In a word, what Alfred desired was to create a sensation; the same pleasures, enjoyed in private, without show, without witnesses, or in curtained boxes at the theatre, would have seemed to him tasteless, insipid and of no account; but to attract attention, to cause a sensation, to be noticed on entering a theatre or a concert hall, was to him supreme happiness. He did not suspect that many people said when they saw him:

"They say that he has already run through thirty thousand francs with her!"

"I believe him to be quite enough of a fool for that! Indeed, he looks it!"

"What an utterly absurd costume!"

And it was to procure this reputation that young Alfred had run through more than thirty thousand francs in one year; that was more than half of the fortune he had inherited. If he continued to live in the same way, he had not enough for another year; but once started on the path of folly, some people keep on, not knowing how to stop. The crash which awaits them, and in which they will involve some too confiding friends, is there before them, inevitable, if they persist in following the same road; they know it, and still they go on. Are they fools or knaves? they necessarily deserve both t.i.tles.

The other individual was not so good-looking as Monsieur Alfred de Saint-Arthur, but he had not his stupid look; indeed, there was in his eyes a shrewd expression which sometimes turned to mockery. Neither his trousers nor his coat were so exaggerated as his friend's, but all the world did not turn to look at him; he had no fashionable mistress upon whom he squandered money, but he strove to be on the best terms with the mistresses of his friends; he did not waste his fortune, because he had none, and he had not left his place, because he had never had any.

However, as one must needs try, in society, to have some talent, some profession, or some rank, in default of fortune, Jericourt had become an author. He had not stopped to consider whether he had the necessary vocation and intellect for that; he had said to himself: "I propose to be an author;" and as one ordinarily effects his purpose by dint of perseverance and unbounded self-a.s.surance, Jericourt, by persistently frequenting the cafe where the young men who write for the stage ordinarily gather, had insinuated himself among them, playing billiards with one, dominoes with another; he had become one of their intimates, and then had begun to talk of plays, of plots, of original ideas which he claimed to have had; and when someone would say to him:

"That is old, that subject has already been treated fifty times!" he would exclaim:

"I don't see why it shouldn't be treated fifty-one times! A thing that has succeeded so often will succeed again. It is mere folly to try to do something new; one risks failure; whereas, by following roads already marked out, one is certain to arrive without hindrance."

Jericourt found people of his opinion; and thus it was that he became an author by revamping what others had done before him. And he ended by believing himself to be an inventor, a man of genius, and by making idiots of the type of his friend Saint-Arthur believe it also. The number of fools is infinite!

"Well, my pretty flower girl, I must have a wonderful, a stupendous bouquet!" said Alfred, halting in front of Violette; "it's for a lady who knows what's what, and who has already had the most beautiful bouquets that are made in Paris,--isn't that so, Jericourt?--_Sapristi!_ I haven't a cigar; Jericourt, my dear fellow, make me a cigarette, will you?"

"You don't like them."

"Ah! it is true that I have become so accustomed to panatelas--I say!

look at that little woman yonder! She turned around to look at me. If I weren't in such a hurry, I'd follow her."

"Aha! would you be unfaithful to Zizi Dutaillis?"

"Oh! pardieu! a little amourette of a moment.--Make me a cigarette.--Well, flower girl! you don't show me anything."

"Why, monsieur, you see what I have; choose for yourself."

"Choose for myself! why, all this stuff is horrible! these bouquets are good for n.o.body but circus riders! I don't want any of these. I told you that I wanted something wonderful, such a bouquet as never yet was seen."

"I will make you up one!"

"All right! but hurry. Zizi is waiting for me, and she doesn't like to wait; her nerves are all upset when I am late."

"Here's your cigarette."

"Thanks, my boy. Have you fire?"

"Always, when I am before this fascinating flower girl. Pray look at those eyes! did you ever see anything more alluring?"

"True! for a flower girl's eyes, they are very fair."

"And that nose, that mouth, and that cruel air, which would be so becoming to her if it were not genuine!"

"Ah! mademoiselle is cruel, is she?"

"Alas! yes, my dear Alfred.--Would you believe that for nearly a month I have been sighing at her feet, and without making any progress?"

"The deuce, my boy, you don't know how to go about it! You tempt me to try my hand with the flower girl. If I should undertake it, I will wager that the affair would go faster,--eh, my girl?"

As he spoke, Alfred tried to take Violette's arm; but she struck him across the fingers with a bunch of roses and lilacs that she held; and as there were some thorns in the bunch, the young dandy made a wry face as he withdrew his hand.

"_Bigre!_ she has scratched my fingers! Is this flower girl a Lucretia?"

"I told you that she resisted me, and yet you choose to meddle!"

"She plays the prude; but if I had time! I am terribly afraid of being late. Zizi will be angry; she plays to-night, and she is much more nervous when she plays! You are coming to dine with us, Jericourt, are you not?"

"Impossible."

"Bah! why impossible?"

"Because I dine with this lovely girl, with the flower girl.--Isn't it true, Violette, that you will dine with me to-day?"

"Monsieur, I thought that I answered you the other day in such a way that you would not give me any more such invitations."

"My dear love, you are too fascinating to remain virtuous long; why shouldn't you give me the preference? I will give you your own apartment, pretty furniture, pretty dresses; the theatre every evening; that's the life that awaits you!"

"I prefer to sell my bouquets, monsieur."

"That's absurd! Unless you have some pa.s.sion that closes your heart to me, you ought to yield to me."

"No, monsieur, I feel no sort of obligation to you."

"Ha! ha! ha! poor Jericourt! he fails in his suit to a flower girl! That will make Zizi laugh! I'll tell her at dinner.--I say, my pretty girl, don't make my bouquet all white, please. The other day I offered one like that to Zizi, and she declared that it looked like a cauliflower."

"There, monsieur, how is this? Do you like it?"

"Why, yes, it isn't bad; it has some style! I think that it will produce an effect.--Come,--Jericourt, as Mademoiselle Violette refuses to dine with you, it seems to me that you can accept my invitation. If I don't bring you, Zizi will be sulky; she is much livelier when you are there; that is easily understood, for you make her laugh, you make puns, and she declares that there is no such thing as a good dinner without puns."

"I tell you again, Alfred, that Mademoiselle Violette will not be inexorable; why, I propose to launch her in society, to make her the fashion, for I have all the small newspapers at my disposal."

"He is telling you the truth, my girl, and the small newspapers are the only ones that are read nowadays, for they are much more amusing than the large ones. For my part, I know nothing better than the _Tintamarre_! Dieu! the _Tintamarre_; there's a newspaper that always drives away the blues! I learn puns from it and I repeat them to Zizi; but unfortunately I don't remember them very well, so that she doesn't understand them.--Ah! what a beautiful bouquet!--Well, my dear fellow, will you come?"

And the pretty young man with the light whiskers, holding his enormous bouquet in one hand, tried with the other to lead away his friend, who, half leaning over the flower girl's counter, was gazing at her with his face close to hers, although she did her utmost to move away from him.

It was at this moment that Chicotin Patatras, who had spied one of his cronies a few steps from Violette's booth, ran to him and tripped him up,--a method of beginning a conversation decidedly fashionable among street urchins. The friend, taken by surprise, fell upon the sidewalk, and as he rose, saw Chicotin laughing and making fun of him, and apparently challenging him to retaliate. He immediately started to run after him, which was what young Patatras hoped that he would do. When he saw that his comrade was about to overtake him, he jumped back in such a way as to collide with the persons who stood in front of Violette's booth.

Chicotin had hoped to fall on Jericourt, but having failed to calculate the distance accurately, he collided violently with the young dandy, Alfred de Saint-Arthur. The shock was so sudden and so unexpected by Alfred, whose back was turned to the pa.s.sers-by, that he fell forward with his face against the flower girl's wares; and as the counter was not strong enough to hold the weight of his body, it collapsed under the young man.

Violette uttered a loud exclamation when she saw her flowers scattered over the concrete, and Monsieur de Saint-Arthur apparently trying to swim among them.

Jericourt, taken by surprise by this unexpected mishap, also received a kick or two from Chicotin, for the latter, still pursued by his comrade, who finally overtook him, began with him a struggle which was all in jest, but in which, although they were merely fooling, the young men dealt each other blows so l.u.s.tily applied that everybody who was near them received some.