"No, he ain't mine."

"But you know him, don't you?"

"Oh! I guess I do."

"Whom does he belong to?"

"To the man that owns the Tower."

"Who is the man that owns the Tower?"

"Why, he's the bear, as they call him round here; but for all that he ain't so ugly as folks thought, the bear ain't, for he bought Guillot's house and gave him money too. Would you do that?"

"I don't know what you mean.--Is the dog with you often? does he know you--as he came to your defence?"

"Oh! he don't like me much; it wasn't me that he wanted to help; he wanted to bite you!"

"Oho! do you think so? Then I must find out why the beast should show so much bad feeling against me. You say his master lives at the Tower?

Where is that?"

"A fine big place over on the other side of the Marne, near Gournay. I say! there's a great old park there--bigger'n yours."

"Really! I must see that; and the owner of the dog is probably that boor whom no one about here will receive except Madame Dalmont."

"Ah! she's a kind lady, she is! she gives me cherries and sous; she wouldn't beat me with her whip--I've still got the marks of it!"

"If you had been beaten more, you wouldn't be such a little vagabond.

But I'll find out your name and your parents' in spite of you."

"You'll be smarter'n other folks then! Good-day, madame!"

The little boy ran away with a mocking expression and Thelenie walked on, saying to herself:

"How can it be that a peasant's child has such lovely eyes?"

XV

TWO GENTLEMEN AFTER DINNER

Several days had pa.s.sed. Paul had paid frequent visits to the two friends in the evening, and his sombre humor was beginning to disappear.

His face no longer wore that forbidding look which intimidated the country people; as he talked with Honorine his voice became less harsh, his eyes softer.

The young widow, on her side, experienced an entirely unfamiliar sensation when the master of the Tower seated himself at her side. That sensation afforded pleasant occupation for her heart; she felt happier than ever before, and did not attempt to conceal her happiness, because she saw no harm in the interest which she felt in a man who had hitherto always been betrayed in his affections.

More than once Agathe had said to her:

"You ought to ask Monsieur Paul to tell us his adventures; then we should finally learn the story of the ravine. We should learn why he went at night to the cross that marks the place where someone was killed."

But Honorine would reply:

"I do not like to invite confidences; it would seem to indicate curiosity, suspicion even. So long as a person does not tell us his griefs, it means that he does not think us likely to be interested in them. Let us wait. It is a good deal gained that Monsieur Paul should have abandoned for our sakes his uncivilized, solitary habits; he comes to see us, and that is a great compliment on the part of a man who never speaks to anyone. But we can't expect him to treat us at once like old friends."

"Why not? his dog made friends with us at once, and since he divines a person's feeling toward his master, it seems to me that the master might well follow his dog's example."

The owners of the Goldfish Villa had issued their invitations for the gorgeous fete which they proposed to give in their new abode. Nothing was talked about in Ch.e.l.les but the preparations that were in progress at Monsieur and Madame de Belleville's. Workmen had been brought from Paris; there was to be an illumination and fireworks in the garden. The courtyard and avenue were enc.u.mbered with shrubs, and boxes filled with rare flowers; upholsterers had come to renew the hangings, and painters to touch up the stairs and stair-rails. Everything was in commotion, and in the midst of it all Chamoureau, bewildered by the crowds of people coming and going and by the noise that arose on all sides, often took refuge in the depths of his park, saying to himself:

"Those people drive me crazy; they will prevent me from finding what I seek--that discovery which may throw open the doors of the Academy to me. I feel sure that I am on the point of putting my finger on it. I will go and reflect upon it, while I contemplate the trees in my park."

On the eve of the day appointed for this grand function, which had thrown the whole village of Ch.e.l.les into commotion, Freluchon arrived at nightfall, and not finding Edmond at home, was on his way to Madame Dalmont's, where he was certain of finding him, when he collided with somebody at a street corner.

"Hallo! it's Chamoureau!" cried Freluchon; "delighted to meet you, my dear fellow. But why did you hurl yourself at me in that way? Are you getting short-sighted?"

"No, not at all; but I wasn't looking to see where I was going; I was absorbed in my ideas."

"Sapristi! you must have some very profound ideas then, since you became Monsieur de Belleville."

On that day Chamoureau had, as usual, dined with his new friend the baron, and the two gentlemen had indulged somewhat too freely in the pomard with which one of the cellars of the villa was stored. So that, after dinner, they had felt the need of a short walk in the country.

"Dear Freluchon," said Chamoureau; "so you received our invitation for to-morrow?"

"To be sure I did; and that is why I came to-night, so as to be on hand to-morrow."

"You'll pa.s.s the night with us; that's very nice; we'll give you a splendid room. Oh! we have plenty of them; we have bought an enchanting place here--so dainty and elegant! It's a little Parc-aux-Cerfs."

"Ah! do you have stags--_cerfs_--here?"

"No; that's a figure of speech; I allude to a royal pleasure-house."

"If you did have stags[B] in your house, it wouldn't surprise me.--I am much obliged to you for your proffered hospitality, but I do not need to incommode you; I have my room here in Edmond's house."

[B] Another covert allusion to "wearing the horns," or being a cuckold.

"Ah! you stay with Edmond, do you? You would be much better off with us; it's more elegant there and more comfortable."

"My dear Chamoureau, I don't doubt that everything is magnificent in your house, but I am very comfortable at Edmond's, and I shall sleep there. Moreover, as you may readily imagine, I have accepted your invitation for to-morrow from curiosity. When I learned that you had bought a country house at Ch.e.l.les----"

"An estate!"

"Well! isn't a country house an estate?"

"Yes, but when you say a country-house, it seems to mean just a place to sleep, a little box to loaf in over Sunday; whereas an 'estate'! that instantly denotes something of value, of importance--something vast."

"_Bigre!_ how we do effervesce since we became Chamoureau de Belleville!

But don't you want me to say a chateau--a palace? I'll call it whatever you please!"