as though +to look at Muche's copy-book, he drew in his own sharp bony elbows and +shrunken shoulders as if realising what a pitiful specimen of humanity +he was by the side of that buxom, hardy creature so full of the life of +ripe womanhood. Moreover, there was another reason why he recoiled from +her. The smells of the markets distressed him; on finishing his duties +of an evening he would have liked to escape from the fishy odour amidst +which his days were spent; but, alas! beautiful though La Normande was, +this odour seemed to adhere to her silky skin. She had tried every +sort of aromatic oil, and bathed freely; but as soon as the freshening +influence of the bath was over her blood again impregnated her skin with +the faint odour of salmon, the musky perfume of smelts, and the pungent +scent of herrings and skate. Her skirts, too, as she moved about, +exhaled these fishy smells, and she walked as though amidst an +atmosphere redolent of slimy seaweed. With her tall, goddess-like +figure, her purity of form, and transparency of complexion she resembled +some lovely antique marble that had rolled about in the depths of the +sea and had been brought to land in some fisherman's net. + +Mademoiselle Saget, however, swore by all her gods that Florent was the +young woman's lover. According to her account, indeed, he courted +both the sisters. She had quarrelled with the beautiful Norman about +a ten-sou dab; and ever since this falling-out she had manifested warm +friendship for handsome Lisa. By this means she hoped the sooner to +arrive at a solution of what she called the Quenus' mystery. Florent +still continued to elude her curiosity, and she told her friends that +she felt like a body without a soul, though she was careful not to +reveal what was troubling her so grievously. A young girl infatuated +with a hopeless passion could not have been in more distress than this +terrible old woman at finding herself unable to solve the mystery of the +Quenus' cousin. She was constantly playing the spy on Florent, following +him about, and watching him, in a burning rage at her failure to satisfy +her rampant curiosity. Now that he had begun to visit the Mehudins she +was for ever haunting the stairs and landings. She soon discovered that +handsome Lisa was much annoyed at Florent visiting "those women," and +accordingly she called at the pork shop every morning with a budget of +information. She went in shrivelled and shrunk by the frosty air, and, +resting her hands on the heating-pan to warm them, remained in front of +the counter buying nothing, but repeating in her shrill voice: "He +was with them again yesterday; he seems to live there now. I heard La +Normande call him 'my dear' on the staircase." + +She indulged like this in all sorts of lies in order to remain in the +shop and continue warming her hands for a little longer. On the morning +after the evening when she had heard Claire close her door behind +Florent, she spun out her story for a good half hour, inventing all +sorts of mendacious and abominable particulars. + +Lisa, who had assumed a look of contemptuous scorn, said but little, +simply encouraging Mademoiselle Saget's gossip by her silence. At last, +however, she interrupted her. "No, no," she said; "I can't really listen +to all that. Is it possible that there can be such women?" + +Thereupon Mademoiselle Saget told Lisa that unfortunately all women were +not so well conducted as herself. And then she pretended to find all +sorts of excuses for Florent: it wasn't his fault; he was no doubt a +bachelor; these women had very likely inveigled him in their snares. +In this way she hinted questions without openly asking them. But Lisa +preserved silence with respect to her cousin, merely shrugging her +shoulders and compressing her lips. When Mademoiselle Saget at last went +away, the mistress of the shop glanced with disgust at the cover of the +heating-pan, the glistening metal of which had been tarnished by the +impression of the old woman's little hands. + +"Augustine," she cried, "bring a duster, and wipe the cover of the +heating-pan. It's quite filthy!" + +The rivalry between the beautiful Lisa and the beautiful Norman now +became formidable. The beautiful Norman flattered herself that she had +carried a lover off from her enemy; and the beautiful Lisa was indignant +with the hussy who, by luring the sly cousin to her home, would surely +end by compromising them all. The natural temperament of each woman +manifested itself in the hostilities which ensued. The one remained +calm and scornful, like a lady who holds up her skirts to keep them from +being soiled by the mud; while the other, much less subject to shame, +displayed insolent gaiety and swaggered along the footways with the airs +of a duellist seeking a cause of quarrel. Each of their skirmishes would +be the talk of the fish market for the whole day. When the beautiful +Norman saw the beautiful Lisa standing at the door of her shop, she +would go out of her way in order to pass her, and brush against her with +her apron; and then the angry glances of the two rivals crossed like +rapiers, with the rapid flash and thrust of pointed steel. When the +beautiful Lisa, on the other hand, went to the fish market, she assumed +an expression of disgust on approaching the beautiful Norman's stall. +And then she proceeded to purchase some big fish--a turbot or a +salmon--of a neighbouring dealer, spreading her money out on the marble +slab as she did so, for she had noticed that this seemed to have a +painful effect upon the "hussy," who ceased laughing at the sight. To +hear the two rivals speak, anyone would have supposed that the fish +and pork they sold were quite unfit for food. However, their principal +engagements took place when the beautiful Norman was seated at her stall +and the beautiful Lisa at her counter, and they glowered blackly at each +other across the Rue Rambuteau. They sat in state in their big white +aprons, decked out with showy toilets and jewels, and the battle between +them would commence early in the morning. + +"Hallo, the fat woman's got up!" the beautiful Norman would exclaim. +"She ties herself up as tightly as her sausages! Ah, she's got +Saturday's collar on again, and she's still wearing that poplin dress!" + +At the same moment, on the opposite side of the street, beautiful Lisa +was saying to her shop girl: "Just look at that creature staring at us +over yonder, Augustine! She's getting quite deformed by the life she +leads. Do you see her earrings? She's wearing those big drops of hers, +isn't she? It makes one feel ashamed to see a girl like that with +brilliants." + +All complaisance, Augustine echoed her mistress's words. + +When either of them was able to display a new ornament it was like +scoring a victory--the other one almost choked with spleen. Every day +they would scrutinise and count each other's customers, and manifest the +greatest annoyance if they thought that the "big thing over the way" was +doing the better business. Then they spied out what each had for lunch. +Each knew what the other ate, and even watched to see how she digested +it. In the afternoon, while the one sat amidst her cooked meats and the +other amidst her fish, they posed and gave themselves airs, as though +they were queens of beauty. It was then that the victory of the day was +decided. The beautiful Norman embroidered, selecting the most delicate +and difficult work, and this aroused Lisa's exasperation. + +"Ah!" she said, speaking of her rival, "she had far better mend her +boy's stockings. He's running about quite barefooted. Just look at that +fine lady, with her red hands stinking of fish!" + +For her part, Lisa usually knitted. + +"She's still at that same sock," La Normande would say, as she watched +her. "She eats so much that she goes to sleep over her work. I pity her +poor husband if he's waiting for those socks to keep his feet warm!" + +They would sit glowering at each other with this implacable hostility +until evening, taking note of every customer, and displaying such keen +eyesight that they detected the smallest details of each other's dress +and person when other women declared that they could see nothing at +such a distance. Mademoiselle Saget expressed the highest admiration for +Madame Quenu's wonderful sight when she one day detected a scratch on +the fish-girl's left cheek. With eyes like those, said the old maid, +one might even see through a door. However, the victory often remained +undecided when night fell; sometimes one or other of the rivals was +temporarily crushed, but she took her revenge on the morrow. Several +people of the neighbourhood actually laid wagers on these contests, some +backing the beautiful Lisa and others the beautiful Norman. + +At last they ended by forbidding their children to speak to one another. +Pauline and Muche had formerly been good friends, notwithstanding the +girl's stiff petticoats and lady-like demeanour, and the lad's tattered +appearance, coarse language, and rough manners. They had at times played +together at horses on the broad footway in front of the fish market, +Pauline always being the horse and Muche the driver. One day, however, +when the boy came in all simplicity to seek his playmate, Lisa turned +him out of the house, declaring that he was a dirty little street arab. + +"One can't tell what may happen with children who have been so +shockingly brought up," she observed. + +"Yes, indeed; you are quite right," replied Mademoiselle Saget, who +happened to be present. + +When Muche, who was barely seven years old, came in tears to his mother +to tell her of what had happened, La Normande broke out into a terrible +passion. At the first moment she felt a strong inclination to rush +over to the Quenu-Gradelles' and smash everything in their shop. But +eventually she contented herself with giving Muche a whipping. + +"If ever I catch you going there again," she cried, boiling over with +anger, "you'll get it hot from me, I can tell you!" + +Florent, however, was the real victim of the two women. It was he, in +truth, who had set them by the ears, and it was on his account that +they were fighting each other. Ever since he had appeared upon the scene +things had been going from bad to worse. He compromised and disturbed +and embittered all these people, who had previously lived in such sleek +peace and harmony. The beautiful Norman felt inclined to claw him when +he lingered too long with the Quenus, and it was chiefly from an impulse +of hostile rivalry that she desired to win him to herself. The beautiful +Lisa, on her side, maintained a cold judicial bearing, and although +extremely annoyed, forced herself to silence whenever she saw Florent +leaving the pork shop to go to the Rue Pirouette. + +Still, there was now much less cordiality than formerly round the +Quenus' dinner-table in the evening. The clean, prim dining-room seemed +to have assumed an aspect of chilling severity. Florent divined a +reproach, a sort of condemnation in the bright oak, the polished lamp, +and the new matting. He scarcely dared to eat for fear of letting crumbs +fall on the floor or soiling his plate. There was a guileless simplicity +about him which prevented him from seeing how the land really lay. +He still praised Lisa's affectionate kindliness on all sides; and +outwardly, indeed, she did continue to treat him with all gentleness. + +"It is very strange," she said to him one day with a smile, as though +she were joking; "although you don't eat at all badly now, you don't get +fatter. Your food doesn't seem to do you any good." + +At this Quenu laughed aloud, and tapping his brother's stomach, +protested that the whole contents of the pork shop might pass through it +without depositing a layer of fat as thick as a two-sou piece. However, +Lisa's insistence on this particular subject was instinct with that same +suspicious dislike for fleshless men which Madame Mehudin manifested +more outspokenly; and behind it all there was likewise a veiled allusion +to the disorderly life which she imagined Florent was leading. She +never, however, spoke a word to him about La Normande. Quenu had +attempted a joke on the subject one evening, but Lisa had received it so +icily that the good man had not ventured to refer to the matter again. +They would remain seated at table for a few moments after dessert, and +Florent, who had noticed his sister-in-law's vexation if ever he went +off too soon, tried to find something to talk about. On these occasions +Lisa would be near him, and certainly he did not suffer in her presence +from that fishy smell which assailed him when he was in the company of +La Normande. The mistress of the pork shop, on the contrary, exhaled an +odour of fat and rich meats. Moreover, not a thrill of life stirred her +tight-fitting bodice; she was all massiveness and all sedateness. +Gavard once said to Florent in confidence that Madame Quenu was no doubt +handsome, but that for his part he did not admire such armour-plated +women. + +Lisa avoided talking to Quenu of Florent. She habitually prided herself +on her patience, and considered, too, that it would not be proper to +cause any unpleasantness between the brothers, unless some peremptory +reason for her interference should arise. As she said, she could put up +with a good deal, but, of course, she must not be tried too far. She had +now reached the period of courteous tolerance, wearing an expressionless +face, affecting perfect indifference and strict politeness, and +carefully avoiding everything which might seem to hint that Florent was +boarding and lodging with them without their receiving the slightest +payment from him. Not, indeed, that she would have accepted any payment +from him, she was above all that; still he might, at any rate, she +thought, have lunched away from the house. + +"We never seem to be alone now," she remarked to Quenu one day. "If +there is anything we want to say to one another we have to wait till we +go upstairs at night." + +And then, one night when they were in bed, she said to him: "Your +brother earns a hundred and fifty francs a month, doesn't he? Well, it's +strange he can't put a trifle by to buy himself some more linen. I've +been obliged to give him three more of your old shirts." + +"Oh, that doesn't matter," Quenu replied. "Florent's not hard to please; +and we must let him keep his money for himself." + +"Oh, yes, of course," said Lisa, without pressing the matter further. "I +didn't mention it for that reason. Whether he spends his money well or +ill, it isn't our business." + +In her own mind she felt quite sure that he wasted his salary at the +Mehudins'. + +Only on one occasion did she break through her habitual calmness of +demeanour, the quiet reserve which was the result of both natural +temperament and preconceived design. The beautiful Norman had made +Florent a present of a magnificent salmon. Feeling very much embarrassed +with the fish, and not daring to refuse it, he brought it to Lisa. + +"You can make a pasty of it," he said ingenuously. + +Lisa looked at him sternly with whitening lips. Then, striving to +restrain her anger, she exclaimed: "Do you think that we are short of +food? Thank God, we've got quite enough to eat here! Take it back!" + +"Well, at any rate, cook it for me," replied Florent, amazed by her +anger; "I'll eat it myself." + +At this she burst out furiously. + +"The house isn't an inn! Tell those who gave you the fish to cook it for +you! I won't have my pans tainted and infected! Take it back again! Do +you hear?" + +If he had not gone away with it, she would certainly have seized it and +hurled it into the street. Florent took it to Monsieur Lebigre's, where +Rose was ordered to make a pasty of it; and one evening the pasty was +eaten in the little "cabinet," Gavard, who was present, "standing" +some oysters for the occasion. Florent now gradually came more and more +frequently to Monsieur Lebigre's, till at last he was constantly to be +met in the little private room. He there found an atmosphere of heated +excitement in which his political feverishness could pulsate freely. +At times, now, when he shut himself up in his garret to work, the quiet +simplicity of the little room irritated him, his theoretical search +for liberty proved quite insufficient, and it became necessary that he +should go downstairs, sally out, and seek satisfaction in the trenchant +axioms of Charvet and the wild outbursts of Logre. During the first few +evenings the clamour and chatter had made him feel ill at ease; he was +then quite conscious of their utter emptiness, but he felt a need of +drowning his thoughts, of goading himself on to some extreme resolution +which might calm his mental disquietude. The atmosphere of the little +room, reeking with the odour of spirits and warm with tobacco smoke, +intoxicated him and filled him with peculiar beatitude, prompting a kind +of self-surrender which made him willing to acquiesce in the wildest +ideas. He grew attached to those he met there, and looked for them +and awaited their coming with a pleasure which increased with habit. +Robine's mild, bearded countenance, Clemence's serious profile, +Charvet's fleshless pallor, Logre's hump, Gavard, Alexandre, and +Lacaille, all entered into his life, and assumed a larger and larger +place in it. He took quite a sensual enjoyment in these meetings. +When his fingers closed round the brass knob on the door of the little +cabinet it seemed to be animated with life, to warm him, and turn of its +own accord. Had he grasped the supple wrist of a woman he could not have +felt a more thrilling emotion. + +To tell the truth, very serious things took place in that little room. +One evening, Logre, after indulging in wilder outbursts than usual, +banged his fist upon the table, declaring that if they were men they +would make a clean sweep of the Government. And he added that it was +necessary they should come to an understanding without further delay, if +they desired to be fully prepared when the time for action arrived. Then +they all bent their heads together, discussed the matter in lower tones, +and decided to form a little "group," which should be ready for whatever +might happen. From that day forward Gavard flattered himself that he +was a member of a secret society, and was engaged in a conspiracy. The +little circle received no new members, but Logre promised to put it into +communication with other associations with which he was acquainted; and +then, as soon as they held all Paris in their grasp, they would rise +and make the Tuileries' people dance. A series of endless discussions, +renewed during several months, then began--discussions on questions of +organisation, on questions of ways and means, on questions of strategy, +and of the form of the future Government. As soon as Rose had brought +Clemence's grog, Charvet's and Robine's beer, the coffee for Logre, +Gavard, and Florent, and the liqueur glasses of brandy for Lacaille +and Alexandre, the door of the cabinet was carefully fastened, and the +debate began. + +Charvet and Florent were naturally those whose utterances were listened +to with the greatest attention. Gavard had not been able to keep his +tongue from wagging, but had gradually related the whole story of +Cayenne; and Florent found himself surrounded by a halo of martyrdom. +His words were received as though they were the expression of +indisputable dogmas. One evening, however, the poultry dealer, vexed +at hearing his friend, who happened to be absent, attacked, exclaimed: +"Don't say anything against Florent; he's been to Cayenne!" + +Charvet was rather annoyed by the advantage which this circumstance +gave to Florent. "Cayenne, Cayenne," he muttered between his teeth. "Ah, +well, they were not so badly off there, after all." + +Then he attempted to prove that exile was a mere nothing, and that real +suffering consisted in remaining in one's oppressed country, gagged in +presence of triumphant despotism. And besides, he urged, it wasn't his +fault that he hadn't been arrested on the Second of December. Next, +however, he hinted that those who had allowed themselves to be captured +were imbeciles. His secret jealousy made him a systematic opponent of +Florent; and the general discussions always ended in a duel between +these two, who, while their companions listened in silence, would speak +against one another for hours at a time, without either of them allowing +that he was beaten. + +One of the favourite subjects of discussion was that of the +reorganisation of the country which would have to be effected on the +morrow of their victory. + +"We are the conquerors, are we not?" began Gavard. + +And, triumph being taken for granted, everyone offered his opinion. +There were two rival parties. Charvet, who was a disciple of Hebert, was +supported by Logre and Robine; while Florent, who was always absorbed +in humanitarian dreams, and called himself a Socialist, was backed by +Alexandre and Lacaille. As for Gavard, he felt no repugnance for violent +action; but, as he was often twitted about his fortune with no end of +sarcastic witticisms which annoyed him, he declared himself a Communist. + +"We must make a clean sweep of everything," Charvet would curtly say, as +though he were delivering a blow with a cleaver. "The trunk is rotten, +and it must come down." + +"Yes! yes!" cried Logre, standing up that he might look taller, +and making the partition shake with the excited motion of his hump. +"Everything will be levelled to the ground; take my word for it. After +that we shall see what to do." + +Robine signified approval by wagging his beard. His silence seemed +instinct with delight whenever violent revolutionary propositions were +made. His eyes assumed a soft ecstatic expression at the mention of the +guillotine. He half closed them, as though he could see the machine, and +was filled with pleasant emotion at the sight; and next he would gently +rub his chin against the knob of his stick, with a subdued purr of +satisfaction. + +"All the same," said Florent, in whose voice a vague touch of sadness +lingered, "if you cut down the tree it will be necessary to preserve +some seed. For my part, I think that the tree ought to be preserved, so +that we may graft new life on it. The political revolution, you know, +has already taken place; to-day we have got to think of the labourer, +the working man. Our movement must be altogether a social one. I defy +you to reject the claims of the people. They are weary of waiting, and +are determined to have their share of happiness." + +These words aroused Alexandre's enthusiasm. With a beaming, radiant face +he declared that this was true, that the people were weary of waiting. + +"And we will have our share," added Lacaille, with a more menacing +expression. "All the revolutions that have taken place have been for +the good of the middle classes. We've had quite enough of that sort of +thing, and the next one shall be for our benefit." + +From this moment disagreement set in. Gavard offered to make a division +of his property, but Logre declined, asserting that he cared nothing for +money. Then Charvet gradually overcame the tumult, till at last he alone +was heard speaking. + +"The selfishness of the different classes does more than anything else +to uphold tyranny," said he. "It is wrong of the people to display +egotism. If they assist us they shall have their share. But why should +I fight for the working man if the working man won't fight for +me? Moreover, that is not the question at present. Ten years of +revolutionary dictatorship will be necessary to accustom a nation like +France to the fitting enjoyment of liberty." + +"All the more so as the working man is not ripe for it, and requires to +be directed," said Clemence bluntly. + +She but seldom spoke. This tall, serious looking girl, alone among +so many men, listened to all the political chatter with a learnedly +critical air. She leaned back against the partition, and every now and +then sipped her grog whilst gazing at the speakers with frowning +brows or inflated nostrils, thus silently signifying her approval or +disapproval, and making it quite clear that she held decided opinions +upon the most complicated matters. At times she would roll a cigarette, +and puff slender whiffs of smoke from the corners of her mouth, whilst +lending increased attention to what was being debated. It was as though +she were presiding over the discussion, and would award the prize to +the victor when it was finished. She certainly considered that it became +her, as a woman, to display some reserve in her opinions, and to remain +calm whilst the men grew more and more excited. Now and then, however, +in the heat of the debate, she would let a word or a phrase escape her +and "clench the matter" even for Charvet himself, as Gavard said. In her +heart she believed herself the superior of all these fellows. The only +one of them for whom she felt any respect was Robine, and she would +thoughtfully contemplate his silent bearing. + +Neither Florent nor any of the others paid any special attention to +Clemence. They treated her just as though she were a man, shaking hands +with her so roughly as almost to dislocate her arms. One evening Florent +witnessed the periodical settlement of accounts between her and Charvet. +She had just received her pay, and Charvet wanted to borrow ten francs +from her; but she first of all insisted that they must reckon up +how matters stood between them. They lived together in a voluntary +partnership, each having complete control of his or her earnings, and +strictly paying his or her expenses. By so doing, said they, they were +under no obligations to one another, but retained entire freedom. Rent, +food, washing, and amusements, were all noted down and added up. That +evening, when the accounts had been verified, Clemence proved to Charvet +that he already owed her five francs. Then she handed him the other ten +which he wished to borrow, and exclaimed: "Recollect that you now owe me +fifteen. I shall expect you to repay me on the fifth, when you get paid +for teaching little Lehudier." + +When Rose was summoned to receive payment for the "drinks," each +produced the few coppers required to discharge his or her liability. +Charvet laughingly called Clemence an aristocrat because she drank grog. +She wanted to humiliate him, said he, and make him feel that he earned +less than she did, which, as it happened, was the fact. Beneath his +laugh, however, there was a feeling of bitterness that the girl should +be better circumstanced than himself, for, in spite of his theory of the +equality of the sexes, this lowered him. + +Although the discussions in the little room had virtually no result, +they served to exercise the speakers' lungs. A tremendous hubbub +proceeded from the sanctum, and the panes of frosted glass vibrated +like drum-skins. Sometimes the uproar became so great that Rose, while +languidly serving some blouse-wearing customer in the shop, would turn +her head uneasily. + +"Why, they're surely fighting together in there," the customer would +say, as he put his glass down on the zinc-covered counter, and wiped his +mouth with the back of his hand. + +"Oh, there's no fear of that," Monsieur Lebigre tranquilly replied. +"It's only some gentlemen talking together." + +Monsieur Lebigre, indeed, although very strict with his other customers, +allowed the politicians to shout as loudly as they pleased, and never +made the least remark on the subject. He would sit for hours together on +the bench behind the counter, with his big head lolling drowsily against +the mirror, whilst he watched Rose uncorking the bottles and giving a +wipe here and there with her duster. And in spite of the somniferous +effects of the wine fumes and the warm streaming gaslight, he would keep +his ears open to the sounds proceeding from the little room. At times, +when the voices grew noisier than usual, he got up from his seat and +went to lean against the partition; and occasionally he even pushed the +door open, and went inside and sat down there for a few minutes, giving +Gavard a friendly slap on the thigh. And then he would nod approval +of everything that was said. The poultry dealer asserted that although +friend Lebigre hadn't the stuff of an orator in him, they might safely +reckon on him when the "shindy" came. + +One morning, however, at the markets, when a tremendous row broke out +between Rose and one of the fish-wives, through the former accidentally +knocking over a basket of herrings, Florent heard Rose's employer spoken +of as a "dirty spy" in the pay of the police. And after he had succeeded +in restoring peace, all sorts of stories about Monsieur Lebigre were +poured into his ears. Yes, the wine seller was in the pay of the police, +the fish-wives said; all the neighbourhood knew it. Before Mademoiselle +Saget had begun to deal with him she had once met him entering the +Prefecture to make his report. It was asserted, too, that he was a +money-monger, a usurer, and lent petty sums by the day to costermongers, +and let out barrows to them, exacting a scandalous rate of interest in +return. Florent was greatly disturbed by all this, and felt it his +duty to repeat it that evening to his fellow politicians. The latter, +however, only shrugged their shoulders, and laughed at his uneasiness. + +"Poor Florent!" Charvet exclaimed sarcastically; "he imagines the whole +police force is on his track, just because he happens to have been sent +to Cayenne!" + +Gavard gave his word of honour that Lebigre was perfectly staunch and +true, while Logre, for his part, manifested extreme irritation. He fumed +and declared that it would be quite impossible for them to get on if +everyone was to be accused of being a police spy; for his own part, he +would rather stay at home, and have nothing more to do with politics. +Why, hadn't people even dared to say that he, Logre himself, who had +fought in '48 and '51, and had twice narrowly escaped transportation, +was a spy as well? As he shouted this out, he thrust his jaws forward, +and glared at the others as though he would have liked to ram the +conviction that he had nothing to do with the police down their throats. +At the sight of his furious glances his companions made gestures of +protestation. However, Lacaille, on hearing Monsieur Lebigre accused of +usury, silently lowered his head. + +The incident was forgotten in the discussions which ensued. Since Logre +had suggested a conspiracy, Monsieur Lebigre had grasped the hands of +the frequenters of the little room with more vigor than ever. Their +custom, to tell the truth, was of but small value to him, for they never +ordered more than one "drink" apiece. They drained the last drops just +as they rose to leave, having been careful to allow a little to remain +in their glasses, even during their most heated arguments. In this wise +the one "shout" lasted throughout the evening. They shivered as they +turned out into the cold dampness of the night, and for a moment or two +remained standing on the footway with dazzled eyes and buzzing ears, +as though surprised by the dark silence of the street. Rose, meanwhile, +fastened the shutters behind them. Then, quite exhausted, at a loss for +another word they shook hands, separated, and went their different ways, +still mentally continuing the discussion of the evening, and regretting +that they could not ram their particular theories down each other's +throats. Robine walked away, with his bent back bobbing up and down, in +the direction of the Rue Rambuteau; whilst Charvet and Clemence went +off through the markets on their return to the Luxembourg quarter, their +heels sounding on the flag-stones in military fashion, whilst they still +discussed some question of politics or philosophy, walking along side by +side, but never arm-in-arm. + +The conspiracy ripened very slowly. At the commencement of the summer +the plotters had got no further than agreeing that it was necessary a +stroke should be attempted. Florent, who had at first looked upon +the whole business with a kind of distrust, had now, however, come to +believe in the possibility of a revolutionary movement. He took up the +matter seriously; making notes, and preparing plans in writing, while +the others still did nothing but talk. For his part, he began to +concentrate his whole life in the one persistent idea which made his +brain throb night after night; and this to such a degree that he at last +took his brother Quenu with him to Monsieur Lebigre's, as though such a +course were quite natural. Certainly he had no thought of doing anything +improper. He still looked upon Quenu as in some degree his pupil, and +may even have considered it his duty to start him on the proper path. +Quenu was an absolute novice in politics, but after spending five or six +evenings in the little room he found himself quite in accord with the +others. When Lisa was not present he manifested much docility, a sort of +respect for his brother's opinions. But the greatest charm of the affair +for him was really the mild dissipation of leaving his shop and shutting +himself up in the little room where the others shouted so loudly, and +where Clemence's presence, in his opinion, gave a tinge of rakishness +and romance to the proceedings. He now made all haste with his +chitterlings in order that he might get away as early as possible, +anxious to lose not a single word of the discussions, which seemed to +him to be very brilliant, though he was not always able to follow them. +The beautiful Lisa did not fail to notice his hurry to be gone, but as +yet she refrained from saying anything. When Florent took him off, she +simply went to the door-step, and watched them enter Monsieur Lebigre's, +her face paling somewhat, and a severe expression coming into her eyes. + +One evening, as Mademoiselle Saget was peering out of her garret +casement, she recognised Quenu's shadow on the frosted glass of the +"cabinet" window facing the Rue Pirouette. She had found her casement an +excellent post of observation, as it overlooked that milky transparency, +on which the gaslight threw silhouettes of the politicians, with noses +suddenly appearing and disappearing, gaping jaws abruptly springing into +sight and then vanishing, and huge arms, apparently destitute of bodies, +waving hither and thither. This extraordinary jumble of detached +limbs, these silent but frantic profiles, bore witness to the heated +discussions that went on in the little room, and kept the old maid +peering from behind her muslin curtains until the transparency turned +black. She shrewdly suspected some "bit of trickery," as she phrased it. +By continual watching she had come to recognise the different shadows +by their hands and hair and clothes. As she gazed upon the chaos of +clenched fists, angry heads, and swaying shoulders, which seemed to +have become detached from their trunks and to roll about one atop of the +other, she would exclaim unhesitatingly, "Ah, there's that big booby of +a cousin; there's that miserly old Gavard; and there's the hunchback; +and there's that maypole of a Clemence!" Then, when the action of the +shadow-play became more pronounced, and they all seemed to have +lost control over themselves, she felt an irresistible impulse to go +downstairs to try to find out what was happening. Thus she now made a +point of buying her black-currant syrup at nights, pretending that she +felt out-of-sorts in the morning, and was obliged to take a sip as soon +as ever she was out of bed. On the evening when she noticed Quenu's +massive head shadowed on the transparency in close proximity to +Charvet's fist, she made her appearance at Monsieur Lebigre's in a +breathless condition. To gain more time, she made Rose rinse out her +little bottle for her; however, she was about to return to her room when +she heard the pork butcher exclaim with a sort of childish candour: + +"No, indeed, we'll stand for it no longer! We'll make a clean sweep of +all those humbugging Deputies and Ministers! Yes, we'll send the whole +lot packing." + +Eight o'clock had scarcely struck on the following morning when +Mademoiselle Saget was already at the pork shop. She found Madame +Lecoeur and La Sarriette there, dipping their noses into the +heating-pan, and buying hot sausages for breakfast. As the old maid had +managed to draw them into her quarrel with La Normande with respect to +the ten-sou dab, they had at once made friends again with Lisa, and they +now had nothing but contempt for the handsome fish-girl, and assailed +her and her sister as good-for-nothing hussies, whose only aim was +to fleece men of their money. This opinion had been inspired by the +assertions of Mademoiselle Saget, who had declared to Madame Lecoeur +that Florent had induced one of the two girls to coquette with Gavard, +and that the four of them had indulged in the wildest dissipation at +Barratte's--of course, at the poultry dealer's expense. From the effects +of this impudent story Madame Lecoeur had not yet recovered; she wore a +doleful appearance, and her eyes were quite yellow with spleen. + +That morning, however, it was for Madame Quenu that the old maid had +a shock in store. She looked round the counter, and then in her most +gentle voice remarked: + +"I saw Monsieur Quenu last night. They seem to enjoy themselves +immensely in that little room at Lebigre's, if one may judge from the +noise they make." + +Lisa had turned her head towards the street, listening very attentively, +but apparently unwilling to show it. The old maid paused, hoping that +one of the others would question her; and then, in a lower tone, she +added: "They had a woman with them. Oh, I don't mean Monsieur Quenu, of +course! I didn't say that; I don't know--" + +"It must be Clemence," interrupted La Sarriette; "a big scraggy creature +who gives herself all sorts of airs just because she went to boarding +school. She lives with a threadbare usher. I've seen them together; +they always look as though they were taking each other off to the police +station." + +"Oh, yes; I know," replied the old maid, who, indeed, knew everything +about Charvet and Clemence, and whose only purpose was to alarm Lisa. + +The mistress of the pork shop, however, never flinched. She seemed to be +absorbed in watching something of great interest in the market yonder. +Accordingly the old maid had recourse to stronger measures. "I think," +said she, addressing herself to Madame Lecoeur, "that you ought to +advise your brother-in-law to be careful. Last night they were shouting +out the most shocking things in that little room. Men really seem to +lose their heads over politics. If anyone had heard them, it might have +been a very serious matter for them." + +"Oh! Gavard will go his own way," sighed Madame Lecoeur. "It only wanted +this to fill my cup. I shall die of anxiety, I am sure, if he ever gets +arrested." + +As she spoke, a gleam shot from her dim eyes. La Sarriette, however, +laughed and wagged her little face, bright with the freshness of the +morning air. + +"You should hear what Jules says of those who speak against the Empire," +she remarked. "They ought all to be thrown into the Seine, he told me; +for it seems there isn't a single respectable person amongst them." + +"Oh! there's no harm done, of course, so long as only people like myself +hear their foolish talk," resumed Mademoiselle Saget. "I'd rather cut +my hand off, you know, than make mischief. Last night now, for instance, +Monsieur Quenu was saying----" + +She again paused. Lisa had started slightly. + +"Monsieur Quenu was saying that the Ministers and Deputies and all who +are in power ought to be shot." + +At this Lisa turned sharply, her face quite white and her hands clenched +beneath her apron. + +"Quenu said that?" she curtly asked. + +"Yes, indeed, and several other similar things that I can't recollect +now. I heard him myself. But don't distress yourself like that, Madame +Quenu. You know very well that I sha'n't breathe a word. I'm quite old +enough to know what might harm a man if it came out. Oh, no; it will go +no further." + +Lisa had recovered her equanimity. She took a pride in the happy +peacefulness of her home; she would not acknowledge that there had ever +been the slightest difference between herself and her husband. And so +now she shrugged her shoulders and said with a smile: "Oh, it's all a +pack of foolish nonsense." + +When the three others were in the street together they agreed that +handsome Lisa had pulled a very doleful face; and they were unanimously +of opinion that the mysterious goings-on of the cousin, the Mehudins, +Gavard, and the Quenus would end in trouble. Madame Lecoeur inquired +what was done to the people who got arrested "for politics," but on this +point Mademoiselle Saget could not enlighten her; she only knew that +they were never seen again--no, never. And this induced La Sarriette to +suggest that perhaps they were thrown into the Seine, as Jules had said +they ought to be. + +Lisa avoided all reference to the subject at breakfast and dinner that +day; and even in the evening, when Florent and Quenu went off together +to Monsieur Lebigre's, there was no unwonted severity in her glance. On +that particular evening, however, the question of framing a constitution +for the future came under discussion, and it was one o'clock in the +morning before the politicians could tear themselves away from the +little room. The shutters had already been fastened, and they were +obliged to leave by a small door, passing out one at a time with bent +backs. Quenu returned home with an uneasy conscience. He opened the +three or four doors on his way to bed as gently as possible, walking +on tip-toe and stretching out his hands as he passed through the +sitting-room, to avoid a collision with any of the furniture. The whole +house seemed to be asleep. When he reached the bedroom, he was annoyed +to find that Lisa had not extinguished the candle, which was burning +with a tall, mournful flame in the midst of the deep silence. As Quenu +took off his shoes, and put them down in a corner, the time-piece struck +half past one with such a clear, ringing sound that he turned in alarm, +almost frightened to move, and gazing with an expression of angry +reproach at the shining gilded Gutenberg standing there, with his finger +on a book. Lisa's head was buried in her pillow, and Quenu could only +see her back; but he divined that she was merely feigning sleep, and her +conduct in turning her back upon him was so instinct with reproach that +he felt sorely ill at ease. At last he slipped beneath the bed-clothes, +blew out the candle, and lay perfectly still. He could have sworn that +his wife was awake, though she did not speak to him; and presently he +fell asleep, feeling intensely miserable, and lacking the courage to say +good night. + +He slept till late, and when he awoke he found himself sprawling in the +middle of the bed with the eider-down quilt up to his chin, whilst Lisa +sat in front of the secretaire, arranging some papers. His slumber +had been so heavy that he had not heard her rise. However, he now took +courage, and spoke to her from the depths of the alcove: "Why didn't you +wake me? What are you doing there?" + +"I'm sorting the papers in these drawers," she replied in her usual tone +of voice. + +Quenu felt relieved. But Lisa added: "One never knows what may happen. +If the police were to come--" + +"What! the police?" + +"Yes, indeed, the police; for you're mixing yourself up with politics +now." + +At this Quenu sat up in bed, quite dazed and confounded by such a +violent and unexpected attack. + +"I mix myself up with politics! I mix myself up with politics!" he +repeated. "It's no concern of the police. I've nothing to do with any +compromising matters." + +"No," replied Lisa, shrugging her shoulders; "you merely talk about +shooting everybody." + +"I! I!" + +"Yes. And you bawl it out in a public-house! Mademoiselle Saget heard +you. All the neighbourhood knows by this time that you are a Red +Republican!" + +Quenu fell back in bed again. He was not perfectly awake as yet. Lisa's +words resounded in his ears as though he already heard the heavy tramp +of gendarmes at the bedroom door. He looked at her as she sat there, +with her hair already arranged, her figure tightly imprisoned in her +stays, her whole appearance the same as it was on any other morning; and +he felt more astonished than ever that she should be so neat and prim +under such extraordinary circumstances. + +"I leave you absolutely free, you know," she continued, as she went on +arranging the papers. "I don't want to wear the breeches, as the saying +goes. You are the master, and you are at liberty to endanger your +position, compromise our credit, and ruin our business." + +Then, as Quenu tried to protest, she silenced him with a gesture. "No, +no; don't say anything," she continued. "This is no quarrel, and I am +not even asking an explanation from you. But if you had consulted me, +and we had talked the matter over together, I might have intervened. +Ah! it's a great mistake to imagine that women understand nothing about +politics. Shall I tell you what my politics are?" + +She had risen from her seat whilst speaking, and was now walking to and +fro between the bed and the window, wiping as she went some specks +of dust from the bright mahogany of the mirrored wardrobe and the +dressing-table. + +"My politics are the politics of honest folks," said she. "I'm grateful +to the Government when business is prosperous, when I can eat my meals +in peace and comfort, and can sleep at nights without being awakened by +the firing of guns. There were pretty times in '48, were there not? You +remember our uncle Gradelle, the worthy man, showing us his books for +that year? He lost more than six thousand francs. Now that we have got +the Empire, however, everything prospers. We sell our goods readily +enough. You can't deny it. Well, then, what is it that you want? How +will you be better off when you have shot everybody?" + +She took her stand in front of the little night-table, crossed her arms +over her breast, and fixed her eyes upon Quenu, who had shuffled himself +beneath the bed-clothes, almost out of sight. He attempted to explain +what it was that his friends wanted, but he got quite confused in his +endeavours to summarise Florent's and Charvet's political and social +systems; and could only talk about the disregard shown to principles, +the accession of the democracy to power, and the regeneration of +society, in such a strange tangled way that Lisa shrugged her shoulders, +quite unable to understand him. At last, however, he extricated himself +from his difficulties by declaring that the Empire was the reign of +licentiousness, swindling finance, and highway robbery. And, recalling +an expression of Logre's he added: "We are the prey of a band of +adventurers, who are pillaging, violating, and assassinating France. +We'll have no more of them." + +Lisa, however, still shrugged her shoulders. + +"Well, and is that all you have got to say?" she asked with perfect +coolness. "What has all that got to do with me? Even supposing it were +true, what then? Have I ever advised you to practise dishonest courses? +Have I ever prompted you to dishonour your acceptances, or cheat your +customers, or pile up money by fraudulent practices? Really, you'll end +by making me quite angry! We are honest folks, and we don't pillage or +assassinate anybody. That's quite sufficient. What other folks do is no +concern of ours. If they choose to be rogues it's their affair." + +She looked quite majestic and triumphant; and again pacing the room, +drawing herself up to her full height, she resumed: "A pretty notion +it is that people are to let their business go to rack and ruin just to +please those who are penniless. For my part, I'm in favour of making hay +while the sun shines, and supporting a Government which promotes trade. +If it does do dishonourable things, I prefer to know nothing about them. +I know that I myself commit none, and that no one in the neighbourhood +can point a finger at me. It's only fools who go tilting at windmills. +At the time of the last elections, you remember, Gavard said that the +Emperor's candidate had been bankrupt, and was mixed up in all sorts of +scandalous matters. Well, perhaps that was true, I don't deny it; but +all the same, you acted wisely in voting for him, for all that was not +in question; you were not asked to lend the man any money or to transact +any business with him, but merely to show the Government that you were +pleased with the prosperity of the pork trade." + +At this moment Quenu called to mind a sentence of Charvet's, asserting +that "the bloated bourgeois, the sleek shopkeepers, who backed up that +Government of universal gormandising, ought to be hurled into the sewers +before all others, for it was owing to them and their gluttonous egotism +that tyranny had succeeded in mastering and preying upon the nation." He +was trying to complete this piece of eloquence when Lisa, carried off by +her indignation, cut him short. + +"Don't talk such stuff! My conscience doesn't reproach me with anything. +I don't owe a copper to anybody; I'm not mixed up in any dishonest +business; I buy and sell good sound stuff; and I charge no more than +others do. What you say may perhaps apply to people like our cousins, +the Saccards. They pretend to be even ignorant that I am in Paris; but +I am prouder than they are, and I don't care a rap for their millions. +It's said that Saccard speculates in condemned buildings, and cheats and +robs everybody. I'm not surprised to hear it, for he was always that way +inclined. He loves money just for the sake of wallowing in it, and then +tossing it out of his windows, like the imbecile he is. I can understand +people attacking men of his stamp, who pile up excessive fortunes. For +my part, if you care to know it, I have but a bad opinion of Saccard. +But we--we who live so quietly and peaceably, who will need at least +fifteen years to put by sufficient money to make ourselves comfortably +independent, we who have no reason to meddle in politics, and whose +only aim is to bring up our daughter respectably, and to see that our +business prospers--why you must be joking to talk such stuff about us. +We are honest folks!" + +She came and sat down on the edge of the bed. Quenu was already much +shaken in his opinions. + +"Listen to me, now," she resumed in a more serious voice. "You surely +don't want to see your own shop pillaged, your cellar emptied, and your +money taken from you? If these men who meet at Monsieur Lebigre's should +prove triumphant, do you think that you would then lie as comfortably +in your bed as you do now? And on going down into the kitchen, do you +imagine that you would set about making your galantines as peacefully +as you will presently? No, no, indeed! So why do you talk about +overthrowing a Government which protects you, and enables you to put +money by? You have a wife and a daughter, and your first duty is towards +them. You would be in fault if you imperilled their happiness. It is +only those who have neither home nor hearth, who have nothing to lose, +who want to be shooting people. Surely you don't want to pull the +chestnuts out of the fire for _them_! So stay quietly at home, you +foolish fellow, sleep comfortably, eat well, make money, keep an easy +conscience, and leave France to free herself of the Empire if the Empire +annoys her. France can get on very well without _you_." + +She laughed her bright melodious laugh as she finished; and Quenu was +now altogether convinced. Yes, she was right, after all; and she looked +so charming, he thought, as she sat there on the edge of the bed, so +trim, although it was so early, so bright, and so fresh in the dazzling +whiteness of her linen. As he listened to her his eyes fell on their +portraits hanging on either side of the fireplace. Yes, they were +certainly honest folks; they had such a respectable, well-to-do air in +their black clothes and their gilded frames! The bedroom, too, looked +as though it belonged to people of some account in the world. The lace +squares seemed to give a dignified appearance to the chairs; and +the carpet, the curtains, and the vases decorated with painted +landscapes--all spoke of their exertions to get on in the world and +their taste for comfort. Thereupon he plunged yet further beneath the +eider-down quilt, which kept him in a state of pleasant warmth. He +began to feel that he had risked losing all these things at Monsieur +Lebigre's--his huge bed, his cosy room, and his business, on which +his thoughts now dwelt with tender remorse. And from Lisa, from the +furniture, from all his cosy surroundings, he derived a sense of comfort +which thrilled him with a delightful, overpowering charm. + +"You foolish fellow!" said his wife, seeing that he was now quite +conquered. "A pretty business it was that you'd embarked upon; but you'd +have had to reckon with Pauline and me, I can tell you! And now don't +bother your head any more about the Government. To begin with, all +Governments are alike, and if we didn't have this one, we should have +another. A Government is necessary. But the one thing is to be able to +live on, to spend one's savings in peace and comfort when one grows old, +and to know that one has gained one's means honestly." + +Quenu nodded his head in acquiescence, and tried to commence a +justification of his conduct. + +"It was Gavard--," he began. + +But Lisa's face again assumed a serious expression, and she interrupted +him sharply. + +"No, it was not Gavard. I know very well who it was; and it would be +a great deal better if he would look after his own safety before +compromising that of others." + +"Is it Florent you mean?" Quenu timidly inquired after a pause. + +Lisa did not immediately reply. She got up and went back to the +secretaire, as if trying to restrain herself. + +"Yes, it is Florent," she said presently, in incisive tones. "You know +how patient I am. I would bear almost anything rather than come between +you and your brother. The tie of relationship is a sacred thing. But the +cup is filled to overflowing now. Since your brother came here things +have been constantly getting worse and worse. But now, I won't say +anything more; it is better that I shouldn't." + +There was another pause. Then, as her husband gazed up at the ceiling +with an air of embarrassment, she continued, with increased violence: + +"Really, he seems to ignore all that we have done for him. We have +put ourselves to great inconvenience for his sake; we have given him +Augustine's bedroom, and the poor girl sleeps without a murmur in a +stuffy little closet where she can scarcely breathe. We board and lodge +him and give him every attention--but no, he takes it all quite as a +matter of course. He is earning money, but what he does with it nobody +knows; or, rather, one knows only too well." + +"But there's his share of the inheritance, you know," Quenu ventured to +say, pained at hearing his brother attacked. + +Lisa suddenly stiffened herself as though she were stunned, and her +anger vanished. + +"Yes, you are right; there is his share of the inheritance. Here is +the statement of it, in this drawer. But he refused to take it; you +remember, you were present, and heard him. That only proves that he is a +brainless, worthless fellow. If he had had an idea in his head, he would +have made something out of that money by now. For my own part, I should +be very glad to get rid of it; it would be a relief to us. I have told +him so twice, but he won't listen to me. You ought to persuade him to +take it. Talk to him about it, will you?" + +Quenu growled something in reply; and Lisa refrained from pressing the +point further, being of opinion that she had done all that could be +expected of her. + +"He is not like other men," she resumed. "He's not a comfortable sort of +person to have in the house. I shouldn't have said this if we hadn't got +talking on the subject. I don't busy myself about his conduct, though +it's setting the whole neighbourhood gossiping about us. Let him eat +and sleep here, and put us about, if he likes; we can get over that; but +what I won't tolerate is that he should involve us in his politics. If +he tries to lead you off again, or compromises us in the least degree, +I shall turn him out of the house without the least hesitation. I warn +you, and now you understand!" + +Florent was doomed. Lisa was making a great effort to restrain herself, +to prevent the animosity which had long been rankling in her heart +from flowing forth. But Florent and his ways jarred against her every +instinct; he wounded her, frightened her, and made her quite miserable. + +"A man who has made such a discreditable career," she murmured, "who has +never been able to get a roof of his own over his head! I can very well +understand his partiality for bullets! He can go and stand in their way +if he chooses; but let him leave honest folks to their families! And +then, he isn't pleasant to have about one! He reeks of fish in the +evening at dinner! It prevents me from eating. He himself never lets a +mouthful go past him, though it's little better he seems to be for it +all! He can't even grow decently stout, the wretched fellow, to such a +degree do his bad instincts prey on him!" + +She had stepped up to the window whilst speaking, and now saw Florent +crossing the Rue Rambuteau on his way to the fish market. There was +a very large arrival of fish that morning; the tray-like baskets were +covered with rippling silver, and the auction rooms roared with the +hubbub of their sales. Lisa kept her eyes on the bony shoulders of her +brother-in-law as he made his way into the pungent smells of the market, +stooping beneath the sickening sensation which they brought him; and +the glance with which she followed his steps was that of a woman bent on +combat and resolved to be victorious. + +When she turned round again, Quenu was getting up. As he sat on the edge +of the bed in his night-shirt, still warm from the pleasant heat of the +eider-down quilt and with his feet resting on the soft fluffy rug below +him, he looked quite pale, quite distressed at the misunderstanding +between his wife and his brother. Lisa, however, gave him one of her +sweetest smiles, and he felt deeply touched when she handed him his +socks. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Marjolin had been found in a heap of cabbages at the Market of the +Innocents. He was sleeping under the shelter of a large white-hearted +one, a broad leaf of which concealed his rosy childish face It was never +known what poverty-stricken mother had laid him there. When he was found +he was already a fine little fellow of two or three years of age, +very plump and merry, but so backward and dense that he could scarcely +stammer a few words, and only seemed able to smile. When one of the +vegetable saleswomen found him lying under the big white cabbage she +raised such a loud cry of surprise that her neighbours rushed up to +see what was the matter, while the youngster, still in petticoats, and +wrapped in a scrap of old blanket, held out his arms towards her. +He could not tell who his mother was, but opened his eyes in wide +astonishment as he squeezed against the shoulder of a stout tripe dealer +who eventually took him up. The whole market busied itself about him +throughout the day. He soon recovered confidence, ate slices of bread +and butter, and smiled at all the women. The stout tripe dealer kept him +for a time, then a neighbour took him; and a month later a third woman +gave him shelter. When they asked him where his mother was, he waved his +little hand with a pretty gesture which embraced all the women present. +He became the adopted child of the place, always clinging to the skirts +of one or another of the women, and always finding a corner of a bed and +a share of a meal somewhere. Somehow, too, he managed to find clothes, +and he even had a copper or two at the bottom of his ragged pockets. It +was a buxom, ruddy girl dealing in medicinal herbs who gave him the name +of Marjolin,[*] though no one knew why. + +[*] Literally "Marjoram." + +When Marjolin was nearly four years of age, old Mother Chantemesse also +happened to find a child, a little girl, lying on the footway of the Rue +Saint Denis, near the corner of the market. Judging by the little one's +size, she seemed to be a couple of years old, but she could already +chatter like a magpie, murdering her words in an incessant childish +babble. Old Mother Chantemesse after a time gathered that her name was +Cadine, and that on the previous evening her mother had left her sitting +on a doorstep, with instructions to wait till she returned. The child +had fallen asleep there, and did not cry. She related that she was +beaten at home; and she gladly followed Mother Chantemesse, seemingly +quite enchanted with that huge square, where there were so many people +and such piles of vegetables. Mother Chantemesse, a retail dealer by +trade, was a crusty but very worthy woman, approaching her sixtieth +year. She was extremely fond of children, and had lost three boys of her +own when they were mere babies. She came to the opinion that the chit +she had found "was far too wide awake to kick the bucket," and so she +adopted her. + +One evening, however, as she was going off home with her right hand +clasping Cadine's, Marjolin came up and unceremoniously caught hold of +her left hand. + +"Nay, my lad," said the old woman, stopping, "the place is filled. Have +you left your big Therese, then? What a fickle little gadabout you are!" + +The boy gazed at her with his smiling eyes, without letting go of her +hand. He looked so pretty with his curly hair that she could not resist +him. "Well, come along, then, you little scamp," said she; "I'll put you +to bed as well." + +Thus she made her appearance in the Rue au Lard, where she lived, with +a child clinging to either hand. Marjolin made himself quite at home +there. When the two children proved too noisy the old woman cuffed them, +delighted to shout and worry herself, and wash the youngsters, and pack +them away beneath the blankets. She had fixed them up a little bed in +an old costermonger's barrow, the wheels and shafts of which had +disappeared. It was like a big cradle, a trifle hard, but retaining a +strong scent of the vegetables which it had long kept fresh and cool +beneath a covering of damp cloths. And there, when four years old, +Cadine and Marjolin slept locked in each other's arms. + +They grew up together, and were always to be seen with their arms about +one another's waist. At night time old Mother Chantemesse heard them +prattling softly. Cadine's clear treble went chattering on for hours +together, while Marjolin listened with occasional expressions of +astonishment vented in a deeper tone. The girl was a mischievous young +creature, and concocted all sorts of stories to frighten her companion; +telling him, for instance, that she had one night seen a man, dressed +all in white, looking at them and putting out a great red tongue, at +the foot of the bed. Marjolin quite perspired with terror, and anxiously +asked for further particulars; but the girl would then begin to jeer at +him, and end by calling him a big donkey. At other times they were +not so peaceably disposed, but kicked each other beneath the blankets. +Cadine would pull up her legs, and try to restrain her laughter as +Marjolin missed his aim, and sent his feet banging against the wall. +When this happened, old Madame Chantemesse was obliged to get up to put +the bed-clothes straight again; and, by way of sending the children to +sleep, she would administer a box on the ear to both of them. For a long +time their bed was a sort of playground. They carried their toys into +it, and munched stolen carrots and turnips as they lay side by side. +Every morning their adopted mother was amazed at the strange things she +found in the bed--pebbles, leaves, apple cores, and dolls made out of +scraps of rags. When the very cold weather came, she went off to her +work, leaving them sleeping there, Cadine's black mop mingling with +Marjolin's sunny curls, and their mouths so near together that they +looked as though they were keeping each other warm with their breath. + +The room in the Rue au Lard was a big, dilapidated garret, with a single +window, the panes of which were dimmed by the rain. The children would +play at hide-and-seek in the tall walnut wardrobe and underneath Mother +Chantemesse's colossal bed. There were also two or three tables in the +room, and they crawled under these on all fours. They found the place a +very charming playground, on account of the dim light and the vegetables +scattered about in the dark corners. The street itself, too, narrow and +very quiet, with a broad arcade opening into the Rue de la Lingerie, +provided them with plenty of entertainment. The door of the house was by +the side of the arcade; it was a low door and could only be opened half +way owing to the near proximity of the greasy corkscrew staircase. The +house, which had a projecting pent roof and a bulging front, dark with +damp, and displaying greenish drain-sinks near the windows of each +floor, also served as a big toy for the young couple. They spent their +mornings below in throwing stones up into the drain-sinks, and the +stones thereupon fell down the pipes with a very merry clatter. In thus +amusing themselves, however, they managed to break a couple of windows, +and filled the drains with stones, so that Mother Chantemesse, who had +lived in the house for three and forty years, narrowly escaped being +turned out of it. + +Cadine and Marjolin then directed their attention to the vans and drays +and tumbrels which were drawn up in the quiet street. They clambered on +to the wheels, swung from the dangling chains, and larked about amongst +the piles of boxes and hampers. Here also were the back premises of the +commission agents of the Rue de la Poterie--huge, gloomy warehouses, +each day filled and emptied afresh, and affording a constant succession +of delightful hiding-places, where the youngsters buried themselves +amidst the scent of dried fruits, oranges, and fresh apples. When +they got tired of playing in his way, they went off to join old +Madame Chantemesse at the Market of the Innocents. They arrived there +arm-in-arm, laughing gaily as they crossed the streets with never the +slightest fear of being run over by the endless vehicles. They knew the +pavement well, and plunged their little legs knee-deep in the vegetable +refuse without ever slipping. They jeered merrily at any porter in +heavy boots who, in stepping over an artichoke stem, fell sprawling +full-length upon the ground. They were the rosy-cheeked familiar spirits +of those greasy streets. They were to be seen everywhere. + +On rainy days they walked gravely beneath the shelter of a ragged old +umbrella, with which Mother Chantemesse had protected her stock-in-trade +for twenty years, and sticking it up in a corner of the market they +called it their house. On sunny days they romped to such a degree that +when evening came they were almost too tired to move. They bathed their +feet in the fountains, dammed up the gutters, or hid themselves beneath +piles of vegetables, and remained there prattling to each other just as +they did in bed at night. People passing some huge mountain of cos or +cabbage lettuces often heard a muffled sound of chatter coming from +it. And when the green-stuff was removed, the two children would be +discovered lying side by side on their couch of verdure, their eyes +glistening uneasily like those of birds discovered in the depth of a +thicket. As time went on, Cadine could not get along without Marjolin, +and Marjolin began to cry when he lost sight of Cadine. If they happened +to get separated, they sought one another behind the petticoats of every +stallkeeper in the markets, amongst the boxes and under the cabbages. If +was, indeed, chiefly under the cabbages that they grew up and learned to +love each other. + +Marjolin was nearly eight years old, and Cadine six, when old Madame +Chantemesse began to reproach them for their idleness. She told them +that she would interest them in her business, and pay them a sou a day +to assist her in paring her vegetables. During the first few days the +children displayed eager zeal; they squatted down on either side of +the big flat basket with little knives in their hands, and worked away +energetically. Mother Chantemesse made a specialty of pared vegetables; +on her stall, covered with a strip of damp black lining, were little +lots of potatoes, turnips, carrots, and white onions, arranged in +pyramids of four--three at the base and one at the apex, all quite ready +to be popped into the pans of dilatory housewives. She also had bundles +duly stringed in readiness for the soup-pot--four leeks, three carrots, +a parsnip, two turnips, and a couple of springs of celery. Then there +were finely cut vegetables for julienne soup laid out on squares of +paper, cabbages cut into quarters, and little heaps of tomatoes and +slices of pumpkin which gleamed like red stars and golden crescents +amidst the pale hues of the other vegetables. Cadine evinced much more +dexterity than Marjolin, although she was younger. The peelings of the +potatoes she pared were so thin that you could see through them; she +tied up the bundles for the soup-pot so artistically that they looked +like bouquets; and she had a way of making the little heaps she set up, +though they contained but three carrots or turnips, look like very big +ones. The passers-by would stop and smile when she called out in her +shrill childish voice: "Madame! madame! come and try me! Each little +pile for two sous." + +She had her regular customers, and her little piles and bundles were +widely known. Old Mother Chantemesse, seated between the two children, +would indulge in a silent laugh which made her bosom rise almost to +her chin, at seeing them working away so seriously. She paid them their +daily sous most faithfully. But they soon began to weary of the little +heaps and bundles; they were growing up, and began to dream of some more +lucrative business. Marjolin remained very childish for his years, and +this irritated Cadine. He had no more brains than a cabbage, she often +said. And it was, indeed, quite useless for her to devise any plan for +him to make money; he never earned any. He could not even do an errand +satisfactorily. The girl, on the other hand, was very shrewd. When but +eight years old she obtained employment from one of those women who sit +on a bench in the neighbourhood of the markets provided with a basket +of lemons, and employ a troop of children to go about selling them. +Carrying the lemons in her hands and offering them at two for three +sous, Cadine thrust them under every woman's nose, and ran after every +passer-by. Her hands empty, she hastened back for a fresh supply. She +was paid two sous for every dozen lemons that she sold, and on good +days she could earn some five or six sous. During the following year +she hawked caps at nine sous apiece, which proved a more profitable +business; only she had to keep a sharp look-out, as street trading of +this kind is forbidden unless one be licensed. However, she scented +a policeman at a distance of a hundred yards; and the caps forthwith +disappeared under her skirts, whilst she began to munch an apple with +an air of guileless innocence. Then she took to selling pastry, cakes, +cherry-tarts, gingerbread, and thick yellow maize biscuits on wicker +trays. Marjolin, however, ate up nearly the whole of her stock-in-trade. +At last, when she was eleven years old, she succeeded in realising a +grand idea which had long been worrying her. In a couple of months she +put by four francs, bought a small _hotte_,[*] and then set up as a +dealer in birds' food. + +[*] A basket carried on the back.--Translator. + +It was a big affair. She got up early in the morning and purchased her +stock of groundsel, millet, and bird-cake from the wholesale +dealers. Then she set out on her day's work, crossing the river, and +perambulating the Latin Quarter from the Rue Saint Jacques to the Rue +Dauphine, and even to the Luxembourg. Marjolin used to accompany her, +but she would not let him carry the basket. He was only fit to call out, +she said; and so, in his thick, drawling voice, he would raise the cry, +"Chickweed for the little birds!" + +Then Cadine herself, with her flute-like voice, would start on a strange +scale of notes ending in a clear, protracted alto, "Chickweed for the +little birds!" + +They each took one side of the road, and looked up in the air as they +walked along. In those days Marjolin wore a big scarlet waistcoat +which hung down to his knees; it had belonged to the defunct Monsieur +Chantemesse, who had been a cab-driver. Cadine for her part wore a white +and blue check gown, made out of an old tartan of Madame Chantemesse's. +All the canaries in the garrets of the Latin Quarter knew them; and, as +they passed along, repeating their cry, each echoing the other's voice, +every cage poured out a song. + +Cadine sold water-cress, too. "Two sous a bunch! Two sous a bunch!" And +Marjolin went into the shops to offer it for sale. "Fine water-cress! +Health for the body! Fine fresh water-cress!" + +However, the new central markets had just been erected, and the girl +would stand gazing in ecstacy at the avenue of flower stalls which runs +through the fruit pavilion. Here on either hand, from end to end, big +clumps of flowers bloom as in the borders of a garden walk. It is a +perfect harvest, sweet with perfume, a double hedge of blossoms, between +which the girls of the neighbourhood love to walk, smiling the while, +though almost stifled by the heavy perfume. And on the top tiers of the +stalls are artificial flowers, with paper leaves, in which dewdrops are +simulated by drops of gum; and memorial wreaths of black and white beads +rippling with bluish reflections. Cadine's rosy nostrils would dilate +with feline sensuality; she would linger as long as possible in that +sweet freshness, and carry as much of the perfume away with her as she +could. When her hair bobbed under Marjolin's nose he would remark that +it smelt of pinks. She said that she had given over using pomatum; that +is was quite sufficient for her to stroll through the flower walk in +order to scent her hair. Next she began to intrigue and scheme with +such success that she was engaged by one of the stallkeepers. And then +Marjolin declared that she smelt sweet from head to foot. She lived in +the midst of roses, lilacs, wall-flowers, and lilies of the valley; +and Marjolin would playfully smell at her skirts, feign a momentary +hesitation, and then exclaim, "Ah, that's lily of the valley!" Next he +would sniff at her waist and bodice: "Ah, that's wall-flowers!" And at +her sleeves and wrists: "Ah, that's lilac!" And at her neck, and her +cheeks and lips: "Ah, but that's roses!" he would cry. Cadine used to +laugh at him, and call him a "silly stupid," and tell him to get away, +because he was tickling her with the tip of his nose. As she spoke her +breath smelt of jasmine. She was verily a bouquet, full of warmth and +life. + +She now got up at four o'clock every morning to assist her mistress in +her purchases. Each day they bought armfuls of flowers from the +suburban florists, with bundles of moss, and bundles of fern fronds, +and periwinkle leaves to garnish the bouquets. Cadine would gaze with +amazement at the diamonds and Valenciennes worn by the daughters of +the great gardeners of Montreuil, who came to the markets amidst their +roses. + +On the saints' days of popular observance, such as Saint Mary's, Saint +Peter's, and Saint Joseph's days, the sale of flowers began at two +o'clock. More than a hundred thousand francs' worth of cut flowers would +be sold on the footways, and some of the retail dealers would make +as much as two hundred francs in a few hours. On days like those only +Cadine's curly locks peered over the mounds of pansies, mignonette, and +marguerites. She was quite drowned and lost in the flood of flowers. +Then she would spend all her time in mounting bouquets on bits of rush. +In a few weeks she acquired considerable skillfulness in her business, +and manifested no little originality. Her bouquets did not always +please everybody, however. Sometimes they made one smile, sometimes they +alarmed the eyes. Red predominated in them, mottled with violent tints +of blue, yellow, and violet of a barbaric charm. On the mornings when +she pinched Marjolin, and teased him till she made him cry, she made up +fierce-looking bouquets, suggestive of her own bad temper, bouquets +with strong rough scents and glaring irritating colours. On other days, +however, when she was softened by some thrill of joy or sorrow, her +bouquets would assume a tone of silvery grey, very soft and subdued, and +delicately perfumed. + +Then, too, she would set roses, as sanguineous as open hearts, in lakes +of snow-white pinks; arrange bunches of tawny iris that shot up in +tufts of flame from foliage that seemed scared by the brilliance of the +flowers; work elaborate designs, as complicated as those of Smyrna rugs, +adding flower to flower, as on a canvas; and prepare rippling fanlike +bouquets spreading out with all the delicacy of lace. Here was a cluster +of flowers of delicious purity, there a fat nosegay, whatever one might +dream of for the hand of a marchioness or a fish-wife; all the charming +quaint fancies, in short, which the brain of a sharp-witted child of +twelve, budding into womanhood, could devise. + +There were only two flowers for which Cadine retained respect; white +lilac, which by the bundle of eight or ten sprays cost from fifteen to +twenty francs in the winter time; and camellias, which were still more +costly, and arrived in boxes of a dozen, lying on beds of moss, and +covered with cotton wool. She handled these as delicately as though they +were jewels, holding her breath for fear of dimming their lustre, and +fastening their short stems to springs of cane with the tenderest care. +She spoke of them with serious reverence. She told Marjolin one day +that a speckless white camellia was a very rare and exceptionally lovely +thing, and, as she was making him admire one, he exclaimed: "Yes; +it's pretty; but I prefer your neck, you know. It's much more soft and +transparent than the camellia, and there are some little blue and pink +veins just like the pencillings on a flower." Then, drawing near and +sniffing, he murmured: "Ah! you smell of orange blossom to-day." + +Cadine was self-willed, and did not get on well in the position of a +servant, so she ended by setting up in business on her own account. As +she was only thirteen at the time, and could not hope for a big trade +and a stall in the flower avenue, she took to selling one-sou bunches +of violets pricked into a bed of moss in an osier tray which she carried +hanging from her neck. All day long she wandered about the markets and +their precincts with her little bit of hanging garden. She loved this +continual stroll, which relieved the numbness of her limbs after long +hours spent, with bent knees, on a low chair, making bouquets. She +fastened her violets together with marvellous deftness as she walked +along. She counted out six or eight flowers, according to the season, +doubled a sprig of cane in half, added a leaf, twisted some damp thread +round the whole, and broke off the thread with her strong young teeth. +The little bunches seemed to spring spontaneously from the layer of +moss, so rapidly did she stick them into it. + +Along the footways, amidst the jostling of the street traffic, her +nimble fingers were ever flowering though she gave them not a glance, +but boldly scanned the shops and passers-by. Sometimes she would rest in +a doorway for a moment; and alongside the gutters, greasy with kitchen +slops, she sat, as it were a patch of springtime, a suggestion of green +woods, and purple blossoms. Her flowers still betokened her frame of +mind, her fits of bad temper and her thrills of tenderness. Sometimes +they bristled and glowered with anger amidst their crumpled leaves; at +other times they spoke only of love and peacefulness as they smiled in +their prim collars. As Cadine passed along, she left a sweet perfume +behind her; Marjolin followed her devoutly. From head to foot she now +exhaled but one scent, and the lad repeated that she was herself a +violet, a great big violet. + +"Do you remember the day when we went to Romainville together?" he would +say; "Romainville, where there are so many violets. The scent was just +the same. Oh! don't change again--you smell too sweetly." + +And she did not change again. This was her last trade. Still, she often +neglected her osier tray to go rambling about the neighbourhood. The +building of the central markets--as yet incomplete--provided both +children with endless opportunities for amusement. They made their way +into the midst of the work-yards through some gap or other between +the planks; they descended into the foundations, and climbed up to the +cast-iron pillars. Every nook, every piece of the framework witnessed +their games and quarrels; the pavilions grew up under the touch of their +little hands. From all this arose the affection which they felt for +the great markets, and which the latter seemed to return. They were on +familiar terms with that gigantic pile, old friends as they were, who +had seen each pin and bolt put into place. They felt no fear of the huge +monster; but slapped it with their childish hands, treated it like +a good friend, a chum whose presence brought no constraint. And the +markets seemed to smile at these two light-hearted children, whose love +was the song, the idyll of their immensity. + +Cadine alone now slept at Mother Chantemesse's. The old woman had packed +Marjolin off to a neighbour's. This made the two children very unhappy. +Still, they contrived to spend much of their time together. In the +daytime they would hide themselves away in the warehouses of the Rue au +Lard, behind piles of apples and cases of oranges; and in the evening +they would dive into the cellars beneath the poultry market, and secret +themselves among the huge hampers of feathers which stood near the +blocks where the poultry was killed. They were quite alone there, amidst +the strong smell of the poultry, and with never a sound but the sudden +crowing of some rooster to break upon their babble and their +laughter. The feathers amidst which they found themselves were of +all sorts--turkey's feathers, long and black; goose quills, white and +flexible; the downy plumage of ducks, soft like cotton wool; and the +ruddy and mottled feathers of fowls, which at the faintest breath flew +up in a cloud like a swarm of flies buzzing in the sun. And then in +wintertime there was the purple plumage of the pheasants, the ashen +grey of the larks, the splotched silk of the partridges, quails, and +thrushes. And all these feathers freshly plucked were still warm and +odoriferous, seemingly endowed with life. The spot was as cosy as a +nest; at times a quiver as of flapping wings sped by, and Marjolin and +Cadine, nestling amidst all the plumage, often imagined that they were +being carried aloft by one of those huge birds with outspread pinions +that one hears of in the fairy tales. + +As time went on their childish affection took the inevitable turn. +Veritable offsprings of Nature, knowing naught of social conventions and +restraints, they loved one another in all innocence and guilelessness. +They mated even as the birds of the air mate, even as youth and maid +mated in primeval times, because such is Nature's law. At sixteen +Cadine was a dusky town gipsy, greedy and sensual, whilst Marjolin, now +eighteen, was a tall, strapping fellow, as handsome a youth as could +be met, but still with his mental faculties quite undeveloped. He had +lived, indeed, a mere animal life, which had strengthened his frame, but +left his intellect in a rudimentary state. + +When old Madame Chantemesse realised the turn that things were taking +she wrathfully upbraided Cadine and struck out vigorously at her with +her broom. But the hussy only laughed and dodged the blows, and then +hied off to her lover. And gradually the markets became their home, +their manger, their aviary, where they lived and loved amidst the meat, +the butter, the vegetables, and the feathers. + +They discovered another little paradise in the pavilion where butter, +eggs, and cheese were sold wholesale. Enormous walls of empty baskets +were here piled up every morning, and amidst these Cadine and Marjolin +burrowed and hollowed out a dark lair for themselves. A mere partition +of osier-work separated them from the market crowd, whose loud voices +rang out all around them. They often shook with laughter when people, +without the least suspicion of their presence, stopped to talk together +a few yards away from them. On these occasions they would contrive +peepholes, and spy through them, and when cherries were in season Cadine +tossed the stones in the faces of all the old women who passed along--a +pastime which amused them the more as the startled old crones could +never make out whence the hail of cherry-stones had come. They also +prowled about the depths of the cellars, knowing every gloomy corner of +them, and contriving to get through the most carefully locked gates. One +of their favourite amusements was to visit the track of the subterranean +railway, which had been laid under the markets, and which those who +planned the latter had intended to connect with the different goods' +stations of Paris. Sections of this railway were laid beneath each +of the covered ways, between the cellars of each pavilion; the work, +indeed, was in such an advanced state that turn-tables had been put into +position at all the points of intersection, and were in readiness for +use. After much examination, Cadine and Marjolin had at last succeeded +in discovering a loose plank in the hoarding which enclosed the track, +and they had managed to convert it into a door, by which they could +easily gain access to the line. There they were quite shut off from +the world, though they could hear the continuous rumbling of the street +traffic over their heads. + +The line stretched through deserted vaults, here and there illumined +by a glimmer of light filtering through iron gratings, while in certain +dark corners gas jets were burning. And Cadine and Marjolin rambled +about as in the secret recesses of some castle of their own, secure from +all interruption, and rejoicing in the buzzy silence, the murky glimmer, +and subterranean secrecy, which imparted a touch of melodrama to their +experiences. All sorts of smells were wafted through the hoarding from +the neighbouring cellars; the musty smell of vegetables, the pungency of +fish, the overpowering stench of cheese, and the warm reek of poultry. + +At other times, on clear nights and fine dawns, they would climb on to +the roofs, ascending thither by the steep staircases of the turrets +at the angles of the pavilions. Up above they found fields of leads, +endless promenades and squares, a stretch of undulating country which +belonged to them. They rambled round the square roofs of the pavilions, +followed the course of the long roofs of the covered ways, climbed and +descended the slopes, and lost themselves in endless perambulations of +discovery. And when they grew tired of the lower levels they ascended +still higher, venturing up the iron ladders, on which Cadine's skirts +flapped like flags. Then they ran along the second tier of roofs beneath +the open heavens. There was nothing save the stars above them. All sorts +of sounds rose up from the echoing markets, a clattering and rumbling, +a vague roar as of a distant tempest heard at nighttime. At that height +the morning breeze swept away the evil smells, the foul breath of +the awaking markets. They would kiss one another on the edge of the +gutterings like sparrows frisking on the house-tops. The rising fires +of the sun illumined their faces with a ruddy glow. Cadine laughed +with pleasure at being so high up in the air, and her neck shone with +iridescent tints like a dove's; while Marjolin bent down to look at +the street still wrapped in gloom, with his hands clutching hold of +the leads like the feet of a wood-pigeon. When they descended to earth +again, joyful from their excursion in the fresh air, they would remark +to one another that they were coming back from the country. + +It was in the tripe market that they had made the acquaintance of Claude +Lantier. They went there every day, impelled thereto by an animal taste +for blood, the cruel instinct of urchins who find amusement in the sight +of severed heads. A ruddy stream flowed along the gutters round the +pavilion; they dipped the tips of their shoes in it, and dammed it up +with leaves, so as to form large pools of blood. They took a strong +interest in the arrival of the loads of offal in carts which always +smelt offensively, despite all the drenchings of water they got; they +watched the unloading of the bundles of sheep's trotters, which were +piled up on the ground like filthy paving-stones, of the huge stiffened +tongues, bleeding at their torn roots, and of the massive bell-shaped +bullocks' hearts. But the spectacle which, above all others, made +them quiver with delight was that of the big dripping hampers, full of +sheep's heads, with greasy horns and black muzzles, and strips of woolly +skin dangling from bleeding flesh. The sight of these conjured up in +their minds the idea of some guillotine casting into the baskets the +heads of countless victims. + +They followed the baskets into the depths of the cellar, watching them +glide down the rails laid over the steps, and listening to the rasping +noise which the casters of these osier waggons made in their descent. +Down below there was a scene of exquisite horror. They entered into a +charnel-house atmosphere, and walked along through murky puddles, amidst +which every now and then purple eyes seem to be glistening. At times +the soles of their boots stuck to the ground, at others they splashed +through the horrible mire, anxious and yet delighted. The gas jets +burned low, like blinking, bloodshot eyes. Near the water-taps, in the +pale light falling through the gratings, they came upon the blocks; and +there they remained in rapture watching the tripe men, who, in aprons +stiffened by gory splashings, broke the sheep's heads one after another +with a blow of their mallets. They lingered there for hours, waiting +till all the baskets were empty, fascinated by the crackling of the +bones, unable to tear themselves away till all was over. Sometimes an +attendant passed behind them, cleansing the cellar with a hose; floods +of water rushed out with a sluice-like roar, but although the violence +of the discharge actually ate away the surface of the flagstones, it was +powerless to remove the ruddy stains and stench of blood. + +Cadine and Marjolin were sure of meeting Claude between four and five in +the afternoon at the wholesale auction of the bullocks' lights. He +was always there amidst the tripe dealers' carts backed up against the +kerb-stones and the blue-bloused, white-aproned men who jostled him and +deafened his ears by their loud bids. But he never felt their elbows; he +stood in a sort of ecstatic trance before the huge hanging lights, and +often told Cadine and Marjolin that there was no finer sight to be seen. +The lights were of a soft rosy hue, gradually deepening and turning at +the lower edges to a rich carmine; and Claude compared them to watered +satin, finding no other term to describe the soft silkiness of those +flowing lengths of flesh which drooped in broad folds like ballet +dancers' skirts. He thought, too, of gauze and lace allowing a glimpse +of pinky skin; and when a ray of sunshine fell upon the lights and +girdled them with gold an expression of languorous rapture came into his +eyes, and he felt happier than if he had been privileged to contemplate +the Greek goddesses in their sovereign nudity, or the chatelaines of +romance in their brocaded robes. + +The artist became a great friend of the two young scapegraces. He loved +beautiful animals, and such undoubtedly they were. For a long time he +dreamt of a colossal picture which should represent the loves of Cadine +and Marjolin in the central markets, amidst the vegetables, the fish, +and the meat. He would have depicted them seated on some couch of food, +their arms circling each other's waists, and their lips exchanging an +idyllic kiss. In this conception he saw a manifesto proclaiming the +positivism of art--modern art, experimental and materialistic. And it +seemed to him also that it would be a smart satire on the school which +wishes every painting to embody an "idea," a slap for the old traditions +and all they represented. But during a couple of years he began study +after study without succeeding in giving the particular "note" he +desired. In this way he spoilt fifteen canvases. His failure filled him +with rancour; however, he continued to associate with his two models +from a sort of hopeless love for his abortive picture. When he met them +prowling about in the afternoon, he often scoured the neighbourhood +with them, strolling around with his hands in his pockets, and deeply +interested in the life of the streets. + +They all three trudged along together, dragging their heels over the +footways and monopolising their whole breadth so as to force others to +step down into the road. With their noses in the air they sniffed in the +odours of Paris, and could have recognised every corner blindfold by the +spirituous emanations of the wine shops, the hot puffs that came from +the bakehouses and confectioners', and the musty odours wafted from the +fruiterers'. They would make the circuit of the whole district. They +delighted in passing through the rotunda of the corn market, that huge +massive stone cage where sacks of flour were piled up on every side, and +where their footsteps echoed in the silence of the resonant roof. They +were fond, too, of the little narrow streets in the neighbourhood, which +had become as deserted, as black, and as mournful as though they formed +part of an abandoned city. These were the Rue Babille, the Rue Sauval, +the Rue des Deux Ecus, and the Rue de Viarmes, this last pallid from its +proximity to the millers' stores, and at four o'clock lively by reason +of the corn exchange held there. It was generally at this point that +they started on their round. They made their way slowly along the +Rue Vauvilliers, glancing as they went at the windows of the low +eating-houses, and thus reaching the miserably narrow Rue des +Prouvaires, where Claude blinked his eyes as he saw one of the covered +ways of the market, at the far end of which, framed round by this huge +iron nave, appeared a side entrance of St. Eustache with its rose and +its tiers of arched windows. And then, with an air of defiance, he would +remark that all the middle ages and the Renaissance put together were +less mighty than the central markets. Afterwards, as they paced the +broad new streets, the Rue du Pont Neuf and the Rue des Halles, he +explained modern life with its wide footways, its lofty houses, and its +luxurious shops, to the two urchins. He predicted, too, the advent of +new and truly original art, whose approach he could divine, and despair +filled him that its revelation should seemingly be beyond his own +powers. + +Cadine and Marjolin, however, preferred the provincial quietness of the +Rue des Bourdonnais, where one can play at marbles without fear of +being run over. The girl perked her head affectedly as she passed the +wholesale glove and hosiery stores, at each door of which bareheaded +assistants, with their pens stuck in their ears, stood watching her with +a weary gaze. And she and her lover had yet a stronger preference for +such bits of olden Paris as still existed: the Rue de la Poterie and the +Rue de la Lingerie, with their butter and egg and cheese dealers; the +Rue de la Ferronerie and the Rue de l'Aiguillerie (the beautiful streets +of far-away times), with their dark narrow shops; and especially the Rue +Courtalon, a dank, dirty by-way running from the Place Sainte Opportune +to the Rue Saint Denis, and intersected by foul-smelling alleys where +they had romped in their younger days. In the Rue Saint Denis they +entered into the land of dainties; and they smiled upon the dried +apples, the "Spanishwood," the prunes, and the sugar-candy in the +windows of the grocers and druggists. Their ramblings always set them +dreaming of a feast of good things, and inspired them with a desire to +glut themselves on the contents of the windows. To them the district +seemed like some huge table, always laid with an everlasting dessert +into which they longed to plunge their fingers. + +They devoted but a moment to visiting the other blocks of tumble-down +old houses, the Rue Pirouette, the Rue de Mondetour, the Rue de la +Petite Truanderie, and the Rue de la Grande Truanderie, for they took +little interest in the shops of the dealers in edible snails, cooked +vegetables, tripe, and drink. In the Rue de la Grand Truanderie, +however, there was a soap factory, an oasis of sweetness in the midst of +all the foul odours, and Marjolin was fond of standing outside it till +some one happened to enter or come out, so that the perfume which swept +through the doorway might blow full in his face. Then with all speed +they returned to the Rue Pierre Lescot and the Rue Rambuteau. Cadine was +extremely fond of salted provisions; she stood in admiration before the +bundles of red-herrings, the barrels of anchovies and capers, and the +little casks of gherkins and olives, standing on end with wooden spoons +inside them. The smell of the vinegar titillated her throat; the pungent +odour of the rolled cod, smoked salmon, bacon and ham, and the sharp +acidity of the baskets of lemons, made her mouth water longingly. She +was also fond of feasting her eyes on the boxes of sardines piled up in +metallic columns amidst the cases and sacks. In the Rue Montorgueil +and the Rue Montmartre were other tempting-looking groceries and +restaurants, from whose basements appetising odours were wafted, with +glorious shows of game and poultry, and preserved-provision shops, which +last displayed beside their doors open kegs overflowing with yellow +sourkrout suggestive of old lacework. Then they lingered in the Rue +Coquilliere, inhaling the odour of truffles from the premises of a +notable dealer in comestibles, which threw so strong a perfume into the +street that Cadine and Marjolin closed their eyes and imagined they +were swallowing all kinds of delicious things. These perfumes, however, +distressed Claude. They made him realise the emptiness of his stomach, +he said; and, leaving the "two animals" to feast on the odour of +the truffles--the most penetrating odour to be found in all the +neighbourhood--he went off again to the corn market by way of the Rue +Oblin, studying on his road the old women who sold green-stuff in +the doorways and the displays of cheap pottery spread out on the +foot-pavements. + +Such were their rambles in common; but when Cadine set out alone with +her bunches of violets she often went farther afield, making it a point +to visit certain shops for which she had a particular partiality. She +had an especial weakness for the Taboureau bakery establishment, one of +the windows of which was exclusively devoted to pastry. She would follow +the Rue Turbigo and retrace her steps a dozen times in order to pass +again and again before the almond cakes, the _savarins_, the St. Honore +tarts, the fruit tarts, and the various dishes containing bunlike +_babas_ redolent of rum, eclairs combining the finger biscuit with +chocolate, and _choux a la creme_, little rounds of pastry overflowing +with whipped white of egg. The glass jars full of dry biscuits, +macaroons, and _madeleines_ also made her mouth water; and the bright +shop with its big mirrors, its marble slabs, its gilding, its bread-bins +of ornamental ironwork, and its second window in which long glistening +loaves were displayed slantwise, with one end resting on a crystal +shelf whilst above they were upheld by a brass rod, was so warm and +odoriferous of baked dough that her features expanded with pleasure +when, yielding to temptation, she went in to buy a _brioche_ for two +sous. + +Another shop, one in front of the Square des Innocents, also filled her +with gluttonous inquisitiveness, a fever of longing desire. This shop +made a specialty of forcemeat pasties. In addition to the ordinary ones +there were pasties of pike and pasties of truffled _foie gras_; and the +girl would gaze yearningly at them, saying to herself that she would +really have to eat one some day. + +Cadine also had her moments of vanity and coquetry. When these fits +were on her, she bought herself in imagination some of the magnificent +dresses displayed in the windows of the "Fabriques de France" which +made the Pointe Saint Eustache gaudy with their pieces of bright stuff +hanging from the first floor to the footway and flapping in the breeze. +Somewhat incommoded by the flat basket hanging before her, amidst the +crowd of market women in dirty aprons gazing at future Sunday dresses, +the girl would feel the woollens, flannels, and cottons to test the +texture and suppleness of the material; and she would promise herself a +gown of bright-coloured flannelling, flowered print, or scarlet poplin. +Sometimes even from amongst the pieces draped and set off to advantage +by the window-dressers she would choose some soft sky-blue or +apple-green silk, and dream of wearing it with pink ribbons. In the +evenings she would dazzle herself with the displays in the windows of +the big jewellers in the Rue Montmartre. That terrible street deafened +her with its ceaseless flow of vehicles, and the streaming crowd never +ceased to jostle her; still she did not stir, but remained feasting her +eyes on the blazing splendour set out in the light of the reflecting +lamps which hung outside the windows. On one side all was white with the +bright glitter of silver: watches in rows, chains hanging, spoons +and forks laid crossways, cups, snuff-boxes, napkin-rings, and combs +arranged on shelves. The silver thimbles, dotting a porcelain stand +covered with a glass shade, had an especial attraction for her. Then +on the other side the windows glistened with the tawny glow of gold. A +cascade of long pendant chains descended from above, rippling with ruddy +gleams; small ladies' watches, with the backs of their cases displayed, +sparkled like fallen stars; wedding rings clustered round slender rods; +bracelets, broaches, and other costly ornaments glittered on the black +velvet linings of their cases; jewelled rings set their stands aglow +with blue, green, yellow, and violet flamelets; while on every tier of +the shelves superposed rows of earrings and crosses and lockets hung +against the crystal like the rich fringes of altar-cloths. The glow of +this gold illumined the street half way across with a sun-like radiance. +And Cadine, as she gazed at it, almost fancied that she was in presence +of something holy, or on the threshold of the Emperor's treasure +chamber. She would for a long time scrutinise all this show of gaudy +jewellery, adapted to the taste of the fish-wives, and carefully read +the large figures on the tickets affixed to each article; and eventually +she would select for herself a pair of earrings--pear-shaped drops of +imitation coral hanging from golden roses. + +One morning Claude caught her standing in ecstasy before a +hair-dresser's window in the Rue Saint Honore. She was gazing at the +display of hair with an expression of intense envy. High up in the +window was a streaming cascade of long manes, soft wisps, loose tresses, +frizzy falls, undulating comb-curls, a perfect cataract of silky and +bristling hair, real and artificial, now in coils of a flaming red, now +in thick black crops, now in pale golden locks, and even in snowy white +ones for the coquette of sixty. In cardboard boxes down below were +cleverly arranged fringes, curling side-ringlets, and carefully combed +chignons glossy with pomade. And amidst this framework, in a sort of +shrine beneath the ravelled ends of the hanging locks, there revolved +the bust of a woman, arrayed in a wrapper of cherry-coloured satin +fastened between the breasts with a brass brooch. The figure wore a +lofty bridal coiffure picked out with sprigs of orange blossom, and +smiled with a dollish smile. Its eyes were pale blue; its eyebrows were +very stiff and of exaggerated length; and its waxen cheeks and shoulders +bore evident traces of the heat and smoke of the gas. Cadine waited +till the revolving figure again displayed its smiling face, and as its +profile showed more distinctly and it slowly went round from left to +right she felt perfectly happy. Claude, however, was indignant, and, +shaking Cadine, he asked her what she was doing in front of "that +abomination, that corpse-like hussy picked up at the Morgue!" He flew +into a temper with the "dummy's" cadaverous face and shoulders, that +disfigurement of the beautiful, and remarked that artists painted +nothing but that unreal type of woman nowadays. Cadine, however, +remained unconvinced by his oratory, and considered the lady extremely +beautiful. Then, resisting the attempts of the artist to drag her away +by the arm, and scratching her black mop in vexation, she pointed to an +enormous ruddy tail, severed from the quarters of some vigorous mare, +and told him she would have liked to have a crop of hair like that. + +During the long rambles when Claude, Cadine, and Marjolin prowled about +the neighbourhood of the markets, they saw the iron ribs of the giant +building at the end of every street. Wherever they turned they caught +sudden glimpses of it; the horizon was always bounded by it; merely the +aspect under which it was seen varied. Claude was perpetually turning +round, and particularly in the Rue Montmartre, after passing the church. +From that point the markets, seen obliquely in the distance, filled him +with enthusiasm. A huge arcade, a giant, gaping gateway, was open before +him; then came the crowding pavilions with their lower and upper roofs, +their countless Venetian shutters and endless blinds, a vision, as it +were, of superposed houses and palaces; a Babylon of metal of Hindoo +delicacy of workmanship, intersected by hanging terraces, aerial +galleries, and flying bridges poised over space. The trio always +returned to this city round which they strolled, unable to stray +more than a hundred yards away. They came back to it during the hot +afternoons when the Venetian shutters were closed and the blinds +lowered. In the covered ways all seemed to be asleep, the ashy greyness +was streaked by yellow bars of sunlight falling through the high +windows. Only a subdued murmur broke the silence; the steps of a few +hurrying passers-by resounded on the footways; whilst the badge-wearing +porters sat in rows on the stone ledges at the corners of the pavilions, +taking off their boots and nursing their aching feet. The quietude +was that of a colossus at rest, interrupted at times by some cock-crow +rising from the cellars below. + +Claude, Cadine, and Marjolin then often went to see the empty hampers +piled upon the drays, which came to fetch them every afternoon so that +they might be sent back to the consignors. There were mountains of them, +labelled with black letters and figures, in front of the salesmen's +warehouses in the Rue Berger. The porters arranged them symmetrically, +tier by tier, on the vehicles. When the pile rose, however, to the +height of a first floor, the porter who stood below balancing the next +batch of hampers had to make a spring in order to toss them up to his +mate, who was perched aloft with arms extended. Claude, who delighted +in feats of strength and dexterity, would stand for hours watching the +flight of these masses of osier, and would burst into a hearty laugh +whenever too vigorous a toss sent them flying over the pile into the +roadway beyond. He was fond, too, of the footways of the Rue Rambuteau +and the Rue du Pont Neuf, near the fruit market, where the retail +dealers congregated. The sight of the vegetables displayed in the open +air, on trestle-tables covered with damp black rags, was full of charm +for him. At four in the afternoon the whole of this nook of greenery was +aglow with sunshine; and Claude wandered between the stalls, inspecting +the bright-coloured heads of the saleswomen with keen artistic relish. +The younger ones, with their hair in nets, had already lost all +freshness of complexion through the rough life they led; while the older +ones were bent and shrivelled, with wrinkled, flaring faces showing +under the yellow kerchiefs bound round their heads. Cadine and Marjolin +refused to accompany him hither, as they could perceive old Mother +Chantemesse shaking her fist at them, in her anger at seeing them +prowling about together. He joined them again, however, on the opposite +footway, where he found a splendid subject for a picture in the +stallkeepers squatting under their huge umbrellas of faded red, blue, +and violet, which, mounted upon poles, filled the whole market-side with +bumps, and showed conspicuously against the fiery glow of the sinking +sun, whose rays faded amidst the carrots and the turnips. One tattered +harridan, a century old, was sheltering three spare-looking lettuces +beneath an umbrella of pink silk, shockingly split and stained. + +Cadine and Marjolin had struck up an acquaintance with Leon, Quenu's +apprentice, one day when he was taking a pie to a house in the +neighbourhood. They saw him cautiously raise the lid of his pan in a +secluded corner of the Rue de Mondetour, and delicately take out a ball +of forcemeat. They smiled at the sight, which gave them a very high +opinion of Leon. And the idea came to Cadine that she might at last +satisfy one of her most ardent longings. Indeed, the very next time that +she met the lad with his basket she made herself very agreeable, and +induced him to offer her a forcemeat ball. But, although she laughed and +licked her fingers, she experienced some disappointment. The forcemeat +did not prove nearly so nice as she had anticipated. On the other hand, +the lad, with his sly, greedy phiz and his white garments, which made +him look like a girl going to her first communion, somewhat took her +fancy. + +She invited him to a monster lunch which she gave amongst the hampers +in the auction room at the butter market. The three of them--herself, +Marjolin, and Leon--completely secluded themselves from the world within +four walls of osier. The feast was laid out on a large flat basket. +There were pears, nuts, cream-cheese, shrimps, fried potatoes, +and radishes. The cheese came from a fruiterer's in the Rue de la +Cossonnerie, and was a present; and a "frier" of the Rue de la Grande +Truanderie had given Cadine credit for two sous' worth of potatoes. The +rest of the feast, the pears, the nuts, the shrimps, and the radishes, +had been pilfered from different parts of the market. It was a delicious +treat; and Leon, desirous of returning the hospitality, gave a supper +in his bedroom at one o'clock in the morning. The bill of fare included +cold black-pudding, slices of polony, a piece of salt pork, some +gherkins, and some goose-fat. The Quenu-Gradelles' shop had provided +everything. And matters did not stop there. Dainty suppers alternated +with delicate luncheons, and invitation upon invitation. Three times a +week there were banquets, either amidst the hampers or in Leon's garret, +where Florent, on the nights when he lay awake, could hear a stifled +sound of munching and rippling laughter until day began to break. + +The loves of Cadine and Marjolin now took another turn. The youth played +the gallant, and just as another might entertain his _innamorata_ at a +champagne supper _en tete a tete_ in a private room, he led Cadine into +some quiet corner of the market cellars to munch apples or sprigs of +celery. One day he stole a red-herring, which they devoured with immense +enjoyment on the roof of the fish market beside the guttering. There was +not a single shady nook in the whole place where they did not indulge in +secret feasts. The district, with its rows of open shops full of fruit +and cakes and preserves, was no longer a closed paradise, in front of +which they prowled with greedy, covetous appetites. As they passed +the shops they now extended their hands and pilfered a prune, a few +cherries, or a bit of cod. They also provisioned themselves at the +markets, keeping a sharp look-out as they made their way between the +stalls, picking up everything that fell, and often assisting the fall by +a push of their shoulders. + +In spite, however, of all the marauding, some terrible scores had to be +run up with the "frier" of the Rue de la Grand Truanderie. This "frier," +whose shanty leaned against a tumble-down house, and was propped up by +heavy joists, green with moss, made a display of boiled mussels lying in +large earthenware bowls filled to the brim with clear water; of dishes +of little yellow dabs stiffened by too thick a coating of paste; of +squares of tripe simmering in a pan; and of grilled herrings, black and +charred, and so hard that if you tapped them they sounded like wood. On +certain weeks Cadine owed the frier as much as twenty sous, a crushing +debt, which required the sale of an incalculable number of bunches of +violets, for she could count upon no assistance from Marjolin. Moreover, +she was bound to return Leon's hospitalities; and she even felt some +little shame at never being able to offer him a scrap of meat. He +himself had now taken to purloining entire hams. As a rule, he stowed +everything away under his shirt; and at night when he reached his +bedroom he drew from his bosom hunks of polony, slices of _pate de foie +gras_, and bundles of pork rind. They had to do without bread, and there +was nothing to drink; but no matter. One night Marjolin saw Leon kiss +Cadine between two mouthfuls; however, he only laughed. He could have +smashed the little fellow with a blow from his fist, but he felt no +jealousy in respect of Cadine. He treated her simply as a comrade with +whom he had chummed for years. + +Claude never participated in these feasts. Having caught Cadine one day +stealing a beet-root from a little hamper lined with hay, he had pulled +her ears and given her a sound rating. These thieving propensities made +her perfect as a ne'er-do-well. However, in spite of himself, he could +not help feeling a sort of admiration for these sensual, pilfering, +greedy creatures, who preyed upon everything that lay about, feasting +off the crumbs that fell from the giant's table. + +At last Marjolin nominally took service under Gavard, happy in having +nothing to do except to listen to his master's flow of talk, while +Cadine still continued to sell violets, quite accustomed by this time to +old Mother Chantemesse's scoldings. They were still the same children as +ever, giving way to their instincts and appetites without the slightest +shame--they were the growth of the slimy pavements of the market +district, where, even in fine weather, the mud remains black and sticky. +However, as Cadine walked along the footways, mechanically twisting her +bunches of violets, she was sometimes disturbed by disquieting reveries; +and Marjolin, too, suffered from an uneasiness which he could not +explain. He would occasionally leave the girl and miss some ramble or +feast in order to go and gaze at Madame Quenu through the windows of her +pork shop. She was so handsome and plump and round that it did him good +to look at her. As he stood gazing at her, he felt full and satisfied, +as though he had just eaten or drunk something extremely nice. And when +he went off, a sort of hunger and thirst to see her again suddenly came +upon him. This had been going on for a couple of months. At first he +had looked at her with the respectful glance which he bestowed upon the +shop-fronts of the grocers and provision dealers; but subsequently, when +he and Cadine had taken to general pilfering, he began to regard her +smooth cheeks much as he regarded the barrels of olives and boxes of +dried apples. + +For some time past Marjolin had seen handsome Lisa every day, in the +morning. She would pass Gavard's stall, and stop for a moment or two to +chat with the poultry dealer. She now did her marketing herself, so +that she might be cheated as little as possible, she said. The truth, +however, was that she wished to make Gavard speak out. In the pork shop +he was always distrustful, but at his stall he chatted and talked with +the utmost freedom. Now, Lisa had made up her mind to ascertain from him +exactly what took place in the little room at Monsieur Lebigre's; for +she had no great confidence in her secret police office, Mademoiselle +Saget. In a short time she learnt from the incorrigible chatterbox a +lot of vague details which very much alarmed her. Two days after her +explanation with Quenu she returned home from the market looking very +pale. She beckoned to her husband to follow her into the dining-room, +and having carefully closed the door she said to him: "Is your brother +determined to send us to the scaffold, then? Why did you conceal from me +what you knew?" + +Quenu declared that he knew nothing. He even swore a great oath that he +had not returned to Monsieur Lebigre's, and would never go there again. + +"You will do well not to do so," replied Lisa, shrugging her shoulders, +"unless you want to get yourself into a serious scrape. Florent is up to +some evil trick, I'm certain of it! I have just learned quite sufficient +to show me where he is going. He's going back to Cayenne, do you hear?" + +Then, after a pause, she continued in calmer ones: "Oh, the unhappy man! +He had everything here that he could wish for. He might have redeemed +his character; he had nothing but good examples before him. But no, +it is in his blood! He will come to a violent end with his politics! I +insist upon there being an end to all this! You hear me, Quenu? I gave +you due warning long ago!" + +She spoke the last words very incisively. Quenu bent his head, as if +awaiting sentence. + +"To begin with," continued Lisa, "he shall cease to take his meals here. +It will be quite sufficient if we give him a bed. He is earning money; +let him feed himself." + +Quenu seemed on the point of protesting, but his wife silenced him by +adding energetically: + +"Make your choice between him and me. If he remains here, I swear to +you that I will go away, and take my daughter with me. Do you want me to +tell you the whole truth about him? He is a man capable of anything; he +has come here to bring discord into our household. But I will set things +right, you may depend on it. You have your choice between him and me; +you hear me?" + +Then, leaving her husband in silent consternation, she returned to the +shop, where she served a customer with her usual affable smile. The fact +was that, having artfully inveigled Gavard into a political discussion, +the poultry dealer had told her that she would soon see how the land +lay, that they were going to make a clean sweep of everything, and that +two determined men like her brother-in-law and himself would suffice to +set the fire blazing. This was the evil trick of which she had spoken +to Quenu, some conspiracy to which Gavard was always making mysterious +allusions with a sniggering grin from which he seemingly desired a great +deal to be inferred. And in imagination Lisa already saw the gendarmes +invading the pork shop, gagging herself, her husband, and Pauline, and +casting them into some underground dungeon. + +In the evening, at dinner, she evinced an icy frigidity. She made no +offers to serve Florent, but several times remarked: "It's very strange +what an amount of bread we've got through lately." + +Florent at last understood. He felt that he was being treated like a +poor relation who is gradually turned out of doors. For the last two +months Lisa had dressed him in Quenu's old trousers and coats; and, as +he was as thin as his brother was fat, these ragged garments had a most +extraordinary appearance upon him. She also turned her oldest linen over +to him: pocket-handkerchiefs which had been darned a score of times, +ragged towels, sheets which were only fit to be cut up into dusters and +dish-cloths, and worn-out shirts, distended by Quenu's corpulent +figure, and so short that they would have served Florent as under-vests. +Moreover, he no longer found around him the same good-natured kindliness +as in the earlier days. The whole household seemed to shrug its +shoulders after the example set by handsome Lisa. Auguste and Augustine +turned their backs upon him, and little Pauline, with the cruel +frankness of childhood, let fall some bitter remarks about the stains +on his coat and the holes in his shirt. However, during the last days he +suffered most at table. He scarcely dared to eat, as he saw the mother +and daughter fix their gaze upon him whenever he cut himself a piece of +bread. Quenu meantime peered into his plate, to avoid having to take any +part in what went on. + +That which most tortured Florent was his inability to invent a reason +for leaving the house. During a week he kept on revolving in his mind a +sentence expressing his resolve to take his meals elsewhere, but could +not bring himself to utter it. Indeed, this man of tender nature lived +in such a world of illusions that he feared he might hurt his brother +and sister-in-law by ceasing to lunch and dine with them. It had taken +him over two months to detect Lisa's latent hostility; and even now he +was sometimes inclined to think that he must be mistaken, and that +she was in reality kindly disposed towards him. Unselfishness with +him extended to forgetfulness of his requirements; it was no longer +a virtue, but utter indifference to self, an absolute obliteration of +personality. Even when he recognised that he was being gradually turned +out of the house, his mind never for a moment dwelt upon his share in +old Gradelle's fortune, or upon the accounts which Lisa had offered him. +He had already planned out his expenditure for the future; reckoning +that with what Madame Verlaque still allowed him to retain of his +salary, and the thirty francs a month which a pupil, obtained through +La Normande, paid him he would be able to spend eighteen sous on his +breakfast and twenty-six sous on his dinner. This, he thought, would be +ample. And so, at last, taking as his excuse the lessons which he was +giving his new pupil, he emboldened himself one morning to pretend +that it would be impossible for him in future to come to the house +at mealtimes. He blushed as he gave utterance to this laboriously +constructed lie, which had given him so much trouble, and continued +apologetically: + +"You mustn't be offended; the boy only has those hours free. I can +easily get something to eat, you know; and I will come and have a chat +with you in the evenings." + +Beautiful Lisa maintained her icy reserve, and this increased Florent's +feeling of trouble. In order to have no cause for self-reproach she had +been unwilling to send him about his business, preferring to wait till +he should weary of the situation and go of his own accord. Now he was +going, and it was a good riddance; and she studiously refrained from +all show of kindliness for fear it might induce him to remain. Quenu, +however, showed some signs of emotion, and exclaimed: "Don't think of +putting yourself about; take your meals elsewhere by all means, if it +is more convenient. It isn't we who are turning you way; you'll at all +events dine with us sometimes on Sundays, eh?" + +Florent hurried off. His heart was very heavy. When he had gone, the +beautiful Lisa did not venture to reproach her husband for his weakness +in giving that invitation for Sundays. She had conquered, and again +breathed freely amongst the light oak of her dining-room, where she +would have liked to burn some sugar to drive away the odour of perverse +leanness which seemed to linger about. Moreover, she continued to remain +on the defensive; and at the end of another week she felt more alarmed +than ever. She only occasionally saw Florent in the evenings, and +began to have all sorts of dreadful thoughts, imagining that her +brother-in-law was constructing some infernal machine upstairs in +Augustine's bedroom, or else making signals which would result in +barricades covering the whole neighbourhood. Gavard, who had become +gloomy, merely nodded or shook his head when she spoke to him, and left +his stall for days together in Marjolin's charge. The beautiful Lisa, +however, determined that she would get to the bottom of affairs. She +knew that Florent had obtained a day's leave, and intended to spend +it with Claude Lantier, at Madame Francois's, at Nanterre. As he would +start in the morning, and remain away till night, she conceived the idea +of inviting Gavard to dinner. He would be sure to talk freely, at table, +she thought. But throughout the morning she was unable to meet the +poultry dealer, and so in the afternoon she went back again to the +markets. + +Marjolin was in the stall alone. He used to drowse there for hours, +recouping himself from the fatigue of his long rambles. He generally sat +upon one chair with his legs resting upon another, and his head leaning +against a little dresser. In the wintertime he took a keen delight in +lolling there and contemplating the display of game; the bucks hanging +head downwards, with their fore-legs broken and twisted round their +necks; the larks festooning the stall like garlands; the big ruddy +hares, the mottled partridges, the water-fowl of a bronze-grey hue, the +Russian black cocks and hazel hens, which arrived in a packing of oat +straw and charcoal;[*] and the pheasants, the magnificent pheasants, +with their scarlet hoods, their stomachers of green satin, their mantles +of embossed gold, and their flaming tails, that trailed like trains of +court robes. All this show of plumage reminded Marjolin of his rambles +in the cellars with Cadine amongst the hampers of feathers. + + [*] The baskets in which these are sent to Paris are + identical with those which in many provinces of Russia serve + the _moujiks_ as cradles for their infants.--Translator. + +That afternoon the beautiful Lisa found Marjolin in the midst of the +poultry. It was warm, and whiffs of hot air passed along the narrow +alleys of the pavilion. She was obliged to stoop before she could see +him stretched out inside the stall, below the bare flesh of the birds. +From the hooked bar up above hung fat geese, the hooks sticking in the +bleeding wounds of their long stiffened necks, while their huge bodies +bulged out, glowing ruddily beneath their fine down, and, with their +snowy tails and wings, suggesting nudity encompassed by fine linen. +And also hanging from the bar, with ears thrown back and feet parted +as though they were bent on some vigorous leap, were grey rabbits whose +turned-up tails gleamed whitely, whilst their heads, with sharp teeth +and dim eyes, laughed with the grin of death. On the counter of the +stall plucked fowls showed their strained fleshy breasts; pigeons, +crowded on osier trays, displayed the soft bare skin of innocents; +ducks, with skin of rougher texture, exhibited their webbed feet; and +three magnificent turkeys, speckled with blue dots, like freshly-shaven +chins, slumbered on their backs amidst the black fans of their expanded +tails. On plates near by were giblets, livers, gizzards, necks, feet, +and wings; while an oval dish contained a skinned and gutted rabbit, +with its four legs wide apart, its head bleeding, and is kidneys showing +through its gashed belly. A streamlet of dark blood, after trickling +along its back to its tail, had fallen drop by drop, staining the +whiteness of the dish. Marjolin had not even taken the trouble to wipe +the block, near which the rabbit's feet were still lying. He reclined +there with his eyes half closed, encompassed by other piles of dead +poultry which crowded the shelves of the stall, poultry in paper +wrappers like bouquets, rows upon rows of protuberant breasts and bent +legs showing confusedly. And amidst all this mass of food, the young +fellow's big, fair figure, the flesh of his cheeks, hands, and powerful +neck covered with ruddy down seemed as soft as that of the magnificent +turkeys, and as plump as the breasts of the fat geese. + +When he caught sight of Lisa, he at once sprang up, blushing at having +been caught sprawling in this way. He always seemed very nervous and ill +at ease in Madame Quenu's presence; and when she asked him if Monsieur +Gavard was there, he stammered out: "No, I don't think so. He was here a +little while ago, but he want away again." + +Lisa looked at him, smiling; she had a great liking for him. But feeling +something warm brush against her hand, which was hanging by her side, +she raised a little shriek. Some live rabbits were thrusting their noses +out of a box under the counter of the stall, and sniffing at her skirts. + +"Oh," she exclaimed with a laugh, "it's your rabbits that are tickling +me." + +Then she stooped and attempted to stroke a white rabbit, which darted in +alarm into a corner of the box. + +"Will Monsieur Gavard be back soon, do you think?" she asked, as she +again rose erect. + +Marjolin once more replied that he did not know; then in a hesitating +way he continued: "He's very likely gone down into the cellars. He told +me, I think, that he was going there." + +"Well, I think I'll wait for him, then," replied Lisa. "Could you let +him know that I am here? or I might go down to him, perhaps. Yes, that's +a good idea; I've been intending to go and have a look at the cellars +for these last five years. You'll take me down, won't you, and explain +things to me?" + +Marjolin blushed crimson, and, hurrying out of the stall, walked on in +front of her, leaving the poultry to look after itself. "Of course I +will," said he. "I'll do anything you wish, Madame Lisa." + +When they got down below, the beautiful Lisa felt quite suffocated by +the dank atmosphere of the cellar. She stood at the bottom step, and +raised her eyes to look at the vaulted roofing of red and white bricks +arching slightly between the iron ribs upheld by small columns. What +made her hesitate more than the gloominess of the place was a warm, +penetrating odour, the exhalations of large numbers of living creatures, +which irritated her nostrils and throat. + +"What a nasty smell!" she exclaimed. "It must be very unhealthy down +here." + +"It never does me any harm," replied Marjolin in astonishment. "There's +nothing unpleasant about the smell when you've got accustomed to it; and +it's very warm and cosy down here in the wintertime." + +As Lisa followed him, however, she declared that the strong scent of the +poultry quite turned her stomach, and that she would certainly not +be able to eat a fowl for the next two months. All around her, the +storerooms, the small cabins where the stallkeepers keep their live +stock, formed regular streets, intersecting each other at right angles. +There were only a few scattered gas lights, and the little alleys seemed +wrapped in sleep like the lanes of a village where the inhabitants +have all gone to bed. Marjolin made Lisa feel the close-meshed wiring, +stretched on a framework of cast iron; and as she made her way along one +of the streets she amused herself by reading the names of the different +tenants, which were inscribed on blue labels. + +"Monsieur Gavard's place is quite at the far end," said the young man, +still walking on. + +They turned to the left, and found themselves in a sort of blind alley, +a dark, gloomy spot where not a ray of light penetrated. Gavard was not +there. + +"Oh, it makes no difference," said Marjolin. "I can show you our birds +just the same. I have a key of the storeroom." + +Lisa followed him into the darkness. + +"You don't suppose that I can see your birds in this black oven, do +you?" she asked, laughing. + +Marjolin did not reply at once; but presently he stammered out that +there was always a candle in the storeroom. He was fumbling about the +lock, and seemed quite unable to find the keyhole. As Lisa came up to +help him, she felt a hot breath on her neck; and when the young man had +at last succeeded in opening the door and lighted the candle, she saw +that he was trembling. + +"You silly fellow!" she exclaimed, "to get yourself into such a state +just because a door won't open! Why, you're no better than a girl, in +spite of your big fists!" + +She stepped inside the storeroom. Gavard had rented two compartments, +which he had thrown into one by removing the partition between them. In +the dirt on the floor wallowed the larger birds--the geese, turkeys, +and ducks--while up above, on tiers of shelves, were boxes with barred +fronts containing fowls and rabbits. The grating of the storeroom was so +coated with dust and cobwebs that it looked as though covered with grey +blinds. The woodwork down below was rotting, and covered with filth. +Lisa, however, not wishing to vex Marjolin, refrained from any further +expression of disgust. She pushed her fingers between the bars of the +boxes, and began to lament the fate of the unhappy fowls, which were +so closely huddled together and could not even stand upright. Then she +stroked a duck with a broken leg which was squatting in a corner, and +the young man told her that it would be killed that very evening, for +fear lest it should die during the night. + +"But what do they do for food?" asked Lisa. + +Thereupon he explained to her that poultry would not eat in the dark, +and that it was necessary to light a candle and wait there till they had +finished their meal. + +"It amuses me to watch them," he continued; "I often stay here with a +light for hours altogether. You should see how they peck away; and when +I hide the flame of the candle with my hand they all stand stock-still +with their necks in the air, just as though the sun had set. It is +against the rules to leave a lighted candle here and go away. One of the +dealers, old Mother Palette--you know her, don't you?--nearly burned the +whole place down the other day. A fowl must have knocked the candle over +into the straw while she was away." + +"A pretty thing, isn't it," said Lisa, "for fowls to insist upon having +the chandeliers lighted up every time they take a meal?" + +This idea made her laugh. Then she came out of the storeroom, wiping her +feet, and holding up her skirts to keep them from the filth. Marjolin +blew out the candle and locked the door. Lisa felt rather nervous at +finding herself in the dark again with this big young fellow, and so she +hastened on in front. + +"I'm glad I came, all the same," she presently said, as he joined her. +"There is a great deal more under these markets than I ever imagined. +But I must make haste now and get home again. They'll wonder what has +become of me at the shop. If Monsieur Gavard comes back, tell him that I +want to speak to him immediately." + +"I expect he's in the killing-room," said Marjolin. "We'll go and see, +if you like." + +Lisa made no reply. She felt oppressed by the close atmosphere which +warmed her face. She was quite flushed, and her bodice, generally so +still and lifeless, began to heave. Moreover, the sound of Marjolin's +hurrying steps behind her filled her with an uneasy feeling. At last she +stepped aside, and let him go on in front. The lanes of this underground +village were still fast asleep. Lisa noticed that her companion was +taking the longest way. When they came out in front of the railway track +he told her that he had wished to show it to her; and they stood for a +moment or two looking through the chinks in the hoarding of heavy beams. +Then Marjolin proposed to take her on to the line; but she refused, +saying that it was not worth while, as she could see things well enough +where she was. + +As they returned to the poultry cellars they found old Madame Palette in +front of her storeroom, removing the cords of a large square hamper, in +which a furious fluttering of wings and scraping of feet could be heard. +As she unfastened the last knot the lid suddenly flew open, as though +shot up by a spring, and some big geese thrust out their heads and +necks. Then, in wild alarm, they sprang from their prison and rushed +away, craning their necks, and filling the dark cellars with a frightful +noise of hissing and clattering of beaks. Lisa could not help laughing, +in spite of the lamentations of the old woman, who swore like a carter +as she caught hold of two of the absconding birds and dragged them back +by the neck. Marjolin, meantime, set off in pursuit of a third. They +could hear him running along the narrow alleys, hunting for the runaway, +and delighting in the chase. Then, far off in the distance, they heard +the sounds of a struggle, and presently Marjolin came back again, +bringing the goose with him. Mother Palette, a sallow-faced old woman, +took it in her arms and clasped it for a moment to her bosom, in the +classic attitude of Leda. + +"Well, well, I'm sure I don't know what I should have done if you hadn't +been here," said she. "The other day I had a regular fight with one of +the brutes; but I had my knife with me, and I cut its throat." + +Marjolin was quite out of breath. When they reached the stone blocks +where the poultry were killed, and where the gas burnt more brightly, +Lisa could see that he was perspiring, and had bold, glistening eyes. +She thought he looked very handsome like that, with his broad shoulders, +big flushed face, and fair curly hair, and she looked at him so +complacently, with that air of admiration which women feel they may +safely express for quite young lads, that he relapsed into timid +bashfulness again. + +"Well, Monsieur Gavard isn't here, you see," she said. "You've only made +me waste my time." + +Marjolin, however, began rapidly explaining the killing of the poultry +to her. Five huge stone slabs stretched out in the direction of the Rue +Rambuteau under the yellow light of the gas jets. A woman was killing +fowls at one end; and this led him to tell Lisa that the birds were +plucked almost before they were dead, the operation thus being much +easier. Then he wanted her to feel the feathers which were lying in +heaps on the stone slabs; and told her that they were sorted and sold +for as much as nine sous the pound, according to their quality. To +satisfy him, she was also obliged to plunge her hand into the big +hampers full of down. Then he turned the water-taps, of which there was +one by every pillar. There was no end to the particulars he gave. The +blood, he said, streamed along the stone blocks, and collected into +pools on the paved floor, which attendants sluiced with water every two +hours, removing the more recent stains with coarse brushes. + +When Lisa stooped over the drain which carries away the swillings, +Marjolin found a fresh text for talk. On rainy days, said he, the water +sometimes rose through this orifice and flooded the place. It had +once risen a foot high; and they had been obliged to transport all the +poultry to the other end of the cellar, which is on a higher level. +He laughed as he recalled the wild flutter of the terrified creatures. +However, he had now finished, and it seemed as though there remained +nothing else for him to show, when all at once he bethought himself of +the ventilator. Thereupon he took Lisa off to the far end of the cellar, +and told her to look up; and inside one of the turrets at the corner +angles of the pavilion she observed a sort of escape-pipe, by which the +foul atmosphere of the storerooms ascended into space. + +Here, in this corner, reeking with abominable odours, Marjolin's +nostrils quivered, and his breath came and went violently. His long +stroll with Lisa in these cellars, full of warm animal perfumes, had +gradually intoxicated him. + +She had again turned towards him. "Well," said she, "it was very kind of +you to show me all this, and when you come to the shop I will give you +something." + +Whilst speaking she took hold of his soft chin, as she often did, +without recognising that he was no longer a child; and perhaps she +allowed her hand to linger there a little longer than was her wont. At +all events, Marjolin, usually so bashful, was thrilled by the caress, +and all at once he impetuously sprang forward, clasped Lisa by the +shoulders, and pressed his lips to her soft cheeks. She raised no +cry, but turned very pale at this sudden attack, which showed her how +imprudent she had been. And then, freeing herself from the embrace, she +raised her arm, as she had seen men do in slaughter houses, clenched +her comely fist, and knocked Marjolin down with a single blow, planted +straight between his eyes; and as he fell his head came into collision +with one of the stone slabs, and was split open. Just at that moment the +hoarse and prolonged crowing of a cock sounded through the gloom. + +Handsome Lisa, however, remained perfectly cool. Her lips were tightly +compressed, and her bosom had recovered its wonted immobility. Up +above she could hear the heavy rumbling of the markets, and through the +vent-holes alongside the Rue Rambuteau the noise of the street traffic +made its way into the oppressive silence of the cellar. Lisa reflected +that her own strong arm had saved her; and then, fearing lest some +one should come and find her there, she hastened off, without giving a +glance at Marjolin. As she climbed the steps, after passing through the +grated entrance of the cellars, the daylight brought her great relief. + +She returned to the shop, quite calm, and only looking a little pale. + +"You've been a long time," Quenu said to her. + +"I can't find Gavard. I have looked for him everywhere," she quietly +replied. "We shall have to eat our leg of mutton without him." + +Then she filled the lard pot, which she noticed was empty; and cut some +pork chops for her friend Madame Taboureau, who had sent her little +servant for them. The blows which she dealt with her cleaver reminded +her of Marjolin. She felt that she had nothing to reproach herself with. +She had acted like an honest woman. She was not going to disturb her +peace of mind; she was too happy to do anything to compromise herself. +However, she glanced at Quenu, whose neck was coarse and ruddy, and +whose shaven chin looked as rough as knotted wood; whereas Marjolin's +chin and neck resembled rosy satin. But then she must not think of him +any more, for he was no longer a child. She regretted it, and could not +help thinking that children grew up much too quickly. + +A slight flush came back to her cheeks, and Quenu considered that she +looked wonderfully blooming. He came and sat down beside her at the +counter for a moment or two. "You ought to go out oftener," said he; "it +does you good. We'll go to the theatre together one of these nights, if +you like; to the Gaite, eh? Madame Taboureau has been to see the piece +they are playing there, and she declares it's splendid." + +Lisa smiled, and said they would see about it, and then once more she +took herself off. Quenu thought that it was too good of her to take so +much trouble in running about after that brute Gavard. In point of fact, +however, she had simply gone upstairs to Florent's bedroom, the key +of which was hanging from a nail in the kitchen. She hoped to find out +something or other by an inspection of this room, since the poultry +dealer had failed her. She went slowly round it, examining the bed, the +mantelpiece, and every corner. The window with the little balcony was +open, and the budding pomegranate was steeped in the golden beams of the +setting sun. The room looked to her as though Augustine had never left +it--had slept there only the night before. There seemed to be nothing +masculine about the place. She was quite surprised, for she had expected +to find some suspicious-looking chests, and coffers with strong locks. +She went to feel Augustine's summer gown, which was still hanging +against the wall. Then she sat down at the table, and began to read an +unfinished page of manuscript, in which the word "revolution" occurred +twice. This alarmed her, and she opened the drawer, which she saw was +full of papers. But her sense of honour awoke within her in presence of +the secret which the rickety deal table so badly guarded. She remained +bending over the papers, trying to understand them without touching +them, in a state of great emotion, when the shrill song of the +chaffinch, on whose cage streamed a ray of sunshine, made her start. She +closed the drawer. It was a base thing that she had contemplated, she +thought. + +Then, as she lingered by the window, reflecting that she ought to go +and ask counsel of Abbe Roustan, who was a very sensible man, she saw a +crowd of people round a stretcher in the market square below. The night +was falling, still she distinctly recognised Cadine weeping in the midst +of the crowd; while Florent and Claude, whose boots were white with +dust, stood together talking earnestly at the edge of the footway. +She hurried downstairs again, surprised to see them back so soon, and +scarcely had she reached her counter when Mademoiselle Saget entered the +shop. + +"They have found that scamp of a Marjolin in the cellar, with his head +split open," exclaimed the old maid. "Won't you come to see him, Madame +Quenu?" + +Lisa crossed the road to look at him. The young fellow was lying on his +back on the stretcher, looking very pale. His eyes were closed, and +a stiff wisp of his fair hair was clotted with blood. The bystanders, +however, declared that there was no serious harm done, and, besides, the +scamp had only himself to blame, for he was always playing all sorts of +wild pranks in the cellars. It was generally supposed that he had +been trying to jump over one of the stone blocks--one of his favourite +amusements--and had fallen with his head against the slab. + +"I dare say that hussy there gave him a shove," remarked Mademoiselle +Saget, pointing to Cadine, who was weeping. "They are always larking +together." + +Meantime the fresh air had restored Marjolin to consciousness, and he +opened his eyes in wide astonishment. He looked round at everybody, and +then, observing Lisa bending over him, he gently smiled at her with +an expression of mingled humility and affection. He seemed to have +forgotten all that had happened. Lisa, feeling relieved, said that he +ought to be taken to the hospital at once, and promised to go and see +him there, and take him some oranges and biscuits. However, Marjolin's +head had fallen back, and when the stretcher was carried away Cadine +followed it, with her flat basket slung round her neck, and her hot +tears rolling down upon the bunches of violets in their mossy bed. She +certainly had no thoughts for the flowers that she was thus scalding +with her bitter grief. + +As Lisa went back to her shop, she heard Claude say, as he shook hands +with Florent and parted from him: "Ah! the confounded young scamp! He's +quite spoiled my day for me! Still, we had a very enjoyable time, didn't +we?" + +Claude and Florent had returned both worried and happy, bringing with +them the pleasant freshness of the country air. Madame Francois had +disposed of all her vegetables that morning before daylight; and they +had all three gone to the Golden Compasses, in the Rue Montorgueil, to +get the cart. Here, in the middle of Paris, they found a foretaste of +the country. Behind the Restaurant Philippe, with its frontage of gilt +woodwork rising to the first floor, there was a yard like that of a +farm, dirty, teeming with life, reeking with the odour of manure +and straw. Bands of fowls were pecking at the soft ground. Sheds and +staircases and galleries of greeny wood clung to the old houses around, +and at the far end, in a shanty of big beams, was Balthazar, harnessed +to the cart, and eating the oats in his nosebag. He went down the Rue +Montorgueil at a slow trot, seemingly well pleased to return to Nanterre +so soon. However, he was not going home without a load. Madame Francois +had a contract with the company which undertook the scavenging of the +markets, and twice a week she carried off with her a load of leaves, +forked up from the mass of refuse which littered the square. It made +excellent manure. In a few minutes the cart was filled to overflowing. +Claude and Florent stretched themselves out on the deep bed of greenery; +Madame Francois grasped her reins, and Balthazar went off at his slow, +steady pace, his head somewhat bent by reason of there being so many +passengers to pull along. + +This excursion had been talked of for a long time past. Madame Francois +laughed cheerily. She was partial to the two men, and promised them +an _omelette au lard_ as had never been eaten, said she, in "that +villainous Paris." Florent and Claude revelled in the thought of this +day of lounging idleness which as yet had scarcely begun to dawn. +Nanterre seemed to be some distant paradise into which they would +presently enter. + +"Are you quite comfortable?" Madame Francois asked as the cart turned +into the Rue du Pont Neuf. + +Claude declared that their couch was as soft as a bridal bed. Lying on +their backs, with their hands crossed under their heads, both men were +looking up at the pale sky from which the stars were vanishing. All +along the Rue de Rivoli they kept unbroken silence, waiting till they +should have got clear of the houses, and listening to the worthy woman +as she chattered to Balthazar: "Take your time, old man," she said to +him in kindly tones. "We're in no hurry; we shall be sure to get there +at last." + +On reaching the Champs Elysees, when the artist saw nothing but +tree-tops on either side of him, and the great green mass of the +Tuileries gardens in the distance, he woke up, as it were, and began to +talk. When the cart had passed the end of the Rue du Roule he had caught +a glimpse of the side entrance of Saint Eustache under the giant roofing +of one of the market covered-ways. He was constantly referring to this +view of the church, and tried to give it a symbolical meaning. + +"It's an odd mixture," he said, "that bit of church framed round by an +avenue of cast iron. The one will kill the other; the iron will slay +the stone, and the time is not very far off. Do you believe in chance, +Florent? For my part, I don't think that it was any mere chance of +position that set a rose-window of Saint Eustache right in the middle of +the central markets. No; there's a whole manifesto in it. It is modern +art, realism, naturalism--whatever you like to call it--that has grown +up and dominates ancient art. Don't you agree with me?" + +Then, as Florent still kept silence, Claude continued: "Besides, that +church is a piece of bastard architecture, made up of the dying gasp of +the middle ages, and the first stammering of the Renaissance. Have you +noticed what sort of churches are built nowadays? They resemble all +kinds of things--libraries, observatories, pigeon-cotes, barracks; and +surely no one can imagine that the Deity dwells in such places. The +pious old builders are all dead and gone; and it would be better to +cease erecting those hideous carcasses of stone, in which we have no +belief to enshrine. Since the beginning of the century there has only +been one large original pile of buildings erected in Paris--a pile in +accordance with modern developments--and that's the central markets. You +hear me, Florent? Ah! they are a fine bit of building, though they but +faintly indicate what we shall see in the twentieth century! And so, you +see, Saint Eustache is done for! It stands there with its rose-windows, +deserted by worshippers, while the markets spread out by its side and +teem with noisy life. Yes! that's how I understand it all, my friend." + +"Ah! Monsieur Claude," said Madame Francois, laughing, "the woman who +cut your tongue-string certainly earned her money. Look at Balthazar +laying his ears back to listen to you. Come, come, get along, +Balthazar!" + +The cart was slowly making its way up the incline. At this early hour of +the morning the avenue, with its double lines of iron chairs on either +pathway, and its lawns, dotted with flowerbeds and clumps of shrubbery, +stretching away under the blue shadows of the trees, was quite deserted; +however, at the Rond-Point a lady and gentleman on horseback passed the +cart at a gentle trot. Florent, who had made himself a pillow with +a bundle of cabbage-leaves, was still gazing at the sky, in which a +far-stretching rosy glow was appearing. Every now and then he would +close his eyes, the better to enjoy the fresh breeze of the morning +as it fanned his face. He was so happy to escape from the markets, and +travel on through the pure air, that he remained speechless, and did not +even listen to what was being said around him. + +"And then, too, what fine jokers are those fellows who imprison art in a +toy-box!" resumed Claude, after a pause. "They are always repeating the +same idiotic words: 'You can't create art out of science,' says one; +'Mechanical appliances kill poetry,' says another; and a pack of fools +wail over the fate of the flowers, as though anybody wished the flowers +any harm! I'm sick of all such twaddle; I should like to answer all that +snivelling with some work of open defiance. I should take a pleasure in +shocking those good people. Shall I tell you what was the finest thing +I ever produced since I first began to work, and the one which I recall +with the greatest pleasure? It's quite a story. When I was at my +Aunt Lisa's on Christmas Eve last year that idiot of an Auguste, the +assistant, was setting out the shop-window. Well, he quite irritated +me by the weak, spiritless way in which he arranged the display; and at +last I requested him to take himself off, saying that I would group +the things myself in a proper manner. You see, I had plenty of bright +colours to work with--the red of the tongues, the yellow of the hams, +the blue of the paper shavings, the rosy pink of the things that had +been cut into, the green of the sprigs of heath, and the black of the +black-puddings--ah! a magnificent black, which I have never managed to +produce on my palette. And naturally, the _crepine_, the small sausages, +the chitterlings, and the crumbed trotters provided me with delicate +greys and browns. I produced a perfect work of art. I took the dishes, +the plates, the pans, and the jars, and arranged the different colours; +and I devised a wonderful picture of still life, with subtle scales of +tints leading up to brilliant flashes of colour. The red tongues seemed +to thrust themselves out like greedy flames, and the black-puddings, +surrounded by pale sausages, suggested a dark night fraught with +terrible indigestion. I had produced, you see, a picture symbolical of +the gluttony of Christmas Eve, when people meet and sup--the midnight +feasting, the ravenous gorging of stomachs void and faint after all the +singing of hymns.[*] At the top of everything a huge turkey exhibited +its white breast, marbled blackly by the truffles showing through its +skin. It was something barbaric and superb, suggesting a paunch amidst +a halo of glory; but there was such a cutting, sarcastic touch about it +all that people crowded to the window, alarmed by the fierce flare of +the shop-front. When my aunt Lisa came back from the kitchen she was +quite frightened, and thought I'd set the fat in the shop on fire; +and she considered the appearance of the turkey so indelicate that she +turned me out of the place while Auguste re-arranged the window after +his own idiotic fashion. Such brutes will never understand the language +of a red splotch by the side of a grey one. Ah, well! that was my +masterpiece. I have never done anything better." + + [*] An allusion to the "midnight mass" usually celebrated in + Roman Catholic churches on Christmas Eve.--Translator. + +He relapsed into silence, smiling and dwelling with gratification on +this reminiscence. The cart had now reached the Arc de Triomphe, and +strong currents of air swept from the avenues across the expanse of open +ground. Florent sat up, and inhaled with zest the first odours of grass +wafted from the fortifications. He turned his back on Paris, anxious +to behold the country in the distance. At the corner of the Rue de +Longchamp, Madame Francois pointed out to him the spot where she had +picked him up. This rendered him thoughtful, and he gazed at her as +she sat there, so healthy-looking and serene, with her arms slightly +extended so as to grasp the reins. She looked even handsomer than Lisa, +with her neckerchief tied over her head, her robust glow of health, and +her brusque, kindly air. When she gave a slight cluck with her tongue, +Balthazar pricked up his ears and rattled down the road at a quicker +pace. + +On arriving at Nanterre, the cart turned to the left into a narrow lane, +skirted some blank walls, and finally came to a standstill at the end of +a sort of blind alley. It was the end of the world, Madame Francois used +to say. The load of vegetable leaves now had to be discharged. Claude +and Florent would not hear of the journeyman gardener, who was planting +lettuces, leaving his work, but armed themselves with pitchforks and +proceeded to toss the leaves into the manure pit. This occupation +afforded them much amusement. Claude had quite a liking for manure, +since it symbolises the world and its life. The strippings and parings +of the vegetables, the scourings of the markets, the refuse that fell +from that colossal table, remained full of life, and returned to the +spot where the vegetables had previously sprouted, to warm and nourish +fresh generations of cabbages, turnips, and carrots. They rose again +in fertile crops, and once more went to spread themselves out upon the +market square. Paris rotted everything, and returned everything to the +soil, which never wearied of repairing the ravages of death. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Claude, as he plied his fork for the last time, "here's +a cabbage-stalk that I'm sure I recognise. It has grown up at least half +a score of times in that corner yonder by the apricot tree." + +This remark made Florent laugh. But he soon became grave again, and +strolled slowly through the kitchen garden, while Claude made a sketch +of the stable, and Madame Francois got breakfast ready. The kitchen +garden was a long strip of ground, divided in the middle by a narrow +path; it rose slightly, and at the top end, on raising the head, you +could perceive the low barracks of Mont Valerien. Green hedges separated +it from other plots of land, and these lofty walls of hawthorn fringed +the horizon with a curtain of greenery in such wise that of all the +surrounding country Mont Valerien alone seemed to rise inquisitively +on tip-toe in order to peer into Madame Francois's close. Great +peacefulness came from the countryside which could not be seen. Along +the kitchen garden, between the four hedges, the May sun shone with +a languid heat, a silence disturbed only by the buzzing of insects, +a somnolence suggestive of painless parturition. Every now and then a +faint cracking sound, a soft sigh, made one fancy that one could hear +the vegetables sprout into being. The patches of spinach and sorrel, +the borders of radishes, carrots, and turnips, the beds of potatoes +and cabbages, spread out in even regularity, displaying their dark +leaf-mould between their tufts of greenery. Farther away, the trenched +lettuces, onions, leeks, and celery, planted by line in long straight +rows, looked like soldiers on parade; while the peas and beans were +beginning to twine their slender tendrils round a forest of sticks, +which, when June came, they would transform into a thick and verdant +wood. There was not a weed to be seen. The garden resembled two parallel +strips of carpet of a geometrical pattern of green on a reddish ground, +which were carefully swept every morning. Borders of thyme grew like +greyish fringe along each side of the pathway. + +Florent paced backwards and forwards amidst the perfume of the thyme, +which the sun was warming. He felt profoundly happy in the peacefulness +and cleanliness of the garden. For nearly a year past he had only seen +vegetables bruised and crushed by the jolting of the market-carts; +vegetables torn up on the previous evening, and still bleeding. He +rejoiced to find them at home, in peace in the dark mould, and sound in +every part. The cabbages had a bulky, prosperous appearance; the carrots +looked bright and gay; and the lettuces lounged in line with an air of +careless indolence. And as he looked at them all, the markets which he +had left behind him that morning seemed to him like a vast mortuary, +an abode of death, where only corpses could be found, a charnel-house +reeking with foul smells and putrefaction. He slackened his steps, and +rested in that kitchen garden, as after a long perambulation amidst +deafening noises and repulsive odours. The uproar and the sickening +humidity of the fish market had departed from him; and he felt as though +he were being born anew in the pure fresh air. Claude was right, he +thought. The markets were a sphere of death. The soil was the life, the +eternal cradle, the health of the world. + +"The omelet's ready!" suddenly cried Madame Francois. + +When they were all three seated round the table in the kitchen, with +the door thrown open to the sunshine, they ate their breakfast with +such light-hearted gaiety that Madame Francois looked at Florent in +amazement, repeating between each mouthful: "You're quite altered. +You're ten years younger. It is that villainous Paris which makes you +seem so gloomy. You've got a little sunshine in your eyes now. Ah! those +big towns do one's health no good, you ought to come and live here." + +Claude laughed, and retorted that Paris was a glorious place. He stuck +up for it and all that belonged to it, even to its gutters; though at +the same time retaining a keen affection for the country. + +In the afternoon Madame Francois and Florent found themselves alone +at the end of the garden, in a corner planted with a few fruit trees. +Seated on the ground, they talked somewhat seriously together. The good +woman advised Florent with an affectionate and quite maternal kindness. +She asked him endless questions about his life, and his intentions for +the future, and begged him to remember that he might always count +upon her, if ever he thought that she could in the slightest degree +contribute to his happiness. Florent was deeply touched. No woman had +ever spoken to him in that way before. Madame Francois seemed to him +like some healthy, robust plant that had grown up with the vegetables +in the leaf-mould of the garden; while the Lisas, the Normans, and +other pretty women of the markets appeared to him like flesh of doubtful +freshness decked out for exhibition. He here enjoyed several hours of +perfect well-being, delivered from all that reek of food which sickened +him in the markets, and reviving to new life amidst the fertile +atmosphere of the country, like that cabbage stalk which Claude declared +he had seen sprout up more than half a score of times. + +The two men took leave of Madame Francois at about five o'clock. They +had decided to walk back to Paris; and the market gardener accompanied +them into the lane. As she bade good-bye to Florent, she kept his hand +in her own for a moment, and said gently: "If ever anything happens to +trouble you, remember to come to me." + +For a quarter of an hour Florent walked on without speaking, already +getting gloomy again, and reflecting that he was leaving health behind +him. The road to Courbevoie was white with dust. However, both men were +fond of long walks and the ringing of stout boots on the hard ground. +Little clouds of dust rose up behind their heels at every step, +while the rays of the sinking sun darted obliquely over the avenue, +lengthening their shadows in such wise that their heads reached the +other side of the road, and journeyed along the opposite footway. + +Claude, swinging his arms, and taking long, regular strides, +complacently watched these two shadows, whilst enjoying the rhythmical +cadence of his steps, which he accentuated by a motion of his shoulders. +Presently, however, as though just awaking from a dream, he exclaimed: +"Do you know the 'Battle of the Fat and the Thin'?" + +Florent, surprised by the question, replied in the negative; and +thereupon Claude waxed enthusiastic, talking of that series of prints +in very eulogical fashion. He mentioned certain incidents: the Fat, so +swollen that they almost burst, preparing their evening debauch, while +the Thin, bent double by fasting, looked in from the street with the +appearance of envious laths; and then, again, the Fat, with hanging +cheeks, driving off one of the Thin, who had been audacious enough to +introduce himself into their midst in lowly humility, and who looked +like a ninepin amongst a population of balls. + +In these designs Claude detected the entire drama of human life, and he +ended by classifying men into Fat and Thin, two hostile groups, one of +which devours the other, and grows fat and sleek and enjoys itself. + +"Cain," said he, "was certainly one of the Fat, and Abel one of the +Thin. Ever since that first murder, there have been rampant appetites +which have drained the life-blood of small eaters. It's a continual +preying of the stronger upon the weaker; each swallowing his neighbour, +and then getting swallowed in his turn. Beware of the Fat, my friend." + +He relapsed into silence for a moment, still watching their two shadows, +which the setting sun elongated more than ever. Then he murmured: "You +see, we belong to the Thin--you and I. Those who are no more corpulent +than we are don't take up much room in the sunlight, eh?" + +Florent glanced at the two shadows, and smiled. But Claude waxed angry, +and exclaimed: "You make a mistake if you think it is a laughing matter. +For my own part, I greatly suffer from being one of the Thin. If I were +one of the Fat, I could paint at my ease; I should have a fine studio, +and sell my pictures for their weight in gold. But, instead of that, +I'm one of the Thin; and I have to grind my life out in producing things +which simply make the Fat ones shrug their shoulders. I shall die of it +all in the end, I'm sure of it, with my skin clinging to my bones, and +so flattened that they will be able to bury me between two leaves of a +book. And you, too, you are one of the Thin, a wonderful one; the very +king of Thin, in fact! Do you remember your quarrel with the fish-wives? +It was magnificent; all those colossal bosoms flying at your scraggy +breast! Oh! they were simply acting from natural instinct; they were +pursuing one of the Thin just as cats pursue a mouse. The Fat, you know, +have an instinctive hatred of the Thin, to such an extent that they must +needs drive the latter from their sight, either by means of their teeth +or their feet. And that is why, if I were in your place, I should take +my precautions. The Quenus belong to the Fat, and so do the Mehudins; +indeed, you have none but Fat ones around you. I should feel uneasy +under such circumstances." + +"And what about Gavard, and Mademoiselle Saget, and your friend +Marjolin?" asked Florent, still smiling. + +"Oh, if you like, I will classify all our acquaintances for you," +replied Claude. "I've had their heads in a portfolio in my studio for a +long time past, with memoranda of the order to which they belong. Gavard +is one of the Fat, but of the kind which pretends to belong to the +Thin. The variety is by no means uncommon. Mademoiselle Saget and +Madame Lecoeur belong to the Thin, but to a variety which is much to be +feared--the Thin ones whom envy drives to despair, and who are capable +of anything in their craving to fatten themselves. My friend Marjolin, +little Cadine, and La Sarriette are three Fat ones, still innocent, +however, and having nothing but the guileless hunger of youth. I may +remark that the Fat, so long as they've not grown old, are charming +creatures. Monsieur Lebigre is one of the Fat--don't you think so? As +for your political friends, Charvet, Clemence, Logre, and Lacaille, they +mostly belong to the Thin. I only except that big animal Alexandre, and +that prodigy Robine, who has caused me a vast amount of annoyance." + +The artist continued to talk in this strain from the Pont de Neuilly to +the Arc de Triomphe. He returned to some of those whom he had already +mentioned, and completed their portraits with a few characteristic +touches. Logre, he said, was one of the Thin whose belly had been placed +between his shoulders. Beautiful Lisa was all stomach, and the beautiful +Norman all bosom. Mademoiselle Saget, in her earlier life, must have +certainly lost some opportunity to fatten herself, for she detested the +Fat, while, at the same time, she despised the Thin. As for Gavard, +he was compromising his position as one of the Fat, and would end by +becoming as flat as a bug. + +"And what about Madame Francois?" Florent asked. + +Claude seemed much embarrassed by this question. He cast about for an +answer, and at last stammered: + +"Madame Francois, Madame Francois--well, no, I really don't know; I +never thought about classifying her. But she's a dear good soul, and +that's quite sufficient. She's neither one of the Fat nor one of the +Thin!" + +They both laughed. They were now in front of the Arc de Triomphe. The +sun, over by the hills of Suresnes, was so low on the horizon that their +colossal shadows streaked the whiteness of the great structure even +above the huge groups of statuary, like strokes made with a piece of +charcoal. This increased Claude's merriment, he waved his arms and bent +his body; and then, as he started on his way again, he said; "Did you +notice--just as the sun set our two heads shot up to the sky!" + +But Florent no longer smiled. Paris was grasping him again, that Paris +which now frightened him so much, after having cost him so many tears at +Cayenne. When he reached the markets night was falling, and there was +a suffocating smell. He bent his head as he once more returned to +the nightmare of endless food, whilst preserving the sweet yet sad +recollection of that day of bright health odorous with the perfume of +thyme. + + + +CHAPTER V + +At about four o'clock on the afternoon of the following day Lisa betook +herself to Saint Eustache. For the short walk across the square she had +arrayed herself very seriously in a black silk gown and thick woollen +shawl. The handsome Norman, who, from her stall in the fish market, +watched her till she vanished into the church porch, was quite amazed. + +"Hallo! So the fat thing's gone in for priests now, has she?" she +exclaimed, with a sneer. "Well, a little holy water may do her good!" + +She was mistaken in her surmises, however, for Lisa was not a devotee. +She did not observe the ordinances of the Church, but said that she +did her best to lead an honest life, and that this was all that was +necessary. At the same time, however, she disliked to hear religion +spoken ill of, and often silenced Gavard, who delighted in scandalous +stories of priests and their doings. Talk of that sort seemed to her +altogether improper. Everyone, in her opinion, should be allowed to +believe as they pleased, and every scruple should be respected. Besides, +the majority of the clergy were most estimable men. She knew Abbe +Roustan, of Saint Eustache--a distinguished priest, a man of shrewd +sense, and one, she thought, whose friendship might be safely relied +upon. And she would wind up by explaining that religion was absolutely +necessary for the people; she looked upon it as a sort of police force +that helped to maintain order, and without which no government would be +possible. When Gavard went too far on this subject and asserted that the +priests ought to be turned into the streets and have their shops shut +up, Lisa, shrugged her shoulders and replied: "A great deal of good that +would do! Why, before a month was over the people would be murdering +one another in the streets, and you would be compelled to invent another +God. That was just what happened in '93. You know very well that I'm not +given to mixing with the priests, but for all that I say that they are +necessary, as we couldn't do without them." + +And so when Lisa happened to enter a church she always manifested +the utmost decorum. She had bought a handsome missal, which she never +opened, for use when she was invited to a funeral or a wedding. She +knelt and rose at the proper times, and made a point of conducting +herself with all propriety. She assumed, indeed, what she considered a +sort of official demeanour, such as all well-to-do folks, tradespeople, +and house-owners ought to observe with regard to religion. + +As she entered Saint Eustache that afternoon she let the double doors, +covered with green baize, faded and worn by the frequent touch of pious +hands, close gently behind her. Then she dipped her fingers in the holy +water and crossed herself in the correct fashion. And afterwards, with +hushed footsteps, she made her way to the chapel of Saint Agnes, where +two kneeling women with their faces buried in their hands were waiting, +whilst the blue skirts of a third protruded from the confessional. Lisa +seemed rather put out by the sight of these women, and, addressing a +verger who happened to pass along, wearing a black skullcap and +dragging his feet over the slabs, she inquired: "Is this Monsieur l'Abbe +Roustan's day for hearing confessions?" + +The verger replied that his reverence had only two more penitents +waiting, and that they would not detain him long, so that if Lisa would +take a chair her turn would speedily come. She thanked him, without +telling him that she had not come to confess; and, making up her mind to +wait, she began to pace the church, going as far as the chief entrance, +whence she gazed at the lofty, severe, bare nave stretching between the +brightly coloured aisles. Raising her head a little, she examined the +high altar, which she considered too plain, having no taste for the cold +grandeur of stonework, but preferring the gilding and gaudy colouring of +the side chapels. Those on the side of the Rue du Jour looked greyish in +the light which filtered through their dusty windows, but on the side +of the markets the sunset was lighting up the stained glass with lovely +tints, limpid greens and yellows in particular, which reminded Lisa of +the bottle of liqueurs in front of Monsieur Lebigre's mirror. She came +back by this side, which seemed to be warmed by the glow of light, +and took a passing interest in the reliquaries, altar ornaments, and +paintings steeped in prismatic reflections. The church was empty, +quivering with the silence that fell from its vaulted roofing. Here and +there a woman's dress showed like a dark splotch amidst the vague yellow +of the chairs; and a low buzzing came from the closed confessionals. As +Lisa again passed the chapel of Saint Agnes she saw the blue dress still +kneeling at Abbe Roustan's feet. + +"Why, if I'd wanted to confess I could have said everything in ten +seconds," she thought, proud of her irreproachable integrity. + +Then she went on to the end of the church. Behind the high altar, in the +gloom of a double row of pillars, is the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, +damp and dark and silent. The dim stained windows only show the flowing +crimson and violet robes of saints, which blaze like flames of mystic +love in the solemn, silent adoration of the darkness. It is a weird, +mysterious spot, like some crepuscular nook of paradise solely illumined +by the gleaming stars of two tapers. The four brass lamps hanging from +the roof remain unlighted, and are but faintly seen; on espying them you +think of the golden censers which the angels swing before the throne of +Mary. And kneeling on the chairs between the pillars there are always +women surrendering themselves languorously to the dim spot's voluptuous +charm. + +Lisa stood and gazed tranquilly around her. She did not feel the least +emotion, but considered that it was a mistake not to light the lamps. +Their brightness would have given the place a more cheerful look. The +gloom even struck her as savouring of impropriety. Her face was warmed +by the flames of some candles burning in a candelabrum by her side, and +an old woman armed with a big knife was scraping off the wax which had +trickled down and congealed into pale tears. And amidst the quivering +silence, the mute ecstasy of adoration prevailing in the chapel, Lisa +would distinctly hear the rumbling of the vehicles turning out of the +Rue Montmartre, behind the scarlet and purple saints on the windows, +whilst in the distance the markets roared without a moment's pause. + +Just as Lisa was leaving the chapel, she saw the younger of the +Mehudins, Claire, the dealer in fresh water fish, come in. The girl +lighted a taper at the candelabrum, and then went to kneel behind a +pillar, her knees pressed upon the hard stones, and her face so pale +beneath her loose fair hair that she seemed a corpse. And believing +herself to be securely screened from observation, she gave way to +violent emotion, and wept hot tears with a passionate outpouring of +prayer which bent her like a rushing wind. Lisa looked on in amazement, +for the Mehudins were not known to be particularly pious; indeed, Claire +was accustomed to speak of religion and priests in such terms as to +horrify one. + +"What's the meaning of this, I wonder?" pondered Lisa, as she again +made her way to the chapel of Saint Agnes. "The hussy must have been +poisoning some one or other." + +Abbe Roustan was at last coming out of his confessional. He was a +handsome man, of some forty years of age, with a smiling, kindly air. +When he recognised Madame Quenu he grasped her hand, called her "dear +lady," and conducted her to the vestry, where, taking off his surplice, +he told her that he would be entirely at her service in a moment. They +returned, the priest in his cassock, bareheaded, and Lisa strutting +along in her shawl, and paced up and down in front of the side-chapels +adjacent to the Rue du Jour. They conversed together in low tones. The +sunlight was departing from the stained windows, the church was growing +dark, and the retreating footsteps of the last worshippers sounded but +faintly over the flagstones. + +Lisa explained her doubts and scruples to Abbe Roustan. There had never +been any question of religion between them; she never confessed, but +merely consulted him in cases of difficulty, because he was shrewd +and discreet, and she preferred him, as she sometimes said, to shady +business men redolent of the galleys. The abbe, on his side, manifested +inexhaustible complaisance. He looked up points of law for her in +the Code, pointed out profitable investments, resolved her moral +difficulties with great tact, recommended tradespeople to her, +invariably having an answer ready however diverse and complicated +her requirements might be. And he supplied all this help in a natural +matter-of-fact way, without ever introducing the Deity into his talk, +or seeking to obtain any advantage either for himself or the cause of +religion. A word of thanks and a smile sufficed him. He seemed glad to +have an opportunity of obliging the handsome Madame Quenu, of whom his +housekeeper often spoke to him in terms of praise, as of a woman who was +highly respected in the neighbourhood. + +Their consultation that afternoon was of a peculiarly delicate nature. +Lisa was anxious to know what steps she might legitimately take, as a +woman of honour, with respect to her brother-in-law. Had she a right +to keep a watch upon him, and to do what she could to prevent him from +compromising her husband, her daughter, and herself? And then how far +might she go in circumstances of pressing danger? She did not bluntly +put these questions to the abbe, but asked them with such skilful +circumlocutions that he was able to discuss the matter without entering +into personalities. He brought forward arguments on both sides of the +question, but the conclusion he came to was that a person of integrity +was entitled, indeed bound, to prevent evil, and was justified in using +whatever means might be necessary to ensure the triumph of that which +was right and proper. + +"That is my opinion, dear lady," he said in conclusion. "The question +of means is always a very grave one. It is a snare in which souls +of average virtue often become entangled. But I know your scrupulous +conscience. Deliberate carefully over each step you think of taking, and +if it contains nothing repugnant to you, go on boldly. Pure natures have +the marvelous gift of purifying all that they touch." + +Then, changing his tone of voice, he continued: "Pray give my kind +regards to Monsieur Quenu. I'll come in to kiss my dear little Pauline +some time when I'm passing. And now good-bye, dear lady; remember that +I'm always at your service." + +Thereupon he returned to the vestry. Lisa, on her way out, was curious +to see if Claire was still praying, but the girl had gone back to +her eels and carp; and in front of the Lady-chapel, which was already +shrouded in darkness, there was now but a litter of chairs overturned by +the ardent vehemence of the woman who had knelt there. + +When the handsome Lisa again crossed the square, La Normande, who +had been watching for her exit from the church, recognised her in the +twilight by the rotundity of her skirts. + +"Good gracious!" she exclaimed, "she's been more than an hour in there! +When the priests set about cleansing her of her sins, the choir-boys +have to form in line to pass the buckets of filth and empty them in the +street!" + +The next morning Lisa went straight up to Florent's bedroom and settled +herself there with perfect equanimity. She felt certain that she would +not be disturbed, and, moreover, she had made up her mind to tell a +falsehood and say that she had come to see if the linen was clean, +should Florent by any chance return. Whilst in the shop, however, she +had observed him busily engaged in the fish market. Seating herself in +front of the little table, she pulled out the drawer, placed it upon her +knees, and began to examine its contents, taking the greatest care to +restore them to their original positions. + +First of all she came upon the opening chapters of the work on Cayenne; +then upon the drafts of Florent's various plans and projects, his +schemes for converting the Octroi duties into taxes upon sales, for +reforming the administrative system of the markets, and all the others. +These pages of small writing, which she set herself to read, bored her +extremely, and she was about to restore the drawer to its place, feeling +convinced that Florent concealed the proofs of his wicked designs +elsewhere, and already contemplating a searching visitation of his +mattress, when she discovered a photograph of La Normande in an +envelope. The impression was rather dark. La Normande was standing up +with her right arm resting on a broken column. Decked out with all +her jewels, and attired in a new silk dress, the fish-girl was smiling +impudently, and Lisa, at the sight, forgot all about her brother-in-law, +her fears, and the purpose for which she had come into the room. She +became quite absorbed in her examination of the portrait, as often +happens when one woman scrutinises the photograph of another at her +ease, without fear of being seen. Never before had she so favourable an +opportunity to study her rival. She scrutinised her hair, her nose, her +mouth; held the photograph at a distance, and then brought it closer +again. And, finally, with compressed lips, she read on the back of it, +in a big, ugly scrawl: "Louise, to her friend, Florent." This quite +scandalised her; to her mind it was a confession, and she felt a strong +impulse to take possession of the photograph, and keep it as a weapon +against her enemy. However, she slowly replaced it in the envelope on +coming to the conclusion that this course would be wrong, and reflecting +that she would always know where to find it should she want it again. + +Then, as she again began turning over the loose sheets of paper, it +occurred to her to look at the back end of the drawer, where Florent had +relegated Augustine's needles and thread; and there, between the missal +and the Dream-book, she discovered what she sought, some extremely +compromising memoranda, simply screened from observation by a wrapper of +grey paper. + +That idea of an insurrection, of the overthrow of the Empire by means +of an armed rising, which Logre had one evening propounded at Monsieur +Lebigre's, had slowly ripened in Florent's feverish brain. He soon grew +to see a duty, a mission in it. Therein undoubtedly lay the task to +which his escape from Cayenne and his return to Paris predestined him. +Believing in a call to avenge his leanness upon the city which wallowed +in food while the upholders of right and equity were racked by hunger +in exile, he took upon himself the duties of a justiciary, and dreamt of +rising up, even in the midst of those markets, to sweep away the reign +of gluttony and drunkenness. In a sensitive nature like his, this idea +quickly took root. Everything about him assumed exaggerated proportions, +the wildest fancies possessed him. He imagined that the markets had been +conscious of his arrival, and had seized hold of him that they might +enervate him and poison him with their stenches. Then, too, Lisa wanted +to cast a spell over him, and for two or three days at a time he would +avoid her, as though she were some dissolving agency which would destroy +all his power of will should he approach too closely. However, these +paroxysms of puerile fear, these wild surgings of his rebellious brain, +always ended in thrills of the gentlest tenderness, with yearnings to +love and be loved, which he concealed with a boyish shame. + +It was more especially in the evening that his mind became blurred by +all his wild imaginings. Depressed by his day's work, but shunning sleep +from a covert fear--the fear of the annihilation it brought with it--he +would remain later than ever at Monsieur Lebigre's, or at the Mehudins'; +and on his return home he still refrained from going to bed, and sat +up writing and preparing for the great insurrection. By slow degrees he +devised a complete system of organisation. He divided Paris into twenty +sections, one for each arrondissement. Each section would have a +chief, a sort of general, under whose orders there were to be twenty +lieutenants commanding twenty companies of affiliated associates. Every +week, among the chiefs, there would be a consultation, which was to be +held in a different place each time; and, the better to ensure secrecy +and discretion, the associates would only come in contact with their +respective lieutenants, these alone communicating with the chiefs of the +sections. It also occurred to Florent that it would be as well that the +companies should believe themselves charged with imaginary missions, as +a means of putting the police upon a wrong scent. + +As for the employment of the insurrectionary forces, that would be all +simplicity. It would, of course, be necessary to wait till the companies +were quite complete, and then advantage would be taken of the first +public commotion. They would doubtless only have a certain number of +guns used for sporting purposes in their possession, so they would +commence by seizing the police stations and guard-houses, disarming the +soldiers of the line; resorting to violence as little as possible, and +inviting the men to make common cause with the people. Afterwards they +would march upon the Corps Legislatif, and thence to the Hotel de Ville. +This plan, to which Florent returned night after night, as though it +were some dramatic scenario which relieved his over-excited nervous +system, was as yet simply jotted down on scraps of paper, full of +erasures, which showed how the writer had felt his way, and revealed +each successive phase of his scientific yet puerile conception. When +Lisa had glanced through the notes, without understanding some of them, +she remained there trembling with fear; afraid to touch them further +lest they should explode in her hands like live shells. + +A last memorandum frightened her more than any of the others. It was +a half sheet of paper on which Florent had sketched the distinguishing +insignia which the chiefs and the lieutenants were to wear. By the +side of these were rough drawings of the standards which the different +companies were to carry; and notes in pencil even described what colours +the banners should assume. The chiefs were to wear red scarves, and the +lieutenants red armlets. + +To Lisa this seemed like an immediate realisation of the rising; she saw +all the men with their red badges marching past the pork shop, firing +bullets into her mirrors and marble, and carrying off sausages +and chitterlings from the window. The infamous projects of her +brother-in-law were surely directed against herself--against her own +happiness. She closed the drawer and looked round the room, reflecting +that it was she herself who had provided this man with a home--that he +slept between her sheets and used her furniture. And she was especially +exasperated at his keeping his abominable infernal machine in that +little deal table which she herself had used at Uncle Gradelle's before +her marriage--a perfectly innocent, rickety little table. + +For a while she stood thinking what she should do. In the first place, +it was useless to say anything to Quenu. For a moment it occurred to +her to provoke an explanation with Florent, but she dismissed that idea, +fearing lest he would only go and perpetrate his crime elsewhere, and +maliciously make a point of compromising them. Then gradually growing +somewhat calmer, she came to the conclusion that her best plan would be +to keep a careful watch over her brother-in-law. It would be time enough +to take further steps at the first sign of danger. She already had quite +sufficient evidence to send him back to the galleys. + +On returning to the shop again, she found Augustine in a state of +great excitement. Little Pauline had disappeared more than half an +hour before, and to Lisa's anxious questions the young woman could only +reply: "I don't know where she can have got to, madame. She was on the +pavement there with a little boy. I was watching them, and then I had to +cut some ham for a gentleman, and I never saw them again." + +"I'll wager it was Muche!" cried Lisa. "Ah, the young scoundrel!" + +It was, indeed, Muche who had enticed Pauline away. The little girl, who +was wearing a new blue-striped frock that day for the first time, had +been anxious to exhibit it, and had accordingly taken her stand outside +the shop, manifesting great propriety of bearing, and compressing her +lips with the grave expression of a little woman of six who is afraid of +soiling her clothes. Her short and stiffly-starched petticoats stood out +like the skirts of a ballet girl, allowing a full view of her tightly +stretched white stockings and little sky-blue boots. Her pinafore, +which hung low about her neck, was finished off at the shoulders with an +edging of embroidery, below which appeared her pretty little arms, bare +and rosy. She had small turquoise rings in her ears, a cross at her +neck, a blue velvet ribbon in her well-brushed hair; and she displayed +all her mother's plumpness and softness--the gracefulness, indeed, of a +new doll. + +Muche had caught sight of her from the market, where he was amusing +himself by dropping little dead fishes into the gutter, following them +along the kerb as the water carried them away, and declaring that they +were swimming. However, the sight of Pauline standing in front of the +shop and looking so smart and pretty made him cross over to her, capless +as he was, with his blouse ragged, his trousers slipping down, and his +whole appearance suggestive of a seven-year-old street-arab. His mother +had certainly forbidden him to play any more with "that fat booby of a +girl who was stuffed by her parents till she almost burst"; so he stood +hesitating for a moment, but at last came up to Pauline, and wanted to +feel her pretty striped frock. The little girl, who had at first felt +flattered, then put on a prim air and stepped back, exclaiming in a tone +of displeasure: "Leave me alone. Mother says I'm not to have anything to +do with you." + +This brought a laugh to the lips of Muche, who was a wily, enterprising +young scamp. + +"What a little flat you are!" he retorted. "What does it matter what +your mother says? Let's go and play at shoving each other, eh?" + +He doubtless nourished some wicked idea of dirtying the neat little +girl; but she, on seeing him prepare to give her a push in the back, +retreated as though about to return inside the shop. Muche thereupon +adopted a flattering tone like a born cajoler. + +"You silly! I didn't mean it," said he. "How nice you look like that! Is +that little cross your mother's?" + +Pauline perked herself up, and replied that it was her own, whereupon +Muche gently led her to the corner of the Rue Pirouette, touching her +skirts the while and expressing his astonishment at their wonderful +stiffness. All this pleased the little girl immensely. She had been very +much vexed at not receiving any notice while she was exhibiting herself +outside the shop. However, in spite of all Muche's blandishments, she +still refused to leave the footway. + +"You stupid fatty!" thereupon exclaimed the youngster, relapsing into +coarseness. "I'll squat you down in the gutter if you don't look out, +Miss Fine-airs!" + +The girl was dreadfully alarmed. Muche had caught hold of her by +the hand; but, recognising his mistake in policy, he again put on a +wheedling air, and began to fumble in his pocket. + +"I've got a sou," said he. + +The sight of the coin had a soothing effect upon Pauline. The boy held +up the sou with the tips of his fingers, and the temptation to follow +it proved so great that the girl at last stepped down into the roadway. +Muche's diplomacy was eminently successful. + +"What do you like best?" he asked. + +Pauline gave no immediate answer. She could not make up her mind; there +were so many things that she liked. Muche, however, ran over a whole +list of dainties--liquorice, molasses, gum-balls, and powdered sugar. +The powdered sugar made the girl ponder. One dipped one's fingers into +it and sucked them; it was very nice. For a while she gravely considered +the matter. Then, at last making up her mind, she said: + +"No, I like the mixed screws the best." + +Muche thereupon took hold of her arm, and she unresistingly allowed him +to lead her away. They crossed the Rue Rambuteau, followed the broad +footway skirting the markets, and went as far as a grocer's shop in the +Rue de la Cossonnerie which was celebrated for its mixed screws. These +mixed screws are small screws of paper in which grocers put up all sorts +of damaged odds and ends, broken sugar-plums, fragments of crystallised +chestnuts--all the doubtful residuum of their jars of sweets. Muche +showed himself very gallant, allowed Pauline to choose the screw--a blue +one--paid his sou, and did not attempt to dispossess her of the sweets. +Outside, on the footway, she emptied the miscellaneous collection of +scraps into both pockets of her pinafore; and they were such little +pockets that they were quite filled. Then in delight she began to munch +the fragments one by one, wetting her fingers to catch the fine sugary +dust, with such effect that she melted the scraps of sweets, and the +pockets of her pinafore soon showed two brownish stains. Muche laughed +slily to himself. He had his arm about the girl's waist, and rumpled her +frock at his ease whilst leading her round the corner of the Rue Pierre +Lescot, in the direction of the Place des Innocents. + +"You'll come and play now, won't you?" he asked. "That's nice what +you've got in your pockets, ain't it? You see that I didn't want to do +you any harm, you big silly!" + +Thereupon he plunged his own fingers into her pockets, and they entered +the square together. To this spot, no doubt, he had all along intended +to lure his victim. He did the honours of the square as though it were +his own private property, and indeed it was a favourite haunt of his, +where he often larked about for whole afternoons. Pauline had never +before strayed so far from home, and would have wept like an abducted +damsel had it not been that her pockets were full of sweets. The +fountain in the middle of the flowered lawn was sending sheets of water +down its tiers of basins, whilst, between the pilasters above, Jean +Goujon's nymphs, looking very white beside the dingy grey stonework, +inclined their urns and displayed their nude graces in the grimy air +of the Saint Denis quarter. The two children walked round the fountain, +watching the water fall into the basins, and taking an interest in the +grass, with thoughts, no doubt, of crossing the central lawn, or gliding +into the clumps of holly and rhododendrons that bordered the railings of +the square. Little Muche, however, who had now effectually rumpled the +back of the pretty frock, said with his sly smile: + +"Let's play at throwing sand at each other, eh?" + +Pauline had no will of her own left; and they began to throw the sand at +each other, keeping their eyes closed meanwhile. The sand made its way +in at the neck of the girl's low bodice, and trickled down into her +stockings and boots. Muche was delighted to see the white pinafore +become quite yellow. But he doubtless considered that it was still far +too clean. + +"Let's go and plant trees, shall we?" he exclaimed suddenly. "I know how +to make such pretty gardens." + +"Really, gardens!" murmured Pauline full of admiration. + +Then, as the keeper of the square happened to be absent, Muche told her +to make some holes in one of the borders; and dropping on her knees in +the middle of the soft mould, and leaning forward till she lay at full +length on her stomach, she dug her pretty little arms into the ground. +He, meantime, began to hunt for scraps of wood, and broke off branches. +These were the garden-trees which he planted in the holes that Pauline +made. He invariably complained, however, that the holes were not deep +enough, and rated the girl as though she were an idle workman and he an +indignant master. When she at last got up, she was black from head to +foot. Her hair was full of mould, her face was smeared with it, she +looked such a sight with her arms as black as a coalheaver's that Muche +clapped his hands with glee, and exclaimed: "Now we must water the +trees. They won't grow, you know, if we don't water them." + +That was the finishing stroke. They went outside the square, scooped the +gutter-water up in the palms of their hands, and then ran back to pour +it over the bits of wood. On the way, Pauline, who was so fat that she +couldn't run properly, let the water trickle between her fingers on to +her frock, so that by the time of her sixth journey she looked as if she +had been rolled in the gutter. Muche chuckled with delight on beholding +her dreadful condition. He made her sit down beside him under a +rhododendron near the garden they had made, and told her that the trees +were already beginning to grow. He had taken hold of her hand and called +her his little wife. + +"You're not sorry now that you came, are you," he asked, "instead of +mooning about on the pavement, where there was nothing to do? I know all +sorts of fun we can have in the streets; you must come with me again. +You will, won't you? But you mustn't say anything to your mother, mind. +If you say a word to her, I'll pull your hair the next time I come past +your shop." + +Pauline consented to everything; and then, as a last attention, Muche +filled both pockets of her pinafore with mould. However, all the sweets +were finished, and the girl began to get uneasy, and ceased playing. +Muche thereupon started pinching her, and she burst into tears, sobbing +that she wanted to go away. But at this the lad only grinned, and played +the bully, threatening that he would not take her home at all. Then she +grew terribly alarmed, and sobbed and gasped like a maiden in the power +of a libertine. Muche would certainly have ended by punching her in +order to stop her row, had not a shrill voice, the voice of Mademoiselle +Saget, exclaimed, close by: "Why, I declare it's Pauline! Leave her +alone, you wicked young scoundrel!" + +Then the old maid took the girl by the hand, with endless expressions +of amazement at the pitiful condition of her clothes. Muche showed no +alarm, but followed them, chuckling to himself, and declaring that it +was Pauline who had wanted to come with him, and had tumbled down. + +Mademoiselle Saget was a regular frequenter of the Square des Innocents. +Every afternoon she would spend a good hour there to keep herself well +posted in the gossip of the common people. On either side there is a +long crescent of benches placed end to end; and on these the poor folks +who stifle in the hovels of the neighbouring narrow streets assemble in +crowds. There are withered, chilly-looking old women in tumbled caps, +and young ones in loose jackets and carelessly fastened skirts, with +bare heads and tired, faded faces, eloquent of the wretchedness of their +lives. There are some men also: tidy old buffers, porters in greasy +jackets, and equivocal-looking individuals in black silk hats, while the +foot-path is overrun by a swarm of youngsters dragging toy carts without +wheels about, filling pails with sand, and screaming and fighting; +a dreadful crew, with ragged clothes and dirty noses, teeming in the +sunshine like vermin. + +Mademoiselle Saget was so slight and thin that she always managed to +insinuate herself into a place on one of the benches. She listened to +what was being said, and started a conversation with her neighbour, some +sallow-faced workingman's wife, who sat mending linen, from time to time +producing handkerchiefs and stockings riddled with holes from a little +basket patched up with string. Moreover, Mademoiselle Saget had +plenty of acquaintances here. Amidst the excruciating squalling of +the children, and the ceaseless rumble of the traffic in the Rue Saint +Denis, she took part in no end of gossip, everlasting tales about the +tradesmen of the neighbourhood, the grocers, the butchers, and the +bakers, enough, indeed, to fill the columns of a local paper, and the +whole envenomed by refusals of credit and covert envy, such as is always +harboured by the poor. From these wretched creatures she also obtained +the most disgusting revelations, the gossip of low lodging-houses and +doorkeepers' black-holes, all the filthy scandal of the neighbourhood, +which tickled her inquisitive appetite like hot spice. + +As she sat with her face turned towards the markets, she had immediately +in front of her the square and its three blocks of houses, into the +windows of which her eyes tried to pry. She seemed to gradually rise +and traverse the successive floors right up to the garret skylights. +She stared at the curtains; based an entire drama on the appearance of +a head between two shutters; and, by simply gazing at the facades, ended +by knowing the history of all the dwellers in these houses. The Baratte +Restaurant, with its wine shop, its gilt wrought-iron _marquise_, +forming a sort of terrace whence peeped the foliage of a few plants in +flower-pots, and its four low storeys, all painted and decorated, had an +especial interest for her. She gazed at its yellow columns standing +out against a background of tender blue, at the whole of its imitation +temple-front daubed on the facade of a decrepit, tumble-down house, +crowned at the summit by a parapet of painted zinc. Behind the +red-striped window-blinds she espied visions of nice little lunches, +delicate suppers, and uproarious, unlimited orgies. And she did not +hesitate to invent lies about the place. It was there, she declared, +that Florent came to gorge with those two hussies, the Mehudins, on whom +he lavished his money. + +However, Pauline cried yet louder than before when the old maid took +hold of her hand. Mademoiselle Saget at first led her towards the gate +of the square; but before she got there she seemed to change her mind; +for she sat down at the end of a bench and tried to pacify the child. + +"Come, now, give over crying, or the policeman will lock you up," she +said to Pauline. "I'll take you home safely. You know me, don't you? I'm +a good friend. Come, come, let me see how prettily you can smile." + +The child, however, was choking with sobs and wanted to go away. +Mademoiselle Saget thereupon quietly allowed her to continue weeping, +reserving further remarks till she should have finished. The poor little +creature was shivering all over; her petticoats and stockings were +wet through, and as she wiped her tears away with her dirty hands she +plastered the whole of her face with earth to the very tips of her +ears. When at last she became a little calmer the old maid resumed in +a caressing tone: "Your mamma isn't unkind, is she? She's very fond of +you, isn't she?" + +"Oh, yes, indeed," replied Pauline, still sobbing. + +"And your papa, he's good to you, too, isn't he? He doesn't flog you, or +quarrel with your mother, does he? What do they talk about when they go +to bed?" + +"Oh, I don't know. I'm asleep then." + +"Do they talk about your cousin Florent?" + +"I don't know." + +Mademoiselle Saget thereupon assumed a severe expression, and got up as +if about to go away. + +"I'm afraid you are a little story-teller," she said. "Don't you know +that it's very wicked to tell stories? I shall go away and leave you, if +you tell me lies, and then Muche will come back and pinch you." + +Pauline began to cry again at the threat of being abandoned. "Be quiet, +be quiet, you wicked little imp!" cried the old maid shaking +her. "There, there, now, I won't go away. I'll buy you a stick of +barley-sugar; yes, a stick of barley-sugar! So you don't love your +cousin Florent, eh?" + +"No, mamma says he isn't good." + +"Ah, then, so you see your mother does say something." + +"One night when I was in bed with Mouton--I sleep with Mouton sometimes, +you know--I heard her say to father, 'Your brother has only escaped from +the galleys to take us all back with him there.'" + +Mademoiselle Saget gave vent to a faint cry, and sprang to her feet, +quivering all over. A ray of light had just broken upon her. Then +without a word she caught hold of Pauline's hand and made her run till +they reached the pork shop, her lips meanwhile compressed by an inward +smile, and her eyes glistening with keen delight. At the corner of the +Rue Pirouette, Muche, who had so far followed them, amused at seeing the +girl running along in her muddy stockings, prudently disappeared. + +Lisa was now in a state of terrible alarm; and when she saw her daughter +so bedraggled and limp, her consternation was such that she turned the +child round and round, without even thinking of beating her. + +"She has been with little Muche," said the old maid, in her malicious +voice. "I took her away at once, and I've brought her home. I found them +together in the square. I don't know what they've been up to; but that +young vagabond is capable of anything." + +Lisa could not find a word to say; and she did not know where to take +hold of her daughter, so great was her disgust at the sight of the +child's muddy boots, soiled stockings, torn skirts, and filthy face and +hands. The blue velvet ribbon, the earrings, and the necklet were all +concealed beneath a crust of mud. But what put the finishing touch to +Lisa's exasperation was the discovery of the two pockets filled with +mould. She stooped and emptied them, regardless of the pink and white +flooring of the shop. And as she dragged Pauline away, she could only +gasp: "Come along, you filthy thing!" + +Quite enlivened by this scene, Mademoiselle Saget now hurriedly made +her way across the Rue Rambuteau. Her little feet scarcely touched the +ground; her joy seemed to carry her along like a breeze which fanned her +with a caressing touch. She had at last found out what she had so much +wanted to know! For nearly a year she had been consumed by curiosity, +and now at a single stroke she had gained complete power over Florent! +This was unhoped-for contentment, positive salvation, for she felt that +Florent would have brought her to the tomb had she failed much longer in +satisfying her curiosity about him. At present she was complete mistress +of the whole neighbourhood of the markets. There was no longer any gap +in her information. She could have narrated the secret history of every +street, shop by shop. And thus, as she entered the fruit market, she +fairly gasped with delight, in a perfect transport of pleasure. + +"Hallo, Mademoiselle Saget," cried La Sarriette from her stall, "what +are you smiling to yourself like that about? Have you won the grand +prize in the lottery?" + +"No, no. Ah, my dear, if you only knew!" + +Standing there amidst her fruit, La Sarriette, in her picturesque +disarray, looked charming. Frizzy hair fell over her brow like vine +branches. Her bare arms and neck, indeed all the rosy flesh she showed, +bloomed with the freshness of peach and cherry. She had playfully hung +some cherries on her ears, black cherries which dangled against her +cheeks when she stooped, shaking with merry laughter. She was eating +currants, and her merriment arose from the way in which she was smearing +her face with them. Her lips were bright red, glistening with the juice +of the fruit, as though they had been painted and perfumed with some +seraglio face-paint. A perfume of plum exhaled from her gown, while +from the kerchief carelessly fastened across her breast came an odour of +strawberries. + +Fruits of all kinds were piled around her in her narrow stall. On the +shelves at the back were rows of melons, so-called "cantaloups" swarming +with wart-like knots, "maraichers" whose skin was covered with grey +lace-like netting, and "culs-de-singe" displaying smooth bare bumps. In +front was an array of choice fruits, carefully arranged in baskets, and +showing like smooth round cheeks seeking to hide themselves, or glimpses +of sweet childish faces, half veiled by leaves. Especially was this the +case with the peaches, the blushing peaches of Montreuil, with skin +as delicate and clear as that of northern maidens, and the yellow, +sun-burnt peaches from the south, brown like the damsels of Provence. +The apricots, on their beds of moss, gleamed with the hue of amber or +with that sunset glow which so warmly colours the necks of brunettes at +the nape, just under the little wavy curls which fall below the chignon. +The cherries, ranged one by one, resembled the short lips of smiling +Chinese girls; the Montmorencies suggested the dumpy mouths of buxom +women; the English ones were longer and graver-looking; the common black +ones seemed as though they had been bruised and crushed by kisses; while +the white-hearts, with their patches of rose and white, appeared to +smile with mingled merriment and vexation. Then piles of apples +and pears, built up with architectural symmetry, often in pyramids, +displayed the ruddy glow of budding breasts and the gleaming sheen of +shoulders, quite a show of nudity, lurking modestly behind a screen of +fern-leaves. There were all sorts of varieties--little red ones so +tiny that they seemed to be yet in the cradle, shapeless "rambours" +for baking, "calvilles" in light yellow gowns, sanguineous-looking +"Canadas," blotched "chataignier" apples, fair freckled rennets and +dusky russets. Then came the pears--the "blanquettes," the "British +queens," the "Beurres," the "messirejeans," and the "duchesses"--some +dumpy, some long and tapering, some with slender necks, and others with +thick-set shoulders, their green and yellow bellies picked out at times +with a splotch of carmine. By the side of these the transparent plums +resembled tender, chlorotic virgins; the greengages and the Orleans +plums paled as with modest innocence, while the mirabelles lay like +golden beads of a rosary forgotten in a box amongst sticks of +vanilla. And the strawberries exhaled a sweet perfume--a perfume of +youth--especially those little ones which are gathered in the woods, and +which are far more aromatic than the large ones grown in gardens, +for these breathe an insipid odour suggestive of the watering-pot. +Raspberries added their fragrance to the pure scent. The currants--red, +white, and black--smiled with a knowing air; whilst the heavy clusters +of grapes, laden with intoxication, lay languorously at the edges +of their wicker baskets, over the sides of which dangled some of the +berries, scorched by the hot caresses of the voluptuous sun. + +It was there that La Sarriette lived in an orchard, as it were, in +an atmosphere of sweet, intoxicating scents. The cheaper fruits--the +cherries, plums, and strawberries--were piled up in front of her in +paper-lined baskets, and the juice coming from their bruised ripeness +stained the stall-front, and steamed, with a strong perfume, in the +heat. She would feel quite giddy on those blazing July afternoons when +the melons enveloped her with a powerful, vaporous odour of musk; and +then with her loosened kerchief, fresh as she was with the springtide of +life, she brought sudden temptation to all who saw her. It was she--it +was her arms and necks which gave that semblance of amorous vitality +to her fruit. On the stall next to her an old woman, a hideous old +drunkard, displayed nothing but wrinkled apples, pears as flabby +as herself, and cadaverous apricots of a witch-like sallowness. La +Sarriette's stall, however, spoke of love and passion. The cherries +looked like the red kisses of her bright lips; the silky peaches were +not more delicate than her neck; to the plums she seemed to have lent +the skin from her brow and chin; while some of her own crimson blood +coursed through the veins of the currants. All the scents of the +avenue of flowers behind her stall were but insipid beside the aroma of +vitality which exhaled from her open baskets and falling kerchief. + +That day she was quite intoxicated by the scent of a large arrival of +mirabelle plums, which filled the market. She could plainly see that +Mademoiselle Saget had learnt some great piece of news, and she wished +to make her talk. But the old maid stamped impatiently whilst she +repeated: "No, no; I've no time. I'm in a great hurry to see Madame +Lecoeur. I've just learnt something and no mistake. You can come with +me, if you like." + +As a matter of fact, she had simply gone through the fruit market for +the purpose of enticing La Sarriette to go with her. The girl could +not refuse temptation. Monsieur Jules, clean-shaven and as fresh as a +cherub, was seated there, swaying to and fro on his chair. + +"Just look after the stall for a minute, will you?" La Sarriette said to +him. "I'll be back directly." + +Jules, however, got up and called after her, in a thick voice: "Not I; +no fear! I'm off! I'm not going to wait an hour for you, as I did the +other day. And, besides, those cursed plums of yours quite make my head +ache." + +Then he calmly strolled off, with his hands in his pockets, and the +stall was left to look after itself. Mademoiselle Saget went so fast +that La Sarriette had to run. In the butter pavilion a neighbour of +Madame Lecoeur's told them that she was below in the cellar; and so, +whilst La Sarriette went down to find her, the old maid installed +herself amidst the cheeses. + +The cellar under the butter market is a very gloomy spot. The rows of +storerooms are protected by a very fine wire meshing, as a safeguard +against fire; and the gas jets, which are very few and far between, +glimmer like yellow splotches destitute of radiance in the heavy, +malordorous atmosphere beneath the low vault. Madame Lecoeur, however, +was at work on her butter at one of the tables placed parallel with the +Rue Berger, and here a pale light filtered through the vent-holes. The +tables, which are continually sluiced with a flood of water from the +taps, are as white as though they were quite new. With her back turned +to the pump in the rear, Madame Lecoeur was kneading her butter in a +kind of oak box. She took some of different sorts which lay beside her, +and mixed the varieties together, correcting one by another, just as is +done in the blending of wines. Bent almost double, and showing sharp, +bony shoulders, and arms bared to the elbows, as scraggy and knotted as +pea-rods, she dug her fists into the greasy paste in front of her, which +was assuming a whitish and chalky appearance. It was trying work, and +she heaved a sigh at each fresh effort. + +"Mademoiselle Saget wants to speak to you, aunt," said La Sarriette. + +Madame Lecoeur stopped her work, and pulled her cap over her hair with +her greasy fingers, seemingly quite careless of staining it. "I've +nearly finished. Ask her to wait a moment," she said. + +"She's got something very particular to tell you," continued La +Sarriette. + +"I won't be more than a minute, my dear." + +Then she again plunged her arms into the butter, which buried them up +to the elbows. Previously softened in warm water, it covered Madame +Lecoeur's parchment-like skin as with an oily film, and threw the big +purple veins that streaked her flesh into strong relief. La Sarriette +was quite disgusted by the sight of those hideous arms working so +frantically amidst the melting mass. However, she could recall the time +when her own pretty little hands had manipulated the butter for whole +afternoons at a time. It had even been a sort of almond-paste to her, +a cosmetic which had kept her skin white and her nails delicately pink; +and even now her slender fingers retained the suppleness it had endowed +them with. + +"I don't think that butter of yours will be very good, aunt," she +continued, after a pause. "Some of the sorts seem much too strong." + +"I'm quite aware of that," replied Madame Lecoeur, between a couple of +groans. "But what can I do? I must use everything up. There are some +folks who insist upon having butter cheap, and so cheap butter must be +made for them. Oh! it's always quite good enough for those who buy it." + +La Sarriette reflected that she would hardly care to eat butter which +had been worked by her aunt's arms. Then she glanced at a little jar +full of a sort of reddish dye. "Your colouring is too pale," she said. + +This colouring-matter--"raucourt," as the Parisians call it is used to +give the butter a fine yellow tint. The butter women imagine that +its composition is known only to themselves, and keep it very secret. +However, it is merely made from anotta;[*] though a composition of +carrots and marigold is at times substituted for it. + + [*] Anotta, which is obtained from the pulp surrounding the + seeds of the _Bixa Orellana_, is used for a good many + purposes besides the colouring of butter and cheese. It + frequently enters into the composition of chocolate, and is + employed to dye nankeen. Police court proceedings have also + shown that it is well known to the London milkmen, who are + in the habit of adding water to their merchandise. + --Translator. + +"Come, do be quick!" La Sarriette now exclaimed, for she was getting +impatient, and was, moreover, no longer accustomed to the malodorous +atmosphere of the cellar. "Mademoiselle Saget will be going. I fancy +she's got something very important to tell you abut my uncle Gavard." + +On hearing this, Madame Lecoeur abruptly ceased working. She at once +abandoned both butter and dye, and did not even wait to wipe her arms. +With a slight tap of her hand she settled her cap on her head again, and +made her way up the steps, at her niece's heels, anxiously repeating: +"Do you really think that she'll have gone away?" + +She was reassured, however, on catching sight of Mademoiselle Saget +amidst the cheeses. The old maid had taken good care not to go away +before Madame Lecoeur's arrival. The three women seated themselves at +the far end of the stall, crowding closely together, and their faces +almost touching one another. Mademoiselle Saget remained silent for +two long minutes, and then, seeing that the others were burning with +curiosity, she began, in her shrill voice: "You know that Florent! Well, +I can tell you now where he comes from." + +For another moment she kept them in suspense; and then, in a deep, +melodramatic voice, she said: "He comes from the galleys!" + +The cheeses were reeking around the three women. On the two shelves at +the far end of the stall were huge masses of butter: Brittany butters +overflowing from baskets; Normandy butters, wrapped in canvas, and +resembling models of stomachs over which some sculptor had thrown damp +cloths to keep them from drying; while other great blocks had been cut +into, fashioned into perpendicular rocky masses full of crevasses and +valleys, and resembling fallen mountain crests gilded by the pale sun of +an autumn evening. + +Beneath the stall show-table, formed of a slab of red marble veined with +grey, baskets of eggs gleamed with a chalky whiteness; while on layers +of straw in boxes were Bondons, placed end to end, and Gournays, +arranged like medals, forming darker patches tinted with green. But +it was upon the table that the cheeses appeared in greatest profusion. +Here, by the side of the pound-rolls of butter lying on white-beet +leaves, spread a gigantic Cantal cheese, cloven here and there as by an +axe; then came a golden-hued Cheshire, and next a Gruyere, resembling +a wheel fallen from some barbarian chariot; whilst farther on were some +Dutch cheeses, suggesting decapitated heads suffused with dry blood, and +having all that hardness of skulls which in France has gained them +the name of "death's heads." Amidst the heavy exhalations of these, a +Parmesan set a spicy aroma. Then there came three Brie cheeses displayed +on round platters, and looking like melancholy extinct moons. Two of +them, very dry, were at the full; the third, in its second quarter, was +melting away in a white cream, which had spread into a pool and flowed +over the little wooden barriers with which an attempt had been made to +arrest its course. Next came some Port Saluts, similar to antique discs, +with exergues bearing their makers' names in print. A Romantour, in its +tin-foil wrapper, suggested a bar of nougat or some sweet cheese astray +amidst all these pungent, fermenting curds. The Roqueforts under their +glass covers also had a princely air, their fat faces marbled with blue +and yellow, as though they were suffering from some unpleasant malady +such as attacks the wealthy gluttons who eat too many truffles. And on a +dish by the side of these, the hard grey goats' milk cheeses, about the +size of a child's fist, resembled the pebbles which the billy-goats +send rolling down the stony paths as they clamber along ahead of their +flocks. Next came the strong smelling cheeses: the Mont d'Ors, of a +bright yellow hue, and exhaling a comparatively mild odour; the Troyes, +very thick, and bruised at the edges, and of a far more pungent smell, +recalling the dampness of a cellar; the Camemberts, suggestive of high +game; the square Neufchatels, Limbourgs, Marolles, and Pont l'Eveques, +each adding its own particular sharp scent to the malodorous bouquet, +till it became perfectly pestilential; the Livarots, ruddy in hue, and +as irritating to the throat as sulphur fumes; and, lastly, stronger than +all the others, the Olivets, wrapped in walnut leaves, like the carrion +which peasants cover with branches as it lies rotting in the hedgerow +under the blazing sun. + +The heat of the afternoon had softened the cheeses; the patches of mould +on their crusts were melting, and glistening with tints of ruddy bronze +and verdigris. Beneath their cover of leaves, the skins of the Olivets +seemed to be heaving as with the slow, deep respiration of a sleeping +man. A Livarot was swarming with life; and in a fragile box behind the +scales a Gerome flavoured with aniseed diffused such a pestilential +smell that all around it the very flies had fallen lifeless on the +gray-veined slap of ruddy marble. + +This Gerome was almost immediately under Mademoiselle Saget's nose; so +she drew back, and leaned her head against the big sheets of white and +yellow paper which were hanging in a corner. + +"Yes," she repeated, with an expression of disgust, "he comes from the +galleys! Ah, those Quenu-Gradelles have no reason to put on so many +airs!" + +Madame Lecoeur and La Sarriette, however, had burst into exclamations of +astonishment: "It wasn't possible, surely! What had he done to be sent +to the galleys? Could anyone, now, have ever suspected that Madame +Quenu, whose virtue was the pride of the whole neighbourhood, would +choose a convict for a lover?" + +"Ah, but you don't understand at all!" cried the old maid impatiently. +"Just listen, now, while I explain things. I was quite certain that I +had seen that great lanky fellow somewhere before." + +Then she proceeded to tell them Florent's story. She had recalled to +mind a vague report which had circulated of a nephew of old Gradelle +being transported to Cayenne for murdering six gendarmes at a barricade. +She had even seen this nephew on one occasion in the Rue Pirouette. The +pretended cousin was undoubtedly the same man. Then she began to bemoan +her waning powers. Her memory was quite going, she said; she would soon +be unable to remember anything. And she bewailed her perishing memory +as bitterly as any learned man might bewail the loss of his notes +representing the work of a life-time, on seeing them swept away by a +gust of wind. + +"Six gendarmes!" murmured La Sarriette, admiringly; "he must have a very +heavy fist!" + +"And he's made away with plenty of others, as well," added Mademoiselle +Saget. "I shouldn't advise you to meet him at night!" + +"What a villain!" stammered out Madame Lecoeur, quite terrified. + +The slanting beams of the sinking sun were now enfilading the pavilion, +and the odour of the cheeses became stronger than ever. That of the +Marolles seemed to predominate, borne hither and thither in powerful +whiffs. Then, however, the wind appeared to change, and suddenly the +emanations of the Limbourgs were wafted towards the three women, pungent +and bitter, like the last gasps of a dying man. + +"But in that case," resumed Madame Lecoeur, "he must be fat Lisa's +brother-in-law. And we thought that he was her lover!" + +The women exchanged glances. This aspect of the case took them by +surprise. They were loth to give up their first theory. However, La +Sarriette, turning to Mademoiselle Saget, remarked: "That must have been +all wrong. Besides, you yourself say that he's always running after the +two Mehudin girls." + +"Certainly he is," exclaimed Mademoiselle Saget sharply, fancying that +her word was doubted. "He dangles about them every evening. But, after +all, it's no concern of ours, is it? We are virtuous women, and what he +does makes no difference to us, the horrid scoundrel!" + +"No, certainly not," agreed the other two. "He's a consummate villain." + +The affair was becoming tragical. Of course beautiful Lisa was now +out of the question, but for this they found ample consolation in +prophesying that Florent would bring about some frightful catastrophe. +It was quite clear, they said, that he had got some base design in +his head. When people like him escaped from gaol it was only to burn +everything down; and if he had come to the markets it must assuredly be +for some abominable purpose. Then they began to indulge in the wildest +suppositions. The two dealers declared that they would put additional +padlocks to the doors of their storerooms; and La Sarriette called +to mind that a basket of peaches had been stolen from her during the +previous week. Mademoiselle Saget, however, quite frightened the two +others by informing them that that was not the way in which the Reds +behaved; they despised such trifles as baskets of peaches; their plan +was to band themselves together in companies of two or three hundred, +kill everybody they came across, and then plunder and pillage at their +ease. That was "politics," she said, with the superior air of one who +knew what she was talking about. Madame Lecoeur felt quite ill. She +already saw Florent and his accomplices hiding in the cellars, and +rushing out during the night to set the markets in flames and sack +Paris. + +"Ah! by the way," suddenly exclaimed the old maid, "now I think of it, +there's all that money of old Gradelle's! Dear me, dear me, those Quenus +can't be at all at their ease!" + +She now looked quite gay again. The conversation took a fresh turn, and +the others fell foul of the Quenus when Mademoiselle Saget had told them +the history of the treasure discovered in the salting-tub, with every +particular of which she was acquainted. She was even able to inform +them of the exact amount of the money found--eighty-five thousand +francs--though neither Lisa nor Quenu was aware of having revealed this +to a living soul. However, it was clear that the Quenus had not given +the great lanky fellow his share. He was too shabbily dressed for +that. Perhaps he had never even heard of the discovery of the treasure. +Plainly enough, they were all thieves in his family. Then the three +women bent their heads together and spoke in lower tones. They were +unanimously of opinion that it might perhaps be dangerous to attack the +beautiful Lisa, but it was decidedly necessary that they should settle +the Red Republican's hash, so that he might no longer prey upon the +purse of poor Monsieur Gavard. + +At the mention of Gavard there came a pause. The gossips looked at +each other with a circumspect air. And then, as they drew breath, they +inhaled the odour of the Camemberts, whose gamy scent had overpowered +the less penetrating emanations of the Marolles and the Limbourgs, and +spread around with remarkable power. Every now and then, however, a +slight whiff, a flutelike note, came from the Parmesan, while the Bries +contributed a soft, musty scent, the gentle, insipid sound, as it were, +of damp tambourines. Next followed an overpowering refrain from the +Livarots, and afterwards the Gerome, flavoured with aniseed, kept up the +symphony with a high prolonged note, like that of a vocalist during a +pause in the accompaniment. + +"I have seen Madame Leonce," Mademoiselle Saget at last continued, with +a significant expression. + +At this the two others became extremely attentive. Madame Leonce was the +doorkeeper of the house where Gavard lived in the Rue de la Cossonnerie. +It was an old house standing back, with its ground floor occupied by an +importer of oranges and lemons, who had had the frontage coloured blue +as high as the first floor. Madame Leonce acted as Gavard's housekeeper, +kept the keys of his cupboards and closets, and brought him up tisane +when he happened to catch cold. She was a severe-looking woman, between +fifty and sixty years of age, and spoke slowly, but at endless length. +Mademoiselle Saget, who went to drink coffee with her every Wednesday +evening, had cultivated her friendship more closely than ever since the +poultry dealer had gone to lodge in the house. They would talk about +the worthy man for hours at a time. They both professed the greatest +affection for him, and a keen desire to ensure his comfort and +happiness. + +"Yes, I have seen Madame Leonce," repeated the old maid. "We had a cup +of coffee together last night. She was greatly worried. It seems that +Monsieur Gavard never comes home now before one o'clock in the morning. +Last Sunday she took him up some broth, as she thought he looked quite +ill." + +"Oh, she knows very well what she's about," exclaimed Madame Lecoeur, +whom these attentions to Gavard somewhat alarmed. + +Mademoiselle Saget felt bound to defend her friend. "Oh, really, you are +quite mistaken," said she. "Madame Leonce is much above her position; +she is quite a lady. If she wanted to enrich herself at Monsieur +Gavard's expense, she might easily have done so long ago. It seems that +he leaves everything lying about in the most careless fashion. It's +about that, indeed, that I want to speak to you. But you'll not repeat +anything I say, will you? I am telling it you in strict confidence." + +Both the others swore that they would never breathe a word of what they +might hear; and they craned out their necks with eager curiosity, whilst +the old maid solemnly resumed: "Well, then, Monsieur Gavard has been +behaving very strangely of late. He has been buying firearms--a great +big pistol--one of those which revolve, you know. Madame Leonce says +that things are awful, for this pistol is always lying about on the +table or the mantelpiece; and she daren't dust anywhere near it. But +that isn't all. His money--" + +"His money!" echoed Madame Lecoeur, with blazing cheeks. + +"Well, he's disposed of all his stocks and shares. He's sold everything, +and keeps a great heap of gold in a cupboard." + +"A heap of gold!" exclaimed La Sarriette in ecstasy. + +"Yes, a great heap of gold. It covers a whole shelf, and is quite +dazzling. Madame Leonce told me that one morning Gavard opened the +cupboard in her presence, and that the money quite blinded her, it shone +so." + +There was another pause. The eyes of the three women were blinking as +though the dazzling pile of gold was before them. Presently La Sarriette +began to laugh. + +"What a jolly time I would have with Jules if my uncle would give that +money to me!" said she. + +Madame Lecoeur, however, seemed quite overwhelmed by this revelation, +crushed beneath the weight of the gold which she could not banish from +her sight. Covetous envy thrilled her. But at last, raising her skinny +arms and shrivelled hands, her finger-nails still stuffed with butter, +she stammered in a voice full of bitter distress: "Oh, I mustn't think +of it! It's too dreadful!" + +"Well, it would all be yours, you know, if anything were to happen to +Monsieur Gavard," retorted Mademoiselle Saget. "If I were in your place, +I would look after my interests. That revolver means nothing good, +you may depend upon it. Monsieur Gavard has got into the hands of evil +counsellors; and I'm afraid it will all end badly." + +Then the conversation again turned upon Florent. The three women +assailed him more violently than ever. And afterwards, with perfect +composure, they began to discuss what would be the result of all these +dark goings-on so far as he and Gavard were concerned; certainly it +would be no pleasant one if there was any gossiping. And thereupon they +swore that they themselves would never repeat a word of what they knew; +not, however, because that scoundrel Florent merited any consideration, +but because it was necessary, at all costs, to save that worthy Monsieur +Gavard from being compromised. Then they rose from their seats, and +Mademoiselle Saget was burning as if to go away when the butter dealer +asked her: "All the same, in case of accident, do you think that Madame +Leonce can be trusted? I dare say she has the key of the cupboard." + +"Well, that's more than I can tell you," replied the old maid. "I +believe she's a very honest woman; but, after all, there's no telling. +There are circumstances, you know, which tempt the best of people. +Anyhow, I've warned you both; and you must do what you think proper." + +As the three women stood there, taking leave of each other, the odour +of the cheeses seemed to become more pestilential than ever. It was a +cacophony of smells, ranging from the heavily oppressive odour of the +Dutch cheeses and the Gruyeres to the alkaline pungency of the Olivets. +From the Cantal, the Cheshire, and the goats' milk cheeses there seemed +to come a deep breath like the sound of a bassoon, amidst which the +sharp, sudden whiffs of the Neufchatels, the Troyes, and the Mont +d'Ors contributed short, detached notes. And then the different odours +appeared to mingle one with another, the reek of the Limbourgs, the Port +Saluts, the Geromes, the Marolles, the Livarots, and the Pont l'Eveques +uniting in one general, overpowering stench sufficient to provoke +asphyxia. And yet it almost seemed as though it were not the cheeses but +the vile words of Madame Lecoeur and Mademoiselle Saget that diffused +this awful odour. + +"I'm very much obliged to you, indeed I am," said the butter dealer. "If +ever I get rich, you shall not find yourself forgotten." + +The old maid still lingered in the stall. Taking up a Bondon, she turned +it round, and put it down on the slab again. Then she asked its price. + +"To me!" she added, with a smile. + +"Oh, nothing to you," replied Madame Lecoeur. "I'll make you a present +of it." And again she exclaimed: "Ah, if I were only rich!" + +Mademoiselle Saget thereupon told her that some day or other she would +be rich. The Bondon had already disappeared within the old maid's bag. +And now the butter dealer returned to the cellar, while Mademoiselle +Saget escorted La Sarriette back to her stall. On reaching it they +talked for a moment or two about Monsieur Jules. The fruits around them +diffused a fresh scent of summer. + +"It smells much nicer here than at your aunt's," said the old maid. "I +felt quite ill a little time ago. I can't think how she manages to exist +there. But here it's very sweet and pleasant. It makes you look quite +rosy, my dear." + +La Sarriette began to laugh, for she was fond of compliments. Then she +served a lady with a pound of mirabelle plums, telling her that they +were as sweet as sugar. + +"I should like to buy some of those mirabelles too," murmured +Mademoiselle Saget, when the lady had gone away; "only I want so few. A +lone woman, you know." + +"Take a handful of them," exclaimed the pretty brunette. "That won't +ruin me. Send Jules back to me if you see him, will you? You'll most +likely find him smoking his cigar on the first bench to the right as you +turn out of the covered way." + +Mademoiselle Saget distended her fingers as widely as possible in order +to take a handful of mirabelles, which joined the Bondon in the bag. +Then she pretended to leave the market, but in reality made a detour by +one of the covered ways, thinking, as she walked slowly along, that the +mirabelles and Bondon would not make a very substantial dinner. When she +was unable, during her afternoon perambulations, to wheedle stallkeepers +into filling her bag for her, she was reduced to dining off the merest +scraps. So she now slyly made her way back to the butter pavilions, +where, on the side of the Rue Berger, at the back of the offices of the +oyster salesmen, there were some stalls at which cooked meat was +sold. Every morning little closed box-like carts, lined with zinc and +furnished with ventilators, drew up in front of the larger Parisian +kitchens and carried away the leavings of the restaurants, the +embassies, and State Ministries. These leavings were conveyed to the +market cellars and there sorted. By nine o'clock plates of food were +displayed for sale at prices ranging from three to five sous, their +contents comprising slices of meat, scraps of game, heads and tails of +fishes, bits of galantine, stray vegetables, and, by way of dessert, +cakes scarcely cut into, and other confectionery. Poor starving +wretches, scantily-paid clerks, and women shivering with fever were +to be seen crowding around, and the street lads occasionally amused +themselves by hooting the pale-faced individuals, known to be misers, +who only made their purchases after slyly glancing about them to see +that they were not observed.[*] Mademoiselle Saget wriggled her way to +a stall, the keeper of which boasted that the scraps she sold came +exclusively from the Tuileries. One day, indeed, she had induced the old +maid to buy a slice of leg of mutton by informing that it had come from +the plate of the Emperor himself; and this slice of mutton, eaten with +no little pride, had been a soothing consolation to Mademoiselle Saget's +vanity. The wariness of her approach to the stall was, moreover, solely +caused by her desire to keep well with the neighbouring shop people, +whose premises she was eternally haunting without ever buying anything. +Her usual tactics were to quarrel with them as soon as she had managed +to learn their histories, when she would bestow her patronage upon a +fresh set, desert it in due course, and then gradually make friends +again with those with whom she had quarrelled. In this way she made the +complete circuit of the market neighbourhood, ferreting about in every +shop and stall. Anyone would have imagined that she consumed an enormous +amount of provisions, whereas, in point of fact, she lived solely upon +presents and the few scraps which she was compelled to buy when people +were not in the giving vein. + + [*] The dealers in these scraps are called _bijoutiers_, or + jewellers, whilst the scraps themselves are known as + _harlequins_, the idea being that they are of all colours + and shapes when mingled together, thus suggesting + harlequin's variegated attire.--Translator. + +On that particular evening there was only a tall old man standing in +front of the stall. He was sniffing at a plate containing a mixture +of meat and fish. Mademoiselle Saget, in her turn, began to sniff at a +plate of cold fried fish. The price of it was three sous, but, by dint +of bargaining, she got it for two. The cold fish then vanished into the +bag. Other customers now arrived, and with a uniform impulse lowered +their noses over the plates. The smell of the stall was very disgusting, +suggestive alike of greasy dishes and a dirty sink.[*] + + [*] Particulars of the strange and repulsive trade in + harlequins, which even nowadays is not extinct, will be + found in Privat d'Anglemont's well-known book _Paris + Anecdote_, written at the very period with which M. Zola + deals in the present work. My father, Henry Vizetelly, also + gave some account of it in his _Glances Back through Seventy + Years_, in a chapter describing the odd ways in which + certain Parisians contrive to get a living.--Translator. + +"Come and see me to-morrow," the stallkeeper called out to the old maid, +"and I'll put something nice on one side for you. There's going to be a +grand dinner at the Tuileries to-night." + +Mademoiselle Saget was just promising to come, when, happening to turn +round, she discovered Gavard looking at her and listening to what she +was saying. She turned very red, and, contracting her skinny shoulders, +hurried away, affecting not to recognise him. Gavard, however, followed +her for a few yards, shrugging his shoulders and muttering to himself +that he was no longer surprised at the old shrew's malice, now he +knew that "she poisoned herself with the filth carted away from the +Tuileries." + +On the very next morning vague rumours began to circulate in the +markets. Madame Lecoeur and La Sarriette were in their own fashion +keeping the oaths of silence they had taken. For her own part, +Mademoiselle Saget warily held her tongue, leaving the two others to +circulate the story of Florent's antecedents. At first only a few meagre +details were hawked about in low tones; then various versions of the +facts got into circulation, incidents were exaggerated, and gradually +quite a legend was constructed, in which Florent played the part of a +perfect bogey man. He had killed ten gendarmes at the barricade in the +Rue Greneta, said some; he had returned to France on a pirate ship whose +crew scoured the seas to murder everyone they came across, said others; +whilst a third set declared that ever since his arrival he had been +observed prowling about at nighttime with suspicious-looking characters, +of whom he was undoubtedly the leader. Soon the imaginative market +women indulged in the highest flights of fancy, revelled in the most +melodramatic ideas. There was talk of a band of smugglers plying their +nefarious calling in the very heart of Paris, and of a vast central +association formed for systematically robbing the stalls in the markets. +Much pity was expressed for the Quenu-Gradelles, mingled with malicious +allusions to their uncle's fortune. That fortune was an endless subject +of discussion. The general opinion was that Florent had returned +to claim his share of the treasure; however, as no good reason was +forthcoming to explain why the division had not taken place already, it +was asserted that Florent was waiting for some opportunity which +might enable him to pocket the whole amount. The Quenu-Gradelles would +certainly be found murdered some morning, it was said; and a rumour +spread that dreadful quarrels already took place every night between the +two brothers and beautiful Lisa. + +When these stories reached the ears of the beautiful Norman, she +shrugged her shoulders and burst out laughing. + +"Get away with you!" she cried, "you don't know him. Why, the dear +fellow's as gentle as a lamb." + +She had recently refused the hand of Monsieur Lebigre, who had at last +ventured upon a formal proposal. For two months past he had given the +Mehudins a bottle of some liqueur every Sunday. It was Rose who brought +it, and she was always charged with a compliment for La Normande, some +pretty speech which she faithfully repeated, without appearing in the +slightest degree embarrassed by the peculiar commission. When Monsieur +Lebigre was rejected, he did not pine, but to show that he took no +offence and was still hopeful, he sent Rose on the following Sunday with +two bottles of champagne and a large bunch of flowers. She gave them +into the handsome fish-girl's own hands, repeating, as she did so, the +wine dealer's prose madrigal: + +"Monsieur Lebigre begs you to drink this to his health, which has been +greatly shaken by you know what. He hopes that you will one day be +willing to cure him, by being for him as pretty and as sweet as these +flowers." + +La Normande was much amused by the servant's delighted air. She kissed +her as she spoke to her of her master, and asked her if he wore braces, +and snored at nights. Then she made her take the champagne and flowers +back with her. "Tell Monsieur Lebigre," said she, "that he's not to send +you here again. It quite vexes me to see you coming here so meekly, with +your bottles under your arms." + +"Oh, he wishes me to come," replied Rose, as she went away. "It is wrong +of you to distress him. He is a very handsome man." + +La Normande, however, was quite conquered by Florent's affectionate +nature. She continued to follow Muche's lessons of an evening in the +lamplight, indulging the while in a dream of marrying this man who was +so kind to children. She would still keep her fish stall, while he would +doubtless rise to a position of importance in the administrative staff +of the markets. This dream of hers, however, was scarcely furthered by +the tutor's respectful bearing towards her. He bowed to her, and kept +himself at a distance, when she have liked to laugh with him, and love +him as she knew how to love. But it was just this covert resistance +on Florent's part which continually brought her back to the dream of +marrying him. She realised that he lived in a loftier sphere than her +own; and by becoming his wife she imagined that her vanity would reap no +little satisfaction. + +She was greatly surprised when she learned the history of the man she +loved. He had never mentioned a word of those things to her; and she +scolded him about it. His extraordinary adventures only increased her +tenderness for him, and for evenings together she made him relate all +that had befallen him. She trembled with fear lest the police should +discover him; but he reassured her, saying that the matter was now too +old for the police to trouble their heads about it. One evening he told +her of the woman on the Boulevard Montmartre, the woman in the pink +bonnet, whose blood had dyed his hands. He still frequently thought of +that poor creature. His anguish-stricken mind had often dwelt upon her +during the clear nights he had passed in Cayenne; and he had returned +to France with a wild dream of meeting her again on some footway in the +bright sunshine, even though he could still feel her corpse-like weight +across his legs. And yet, he thought, she might perhaps have recovered. +At times he received quite a shock while he was walking through the +streets, on fancying that he recognised her; and he followed pink +bonnets and shawl-draped shoulders with a wildly beating heart. When he +closed his eyes he could see her walking, and advancing towards him; +but she let her shawl slip down, showing the two red stains on her +chemisette; and then he saw that her face was pale as wax, and that +her eyes were blank, and her lips distorted by pain. For a long time he +suffered from not knowing her name, from being forced to look upon her +as a mere shadow, whose recollection filled him with sorrow. Whenever +any idea of woman crossed his mind it was always she that rose up before +him, as the one pure, tender wife. He often found himself fancying that +she might be looking for him on that boulevard where she had fallen +dead, and that if she had met him a few seconds sooner she would have +given him a life of joy. And he wished for no other wife; none other +existed for him. When he spoke of her, his voice trembled to such a +degree that La Normande, her wits quickened by her love, guessed his +secret, and felt jealous. + +"Oh, it's really much better that you shouldn't see her again," she said +maliciously. "She can't look particularly nice by this time." + +Florent turned pale with horror at the vision which these words evoked. +His love was rotting in her grave. He could not forgive La Normande's +savage cruelty, which henceforth made him see the grinning jaws and +hollow eyes of a skeleton within that lovely pink bonnet. Whenever the +fish-girl tried to joke with him on the subject he turned quite angry, +and silenced her with almost coarse language. + +That, however, which especially surprised the beautiful Norman in +these revelations was the discovery that she had been quite mistaken in +supposing that she was enticing a lover away from handsome Lisa. This +so diminished her feeling of triumph, that for a week or so her love +for Florent abated. She consoled herself, however, with the story of the +inheritance, no longer calling Lisa a strait-laced prude, but a thief +who kept back her brother-in-law's money, and assumed sanctimonious airs +to deceive people. Every evening, while Muche took his writing lesson, +the conversation turned upon old Gradelle's treasure. + +"Did anyone ever hear of such an idea?" the fish-girl would exclaim, +with a laugh. "Did the old man want to salt his money, since he put +it in a salting-tub? Eighty-five thousand francs! That's a nice sum +of money! And, besides, the Quenus, no doubt, lied about it--there +was perhaps two or three times as much. Ah, if I were in your place, I +shouldn't lose any time about claiming my share; indeed I shouldn't." + +"I've no need of anything," was Florent's invariable answer. "I +shouldn't know what to do with the money if I had it." + +"Oh, you're no man!" cried La Normande, losing all control over herself. +"It's pitiful! Can't you see that the Quenus are laughing at you? That +great fat thing passes all her husband's old clothes over to you. I'm +not saying this to hurt your feelings, but everybody makes remarks about +it. Why, the whole neighbourhood has seen the greasy pair of trousers, +which you're now wearing, on your brother's legs for three years and +more! If I were in your place I'd throw their dirty rags in their faces, +and insist upon my rights. Your share comes to forty-two thousand five +hundred francs, doesn't it? Well, I shouldn't go out of the place till +I'd got forty-two thousand five hundred francs." + +It was useless for Florent to explain to her that his sister-in-law had +offered to pay him his share, that she was taking care of it for him, +and that it was he himself who had refused to receive it. He entered +into the most minute particulars, seeking to convince her of the Quenus' +honesty, but she sarcastically replied: "Oh, yes, I dare say! I know all +about their honesty. That fat thing folds it up every morning and puts +it away in her wardrobe for fear it should get soiled. Really, I quite +pity you, my poor friend. It's easy to gull you, for you can't see any +further than a child of five. One of these days she'll simply put your +money in her pocket, and you'll never look on it again. Shall I go, now, +and claim your share for you, just to see what she says? There'd be +some fine fun, I can tell you! I'd either have the money, or I'd break +everything in the house--I swear I would!" + +"No, no, it's no business of yours," Florent replied, quite alarmed. +"I'll see about it; I may possibly be wanting some money soon." + +At this La Normande assumed an air of doubt, shrugged her shoulders, and +told him that he was really too chicken-hearted. Her one great aim now +was to embroil him with the Quenu-Gradelles, and she employed every +means she could think of to effect her purpose, both anger and banter, +as well as affectionate tenderness. She also cherished another design. +When she had succeeded in marrying Florent, she would go and administer +a sound cuffing to beautiful Lisa, if the latter did not yield up the +money. As she lay awake in her bed at night she pictured every detail of +the scene. She saw herself sitting down in the middle of the pork shop +in the busiest part of the day, and making a terrible fuss. She brooded +over this idea to such an extent, it obtained such a hold upon her, that +she would have been willing to marry Florent simply in order to be able +to go and demand old Gradelle's forty-two thousand five hundred francs. + +Old Madame Mehudin, exasperated by La Normande's dismissal of Monsieur +Lebigre, proclaimed everywhere that her daughter was mad, and that the +"long spindle-shanks" must have administered some insidious drug to her. +When she learned the Cayenne story, her anger was terrible. She called +Florent a convict and murderer, and said it was no wonder that his +villainy had kept him lank and flat. Her versions of Florent's biography +were the most horrible of all that were circulated in the neighbourhood. +At home she kept a moderately quiet tongue in her head, and restricted +herself to muttered indignation, and a show of locking up the drawer +where the silver was kept whenever Florent arrived. One day, however, +after a quarrel with her elder daughter, she exclaimed: + +"Things can't go on much longer like this! It is that vile man who is +setting you against me. Take care that you don't try me too far, or I'll +go and denounce him to the police. I will, as true as I stand here!" + +"You'll denounce him!" echoed La Normande, trembling violently, +and clenching her fists. "You'd better not! Ah, if you weren't my +mother----" + +At this, Claire, who was a spectator of the quarrel, began to laugh, +with a nervous laughter that seemed to rasp her throat. For some time +past she had been gloomier and more erratic than ever, invariably +showing red eyes and a pale face. + +"Well, what would you do?" she asked. "Would you give her a cuffing? +Perhaps you'd like to give me, your sister, one as well? I dare say it +will end in that. But I'll clear the house of him. I'll go to the police +to save mother the trouble." + +Then, as La Normande almost choked with the angry threats that rose +to her throat, the younger girl added: "I'll spare you the exertion of +beating me. I'll throw myself into the river as I come back over the +bridge." + +Big tears were streaming from her eyes; and she rushed off to her +bedroom, banging the doors violently behind her. Old Madame Mehudin said +nothing more about denouncing Florent. Muche, however, told La Normande +that he met his grandma talking with Monsieur Lebigre in every corner of +the neighbourhood. + +The rivalry between the beautiful Norman and the beautiful Lisa +now assumed a less aggressive but more disturbing character. In the +afternoon, when the red-striped canvas awning was drawn down in front +of the pork shop, the fish-girl would remark that the big fat thing felt +afraid, and was concealing herself. She was also much exasperated by +the occasional lowering of the window-blind, on which was pictured +a hunting-breakfast in a forest glade, with ladies and gentlemen in +evening dress partaking of a red pasty, as big as themselves, on the +yellow grass. + +Beautiful Lisa, however, was by no means afraid. As soon as the sun +began to sink she drew up the blind; and, as she sat knitting behind her +counter, she serenely scanned the market square, where numerous urchins +were poking about in the soil under the gratings which protected the +roots of the plane-trees, while porters smoked their pipes on the +benches along the footway, at either end of which was an advertisement +column covered with theatrical posters, alternately green, yellow, red, +and blue, like some harlequin's costume. And while pretending to watch +the passing vehicles, Lisa would really be scrutinising the beautiful +Norman. She might occasionally be seen bending forward, as though her +eyes were following the Bastille and Place Wagram omnibus to the Pointe +Saint Eustache, where it always stopped for a time. But this was only a +manoeuvre to enable her to get a better view of the fish-girl, who, as +a set-off against the blind, retorted by covering her head and fish with +large sheets of brown paper, on the pretext of warding off the rays of +the setting sun. The advantage at present was on Lisa's side, for as +the time for striking the decisive blow approached she manifested the +calmest serenity of bearing, whereas her rival, in spite of all her +efforts to attain the same air of distinction, always lapsed into some +piece of gross vulgarity, which she afterwards regretted. La Normande's +ambition was to look "like a lady." Nothing irritated her more than to +hear people extolling the good manners of her rival. This weak point +of hers had not escaped old Madame Mehudin's observation, and she now +directed all her attacks upon it. + +"I saw Madame Quenu standing at her door this evening," she would +say sometimes. "It is quite amazing how well she wears. And she's so +refined-looking, too; quite the lady, indeed. It's the counter that does +it, I'm sure. A fine counter gives a woman such a respectable look." + +In this remark there was a veiled allusion to Monsieur Lebigre's +proposal. The beautiful Norman would make no reply; but for a moment or +two she would seem deep in thought. In her mind's eye she saw herself +behind the counter of the wine shop at the other corner of the street, +forming a pendent, as it were, to beautiful Lisa. It was this that first +shook her love for Florent. + +To tell the truth, it was now becoming a very difficult thing to defend +Florent. The whole neighbourhood was in arms against him; it seemed as +though everyone had an immediate interest in exterminating him. Some of +the market people swore that he had sold himself to the police; while +others asserted that he had been seen in the butter-cellar, attempting +to make holes in the wire grating, with the intention of tossing lighted +matches through them. There was a vast increase of slander, a perfect +flood of abuse, the source of which could not be exactly determined. +The fish pavilion was the last one to join in the revolt against the +inspector. The fish-wives liked Florent on account of his gentleness, +and for some time they defended him; but, influenced by the stallkeepers +of the butter and fruit pavilions, they at last gave way. Then +hostilities began afresh between these huge, swelling women and the +lean and lank inspector. He was lost in the whirl of the voluminous +petticoats and buxom bodices which surged furiously around his scraggy +shoulders. However, he understood nothing, but pursued his course +towards the realisation of his one haunting idea. + +At every hour of the day, and in every corner of the market, +Mademoiselle Saget's black bonnet was now to be seen in the midst of +this outburst of indignation. Her little pale face seemed to multiply. +She had sworn a terrible vengeance against the company which assembled +in Monsieur Lebigre's little cabinet. She accused them of having +circulated the story that she lived on waste scraps of meat. The truth +was that old Gavard had told the others one evening that the "old +nanny-goat" who came to play the spy upon them gorged herself with the +filth which the Bonapartist clique tossed away. Clemence felt quite ill +on hearing this, and Robine hurriedly gulped down a draught of beer, as +though to wash his throat. In Gavard's opinion, the scraps of meat +left on the Emperor's plate were so much political ordure, the putrid +remnants of all the filth of the reign. Thenceforth the party at +Monsieur Lebigre's looked on Mademoiselle Saget as a creature whom no +one could touch except with tongs. She was regarded as some unclean +animal that battened upon corruption. Clemence and Gavard circulated the +story so freely in the markets that the old maid found herself seriously +injured in her intercourse with the shopkeepers, who unceremoniously +bade her go off to the scrap-stalls when she came to haggle and gossip +at their establishments without the least intention of buying anything. +This cut her off from her sources of information; and sometimes she was +altogether ignorant of what was happening. She shed tears of rage, and +in one such moment of anger she bluntly said to La Sarriette and Madame +Lecoeur: "You needn't give me any more hints: I'll settle your Gavard's +hash for him now--that I will!" + +The two women were rather startled, but refrained from all protestation. +The next day, however, Mademoiselle Saget had calmed down, and again +expressed much tender-hearted pity for that poor Monsieur Gavard who was +so badly advised, and was certainly hastening to his ruin. + +Gavard was undoubtedly compromising himself. Ever since the conspiracy +had begun to ripen he had carried the revolver, which caused Madame +Leonce so much alarm, in his pocket wherever he went. It was a big, +formidable-looking weapon, which he had bought of the principal gunmaker +in Paris. He exhibited it to all the women in the poultry market, like a +schoolboy who has got some prohibited novel hidden in his desk. First he +would allow the barrel to peer out of his pocket, and call attention +to it with a wink. Then he affected a mysterious reticence, indulged in +vague hints and insinuations--played, in short, the part of a man who +revelled in feigning fear. The possession of this revolver gave +him immense importance, placed him definitely amongst the dangerous +characters of Paris. Sometimes, when he was safe inside his stall, he +would consent to take it out of his pocket, and exhibit it to two or +three of the women. He made them stand before him so as to conceal him +with their petticoats, and then he brandished the weapon, cocked the +lock, caused the breech to revolve, and took aim at one of the geese or +turkeys that were hanging in the stall. He was immensely delighted at +the alarm manifested by the women; but eventually reassured them by +stating that the revolver was not loaded. However, he carried a supply +of cartridges about with him, in a case which he opened with the most +elaborate precautions. When he had allowed his friends to feel +the weight of the cartridges, he would again place both weapon and +ammunition in his pockets. And afterwards, crossing his arms over his +breast, he would chatter away jubilantly for hours. + +"A man's a man when he's got a weapon like that," he would say with a +swaggering air. "I don't care a fig now for the gendarmes. A friend and +I went to try it last Sunday on the plain of Saint Denis. Of course, +you know, a man doesn't tell everyone that he's got a plaything of that +sort. But, ah! my dears, we fired at a tree, and hit it every time. Ah, +you'll see, you'll see. You'll hear of Anatole one of these days, I can +tell you." + +He had bestowed the name of Anatole upon the revolver; and he carried +things so far that in a week's time both weapon and cartridges were +known to all the women in the pavilion. His friendship for Florent +seemed to them suspicious; he was too sleek and rich to be visited with +the hatred that was manifested towards the inspector; still, he lost the +esteem of the shrewder heads amongst his acquaintances, and succeeded in +terrifying the timid ones. This delighted him immensely. + +"It is very imprudent for a man to carry firearms about with him," said +Mademoiselle Saget. "Monsieur Gavard's revolver will end by playing him +a nasty trick." + +Gavard now showed the most jubilant bearing at Monsieur Lebigre's. +Florent, since ceasing to take his meals with the Quenus, had come +almost to live in the little "cabinet." He breakfasted, dined, and +constantly shut himself up there. In fact he had converted the place +almost into a sort of private room of his own, where he left his old +coats and books and papers lying about. Monsieur Lebigre had offered no +objection to these proceedings; indeed, he had even removed one of the +tables to make room for a cushioned bench, on which Florent could +have slept had he felt so inclined. When the inspector manifested any +scruples about taking advantage of Monsieur Lebigre's kindness, the +latter told him to do as he pleased, saying that the whole house was at +his service. Logre also manifested great friendship for him, and even +constituted himself his lieutenant. He was constantly discussing affairs +with him, rendering an account of the steps he was supposed to take, and +furnishing the names of newly affiliated associates. Logre, indeed, had +now assumed the duties of organiser; on him rested the task of bringing +the various plotters together, forming the different sections, and +weaving each mesh of the gigantic net into which Paris was to fall at +a given signal. Florent meantime remained the leader, the soul of the +conspiracy. + +However, much as the hunchback seemed to toil, he attained no +appreciable result. Although he had loudly asserted that in each +district of Paris he knew two or three groups of men as determined and +trustworthy as those who met at Monsieur Lebigre's, he had never yet +given any precise information about them, but had merely mentioned a +name here and there, and recounted stories of endless alleged secret +expeditions, and the wonderful enthusiasm that the people manifested +for the cause. He made a great point of the hand-grasps he had received. +So-and-so, whom he thou'd and thee'd, had squeezed his fingers and +declared he would join them. At the Gros Caillou a big, burly fellow, +who would make a magnificent sectional leader, had almost dislocated +his arm in his enthusiasm; while in the Rue Popincourt a whole group +of working men had embraced him. He declared that at a day's notice a +hundred thousand active supporters could be gathered together. Each time +that he made his appearance in the little room, wearing an exhausted +air, and dropping with apparent fatigue on the bench, he launched into +fresh variations of his usual reports, while Florent duly took notes of +what he said, and relied on him to realise his many promises. And soon +in Florent's pockets the plot assumed life. The notes were looked upon +as realities, as indisputable facts, upon which the entire plan of the +rising was constructed. All that now remained to be done was to wait +for a favourable opportunity, and Logre asserted with passionate +gesticulations that the whole thing would go on wheels. + +Florent was at last perfectly happy. His feet no longer seemed to tread +the ground; he was borne aloft by his burning desire to pass sentence on +all the wickedness he had seen committed. He had all the credulity of a +little child, all the confidence of a hero. If Logre had told him that +the Genius of Liberty perched on the Colonne de Juillet[*] would have +come down and set itself at their head, he would hardly have expressed +any surprise. In the evenings, at Monsieur Lebigre's, he showed great +enthusiasm and spoke effusively of the approaching battle, as though it +were a festival to which all good and honest folks would be invited. But +although Gavard in his delight began to play with his revolver, Charvet +got more snappish than ever, and sniggered and shrugged his shoulders. +His rival's assumption of the leadership angered him extremely; indeed, +quite disgusted him with politics. One evening when, arriving early, +he happened to find himself alone with Logre and Lebigre, he frankly +unbosomed himself. + + [*] The column erected on the Place de la Bastille in memory + of the Revolution of July 1830, by which Charles X was + dethroned.--Translator. + +"Why," said he, "that fellow Florent hasn't an idea about politics, +and would have done far better to seek a berth as writing master in a +ladies' school! It would be nothing short of a misfortune if he were to +succeed, for, with his visionary social sentimentalities, he would crush +us down beneath his confounded working men! It's all that, you know, +which ruins the party. We don't need any more tearful sentimentalists, +humanitarian poets, people who kiss and slobber over each other for the +merest scratch. But he won't succeed! He'll just get locked up, and that +will be the end of it." + +Logre and the wine dealer made no remark, but allowed Charvet to talk on +without interruption. + +"And he'd have been locked up long ago," he continued, "if he were +anything as dangerous as he fancies he is. The airs he puts on just +because he's been to Cayenne are quite sickening. But I'm sure that the +police knew of his return the very first day he set foot in Paris, and +if they haven't interfered with him it's simply because they hold him in +contempt." + +At this Logre gave a slight start. + +"They've been dogging me for the last fifteen years," resumed the +Hebertist, with a touch of pride, "but you don't hear me proclaiming it +from the house-tops. However, he won't catch me taking part in his riot. +I'm not going to let myself be nabbed like a mere fool. I dare say he's +already got half a dozen spies at his heels, who will take him by the +scruff of the neck whenever the authorities give the word." + +"Oh, dear, no! What an idea!" exclaimed Monsieur Lebigre, who usually +observed complete silence. He was rather pale, and looked at Logre, who +was gently rubbing his hump against the partition. + +"That's mere imagination," murmured the hunchback. + +"Very well; call it imagination, if you like," replied the tutor; "but +I know how these things are arranged. At all events, I don't mean to +let the 'coppers' nab me this time. You others, of course, will please +yourselves, but if you take my advice--and you especially, Monsieur +Lebigre--you'll take care not to let your establishment be compromised, +or the authorities will close it." + +At this Logre could not restrain a smile. On several subsequent +occasions Charvet plied him and Lebigre with similar arguments, as +though he wished to detach them from Florent's project by frightening +them; and he was much surprised at the calmness and confidence which +they both continued to manifest. For his own part, he still came pretty +regularly in the evening with Clemence. The tall brunette was no longer +a clerk at the fish auctions--Monsieur Manoury had discharged her. + +"Those salesmen are all scoundrels!" Logre growled, when he heard of her +dismissal. + +Thereupon Clemence, who, lolling back against the partition, was rolling +a cigarette between her long, slim fingers, replied in a sharp voice: +"Oh, it's fair fighting! We don't hold the same political views, you +know. That fellow Manoury, who's making no end of money, would lick the +Emperor's boots. For my part, if I were an auctioneer, I wouldn't keep +him in my service for an hour." + +The truth was that she had been indulging in some clumsy pleasantry, +amusing herself one day by inscribing in the sale-book, alongside of the +dabs and skate and mackerel sold by auction, the names of some of the +best-known ladies and gentlemen of the Court. This bestowal of piscine +names upon high dignitaries, these entries of the sale of duchesses +and baronesses at thirty sous apiece, had caused Monsieur Manoury much +alarm. Gavard was still laughing over it. + +"Well, never mind!" said he, patting Clemence's arm; "you are every inch +a man, you are!" + +Clemence had discovered a new method of mixing her grog. She began by +filling her glass with hot water; and after adding some sugar she poured +the rum drop by drop upon the slice of lemon floating on the surface, +in such wise that it did not mix with the water. Then she lighted it and +with a grave expression watched it blaze, slowly smoking her cigarette +while the flame of the alcohol cast a greenish tinge over her face. +"Grog," however, was an expensive luxury in which she could not afford +to indulge after she had lost her place. Charvet told her, with a +strained laugh, that she was no longer a millionaire. She supported +herself by giving French lessons, at a very early hour in the morning, +to a young lady residing in the Rue de Miromesnil, who was perfecting +her education in secrecy, unknown even to her maid. And so now Clemence +merely ordered a glass of beer in the evenings, but this she drank, it +must be admitted, with the most philosophical composure. + +The evenings in the little sanctum were now far less noisy than they had +been. Charvet would suddenly lapse into silence, pale with suppressed +rage, when the others deserted him to listen to his rival. The thought +that he had been the king of the place, had ruled the whole party with +despotic power before Florent's appearance there, gnawed at his heart, +and he felt all the regretful pangs of a dethroned monarch. If he +still came to the meetings, it was only because he could not resist the +attraction of the little room where he had spent so many happy hours in +tyrannising over Gavard and Robine. In those days even Logre's hump had +been his property, as well as Alexandre's fleshy arms and Lacaille's +gloomy face. He had done what he liked with them, stuffed his opinions +down their throats, belaboured their shoulders with his sceptre. But +now he endured much bitterness of spirit; and ended by quite ceasing +to speak, simply shrugging his shoulders and whistling disdainfully, +without condescending to combat the absurdities vented in his presence. +What exasperated him more than anything else was the gradual way in +which he had been ousted from his position of predominance without +being conscious of it. He could not see that Florent was in any way his +superior, and after hearing the latter speak for hours, in his gentle +and somewhat sad voice, he often remarked: "Why, the fellow's a parson! +He only wants a cassock!" + +The others, however, to all appearance eagerly absorbed whatever the +inspector said. When Charvet saw Florent's clothes hanging from every +peg, he pretended not to know where he could put his hat so that it +would not be soiled. He swept away the papers that lay about the little +room, declaring that there was no longer any comfort for anyone in +the place since that "gentleman" had taken possession of it. He even +complained to the landlord, and asked if the room belonged to a single +customer or to the whole company. This invasion of his realm was indeed +the last straw. Men were brutes, and he conceived an unspeakable scorn +for humanity when he saw Logre and Monsieur Lebigre fixing their eyes on +Florent with rapt attention. Gavard with his revolver irritated him, and +Robine, who sat silent behind his glass of beer, seemed to him to be the +only sensible person in the company, and one who doubtless judged +people by their real value, and was not led away by mere words. As +for Alexandre and Lacaille, they confirmed him in his belief that +"the people" were mere fools, and would require at least ten years of +revolutionary dictatorship to learn how to conduct themselves. + +Logre, however, declared that the sections would soon be completely +organised; and Florent began to assign the different parts that each +would have to play. One evening, after a final discussion in which he +again got worsted, Charvet rose up, took his hat, and exclaimed: "Well, +I'll wish you all good night. You can get your skulls cracked if it +amuses you; but I would have you understand that I won't take any part +in the business. I have never abetted anybody's ambition." + +Clemence, who had also risen and was putting on her shawl, coldly added: +"The plan's absurd." + +Then, as Robine sat watching their departure with a gentle glance, +Charvet asked him if he were not coming with them; but Robine, having +still some beer left in his glass, contented himself with shaking hands. +Charvet and Clemence never returned again; and Lacaille one day informed +the company that they now frequented a beer-house in the Rue Serpente. +He had seen them through the window, gesticulating with great energy, in +the midst of an attentive group of very young men. + +Florent was never able to enlist Claude amongst his supporters. He +had once entertained the idea of gaining him over to his own political +views, of making a disciple of him, an assistant in his revolutionary +task; and in order to initiate him he had taken him one evening to +Monsieur Lebigre's. Claude, however, spent the whole time in making +a sketch of Robine, in his hat and chestnut cloak, and with his beard +resting on the knob of his walking-stick. + +"Really, you know," he said to Florent, as they came away, "all that you +have been saying inside there doesn't interest me in the least. It may +be very clever, but, for my own part, I see nothing in it. Still, you've +got a splendid fellow there, that blessed Robine. He's as deep as a +well. I'll come with you again some other time, but it won't be for +politics. I shall make sketches of Logre and Gavard, so as to put them +with Robine in a picture which I was thinking about while you were +discussing the question of--what do you call it? eh? Oh, the question +of the two Chambers. Just fancy, now, a picture of Gavard and Logre and +Robine talking politics, entrenched behind their glasses of beer! It +would be the success of the Salon, my dear fellow, an overwhelming +success, a genuine modern picture!" + +Florent was grieved by the artist's political scepticism; so he took him +up to his bedroom, and kept him on the narrow balcony in front of the +bluish mass of the markets, till two o'clock in the morning, lecturing +him, and telling him that he was no man to show himself so indifferent +to the happiness of his country. + +"Well, you're perhaps right," replied Claude, shaking his head; "I'm an +egotist. I can't even say that I paint for the good of my country; for, +in the first place, my sketches frighten everybody, and then, when I'm +busy painting, I think about nothing but the pleasure I take in it. When +I'm painting, it is as though I were tickling myself; it makes me laugh +all over my body. Well, I can't help it, you know; it's my nature to +be like that; and you can't expect me to go and drown myself in +consequence. Besides, France can get on very well without me, as my +aunt Lisa says. And--may I be quite frank with you?--if I like you it's +because you seem to me to follow politics just as I follow painting. You +titillate yourself, my good friend." + +Then, as Florent protested, he continued: + +"Yes, yes; you are an artist in your own way; you dream of politics, +and I'll wager you spend hours here at night gazing at the stars and +imagining they are the voting-papers of infinity. And then you titillate +yourself with your ideas of truth and justice; and this is so evidently +the case that those ideas of yours cause just as much alarm to +commonplace middle-class folks as my sketches do. Between ourselves, +now, do you imagine that if you were Robine I should take any pleasure +in your friendship? Ah, no, my friend, you are a great poet!" + +Then he began to joke on the subject, saying that politics caused him no +trouble, and that he had got accustomed to hear people discussing them +in beer shops and studios. This led him to speak of a cafe in the +Rue Vauvilliers; the cafe on the ground-floor of the house where La +Sarriette lodged. This smoky place, with its torn, velvet-cushioned +seats, and marble table-tops discoloured by the drippings from +coffee-cups, was the chief resort of the young people of the markets. +Monsieur Jules reigned there over a company of porters, apprentices, +and gentlemen in white blouses and velvet caps. Two curling "Newgate +knockers" were glued against his temples; and to keep his neck white he +had it scraped with a razor every Saturday at a hair-dresser's in the +Rue des Deux Ecus. At the cafe he gave the tone to his associates, +especially when he played billiards with studied airs and graces, +showing off his figure to the best advantage. After the game the company +would begin to chat. They were a very reactionary set, taking a delight +in the doings of "society." For his part, Monsieur Jules read the +lighter boulevardian newspapers, and knew the performers at the smaller +theatres, talked familiarly of the celebrities of the day, and could +always tell whether the piece first performed the previous evening had +been a success or a failure. He had a weakness, however, for politics. +His ideal man was Morny, as he curtly called him. He read the reports of +the discussions of the Corps Legislatif, and laughed with glee over the +slightest words that fell from Morny's lips. Ah, Morny was the man to +sit upon your rascally republicans! And he would assert that only the +scum detested the Emperor, for his Majesty desired that all respectable +people should have a good time of it. + +"I've been to the cafe occasionally," Claude said to Florent. "The young +men there are vastly amusing, with their clay pipes and their talk about +the Court balls! To hear them chatter you might almost fancy they were +invited to the Tuileries. La Sarriette's young man was making great fun +of Gavard the other evening. He called him uncle. When La Sarriette came +downstairs to look for him she was obliged to pay his bill. It cost her +six francs, for he had lost at billiards, and the drinks they had played +for were owing. And now, good night, my friend, and pleasant dreams. If +ever you become a Minister, I'll give you some hints on the beautifying +of Paris." + +Florent was obliged to relinquish the hope of making a docile disciple +of Claude. This was a source of grief to him, for, blinded though he +was by his fanatical ardour, he at last grew conscious of the +ever-increasing hostility which surrounded him. Even at the Mehudins' he +now met with a colder reception: the old woman would laugh slyly; Muche +no longer obeyed him, and the beautiful Norman cast glances of hasty +impatience at him, unable as she was to overcome his coldness. At the +Quenus', too, he had lost Auguste's friendship. The assistant no longer +came to see him in his room on the way to bed, being greatly alarmed +by the reports which he heard concerning this man with whom he had +previously shut himself up till midnight. Augustine had made her lover +swear that he would never again be guilty of such imprudence; however, +it was Lisa who turned the young man into Florent's determined enemy by +begging him and Augustine to defer their marriage till her cousin should +vacate the little bedroom at the top of the house, as she did not want +to give that poky dressing-room on the first floor to the new shop +girl whom she would have to engage. From that time forward Auguste was +anxious that the "convict" should be arrested. He had found such a +pork shop as he had long dreamed of, not at Plaisance certainly, but at +Montrouge, a little farther away. And now trade had much improved, and +Augustine, with her silly, overgrown girl's laugh, said that she was +quite ready. So every night, whenever some slight noise awoke him, +August was thrilled with delight as he imagined that the police were at +last arresting Florent. + +Nothing was said at the Quenu-Gradelles' about all the rumours which +circulated. There was a tacit understanding amongst the staff of the +pork shop to keep silent respecting them in the presence of Quenu. The +latter, somewhat saddened by the falling-out between his brother and his +wife, sought consolation in stringing his sausages and salting his pork. +Sometimes he would come and stand on his door-step, with his red face +glowing brightly above his white apron, which his increasing corpulence +stretched quite taut, and never did he suspect all the gossip which his +appearance set on foot in the markets. Some of the women pitied him, and +thought that he was losing flesh, though he was, indeed, stouter than +ever; while others, on the contrary, reproached him for not having grown +thin with shame at having such a brother as Florent. He, however, like +one of those betrayed husbands who are always the last to know what +has befallen them, continued in happy ignorance, displaying a +light-heartedness which was quite affecting. He would stop some +neighbour's wife on the footway to ask her if she found his brawn or +truffled boar's head to her liking, and she would at once assume a +sympathetic expression, and speak in a condoling way, as though all the +pork on his premises had got jaundice. + +"What do they all mean by looking at me with such a funereal air?" he +asked Lisa one day. "Do you think I'm looking ill?" + +Lisa, well aware that he was terribly afraid of illness, and groaned +and made a dreadful disturbance if he suffered the slightest ailment, +reassured him on this point, telling him that he was as blooming as +a rose. The fine pork shop, however, was becoming gloomy; the mirrors +seemed to pale, the marbles grew frigidly white, and the cooked meats on +the counter stagnated in yellow fat or lakes of cloudy jelly. One day, +even, Claude came into the shop to tell his aunt that the display in +the window looked quite "in the dumps." This was really the truth. The +Strasburg tongues on their beds of blue paper-shavings had a melancholy +whiteness of hue, like the tongues of invalids; and the whilom chubby +hams seemed to be wasting away beneath their mournful green top-knots. +Inside the shop, too, when customers asked for a black-pudding or ten +sous' worth of bacon, or half a pound of lard, they spoke in subdued, +sorrowful voices, as though they were in the bed-chamber of a dying man. +There were always two or three lachrymose women in front of the chilled +heating-pan. Beautiful Lisa meantime discharged the duties of chief +mourner with silent dignity. Her white apron fell more primly than ever +over her black dress. Her hands, scrupulously clean and closely girded +at the wrists by long white sleevelets, her face with its becoming air +of sadness, plainly told all the neighbourhood, all the inquisitive +gossips who streamed into the shop from morning to night, that they, the +Quenu-Gradelles, were suffering from unmerited misfortune, but that she +knew the cause of it, and would triumph over it at last. And sometimes +she stooped to look at the two gold-fish, who also seemed ill at ease +as they swam languidly around the aquarium in the window, and her glance +seemed to promise them better days in the future. + +Beautiful Lisa now only allowed herself one indulgence. She fearlessly +patted Marjolin's satiny chin. The young man had just come out of the +hospital. His skull had healed, and he looked as fat and merry as ever; +but even the little intelligence he had possessed had left him, he was +now quite an idiot. The gash in his skull must have reached his brain, +for he had become a mere animal. The mind of a child of five dwelt in +his sturdy frame. He laughed and stammered, he could no longer pronounce +his words properly, and he was as submissively obedient as a sheep. +Cadine took entire possession of him again; surprised, at first, at the +alteration in him, and then quite delighted at having this big fellow to +do exactly as she liked with. He was her doll, her toy, her slave in +all respects but one: she could not prevent him from going off to Madame +Quenu's every now and then. She thumped him, but he did not seem to feel +her blows; as soon as she had slung her basket round her neck, and set +off to sell her violets in the Rue du Pont Neuf and the Rue de Turbigo, +he went to prowl about in front of the pork shop. + +"Come in!" Lisa cried to him. + +She generally gave him some gherkins, of which he was extremely fond; +and he ate them, laughing in a childish way, whilst he stood in front of +the counter. The sight of the handsome mistress of the shop filled him +with rapture; he often clapped his hands with joy and began to jump +about and vent little cries of pleasure, like a child delighted at +something shown to it. On the first few occasions when he came to see +her after leaving the hospital Lisa had feared that he might remember +what had happened. + +"Does your head still hurt you?" she asked him. + +But he swayed about and burst into a merry laugh as he answered no; and +then Lisa gently inquired: "You had a fall, hadn't you?" + +"Yes, a fall, fall, fall," he sang, in a happy voice, tapping his skull +the while. + +Then, as though he were in a sort of ecstasy, he continued in lingering +notes, as he gazed at Lisa, "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!" This +quite touched Madame Quenu. She had prevailed upon Gavard to keep him +in his service. It was on the occasions when he so humbly vented his +admiration that she caressed his chin, and told him that he was a good +lad. He smiled with childish satisfaction, at times closing his eyes +like some domestic pet fondled by its mistress; and Lisa thought to +herself that she was making him some compensation for the blow with +which she had felled him in the cellar of the poultry market. + +However, the Quenus' establishment still remained under a cloud. Florent +sometimes ventured to show himself, and shook hands with his brother, +while Lisa observed a frigid silence. He even dined with them sometimes +on Sundays, at long intervals, and Quenu then made great efforts at +gaiety, but could not succeed in imparting any cheerfulness to the meal. +He ate badly, and ended by feeling altogether put out. One evening, +after one of these icy family gatherings, he said to his wife with tears +in his eyes: + +"What can be the matter with me? Is it true that I'm not ill? Don't you +really see anything wrong in my appearance? I feel just as though I'd +got a heavy weight somewhere inside me. And I'm so sad and depressed, +too, without in the least knowing why. What can it be, do you think?" + +"Oh, a little attack of indigestion, I dare say," replied Lisa. + +"No, no; it's been going on too long for that; I feel quite crushed +down. Yet the business is going on all right; I've no great worries, and +I am leading just the same steady life as ever. But you, too, my dear, +don't look well; you seem melancholy. If there isn't a change for the +better soon, I shall send for the doctor." + +Lisa looked at him with a grave expression. + +"There's no need of a doctor," she said, "things will soon be all right +again. There's something unhealthy in the atmosphere just now. All the +neighbourhood is unwell." Then, as if yielding to an impulse of anxious +affection, she added: "Don't worry yourself, my dear. I can't have you +falling ill; that would be the crowning blow." + +As a rule she sent him back to the kitchen, knowing that the noise of +the choppers, the tuneful simmering of the fat, and the bubbling of the +pans had a cheering effect upon him. In this way, too, she kept him at +a distance from the indiscreet chatter of Mademoiselle Saget, who now +spent whole mornings in the shop. The old maid seemed bent on arousing +Lisa's alarm, and thus driving her to some extreme step. She began by +trying to obtain her confidence. + +"What a lot of mischievous folks there are about!" she exclaimed; "folks +who would be much better employed in minding their own business. If you +only knew, my dear Madame Quenu--but no, really, I should never dare to +repeat such things to you." + +And, as Madame Quenu replied that she was quite indifferent to gossip, +and that it had no effect upon her, the old maid whispered into her ear +across the counter: "Well, people say, you know, that Monsieur Florent +isn't your cousin at all." + +Then she gradually allowed Lisa to see that she knew the whole story; by +way of proving that she had her quite at her mercy. When Lisa confessed +the truth, equally as a matter of diplomacy, in order that she might +have the assistance of some one who would keep her well posted in all +the gossip of the neighbourhood, the old maid swore that for her own +part she would be as mute as a fish, and deny the truth of the reports +about Florent, even if she were to be led to the stake for it. And +afterwards this drama brought her intense enjoyment; every morning she +came to the shop with some fresh piece of disturbing news. + +"You must be careful," she whispered one day; "I have just heard two +women in the tripe market talking about you know what. I can't interrupt +people and tell them they are lying, you know. It would look so strange. +But the story's got about, and it's spreading farther every day. It +can't be stopped now, I fear; the truth will have to come out." + +A few days later she returned to the assault in all earnest. She made +her appearance looking quite scared, and waited impatiently till there +was no one in the shop, when she burst out in her sibilant voice: + +"Do you know what people are saying now? Well, they say that all those +men who meet at Monsieur Lebigre's have got guns, and are going to +break out again as they did in '48. It's quite distressing to see such +a worthy man as Monsieur Gavard--rich, too, and so respectable--leaguing +himself with such scoundrels! I was very anxious to let you know, on +account of your brother-in-law." + +"Oh, it's mere nonsense, I'm sure; it can't be serious," rejoined Lisa, +just to incite the old maid to tell her more. + +"Not serious, indeed! Why, when one passes along the Rue Pirouette in +the evening one can hear them screaming out in the most dreadful way. +Oh! they make no mystery of it all. You know yourself how they tried to +corrupt your husband. And the cartridges which I have seen them making +from my own window, are they mere nonsense? Well, well, I'm only telling +you this for your own good." + +"Oh! I'm sure of that, and I'm very much obliged to you," replied Lisa; +"but people do invent such stories, you know." + +"Ah, but this is no invention, unfortunately. The whole neighbourhood is +talking of it. It is said, too, that if the police discover the matter +there will be a great many people compromised--Monsieur Gavard, for +instance." + +Madame Quenu shrugged her shoulders as though to say that Monsieur +Gavard was an old fool, and that it would do him good to be locked up. + +"Well, I merely mention Monsieur Gavard as I might mention any of the +others, your brother-in-law, for instance," resumed the old maid with a +wily glance. "Your brother-in-law is the leader, it seems. That's very +annoying for you, and I'm very sorry indeed; for if the police were to +make a descent here they might march Monsieur Quenu off as well. Two +brothers, you know, they're like two fingers of the same hand." + +Beautiful Lisa protested against this, but she turned very pale, for +Mademoiselle Saget's last thrust had touched a vulnerable point. From +that day forward the old maid was ever bringing her stories of innocent +people who had been thrown into prison for extending hospitality to +criminal scoundrels. In the evening, when La Saget went to get her +black-currant syrup at the wine dealer's, she prepared her budget for +the next morning. Rose was but little given to gossiping, and the old +main reckoned chiefly on her own eyes and ears. She had been struck by +Monsieur Lebigre's extremely kind and obliging manner towards Florent, +his eagerness to keep him at his establishment, all the polite +civilities, for which the little money which the other spent in the +house could never recoup him. And this conduct of Monsieur Lebigre's +surprised her the more as she was aware of the position in which the two +men stood in respect to the beautiful Norman. + +"It looks as though Lebigre were fattening him up for sale," she +reflected. "Whom can he want to sell him to, I wonder?" + +One evening when she was in the bar she saw Logre fling himself on the +bench in the sanctum, and heard him speak of his perambulations through +the faubourgs, with the remark that he was dead beat. She cast a hasty +glance at his feet, and saw that there was not a speck of dust on his +boots. Then she smiled quietly, and went off with her black-currant +syrup, her lips closely compressed. + +She used to complete her budget of information on getting back to her +window. It was very high up, commanding a view of all the neighbouring +houses, and proved a source of endless enjoyment to her. She was +constantly installed at it, as though it were an observatory from which +she kept watch upon everything that went on in the neighbourhood. She +was quite familiar with all the rooms opposite her, both on the right +and the left, even to the smallest details of their furniture. She could +have described, without the least omission, the habits of their tenants, +have related if the latter's homes were happy or the contrary, have told +when and how they washed themselves, what they had for dinner, and +who it was that came to see them. Then she obtained a side view of the +markets, and not a woman could walk along the Rue Rambuteau without +being seen by her; and she could have correctly stated whence the woman +had come and whither she was going, what she had got in her basket, +and, in short, every detail about her, her husband, her clothes, her +children, and her means. "That's Madame Loret, over there; she's giving +her son a fine education; that's Madame Hutin, a poor little woman who's +dreadfully neglected by her husband; that's Mademoiselle Cecile, +the butcher's daughter, a girl that no one will marry because +she's scrofulous." In this way she could have continued jerking out +biographical scraps for days together, deriving extraordinary amusement +from the most trivial, uninteresting incidents. However, as soon as +eight o'clock struck, she only had eyes for the frosted "cabinet" window +on which appeared the black shadows of the coterie of politicians. She +discovered the secession of Charvet and Clemence by missing their bony +silhouettes from the milky transparency. Not an incident occurred in +that room but she sooner or later learnt it by some sudden motion of +those silent arms and heads. She acquired great skill in interpretation, +and could divine the meaning of protruding noses, spreading fingers, +gaping mouths, and shrugging shoulders; and in this way she followed +the progress of the conspiracy step by step, in such wise that she could +have told day by day how matters stood. One evening the terrible outcome +of it all was revealed to her. She saw the shadow of Gavard's revolver, +a huge silhouette with pointed muzzle showing very blackly against the +glimmering window. It kept appearing and disappearing so rapidly that it +seemed as though the room was full of revolvers. Those were the firearms +of which Mademoiselle Saget had spoken to Madame Quenu. On another +evening she was much puzzled by the sight of endless lengths of some +material or other, and came to the conclusion that the men must be +manufacturing cartridges. The next morning, however, she made her +appearance in the wine shop by eleven o'clock, on the pretext of asking +Rose if she could let her have a candle, and, glancing furtively into +the little sanctum, she espied a heap of red material lying on the +table. This greatly alarmed her, and her next budget of news was one of +decisive gravity. + +"I don't want to alarm you, Madame Quenu," she said, "but matters are +really looking very serious. Upon my word, I'm quite alarmed. You must +on no account repeat what I am going to confide to you. They would +murder me if they knew I had told you." + +Then, when Lisa had sworn to say nothing that might compromise her, she +told her about the red material. + +"I can't think what it can be. There was a great heap of it. It looked +just like rags soaked in blood. Logre, the hunchback, you know, put one +of the pieces over his shoulder. He looked like a headsman. You may be +sure this is some fresh trickery or other." + +Lisa made no reply, but seemed deep in thought whilst with lowered eyes, +she handled a fork and mechanically arranged some piece of salt pork on +a dish. + +"If I were you," resumed Mademoiselle Saget softly, "I shouldn't be easy +in mind; I should want to know the meaning of it all. Why shouldn't you +go upstairs and examine your brother-in-law's bedroom?" + +At this Lisa gave a slight start, let the fork drop, and glanced +uneasily at the old maid, believing that she had discovered her +intentions. But the other continued: "You would certainly be justified +in doing so. There's no knowing into what danger your brother-in-law may +lead you, if you don't put a check on him. They were talking about you +yesterday at Madame Taboureau's. Ah! you have a most devoted friend in +her. Madame Taboureau said that you were much too easy-going, and that +if she were you she would have put an end to all this long ago." + +"Madame Taboureau said that?" murmured Lisa thoughtfully. + +"Yes, indeed she did; and Madame Taboureau is a woman whose advice is +worth listening to. Try to find out the meaning of all those red bands; +and if you do, you'll tell me, won't you?" + +Lisa, however, was no longer listening to her. She was gazing +abstractedly at the edible snails and Gervais cheeses between the +festoons of sausages in the window. She seemed absorbed in a mental +conflict, which brought two little furrows to her brow. The old maid, +however, poked her nose over the dishes on the counter. + +"Ah, some slices of saveloy!" she muttered, as though she were +speaking to herself. "They'll get very dry cut up like that. And that +black-pudding's broken, I see--a fork's been stuck into it, I expect. It +might be taken away--it's soiling the dish." + +Lisa, still absent-minded, gave her the black-pudding and slices of +saveloy. "You may take them," she said, "if you would care for them." + +The black bag swallowed them up. Mademoiselle Saget was so accustomed +to receiving presents that she had actually ceased to return thanks for +them. Every morning she carried away all the scraps of the pork shop. +And now she went off with the intention of obtaining her dessert from La +Sarriette and Madame Lecoeur, by gossiping to them about Gavard. + +When Lisa was alone again she installed herself on the bench, behind the +counter, as though she thought she would be able to come to a sounder +decision if she were comfortably seated. For the last week she had +been very anxious. Florent had asked Quenu for five hundred francs one +evening, in the easy, matter-of-course way of a man who had money lying +to his credit at the pork shop. Quenu referred him to his wife. This +was distasteful to Florent, who felt somewhat uneasy on applying to +beautiful Lisa. But she immediately went up to her bedroom, brought +the money down and gave it to him, without saying a word, or making the +least inquiry as to what he intended to do with it. She merely remarked +that she had made a note of the payment on the paper containing the +particulars of Florent's share of the inheritance. Three days later he +took a thousand francs. + +"It was scarcely worth while trying to make himself out so +disinterested," Lisa said to Quenu that night, as they went to bed. "I +did quite right, you see, in keeping the account. By the way, I haven't +noted down the thousand francs I gave him to-day." + +She sat down at the secretaire, and glanced over the page of figures. +Then she added: "I did well to leave a blank space. I'll put down what +I pay him on the margin. You'll see, now, he'll fritter it all away by +degrees. That's what I've been expecting for a long time past." + +Quenu said nothing, but went to bed feeling very much put out. Every +time that his wife opened the secretaire the drawer gave out a mournful +creak which pierced his heart. He even thought of remonstrating with +his brother, and trying to prevent him from ruining himself with the +Mehudins; but when the time came, he did not dare to do it. Two days +later Florent asked for another fifteen hundred francs. Logre had said +one evening that things would ripen much faster if they could only get +some money. The next day he was enchanted to find these words of his, +uttered quite at random, result in the receipt of a little pile of +gold, which he promptly pocketed, sniggering as he did so, and his hunch +fairly shaking with delight. From that time forward money was constantly +being needed: one section wished to hire a room where they could meet, +while another was compelled to provide for various needy patriots. Then +there were arms and ammunition to be purchased, men to be enlisted, and +private police expenses. Florent would have paid for anything. He +had bethought himself of Uncle Gradelle's treasure, and recalled La +Normande's advice. So he made repeated calls upon Lisa's secretaire, +being merely kept in check by the vague fear with which his +sister-in-law's grave face inspired him. Never, thought he, could +he have spent his money in a holier cause. Logre now manifested +the greatest enthusiasm, and wore the most wonderful rose-coloured +neckerchiefs and the shiniest of varnished boots, the sight of which +made Lacaille glower blackly. + +"That makes three thousand francs in seven days," Lisa remarked to +Quenu. "What do you think of that? A pretty state of affairs, isn't +it? If he goes on at this rate his fifty thousand francs will last him +barely four months. And yet it took old Gradelle forty years to put his +fortune together!" + +"It's all your own fault!" cried Quenu. "There was no occasion for you +to say anything to him about the money." + +Lisa gave her husband a severe glance. "It is his own," she said; "and +he is entitled to take it all. It's not the giving him the money that +vexes me, but the knowledge that he must make a bad use of it. I tell +you again, as I have been telling you for a long time past, all this +must come to an end." + +"Do whatever you like; I won't prevent you," at last exclaimed the pork +butcher, who was tortured by his cupidity. + +He still loved his brother; but the thought of fifty thousand francs +squandered in four months was agony to him. As for his wife, after all +Mademoiselle Saget's chattering she guessed what became of the money. +The old maid having ventured to refer to the inheritance, Lisa had taken +advantage of the opportunity to let the neighbourhood know that Florent +was drawing his share, and spending it after his own fashion. + +It was on the following day that the story of the strips of red material +impelled Lisa to take definite actin. For a few moments she remained +struggling with herself whilst gazing at the depressed appearance of the +shop. The sides of pork hung all around in a sullen fashion, and Mouton, +seated beside a bowl of fat, displayed the ruffled coat and dim eyes of +a cat who no longer digests his meals in peace. Thereupon Lisa called to +Augustine and told her to attend to the counter, and she herself went up +to Florent's room. + +When she entered it, she received quite a shock. The bed, hitherto so +spotless, was quite ensanguined by a bundle of long red scarves dangling +down to the floor. On the mantelpiece, between the gilt cardboard boxes +and the old pomatum-pots, were several red armlets and clusters of red +cockades, looking like pools of blood. And hanging from every nail and +peg against the faded grey wallpaper were pieces of bunting, square +flags--yellow, blue, green, and black--in which Lisa recognised the +distinguishing banners of the twenty sections. The childish simplicity +of the room seemed quite scared by all this revolutionary decoration. +The aspect of guileless stupidity which the shop girl had left behind +her, the white innocence of the curtains and furniture, now glared +as with the reflection of a fire; while the photograph of Auguste +and Augustine looked white with terror. Lisa walked round the room, +examining the flags, the armlets, and the scarves, without touching any +of them, as though she feared that the dreadful things might burn her. +She was reflecting that she had not been mistaken, that it was indeed on +these and similar things that Florent's money had been spent. And to her +this seemed an utter abomination, an incredibility which set her whole +being surging with indignation. To think that her money, that money +which had been so honestly earned, was being squandered to organise and +defray the expenses of an insurrection! + +She stood there, gazing at the expanded blossoms of the pomegranate on +the balcony--blossoms which seemed to her like an additional supply of +crimson cockades--and listening to the sharp notes of the chaffinch, +which resembled the echo of a distant fusillade. And then it struck her +that the insurrection might break out the next day, or perhaps that very +evening. She fancied she could see the banners streaming in the air and +the scarves advancing in line, while a sudden roll of drums broke on her +ear. Then she hastily went downstairs again, without even glancing +at the papers which were lying on the table. She stopped on the first +floor, went into her own room, and dressed herself. + +In this critical emergency Lisa arranged her hair with scrupulous care +and perfect calmness. She was quite resolute; not a quiver of hesitation +disturbed her; but a sterner expression than usual had come into her +eyes. As she fastened her black silk dress, straining the waistband with +all the strength of her fingers, she recalled Abbe Roustan's words; and +she questioned herself, and her conscience answered that she was going +to fulfil a duty. By the time she drew her broidered shawl round her +broad shoulders, she felt that she was about to perform a deed of high +morality. She put on a pair of dark mauve gloves, secured a thick +veil to her bonnet; and before leaving the room she double-locked the +secretaire, with a hopeful expression on her face which seemed to say +that that much worried piece of furniture would at last be able to sleep +in peace again. + +Quenu was exhibiting his white paunch at the shop door when his wife +came down. He was surprised to see her going out in full dress at ten +o'clock in the morning. "Hallo! Where are you off to?" he asked. + +She pretended that she was going out with Madame Taboureau, and added +that she would call at the Gaite Theatre to buy some tickets. Quenu +hurried after her to tell her to secure some front seats, so that they +might be able to see well. Then, as he returned to the shop, Lisa made +her way to the cab-stand opposite St. Eustache, got into a cab, pulled +down the blinds, and told the driver to go to the Gaite Theatre. She +felt afraid of being followed. When she had booked two seats, however, +she directed the cabman to drive her to the Palais de Justice. There, +in front of the gate, she discharged him, and then quietly made her way +through the halls and corridors to the Prefecture of Police. + +She soon lost herself in a noisy crowd of police officers and gentlemen +in long frock-coats, but at last gave a man half a franc to guide her to +the Prefect's rooms. She found, however, that the Prefect only received +such persons as came with letters of audience; and she was shown into a +small apartment, furnished after the style of a boarding-house parlour. +A fat, bald-headed official, dressed in black from head to foot, +received her there with sullen coldness. What was her business? he +inquired. Thereupon she raised her veil, gave her name, and told her +story, clearly and distinctly, without a pause. The bald man listened +with a weary air. + +"You are this man's sister-in-law, are you not?" he inquired, when she +had finished. + +"Yes," Lisa candidly replied. "We are honest, straight-forward people, +and I am anxious that my husband should not be compromised." + +The official shrugged his shoulders, as though to say that the whole +affair was a great nuisance. + +"Do you know," he said impatiently, "that I have been pestered with this +business for more than a year past? Denunciation after denunciation has +been sent to me, and I am being continually goaded and pressed to take +action. You will understand that if I haven't done so as yet, it is +because I prefer to wait. We have good reasons for our conduct in the +matter. Stay, now, here are the papers relating to it. I'll let you see +them." + +He laid before her an immense collection of papers in a blue wrapper. +Lisa turned them over. They were like detached chapters of the story she +had just been relating. The commissaires of police at Havre, Rouen, and +Vernon notified Florent's arrival within their respective jurisdictions. +Then came a report which announced that he had taken up his residence +with the Quenu-Gradelles. Next followed his appointment at the markets, +an account of his mode of life, the spending of his evenings at Monsieur +Lebigre's; not a detail was deficient. Lisa, quite astounded as she +was, noticed that the reports were in duplicate, so that they must have +emanated from two different sources. And at last she came upon a pile of +letters, anonymous letters of every shape, and in every description of +handwriting. They brought her amazement to a climax. In one letter she +recognised the villainous hand of Mademoiselle Saget, denouncing the +people who met in the little sanctum at Lebigre's. On a large piece of +greasy paper she identified the heavy pot-hooks of Madame Lecoeur; +and there was also a sheet of cream-laid note-paper, ornamented with a +yellow pansy, and covered with the scrawls of La Sarriette and Monsieur +Jules. These two letters warned the Government to beware of Gavard. +Farther on Lisa recognised the coarse style of old Madame Mehudin, who +in four pages of almost indecipherable scribble repeated all the wild +stories about Florent that circulated in the markets. However, what +startled her more than anything else was the discovery of a bill-head +of her own establishment, with the inscription _Quenu-Gradelle, Pork +Butcher_, on its face, whilst on the back of it Auguste had penned +a denunciation of the man whom he looked upon as an obstacle to his +marriage. + +The official had acted upon a secret idea in placing these papers before +her. "You don't recognise any of these handwritings, do you?" he asked. + +"No," she stammered, rising from her seat, quite oppressed by what she +had just learned; and she hastily pulled down her veil again to conceal +the blush of confusion which was rising to her cheeks. Her silk dress +rustled, and her dark gloves disappeared beneath her heavy shawl. + +"You see, madame," said the bald man with a faint smile, "your +information comes a little late. But I promise you that your visit shall +not be forgotten. And tell your husband not to stir. It is possible that +something may happen soon that----" + +He did not complete his sentence, but, half rising from his armchair, +made a slight bow to Lisa. It was a dismissal, and she took her leave. +In the ante-room she caught sight of Logre and Monsieur Lebigre, who +hastily turned their faces away; but she was more disturbed than they +were. She went her way through the halls and along the corridors, +feeling as if she were in the clutches of this system of police which, +it now seemed to her, saw and knew everything. At last she came out upon +the Place Dauphine. When she reached the Quai de l'Horloge she slackened +her steps, and felt refreshed by the cool breeze blowing from the Seine. + +She now had a keen perception of the utter uselessness of what she had +done. Her husband was in no danger whatever; and this thought, +whilst relieving her, left her a somewhat remorseful feeling. She +was exasperated with Auguste and the women who had put her in such a +ridiculous position. She walked on yet more slowly, watching the Seine +as it flowed past. Barges, black with coal-dust, were floating down the +greenish water; and all along the bank anglers were casting their lines. +After all, it was not she who had betrayed Florent. This reflection +suddenly occurred to her and astonished her. Would she have been guilty +of a wicked action, then, if she had been his betrayer? She was quite +perplexed; surprised at the possibility of her conscience having +deceived her. Those anonymous letters seemed extremely base. She herself +had gone openly to the authorities, given her name, and saved innocent +people from being compromised. Then at the sudden thought of old +Gradelle's fortune she again examined herself, and felt ready to throw +the money into the river if such a course should be necessary to +remove the blight which had fallen on the pork shop. No, she was not +avaricious, she was sure she wasn't; it was no thought of money that +had prompted her in what she had just done. As she crossed the Pont au +Change she grew quite calm again, recovering all her superb equanimity. +On the whole, it was much better, she felt, that others should have +anticipated her at the Prefecture. She would not have to deceive Quenu, +and she would sleep with an easier conscience. + +"Have you booked the seats?" Quenu asked her when she returned home. + +He wanted to see the tickets, and made Lisa explain to him the exact +position the seats occupied in the dress-circle. Lisa had imagined +that the police would make a descent upon the house immediately after +receiving her information, and her proposal to go to the theatre had +only been a wily scheme for getting Quenu out of the way while the +officers were arresting Florent. She had contemplated taking him for +an outing in the afternoon--one of those little jaunts which they +occasionally allowed themselves. They would then drive in an open cab to +the Bois de Boulogne, dine at a restaurant, and amuse themselves for an +hour or two at some cafe concern. But there was no need to go out now, +she thought; so she spent the rest of the day behind her counter, with +a rosy glow on her face, and seeming brighter and gayer, as though she +were recovering from some indisposition. + +"You see, I told you it was fresh air you wanted!" exclaimed Quenu. +"Your walk this morning has brightened you up wonderfully!" + +"No, indeed," she said after a pause, again assuming her look of +severity; "the streets of Paris are not at all healthy places." + +In the evening they went to the Gaite to see the performance of "La +Grace de Dieu." Quenu, in a frock-coat and drab gloves, with his hair +carefully pomatumed and combed, was occupied most of the time in hunting +for the names of the performers in the programme. Lisa looked superb +in her low dress as she rested her hands in their tight-fitting white +gloves on the crimson velvet balustrade. They were both of them deeply +affected by the misfortunes of Marie. The commander, they thought, was +certainly a desperate villain; while Pierrot made them laugh from the +first moment of his appearance on the stage. But at last Madame Quenu +cried. The departure of the child, the prayer in the maiden's chamber, +the return of the poor mad creature, moistened her eyes with gentle +tears, which she brushed away with her handkerchief. + +However, the pleasure which the evening afforded her turned into a +feeling of triumph when she caught sight of La Normande and her mother +sitting in the upper gallery. She thereupon puffed herself out more than +ever, sent Quenu off to the refreshment bar for a box of caramels, and +began to play with her fan, a mother-of-pearl fan, elaborately gilt. +The fish-girl was quite crushed; and bent her head down to listen to +her mother, who was whispering to her. When the performance was over +and beautiful Lisa and the beautiful Norman met in the vestibule they +exchanged a vague smile. + +Florent had dined early at Monsieur Lebigre's that day. He was expecting +Logre, who had promised to introduce to him a retired sergeant, a +capable man, with whom they were to discuss the plan of attack upon the +Palais Bourbon and the Hotel de Ville. The night closed in, and the +fine rain, which had begun to fall in the afternoon, shrouded the vast +markets in a leaden gloom. They loomed darkly against the copper-tinted +sky, while wisps of murky cloud skimmed by almost on a level with the +roofs, looking as though they were caught and torn by the points of the +lightning-conductors. Florent felt depressed by the sight of the muddy +streets, and the streaming yellowish rain which seemed to sweep the +twilight away and extinguish it in the mire. He watched the crowds of +people who had taken refuge on the foot-pavements of the covered ways, +the umbrellas flitting past in the downpour, and the cabs that dashed +with increased clatter and speed along the wellnigh deserted roads. +Presently there was a rift in the clouds; and a red glow arose in the +west. Then a whole army of street-sweepers came into sight at the end of +the Rue Montmartre, driving a lake of liquid mud before them with their +brooms. + +Logre did not turn up with the sergeant; Gavard had gone to dine with +some friends at Batignolles, and so Florent was reduced to spending the +evening alone with Robine. He had all the talking to himself, and ended +by feeling very low-spirited. His companion merely wagged his beard, and +stretched out his hand every quarter of an hour to raise his glass of +beer to his lips. At last Florent grew so bored that he went off to +bed. Robine, however, though left to himself, still lingered there, +contemplating his glass with an expression of deep thought. Rose and the +waiter, who had hoped to shut up early, as the coterie of politicians +was absent, had to wait a long half hour before he at last made up his +mind to leave. + +When Florent got to his room, he felt afraid to go to bed. He was +suffering from one of those nervous attacks which sometimes plunged him +into horrible nightmares until dawn. On the previous day he had been to +Clamart to attend the funeral of Monsieur Verlaque, who had died after +terrible sufferings; and he still felt sad at the recollection of the +narrow coffin which he had seen lowered into the earth. Nor could he +banish from his mind the image of Madame Verlaque, who, with a tearful +voice, though there was not a tear in her eyes, kept following him and +speaking to him about the coffin, which was not paid for, and of the +cost of the funeral, which she was quite at a loss about, as she had +not a copper in the place, for the druggist, on hearing of her husband's +death on the previous day, had insisted upon his bill being paid. So +Florent had been obliged to advance the money for the coffin and other +funeral expenses, and had even given the gratuities to the mutes. +Just as he was going away, Madame Verlaque looked at him with such a +heartbroken expression that he left her twenty francs. + +And now Monsieur Verlaque's death worried him very much. It affected +his situation in the markets. He might lose his berth, or perhaps +be formally appointed inspector. In either case he foresaw vexatious +complications which might arouse the suspicions of the police. He would +have been delighted if the insurrection could have broken out the very +next day, so that he might at once have tossed the laced cap of his +inspectorship into the streets. With his mind full of harassing thoughts +like these, he stepped out upon the balcony, as though soliciting of the +warm night some whiff of air to cool his fevered brow. The rain had +laid the wind, and a stormy heat still reigned beneath the deep blue, +cloudless heavens. The markets, washed by the downpour, spread out below +him, similar in hue to the sky, and, like the sky, studded with the +yellow stars of their gas lamps. + +Leaning on the iron balustrade, Florent recollected that sooner or later +he would certainly be punished for having accepted the inspectorship. It +seemed to lie like a stain on his life. He had become an official of the +Prefecture, forswearing himself, serving the Empire in spite of all +the oaths he had taken in his exile. His anxiety to please Lisa, the +charitable purpose to which he had devoted the salary he received, the +just and scrupulous manner in which he had always struggled to carry +out his duties, no longer seemed to him valid excuses for his base +abandonment of principle. If he had suffered in the midst of all that +sleek fatness, he had deserved to suffer. And before him arose a +vision of the evil year which he had just spent, his persecution by the +fish-wives, the sickening sensations he had felt on close, damp days, +the continuous indigestion which had afflicted his delicate stomach, and +the latent hostility which was gathering strength against him. All these +things he now accepted as chastisement. That dull rumbling of hostility +and spite, the cause of which he could not divine, must forebode some +coming catastrophe before whose approach he already stooped, with the +shame of one who knows there is a transgression that he must expiate. +Then he felt furious with himself as he thought of the popular rising he +was preparing; and reflected that he was no longer unsullied enough to +achieve success. + +In how many dreams he had indulged in that lofty little room, with his +eyes wandering over the spreading roofs of the market pavilions! They +usually appeared to him like grey seas that spoke to him of far-off +countries. On moonless nights they would darken and turn into stagnant +lakes of black and pestilential water. But on bright nights they became +shimmering fountains of light, the moonbeams streaming over both tiers +like water, gliding along the huge plates of zinc, and flowing over the +edges of the vast superposed basins. Then frosty weather seemed to turn +these roofs into rigid ice, like the Norwegian bays over which skaters +skim; while the warm June nights lulled them into deep sleep. One +December night, on opening his window, he had seen them white with snow, +so lustrously white that they lighted up the coppery sky. Unsullied by +a single footstep, they then stretched out like the lonely plains of the +Far North, where never a sledge intrudes. Their silence was beautiful, +their soft peacefulness suggestive of innocence. + +And at each fresh aspect of the ever-changing panorama before him, +Florent yielded to dreams which were now sweet, now full of bitter pain. +The snow calmed him; the vast sheet of whiteness seemed to him like a +veil of purity thrown over the filth of the markets. The bright, clear +nights, the shimmering moonbeams, carried him away into the fairy-land +of story-books. It was only the dark, black nights, the burning nights +of June, when he beheld, as it were, a miasmatic marsh, the stagnant +water of a dead and accursed sea, that filled him with gloom and grief; +and then ever the same dreadful visions haunted his brain. + +The markets were always there. He could never open the window and rest +his elbows on the balustrade without having them before him, filling +the horizon. He left the pavilions in the evening only to behold their +endless roofs as he went to bed. They shut him off from the rest of +Paris, ceaselessly intruded their huge bulk upon him, entered into every +hour of his life. That night again horrible fancies came to him, fancies +aggravated by the vague forebodings of evil which distressed him. The +rain of the afternoon had filled the markets with malodorous dampness, +and as they wallowed there in the centre of the city, like some drunken +man lying, after his last bottle, under the table, they cast all their +foul breath into his face. He seemed to see a thick vapour rising up +from each pavilion. In the distance the meat and tripe markets reeked +with the sickening steam of blood; nearer in, the vegetable and fruit +pavilions diffused the odour of pungent cabbages, rotten apples, and +decaying leaves; the butter and cheese exhaled a poisonous stench; from +the fish market came a sharp, fresh gust; while from the ventilator in +the tower of the poultry pavilion just below him, he could see a warm +steam issuing, a fetid current rising in coils like the sooty smoke from +a factory chimney. And all these exhalations coalesced above the roofs, +drifted towards the neighbouring houses, and spread themselves out in +a heavy cloud which stretched over the whole of Paris. It was as though +the markets were bursting within their tight belt of iron, were beating +the slumber of the gorged city with the stertorous fumes of their +midnight indigestion. + +However, on the footway down below Florent presently heard a sound of +voices, the laughter of happy folks. Then the door of the passage was +closed noisily. It was Quenu and Lisa coming home from the theatre. +Stupefied and intoxicated, as it were, by the atmosphere he was +breathing, Florent thereupon left the balcony, his nerves still +painfully excited by the thought of the tempest which he could feel +gathering round his head. The source of his misery was yonder, in +those markets, heated by the day's excesses. He closed the window with +violence, and left them wallowing in the darkness, naked and perspiring +beneath the stars. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A week later, Florent thought that he would at last be able to proceed +to action. A sufficiently serious outburst of public dissatisfaction +furnished an opportunity for launching his insurrectionary forces +upon Paris. The Corps Legislatif, whose members had lately shown great +variance of opinion respecting certain grants to the Imperial family, +was now discussing a bill for the imposition of a very unpopular tax, at +which the lower orders had already begun to growl. The Ministry, fearing +a defeat, was straining every nerve. It was probable, thought Florent, +that no better pretext for a rising would for a long time present +itself. + +One morning, at daybreak, he went to reconnoitre the neighbourhood of +the Palais Bourbon. He forgot all about his duties as inspector, and +lingered there, studying the approaches of the palace, till eight +o'clock, without ever thinking that his absence would revolutionise the +fish market. He perambulated all the surrounding streets, the Rue de +Lille, the Rue de l'Universite, the Rue de Bourgogne, the Rue Saint +Dominique, and even extended his examination to the Esplanade des +Invalides, stopping at certain crossways, and measuring distances as he +walked along. Then, on coming back to the Quai d'Orsay, he sat down +on the parapet, and determined that the attack should be made +simultaneously from all sides. The contingents from the Gros-Caillou +district should arrive by way of the Champ de Mars; the sections from +the north of Paris should come down by the Madeleine; while those from +the west and the south would follow the quays, or make their way in +small detachments through the then narrow streets of the Faubourg Saint +Germain. However, the other side of the river, the Champs Elysees, with +their open avenues, caused him some uneasiness; for he foresaw that +cannon would be stationed there to sweep the quays. He thereupon +modified several details of his plan, and marked down in a +memorandum-book the different positions which the several sections +should occupy during the combat. The chief attack, he concluded, must +certainly be made from the Rue de Bourgogne and the Rue de l'Universite, +while a diversion might be effected on the side of the river. + +Whilst he thus pondered over his plans the eight o'clock sun, warming +the nape of his neck, shone gaily on the broad footways, and gilded +the columns of the great structure in front of him. In imagination he +already saw the contemplated battle; clusters of men clinging round +those columns, the gates burst open, the peristyle invaded; and then +scraggy arms suddenly appearing high aloft and planting a banner there. + +At last he slowly went his way homewards again with his gaze fixed upon +the ground. But all at once a cooing sound made him look up, and he saw +that he was passing through the garden of the Tuileries. A number of +wood-pigeons, bridling their necks, were strutting over a lawn near by. +Florent leant for a moment against the tub of an orange-tree, and looked +at the grass and the pigeons steeped in sunshine. Right ahead under the +chestnut-trees all was black. The garden was wrapped in a warm silence, +broken only by the distant rumbling which came from behind the railings +of the Rue de Rivoli. The scent of all the greenery affected Florent, +reminding him of Madame Francois. However, a little girl ran past, +trundling a hoop, and alarmed the pigeons. They flew off, and settled in +a row on the arm of a marble statue of an antique wrestler standing +in the middle of the lawn, and once more, but with less vivacity, they +began to coo and bridle their necks. + +As Florent was returning to the markets by way of the Rue Vauvilliers, +he heard Claude Lantier calling to him. The artist was going down into +the basement of the poultry pavilion. "Come with me!" he cried. "I'm +looking for that brute Marjolin." + +Florent followed, glad to forget his thoughts and to defer his return +to the fish market for a little longer. Claude told him that his friend +Marjolin now had nothing further to wish for: he had become an utter +animal. Claude entertained an idea of making him pose on all-fours in +future. Whenever he lost his temper over some disappointing sketch he +came to spend whole hours in the idiot's company, never speaking, but +striving to catch his expression when he laughed. + +"He'll be feeding his pigeons, I dare say," he said; "but unfortunately +I don't know whereabouts Monsieur Gavard's storeroom is." + +They groped about the cellar. In the middle of it some water was +trickling from a couple of taps in the dim gloom. The storerooms here +are reserved for pigeons exclusively, and all along the trellising they +heard faint cooings, like the hushed notes of birds nestling under the +leaves when daylight is departing. Claude began to laugh as he heard it. + +"It sounds as though all the lovers in Paris were embracing each other +inside here, doesn't it?" he exclaimed to his companion. + +However, they could not find a single storeroom open, and were beginning +to think that Marjolin could not be in the cellar, when a sound of +loud, smacking kisses made them suddenly halt before a door which stood +slightly ajar. Claude pulled it open and beheld Marjolin, whom Cadine +was kissing, whilst he, a mere dummy, offered his face without feeling +the slightest thrill at the touch of her lips. + +"Oh, so this is your little game, is it?" said Claude with a laugh. + +"Oh," replied Cadine, quite unabashed, "he likes being kissed, because +he feels afraid now in the dim light. You do feel frightened, don't +you?" + +Like the idiot he was, Marjolin stroked his face with his hands as +though trying to find the kisses which the girl had just printed there. +And he was beginning to stammer out that he was afraid, when Cadine +continued: "And, besides, I came to help him; I've been feeding the +pigeons." + +Florent looked at the poor creatures. All along the shelves were rows of +lidless boxes, in which pigeons, showing their motley plumage, crowded +closely on their stiffened legs. Every now and then a tremor ran along +the moving mass; and then the birds settled down again, and nothing was +heard but their confused, subdued notes. Cadine had a saucepan near her; +she filled her mouth with the water and tares which it contained, and +then, taking up the pigeons one by one, shot the food down their throats +with amazing rapidity. The poor creatures struggled and nearly choked, +and finally fell down in the boxes with swimming eyes, intoxicated, as +it were, by all the food which they were thus forced to swallow.[*] + + [*] This is the customary mode of fattening pigeons at the + Paris markets. The work is usually done by men who make a + specialty of it, and are called _gaveurs_.--Translator. + +"Poor creatures!" exclaimed Claude. + +"Oh, so much the worse for them," said Cadine, who had now finished. +"They are much nicer eating when they've been well fed. In a couple of +hours or so all those over yonder will be given a dose of salt water. +That makes their flesh white and tender. Then two hours afterwards +they'll be killed. If you would like to see the killing, there are some +here which are quite ready. Marjolin will settle their account for them +in a jiffy." + +Marjolin carried away a box containing some fifty pigeons, and Claude +and Florent followed him. Squatting upon the ground near one of the +water-taps, he placed the box by his side. Then he laid a framework of +slender wooden bars on the top of a kind of zinc trough, and forthwith +began to kill the pigeons. His knife flashed rapidly in his fingers, +as he seized the birds by the wings, stunned them by a blow on the head +from the knife-handle, and then thrust the point of the blade into their +throats. They quivered for an instant, and ruffled their feathers as +Marjolin laid them in a row, with their heads between the wooden bars +above the zinc trough, into which their blood fell drop by drop. He +repeated each different movement with the regularity of clockwork, the +blows from the knife-handle falling with a monotonous tick-tack as he +broke the birds' skulls, and his hand working backwards and forwards +like a pendulum as he took up the living pigeons on one side and laid +them down dead on the other. Soon, moreover, he worked with increasing +rapidity, gloating over the massacre with glistening eyes, squatting +there like a huge delighted bull-dog enjoying the sight of slaughtered +vermin. "Tick-tack! Tick-tack!" whilst his tongue clucked as an +accompaniment to the rhythmical movements of his knife. The pigeons hung +down like wisps of silken stuff. + +"Ah, you enjoy that, don't you, you great stupid?" exclaimed Cadine. +"How comical those pigeons look when they bury their heads in their +shoulders to hide their necks! They're horrid things, you know, and +would give one nasty bites if they got the chance." Then she laughed +more loudly at Marjolin's increasing, feverish haste; and added: "I've +killed them sometimes myself, but I can't get on as quickly as he does. +One day he killed a hundred in ten minutes." + +The wooden frame was nearly full; the blood could be heard falling into +the zinc trough; and as Claude happened to turn round he saw Florent +looking so pale that he hurriedly led him away. When they got +above-ground again he made him sit down on a step. + +"Why, what's the matter with you?" he exclaimed, tapping him on the +shoulder. "You're fainting away like a woman!" + +"It's the smell of the cellar," murmured Florent, feeling a little +ashamed of himself. + +The truth was, however, that those pigeons, which were forced to swallow +tares and salt water, and then had their skulls broken and their throats +slit, had reminded him of the wood-pigeons of the Tuileries gardens, +strutting over the green turf, with their satiny plumage flashing +iridescently in the sunlight. He again heard them cooing on the arm +of the marble wrestler amidst the hushed silence of the garden, while +children trundled their hoops in the deep gloom of the chestnuts. And +then, on seeing that big fair-haired animal massacring his boxful of +birds, stunning them with the handle of his knife and driving its point +into their throats, in the depths of that foul-smelling cellar, he had +felt sick and faint, his legs had almost given way beneath him, while +his eyelids quivered tremulously. + +"Well, you'd never do for a soldier!" Claude said to him when he +recovered from his faintness. "Those who sent you to Cayenne must have +been very simple-minded folks to fear such a man as you! Why, my good +fellow, if ever you do put yourself at the head of a rising, you won't +dare to fire a shot. You'll be too much afraid of killing somebody." + +Florent got up without making any reply. He had become very gloomy, his +face was furrowed by deep wrinkles; and he walked off, leaving Claude to +go back to the cellar alone. As he made his way towards the fish market +his thoughts returned to his plan of attack, to the levies of armed men +who were to invade the Palais Bourbon. Cannon would roar from the Champs +Elysees; the gates would be burst open; blood would stain the steps, and +men's brains would bespatter the pillars. A vision of the fight passed +rapidly before him; and he beheld himself in the midst of it, deadly +pale, and hiding his face in his hands, not daring to look around him. + +As he was crossing the Rue du Pont Neuf he fancied he espied Auguste's +pale face peering round the corner of the fruit pavilion. The assistant +seemed to be watching for someone, and his eyes were starting from his +head with an expression of intense excitement. Suddenly, however, he +vanished and hastened back to the pork shop. + +"What's the matter with him?" thought Florent. "Is he frightened of me, +I wonder?" + +Some very serious occurrences had taken place that morning at the +Quenu-Gradelles'. Soon after daybreak, Auguste, breathless with +excitement, had awakened his mistress to tell her that the police +had come to arrest Monsieur Florent. And he added, with stammering +incoherence, that the latter had gone out, and that he must have done so +with the intention of escaping. Lisa, careless of appearances, at once +hurried up to her brother-in-law's room in her dressing-wrapper, and +took possession of La Normande's photograph, after glancing round to +see if there was anything lying about that might compromise herself and +Quenu. As she was making her way downstairs again, she met the police +agents on the first floor. The commissary requested her to accompany +them to Florent's room, where, after speaking to her for a moment in a +low tone, he installed himself with his men, bidding her open the shop +as usual so as to avoid giving the alarm to anyone. The trap was set. + +Lisa's only worry in the matter was the terrible blow that the arrest +would prove to poor Quenu. She was much afraid that if he learned that +the police were in the house, he would spoil everything by his tears; so +she made Auguste swear to observe the most rigid silence on the subject. +Then she went back to her room, put on her stays, and concocted some +story for the benefit of Quenu, who was still drowsy. Half an hour later +she was standing at the door of the shop with all her usual neatness +of appearance, her hair smooth and glossy, and her face glowing rosily. +Auguste was quietly setting out the window. Quenu came for a moment on +to the footway, yawning slightly, and ridding himself of all sleepiness +in the fresh morning air. There was nothing to indicate the drama that +was in preparation upstairs. + +The commissary himself, however, gave the alarm to the neighbourhood by +paying a domiciliary visit to the Mehudins' abode in the Rue Pirouette. +He was in possession of the most precise information. In the anonymous +letters which had been sent to the Prefecture, all sorts of statements +were made respecting Florent's alleged intrigue with the beautiful +Norman. Perhaps, thought the commissary, he had now taken refuge with +her; and so, accompanied by two of his men, he proceeded to knock at the +door in the name of the law. The Mehudins had only just got up. The old +woman opened the door in a fury; but suddenly calmed down and began +to smile when she learned the business on hand. She seated herself and +fastened her clothes, while declaring to the officers: "We are honest +folks here, and have nothing to be afraid of. You can search wherever +you like." + +However, as La Normande delayed to open the door of her room, the +commissary told his men to break it open. The young woman was scarcely +clad when the others entered, and this unceremonious invasion, which she +could not understand, fairly exasperated her. She flushed crimson from +anger rather than from shame, and seemed as though she were about to +fly at the officers. The commissary, at the sight, stepped forward to +protect his men, repeating in his cold voice: "In the name of the law! +In the name of the law!" + +Thereupon La Normande threw herself upon a chair, and burst into a wild +fit of hysterical sobbing at finding herself so powerless. She was quite +at a loss to understand what these men wanted with her. The commissary, +however, had noticed how scantily she was clad, and taking a shawl from +a peg, he flung it over her. Still she did not wrap it round her, but +only sobbed the more bitterly as she watched the men roughly searching +the apartment. + +"But what have I done?" she at last stammered out. "What are you looking +for here?" + +Thereupon the commissary pronounced the name of Florent; and La +Normande, catching sight of the old woman, who was standing at the door, +cried out: "Oh, the wretch! This is her doing!" and she rushed at her +mother. + +She would have struck her if she had reached her; but the police agents +held her back, and forcibly wrapped her in the shawl. Meanwhile, she +struggled violently, and exclaimed in a choking voice: + +"What do you take me for? That Florent has never been in this room, I +tell you. There was nothing at all between us. People are always trying +to injure me in the neighbourhood; but just let anyone come here and +say anything before my face, and then you'll see! You'll lock me up +afterwards, I dare say, but I don't mind that! Florent, indeed! What a +lie! What nonsense!" + +This flood of words seemed to calm her; and her anger now turned +against Florent, who was the cause of all the trouble. Addressing the +commissary, she sought to justify herself. + +"I did not know his real character, sir," she said. "He had such a mild +manner that he deceived us all. I was unwilling to believe all I heard, +because I know people are so malicious. He only came here to give +lessons to my little boy, and went away directly they were over. I gave +him a meal here now and again, that's true and sometimes made him a +present of a fine fish. That's all. But this will be a warning to me, +and you won't catch me showing the same kindness to anyone again." + +"But hasn't he given you any of his papers to take care of?" asked the +commissary. + +"Oh no, indeed! I swear it. I'd give them up to you at once if he had. +I've had quite enough of this, I can tell you! It's no joke to see you +tossing all my things about and ferreting everywhere in this way. Oh! +you may look; there's nothing." + +The officers, who examined every article of furniture, now wished to +enter the little closet where Muche slept. The child had been awakened +by the noise, and for the last few moments he had been crying bitterly, +as though he imagined that he was going to be murdered. + +"This is my boy's room," said La Normande, opening the door. + +Muche, quite naked, ran up and threw his arms round his mother's neck. +She pacified him, and laid him down in her own bed. The officers came +out of the little room again almost immediately, and the commissary +had just made up his mind to retire, when the child, still in tears, +whispered in his mother's ear: "They'll take my copy-books. Don't let +them have my copy-books." + +"Oh, yes; that's true," cried La Normande; "there are some copy-books. +Wait a moment, gentlemen, and I'll give them to you. I want you to see +that I'm not hiding anything from you. Then, you'll find some of his +writing inside these. You're quite at liberty to hang him as far as I'm +concerned; you won't find me trying to cut him down." + +Thereupon she handed Muche's books and the copies set by Florent to the +commissary. But at this the boy sprang angrily out of bed, and began to +scratch and bite his mother, who put him back again with a box on the +ears. Then he began to bellow. + +In the midst of the uproar, Mademoiselle Saget appeared on the +threshold, craning her neck forward. Finding all the doors open, she had +come in to offer her services to old Madame Mehudin. She spied about and +listened, and expressed extreme pity for these poor women, who had +no one to defend them. The commissary, however, had begun to read +the copies with a grave air. The frequent repetition of such words as +"tyrannically," "liberticide," "unconstitutional," and "revolutionary" +made him frown; and on reading the sentence, "When the hour strikes, the +guilty shall fall," he tapped his fingers on the paper and said: "This +is very serious, very serious indeed." + +Thereupon he gave the books to one of his men, and went off. Claire, +who had hitherto not shown herself, now opened her door, and watched +the police officers go down the stairs. And afterwards she came into +her sister's bedroom, which she had not entered for a year. Mademoiselle +Saget appeared to be on the best of terms with La Normande, and was +hanging over her in a caressing way, bringing the shawl forward to +cover her the better, and listening to her angry indignation with an +expression of the deepest sympathy. + +"You wretched coward!" exclaimed Claire, planting herself in front of +her sister. + +La Normande sprang up, quivering with anger, and let the shawl fall to +the floor. + +"Ah, you've been playing the spy, have you?" she screamed. "Dare to +repeat what you've just said!" + +"You wretched coward!" repeated Claire, in still more insulting tones +than before. + +Thereupon La Normande struck Claire with all her force; and in return +Claire, turning terribly pale, sprang upon her sister and dug her nails +into her neck. They struggled together for a moment or two, tearing +at each other's hair and trying to choke one another. Claire, fragile +though she was, pushed La Normande backward with such tremendous +violence that they both fell against the wardrobe, smashing the mirror +on its front. Muche was roaring, and old Madame Mehudin called to +Mademoiselle Saget to come and help her separate the sisters. Claire, +however, shook herself free. + +"Coward! Coward!" she cried; "I'll go and tell the poor fellow that it +is you who have betrayed him." + +Her mother, however, blocked the doorway, and would not let her pass, +while La Normande seized her from behind, and then, Mademoiselle Saget +coming to the assistance of the other two, the three of them dragged +Claire into her bedroom and locked the door upon her, in spite of all +her frantic resistance. In her rage she tried to kick the door down, and +smashed everything in the room. Soon afterwards, however, nothing could +be heard except a furious scratching, the sound of metal scarping at the +plaster. The girl was trying to loosen the door hinges with the points +of her scissors. + +"She would have murdered me if she had had a knife," said La Normande, +looking about for her clothes, in order to dress herself. "She'll be +doing something dreadful, you'll see, one of these days, with that +jealousy of hers! We mustn't let her get out on any account: she'd bring +the whole neighbourhood down upon us!" + +Mademoiselle Saget went off in all haste. She reached the corner of the +Rue Pirouette just as the commissary of police was re-entering the side +passage of the Quenu-Gradelles' house. She grasped the situation at +once, and entered the shop with such glistening eyes that Lisa enjoined +silence by a gesture which called her attention to the presence of +Quenu, who was hanging up some pieces of salt pork. As soon as he had +returned to the kitchen, the old maid in a low voice described the +scenes that had just taken place at the Mehudins'. Lisa, as she bent +over the counter, with her hand resting on a dish of larded veal, +listened to her with the happy face of one who triumphs. Then, as a +customer entered the shop, and asked for a couple of pig's trotters, +Lisa wrapped them up, and handed them over with a thoughtful air. + +"For my own part, I bear La Normande no ill-will," she said to +Mademoiselle Saget, when they were alone again. "I used to be very +fond of her, and have always been sorry that other people made mischief +between us. The proof that I've no animosity against her is here in this +photograph, which I saved from falling into the hands of the police, and +which I'm quite ready to give her back if she will come and ask me for +it herself." + +She took the photograph out of her pocket as she spoke. Mademoiselle +Saget scrutinised it and sniggered as she read the inscription, "Louise, +to her dear friend Florent." + +"I'm not sure you'll be acting wisely," she said in her cutting voice. +"You'd do better to keep it." + +"No, no," replied Lisa; "I'm anxious for all this silly nonsense to +come to an end. To-day is the day of reconciliation. We've had enough +unpleasantness, and the neighbourhood's now going to be quiet and +peaceful again." + +"Well, well, shall I go and tell La Normande that you are expecting +her?" asked the old maid. + +"Yes; I shall be very glad if you will." + +Mademoiselle Saget then made her way back to the Rue Pirouette, and +greatly frightened the fish-girl by telling her that she had just seen +her photograph in Lisa's pocket. She could not, however, at once prevail +upon her to comply with her rival's terms. La Normande propounded +conditions of her own. She would go, but Madame Quenu must come to the +door of the shop to receive her. Thus the old maid was obliged to make +another couple of journeys between the two rivals before their meeting +could be satisfactorily arranged. At last, however, to her great +delight, she succeeded in negotiating the peace which was destined to +cause so much talk and excitement. As she passed Claire's door for the +last time she still heard the sound of the scissors scraping away at the +plaster. + +When she had at last carried a definite reply to Madame Quenu, +Mademoiselle Saget hurried off to find Madame Lecoeur and La Sarriette; +and all three of them took up their position on the footway at the +corner of the fish market, just in front of the pork shop. Here they +would be certain to have a good view of every detail of the meeting. +They felt extremely impatient, and while pretending to chat together +kept an anxious look-out in the direction of the Rue Pirouette, along +which La Normande must come. The news of the reconciliation was already +travelling through the markets, and while some saleswomen stood up +behind their stalls trying to get a view of what was taking place, +others, still more inquisitive, actually left their places and took up a +position in the covered way. Every eye in the markets was directed +upon the pork shop; the whole neighbourhood was on the tip-toe of +expectation. + +It was a very solemn affair. When La Normande at last turned the corner +of the Rue Pirouette the excitement was so great that the women held +their breath. + +"She has got her diamonds on," murmured La Sarriette. + +"Just look how she stalks along," added Madame Lecoeur; "the stuck-up +creature!" + +The beautiful Norman was, indeed, advancing with the mien of a queen who +condescends to make peace. She had made a most careful toilet, frizzing +her hair and turning up a corner of her apron to display her cashmere +skirt. She had even put on a new and rich lace bow. Conscious that the +whole market was staring at her, she assumed a still haughtier air as +she approached the pork shop. When she reached the door she stopped. + +"Now it's beautiful Lisa's turn," remarked Mademoiselle Saget. "Mind you +pay attention." + +Beautiful Lisa smilingly quitted her counter. She crossed the shop-floor +at a leisurely pace, and came and offered her hand to the beautiful +Norman. She also was smartly dressed, with her dazzling linen and +scrupulous neatness. A murmur ran through the crowd of fish-wives, all +their heads gathered close together, and animated chatter ensued. The +two women had gone inside the shop, and the _crepines_ in the window +prevented them from being clearly seen. However, they seemed to be +conversing affectionately, addressing pretty compliments to one another. + +"See!" suddenly exclaimed Mademoiselle Saget, "the beautiful Norman's +buying something! What is it she's buying? It's a chitterling, I +believe! Ah! Look! look! You didn't see it, did you? Well, beautiful +Lisa just gave her the photograph; she slipped it into her hand with the +chitterling." + +Fresh salutations were then seen to pass between the two women; and +the beautiful Lisa, exceeding even the courtesies which had been agreed +upon, accompanied the beautiful Norman to the footway. There they stood +laughing together, exhibiting themselves to the neighbourhood like +a couple of good friends. The markets were quite delighted; and the +saleswomen returned to their stalls, declaring that everything had +passed off extremely well. + +Mademoiselle Saget, however, detained Madame Lecoeur and La Sarriette. +The drama was not over yet. All three kept their eyes fixed on the house +opposite with such keen curiosity that they seemed trying to penetrate +the very walls. To pass the time away they once more began to talk of +the beautiful Norman. + +"She's without a lover now," remarked Madame Lecoeur. + +"Oh! she's got Monsieur Lebigre," replied La Sarriette, with a laugh. + +"But surely Monsieur Lebigre won't have anything more to say to her." + +Mademoiselle Saget shrugged her shoulders. "Ah, you don't know him," she +said. "He won't care a straw about all this business. He knows what he's +about, and La Normande is rich. They'll come together in a couple of +months, you'll see. Old Madame Mehudin's been scheming to bring about +their marriage for a long time past." + +"Well, anyway," retorted the butter dealer, "the commissary found +Florent at her lodgings." + +"No, no, indeed; I'm sure I never told you that. The long spindle-shanks +had gone way," replied the old maid. She paused to take a breath; then +resumed in an indignant tone, "What distressed me most was to hear of +all the abominable things that the villain had taught little Muche. +You'd really never believe it. There was a whole bundle of papers." + +"What sort of abominable things?" asked La Sarriette with interest. + +"Oh, all kinds of filth. The commissary said there was quite sufficient +there to hang him. The fellow's a perfect monster! To go and demoralise +a child! Why, it's almost past believing! Little Muche is certainly a +scamp, but that's no reason why he should be given over to the 'Reds,' +is it?" + +"Certainly not," assented the two others. + +"However, all these mysterious goings-on will come to an end now. You +remember my telling you once that there was some strange goings-on at +the Quenus'? Well, you see, I was right in my conclusions, wasn't +I? Thank God, however, the neighbourhood will now be able to breathe +easily. It was high time strong steps were taken, for things had got to +such a pitch that one actually felt afraid of being murdered in broad +daylight. There was no pleasure in life. All the dreadful stories and +reports one heard were enough to worry one to death. And it was all +owing to that man, that dreadful Florent. Now beautiful Lisa and the +beautiful Norman have sensibly made friends again. It was their duty to +do so for the sake of the peace and quietness of us all. Everything will +go on satisfactorily now, you'll find. Ah! there's poor Monsieur Quenu +laughing yonder!" + +Quenu had again come on to the footway, and was joking with Madame +Taboureau's little servant. He seemed quite gay and skittish that +morning. He took hold of the little servant's hands, and squeezed her +fingers so tightly, in the exuberance of his spirits, that he made her +cry out. Lisa had the greatest trouble to get him to go back into the +kitchen. She was impatiently pacing about the shop, fearing lest Florent +should make his appearance; and she called to her husband to come away, +dreading a meeting between him and his brother. + +"She's getting quite vexed," said Mademoiselle Saget. "Poor Monsieur +Quenu, you see, knows nothing at all about what's taking place. Just +look at him there, laughing like a child! Madame Taboureau, you know, +said that she should have nothing more to do with the Quenus if they +persisted in bringing themselves into discredit by keeping that Florent +with them." + +"Well, now, I suppose, they will stick to the fortune," remarked Madame +Lecoeur. + +"Oh, no, indeed, my dear. The other one has had his share already." + +"Really? How do you know that?" + +"Oh, it's clear enough, that is!" replied the old maid after a momentary +hesitation, but without giving any proof of her assertions. "He's had +even more than his share. The Quenus will be several thousand francs out +of pocket. Money flies, you know, when a man has such vices as he has. I +dare say you don't know that there was another woman mixed up in it all. +Yes, indeed, old Madame Verlaque, the wife of the former inspector; you +know the sallow-faced thing well enough." + +The others protested that it surely wasn't possible. Why, Madame +Verlaque was positively hideous! + +"What! do you think me a liar?" cried Mademoiselle Saget, with angry +indignation. "Why, her letters to him have been found, a whole pile of +letters, in which she asks for money, ten and twenty francs at a time. +There's no doubt at all about it. I'm quite certain in my own mind that +they killed the husband between them." + +La Sarriette and Madame Lecoeur were convinced; but they were beginning +to get very impatient. They had been waiting on the footway for more +than an hour, and feared that somebody might be robbing their stalls +during their long absence. So Mademoiselle Saget began to give them some +further interesting information to keep them from going off. Florent +could not have taken to flight, said she; he was certain to return, and +it would be very interesting to see him arrested. Then she went on to +describe the trap that had been laid for him, while Madame Lecoeur +and La Sarriette continued scrutinising the house from top to bottom, +keeping watch upon every opening, and at each moment expecting to see +the hats of the detectives appear at one of the doors or windows. + +"Who would ever imagine, now, that the place was full of police?" +observed the butter dealer. + +"Oh! they're in the garret at the top," said the old maid. "They've left +the window open, you see, just as they found it. Look! I think I can see +one of them hiding behind the pomegranate on the balcony." + +The others excitedly craned out their necks, but could see nothing. + +"Ah, no, it's only a shadow," continued Mademoiselle Saget. "The little +curtains even are perfectly still. The detectives must be sitting down +in the room, and keeping quiet." + +Just at that moment the women caught sight of Gavard coming out of the +fish market with a thoughtful air. They looked at him with glistening +eyes, without speaking. They had drawn close to one another, and stood +there rigid in their drooping skirts. The poultry dealer came up to +them. + +"Have you seen Florent go by?" he asked. + +They replied that they had not. + +"I want to speak to him at once," continued Gavard. "He isn't in the +fish market. He must have gone up to his room. But you would have seen +him, though, if he had." + +The women had turned rather pale. They still kept looking at each other +with a knowing expression, their lips twitching slightly every now and +then. "We have only been here some five minutes, said Madame Lecoeur +unblushingly, as her brother-in-law still stood hesitating. + +"Well, then, I'll go upstairs and see. I'll risk the five flights," +rejoined Gavard with a laugh. + +La Sarriette stepped forward as though she wished to detain him, but her +aunt took hold of her arm and drew her back. + +"Let him alone, you big simpleton!" she whispered. "It's the best thing +that can happen to him. It'll teach him to treat us with respect in +future." + +"He won't say again that I ate tainted meat," muttered Mademoiselle +Saget in a low tone. + +They said nothing more. La Sarriette was very red; but the two others +still remained quite yellow. But they now averted their heads, feeling +confused by each other's looks, and at a loss what to do with their +hands, which they buried beneath their aprons. Presently their eyes +instinctively came back to the house, penetrating the walls, as it were, +following Gavard in his progress up the stairs. When they imagined that +he had entered Florent's room they again exchanged furtive glances. La +Sarriette laughed nervously. All at once they fancied they could see the +window curtains moving, and this led them to believe that a struggle was +taking place. But the house-front remained as tranquil as ever in the +sunshine; and another quarter of an hour of unbroken quietness passed +away, during which the three women's nervous excitement became more +and more intense. They were beginning to feel quite faint when a man +hurriedly came out of the passage and ran off to get a cab. Five minutes +later Gavard appeared, followed by two police officers. Lisa, who had +stepped out on to the footway on observing the cab, hastily hurried back +into the shop. + +Gavard was very pale. The police had searched him upstairs, and had +discovered the revolver and cartridge case in his possession. Judging +by the commissary's stern expression on hearing his name, the poultry +dealer deemed himself lost. This was a terrible ending to his plotting +that had never entered into his calculations. The Tuileries would never +forgive him! His legs gave way beneath him as though the firing party +was already awaiting him outside. When he got into the street, however, +his vanity lent him sufficient strength to walk erect; and he even +managed to force a smile, as he knew the market people were looking at +him. They should see him die bravely, he resolved. + +However, La Sarriette and Madame Lecoeur rushed up to him and anxiously +inquired what was the matter; and the butter dealer began to cry, while +La Sarriette embraced her uncle, manifesting the deepest emotion. As +Gavard held her clasped in his arms, he slipped a key into her hand, and +whispered in her ear: "Take everything, and burn the papers." + +Then he got into the cab with the same mien as he would have ascended +the scaffold. As the vehicle disappeared round the corner of the Rue +Pierre Lescot, Madame Lecoeur observed La Sarriette trying to hide the +key in her pocket. + +"It's of no use you trying that little game on me, my dear," she +exclaimed, clenching her teeth; "I saw him slip it into your hand. +As true as there's a God in Heaven, I'll go to the gaol and tell him +everything, if you don't treat me properly." + +"Of course I shall treat you properly, aunt, dear," replied La +Sarriette, with an embarrassed smile. + +"Very well, then, let us go to his rooms at once. It's of no use to give +the police time to poke their dirty hands in the cupboards." + +Mademoiselle Saget, who had been listening with gleaming eyes, followed +them, running along in the rear as quickly as her short legs could +carry her. She had no thought, now, of waiting for Florent. From the Rue +Rambuteau to the Rue de la Cossonnerie she manifested the most humble +obsequiousness, and volunteered to explain matters to Madame Leonce, the +doorkeeper. + +"We'll see, we'll see," the butter dealer curtly replied. + +However, on reaching the house a preliminary parley--as Mademoiselle +Saget had opined--proved to be necessary. Madame Leonce refused to allow +the women to go up to her tenant's room. She put on an expression +of severe austerity, and seemed greatly shocked by the sight of La +Sarriette's loosely fastened fichu. However, after the old maid had +whispered a few words to her and she was shown the key, she gave way. +When they got upstairs she surrendered the rooms and furniture to the +others article by article, apparently as heartbroken as if she had been +compelled to show a party of burglars the place where her own money was +secreted. + +"There, take everything and have done with it!" she cried at last, +throwing herself into an arm-chair. + +La Sarriette was already eagerly trying the key in the locks of +different closets. Madame Lecoeur, all suspicion, pressed her so closely +that she exclaimed: "Really, aunt, you get in my way. Do leave my arms +free, at any rate." + +At last they succeeded in opening a wardrobe opposite the window, +between the fireplace and the bed. And then all four women broke into +exclamations. On the middle shelf lay some ten thousand francs in +gold, methodically arranged in little piles. Gavard, who had prudently +deposited the bulk of his fortune in the hands of a notary, had kept +this sum by him for the purposes of the coming outbreak. He had been +wont to say with great solemnity that his contribution to the revolution +was quite ready. The fact was that he had sold out certain stock, and +every night took an intense delight in contemplating those ten thousand +francs, gloating over them, and finding something quite roysterous and +insurrectional in their appearance. Sometimes when he was in bed he +dreamed that a fight was going on in the wardrobe; he could hear +guns being fired there, paving-stones being torn up and piled into +barricades, and voices shouting in clamorous triumph; and he said to +himself that it was his money fighting against the Government. + +La Sarriette, however, had stretched out her hands with a cry of +delight. + +"Paws off, little one!" exclaimed Madame Lecoeur in a hoarse voice. + +As she stood there in the reflection of the gold, she looked yellower +than ever--her face discoloured by biliousness, her eyes glowing +feverishly from the liver complaint which was secretly undermining her. +Behind her Mademoiselle Saget on tip-toe was gazing ecstatically into +the wardrobe, and Madame Leonce had now risen from her seat, and was +growling sulkily. + +"My uncle said I was to take everything," declared the girl. + +"And am I to have nothing, then; I who have done so much for him?" cried +the doorkeeper. + +Madame Lecoeur was almost choking with excitement. She pushed the others +away, and clung hold of the wardrobe, screaming: "It all belongs to +me! I am his nearest relative. You are a pack of thieves, you are! I'd +rather throw it all out of the window than see you have it!" + +Then silence fell, and they all four stood glowering at each other. +The kerchief that La Sarriette wore over her breast was now altogether +unfastened, and she displayed her bosom heaving with warm life, her +moist red lips, her rosy nostrils. Madame Lecoeur grew still more sour +as she saw how lovely the girl looked in the excitement of her longing +desire. + +"Well," she said in a lower tone, "we won't fight about it. You are his +niece, and I'll divide the money with you. We will each take a pile in +turn." + +Thereupon they pushed the other two aside. The butter dealer took +the first pile, which at once disappeared within her skirts. Then La +Sarriette took a pile. They kept a close watch upon one another, ready +to fight at the slightest attempt at cheating. Their fingers were thrust +forward in turn, the hideous knotted fingers of the aunt and the white +fingers of the niece, soft and supple as silk. Slowly they filled their +pockets. When there was only one pile left, La Sarriette objected to +her aunt taking it, as she had commenced; and she suddenly divided +it between Mademoiselle Saget and Madame Leonce, who had watched them +pocket the gold with feverish impatience. + +"Much obliged to you!" snarled the doorkeeper. "Fifty francs for having +coddled him up with tisane and broth! The old deceiver told me he had no +relatives!" + +Before locking the wardrobe up again, Madame Lecoeur searched it +thoroughly from top to bottom. It contained all the political works +which were forbidden admission into the country, the pamphlets printed +at Brussels, the scandalous histories of the Bonapartes, and the foreign +caricatures ridiculing the Emperor. One of Gavard's greatest +delights was to shut himself up with a friend, and show him all these +compromising things. + +"He told me that I was to burn all the papers," said La Sarriette. + +"Oh, nonsense! we've no fire, and it would take up too long. The police +will soon be here! We must get out of this!" + +They all four hastened off; but they had not reached the bottom of the +stairs before the police met them, and made Madame Leonce return with +them upstairs. The three others, making themselves as small as possible, +hurriedly escaped into the street. They walked away in single file at a +brisk pace; the aunt and niece considerably incommoded by the weight of +their drooping pockets. Mademoiselle Saget had kept her fifty francs in +her closed fist, and remained deep in thought, brooding over a plan for +extracting something more from the heavy pockets in front of her. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed, as they reached the corner of the fish market, +"we've got here at a lucky moment. There's Florent yonder, just going to +walk into the trap." + +Florent, indeed, was just then returning to the markets after his +prolonged perambulation. He went into his office to change his coat, +and then set about his daily duties, seeing that the marble slabs were +properly washed, and slowly strolling along the alleys. He fancied that +the fish-wives looked at him in a somewhat strange manner; they chuckled +too, and smiled significantly as he passed them. Some new vexation, he +thought, was in store for him. For some time past those huge, terrible +women had not allowed him a day's peace. However, as he passed the +Mehudins' stall he was very much surprised to hear the old woman address +him in a honeyed tone: "There's just been a gentleman inquiring for you, +Monsieur Florent; a middle-aged gentleman. He's gone to wait for you in +your room." + +As the old fish-wife, who was squatting, all of a heap, on her chair, +spoke these words, she felt such a delicious thrill of satisfied +vengeance that her huge body fairly quivered. Florent, still doubtful, +glanced at the beautiful Norman; but the young woman, now completely +reconciled with her mother, turned on her tap and slapped her fish, +pretending not to hear what was being said. + +"You are quite sure?" said Florent to Mother Mehudin. + +"Oh, yes, indeed. Isn't that so, Louise?" said the old woman in a +shriller voice. + +Florent concluded that it must be some one who wanted to see him about +the great business, and he resolved to go up to his room. He was just +about to leave the pavilion, when, happening to turn round, he observed +the beautiful Norman watching him with a grave expression on her face. +Then he passed in front of the three gossips. + +"Do you notice that there's no one in the pork shop?" remarked +Mademoiselle Saget. "Beautiful Lisa's not the woman to compromise +herself." + +The shop was, indeed, quite empty. The front of the house was still +bright with sunshine; the building looked like some honest, prosperous +pile guilelessly warming itself in the morning rays. Up above, the +pomegranate on the balcony was in full bloom. As Florent crossed the +roadway he gave a friendly nod to Logre and Monsieur Lebigre, who +appeared to be enjoying the fresh air on the doorstep of the latter's +establishment. They returned his greeting with a smile. Florent was then +about to enter the side-passage, when he fancied he saw Auguste's pale +face hastily vanishing from its dark and narrow depths. Thereupon he +turned back and glanced into the shop to make sure that the middle-aged +gentleman was not waiting for him there. But he saw no one but Mouton, +who sat on a block displaying his double chin and bristling whiskers, +and gazed at him defiantly with his great yellow eyes. And when he had +at last made up his mind to enter the passage, Lisa's face appeared +behind the little curtain of a glazed door at the back of the shop. + +A hush had fallen over the fish market. All the huge paunches and bosoms +held their breath, waiting till Florent should disappear from sight. +Then there was an uproarious outbreak; and the bosoms heaved wildly +and the paunches nearly burst with malicious delight. The joke had +succeeded. Nothing could be more comical. As old Mother Mehudin vented +her merriment she shook and quivered like a wine-skin that is being +emptied. Her story of the middle-aged gentleman went the round of the +market, and the fish-wives found it extremely amusing. At last the long +spindle-shanks was collared, and they would no longer always have his +miserable face and gaol-bird's expression before their eyes. They +all wished him a pleasant journey, and trusted that they might get a +handsome fellow for their next inspector. And in their delight they +rushed about from one stall to another, and felt inclined to dance +round their marble slabs like a lot of holiday-making schoolgirls. +The beautiful Norman, however, watched this outbreak of joy in a rigid +attitude, not daring to move for fear she should burst into tears; +and she kept her hands pressed upon a big skate to cool her feverish +excitement. + +"You see how those Mehudins turn their backs upon him now that he's come +to grief," said Madame Lecoeur. + +"Well, and they're quite right too," replied Mademoiselle Saget. +"Besides, matters are settled now, my dear, and we're to have no more +disputes. You've every reason to be satisfied; leave the others to act +as they please." + +"It's only the old woman who is laughing," La Sarriette remarked; "La +Normande looks anything but happy." + +Meantime, upstairs in his bedroom, Florent allowed himself to be taken +as unresistingly as a sheep. The police officers sprang roughly +upon him, expecting, no doubt, that they would meet with a desperate +resistance. He quietly begged them to leave go of him; and then sat +down on a chair while they packed up his papers, and the red scarves, +armlets, and banners. He did not seem at all surprised at this ending; +indeed, it was something of a relief to him, though he would not frankly +confess it. But he suffered acutely at thought of the bitter hatred +which had sent him into that room; he recalled Auguste's pale face and +the sniggering looks of the fish-wives; he bethought himself of old +Madame Mehudin's words, La Normande's silence, and the empty shop +downstairs. The markets were leagued against him, he reflected; the +whole neighbourhood had conspired to hand him over to the police. The +mud of those greasy streets had risen up all around to overwhelm him! + +And amidst all the round faces which flitted before his mind's eye there +suddenly appeared that of Quenu, and a spasm of mortal agony contracted +his heart. + +"Come, get along downstairs!" exclaimed one of the officers, roughly. + +Florent rose and proceeded to go downstairs. When he reached the second +floor he asked to be allowed to return; he had forgotten something, he +said. But the officers refused to let him go back, and began to hustle +him forward. Then he besought them to let him return to his room again, +and even offered them the money he had in his pocket. Two of them at +last consented to return with him, threatening to blow his brains out +should he attempt to play them any trick; and they drew their revolvers +out of their pockets as they spoke. However, on reaching his room once +more Florent simply went straight to the chaffinch's cage, took the +bird out of it, kissed it between its wings, and set it at liberty. +He watched it fly away through the open window, into the sunshine, and +alight, as though giddy, on the roof of the fish market. Then it flew +off again and disappeared over the markets in the direction of the +Square des Innocents. For a moment longer Florent remained face to face +with the sky, the free and open sky; and he thought of the wood-pigeons +cooing in the garden of the Tuileries, and of those other pigeons down +in the market cellars with their throats slit by Marjolin's knife. Then +he felt quite broken, and turned and followed the officers, who were +putting their revolvers back into their pockets as they shrugged their +shoulders. + +On reaching the bottom of the stairs, Florent stopped before the door +which led into the kitchen. The commissary, who was waiting for him +there, seemed almost touched by his gentle submissiveness, and asked +him: "Would you like to say good-bye to your brother?" + +For a moment Florent hesitated. He looked at the door. A tremendous +noise of cleavers and pans came from the kitchen. Lisa, with the +design of keeping her husband occupied, had persuaded him to make the +black-puddings in the morning instead of in the evening, as was his +wont. The onions were simmering on the fire, and over all the noisy +uproar Florent could hear Quenu's joyous voice exclaiming, "Ah, dash it +all, the pudding will be excellent, that it will! Auguste, hand me the +fat!" + +Florent thanked the commissary, but refused his offer. He was afraid +to return any more into that warm kitchen, reeking with the odour of +boiling onions, and so he went on past the door, happy in the thought +that his brother knew nothing of what had happened to him, and hastening +his steps as if to spare the establishment all further worry. However, +on emerging into the open sunshine of the street he felt a touch of +shame, and got into the cab with bent back and ashen face. He was +conscious that the fish market was gazing at him in triumph; it seemed +to him, indeed, as though the whole neighbourhood had gathered there to +rejoice at his fall. + +"What a villainous expression he's got!" said Mademoiselle Saget. + +"Yes, indeed, he looks just like a thief caught with his hand in +somebody's till," added Madame Lecoeur. + +"I once saw a man guillotined who looked exactly like he does," asserted +La Sarriette, showing her white teeth. + +They stepped forward, lengthened their necks, and tried to see into the +cab. Just as it was starting, however, the old maid tugged sharply at +the skirts of her companions, and pointed to Claire, who was coming +round the corner of the Rue Pirouette, looking like a mad creature, +with her hair loose and her nails bleeding. She had at last succeeded +in opening her door. When she discovered that she was too late, and +that Florent was being taken off, she darted after the cab, but checked +herself almost immediately with a gesture of impotent rage, and shook +her fists at the receding wheels. Then, with her face quite crimson +beneath the fine plaster dust with which she was covered, she ran back +again towards the Rue Pirouette. + +"Had he promised to marry her, eh?" exclaimed La Sarriette, laughing. +"The silly fool must be quite cracked." + +Little by little the neighbourhood calmed down, though throughout the +day groups of people constantly assembled and discussed the events of +the morning. The pork shop was the object of much inquisitive curiosity. +Lisa avoided appearing there, and left the counter in charge of +Augustine. In the afternoon she felt bound to tell Quenu of what had +happened, for fear the news might cause him too great a shock should +he hear it from some gossiping neighbour. She waited till she was alone +with him in the kitchen, knowing that there he was always most cheerful, +and would weep less than if he were anywhere else. Moreover, she +communicated her tidings with all sorts of motherly precautions. +Nevertheless, as soon as he knew the truth he fell on the +chopping-block, and began to cry like a calf. + +"Now, now, my poor dear, don't give way like that; you'll make yourself +quite ill," exclaimed Lisa, taking him in her arms. + +His tears were inundating his white apron, the whole of his massive, +torpid form quivered with grief. He seemed to be sinking, melting away. +When he was at last able to speak, he stammered: "Oh, you don't know how +good he was to me when we lived together in the Rue Royer-Collard! He +did everything. He swept the room and cooked the meals. He loved me as +though I were his own child; and after his day's work he used to come +back splashed with mud, and so tired that he could scarcely move, while +I stayed warm and comfortable in the house, and had nothing to do but +eat. And now they're going to shoot him!" + +At this Lisa protested, saying that he would certainly not be shot. But +Quenu only shook his head. + +"I haven't loved him half as much as I ought to have done," he +continued. "I can see that very well now. I had a wicked heart, and I +hesitated about giving him his half of the money." + +"Why, I offered it to him a dozen times and more!" Lisa interrupted. +"I'm sure we've nothing to reproach ourselves with." + +"Oh, yes, I know that you are everything that is good, and that you +would have given him every copper. But I hesitated, I didn't like to +part with it; and now it will be a sorrow to me for the rest of my life. +I shall always think that if I'd shared the fortune with him he wouldn't +have gone wrong a second time. Oh, yes; it's my fault! It is I who have +driven him to this." + +Then Lisa, expostulating still more gently, assured him that he had +nothing to blame himself for, and even expressed some pity for Florent. +But he was really very culpable, she said, and if he had had more money +he would probably have perpetrated greater follies. Gradually she gave +her husband to understand that it was impossible matters could have had +any other termination, and that now everything would go on much better. +Quenu was still weeping, wiping his cheeks with his apron, trying to +suppress his sobs to listen to her, and then breaking into a wilder +fit of tears than before. His fingers had mechanically sought a heap +of sausage-meat lying on the block, and he was digging holes in it, and +roughly kneading it together. + +"And how unwell you were feeling, you know," Lisa continued. "It was all +because our life had got so shifted out of its usual course. I was very +anxious, though I didn't tell you so, at seeing you getting so low." + +"Yes, wasn't I?" he murmured, ceasing to sob for a moment. + +"And the business has been quite under a cloud this year. It was as +though a spell had been cast on it. Come, now, don't take on so; you'll +see that everything will look up again now. You must take care of +yourself, you know, for my sake and your daughter's. You have duties to +us as well as to others, remember." + +Quenu was now kneading the sausage-meat more gently. Another burst +of emotion was thrilling him, but it was a softer emotion, which was +already bringing a vague smile to his grief-stricken face. Lisa felt +that she had convinced him, and she turned and called to Pauline, who +was playing in the shop, and sat her on Quenu's knee. + +"Tell your father, Pauline, that he ought not to give way like this. Ask +him nicely not to go on distressing us so." + +The child did as she was told, and their fat, sleek forms united in a +general embrace. They all three looked at one another, already feeling +cured of that twelve months' depression from which they had but just +emerged. Their big, round faces smiled, and Lisa softly repeated, "And +after all, my dear, there are only we three, you know, only we three." + +Two months later Florent was again sentenced to transportation. The +affair caused a great stir. The newspapers published all possible +details, and gave portraits of the accused, sketches of the banners and +scarves, and plans of the places where the conspirators had met. For a +fortnight nothing but the great plot of the central markets was talked +of in Paris. The police kept on launching more and more alarming +reports, and it was at last even declared that the whole of the +Montmartre Quarter was undermined. The excitement in the Corps +Legislatif was so intense that the members of the Centre and the Right +forgot their temporary disagreement over the Imperial Grant Bill, and +became reconciled. And then by an overwhelming majority they voted the +unpopular tax, of which even the lower classes, in the panic which was +sweeping over the city, dared no longer complain. + +The trial lasted a week. Florent was very much surprised at the number +of accomplices with which he found himself credited. Out of the twenty +and more who were placed in the dock with him, he knew only some six +or seven. After the sentence of the court had been read, he fancied +he could see Robine's innocent-looking hat and back going off quietly +through the crowd. Logre was acquitted, as was also Lacaille; Alexandre +was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for his child-like complicity +in the conspiracy; while as for Gavard, he, like Florent, was condemned +to transportation. This was a heavy blow, which quite crushed him amidst +the final enjoyment that he derived from those lengthy proceedings in +which he had managed to make himself so conspicuous. He was paying +very dearly for the way in which he had vented the spirit of perpetual +opposition peculiar to the Paris shopkeeping classes. Two big tears +coursed down his scared face--the face of a white-haired child. + +And then one morning in August, amidst the busy awakening of the +markets, Claude Lantier, sauntering about in the thick of the arriving +vegetables, with his waist tightly girded by his red sash, came to grasp +Madame Francois's hand close by Saint Eustache. She was sitting on her +carrots and turnips, and her long face looked very sad. The artist, too, +was gloomy, notwithstanding the bright sun which was already softening +the deep-green velvet of the mountains of cabbages. + +"Well, it's all over now," he said. "They are sending him back again. +He's already on his way to Brest, I believe." + +Madame Francois made a gesture of mute grief. Then she gently waved her +hand around, and murmured in a low voice; "Ah, it is all Paris's doing, +this villainous Paris!" + +"No, no, not quite that; but I know whose doing it is, the contemptible +creatures!" exclaimed Claude, clenching his fists. "Do you know, Madame +Francois, there was nothing too ridiculous for those fellows in the +court to say! Why, they even went ferreting in a child's copy-books! +That great idiot of a Public Prosecutor made a tremendous fuss over +them, and ranted about the respect due to children, and the wickedness +of demagogical education! It makes me quite sick to think of it all!" + +A shudder of disgust shook him, and then, burying himself more deeply +in his discoloured cloak, he resumed: "To think of it! A man who was +as gentle as a girl! Why, I saw him turn quite faint at seeing a pigeon +killed! I couldn't help smiling with pity when I saw him between two +gendarmes. Ah, well, we shall never see him again! He won't come back +this time." + +"He ought to have listened to me," said Madame Francois, after a pause, +"and have come to live at Nanterre with my fowls and rabbits. I was +very fond of him, you see, for I could tell that he was a good-hearted +fellow. Ah, we might have been so happy together! It's a sad pity. Well, +we must bear it as best we can, Monsieur Claude. Come and see me one of +these days. I'll have an omelet ready for you." + +Her eyes were dim with tears; but all at once she sprang up like a brave +woman who bears her sorrows with fortitude. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed, "here's old Mother Chantemesse coming to buy some +turnips of me. The fat old lady's as sprightly as ever!" + +Claude went off, and strolled about the footways. The dawn had risen in +the white sheaf of light at the end of the Rue Rambuteau; and the sun, +now level with the house-tops, was diffusing rosy rays which already +fell in warm patches on the pavements. Claude was conscious of a +gay awakening in the huge resonant markets--indeed, all over the +neighbourhood--crowded with piles of food. It was like the joy that +comes after cure, the mirth of folks who are at last relieved of a heavy +weight which has been pulling them down. He saw La Sarriette displaying +a gold chain and singing amidst her plums and strawberries, while she +playfully pulled the moustaches of Monsieur Jules, who was arrayed in a +velvet jacket. He also caught sight of Madame Lecoeur and Mademoiselle +Saget passing along one of the covered ways, and looking less sallow +than usual--indeed, almost rosy--as they laughed like bosom friends +over some amusing story. In the fish market, old Madame Mehudin, who +had returned to her stall, was slapping her fish, abusing customers, and +snubbing the new inspector, a presumptuous young man whom she had sworn +to spank; while Claire, seemingly more languid and indolent than ever, +extended her hands, blue from immersion in the water of her tanks, to +gather together a great heap of edible snails, shimmering with silvery +slime. In the tripe market Auguste and Augustine, with the foolish +expression of newly-married people, had just been purchasing some +pigs' trotters, and were starting off in a trap for their pork shop at +Montrouge. Then, as it was now eight o'clock and already quite warm, +Claude, on again coming to the Rue Rambuteau, perceived Muche and +Pauline playing at horses. Muche was crawling along on all-fours, while +Pauline sat on his back, and clung to his hair to keep herself from +falling. However, a moving shadow which fell from the eaves of the +market roof made Claude look up; and he then espied Cadine and Marjolin +aloft, kissing and warming themselves in the sunshine, parading their +loves before the whole neighbourhood like a pair of light-hearted +animals. + +Claude shook his fist at them. All this joyousness down below and on +high exasperated him. He reviled the Fat; the Fat, he declared, had +conquered the Thin. All around him he could see none but the Fat +protruding their paunches, bursting with robust health, and greeting +with delight another day of gorging and digestion. And a last blow was +dealt to him by the spectacle which he perceived on either hand as he +halted opposite the Rue Pirouette. + +On his right, the beautiful Norman, or the beautiful Madame Lebigre, as +she was now called, stood at the door of her shop. Her husband had at +length been granted the privilege of adding a State tobacco agency[*] to +his wine shop, a long-cherished dream of his which he had finally +been able to realise through the great services he had rendered to the +authorities. And to Claude the beautiful Madame Lebigre looked superb, +with her silk dress and her frizzed hair, quite ready to take her seat +behind her counter, whither all the gentlemen in the neighbourhood +flocked to buy their cigars and packets of tobacco. She had become +quite distinguished, quite the lady. The shop behind her had been newly +painted, with borders of twining vine-branches showing against a soft +background; the zinc-plated wine-counter gleamed brightly, and in the +tall mirror the flasks of liqueurs set brighter flashes of colour than +ever. And the mistress of all these things stood smiling radiantly at +the bright sunshine. + + [*] Most readers will remember that the tobacco trade is a + State monopoly in France. The retail tobacconists are merely + Government agents.--Translator. + +Then, on Claude's left, the beautiful Lisa blocked up the doorway of +her shop as she stood on the threshold. Never before had her linen shone +with such dazzling whiteness; never had her serene face and rosy cheeks +appeared in a more lustrous setting of glossy locks. She displayed the +deep calmness of repletion, a massive tranquillity unruffled even by a +smile. She was a picture of absolute quietude, of perfect felicity, not +only cloudless but lifeless, the simple felicity of basking in the warm +atmosphere. Her tightly stretched bodice seemed to be still digesting +the happiness of yesterday; while her dimpled hands, hidden in the folds +of her apron, did not even trouble to grasp at the happiness of to-day, +certain as they were that it would come of itself. And the shop-window +at her side seemed to display the same felicity. It had recovered from +its former blight; the tongues lolled out, red and healthy; the hams +had regained their old chubbiness of form; the festoons of sausages no +longer wore that mournful air which had so greatly distressed Quenu. +Hearty laughter, accompanied by a jubilant clattering of pans, sounded +from the kitchen in the rear. The whole place again reeked with fat +health. The flitches of bacon and the sides of pork that hung against +the marble showed roundly like paunches, triumphant paunches, whilst +Lisa, with her imposing breadth of shoulders and dignity of mien, bade +the markets good morning with those big eyes of hers which so clearly +bespoke a gross feeder. + +However, the two women bowed to each other. Beautiful Madame Lebigre and +beautiful Madame Quenu exchanged a friendly salute. + +And then Claude, who had certainly forgotten to dine on the previous +day, was thrilled with anger at seeing them standing there, looking so +healthy and well-to-do with their buxom bosoms; and tightening his sash, +he growled in a tone of irritation: + +"What blackguards respectable people are!" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fat and the Thin, by Emile Zola + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FAT AND THE THIN *** + +***** This file should be named 5744.txt or 5744.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/7/4/5744/ + +Produced by Dagny; John Bickers; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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