"Of course, of course!" replied Gerondif, scratching his nose. "When I say like a horse, I use a figure of speech--a metaphor, if you prefer; we will go _piano et sano--ecce rem!_ In addition to writing and mathematics, I will teach monsieur le marquis his own language, root and branch, so that he may speak it as I do; that is to say, with elegance; also Latin, Greek, Italian, philosophy, history, ancient and modern, mythology, rhetoric, the art of versification, geography, astronomy, a little physics, and chemistry, and mineralogy, and----"

"Oh! that is enough, monsieur le professeur!" cried Jasmin, bewildered by all that he heard, and aghast with admiration at Monsieur Gerondif's learning. "When my young master knows all those things, he will be quite learned enough."

"If you wish for anything more, you have only to speak; I venture to say that so far as learning is concerned, I am a well, a genuine well. At the age of five, I took a prize for memory, and at seven I had three wreaths on my head, wreaths of oak, like the Druids, ancient priests of Gaul, who worshipped Teutates, or Mercury, and the mistletoe, a parasite which, according to them, cured all diseases. I don't agree with them, for I have corns which pain me terribly; I put mistletoe on them, and they hurt me worse than ever."

Jasmin dared not breathe while Monsieur Gerondif was speaking; the nurse and her husband shared his admiration, and the schoolmaster, well pleased with the effect that he had produced, was listening to himself with much complaisance when the old servant interrupted him to say:

"A thousand pardons, monsieur, if I venture to slip in a word, but it seems to me necessary to agree upon terms; how much will you take a month to teach my young master all these things, it being understood that you will come every day except Sunday?"

Monsieur Gerondif reflected a few moments, and replied at last in a hesitating manner:

"For imparting to Monsieur de Grandvilain as much knowledge as it is possible for me to impart, it seems to me that if I charge you fifteen francs a month I----"

"Fifteen francs!" cried Jasmin in a tone of disgust; "fifteen francs for all that; why, you must be joking, monsieur."

Monsieur Gerondif ceased to smile; he lowered his eyes and muttered:

"Well, then, if you think that is too much, we will reduce the amount and----"

"Think that it's too much!" replied Jasmin; "on the contrary, monsieur, I think that it isn't enough! Thank heaven, my young master is rich, he is able to pay those who give him lessons. What! I, a valet de chambre, earn six hundred francs a year, with board and lodging, while a man as learned as you, who is going to teach my master so many fine things, receives less than that! Oh, no! I offer you a hundred and fifty francs a month, monsieur, and I consider it none too much for all that you know."

"A hundred and fifty francs--a month!" cried Monsieur Gerondif, whose features expressed indescribable bliss. "A hundred and fifty francs! I accept, Monsieur Jasmin, I accept with grat.i.tude, and I will prove myself worthy. I will pa.s.s almost the whole day with my pupil--my school will not prevent, for I have a sub-master, to whom I pay three francs a month; I will increase his salary if necessary, and at need I will give up my school entirely, to devote my whole time to the interesting child whom you entrust to me."

The schoolmaster seized Jasmin's hands and shook them effusively; then he shook hands with Jacquinot, then with Nicole, and finally, finding no more hands to shake, he began to clap his own, crying:

"Hosanna! Hosanna! _applaudite cives!_"

Jasmin whispered to Jacquinot:

"I think that Monsieur Gerondif said: 'Apportez du civet.' Bring some jugged hare."

"We haven't got any jugged hare," replied Jacquinot, "but we've got some of our wine to drink, and the schoolmaster will drink with us, I know."

Nicole brought wine and gla.s.ses. Monsieur Gerondif gladly accepted the invitation to drink, but he asked the nurse for a crust of bread, because, as he had not had time to have his potatoes baked, he was conscious of a void in his stomach. Nicole fetched what provisions she had and placed them on the table, whereupon Monsieur Gerondif began by cutting an enormous slice of bread, then attacked a dish of beef and beans with a vehemence in which there was something appalling.

But while eating, the schoolmaster found time to talk; he said to Jasmin:

"We have talked about knowledge, but there is another subject upon which we have not touched,--I mean morals. In that matter too you may rely upon me. I am extremely rigid upon that point; for you see, Monsieur Jasmin, morals are the curb of society. I venture to say that mine are beyond reproach, and I propose that it shall be the same with my pupil."

"Oh! as for that," said the old servant with a smile, "it seems to me that we have no reason to fear as yet, considering my young master's age. Later perhaps! for look you, a young man is not a girl!"

"He's much worse, Monsieur Jasmin, much more dangerous! Because the young man, being more free, can do more wrong things. But I will inculcate in him principles which will keep him in the right path; I will be the Mentor of this Telemachus!--But I beg pardon, it just occurs to me that in order to begin monsieur le marquis's studies, I shall have to buy some elementary books, grammars and dictionaries; those that I use in my school are worn out, and I believe that I have not enough money at this moment to make these purchases. If Monsieur Jasmin could pay me a month's salary in advance, why then----"

"With pleasure, Monsieur Gerondif; I always bring money when I come here, in case my master should ask me for some. See, here are a hundred and twenty francs in gold, and thirty in five-franc pieces."

The schoolmaster gazed with a covetous eye at the money which was counted out to him. He took it, and counted and recounted it several times; he put it in his pocket, then took it out to count it once more.

He did not tire of handling that gold and silver, for never before had he been in possession of so large a sum. They spoke to him, he did not hear, he did not answer, but he jingled his gold pieces and his silver pieces, and after he had finally placed them in a pocket of his trousers, he put his hand over them and kept it there all the time.

Meanwhile, as it was late, Jasmin, having taken leave of his master and received from him renewed promises that he would study, returned to the carriage which had brought him thither and drove back to Paris, delighted that he had found a way to make a scholar of Cherubin.

As for Monsieur Gerondif, having saluted his future pupil and informed him that he would come on the morrow, he left the nurse's house, and went home, still keeping his hand in his pocket and jingling the money which was there.

PART II

IX

A COALITION

We will pa.s.s rapidly over the years following that during which Monsieur Gerondif became the young marquis's tutor. Cherubin had kept his word; he had consented to study, but he had insisted on Louise's presence during his lessons; at first, Monsieur Gerondif had tried to keep the little girl from the room, but Cherubin had shrieked and wept and refused to listen to his tutor; so that it was found necessary to yield to him. By slow degrees Louise's presence had evidently come to seem less inconvenient to Monsieur Gerondif, for if she were not there when he arrived, he was the first to send for her.

The fact is that Louise had grown too, and that she had improved even more rapidly. At thirteen, she seemed at least fifteen; she was slender, well-built, and possessed of many graces; not studied and affected ones such as so many young ladies in Paris a.s.sume, thinking that they will be deemed natural; but those nave, simple graces which one recognizes instantly but vainly tries to imitate.

Monsieur Gerondif was not a genuine scholar, but he might have pa.s.sed for such in the eyes of many people. He had tried everything, having in his youth essayed a number of professions, but having fixed upon none; after making a pretence of becoming a doctor, a druggist, a chemist, an astronomer, a geometrician, a tradesman, and even a poet; after stuffing his head with the first rudiments of many forms of knowledge and succeeding in none, he had ended by turning schoolmaster. The man who knows one branch thoroughly has much more merit than he who talks glibly about all branches, and yet, in the world, the preference is often given to the latter.

At fifteen, Cherubin knew a little of a great many things; in the eyes of the village, in the eyes of the Frimoussets, the young man was a phenomenon who had learned with extraordinary ease. As for Jasmin, he opened his eyes in amazement when he heard his young master use a Latin word, or mention some historical or mythological fact, and he bowed before Monsieur Gerondif, exclaiming:

"He knows as much as you, and that is a great deal to say."

Monsieur Gerondif puffed himself out, for he had purchased an entirely new costume; he no longer resembled a harlequin, and he was seen now with a hat and a real umbrella.

But with well-being ambition had come; that is usually the case. When a man has nothing, he becomes accustomed to forming no wishes, to not looking above himself; he remains in his sh.e.l.l and tries to be happy there forever; he even succeeds sometimes. But when he becomes well-to-do, then he indulges in a mult.i.tude of little luxuries. .h.i.therto unknown; but they are no longer enough; every day he desires others, forms a thousand new aspirations, becomes ambitious, in short; and it often happens that he is less contented than when he possessed nothing.

Such was substantially Monsieur Gerondif's story; when he had nothing to live upon but the paltry profits of his school, he wore clogs, went without hat or cap, very often dined upon nothing but potatoes baked in the oven, and yet seemed perfectly contented with his position.

Since he had become young Grandvilain's tutor and was earning eighteen hundred francs a year, a sum which it is rather difficult to spend in the village of Gagny, the schoolmaster had formed new desires; and first of all he hoped not to remain forever in a village where he could not even find means to spend his money, a state of affairs which is very annoying to one who has not been accustomed to having money to spend.

Monsieur Gerondif had been shrewd enough to obtain his pupil's confidence, and even to inspire affection in him; for Cherubin's heart was easily won; he flew to meet all those who showed the slightest attachment to him. While enjoining virtue and good morals upon the young man every day, Monsieur Gerondif, whose eyesight was very good although he constantly kept his eyes lowered, had perceived that Louise was growing, developing, and becoming a charming girl; and more than once, as he looked at the sweet child, he had thought:

"What lovely eyes! What an exquisite oval face! What a correct chin!"

And then, whether to make sure that Louise's chin was in fact correct, or for some other reason, the tutor would pa.s.s his hand over the young girl's face, and sometimes go so far as gently to pinch her cheek, which did not amuse Louise at all; whereas Cherubin, on the contrary, was very glad to hear a complimentary remark addressed to his faithful companion.

"Isn't Louise lovely, my dear master?" he would say at such times.

And Monsieur Gerondif would hasten to a.s.sume a sanctimonious air, and would reply, lowering his eyes:

"Yes, this girl has the type of Jael in all its beauty; she seems to me to have the very appearance of a Madonna."

Thereupon Cherubin would smile again, as he glanced at Louise, and Monsieur Gerondif, thinking of something very different from madonnas, would say to himself:

"This girl will be perfectly bewitching! but if my pupil remains much longer with her--hum! The flesh is weak, the devil is very powerful, especially when he takes the face of a pretty girl. I am not always here; Jacquinot is almost always drunk, and Mere Nicole allows these children to run about together in the fields, looking for flowers among the grain, playing together in the gra.s.s,--all very hazardous amus.e.m.e.nts. I absolutely must look to all this. The best way would be to induce my pupil to return to Paris. I should go with him, there is not the slightest doubt, for his education is not yet complete enough for him to do without a tutor. I shall take care that he needs one for a long time yet, forever, if possible. I shall live in my pupil's mansion at Paris. That will be infinitely pleasanter than to live in this village; and then I can continue to keep an eye on little Louise at a distance; I will protect her, I will push her on in the world. As for Cherubin, after a few months in Paris, he will have forgotten his little friend of the fields.--All this is reasoned out with the wisdom of Cato, and it only remains to put it into execution."