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diff --git a/old/68758-h/68758-h.htm b/old/68758-h/68758-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 38e2122..0000000 --- a/old/68758-h/68758-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7694 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Fortunes of Fifi, by Molly Elliot Seawell—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - -body {margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%;} - - h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both;} - -p {margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; - text-indent: 1.5em} - -.no-indent {text-indent: 0;} - -.ph1 {text-align: center; - margin-top: .51em; - margin-bottom: .49em; - font-size: xx-large; - font-weight: bold; - text-indent: 0;} - -.ph2 {text-align: center; - margin-top: .51em; - margin-bottom: .49em; - font-size: x-large; - font-weight: bold; - text-indent: 0;} - -.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} -.p2b {margin-bottom: 2em;} -.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} -.p6 {margin-top: 6em;} - -hr {width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both;} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -table {margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto;} - -.tdl {text-align: left;} -.tdtr {text-align: right; - vertical-align: top;} -.tdbr {text-align: right; - vertical-align: bottom;} -.tdc {text-align: center;} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; -} /* page numbers */ - - -.blockquot {margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%;} - -.box {border: solid black 1px; - padding: 1em; - width: 30%; margin-left: 35%; margin-right:35%} - -.box2 {border: solid black 1px; - padding: 1em; - width: 30%; margin-left: 35%; margin-right:35%} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.smaller {font-size: 85%;} - -.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} - -/* Images */ - -img {max-width: 100%; - height: auto;} - -.figcenter {margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; - margin-left: 20%; - margin-right: 20%; - page-break-before: always;} - -.x-ebookmaker-drop .hide {display: none; visibility: hidden;} - -.x-ebookmaker .hide {display: none; visibility: hidden;} - -.x-ebookmaker .figcenter {width:100%} - -.x-ebookmaker .box {width: 90%; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} - -.x-ebookmaker .box2 {width: 70%; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The fortunes of Fifi, by Molly Elliot Seawell</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The fortunes of Fifi</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Molly Elliot Seawell</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: T. De Thulstrup</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 15, 2022 [eBook #68758]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: D A Alexander and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by University of California libraries)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORTUNES OF FIFI ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter hide" style="width: 35%"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="ph1">THE FORTUNES OF FIFI</p></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> -<a id="i_frontispiece"><img src="images/i_frontispiece.jpg" width="400" alt="Fifi cuddling Toto." -title="" /></a></div></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"> - -<h1>THE<br /> -<br /> -FORTUNES OF FIFI</h1></div> - -<p class="center no-indent">BY</p> - -<p class="ph2 nobreak">MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL</p> - -<p class="center no-indent"><small>The author of Francezka<br /> -The Sprightly Romance of Marsac<br /> -Children of Destiny</small></p> - - -<p class="center no-indent p4">THE ILLUSTRATIONS BY<br /> -T. DE THULSTRUP</p> - -<p class="center no-indent p6">INDIANAPOLIS<br /> -THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY<br /> -PUBLISHERS</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center no-indent"><span class="smcap">Copyright 1903<br /> -Molly Elliot Seawell</span><br /> -<br /> -<span class="smcap">Copyright 1903<br /> -The Bobbs-Merrill Company</span><br /> -<br /> -<span class="smcap">October</span><br /> -<br /> -All rights reserved<br /> -<br /> -PRESS OF<br /> -BRAUNWORTH & CO.<br /> -BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS<br /> -BROOKLYN, N. Y.<br /> -</p></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="ph2 nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</p></div> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" summary="CONTENTS"> - -<tr><td class="tdc"><small>CHAPTER</small></td> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdc"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdtr">I</td> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Imperial Theater</span></td> -<td class="tdbr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdtr">II</td> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Number 1313</span></td> -<td class="tdbr"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdtr">III</td> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Grand Prize</span></td> -<td class="tdbr"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdtr">IV</td> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Courtship and Cribbage</span></td> -<td class="tdbr"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdtr">V</td> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Parcel of Old Shoes</span></td> -<td class="tdbr"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdtr">VI</td> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Blue Satin Bed</span></td> -<td class="tdbr"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdtr">VII</td> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Most Imprudent Thing</span></td> -<td class="tdbr"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdtr">VIII</td> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">An Old Lady and a Limp</span></td> -<td class="tdbr"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdtr">IX</td> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Back to the Black Cat</span></td> -<td class="tdbr"><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdtr">X</td> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Pope Wins</span></td> -<td class="tdbr"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdtr">XI</td> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">By the Emperor’s Order</span></td> -<td class="tdbr"><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> -<p class="ph1 nobreak">THE FORTUNES OF FIFI</p> -</div> - -<h2>CHAPTER I<br /> -<span class="smaller">THE IMPERIAL THEATER</span></h2> - -<p>Although it was not yet six o’clock, the November -night had descended upon Paris—especially in -those meaner quarters on the left bank of the Seine, -where, in 1804, lights were still scarce. However, -three yellow flickering lamps hung upon a rope -stretched across the narrow Rue du Chat Noir. -In this street of the Black Cat the tall old rickety -houses loomed darkly in the brown mist that -wrapped the town and shut out the light of the -stars.</p> - -<p class="p2b">Short as well as narrow, the Rue du Chat Noir -was yet a thoroughfare connecting two poor, but -populous quarters. The ground floor of the chief -building in the street was ornamented with a row -of gaudy red lamps, not yet lighted, and above -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span>them, inscribed among some decaying plaster ornaments, -ran the legend:</p> - -<div class="box2"> -<p class="center no-indent">THE IMPERIAL THEATER.<br /> -DUVERNET, MANAGER.</p></div> - -<p class="p2">Imperial was a great word in Paris in the month -of November, 1804.</p> - -<p>Across the way from the theater, at the corner -where the tide of travel turns into the little street, -stood Cartouche, general utility man in the largest -sense of the Imperial Theater, and Mademoiselle -Fifi, just promoted to be leading lady. The three -glaring, swinging lamps enabled Cartouche to see -Fifi’s laughing face and soft shining eyes as he -harangued her.</p> - -<p>“Now, Fifi,” Cartouche was saying sternly, -“don’t get it into your head, because you have become -Duvernet’s leading lady, with a salary of -twenty-five francs the week, that you are Mademoiselle -Mars at the House of Molière, with the -Emperor waiting to see you as soon as the curtain -goes down.”</p> - -<p>“No, I won’t,” promptly replied Fifi.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> - -<p>“And remember—no flirtations.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, Cartouche!”</p> - -<p>“No flirtations, I say. Do you know why Duvernet -made you his leading lady instead of Julie -Campionet?”</p> - -<p>“Because Julie Campionet can no more act than -a broomstick, and—”</p> - -<p>“You are mistaken. It is because Duvernet saw -that Julie was going the way of his three former -leading ladies. They have each, in turn, succeeded -in marrying him, and there are three divorce cases -at present against Duvernet, and he does not -know which one of these leading ex-ladies he is -married to, or if he is married at all; and here is -Julie Campionet out for him with a net and a lantern. -So Duvernet told me he must have a leading -lady who didn’t want to marry him, and I said: -‘Promote Fifi. She doesn’t know much yet, but -she can learn.’”</p> - -<p>“Is it thus you speak of my art?” cried Fifi, -who, since her elevation, sometimes assumed a very -grand diction, as well as an air she considered -highly imposing.</p> - -<p>“It is thus I speak of your art,” replied Cartouche -grimly—which caused Fifi’s pale, pretty -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span>cheeks to color, and made her shift her ground as -she said, crossly:</p> - -<p>“Everybody knows you lead Duvernet around -by the nose.”</p> - -<p>“Who is ‘everybody’?”</p> - -<p>“Why, that hateful Julie Campionet, and myself, -and—and—”</p> - -<p>“It is the first thing I ever knew you and Julie -Campionet to agree on yet—that the two of you -are ‘everybody’. But mind what I say—no flirtations. -Duvernet beats his wives, you know; and -you come of people who don’t beat their wives, -although you are only a little third-rate actress -at a fourth-rate theater.”</p> - -<p>Fifi’s eyes blazed up angrily at this, but it did -not disturb Cartouche in the least.</p> - -<p>“And you couldn’t stand blows from a husband,” -Cartouche continued, “and that’s what the women -in Duvernet’s class expect. Look you. My father -was an honest man, and a good shoemaker, and -kind to my mother, God bless her. But sometimes -he got in drink and then he gave my mother a -whack occasionally. Did she mind it? Not a bit, -but gave him back as good as he sent; and when -my father got sober, it was all comfortably made -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>up between them. But that is not the way with -people of your sort—because you are not named -Chiaramonti for nothing.”</p> - -<p>“It seems as if I were named Chiaramonti for -nothing, if I am, as you say, only a little third-rate -actress at a fourth-rate theater,” replied Fifi, -sulkily.</p> - -<p>To this Cartouche answered only:</p> - -<p>“At all events, there’s no question of marrying -for you, Fifi, unless you marry a gentleman, and -there is about as much chance of that, as that pigs -will learn to fly.”</p> - -<p>“So, I am to have neither lover nor husband, no -flirtations, no attachments—” Fifi turned an angry, -charming face on Cartouche.</p> - -<p>“Exactly.”</p> - -<p>“Cartouche,” said Fifi, after a pause, and examining -Cartouche’s brawny figure, “I wish you -were not so big—nor so overbearing.”</p> - -<p>“I dare say you wish it was my arm instead of -my leg that is stiff,” said Cartouche.</p> - -<p>He moved his right leg as he spoke, so as to -show the stiffness of the knee-joint. Otherwise he -was a well-made man. He continued, with a grin:</p> - -<p>“You know very well I would warm the jackets -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>of any of these scoundrels who hang about the -Imperial Theater if they dared to be impudent to -you, because I regard you as a—as a niece, Fifi, -and I must take care of you.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche had a wide mouth, a nose that was -obstinacy itself, and he was, altogether, remarkably -ugly and attractive. Dogs, children and old -women found Cartouche a fascinating fellow, but -young and pretty women generally said he was a -bear. It was a very young and beautiful woman, -the wife of the scene painter at the Imperial Theater, -who had called attention to the unlucky similarity -between Cartouche’s grotesque name and that -of the celebrated highwayman.</p> - -<p>Cartouche had caught the scene painter’s wife -at some of her tricks and had taken the liberty of -giving a good beating to the gentleman in the case, -while the scene painter had administered a dose out -of the same bottle to the lady; so the promising little -affair was nipped in the bud, and the scene -painter’s wife frightened into behaving herself. -But she never wearied of gibing at Cartouche—his -person, his acting, everything he did.</p> - -<p>In truth, Cartouche was not much of an actor, -and was further disqualified by his stiff leg. But -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>the Imperial Theater could scarcely have got on -without him. He could turn his hand to anything, -from acting to carpentering. He was a terror to -evil-doers, and stood well with the police. Duvernet, -the manager, would rather have parted with his -whole company than with Cartouche, who received -for his services as actor, stage manager, and Jack -of all trades the sum of twenty-two francs weekly, -for which he worked eighteen hours a day.</p> - -<p>The worst of Cartouche was that he always meant -what he said; and Fifi, who was naturally inclined -to flirtations, felt sure that it would not be a safe -pastime for her, if Cartouche said not. And as for -marrying—Cartouche had spoken the truth—what -chance had she for marrying a gentleman? So -Fifi’s dancing eyes grew rueful, as she studied -Cartouche’s burly figure and weather-beaten face.</p> - -<p>The night was penetratingly damp and chill, and -Fifi shivered in her thin mantle. The winter had -come early that year, and Fifi had taken the money -which should have gone in a warm cloak and put -it into the black feathers which nodded in her hat. -Pity Fifi; she was not yet twenty.</p> - -<p>Cartouche noted her little shiver.</p> - -<p>“Ah, Fifi,” he said. “If only I had enough -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>money to give you a cloak! But my appetite is -so large! I am always thinking that I will save -up something, and then comes a dish of beans and -cabbage, or something like it, and my money is all -eaten up!”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, Cartouche,” cried Fifi, laughing, -while her teeth chattered; “I have twenty-five -francs the week now, and in a fortnight I can buy -a cloak. Monsieur Duvernet asked me yesterday -why I did not pawn my brooch of brilliants and -buy some warm clothes. I posed for indignation—asked -him how he dared to suggest that I should -pawn the last remnant of splendor in my family—and -he looked really abashed. Of course I couldn’t -admit to him that the brooch was only paste; that -brooch is my trump card with Duvernet. It always -overawes him. I don’t think he ever had an actress -before who had a diamond brooch, or what -passes for one.”</p> - -<p>“No,” replied Cartouche, who realized that the -alleged diamond brooch gave much prestige to -Fifi, with both the manager and the company. -“However, better days are coming, Fifi, and if -I could but live on a little less!”</p> - -<p>The streets had been almost deserted up to that -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>time, but suddenly and quietly, three figures -showed darkly out of the mist. They kept well -beyond the circle of light made by the swinging -lamp, which made a great, yellow patch on the mud -of the street.</p> - -<p>All three of them wore long military cloaks with -high collars, and their cocked hats were placed so as -to conceal as much as possible of their features. -Nevertheless, at the first sight of one of these figures, -Cartouche started and his keen eyes wandered -from Fifi’s face. But Fifi herself was looking -toward the other end of the street, from which came -the sound of horses’ hoofs and the rattle of a coach -in the mud. It came into sight—a huge dark unwieldy -thing, with four horses, followed by a couple -of traveling chaises. As the coach lurched slowly -along, it passed from the half-darkness into the -circle of light of the swinging lamps. Within it -sat a frail old man, wrapped up in a great white -woolen cloak. He wore on his silvery hair a white -beretta. His skin was of the delicate pallor seen -in old persons who have lived clean and gentle -lives, and he had a pair of light and piercing -eyes, which saw everything, and had a mild, but -compelling power in them.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p> - -<p>Fifi, quite beside herself with curiosity, leaned -forward, nearly putting her head in the coach -window. At that very moment, the coach, almost -wedged in the narrow street, came to a halt for a -whole minute. The bright, fantastic light of the -lamps overhead streamed full upon Fifi’s sparkling -face, vivid with youth and hope and confidence, -and a curiosity at once gay and tender, and she -met the direct gaze of the gentle yet commanding -eyes of the old man.</p> - -<p>Instantly an electric current seemed established -between the young eyes and the old. The old man, -wrapped in his white mantle, raised himself from his -corner in the coach, and leaned forward, so close -to Fifi that they were not a foot apart. One delicate, -withered hand rested on the coach window, -while with an expression eager and disturbing, he -studied Fifi’s face. Fifi, for her part, was bewitched -with that mild and fatherly glance. She -stood, one hand holding up her skirts, while involuntarily -she laid the other on the coach window, -beside the old man’s hand.</p> - -<p>While Fifi gazed thus, attracted and subdued, -the three figures in the black shadow were likewise -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>studying the face of the old man, around which -the lamps made a kind of halo in the darkness. -Especially was this true of the shortest of the three, -who with his head advanced and his arms folded, -stood, fixed as a statue, eying the white figure in -the coach. Suddenly the wheels revolved, and -Fifi felt herself seized unceremoniously by Cartouche, -to keep her from falling to the ground.</p> - -<p>“Do you know whom you were staring at so -rudely?” he asked, as he stood Fifi on her feet, and -the coach moved down the street, followed by the -traveling chaises. “It was the Pope—Pius the -Seventh, who has come to Paris to crown the Emperor; -and proud enough the Pope ought to be -at the Emperor’s asking him. But that’s no reason -you should stare the old man out of countenance, -and peer into his carriage as if you were an impudent -grisette.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche had an ugly temper when he was -roused, and he seemed bent on making himself disagreeable -that night. The fact is, Cartouche had -nerves in his strong, rough body, and the idea -just broached to him, that Fifi would have to go -two weeks or probably a month without a warm -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>cloak, made him irritable. If it would have done -any good, he would cheerfully have given his own -skin to make Fifi a cloak.</p> - -<p>Fifi, however, was used to Cartouche’s roughness, -and, besides, she was under the spell of the venerable -and benignant presence of the old man. So -she gave Cartouche a soft answer.</p> - -<p>“I did not mean to be rude, but something in -that old man’s face touched me, and overcame me; -and Cartouche, he felt it, too; he looked at me -with a kind of—a kind of—surprised affection—”</p> - -<p>“Whoosh!” cried Cartouche, “the Holy Father, -brought to Paris by his Imperial Majesty the Emperor -Napoleon, is surprised at first sight into so -much affection for Mademoiselle Fifi, leading lady -at the Imperial Theater, that he means to adopt -her, give her a title, make her a countess or I -don’t know what, and leave her a million of francs.”</p> - -<p>Fifi, at this, turned her shapely, girlish back on -the presumptuous Cartouche, while there was a -little movement of silent laughter on the part of -the three persons who had remained in the little -dark street, after the passing of the Pope’s traveling -equipage.</p> - -<p>Cartouche had not for a moment forgotten the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>face of the one he recognized so instantly, but seeing -them keeping in the shadow, and having, himself, -the soul of a gentleman, forbore to look toward -them, and proceeded to get Fifi out of the -way.</p> - -<p>“Come now,” said he. “It is time for me to go -to the theater, and you promised me you would -sew up the holes in Duvernet’s toga before the -performance begins. It split last night in the middle -of his death scene, and I thought the whole act -was gone, and I have not had time to-day to get -him a new toga; so run along.”</p> - -<p>Fifi, for once angry with Cartouche, struck an -attitude she had seen in a picture of Mademoiselle -Mars as Medea.</p> - -<p>“I go,” she cried, in Medea’s tragic tone on -leaving Jason, “but I shall tell Monsieur Duvernet -how you treat his leading lady.”</p> - -<p>And with that she stalked majestically across -the street and disappeared in the darkness.</p> - -<p>One of the group of persons came up to Cartouche -and touched him on the shoulder. It was -the one, at sight of whom Cartouche had started. -In spite of his enveloping cloak, and a hat that concealed -much of his face, Cartouche knew him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span></p> - -<p>“Who is that pretty young lady with whom you -have been quarreling?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“That, your Majesty,” replied Cartouche, “is -Mademoiselle Fifi, a very good, respectable little -girl who has just been made leading lady at Monsieur -Duvernet’s theater across the way.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche, although thrilled with happiness, did -not feel the least oppressed or embarrassed at talking -with the Emperor. No private soldier did—for -was not the Emperor theirs? Had they not known -him when he was a slim, sallow young general, -who knew exactly what every man ought to have -in his knapsack, and promised to have the company -cooks shot if they did not give the soldiers -good soup? Did he not walk post for the sleeping -sentry that the man’s life might be saved? And -although the lightning bolts of his wrath might -fall upon a general officer, was he not as soft and -sweet as a woman to the rugged moustaches who -trudged along with muskets in their hands? And -Cartouche answered quite easily and promptly—the -Emperor meanwhile studying him with that -penetrating glance which could see through a two-inch -plank.</p> - -<p>“So you know me,” said the Emperor. “Well, I -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>know you, too. It is not likely that I can forget -the hour in which I saw your honest, ugly face. -You were the first man across at the terrible passage -of the bridge of Lodi.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Sire. And your Majesty was the second -man across at the terrible passage of the bridge -of Lodi.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, was it not frightful! We were shoulder to -shoulder on the bridge that day, you and I. Your -legs were longer than mine, else I should have -been across first,” the Emperor continued, smiling. -“Berthier, here, was on the bridge, too. We had -a devil of a time, eh, Berthier?”</p> - -<p>Marshal Berthier, short of stature and plain of -face, and the greatest chief of staff in Europe, -smiled grimly at the recollection of that rush across -the bridge. The Emperor again turned to Cartouche; -he loved to talk to honest, simple fellows -like Cartouche, and encouraged them to talk -to him; so Cartouche replied, with a broad grin:</p> - -<p>“Your Majesty was on foot, struggling with us -tall fellows of the Thirty-second Grenadiers. At -first we thought your Majesty was some little boy-officer -who had got lost in the mêlée from his command; -and then we saw that it was our general, and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>a hundred thousand Austrians could not have held -us back then. We ate the Austrians up, Sire.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you ate the Austrians up. Afterward, I -never could recall without laughing the expression -on the faces of my old moustaches when they saw -me on the bridge.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, Sire, when the soldiers came to themselves -and began to think about things, they were in -transports of rage at your Majesty for exposing -your life so.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor smiled—that magic and seductive -smile which began with his eyes and ended with his -mouth, and which no man or woman could resist. -He began to pull Cartouche’s ear meditatively.</p> - -<p>“You old rascals of moustaches have no business -to think at all. Besides, you made me a corporal -for it. One has to distinguish himself to receive -promotion.”</p> - -<p>“All the same,” replied Cartouche obstinately, -“we were enraged against your Majesty; and if -your Majesty continues so reckless of your life, it -will be followed by a terrible catastrophe. The -soldiers will lose the battle rather than lose their -Emperor.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span></p> - -<p>The Emperor had continued to pull Cartouche’s -ear during all this.</p> - -<p>“And where are your moustaches?” he asked. -“And do you still belong to the Thirty-second -Grenadiers? For they were the fellows who got -across first.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche shook his head.</p> - -<p>“I did not get a scratch at Lodi, your Majesty; -nor at Arcola, nor Castiglione, nor Rivoli, nor at -Mantua; but one day, I was ordered to catch a -goat which was browsing about my captain’s quarters; -and I, Cartouche, first sergeant in the Thirty-second -Grenadiers, who had served for nine years, -who had been in seven pitched battles, twenty-four -minor engagements and more skirmishes than I can -count, was knocked down by that goat, and my leg -broken—and ever since I have been good for nothing -to your Majesty. See.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche showed his stiff leg.</p> - -<p>“That is bad,” said the Emperor—and the words -as he said them went to Cartouche’s heart. “Luckily -it did not spoil your beauty. That would have -been a pity.”</p> - -<p>Both the Emperor and Cartouche laughed at the -notion of Cartouche having any beauty to spoil.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span></p> - -<p>“And what are you doing now?”</p> - -<p>“I am an actor, your Majesty, at the Imperial -Theater yonder in this street.”</p> - -<p>“An actor! You! One of my old moustaches! -What do you know about acting?”</p> - -<p>“Well, your Majesty, if you could see the theater, -you wouldn’t be surprised that they let me act -in it. A franc the best seat—twenty centimes for -the worst—eating and drinking and smoking—and -cabbage-heads thrown at the villain, who is -generally an Englishman.”</p> - -<p>“But how do you manage on the stage with your -stiff leg?”</p> - -<p>“Very well, Sire. I am always a wounded soldier, -or a grandfather, or something of the sort. -And I do other work about the theater—of so -many kinds I can not now tell your Majesty.”</p> - -<p>“And the pretty little girl is your sweetheart?”</p> - -<p>“No, your Majesty; I wish she were. She is -not yet twenty, and really has talent; and I am -thirty-five and look forty-five, and have a stiff leg; -and, in short, I am no match for her.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche would not mention his poverty, for he -would not that money should sully that hour of -happiness when the Emperor talked with him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p> - -<p>“What does Mademoiselle Fifi think on the subject?” -asked the Emperor.</p> - -<p>“She does not think about it at all yet, your -Majesty. She was but ten years old when I took -her. It was at Mantua. Your Majesty remembers -how everything was topsyturvy in Italy eight -years ago. One day I saw a child running about -the market-place, calling gaily for her mother. -The mother did not come. Then the child’s cry -changed to impatience, to terror and at last to -despair. It was Fifi. The mother was dead, but -the child did not know it then. She had no one in -the world that I could discover; so, when I was -started for France in a cart—for I could not walk -at all then—I brought Fifi with me. She was so -light, her weight made no difference, and ate so -little that she could live off my rations and there -would still be enough left for me. When we got -to Paris, I hired a little garret for her, in yonder -tall old house where I live, and Fifi lives there still. -I made a shift to have her taught reading and writing -and sewing, and never meant her to go on the -stage. However, I caught her one day dressed -up in a peasant costume, which she had borrowed, -acting in the streets with some strollers—a desperately<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> -bad lot. I carried Fifi off by the hair of -her head—she had only been with them a single -day—and frightened her so that I don’t think she -will ever dare to follow her own will again; but I -saw that acting was in her blood, so at last I got -Duvernet, the manager, to give her a small place. -That was a year and a half ago, and to-day she -is his leading lady.”</p> - -<p>“And you are not in love with her?”</p> - -<p>“I did not say that, your Majesty. I said she -was not my sweetheart; but I wish I were good -enough for her. However, Fifi knows nothing -about that. All she knows is, that Cartouche belongs -to her and is ready to thrash any rogue, be -he gentleman or common man, who dares to speak -lightly to her, or of her, for, although the goat -ruined my leg, my arms are all right, and I know -how to use them.”</p> - -<p>“Fifi will be a great fool if she does not marry -you,” said the Emperor.</p> - -<p>“Your Majesty means, she would be a great -fool if she thought of marrying me—me—me! -Her father was a Chiaramonti—that much I found -out—and my father was a shoemaker.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span></p> - -<p>At the mention of the name Chiaramonti the -Emperor let go of Cartouche’s ear, and cried:</p> - -<p>“A Chiaramonti! And from what part of -Italy, pray?”</p> - -<p>“From a place called Cesena, at the foot of the -Apennines. That is, the family are from there; so -I discovered in Mantua.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know her father’s Christian name?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, your Majesty—Gregory Barnabas Chiaramonti. -I have seen Fifi’s baptismal certificate in -the church at Mantua.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor folded his arms and looked at Cartouche.</p> - -<p>“My man,” he said, “I shall keep an eye on -Mademoiselle Fifi of the Imperial Theater—likewise -on yourself; and you may hear from me some -day.”</p> - -<p>A sudden thought struck Cartouche.</p> - -<p>“Why does not your Majesty go to see Fifi act -to-night? The theater is in this street—yonder it -is, with the row of red lamps. I put those lamps -up myself. I am due at the theater now, and if -your Majesty has not the price of the tickets with -you for yourself and Marshal Berthier and General -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>Duroc”—for Cartouche knew both of these well by -sight—“why, I, Cartouche, as stage manager, can -pass you in.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor threw back his head and laughed, -and motioned to Berthier and Duroc standing -behind him to come nearer to him.</p> - -<p>“Listen,” he said to them—and told them of -Cartouche’s invitation, and accepted it with great -delight.</p> - -<p>Marshal Berthier’s homely face lighted up with -a smile at the notion of attending a performance -at the Imperial Theater in the street of the Black -Cat. General Duroc, silent and stolid, followed -the Emperor without a word, exactly as he would -have marched into the bottomless pit at the Emperor’s -command.</p> - -<p>“But not a word to the manager until we leave -the house,” said the Emperor.</p> - -<p class="p2b">Cartouche, walking with the Emperor, led the -party a short distance up the street to where the -gaudy red lamps showed the entrance to the Imperial -Theater. Duvernet, the manager, in his -shirt-sleeves, was engaged in lighting these lamps. -He called out to the approaching Cartouche.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> -<a id="illo2"><img src="images/i_022.jpg" width="350" alt="Napoleon at the Imperial Theater." -title="" /></a></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span></p> - -<p class="p2">“Look here, Cartouche, this is a pretty business, -if you have forgotten my new toga. You were to -have a new one ready for me to-night—I can’t -feel like a Roman senator, much less look like one -in that old rag of a toga I wore last night. It -was made out of a white cotton petticoat of Fifi’s, -and she had the impertinence to remind me of it -before the whole company.”</p> - -<p>“Hold your tongue,” whispered Cartouche to -the manager, coming up close; and then he added, -aloud: “These are some friends of mine, whom -I have invited to see the play as my guests.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor, a step behind Cartouche, fixed his -eyes on Duvernet. No use was it for Cartouche to -refrain from mentioning who his first guest was. -Duvernet turned quite green, his jaw fell, and he -backed up against the wall.</p> - -<p>“My God!” he murmured. “The toga is a regular -rag!” and mopped his brow frantically.</p> - -<p>The Emperor evidently enjoyed the poor manager’s -predicament, and pushing back his hat, revealed -himself so there was no mistaking him. -Duvernet could only mutter, in an agony:</p> - -<p>“My God! The Emperor! My God! The -toga!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></p> - -<p>“Duvernet,” said Cartouche, shaking him, “you -behave as if you were drunk.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps I am—oh, I must be,” replied Duvernet, -continuing to mop his brow.</p> - -<p>“Come, Duvernet,” said the Emperor, laughing, -“never mind about the toga. I am not going to eat -you. I came to see my old acquaintance, Cartouche, -whom I have known ever since we met at the end -of a bridge on the tenth of May, 1796. And, although -I have enough money to pay for myself -and my two friends, I accept Cartouche’s invitation -to see the performance as his guests. He has -promised us the one-franc seats—don’t forget, -Cartouche—nothing under a franc.”</p> - -<p>“Certainly, Sire,” replied Cartouche. “But if -Duvernet doesn’t come to himself, I don’t know -whether we can have any performance or not; -because he is the Roman senator in our play to-night—a -tragedy composed by Monsieur Duvernet -himself.”</p> - -<p>Duvernet, at this, brought his wits together after -a fashion, and escorted the party within the theater, -and gave them franc seats as promised. It -was then time for Cartouche to go and dress, but -Duvernet, not having to appear as the Roman -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>senator until the second act, could remain some -time still with his guests.</p> - -<p>Afterward Duvernet said that in the half-hour -which followed, the Emperor found out all about -theaters of the class of Duvernet’s, rent, lighting, -wages, and told him more than he had ever known -before about his own business. But Duvernet was -in no way reassured, and his complexion was yet -green, when Cartouche, peeping through a hole -in the curtain, saw him still talking to the Emperor—or -rather answering the Emperor’s questions.</p> - -<p>The house was fast filling. It held only five -hundred persons, and there were but one hundred -seats where the élite of the patronage paid so much -as a franc; and even these seats were filled. Fortune -smiled on the Imperial Theater that night.</p> - -<p>Behind the curtain, the agitation was extreme; -the Emperor had been remembered and so had -Berthier and Duroc. Everybody knew that the -Emperor had recognized Cartouche, had walked -and talked with him, had pulled his ear, and had -come to see the performance as his guest—that is to -say, everybody except Fifi. That grand lady, -since acquiring the dignity of leading lady, always -contrived to be just half a minute behind Julie -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span>Campionet, her hated rival; but, also, just in time -to escape a wigging from Cartouche. Cartouche -himself, dressed as a centurion of the Pretorian -Guard, was the coolest person behind the curtain, -and was vigorously rearranging the barrels which -represented the columns of the Temple of Vesta.</p> - -<p>Julie Campionet, a tall, commanding-looking -woman with an aggressive nose, sailed in then, -arrayed as a Roman matron. After her came Fifi, -tripping, and dressed as a Roman maiden. The -air was charged with electricity, and both Fifi and -the hated Julie knew that something was happening. -Julie turned to the leading man, with whom -she had an ancient flirtation, to find out what was -the impending catastrophe.</p> - -<p>Fifi, however, ran straight to the place where -there was a hole in the curtain—a hole through -which Cartouche had strictly forbidden her to look, -as it was bad luck to look at the house before the -curtain went up. Fifi was terribly afraid of signs -and omens, but curiosity proved stronger than fear. -She swept one comprehensive glance through the -hole, and then, wildly seizing Cartouche by the arm, -screamed at him:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span></p> - -<p>“Cartouche! Cartouche! It is the Emperor! -Give me my smelling-salts.”</p> - -<p>Instead of running for the smelling-salts, Cartouche -shook Fifi’s elbow vigorously.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be a goose, Fifi! The Emperor has come -here as my guest—do you understand? And it is -the chance of your life!”</p> - -<p>But Fifi, quite pale under her paint, could only -gasp:</p> - -<p>“Cartouche, I can never, never act before the -Emperor!”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t likely you will ever have but this one -opportunity,” was Cartouche’s unfeeling reply.</p> - -<p>“Cartouche, within this hour I have seen the -Holy Father—and now the Emperor—oh, what is -to become of me!”</p> - -<p>“Get yourself superseded by Julie Campionet, -who has a walk like an ostrich and a voice like a -peacock,” answered Cartouche rudely, “but who -does not go about screaming like a cat because -she has seen the Pope and the Emperor both in one -evening.”</p> - -<p>Now, Julie Campionet warmly reciprocated Fifi’s -dislike, and was looking on at Fifi’s doings and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>gloating over the prospect of her failure. Fifi -caught Julie’s eye—and she would much rather -have been flayed alive than oblige Julie by making -a fiasco; so, instantly, Fifi recovered her composure -and declared she never felt more at ease in -her life, at which Julie Campionet’s spirits sensibly -fell.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, everybody, from Moret, the leading -man, down to the old woman who acted as candle-lighter, -treated Cartouche as if he had been a hero. -Moret, who had given himself great airs with Cartouche, -embraced him and told him he would never -be forgotten by the members of the company, for -whom he had procured such an honor. Julie Campionet -would likewise have embraced him, if he -had encouraged her, and did, in fact, come dangerously -near kissing him on the sly, but Cartouche -managed to escape at the critical moment. Duvernet -oscillated between the stage and the theater, -and made so much confusion that Cartouche requested -him to keep away from the stage until his -cue came.</p> - -<p>In truth, but for Cartouche’s self-possession, the -Emperor’s presence would have simply caused a terrible -catastrophe at the Imperial Theater, and the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>manager’s Roman tragedy would not have got itself -acted at all that night; but, by coolness and the -assumption of authority, the curtain came up to -the minute, the play began, and went through without -a hitch.</p> - -<p>As for Fifi, she acted as if inspired, and Julie -Campionet saw her hopes of becoming leading lady -vanish into thin air. Duvernet, in spite of two -large rents in the toga made out of Fifi’s petticoat, -was a most imposing senator. In his dying speech, -which bore a suspicious likeness to one of Corneille’s -masterpieces, his voice could be heard bellowing -as far as the corner of the street of the -Black Cat.</p> - -<p>The Emperor sat through two whole acts and -applauded vigorously, and when the curtain came -down on the second act, sent for Cartouche, and -paid the performance the highest compliments. -Especially did he charge Cartouche to say that he -thought Duvernet’s death scene the most remarkable -he had ever witnessed on or off the stage. And -then he handed Cartouche a little tortoise-shell -snuff-box, saying:</p> - -<p>“It is not likely I shall forget you, Cartouche—that -is, not until I forget the bridge of Lodi; -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>though, really, you should have let me over the -bridge first.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche shook his head and spoke no word, -but his stern countenance and his obstinate nose -said as plainly as tongue could speak it:</p> - -<p>“Your Majesty should not have been on the -bridge at all.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor saw this, and looked significantly -at his companions, who laughed. Then he continued:</p> - -<p>“And this young lady, Mademoiselle Chiaramonti, -I shall have some inquiries made about, and -the result may surprise you. Adieu. Remember, -you have a friend in your Emperor.”</p> - -<p>This was spoken at the corner of the street of -the Black Cat. Cartouche, with adoration in his -eyes, watched the figure of the Emperor disappear -in the darkness. Then, being careful to note that -there were no onlookers, he kissed the snuff-box, -exactly as he had seen Fifi kiss her paste brooch -when she was enamored with its splendors, and hid -his treasure in his breast.</p> - -<p>But Fifi saw it before she slept.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II<br /> -<span class="smaller">NUMBER 1313</span></h2></div> - -<p>It took Fifi a whole month to recover from the -shock of delight which she had experienced on the -night she had acted before the Emperor. Meanwhile, -her little head became slightly turned, and -she gave herself airs of great haughtiness to Julie -Campionet, and Moret, the leading man, and even -to Duvernet, the manager. Duvernet was one of -those unfortunates who are the victims of their -own charms. He was reckoned a handsome man, -as beauty goes on the left bank of the Seine, and -was almost invincible with young ladies of the -ballet, milliners’ girls and the like. When convinced -that a deserving young woman had fallen -in love with him, Duvernet felt sorry for her, and -honestly tried, by reciprocating her passion, to -keep her from throwing herself in the river.</p> - -<p>By virtue of this amiable weakness, he had married -in turn, as Cartouche had said, three of his -leading ladies, and was only safe from Julie Campionet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> -as long as Cartouche kept watch, like a wolf, -over the lady. Separations always followed fast -on Duvernet’s marriages, and his three wives were -in such various stages of divorce, that, as Cartouche -said, Duvernet himself did not know exactly where -he stood matrimonially. Of one thing only was he -sure: that Fifi did not harbor designs upon him. -And for this, and on account of her cleverness with -her needle, which enabled her to convert her white -cotton petticoat into a toga for the manager, in an -emergency, Duvernet put up with her airs and -graces.</p> - -<p>Fifi tried a few of these same airs and graces -on Cartouche, but Cartouche had the habit of command -with her, and Fifi had the habit of obedience -with him; so these little experimental haughtinesses -on Fifi’s part soon collapsed. Every night, when -the performance was over, Cartouche would bring -Fifi home, and after seeing that she was in her -own little garret, retired to his, which was at the -head of the stairs, and was the meanest and poorest -of all the mean and poor rooms in the mean and -poor lodging-house. But it was respectable; and -to Cartouche, who had charged himself with the -care of such a pair of sparkling dark eyes as Fifi’s, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span>and such a musical voice, and such a neat foot -and ankle as hers, this respectability was much.</p> - -<p>If he had had his way Fifi would have been locked -up in a convent and only let out to be married to -a person of the highest respectability. But Fifi, -in her own gay little obstinate head, by no means -relished schemes of this sort, and was fully determined -on having both flirtations and a husband, -<i>malgré</i> all Cartouche could say.</p> - -<p>The curious part of it was she could not construct -any plan of life leaving out Cartouche. She -had known him so long; he had carried her many -weary miles, in spite of his bad leg, in that journey -so long ago, when Fifi was but a mite of a child; -he had often brought her a dinner when she suspected -he had none for himself; he had taught her -all she knew, and was always teaching her.</p> - -<p>The men in the company often spoke roughly to -the women in it, and oftener still, were unduly familiar, -but none of them ever spoke so to her, -chiefly because there was nothing the matter with -Cartouche’s brawny arms, as he had told the Emperor. -And if the man Fifi married did not treat -her right, Cartouche, she knew, would beat him all -to rags; and how could she, husband or no husband, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>settle anything in the world, from a new part in a -play, to the way to make onion soup, without consulting -Cartouche? So the question of a husband -was full of complications for Fifi. At last, however, -a brilliant solution burst upon her mind: she -would have a great many flirtations—and then she -would marry Cartouche!</p> - -<p>Fifi was charmed with her own cleverness in devising -this plan. It occurred to her at the very -moment that she was putting on her hat with the -black feathers to go out and buy herself a warm -cloak. It was Christmas Eve, late in the wintry -afternoon, and she had time, before she was due -at the theater, to run around the corner to a shop -where she had seen a beautiful cloak for thirty -francs. She had saved up exactly thirty francs -in the month since that stupendous evening when -she had seen both the Pope and the Emperor.</p> - -<p>The bargain for the cloak was quite completed; -both she and Cartouche had examined it critically, -had made the shopman take off a franc for a -solitary button which was not quite right, and -nothing remained but to pay over the thirty francs. -It was a beautiful cloak, of a rich, dark red, lined -with flannel—there was one like it, lined with cotton-backed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> satin, -which Fifi longed for—but when -she mentioned the flannel lining of the first one -to Cartouche, he had promptly vetoed the cotton-backed -satin.</p> - -<p>Fifi set forth gaily, feeling warm in spite of her -thin black silk mantle.</p> - -<p>It was near dusk and a great silver moon was -smiling down at Fifi from the dark blue heavens. -The streets were crowded and there was as much -gaiety in them as in the finer faubourgs across -the river. The chestnut venders were out in force, -and on nearly every corner one of them had set -up his temporary kitchen, whose ruddy glow -lighted up the clear-obscure of the evening.</p> - -<p>Around these centers of light and warmth people -were gathered, sniffing the pungent odor of the -roasting chestnuts, and spending five-centime -pieces with a splendid generosity. The street -hawkers did a rushing business; one could buy -broken furniture, cheeses, toy balloons, cheap bonbons -and cakes tied with gay ribbons, within twenty -feet of anywhere. Three organ-grinders were going -at the same time in front of the brightly -lighted shop where Fifi’s cloak was—for she already -reckoned it hers. But alas for Fifi! Directly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> -in front of the shop a crowd had collected -around an Italian, who was exhibiting the most -entirely fascinating little black dog that Fifi had -ever seen. He was about as big as a good-sized -rabbit, and was trimmed like a lion. Around his -neck was tied a card on which was written:</p> - -<p><i>Toto is my name, and I am a dog of the most -aristocratic lineage in France, and I can be bought -for twenty francs. See me dance and you will -believe that I would be cheap at a hundred francs.</i></p> - -<p>Fifi edged her way to where this angel of a dog -was being shown by his owner, the Italian, and -opening her arms wide, cried out in Italian:</p> - -<p>“Come here, my beauty. Come here, dear -Toto.”</p> - -<p>The dog ran to her, and placing his paws on her -gown, gazed up into her shining eyes with that -look of confiding friendship which only a dog’s -eyes can express. Fifi bent down, and Toto, putting -out a sharp little red tongue, licked her delicate, -cold cheek. Fifi was enraptured. Toto, with -all his beauty, high descent and accomplishments, -was not puffed up, but had a dog’s true heart.</p> - -<p>Fifi and Toto became intimate at once, to the -delight of the crowd, as well as of Toto’s master. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>The Italian saw, in this evidence of the dog’s gentle -disposition, a better chance to sell him. A stout, -red-faced woman, showily dressed, immediately offered -eighteen francs for the dog. The Italian -held out stoutly for twenty, and to clinch the -matter, brought out from his clothes somewhere -a complete ballet dancer’s outfit; and in the wink -of an eye Toto was doing a beautiful ballet, his -skirts of pink spangled tulle waving up and down -around his slim, little black legs, a low-necked bodice -showing a necklace around his throat, earrings -jangling in his ears, and his head affectedly stuck -on one side, while he ogled the gentlemen in true -ballet-dancer’s style.</p> - -<p>Oh, it was delicious! Fifi almost wept with delight -as Toto pirouetted, his tulle skirts waving -and his earrings tinkling musically. And when at -last he retired and sat down, fanning himself with -his skirts, Fifi’s heart, as well as her hard-earned -money, was Toto’s.</p> - -<p>The stout, red-faced woman was obviously impressed -with Toto’s value, for she immediately said -to the Italian:</p> - -<p>“Nineteen francs, Monsieur.”</p> - -<p>The Italian shook his head; and then, scarcely -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span>knowing what she was doing, Fifi cried out in her -musical, high-pitched voice:</p> - -<p>“Twenty francs! Oh, Toto, you are mine!”</p> - -<p>And holding her arms open, Toto jumped into -them and was cuddled to her breast.</p> - -<p>It was all over in a minute. The crowd had dispersed, -and Fifi, with Toto in her arms, and his -ballet dress in her pocket, where now only ten of -her thirty francs reposed, was rather dumfounded -at the success of her sudden venture. The cloak, -of course, was out of the question—and what should -she say to Cartouche? But the touch of Toto’s -little black paws gave her courage, and it was -plain that her love for him at first sight was reciprocated. -So Fifi started back to her garret with -Toto, inventing on the way her replies to the wigging -Cartouche was sure to give her.</p> - -<p>She had scarcely got Toto into her room, when a -rap came at the door, which Fifi recognized, and -clapping Toto into the cupboard, she prepared to -face Cartouche.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Cartouche, walking in. “Where -is the cloak?”</p> - -<p>Fifi busied herself for a minute in lighting her -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>one candle, before she could summon up courage -to answer, in a quavering voice:</p> - -<p>“I did not get the cloak, Cartouche. That is, -not to-day.”</p> - -<p>“Why not?” demanded Cartouche.</p> - -<p>“B-b-because I spent twenty francs of the money -upon—upon something I wanted more than the -cloak.”</p> - -<p>“What is it?” asked Cartouche in a tone that -made little shivers run down Fifi’s backbone. -“More feathers? Or was it a fan to keep you cool, -when the snow is on the ground, instead of a cloak -to keep you warm?”</p> - -<p>“N-no. It was not a fan. And it is something -to keep me warm, too, it is as good as a stove, -sometimes.”</p> - -<p>“What is it?”</p> - -<p>There was no mistaking the note in Cartouche’s -voice. Fifi began:</p> - -<p>“It is—don’t be angry, dear Cartouche—it is -a little black—it is a little black—it is something -alive!”</p> - -<p>“Is it a little black ostrich? Or is it a little -black giraffe?”</p> - -<p>Cartouche came toward Fifi then, looking exactly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> -as he did the day he caught her acting with -the strolling players on the street.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, Cartouche. It is a little—a little—I -would much rather have him than a cloak. It is -a dear little—”</p> - -<p>But Toto himself revealed his species at that -moment, by pushing the cupboard door open; and -bouncing out, he ran to Fifi’s protecting arms.</p> - -<p>Cartouche was too much staggered to say a -word, but Fifi, in the terrible silence, said timidly:</p> - -<p>“He can dance, Cartouche—and—and stand on -his hind legs like a little angel!”</p> - -<p>“I see,” cried Cartouche, recovering his speech -and uncorking his wrath. “It is for a little black -angel that can stand on his hind legs that you have -sacrificed the cloak!”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” cried Fifi, likewise recovering her speech, -now that the murder was out. “Toto is worth a -dozen cloaks to me, and he only cost twenty francs. -It is almost like buying a dear little child for twenty -francs. I shall love Toto so much and he will -love me back—we shall love each other better than -anything in the world!”</p> - -<p>Cartouche drew back a little as if he had received<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> -a blow. He remained silent—so silent that -Fifi was a little scared.</p> - -<p>“You should see him dance,” she said; and slipping -Toto’s ballet costume on him, she began to -sing in a very lively manner:</p> - -<p class="center no-indent"><i>Le petit mousse noir.</i></p> - -<p>Toto, evidently thinking that he was meant by -the black cabin-boy of whom the song treats, made -his stage bow, and began his ballet dancing. And -as it went on, Cartouche, in spite of himself, began -to laugh. That was Fifi’s triumph—and springing -up, she, too, began to dance as well as sing.</p> - -<p>She was only a half-starved little actress on -twenty-five francs the week. She had no friend -in the world but Cartouche, who was as poor as -she was, but her heart was light, and her fresh -young voice caroled merrily in the cold, bare little -room. Cartouche sat, looking at her, and trying -to frown; but it was in vain. He knew nothing -of that newly-formed resolve in Fifi’s mind, to have -a great many flirtations and then to marry him; -and then, a vast, a stupendous sacrifice came into -his mind by which he could still get Fifi a cloak.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span></p> - -<p>He had ten francs of his own, and there was the -tortoise-shell snuff-box the Emperor had given him. -Cartouche himself would have starved and frozen -rather than take it to the pawnshop—but Fifi’s cold -and hunger was something else. There was no -struggle in making the resolve, sacrifice for Fifi -was no sacrifice to Cartouche, but there was a moment -of sharp regret—a feeling that the only -treasure among his poor possessions was about to -be torn from him. Presently he said gently:</p> - -<p>“Fifi, I have two bundles of fagots in my room -and a sausage, and I will get a bottle of wine, and -after the performance to-night, we will have a -little supper here. And I will forgive you for buying -Toto.”</p> - -<p>“That will be best of all,” cried Fifi, remembering -that in the end she meant to marry Cartouche.</p> - -<p>Cartouche went out, leaving Fifi alone, for half -an hour of rapture with Toto, before it was time -to go to the theater. He climbed up to his garret -under the roof, and taking his cherished snuff-box -from his breast where he always carried it, looked -at it as a mother looks her last on her dead child; -and then, going quickly downstairs again into the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>street, he made for a pawnshop close by, with which -he was well acquainted.</p> - -<p>Just as he turned the corner of the street of the -Black Cat, he almost ran into Duvernet’s arms.</p> - -<p>“Hey, Cartouche, you are the very man I want -to see,” cried the manager, buttonholing him. And -then, noting that several persons on the street -stopped and looked at him, Duvernet swelled out -his chest and assumed an attitude in which he very -much admired himself in his favorite part of the -Roman senator.</p> - -<p>Duvernet continued in a very impressive manner: -“I contemplate both raising your salary, Cartouche, -and also making you a little gift. You have worked -hard for me; you got the Emperor to the theater, -and business has been remarkably good ever since, -and you have kept Julie Campionet from marrying -me—so far, that is—and I feel the obligation, I -assure you. So your salary after this will be -twenty-five francs the week, and here are three ten-franc -pieces which I beg you will accept.”</p> - -<p>With the air of a Roman emperor bestowing -a province upon a faithful proconsul, Duvernet -thrust the thirty francs into Cartouche’s hand. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>Cartouche, thoroughly dazed, mumbled something -meant for thanks as he accepted the three ten-franc -pieces. Duvernet, suddenly dropping his majestic -manner, said, in Cartouche’s ear:</p> - -<p>“And remember, you have got to keep Julie -Campionet from marrying me. I don’t like the -look in her eye—she shows she is bent on it—and -stop Fifi from reminding me of that infernal white -petticoat she gave me.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche nodded, and Duvernet, resuming his -air of benignant magnificence, stalked off, happy. -At least six persons had seen him make this princely -present. His heart was good, although his head -was indifferent, and he was sincerely glad to be able -to reward Cartouche for his faithfulness.</p> - -<p>In a minute or two Cartouche came to himself, -and tore along the street, as fast as his stiff leg -would allow, to the cloak shop, where, in two seconds, -he had paid the money for the beautiful -cloak, and had it wrapped in a bundle under his -arm. How happy was Cartouche then!</p> - -<p>He still had his ten francs, and he determined to -make a little Christmas feast for Fifi. So he -bought a jar of cabbage-soup, and a little bag of -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span>onions, and some chocolate. Then he went into a -wine shop for a bottle of wine.</p> - -<p>The wine shop was a cheerful, dirty, agreeable -place that he knew well. When he entered he found -the shop full of men, standing around a table on -which was a blindfolded boy with a hat full of slips -of paper in his hand.</p> - -<p>A shout greeted Cartouche’s arrival.</p> - -<p>“You are just in time, Monsieur Cartouche,” -cried the proprietor, a jolly red-faced man. “You -make the last and twenty-fifth man necessary to -join our lottery. I have bought a ticket in the -Grand Imperial Lottery, which is to be drawn in a -fortnight, and for every bottle of wine I sell, and a -franc extra, I give my customers a chance in the -lottery ticket, limiting it to twenty-five chances. -Come now—I see good luck written all over you—hand -me your franc.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche handed out his franc, bought his bottle -of wine, and joined the circle at the table. The -little boy handed the hat around, and every man -took a slip out and read thereon a number. Cartouche -took his slip and read out:</p> - -<p>“Number 1313!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span></p> - -<p>A roar of laughter greeted this, but when it subsided, -the proprietor advanced, and handing Cartouche -a blue lottery ticket, said gravely:</p> - -<p>“You have won, Monsieur Cartouche, in our lottery, -and I hope you will win in the Imperial Lottery. -The number of the ticket I offer you is -1313.”</p> - -<p>There was another shout of derision, and several -of the disappointed ones commiserated with -Cartouche on the load of ill luck he was carrying -off with him in number 1313, but Cartouche stoutly -maintained that there was nothing to be afraid of, -and hurried back to the street of the Black Cat.</p> - -<p>There was just time for him to get to the theater -and dress. The people came pouring into the -house, and the box office took in the enormous sum -of two hundred and ninety-eight francs. It was -again Duvernet’s Roman tragedy, and it went -finely. Fifi again acted as if inspired, and received -any number of recalls, besides a wreath of holly, -with an imitation silver buckle in it, handed over -the footlights from an unknown admirer.</p> - -<p>During the waits between the acts she told her -fellow actors of Toto’s charms and accomplishments, -so that the other women, some of whom possessed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> -nothing more interesting than babies, were -furiously jealous.</p> - -<p>But at last the play was over, and Fifi and Cartouche -were in Fifi’s garret, with a good fire in the -stove, made with Cartouche’s fagots, the cabbage-soup, -the onions, the wine, and the sausage, and -the chocolate on the table, and Toto to make the -trio complete. Cartouche had sneaked the cloak -in, without Fifi’s seeing it, and just as they were -sitting down to the table he said carelessly, as if -thirty-franc cloaks were the most ordinary incidents -in life:</p> - -<p>“Fifi, if you will open that bundle on the chair, -you will find a little gift from me.”</p> - -<p>Fifi ran and tore the parcel open, and there was -the beautiful, warm, crimson cloak. She flew to -Cartouche, and with dewy eyes, although her lips -were smiling, gave him one of those hearty kisses -she had given him when she was a little, black-eyed -damsel ten years old. Cartouche did not -return the kiss, but sat, first pale and then red, -and with such a strange look on his face that Fifi -was puzzled.</p> - -<p>“Never mind,” she said to herself. “The next -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span>time it will be he who kisses me—not I who kiss -him.”</p> - -<p>But nothing could spoil the joy over the new -cloak.</p> - -<p>“To think that I should have the red cloak and -Toto, too! Oh, it is too much!” cried Fifi.</p> - -<p>“Quite too much—too much by way of a dog,” -remarked Cartouche; but as Toto at that moment -jumped from his chair at the table on to Cartouche’s -knee, it became impossible not to be -friendly with the little rogue, and perfect harmony -reigned among the three friends.</p> - -<p>Cartouche and Fifi were among the poorest people -in Paris; they worked hard for a very little -money; the room was small and bare, and although -Fifi had now a cloak for the winter, she would -have been better off for some warm stockings, and -Cartouche for some flannel shirts.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, they were as happy as the birds in -spring. They ate, they drank, they laughed, they -sang. Fifi dressed Toto up in his ballet costume, -and together they did a beautiful <i>ballet divertissement</i> -for Cartouche, which he liberally applauded. -He told Fifi of his twenty-five francs a week, as -well as Duvernet’s present, and Fifi concluded that -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>he would be a desirable <i>parti</i> for his money as well -as for his solid virtues, and determined to propose -to him before another year should pass.</p> - -<p>Cartouche had forgotten about the lottery -ticket, but just as he was leaving, he remembered -it and handed it to Fifi. At the sight of the numbers -on it, Fifi shrieked:</p> - -<p>“Take it away! Take it away! It will bring -bad luck! Take it away!”</p> - -<p>“I won’t,” replied Cartouche, “and do you, Fifi, -take care of it. You may draw the hundred-thousand-franc -prize in the lottery yet. Just as likely -as not the prizes are put on the numbers that nobody -would choose.”</p> - -<p>This somewhat reconciled Fifi to the danger of -keeping number 1313; so she reluctantly put it -away in the box where she kept her treasure of a -paste brooch, remarking meanwhile:</p> - -<p>“If it draws the hundred-thousand-franc prize, -I will marry you, Cartouche.”</p> - -<p>Again Cartouche turned red and pale. These -jokes which seemed to amuse Fifi so much, cut him -to the quick. He only growled:</p> - -<p>“About as much chance of one as of the other.”</p> - -<p>And then a great melodious deep-toned bell in -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span>a neighboring church began its chiming, solemn -and glorious, proclaiming that Christmas Day was -at hand, and Fifi, falling on her knees, as her -mother had taught her long years ago, in Italy, -thanked God for giving her Cartouche, and Toto, -and the red cloak lined with flannel.</p> - -<p>She forgot all about the lottery ticket.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III<br /> -<span class="smaller">THE GRAND PRIZE</span></h2></div> - -<p>For the first fortnight of the new year, things -went swimmingly at the Imperial Theater, and -several times the nightly receipts were over three -hundred francs. Duvernet wrote and produced -a new play, in which he took the part of Alexander -the Great; and it was a screaming success. Fifi -as Queen Roxana was simply stunning, wearing -her alleged diamond brooch in a tiara made by her -own hands, of beautiful glass beads. The merry -war between Julie Campionet and herself went on -as noisily as ever, but there was more noise than -malignity about it. When Julie was ill with a -cold, Fifi went and cooked Julie’s dinner for her; -and when Fifi needed a scepter for her part of -Queen Roxana, Julie Campionet sent her a very -nice parasol handle with a glass knob at the top -which made a lovely scepter.</p> - -<p>But they did not, for these trifles, deny themselves -the pleasure of quarreling, and Duvernet was -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>treated about once a week to a threat from each -of them that if her rival were not immediately discharged, -the complainant would at once resign. -Duvernet received these threats with secret satisfaction, -because, as he explained to Cartouche, as long -as the war was actively prosecuted, Julie Campionet -did not have time to make a serious demonstration -against him.</p> - -<p>“But if ever they are reconciled,” he confided -gloomily to Cartouche, “the Campionet woman -will marry me in a week.”</p> - -<p>As for Cartouche, he attended strictly to his -business at the theater, but his mind was so much -taken up with certain possibilities of the future -that he did not keep the faithful watch over Duvernet -which the manager considered as his safeguard. -Cartouche was even so inconsiderate as -to let Julie Campionet get into the manager’s private -office more than once, and remain there alone -with him for at least five minutes, without interrupting -the tête-à-tête.</p> - -<p>It was the lottery ticket which in some way -grievously disturbed Cartouche’s mind. Suppose -Fifi should win a prize? And from that supposing, -came a kind of superstitious conviction that number<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> -1313 <i>would</i> win a prize. He found himself, -without his own volition, figuring upon what should -be done with the money, so as to enure to the greatest -benefit of Fifi.</p> - -<p>“If it is a twenty-franc prize she draws, she must -have a pair of new shoes, and some good stockings”—he -thought, for Cartouche knew intimately -the condition of Fifi’s wardrobe. “If it is -as much as fifty francs, the shoes and stockings -must wait—it won’t do to fool away such a sum -as fifty francs; it must be put aside for a rainy -day, for Fifi, in the tin box in the cranny of the -chimney”—where Cartouche was beginning to -save up also for a rainy day, for Fifi. If it were -five hundred francs—or possibly a thousand—Cartouche -lost his breath in contemplation of the catastrophe. -In that case, Fifi would have a <i>dot</i>, but -whom would she marry? She knew no one but the -men about the theater, and Cartouche did not consider -any of them a match for Fifi; but perhaps -he was prejudiced. She might, it is true, with five -hundred francs to her dowry, marry a tradesman; -but how would Fifi get on with a tradesman?</p> - -<p>Altogether, it was the most puzzling proposition -Cartouche had ever struggled with, and he began -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>to wish the fateful day were over, and that these -strange dreams and hopes and fears about Fifi and -the lottery ticket would vanish like shapes in a -mist, and leave him in peace.</p> - -<p>Then, there was that veiled suggestion from the -Emperor that he knew something about Fifi’s family -which might change her whole destiny; and on -the whole, Cartouche had good reason to go about -looking like a sick bull, which was his way of -showing a passionate solicitude for the being dearest -to him on earth. And meanwhile, Julie Campionet -went hot foot after the manager, and Fifi -wondered why Cartouche was so gentle with her -and so indulgent with Toto.</p> - -<p>The lottery drawing was to be held on the tenth -of January, in a large public hall of the <i>arrondissement</i>, -the mayor presiding. The drawing was -to begin at noon, and last until all the tickets were -drawn. As the day drew near, Cartouche’s fever -of excitement increased, and when the morning of -the tenth dawned he was as nervous as a cat. He -knocked at Fifi’s door early, and told her to be -ready to go with him at twelve o’clock to the lottery -drawing. Fifi responded sleepily, but when -the hour came she was ready to accompany him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span></p> - -<p>It was a lovely, bright morning, and Fifi’s looks -were in harmony with the morning. The red -cloak was very becoming to her, and the black -feathers, for which her first thirty francs had gone, -nodded over the most sparkling, piquant face in -Paris. Toto, of course, was along, led by a long -blue ribbon in his mistress’ hand; and so they -set off.</p> - -<p>Fifi had not the slightest thought of drawing a -prize.</p> - -<p>“As if 1313 would draw anything!” she sniffed. -“If you had given me that franc, Cartouche, which -the ticket cost, I could have bought a pair of -gloves, or a fan, or a bushel of onions—” Fifi went -on to enumerate what she could have bought with -Cartouche’s franc, until its purchasing power grew -to be something like her whole weekly salary. But -in any event, she liked the expedition she was on -and Toto liked it; so, on the whole, Fifi concluded -she could at least get fifty centimes’ worth of pleasure -out of the lottery ticket.</p> - -<p>She looked so pretty as she tripped along that -Cartouche mentally resolved, if she drew a five-hundred-franc -prize, she might aspire to a notary, -such as her father had been; and engrossed with -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>the thought of Fifi’s possible rise in the world, he -was so grumpy, Fifi declared she almost hated -him.</p> - -<p>They were among the first to arrive, and secured -good seats near the tribune. There sat the officers -of the lottery, the mayor with his tricolored sash, -and several representatives of the government, together -with a little fairy of a child, all in white, -who was to draw the numbers from the wheel, which -was already in place.</p> - -<p>The crowd assembled in the hall was an orderly -and well-dressed one, but Fifi and Cartouche, who -were used to crowds, felt in a subtile way that it was -quite different from the ordinary crowd. Most of -the people were, like Cartouche, in a state of acute -tension. They were strangely still and silent, but -also, strangely ready to laugh, to cry, to shout—to -do anything which would take the edge off the -crisis.</p> - -<p>When the drawing began, and one or two small -prizes of twenty and fifty francs were drawn, the -winners were vociferously cheered. There was a -feeling that the grand prize of a hundred thousand -francs would not be drawn until late in the afternoon,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span> -and the people were letting off their excitement -over the little prizes, waiting for the thunder-bolt -to fall. But scarcely half an hour after the -drawing began, there was a sudden, deep pause—time -itself seemed to stop for a moment—and then -the auctioneer, who was calling out the prizes, -roared out:</p> - -<p>“Number 1313 draws the grand prize of one -hundred thousand francs!”</p> - -<p>Cartouche sat stunned. Like persons near -drowning, he saw in an instant, by some inward -vision, all his past and future with Fifi: she was no -more for him. A great gulf had opened between -them. Had it been thundered in his ears for a -century, he could not have realized it more than in -the first two seconds after the announcement was -made. Fifi had a hundred thousand francs; then -she could be Fifi, his little Fifi, no more. He saw, -in a mental flash, the little store he had saved up -in the cranny of the chimney—twenty-two francs. -Twenty-two francs! What a miserable sum! A -blur came before his eyes; he heard a great noise -of men shouting and clapping; women were waving -their handkerchiefs and laughing and screaming -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span>out of sheer inability to keep quiet. As for Fifi, -she turned two wide, innocent, frightened eyes on -Cartouche, and stammered:</p> - -<p>“Dear Cartouche—shall we really have a hundred—thousand—francs—of -our own?”</p> - -<p>“You will have it, Fifi,” replied Cartouche, -and thrusting the ticket in her nerveless hand, he -forced her to stand up and show it, which Fifi -did, then suddenly burst into a torrent of tears -and a tempest of sobs.</p> - -<p>Her youth, her beauty, her tears, her humility -touched all hearts; and this time there was a roar -of sympathy. Fifi’s slight figure swayed and -would have fallen but for Cartouche holding her -up. It was buzzed about on all sides:</p> - -<p>“Who is that tall, ugly fellow with her?” Some -said her father, some her brother, but no one said -he was her lover.</p> - -<p>The formalities were simple and brief; the -drawing would still take many hours; and Fifi, -with her precious memorandum, duly signed and -countersigned, to be presented at a certain bank, -was once again in the street with Cartouche.</p> - -<p>It was a bright, soft January day, the sun gilding -the blue river, the quays and bridges, and lighting -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>up with a golden glow the great masses of the -Louvre and the Tuileries. Fifi walked along, -clutching Cartouche’s arm tightly. She had forgotten -Toto trotting soberly at her side, and apparently -crushed by the hundred thousand francs, -forgotten all but Cartouche, who seemed to her the -only thing that was not changed in all the wide -world. It was Cartouche who held Toto’s blue -ribbon and who straightened Fifi’s hat when it fell -over her eyes and she was too agitated to know it. -Cartouche proposed to her to stop and rest in the -Tuileries gardens—but Fifi would have none of it.</p> - -<p>“Take me home,” she cried. “Take me somewhere -so I can cry as much as I like!”</p> - -<p>This struck Cartouche as a perfectly natural -way of receiving such stunning news; he himself -could have wept with pleasure.</p> - -<p>At last they were in Fifi’s shabby little room, -and Fifi was taking off her new cloak and folding -it up mechanically.</p> - -<p>“No need to do that, Fifi,” said Cartouche, in a -strange voice. “After to-morrow you need not -wear thirty-franc cloaks any more.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you cruel Cartouche!” cried Fifi, and burst -into the anticipated fit of crying. She insisted on -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>weeping on Cartouche’s shoulder, and even kicked -Toto when that sympathetic dog would have joined -his grief to hers, for Toto knew well enough that -something was to pay, whether it was the devil -or not, he could not tell, but rather suspected it -was the devil.</p> - -<p>Cartouche tried to comfort Fifi—usually not a -difficult problem when one has to be reconciled to -a fortune—but there is always something staggering -in contemplating another state of existence. -Neither Cartouche nor Fifi could at once become -calm, and Fifi, too, felt in some singular, but acute -manner, that the hundred thousand francs stood -between her and Cartouche.</p> - -<p>“Now, mind, Fifi,” Cartouche said, “not a word -of this to the people in the theater. Wait until -the money is actually in your hands.”</p> - -<p>“In my hands,” cried Fifi, tearfully and indignantly, -“in <i>your</i> hands, you mean, you cruel Cartouche!”</p> - -<p>Fifi had called Cartouche cruel a dozen times -since she had drawn the prize, but Cartouche did -not mind it. He would have liked to stay with her -but there were a dozen things awaiting him at the -theater, and Cartouche was not the man to neglect -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>his work. He went off, therefore, and had not a -minute to himself, until just before it was time to -dress for the play. Then he went to his room, -and taking his tin box from the chink in the chimney, -he counted over his twenty-two francs—saved -by doing without food and fire.</p> - -<p>Clothes and shoes he must have to keep his place -in the theater. Duvernet had been a good friend -to him, and he could not go in rags, so that people -would say: “There goes one of Duvernet’s actors. -That man does not pay his people enough to give -them decent clothes to their backs.”</p> - -<p>But food and fire were a man’s own affairs, and, -by keeping on the near side of both, Cartouche had -been able to save twenty-two francs in three weeks -of the coldest weather he had ever felt. And how -little it was! How contemptible alongside of a hundred -thousand francs! Cartouche, sighing, put the -box back. It was all in vain: those days when he -battled with his hunger, those bitter nights when -the snow lay deep on the roofs below his garret, and -his old, cracked stove was as cold as the snow. And -yet, there had been a tender, piercing sweetness in -the very endurance of those privations—it was for -Fifi. And Fifi would never more need his savings, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span>which thought should have made him happy, but -did not.</p> - -<p>The next day, the whole story was out, the newspapers -published the numbers and names of the -winners, and it was as if Fifi had been transported -to another planet.</p> - -<p>Duvernet came first to congratulate her. She -was in a cold spasm of terror for fear he had come -to tell her that her services were no longer needed -at the theater. It seemed to her as if she were -about to be thrown headlong into an unknown -abyss, and she thought that if she could but remain -at the Imperial Theater for a short while longer, -long enough to get accustomed to that stupendous -change which awaited her, it would become a -little more tolerable. And Duvernet himself was -so strange, it frightened Fifi. He was so respectful; -he did not strut as usual, and he called her -Mademoiselle Chiaramonti, instead of Fifi. And -Toto, who usually barked furiously at the manager, -did not bark at all, but sat on his hind legs, -his fore legs dropping dejectedly, and looked ruefully -in Duvernet’s face, as much as to say:</p> - -<p>“See, Monsieur Duvernet; we have got a hundred -thousand francs and we don’t know what to -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span>do with it, or how to behave ourselves.” Toto, in -fact, had neither barked nor danced nor jumped -since he heard the news, and appeared thoroughly -oppressed and abashed by his changed fortunes.</p> - -<p>Duvernet, it is true, felt some awe of Fifi in her -new aspect, but the active and enterprising manager -was still uppermost with him.</p> - -<p>“Well, Mademoiselle,” he began, trying to assume -an airy manner, “I presume we shall have -to dispense with your valuable services at the Imperial -Theater; you will probably abandon the -stage altogether, and certainly our humble place.”</p> - -<p>Duvernet, before this, had always spoken as if -the Imperial Theater were the rival of the Théâtre -Française.</p> - -<p>Fifi burst into tears.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she cried, “I shall have to go away—and -that odious Julie Campionet, who can no more act -than a gridiron can act, will have all my best parts—o-o-o-o-oo-h!”</p> - -<p>Then Duvernet played his trump card.</p> - -<p>“A few farewell performances, Mademoiselle, -would put Julie Campionet’s nose severely out of -joint.”</p> - -<p>“Do you think so?” cried Fifi, brightening up -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span>at the thought of putting Julie’s Roman nose out -of joint; that, at least, seemed natural and normal.</p> - -<p>“If Cartouche will let me—” for Fifi now, instead -of opposing Cartouche, seemed unable to come -to the smallest decision without him.</p> - -<p>“I will see to that,” replied the manager eagerly, -“and I will also see to it that Julie Campionet is -made to gnaw the file.”</p> - -<p>Just then Cartouche coming in, Fifi besought -him to let her act for at least two weeks more; and -Cartouche, feeling himself that vague, but intense -strangeness of all things and people since Fifi got -her hundred thousand francs, consented. When it -was decided, Toto laid his nose down on his paws -and uttered a short whine of relief, which sounded -like grace after meat.</p> - -<p>So Fifi was to play for two weeks more at the -Imperial Theater, the franc seats were to be two -francs, and the cheapest seats, fifty centimes. Fifi -breathed again. It was a respite.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile Fifi had been formally notified that -the money was awaiting her at a certain bank, and -she was requested to name a day for the payment -to her, in the presence of an official of the lottery, -a friend of her own, and a representative of the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span>lottery company. Fifi, or rather Cartouche for -her, named a day a whole month from the day of -the lottery drawing. They were both frightened -at the prospect of Fifi’s receiving the money.</p> - -<p>She and Cartouche resumed their life exactly as -it had been before number 1313 was purchased. -Cartouche, going about attending to his business -as usual, thought his head would crack. At the -end of the month, what was to be done? He was -but little more experienced than Fifi when it came -to a hundred thousand francs. Fifi must find another -and a very different home—but where? She -must be married—but when and how and to whom? -He knew of no one of whom he could ask advice, -except one, and he was not easy to reach—the -Emperor. Cartouche was as certain as he was of -being alive, that if he could see his Emperor, and -could tell the whole story, a way out of all his perplexities -could be found. He had a shadowy hope -that the Emperor might have discovered something -about Fifi, according to that mysterious hint he -gave the memorable night when he heard her name, -but it did not materialize.</p> - -<p>At last Cartouche formed the desperate resolve -of trying to see the Emperor and telling all his -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span>trouble about Fifi. On certain mornings in the -week an inspection of the Imperial Guard was -held in the courtyard of the Tuileries; and on one -of these mornings—a cold, dull, uncertain morning, -matching Cartouche’s feelings—he went and -stationed himself as close to the iron railings of -the courtyard as the police would let him. He -thought to himself: “The Emperor sees everything -and everybody. He will see me, and he will know -that I have something on my mind, and then he -will send for me, and I will make a clean breast of -it; and the Emperor will tell me what to do with -Fifi and her money.”</p> - -<p>The guard was drawn up into a hollow square, -their splendid uniforms making a splash of color -in the dull gray day, their arms shining, their -bronzed countenances and steady eyes fit to face -the great god Mars himself. Presently an electric -thrill flashed through every soldier and each of the -crowd of onlookers, as when a demigod appears -among the lesser sons of men—the Emperor appeared, -stepping quickly across the courtyard.</p> - -<p>He was in simple dress uniform, and had with -him only two or three anxious-looking officers; -for he was then the eagle-eyed general, who knew -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span>if a button was missing or a strap awry, and incidentally -read the soul of the man before him. At -once, he ordered this man and that to open his -knapsack; one piercing glance sufficed to see in it -and through it. He had a musket examined here -and there, and in a flash he knew if everything -was as it should be. The inspection was rapid, -but nothing escaped the magic eyes of the Emperor. -All was in order, and in consequence, Jove -smiled.</p> - -<p>Cartouche saw that the Emperor would pass -within a few yards of him, and he stood, erect and -rigid, at “attention,” waiting for the lightning -glance to find him, and, just as he expected, the -Emperor’s eye swept over the waiting crowd, rested -a moment on him, recognized him instantly, and -as Cartouche made a slight gesture of entreaty, -nodded to him. Five minutes after, a smart young -aide stepped up, and motioning to Cartouche, -walked toward the palace; Cartouche followed.</p> - -<p>He did not know how he got into a small room -on the ground floor, which communicated with the -Emperor’s cabinet. He was hot and cold and red -and pale, but said to himself: “Never mind, as -soon as I see the Emperor I shall feel as cool and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span>easy as possible. For when was it that a private -soldier was not at his ease with the Emperor? It is -the bigwigs who think they know something, whom -the Emperor frightens.”</p> - -<p>There was a long wait, but after a while the -door opened, and the same young aide ushered him -into the Emperor’s cabinet; and just as Cartouche -had known, he felt as easy as ever in his life as -soon as he found himself alone with the Emperor.</p> - -<p>The Emperor sat at a table, leaning his elbow -upon it. His pale and classic face was luminous -with a smile as he saw Cartouche; he had no more -forgotten the first man across the bridge at Lodi -than Cartouche had forgotten him.</p> - -<p>“Well, my friend,” he said, smiling. “I was -about to send for you, because I have found out -some surprising things about your protegée, Mademoiselle -Fifi; and besides, I see by the newspapers -that she has drawn a prize of a hundred thousand -francs in the lottery.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Sire,” replied Cartouche, “and I want to -ask your Majesty what I am to do with Fifi’s hundred -thousand francs.”</p> - -<p>“Good God!” cried the Emperor, getting up and -walking about the room with his hands behind his -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span>back, “I know no more what to do with a hundred -thousand francs than you do; I never had a hundred -thousand francs of my own in my life. I -have a civil list of forty millions, which I disburse -for the benefit of the state, but it is as much as I -can do to keep myself and my wife in clothes. -Women are expensive creatures, Cartouche.”</p> - -<p>“True, your Majesty,” replied Cartouche, “and -Fifi does not know what to do with money when she -gets it—” Then, in a burst of confidence he told -the Emperor about the thirty francs Fifi had saved -up for a cloak and invested in a little black dog instead. -The Emperor threw back his head and -laughed heartily.</p> - -<p>“This Fifi must be a character. Well, I shall ask -Lebrun, the arch-treasurer, to give us his advice -about Fifi’s hundred thousand francs. But suppose -she will not trust you and me and the arch-treasurer -with her money?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know about the arch-treasurer, your -Majesty, but I am sure Fifi will trust you, Sire, -and me. But what is to be done with Fifi herself, -is puzzling me.”</p> - -<p>“That can be easily settled, I think. You remember -I told you, when I found her name was -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span>Chiaramonti, that I might have some surprising -news about her. I was, this very morning, contemplating -sending for you. Well, this young -lady, whom you found crying in the market-place -at Mantua, I have discovered is the granddaughter -of Barnabas Gregory Chiaramonti, who was the -first cousin and playmate, in his boyhood, of Gregory -Barnabas Chiaramonti, now reigning over the -Holy See as Pius the Seventh, and at present, -sojourning as my guest at the palace of Fontainebleau.”</p> - -<p>Everything reeled before Cartouche, and he had -to hold on to the back of a chair to keep from -falling.</p> - -<p>Some minutes passed. The world was changing -its aspect so rapidly to Cartouche that he hardly -recognized it as the same old planet he had known -for thirty-five years.</p> - -<p>The Emperor waited until Cartouche had a little -recovered himself, although he was still pale and -breathed hard. Then the Emperor said:</p> - -<p>“I shall cause the Holy Father to be informed -of Fifi’s existence. He is a good old man, although -as obstinate as the devil. Oh, I am sure we can arrange<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> -for Fifi; and then, Cartouche, how about a -husband for her?”</p> - -<p>The Emperor, as he said this, looked steadily at -Cartouche; but Cartouche, looking back as steadily, -replied:</p> - -<p>“I should think the Holy Father would arrange -that, your Majesty.”</p> - -<p>“True,” replied the Emperor, “but I wish one -of my deserving young officers might suit the Holy -Father as Fifi’s husband. I say, Cartouche, how -hard life is sometimes! Now, because Fifi is rich -through the lottery ticket you bought her, you -can never hope to marry her.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, your Majesty, that could not have been in -any event,” answered Cartouche, a dull red showing -through his dark skin. “I am sixteen years older -than Fifi, and I have a stiff leg, and although I -make what is reckoned a good living for a man like -me, it is not the sort of living for a notary’s daughter -like Fifi. No, your Majesty; I love Fifi, but I -never thought to make her my wife. She deserves -a better man than I am.”</p> - -<p>“Another sort of a man, Cartouche, but not a -better one,” replied the Emperor, gently tweaking -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span>Cartouche’s ear. “I shall arrange for the Holy -Father to be told of Fifi’s existence, and we shall -see about the hundred thousand francs; and, Cartouche, -if you are in any trouble or perplexity, -come to your Emperor.”</p> - -<p>And with that, Cartouche knew the interview was -over, and he went away with a heart both light and -heavy. For Cartouche was a very human man after -all, and the thought of Fifi’s having a husband -made the whole world black to him.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV<br /> -<span class="smaller">COURTSHIP AND CRIBBAGE</span></h2></div> - -<p>Behold Fifi, a fortnight afterward, installed in -a quiet and correct apartment in the Rue de -l’Echelle, under the charge of a certain Madame -Bourcet, who was as quiet and correct as her apartment. -And Madame Bourcet had a nephew, Louis -Bourcet, more quiet and more correct even than -herself, and he aspired to marry Fifi and her hundred -thousand francs.</p> - -<p>It was all like a dream to Fifi. The Emperor -had been as good as his word. He had consulted -Lebrun, the arch-treasurer, who had advised, as -Fifi was likely to be provided soon with a husband, -that the hundred thousand francs be again deposited -in the bank, as soon as it was drawn, less a -small amount for Fifi’s present expenses. He argued, -that it would simplify matters in her marriage -contract to have her <i>dot</i> in cash—which recommended -itself to all who knew, as sound doctrine.</p> - -<p>He had also been asked by the Emperor, if he -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span>knew of a respectable person who would take charge -of Fifi for the present. It would still be some -time before the day came which she and Cartouche -had named for the actual payment of the money. -And besides it was necessary to prepare for Fifi’s -presentation to the Holy Father, and everybody, -including Fifi herself, agreed that certain preliminaries -of dress and custom be arranged for that -momentous interview. Lebrun had bethought him -of Madame Bourcet, whose deceased husband had -been a hanger-on of the arch-treasurer’s. Thus it -was that the day after Fifi finished her engagement -at the Imperial Theater, Cartouche had deposited -her and her boxes in the quiet apartment of -the quiet Madame Bourcet.</p> - -<p>There was one box which she particularly treasured -and would not let out of her sight from the -time it was put into the van until it was placed in -the large, cold, handsome room which was set aside -for her in Madame Bourcet’s apartment. No one -but Fifi knew what was in this box. It contained -her whole theatrical wardrobe, consisting of three -costumes, and her entire assortment of wigs, old -shoes, cosmetics and such impedimenta. Fifi would -not have parted with these for half her fortune. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span>They would be something real, substantial and familiar -in her new environment. They gave her a -mystic hold upon the street of the Black Cat, upon -the Imperial Theater, and upon Cartouche, so Fifi -felt.</p> - -<p>Toto was brought along with the boxes, but -met with such a cool reception from Madame Bourcet -that he declined to remain; nor would Madame -Bourcet admit a dog of his theatrical antecedents -in her family. Nothing had been said about a -dog; she disliked dogs, because they barked; there -was no place for him in the apartment. Toto -showed his understanding of Madame Bourcet’s -attitude toward him by deliberately turning his -back on her, and walking out of the house after -Cartouche. Fifi said not a word. She was too -dazed to make any protest. Cartouche’s honest -heart was wrung when he left her sitting silent -and alone in Madame Bourcet’s drawing-room.</p> - -<p>It was a large, dull room with a snuff-colored carpet -on the floor, snuff-colored furniture and snuff-colored -curtains to the windows, which overlooked -a great, quiet courtyard. No wonder that Fifi, as -soon as Cartouche left her, rushed into her own -room, which adjoined the drawing-room, and opening<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> -her treasured box, took out an old white wig, -and clasping it to her bosom, rocked to and fro in -an agony. There was but one thing in the box -that was not hers, and that was a wooden javelin -which Cartouche had used with great effect in -his part of the centurion of the Pretorian Guard. -It was rather a commonplace looking javelin in -the cold light of day, but Fifi held that, too, to -her breast; it was those things that kept her from -losing her mind; they made her feel that after all, -the old life existed, and was not a nightmare, like -the present.</p> - -<p>With the moral support of the wig and the -javelin she was enabled to compose herself, and -to meet Madame Bourcet and Louis Bourcet, the -nephew, and as Fifi shrewdly suspected, the person -assigned to become the future owner of her -hundred thousand francs. But Fifi had some ideas -of her own concerning her marriage, which, although -lying dormant for a time, were far from -moribund.</p> - -<p>For this first evening in her snuff-colored house, -Fifi, with a heavy heart, put on her best gown; it -was very red and very skimpy, but Fifi had been -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span>told she looked charming in it, which was the truth: -but it didn’t seem to charm Madame Bourcet, when -Fifi finally presented herself.</p> - -<p>Madame Bourcet was a small, obstinate, kindly, -narrow-minded woman, who went about measuring -the universe with her own tape line. Louis Bourcet -proved to be Madame Bourcet in trousers. Fifi -thought, if Louis were dressed up in his aunt’s petticoats -and Madame Bourcet were to put on Louis’ -trousers, nobody could tell them apart.</p> - -<p>Before this interesting youth was presented to -Fifi, Madame Bourcet informed her that Louis -was the most correct young advocate in Paris and -had not a fault. After this promising introduction, -Fifi hated Louis at first sight; but with that -overwhelming sense of strangeness and of being -led blindly toward an unknown fate, Fifi gave no -sign of dislike toward the most correct young advocate -in Paris, and the man without a fault.</p> - -<p>As for Louis Bourcet, he thought that a discerning -Providence had dropped Fifi, with her hundred -thousand francs, into his mouth, as it were. He -knew that she had been an actress in a poor little -theater; but she was a Chiaramonti, her grandfather<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> -was own cousin to the Holy Father, and -the hundred thousand francs covered a multitude -of sins.</p> - -<p>And it was another of the rewards of a judicious -Providence that Fifi’s money had come to -her as it had—dropping from the sky into her -lap. There was no prying father, no meddling -trustee to interfere with her prospective husband’s -future control of it. Louis Bourcet was honest, if -conceited, and meant to do a good part by Fifi. -He contemplated making her exactly like his aunt, -in every respect; and as Fifi was only nineteen, -Louis had not the slightest doubt that with his authority -as a husband, together with his personal -charms, he would be able to mold Fifi to his will, and -make her rapturously happy in the act of doing it.</p> - -<p>As soon as Fifi was established in Madame Bourcet’s -apartment, Louis began to lay siege to her. -Regularly every evening at eight o’clock, he arrived—to -pay his respects to his aunt. Regularly -did he propose to play a game of cribbage with -Fifi: a dull and uninteresting game, which involved -counting—and counting had always been a -weak point with Fifi—she always counted her salary -at too much, and her expenses at too little.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span></p> - -<p>Her counting at cribbage determined Louis to -keep the family purse himself, after they were married—for -Louis looked forward securely to this -event. Regularly at nine o’clock Madame Bourcet -fell asleep, or professed to fall asleep, peacefully in -her armchair. Regularly, Louis improved the -opportunity by telling Fifi how much his income -was, going into the minutest detail. That, however, -took only a short time; but much more was -consumed in telling how he spent it. A very little -wine; no cards or billiards; a solemn visit four -times the year to the Théâtre Française to see a -classic play, and a fortnight in summer in the -country. Such was the life which Louis subtly proposed -that Fifi should lead with him.</p> - -<p>Fifi listened, dazed and silent. The room was -so quiet, so quiet, and at that hour all was life, -hustle, gaiety and movement at the Imperial Theater. -She knew to the very moment what Cartouche -was doing, and what Toto was doing; -and there was that hateful minx, Julie Campionet, -being rapturously applauded in parts which were -as much Fifi’s as the clothes upon Fifi’s back—for -Julie Campionet had promptly succeeded to Fifi’s -vacant place, in spite of Cartouche. All this distracted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> -Fifi’s attention from the nightly game of -cribbage and made her count worse than ever.</p> - -<p>And so Fifi began to live, for the first time, -without love and without work. Only the other -day, she remembered, she had been hungry and -hard-worked and happy: and now she was neither -hungry nor hard-worked, but assuredly, she was -not happy.</p> - -<p>She had not seen Cartouche since the day he -left her and her boxes in the Rue de l’Echelle, -and had walked off with Toto, and, incidentally, -with all of Fifi’s happiness. She had directed him -to come to see her often, and he had not once been -near her! At this thought Fifi clenched her little -fists with rage: Cartouche was her own—her very -own—and how dared he treat her in this manner?</p> - -<p>In the beginning, every day Fifi expected him, -and would run to the window twenty times in an -afternoon. But he neither came nor wrote. After -a while, Fifi’s heart became sore and she burst out -before Madame Bourcet and Louis:</p> - -<p>“Cartouche has not come to see me; he has not -even written.”</p> - -<p>“But, my dear child,” remonstrated Madame -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span>Bourcet, “you surely do not expect to keep up a -correspondence with a—a—person like this Monsieur—what—do—you—call—him—”</p> - -<p>“Cartouche!” cried Fifi, opening her eyes very -wide indeed. “Why, Cartouche has done everything -for me! He taught me all I know about acting, -and he always carried my fagots upstairs, -and showed me how to clean my white shoes when -they became soiled, and—”</p> - -<p>Fifi stopped. She could have told a great deal -more: not only that Cartouche showed her how to -clean her white shoes, but that he actually took -the shoes off her poor little feet when she was so, -so tired; and Cartouche must have been tired, too, -having been on his legs—or rather his leg and a -half—all the day and evening. These, and other -reminiscences of Cartouche, in the capacity of -lady’s maid, cook, and what not, occurred to her -quick memory, almost overwhelming her. It -seemed to her as if he had done all for her that her -mother had once done, but she could not speak of -it before Madame Bourcet, still less Louis Bourcet. -Imagine the most correct young advocate in -Paris taking Fifi’s shoes off, because she was tired! -Louis would have let her die of fatigue before he -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span>would have committed this horrid crime, as he -conceived it.</p> - -<p>So Fifi checked the ebullition that was rising in -her, and kept her head and held her tongue. But -when she was once alone in her own large, solemn -room, fitter for a dowager duchess than for little -Fifi, she poured out her soul in a letter to Cartouche—thus:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Cartouche—Why haven’t you been to see me? -Cartouche, I believe you have forgotten me—that -odious Julie Campionet has played me some trick, -I know she has. Cartouche, having money is not -all we thought it was. It is very dull being rich -and certain of one’s dinner every day. Madame -Bourcet and I went out yesterday and bought a -gown. Cartouche, do you remember when I had -saved up the thirty francs to buy a cloak, and -bought Toto, my darling Toto, instead? And -how angry you were with me? And then you gave -me the cloak out of your own money? Don’t send -Toto to see me—it would break my heart. The -gown I bought yesterday is hideous. It is a dark -brown with green spots. Madame Bourcet selected -it. There was a beautiful pink thing, with -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span>a great many spangles, that I wanted. It is just -like the stuff that Toto’s ballet skirt is made of. -But the gown is for me to wear the day I am presented -to the Holy Father, and Madame Bourcet -said the pink spangled thing would not do. Then -she bought me some black lace to wear over my -head that day, and she paid a cruel price for it, -but the shops where you get new things are very -dear. Madame Bourcet will not let me go to the -second-hand shops. Do you remember the blue -silk robe that Monsieur Duvernet made me buy a -year ago for forty francs, and how it turned out -to have a big grease-spot in the back, and I was -so afraid the spot would be seen, that it almost -ruined my performance as <i>Léontine</i> in ‘<i>Papa -Bouchard</i>’? And how do you get your costumes -to hang together when I am not there to sew them? -I know you are coming all to pieces by this time. -Have you forgotten how I used to sew you up? -Oh, Cartouche, have you forgotten all these things? -I think of them all the time. I wake up in the -night, thinking I hear Toto barking, and it is -only Madame Bourcet snoring. Cartouche, if you -don’t come to see me soon you will break my heart.</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Fifi.</span>”</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span></p> - -<p>Cartouche read this letter sitting on the edge -of his poor bed. His eyes grew moist, and the -foolish fellow actually kissed Fifi’s name; but he -said to himself resolutely:</p> - -<p>“No, I will not go to her. It will only make -the struggle harder. She must separate herself -from the old life, and the quicker, the better. The -pain is sharp, but it will not last—for her.”</p> - -<p>And he was such a fool that he read the letter -aloud to Toto, who was huddled close to him: and -then the two who loved Fifi so dearly—the man -and the dog—rubbed noses, and mourned together, -Toto uttering a howl of distress and longing -that cut Cartouche to the heart.</p> - -<p>“Come,” said he, putting the dog aside, and rising, -“I can’t go on this way. One would think I -was sorry that Fifi is better off than she ever hoped -or dreamed.”</p> - -<p>Then he went to his cupboard, and took out a -little frayed white satin slipper—one of Fifi’s slippers—and -held it tenderly in his hand, while his -poor heart was breaking. Next day, came a letter -of another sort from Fifi. She was very, very angry, -and wrote in a large hand, and with very -black ink.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span></p> -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Cartouche: I will not stand your conduct. I -give you warning; I will not permit it. <i>You</i> are -responsible for my being here. But for you and -that—” here a word was erased, but Cartouche saw -the faint outlines of “devilish”—“lottery ticket, I -should have still been in my little room under the -roof—I should still have you and Toto. Oh, Cartouche, -I shall have to marry Louis Bourcet—I -see it, I know it, I feel it. He has not a fault in -the world, so Madame Bourcet says. Imagine -what a brute I shall appear alongside of him! He -plays cribbage. That is his only dissipation. But -I see that I must marry him, for this life I am -leading can not last. Madame Bourcet tells me -she has four or five diseases, any one of which is -liable to carry her off any day; and then I should -be left alone in Paris with a hundred thousand -francs. Something—everything seems to be driving -me toward marrying Louis Bourcet. Poor -Louis! How sorry he will be after he gets me! -Next week, Madame Bourcet takes me out to Fontainebleau -where I am to be presented to the Holy -Father. The gown has come home, and it is more -hideous than it was in the shop. If the Holy -Father has any taste in dress that gown will ruin -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span>my chances with him. Cartouche, I am not joking—I -can never joke any more. But I will not put -up with your behavior. Do you understand me? -It is Fifi who says this. You know, you always -told me when I flew into a rage I could frighten -Monsieur Duvernet. You remember, he often ran -into his closet and locked the door when I was -storming at him at the theater. I am much more -angry now.</p> - -<p class="right">Fifi.”</p></div> - -<p>To this letter also Cartouche made no answer. -He did not know the ways of ladies who had dowries -of a hundred thousand francs. He had heard -they were always supplied with husbands by some -one duly empowered; and these decisions, he imagined, -were like the laws of the Medes and Persians. -He felt for his poor little Fifi; her vivid, incoherent -words were perfectly intelligible to him and -went like a knife into his heart. He mused over -them in such poignant grief that he could hardly -drag himself through his multitude of duties. He -had no life or spirit to keep watch over Duvernet; -and Julie Campionet, one fine morning, took advantage -of this and, walking the manager off to -the <i>mairie</i>, married him out of hand. The first -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span>thing Cartouche knew of it was when the bridegroom, -with a huge white favor in his buttonhole, -marched into Cartouche’s garret.</p> - -<p>“She’s done it, Cartouche,” groaned Duvernet. -“They all do.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche knew perfectly well what poor Duvernet -meant.</p> - -<p>“She has, has she?” he roared, “and did you tell -her about the three other women you have married, -and got yourself in such a precious mess with?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” groaned Duvernet, seating himself on the -side of the bed. “She knows all about it—but I -couldn’t explain which ones had sued me for divorce, -and which I had sued. But Julie didn’t -mind. You see, she is thirty-six years old, and -never has been married, and she made up her mind -it wasn’t worth while to wait longer; and when -women get that way, it’s no use opposing them.”</p> - -<p>“The last time,” shouted Cartouche, quite beside -himself at the manager’s folly, for which he himself -felt twinges of conscience, “the last time you said it -was because she was a widow! Duvernet, as sure -as you are alive, you will bring yourself behind the -bars of Ste. Pélagie.”</p> - -<p>“If I do,” cried poor Duvernet, stung by Cartouche’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> -reproaches, “whose fault will it be? If -you had kept an eye on Julie Campionet, this never -would have happened. It was you who bought -that cursed lottery ticket for Fifi, and lost me the -only leading lady I ever had who didn’t insist on -marrying me against my will.”</p> - -<p>Here was a cud for Cartouche to chew upon: -young ladies reproaching him bitterly for giving -them a hundred thousand francs in cash, and -happy bridegrooms reviling him because through -him they secured brides. Cartouche was too -stunned by it all to answer. The only thing he -could do was to try to keep Duvernet’s unfortunate -weakness from landing him in jail. Luckily, -none of his wives had any use for Duvernet, after a -very short probation, and as he had no property to -speak of, and the earnings of the Imperial Theater -were uncertain, there was no money to be squeezed -out of him. So, unless the authorities should get -wind of Duvernet’s matrimonial ventures, which he -persisted in regarding as mere escapades, into -which he was led by a stronger will than his own, -he would be allowed to roam at large.</p> - -<p>“At all events,” said Cartouche, after a while, -“I can make Julie Campionet behave herself as -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span>long as she is willing to stay here by threatening to -lodge an information against both of you with the -magistrate.”</p> - -<p>“Do,” anxiously urged Duvernet. “I would not -mind serving a short term in prison if Julie gets -troublesome. Well, all men are fools where women -are concerned.”</p> - -<p>“No, they are not,” replied Cartouche darkly; -“there are a few bachelors left.”</p> - -<p>“It is fate, destiny, what you will,” said the -mournful bridegroom. “That woman, Julie Campionet—or -Duvernet she is now—meant to marry -me from the start, just like the rest. Oh, if only -little Fifi were here once more!”</p> - -<p>If only little Fifi were here once more! Poor -Cartouche’s lonely heart echoed that wish.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V<br /> -<span class="smaller">A PARCEL OF OLD SHOES</span></h2></div> - -<p>The day arrived when Fifi’s hundred thousand -francs was to be paid over to her and deposited in -the bank. Fifi had taken for granted that Cartouche -would be with her on that momentous occasion; -but when the day came no Cartouche appeared, -so she was forced to ask Madame Bourcet -and Louis Bourcet to attend her. This they both -agreed to do, with the utmost alacrity.</p> - -<p>Fifi still remained perfectly and strangely docile, -but her mind had begun to work normally once -more, and Fifi had a very strong little mind, which -could work with great vigor. She had the enormous -advantage of belonging to that class of persons -who always know exactly what they want, and -what they do not want. She did not want to have -her money where she could not get it; and banks -seemed to her mysterious institutions which were -designed to lock people’s money up and prevent -them from getting the benefit of it, but offered no -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span>security whatever that somebody other than the -owner should not get the benefit of it. She had -heretofore kept all her money—when she had any—sewed -up in her mattress, in a place where she -could feel it, if she wished to; and the mattress was -perfectly safe; whereas, she had no guaranty that -the bank was.</p> - -<p>So Fifi quietly but decisively made up her mind -that she would get hold of her hundred thousand -francs and put it in a safe place—that is to say, -the mattress. It might not be difficult to manage. -Madame Bourcet told her she must take a tin box -with her, and kindly provided the box; but it -was not impossible—Suppose, thought Fifi, she -could quietly transfer the money to a large reticule -she possessed, and put something, old shoes, for -example, in the tin box she would deposit in the -bank? She had plenty of old shoes in her mysterious -trunk. Fifi was charmed with this notion.</p> - -<p>On the morning of the great day she took the -precaution to fill her reticule with old shoes, fasten -it to her belt, and it was so well concealed by her -flowing red cloak that nobody but herself knew -she had a reticule. Madame Bourcet, Louis and -herself were to go in the carriage of Madame Bourcet’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> -brother, a professor of mathematics, who had -married a fortune of two hundred thousand francs, -and was held up as a model of wisdom and a -prodigy of virtue therefor.</p> - -<p>The carriage arrived, and the party set out. -Louis Bourcet regarded Fifi with an eye of extreme -favor. She had never asserted herself, or contradicted -any one, or said a dozen words consecutively, -since she had been with Madame Bourcet; and she -had a hundred thousand francs of her own.</p> - -<p>Louis thought he could not have found a wife -better suited to him if she had been made to order. -As she was the granddaughter to the Pope’s -cousin, her experiences in the street of the Black -Cat were evenly balanced by her other advantages.</p> - -<p>As they jolted soberly along, Fifi’s mind was -busy with her provident scheme of guarding -against banks. When they reached the bank—a -large and imposing establishment—they were -ushered into a private room, where sat several official-looking -persons. A number of transfers -were made in writing, the money was produced, -counted, and placed in Fifi’s tin box.</p> - -<p>This ended that part of the formalities. Then -the box was to be sealed up and placed in a strong -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span>box hired from the bank. Fifi herself carried the -tin box under her cloak, and, accompanied by -Madame Bourcet and Louis, went to another apartment -in the bank, from which they were taken to -the strong room in the basement. There Fifi solemnly -handed over her tin box to be tied and sealed, -and accepted a receipt for it; and it was put away -securely in a little dungeon of its own.</p> - -<p>Never was a parcel of old shoes treated with -greater respect, for in it reposed the contents of -Fifi’s reticule, while in the reticule peacefully lay a -hundred thousand francs. It had been done under -the noses of Madame Bourcet and Louis—and with -the utmost neatness—for Fifi was accustomed to -acting, and was in no way discomposed by having -people about her, but was rather steadied and emboldened.</p> - -<p>On the return home in the carriage Louis Bourcet -treated her with such distinguished consideration -that he was really afraid his attentions, including -the numerous games of cribbage, were -compromising, but Fifi noted him not. Her mind -was fixed on the contents of her reticule, and the -superior satisfaction it is to have one’s money safe -in a mattress where one can get at it, instead of -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span>being locked up in a bank where everybody could -get at it except one’s self.</p> - -<p>That night, while Madame Bourcet snored and -snoozed peacefully, Fifi, by the light of a solitary -candle, was down on her knees, sewing her money -up in the mattress. She made a hard little knob -of it right in the middle, so she could feel it every -time she turned over in bed. Then, climbing into -bed, she slept the sleep of conscious innocence and -peace.</p> - -<p>The next event in Fifi’s life was to be her presentation -to the Holy Father. For this Madame -Bourcet severely coached Fifi. She was taught -how to walk, how to speak, how to curtsey, how to -go in and how to go out of the room on the great -occasion. Fifi learned with her new docility and -obedience, but had a secret conviction that she -would forget it all as soon as the occasion came to -use it.</p> - -<p>A week or two after Fifi had rescued her money -from the bank the day arrived for her presentation -to the Holy Father, who had personally appointed -the time. Since Fifi’s journey from Italy in her -childhood, she had never been so far from the street -of the Black Cat as Fontainebleau, and the length -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span>and expense of the journey impressed her extremely. -Louis Bourcet did not accompany Madame -Bourcet and Fifi on the visit, but it was understood -that Madame Bourcet should present his application -for Fifi’s hand.</p> - -<p>It was a soft, mild day in February, with a hint -of spring in the air, that they set forth in a rickety -coach for Fontainebleau. Fifi wore the hideous -brown gown with the green spots in it, and felt -exactly as she did the night she played <i>Léontine</i> in -the blue silk robe with the grease spot in the back. -If the grease spot had been noticed everything -would have been ruined—and if the Holy Father -should notice the brown gown! Fifi felt that it -would mean wholesale disaster. She comforted herself, -however, with the reflection that the Holy -Father probably knew nothing about ladies’ -gowns; and then, she had never forgotten the extreme -kindness of the Holy Father’s eyes the night -she peered at him in the coach.</p> - -<p>“And after all,” she thought, “although Cartouche -laughed at me for thinking the Holy Father -had looked at me that night, I know he did—perhaps -I am like my father or my grandfather, and -that was why he looked.” And then she remembered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span> -what Cartouche had said about the private -soldiers not being afraid when the Emperor talked -with them. “It will be the same with the Holy -Father,” she thought. “He is so far above me—why, -it would be ridiculous for me to be afraid of -him.”</p> - -<p>It took all of three hours to get to Fontainebleau, -and Fifi felt that the world was a very large -place indeed. They drove through the splendid -park and dismounted before the great château. -Then, Madame Bourcet showing some cabalistic -card or other token, it was understood that the visit -of the two ladies was expected by the Pope. They -were escorted up the great horseshoe stairs and into -a small salon, where luncheon was served to them, -after their long drive. Madame Bourcet was too -elegant to eat much, but Fifi, whose appetite had -been in abeyance ever since she left the street of -the Black Cat, revived, and she devoured her share -with a relish. It was the first time she had been -hungry since she had had enough to eat.</p> - -<p>Presently a sour-looking ecclesiastic came to escort -them to the presence of the Holy Father. The -ecclesiastic was clearly in a bad humor. The Holy -Father was always being appealed to by widows -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span>with grievances, real or imaginary, young ladies -who did not want to marry the husbands selected -for them, young men who had got themselves in -discredit with their families or superiors, and the -Holy Father had a way of treating these sinners -as if they were not sinners at all. Indeed, he often -professed himself to be edified by their pious repentance; -and the ecclesiastic never quite understood -whether the Holy Father was quietly amusing -himself at the expense of his household or not. -But one thing was certain to the ecclesiastic’s mind: -the Holy Father had not that horror of sinners -which the world commonly has, and was far too -easy on them.</p> - -<p>With these thoughts in mind, he introduced -Madame Bourcet into the Pope’s cabinet, while -Fifi remained in the anteroom, guarded by another -ecclesiastic, who looked much more human than his -colleague. This last one thought it necessary to -infuse courage into Fifi concerning the coming interview, -but to his amazement found Fifi not in the -least afraid.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know why, Monsieur, I should be -afraid,” she said. “A friend of mine—Cartouche—says -the private soldiers are not the least afraid -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span>of the Emperor, and are perfectly at ease when he -speaks to them, while the councillors of state and -the marshals and the great nobles can not look him -in the eye.”</p> - -<p>“And may I ask who is this Cartouche, Mademoiselle?” -asked the ecclesiastic.</p> - -<p>“He is a friend of mine,” replied Fifi warily.</p> - -<p>At last, after twenty minutes, Madame Bourcet -came out. She was pale and agitated, but showed -satisfaction in every feature.</p> - -<p>“The Holy Father approves of my nephew, provided -you have no objection to him,” she whispered. -And the next moment Fifi found herself alone with -the Holy Father.</p> - -<p>Although the afternoon was mild and sunny, a -large fire was burning on the hearth, and close to -it, in a large armchair, sat Pius the Seventh. He -gave Fifi the same impression of whiteness and benevolence -he had given her at that chance meeting -three months before.</p> - -<p>As Fifi entered she made a low bow—not the one -that Madame Bourcet had taught her, but a much -better one, taught her by her own tender little -heart. And instantly, as before, there was an -electric sympathy established between the old man -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span>and the young girl, as the old and young eyes exchanged -confidences.</p> - -<p>“My child,” were the Holy Father’s first words, -in a voice singularly young and sweet for an old -man. “I have seen you before, and now I know -why it was that the sight of your eyes so moved -me. You are my Barnabas’ granddaughter.”</p> - -<p>And then Fifi made one of the most outlandish -speeches imaginable for a young girl to make to -the Supreme Pontiff. She said:</p> - -<p>“Holy Father, as I looked into your eyes that -night when your coach was passing through the -street of the Black Cat, I said to myself, ‘There is -an old man with a father’s heart,’ and I felt as if -I had seen my own father.”</p> - -<p>And instead of meeting this speech with a look -of cold reproof, the Holy Father’s eyes grew moist, -and he said:</p> - -<p>“It was the cry of kindred between us. Now, -sit near to me—not in that armchair.”</p> - -<p>“Here is a footstool,” cried Fifi, and drawing -the footstool up to the Holy Father’s knees, she -seated herself with no more fear than Cartouche -had of his Emperor.</p> - -<p>“Now, my child,” said the Holy Father, “the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span>old must always be allowed to tell their stories first,—the -young have time to wait. I know that you -can not have seen your grandfather, or even remember -your own father, he died so young.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Holy Father, I was so little when he died.”</p> - -<p>“I could have loved him as a son, if I had known -him,” the Holy Father continued, speaking softly -as the old do of a bygone time. “But never was -any one so much a part of my heart as Barnabas -was. We were born within a month of each other, -at Cesena, a little old town at the foot of the Apennines. -I think I never saw so pretty and pleasant -an old town as Cesena—so many fine young men -and excellent maidens, such venerable old people. -One does not see such nowadays.”</p> - -<p class="p2b">Fifi said nothing, but she did not love the Holy -Father less for this simplicity of the old which is so -like the simplicity of the young.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> -<img src="images/i_100.jpg" width="350" alt="Fifi with the Pope." -title="" /></div> - -<p class="p2">“Barnabas and I grew up together in an old -villa, all roses and honeysuckles outside, all rats -and mice within—but we did not mind the rats and -mice. When we grew out of our babyhood into -two naughty, troublesome boys, we thought it fine -sport to hunt the poor rats and torture them. I -was worse in that respect than Barnabas, who was -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span>ever a better boy than I. But we had other amusements -than that. We loved to climb into the blue -hills about Cesena, and when we were old enough -to be trusted by ourselves we would sometimes spend -days in those far-off hills, with nothing but bread -and cheese and wild grapes to live on. We slept -at night on the ground, rolled in our blankets. We -were hardy youngsters, and I never had sweeter -sleep than in those summer nights on the hard -ground, with the kind stars keeping watch over -us.”</p> - -<p>Fifi said no word. The old man was living over -again that sweet, young time, and from it was -borne the laughter, faint and afar off, the smiles -so softly tender, the tears robbed of all their saltness; -he was once more, in thought, a little boy -with his little playmate on the sunny slopes of the -Apennines.</p> - -<p>Presently he spoke again, looking into Fifi’s -eyes, so like those of the dead and gone comrade of -the old Cesena days.</p> - -<p>“Barnabas, although of better natural capacity -than I, did not love the labor of reading. He -chose that I should read, and tell him what I read; -and so he knew all that I knew and more besides, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span>being of sharper and more observant mind. We -never had a difference except once. It was over a -cherry tart—what little gluttons we were! When -we quarreled about the tart our mothers divided it, -and for punishment condemned us both to eat our -share alone. And what do you think was the result? -Neither one of us would touch it—and then -we cried and made up our quarrel; it was our first -and last, and we were but ten years old.”</p> - -<p>Fifi listened with glowing eyes. These little -stories of his youth, long remembered, made Fifi -feel as if the Holy Father were very human, after -all.</p> - -<p>The old man paused, and his expressive eyes -grew dreamy as he gazed at Fifi. She brought -back to him, as never before, the dead and gone -time: the still, ancient little town, lying as quietly -in the sunlight as in the moonlight, the peaceful -life that flowed there so placidly and innocently. -He seemed to hear again the murmuring of the -wind in the fir trees of the old garden and the delicate -cooing of the blue and white pigeons in the -orchard. Once more he inhaled the aromatic scent -of the burning pine cones, as Barnabas and himself, -their two boyish heads together, hung over -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span>the scanty fire in the great vaulted kitchen of the -old villa. All, all, were gone; the villa had fallen -to decay; the orchard and the garden were no -more; only the solemn fir trees and the dark blue -peaks of the Apennines remained unchanged. And -here was a girl with the same eyes, dark, yet softly -bright, of his playfellow and more than brother of -fifty years ago!</p> - -<p>Fifi spoke no word. The only sound in the -small, vaulted room was the faint crackling of the -burning logs, across which a brilliant bar of sunlight -had crept stealthily. As the Holy Father -paused and looked at Fifi, there was a gentle deprecation -in his glance; he seemed to be saying: -“Bear with age a while, O glorious and pathetic -youth! Let me once more dream your dreams, -and lay aside the burden of greatness.” And the -old man did not continue until he saw in Fifi’s eyes -that she was not wearied with him; then he spoke -again.</p> - -<p>“When we were ten years old we were taught to -serve on the altar. Barnabas served with such -recollection, such beautiful precision, that it was -like prayer to see him. He was a handsome boy, -and in his white surplice and red cassock, his face -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span>glowing with the noble innocence and simplicity of -a good boyhood, he looked like a young archangel.”</p> - -<p>“And yourself, Holy Father?” asked Fifi.</p> - -<p>“Ah, I was very unlike Barnabas. I was but -an ordinary-looking boy, and I often fell asleep -while I was sitting by the priest during the sermon, -and in full view of the congregation. We had a -worthy old priest, who would let me sleep during -the sermon, but would pinch me smartly to wake -me up when it was over and it was time again to -go on the altar. So I devised a way to keep myself -awake. I hid a picture book in the sleeve of -my cassock, and during the sermon, while the priest -who was on the altar had his eyes fixed on the one -who was preaching in the pulpit, I slipped out -my picture book, and began to look at it stealthily,—but -not so stealthily that the priest did not see -me, and, quietly reaching over, took it out of my -hand and put it in the pocket of his cassock. I -plotted revenge, however. Presently, when the -priest went up on the altar and is forbidden to -leave it, he turned and motioned to me for the -water, which it was my duty to have ready. I -whispered to him, ‘Give me my picture book, and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span>I will give you the water.’ Of course, he had to -give me the picture book, and then I gave him the -water. He did not tell my parents on me, wherein -he failed in his duty; but he gave me, after mass, -a couple of sound slaps—and I played no more -tricks on him.”</p> - -<p>“Holy Father, you must have been a flesh-and-blood -boy,” said Fifi, softly.</p> - -<p>The Holy Father laughed—a fresh, youthful -laugh, like his voice.</p> - -<p>“Formerly I judged myself harshly. Now I -know that, though I was not a very good boy, I -was not a bad boy. I was not so good a boy as -Barnabas. He had no vocation for the priesthood; -but in my eighteenth year the wish to be a priest -awoke in me. And the hardest of all the separations -which my vocation entailed was the parting -with Barnabas. He went to Piacenza and became -an advocate. He married and died within a year, -leaving a young widow and one child—your father. -They were well provided for, and the mother’s family -took charge of the widow and of the child. But -the widow, too, soon died, and only your father -was left. I often wished to see him, and my heart -yearned like a father’s over him, but I was a poor -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span>parish priest, far away from him, and could hear -nothing from him. Then in the disorders that -followed the French Revolution one lost sight of -all that one had ever known and loved. I caused -diligent inquiry to be made—I was a bishop then, -and could have helped Barnabas’ son—but I could -not find a trace of him. He, like Barnabas, had -married and died young, leaving an only child—yourself—and, -I knew it not! The great whirlpool -of the Revolution seemed to swallow up everything. -But on the night of my arrival in Paris, -as we passed slowly along that narrow street, and -I saw your face peering into my carriage, it was -as if my Barnabas had come back to me. You -are more like him than I believed any child could -be like its father. So, when I heard, through the -agency of the Emperor, that a young relative of -mine, by name Chiaramonti, was in Paris, earning -her living, I felt sure it was the young girl who -looked into my carriage that night.”</p> - -<p>“But I am not earning my living now, Holy -Father.”</p> - -<p>“So I hear. You have had strange good fortune—good -fortune in having done honest work in -your poverty, and good fortune in being under -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span>the charge of the excellent and respectable Madame -Bourcet, since there was no need for you to work.”</p> - -<p>“But—” Here Fifi paused and struggled for -a moment with herself, then burst out: “I was -happier, far, when I was earning my living. The -theater was small, and ill lighted, and my wages -were barely enough to live upon, and I often was -without a fire; but at least I had Cartouche and -Toto.”</p> - -<p>“And who are Cartouche and Toto?” asked the -Holy Father, mildly.</p> - -<p>Then Fifi told the story of Cartouche; how -brave he was at the bridge of Lodi; how he had -befriended her, and stood between her and harm; -and, strange to say, the Pope appeared not the -least shocked at things that would have paralyzed -Madame Bourcet and Louis Bourcet. Fifi told -him all about the thirty francs she had saved up -for the cloak, and the spending it in buying Toto, -and the Holy Father laughed outright. He -asked many questions about the theater, and the -life of the people there, and agreed with Fifi when -she said sagely:</p> - -<p>“Cartouche says there is not much more of virtue -in one calling than another, and that those -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span>people, like poor actors and actresses, who live -from hand to mouth, and can’t be very particular, -are in the way of doing more kindnesses for each -other than people who lead more regular lives. -Cartouche, you know, Holy Father, is a plain, -blunt man.”</p> - -<p>“Like Mark Antony,” replied the Pope, smiling. -Fifi had never heard of such a person as Mark -Antony, so very wisely held her peace.</p> - -<p>“But this Cartouche seems to be an honest fellow,” -added the Pope.</p> - -<p>“Holy Father,” cried Fifi, earnestly, “Cartouche -is as honest as you are!”</p> - -<p>“I should like to see him,” said the Holy Father, -smiling at Fifi.</p> - -<p>“If I could, I would make him come to you—but -he will not even come to see me,” said Fifi sadly. -“Before he took me to Madame Bourcet’s he told -me I must leave my old life behind me. He said, -‘It will be hard, Fifi, but it must be done resolutely.’ -I said: ‘At least if I see no one else of those people, -whom I really love, now that I am separated -from them—except Julie Campionet’—I shall always -hate Julie Campionet—‘I shall see you.’ -‘No,’ said Cartouche, in an obstinate voice that I -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span>knew well,—Cartouche is as obstinate as a donkey -when he wishes to be,—‘if you see me you will have -a new struggle every time we part. Years from -now, when you are fixed in another life, when you -are suitably married, it will do you no harm to see -me, but not now,’—and actually, Holy Father, -that mean, cruel, heartless Cartouche has kept his -word, and has not been near me, or even answered -my letters.”</p> - -<p>“Cartouche is a sensible fellow,” said the Holy -Father, under his breath.</p> - -<p>Luckily Fifi did not catch the words, or she -would, in her own mind, have stigmatized the Holy -Father as also mean, cruel and heartless, just like -Cartouche.</p> - -<p>“Very well,” said the Pope aloud, “tell me about -Julie Campionet. Why do you hate her?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Holy Father, Julie Campionet is a minx. -She married the manager against his will, and has -stolen all my best parts, and has made everybody -at the theater forget there ever was a Mademoiselle -Fifi. You can’t imagine a person more evil than -Julie Campionet.”</p> - -<p>“Wicked, wicked Julie Campionet,” said the -Holy Father softly; and Fifi knew he was laughing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> -at her. Then he grew serious and said: “My -child, it is important—nay, necessary—for you to -be properly married. You are too young, too -friendless, too inexperienced, to be safe until you -have the protection of a good husband. Madame -Bourcet has brought me proofs of the worth and -respectability of her nephew, Monsieur Louis -Bourcet, and, as the head of your family, I urge -you to marry this worthy young man.”</p> - -<p>Fifi sat still, the dazed, submissive look coming -back into her face. Everything seemed to compel -her to marry Louis Bourcet. As the Holy Father -had said, she must marry some one. She felt a -sense of despair, which involved resignation to her -fate. The Holy Father looked at her sharply, -but said gently:</p> - -<p>“Is there no one else?”</p> - -<p>“No one, Holy Father,” replied Fifi.</p> - -<p>There was no one but Cartouche; and Cartouche -would neither see her nor write to her, and besides -had never spoken a word of love to her in his life. -If she had remained at the theater she could have -made Cartouche marry her; but now that was impossible. -Fifi was finding out some things in her -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span>new life which robbed her of one of her chief -weapons—ignorance of convention.</p> - -<p>“And Monsieur Bourcet is worthy?” she heard -the Holy Father saying, and she replied mechanically:</p> - -<p>“Quite worthy.”</p> - -<p>“And you do not dislike him?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Fifi, after a moment’s pause. There -was not enough in Louis Bourcet to dislike.</p> - -<p>Fifi rose. She could not bear any more on this -subject. The Holy Father, smiling at Fifi’s taking -the initiative in closing the interview, said to -her:</p> - -<p>“Then you agree to marry Louis Bourcet?”</p> - -<p>“I agree to marry Louis Bourcet,” replied Fifi, -in a voice that sounded strange in her own ears. -She did not know what else to say. Two months -ago she would have replied briskly, “No, indeed; I -shall marry Cartouche, and nobody but Cartouche.” -Now, however, she seemed to be under -a spell. It appeared to be arranged for her that -she should marry Louis Bourcet, and Cartouche -would not lift a finger to help her. And, strangest -of all, in saying she would marry Louis Bourcet she -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span>did not really know whether she meant it or not. -It was all an uneasy dream.</p> - -<p>The Pope raised his hand to bless her. Fifi, looking -at him, saw that the stress of emotion at seeing -her was great. The pallor of his face had given -place to a dull flush, and his uplifted hand trembled.</p> - -<p>“You will come again, my child, when your future -is settled?” he said.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Holy Father,” replied Fifi, and sank on -her knees to receive his blessing.</p> - -<p>As she walked toward the door, the Holy Father -called to her:</p> - -<p>“Remember that Julie Campionet, in spite of her -crimes toward you, is one of God’s children.”</p> - -<p>Fifi literally ran out of the room. It seemed to -her as if the Holy Father were taking Julie Campionet’s -part.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI<br /> -<span class="smaller">THE BLUE SATIN BED</span></h2></div> - -<p>Two weeks after the visit to Fontainebleau came -the crisis—for Fifi was as surely tending toward a -crisis as water flows downward and sparks fly upward. -Madame Bourcet, armed with the Holy -Father’s approval, represented to Fifi the necessity -for her marrying Louis Bourcet. Fifi listened silently. -Then, Madame Bourcet, eagerly taking -silence for consent, said that Louis would that very -evening accept formally of Fifi’s hand. To this -also Fifi made no reply, and Madame Bourcet -left the room fully persuaded that Fifi was reveling -in rapture at the thought of acquiring an -epitome of all the virtues in Louis Bourcet.</p> - -<p>It was during the morning, and in the snuff-colored -drawing-room, that the communication was -made. Fifi felt a great wave of doubt and anxiety -swelling up in her heart. For the first time -she was brought face to face with the marriage -problem, and it frightened her by its immensity. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span>If only Cartouche were there—some one to whom -she could pour out her trembling, agitated heart! -But Cartouche was not there, nor would he come. -And suddenly, for the first time, something of the -fierceness of maidenhood overwhelmed Fifi—a feeling -that Cartouche should, after all, seek her—that, -if he loved her, as she knew he did above -everything on earth, he should speak and not shame -her by his silence.</p> - -<p>Then, the conviction that Cartouche preferred -her good to his, that he thought she would be -happier married to another and a different man, -and held himself honestly unworthy to marry her, -brought a flood of tenderness to her heart. She -had seen Cartouche turn red and pale when she -kissed him, and avoid her innocent familiarities, -and she knew well enough what it meant. But if -he would not come, nor speak, nor write,—and -everybody, even the Holy Father, was urging her -to marry Louis Bourcet; and a great, strong chain -of circumstances was dragging her toward the -same end—oh, what a day of emotions it was to -Fifi!</p> - -<p>She knew not how it passed, nor what she said -or did, nor what she ate and drank; she only -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span>waited, as if for the footfall of fate, for the hour -when Louis Bourcet would arrive. He came at -eight, punctual to the minute. Punctuality, like -every other virtue, was his. Madame Bourcet -whispered something to him, and Louis, for the -first time, touched Fifi’s hand and brushed it with -his lips, Fifi standing like a statue. The crisis was -rapidly becoming acute.</p> - -<p>At nine o’clock, the cribbage board was brought -out; Madame Bourcet dutifully fell asleep, and -Louis, with the air of doing the most important -thing in the world, took from his pocket a small -picture of himself, which he presented to Fifi with -a formal speech, of which she afterward could not -recall one word. Nor could she remember what he -talked about during the succeeding half-hour before -Madame Bourcet waked up. Then Louis -rose to go, and something was said about happiness -and economy in the management of affairs; -and Louis announced that owing to the necessity -of procuring certain papers from Strasburg, where -his little property lay, the marriage contract could -not be signed for a month yet, and inquired if Fifi -would be ready to marry him at the end of the -month. Fifi instantly replied yes, and then the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span>crisis was over. From that moment nothing on -earth would have induced Fifi to marry Louis Bourcet.</p> - -<p>She did not, of course, put this in words, but -sent poor Louis off with her promise to marry him -in a month. Nevertheless, by one of those processes -of logic which Fifi could not formulate to -save her life, but which she could act up to in the -teeth of fire and sword, the promise to marry Louis -Bourcet settled for all time that she would not -marry him.</p> - -<p>Up to that moment all had been vague, agitating, -mysterious and compelling. She felt herself -driven, if not to marry Louis Bourcet, to act as -if she meant to marry him. But once she had -promised, once she had something tangible to go -upon, her spirit burst its chains, and she was once -more free. She had no more notion of marrying -Louis Bourcet then than she had of trying to -walk on her head. And she felt such a wild, tempestuous -joy—the first flush of happiness she had -known since the wretched lottery ticket had drawn -the prize. She was so happy that she was glad -to escape to her own room. She carried in her -hand the picture of Louis Bourcet, and did not -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span>know she held it until she put it down on her mantelpiece -and saw in the mirror above it her own -smiling, glowing face.</p> - -<p>“No, Louis,” she said to the picture, shaking her -head solemnly, “it is not to be. I have been a fool -heretofore in not saying outright that I wouldn’t -marry you to save your life. But now my mind is -made up. Nobody can make me marry you, and -I would not do it if Cartouche, the Holy Father -and the Emperor all commanded me to marry you!”</p> - -<p>Then an impish thought came into Fifi’s head, -for Fifi was in some respects a cruel young person. -She would make Louis himself refuse to marry her -and contrive so that all the blame would be visited -upon the innocent Louis, while she, the wicked Fifi, -would go free. In a flash it was revealed to her; -it was to get rid of her hundred thousand francs. -Then Louis would not marry her—and oh, rapture! -Cartouche would.</p> - -<p>“He can’t refuse,” thought Fifi in an ecstasy. -“When I have been jilted and cruelly used, and -have no money, then I can go back to the stage, -and everybody will know me as Mademoiselle -Chiaramonti, granddaughter of the Pope’s cousin, -who won the great prize in the lottery; everybody -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span>will flock to see me, as they did the last two weeks -I played; and I shall have forty francs the week, -and Cartouche, and love and work and peace and -Toto, and no Louis Bourcet! And how angry Julie -Campionet will be!”</p> - -<p>It was so deliciously easy to get at her money—a -rip and a stitch afterward—ten thousand francs -squandered before Louis Bourcet’s eyes. Fifi -thought the loss of the first ten thousand would rid -her of her fiancé, but she knew she could never get -Cartouche as long as she had even ten thousand -francs left, and she realized fully that it was Cartouche -that she wanted most of anything in the -world. The Holy Father would probably scold -her a little, but Fifi felt sure, if she could only tell -the Holy Father just how she felt and how good -Cartouche was, and also how odiously good Louis -Bourcet was, he would forgive her.</p> - -<p>The more Fifi thought of this scheme of getting -rid of Louis Bourcet and entrapping Cartouche the -more rapturous she grew. She had two ways of -expressing joy and thankfulness—praying and -dancing. She plumped down on her knees, and -for about twenty seconds thanked God earnestly -for having shown her the way to get rid of Louis -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span>Bourcet—for Fifi’s prayers, like herself, were very -primitive and childlike. Then, jumping up, she -danced for twenty minutes, kicking as high as she -could, until she finally kicked the picture of Louis -Bourcet off the mantelpiece to the floor, on which -it fell with a sharp crash.</p> - -<p>Madame Bourcet, in the next room, stirred at -once. Fifi again plumped down on her knees, and -when Madame Bourcet opened the door Fifi was -deeply engaged in saying her prayers. Madame -Bourcet shut the door softly—the noise could not -have been in Fifi’s room.</p> - -<p>As soon as Madame Bourcet was again snoozing, -Fifi, moving softly about, lighted her candle and -wrote a letter to Cartouche.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Cartouche, my mind is made up. This evening -I promised Louis Bourcet, in Madame Bourcet’s -presence, to marry him. When I had done it -I felt as if a load were lifted off my mind, for as -soon as the words were out of my mouth I determined -that nothing on earth should induce me to -keep my promise. I feel that I am right, Cartouche, -and I have not felt so pious for a long -time. I don’t know how it will be managed. I -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span>am only certain of one thing, and that is that Louis -Bourcet will never become Monsieur Fifi Chiaramonti—for -that is just what it would amount to, -he is so good and so colorless. I am not in the -least sorry for Louis. I am only sorry for myself -that I have been bothered with him so long, and -besides, I wish to marry some one else.     Fifi.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Fifi crept into bed after writing this letter. For -the first time she found the hard lump in the middle -of her mattress uncomfortable.</p> - -<p>“Never mind,” thought Fifi to herself, “I shall -soon be rid of it, and sleep in peace, as I haven’t -done since I had it.”</p> - -<p>Fifi’s dreams were happy that night, and when -she waked in the morning she felt a kind of -dewy freshness in her heart, like the awakening of -spring. It was springtime already, and as Fifi -lay cosily in her little white bed she contrived joyous -schemes for her own benefit, which some people -might have called plotting mischief. She reasoned -with herself thus:</p> - -<p>“Fifi, you have been miserable ever since you got -the odious, hateful hundred thousand francs, and -it was nasty of Cartouche to give you the lottery -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span>ticket. Fifi, you are not very old, but you are -of the sort which does not change, and you will be -Fifi as long as you live. You can not be happy -away from Cartouche and the theater and Toto—unfeeling -wretch that you are, to let Toto be torn -from you! So the only thing to do is to return to -love and work. If you spend all your money -Louis Bourcet would not marry you to save your -life, and then you can go back to the theater and -make Cartouche marry you. Oh, how simple it is! -Stupid, stupid Fifi, that you did not think of this -before!” And, throbbing with happiness at the -emancipation before her, Fifi rose and dressed herself. -She was distracted by the riotous singing -of the robins in the one solitary tree in the courtyard. -Heretofore the little birds had been mute -and half frozen, but this morning, in the warm -spring sun, they sang in ecstasy.</p> - -<p>Fifi not only felt different, but she actually -looked so; and the blitheness which shone in her -eyes when she went to ask Madame Bourcet if she -might have Angéline, the sour maid-of-all-work, -to go with her to the shops that morning might -have awakened suspicion in most minds. But not -in Madame Bourcet’s. Fifi slyly let drop something<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span> -about her trousseau, and Madame Bourcet -hastened to say that she might take Angéline.</p> - -<p>In a little while the two were ready to start. -In her hand Fifi carried a little purse, containing -twenty-one francs, and in her reticule she carried -her handkerchief, her smelling-salts and ten crisp -thousand-franc notes.</p> - -<p>“How shall I ever spend it all!” she thought, -with a little dismay; and then, having some curious -odds and ends of sense in her pretty head, she concluded: -“Oh, it is easy enough. I have often heard -Cartouche say that nobody ever yet tried to squander -money who did not find a dozen helpers on -every hand.”</p> - -<p>Paris is beautiful on a spring morning, with the -sun shining on the splashing fountains and the -steel blue river, and the streets full of cheerful-looking -people. It was the first, mild, soft day of March, -and everybody was trying to make believe it was -May. The restaurants had placed their chairs and -tables out of doors, and made a brave showing of -greenery with watercress and a few little radishes. -Itinerant musicians were grinding away industriously, -and some humorous cab-drivers had paid -five centimes for a sprig of green to stick behind -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span>the ears of their patient horses. All Paris was -out of doors, helping the birds and leaves to make -the spring.</p> - -<p>Fifi strolled along and found the streets almost -as pleasant as the street of the Black Cat, except -that she knew everybody in the street of the Black -Cat and knew no one at all of all this merry -throng. Her first incursion was into a chocolate -shop, where she treated both herself and Angéline -in a princely manner, as became a lady who had -ten notes of a thousand francs to dispose of in a -morning’s shopping.</p> - -<p>While they were sipping their chocolate Fifi was -wondering how she could manage to leave Angéline -in the lurch and slip off by herself—for Angéline -might possibly make trouble for her when she -came to dispensing her wealth as she privately -planned. But in this, as in all things else that day, -fortune favored Fifi. Afar off was heard the rataplan -of a marching regiment, with the merry -laughter and shuffle of feet of an accompanying -crowd.</p> - -<p>“What so easy as to get carried along with that -crowd?” thought Fifi, as she ran to the door, where -the proprietor and all the clerks as well as the customers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> -were flying. It was the day of a grand review -at Longchamps, and the sight of the marching -regiment, with the band ringing out in rhythmic -beauty, seemed the finest thing in the world.</p> - -<p>Fifi found herself, with very little effort on her -part, pushed out on the sidewalk, and the next -thing she was being swept along with the eager -crowd following the soldiers. At the corner of a -large street the regiment turned off toward the -Champs Elysées, the crowd parted, and Fifi saw -her way back clear to the chocolate shop. But -staring her in the face was a magnificent furniture -and bric-à-brac shop, while next it was a superb -<i>magasin des modes</i> with a great window full of -gowns, wraps and hats.</p> - -<p>Here was the place for Fifi to get rid of her ten -thousand francs. It seemed to Fifi as if a benignant -Providence had rewarded her virtuous design -by placing her just where she was; so she walked -boldly into the <i>magasin des modes</i>.</p> - -<p>The manager of the place, a handsome, showily-dressed -and bejeweled woman, looked suspiciously -at a young and pretty girl, arriving without maid -or companion of any sort—but Fifi, bringing into -play some of the arts she had learned at the Imperial<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span> -Theater, sank, apparently breathless, into a -seat; told of her being swept away from her companion, -and offered to pay for a messenger to hunt -up Angéline. Meanwhile she artlessly let out that -she was Mademoiselle Chiaramonti, in search of -articles for her trousseau.</p> - -<p>Her story was well known; everybody in Paris -had heard of Mademoiselle Chiaramonti, of the -Imperial Theater, who had drawn the first prize in -the lottery, and instantly all was curiosity to see -her and alertness to attend her—except as to -sending for Angéline. There was an unaccountable -slowness about that, except on the theory -that it would be well to show Fifi some of the creations -of the establishment before the arrival of the -elder person, who might throw cold water on the -prospective purchases. And then began the comedy, -so often enacted in the world, of the cunning -hypocrite being unconsciously the dupe of the supposed -victim.</p> - -<p>Fifi was careful to hint that her marriage was -being arranged; and if anything could have added -to Fifi’s joy and satisfaction it was the determination -on the part of the shop people to embody in -her trousseau all the outlandish things they possessed.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> -This suited Fifi exactly. Louis Bourcet -was as finically particular about colors as he was -about behavior, and both he and Madame Bourcet -were privately determined that Fifi should go -through life in brown gowns with dark green spots, -like the one which had so excited her disgust in the -first instance. Knowing this, Fifi concluded to -administer a series of shocks in every one of her -purchases, and went about to do this with a vim -and thoroughness characteristic of her.</p> - -<p>The first gown they showed her nearly made her -scream with delight. It was almost enough to -make Louis Bourcet break their engagement at -sight. It was a costume of a staring yellow brocade, -with large purple flowers on it, and was obviously -intended for a woman nine feet high and -three feet broad—and Fifi was but a slender twig -of a girl. One huge flower covered her back, and -another her chest, while three or four went around -the vast skirt which trailed a yard behind. The -manager put it on Fifi, while her assistants and fellow -conspirators joined with her in declaring that -the gown was ravishing on Fifi, which it was in a -way.</p> - -<p>Fifi paraded solemnly up and down before the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span>large swinging mirror, surveying herself. She -was a quaint object in the great yellow and purple -gown, and she knew it. Her face broke into a -shower of smiles and dimples.</p> - -<p>“It will answer my purpose exactly,” she cried. -This was true, as it was calculated to give Madame -Bourcet, and especially Louis Bourcet, nervous -convulsions.</p> - -<p>“Show me a hat to go with it—the largest hat -you have.”</p> - -<p>The hat was produced—a nightmare, equal to -the yellow and purple brocade. Flowers, beads, -ribbons and feathers weighed it down, but Fifi -demanded more of everything to be put on it, particularly -feathers. When she put the hat on, with -the gown, one of the young women in the establishment -gave a half shriek of something between -a laugh and a scream. A look from the manager -sent the culprit like a shot into the back part of -the shop.</p> - -<p>Fifi, gravely examining herself in the glass, declared -she was charmed with her costume and would -wear it on the day of her civil marriage. Then -she demanded a cloak.</p> - -<p>“One that would look well on a dowager empress,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span> -she said with a grand air, knowing she had -ten thousand francs in her pocket.</p> - -<p>One was produced which might have looked well -on the dowager empress of China, but scarcely on -an occidental. It was a stupendous stripe of red and -green satin, which might have served for the gridiron -on which Saint Lawrence was broiled alive. It -had large sleeves, which Fifi insisted must be -trimmed with heavy lace and deep fur. In a -twinkling this was fastened on, and Fifi approved.</p> - -<p>“And now a fan,” she said.</p> - -<p>Dozens of fans were produced, but none of them -preposterous enough to suit Fifi’s purpose and her -costume. At last she compromised on a large pink -one with a couple of birds of paradise on it.</p> - -<p>Oh, what a picture was Fifi, parading up and -down before the mirror, and saying to herself:</p> - -<p>“I think this will finish him.”</p> - -<p>The amount, for the costume, cloak, hat and fan -was nearly two thousand francs. Fifi regretted it -was not more.</p> - -<p>“And now,” she said, “some negligées, with rich -effects; you understand.”</p> - -<p>Fifi’s taste being pretty well understood in the -establishment by this time, some negligées were -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span>produced, in which Fifi arrayed herself and looked -like a parroquet. Then came evening gowns. -There was one in particular which Fifi thought -might be the death of the Bourcets. It was a -short, scant, diaphanous Greek costume, which -was so very Greek that it could only have been -worn with propriety in the days of the nymphs, -the fauns and the dryads.</p> - -<p>“This, without a petticoat, I am sure, will rid -me of Louis Bourcet,” thought Fifi, “but I must -never let Cartouche see it, or he will kill me.”</p> - -<p>Fifi, being fatigued with her exertions—for her -purchases were calculated to fatigue the eye as -well as the mind, ordered the articles selected to be -sent that day to Madame Bourcet’s.</p> - -<p>“And the bill, Mademoiselle?” asked the manager -in a dulcet voice.</p> - -<p>“Make it out,” replied Fifi debonairly, “and I -will pay it now.”</p> - -<p>There was a pause for the manager and the -clerks to recover their breath, while Fifi sat quite -serene. It did not take a minute for the bill to be -made out, however,—four thousand, nine hundred -and forty-four francs, twenty-five centimes. Fifi -was cruelly disappointed; she had reckoned on getting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> -rid of more of her money. But still this was -a beginning, so she handed over five notes of a -thousand francs each, and gravely counted her -change: fifty-five francs, seventy-five centimes.</p> - -<p>Then, and then only, was a message sent after -Angéline to the chocolate shop.</p> - -<p>But Angéline could not be found. She had seen -Fifi swept away, as she thought, by the crowd, and -had rushed out to join her; but Fifi had no mind -to be caught, and Angéline found herself flopping -about wildly, shrieking at the passers-by, without -any stops whatever between her words:</p> - -<p>“Have you seen Mademoiselle Fifi Mademoiselle -Chiaramonti I lost her in the chocolate shop oh -what will Madame Bourcet say good people I am -sure she is lost for good and a hundred thousand -francs in bank and what is to be become of Monsieur -Louis where <i>can</i> Mademoiselle Fifi be?” and -much more of the same sort.</p> - -<p>Fifi, however, was half a mile away, and having -exhausted the resources of the shop for gowns, -tripped gaily into the furniture shop next door.</p> - -<p>Here, thought Fifi cheerfully, she would be able -to make substantial progress toward getting rid -of Louis Bourcet and marrying Cartouche. She -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span>saw many splendid gilt tables, chairs, divans, cabinets -and the like, which she, with her limited experience -in furniture buying in the street of the -Black Cat, thought must be very dear: some of the -most splendid pieces must cost as much as four -hundred francs, thought innocent Fifi.</p> - -<p>But it was not enough for a thing to be expensive; -it must be outrageous in taste and design to -be available for her purpose, and with this in view -she roved around the establishment, attended by a -clerk of lofty manners and a patronizing air. At -last, however, she pounced upon an object worthy -to be classed with the yellow and purple brocade. -This was a huge, blue satin bed, with elaborate gilt -posts, and cornice, vast curtains of lace as well as -satin, cords, tassels, and every other species of ornament -which could be fastened to a bed.</p> - -<p>Fifi, who had never seen anything like it before, -gasped in her amazement and delight, the clerk -meanwhile surveying her with an air of condescending -amusement.</p> - -<p>Here was the thing to drive Louis Bourcet to -madness, thought Fifi, surveying the bed rapturously. -If she could once get it into the house, -it would be difficult to get it out, it was so large -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span>and so complex, and so very formidable. Fifi’s -resolution was taken in an instant. She meant to -have it if it cost a thousand francs. She rather resented -the air of patronage with which the clerk explained -the beauties of the bed to her. He seemed -to be saying all the time:</p> - -<p>“This is but time wasted. You can never afford -anything so expensive as this.”</p> - -<p>Fifi, calling up her talents as an actress, which -were not inconsiderable, accentuated her innocent -and open-mouthed wonder at the size and splendor -of the bed. Then, intending to make a grand -stroke which would paralyze the clerk, she said -coolly:</p> - -<p>“I will give you fifteen hundred francs for this -bed.”</p> - -<p>The clerk’s nose went into the air.</p> - -<p>“I have the honor to inform Mademoiselle that -this bed was made with a view to purchase by the -Empress, but the cost was so great that the Emperor -objected and would not allow the Empress -to buy it. The price is five thousand francs; no -more and no less.”</p> - -<p>Fifi was secretly staggered by this, but she -now regarded the clerk as an enemy to be vanquished<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span> -at any price—and vengeance seemed to her -cheap at five thousand francs. Fifi had a revengeful -nature, which did not stop at trifles. So, after -a moment’s pause to recover herself, she said, still -coolly:</p> - -<p>“Well, then, the price is exorbitant, but I will -take the bed.”</p> - -<p>The clerk, instead of succumbing to this, retained -his composure in the most exasperating manner. -He only asked, with a shade of incredulity in -his voice:</p> - -<p>“If Mademoiselle will kindly give us the money -in gold or notes it can be arranged at once.”</p> - -<p>Fifi, in the most debonair manner in the world, -opened her reticule and produced five notes for a -thousand francs each.</p> - -<p>The clerk, unlike Fifi, knew nothing of the -art of acting, and looked, as he was, perfectly -astounded. His limp hand fell to his side, his jaw -dropped open and he backed away from Fifi as if -he thought she might explode. Fifi, as calm as a -May zephyr, continued:</p> - -<p>“I desire that this bed be sent between ten and -two to-morrow to the address I shall give. I shall -only take it on that condition.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span></p> - -<p>There was method in this. Fifi had suddenly -remembered that the next morning was Thursday. -On that day, every week, Madame Bourcet indulged -in the wild orgy of attending a lecture on mathematics -delivered by her brother, the professor of -mathematics, before a lyceum frequented by several -elderly and mathematical ladies, like Madame -Bourcet. When she was out of the house was -clearly the time to get the preposterous bed in; -and Fifi made her arrangements accordingly.</p> - -<p>Nothing could have been more impressive than -Fifi’s studied calmness and coolness while giving -directions about the bed. The clerk went after -the proprietor, who could not conceal his surprise -at a young lady like Fifi going about unattended, -and with five thousand francs in her pocket. Fifi -finally condescended to explain that she was Mademoiselle -Chiaramonti. That cleared up everything. -The proprietor, of course, had heard her -story, and rashly and mistakenly assumed that Fifi -was a little fool, but at all events, he had made a -good bargain with her, and he bowed her out of the -establishment as if she had been a princess as well -as a fool.</p> - -<p>Once outside in the clear sunshine, Fifi was triumphant.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span> -She felt that a long step had been -taken toward getting rid of Louis Bourcet. And, -after all, it was just as easy to spend five thousand -francs as five, if one has the money. She had spent -infinitely more time and trouble over her thirty-franc -cloak than over all her extraordinary purchases -of the last hour.</p> - -<p>“The gowns are frightful enough, as well as the -bills,” she thought to herself, walking away from -the shop, “and the bed is really a crushing revelation—but -it is not enough—it is not enough.”</p> - -<p>Then an inspiration came to her which brought -her to a standstill.</p> - -<p>“I must go to a monkey shop and buy a monkey—but—but -I am afraid of monkeys. However—”—here -Fifi felt an expansion of the soul—“when -one loves, as I love Cartouche, one must be prepared -for sacrifices. So I shall sacrifice myself. I shall -buy a monkey.”</p> - -<p>But it is easier to say one will buy a monkey -than to buy one. Fifi walked on, pondering how to -make this sublime sacrifice to her affections.</p> - -<p>The sense of freedom, the exhilaration of the -spring day, made themselves felt in her blood. And -then, for the first time, she also felt the berserker -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span>madness for shopping which is latent in the feminine -nature. The fact that reason and common -sense were to be outraged as far as possible rather -added zest to the enjoyment.</p> - -<p>“This is the real way to go shopping,” thought -Fifi, with delight. “Spending for the pleasure of -spending—buying monkeys and everything else -one fancies. It can only be done once in a blue -moon; even the Empress can not do it whenever -she likes.”</p> - -<p>She walked on, drinking in with delight the life -and sunshine around her. The more she reflected -upon the monkey idea the finer it appeared to her. -True, she was mortally afraid of a monkey, but -then she was convinced that Louis Bourcet was more -afraid of monkeys than she was.</p> - -<p>“And it is for my Cartouche—and would Cartouche -hesitate at making such a sacrifice for me? -No! A thousand times no! And I can not do -less than all for Cartouche, whom I love. It is my -duty to use every means, even a monkey, to get rid -of Louis Bourcet.”</p> - -<p>But where should she find a place to buy a -monkey? That she could not think of, but her -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span>fertile mind suggested an expedient even better -than the mere purchase of a single monkey. She -stopped at one of those movable booths, wherein -sat a man who did writing for those unable to write -as well as they wished, or unable to write at all. -The booth was plastered over with advertisements -of articles for sale, but naturally no monkeys were -offered.</p> - -<p>The man in the booth, a bright-eyed cripple, -looked up when Fifi tapped on the glass of the little -open window.</p> - -<p>“Monsieur,” said Fifi, sweetly, “if you please, I -am very anxious for a monkey—a dear little -monkey, for a pet; but I do not know where to -find one, and my family will not assist me in finding -one. If I should pay you, say five francs, would -you write an advertisement for a monkey, and let -it be pasted with the other advertisements on your -booth?”</p> - -<p>“Ten francs,” responded the man.</p> - -<p>Fifi laid the ten francs down.</p> - -<p>“Now, write in very large letters: ‘Wanted—A -monkey, for a lady’s pet; must be well trained, -and not malicious. Apply at No. 14 Rue de -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span>l’Echelle. Any person bringing a monkey will receive -a franc for his trouble, if the monkey is not -purchased.’”</p> - -<p>“Do you wish any snakes or parrots, Mademoiselle?” -asked the man, pocketing his ten francs.</p> - -<p>“No, thank you; the monkey, I think, will answer -all my purposes,” responded Fifi with dignity.</p> - -<p>It was then past noon, and Fifi, having spent -a most enjoyable morning, called a fiacre and directed -the cabman to take her home.</p> - -<p>Just as she turned into the Rue de l’Echelle she -heard some one calling after her:</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle! Mademoiselle Fifi!”</p> - -<p>It was Angéline, very red in the face, and running -after the fiacre. Fifi had it stopped and Angéline -clambered in. Before she had a chance to -begin the fault-finding which is the privilege of an -old servant Fifi cut the ground from under her -feet.</p> - -<p>“Why did you desert me as you did, Angéline?” -cried Fifi indignantly. “You saw me swept off my -feet, and carried along with the crowd, and instead -of following me—”</p> - -<p>“I did not see you, Mademoiselle—it was you—”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span></p> - -<p>“You left me to my fate! What might not have -happened to me alone in the streets of Paris!”</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle has perhaps been alone in the -streets of Paris before—”</p> - -<p>“Silence, Angéline! How dare you say that I -have been alone in the streets of Paris before! -Your language, as well as your conduct, is intolerable!”</p> - -<p>“I beg Mademoiselle to remember—”</p> - -<p>“I remember nothing but that, being sent out -in your charge, you basely deserted me, and you -shall answer for it; I beg of you to remember that.”</p> - -<p>Angéline was reduced by this tirade to surly -silence, and, not bearing in mind that Fifi was -really a very clever little actress, actually thought -she was in a boiling rage. Fifi was meanwhile -laughing in her sleeve.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII<br /> -<span class="smaller">A MOST IMPRUDENT THING</span></h2></div> - -<p>Madame Bourcet sat in the snuff-colored drawing-room, -nursing her rheumatism, when in walked -Fifi as demure as the cat after it has eaten the -canary. She mentioned casually that she had -bought a few things for her trousseau, and Madame -Bourcet presumed that the sum total of expenditure -was something like a hundred francs. Still, -with visions of the pink spangled gown which Fifi -wished to buy for her presentation to the Holy -Father, Madame Bourcet thought it well to say, -warningly:</p> - -<p>“I hope your purchases were of a sober and substantial -character, warranted to wear well, and in -quiet colors.”</p> - -<p>“Wait, Madame, until you see them,” was Fifi’s -diplomatic answer.</p> - -<p>As soon as she could, she escaped to her own -room, and, locking the door, she opened her precious -trunk with the relics of her theatrical life in -it, and began to handle them tenderly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span></p> - -<p>“Oh, you dear old wig, how happy I was when -I wore you!” she said to herself, clapping the white -wig over her own rich brown hair. “When I put -you on I became a marquise at the court of Louis -le Grand, and how fine it seemed! Never mind, I -shall be a marquise again, and get forty francs the -week at least! And how nice it will be to be quarreling -with Julie Campionet again, the wretch! -And Duvernet—I shall not forget to remind him of -how I gave him my best white cotton petticoat for -his toga—and sewed it with my own fingers, too! -And I shall say to him, ‘Recollect, Monsieur, I am -no longer Fifi, but Mademoiselle Josephine Chiaramonti, -granddaughter of the cousin of a reigning -sovereign, and I am the young lady who won the -grand prize in the lottery, and spent it all; you -never had a leading lady before who knew how to -spend a hundred thousand francs.’ I think I can -see Duvernet now—and as I say it I shall toy with -my paste brooch. I can’t buy any jewels, for -that wouldn’t help me to get rid of Louis Bourcet, -or to get Cartouche; so I shall tell Duvernet that -nothing in the way of diamonds seemed worth -while after those I had already.”</p> - -<p>Fifi fondled her paste brooch, which was kept in -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span>the same shrine as the white wig, and then she -clasped to her breast Cartouche’s javelin, made -from a broomstick, and it seemed to her almost as -if she were clasping Cartouche. It put the notion -into her head to write him a letter, so she hastily -closed her trunk, and sat down to write.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Cartouche, I went out this morning, and spent -ten thousand francs of that odious money I won -through that abominable lottery ticket you gave -me. I should think you would never cease reproaching -yourself if you knew how miserable that -lottery ticket has made me. I bought some of the -most terrible gowns you ever saw, and a bed that -cost five thousand francs, and which the Empress -couldn’t buy. I shall tell poor Louis and Madame -Bourcet that these gowns are for my trousseau—but, -of course, I have not the slightest idea of marrying -Louis. I made up my mind not to last night, -the very moment I promised—and so I wrote to you -before I slept. It is not at all difficult to spend -money; it is as easy to spend five thousand francs -for a bed as five, if you have the money. And I had -the money in my reticule. I shan’t tell you now -how I got it, but I did, just the same, Cartouche. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span>I long to see you. I did something for you to-day -that I would not do for any one else in the world. -You know how afraid I am of monkeys? Well, -I can not explain in a letter, but you will be pleased -when I tell you all.     Fifi.”</p> -</div> - -<p>It was not Louis Bourcet’s habit to appear in -his aunt’s apartment until eight o’clock, but at six -o’clock, seeing a great van drawn up before the -door, from which was disgorged innumerable large -parcels addressed to his fiancée, Louis, like other -good men, was vanquished by his curiosity. He -mounted the stairs, on which he was jostled at every -step by men carrying huge pasteboard boxes of -every size and shape, all addressed to Mademoiselle -Chiaramonti.</p> - -<p>Fifi stood, with a brightly smiling face, at the -head of the stairs, directing the parcels to be carried -into her own room. Louis, after speaking to -her, ventured to say:</p> - -<p>“The cost of your purchases must be very -great.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Fifi, merrily, “but when one is -about to make a grand marriage, such as I am, -one should have good clothes.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span></p> - -<p>Louis Bourcet, thus openly tickled under the -fifth rib, smiled rather anxiously, and replied:</p> - -<p>“But one should be prudent, Mademoiselle. An -extravagant wife would give me a great deal of -pain.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, a woman happy enough to be married to -you could not give you a moment’s pain,” cried Fifi -tenderly.</p> - -<p>Louis started and blushed deeply,—this open -lovemaking was a new thing, and very embarrassing,—but -it is difficult to tell the lady in the case -that she is too demonstrative.</p> - -<p>Fifi, with a truly impish intelligence, saw at a -glance the misery she could inflict upon poor Louis -by her demonstrations of affection, and the discovery -filled her with unholy joy, particularly as -Madame Bourcet, sitting in the snuff-colored drawing-room, -was within hearing through the open -door.</p> - -<p>“Only wait,” cried Fifi, as she skipped into her -own room; “only wait until you see me in these -things I bought to-day, and you will be as much in -love with me as I am with you!”</p> - -<p>Louis, blushing redder than any beet that ever -grew, entered the snuff-colored drawing-room and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span>closed the door after him. Madame Bourcet’s -countenance showed that she had heard every word.</p> - -<p>“In my day,” said she, in a severe tone, “young -ladies did not fall in love with their fiancés, much -less proclaim the fact.”</p> - -<p>Louis shifted uncomfortably in his chair.</p> - -<p>“We must make allowances, Aunt, for Mademoiselle -Chiaramonti’s early training—and we -must not forget that her grandfather was cousin -to His Holiness, and Mademoiselle has a hundred -thousand francs of her own.” Louis mentally -added, “and a hundred thousand francs is not -picked up with every girl.”</p> - -<p>“She will not have a hundred thousand francs -if she goes shopping like this very often,” stiffly -replied Madame Bourcet. “I should not be surprised -if she had squandered all of a thousand -francs in one day.”</p> - -<p>Just then the door opened, and a tremendous hat, -with eleven large feathers on it, and much else besides, -appeared. Fifi’s delicate bright face, now -as solemn as a judge’s, was seen under this huge -creation. The red and green striped satin cloak, -with the large lace and fur-trimmed sleeves, concealed -some of the yellow brocade with the big -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span>purple flowers, but some yards of it were visible, -trailing on the floor. The bird of paradise fan -and a muff the size of a barrel completed Fifi’s -costume.</p> - -<p>Madame Bourcet gave a faint scream and Louis -almost jumped out of his chair at the show. Fifi, -parading solemnly up and down, surveying herself -complacently, remarked:</p> - -<p>“This is the costume I shall wear when we pay -our visit of ceremony to the Holy Father, upon my -marriage.”</p> - -<p>A dead pause followed. Both Madame Bourcet -and Louis were too stunned to speak. Fifi, seeing -to what a state they were reduced, returned to her -room, and being an expert in quick changes of costume, -reappeared in a few minutes wearing one of -the violently sensational negligées, in which she -looked like a living rainbow.</p> - -<p>Neither Madame Bourcet nor Louis knew what -to say at this catastrophe, and therefore said nothing. -But Fifi was voluble enough for both. She -harangued on the beauty of the costumes, and -their extraordinary cheapness, without mentioning -the price, and claimed to have a gem of a gown to -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span>exhibit, which would eclipse anything she had yet -shown.</p> - -<p>When she went to put this marvelous creation on, -Madame Bourcet recovered speech enough to say:</p> - -<p>“A thousand francs, I said a few minutes ago—two -thousand I say now. Only ninety-eight thousand -francs of her fortune is left—of that I am -sure.”</p> - -<p>“I am not sure there is so much left,” responded -Louis gloomily.</p> - -<p>The door opened and a vision appeared. It was -Fifi in the spangled white ball gown <i>à la grecque</i>. -The narrow, scanty skirt did not reach to her ankles. -The waist, according to the fashion of the time, -was under her arms, and the bodice was about four -inches long. There were no sleeves, only tiny -straps across Fifi’s white arms; and her whole outfit -could have been put in Louis Bourcet’s waistcoat -pocket.</p> - -<p>Madame Bourcet fell back in her chair, with a -groan. Louis rose, red and furious, and said in -portentous tones:</p> - -<p>“You will excuse me, Mademoiselle, if I retire -behind the screen while you remain with that costume -on in my presence.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span></p> - -<p>“Do you want me to take it off then?” asked -Fifi airily; but Louis was already behind the -screen.</p> - -<p>“Aunt,” he called out sternly, “kindly let me -know when Mademoiselle Chiaramonti has retired.”</p> - -<p>“I can not,” responded Madame Bourcet, briefly, -“for I shall myself retire.” And Madame Bourcet -marched away to her own room.</p> - -<p>“Louis,” said a timid, tender little voice, “don’t -you think this gown more suitable to wear than the -yellow brocade when we go to pay our visit of ceremony -to the Holy Father?”</p> - -<p>Louis Bourcet was near choking with wrath at -this. What right had she to call him Louis? He -had never asked her to do so—their engagement -was not even formally announced; he had never -spoken to her or of her except as Mademoiselle -Chiaramonti. And that gown to go visiting the -Holy Father!</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle,” replied Louis in a voice of thunder, -still from behind the screen, “I consider that -gown wholly improper for you to appear before -any one in, myself included.”</p> - -<p class="p2b">“Just come and take a look at it,” pleaded Fifi.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> -<img src="images/i_148.jpg" width="350" alt="Fifi scandalizing the Bourcets." -title="" /></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span></p> - -<p class="p2">“I will not, Mademoiselle; and I give you warning -I am now about to leave this room.”</p> - -<p>“I thought you would contrive to get a look at -me, and not stick behind that screen,” remarked -Fifi, with a sudden explosion of laughter, as Louis -stalked from behind the screen. But the injustice -and impropriety of her remark was emphasized by -his indignantly turning his head away from her as -he made for the door.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” cried Fifi, impishly, “you can see me perfectly -well in the mirror, with your head turned -that way!”</p> - -<p>An angry bang of the door after him was Louis -Bourcet’s only answer to this.</p> - -<p>Fifi surveyed herself in the mirror which she had -accused the innocent Louis of studying.</p> - -<p>“This gown is perfectly outrageous, and it would -be as much as my life is worth to let Cartouche see -it,” she thought. “But if only it can frighten off -that odious, ridiculous thing, how happy I shall -be!”</p> - -<p>Fifi retired to her room. Eight o’clock was -the hour when tea was served in the drawing-room, -and both Madame Bourcet and Louis appeared -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span>on the scene inwardly uncomfortable as to the -meeting with Fifi. There sat Fifi, but without -the least appearance of discomfort; on the contrary, -more smiling and more at ease than they -had ever seen her. The door to her bedroom was -open, and as soon as Madame Bourcet and Louis -entered they were saluted by an overwhelming odor -of burning. Madame Bourcet, who was a fire-fiend, -shrieked at once:</p> - -<p>“Something is on fire! Go, go, inform the police; -fetch some water, and let me faint!”</p> - -<p>“There isn’t the least danger,” cried Fifi; “it is -only my improper ball gown which is burning in my -grate.” And they saw, through the open door, -the ball gown stuffed in the grate, in which a fire -was smoldering. Some pieces of coal were piled -upon it, to keep it from blazing up, and it was -being slowly consumed, with perfect safety to the -surroundings and an odor as if a warehouse were -afire.</p> - -<p>Madame Bourcet concluded not to faint, and she -and Louis stood staring at each other. But they -were not the only ones to be startled. The other -tenants in the house had taken the alarm, and the -bell in Madame Bourcet’s lobby was being frantically<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span> -pulled. Fifi ran and opened the door. -There stood Doctor Mailly, the eminent surgeon, -who had the apartment above the Bourcet’s; Colonel -and Madame Bruart, who lived in the apartment -below, and about half a dozen others of the -highly respectable persons who inhabited this -highly respectable house.</p> - -<p>“Ladies and gentlemen,” said Fifi, in the tone of -easy confidence which the stage had bred in her, -“there is nothing whatever to be alarmed about. I -am simply burning up a gown which Monsieur -Louis Bourcet, my fiancé, objected to—and as—as—I -am madly in love with him, I destroy the gown -in order to win his approval. Can any of you—at -least those who know what it is to love and be -beloved—think me wrong?”</p> - -<p>There was a dead silence. Louis Bourcet, his -face crimson, advanced and said sternly to Fifi:</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle, I desire to say that I consider -your conduct in regard to the gown most uncalled -for, most sensational and wholly opposed to my -wishes.”</p> - -<p>“So you wanted to see me wear it again, did -you?” cried Fifi, roguishly; and then, relapsing -into a sentimental attitude, she said: “But you -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span>don’t know how much pleasure it gives me to sacrifice -that gown for you, dear Louis.”</p> - -<p>At this, Louis Bourcet, with a flaming face, replied:</p> - -<p>“I beg of you, Mademoiselle, not to call me -Louis; and your expressions of endearment are as -unpleasant to me as they are improper.”</p> - -<p>The lookers-on began to laugh, and turned away, -except Colonel Bruart, a fat old retired cavalry -colonel, on whom a pretty face never failed of its -effect.</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle,” he cried gallantly, “if I were -as young as your fiancé, you might call me all the -endearing names in the dictionary and I wouldn’t -complain. Is this young gentleman a Frenchman?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Monsieur,” replied Fifi, sweetly.</p> - -<p>“Then,” replied Colonel Bruart, turning his -broad back on the scene, “I am glad there are not -many like him. Adieu, Mademoiselle.”</p> - -<p>Fifi, Madame Bourcet and Louis returned to the -drawing-room. The Bourcets were stupefied. Fifi -was evidently a dangerous person to adopt into a -family, but a hundred thousand francs is a great -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span>deal of money. Fifi, by way of administering a -final shock, said:</p> - -<p>“Anyway, the gown only cost five hundred -francs, and that seemed to me little enough to -pay for pleasing you, Louis. And yet, you do not -seem pleased.”</p> - -<p>“I am not,” responded Louis, who found Fifi’s -singular endearments as trying as her clothes.</p> - -<p>The evening passed with the utmost constraint -on every one except Fifi, who was entirely at her -ease and in great spirits.</p> - -<p>Madame Bourcet and Louis each spent a sleepless -night, and next morning held a council of war -in Madame Bourcet’s bedroom. Another startling -thought had occurred to them: where did -Fifi get the money to pay for the outlandish -things? On each parcel Madame Bourcet had -noted the mark “Paid.” Fifi had not gone to the -bank; and yet, she must have had several thousand -francs in hand. Possibly, she had more than a -hundred thousand francs. The Holy Father might -have presented her with a considerable sum of -money the day he had the long interview with her.</p> - -<p>There were many perplexing surmises; and, at -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span>last, wearied with their anxieties, both Madame -Bourcet and Louis resolved that Madame Bourcet, -after attending her brother’s lecture, should -consult that eminent man, as an expert in managing -heiresses. It had become a very serious -question as to whether Fifi should be admitted into -the Bourcet family or not, but then, there was the -money!</p> - -<p>Madame Bourcet was not expected to return -before half-past two, as her conference with -the professor was to take place after the lecture; -but at two o’clock, precisely, Louis Bourcet appeared. -He had spent an anxious morning. -Whichever way the cat might jump would be disastrous -for him. If he went on with the marriage, -he was likely to die of shock at some of Fifi’s vagaries; -and if the marriage were declared off, there -was a hundred thousand francs, and possibly more, -gone, to say nothing of the last chance of being -allied to a reigning sovereign. Poor Louis was beset -with all the troubles of the over-righteous man.</p> - -<p>As he entered the drawing-room, Fifi, dressed in -the yellow brocade, which looked more weird than -ever by daylight, ran forward to meet him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span></p> - -<p>“How glad I am that you have come!” she cried. -“I have something beautiful to show you. Look!”</p> - -<p>She threw wide her bedroom door, and there, -filling up half the large room, stood the gorgeous -blue satin and gold bed.</p> - -<p>Louis was stricken dumb. He had never seen -such a machine before, but being a practical person -he saw at a glance its costliness. He opened -his mouth to speak, but no words came. However, -Fifi remarked rapturously:</p> - -<p>“It was made for the Empress, but the Emperor, -thinking the price too much, refused to take -it; and it was only five thousand francs, too!”</p> - -<p>Then, running and exhibiting the lace, the gilt -tassels and other paraphernalia of the bed, Fifi -concluded with saying:</p> - -<p>“Of course, I shan’t sleep in it—it’s much too -fine. I don’t think it was ever meant to be slept -in—but see—” Here Fifi raised the valance, and -showed her own mattress, which she had substantial -reasons for holding on to, “that’s what I shall -sleep on! No one shall call <i>me</i> extravagant!”</p> - -<p>Louis retreated to the drawing-room. Fifi followed -him, shutting the door carefully after her.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span></p> - -<p>Just then there was a commotion and a scuffle -heard outside, in the lobby, and Angéline’s shrill -voice raised high.</p> - -<p>“That must be the monkeys!” cried Fifi, running -out.</p> - -<p>Two Italians, each with a robust-looking monkey, -were squabbling on the stairs with Angéline. -The Italians, each bent on getting in first, had -begun a scuffle which was growing perilously near -a fight. Neither paid the slightest attention to -Angéline’s fierce demand that they and their monkeys -take themselves off. When Fifi appeared, -both of the monkey venders burst into voluble explanations -and denunciations. Fifi, however, had -lost something of her cool courage. In her heart -she was afraid of monkeys, and had not meant to -let them get so far as the drawing-room door.</p> - -<p>“Ah,” she cried to the Italians, thinking to -pacify both of them, “here is a franc apiece for -your trouble, and take the monkeys away. I don’t -think either will suit.”</p> - -<p>“No!” shrieked both of the Italians in chorus. -“We have brought our monkeys and Mademoiselle -must at least examine them.”</p> - -<p>This was anything but an agreeable proposition -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span>to Fifi; nor was she reassured by each of the Italians -declaring vehemently that his rival’s monkey -was as fierce as a lion and a disgrace to the simian -tribe. Fifi secretly thought that both of them were -telling the truth in that respect, and totally disbelieved -them when each swore that his own monkey -was a companion fit for kings. All Fifi could -do, therefore, was to say, with an assumption of -bravado:</p> - -<p>“I will give you each two francs if you will go -away and bring the monkeys to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“Three francs!” shouted one of her compatriots, -while the other bawled, “Five francs!”</p> - -<p>Fifi had as much as ten francs about her, so she -gladly paid the ten francs, and the Italians departed, -each swearing he would come the next day, -and would, meanwhile, have the other’s blood.</p> - -<p>Fifi returned to the drawing-room. On the -hearth-rug stood Louis, pale and determined.</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle,” he said, “there must be an end -of this.”</p> - -<p>“Of what?” asked Fifi, innocently.</p> - -<p>“Either of the performances of yesterday and -to-day, or of our arrangement to marry.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span></p> - -<p>“O-o-o-h!” wailed Fifi, “just as I had fallen so -beautifully in love with you!”</p> - -<p>Louis’s face turned paler still.</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle, I do not know how to take such -speeches.”</p> - -<p>“I see you don’t,” replied Fifi.</p> - -<p>“It is the first time I have ever been thrown with -a young person of your profession,” began Louis.</p> - -<p>“Or with an heiress worth a hundred thousand -francs, and the relative of a reigning sovereign—” -added Fifi, maliciously.</p> - -<p>Louis hesitated, and changed from one foot to -the other. It was hardly likely that the Holy -Father would let so desirable a match for his young -relative escape. Louis’s esteem for himself was -as tall as the Vendôme column, and he naturally -thought everybody took him at his own valuation. -The Holy Father’s possible attitude in the matter -was alarming and disconcerting to poor Louis.</p> - -<p>“And besides,” added Fifi, “your attentions have -been compromising. Do you recall, Monsieur—since -you forbid me to call you Louis—that you -have played a game of cribbage with me every -evening since I have lived under your aunt’s -charge? Is that nothing? Is my reputation to be -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span>sacrificed to your love of cribbage? Do you suppose -that I shall let my relative, the Holy Father, -remain in ignorance of those games of cribbage? -Beware, Monsieur Louis Bourcet, that you are not -made to repent of the heartless way in which you -entrapped my affections at the cribbage-board.”</p> - -<p>And Fifi walked with great dignity into her -bedroom and banged the door after her. Once -inside, she opened her arms wide and whispered -softly:</p> - -<p>“Cartouche! Cartouche! You will not be any -such lover as this creature!”</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, Madame Bourcet had returned from -her conference with her brother. Angéline had met -her on the stairs with a gruesome tale of the blue -satin bed, and the two monkeys, who had been invited -to call the next day. It was too much for -Madame Bourcet. She dropped on a chair as -soon as she reached the drawing-room. There -Louis Bourcet burst forth with his account, of the -blue satin bed and the monkeys, adding many harrowing -details omitted by Angéline.</p> - -<p>“And what does my uncle say?” he asked, -gloomily.</p> - -<p>“He says,” replied Madame Bourcet, more -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span>gloomily, “that Mademoiselle Chiaramonti’s conduct -is such as to drive any prudent man to distraction; -and that if you marry her with even -more than a hundred thousand francs’ fortune, you -will be doing a most imprudent thing.”</p> - -<p>Madame Bourcet paused for Louis to digest this. -Then, she continued, after an impressive pause:</p> - -<p>“And my brother also says, and desired me particularly -to impress this upon you—that a <i>dot</i> -of a hundred thousand francs is something enormous -in our station of life; that he does not -know of a single acquaintance of his own who has -been so fortunate as to marry so much; and his -own good fortune in marrying two hundred thousand -francs is absolutely unprecedented. Moreover, -through Mademoiselle Chiaramonti’s connection -with the Holy Father, your prospects, no -doubt, would be splendidly advanced; and to -throw away such a chance would be—a most imprudent -thing.”</p> - -<p>So all the comfort poor Louis got was, that, whatever -he did, he would be doing a most imprudent -thing. The knowledge of this made him a truly -miserable man.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII<br /> -<span class="smaller">AN OLD LADY AND A LIMP</span></h2></div> - -<p>Nearly a week passed, with the utmost constraint, -upon the little family in the Rue de l’Echelle, except -Fifi. Nothing could equal the airy <i>insouciance</i> -of that young woman. She was no more -the dumb, docile creature whose soul and spirit -seemed frozen, whose will was benumbed, but -Mademoiselle Fifi of the Imperial Theater. Fifi -delighted in acting—and she was now acting in -her own drama, and with the most exquisite enjoyment -of the situation.</p> - -<p>At intervals, during the week, Italians with monkeys -appeared; but Angéline adopted with these -gentry a simple, but effective, method of her own, -which was secretly approved by Fifi. This was to -appear suddenly on the scene with a kettle of boiling -water, which she threatened to distribute impartially -upon the monkeys and their owners. This -never failed to stampede the enemy. Fifi scolded -and complained bitterly of this, but Angéline took -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span>a firm stand against monkeys and Italians—much -to Fifi’s relief.</p> - -<p>The subject of Fifi’s marriage to Louis was not -touched upon by either Madame Bourcet or Louis -in that week, although Louis continued to spend -his evenings with his aunt and Fifi, and did not -intermit the nightly game of cribbage. If it was -imprudent to marry Fifi, it was likewise imprudent -not to marry her—so reasoned the unhappy Louis, -who, like Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, was of two -minds at the same time, and fairly distracted between -them.</p> - -<p>But, if the Bourcets let the marriage question -remain discreetly in the background, not so Fifi. -Having discovered that Louis suffered acutely -from her manifestations of affection, Fifi proceeded -to subject him to a form of torture in high repute -among the most bloodthirsty savages of North -America. This consists in smearing the victim’s -body all over with honey, and then letting him be -slowly stung to death by gnats and flies. Figuratively -speaking, she smeared poor Louis with honey -from his head to his heels, and then had a delicious -joy in seeing him writhe under his agonies. And -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span>the innocence and simplicity with which she did it -fooled the unfortunate Louis completely.</p> - -<p>One thing seemed clear to him: even if the Holy -Father were willing to give up so desirable a husband -for his young relative, Fifi, herself, would -have to be reckoned with; and it all came, Louis -thought, with a rainbow of vanity athwart the -gloom, of his being so dreadfully handsome, fascinating -and virtuous.</p> - -<p>To Fifi this was the comedy part of the drama—and -she played it for all there was in it.</p> - -<p>She reckoned the shopping episode as the first -act of the play. That was through, and there must -be a second act. Fifi was too much of an artist -to repeat herself. She felt she had reached the -limit of horrors in shopping, and she still had -nearly ninety thousand francs sewed up in her mattress. -Some new way must be devised for getting -rid of it. She thought of endowing beds in hospitals, -of giving <i>dots</i> to young ladies, not so fortunate -as herself in having a man like Cartouche, -who declined a fortune—and a thousand other -schemes; but all involved some vague and mysterious -business transactions which frightened Fifi.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span></p> - -<p>But, by a turn of fate, most unexpected, it was -Cartouche who showed her a way out of her difficulties, -and it filled her with delight. It was in a letter -Cartouche wrote her in response to the two she had -sent him, one after the other. Cartouche’s letter -was written in very black ink, in a large, slovenly -hand, on a big sheet of paper, and Fifi knew perfectly -well that he was in a rage when writing it.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Fifi: What nonsense is this you write me, that -as soon as you promised to marry Louis Bourcet -you determined not to marry him? What have you -been doing? Don’t you know if you squander -your money neither Louis Bourcet nor any man -of his class will marry you? Four thousand francs -for your trousseau is outrageous; as for the blue-satin -bed the Empress could not buy, I can not -trust myself to speak of it. If you continue acting -in this way, I will not come to your wedding, nor -let Toto come—that is, if Monsieur Bourcet or any -other man will marry you. You seem to be bitten -with the desire to do everything the Empress does, -and a little more besides. You might follow the -Empress’ example, and going in your coach and -six, with outriders, to the banking-house of Lafitte, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span>make a little gift of a hundred thousand francs to -the fund for soldiers’ orphans. Fifi, you are a -goose, and there is no disguising it. I hope Monsieur -Bourcet will use the strong hand on you, for -your own good.     Cartouche.</p> - -<p>“P. S. I could tell you many interesting things -about Toto, but I am so angry I can not write any -more.”</p></div> - -<p>Fifi read this letter over, with a serene smile. -Of course Cartouche was angry—but that was -rather amusing.</p> - -<p>She laid the letter down, and looked up at the -patch of blue sky visible from her bedroom window. -She seemed to see in that blue patch all her -former life, so full of work, of makeshifts, of -gaiety, of vivid interest—and compared with it -the dull and spiritless existence before her—that -is, which had lately been before her; because now -the determination to return to the old life was as -strong as the soul within her.</p> - -<p>She took Cartouche’s letter up and read it again, -and a cry of joy came from her lips. Give the -money to the soldiers’ fund! She remembered having -heard Madame Bourcet and Louis speaking of -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span>this fund the night before. The Empress had -gone in state, as Cartouche said, to make her -splendid gift—and Lafitte’s banking-house was not -fifteen minutes from where she was in the Rue de -l’Echelle.</p> - -<p>In a flash, Fifi saw she could do it. She had her -white wig and outside of her door was the press in -which Angéline kept her best black bonnet, black -shawl and gown, in which any woman could look a -hundred years old. Oh, it was the simplest thing in -the world! The next day was Thursday, the morning -Madame Bourcet always went out, and Angéline -always stayed at home. It could be done -within twenty-four hours!</p> - -<p>Fifi danced about her room in rapture. It was -now late in the afternoon; she could scarcely wait -until the next day. How precious was her white -wig to her then!</p> - -<p>“Cartouche said I was silly to bring all these -things with me,” she said to herself gleefully; -“and I had to do it secretly—but see, how sensible -I was! The fact is, I have a great deal of sense, -and I know what is good for me, much better than -Cartouche does, or the Bourcets, or the Emperor, -or even the Holy Father. How do they -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span>know what is going on inside of my head? Only -I know perfectly well. And to think that Cartouche -should have suggested such a good way for -me to get rid of the hateful money! What an advertisement -it will be! Mademoiselle Chiaramonti, -granddaughter of the Pope’s cousin, winner of the -first prize in the grand lottery, and giving ninety -thousand francs to the soldiers’ orphans! Mademoiselle -Mars, at the Théâtre Française, never had -half such an advertisement. She has only her art -to advertise her! I shall be worth fifty francs the -week to any manager in Paris. No doubt the high-priced -theaters will try to get me, and all the people -who think they know, like the Emperor and -the Holy Father, would say I should go to a theater -on the other side of the river. But I do not -understand the style of acting at the high-priced -theaters. I should be hissed. No. The cheap theaters -for me, and the kings and queens and Roman -consuls and things like that. Oh, Fifi, what a -clever, clever creature you are!”</p> - -<p>The happier Fifi was the more she loved to torment -Louis Bourcet, and she was so very demonstrative -that night, and made so many allusions to -the bliss she expected to enjoy with him, that both -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span>Louis and Madame Bourcet were half distracted. -But Fifi had such a lot of money—and was the -granddaughter of the Holy Father’s cousin!</p> - -<p>Next morning, Madame Bourcet, as usual, made -ready to go to the lecture, at twelve o’clock. Fifi -had never once proposed going out alone, and was -at that moment engaged in needlework in her own -room. Madame Bourcet, therefore, started off, -without any misgivings, except the general gloom -produced by the thought of either having Fifi in -the family, or not having her.</p> - -<p>Scarcely had Madame Bourcet’s respectable figure -disappeared around the corner, before another -figure equally respectable, and apparently a good -deal older, emerged upon the street. It was Fifi, -dressed in Angéline’s clothes, and with a green -barége veil falling over her face. She knew how -to limp as if she were seventy-five, instead of nineteen, -and cleverly concealed her mouthful of beautiful -white teeth. On her arm was a little covered -basket which might have held eggs, but which -really held nearly ninety thousand francs in thousand-franc -notes.</p> - -<p>Fifi knew the way to the banking-house of Lafitte<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span> -perfectly well. It was then in a great gloomy -building in the Rue St. Jacques. In less than fifteen -minutes she was mounting the steps, and soon -found herself in a large room, around which was an -iron grating, and behind this grating were innumerable -clerks at work.</p> - -<p>Fifi went to the window nearest the door, and -asked of a very alert-looking young clerk, at work -at the desk:</p> - -<p>“Will you be kind enough, Monsieur, to tell me -where I can make a contribution to the fund for -the soldiers’ orphans?”</p> - -<p>“Here, Madame,” replied the young clerk, eying -superciliously the little basket Fifi laid down -on the ledge before him. People made all sorts of -contributions to this fund, and the spruce young -clerk had several times had his sensibilities outraged -by offerings of old shoes, of assignats, even -of a live cock. The basket before him looked as -if it held a cat—probably one of the rare kind, -which the old lady would propose that he should -sell, and give the proceeds to the fund. Out of the -basket the white-haired old lady with the green -barége veil took a parcel, and laying it down, said -humbly:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span></p> - -<p>“Monsieur, this gift comes from one who has no -husband and no son to give to the empire.”</p> - -<p>“To whom shall I make out the receipt, and for -how much, Madame?” asked the clerk; but the old -lady was already out of the room, and going down -the steps much faster than one would expect a -person of her age to be able to do.</p> - -<p>Once outside Fifi stepped into a dark archway, -from which she emerged, a minute later, wearing -her own bonnet and red cloak and her own skirt. -All of Angéline’s paraphernalia, together with the -white wig, was squeezed into a bundle which Fifi -cleverly concealed under her cloak. The basket -she had tossed down an open cellar under the archway.</p> - -<p>She called a closed cab, and stuffing her bundle -under the seat, ordered the cabman to drive her in -a direction which she knew would take her past -the bank. She had the exquisite pleasure of seeing -half a dozen clerks rush distractedly out, inquiring -frantically if any one had seen in the neighborhood -an old lady with a limp, a green veil and a -basket. Fifi stopped her cab long enough to get a -description of herself from one of the wildest-looking -of the clerks.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span></p> - -<p>“But why, Monsieur, do you wish to find this -old lady?” Fifi asked.</p> - -<p>“Because, Mademoiselle, she has stolen ninety -thousand francs from this bank a moment ago or -given ninety thousand francs to something or -other,” cried the clerk, who had entirely confounded -the story of Fifi’s adventure, which had -been imparted to him in haste and confusion.</p> - -<p>Fifi, nearly dying with laughter, rolled away in -her cab. The last glimpse she had of her late -friend, the bank clerk, he had found the basket in -the archway, and was declaiming with disheveled -hair and wild gesticulations concerning the robbery, -or the gift, he did not know which.</p> - -<p>Fifi was not away from home more than half an -hour, and when Angéline, about one o’clock, passed -through the snuff-colored drawing-room, she saw -Fifi, through the open door, sitting at the writing-table -in her bedroom, and scribbling away for dear -life. This is what she wrote:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Cartouche: I have got your letter and I have -followed your advice—I will not say exactly how—but -you will shortly see me, I think, in the dear old -street of the Black Cat.     Fifi.”</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span></p> - -<p>Madame Bourcet returned punctually at two -o’clock, and as the weather had become bad, she -and Fifi spent the afternoon together in the snuff-colored -drawing-room.</p> - -<p>When eight o’clock in the evening arrived, Louis -Bourcet, as usual, appeared. He had news to communicate, -and gave a fearful and wonderful account -of the proceedings at the banking-house, in -which it was represented that a mysterious old lady, -with a basket and a limp, had appeared, and had -either stolen ninety thousand francs, or given -ninety thousand francs to the fund for the soldiers’ -orphans, nobody outside of the bank knew exactly -which. The excitement in the neighborhood of the -bank had been tremendous, and such a crowd had -collected that the <i>gens d’armes</i> had been compelled -to charge in order to clear the street. The basket -had been found, but the limp, along with the old -lady, had vanished.</p> - -<p>All sorts of stories were flying about concerning -the affair, some people declaring that the troops -from the nearest barracks had been ordered out, a -cordon placed around the banking-house, and the -mysterious old lady was nothing less than a determined -ruffian, who had disguised himself as an old -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span>woman, and was the leader of a gang of desperate -robbers, determined on looting the bank. Louis -Bourcet held firmly to this opinion.</p> - -<p>“It is my belief,” he said solemnly, “that it was -a scheme which involved not only robbery, but possibly -assassination. The old woman was no old -woman, but a reckless criminal, who, by a clever -disguise, got into the bank, and was only prevented -from carrying out some dreadful design by -the coolness and decision of the bank employees. -The basket, which is marked with the initials A. D., -is held at the bureau of the <i>arrondissement</i>, and at -the investigation to-morrow morning—mark my -words, that basket will be the means of disclosing -a terrible plot against the banking-house of Lafitte.”</p> - -<p>Madame Bourcet listened to these words of wisdom -with the profoundest respect—but Fifi uttered -a convulsive sound which she smothered in her -handkerchief and which, she explained, was caused -by her agitation at the sensational story she had -just heard.</p> - -<p>Louis was so flattered by the tribute of attention -to his powers of seeing farther into a -millstone than any one else, that he harangued -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span>the whole evening upon this violent attempt on -Lafitte’s banking-house in particular and the dangers -of robbery in general. He even forgot the -game of cribbage. When he rose to go, at ten -o’clock, both Madame Bourcet and Fifi protested -that they expected to be murdered in their beds -by a gang of robbers before daylight. Louis -promised to come to the <i>déjeuner</i> at eleven the next -morning, to give them the latest particulars of this -nefarious attempt to rob the bank.</p> - -<p>Fifi alone in her own room went into spasms of -delight. Her freedom was close at hand—and soon, -soon, she could return to that happy life of hard -work and deep affection she had once known. -When she slipped into bed, the hard lump was not -in her mattress.</p> - -<p>“Think,” she said to herself, lying awake in the -dark, “of the good that hateful money will do now—of -the poor children warmed and fed and clothed. -Giving it away like this is not half so difficult as -spending it on hats and gowns and monkeys, and -I think I may reckon on getting back to the dear -street of the Black Cat soon—very soon.”</p> - -<p>And so, she fell into a deep, sweet sleep, to -dream of Cartouche, and Toto and all the people -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span>at the Imperial Theater, including Julie Campionet.</p> - -<p>Next morning, Fifi awaited the <i>déjeuner</i> with -feelings of entrancing pleasure. She loved to see -Louis Bourcet make a fool of himself, and longed -to make a fool of him—this naughty Fifi.</p> - -<p>She was gratified, for at eleven o’clock, Louis -appeared, looking, for once, a little sheepish. The -desperate robbery had been no robbery at all, but -a gift of ninety thousand francs to the fund for -the soldiers’ orphans. Louis had bought several -newspapers, and each contained the official announcement -of the banking-house of Lafitte, with -a request that the generous donor come forward -and discover her identity.</p> - -<p>Louis Bourcet, like a good many other people, -could always construct a new hypothesis to meet -any new development in a case. He at once declared -that the donor must be a conscience-stricken -woman, who had at some time committed a crime -and wished to atone for it. He harped on this -theme while Fifi was soberly drinking her chocolate -and inwardly quivering with delight. She -waited until one of Louis’s long-winded periods -came to an end, when, the spirit of the actress -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span>within her, and the piercing joy of making Louis -Bourcet look like a guy, were too much for her. -Putting down her cup, therefore, and looking -about her in a way to command attention, Fifi -said, in a soft, low voice:</p> - -<p>“Madame Bourcet—and dear Louis—” here -Louis shuddered—“I have something to say to you, -concerning that mysterious old woman with the -limp and the basket. First, let me say, that until -yesterday, I kept my fortune of nearly ninety -thousand francs in my mattress, and my old shoes -I kept in the bank. For people are always losing -their money in banks, but I never heard of any one -losing a franc that was sewed up in a mattress.”</p> - -<p>There was a pause. Louis Bourcet sat as if -turned to stone, with his chocolate raised to his lips, -and his mouth wide open to receive it, but he -seemed to lose the power of moving his hand -or shutting his mouth. Madame Bourcet appeared -to be paralyzed where she sat.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Fifi, who felt as if she were once -more on the beloved boards of the Imperial Theater. -“I kept my money where I knew it would be -safe. And then, seeing I had totally failed to captivate -the affections of my fiancé, I determined to -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span>perform an act of splendid generosity, that would -compel his admiration, and possibly, his tenderness. -So, yesterday, when you, Madame, were out, -I dressed myself up in Angéline’s Sunday clothes, -took her small fruit basket, and putting all my -fortune in the basket, went to the bank, and handed -it all over, in notes of the Bank of France, to the -fund for soldiers’ orphans.”</p> - -<p>There was not a sound, except Madame Bourcet’s -gasping for breath. Louis Bourcet had -turned of a sickly pallor, his mouth remaining -wide open, and his cup still suspended. This lasted -for a full minute, when the door suddenly opened, -and Angéline appeared from the kitchen.</p> - -<p>“Madame,” she cried excitedly, “there have been -thieves here as well as at the bank. My fruit basket -is gone—I can swear I saw it yesterday morning. -It is marked with my initials, A. D., and I -trust, by the blessing of God, the thief will be -found and sent to the galleys for life.”</p> - -<p>At this apparently trivial catastrophe, Madame -Bourcet uttered a loud shriek; Louis Bourcet -dropped his cup, which crashed upon the table, -smashing the water carafe; Angéline, amazed at -the result of her simple remark, ran wildly about -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span>the room shrieking, “Thieves! thieves! Send for -the police!” Madame Bourcet continued to emit -screams at short intervals, while Louis Bourcet, -his head in his hands, groaned in anguish.</p> - -<p>Fifi, alone, sat serene and smiling, and as soon -as she could make herself heard, cried to Louis:</p> - -<p>“Dear Louis, tell me, I beg of you, if you approve -of my course?”</p> - -<p>“No!” bawled Louis, for once forgetting to be -correct in manner and deportment. Then, rising -to his feet, and staggering to the door, he said in -a sepulchral voice: “Everything is over between -us. If the Holy Father takes measures to make -me fulfil my compact to marry you, I shall leave -France—I shall flee my country. Mademoiselle, -permit me to say you are an impossible person. -Adieu forever, I hope!” With this he was gone.</p> - -<p>Madame Bourcet at this recovered enough to -scream to Angéline, in a rapid crescendo:</p> - -<p>“Get a van—<i>get a van</i>—<span class="allsmcap">GET A VAN</span>!”</p> - -<p>Fifi knew perfectly well what that meant, and -was in ecstasies. She flew to her room, huddled -her belongings together, saying to herself:</p> - -<p>“Cartouche, I shall see you! And, Cartouche, I -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span>love you! And, Cartouche, I shall make you marry -me—me, your own Fifi!”</p> - -<p>In a little while the van was at the door and -Fifi’s boxes were piled in. She threw to Angéline -the odious brown gown, with the green spots, and -a ten-franc piece besides—which somewhat mollified -Angéline, without changing her opinion that -Fifi was a dangerous and explosive person to have -about. She promised to send for the blue satin bed. -Then Fifi, reverting to her old natural self, -climbed into the van along with her boxes, and -jolted off, in the direction of the street of the -Black Cat, and was happier than she had yet been -since she had left it.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX<br /> -<span class="smaller">BACK TO THE BLACK CAT</span></h2></div> - -<p>About three o’clock in the afternoon, the van, -containing Fifi and her wardrobe, drew up before -the tall old house in the street of the Black Cat -where she had lived ever since she was a little, -black-eyed child, who still cried for her mother, -and who would not be comforted except upon Cartouche’s -knee. How familiar, how actual, how delightfully -redolent of home was the narrow little -street! Fifi saw it in her mind’s eye long before -she reached it, and in her gladness of heart sang -snatches of songs like the one Toto thought was -made for him, <i>Le petit mousse noir</i>. As the van -clattered into the street, Fifi, sitting on her boxes, -craned her neck out to watch a certain garret window, -and from thence she heard two short, rapturous -barks. It was Toto. Fifi, jumping down, -opened the house door, and ran headlong up the -dark, narrow well-known stair. Half way up, she -met Toto, jumping down the steps two at a time. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span>Fifi caught him to her heart, and wept plentifully, -tears of joy.</p> - -<p>But there was some one else to see—and that was -Cartouche, who was always in his room at that -hour.</p> - -<p>“Now, Toto,” said Fifi, as she slipped softly up -the stairs, still squeezing him, “I am about to -make a formal offer of my hand to Cartouche; -and mind, you are not to interrupt me with barking -and whining and scratching. It is very awkward -to be interrupted on such occasions, and you -must behave yourself suitably to the situation.”</p> - -<p>“Yap!” assented Toto.</p> - -<p>The door to Cartouche’s room was a half-door, -the upper part of glass. This upper half-door -was a little ajar, and Fifi caught sight of Cartouche. -He was sitting on his poor bed, with a -large piece of tin before him, which he was transforming -into a medieval shield. He was hard at -work—for who ever saw Cartouche idle? But once -or twice he stopped, and picked up something lying -on the table before him, and looked at it. Fifi -recognized it at once. It was a little picture of -herself, taken long ago, when she used to sit on -Cartouche’s knee and beg him to tell her stories. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span>Fifi felt a lump in her throat, and called out softly -and tremulously:</p> - -<p>“Cartouche! I am here. It is Fifi.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche dropped his tools as if lightning-struck, -and turned toward the door—and there was -Fifi’s smiling face peering at him.</p> - -<p>He went straight to the door and opened the -upper part wide. Fifi saw that he was quite pale, -though his dark and expressive eyes were burning, -and it was plain to her that he was consumed -with love and longing for her—but he was almost -cross when he spoke.</p> - -<p>“What brings you here, Fifi?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Everything that is good. First, Louis Bourcet -has jilted me—” and Fifi capered gleefully -with Toto in her arms.</p> - -<p>“Is that anything to be merry about?” inquired -Cartouche, sternly; but Fifi saw that his strong -brown hand trembled as it lay on the sill of the -half-door.</p> - -<p>“Indeed it is—if you knew Louis Bourcet—and -he did it because of my nobility of soul.”</p> - -<p>“Humph,” said Cartouche.</p> - -<p>“It was in this manner. You remember, Cartouche, -the letter you wrote me three days ago, in -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span>which you advised me to give all my fortune to the -fund for soldiers’ orphans?”</p> - -<p>“No,” tartly answered Cartouche. “I never -wrote you any such letter.”</p> - -<p>“Listen,” said Fifi, sweetly, and taking from her -pocket Cartouche’s letter, she read aloud:</p> - -<p>“‘You might follow the Empress’ example, and -going in your coach and six, with outriders, to the -banking-house of Lafitte, make a little gift of a -hundred thousand francs to the fund for the soldiers’ -orphans.’</p> - -<p>“I did not have a coach and six, with outriders, -nor even a hundred thousand francs to give,” continued -Fifi, putting the letter, for future reference, -in her pocket, “as I had spent almost ten thousand -on clothes and monkeys and beds. And I also -saved enough to buy some gowns that will put -Julie Campionet’s nose out of joint—but I had -nearly ninety thousand francs to give—and I -dressed myself up as an old woman—”</p> - -<p>“It was all over Paris this morning,” cried Cartouche, -striking his forehead, “I read it myself in -the newspaper! Oh, Fifi, Fifi, what madness!” -and Cartouche walked wildly about the room.</p> - -<p>“Madness, do you call it?” replied Fifi, with -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span>spirit. “This comes of taking your advice. I had -meant to spend the money on any foolish thing I -could find to buy that was worth nothing, and -never could be worth anything; and when your -letter came, I thought, ‘here is a sensible way to -spend it’—for I was obliged to get rid of it. I -never had a happy moment since I had the money—and -I must say, Cartouche, I think you behaved -very badly to me, in never making me the slightest -apology for giving me the ticket that drew the -money, even after you saw it made me miserable.”</p> - -<p>Here Fifi assumed an offended air, to which Cartouche, -walking about distractedly, paid no attention -whatever, only crying out at intervals:</p> - -<p>“Oh, Fifi, what makes you behave so! What will -you do now?”</p> - -<p>Fifi drew off, now genuinely contemptuous and -indignant.</p> - -<p>“Do?” she asked in a tone of icy contempt. “Do -you think that an actress who has given away her -whole fortune of ninety thousand francs and -whose grandfather was cousin to the Pope will -want an engagement?”</p> - -<p>“But the newspapers don’t know who gave the -money,” said Cartouche, weakly. “All of them -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span>this morning said that—and the Emperor has had -published in the <i>Moniteur</i> an official request that -the giver will make herself known, so that she may -receive the thanks in person of himself and the -Empress.”</p> - -<p>“Better and better,” cried Fifi. “Ten francs the -week more will Duvernet have to pay me for receiving -the thanks of the Emperor and Empress.” -And then with an access of hauteur she added: -“You must know very little of the theatrical profession, -Cartouche, if you suppose I intend to let -the newspapers remain in ignorance of who gave -the money. Cartouche, in some respects, you know -about as little concerning our profession as the -next one. You never had the least idea of the value -of advertising.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps not,” replied Cartouche, stung by her -tone, “all I know is, the value of hard work. And -now, I suppose, having thrown away the chance of -marrying a worthy man in a respectable walk of -life, you will proceed to marry some showy creature -for his fine clothes, or his long pedigree, and -then be miserable forever after.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no,” answered Fifi, sweetly. “The man I -intend to marry is not at all showy. He is as plain -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span>as the kitchen knife—and as for fine clothes and a -long pedigree, ha! ha!” Fifi pinched Toto, who -seemed to laugh with her.</p> - -<p>Cartouche remained silent a whole minute, and -then said calmly:</p> - -<p>“You seem to have fixed upon the man.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Toto and I have agreed upon a suitable -match for me. Haven’t we, Toto?”</p> - -<p>“Yap, yap, yap!” barked Toto.</p> - -<p>“Have you consulted any one about this?” asked -Cartouche in a low voice, after a moment.</p> - -<p>“No one but Toto,” replied Fifi, pinching Toto’s -ear.</p> - -<p>Cartouche raised his arms in despair. He could -only groan:</p> - -<p>“Oh, Fifi! Oh, Fifi!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t ‘Oh Fifi’ me any more, Cartouche, after -your behavior to me,” cried Fifi indignantly, “and -after I have taken your advice and given the money -away, and Louis Bourcet has jilted me—as he did -as soon as he found I had no fortune—”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t I tell you he would?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t need anybody to tell me that. Louis -Bourcet is one of the virtuous who make one sick -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span>of virtue. But at least after you made him jilt -me—”</p> - -<p>“<i>I</i> made him jilt you!”</p> - -<p>“Certainly you did. How many times shall I -have to prove to you that it was you who put it -into my head to give the money away? And now, -I want to ask, having caused me to lose the chance -of marrying the most correct young man in Paris, -you—you—ought to marry me yourself!”</p> - -<p>Fifi said this last in a very low, sweet voice, her -cheek resting upon Toto’s sleek, black head, her -elbow on the sill of the half-door. Cartouche -walked quite to the other end of the room and -stood with his back to Fifi, and said not one word.</p> - -<p>Fifi waited a minute or two, Cartouche maintaining -his strange silence. Then, Fifi, glancing -down, saw on a little table within the room, and -close to the half-door, a stick of chalk. With that -she wrote in large white letters on Toto’s black -back:</p> - -<p class="center no-indent"><i>Cartouche, I love you</i>—</p> - -<p class="no-indent">and tossed Toto into the room. He trotted up to -Cartouche and lay down at his feet.</p> - -<p>Fifi saw Cartouche give a great start when he -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span>picked up the dog, and Toto uttered a little pleading -whine which was quite human in its entreaty. -Being a very astute dog, he knew that Cartouche -was not treating Fifi right, and so, pleaded for her.</p> - -<p>Fifi, calmly watching Cartouche, saw that he -was deeply agitated, and she was not in the least -disturbed by it. Presently, dropping Toto, Cartouche -strode toward the half-door, over which Fifi -leaned.</p> - -<p>“Fifi,” he cried, in a voice of agony, “why do -you torture me so? You know that I love you; -and you know that I ought not to let you marry -me—me, almost old enough to be your father, -poor, obscure, half crippled, Fifi. I shall never -forget the anguish of the first day I knew that I -loved you; it was the day I found you acting with -the players in the street. You were but sixteen, -and I had loved you until then as a child, as a little -sister—and suddenly, I was overwhelmed with a -lover’s love for you. But I swore to myself, on my -honor, never to let you know it—never to speak a -word of love to you—”</p> - -<p>The strong man trembled, and fell, rather than -sat upon a chair. Fifi, trembling a little herself, -but still smiling, answered:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span></p> - -<p>“And you have kept your vow. I remember that -day well—it was the first time you ever spoke an -angry word to me. You have spoken many since, -you hard-hearted Cartouche.”</p> - -<p>To this Cartouche made no answer but to bury -his face in his lean, brown hands, that bore the -marks of honest toil. Fifi continued briskly:</p> - -<p>“Cartouche, open this lower door. It is fast.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche only shook his head.</p> - -<p>Then Fifi, glancing about, saw a rickety old -chair at the head of the stairs, and noiselessly -fetching it, she put it against the door, stepped up -on it; a second step on the little table by the -door, and a third step on the floor, brought her in -the room, and close to Cartouche. She laid one -hand upon his shoulder—with the other she picked -up Toto—and said, in a wheedling voice:</p> - -<p>“Cartouche, shall we be married this day fortnight?”</p> - -<p>Cartouche made a faint effort to push her away, -but the passion in him rose up lion-like, and mastered -him. He seized Fifi in his strong arms and -devoured her rosy lips with kisses. Then, dropping -her as suddenly, he cried wildly:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span></p> - -<p>“No, no! It is not right, Fifi—I can not do you -so cruel a wrong!”</p> - -<p>“You are almost as bad as Louis Bourcet,” remarked -Fifi, straightening her curly hair, which -was all over her face. “Nevertheless, I shall marry -you this day fortnight.”</p> - -<p>For answer, Cartouche vaulted over the half-door, -in spite of his bad leg, and was gone clattering -down the stairs. Fifi listened as the sound died -away, and then ran to the window to see him go -out of the house and walk off, as fast as he could, -down the street of the Black Cat.</p> - -<p>“Toto,” said Fifi to her friend, taking him up -in her arms: “We—you and I—are not good -enough for Cartouche, but all the same, we mean -to have him. I can not live without him—that is, -I will not, which comes to the same thing—and all -the other men I have ever known seem small and -mean alongside of Cartouche—” which showed that -Fifi, as she claimed, really had some sense.</p> - -<p>As for Cartouche, he walked along through the -narrow streets into the crowded thoroughfare, full -of shadows even then, although it was still early in -the soft, spring afternoon. He neither knew nor -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span>cared where he was going except that he must fly -from Fifi’s witching eyes and tender words and sweet -caresses. His heart was pounding so that he could -fancy others heard it besides himself. This marriage -was clearly impossible—it was not to be -thought of. Fifi, in spite of her rashness and -throwing away of her fortune, was no fool. She -had not, as Cartouche feared, assumed a style of -living that would have made a hundred thousand -francs a mere bagatelle. What she had squandered, -she had squandered deliberately for a purpose; -what she had given had been given to a good -cause, for Fifi, of all women, best knew her own -mind. And to think that she should have taken up -this strange notion to marry him—after she had -seen something so far superior—so Cartouche -thought. And what was to be done? If necessary, -he would leave the Imperial Theater, and go -far, far away; but what then would become of Fifi, -alone and unprotected, rash and young and beautiful?</p> - -<p>Turning these things over tumultuously in his -mind, Cartouche found himself in front of the shop -where he had bought Fifi the red cloak. There -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span>was a mirror in the window, and Cartouche stood -and looked at himself in it. The mirror stiffened -his resolution.</p> - -<p>“No,” he said. “Fifi must not throw herself -away on such a looking fellow. I love her—I love -her too well for that.”</p> - -<p>A church clock chimed six. Cartouche came out -of his troubled day-dream with a start—he was -already due at the theater. He ran as fast as his -bad leg would allow him, and for the first time in -the eight years he had been employed there, was -late.</p> - -<p>Duvernet, the manager, was walking the floor of -his dingy little office and tearing his hair. He was -dressed for the part of the Cid Campeador in the -drama of the evening. Duvernet never made the -mistake of acting a trivial part. He clattered -about in a full suit of tin armor, but had inadvertently -clapped his hat on his head. Although there -was but little time to spare, the manager was -obliged to pour out his woes to Cartouche.</p> - -<p>“Julie Campionet saw Fifi return, with all her -boxes,” he groaned; “and—well, you know Julie -Campionet—I have had the devil’s own time the -whole afternoon. Then Fifi marched herself over -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span>here—the minx. I called her Fifi, at first. She -drew herself up like an offended empress and said, -‘Mademoiselle Chiaramonti, if you please.’ She -then informed me, with an air of grand condescension -that she might return here as leading lady, and -told me, quite negligently, that she was the person -who gave the ninety thousand francs to the soldiers’ -orphans’ fund. You would have thought she -was in the habit of giving ninety thousand francs -to charity every morning before breakfast. She -swore she did not intend to acknowledge it until -she had got a place as leading lady at a theater that -suited her; likewise that she proposed to be billed -as Mademoiselle Chiaramonti, cousin to the Holy -Father, and to have the story of her relationship to -the Pope published in every newspaper in Paris, -and demanded fifty francs the week. The advertising -alone is worth a hundred francs the week; but -you know, Cartouche, no woman on earth could -stand a hundred francs the week and keep sane. -Then, she tells me that she has a magnificent wardrobe—she -wore that brooch in here, which I have -never been able to satisfy myself is real or not—and -took such a high tone altogether that I began -to ask myself if I were the manager of this theater -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span>or was Fifi. And then the last information she -gave me was that she was to marry you this day -fortnight—”</p> - -<p>“Ah!” cried Cartouche, gloomily.</p> - -<p>“And said if I didn’t give her back her old place -as leading lady that I would have to part with you. -I said something about Julie Campionet, and being -my wife, and so on, and then Fifi flew into a -royal rage, saying she would settle with Julie -Campionet herself. Then Julie came rushing into -the room, and she and Fifi had it out in great style. -You never heard such a noise in your life—it was -like killing pigs, and Julie fell in my arms and -screamed to me to protect her, and Fifi started that -infernal dog of hers to barking, and there was a -devil of a row, and how it ended I don’t know, except -that both of them are vowing vengeance on -me. But one thing is sure—I can’t let a chance go -of securing the Pope’s cousin, who won the first -prize in the lottery and gave away ninety thousand -francs. And then—what Julie—”</p> - -<p>The manager groaned and buried his head in his -hands. Like the unfortunate Louis Bourcet, all -he could make out was, that whatever he did would -be highly imprudent.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span></p> - -<p>It was already late, and there was not another -moment to lose, so Cartouche had to run away and -leave the manager to his misery.</p> - -<p>The performance was hardly up to the mark -that night. Sensational tales of Fifi’s return had -flown like wildfire about the theater. She was commonly -reported to have come back in a coach and -pair, with a van full of huge boxes, all crammed -with the most superb costumes. Such stories were -naturally disquieting to Julie Campionet, and together -with her scene in the afternoon, impaired her -performance visibly.</p> - -<p>As for Fifi, she was at that moment established -in her old room, which luckily was vacant, and was -cooking a pair of pork chops over a charcoal stove—and -was perfectly happy. So was Toto, who -barked vociferously, and had to be held in Fifi’s -arms, to keep his paws off the red-hot stove. There -was a bottle of wine, some sausages, and onions and -cheese, and a box of highly colored bonbons, for -which Fifi had rashly expended three francs. But -it is not every day, thought Fifi, that one comes -home to one’s best beloved—and so she made a little -feast for Cartouche and herself.</p> - -<p>Cartouche was late that night, and trying to -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span>avoid Fifi, he mounted softly to his garret. As he -approached Fifi’s door, he saw the light through a -chink. Fifi heard his step, quiet as it was, and -opening the door wide, cried out gaily:</p> - -<p>“Here is supper ready for you, Cartouche, and -Toto and I waiting for you.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche could not resist. He had meant to—but -after all, he was but human—and Fifi was so -sweet—so sweet to him. He came in, therefore, -awkwardly enough, and feeling like a villain the -while, he sat down at the rickety little table, on -which Fifi had spread a feast, seasoned with love.</p> - -<p>“Cartouche,” she said presently, when they were -eating and drinking, “you must get a holiday for -this day fortnight.”</p> - -<p>“What for?” asked Cartouche, gnawing his -chop—Fifi cooked chops beautifully.</p> - -<p>“Because that is the day we are to be married,” -briskly responded Fifi.</p> - -<p>Cartouche put down his chop.</p> - -<p>“Fifi,” he said. “You will break my heart. Why -will you persist in throwing yourself away on me?”</p> - -<p>“Dear me!” cried Fifi to Toto, “how very silly -Cartouche is to-night! And what a horrid fiancé -he makes—worse than Louis Bourcet.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span></p> - -<p>Then Fifi told him about some of the tricks she -had played on poor Louis, and Cartouche was -obliged to laugh.</p> - -<p>“At least, Fifi,” he said, “you shan’t marry me, -until you have consulted his Holiness.”</p> - -<p>“And his Majesty,” replied Fifi gravely. “Who -would think, to see us supping on pork chops and -onions, that our marriage concerned such very -great people!”</p> - -<p>Cartouche went to his garret presently, still -drowned in perplexities, but with a wild feeling of -rapture that seemed to make a new heaven and a -new earth for him.</p> - -<p>Fifi, next morning, proceeded to lay out her -plans. She did not go near the theater until the -afternoon. Then she put on her yellow and purple -brocade, her large red and green satin cloak, -her huge hat and feathers and reinforced with the -alleged diamond brooch, and sending out for a cab, -ordered it to carry her and her magnificence across -the street to the manager’s private office.</p> - -<p>Duvernet, thinking Fifi had come to her senses, -and would ask, instead of demanding, her place -back, received her coolly. Fifi was charmingly -affable.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span></p> - -<p>“I only called to ask, Monsieur,” she said, “if -you could tell me how to catch the diligence which -goes out to Fontainebleau. I wish to go out to -see his Holiness, who, as you know, is my relative, -and as such, I desire his formal consent to my -marriage to Cartouche.”</p> - -<p>Fifi was careful not to say that she was the -Pope’s relative; the Pope was <i>her</i> relative.</p> - -<p>Duvernet, somewhat disconcerted by Fifi’s superb -air, replied that the diligence passed the corner, -two streets below, at nine in the morning, and one -in the afternoon.</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” responded Fifi. “I shall go out, -to-morrow, at one o’clock. I could not think of -getting up at the unearthly hour necessary to take -the morning diligence. And can you tell me, Monsieur, -about the omnibus that passes the Tuileries? -The Emperor has had a request printed in the <i>Moniteur</i>, -asking that the lady who made the gift of -ninety thousand francs to the soldiers’ orphans -should declare herself—and I have no objection to -going in the omnibus as far as the gates of the -Tuileries. Then, I shall get a carriage.”</p> - -<p>Duvernet was so thunderstruck at Fifi’s grandeur, -that he mumbled something quite unintelligible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span> -about the omnibus. Fifi, however, was perfectly -well acquainted with the ways both of the -omnibus and diligence, and only inquired about -them to impress upon Duvernet the immense gulf -between the Fifi of yesterday and the Mademoiselle -Chiaramonti of to-day. She finally rose and sailed -off, but returned to ask the amazed and disgusted -Duvernet to get her a cab to take her across the -street.</p> - -<p>“I can walk, Monsieur,” she said condescendingly, -“except that I am afraid of ruining my -clothes. I carry on my back nearly four thousand -francs’ worth of clothes.”</p> - -<p>Duvernet, still staggered by her splendors, had -to search the neighborhood for a cab—cabs were -not much in demand in that quarter. But at last -he found one, which transported Fifi and her -grandeur across the way. It was clearly impossible -that so much elegance should go on foot.</p> - -<p>That night, again, she made a little supper for -Cartouche, and Cartouche, feeling himself a guilty -wretch, again went in and ate it, and basked in the -sunlight of Fifi’s eyes.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X<br /> -<span class="smaller">THE POPE WINS</span></h2></div> - -<p>Now, Fifi really intended to go out to Fontainebleau -the next day to see the Holy Father, for, -although she cared little for the opinion of the -world in general, she had been deeply impressed -by the benignant old man, and she secretly -yearned for his approval. And besides, she had -an instinctive feeling that the Holy Father would -understand better than any one else in the world -why she wished to marry Cartouche. That tender, -serene soul of the old man, who cherished the affections -of his youth and who had sounded the depths -and measured the heights of human grandeur and -yet esteemed love the greatest thing in the world, -would understand a simple, loving heart like Fifi’s. -It had been so easy to tell him all about Cartouche -and herself—and he had comprehended it so readily; -just the same, thought Fifi, as if he himself -had lived and worked and struggled as she and -Cartouche had lived and worked and struggled. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span>Fifi knew, in her own way, that there is a kinship -among all honest souls—and that thus the Holy -Father was near of kin to Cartouche.</p> - -<p>Fifi did not mention this proposed expedition to -Cartouche, because, in her lexicon, it was always -easier to justify a thing after it is done than before.</p> - -<p>So, when on the morning after her return, the -diligence rumbled past the street below that of the -Black Cat, Fifi was inside the diligence—and, on -the outside, quite unknown to her, was Duvernet.</p> - -<p>The manager, it may be imagined, had not had -a very easy time of it, either as a manager or a -husband for the last twenty-four hours. Julie -Campionet had large lung power, and had used it -cruelly on him. Nevertheless, the idea of securing -Fifi with all her additional values for the Imperial -Theater was quite irresistible to Duvernet; and the -thought that another manager, more enterprising -than he, might get her for ten francs more the -week, was intolerable to him. He determined to -make a gigantic effort for Fifi’s services, and it -would be extremely desirable to him to have this -crucial interview as far away from the Imperial -Theater as possible.</p> - -<p>Therefore, Duvernet was on the lookout when -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span>the diligence jolted past, and when he saw a demure -figure in black, with a veil over her face, get inside -the diligence, he recognized Fifi, and jumped up -on the outside.</p> - -<p>Fifi, sitting within, had no notion that Duvernet -was on the same vehicle. She kept her veil down -and behaved with the greatest propriety. She -knew better than to wear any of her ridiculous -finery in the presence of the Holy Father, and as -she had got rid of the brown gown with the green -spots, she wore a plain black gown and mantle -which became her well, and she scarcely seemed -like the same creature who had worn the yellow -brocade robe and the striped satin cloak.</p> - -<p>The diligence rumbled along, through the pleasant -spring afternoon, upon the sunny road to -Fontainebleau, and reached it in a couple of hours.</p> - -<p>When Fifi dismounted, at the street leading to -the palace, what was her surprise to find that -Duvernet dismounted too!</p> - -<p>“I had business at Fontainebleau, and so was -fortunate to find myself on the top of the diligence, -while you were inside,” was Duvernet’s ready explanation -of his presence.</p> - -<p>Fifi was at heart glad of his protection, and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span>hoped he would return to Paris with her, but -would by no means admit so much to him.</p> - -<p>“I,” said Fifi, with dignity, “also have business -at Fontainebleau—with the Holy Father. You -may walk with me to the palace.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Mademoiselle,” answered Duvernet, -bowing; and Fifi could not tell whether he -was laughing at her or not.</p> - -<p>As they walked toward the vast old palace, gray -and peaceful in the golden sun of springtime, Duvernet -said:</p> - -<p>“Well, Fi—”</p> - -<p>“What?” asked Fifi coldly.</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle, I should say. Since we find ourselves -together, we may as well resume our business -conversation of yesterday afternoon. If you will -take fifty francs the week, your old place at the -Imperial Theater is open to you.”</p> - -<p>“And that minx, Julie Campionet—oh, I beg -your pardon.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t mention it,” gloomily replied Julie Campionet’s -husband. “She has told me twenty times -since yesterday that she means to get a divorce, -just like the others. If she doesn’t, I can, perhaps, -get her to take her old parts by giving her an -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span>additional five francs the week—for I assure you, -when it comes to a question of salary, she is not -Madame Duvernet, but Julie Campionet.”</p> - -<p>“It would be against my conscience, Monsieur, -to interfere with your domestic peace—” said Fifi -demurely, and that time it was Duvernet who didn’t -know whether or not Fifi was laughing at him.</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle,” replied he, with his loftiest air, -“do you suppose I would let my domestic peace -stand before Art? No. A thousand times no! Art -is always first with me, and last. And besides, if -Julie Campionet should get a divorce from me—well, -I have never found any trouble yet in getting -married. All the trouble came afterward.”</p> - -<p>“Fifty francs,” mused Fifi; “and if I allow you -to bill me as Mademoiselle Chiaramonti, and the -granddaughter of the Pope’s cousin, that would be -worth at least twenty-five francs the week more. -Seventy-five francs the week.”</p> - -<p class="p2b">“Good heavens, no!” shouted Duvernet. “The -Holy Father himself wouldn’t be worth seventy-five -francs at the Imperial Theater! Sixty francs, -at the outside, and Julie Campionet to think it is -fifty.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> -<img src="images/i_204.jpg" width="350" alt="Fifi and Duvernet at Fontainebleu." -title="" /></div> - -<p class="p2"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span></p> - -<p>“I had better wait until I am married to Cartouche,” -replied Fifi innocently.</p> - -<p>But waiting was just what the manager did not -want. So, still urging her to take sixty francs, -they reached the palace.</p> - -<p>Fifi had a little note prepared and gave it, together -with a pink gilt-bordered card, inscribed -“Mademoiselle Josephine Chiaramonti,” to the porter -at the door. The porter evidently regarded -Fifi, and her note and card included, with the utmost -disfavor, but, like most underlings, he was -well acquainted with his master’s private affairs, -and knew in a minute who Fifi was, and so, grudgingly -went off with her letter and card.</p> - -<p>Fifi and Duvernet kept up their argument in the -great, gloomy anteroom into which they were ushered. -Fifi was saying:</p> - -<p>“And if I allow you to bill me as his Holiness’ -cousin, and you give me seventy-five francs—”</p> - -<p>“Sixty, Mademoiselle.”</p> - -<p>“Seventy-five francs, will you promise always to -take my part when I quarrel with Julie Campionet?”</p> - -<p>“Good God! What a proposition! I am married -to Julie Campionet!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span></p> - -<p>“Have you really and actually straightened out -your divorces from your other three wives?” asked -Fifi maliciously.</p> - -<p>“N-n-not exactly. To tell you the truth, Fi—I -mean, Mademoiselle—I get those divorce suits and -those leading ladies so mixed up in my head, that -I am not quite sure about anything concerning -them. But if you doubt that I am married to Julie -Campionet, just listen to her when she is giving -me a wigging, and you will be convinced.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” continued Fifi, dismissing Duvernet -and Julie Campionet and their matrimonial complications -with a wave of the hand, “it is not really -necessary for me to act at all. I have a fortune in -my diamond brooch, any time I choose to sell it. -I gave away ninety thousand francs—but in my -brooch I hold on to enough to keep the wolf from -the door.” Then, a dazzling <i>coup</i> coming into her -head, she remarked casually, “I hope Cartouche is -not marrying me for my diamond brooch.”</p> - -<p>Duvernet, a good deal exasperated by Fifi’s airs, -replied, with a grin:</p> - -<p>“Cartouche tells me he isn’t going to marry you -at all.”</p> - -<p>“We will see about that,” said Fifi, using the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span>same enigmatic words Cartouche had used, when -the matrimonial proposition was first offered for -his consideration.</p> - -<p>After a long wait the porter returned, accompanied -by the same sour-looking ecclesiastic whom -Fifi had met on her previous visit; and he escorted -her to the door of the Pope’s chamber.</p> - -<p>The door was opened for her, and Fifi found -herself once more in the presence of the Pope. She -ran forward and kissed his hand, and the Holy -Father patted her hand kindly.</p> - -<p>“Well, my child,” he said, “I hear strange things -of you. The Bourcets conveyed to me early -this morning that you have left their house, given -up the marriage with the respectable young advocate, -Louis Bourcet, and bestowed all your fortune -on charity. I have been anxious about you.”</p> - -<p>“Pray don’t be so any more, Holy Father,” said -Fifi, smiling brightly and seating herself on a -little chair the Holy Father motioned her to take. -“I never was so happy in my life as I am now. I -hated the idea of marrying Louis Bourcet.”</p> - -<p>“Then you should not have agreed to marry -him.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Holy Father, you can’t imagine how it -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span>dazes one to be suddenly overwhelmed with riches, -to be taken away from all one knows and loves, to -be compelled to be idle when one would work—to -be, in short, transplanted to another world. At -first, I would have agreed to anything.”</p> - -<p>“I understand. Now, open your heart to me as -to your father.”</p> - -<p>“I was very wretched after I got the money. I -was idle, I was unhappy, I was unloved—and I had -been used to being busy, to being happy, to being -loved. And what gave me the courage to rebel was, -that I found out I loved Cartouche. Holy Father, -he is my only friend—” An expression in the Holy -Father’s eyes made Fifi quickly correct herself. -“<i>Was</i> my only friend. And when I thought of -being married, I could not imagine life without -Cartouche. So, I made up my mind to marry him. -But Cartouche said he was neither young nor rich, -nor handsome, and with my youth and newly-acquired -fortune, I ought to marry above him. I -do not claim that Cartouche is what is called—a—” -Fifi hesitated, the term “brilliant marriage” not -being known in the street of the Black Cat. But -the Holy Father suggested it with a smile—</p> - -<p>“A brilliant marriage?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span></p> - -<p>“Yes, Holy Father, that is what I mean. But he -is the best of men; I shiver when I think what -would have become of me without Cartouche. And -he is as brave as a lion—he was the first man across -at the bridge of Lodi—and the Emperor was the -second. And he serves Duvernet, the manager, just -as faithfully as he served his country. Cartouche -has charge of all sorts of things at the theater, and -he would die rather than let any one swindle the -manager.”</p> - -<p>“I should like to have him for my majordomo,” -said the Holy Father.</p> - -<p>“He is not much of an actor though, to say -nothing of his stiff leg. Cartouche is an angel, -Holy Father, but he can not act. So he does not -get much salary—only twenty-five francs the week. -However, I know two things: that Cartouche is -the best of men, and that I love him with all my -heart. Holy Father, was not that reason enough -for not marrying Louis Bourcet?”</p> - -<p>“Quite reason enough,” softly answered the -Holy Father.</p> - -<p>“After all, though, it was Louis Bourcet who -got rid of me. It was like this, Holy Father. I -knew as long as I had a hundred thousand francs -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span>that Louis Bourcet would marry me, no matter how -outlandish my behavior was; and I also knew, as -long as I had a hundred thousand francs, Cartouche -never would marry me. And as I wanted to be -happy, I concluded to get rid of my hundred thousand -francs, and that horrid, pious, correct, stupid, -pompous Louis Bourcet at the same time—”</p> - -<p>And then Fifi burst into the whole story of her -adventures, beginning with her putting the box of -old shoes in the bank, and sewing her money up in -the mattress. Through it all the Holy Father sat -with his hand to his lips and coughed occasionally.</p> - -<p>Fifi knew how to tell her story, and gave very -graphic pictures of her life and adventures in -the Rue de l’Echelle. She told it all, including -her return to the street of the Black Cat in the -same van with her boxes, her proposal of marriage -to Cartouche and Toto’s share in the proceedings. -The Holy Father listened attentively, and after an -extra spell of coughing at the end, inquired -gravely:</p> - -<p>“And what did Cartouche say to your proposition -to marry him?”</p> - -<p>“Holy Father, he behaved horridly, and has not -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span>yet agreed, although the poor fellow is eating his -heart out for me. He says still, I am far above -him—for, you see, Holy Father, as soon as I have -it published that I am the giver of ninety thousand -francs to the orphans’ fund, all Paris will flock to -see me act—and then—I shall be billed as Mademoiselle -Chiaramonti—cousin of the Holy Father, -the Pope. That alone is worth twenty-five francs -the week extra.”</p> - -<p>A crash resounded. The Holy Father’s footstool -had tumbled over noisily. The Holy Father -himself was staring in consternation at Fifi.</p> - -<p>“On the bills, did you say?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Holy Father. On the big red and blue -posters all over the quarter of Paris.”</p> - -<p>“It must not be,” said the Holy Father, with a -quiet firmness that impressed Fifi very much. -“How much did you say it was worth?”</p> - -<p>“I say twenty-five francs. Duvernet, the manager, -says only fifteen.”</p> - -<p>“Where is this Duvernet?”</p> - -<p>“Waiting for me in the anteroom below, Holy -Father. He came out to Fontainebleau to try to -get me to make the arrangement at once.”</p> - -<p>The Pope touched a bell at hand, and a servant -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span>appeared, who was directed to bring Manager Duvernet -to him at once. Then, turning to Fifi, he -said:</p> - -<p>“Monsieur Duvernet must give up all ideas of -this outrageous playbill—and in consideration, I -will secure to you an annuity of twenty-five francs -the week as long as you live.”</p> - -<p>“How good it is of you, Holy Father!” cried -Fifi. Then she added dolefully: “But I am afraid -if Cartouche knows I am to be as rich as that, I -shall have more trouble than ever getting him to -marry me. What shall I do, Holy Father, about -telling him?”</p> - -<p>The Pope reflected a moment or two.</p> - -<p>“It is a difficult situation, but it must be managed,” -he answered.</p> - -<p>Then Fifi, eager for the Holy Father’s approval -of Cartouche, told many stories of his goodness to -her in her childish days—and presently Duvernet -was announced.</p> - -<p>Duvernet was an earnest worshiper of titles and -power, but not to the extent of forgetting his own -advantage; and, although on greeting the Pope he -knelt reverently, he rose up with the fixed determination -not to do anything against the interests of -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span>the Imperial Theater, or its manager, not if the -Pope and all the College of Cardinals united in -asking him.</p> - -<p>“Monsieur,” said the Holy Father, gently, but -with authority: “This young relative of mine tells -me that her salary is to be increased fifteen francs -the week at your theater if her name and relationship -to me shall be exploited. I offer her twenty-five -francs the week if she will forego this. It does -not appear to me to be proper that such exploitation -should take place.”</p> - -<p>Duvernet bowed to the ground.</p> - -<p>“Holy Father,” said he, with deepest humility, -“it rests with Mademoiselle Chiaramonti.” And he -whispered to Fifi behind his hand, “Thirty francs.”</p> - -<p>“Thirty francs!” cried Fifi indignantly, “only -just now you were telling me that it was not even -worth twenty-five francs!”</p> - -<p>The Holy Father’s voice was heard—gentle as -ever—</p> - -<p>“Thirty-five francs.”</p> - -<p>Duvernet, being found out, and seeing that he -had the Supreme Pontiff on the other side of the -market, concluded it was no time for diffidence, so -he cried out boldly:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span></p> - -<p>“Thirty-eight francs.”</p> - -<p>There was a pause. Fifi looked toward the Holy -Father.</p> - -<p>“Forty francs,” said the Holy Father.</p> - -<p>Duvernet, with the air and manner of a Roman -senator acknowledging defeat, bowed superbly and -said:</p> - -<p>“Your Holiness wins,” and backed toward the -door.</p> - -<p>Fifi turned to the Pope, and said with shining -eyes:</p> - -<p>“Holy Father, I thank you more than I can ever, -ever say—I promise never to do anything to dishonor -the name I bear. And Duvernet,” she added, -turning to where the manager stood with folded -arms and the expression of a martyr: “Recollect, -even if it is not put on the bill that I am the granddaughter -of the Holy Father’s cousin, that I am -still valuable. Did I not win the first prize in the -lottery? And did I not give ninety thousand -francs to the soldiers’ orphans? And shan’t I be -thanked in person by the Emperor and Empress? -Match me that if you can. And besides, have I -not the finest diamond brooch in Paris?”</p> - -<p>“If it is diamond,” said Duvernet under his -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span>breath, but not so low that the Holy Father did -not hear him. However, without noticing this, -the Pope asked of him:</p> - -<p>“Monsieur, will you kindly give me your opinion -of Monsieur Cartouche, whom my young relative -wishes to marry?”</p> - -<p>Duvernet paused a minute, trying to find words -to express what he thought of Cartouche, but in -the end could only say:</p> - -<p>“Your Holiness, Cartouche is—well, I could not -conduct the Imperial Theater without Cartouche. -And he is the most honest and the most industrious -man I ever saw in my life.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Monsieur. Good afternoon,” said -the Pope, and Duvernet vanished.</p> - -<p>“My child,” said the Holy Father, after a little -pause: “What is this about your having the finest -diamond brooch in Paris?” As he spoke, the Holy -Father’s face grew anxious. The possession of fine -diamonds by a girl of Fifi’s condition was a little -disquieting to him.</p> - -<p>“It is only paste, Holy Father,” replied Fifi, -whipping the brooch out of her pocket. “I always -carry it with me to make believe it is diamond, but -it is no more diamond than my shoe. Duvernet -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span>thinks it is diamond, and I encouraged him to -think so, because I found that it always overawed -him. Whenever he grew presumptuous, all I had -to do was to put on this great dazzling brooch -and a very grand air, and it brought him down at -once.”</p> - -<p>“My child,” said the Holy Father—and stopped.</p> - -<p>“I know what you would say, Holy Father—I -am deceiving Duvernet—but that is what is called -in the world—diplomacy.”</p> - -<p>With that she handed the brooch to the Holy -Father. It was a brazen imposture, and the Pope, -who knew something about gems, could but smile at -the size and impudence of the alleged stones.</p> - -<p>Then Fifi said timidly:</p> - -<p>“Holy Father, how about Cartouche? I so -much want to marry Cartouche!”</p> - -<p>“Then,” said the Pope calmly, “you can not do -better than marry Cartouche, for I am sure he is -an honest fellow, and loves you, and you must bring -him out to see me.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Holy Father,” cried Fifi joyfully, “when I -bring Cartouche out to see you, you will see what a -<i>very</i> honest, kind man he is! But you must not -expect to see a fine gentleman. My Cartouche has -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span>the heart and the manners of a gentleman, but he -has not the clothes of a gentleman.” And to this, -the Pope replied, smiling:</p> - -<p>“The time has been when I was a poor parish -priest, that I had not the clothes of a gentleman, -so I can feel for your Cartouche. So now, farewell, -and be a good child—and forty francs the -week as long as you are simply Mademoiselle Fifi. -Do you understand?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Holy Father, and I can not thank you -enough, and I am the happiest creature in the -world.”</p> - -<p>And then Fifi fell on her knees, and received a -tender blessing, and went away, thinking with pride -and joy of the visit she was to make after she was -married to Cartouche.</p> - -<p>“I know the Holy Father will like him,” she -thought, as she tripped along the grand avenue -toward the town. “The Holy Father is kind and -simple of heart, and honest and brave, and so is -Cartouche, and each will know this of the other, so -how can they help being satisfied each with the -other?”</p> - -<p>Thinking these thoughts she almost walked over -Duvernet, who was proceeding in the same direction. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span>Duvernet’s manner had undergone a complete -change in the last half-hour, and he spoke to Fifi -with an offhandedness which took no account of her -ruffled feathers when he addressed her by her first -name.</p> - -<p>“Fifi,” said Duvernet, “for it is all nonsense to -call you Mademoiselle Chiaramonti now—Fifi, I -say, I will give you fifty francs the week on the -strength of having drawn the first prize in the lottery, -of having given your fortune to the soldiers’ -orphans and of being thanked, as you will be, by -the Emperor and Empress in person. It is a liberal -offer. No other manager in Paris would do so -well.”</p> - -<p>“And my art?” asked Fifi, grandly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, your art is well enough, as long as I -have Cartouche to manage you. With the Pope’s -forty francs the week you will be the richest woman -in our profession on the left bank of the Seine.”</p> - -<p>Fifi considered a while, walking briskly along. -Ninety francs the week! What stupendous wealth! -But it would never do to yield at once.</p> - -<p>“And I am to have all of Julie Campionet’s best -parts? And you are to be on my side in all my -quarrels with Julie?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span></p> - -<p>“Certainly,” replied Duvernet. “You don’t suppose -I would stand on a little thing like that? Now, -you had better take what I offer you, or Julie will -certainly spread the report that you wished to come -back to the Imperial Theater and I would not let -you.”</p> - -<p>“Bring the contract to me this evening,” replied -Fifi.</p> - -<p>“And to-morrow it is to be published in the newspapers?”</p> - -<p>“Of course. In all the newspapers. But, Monsieur, -there are some things you must not expect of -me now as formerly, such as constructing togas -for you out of my white petticoats, and making -wigs for you out of tow. I am above that now.”</p> - -<p>“So I see—for the present—” replied Duvernet, -laughing disrespectfully, “but just let Julie Campionet -try her hand at that sort of thing in your -place, and you would burst if you did not outdo -her. Come, here is the diligence. In with you.”</p> - -<p>Fifi got back to her old quarters in time to prepare -supper again for Cartouche. This time they -had cabbage-soup and a bit of sausage.</p> - -<p>Poor Cartouche, who had alternated between -heaven and hell ever since Fifi’s return, was in -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span>heaven, sitting opposite to her at the rickety table, -and eating Fifi’s excellent cabbage-soup. She herself -fully appreciated their menu.</p> - -<p>“When I was with the Bourcets I could not eat -their tasteless messes,” she cried. “No garlic, no -cabbage, very few onions—and everything sickly -sweet. No, Cartouche, one must live as one has -lived, and one must have a husband who likes the -same things one likes, so that is why I am marrying -you a week from Thursday.”</p> - -<p>“Fifi,” said Cartouche, trying to be stern, -“haven’t I told you to put that silly idea out of -your head?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but I haven’t though, and to-day I went -to Fontainebleau to see the Holy Father, and—now -listen to reason, Cartouche—he told me to marry -you. Do you understand?”</p> - -<p>This was the first Cartouche had heard of the -visit to Fontainebleau. Fifi described it glibly, and -if she represented the Holy Father as urging and -commanding her marriage to Cartouche much more -strongly than was actually the case, it must be set -down to her artistic instinct which made her give -the scene its full dramatic value. When she paused -for breath, Cartouche said, glumly:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span></p> - -<p>“But the Holy Father hasn’t seen me and my -stiff leg yet.”</p> - -<p>“Oh,” cried Fifi, “I am to take you out to Fontainebleau -as soon as we are married.”</p> - -<p>“You are afraid to show me before we are married.”</p> - -<p>“Not in the least. I told the Holy Father that -you were neither young nor handsome; for that -matter, the Holy Father himself is neither young -nor handsome. But I am glad you have at last -agreed that we are to be married—not that it would -make any difference.”</p> - -<p>“You have not married me yet,” Cartouche weakly -protested, gazing into the heaven of Fifi’s eyes, -while eating her delicious cabbage-soup.</p> - -<p>“Have you no respect for the Holy Father?” -asked Fifi, indignantly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but suppose the Holy Father to-day had -advised you to marry some one—some one else—Louis -Bourcet, for example.”</p> - -<p>“I shouldn’t have paid the least attention to him; -but it is your duty, Cartouche, when the Holy -Father says you ought to marry me to do so without -grumbling.”</p> - -<p>And with this masterly logic, Fifi helped herself -to the last of the soup.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI<br /> -<span class="smaller">BY THE EMPEROR’S ORDER</span></h2></div> - -<p>The next day but one, the mystery was solved -of the old lady who gave the ninety thousand francs -to the soldiers’ orphans’ fund. It was not an old -lady at all, but the young and pretty actress, Mademoiselle -Fifi, who had drawn the great prize in the -lottery. She had temporarily retired from the -stage of the Imperial Theater, in the street of the -Black Cat, but would shortly resume her place -there as leading lady. So it was printed in the -newspapers, and known in the salons of Paris.</p> - -<p>There was very nearly a mob in the street of the -Black Cat, so many persons were drawn by curiosity -to see Fifi. Fifi, peeping from her garret window, -would have dearly liked to exhibit herself, but -Duvernet, for once stern, refused to let her show -so much as an eyelash, except to those who bought -a ticket to see her at the theater, when she was to -appear in her great part of the Roman maiden on -the Thursday week, the very day she had fixed upon -to marry Cartouche.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span></p> - -<p>In this determination to keep Fifi in seclusion -until the night of her reappearance on the stage, -Duvernet was backed up by Cartouche, who reminded -Fifi of the enormous salary she was receiving -of fifty francs the week. He had no inkling -of the further rise in her fortunes of forty -francs the week from the Holy Father.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile rehearsals were actively begun, and -Fifi had had the exquisite joy of seeing that Julie -Campionet was furiously jealous of her. Duvernet, -in spite of his unceremonious behavior to her in private, -treated her at rehearsals with a respect fitting -the place she held on the programme and the stupendous -salary she received. All of her fellow actors -were either stand-offish with her or over-friendly, -but this, Fifi knew, was only a phase. Cartouche -alone treated her as he had always done, and even -scolded her sharply, saying that in three months -she had forgotten what it had taken her three years -to learn. But this was hardly exact, for Fifi, being -a natural actress, had forgotten very little and -had learned a great deal during her exile from the -Imperial Theater.</p> - -<p>On the morning after the announcement made in -the newspapers about Fifi’s gift a great clatter was -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span>heard in the street of the Black Cat. An imperial -courier came riding to Fifi’s door and handed in a -letter with the imperial arms and seal. It was a -notification that the next day, at noon, an imperial -carriage would be sent for her that she might go -to the Tuileries and be thanked personally by the -Emperor and Empress for her magnificent generosity -to the soldiers’ orphans.</p> - -<p>Fifi turned pale as she read this letter. She did -not mind the Emperor, but the Empress. And -what should she wear?</p> - -<p>While considering these momentous questions, -Duvernet rushed into the room. He had seen the -courier and suspected his errand.</p> - -<p>Fifi, with blanched lips, told him. Duvernet -was nearly mad with joy.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” he cried. “If I was not already married -to Julie Campionet and three other women I would -marry you this moment, Fifi.”</p> - -<p>“Marry me!” cried Fifi, turning crimson, and -finding her voice, which rose with every word she -uttered. “Marry <i>me</i>! <i>You</i>, Duvernet! Marry -Mademoiselle Josephine Chiaramonti! No! A -thousand times no! Julie Campionet is good -enough for you.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span></p> - -<p>“I am as good as Cartouche,” growled Duvernet, -stung by this vicious attack on himself and his -wife.</p> - -<p>“Monsieur Duvernet,” screamed Fifi, stamping -her foot, “if you wish me to appear at the Imperial -Theater a week from Thursday you will at once -admit that Julie Campionet is good enough for you, -and that I—I am far too good for you—but not -too good for Cartouche.”</p> - -<p>Duvernet hesitated, but the manager in him came -uppermost. He conceded all that Fifi claimed, but -on returning to the theater cuffed the call-boy unmercifully -by way of reprisal on somebody, after -Fifi’s exasperating behavior.</p> - -<p>That night, at supper, Cartouche was oppressed -and depressed by this new honor awaiting Fifi. -Presently he said to her seriously:</p> - -<p>“Fifi, it’s out of the question—your marrying -me. Why, you might marry an officer—who -knows? Now, Fifi, don’t be a fool and insist on -marrying me.”</p> - -<p>“I won’t be a fool,” answered Fifi promptly, -“and I will marry you. The Holy Father told me -to, and I expect the Emperor will do the same. At -all events, you, too, are to go to the Tuileries.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span></p> - -<p>“I!”</p> - -<p>Cartouche fell back in his chair.</p> - -<p>“Certainly. I could never get along without -you.”</p> - -<p>“But I couldn’t go in the coach with you.”</p> - -<p>“No. You can be in the gardens, though, and -if the Emperor wants you he can send for you.”</p> - -<p>Cartouche in the end concluded he might as well -go, not that he expected the Emperor to send for -him, but simply because Fifi wished him to go. And -he decided a very important point for Fifi—what -she should wear.</p> - -<p>“Now, don’t wear any of your wild hats, or that -yellow gown, which can be heard screaming a mile -away. Remember, the Emperor is not a Duvernet, -and the Empress is not Julie Campionet. Wear -your little black bonnet, with your black gown and -mantle, and you will look like what you are—my -sweet little Fifi.”</p> - -<p>This was the first word of open lovemaking into -which Cartouche had suffered himself to be betrayed, -and as soon as he had uttered it he jumped -up from the supper table and ran to his own garret -as quickly as his stiff leg would allow. Fifi -caught Toto to her heart in lieu of Cartouche and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span>murmured, “He loves me! He loves me! He loves -me!”</p> - -<p>At noon, next day, a splendid imperial carriage -drove into the street of the Black Cat and stopped -before Fifi’s door. Fifi, dressed modestly and becomingly -in black, appeared. She could not forbear -carrying her huge muff, but as it was the fashion -it did not detract from the propriety of her appearance.</p> - -<p>The street was full when, assisted by a gorgeous -footman, she took her seat in the carriage. -Duvernet was a rapturous spectator of -Fifi’s splendor, and she had the ecstasy of feeling -that Julie Campionet was watching the whole magnificent -event.</p> - -<p>She sat up very straight as she drove through -the bright and sunny streets toward the Tuileries. -As she entered the great gates she watched for -Cartouche, who was to be there. Yes, there he was, -looking out for her. Fifi’s heart gave a great throb -of relief, for she was really frightened half to -death, and the nearness of Cartouche made her feel -a little safer. The look in his face as their eyes -met was full of encouragement—it did not seem -to him a dreadful thing at all to meet the Emperor.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span></p> - -<p>This courage of Fifi’s only lasted until the carriage -door was opened, and she had to alight and -walk an interminable distance through miles of gorgeous -rooms, of mirrors, of paintings, of gilding, -and, worse than all, in the company of the very -polite old gentleman-in-waiting who escorted her.</p> - -<p>She knew not how she found herself in a small -boudoir, and presently the door opened and the -Emperor and Empress entered, and at the first -word spoken to her by the Emperor, as with the -Holy Father, fear instantly departed from her, and -it seemed the most natural thing in the world for -her to be there.</p> - -<p>Fifi made a very pretty bow to both the Emperor -and Empress. The Empress seated herself, and -her kind eyes, her soft Creole voice, her charming -grace, captivated Fifi, as it had done many of the -greatest of the earth. But when the Emperor -spoke—ah, Fifi was one of the people, after all—and -like the old moustaches in Cartouche’s regiment, -she would have died for the Emperor after -having once seen him. He said to her:</p> - -<p>“The Empress and I wish to thank you for your -splendid gift to the soldiers’ orphans, Mademoiselle. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span>Was it not your whole fortune? For I remember -well hearing that you had drawn the grand prize -in the lottery.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Sire,” replied Fifi, “but I am still well -off.”</p> - -<p>“I am glad to hear it, Mademoiselle.”</p> - -<p>“Sire, the manager of the Imperial Theater is to -give me fifty francs the week, and the Holy Father, -to whom my grandfather was cousin, is to give me -forty francs the week as long as I live; that is, if -I do not put it on the bill-boards that I am Mademoiselle -Chiaramonti, granddaughter of the Pope’s -cousin.”</p> - -<p>“It was I who caused that relationship to be -established, after having heard your name, the evening -that my good friend Cartouche invited me to -see you act. But what ingenious person was it -who dreamed of putting your relationship to the -Pope on the bill-boards?”</p> - -<p>“I and our manager, Monsieur Duvernet, Sire. -Monsieur Duvernet knows how to advertise.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor laughed a little.</p> - -<p>“I should think so. I have met Monsieur Duvernet—the -same evening, Mademoiselle, that I had -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span>the pleasure of seeing you act. So the Holy -Father interfered with yours and Duvernet’s little -plan—ha! ha!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Sire. First, Monsieur Duvernet said he -would give me twenty francs to be billed as the -Pope’s cousin, and the Holy Father said he would -give me twenty-five francs to be billed simply as -Mademoiselle Fifi. Then Monsieur Duvernet said -thirty francs, and the Holy Father said thirty-five; -and Monsieur Duvernet said thirty-eight, and -the Holy Father said forty. That was such a large -sum, Sire, that Monsieur Duvernet could not meet -it.”</p> - -<p>“And what does our friend Cartouche say to -this? Cartouche,” he explained to the Empress, “is -my old friend of Lodi, the only man who crossed -the bridge before me, and he came to see me and -consulted me about this young lady’s fortune.”</p> - -<p>“Cartouche, Sire, does not know it.”</p> - -<p>“Why? Have you fallen out with Cartouche?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, Sire. Cartouche and I are to be married -a week from Thursday,” replied Fifi, smiling and -blushing.</p> - -<p>“Then explain why he does not know about the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span>Pope’s forty francs, since you are to marry him -so soon?”</p> - -<p>“Because, Sire, Cartouche does not want to -marry me—I mean, that is, he thinks he is not -young enough or rich enough or well-born enough -for me—which is all nonsense, Sire.”</p> - -<p>“Yes—I know something about you and Cartouche.”</p> - -<p>“And I never could have married him if I had -not got rid of my money. But I am afraid if -Cartouche knows of my forty francs the week he -will make a difficulty.”</p> - -<p>“In that case we must not let him know anything -about it. But I was told by my arch-treasurer -Lebrun that a marriage had been arranged for you -with a young advocate here whom Lebrun knows -well, by name Bourcet. What becomes of that?”</p> - -<p>Fifi smiled and blushed more than ever, and remained -silent until the Empress said, in her flute-like -voice:</p> - -<p>“Perhaps, Mademoiselle, you could not love -him.”</p> - -<p>“Your Majesty, I hated him,” answered Fifi, with -the greatest earnestness. “He was the most correct -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span>person and the greatest bore in the universe. Unlike -Cartouche, he thought himself much too good -for me, but was willing to take me on account of -my hundred thousand francs. At first I tried to -frighten him off.”</p> - -<p>“How, Mademoiselle?” asked the Emperor, now -laughing outright.</p> - -<p>“Sire, by—by—buying things. Dreadful -clothes, and—and—monkeys, but I was afraid of -the monkeys and would not keep them—and a blue -satin bed made for the Empress—”</p> - -<p>“I know that diabolical bed—so they swindled -you into buying it?”</p> - -<p>“No, Sire, it was only a way of squandering -money and frightening that ridiculous Louis Bourcet. -And—I made love to him very outrageously—which -was nearly the death of him. Louis Bourcet -is not the sort of a man to be first across the -bridge of Lodi. The only way to have got him -across would have been to carry him. But in spite -of all I could do he would have married me if I had -not found a way to get rid of my money.”</p> - -<p>“Tell me how you contrived to get your money in -your own hands?”</p> - -<p>Then Fifi told about putting the box of old shoes -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span>in the bank and sewing the money up in the mattress, -just as she had told the Pope, and both the -Emperor and the Empress laughed aloud at it. -And Fifi further explained how Cartouche’s letter -had showed her the way to make a good use of her -uncomfortable fortune instead of merely throwing -it away.</p> - -<p>The Empress then asked, in her charming manner, -some questions about Fifi’s life, and both the -Emperor and Empress seemed excessively amused -at the simplicity of Fifi’s answer.</p> - -<p>“I shall have to tell Lebrun, the arch-treasurer, -about this,” cried the Emperor; “and now, what -can I or the Empress do for you?”</p> - -<p>Fifi reflected a moment.</p> - -<p>“If you please, Sire,” she replied after a moment, -“to send for Cartouche—he is just outside in the -gardens—and order him to marry me a week from -next Thursday. For, if he should happen to find -out that I have forty francs the week as long as I -live, there’s no telling what he will do, unless your -Majesty gives him positive orders.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor rang, and his aide appearing, he -was directed to find the fellow named Cartouche.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span></p> - -<p>“He is very homely and has a stiff leg,” said -Fifi, by way of description of her lover.</p> - -<p>While Cartouche was being found, the Emperor, -after his wont, began to ask Fifi all manner of -questions, especially about the Holy Father, and -listened attentively to her replies. His only comment -was:</p> - -<p>“A good old man, a dreamer, who lives in his -affections.”</p> - -<p>When Cartouche was ushered into the room the -Empress spoke to him with the greatest kindness, -but the Emperor, frowning, said:</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle Fifi tells me she has a mind to -marry you a week from Thursday, and you are -hanging back.”</p> - -<p>“Sire,” replied Cartouche, respectfully, but without -the least fear, “I am too old and ugly for Fifi, -and I have a stiff leg. Your Majesty knows what -I say is true.”</p> - -<p class="p2b">“No, I do not know it, and Cartouche, obey what -I say to you. A week from Thursday, or before, -if Mademoiselle Fifi requires, you are to be ready -to marry her, and if you balk the least in the world -I shall have a sergeant and a file of soldiers to -persuade you. Do you understand?”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> -<img src="images/i_234.jpg" width="350" alt="Fifi and Cartouche with Napoleon and Josephine." -title="" /></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span></p> - -<p class="p2">“Oh, Sire,” replied Cartouche, with shining eyes, -“how good of your Majesty to command me! For, -otherwise, I never could have thought it anything -but wrong to tie Fifi to me for life. But one must -obey the Emperor.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” cried Fifi, quite forgetting herself in her -joy, “one must obey the Emperor.”</p> - -<p>And then the Emperor kissed Fifi on the cheek, -and pulled Cartouche’s ear, saying to him:</p> - -<p>“You mutinous rascal, you would disobey your -Emperor; but remember the sergeant and the file of -soldiers are ready when Mademoiselle Fifi calls for -them. So, good by, and good fortune to you both, -and if anything befalls you, you know where to -find your Emperor.”</p> - -<p>The Empress gave Fifi her hand to kiss and said, -smiling:</p> - -<p>“I shall not forget a little present for your wedding,” -and Fifi and Cartouche went away, the two -happiest creatures in Paris.</p> - -<p>Fifi returned in the imperial carriage, and Cartouche -returned on the top of an omnibus, but each -of them was in a heaven of his own.</p> - -<p>Fifi reached home first, and when Cartouche arrived<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span> -she was hard at work on a white bonnet for -her wedding.</p> - -<p>“Cartouche,” she cried, as he opened the door, -“there are a million things to be done if we are to -be married a week from next Thursday.”</p> - -<p>“I know it,” answered Cartouche, “and Fifi—you -need not send for the sergeant, I think.”</p> - -<p>Fifi threw herself into his arms. She was bubbling -over with joy. Cartouche’s saturnine face -was more saturnine than ever. He kissed Fifi solemnly, -and broke away from her. It was too much -joy for him.</p> - -<p>The preparations for their wedding were simple -enough, as became an insignificant actress and a -poor actor, whose home was to be in two little rooms -very high up; for Fifi, having been bred under the -tiles, declined to come down lower, in spite of her -improved fortunes. They had a great many rehearsals -at the theater, too, and Cartouche, as stage -manager, had lost none of his strictness, and ordered -Fifi about as peremptorily as if he were not -to be married to her on Thursday. Fifi obeyed -him very sweetly and had a new humility toward -him.</p> - -<p>All of their fellow actors showed them great -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span>good-will—even Julie Campionet, who behaved in -the most beautiful manner, considering what provocation -Fifi had long given her. Everybody connected -with the theater gave them a little present—poor -and cheap enough, but rich in kindness. Even -the old woman who lighted the theater brought Fifi -a couple of pink candles for a wedding present, -and Fifi thankfully accepted them.</p> - -<p>Two days before the wedding came three splendid -presents—a fine shawl from the Empress, a -watch from the Emperor and a purse from the -Holy Father. Fifi was charmed, and took up so -much time at rehearsal in exhibiting these gorgeous -gifts that she failed to answer her cue, and subjected -herself to a fine, according to the rules of -the theater, which Cartouche rigorously exacted.</p> - -<p>Fifi worked so hard preparing for her wedding -on the Thursday morning, and her return to the -stage on the Thursday evening, that the hours flew -as if on wings—and the day came almost before -she knew it.</p> - -<p>The morning was fair and bright as only -May mornings can be fair and bright. Fifi and -Cartouche, with Duvernet and Julie Campionet, -now completely reconciled with Fifi for a short -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</span>time, walked to the <i>mairie</i> and then to the parish -church, and were married hard and fast. From -thence they went to a cheap café to breakfast, and -Duvernet, in honor of the occasion, had a two-franc -bouquet of violets on the table. All of the -waiters knew that two of the party were bride and -groom, but Cartouche was so solemn and silent, and -Duvernet so gay and talkative, that everybody supposed -Duvernet the happy man and Cartouche the -disappointed suitor.</p> - -<p>It was then time for the rehearsal, which lasted -nearly all the rest of the day, Cartouche being unusually -strict. When the curtain went up in the -evening never was there such an audience or so -much money in the Imperial Theater. The best -seats were put at the unprecedented price of two -francs and a half, and Duvernet gnashed his teeth -that he had not made them three francs, so great -was the crowd. The play was the famous classical -one in which Duvernet had worn the toga made of -Fifi’s white petticoat. This time he had a beautiful -toga, bought at a sale of third and fourth-hand -theatrical wardrobes, and it had been washed -by Julie Campionet’s own hands.</p> - -<p>Everybody in the cast made a success. Even -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</span>Cartouche as the wounded Roman centurion of the -Pretorian Guard, got several recalls, and he was -no great things of an actor. Duvernet covered -himself with glory, but all paled before Fifi’s triumph. -Never was there such a thunder of applause, -such a tempest of curtain calls, such a storm -of bravos. Fifi palpitated with joy and pride.</p> - -<p>When at last the performance was over, and Cartouche -and Fifi came out of the theater into the -dark street, under the quiet stars, Fifi said, quite -seriously:</p> - -<p>“Cartouche, my heart is troubled.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Fifi?”</p> - -<p>“Because I am not half good enough for you. -I am only Fifi—you know what I mean. I am -ashamed that I am not something more and better -than merely Fifi.”</p> - -<p>And Cartouche, who was usually the most matter-of-fact -fellow alive, replied softly:</p> - -<p>“As if a rose should be ashamed of being only a -rose!”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="box"> -<p class="center no-indent">BY<br /> -MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL</p> - -<p class="ph1">FRANCEZKA</p> - -<p class="center no-indent p4">“A STORY OF YOUTH AND<br /> -SPLENDOR”</p> - -<p class="center no-indent p6">ILLUSTRATED BY<br /> -HARRISON FISHER</p></div></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="transnote"><div class="chapter"> -<p class="ph2" id="Transcribers_Notes"><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Notes:</span></p> -</div> - -<p>On page 233, mattrees has been changed to mattress.</p> - -<p>On page 226, love-making has been changed to lovemaking.</p> - -<p>All other spelling, hyphenation and languages other than English have been left as -typeset.</p></div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORTUNES OF FIFI ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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