"I possess thirty thousand francs a year. All my property descends to my son, my sole heir. I desire that he be put in possession of his property at the age of fifteen. Until then I beg that my notary will undertake to manage it. I desire that no change shall be made inside my house, and that none of my servants shall be discharged.

I appoint Jasmin, my faithful valet de chambre, steward of my household. Every month my notary shall hand him such sum as he shall require for the household expenses and for the education of my son.

"SIGISMOND VENCESLAS, MARQUIS DE GRANDVILAIN."

The notary could not help smiling after reading this extraordinary testament, and Jasmin, who had listened with all his ears, gazed at him with an air of amazement, and faltered:

"In all this, monsieur le notaire, I didn't understand who is to be the child's guardian."

"There isn't any, Jasmin, his father hasn't appointed any; he relied upon you and me; upon me to administer his fortune, and upon you to superintend his conduct. It seems that Monsieur de Grandvilain had great confidence in you; I have no doubt that you deserve it, but I urge you to redouble your zeal with respect to the young marquis. Remember that it is your duty now to watch over him. As for his fortune, his father wished him to be placed in possession of it at the age of fifteen. That is making him rich at a very early age; but since it is his father's will, see to it, Jasmin, that at all events, when fifteen, the young marquis is already a man in knowledge and strength of character."

Jasmin listened to this speech with the greatest attention; he attempted to reply, but got confused, lost his way in a sentence which he could not finish, and finally left the notary, after receiving a sum of money with which to begin to manage his master's household.

On returning to the house, Jasmin had grown three inches and was puffed up like a balloon; vanity perches everywhere, among the small as well as among the great, and it is likely to be even more powerful among the former who are not accustomed to grandeur.

All the servants gathered about the valet, curious to learn the contents of the will. Jasmin a.s.sumed a peculiarly idiotic expression, and replied, speaking through his nose:

"Never fear, my friends, there is to be no change here; I keep you all in my service."

"You, Monsieur Jasmin! are you our master's heir?"

"No, no, I am not the heir, but I represent the heir; in fact, I am the steward of the household. I will keep everybody: cook, coachman, housekeeper, because Monsieur de Grandvilain wished it; otherwise I should have discharged you all, for servants without a master are useless things. But I forget, our master now is the young marquis, and whenever he chooses to occupy his house, he will find his household all arranged; that was his late father's wish, no doubt, and we must conform to it."

All the servants bowed before Jasmin, who had become a man of weight, and he, after receiving the congratulations of those who were now his inferiors, withdrew to his chamber, and, reflecting upon what the notary had said, cudgelled his brains to decide what it was his duty to do with Cherubin, in order properly to carry out his master's designs.

After pa.s.sing several hours at this occupation, without result, Jasmin exclaimed:

"Faith, I believe the best thing to do is to leave little Cherubin out at nurse."

VII

LITTLE LOUISE

Cherubin was still at the village, still living with his nurse Nicole Frimousset, and yet Cherubin was ten years old. Although of small stature, his health was excellent, and the attentions of a nurse had long since ceased to be necessary to him. But the marquis's heir had retained undiminished his affection for the place where he had pa.s.sed his childhood, and he lost his temper when it was suggested that he should leave it.

Meanwhile Jacquinot, the foster-father, had become more of a sot than ever; and as she grew older, Nicole, being obliged to scold her husband incessantly, was rarely in good humor. And then her two boys had left the village: one was a mason at Orleans, the other was apprenticed to a carpenter at Livry.

In spite of that, Cherubin still enjoyed life at his nurse's house, where he had for his companion a little girl who was only two years younger than he. It was a few days before the Marquis de Grandvilain's death, that one morning, a very young lady from the city, fashionably dressed, alighted from a cab in front of Nicole's cottage. This young lady, who was beautiful and bore a look of distinction, was very pale and seemed much excited; she had in her arms a little girl of about a year old, and she said to Jacquinot's wife, in a voice broken by sobs:

"This is my daughter; she is only a year old, but she has been weaned for some months; I wish to leave her with some kindhearted people who will take great care of her and treat her as their own child. Will you take charge of her, madame? I cannot keep her with me any longer; indeed, it is possible that I may not be able to take her for a long while. There are three hundred francs in this roll; that is all that I can raise at present; but within a year I will send you the same amount, if I do not come before that to see my child."

Nicole, who had profited much by bringing up one child, thought that a second fortune had fallen into her lap, and eagerly accepted the proposition which was made to her. The young lady handed her the little girl, the money, and a large bundle containing the child's clothes; then, after embracing her daughter once more, she hurriedly entered her carriage, which instantly drove away.

Not until then did Nicole reflect that she had not asked the young lady her name, or her child's name, or her address; but it was too late, for the cab was already a long way off. Nicole soon consoled herself for her forgetfulness, thinking:

"After all, she will come again, she certainly can't mean to abandon her child. She has given me three hundred francs; that is enough for me to be patient; and then the child is a sweet little thing, and I believe I would have kept her for nothing. What shall I call her? _Pardieu!_ Louise; for this is the feast of Saint-Louis. When her mother comes back, if she don't like that name, she can tell me the child's own name.

What a fool I was not to ask her! But she seemed in such a hurry, and so excited.--Well, Louise,--that is decided; she will be a playmate for my Cherubin, and in that way the dear child won't get tired of living with us. Bless my soul! the longer we keep him, the better off we are."

And the little girl had, in fact, become Cherubin's inseparable companion; she had grown up with him, she shared all his games, all his pleasures. Cherubin was not happy when Louise was not with him; the little girl's activity was a foil to the little marquis's natural mildness of character; and when he began to show signs of becoming a charming young man, Louise gave promise of being a very pretty young girl. But the young lady who had brought to Nicole that child whose mother she claimed to be, had not returned to Gagny; once only, a year after her visit, a messenger from Paris had appeared at Frimousset's house and had handed them a paper which contained only one hundred and fifty francs, saying:

"This is from the mother of the little girl who was brought here a year ago; she requests you to continue to take care of her child."

Nicole had questioned the man, had asked him for the name and address of the lady who sent him; but the messenger had replied that he did not know, that she had come to his stand in Paris and had given him the errand to do, paying him in advance, after making sure that he had a badge.

Nicole had not been able to learn anything more, and since then she had received neither money nor information. But Louise was so attractive that the idea of sending her away had not once occurred to her. Besides, Cherubin was devoted to her, the little girl was a new bond which kept him in his nurse's family; and when by chance Jacquinot made any reflection upon the child whom they were bringing up for nothing, his wife would reply:

"Hold your tongue, you drunkard; it isn't any of your business; if the girl's mother doesn't come to see her, it must be because she is dead, or else because she is a bad mother; if she is dead, then I must take her place with the child; if she is a bad mother, Louise would be unhappy with her, and I prefer to keep her with me."

While Cherubin grew up beside his little friend, Jasmin continued to govern the Marquis de Grandvilain's household; he was careful in his expenditure; the servants were not permitted to indulge in any excesses, and he himself got tipsy only once a week, which was very modest in one who had the keys to the cellar. But Jasmin thought constantly of his young master; he went to see him often, and sometimes pa.s.sed whole days at Gagny; and he always asked Cherubin if he wished to go back to Paris with him, to his own house. The little fellow always refused, and Jasmin always returned to Paris alone, consoling himself with the thought that the young marquis was in excellent health, and that that was the main point.

When Jasmin went to the notary to ask for money, which he never did without presenting an exact statement of what he had to pay out, the notary, after praising the faithful valet for the honesty and economy with which he regulated the household expenditure, never failed to ask him:

"And our young marquis, how does he come on?"

"He is in superb health," Jasmin would reply.

"He ought to be a big fellow now, he is nearly eleven years old."

"He has a very pretty figure and a charming face; he will be a little jewel, whom all the women will dote on, I am sure, as they doted on his late father; but I presume that they won't be the same women."

"That is all very well; but how is he getting on with his studies; have you placed the little marquis at a good inst.i.tution?"

"Excellent, monsieur; oh, yes! he is in a very good house indeed; he eats as much as he wants."

"I have no doubt that he is well fed, but that is not enough; at his age, what he wants above all is food for the mind. Does he give satisfaction?"

"They are enchanted with him; they would like never to part with him, he is so attractive."

"Has he had any prizes?"

"Prizes! he has whatever he wants; he has only to ask, they refuse him nothing."

"You don't understand me; has he obtained any prizes for his work, I mean; is he strong in Latin, Greek, and history?"

Jasmin was slightly embarra.s.sed by those questions; he coughed, and faltered a few words which could not be understood. But the notary, who attributed his embarra.s.sment to other causes, continued:

"I am talking about things you don't understand, eh, my old Jasmin?

Latin and Greek and such matters are not within your scope. However, when I have a few moments to myself, I will come to you, and you must take me to see your young marquis."

Jasmin went away, muttering:

"The deuce! the deuce! if he goes to see my little Cherubin some day, he won't be very well content with his studies; but it isn't my fault if monsieur le marquis refuses to leave his nurse. That notary keeps talking to me about food for the mind; it seems to me that when a child eats four meals a day with a good appet.i.te, his mind ought not to be any more hungry than his stomach, unless it doesn't want to be fed."

One day, however, after a visit to the notary, when he had again urged the old valet to commend the young marquis to his teachers, Jasmin started at once for Gagny, saying to himself on the way:

"I am an old brute! I leave my master's son in ignorance; for after all, I know how to read myself, and I believe that Cherubin doesn't even know that. Certainly this state of things can't be allowed to go on. Later, people will say: 'Jasmin took no care of the child who was placed in his charge. Jasmin is unworthy of the late marquis's confidence.'--I don't propose that people shall say that of me. I am sixty years old now, but that's no reason for being an idiot. I propose to show my strength of character."