Our lover seized the letter and hurriedly ran his eye over it.

"MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE:

"I have gone away; do not look for me. I carry with me your pocketbook and its contents; I need only that, so I leave you all the rest. I leave you, in addition, my little white petticoat, which seemed to please you immensely; but some day I shall ask you to return it to me; for I expect to see you again, in order to explain my conduct; then, perhaps, you will consider that it was perfectly natural, rather than blamable."

The viscount stood for some time, lost in amazement, gazing alternately at the letter and the petticoat; but suddenly he burst into a laugh, saying to himself:

"Gad! she's a most amusing little hussy! And it has been a racy adventure. I will regale my friends with it when I give them that dinner, the day after to-morrow."

XXIII

THE GENTLEMEN WITH THE THREE PETTICOATS

Toward the close of the month of September following, one fine day, about two o'clock in the afternoon, a gentleman was walking back and forth along the path in front of the monkey house at the Jardin des Plantes.

This gentleman was no other than our old acquaintance Monsieur Dupont, of whom we lost sight some time ago. We left him in the private dining-room, where he had dined with Georgette, who quitted him abruptly because he thought that he could easily triumph over a girl who had consented to dine with him alone at a restaurant; so that his _bonne fortune_ was limited to the possession of a little striped petticoat which had been left in his hands.

Dupont had returned to his wife at Brives-la-Gaillarde. He had carried the little petticoat with him, but had been careful not to show it to his wife, who might have thought it strange that her husband should bring nothing back from Paris save a second-hand petticoat. However, Dupont had been much less inclined to sleep since his return; that was something in favor of the capital. From time to time, when he was alone, he took the grisette's little petticoat from its hiding place and gazed fondly at it, sighing as he remembered her who had worn it and to whom it was so becoming. On those days, Dupont was even less sleepy than usual, and his wife would say to him:

"My dear, it was an excellent idea for you to pa.s.s a few weeks in Paris; you came back much more wide awake; it did you good."

Finally, about the middle of September, Dupont received a letter thus conceived:

"If you desire to see Mademoiselle Georgette again, whose acquaintance you made during your stay in Paris last spring, monsieur, be good enough to be at the Jardin des Plantes, on the path facing the monkey house, about two o'clock in the afternoon of the 25th of this month; she will join you there. You will confer a great favor by bringing with you the little striped petticoat that Mademoiselle Georgette left in your hands."

Dupont quivered with joy when he read this letter:

"The charming girl wants to see me again!" he thought "The petticoat is only a pretext; she regrets her ill treatment of me and means to reward my love at last. Yes, indeed; I will certainly keep the appointment she gives me."

He went to his wife, and said to her:

"My dear love, I must make another little trip to Paris. It is necessary for me to see Jolibois, and I believe that it will be good for my health too. I could hardly wake up this morning."

"Yes, my dear, yes, go to Paris," replied madame; "it can't help doing you good; but don't stay so long as you did the last time."

That is why our old acquaintance was walking in the Jardin des Plantes, on the designated avenue, on the 25th of September, feeling from time to time in the pocket of his full-skirted coat, in which he had bestowed the little striped petticoat he was requested to return.

Ere long Dupont noticed that he kept pa.s.sing a person of mature years, but dressed with much elegance; this was no other than Monsieur de Mardeille, who had received the following note a few days before:

"If Monsieur de Mardeille will take the trouble to be at the Jardin des Plantes, on the path in front of the monkey house, on the 25th of this month, about two o'clock in the afternoon, he will find there Mademoiselle Georgette, who will explain her conduct toward him. It would be very obliging on his part if he would bring with him her little black petticoat."

Monsieur de Mardeille was very careful not to miss that appointment, for he was consumed by a longing to see Georgette once more.

"Perhaps she means to return the twelve thousand francs I was stupid enough to give her," he said to himself.

And having made a neat parcel of the little black petticoat, he put it in his overcoat pocket and betook himself to the place indicated in the note.

After a little time, a third personage appeared on the same path; this was the young Vicomte Edward de Sommerston, who had received a letter of precisely the same tenor as Monsieur de Mardeille's, except that he was requested to bring with him a _white_ petticoat. As our young dandy was not inclined to carry a petticoat in his pocket, he was accompanied by a very diminutive groom, who carried the garment in question under his arm and had an abundant supply of cigarettes in his hand.

As these three gentlemen were walking back and forth along the same path, they soon noticed one another.

"Anyone would say that those two dandies also have appointments here,"

said Dupont to himself.

"Those two fellows are evidently waiting here for someone," thought the viscount, as he puffed at his cigarette.

And Monsieur de Mardeille made a similar reflection as he pa.s.sed the other two.

Before long there was a smart shower. Instantly all the promenaders and monkey fanciers disappeared, except the three gentlemen with the petticoats. They continued to walk to and fro on the same path; and as there was no one else left there save themselves and the little groom, they could not doubt that they were all there by appointment. They began to smile as they pa.s.sed one another; it was easy to see that they divined one another's motives for being there, and that they had at their tongue's end some such words as:

"How tedious this waiting is! Gad! if it weren't for a charming woman, I'd have gone away long ago!"

Dupont had been tempted more than once to enter into conversation with his fellow promenaders, but he had not dared.

"The time wouldn't seem so long, if I were talking with these gentlemen," he said to himself; "that would divert my thoughts and make it easier to be patient; but perhaps they are not in a mood for talking."

Suddenly Edward stopped and drew his watch. Monsieur de Mardeille did the same; whereupon Monsieur Dupont walked up to them, drew his own watch, and ventured to say:

"I beg pardon, messieurs, but will you allow me to ask what time you make it? My watch may be a little fast, and I should like to be certain of the time. I say twenty-two minutes past two."

"Two twenty-two; that's my time, too," said Monsieur de Mardeille.

"Faith! messieurs, we go better than Charles the Fifth's clocks," said the viscount, after consulting his watch; "I agree with you exactly."

"Didn't Charles the Fifth's clocks go well?" inquired Dupont.

"Don't you know that that monarch, after abdicating, cultivated a pa.s.sion for clockmaking? He amused himself mending and improving clocks; he had an enormous number of them, and they went so well together that sometimes, as a reward of his labors, he had the pleasure of hearing them strike twelve for a whole hour!"

They laughed heartily over Charles the Fifth's clocks; then Dupont observed:

"I had a rendezvous for two o'clock, here in this path."

"So had I."

"And I."

"But women are never on time!"

"No, never!"

"Especially when they are young and pretty; they know that we'll wait for them."

"Yes, they are too anxious to make us long for them to come."