At last the fatal _yes_ was p.r.o.nounced. Pelagie said it so low that n.o.body could have heard her; for my part, I showed much firmness. We had a sermon preached to us--a little long, perhaps, but very touching and moving. How can one fail to be moved when one is pledging one's self for life?--I glanced at Pelagie; she did not weep; her eyes were cast down, her manner was as reserved, her demeanor as modest as usual, and she showed no more than her ordinary emotion. That vexed me; it seemed to me that she should have wept.

At last all was over; I was married! We left the church between three rows of sightseers, and went to my sister's; we spent three-quarters of an hour in going the distance of a gunshot; to be sure, our procession was increased by about half of the town, and we had to return salutes and courtesies at every step.

When we reached the house, it was only half-past one, and we did not dine till three. What were we to do in the interval? That was the most difficult part of the whole day. Some old women proposed a game of boston or whist, but Madame de Pontchartrain thought that it would be a breach of etiquette to play cards on a wedding day morning; it is good form to do nothing; it is amus.e.m.e.nt enough to talk, sitting very straight for fear of rumpling one's gown.

Without asking our dear aunt's opinion, I went down into the garden with my wife. I wanted to entice her into some solitary path; not that I proposed to exert my marital rights already; but I wanted to try to read Pelagie's heart and find out what her present feelings were.--It was impossible to be alone; all the young women followed us; the inquisitive little hussies would not let us out of their sight. Two young married people afford so much food for thought! they are so pretty to look at--when they are pretty; and you know that we were.

I could do nothing more than take my wife's hand; I squeezed it tenderly--very tenderly--and she looked at me and smiled.--"The deuce!"

thought I; "can it be that she understands that language?"

"You hurt my fingers," she remarked mildly, withdrawing her hand.

It was enough to drive one to despair! I had no further desire to walk with her alone.

Luckily, the hour for the feast arrived. We betook ourselves, with the utmost formality, as before, to the dining room; we took our seats in the order demanded by convention. I was at one end of the table, my wife at the other; that was the best way to encourage harmony between us; and then, everyone knew that we should come together at last.

The greatest tranquillity reigned during the early courses; we sat very straight, watched one another, pa.s.sed the dishes, ate, and declared everything divine, exquisite, delicious: that was substantially the whole of the conversation. I had no desire to enliven it; I was sober, yes, pensive. Sometimes I glanced at my wife; her eyes were constantly fixed on her plate. Madame de Pontchartrain's expressed the satisfaction she felt at the reserved demeanor of the bride and groom; we certainly could not be charged with acting like two madcaps.

Upon examining the guests, I found that I had at my right a pretty, vivacious young blonde, with whom I had several times laughed and joked when we met in society, so far as laughter was permitted in the circles that we frequented. I began to talk with her by way of distraction, but she replied with marked coldness, reserve, and brevity. What did that mean? Mon Dieu! I had forgotten that I was now a _married man_. I was still inclined to play the gallant with young ladies, but I had lost my t.i.tle of bachelor, which was worth a hundred times more in their eyes than all the pretty speeches I could make them as a Bened.i.c.k.

However, I was determined to amuse myself at any price. I tried to eat; but I was not hungry.

"I will drink, then," I said to myself; "but I must take care; a bridegroom should keep his head clear."

The dessert came at last; our appet.i.tes were a little appeased; the wits of the party began to shine, the jokers to hazard a bonmot or two or a very sly remark; the young men tried to laugh, and the women did their utmost to consider it all very amusing. My sister was in ecstasies; she did her best to encourage this well-intended merriment. As for Deneterre, he was so busily engaged in carving, and in looking after the small table at which his children were sitting with six other children, that he had no time to put in a word.

The dessert and liqueurs increased the general hilarity to the highest point, augmented as it was by divers little pranks on the part of my nephews, who knocked over two piles of plates, broke three gla.s.ses, overturned sauce on several ladies' dresses, while coming to the large table to fetch for themselves things that were promised them but that did not arrive quickly enough to satisfy them. But they knew that on such a great day they had carte blanche, and they made the most of it.

Everybody agreed that they were dear little fellows, even the ladies who would have to change their dresses. Their papa and mamma were enraptured, which was quite natural.

The signal was given, and we left the table.

"How is this?" I whispered to my sister; "no song?"

"You know very well that it isn't good form nowadays, my dear. Is there singing at the great weddings in Paris?"

"No; but there is at those where the guests enjoy themselves."

"We stick to custom."

"And the garter?"

"Fie! fie! we have done away with that; it was indecent!"

"Oh! it was indecent, was it? I see that I must not do at my wedding party or to my wife anything that the most rigid rules of chast.i.ty do not permit. I trust, however, that you have not suppressed anything else."

"Oh! no, brother! besides, I am sure that to-day you have no desire to----"

"To what?"

"Why, to----"

"To what, in heaven's name? Finish."

"Why, a desire to--with your wife---- Oh! you know what I mean."

"The deuce! surely you are joking, my dear girl? Do people no longer marry for that here? is that suppressed, too?"

"No, my dear, no! but a man generally leaves his wife in peace the first day. The poor child has been so excited!"

"Yes; it is astounding how excited she looks!"

"You must give her time to recover herself."

"Go to the deuce, my dear Amelie, with all your nonsense! What is the meaning of all this affectation? as if it must not come to that at last!

I don't like this prudery which denotes dissimulation pure and simple. I know by experience that those who cry scandal the loudest are the ones who in secret have the least virtue. The modesty of rakes and kept women is much more easily shocked than that of virtuous men and decent women.

Fans hide more prost.i.tutes than virgins, and veils are worn from coquetry, not from modesty; in short, those who make so much fuss and hang back at first are the ones who jump the highest afterward."

"Well, you are free to do as you please, brother."

"That is very fortunate!"

Poor Amelie! how she had changed since she had been living in that paltry town! So this was the banquet at which we were to laugh so loud and have so much sport! For my own part--and I have been to many weddings--I confess that the merriest are those of honest folk who are not afraid of violating etiquette and the proprieties every moment.

Commend me to the poor people for real enjoyment! But I realized that on this occasion I must say with the song:

"When we are beggars, then we'll make merry!"

My wife disappeared. Ah, yes! to dress for the ball--that was it. I had nothing to say against that custom; in any event, I should have been careful not to say it; I should have had all the young women about my ears. Two dresses, sometimes three--that was one of the pretty customs of that day.

We returned to Madame de Pontchartrain's for the ball. It was the first time that I had ever seen wedding festivities divided between two places; but I found that I learned many things at Melun.

We a.s.sembled in the salon, which was lighted by candelabra that must have done duty in the time of King Pepin le Bref. The guests invited for the ball arrived in a swarm; no one ever dreams of missing a fete in a small town. The bride appeared in her ball dress, which was in very good taste. I looked at her, but her eyes were still _in statu quo_. I ventured to say to her, under my breath:

"Do lift your eyes a little; you have such lovely eyes!"

"Aunt told me not to."

That was all I could extort from her. I had nothing to say to that; it would have been ill-advised for me to play the master so soon.

The orchestra began to play; we had two violins and a clarinet; also a little fifer, to imitate Colinet; it was superb--at all events, it was the best that could be had in the town. They played contradances that I had never heard in Paris. I surmised that they were composed by the leader of the local orchestra; it was impossible to make the mistake of confusing them with those of Rubner, Weber, and Tolbecque.

There was plenty of dancing; and in that amus.e.m.e.nt the pleasure was not feigned, for youth loves to caper. The young men disputed with one another the privilege of dancing with the bride, who was always engaged for fourteen or fifteen quadrilles ahead. The groom's turn never comes on such occasions; but on his wedding day he is easily consoled, and a thing that would have distressed him terribly the day before makes no difference to him when he is married. How a t.i.tle changes one's way of feeling and of looking at things!

I too danced; I was very glad to have that resource to occupy my time, and I was as persistent as my wife.

"Do take a little rest," some young man would say to me; "you'll tire yourself out."

But I paid no heed, for I thought less than they did of what I still had to do.

Toward the end of the evening, however, I danced with Pelagie; the ball had warmed her up a little: her cheeks were flushed and her bosom rose and fell more rapidly; she was really very pretty, and I ought to have deemed myself very lucky to possess so many charms. I began to look at my watch and to think that the time pa.s.sed very slowly.