"Why, I don't see but that that time has come back; for we are in the same position that we were then--almost."

Gustave could not restrain a sigh at that _almost_. The young widow made haste to continue:

"And now that I am free, that I am my own mistress, won't you do me the favor of coming to see me sometimes, Monsieur Gustave? Won't you have a little pity on the tedium of a poor widow, who was so anxious for you to come back, who talked about you every day with Adolphine?"

"What, madame! can it be true? you have thought sometimes of me?"

"He asks me if I have thought of him! he doubts it!--Is it because you had altogether forgotten me?"

"I, forget you? Ah! that would be impossible! Your lovely features are engraved on my heart, on my mind. Although far from you, I saw you all the time. Ah! f.a.n.n.y, when one has once loved you.--But, pardon me, madame, I am losing my head; I call you f.a.n.n.y, as I used."

"That doesn't offend me in the least; on the contrary, I like it. But just see what faces Monsieur Batonnin is making at us! One would say that he was trying to throw his eyes at us. Mon Dieu! how funny he is when he looks like that! Ha! ha! ha! it's enough to kill one."

"Madame Monleard is in great spirits to-night," said Monsieur Clairval to Monsieur Batonnin, who replied:

"I've noticed that she's been in much better spirits ever since she's been a widow."

"That Monsieur Batonnin, with his soft-spoken ways, always has something unkind to say," muttered Madame de Mirallon.

"And he smears honey on his words, to make them go down; that's the custom."

Adolphine had walked mechanically to the piano; she was suffering intensely, she would have liked to leave the salon, but she dared not, because it would have worried her father. To make her misery complete, Monsieur Batonnin joined her.

"Are we going to have the pleasure of hearing you sing, mademoiselle?"

"No, monsieur; I could not possibly sing; I have a very sore throat."

"I trust, mademoiselle, that you are not still offended with me because I thought that you looked ill?"

"Oh! not at all, monsieur; indeed, I think that you must have been right, for I don't feel very well this evening."

"Madame your sister is well enough for two, I judge, she is in such good spirits; she seems to be talking a good deal with that gentleman. Isn't he the same one who was with you one morning when I came to your room with your father?"

"Yes, monsieur; that is he."

"He was very dismal then; it seems that his gloom has disappeared, for he is laughing heartily with your sister. Are they acquainted?"

"Why, to be sure; Monsieur Gustave is an old friend of ours."

"Very good! I said to myself: 'Madame Monleard doesn't stand much on ceremony with that young man; he must be an old acquaintance, at least.'"

To avoid listening any longer to Monsieur Batonnin, Adolphine seated herself by the whist table, and pretended to watch the game; but, sit where she would, she heard her sister's exclamations, whispering, and laughter, and the evening seemed endless to her.

At last the clock struck eleven; f.a.n.n.y rose and prepared to take her leave. Gustave looked at her, as if undecided as to what he should do, but the young widow observed:

"Monsieur Clairval is playing whist; besides, I don't want him always to have the trouble of going home with me; and as Monsieur Gustave is here, perhaps he would be willing to escort me as far as my door."

Gustave's face beamed; he hastened to say that he should be too happy to offer her his arm. Whereupon, f.a.n.n.y made haste to say good-night to her father and sister.

The young man, in his turn, went to Adolphine, and said to her in an undertone:

"Dear little sister, I am a very happy man! She has given me permission to call on her; she has even given me to understand that she regrets having refused to marry me; in short, she is touched by my constancy."

"It is well; be happy, that is my dearest wish; and, above all things, go to my sister's; that will be much better, believe me, than to come to court her here."

Gustave was about to reply, but f.a.n.n.y called him and took him away.

Thereupon Adolphine went to her room, saying to herself:

"Such evenings as this are too horrible; I shall not have the courage to endure them often. Oh! let them be happy together! but I pray that he may not come here any more, that I may not be forced to be a witness of his love for another!"

XLVI

IN WHICH CHERAMI ACTS LIKE SAINT ANTHONY

Gustave did not fail to take advantage of the permission f.a.n.n.y had accorded him. Two days after the party at which they had met, he called upon the young widow, who greeted him thus:

"I began to think that you were off on your travels again, and that we shouldn't see you for another six months."

"Oh! I have no desire to travel now; I am too happy in Paris; especially if you allow me to come to see you."

"What good does it do for me to allow it, when you don't come? I expected you the day before yesterday, I expected you yesterday."

"I was afraid of being presumptuous if I took advantage too soon of the permission you gave me."

"I thought that you wouldn't stand on ceremony, and that we should be on the same terms together as before my marriage to Monsieur Monleard."

These words were accompanied by such a soft glance that Gustave no longer doubted that he was loved. He took f.a.n.n.y's hand and covered it with kisses; she did not resist, and her hand responded tenderly to the pressure of his. Any other than Gustave would probably have carried further his desires and his acts, but he had long been accustomed to look upon f.a.n.n.y as the woman whom he wished to make his wife; and in his love there was a sort of respect which her widow's dress could not fail to intensify.

So Gustave confined himself to repeating that he had never ceased to be enamored of her whom he had hoped to call his wife, and that he would be very, very happy if his hopes could be gratified at last. For her part, f.a.n.n.y gave him to understand that while she might once have been ambitious and fickle, those failings should be charged to her age and consequent giddiness, and that, in reality, her heart had never been in agreement with her vanity.

Then the young widow, by a natural transition, adroitly led Gustave on to speak of his position and prospects. He was a.s.sured of ten thousand francs a year if he remained in his uncle's banking-house; he could hope for more in the future; to be sure, Monsieur Grandcourt would not be pleased to have his nephew marry, but he would place no obstacle in the way of the execution of his project. They would not live in the banker's house, but would take pleasant apartments not far from his offices; they would keep no carriage; he would take his wife to the theatre very often, and to the country; he would not give her diamonds, but she should have handsome dresses, and, as she was charming in herself, she would always be the loveliest of women, even if she were not covered with jewels.

In such conversation as this, forming the most attractive plans for the future, the hours which Gustave pa.s.sed at f.a.n.n.y's side seemed very short. Being entirely at liberty to see his love at her own home, he went much less to Monsieur Gerbault's. As for Adolphine, she did not go to her sister's at all; for she knew that she would meet Gustave there, and she avoided his presence as much as possible.

Two months pa.s.sed thus, during which time Cherami saw very little of Gustave, who spent with f.a.n.n.y all the time that he could spare from his business.

But one morning, just as our lover was starting to call on his enslaver, Cherami caught him on the wing.

"Par la sambleu! my dear Gustave, is there no way of having a word with you? Have you nothing to say to your friend? Or am I no longer your friend? One would say that you avoided me!"

"No, no, my dear Arthur, far from it; it always gives me great pleasure to see you; but you are well aware that I am in love, more in love than ever, and that I pa.s.s with f.a.n.n.y all the time I can steal from my duties."

"Very good! and tell me about this love of yours; sapristi! are you satisfied? Does it go as you want it to this time? Tell me that much, at least."

"Ah! my friend, I am the happiest of men! f.a.n.n.y loves me; I can't possibly doubt it now. As soon as her mourning is at an end, we are to be married; we are already making our plans, our projects for the future; next month, as it will be almost ten months then, we shall begin to look about for apartments, which I shall have furnished and decorated in advance. I intend that f.a.n.n.y shall find them fascinating."