"Well, I see that everything is going all right. The little woman is yours this time--and you think so much of her!--And her sister, the good Adolphine--do you still see her?"

"I have seen very little of her lately; she never comes to her sister's, and that surprises me; twice I have tried to talk with Adolphine, to tell her that my marriage to f.a.n.n.y was settled; but I couldn't find her, she had gone out; for I can't believe that she would have refused to see me--her brother."

"In all this excitement, you haven't thought about a place for me, I suppose?"

"Pardon me, I did mention it to my uncle. He doesn't seem to believe that you are serious in your desire for employment."

"Ah! pardieu, if your uncle has got to have a hand in it, I am very certain that I shall never get a place!"

"Never fear; I will attend to it myself, but there's no hurry. Are you in need of money? Tell me."

"Why, no, I am not in need of money. Do you suppose that I have already gone through the thousand francs you loaned me?"

"But that was more than two months ago, and----"

"True, and formerly I should have seen the last of it in a week; I should have made only seven mouthfuls of it. But to-day it's different!

I told you that I had reformed. I have discovered, just at the beginning of Boulevard du Temple, a soup dealer who supplies dinners; and delicious dinners, too, on my word of honor! you don't have a great variety of dishes, to be sure; but everything is good. Excellent roast beef; you would fancy you were in London; and you can dine abundantly for eighteen sous. Eighteen sous! I used to give more than that to the waiter."

"My friend, you shouldn't go to extremes in anything; it seems to me that you are carrying your reformation too far."

"I am very well pleased; I believe that I shall end by living on my five hundred and fifty francs a year; when that time comes, I propose to parade the streets between two clarionets, to exhibit myself."

"After I am married, I will find you a suitable place."

"Make haste and marry, then, that I may have my cue. By the way, I venture to believe that it won't come off without notice to me? I don't ask to be invited to the wedding; that would be presumptuous; but I desire, at least, to salute the bridal couple when they leave the church."

"And I propose that you shall be of the wedding party. We shall not give a ball,--her widowhood is too recent,--but a handsome banquet, and I hope that, on that day, you will forget your reformation. But, adieu! I am late, she is expecting me. You will hear from me soon."

"A mighty good fellow!" said Cherami to himself, as Gustave hurried away; "he deserves to be happy! But will he be, with his f.a.n.n.y? Hum! I'm none too sure of it. For my part, I should prefer the other; but as he's in love with this one--to be sure, she's a very pretty woman, but I, old fox that I am, I wouldn't trust her!--Sapristi! what do I see? My two little pearls, Laurette and Lucie, and I have money in my pocket! But, no; by Saint Anthony, I will not yield to the temptation! Let's be off before they see me."

Laurette and Lucie were, in fact, coming toward Cherami, both dressed with much coquetry and looking very attractive; but he, after heaving a profound sigh, retreated with so much precipitation, that he ran into the door of an omnibus, which had stopped for a lady; and, being urged by the conductor, he concluded to enter also.

XLVII

THE RETURN FROM ITALY

Several weeks pa.s.sed. It was a Thursday; and f.a.n.n.y, who had not been at her father's for a long time, said to Gustave when she saw him during the day:

"I must go to dine with father to-day, my dear; I trust that you will come there this evening?"

"As you will be there, you may be certain that I will come. By the way, I saw that there was an apartment to rent in a nice house on Rue Fontaine. Do you like that quarter?"

"Very much."

"Very well; I will go some time to-day to look at it, and if it seems to me to be suitable I will tell you this evening, so that you can go to see it. For ten months have pa.s.sed; the time is not very far away when I shall be able to call you my wife! so it is none too soon for me to see about getting an apartment ready."

"Do so, my dear; you can tell me to-night if you have found what we want."

About five o'clock, the widow went to her father's. Monsieur Gerbault always welcomed his daughter kindly, and Adolphine did her utmost to smile on her sister.

"So you're really going to marry Gustave this time, are you?" said Monsieur Gerbault.

"Why shouldn't I, father? Do you think I shall be doing wrong?"

"No--but I regret that you didn't marry him a year ago."

"Why, father, it seems to me that I acted very wisely! Gustave had only a very modest salary then. Monsieur Monleard offered me a fortune, and I could not hesitate; the sequel didn't come up to my hopes; but certainly no one could have foreseen that."

"But you are very lucky to fall in with a man who still loves you after you have once cast him off."

"Mon Dieu! father, if Gustave had not loved me, some other man would have turned up--that's all there is to that."

"Possibly; at all events, I see that you have an answer for everything."

Adolphine listened to her sister with an air of amazement, but she did not venture to make a single reflection; she kept to herself the thoughts which f.a.n.n.y's remarks inspired; and she avoided, so far as she possibly could, any conversation with her on the subject of her approaching marriage to Gustave.

The evening brought to Monsieur Gerbault's salon his faithful whist players, and Gustave, who shook hands warmly with the man whom he already looked upon as his father-in-law, and affectionately with Adolphine. She, by an involuntary movement, withdrew her hand at first; but the next moment she forced herself to smile, and offered her hand to Gustave, saying:

"I beg your pardon. I thought you were Monsieur de Raincy."

"And she absolutely refuses to give her hand to him," said f.a.n.n.y, with a laugh, "although he offers his name in exchange for it. Don't you think, Gustave, that she makes a great mistake in refusing that young man?"

"Why so, if she doesn't love him?"

"As if people married for love!"

Realizing that she had said something which might distress Gustave, the young woman hastily added:

"When a woman has never been married, she ought to be reasonable; with a widow, it's different; she can afford to obey the dictates of her heart."

These words speedily restored the serenity of Gustave's brow, which had become a little clouded. A moment later, Monsieur Batonnin arrived, and, having saluted the company, said, with a radiant expression:

"I have just met someone, whom you will probably see this evening, for when I said: 'I am going to pa.s.s the evening at Monsieur Gerbault's,' he exclaimed: 'Oh! I mean to go there, too, if only for a moment.'"

"Who is it?" queried Monsieur Gerbault.

"Someone who is very agreeable--just back from Italy. What! can't you guess? Monsieur le Comte de la Beriniere."

"Ah! the dear count! Has he returned?"

"Only yesterday. He instantly asked me for all the news. When I told him that Madame Monleard was a widow, he was tremendously surprised; he couldn't get over it."

"Mon Dieu! how stupid that man is!" muttered Gustave, glancing at f.a.n.n.y.