THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES The Works of CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK WITH A GENERAL INTRODUCTION BY JULES CLARETIE MADAME PANTALON TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY EDITH MARY NORRIS THE FREDERICK J. QUINBY COMPANY BOSTON LONDON PARIS Edition Limited to One Thousand Copies Number. -t- .. COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY THE FREDERICK J. QUINBY COMPANY All rights reserved PRIMTBD ON OLD STRATFORD PAPBR MADE BT MlTTINEAGUE PAPER COMPANY ^Plimpton JJress Printers and Binders, Norwood, Mass. U.SJI. M25E CONTENTS CHAPTER I Two Friends. Captain de Vabeaupont and His Cabin Boy I CHAPTER II The Wedding Dinner. The Ball 29 CHAPTER III Sixteen Months Later. Madame Pantalon De- clares Herself 68 CHAPTER IV Chou-chou's Escapades. A Serious Resolution . 90 CHAPTER V The Independents on Their Journey. Choice of a Uniform ill CHAPTER VI The Rural Guard 140 CHAPTER VII Great Works. The Ladies Establish a Journal . 156 V V CONTENTS FAG* CHAPTER VIII Madame Vespuce's Novel and How She Read It Without Interruption . . . . . . 187 CHAPTER IX A Challenge. An Invalid. A Military Promenade 209 CHAPTER X Lundi-Gras as Cook. A Case to Defend . . 227 CHAPTER XI A Water Party. Fouillac as a Speculator. A Wild Boar Hunt 260 CHAPTER XII News of Fouillac. Where Woman Always Re- turns to Her True Nature 290 CHAPTER 1 Two FRIENDS. CAPTAIN DE VABEAUPONT AND His CABIN BOY ON the Place de la Bourse, nearly opposite the Vaudeville theatre, that at the time of which we write, the year 1867, had not as yet been removed to its new home in the Chaussee-d'Antin, two young men met, looked at each other in surprise, stopped suddenly, and heartily shaking hands ex- claimed at one and the same time, "Why, Adolphe!" "Frederic!" " What a lucky chance ! " "So it is ; why, for six months I haven't caught sight of you ! Where have you been hiding ? " " My dear fellow, I've been hidden in Russia, and very well hidden from head to foot in furs, to guard me from the intense cold, I can assure you." " And what were you doing in Russia ? You are not an actor, you are not a painter, ah, I had forgotten that you were a doctor ! An amateur phy- sician, that is to say, for I believe you have not had much practice as yet, although you have received your degree." Vol. XXI i 2 MADAME PANTALON " Yes, I have received my degree ; but I have come into some property, which obviates the neces- sity of my following medicine, except in my leisure moments. As for that, travel is very useful to one who wishes to seek prescriptions to preserve the health of his friends or his patients." "You were always fond of going about and seeing different countries; you are a regular tourist." " Somewhat of a tourist, but that is beginning to pass. I am getting close on to thirty, I think I shall attain that age next month, and the desire for travel lessens as one grows stouter." " By Jove ! I ought to know how old you are, since we were born in the same year and month, and even on the same day, I think. Yes, my dear Frederic Duvassel, we shall be thirty on the twenty- first of next month." " Really ! You are sure it isn't twenty-nine ?" " No, it really is thirty." "You dear old Adolphe Pantalon! you look as young as possible, with your light hair, blue eyes, and roseleaf skin; and you'll continue to look so for some time to come." " I am sure I hope so ! You with your dark hair and eyes, pale skin and romantic features, heaven knows how many successful love affairs you have had." "They were not all successful; some of them turned out very badly indeed, I assure you ! " CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 3 "It was probably some intrigue of that nature that took you to Russia ? " " Not at all, I went there to settle an estate and collect some outstanding debts. That business being settled, I should have liked to explore the country, which is very interesting, very picturesque; but I have a brother here, younger than myself by ten years " " Oh, yes, little Gustave ! " " My dear fellow ! little Gustave is over twenty years of age ; he's a very handsome lad, not very tall, but well-built; he has a charming disposition, as gentle as a lamb, and is as timid as a young lady that is to say, as a young lady who is timid. But he is still rather childish, rather simple, even, and that is why he needs a guide, a mentor; so, to give him self-confidence, in which he is rather lack- ing, I am going to have him travel. In four days we leave for England, thence we shall go to Italy; in fact, I want Gustave to learn something of peo- ple, society, manners, by visiting other countries. Will it profit him? It pleases me to think it will; at any rate, it can do him no harm. Why, what are you thinking of now, Adolphe? you don't seem to be listening to me, and, strange as it may seem, I like people to listen when I am talking to them. There are some people who care nothing about that, and who, provided they can talk, do not no- tice whether their audience pays any attention to them or not ; you may answer them at cross pur- 4 MADAME PANTALON poses, but they still go on. They are like those others who, at a social gathering, sit down to the piano and keep on singing when everybody is en- gaged in private conversation those people sing and talk for themselves." " I am listening, my dear fellow ! yes, yes, I heard all you said; but I have a good many things on my mind." " Well, you have rather a strange expression ; but I am reassured, since you look cheerful rather than sad." "Ah, I am going to give you some very astonish- ing news; however, it is nothing but what's quite natural." " The deuce ! you rouse my curiosity. Let's hear your news." " I am going to be married, my dear fellow." " You are going to be married ? is it possible ? already ! " " Already, you say, why, at thirty years of age, there's no already about it." "You are going to marry, and why should you do that ? You are a lawyer, you have a fortune, and you were so happy." "Yes, but I marry in the hope of being further so and then a good many people have said to me, ' Pantalon, why don't you marry? you ought to marry, it gives a young man an assured position in society.' ' " Some people are always meddling with what CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 5 does not concern them. I'll wager the ones who said that to you were married." " Why do you think that ? " " Oh, because well, never mind ! If it is all settled, I hope you've done well. And whom are you going to marry ? " " Mademoiselle Cesarine Ducrochet." " By Jove, where did you pick her up ? " "In society, in very good company indeed. You don't suppose I am marrying blindly. Mademoi- selle Cesarine is the daughter of an honorable mer- chant ; she early lost both parents and was brought up by a maternal uncle, M. de Vabeaupont, a re- tired sea captain, who is very rich, has never been married, and who worships his niece, to whom he will leave all his fortune, and to whom he will give a hundred thousand francs on her marriage." " That's something. And how old is the young lady ? " "Twenty-five." " Twenty-five ! a hundred thousand francs dowry, heiress to a very rich uncle she must be very ugly, or deformed." " Not at all. She is tall, well-built, and has very fine features. What made you think she was ugly?" " Because I don't understand how, with such a fine dowry and so many advantages, she is not married before twenty-five." " You will understand it perfectly when you 6 MADAME PANTALON learn that Mademoiselle Cesarine was brought up at her uncle's chateau, where, since she was ten years old, she has done as she pleased. M. de Vabeaupont, who is very old, and laid up with gout a great part of the year, has never opposed his niece in anything, even allowing her to choose her own masters when she desired any ; being thus left to herself, you can comprehend that Cesarine has become rather how shall I express it? rather mannish. She rides on horseback, uses weapons and takes gymnastic exercises just like a man perhaps does these things better than some men." " Devil take it ! Devil take it ! " " What makes you say that ? " " Tell me the rest." "Then she got the idea of studying law, the code, of learning Latin she speaks Latin, my dear fellow ! " " That will make your domestic life felicitous : When you wish to kiss your wife, she will say to you, l Non possumus.' ' " As you may well imagine, that was only a pass- ing fancy she will soon forget all that. In fact, used as she had become to following her own will alone, Cesarine did not care to marry and exchange her liberty for a bond which would give her a master." "She was right." " She refused all the matches which were offered CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 7 her, and they were not a few. But her uncle ended by getting vexed about it, and he told her that he should like to see his grandnephews and grand- nieces about him. For the first time he would not give way to her, he would be obeyed, and he took his niece into society, saying to her, * Take whom you wish for your husband, but take some one.' Then it was that I met her." " And you, of course, made a conquest of the fair Cesarine ? " " It seems so ; and, by Jove, I didn't take much pains to do it, for you know I'm not very skilful with women some one told me that she thought I looked like a good fellow." "So you do, in fact." "Also that that pleased her better than the more pretentious manners of bigger swells than I." " As for you, you fell in love with this damsel straightway, I suppose ? " "In love ! oh, by Jove ! no. I liked her, thought her very good-looking. She's dark, very dark, in fact, hair, eyes, skin, even, which has a rich warm tinge ; her mouth is stern and I think she has a little mustache, but not enough to be un- becoming. In fact, she is a fine-looking person, but one dare not joke with her for fear his pleas- antries may be ill-received." " Well, that will be some sort of a guaranty that your wife will be faithful." " My wife faithful ? " resumed Adolphe, with 8 MADAME PANTALON an air of indifference, " Oh, I shall never be uneasy as to that ; in the first place, I am not of a jealous disposition. I have presented my sister Elvina to Cesarine, who liked her very much and has undertaken to finish her education." " Why, of course, you have a sister! How old is she now ? " " She is almost seventeen, and is very pleasing ; after my mother's death I sent her to boarding- school ; but when I am married to Cesarine, my sister will live with us, that is settled." " When is this famous marriage to take place? " " Tomorrow, my dear fellow, at the latest." " So soon as that ? " " And you will come to my wedding ? I shall count on you." " You invite me because you happened to meet me thanks awfully." " As a proof to the contrary, look at this list of persons I was going to invite today you head it." " That's so ; well, then, I will come to your wedding. After all I am glad it takes place to- morrow, as I leave in four days. But how about my brother Gustave ? " " You will bring him with you, of course ; one can never have too many dancers at a wedding. Will you come to the dinner? " " Oh, no, a wedding feast is a family affair, and, when one knows neither the bride's nor the bride- groom's people it's rather a bore." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 9 " Well, I won't press you, for I am of your opinion, it is not entertaining to a stranger, and then Uncle Vabeaupont, the old sailor, is not always amiable ; he swears like a trooper, and his talk is seasoned with I don't know how many nau- tical terms ; when he has the gout he is worse than ever. At four o'clock in the morning we shall have a special little supper." " At four o'clock ! that's very late. When are you going to withdraw with your wife." "My dear fellow ; it is my wife who has settled it all ; I only follow her instructions." "What! already? Come, that's doing very well; now I know that she regulated everything I see that all will go on as it should." " Now I must leave you, I'm pressed for time, as you may imagine ; I am so afraid of forgetting something, and on the occasion of one's marriage one is sure to forget something. My affianced has charged me with so many commissions. Bouquets, orange-flowers let me see, what did she say about them ? " " That she did not want any ? " " The idea ! she wants a great many, on the con- trary, and that is easily understood ; when a woman waits to be married until she is twenty-five she's entitled to an extra large bouquet." " Then if a young lady marries at sixty she is entitled to a whole orange tree in a box. But, one moment ! what is the address of the restaurant io MADAME PANTALON where you are to hold the wedding festivities ? if you want me to come I must know that." " How stupid I am ; it will be just like me to forget I am married tomorrow. My dear fellow, my wedding festival takes place at Bonvalet's, Boulevard du Temple ; they have some fine rooms, where people may dine and dance very comfort- ably." " At Bonvalet's, very well ; at eleven o'clock my brother and I will be there." " That is too late ; Cesarine has settled that otherwise. The dinner is to be at five o'clock precisely that's the uncle's dinner time. At seven o'clock every one will change their dress, and the ball will begin at nine o'clock, because uncle wants to see the dancing and he goes to bed at midnight do you understand ? " " Very well, but as I don't care to dance before the uncle, I shall come as late as I can. Good-by, till tomorrow." Before going to this wedding, reader, let us be- come further acquainted with the person who is to become Madame Pantalon, and with her uncle, the former captain of a frigate, Hercule de Vabeau- pont. We have little to add to the portrait of the bride which has been drawn for us by her future hus- band. Mademoiselle Cesarine was a beautiful woman, tall, but well-proportioned, rather strong, rather fat for her age, a Juno rather than a Venus. CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK n Her features were regular, her nose aquiline and very slightly curved after the fashion of a bird's beak ; her eyes were lively, bold and capable of a calm, unflinching gaze. Her hair and eyebrows were quite black, she was a very dark woman. In her manner and walk there was something mascu- line ; however, when she chose to smile and make herself agreeable one thought her quite feminine. Mademoiselle Cesarine Ducrochet had an imperi- ous disposition, everybody must do as she wished. At bottom she was not bad, but she would not yield, even when she was in the wrong in the first place, she never thought she was in the wrong. Her uncle had so often repeated to her that she had more mind than anyone else, that she believed herself a genius, and she was not sensible ; but in answering a malicious speech or uttering an imper- tinence she was never at a loss. This kind of wit is very common among women, the most stupid of them are sometimes sparkling. Hercule de Vabeaupont was sixty-five years of age. He was a big man, thin, with strongly marked features, a piercing eye, and a voice which resembled thunder. But age and numerous wounds had quite changed him. The captain was round-shouldered and could hardly walk, his gray hair still covered a part of his forehead, and his mustache was quite white, but his voice had hardly lost its vigor, and when his anger was roused it still had the threatening 12 MADAME PANTALON reverberations which had made his seamen obey his commands. The sole passions of M. Vabeaupont's life were glory and the pleasures of the table ; he had been a mighty fighter, had given chase to pirates and had brought many a corsair low. He had only left the sea, the theatre of his ex- ploits, when vanquished by age and the gout, which now gave him no truce, and had then retired to a very fine property, a kind of small chateau, which he possessed at Bretigny, a little village in Picardy, in the neighborhood of Noyon. But the old captain did not retire to his domain unaccompanied, he took with him his cabin boy, who was also his protege and whom he loved as much as he was capable of loving anybody, and to whom he was thus attached because he had almost brought him up, and people usually become attached to those to whom they do good ; it would only be right that this attachment should be reciprocated by the person benefited ; however, there are nearly as many ungrateful persons as there are benefactors. Here it was not so ; a little boy, who might have been seven or eight years old, had been found on a pirate ship which the captain had captured. Who was he ? whence did he come ? whom were his parents ? This was what they could not find out, and it made them a little uneasy. The child was pleasing and they carried it to the captain, who was then quite a young man, but who, with all his CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 13 bravery, had a weakness for children ; on seeing this one, he exclaimed, " And who is this midget ? " " No one knows, captain, we found him in the chief pirate's room. Probably his father was killed during the combat." " Well, we'll keep him, we'll make a man of him. Can he talk ? " "A jargon that no one understands." " Come here, little one, what is your name ? " The child did not answer ; but he began to laugh, and snatching from a sailor's hand a goblet containing a little rum, he put it to his lips and swallowed the contents without making a grimace. This action delighted the captain ; he took the little boy in his arms and jumped him on his knee. " Devil take it ! you'll be a fine fellow," said he, " the rum didn't even make you wink. Come, I shall keep you, you shall be my cabin boy. I attach you especially to my person. What is today ? " " Captain, it's carnival time and this is Lundi- Gras ! " " Really ? well, there's a name all ready made. Little fellow, you shall be called { Lundi-Gras.' Do you hear, you others ? Now take Lundi-Gras away, clean him, rig him out as a cabin boy and teach him his new duties. I have an idea we shall make something of him." This was how the captain, who was still young, 14 MADAME PANTALON received M. Lundi-Gras, who since that time had never left his captain, whom he obeyed as the most faithful dog obeys his master. But the little cabin boy, whose face at first had been round and saucy, soon became a great, blowsy fellow, whose very frequent use of rum gave him a careless and even rather brutal expression. Lundi-Gras became very fat, but did not grow tall, and remained a dwarfish man, which did not prevent his doing his work well and always being there to execute his captain's orders. The latter, who was very tall, when he talked to his cabin boy leaned upon him as though he were a cane. The captain placed his hand on Lundi's shoulder, and if he walked made the man walk before him, as if he held a bamboo, and the cabin boy, being used to this manoeuvre, lent himself to it with equa- nimity. Lundi-Gras was twenty years younger than the captain, so when the latter was obliged to say good- by to his frigate at the age of sixty, his cabin boy was only forty. But, thanks to the rum, which he fre- quently abused, and to the sun, which had tanned his skin, M. Lundi-Gras looked almost as old as his captain. His corpulence added to his unpleasant appear- ance. As he was very fat indeed, his cheeks hung in folds, like awnings drawn up at the window ; his nose, shaped like a chestnut, was almost hidden in the folds of his cheeks, and his big, stupid eyes CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 15 made him look like one of those grotesque masks which architects sometimes put on the fa9ade of a theatre. M. de Vabeaupont, who had not wished to be separated from his cabin boy, had taken Lundi- Gras to his little chateau, saying to him, " You shall never leave me again, you shall lead the life of a pasha here. You shall have nothing to do but eat, sleep, drink, and be always at my orders, ready to obey me at the first word ; does that suit you ? " " It suits me well, captain." " And as one has to do something to pass the time when one can no longer fight, you shall play a game with me when it suits me." "Yes, captain." " What games do you know ? " " Dominos, captain." " That is something ; but it is not sufficient. Can't you play cards ? " "I can play beggar-my-neighbor." "That isn't a game. Can't you play piquet? " " No, captain." " I'll teach you ! Every man should know how to play piquet." " I know how to play drogue J and pied de boeuf. 2 '' " That's good ! I'll teach you to play piquet. 1 Drogue. A game of cards in vogue among soldiers j the loser has to place and keep a forked stick on his nose. * A child's game. 16 MADAME PANTALON You shall try not to get tipsy so often. And when my gout allows me we will go a-hunting." "Yes, captain." Everything was done as M. de Vabeaupont had planned. They installed themselves at the chateau in Bretigny, a vast dwelling which had more than twenty rooms, without the servants' offices. These rooms were not all in good repair, but it was easy to restore them. The manor was something like those ancient castles which are found in such pro- fusion in English romances. It was flanked by two towers, to which had been given the high- sounding names of the north tower and the south tower. On each of these towers there was still a culverine which must have dated from the time of King John, and which had not been used since then. But the garden was very large, there was a piece of water, a grotto, a little lake ; then a wood, which covered about three acres and might have passed for a park, adjoined the garden. The village of Bretigny was not large, but the inhabitants were well-to-do, and poverty was un- known. The peasants were strong and hearty, the wom- en pleasing, the children fat ; and they all had a cheerful expression which did one good to see. Only there they used cider as the ordinary drink of the country ; wine was an extra. The bigwigs CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 17 of the place alone had cellars ; but that mattered little to the inhabitants of the chateau, where the cellars were always amply replenished; for, like all gouty people, the captain was exceedingly fond of good wine. Unfortunately, his gout had not diminished, per- haps because of the great care M. de Vabeaupont took to stock his cellar. He had not been able to go hunting, and was obliged to content himself with playing a game of dominos with his cabin boy, to whom he en- deavored to impart the principles of the game of piquet, but who could not comprehend it and could not get it into his head that quinte and quatorze made ninety-four. The captain showed much obstinacy, however, and every evening after dinner he had a bowl of punch made and placed on the card table at which he seated himself, saying to Lundi-Gras, " Come, sit down there, opposite me, take the cards and try to pay attention ; I have got it into my head that you shall learn piquet." " I ask nothing better, captain." "Then remember what I have told you. Let's see, have you discarded ? " " No, captain, I was waiting for you to order me." "There is no need for me to order you, you ought to do it. Take your five cards." " There you are, captain." Vol. XXI 1 8 MADAME PANTALON " Now, how many cards have you in your hand ? " " I have twelve, captain." " Well, of all the stupid animals ; I meant how many cards of your suit of your color, have you ? " "Of my color wait; I have seven black and five red." " Why, bless my portholes ! Can't you distin- guish between diamonds and hearts, clubs and spades ? " " I meant to tell you, captain, but these ladies are dressed in the same colors and that mixed me up." " But a heart doesn't in the least resemble a diamond." " Oh, excuse me, it was because I had a friend who used to make flaming hearts for his sweetheart and those of the other men, and he always made his hearts like diamonds, he said that was the proper way." "Go to the devil with your hearts and diamonds! Let's see, how many dames have you ? " " I haven't any, captain, I have always made it my duty to take pattern by you, so I remained a bachelor." " Confound it; I was speaking of the game, how many queens have you ? if you like that better." " Oh, the queens on the cards ? I have four of them." " Well, that scores you fourteen more." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 19 " Fourteen the four ? Never, captain ; it's just as if you had four bottles of champagne in the cel- lar, and you told me to bring up fourteen, it would be impossible." " What an ass ! decidedly I shall never make anything of you." The lesson ended thus. But the time was commencing to seem long when five months after their settling at Bretigny came a little niece, aged ten, who, suddenly bereft of her parents, had come to claim the protection of the captain, her uncle. This protection was willingly accorded, and the old seaman was delighted with his niece when he found she had all the tastes, all the likings of a boy. The little girl immediately evinced a haughty, independent disposition, and a will which nothing could daunt. When her uncle begged her to do something which did not please her, she was not afraid to answer him, " No, I shan't do that." " And why not, may I ask, mademoiselle ? " " Because I don't want to." " But, triple portholes ! if I order you to do it ? " " A thousand portholes, if you like ; I shan't do it any the more for that." Then the captain would shout with laughter, and give his niece a little tap on the cheek, as he ex- claimed, 20 MADAME PANTALON " You ought not to wear petticoats ; you are worthy to be a sailor, you have enough determi- nation ; that's right, I like it. Do as you please, learn all that you wish to know, have what mas- ters suit you, I give you free scope. Only, learn piquet, so you may sometimes play with me, since that idiot Lundi-Gras can't get it into his head." Mademoiselle Cesarine had learned to ride on horseback, to handle weapons, to draw a bow, to skate, to swim, to jump over ditches; and at twelve years of age she could beat her uncle at piquet, draughts, backgammon and chess. The captain was foolishly fond of his niece ; he wanted her, at this early age, to be the head of his house. It was she who gave the orders to the ser- vants ; and Lundi-Gras, who obeyed her as im- plicitly as he did his master, sometimes made a mistake and called her " captain." But, despite her love of gymnastics and horse- back exercise, little Cesarine at the age of fifteen found Bretigny too dull in the winter, and wished to go and spend a few months in Paris. The cap- tain would have preferred to remain constantly at his estate, but he understood that he could not continue to keep a young girl, who would soon be of marriageable age, so far from society. He hired a very handsome apartment in Paris, where they installed themselves for the winter, and the captain being wealthy, he received a great many calls and invitations in that city. CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 21 Cesarine was fifteen and looked as if she were eighteen. People complimented M. de Vabeau- pont on his niece, and the latter, proud of the admiration she attracted and the attentions that were showered upon her, took a taste for society and wanted her uncle to give dinners and evening parties. This was not very amusing to the captain ; but his niece wished it, and so it had to be. However, Cesarine's success was not long lived ; people soon saw that this damsel had not a plastic disposition. At parties, if they played some little games she would insist on those of her own choice and would not take part in any others ; she was rather unamiable, and her answers were at times very impertinent. She detested dancing, because she did not know how to dance ; she did not like music, because she was unable to perform on any musical instrument. When at a party a young lady sat down to the piano, she soon showed signs of impatience ; she tapped her foot on the floor, and sometimes said, loud enough to be heard, " Is she never going to finish, I've had enough of it," and other reflections which made some laugh and made others angry. For in society every one is allowed to be mischie- vous, but they must keep within bounds. A witty criticism is always successful, but malice without wit is ever ill-received. When Cesarine had been bored at two or three parties, she said to her uncle, 22 MADAME PANTALON " Let us go back to Bretigny." This suited the uncle exactly, and they left Paris. But these little checks to her self-esteem had taught Cesarine that to live in society it was not enough that a young lady should know how to use arms and sit a horse. At all these entertainments there was dancing, so she determined to learn to dance, and ended by liking it. Then, all young ladies who were well brought up knew something of music ; she bought a piano and took lessons ; but having no talent for that instrument, she only got so far as to play " Marlborough " with one hand, and renounced the piano for the hunting horn, which she soon played so efFectively as to drive all the game out of the country. Then another idea came to the young lady. She had sometimes heard men talking on serious sub- jects or discussing points of law. She took a fancy to become learned in such matters, to study Latin, Greek, the code, in order that she could speak on any subject like a lawyer. For two years she assiduously read the " Gazette des Tribunaux " ; but it did not make her more pleasing in society. When Cesarine was eighteen suitors began to present themselves, for they knew the damsel would have a hundred thousand francs dowry, and that, as M. de Vabeaupont's sole heiress, she would eventually be very rich. CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 23 But Cesarine showed not the slightest inclina- tion for marriage, she was not at all in a hurry to lose her liberty, and she was sustained in this feel- ing by two of her intimate friends, Mesdemoiselles Paolina and Olympiade, with whom she had be- come acquainted in society, an introduction that was followed by immediate intimacy, because there was great similarity in their way of seeing things. Mademoiselle Paolina had a fine mind. At ten years of age she had guessed a charade in a journal; and since that time her greatest pleasure had been to study; she wrote verses and little fables, but she was expecting to write a tragedy ; indeed, this was her only object and thought, but she wanted a virgin subject and had not found one as yet. As young men had often gone so far as to laugh when they heard her verses read, she took a violent hatred for men, who could not understand her poetry, and she frequently said to Cesarine, " Don't marry, my dear ; believe me, you had better not marry. You have a fortune, you are free, your uncle lets you be your own mistress, do as you please ; why should you give all that up ? For a woman becomes a slave when she marries. How foolish to become a man's slave ! you would quickly repent it." Mademoiselle Olympiade, a tall girl with as much figure as a lath, to whom no one had ever paid court, also affected a great disdain for men, and was always making such speeches as this, 24 MADAME PANTALON " Good heavens! how ugly men are. How can anyone love such beings as those. Three-fourths of them have ugly feet and walk horribly, they dress in such a stupid fashion, and their cropped hair and hats like stove pipes or salad bowls ! can they want to be the masters, forsooth ! They look as if they were protecting us, but I don't want their protection. Don't you ever marry, dear Cesarine ; mock at these gentlemen, laugh at their sighing. But don't believe what they say, for they all lie." Cesarine, whose heart was insensitive, was quite of the same opinion as her two friends, and refused all those who aspired to her hand. The old sailor had thought this very droll at first ; but when his niece had attained the age of twenty-three, he re- flected that if that continued he should never live to see his niece's children, which would deprive him of an interest that would amuse and occupy his old age, and so he said one day to Cesarine, " My dear, you have refused a good many matches; but now it is time to make an end of it; you must think of marrying." " Why, uncle, what necessity is there of that?" " I repeat that I wish it. Take your time to choose. I don't ask you to marry tomorrow ; but now you must study those who present themselves, and when you have found a young man to your taste, come and tell me at once, that we may end the matter." Cesarine thus gained time. However, what de- CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 25 termined her to make her choice was the fact that her two intimate friends, who had abused men so much, had married. The poetic Paolina had married M. Etoile, a plain businessman; the cantankerous Olympiade had become the wife of M. Bouchetrou, a merchant tailor, and when Cesarine had evinced her aston- ishment that they had consented to take husbands Paolina had answered, " M. Etoile wept when he listened to my verses." And Olympiade had lowered her eyes and mur- mured, " M. Bouchetrou promised to let me dress ac- cording to my fancy." Just at this time Adolphe Pantalon presented himself. He was not an Apollo, but he was a nice enough fellow. What pleased Cesarine most about him was that he looked like a thoroughly good fellow, easy-tempered, accommodating, and she no- ticed that the young man did not pay any forced compliments, but simply told her he should be very much flattered if she could like him well enough to marry him. It was in the winter, and they were consequently in Paris, when Cesarine said to the captain, " Uncle, I think I have at last found a man who will suit me and whom I consent to marry." The old mariner started with joy in his easy chair as he exclaimed, 26 MADAME PANTALON " By Jove ! that's fortunate, and where is this jolly fellow who's going to be my nephew?" " Why, at home, I think. He is an advocate, he has eight thousand francs income, and he is thirty years old." "That's all very well, so far as it goes. Eight thousand francs income is little, and you might aspire to a richer match ; but if he has talent he will augment his fortune. What do you call this jolly fellow ? " " Adolphe Pantalon. Here is his card, which he begged me to give you." " Pantalon ! what a queer name. You will be Madame Pantalon. With such a name as that, if you don't wear the breeches, it will be too bad. But I am quite sure you will wear them. Then, it is decided, this young man pleases you ? " "Why, yes; I'm not in love with him, of course." "Oh, it is not necessary to be in love with your husband." " There's one thing I am afraid of." "What is that?" " I don't think that this young man has much mind." " You can't complain of that ! to marry a man who has too much mind is like playing cards with a more skilful player than yourself; you'd be sure to lose every game. Marry this Pantalon, if you think well of him. And as I wish to make his CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 27 acquaintance I shall immediately send him an invi- tation to dinner for tomorrow. I'll have Lundi- Gras carry it." The captain called his cabin boy, and said to him in confidence, " Carry this letter to M. Pantalon, give it only into his own hand, and say you will wait for an answer. While the young man is reading my note, you will scan him closely from head to feet, you understand ? He wants to marry my niece, and I wish first to know if he is physically worthy ; if he is a well-built fellow, and carries himself well is hearty, strong, you know what I mean." "Yes, captain, I'll pass him in review." Lundi-Gras went to carry out his commission. Adolphe was in his study. The advocate's ser- vant had at first said to the retired cabin boy, " Give me your letter, I'll take it to my master and bring back the answer to you." But Lundi-Gras had answered, " No, it can't be done like that; I must give the letter to your master myself, because, while he is reading it, I must inspect him and make sure how he is built, that he isn't knock-kneed, that his shoulders are broad, that he is a strong, hearty fellow ; do you understand ? " " No, I don't ; most people who come to a lawyer's care little whether he's ill or well built. I'll go and tell my master." " I'll keep the letter, I'll give it only to him." 28 MADAME PANTALON The servant went and told the young advocate, " There's a man with a letter, monsieur, but he wants to inspect you while you read it." " Well, have him come in." " Perhaps it's a robber who wants to examine monsieur's study." " Robbers don't come to lawyers' houses, the latter are their defenders. Let the man come in." Lundi-Gras was introduced at length ; he gave up the letter and examined Pantalon closely while the latter was mastering its contents. Then he went off very much pleased at what he had seen. He now returned to M. de Vabeaupont, having been absent for an hour. " Captain," said he, "the gentleman, the panta- loon, accepts the invitation with much pleasure, he thanks you, sends his compliments, and gave me this little gold piece to get something to drink." "That's very well. But what else you know what I begged you to do, what did you notice about the young man's person?" " I was highly satisfied with him, captain ! he had a velvet waistcoat and varnished boots; as for the rest, he's all right, he's solid, his legs are not bowed, in fact he's a proper man and would have made a good sailor." CHAPTER II THE WEDDING DINNER. THE BALL CAPTAIN DE VABEAUPONT evidently found that Adolphe Pantalon was worthy to espouse his niece, for three weeks after the invitation carried by Lundi-Gras they celebrated the marriage of Cesarine with the young advocate. The wedding festivities were held at Bonvalet's, formerly the Cafe Turc, and a great many people were invited. In the first place the bride, being free to do as she pleased, had bidden all her intimate friends as also several dames and damsels for whom she had a degree of liking merely because they were always of the same opinion as herself. As a matter of course, Madame toile and her husband were of the party. The poetic Paolina's husband was a man of forty with a cold expression, a man who spoke little and thought of nothing but money-making. Paolina believed that he had wept on hearing one of her elegies, but the young ladies asserted, indeed, insisted upon it, that the gentleman had had a dreadful cold in his head, and was obliged to continually make use of his handkerchief. The reedy Olympiade was there with her spouse, 30 MADAME PANTALON Joseph Bouchetrou, a little man, still young, but pitted with smallpox, like a colander ; which did not prevent his constantly smiling and show- ing himself very eager to be agreeable in society, always ready to do anything people wished, and to render the ladies a thousand little services ; he was the first to push a cushion under their feet, or to help them off with their cloaks. " But why did you marry such a pock-marked man as that ? " said Cesarine to her friend. " That was really the cause of my preference, my dearest; pock-marked men have become so rare since the invention of vaccine, that those who are so have a very distinguished look, which pre- vents their being confounded with common faces. If this keeps on I am sure, in a few years, pock- marked men will be of priceless value." M. Bouchetrou's claim to distinction did not rest alone on the merits of his pitted visage, for his wife, desiring that he should dress according to her taste, made him wear constantly a silly little cloak similar to that worn by jesters, and in addition to this, the little man wore his hair dressed " a la Buri- dan." When this gentleman went out, it was no unusual thing to see the street boys following after him, as they would after a mask. Later came Monsieur and Madame Vespuce. Zenobie, M. Vespuce's wife, was a little woman of twenty-eight, who had been pretty, but whose beauty had already fled owing to illness and im- CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 31 prudences, such as passing the nights in dancing, and in going continually to balls and parties ; she turned a deaf ear to her husband when he advised her to be more careful, and to spare her health. Tired of giving advice that was not listened to, M. Vespuce did not discover America, but he had discovered a little shirtmaker who asked nothing better than to listen to him ; so M. Vespuce al- lowed his wife to go to balls, parties, and fetes, while he ran, incognito, after his shirtmaker, who had no desire for dancing. Thus does love of pleasure often lose a woman her husband's love. You say that she could easily lose it without that perhaps, no one knows. Madame Vespuce, who was also beginning to weary of love affairs, had for some time past thrown herself into romanticism ; she read all Anne Rad- cliffe's old works ; she affected to believe in spirits, in ghosts and in spiritualism ; she wanted to be bewitched. Following the Vespuce household came Mon- sieur and Madame Grassouillet. Amandine Gras- souillet was a young woman of twenty-four, pretty and well-made. Her smile was gracious, her eyes lively or languorous according to circumstances ; this lady knew that in order to please one must not always be the same, and as she was very desir- ous of pleasing, she was quite coquettish. This did not always suit her husband, who was jealous, and sometimes made scenes with his wife ; but the latter 32 MADAME PANTALON seemed to pay no attention to him, and still con- tinued to ogle and flirt. This frequently caused M. Grassouillet to wear an ill-tempered expression, and as in addition to that he was very ugly, all the men thought themselves justified in paying court to his wife, never for a moment supposing she could feel any love for so disagreeable a husband. Later came Armide Dutonneau, a beautiful woman who had passed her thirtieth year, but who had sworn to herself that she never would be more than thirty-three. She was a rather masculine beauty, rather common, and her complexion was getting pimply and her nose a trifle red. Armide's husband was a jolly fellow, worthy of serving as her squire. He was almost six feet in height, plump, but not fat ; his face was agreeable and expressed the good-humor which made the bulk of his disposition ; this gentleman was always laughing, even when his wife scolded, for they were exactly opposite to the Grassouillets ; it was ma- dame who was jealous and monsieur who flirted. Armide thought it very dreadful that Chou- chou, that was her husband's pet name, should be amiable and gallant with other women besides her- self. She wanted to hang on her Chou-chou's arm continually. But for some time past the latter had been fluttering about, and always finding some rea- sons for not being at liberty when madame wanted him to take her out walking. Then Armide said, very decidedly, that men were no great things. CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 33 M. Dutonneau kept on laughing when his wife made him a jealous scene ; often, too, he took that opportunity to seize his hat and go to walk about the squares, those new places embellished with trees and a verdure that one is quite surprised to find in the midst of Paris, and which are very restful after the dirty streets and the confusion of the traffic; handsome Dutonneau had a passion for these squares, there he always went to walk, and there he ogled the pretty, saucy little faces for it must be confessed that he did so. Chou- chou gave the preference to these oases because he was certain of always meeting there some more or less pleasing little women ; the young nurses in particular come there in great numbers to walk their little charges ; and Chou-chou, who was not proud, did not object to cast a glance at a pleasing young person in a white apron and a simple linen cap, and murmured to himself, In love, as in nature, Distinctions are unknown. To all the ladies mentioned above, I must add a widow, Madame Flambart, who at forty years of age had buried three husbands. This was a tall woman, who would have been very good-looking but that her features strongly indicated a lack of gentleness and affability ; her dark eyes were fine, but her glance was hard and mocking ; her voice was strong, almost a baritone, and when she laughed Vol. XXI 34 MADAME PANTALON one heard not accents of frank gayety, but some- thing like a fit of hollow coughing. You are surprised, perhaps, that Cesarine counted among her friends a person whose age was so far above her own ; but the Widow Flambart, who had most elegant gowns, had greatly admired Cesa- rine's dress and her rather proud carriage ; she had paid the younger woman compliments on the good taste she displayed in her dress, and also on her deportment ; then she had several times gone into ecstasies on hearing the captain's niece quote from some Latin author. Where is the woman who cannot be won by flattery ? Everybody knows La Fontaine's fables by heart ; but nobody can improve upon them. To all the individuals I have mentioned, add some of the captain's old friends with their wives and children, big and little ; these were of the bride's company. The bridegroom had far fewer people there. Adolphe Pantalon had, in fact, no relations be- side his sister, except a very deaf old aunt, some cousins and their wives, a dozen persons in all ; but as there were three times as many on the bride's side, it made a very large table. We must not forget one from whom the captain would never consent to be separated. Lundi-Gras was at the dinner, not at table, it is true ; but placed behind M. de Vabeaupont's chair, where he was to remain to wait upon him. In vain had the CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 35 master of the establishment assured the captain that he would have a sufficient number of waiters to serve every one at the table promptly. The old seaman would not discuss it, he merely said, " I want my cabin boy behind me ; if I can't have him, I'll have the wedding somewhere else." And very naturally they had answered, " Now we know it will be agreeable to you, captain, you shall have your cabin boy behind you." At five o'clock precisely every one was at the table, and Lundi-Gras stood behind the captain's chair, where he obstructed the waiters, because his exceedingly rotund person took up so much room ; and every moment he was pushed and jostled by the waiters, who were annoyed at seeing this little wrinkled man in sailor's clothing ; who looked so stupidly at them, but did not budge from the place assigned him and who smiled when the waiters con- trived to poke him with their elbows. " Go your own gait," said he, " poke me as much as you please ; I am solid and I won't stir from my post." M. de Vabeaupont had the bride on his right, and on his left Adolphe's sister Elvina, who was going on for seventeen and had just left boarding- school. She was a charming child, with a pretty, amiable, cheerful face ; her great blue eyes indi- cated a leaning toward roguishness, but as yet she was so timid and awkward in company that she hardly dared to pronounce a word and answered 36 MADAME PANTALON the captain in monosyllables only, when he tried to make her talk, as he did continually. " Come, my second niece, for you are my sec- ond niece now, you must talk a little unbridle your tongue. Are you glad your brother is mar- ried ? " " Oh, yes, monsieur." " You mustn't call me monsieur, you must call me uncle." " With pleasure, uncle." "Very good ! you must pledge me drink some madeira with me." " Oh, no, monsieur." " By Jove ! call me uncle." "Ah, true excuse me, uncle." " Lundi-Gras, pour some madeira for my new niece." " But I don't wish for any, uncle." "Just a little to touch glasses with me." Lundi-Gras looked at the captain with a stupe- fied expression, and muttered, " I have no madeira, captain." " Ask for some, idiot ! people have everything they wish here ; they have but to call for it." Lundi-Gras addressed one of the waiters who passed near him, " Comrade, I should like some madeira." " Comrade! do you take me for your comrade ? you silly old gudgeon ! Go down into the kitchen ; don't you see you are in the way here ? " CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 37 "I asked you for some madeira for my captain." But the waiter went off without answering him. Lundi-Gras addressed another, who, more polite than the first, said to him, " Go to the office, they will give it to you ask for the cellarman." "Where is the cellar?" " Go and ask that gentleman in black, down there." The former cabin boy decided to leave his place and run after the person pointed out to him, who had just left the room. However, the captain, impatient at not being served, called out, without turning round, " Well, Lundi-Gras, where's the madeira ? " Nobody answered, and the old seaman turned round. " Where's my cabin boy ? Waiter ! waiter ! where is my cabin boy ? " " Cabin boy? what is that ? " " Oh, there you are ! Lundi-Gras, where is Lundi-Gras ? answer me." The waiter to whom the captain spoke opened his eyes wide, reflected a moment, then, "Jingo, monsieur!" he said, "Lundi-Gras usually comes after Shrove Sunday at least, un- less they've changed all that." " Thousand portholes ! I believe the rascal's making game of me." The captain, who was furious, had already half 38 MADAME PANTALON risen, and Cesarine had to interfere to quiet her uncle and make him understand that the waiter had no intention of making fun of him. Lundi- Gras at length reappeared with a bottle of madeira. " Why did you leave your post ?" asked his master. " To get some madeira." "You should have made them bring some here." " I did ask them to, and finely they listened to me ; they called me an old gudgeon." " Flog them, and take the bottle out of their hands." "That's enough, captain, at the first oppor- tunity, I'll jump on them." But Elvina refused to drink any madeira, and the captain turned to the bridegroom, " Pantalon," said he, " why won't your sister drink madeira ? " " She's not used to drinking wine neat, she is afraid it will make her ill ; that it may stupefy her, in fact." " Come, I see her education is incomplete, hap- pily, your wife will have charge of it, the little sister will be in good hands." The greater part of the ladies present did not share little Elvina's fears, and were quite willing to accept madeira. The Widow Flambart returned to the subject. " A woman shouldn't be afraid to touch glasses with men," said she. " They call us the weaker CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 39 sex, but it is because we have been willing they should do so; we have quite as much capability as these gentlemen ; only, we are wrong in that we do not make use of it." " Bravo ! " said the captain. " Pour me some bordeaux on the strength of that, cabin boy." Lundi-Gras, who still held his bottle of madeira, placed it on the ground as he spied a waiter who was passing with two bottles which he was about to serve to the guests, jumped on the man, and snatched one of the bottles from his hand, the waiter holding, as he did, a bottle in his other hand could not defend the one taken from him, and contented himself with saying, "You shall pay me for that, old sailorman." Lundi-Gras came back quite proud, and poured out some wine for the captain, who, after sipping it, said, " You are an ass ! this never came from Bor- deaux, it's chambertin." " Really, captain ! then another time I shall taste it. Must I look for some bordeaux ? " " No, this chambertin is good, I shall stick to this." The guests found the wines good, and did them honor; the weaker sex even, led by the example of the Widow Flambart, became delightfully merry ; the men allowed themselves some of those jokes which fools think should be made to the newly married couple at a wedding feast. 4 o MADAME PANTALON They talked from one end of the table to the other, everybody speaking at once; the captain, in the excess of his satisfaction, thumped his fist on the table and shouted, " Good enough ! a general hubbub ; now, they're beginning to chatter. The husband is the only one who seems to be silent. Come, Pantalon, you are saying nothing. You must not let love deprive you of speech. One must forget love while at table. Sing us a little song. Here's the dessert now, and it's the right time for a song ! " " Why, uncle," said Cesarine, " nobody sings at weddings now. Fie, it is bad form ; we leave that to working people." " My dear niece, that proves that working peo- ple amuse themselves better than we do, and I think theirs is good form and ours bad; so I'm for a song. Well, Pantalon, what do you say ? " " Captain, I am sorry to refuse you, but I have never been able to sing." " Pardon, captain," said Madame fitoile, half rising to obtain more attention, " but if you will allow me, I have written some verses on the occa- sion of my friend Cesarine's marriage, and I am quite ready to recite them to you." " Very well, fair lady ; recite your verses ; that won't prevent our singing afterwards. Cabin boy, pour me some chambertin." Lundi-Gras, when his master was not noticing him, had turned and drunk directly out of the CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 41 bottle of madeira. But this time the captain had turned his head and caught his cabin boy, who had the neck of the bottle in his mouth. He pinched him hard. " What are you doing there, rascal ? " " Excuse me, captain, I was just tasting to know if that was the wine you wanted," answered Lundi- Gras. " And you were drinking directly out of the bottle." " Captain, I guessed it was the madeira, which you won't want again." "We shall have a famous score to settle between us, Master Lundi-Gras ! " " Just as it pleases you, captain," answered that worthy. " In the meantime, pour me out some chamber- tin," said the captain. The unlucky Lundi-Gras immediately proceeded in search of the other bottle, which he had carefully hidden in a snug corner. He uncorked it and began to pour some into the glass which the cap- tain was holding out to him ; but the waiter from whom he had so rudely snatched the bottle of chambertin had been watching for some moments for a chance to revenge himself on the former cabin boy. When he saw Lundi-Gras in the act of pouring for his master, he went softly up behind the old tar, gave him a vigorous kick in the rear and immediately disappeared. 42 MADAME PANTALON The kick had been so well applied that Lundi- Gras was thrown forward and in this sudden move- ment he had struck with his bottle, and broken, the glass which the captain was holding to him. The wine spread over the table and Elvina and the old seaman were splashed by it. The latter was furious, he seized his plate and broke it over his cabin boy's head, shouting, " Get out of here ! Get out of here, you pirate ! don't come near me again, or I'll scuttle you." Lundi-Gras took it all quietly, and departed rubbing his head and his back, and saying, " When you want anything, you can call me." They managed, not without trouble, to quiet the captain, and Madame Etoile, who was waiting im- patiently to read her verses, rose again, saying, " Quiet being restored and the storm past, Poetry can dare to show herself; I will begin : To you, beautiful bride ! You are standing on the border 'Twixt love and wedded bliss ; And for your household's order It may not come amiss : To let no other share your sway ; Be just and firm in all you say ; And should your husband rave and swear, Or act, perchance, the sullen bear, Believe me, that, to brave the storm, You'd better act in manly form ! " Madame fitoile stopped and sat down again to take breath. Applause followed, particularly from CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 43 the ladies ; but Chou-chou Dutonneau ventured to say, " I don't much like that about husbands turn- ing to bears." " Why not, monsieur ? Why it is very true to nature," said pretty Madame Grassouillet, laugh- ing, "one very often sees a husband who has turned to a bear ! " " Amandine, it seems to me that your remark is very untimely," said M. Grassouillet in a low tone ; "as for me, I am of M. Dutonneau's opinion, I think it rather ungracious of this lady to say in her verses that we turn to bears ; it seems to me she might have found numerous comparisons which would be more just and less brutal." " Really, my dear, you are right ; she might have said turn to a canary." " I like your canary no better." " But what would you like then ? would you liked to be compared to an owl ? " " That will do, madame, please ; but I know a bird to which she might have compared us." " If you know it, tell us then, at once." " No, it is one of the things one keeps to one's self." The captain, who had not been highly enter- tained by Madame fitoile's verses, exclaimed, "Now, we are going to sing a cheerful tol-de-rol- lol, a comic song." " Pardon me, captain, but I have not finished," 44 MADAME PANTALON said Paolina hastily ; " you have heard only the opening lines of my verses ; now I shall treat of marriage in all its aspects, and in Alexandrine metre." The poetical Paolina rose again, and on this occasion accompanied her declamation with ges- tures. Who thus imagined first, upon the earth, T" enchain for aye the sex that's made to please ? Go back, I say, to Noah, back to Cain ; Back further still, " No, no ! go back no further," cried the cap- tain striking the table. " Pardon, my dear lady, if I interrupt you, but I must confess to you that when I hear verses recited it puts me to sleep immediately ; we old sea dogs know nothing of poetry. Will you not, therefore, keep your verse until supper-time, when I shall not be present, and let us now sing a cheerful refrain ? Since these gentlemen won't sing, I am going to begin myself and I will give you, It was in the town of Bordeaux." " We, ladies, will leave these gentlemen to their singing," said Cesarine rising. " It is time, it seems to me, that we go and change our toilets for the ball." " Yes, yes, it is more than time," answered Madame Dutonneau rising also, " for I am very CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 45 suspicious as to the character of these gentlemen's songs." Madame Etoile said nothing, but she darted a disdainful glance at the men, while the Widow Flambart cried, " These gentlemen are delighted to see us go, they will be free to smoke, and now women are abandoned for cigars." " How horrid ! " exclaimed Madame Vespuce. " Fortunately we all have our own little way of revenging ourselves," murmured Madame Gras- souillet. And the ladies disappeared just as M. de Va- beaupont began his song. The ladies once gone, it was who should sing after the captain, for all these gentlemen knew some songs, but they were a little too broad to be sung before ladies. They remained at table a long time, and it was nearly nine o'clock when they decided to leave it and repair to a drawing-room where card tables were set out. When the captain got up, he was by no means tipsy, because he habitually drank deep, but his legs were rather shaky ; he called Lundi-Gras, who on this occasion did not respond. "Where the devil is my cabin boy?" cried the captain. " What have they done with him ? I must have him, I want him. Nephew Pantalon, go, if you please, and inquire about my cabin boy." 46 MADAME PANTALON The bridegroom hastened to obey his wife's uncle. He returned in a short time and said to the cap- tain, " My dear uncle, Lundi-Gras is not in a fit state to present himself before you. He is so tipsy he cannot stand, and is asleep in a private room where he has eaten and drunk for four. I assure you they have taken good care of him." " Then lead me to this room. I'll go and talk to the rascal ! " " Why, captain, as he's asleep " " Be easy, I know how to awaken him." And the captain took Adolphe's arm and leaned on him, saying, "You are solid, but you are too tall; I'm so used to supporting myself on that ruffian of a Lundi-Gras, who serves as my cane ; well, I walk badly when I have not my cabin boy under my hand." They reached the room in which Lundi-Gras was snoring, stretched out on a sofa. The captain looked at his cabin boy, gave him a punch in the side, and seeing that that did not waken him, said to the bridegroom, " Ask one of the waiters to bring a bucket of water." " A bucket, captain, is not a glass enough ? " " A glass ! for a man who has passed his life on the sea ! Tell them to bring you a bucket quite full." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 47 Adolphe obeyed. The bucket of water was brought by the waiter from whom Lundi-Gras had snatched the bottle of chambertin, and when the captain said, " Throw all that water in my cabin boy's face," the waiter very skilfully executed the order, so that not a drop was wasted so far as Lundi-Gras was concerned. The expedient was successful ; the cabin boy opened his eyes, saw his master before him, and sputtered, " Here I am ! What wine do you want, cap- tain ? " " Look you ! the rascal thinks of nothing but drinking. Come, be quick and get sober, that you may serve as my cane." The captain then went off with Adolphe, to whom he said, " I must pardon this boozer, because he wished to celebrate our wedding too, and because I can't do without him." At half-past nine all the ladies reappeared in ball dress, which did not make the ugly ones pretty, but which lent distinction and elegance to the ball. Cesarine looked very beautiful. She wore her bridal costume as a queen wearing her crown. If virginal timidity did not heighten her personal charms, her noble bearing forced everyone to ad- mire her. At eleven o'clock came the persons who had been invited to the ball only. The gathering then 48 MADAME PANTALON became very numerous, and the scene very ani- mated, and the gentlemen had a choice of pretty partners. The captain walked about the ballroom leaning on his cabin boy, who was sobered by this time, and thought he ought to smile at everybody who looked at him. The captain was in the best of humors; he often spoke to the ladies, advised them to dance all they could, and to make good use of their night. Then Lundi-Gras murmured in the captain's ear, " If you like, I am quite willing to dance my- self." M.deVabeaupont contented himself with shrug- ging his shoulders and leaning harder on his living walking-stick. " Hold your tongue, you big bamboo," he growled. " Wait, Lundi-Gras, you see all these little women here dancing so genteelly, they take tiny steps, they droop their heads modestly, they are very prettily shod ; the men, I must confess, are not bad either, if many of them did not look as if they were walking and not taking the trouble to dance. But all that is nothing to the dances I have seen in Africa. Oh, those were lively, I can tell you ; you should have seen the women leap and gambol and twist themselves, their hair float- ing on their shoulders, and uttering shrill cries all the time. The men were still worse; they contorted CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 49 themselves frightfully, often they took the women by the waist and threw them haphazard over their shoulders ; they fell on their backs or their faces, no matter which, and no one paid any attention to those who could not get up again; it was magnifi- cent." " And what sort of people were these dancers ? " " Thousand portholes ! why, they were negroes and negresses ! " " Oh, yes, you told me as much. If they danced like that here it would be quite risky." " Indeed you are quite right, Lundi-Gras, it would soon spoil these ladies' pretty ball dresses." The bride opened the ball with her husband ; after which she said to him, " We will not dance together again to-night." " What ! not even once ? " " Impossible, I have too many invitations. And how about yourself, monsieur ? " "Oh, call me Adolphe; don't call me monsieur." " We have plenty of time to call each other pet names. But you, my dear " " That's preferable ; I like my dear much better than monsieur." " Are you going to interrupt me like this when- ever I wish to say something to you ? " " No, I won't do it again, dearest." " Here, take these tablets, I have written on them the names of all the ladies whom you must ask to dance." Vol. XXI 5 MADAME PANTALON " Good heavens ! what a quantity of names ; do you want me to dance with all those ? " " Well, didn't you expect to dance ? The bride- groom, that would be pretty " " I don't go so far as that, but I don't see the necessity of wearing myself all out." " Ha, ha! you make me laugh ! go and give your invitations ! " The husband was not delighted with the duty assigned him by his wife ; he decided, however, to satisfy her, and Cesarine said to Madame Flam- bart, " I've just given my husband his instructions for the ball. I want him to invite the persons I have designated to him." " You have done well, dearest ; you must put your husband on the right footing and accustom him to obey your will." At eleven o'clock Frederic Duvassel made his entrance into the ballroom with his young brother Gustave. The bridegroom was delighted at his friend's appearance ; he hastened to present him to his wife, during a pause in the dance. Frederic paid the usual compliments to the bride, and presented his brother as an indefatigable dancer; as for him- self, he confessed, he never danced. Young Gus- tave was a very handsome fellow, who still looked like a schoolboy. He was exceedingly bashful, and blushed when a lady looked at him, and lowered CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 51 his eyes very quickly under Cesarine's glances, but they rested with pleasure on little Elvina, whose modest demeanor inspired him with sympathy. The introduction completed, Cesarine turned towards Madame Dutonneau and said to her, " How stupid of my husband to invite anyone who doesn't dance to a ball ! What are we going to do with M. Duvassel ? He has a mocking air which does not please me at all." " His brother is very nice." " A schoolboy who looks like a canary. Now there's M. Fouillac, the son of one of my uncle's old friends, he's an agreeable man, if you like; he doesn't leave the ballroom for the cardroom as so many gentlemen do." " But he's a rather middle-aged dancer," said Madame Vespuce, "that man must be getting well on to his fiftieth year." " Oh, you are mistaken, my dear ; I am sure M. Fouillac isn't more than forty-five." " He looks more." " Chou-chou still looks so young, no one would suppose he was forty-five, the wretch ! " said Madame Dutonneau, "He's altogether too hand- some, and he's too well aware of that fact." " You think your husband too handsome ? " " Yes, madame, because he has too many flirta- tions, conquests; he's ruining his health and he neglects his wife and that is not right at my age." M. Fouillac, with whom we have not as yet 52 MADAME PANTALON made acquaintance, was a well-mannered man, be- tween forty and fifty years of age. He had been good-looking enough, as to his face, though he had rather the expression of a sheep ; but now he had become quite bloated, which made his small eyes look like those of a mouse. He was a man who always had a smile upon his lips and compliments at his tongue's end ; with these, a man is rarely unsuccessful in making a good impression, especially among the ladies, yet at thirty this gentleman had succeeded in nothing but in dissipating the property left him by his father. Since that time how had he lived ? That was what a great many persons asked, for he had no profession, and after essaying all kinds of things, he passed his time in doing nothing. There are a great many people in the world who are in the same case as M. Fouillac ; always well-dressed, well-mannered, wearing the freshest of gloves and the most irreproachable boots, they are seen at the first representation of all the plays at the smaller theatres, at concerts, fetes, balls, where they are careful to make themselves remarked by talking very loud. Their lives are problematical. They live by deceiving others, say some; they must owe money to everybody, say others. Certain it is that they are spongers and parasites who study how they may flatter each one's tastes, ; they are invariably of one's opinion, and if one were to say that one CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 53 were going to the moon, they would not fail to say that it was really an excellent idea. At the time of which we are writing M. Fouillac asserted that he did business at the Bourse ; he frequented it very assiduously, it is true ; but it was believed that he only gambled with other peo- ple's money. M. Fouillac, who had lost his for- tune by gambling, had not, however, lost the hope of one day being more fortunate ; and if he did not take his place at the lansquenet or baccarat tables in his friends' drawing-rooms, it was because he had not a sou in his pocket, and also because it hurt his pride that he could not play for high stakes as he formerly used. As for that, one can understand that a man who had covered the table with bank notes did not care to take part in a game where they only hoped to win a few louis. That, how- ever, was why M. Fouillac now contented himself in looking on at the game and not taking part in it. " Poor fellow ! " said the captain, " he is wiser now ; his reverses have taught him his lesson." This is how we often misjudge people; we do not suspect that this indifference masks a passion, and that hidden passions are the most dangerous. Beware of the bomb when it is ready to explode. At dinner M. Fouillac ate and drank prodig- iously, but that did not prevent his studying the tastes, the tempers, of the greater part of the bride's good friends. Nor in the evening did he fail to 54 MADAME PANTALON praise Madame fetoile's verses, compliment Ma- dame Vespuce on her ball gown and queenly bear- ing, Olympiade de Bouchetrou on the air of distinction which the pock-marks imparted to her husband, and, finally, Cesarine on her habit of making herself obeyed, and on the control she seemed to have over her new husband. There remained only Madame Flambart, whom he dared not compliment on the fact that she was the widow of three husbands ; but before whom he stopped every time he passed, and bowed as though he wanted to take her in his arms. Adolphe presented his friend Frederic to the captain, who said to the newcomer, "Why are you so late in joining us, monsieur?" " Why, captain, it is not yet very late." " Do you think not ? it's half past eleven, I am going to bed soon myself. You are an old friend of Pantalon's, are you not ? " " Yes, monsieur, we were chums at college." " You see I have given him to wife one who is well-equipped a vessel which knows how to tack, confound it ! You have seen my niece ? " " Yes, captain, I have had the honor of meet- ing her. She is a very beautiful woman." " I quite agree with you. I hope Pantalon will not keep all his canvas furled beside her. As for the rest, I am perfectly easy, if he doesn't walk straight, Cesarine will know how to set the pace for him. My niece is as good as a man any day, she CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 55 has all the capacity of one. I mean by that the capacity of a man of merit, of mind ; as for weak- minded idiots, she would tread them under foot like kittens." Frederic tried to maintain his gravity as he looked at the bridegroom, who did not appear altogether delighted at the portrait which was drawn of his wife. But Madame Flambart came up, exclaiming, " Monsieur Adolphe, your wife saw you talking, and was afraid you might forget that you were to dance this dance with Madame Gercain, and they are about to take their places. Come, Madame Gercain is over there, on the left." " Oh, I see her ; she's ugly enough to be recog- nized; she's a little humpbacked too, I think. It's anything but pleasurable to dance with that lady." " It is your wife's will ; come along." The bridegroom decided to obey, making a gri- mace. Madame Flambart looked at the captain and remarked, " He submits ; oh, Cesarine will make him toe the mark; from the first, I said to her, f My dear- est, from the very first day of your marriage you must put your husband on the right footing immediately on the right footing.' ' " Who in the world is that lady ? " asked Fred- eric of the captain, when the widow had departed. "That, monsieur, is a woman who has buried three husbands ! " 56 MADAME PANTALON " Confound it ! if she lost them by means of putting them on the right footing, I venture to hope your niece will not follow her counsels." The old mariner laughed. " Be quite easy as to that," he said, " my niece follows her own ideas, she follows nobody's coun- sels. Come, Lundi-Gras, we are sailing before the wind, cabin boy, it's time to tack for the shore." " What, captain, are you going already ? Why, there's a supper yet, they told me so at the office." " I know that devilish well, seeing I ordered it, but it is for the young people who are going to dance all night, while we others, old lugger, will go to bed. It would seem strange to me, besides, if you hadn't had enough to eat and drink, without want- ing anything more." " I assure you, captain, I should have supped with great pleasure." " Hold your tongue, old snob ! Come, forward, march ! " M. de Vabeaupont and his cabin boy had left. The ball was then at its height, the dance was very lively, for the captain had done things well ; punch was handed round between the dances ; the gen- tlemen did not despise it, and Madame Flambart imitated them, saying to the ladies, " Mesdames, believe me, you had better drink some of this punch, it is infinitely preferable to ices and syrups, and it will prevent your giving your- selves inflammation of the lungs." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 57 " But we shall make ourselves tipsy," suggested Madame Vespuce. " Not a bit of it, it is only a question of accus- toming one's self to it." Among all these cheerful, jolly, animated faces, the bridegroom's was the only one which looked at all serious. His friend Frederic observing this, rallied him. " What is the matter with you, my dear Adolphe ? for a bridegroom, I think you look rather more thoughtful than is usual." " By Jove ! my dear fellow, I can't stand any more of this ; this incessant dancing is overpower- ing. I've never been fond of dancing ; a quadrille now and then is all very well, but a whole evening of it without any rest is far from pleasurable." " And what obliges you to do it, if you don't wish to ? " " Why, my wife ; Cesarine has given me tablets on which she has written the names of the persons with whom I must dance you saw that just now; when I appear to be thinking of resting a little, she sends Madame Flambart to me, to recall me to my duties." " Adolphe, will you allow me to advise you ? " " Speak, I am all attention." " I was very much concerned for you when I heard M. de Vabeaupont describing his niece. If he was saying what was true, you have not married a woman, but a cuirassier." 58 MADAME PANTALON " What an idea ! " "It pleases me to think," resumed Frederic, " that the uncle, dear fellow ! has overdrawn the portrait ; still, your wife has already shown herself rather exacting. The Dame Flambart, widow of three husbands, keeps saying that your wife must put you on the right footing. The best footing for a household is gentleness, a mutual complai- sance which does not say, I wish to be the master '; but which does not allow one to weaken when one is in the right. If you begin by doing your wife's will, she will end in looking upon you as a cipher and doing everything without consulting you." " Don't be uneasy, I have too much strength of mind for that ; if they go too far, I shall let them see." " That's all very well, but it would be much bet- ter not to let them go too far." " Oh, here's the introduction to the next dance, it is a waltz this time, and I don't like waltzing." Well, don't waltz, then." " This is Madame Boulard's dance an enor- mous woman, a regular bale, I can never support her." " Don't waltz, say it makes you dizzy." " But Cesarine knows well that I waltz, I have waltzed with her. Ah, good ! here is the aide-de- camp sent to warn me." " Oh, yes, the widow of three husbands is ad- vancing towards us ; be on your guard." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 59 Madame Flambart, in fact, came up to them, and addressed the husband, " Well, don't you hear, they've begun the waltz ; it is Madame Boulard whom you are to invite. Cesarine sent me to tell you. Come quickly, you've lost some bars already but come along." Frederic nudged his friend and whispered to him, " Don't go." Adolphe hesitated, then he said, '" I am very tired and Madame Boulard is a very bad waltzer." " You will make her go all right, with a good partner a woman can always waltz." " No, when a woman has no ear, her partner can never make her keep time." "Why, come along, M. Pantalon, since it is your wife's wish that you should." " No ; I shall not waltz this time." " Why, what an idea ! well, I must say you are neither amiable nor gallant. Your wife will be furious." " Oh, I think not. I should not like to think she would pout over a little thing like that." The widow departed, very much disappointed, and went to inform Cesarine of her husband's resolution. The newly married woman could not understand how any one could refuse to do any- thing she wished, and she said to M. Fouillac, who was beside her, " Monsieur Fouillac, will you go and find my 60 MADAME PANTALON husband? he can't have understood Madame Flam- bart ; he owes this waltz to Madame Boulard, who is awaiting him, and has refused others on his account, it would be outrageous of him to make her miss the waltz go and tell him that." " I'll fly to do your bidding, fair lady ; and if needs be, if your husband refuses to waltz with this lady, I'll take his place myself, though I am rather a poor partner." " You are a charming man ! you always do as one wishes." " I have no other occupation, madame." M. Fouillac turned swaggeringly towards the bridegroom, and Cesarine remarked to Madame Flambart, " I have quite an idea that it is this M. Du- vassel, this friend of Adolphe's whom I have never seen before, who is giving him bad counsel ; for never, up to the present, has Adolphe refused to do anything I asked him." " Yes," said the widow, "he was talking in quite a low tone to your husband, and he looked de- lighted when M. Pantalon refused to waltz with Madame Boulard." " Oh ! well, we shall see ; my husband must not imagine that he can take advice from any one but me. No, no, I shall not for a moment suffer that. This M. Duvassel, this would-be doctor, must take care how he behaves." Meanwhile M. Fouillac had gone up to the CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 61 husband, who was still chatting with his friend Frederic, he smiled graciously and said to him, " Monsieur bridegroom, I come to you as an ambassador, your charming wife has delegated her powers to me and commissions me to beg you to waltz with Madame Boulard, whom I do not know, but who has been designated to me from a distance a little, yellow, enormously stout and very short woman with roses in her hair. I can see her from here." " M. Fouillac, I am very sorry you have taken so much trouble, but I have already told Madame Flambart that I wish to rest a little ; I am tired." "So you don't wish to waltz with Madame Boulard?" " No, not this time." " Well, then, if you will allow me I will do so in your stead ; I'll waltz with this lady who is awaiting you, and I'll tell her you have the cramp." " Tell her anything you like ; you are extremely obliging and I thank you for your good offices." " I am delighted to be able to serve you ; only I am not a very good waltzer. Does this lady dance well ? " " Angelically," answered Frederic, biting his lips. " Then she will guide me ; that will do very well, but she must guide me." And M. Fouillac went off to invite the fat dumpy woman to dance ; she accepted the invita- tion with alacrity. 62 MADAME PANTALON " Who is this very obliging gentleman ? " in- quired Frederic of Adolphe. " An acquaintance of the captain's the son of one of his old comrades. You told him that lady waltzed angelically and it is quite the contrary." "It was necessary to encourage him, since it was imperative that he should waltz with Madame Boulard." " My dear fellow, how will he get out of it with- out some mishap ? I shudder to think of it." " And it's a perfect festival for me to see them waltz. By the way, here's your wife passing, well, really, she waltzes perfectly." " Cesarine can do anything she wishes. Your brother is waltzing with my sister." " Your sister is very pleasing ; she looks as though she were very modest and gentle." "Yes, she has an amiable disposition, she's rather timid, but she will live with us and Cesarine will form her." " Oh, my dear fellow, try not to have her formed too much, a timid woman is so pleasing ! " " Really, Frederic, you have a bad opinion of my wife " " No, my dear fellow, no ; only, I am doubtful of women who speak Latin. Oh, these learned women ! remember Moliere." "It is not so in our time." " I am notof your opinion; the ridiculous changes its form, but it reappears at all epochs ; it is like CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 63 the passions, inherent in the human species. Look you, are there not always ambitious, egotistical, jealous, envious, avaricious people ? canting hypo- crites, seducers, usurers and boasters ? and in fact wicked people who often do evil for the mere pleasure of doing it, and without gaining anything thereby ? The latter are the more numerous, which proves that we do not come into the world with all the virtues. But look out ! here are our waltzers." M. Fouillac, who was just above middle height, found that his partner's roses were almost under his chin ; he had his arms around Madame Bou- lard, and tried, as he turned, to raise the massive dame, who shook continually out of time and yielded her unresisting weight to her partner's arms in a manner which threatened to utterly ex- haust that gentleman. In fact the perspiration was pouring from M. Fouillac in great drops, his face had become scarlet; he was obliged to hold his partner firmly and he also had to avoid the shocks of the other waltzers, against whom Madame Bou- lard was always ready to bump. This painful work could not last forever. Fouil- lac's vanity would not allow him to desist ; but he began to be dizzy, and was no longer able to avoid the other couples who were waltzing ; pushed by some, jostled by others, he had the misfortune to find himself in handsome Dutonneau's way. That fine fellow, who was waltzing with a woman of his own calibre, hurled himself against the weighty 64 MADAME PANTALON Madame Boulard and her partner with an impact that they could not resist ; they both fell, the gentle- man on his back, and the lady on top of him. Fortunately, they were not at the Opera ball, where all the waltzers would have continued to turn at the risk of passing over their bodies ; at a private ball, when a similar event happens, the bandmaster makes a sign to his musicians, who cease to play immediately. So all the waltzers stopped, and hastened to pick up the fallen couple ; Fouillac could not stir, because Madame Boulard's weight was upon him, and her chignon and roses, which had become detached from her head, were all over his face. Finally some of them picked up the dame, all the ladies hastened to reassure her, tell- ing her that she had fallen gracefully, not even showing her ankles. This assurance was but small consolation to Madame Boulard for the mortification of losing her hair ; she looked at her chignon and her roses strewn on the floor, where Fouillac had dashed them angrily from his mouth. As for him, his face was scratched, for the pins which held Madame Boulard's chignon and roses had not spared her partner. Cesarine had hardly been informed of the acci- dent when she went in search of her husband, and said to him very acidly, " Well, monsieur, do you know what has hap- pened? It is your fault that Madame Boulard fell, CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 65 that her chignon came off, that she has lost a part of her hair and her roses, and that poor M. Fouil- lac has his face all scratched up." "And how am I the cause of that, my dear? Am I to blame because Madame Boulard wears false hair ? and because M. Fouillac fell with his partner ? " " Yes, monsieur, you are to blame ; for if you had waltzed with Madame Boulard, according to your engagement, all that would not have hap- pened." " My engagement ? You are delightful, my dear- est. Why, I did not put those ladies' names on your tablets; and really you put too many." " Very well, monsieur, that's enough. I shall remember how disobliging you were." " But Cesarine, it seems to me " The bride took herself off without waiting to listen further ; throwing, as she went, a proud defiant glance at Duvassel, who, however, made her a very gracious obeisance. " You made me put my foot in it finely," said the bridegroom to his friend. " Here is my wife vexed with me. I've made Madame Boulard's hair come off and lost her chignon." " Why doesn't this M. Fouillac know how to take better care of his partner ? Come, think no more of it ; your wife will forget all about this in dancing, and among all these ladies I assure you I have seen a good many who were laughing at the Vol. XXI 66 MADAME PANTALON accident to the chignon. But here is my brother ; he, at any rate, is not in a bad humor." Young Gustave had, in fact, a radiant expression. He hurried to say to the bridegroom, " Oh, monsieur, how amiable, how charming your sister is ; how willing she was to talk to me. She doesn't look proud and affected, like the other young ladies. Monsieur, when I return from trav- elling with my brother, you will permit me to come and see you, will you not ? " " Yes, of course." " Why, Adolphe, here is my brother in love with your sister. He bursts into a flame as easily as a torch when a match is applied to it, the rascal ! " " Oh, well, later on, if he still loves Elvina there's no knowing " " Oh, yes, keep her for me, I beg of you ; don't marry her to any one else keep her for me." " Be quite easy as to that, young man ! filvina is still too young to dream of marrying." " Frederic, you won't insist upon my travelling for long, I hope ? " " Leave me in peace, you young hot-head ! I'll wager you will fall in love in every town in which we stop." "No, no, monsieur, I shall never love anybody but your sister. Oh, they are playing a polka now, I'm going to dance it with her, I'm desperately fond of the polka keep her for me, monsieur." " Get away with you to your polka." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 67 The ball was prolonged until four o'clock, when they sat down to supper ; the ladies were glad to rest after the fatigue of so much dancing, and the gentlemen renewed their strength for the cotillon. Adolphe endeavored to approach his wife ; but the latter avoided him and did not answer him when he spoke to her. " They are beginning well," said Frederic to himself, glancing slyly at the bridegroom. " Ah, my poor Adolphe, you have married a very fine woman ; but, frankly, I do not envy you your happiness." CHAPTER III SIXTEEN MONTHS LATER. MADAME PANTALON DECLARES HERSELF SIXTEEN months had elapsed since the wedding festivities at which we were present. During this time Frederic Duvassel and his brother had been travelling in England, Italy and Germany. When they came back to Paris, young Gustave was less childish, less heedless than before his departure ; but, if he had had some gallant adventures in for- eign countries, he had not forgotten pretty Elvina, with whom he had fallen so much in love at Pan- talon's wedding; and on reaching Paris he said to his brother, " You are going to see your friend Adolphe, are you not ? Then you can ask his permission to take me with you " " Yes, yes, in a moment ; let me have time to get my boots off, won't you ? " " You will inquire after his charming sister's health, won't you ? She must be grown ? " " Perhaps ; do you want to have her bigger ? " " No, brother, I ask for nothing but to find her as she was when I left her sixteen months ago." " I hope, for your sake, that she has not changed ; 68 CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 69 but in sixteen months so many things may hap- pen." "You frighten me ; what if she should no longer love me ! " " What ? no longer love you ? Can it be that that young timid girl told you at your first meet- ing that she loved you." " Oh, no but, you see, without saying any- thing, one understands so quickly sometimes. Oh, if I was mistaken I shall be so unhappy ! " " Don't talk so foolishly, you are not yet twenty- two ; at that age love renders only idiots unhappy, and you are not one." " When shall you go to see M. Pantalon ? " " Oh, don't pester me ! I will go in a few days." " Tomorrow, old fellow ; tomorrow, I beseech you." " By Jove ! you are in a hurry." " You have told me yourself, Frederic, when anything will render us happy, we should not put it off to the next day! " " That is correct ! Desaugiers, whose songs were highly esteemed, said, Today belongs to us And tomorrow belongs to nobody. Come, calm yourself, terrible lover! but don't allow yourself to fall into sweet delusions. A sage no, a philosopher, which is almost the same thing, said, * On coming back from a long journey, yo MADAME PANTALON expect to find your house burned, your wife un- faithful, and your children dead ! ' " But I have neither house, children, wife, nor mistress." " Then, all right! you can brave destiny. Those who possess nothing have one consolation, they can sleep tranquilly. But there is still love to set a hammer tapping in the heads of those who are foolish enough to make a passion of it." "You have never been in love, have you, brother?" " Yes, I have but calmly, agreeably. For me love has always been a pleasure, never a grief." " That's because you have never really been in love." " Come, I won't tease you any more, my dear Gustave ; tomorrow I will go and see the Pan- talons." "You are very kind, and you shall speak for me ; you shall say that I am now very wise, very steady, in fact that I am quite good enough to marry." " I am not too sure I ought to say that, for I don't believe a word of it. But if, in this world, people never said anything but what they believed, they would have no long conversations. It was a famous diplomat who said, ' Speech was given to man that he might disguise his thought,' and, unfortunately, the great diplomat was right." The next day Frederic was crossing the Place CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 71 de la Bourse to repair to his old college friend's, when in the same place where, sixteen months previously, he had met Adolphe Pantalon, he sud- denly confronted that individual himself. " Why, it is he ! " cried Frederic. " It's you," echoed Adolphe. " We seem to be destined to meet always at the same place." " That's true ; there are chances in life that seem like special providences. We met each other here sixteen months ago." " You were going to be married, and I was re- turning from a journey, precisely as I am to-day ; I arrived in Paris with Gustave yesterday evening and I was going to your place as I was sixteen months ago ; only, I presume, you are not going to be married again ? " " Oh, no, once is quite enough ? " " You don't say so, my poor Adolphe ! But come, let's look at you. I'm obliged to tell you that you don't look so fresh and cheerful as you used and you are thin." " That's a mere nothing ; being fat does not make one happy." " No, it doesn't make happiness, but it often indicates it. You look so serious, sad even, and you were formerly so jolly, so full of fun." " My dear fellow ! marriage has changed that ! " " You are not happy in your household then ? Come, my dear Adolphe, take my arm, and as we 72 MADAME PANTALON go along tell me all your troubles. You know well that I am your best, perhaps your only close friend, for they are quite as rare as faithful mistresses ; and I shall be only too happy to alleviate your sorrows, if you have any." " Oh, yes, I have them. Well, Frederic, you were quite right ; I did not marry a woman, but a cuirassier.'* " Really? why, I only said that to you for a joke." ( "It is far from a joke; Cesarine always wants to command ; at a word, the slightest observation sometimes, she gets angry, flies into a passion, and when she is angry breaks everything that comes to her hand." " That is because she is nervous." "She's too nervous altogether too nervous. During the first months of our marriage she was in delicate health, and I submitted without mur- muring ; I said to myself, c It is her condition which renders her thus, the effects will pass with the cause ! ' My wife presented me with a beautiful lit- tle girl ; that was good. She put her out to nurse in Bretigny, near her uncle's chateau ; nothing bet- ter ! She goes to see her baby when the desire takes her ; I find no fault with that ; besides, she goes at the same time to see her uncle, who no longer comes to Paris, because he is now tied to his estate by the gout. Well, will you believe it, my friend ? since her child was born my wife has CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 73 become more unamiable than ever. In the first place she has acquired the habit of criticising all I do and of wanting to meddle with my work, even with cases I have to defend. When any one comes to consult me in regard to a new case, which they wish to confide to me, if I am absent my wife sees the client ; she makes him explain the business, and it has happened several times that she has sent away the person, saying, 'Your case is bad, my hus- band will not plead for you, I don't wish him to undertake your business, he would lose the case take away your papers, you are in the wrong.' ' " Why, this is very amusing. Madame is a jurisconsult." " Why, no, my dear fellow, it is not amusing at all ; her standpoint is this : that, generally speak- ing, men do not know how to plead, that they have not enough finesse to seize on the weak part of an adversary's case, and that only women should be lawyers." " Well, certainly their speeches would never be too short." " Unfortunately I lost the last two causes that I pleaded, and, as you may imagine, my wife has not been sparing of her sarcasm. I f she had pleaded, she asserts that my client would have won his case. That's the whole story. Lately I have been out hunting with my friends, and if I come home with an empty bag, that isn't my fault, but by Jove ! Cesarine's taunts are hard to bear." 74 MADAME PANTALON "My poor Adolphe ! After sixteen months' mar- riage that is too soon." " So it is in everything ; madame asserts that she can understand it better than I. In fact, my dear fellow, after sixteen months of marriage, things have come to such a pass that we each have our own apartment." " Married people of your age, that is deplorable !" " Cesarine has been and is encouraged in these ideas by her intimate friends : Mesdames Vespuce, Dutonneau, Bouchetrou, Etoile, Grassouillet, the Widow Flambart, and a good many others besides. If you did but know how these ladies treat men. If we followed their ideas, we should submit to be their slaves, to execute their orders ; they would hold the purse and give us money only when they were satisfied as to our conduct." " It's enough to kill one with laughter." " No, I assure you it is not at all a laughing matter, to be married to one of these viragoes. Then there's that fellow Fouillac ; he flatters these ladies' ideas and they deign to admit him to their conventions they think him worthy of their confidence." " Because he fell when waltzing with Madame Boulard ? " " Because he still bears on his face the marks of the pins which should have held his partner's chig- non on ; these are noble scars, which render him charming in the eyes of the ladies." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 75 " And you admit this gentleman to your house ? " " Good God! I have to. Cesarine would make a fine rumpus if I were to put him out. For the rest, this gentleman, whom I believe to be a Gas- con in character as well as by birth, is looking for nothing better than being asked to dinner where he can pay his shot in anecdotes, in which the fair sex always take the better part." " And your sister, your pretty little sister, you have not spoken of her, is she still with you ? " " Yes, but I believe it would have been better for Elvina had she stayed at her boarding school." "Why so ?" " Why, because in living with Cesarine, in con- tinually hearing men spoken ill of, in witnessing how my wife speaks to me, my sister is growing less docile, answers with more assurance, makes observations on what she is asked to do in fact, because she is no longer that timid, gentle little girl that you saw at my wedding." " The devil ! and my brother is still in love with her thinks only of her, speaks only of her!" " Really ! " " So much sc that we had barely arrived yester- day before he wanted me to come post haste to you he was so eager to be presented." " Bring him, my dear fellow, bring him ; these ladies have not gone so far yet as to refuse to re- ceive a pleasing young fellow." "And can I pass under that heading?" 7 6 MADAME PANTALON " Be easy ; I receive these ladies' friends ; there will be the devil to payif they don't welcome mine." " That's poor reasoning. But what you tell me about your sister makes me uneasy on poor Gus- tave's account. We must not let that young girl become a cuirassier, or even a little fifer." " Oh, there is still one resource ! Elvina has a naturally happy disposition, and sometimes when my wife has said something that causes me pain, if my sister perceives it, she comes quickly to kiss me, and says in a low voice, Don't be vexed, Adolphe, Cesarine only said that so as not to yield.' " " All the same I think it is time my brother showed himself, if he does not want your sister to turn into a masculine woman. May he present himself at your house to-morrow ? " " Of course, that is our reception day, but there's no ceremony, no dressing for the occasion I speak of the men, for the ladies always make fine toilets, but that is their domain." " Yes, and since it is to please us men that they like to adorn themselves, we can hardly think ill of them for it." "Oh, my dear Frederic, it is not always to please the men that women wish to have fine toilets, it is in the hope of eclipsing and making their best friends envious." " Deuce take it, Adolphe ; you are mighty severe on the ladies now." " What can you expect ? they have soured my CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 77 temper. You will come tomorrow evening with your brother that's settled, is it not?" "Yes, but don't tell your wife that I am coming beforehand ; I have an idea that she will not be very pleased to see me." " And you are not wrong, my poor Frederic," resumed Adolphe, "to think that Cesarine doesn't look favorably on you." " What is the reason of this antipathy ? " " Why, my dear fellow, she suspects you of hav- ing advised me not to waltz with Madame Boulard, and, by a peculiar course of reasoning, of being the cause of that lady's losing her chignon, and of the scratches on M. Fouillac's cheek." " Devil take it ! I shall have enough to do to hold my own, then. But at any rate I am a physi- cian, and perhaps if I can cure some of these ladies of the headache that may obtain me their pardon. Does your wife have headaches ? " " I believe not." " That's a pity ; but she may, later on." There was a numerous gathering at the house of the lawyer Pantalon. Cesarine's intimate friends rarely failed to put in an appearance at these even- ing parties, where they related to each other the offences which their husbands had committed ; sometimes it was not offences, but the incurable foolishness of these gentlemen, of which they com- plained. The result of these mutual confidences, these 78 MADAME PANTALON conferences, was ever the same ; Cesarine would say, " We must change all this ! the laws are badly made, the places ill-occupied, the professions car- ried on very indifferently. The parts are, in fact, distributed in a very absurd manner. Men have taken to themselves all the honorable employ- ments, everything that wins a recompense, renown, or favor all is for them. We are cast into the shade, as though we were competent only to care for children, or busy ourselves with finery. It is a shame ! these gentlemen have done us a great injury ! We are all quite as capable as are they of filling clerkships in the government and municipal offices, or in a business or bank, for I can reckon like Bareme himself. " When I said as capable, I made a mistake ; I should have said, more capable. We have a hun- dred times more finesse in our little fingers than they have in their whole bodies. Can we not, if we wish, be advocates, doctors, judges, poets, authors, novelists ? In these last professions women have already shown what they can do. " Do they doubt our courage, our adroitness ? Why, see how the bold riders at 1' Hippodrome govern their horses and guide a chariot on its career, and tell me if all your horsemen in the Bois-de-Boulogne are capable of doing as they do ? " If it is a question of going to war, fighting the enemy, do they think that we do not know how CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 79 to handle a sabre, a sword, or fire a pistol ? I re- peat, women were made to be successful at every- thing. Need I quote those women whose names will ever be illustrious. I don't speak of Joan of Arc, because she was a glorious being set apart ; but the great Catherine of Russia, Elizabeth of England, Margaret of Anjou, Marie-Therese, and many others, have they not proved that women ought to command, since they can wear a crown so nobly ? " While Cesarine stopped to take breath, the Widow Flambart exclaimed, " Yes, man's reign has lasted long enough ; the masculine must give way to the feminine. I have had three husbands, and I know how to guide these gentlemen. My husbands are dead, they died on my hands, but that was not my fault ; if they had lived they would have been model husbands." While the ladies were talking thus among them- selves, the men were conversing on business, the stage, politics, or playing whist with some dowagers who had not yet broken off all intercourse with the masculine sex, and were quite willing to take part in that game. But M. Fouillac was always to be found hover- ing near the camp of the reformers ; he approved their plans, applauded their speeches, and often said, " I am of your opinion, mesdames, men are good for nothing but money-making." 8o MADAME PANTALON " To spend it later on with gay women," replied Madame Dutonneau, " and to walk about the squares with them ! " When Frederic and his brother made their en- trance into the drawing-room, things were going on as we have described. When the servant an- nounced, " Messieurs Duvassel ! " Cesarine raised her head, the name had struck her, although it was a long time since she had heard those who bore it spoken of. But her glance being directed towards the persons who were coming in, she immediately recognized Frederic, and said to her friends, "This is the gentleman who, at my wedding ball, advised my husband not to waltz with Ma- dame Boulard." The ladies all made a movement of repulsion, as though they saw Beelzebub appear ; and fat Madame Boulard immediately put her hand up to her chignon, to make sure that it had not again dropped off. " What is this gentleman's occupation ? " in- quired Paolina. " He is a doctor, or at least, gives himself out for such. He's addicted to travelling, this doctor." " Then when does he attend his patients ? " " He doesn't attend them." " Which is perhaps fortunate for them. A doc- tor who is always travelling, what a curious anom- aly : you are attacked by a grave malady ; you send immediately for your physician, you send CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 81 word for him to come and see you as quickly as possible, and they answer, f The doctor is now at Constantinople ; but be easy, directly he returns, I will send him to you.' ' "That is a doctor 'in partibus.' ' Frederic hastened to pay his respects to the mis- tress of the house. Cesarine's welcome was polite but cold. "You will hardly recognize me, madame, for I have as yet had the pleasure of meeting you but once." " Pardon me, monsieur, I remember you per- fectly ; you were at my wedding ball." "Yes, madame." " And you had a conversation with my husband, which was very interesting, no doubt, for he would not interrupt it to dance with a lady who was ex- pecting him." " Adolphe is one of my best friends, madame, I had just returned from a journey at that time, and, after being separated for a long time, two col- lege friends have always a great deal to say. Be- sides, I think I remember that Adolphe was im- parting his happiness to me he was showing me his wife." Cesarine could not forbear a smile. She said to her friends, " He is not devoid of wit." " He is all the more dangerous, then," said Madame fetoile. Vol. XXI 82 MADAME PANTALON "In regard to that quality," said Olympiade, " my husband is not at all dangerous." " Dutonneau could be as witty as possible if he pleased," sighed the magnificent Armide, " but he doesn't make use of his wit with me ; he keeps it to entertain his mistresses." " All witty men are wicked," added Paolina. " I am not of your opinion, my dear," rejoined Cesarine. " Long live wit ! emollit mores ! ' "Oh, if you speak Latin you are always right, of course ; we do not understand it." After greeting Cesarine, Gustave looked around for Elvina ; but he could hardly recognize her, for the timid little girl had disappeared, and was re- placed by a tall, slender young lady, whose manner was not so shy, nor were her beautiful eyes lowered as soon as any one spoke to her. However, her eyes had still the charm that had attracted Gustave, he recognized them, and has- tened to go and sit near her. Gustave could not forbear saying to her, " By Jove ! mademoiselle, I must ask you to pardon me for not recognizing you at first but you are so changed." " So you find me changed since my brother's wedding ? But, remember, monsieur, that was six- teen months ago, and people may change a good deal in that time, especially at seventeen. Now I am nearly eighteen and a half, I am no longer a child, I am learning to ride a horse." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 83 " Oh, you are learning ? " " Yes, my sister takes me to the riding school." " But you were always charming, mademoiselle ; if you are changed, it is for the better." " I have grown a good deal." " Your height is perfection, and if eyes could grow, I should think that yours had done so." " But you also have changed, monsieur." " Do you think so, mademoiselle ? " " Yes, you are brown and then " " Well, and then ? " " You have a little mustache ; it seems to me, you did not have one sixteen months ago." " That is true, mademoiselle." " Mustaches look very nice, you did well to let yours grow." Gustave thought this remark very singular from a young girl ; but, nevertheless, he continued, " Mademoiselle, if my person is changed, my heart is not. I have sweet memories of that wed- ding, that ball, where I had the pleasure of dan- cing with you, they have never left me, but have remained in my heart with the image of you can imagine whom, can you not, mademoiselle ? " Young Elvina blushed, she had not yet learned to laugh at a declaration of love; besides, Gus- tave's eyes were so eloquent, his voice was so ten- der, he seemed to feel what he said so deeply, that the heart of the young girl beat faster, she was quite moved and stammered, 84 MADAME PANTALON " Why, no, monsieur, I can't imagine whom why do you want me to guess ? " " That image was yours, mademoiselle ! " " Mine! why, the idea ! you thought of me for sixteen months ? " *' When once one loves any one, mademoiselle, does he not think of her always ? " "Why, I don't know anything about it, mon- sieur; you are telling me things I never heard before." " I am telling you what I feel you believe me, don't you, mademoiselle ? " " Oh, no, monsieur; in the first place, my sister Cesarine has warned me that I must never believe what the men tell me ; she assures me that you are all untruthful." " Your sister wrongs us greatly ; she must have been joking to tell you that." " No, she spoke quite seriously." " Does she not wish you to have a husband some day, mademoiselle?" "A husband yes, perhaps ; but on condition that he shall be my slave ! " "Well, then, charming Elvina, it would make me very happy to be yours let me hope you will choose me for your slave ! " " Oh, monsieur, I said slave ; but I really think that my sister-in-law wanted to frighten me by drawing a picture of marriage that would give me no desire to dream of it. She herself is not happy. CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 85 Why, I don't know. It seems to me my brother is not unkind, and I am certain he loves his wife. Love, therefore, does not suffice to make a house- hold happy." " It does not suffice when it exists only on one side 5 but when two hearts understand each other well, when a married couple have perfect confidence in each other, when their glances are always meet- ing to melt into a smile, and their hands to clasp tenderly do you not think, mademoiselle, that in such a union is the truest, sweetest felicity?" Adolphe's sister hesitated, to think what she should answer but Cesarine, who thought she had talked too long with Frederic's brother, called her and told her to go to the piano, because some of the ladies wanted to hear her sing. " Oh, yes," cried the Widow Flambart, "sing us * la Femme au barbe ' ! " All the men began to laugh, and Elvina answered, " I do not know that song, madame." " So much the worse ! I shall learn it, and one of these evenings I'll sing it for you." While the music was going on, Adolphe took his friend into a corner and said to him, " Well, and how did my wife receive you ? " " Well enough, although she hasn't forgotten that I prevented you from waltzing with Madame Boulard." " Ah, she has an astonishing memory ! " 86 MADAME PANTALON " And then it quite seemed to me that all these ladies who surround your wife made grimaces at n me. " They do that to nearly all the men. M. Fouil- lac is the only one entirely in their good graces, because he endorses all the evil they say of the men." " Why, he's a traitor, is this gentleman." " What he says to these ladies is sometimes so ridiculous that I am tempted to think he is laugh- ing at them, or that he wishes to be Madame Flambart's fourth husband." "Have all the ladies who come to your house sworn to hate the men ? It is that, to speak frankly, which deprives your reunions of a great part of their charm." "Oh, no, thanks to heaven ! the foolish ideas that disturb my wife's mind, and those of her intimate friends, are not shared by all the ladies who frequent my house. Wait ! you see that pretty fair woman, over there to the left, who is smiling at what that tall young man standing near her is saying, she does not belong to the camp of the Independents." " And who are the Independents ? " " Those ladies who rebel against being called the helpmates of man, who wish to change everything in the social sphere, and who wish to fill the em- ployments which up to the present have been occu- pied by our sex. My wife glories in being one of the warmest of the Independents." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 87 " By Jove ! where shall we be next? If all the women wish to wear the breeches, we shall be obliged to put on the petticoats, I suppose." " They would be delighted at that. This desire to command is the old story of the fairy Urgele." " Poor women ! they don't understand that their sway is far more absolute with flowing skirt and tiny waist, than it is when they assume the tone and manners of men. In copying the masculine sex they lose all their advantages. But here is my brother; he has been talking with your sister, and, it seems to me, he doesn't look half so happy as when he came here." Gustave came up to the two friends, he smiled at Adolphe, but his smile was not frank, it was easily seen that some contrary thought lurked in his mind. " Well, future brother-in-law ! " said Adolphe, laughing ; " you've been talking with my sister ; absence has not lessened your admiration for her." " Oh, no, monsieur ; Mademoiselle Elvina is still charming still amiable only " "Ah, there is an 'only,' I was sure of it!" cried Frederic; "I recognized it before you drew near." " Why, my dear brother, do let me finish ; I wanted to say that Mademoiselle Elvina is not so timid, so what shall I call it so ingenuous as she used to be. They have given her singular ideas about men ; they've told her she must never believe them, that they lie incessantly " 88 MADAME PANTALON "Confound it! my wife must have told her that ! " " Later on, when I was declaring how very happy it would make me to be her husband she an- swered that a husband should be nothing but a slave." " Enough, enough, Gustave: they have spoiled your young girl, who was so sweet, so altogether pleasing, sixteen months ago. That doesn't suit me at all a husband should be nothing more than a slave ; those are charming ideas to put into the head of a young woman, I shall not allow you to marry a girl imbued with those views." "It was but a joke, Frederic ; I am quite sure Mademoiselle Elvina only said that to make me laugh." " No, no, it was not to make you laugh this young girl has acquired all her sister-in-law's ideas, and in marrying she wants to see them realized ; ask Adolphe if he has reason to laugh with his wife." " No, indeed," answered Adolphe, heaving a deep sigh. " We no longer laugh, nor is our household a cheerful one ; I hope you will never have one like it." " M. Pantalon, your sister is still young she repeats what she hears ; but it will be easy to lead her to think more reasonably." " She must change devilishly before I shall let you marry her ! We have Adolphe's household CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 89 before our eyes and it ought to serve as an exam- ple to us. After sixteen months of a marriage, where the parties have everything to make them happy, here is a couple who live like cat and dog. Some cats, indeed, live very peaceably with dogs; while here is a husband who is treated like a Turk, to whom they spare no unkind remarks, all because he was too good, too obliging, too foolish, for that is the right word in the early days of his mar- riage. And you wish to marry a young girl in whom they have inculcated the same ideas. No, my dear brother, that can never be. The damsel will desert the camp of these ladies or you will never marry her." Gustave breathed not a word, but he took a position near the piano, whence he could look at Elvina. As to Frederic, he repaired to the card room, not caring to encounter the looks of the independents. After passing a couple of hours at Adolphe Pantalon's the two brothers withdrew ; Gustave quite saddened by the change which had been wrought in Elvina's manners and speech, and Frederic deeply grieved at seeing his friend so unhappy in his household. CHAPTER IV CHOU-CHOU'S ESCAPADES. A SERIOUS RESOLU- TION DURING the next few weeks Frederic continued to frequent the gatherings which took place every Thursday at his friend Pantalon's. Cesarine re- ceived the two brothers very coldly; but Frederic, who was determined to continue to see his old col- lege friend and observe the interior of his house- hold, affected not to notice the frigidity with which Madame Pantalon greeted him, and was doubly amiable and polite to that lady, which made Cesarine fume secretly, for she wished to deprive her husband's friend of all desire of continuing his visits. Gustave still tried to talk with Elvina, but he rarely found an opportunity ; Madame Pantalon was not pleased to have the young man court her sister-in-law, and took great pains to prevent the latter from talking for long at a time with Gustave. As soon as she saw Frederic's brother seat him- self beside Elvina, she found a pretext to inter- rupt their conversation. She called the young girl and sent her to the piano, or told her that one of her friends wanted her for something. 90 CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 91 Elvina seemed sometimes to regret leaving the young man so quickly ; for he looked so tenderly at her, and was constantly telling her that he adored her ; but she obeyed her sister, who had obtained so great a dominion over her mind ; when by any chance she had stayed over long beside Gustave, Cesarine never failed to say to her, " My darling, it is very unconventional to talk as you do with young Duvassel ; you are foolish enough to place faith in the silly nonsense he tells you. That does you no honor. All these ladies are laughing at you, and he will do the same. In the first place, he is in a very bad school ; his brother, the so-called physician, gives him very bad counsel. It was he who at my wedding ball ad- vised my husband not to waltz with that poor Madame Boulard ; and you know the result of that. These men who meddle and interfere in their friends' households are plagues who should be banished from society." Cesarine's temper became so haughty, so can- tankerous, towards her husband that the latter was beginning to feel that he could no longer stand his wife's imperious manners. He spoke to her in an authoritative manner, and then there were scenes, quarrels ; bitter words were addressed by madame to her husband, which could not but embitter the latter and drive away all hope of reconciliation between the married couple. 92 MADAME PANTALON An incident which happened aggravated the sit- uation. Adolphe lost an important case which he had flattered himself he should win. Instead of consoling her husband for an event which, after all, must be common enough in the profession of an advocate, and need not militate against his suc- cess, Cesarine hastened in search of Adolphe and said to him in a mocking tone, " Well, monsieur, you have lost your case the one you were so sure of winning ! " " Yes, madame, I should have won it, for my side was the righteous one. My client was an honest man, while his adversary is a thief. But, unfortunately, dishonest men are accustomed to have lawsuits, they are acquainted with all the re- sources of chicanery. They bestir themselves in looking for and finding a means of obscuring a way that should be quite plain. An honest man, on the contrary, sure of his own right, rests tranquil as to the result, takes no steps, and awaits the issue, which he does not for a moment suppose can be unfavorable to him but l errare humanum est ' it was the thief who won ! " " The thief won because his adversary's advo- cate did not know how to defend his client's case. As for that, you are so well used now to losing the cases that are confided to you, that you should not be surprised at having lost this one." " Not only am I surprised at it, madame, but I am deeply grieved." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 93 " What nonsense, since to lose them is the best you can do." " Madame, when I am called, professionally, to defend a robber, to palliate guilt, I do not blame myself nor grieve in the slightest if I lose my case; on the contrary, I sometimes congratulate myself." " That is a nice thing for an advocate to do to congratulate himself when he has lost his case. Oh, that's a very good joke, that is. Lundi-Gras could not reason better." " I do not know how Lundi-Gras reasons, madame ; but as for you, you know nothing except how to say disagreeable things." " I have not said enough of them yet, monsieur ; you must understand that I am ashamed of being the wife of such an unsuccessful lawyer. Let me plead in your place, and you will see how much better I should do." " No, madame, I certainly shall not let you plead in my place, and if you are ashamed of being my wife, be so no longer. Let us separate." "You think, perhaps, you will plunge me into despair by talking about a separation ; but I have been thinking of it for a long time. Yes, monsieur, yes, we will separate, and I shall keep my daugh- ter, because a girl should be brought up by her mother. If she were a boy I would willingly leave him with you ; but my daughter I shall keep." Adolphe did not answer ; he had experienced a deep pang of grief on hearing his daughter men- 94 MADAME PANTALON tioned ; and he said to himself that, for his child's sake, he should, perhaps, have had more patience ; is there a sadder position than that of a child who cannot receive the kisses of both father and mother ? He left Cesarine without saying another word. Some time passed, the couple did not speak. Cesarine made a pretence of avoiding her hus- band's presence ; and when young Elvina asked her why she was estranged from Adolphe, she only answered, " My dear, I probably have reasons for acting thus toward your brother. I have plans which I am presently going to act upon, to put into exe- cution. I am thinking of the emancipation of woman." " The emancipation ? " "Yes, that woman may recover her civil and political rights." " I don't understand what you mean." " There is no need that you should understand. Allow yourself to be guided by me, and you will find everything as it should be." Nothing further was said, but this apparent calm was but the precursor of the tempest. The storm was secretly brewing in the households of these ladies who wanted to be Independents. It was to Cesarine that they came to tell their tales of woe, and she listened with joy to these confidences because she saw the realization of her plans ap- proaching. CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 95 So, during the daytime, these ladies came to Cesarine to complain of their husbands. Madame fetoile came with compressed lips and spite in her eyes ; she came into Madame Panta- lon's, exclaiming, " It is unbelievable ; really, it is incredible." " What is it now, my dear ? " asked Cesarine, making Madame Etoile sit down on a sofa. " You seem very much irritated." " You shall see if I have not reason to be so ; I knew very well that my husband was not an eagle in the first place one rarely finds an eagle among these gentlemen." " A rara avis ' ! " " Ah, my dear, I am a poet, but I never studied Latin ; I look upon that dead language as an am- plification of vocabulary very useless for literary women." " Come, go on with what you were about to say." " I was saying that my husband is by no means an eagle ; but I did not believe him to be a buz- zard. Well, he is a buzzard of the very worst kind, too. You know, I have just finished a poem on the differences that exist between a man and a hare ; and, as you may imagine, all the advan- tages are on the side of the hare. It is pleasing, it has an aroma, I was careful about that, I put my whole heart into it. I dare believe that it was per- fectly successful ; as for that, you can judge of it, for I will read it to you one of these evenings." 96 MADAME PANTALON Well, go on." " I was good enough to wish to give M. fetoile the first sight of this piece ; I read him my poem, but I had only got through half of it when this Welshman this Hottentot rose and said to me, * What stupid stuff are you reading to me ? Thanks ! I've had enough of it ! ' and he went out." " That was not polite ! " " You mean that it was the height of imperti- nence. I cannot live with a man who doesn't understand poetry. I have warned M. Etoile that I shall leave him." " You have quite resolved on it ? " " Altogether." " Very well, we will all go together, we will estab- lish the tribe of Independents." "Bravo! bravissima! the Independents. That name is delightful, it savors of romance, of the melodrama. They will write a play on us. I be- lieve there was formerly a drama entitled : * Robert, the Brigand Chief,' which had an immense success ; but that was in the time of the First Republic ; we can none of us have seen that. I am quite sur- prised that the piece has not been resuscitated in our day. I have the letter press, which is very rare." " Tell me, if you please, dear lady, what con- nection you find between us and ' Robert the Brig- and Chief?'" " Why, Robert did not believe in being the chief CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 97 of the brigands, he called his men the 'Independ- ents.' They were redressers of wrongs, a kind of free-justices." " Why don't you say at once illuminants ? " " Illuminants, now there is a pretty name ; what if, instead of Independents, we call ourselves illu- minants ? What do you think of it? That would please me more than I can say. I am an illumi- nant." "No, that would border on the jocular, the gen- tlemen would be capable of calling after us, ( The Lanterns ! the Lanterns ! ' Believe me, we had better content ourselves with the name ' Inde- pendents.' ' After Madame fetoile came Madame Bouche- trou, who was furious because her husband would not don his little jester's mantle, and asserted that he should wear only clothes of the latest fashion. " He's becoming quite foppish, is he not ?" said Cesarine. " Outrageously so. You know how pock- marked he is." " Oh, yes." " Well, would you believe it ? he wants to get vaccinated now." " Good heavens ! what for?" " Somebody has told him that if he had the smallpox a second time, it would cause the first pock-marks to disappear." " And he believed that ? " Vol. XXI 98 MADAME PANTALON " Yes,mesdames,and he's going to be vaccinated, and to dress like a gay young spark. I said to him, ' Bouchetrou, if you do so I'll leave you'; and do you know what he answered ? t That's of no consequence to me ! ' ' "Why, on the part of a man pock-marked as he is, that was shameful." The enormously large Madame Dutonneau was not long in arriving to mingle her wails with those of her friends. She came in out of breath, suffo- cating, and sank into a chair which creaked under herweight; it was some time before she could speak. Cesarine brought her a glass of water, which she drank at a gulp. At length she was able to express herself. " Madame, my husband is a monster ! a scoun- drel ! an infamous wretch ! " " That is nothing new ! you've told us so before, dearest." " Yes, but what I have not told you is that now I have discovered his intrigues, he's a regular Sar- danapalus he has a mistress ! he has two mis- tresses ! he has three mistresses !" " So many as that ? That's going it pretty strong ! " "You may judge from that, if I ought not to feel disconsolate. Lately, finding that Chou-chou's absences were becoming longer and more frequent, I pretended to be indisposed ; he went out, and I followed him. He had told me he was going to CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 99 play a game of dominos at the Cafe de la Rotonde. I will make a clean breast of it. He reached the Boulevard Sebastopol that was not the way to the Palais-Royal. I said to myself, ' He's not going to look for the double-six down there, I'll wager that he is going to some one of the squares.' Sure enough, he stopped at the Square des Arts- et-Metiers, it's the meeting place of all the maid- servants in the neighborhood. I said to myself, f Will Chou-chou do anything so derogatory as to flirt with a dishcloth, he who is always redolent of perfume.' ' " But no, it was a grisette who came, for there are some of them still these cursed grisettes ! Although it is asserted that the race has disappeared with that of pug dogs. It is not true; there are no more pug dogs, but there are, ?.nd there always will be, embroideresses, burnishers, flower-makers, illuminators, shirtmakers, vestmakers, churners, shoebinders, staymaker's apprentices, underwear- makers and milliners. Surely you would not put all these damsels in the category of fast women ? and how would you name them, if they are not grisettes ? " "Why, work-women." " Yes, those who stay closely at their work ; but those who want to amuse themselves, go to the theatre, to the restaurants and dance at the Clos- erie des Lilas " * Come, drop the grisettes, and come back to your husband." ioo MADAME PANTALON however, was not one of fear. She smiled at Gus- tave and said, " Why is that you, M. Gustave ? here in this part of the country ? By what chance is it ? Did you come to see us ? " " Oh, no, mademoiselle," answered Gustave, affecting coldness and reserve, " I shall be very careful not to present myself at Madame Panta- lon's seeing that she has left her husband, and is surrounded by ladies who have done the same as she. I know that men are viewed in a very ill light by those ladies, that your sister-in-law has always been unamiable to my brother, and I my- self am not in her good graces ; every time I tried to talk with you she would hasten to place some obstacle in the way. You see that I could not dream of presenting myself at the chateau." " But then what did you come to Bretigny for?" " My brother has some acquaintances near here, and I came with him." " Your brother is with you, then ? " " Yes, mademoiselle." " Does he often see Adolphe ? " " Yes, mademoiselle." " And is my brother happier since his wife left him ? " " I don't know if he is happier, but he certainly CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 243 is more peaceful. Ah, mademoiselle, had you but remained with your brother, it would have been so sweet to me to have gone to see you, to have some music with you, to tell you all that I then thought." " Do you not think the same now ? " " What use would there be in my loving a girl who is taught to look upon us as tyrants, slaves, or as idiots it comes to the same thing; for a man must be an idiot to consent to be a slave." " But, monsieur, they don't teach me that." " Why, very nearly so, mademoiselle. Madame Pantalon believes herself capable of doing every- thing, of filling every position ; but, even if nature had endowed her with every capacity, is that a reason why she should treat her husband as she has done ? why she should seek to humiliate him ? Mademoiselle, women do not suspect how much of charm they lose when they try to play the role of man. And how do you pass your time at the chateau, mademoiselle ? " " I am learning to ride on horseback, to use weapons, and I practice gymnastics. The ladies are writing, they are establishing a journal. The first number is being printed." " And do you also write for this journal, made- moiselle ? " " No, monsieur, I feel that I have not the talent to write. Is your brother still a doctor ? " "Yes, mademoiselle, when occasion requires. 244 MADAME PANTALON According to what they tell me in the village, Madame Pantalon practices medicine also." " Yes, Cesarine asserts that she is as learned as a doctor." " And you have had a military march about the country ?" " You are aware of that also ? " " They say enough about it in the village." " And what do they say about it ? " " Pray excuse me from telling you that, made- moiselle." " No, no, on the contrary, I want to know I beg of you tell me, M. Gustave." " Well, they think you very ridiculous more than ridiculous even." " Ah, I suspected it ; I did not want to be in that procession, but my sister insisted on it." Elvina lowered her eyes, quite red and wholly confused, as she listened to Gustave's reply, " You see whither her counsels lead you. Ridi- cule is the thing most to be feared in France ; you would never have known that at your brother's, where you occupied yourself with music, embroid- ery, all those charming talents in which women excel, and which render them still more seductive in our eyes." " What, really, monsieur, you like a woman who embroiders and does wool-work better than a wom- an who uses weapons and rides a horse ? " " Oh, yes, mademoiselle ; not that I absolutely CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 245 proscribe to a lady those exercises which amuse her and are agreeable to her ; a person of your sex may engage in equestrianism, sometimes, or indeed fire at some puppets to show her skill. But if she makes a habit of it, if for masculine sports she neglects the delicate and dainty little occupations which belong to her sex, then, mademoiselle, that which she gains in strength and courage she loses in grace and charm ; all that which makes her more like a man detracts from the woman." " You are going to leave me, monsieur ? " " I must, really." " And you have nothing more to say to me ? " " I can say nothing more to her who has pre- ferred Madame Pantalon to her brother ; for that has proved to me that she would not listen to me." And making an effort to restrain himself, Gustave quickly departed, for if he had stayed he felt sure he should have thrown himself at Elvina's feet and sworn to her an eternal love. But his brother had made him understand that that would not be the way to correct her. Elvina remained alone, sad and thoughtful; she watched Gustave as he left her ; she hoped he would turn and come back, but he continued on his road and disappeared. Then she decided to return to the chateau. " That is a very nice young man," said Aglae, as she followed her mistress, " I recognize him well, he used to come to your brother's in Paris." 246 MADAME PANTALON "Yes, it is M. Gustave Duvassel; but listen, Aglae, you need not mention this meeting at the chateau to anybody, do you hear ? because because it is unnecessary to speak of it. They may prevent me from going out if they know this young man is in the country." " Be easy, mademoiselle, I know how to hold my tongue when necessary ; and, frankly speaking, there's so little that is amusing at the chateau, that one must catch at the slightest distraction." Fouillac returned from Paris carrying copies of the famous journal. The " Ear-Piercer " was well printed on fine paper ; the lemon-colored cover was satiny, and the lettering showed up well on it ; it could be seen from a distance. The lady jour- nalists were delighted ; each one of them seized a copy and hastily ran it over to find the article of which she was the author and which seemed to her of the utmost importance since it was printed. They thanked Fouillac, and congratulated him on the care he had given to the affair. He put an end to their thanks by drawing from his pocket the memorandum of what he had paid for the paper, the press work, the composition, the trans- portation, the notices and announcements in the newspapers ; all of which amounted to the sum of four thousand, six hundred and fifty francs. The delight of these ladies being abated somewhat thereby. " Why, ladies, what matters this outlay to us ? " CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 247 exclaimed Cesarine ; " it is money well spent, since it will bring us in four times, ah, ten times as much. My dear Fouillac, how many ' Ear-Piercers ' have you had printed ? " "Three thousand." " Three thousand ! why that isn't enough ! we must have ten fifteen thousand to distribute everywhere, in Paris and in the provinces. It will even be necessary to give some away free." " Not only is it necessary, but it is indispensa- ble." " Well, then, dear M. Fouillac, you must go as far as Noyon to order a new impression of the * Ear- Piercer ' and much larger than the first." " That's easy enough ! I shall take the chaise, and I will go after breakfast." " We abuse your willingness to oblige, I am afraid, M. Fouillac." " I have told you that I am at your orders. I know no more agreeable occupation than to be the slave of fair ladies." " Ah, if all the men did but resemble you. But you are perhaps the only one of your kind." The sight of their printed articles inflamed the ladies with great zeal ; each one wanted to write now, and those who in the first number had had only short articles, now wished to revenge them- selves by filling several columns of the " Ear- Piercer." Some days after Fouillac's return, Aglae came 248 MADAME PANTALON to tell Madame Pantalon that a villager asked to speak to her. " Is it an invalid again ? " exclaimed Cesarine ; " if he has a boil, I will not receive him." " No, madame, he is not ill ; and he doesn't look as if he was in trouble. He says he wants to consult you about a lawsuit." "A lawsuit ! ah, that's a very different matter, tell him to come in, quick ! a case to defend ! why that is what I have been eagerly longing for this long time past, and for that I do not need the advice of my committee," said Madame Pantalon. " Go and bring the client in. I wish to see him in my study." Aglae presently led in an old peasant with a sneaky and cunning expression, whose back was bent to make believe that he was hunchbacked. He supported himself on an old hazlewood stick, although he appeared still quite vigorous ; but he dragged his speech as he did his steps. Cesarine pointed him to a chair, saying, " Be seated, monsieur." " Madame is very kind," said the peasant. "It is not worth the trouble ; I can speak as well standing up." " Why, no ; I don't wish you to remain stand- ing ; sit down, I tell you," said Cesarine authori- tatively. " I should never dare to sit myself down before you, madame " CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 249 " Why, confound you ! sit down or I'll have you put out." The peasant sat down, holding his stick between his legs, his hat on his knees, and looking up at the ceiling. " First of all, what is your name ? " " Crapoussier, at your service." " You belong to Bretigny ? " " I am from Noyon, but I have come to live at Bretigny since I have bought some bits of land." " And you have a lawsuit ? " " Good God, yes ! I don't like it, however ; but there are some people who are so unreasonable." " Well, let us see; explain your case to me." " I'm going to tell you all about it, for you are an advocate, are you not ? " " Be easy, I will plead your cause quite as well and better than many advocates." " And gratis ? they told me you would do it for nothing. A gentleman from Paris, whom I met at Father Matois', said to me, f Why don't you go to the chateau and consult Madame Pantalon ; she will plead your cause without asking an honora- rium.' Then I came at once." " Oh, it was a gentleman from Paris who said that ; it must be M. Fouillac." " I don't know his name." " No matter, he told you rightly ; I do not ask any pay for my services. But explain to me your business." 250 MADAME PANTALON " Well, here goes : we'll say that I have some ground right beside that of Father Lupot, a farmer who is much richer than I, seeing that I'm not rich at all, and it is ugly of him to go to law with a poor man who is alone in the world save for his servant and his cows ; while he has seven children, to say nothing of his wife, and his dogs and his relations " " Well, come to your lawsuit." " I'm getting there, slow but sure. You see, it dates from a long time back ; because you mustn't think that this lawsuit came of itself, quite natu- rally ! oh, no, indeed, that's been brewing for a long time in advance, and I am quite sure that Fran- 9015 Lupot has said to himself these years back, 1 1 must bring a lawsuit against Father Crapoussier that will delight me.' ' " Why should you think that ? had this Fran- 9ois Lupot any cause to hate you ? " " Perhaps so, no one knows. First of all, I lent him my horse, and he returned him lame ; you must know I went to law with him about that, and he was condemned to pay me ten crowns. Another time he had a tree that hung over my wall, and which he did not have vermiculated ; that would stock my garden with caterpillars, so I had him summoned before the mayor for that. Another time, in passing in front of my house, his cart broke and a wheel crushed two of my turkeys which were walking about there. Oh, I had him summoned again, to pay me for my turkeys." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 251 "It seems to me, it was always you who had a suit against your neighbor." " Yes, but he gave me cause ; he made things unpleasant for me. Oh, he's a sly boots, a fox ! But this time it was him that began, the sneak ! and you'll see how bad a part he played ! " " I'm waiting for you to come to the cause of your quarrel." The peasant continued, " My land was only separated from Lupot's by a narrow path, where he grew nothing I planted some potatoes at the side of it on my side, only the potatoes spread as they grew and one could no longer see the path, that wasn't my fault. But Fran9ois Lupot had already begun to say that I was encroaching on his land. It is not true ; in the first place, the lane was no more his than mine. As my potatoes were still growing I set the path a lit- tle farther on ; but this wrangler of a Lupot said I made a path on his land, and that that gave him the right to eat my potatoes. But I don't see it that way ; if he touches my vegetables he is a thief, and touch them he did ; I have seen his children taking them out of the ground right under my very eyes, and he would not pay me for them, but you may well imagine it couldn't go on like that. I said to him, * Pay me for my potatoes ! ' and he had the face to say to me, { Give me back my land.' So I told him that this land was the lane and I would give back nothing at all. This is the whole 252 MADAME PANTALON matter. We've already received summonses on stamped paper, for he has been to Noyon to make a complaint, and the justice of the peace, or the clerk or the chief of police, has sent me this paper, from which it seems I must go to defend my case in two days and I should very much like you to go in my place. Wait, here are all the papers we have already interchanged ; they will explain to you that I am innocent, and that it is Lupot who is wrong. Did you understand me ? " " Yes, yes, I quite comprehend ; I am not sure, however, that you have acted within your right." " Oh, if you aren't sure, you don't understand. I tell you the path doesn't belong to Lupot ! " " Oh, if we can prove that ! " " Why, of course we can prove it ; because my cows have used it for a walk and Lupot has never breathed a word, which proves that my cows were in their right." " Very well, give me all these papers, and I'll see that you win your case." " There they are, and you'll get me damages for the potatoes they've stolen from me ? " " I hope so. Is the path that has caused this difference long ? " " Hum ! not very long, not very short, either. It might be eighty to a hundred feet long." " Devil take it ! that's quite a distance ! " " And you will go to Noyon tomorrow, instead of me?" CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 253 " I will go. You can count on me. I will use all my eloquence, and you will win your case, I am assured." " Why, dang it ! I shall give you a good squeeze of my fist, then ! Good-by, advocate. The case will be tried at noon ; I'll come here the day after tomorrow ; you will have come back by then." "Oh, before that. By the way, where is your land? I should like to see your lane and your potatoes ! " " You have only to inquire at the first house in the village, and they'll point out to you where Father Crapoussier's land or house is. That will be free too, will it not, madame ? " " Why, yes, I haven't asked you to pay any- thing, have I ? " The villager departed backwards, bowing to the ground. Cesarinewas delighted to have a case to defend ; she was going to do what her husband did ; she was going to exercise the profession of an advocate. She set to work immediately to look over the papers which the peasant had left, she con- sulted the code, which she explained in a manner favorable to her cause, and in that she imitated the conduct of advocates generally. During these days the work on the " Ear-Piercer " was entirely aban- doned. Madame Pantalon, not being quite certain that she knew how to improvise, wrote at first a rough draft of her plea in favor of Crapoussier, whose potatoes had been stolen so shamelessly. 254 MADAME PANTALON Then she read to her followers this eloquent speech, in which she quoted Cato, Aristotle, Cicero and even Seneca ! And all that in regard to potatoes which these great men had not the privilege of knowing. But Cesarine had really an aptitude for being a lawyer ; she had wanted to go back as far as the deluge ; to speak of Noah and the sacred ark, but she had restrained herself, saying, " For the first time I must moderate my eloquence ; I must keep something for a second cause." The Independents thought her plea magnificent, and were certain that her client would win his case. The next day Madame Pantalon visited her client's land, and Father Crapoussier showed her the lane, in which it was impossible for two people to walk together. But he explained that this was because of the potatoes, which had encroached with- out his perceiving it. Cesarine, who did not care to walk among the vegetables, contented herself with this explanation and left the peasant, promis- ing that she would win his cause for him. The day following, at noon, the female advocate was at Noyon, accompanied by Mesdames Etoile and Flambart, who had wanted to witness her tri- umph. The judges seemed greatly astonished to sec a lady present herself to defend Father Cra- poussier's cause. However,they courteously granted her leave to speak, and Madame Pantalon availed herself of the privilege ; she spoke for more than CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 255 an hour. No one interrupted her, they seemed curious to hear her. When at length she had done, Fra^ois Lupot advanced. The latter had no law- yer, and appeared in his own defense. So he ex- plained his cause in a few plain words ; he did not quote Cicero nor Cato, but he brought a plan of his land, which was verified by and certified to by the experts of the town ; they could see there what was formerly the path and where it now was, this being the important point in the case. On receiving this plan, the president of the tribunal said, " We must examine this carefully. We shall not give judgment until tomorrow." Then Cesarine returned to the chateau with her two companions, who said to her, " It is disagreeable that judgment should not be rendered immediately. But you can be certain that your cause is won." " You think so, mesdames ? " " There is no doubt of it ! " resumed Madame Flambart ; " if you could have seen the air of sur- prise, astonishment evinced by the judges as they listened to you. It was really a sight to be seen. Why, you were magnificent ! You spoke for fifty- two minutes without stopping." " Fifty-seven, madame, I had my watch, and I counted them." " You couldn't find many men who could do as much." " There are some, but they are rare." 256 MADAME PANTALON " When it is a question of speaking for a long time, and without a pause, the women always have the advantage." The captain said to his niece, " Since you are an advocate, it is necessary that you should have a robe made such as they wear." " No, uncle, I shall be most careful not to do anything of the sort," cried Cesarine. " I want to be an advocate without the robe, I wish to re- semble these gentlemen in nothing." During the whole evening Madame Pantalon received the congratulations of her friends, and Fouillac, who had been to inform Father Crapous- sier that the judgment would not be rendered until the next day, but that he might be quite easy as to the issue of his suit, returned to tell Cesarine that the peasant " expected to come in person to offer his thanks as soon as he returned from the town, where he must first go to be instructed as to the tenor of the judgment and as to the damages which Francis Lupot would be condemned to pay for having eaten his potatoes." They awaited the next day impatiently. On the stroke of two in the afternoon Cesarine said, " The judgment was to have been rendered at one o'clock, and no doubt it won't be long before we see Father Crapoussier." In fact, a quarter of an hour later the villager entered the chateau, but not like the evening before with his back bent as he bowed to every- CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 257 body. This time he saluted no one, but came on to the porch and entered the groundfloor, with his hat on his head and striking the floor with his thick stick, as he shouted furiously, " Where is she, this Madame Pantalon ? this twopenny-halfpenny lawyer, who assures you that she will win your lawsuit for you, and who, instead of that, plunges you in such hot water that you don't know how you'll ever get out of it. Where is she, that I may tell her what she has done. She has no business to take people in like that. She's nice, she is, with her gratis! I should have done much better to have paid an advocate for the job who would have won my case, than to put it into the hands of some one who didn't know how to plead." Cesarine came in with several of her friends, and on perceiving Father Crapoussier said to him, "Well, are you satisfied?" " Satisfied ! satisfied ! Dang it ! are you making game of me, Madame Twaddler? It's not enough to have made me lose my case, but you must chaff me too ! " " Lost your lawsuit ! you have lost your law- suit?" "Yes, yes lost it ! Jingo, it seems you talked for an hour without stopping and they got tired of it, the judges did, and no wonder, for you said a whole lot of stupid things that had no connection with my affair." Vol. XXI 258 MADAME PANTALON " Peasant! you are a fool ; be more polite or " At Cesarine's apostrophe our peasant drew him- self up. " A fool ! Yes, so I was, to trust myself to you, to think that a woman could understand anything of law matters. Lupot wasn't so stupid, not he ! he defended himself all alone. And do you know what the cursed judgment means ? It condemns me to pay a hundred crowns damages for having planted on land that did not belong to me. A hundred crowns ! it's frightful ! and more than that, I must take up my potatoes for two metres, so they say, that the path may be where it was before. And my potatoes will never grow after they are transplanted. I know it well. This judgment has ruined me ! " " Ruined you ! Come now, they tell me you are the richest man in the village." " Those who told you that lied. To move my potatoes and pay a hundred crowns to Lupot, and then the expenses of the suit it'll give me the cholera morbus. And you, you wretched advo- cate ! are the cause of all this. When people don't know how to gain cases they shouldn't undertake them. Lupot told me you spoke of M. Cicero and M. Seneca, as if I knew those people? and as if they could know anything about my potatoes. You said lots of stupid things. You'd do much better to look after your pot-au-feu, than to play the advocate." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 259 "You are insolent go away at once. "Insolent! Come, no big words, for I won't stand them." " Lundi-Gras ! Lundi-Gras ! " " Here I am, captain." " Put this man out immediately ; if he resists, thrash him." "Yes, captain. Come, get out! quick march!" "What's this! They want to fight me now. This is the last straw! They tell you they'll serve you * gratis,' and then they thrash you." The peasant tried to resist, he made a motion as if to raise his stick, but Lundi-Gras was still able for him. He snatched the villager's stick and, pushing the man in front of him, he put him out of the chateau; then he threw his stick at his feet and said to him, " Don't let me see you here again, or I'll flog you with your own stick." While Father Crapoussier went off swearing and vociferating against Madame Pantalon, the latter retired to her chamber, very much vexed at the result of the first cause she had had to defend. CHAPTER XI A WATER PARTY. FOUILLAC AS A SPECULATOR. A WILD BOAR HUNT A CERTAIN amount of gloom was cast upon the company at the chateau by this episode of the lawsuit; but Madame Grassouillet, who loved ex- citement and movement, wished before all things to procure some amusement for herself, and said the next day, "Mesdames, we will work at our journal, that's all very well ; but we must not be always working. We were promised a great many diversions, such as fishing and hunting ; to fish is a very quiet pleas- ure, it is not yet the season for hunting ; but there is a fine piece of water at the end of the garden, it is quite extensive, and in some places bordered by little rocks and grottoes ; it is very picturesque. Well, we haven't yet thought of boating and I propose we shall go on the water after dinner." " That's a charming idea ! " " Oh, I never go on the water," said Madame Vespuce, " I don't know how to swim, and I might be drowned." "Could anyone really be drowned there? Is your piece of water deep, Cesarine ? " fe CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 261 " Why, no, only about four feet. There is no danger." " Thank you ! four feet, I should be over the nose in it," said Zenobie. " I shan't go." " Good heavens ! mesdames, you need not be uneasy ; we must first of all find out if there are enough boats to carry us all. Aglae, tell Lundi- Gras to come here." " Lundi-Gras, how many boats are there on the lake ? " " Three, captain." " How many persons will they hold?" " Eight apiece." " They will more than accommodate us then ; and are they all in good condition ? " " No, captain ; the green is sunk, the blue has one side damaged, but the red is in perfect order." "Confound it! why didn't you tell us at once that there was only one fit for use ? and that will only hold eight." " Or nine or ten, by squeezing a little." " That's all right ; those who don't go the first time, will go the second." "I," said Madame Dutonneau, "I claim the place of boatman; I row perfectly well. I have often led the boats. I will make this one go, I promise you." " Very well, that is understood, you will be our boatman. Lundi-Gras, you will see that the boat is in good condition?" 262 MADAME PANTALON " Be easy about that, captain." After dinner the ladies, who had all changed their gowns for yachting costumes, resorted to the piece of water. Lundi-Gras was awaiting them there, and kept near the boat to help the company to get into it. He had placed a plank which served as a bridge, in order that they might reach the boat without getting their feet damp. As for himself he stood with the water up to his shoulders that he might guard the passage of the ladies. But water was his element, he would rather be in it than out of it. The boatman, handsome Madame Dutonneau, jumped into the boat. After her stepped Cesar- ine, Madame Etoile, Madame Boulard, Madame Bouchetrou, Madame Grassouillet, the Widow Flambart and two damsels of mature age, who asserted that they could swim like carp. This made nine persons, and Lundi-Gras was careful to say to them, " Always keep in the middle of the boat, don't all lean to the same side unless you want to cap- size it. In any case don't be afraid ; if you fall into the water, I'll fish you out again." But as these ladies greatly preferred not to have to be fished out, they kept very quiet on the benches placed across the boat; Madame Duton- neau had taken the oars, she used them very skil- fully, she cut the water, she passed through the narrowest places, and turned around the little isles CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 263 which made the lake look so pretty. The com- pany was delighted, they cried, " Honor to our boatman." " Long live the woman who knows how to steer her boat ! " " Madame Dutonneau would be worthy of the galleys." " What ! the galleys ? " " I meant by that that she rows better than a galley slave." " Oh, what a pretty scene." " I would willingly pass my life on the water." "And those cowardly things who were afraid!" " Oh, how we shall mock at them on our return." However, proud of the eulogies she received, Madame Dutonneau, to show her skill, wanted to turn quickly in front of a little rock which at this place bordered the stream, but whether she did not take a wide enough turn, or whether the rock lay farther out under the water, the little bark touched violently against the reef; no harm would have resulted therefrom had the persons in the boat kept quiet; but at the shock which made it- self felt they were frightened and all precipitated themselves to the other side of the boat ; then that which Lundi-Gras had foreseen happened; the weight of the ladies Capsized the light boat and they all fell into the water. At the loud cries they uttered, Lundi-Gras, who from the bank had not lost sight of the boat, had 264 MADAME PANTALON immediately thrown himself into the water and came to help those who could not swim. Cesarine and her friends were already, without the help of the old cabin boy, on terra firma; but the elderly maidens who had pretended to be able to swim like carp were shrieking loudly and calling for help. Lundi-Gras soon seized them; he put one of them on his back, pushed the other before him, and presently these false carp were out of danger. Cesarine then looked around her, saying, " Let's see, is every one fished out ? It seems to me they are " " And Madame Boulard ? " cried Paolina, " I don't see her." " Good heavens ! you are right, poor Madame Boulard is still in the water. Lundi-Gras ! " " Hallo, Lundi-Gras ! " " Good heavens ! has he taken a header ? " " Lundi-Gras, where are you ? " "Here I am, captain." " Quick ! quick ! you must get Madame Bou- lard out." " Be easy, captain, I see something waving over there, it's a hand which rises from the water ; that must be the missing lady I'll go and bring her to you." Lundi-Gras threw himself into the water and soon arrived at the place where he had seen the arm ; it was in fact Madame Bou lard's ; the poor woman, whose head was only half above water, had CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 265 begun to lose her breath. The cabin boy managed to raise her in such a way that she could get the water out of her mouth. He wanted to reach the bank with his burden, but Madame Boulard ex- claimed, " No, no, not yet, and my chignon ! I've lost my chignon in the water; I must find it look for my chignon in the water." " Why, madame, how do you suppose I can find your hair in the water ? The fishes will have swal- lowed it." " No, no, I want my chignon, I'll place myself astride your shoulders, you will swim, and I will look for my fine chignon, it cost me forty francs and it is worth a hundred. Swim, sailor, swim ! that is your trade, you can swim perfectly, I am very comfortable on your back." On the bank they were astonished that Lundi- Gras and Madame Boulard did not come towards them. However, they had no more fears for that lady, for they saw her in the water astride the old cabin boy's back; from afar she produced the effect of a siren. It was altogether original. "What does this mean?" said Cesarine. "Does she want to learn to swim ? Why she will completely exhaust poor Lundi-Gras ; and then we can't wait here for her any longer, we must go and change our clothes." " We are dripping wet, so much the worse for us, and we must go and change." 266 MADAME PANTALON " Lundi-Gras ! Lundi-Gras will you soon have done carrying Madame Boulard about in the water. Come here, I order you ! Does Madame Boulard take you for a dolphin ? " The old cabin boy had never disobeyed the voice of her whom he called his captain ; so he turned towards the bank, despite Madame Boulard's en- treaties, who exclaimed, " I think I see it. An eel is playing with it." "I am very sorry, madame, but my captain has called me and I am at her orders; besides, it is getting dark and it will be impossible to find your chignon." Madame Boulard returned to terra firma in the depths of despair ; she explained to the company what she was doing in the water, but instead of pitying her and sharing her grief, the ladies allowed themselves to laugh at the event, and pretty Aman- dine said to her, smiling, " Really, madame, you are very unlucky with your chignons. In your place I should do away with that style of hair dressing." " Do away with my chignon ! give up my chig- non," cried the fat little woman, in a voice shrill with anger. " I would sooner go without my garters. Tell the men to do away with their false wigs, and you would see how they would answer you." The day after this boating excursion Madame Boulard left the chateau without saying good-by to any one. CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 267 " Good riddance ! " said Cesarine, " I don't re- gret the lady very much, she never thinks of any- thing but her chignon, and we shall not regenerate ourselves in the eyes of the world with such futile ideas as those." A more important thing, besides, was affording occupation to the Independents. The second num- ber of their journal was printed. They had had twelve thousand impressions taken, which they ad- dressed to their agent ; then Fouillac undertook to go again to Paris to inform himself as to the sale of the first number. " Must we have fresh notices and announce- ments for the second number of the c Ear- Piercer ' ? " asked the officious Fouillac of Madame Pantalon. " Yes, yes, we need a little more publicity ; why, to cover this new expense you will have the prod- ucts of the sale of the first edition, also the money for the subscriptions which will have been taken." Fouillac made a slight grimace, as he answered, " Suppose that is not sufficient, however." "What are you thinking of? that is impos- sible. As for that, my dear Fouillac, you will not be short of money, for I was going to ask you to take from a notary's hands fifty thousand francs, a part of my dowry that my husband had placed there. It is very badly invested, it only brings me in five per cent, and I can do infinitely better than that. If you hear of a good investment, let me know ; I want to increase my money." 268 MADAME PANTALON "That's an excellent idea besides, it is only with money that one makes money ; water always runs towards the river, 'who risks nothing gains nothing/ I could quote as much in regard to this as Sancho ; but instead of proverbs I want to em- ploy myself in making you a millionnaire. What one can't do for one's self, one is sometimes suc- cessful in doing for others." Madame Flambart, who had heard this conver- sation, said in her turn to Fouillac, " I am not very rich, I have only five thousand francs income, which is little for a woman who be- lieves in keeping up with the fashions. I have, at a banker's, thirty thousand francs, which brings me in hardly fourteen hundred francs ; I'm going to give you power of attorney and you will draw out this thirty thousand francs and, while you are look- ing for a good investment for Madame Pantalon, if you find one for me you can let me know." " With great pleasure, my dear widow, it is even possible that I can invest your money and Ma- dame Pantalon's in the same affair. I will tell you as to that on my return." So Fouillac went to Paris, furnished with power of attorney of these ladies and the instructions he must follow to push the sale of the " Ear- Piercer " and give it great publicity. During the absence of their agent, these ladies made plans for the employment of the profits which would come to them from the lemon journal. CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 269 " We must put all these profits together," said Cesarine, " and when they amount to a good round sum, buy a pretty estate large enough to lodge all those of us who wish to live as a community. We will choose a pretty site in a place where the air is good that will be an agreeable retreat, and we'll send there all those who are sick." " Yes, the consumptives only ? " "Why consumptives only ? " " Because if they care for all the sick there, our pretty retreat will become a hospital." " Mesdames, permit me," said pretty Amandine, " you don't wish anyone to touch the profits, that seems to me rather arbitrary. As for me, I need money, I want to buy several things. I demand all that is coming to me." " Madame Grassouillet, allow me to say that at first it will be only right to reimburse those who made the advances as I and Madame Flambart have done ; for it was we two only who backed the publication of the * Ear-Piercer.' ' " Reimburse you for your advances, that's well enough ; but I wish to have my share of what remains." " I," said Madame Vespuce, " have a big enough bill at my dressmaker's, I shall not be sorry to set- tle with him." "That's enough, mesdames, we will settle all that when M. Fouillac returns." " Ah, I wish he was back now ! " 270 MADAME PANTALON " And me too." " Oh, that cursed money, so often maligned, yet one always comes back to it." Fouillac was five days absent. The ladies wasted their time, for they could think of nothing, dream of nothing but the profits which they hoped to receive, the greater number having refused to leave their money in fund to buy a villa. At last their man of business came back. His countenance was grave, almost gloomy, which was not usual with him ; he began by handing a pocket- book to Cesarine and another to Madame Flam- bart, saying, " I have received your funds." " Very well, dear M. Fouillac. Oh, we were quite easy as to that matter. But the journal, please give us, before you do anything else, an account of its activity and its passivity. We are burning to know how we stand with the s Ear- Piercer.' " Fouillac pulled a long envelope from his pocket, and took a paper therefrom, saying, " It is with regret, mesdames, that I am obliged to tell you that the { passive ' surpasses the f active ' by a great deal ! but you must not let that fright- en you ; in the inception of any enterprise it is almost always thus. It is a good sign, for, as the proverb says, * Who wins at first gets but smoke ; but who wins at the second time, gets good ! ' "In fact, M. Fouillac, we are not asking for CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 271 proverbs, but for the account of the sale of the first number of the ' Ear- Piercer.' ' " I'm coming to it, mesdames ; but please don't be impatient ; when it is a question of accounts it is necessary to take time, or else one risks errors ! Here it is ! The first expense of the { Ear- Piercer ' was four thousand six hundred and fifty francs." " We know that ! Go on." " Allow me ; I wish to clearly define the ac- count ; I had twelve thousand extra copies of the first number printed, as you wished, that cost me six hundred francs." "That's right. But all these expenses have been paid." "Well, I don't ask you to pay them over again; I'm merely defining the account of the expenses. This time, to push the sale of the second number I have paid, for notices and announcements, two thousand three hundred and twenty francs." " And after ? What about the sale ?" "They've placed six thousand four hundred copies of the first number." " Oh, that is very good indeed, for a beginning." "Yes, but of this number, six thousand three hundred and ninety-one were distributed free they have sold only nine copies." " Only nine ! And what about the subscrip- tions ? " " They have not got a single subscription ; the nine numbers have been sold at fifty centimes 272 MADAME PANTALON apiece, the price marked ; total, four francs, ten sous, from which we must deduct half for the com- mission on the sales." " Half for commission ! why that is monstrous ! " "He asserts, on the contrary, that it is not enough, that he usually gets at least two-thirds." " Why doesn't he ask for the whole ? " " You will have to give him all, if he should ask for another commission. In fact, I have re- ceived forty-five sous profit ; then from that we must deduct some two thousand three hundred francs of additional expenses ; and there remains to be paid two thousand three hundred and seven- teen francs, seventy-five centimes, that I have taken from the sum I brought to Madame Pantalon. Here is the exact account of the little yellow jour- nal, for which you have up to the present disbursed in all seven thousand five hundred and sixty-seven francs and seventy-five centimes." The brows grew dark, faces lengthened and several voices were raised to say, "It was hardly worth while to work as if we were paid for it." "A nice success is the * Ear- Piercer'!" " They will perhaps ask us to pay our share of the expenses." " Catch me giving anything ! " " So much the worse for them ; those who had the idea of establishing a journal ought to bear the consequences." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 273 These ladies, at this moment, forgot that they had all conceived the idea when Madame Etoile had brought the subject on to the carpet. The day after Fouillac's return Madame Gras- souillet and Madame Vespuce left, like the lady of the chignon, without saying good-by to anyone. "Those two ladies think of nothing but dress," said Cesarine, "let them join Madame Boulard, I regret them little. They thought, perhaps, that I should make them reimburse their shares of the money I have advanced. They little know me. I can support this loss without distressing myself. However, I should like to make a good deal of money, to realize the plan I have conceived of a retreat for women who have cause to complain of their husbands." "Ah, my dear, you will need an immense house," said the Widow Flambart. " I hope that Fouillac can find us an advanta- geous investment. He told me yesterday evening that he would come this morning to talk business with me. I'm expecting him now." "I, like you, have every confidence in this honest, obliging Fouillac ; he is not a man, he is a spaniel, and if it is allowable to believe in met- empsychosis, I am quite sure that Fouillac was for- merly a dog, and it was to recompense his fidelity that he was changed into a man." " Poor fellow ! it would have been much better to have left him a dog. But I am expecting this Vol. XXI 274 MADAME PANTALON dear Fouillac ; stay with me, what he has to say will interest you equally." Fouillac presented himself with an almost mys- terious air ; he closed the door behind him, mur- muring, "Mesdames, I think it needless that all the people who are here should know what I have to say to you, for when money is concerned I have noticed that one is more successful if one keeps one's plans secret. If you tell everybody what you want to do, they'll seize your idea and pr it is let out." "Your reasoning is correct ; what you are go- ing to say shall remain between us three. We are ready to hear you, my dear Fouillac." " Mesdames, under every circumstance, see that you follow my reasoning, in business, above all. To be successful, to make money, to make a for- tune even, what is necessary ? Find something new that will be useful, or economical, or agreeable. Sometimes the most simple thing, to which one has perhaps never given a thought, will obtain an enormous success and becomes the rage, then you exploit this discovery and your fortune is made. You understand that, do you not ? " " One would have to be an idiot not to under- stand. But all this does not give us any informa- tion." " Wait a bit, follow my reasoning still. The only question is, in order to make a fortune, to find CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 275 some invention, an entirely new discovery. You will tell me that is difficult, but chance will often serve you, put you in the way to find that vein which should lead us to a mine of gold " "Good heavens! M. Fouillac, if you have found this vein, tell us all about it ; we are pining to know." " I have not found it personally, but it comes to the same thing ; that is what I am going to tell you. I have no need to recall to you, mesdames, the success which for a long time past tobacco has obtained in France, and year after year this trade is augmented so greatly that there are times when the tobacco merchants are short or the cigars are faulty, the good ones, that is ; one can always find enough bad ones.'* " But what has tobacco to do with our funds ? " * Patience, we are coming to it there is a for- tune, do you hear, an immense fortune for anyone who can manufacture good cigars to sell at a low price ! at a low price that is everything. Well, I have discovered a man, a foreigner from Baden, who has found the secret. He mixes with his tobacco the leaves of the horse-chestnut, and they render the cigar delicious. He has experimented with it on a small scale, and those to whom he has sold his cigars have been delighted and asked him vociferously for more. But our inventor lacks funds. Here, madame, is the thing for you to take up but on a large scale a very large scale ! We 276 MADAME PANTALON must have a great many workmen, we must estab- lish a factory, shops ! we must send these cigars to the four quarters of the globe, we must oblige the whole universe to smoke. Glorious ! what a fortune you will make. Will you go into it ?" " Why not ? " said Cesarine, " if you think it is a good thing." " I will answer for it, as if it were my own." " I'll put my thirty thousand francs into it," said Madame Flambart, "besides, I shan't be sorry to make these gentlemen smoke horse-chestnuts. Ah, how I shall make game of them later on." "That is settled, M. Fouillac, I return you the fifty thousand francs, which I have made up to the full amount. Later on we intend that you shall have your share of the profits for this." " Please, mesdames, don't trouble yourselves about me. I am only too happy to occupy my- self for you." " Do you know where to find your inventor?" " Yes, he has returned to his country, but he has given me his address and is impatiently expecting me for I told him I was going to find him some money. In the morning I shall start for Germany. Take my advice and guard this secret carefully, even from the captain. When I shall bring you back a million of money you will be free to speak." " You are right, we will say nothing. We shall wait until the business is going well and is bring- ing us profits before we mention it." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 277 "Start with all speed, my dear Fouillac, and pursue the matter as if it were your own." The next day Fouillac left Bretigny again, tak- ing with him Madame Pantalon's fifty thousand francs, and the Widow Flambart's thirty thousand. The " Ear- Piercer" being so unsatisfactory from a business point of view, these ladies had entirely renounced the trade of journalism. The life at the chateau would have appeared monotonous, per- haps, had it not been animated from time to time by differences, quarrels, little coolnesses which arose between the ladies. Not a day passed but it was necessary for Madame Pantalon to intervene to establish peace among the Independents, none of these ladies being willing to yield to another in the slightest discussion ; nor did they admit Cesar- ine's supreme power without murmuring. But an unexpected event occurred one day which afforded occupation for these ladies. Aglae, who went very often for long country walks early in the morning, and who on these occasions often met Frederic and Gustave, with whom she had conver- sations which she was careful not to report at the chateau Aglae came running to the company assembled for breakfast, exclaiming, " Oh, mesdames ! great news ! they are talking of nothing else in the village." " What is it, Aglae, that they are talking of? " " Of the wild boar." " The wild boar ? what wild boar ? " 278 MADAME PANTALON " The one which is in the neighboring wood, where he's ravaging everything, frightening every- one, so that nobody dare venture into the wood." The captain drew himself up in his armchair saying, " A wild boar in the neighboring wood that seems very extraordinary to me I have never seen or heard of a wild boar in this neighborhood. Where the devil can this one have come from ? " " Why, the forest of Compiegne, which is not very far from here ? " " Then the wild boar must have travelled from Compiegne as far as here without having met any obstacles or hindrances on the way. That seems impossible of belief to me. Send Lundi-Grashere." The former cabin boy arrived, planted himself before the captain, and waited. " Lundi-Gras, have you heard tell of a wild boar which is straying in the neighboring wood ? " * Yes, captain ; that is to say, only this moment little Nanon said to her father, c Papa, don't go in the wood ; there's a wild boar there, who will attack you and devour you.' ' " Did Nanon say that ? Go and bring her here." Little Nanon came, her mouth full as usual, and hiding some pace eggs under her apron, the cap- tain questioned her, " Nanon, you told your father there was a wild boar in the wood ? " " Yes, monsieur le capitain." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 279 " How did you know that ? Have you seen the wild boar? " " Oh, no, I haven't seen him, but Madame Ma- tois, Matois' wife, said to me this morning, she said, ' Little one, don't you go idling in the wood, for you may be eaten by a wild boar I've seen there. It was an enormous beast, with a head like an ele- phant's, I barely had time to take to my heels and get away.' ' " The woman saw him ? " " Yes, yes, saw him, since I tell you she described him to me, and then later on several of the village children came running quite scared out of their wits, saying, * There a big beast in the wood ; it's not a wolf, but it's nearly as big as a bear.' ' " There, mesdames," said the captain, " it seems you really may hunt some big game. Ah, if I could but walk I would not let such an occasion of hunting something besides larks pass by." " Rest assured, uncle, we shall seize this occa- sion. A wild boar hunt ! Do you hear, ladies, what a pleasure is offered you ? For it pleases me to think that you won't refuse to come with me to hunt this wild boar. Here is an opportunity for displaying our skill, our courage. Come, mes- dames, to arms, we must get our rifles and load them with buckshot. We must use that, mustn't we, uncle, to kill a wild boar ? " " That is ordinarily used to shoot hares ; but I think it will be quite sufficient to fight your wild 280 MADAME PANTALON boar, which is perhaps only a big dog that's got lost." * Oh, no, indeed, master," cried Nanon, " Ma- dame Matois said to me, c It's a wild boar of the fiercest kind, he has hair all over him bristles and tusks.' ' " So much the better ! we shall find him good eating." The Independents did not appear as delighted as was Cesarine at the hunting party that was pro- posed to them. "I shall not go with you," said Elvina; "I should be too much afraid of the beast coming towards me. I should be more likely to fire into the air than to fire at him." " I don't think a boar hunt poetical enough," said Madame Etoile. " Oh, if it was a question of a roe, that would be all well enough. A roe is inter- esting, a deer weeps when it sees it is about to be taken ; but a wild boar, fie ! the very odor of it is enough." " Well, I," said Madame Flambart, " I intend to kill the animal and bring his head to the cap- tain ! Captain, you hear, I promise you the head." " We will eat it together, hang it ! " The other ladies also decided to take part in the hunt. " Let us go and get ready, mesdames," said Cesarine. " Let us see that our weapons are well loaded, and that we have plenty of ammunition. CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 281 Oh, I must take my hunting horn with me. This is the time, if ever, to use it." "And what about dogs ?" said Madame Duton- neau. " Are we not to have any dogs ? " "Faith, mesdames," said the captain, "I haven't hunted for a long time past. I have still two dogs which were formerly very good; I am afraid that now they will be rusty. No matter. Lundi-Gras, you will let Minos and Courtand loose to accom- pany these ladies." " Yes, captain." They dressed themselves. They put on the cos- tume which was supposed to be a uniform ; each one of them took her rifle and put in her belt a short poniard-shaped knife, which was not a Toledo blade by any means. Thus equipped, the ladies reassembled in the courtyard, and the captain placed himself in his window that he might review them. Cesarine had, in addition, a big hunting-horn slung to a strap which passed over her shoulder, and an old sabre of her uncle's hung at her side. Lundi-Gras led the two dogs, which had for- merly been hunters, but which seemed to have totally forgotten their former occupation. One of them, Minos, would not go on, he had to be pushed or pulled along, but he lay down when he had taken a few steps. Courtand was more wakeful, he was always frisking; but having been accustomed by his master to " look handsome " and stand on his hind legs for a piece of sugar, after capering 282 MADAME PANTALON about, he came and placed himself in that manner before the huntresses. " Come, Courtand, this is no question of c look- ing handsome ' to get something," said Cesarine, "if you do that before this wild boar he won't give you sugar, but he'll pin you with his tusks. Come, confound it ! remember your old trade. Tally- ho ! tally-ho." Courtand pricked his ears but still remained on his hind legs. They were obliged to give him a few strokes of the whip to make him drop on his four feet. " Do you want Lundi-Gras to go with you ? " asked the captain. "No, uncle, we don't need him they would only say afterwards that it was he and not us who had killed the wild boar. No man he would spoil everything ; we now have an opportunity of showing what we are capable of, and we wish to profit by it." The little troop set out on its march proudly, with heads in the air, as though they were march- ing to the conquest of the world. The villagers whom they met on their way shouted, " They are going to kill the wild boar bravo ! " " And where is the animal that you take for a wild boar about here ? " " It is, perhaps, nothing but a wolf." " Wolf or wild boar, these ladies must have a good deal of courage." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 283 " Bah ! leave them alone for that, they want to see the wolf." However, when they reached the entrance to the wood, in which the wild boar ought to be, the ardor of the Amazons seemed somewhat abated ; they walked less quickly and after taking a few steps under the trees, Madame Dutonneau stopped, say- ing; " Now, must we not settle what we are going to do ? " " Why, that is all settled," said Cesarine ; " we must look for the wild boar. As soon as we see him we must fire on him." " Pardon, madame," said a mature damsel, " but at what part must we aim to kill the animal ? " " At the head, of course." "At the head, do you think so? I should have thought at the tail." " No, don't aim at that, it would be lead wasted." " But in firing at the head, if one were to miss, he would be furious." "And if you shoot at his tail do you suppose that will please him any more?" " Mesdames," said the Widow Flambart, "shoot where you like, the principal thing is to hit him." " Yes, it really matters little whether he's killed by the head or by the tail, provided he be killed, that is the essential thing." Madame Bouchetrou started with fright and re- coiled suddenly, uttering a cry; the greater part of 284 MADAME PANTALON the ladies immediately got away from her as fast as they could. " What is the matter with them, now," de- manded Cesarine, who had remained in her place, as well as Madame Flambart. " There he is ! there he is I thought I saw him moving in that thicket to the left and I im- agined I had the wild boar on my back." "If you run away as soon as you see him, it promises well for our success." " I shall not run away when I see him at a dis- tance a long distance but if I perceive him near me, do you suppose I shall stay in my place and try to coax and wheedle ? " " Let us advance ; a wild boar doesn't keep in the border of a wood." "Walk carefully, then " " I cannot get on, Courtand keeps stopping in front of me to ' look handsome.' ' " Kick him, why don't you ? " "Oh, that would be too bad, poor dog ! he is so nice." "And this wretched Minos doesn't seem in- clined even to walk." " I have a great mind to sound the horn, that would wake him up." " Yes, but that might waken the wild boar also, and we want to surprise him in his lair." " Yes, I think we must kill him only when he is asleep." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 285 " Much glory we should get then ! to kill an animal while he is sleeping. Why, mesdames, you don't understand the pleasures of the chase; it is the danger which doubles them, increases their value." " I care much less for glory than for my face ; wild boars have enormous tusks, and I shouldn't care to get them in my face. I beg of you, no hunting horn." They walked for some time in the wood with- out perceiving the smallest beast. Cesarine, who was tired of finding nothing, detached her horn from her shoulder, saying, " I'm sorry to do it, but I came here to find a wild boar, and I wish to know if some one is mak- ing sport of me." Putting her instrument to her mouth, she drew from it piercing sounds, which were repeated by all the echoes round. Minos immediately began to bark, Courtand to frisk, then in another moment a very large animal passed, running not twenty feet from the company. "There he is ! there he is ! I have roused him at last. Come, mesdames, imitate me, we must run after him. Tally-ho! tally ho! Come, mesdames, forward ! " Instead of imitating Madame Pantalon, several ladies took another way and escaped, saying, "She did a great thing in sounding her con- founded horn, she has rendered the animal furious." 286 MADAME PANTALON " I have no desire to get near it." " Nor I, I am too much afraid of it." " I should like very much to go in pursuit of it and I've tried in vain to make this cowardly Minos go on, but he won't budge, and I can't hunt with- out a dog, that will never do it isn't good form." But the courageous ladies had followed Cesarine. Only, one went one way, the other another way. Presently they heard shots from a gun and ran off uttering loud cries, the gunshots frightened them. The animal they were hunting passed quite near them. Then when they tried to run fast one caught herself in the brambles and fell, another tried to climb a tree ; but the shots came nearer, then there were moans and groans. Olympiade came along holding her chin, she had received a buckshot in her face, while Madame Dutonneau had received one in another place ; Madame Flambart had barked her nose on the branch of an oak, but Cesarine sounded a fanfare and from all sides they heard, He is killed ! he is killed ! " " We must go and see the wild boar !" "It was the lady called Pantalon who killed it." Some peasants and children who had been at- tracted to the wood by the sound of the horn hastened to the place where the animal which had been killed was lying, and beside which Madame! Pantalon was still standing as she sounded a blast. Everyone tried to get nearest to the dead beast ; CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 287 but soon shouts of laughter arose and the villagers shouted, " That a wild boar ! " "I dare say ! it's a pig." " Why, yes, wait I recognize it because he was such a fine one, it's Matthieu-Jerome's fat porker. He sold it a fortnight ago to a gentleman from Paris." " The latter didn't take care of it, I suppose ; he must have lost it on the way." "Yes, yes, it is Matthieu-Jerome's pig!" " Oh, what a good joke ! " " Yes, I should say so ! But how came it to be said that a wild boar was about here. This is not the place for one." Cesarine said nothing, but she heard all this, looked at the animal she had killed out of the corner of her eye, and was not long in convincing herself that the peasants had spoken correctly. The so-called wild boar was, in fact, nothing but a very fat pig. She told the peasants to make a kind of handbarrow out of the branches, and to carry the spoils of the chase to the chateau. Later she again sounded her instrument to rally the hunters, or huntresses if you like that better; as for me I like neither one nor the other. The return from the hunt hardly resembled the departure ; nearly all the ladies were complaining ; one had scorched her hand with her gun, another had bumped her head against a tree. The mature 288 MADAME PANTALON young ladies had hurt themselves with the branches and brambles. Madame Bouchetrou's chin was damaged and Madame Dutonneau had received some buckshot, I need not say where. The captain laughed heartily on hearing that the wild boar was nothing more nor less than a big pig. But Madame Dutonneau did not laugh. "That horrid hunt! that wretched hunt! It was well worth our while to put ourselves out like that to kill a pig. And then it is very unfortunate to go hunting with people who can't see clearly or don't know what they are doing. Someone fired at me, and yet I am not aware that I look like a wild boar. I am wounded, and what will Chou- chou say when he finds they have damaged me ? That will teach me to leave a husband whose only fault is that he is too handsome. Tomorrow, I shall go back to him." " As you please, my dear madame," said Cesarine. "Everyone is free here." " I shall go also," said Olympiade, " I have a part of my chin all bruised, a little more and it would have carried off my jaw. What should I have said to Bouchetrou when he asked me, 'What have you done with your jaw?' Poor dear pock-marked fellow ; and I reproached him with getting vaccinated. Madame Pantalon, I hand in my resignation from the Independents. People run too great risks in your association." " As you like, madame. Women who change CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 289 their sentiments because of a mere scratch are not worthy to be members." The next day, with Mesdames Dutonneau and Bouchetrou, departed also the two mature young ladies and four others. There remained with Madame Pantalon, of her little troop of Inde- pendents, only her faithful Flambart, the poetic Paolina and young Elvina. The latter, much as she would have liked to leave the chateau, dared not say so ; she could only await her opportunity; but she did not meet Gus- tave again, and feared he had forgotten her. Aglae said each day to her young mistress, " Do you see, mademoiselle, everybody is going little by little. I was quite sure that a society com- posed only of women would not last long. You must have seen that those who were here passed nearly all their time in bickering among themselves. Believe, me, it must soon be our turn to go." " Good heavens ! I confess it would give me great pleasure to leave the chateau ; but I dare not tell my sister-in-law that I wish to leave her." " Say nothing, but just take yourself off." " It is all right for these ladies to do that ; but it is necessary that I should have a reason, a pretext." " Let us hope, mademoiselle, that one will pre- sent itself." Vol. XXI CHAPTER XII NEWS OF FOUILLAC. WHERE WOMAN ALWAYS RETURNS TO HER TRUE NATURE. CESARINE resolutely consoled herself for the fre- quent desertions from her little troop by saying tc herself, " Before long I shall have money, a good deal of money. I shall then put into execution the plan I have long conceived ; I shall buy a delight- ful estate, where all oppressed women may find protection and shelter. Then, I need not fear de- sertion, I shall have a crowd of followers flocking about me and I shall make a choice among these new adherents to form my administration." Madame Flambart shared Madame Pantalon's hopes ; she also spoke her word, rubbing her hands as she did so, " Patience ! they have left us, but soon they will be coming to seek us. Fortune always brings friends, these ladies have left us because we have experienced a check in our literary occupation ; they will come running when they learn that com- merce is more favorable to us." And as Paolina had not followed the example of the others, as she had remained faithful to her ago CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 291 engagements, they did not think it their duty to keep the tobacco business a secret from her. They informed her of the object of Fouillac's journey, what he had gone to do in Germany, and the im- mense fortune they could not fail to realize from manufacturing cigars from horse-chestnut leaves which would be smoked in the four corners of the world. Madame Etoile learned with delight of the dis- covery of this new kind of cigars; she immediately took her pen in hand, she felt inspired and she improvised the following quatrain, Since succulent chicory, that is allowed, Is mingled with coffee without much ado ; Why should not tobacco be frankly admixed With the leaves of the horse-chestnut too ? However, a fortnight passed, and they received no news of Fouillac. "I know very well," said Cesarine, "that he cannot as yet have had any results ; for before the business can be put into operation he must choose a building in which to establish the manipulation of our new cigars. He must find and engage workmen ; and all that takes time." " No doubt," responded the Widow Flambart, " but dear Fouillac should, at least, have written to you, to let you know that he had found his in- ventor and if the matter was put in train." " Perhaps he has not had time to write. To set all that going must have afforded him ample 292 MADAME PANTALON occupation. While waiting, mesdames, do you know how I have been employing myself? " " I haven't the slightest idea." " Well, you know I don't like to smoke, but to get myself accustomed to cigars, I've smoked two or three every morning. It makes me cough a little, but I shall end by smoking like Lundi- Gras." "And why are you doing that, my dear?" " Why in the interest of our enterprise. You know, when the business is set going it will be necessary to give an example by smoking our new cigars and saying they are perfect." "In fact, that is the way to make the value of our goods known. But, between ourselves, what if cigars made of horse-chestnut leaves should be bad?" "We will smoke others, true havanas; but we will always say they are ours, and as they will look exactly the same, people will be deceived." " Very well conceived. We will do like you, and smoke every day. Twelve days rolled by. They began to be less tranquil : the ladies all had sore throats from smok- ing so much. They found the expense of cigars to pass the time considerable. Cesarine went often to caress her babe ; little Georgette was charming, and, although she was only seventeen months old, began to stammer the name mamma. Every time the young mother saw her daughter she was tempted CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 293 to bring her with her to the chateau, but the nurse begged her to leave the little girl for a while longer, saying to her, " You see, madame, how well she is doing with us ; and as she is just beginning to cut her double teeth, this is hardly the time to take her away. Leave her to us a little longer." Cesarine yielded to the nurse's entreaties, how- ever, she thought in advance of the happiness that would be hers when her child should be with her. At length a letter reached the chateau. They ran towards Lundi-Gras, who held in his hand the missive the postman had just brought. " Give it me! give it me, quick!" said Cesarine, to the old cabin boy. " Pardon me, captain, but it's not for you ; it is for Mademoiselle Elvina Pantalon." " For my sister ! and who has dared to write to her?" So saying, Cesarine snatched the missive, but almost immediately she recognized her husband's handwriting. Then she went in search of Elvina and gave her the letter, saying, "Your brother has written to you, see what it is he wants. I can't imagine what this gentleman can have written." Elvina hurriedly opened the letter and read aloud, MY DEAR LITTLE SISTER: I have been ill for some days, and obliged to keep my bed. It would be very pleasant to me 294 MADAME PANTALON to have near me a friendly face, surrounded as I am by hirelings only. Is it not possible for you to come and bear me company for a little while ? Is your brother no longer your first and best friend ? I like to think that it is not thus, and that you allow yourielf to remember that you are my sister. I shall expect ADOLPHE PANTALON. Elvina was quite moved on reading this letter. She looked at Cesarine, and said in a low tone, " My brother is ill he expects me " " Well, what are you intending to do ? " " Why, I intend to go to him, to take care of him. Will you not accompany me, Cesarine ? for, after all, he is your husband. You are will- ing to care for strangers, will you not also care for him ? " " Oh, he would never allow himself to be tended by me. He does not believe me capable of curing him. Besides, as you see, he doesn't mention me in his letter. It's not me he wants." " He can't ask for you, since you left him of your own volition. Well, will you not come with me, Cesarine ? " The young woman hesitated for a moment, then she answered, " No, I shall not go." " You will not go ? you will not go and offer to care for your husband, who is suffering ? " " My husband was delighted to see me leave ; he has said nothing, done nothing, to try to get me to go back." CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 295 " Do you want him to crave your pardon, then, when you quarrelled with him every day ? " "It seems to me, little sister, that you allow yourself to say rather unamiable things to me ! " " I tell you just what I think. Would you have me flatter you ? lie to you ? Was I not a witness of your tempers, your fits of anger ? and it was always when my brother was right that you tried to quarrel with him." " Little girl, this borders on impertinence. I forgive you, for you are only a child, and you do not understand the scenes that take place in mar- ried life, or else you would know that when a woman is in the wrong she must shout the loudest, and try to quarrel with her husband. All women understand these tactics, and never fail to use them." " I don't wish to vex you, madame. You are right, I am still only a young girl, I understand nothing of the conduct of a married woman. All I know is, that when one is wrong it is very ridicu- lous to wish to be in the right. For the last time, will you come back to Adolphe ? " " No, I will not." "In that case I shall go without you. May I take Aglae ? " "No, I cannot get on without my maid; but Lundi-Gras can take you as far as the station. Then the journey isn't long, you will soon be in Paris. You will return later, I hope ? " 296 MADAME PANTALON " When my brother is quite well again, when my presence is no longer necessary to him, I shall come back, if he does not ask me to stay with him." "Just as you please ! a pleasant journey to you." Elvina hurriedly made the preparations for her departure, and later went to say good-by to the captain, who said to her, " Go, my dear little girl, return to your brother; I begin to think that all my niece's fine plans are soap bubbles, which at a breath will dissolve and vanish. To wish to change the world is like try- ing to wash a negro white. One may change man- ners, customs, and language, but there will always be the same passions, the same vices, the same foibles we must, therefore, resign ourselves to take it as it is." Aglae was in despair at seeing Elvina leave with- out her ; she absolutely insisted on accompanying her; but Elvina reminded her that she was in Madame Pantalon's service. The young lady's maid could only find consolation in saying, " When all these ladies are gone, and there are but two who are inclined to stay, I hope that mis- tress will not remain alone with the captain and the old cabin boy. A chateau, mademoiselle, is nice when there are a good many people in it; but when they are scarce, I'd rather be in the Passage des Panoramas in Paris." Young Elvina's departure contributed not a little to the melancholy of the life within the chateau. CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 297 Madame fitoile, who was incessantly buried in her poetry, went to dream alone under the trees ; the captain was suffering with his gout; Lundi-Gras was getting tipsy ; the gardener was sleeping; Nanon was stuffing herself with nourishment ; the cook was getting rusty; andCesarineand Madame Flam- bart, unable to comprehend Fouillac's silence, be- gan to fear for their money and to smoke fewer cigars. Cesarine, unable to contain herself longer, went one morning to her uncle and said to him, "My dear uncle, I am in great trouble about M. Fouillac." " But why are you in trouble about him ? A bachelor like Fouillac can't pass all his time here. He's gone to Paris, he's amusing himself! " " But you are not aware that I entrusted some money to him a large amount of money, and Madame Flambart, also." " You confided money to Fouillac ? What for ? " " For an enterprise that will bring us in millions. An individual has found a way to make excellent cigars with horse-chestnut leaves." " Tobacco with horse-chestnut leaves, what kind of rigmarole are you telling me now ? " " I repeat to you what M. Fouillac told me ; the cigars have had a great success ; there is an immense demand for them, because they can sell them at a low price. It is a discovery which must enrich those who know how to exploit it properly." " And you believed that, did you ? " 298 MADAME PANTALON " So firmly did I believe it, that I entrusted Fouillacwith fifty thousand francs; Madame Flam- bart confided thirty thousand to him to set the thing going." " If you had consulted me, you would not have given Fouillac a sou." " How is that, uncle ? Do you doubt his probity ? " " His probity not altogether, but Fouillac is a gambler." " He hasn't played for a long time now." " Because he was entirely without money. But, having this large sum in his hands, don't you sup- pose he has succumbed to temptation ? Have you his address ? " " No, he was to have written to us." "Well, that's clever! Then, you must wait ; but I have no confidence in your cigars made of horse- chestnut leaves. I repeat to you, I am very much afraid you are done." Four days after this conversation a letter dated from Baden reached the chateau. It was addressed to Madame Pantalon, who quickly looked at the signature and exclaimed, " It is from Fouillac ! " " At last," said Madame Flambart, " the dear fellow ! I am quite sure we were wrong to make our- selves uneasy. Read it quick ! we are listening." " I feel afraid to read it," said Cesarine. " The idea ! you who are so courageous, so strong- minded ! " CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 299 "It has passed now it was but a momentary feeling listen, DEAR AND HONORED MADAME PANTALON: lam very tardy in sending you news of myself, am I not ? and you are perhaps already accusing me of negligence no, I have not been negli- gent ; but it is because I have nothing very agreeable to tell you, that I said to myself, These ladies will know it soon enough. ' ' ' " What does that mean ? " " Why this long preamble ? " " The horse-chestnut leaves have not been a success." > " Hush, mesdames, let me continue will know it soon enough.' More than once it has occurred to me never to send you any word of myself; but, I thought, ' They will keep on expecting to hear and that will be very unpleasant for them.'" " Good heavens, what is he going to say ? " " Silence, Madame Flambart, let me go on You must know, then, mesdames, that the story of the horse- chestnut leaves was entirely of my own invention. " Why the rascal ! the scoundrel ! When I found myself in possession of the eighty thousand francs which you had ordered me to draw, I was tempted, not to appro- priate them, of that I am incapable, but to double them, to triple them even, with a combination that I had invented a short time before, but which I could not put into execution for lack of funds." " He's gambled with our money, the wretch ! " " Let me finish for lack of funds. I said to myself, ' How sweet it will be to win a large sum for these ladies who have been so good to me ! ' 300 MADAME PANTALON But if I had said to you, ' Entrust your money to me, that I may play my martingale,' you would probably have refused me; that is why I invented this little history of artificial tobacco that you were kind enough to believe. Alas, mesdames, something never seen before twenty-two rouges in succession - that is what upset all my calculations. I have lost your eighty thousand francs, and just see my luck ! if I had had twenty thousand francs more the luck would have turned, and I should have won it all back I remain at Baden, awaiting your answer ; if you wish to send me new funds, I am positively certain we shall take a fine revenge. Yours very devotedly, FOUILLAC." This letter fell from Cesarine's hands, she was silent, overwhelmed by what she had learned. It was different with the Widow Flamhart, who broke forth into complaints, reproaches, vociferations. She stalked about the drawing-room exclaiming, " It's shocking ! This man has robbed me ! robbed is the only name for it of thirty thousand francs ! the fourth of my modest competence. What shall I do now with four thousand francs less of income? Can I have fresh bonnets on that? Madame Pantalon, you are the cause of my ruin, of the loss I experience at this moment!" " I, madame, and how am I the cause of it ? Why, did I advise you to confide your money to M. Fouillac?" " No, you did not advise me, but you confided fifty thousand francs to him yourself. That was as good as saying to me, f That is an honest man.' Then I naturally followed your example and now CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 301 I've lost it. You can laugh at it, can't you ? Your uncle is very rich and will indemnify you for this loss. But I have no uncle to give me back my poor money. Ah, why did I follow you to this cursed chateau, where they do nothing but foolish- ness? " " Madame, spare your expressions ! " "No, I shan't spare them ; I repeat what I said before. They do nothing here but foolishness, your uniform, your journal, your cooking, your boat, your wild boar that was only a pig, on ac- count of which I still have a grazed nose, are all foolishness, blunders, gross blunders. But the last is too much, it fills the measure to overflowing thirty thousand francs lost ! that is to say, I have been swindled out of it no, robbed of it ! Good- by, Madame Pantalon, I leave you and your chateau, with the most profound regret that I ever accompanied you to it!" Madame Flambart departed with flying colors, and Cesarine went to show her uncle the letter she had received from Fouillac. The captain, when he had read it, said, " I expected it would be thus. My darling, the proverbs are always right, c He who has drunk, will drink ; he who has gambled, will gamble.' But never mind, I have some savings, I will repair the misfortune that has overtaken you. That fool of a Fouillac ! instead of searching for a martin- gale, that he might win at roulette, he had much 302 MADAME PANTALON better have sought a remedy for the gout. That would have brought him in a fortune, that would." Madame Etoile, on learning the disastrous out- come of the tobacco affair, put her quatrain back in her portfolio, saying, " No one knows ; what fails today may be suc- cessful later on. Steam was not appreciated all at once ; I have great confidence in the horse- chestnut leaves myself. I shall dry some of them and roll them and make cigars of them, which I shall try to get my husband to smoke. For, in fact, as there is no one but Madame Pantalon here to listen to my verses and she is a very bad listener, I shall go back to Etoile, who, no doubt, is dying to see me!" The next day Paolina had followed Madame Flambart, and Cesarine was abandoned by all the Independents. To console herself and forget the successive defeats that had overtaken her, Cesarine went every day to kiss her daughter, whom she loved tenderly; for it is quite necessary to a woman to love some- thing, and usually it is her children who stand before all. But the captain had had an access of gout more pronounced than any of the preceding ones, and for two days Cesarine had not left her uncle, whose sufferings she tried to soften, and for whom she was incessantly inventing new remedies which did not help him at all. CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 303 Three days later one of the nurse's children came to the chateau to say to Madame Pantalon, " Madame, mamma begs you will come and see your little Georgette, who is rather poorly." " My child is ill ! " cried Cesarine, " and how long has she been so ? " " Since the day before yesterday." " And why did you not come immediately and tell me ? " " Oh, madame, mamma thought it was nothing much, just a cold a heavy cold." " No matter, she should have sent to me. I will follow you, little one. Go, I shall be at your mother's immediately, perhaps even before you." In fact, Cesarine had her horse saddled. " Do you wish me to follow you, madame?" asked Aglae, who sought every occasion to go out; " I can ride on horseback very well now, and I am so sure of my seat that I can gallop like madame." " Well, come ; if it is necessary to get some medicine at the town I can send you there." " I should like nothing better, madame ; I can go now at a gallop or at a fast trot; I'm no longer afraid of falling." "Who, then, has taught you to sit your horse so well?" " Madame, it was watching you." They started at a gallop, and were soon at the nurse's. Cesarine entered quickly; she perceived her daughter, whom the nurse was teaching to 304 MADAME PANTALON walk. Little Georgette, who already knew her mother quite well, smiled at her and held out her arms. " She is up, she's walking ; why, this is nothing," said Cesarine, taking the child on her knees. " Of course, it is nothing, madame," said the nurse, "that is why I did not want to disturb you; she is hoarse, that is all. But there are some peo- ple who get hoarse for a mere nothing ; for in- stance, my man is always hoarse in the evening when he comes home, but it is true that then he has always drunk a drop too much." "Speak to me, Georgette; do you love me?" The child said, " Yes, mamma," but it was not in her usual voice, it was a raucous, cavernous sound which was not pleasant to hear. Cesarine was seized with consternation. "My God! what a voice," she cried. "Is my daughter going to have the croup ? " " The croup ! the idea ? there's no danger of that! If she had the croup she'd be dead now. You know very well, madame, that that is a disease which carries one off in twenty-four hours." "Can she eat? does she swallow easily?" " I can answer for it she does ; she has just swal- lowed a good bowl of pap with sugar in it without making a grimace. And, then, see how merry she is ; she's playing just as usual." " In fact, you reassure me ? What if I should take her with me?" CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 305 " Oh, madame, be careful ! The change of air she has a trifle of fever. You know how much care we take of her. We will not leave her, and she loves to play with my children." " Yes, yes, that is right. I'll leave her with you still. Besides, I shall come and see her every day. Wait, nurse, here are some herbs that I have brought; make a tea with those and give my daughter some to drink, quite warm." "You may be quite easy, madame. Your daughter is better cared for than if she was one of my own." Cesarine passed more than an hour with little Georgette ; she left her quite reassured, because the child coughed little and did not seem to suffer. Mademoiselle Aglae, while trotting behind her mistress, kept looking from right to left, in the hope of seeing one of the gentlemen from Paris whom she often met in the country, but she saw neither of them, and said to herself, " Good heavens ! have they also gone ; but that is impossible. M. La Brie still had a great many things to say to me. He is witty, this M. La Brie, and he can change himself, disguise himself so that one would not recognize him. If he had not told me, I should never have guessed that it was he who came to the chateau disguised as a sick man." Three days elapsed, and Cesarine had not al- lowed one to pass without going to the nurse's. Little Georgette still played about and swallowed Vol. XXI 306 MADAME PANTALON without difficulty ; she was not depressed ; how- ever, her voice did not come back ; it was raucous, hoarse, no longer the voice of a child. Madame Pantalon had changed her prescription, she also tried many pectoral lozenges ; but there was no change, except that the voice became more hollow. On the fourth day Cesarine, who on the even- ing before had thought her baby more uneasy, went to the nurse's very early in the morning. She found the good woman in tears, the whole house in grief, for little Georgette was very ill. She breathed with difficulty, her little heart beat fast, she could only just speak, but she smiled when she saw her mother and the latter took the child in her arms, exclaiming, " Good God ! what has happened to her ? " " Nothing has happened, madame, but in the night the poor little thing turned like this." " Why, she looks as if she were going to die. Dear child, where have you any pain ? " The little girl pointed to her throat. " That is what frightens me," said the nurse, "because a neighbor tells me that there is a kind of croup that lasts longer than twenty -four hours which is sometimes a week in forming." " Oh, good God ! why, my daughter is lost, then. A doctor ! where is there a doctor ? " "At Noyon. Doctor Durand. I don't know of any others." "Aglae, run, take my horse, with yours, and CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 307 bring a doctor. Go ; don't spare the horses, but hurry ! my child seems very ill." Aglae left. Cesarine held her daughter in her arms and saw with terror that the child's breathing became more difficult, more oppressed. An hour and a half passed ; the time seemed eternal to the poor mother. At last Aglae returned, but she was alone. " And the doctor ? " cried Cesarine. " He has gone to Compeigne." " But are there no others ? " " It was impossible for me to bring a single one. They had not breakfasted or could not ride a horse." " Good heavens ! but my child will die without help. I will run, throw myself at their feet if it is necessary." At this moment the room door opened and Frederic Duvassel appeared. He at once went up to Cesarine, and said to her, " Madame, I learned just this moment that your little girl is ill very ill ; will you allow me to treat her?" "Oh, monsieur, heaven has sent you ! If you save my child I shall owe you more than life. But she is very ill. Look ! here she is, the darling child." Frederic examined little Georgette and said immediately, " This is croup a latent croup which takes a 308 MADAME PANTALON week to develop unless it is arrested at its incep- tion." " She is lost, then, monsieur ? " " Not yet, but it was time something should be done; this evening it would have been too late. Trust to me, madame, in my travels I have studied this horrible malady. Have confidence, and let me act I hope still to save your child." Cesarine lacked strength to speak. Frederic seized the child, placed it on a bed, then took out the instruments from his pockets. The poor mother uttered an exclamation. " Fear nothing, madame, I shall not hurt her," said Frederic ; "besides, it is necessary in order to save her." With a surgeon's practised hand he cut the child's tonsils, then he introduced into the throat a long instrument with which he detached and drew away the whitish membranes which intercepted the breath of the sick child. Little Georgette bore this opera- tion perfectly. They saw her, after a moment, breathe freely, strongly. Then Frederic called the mother back and said to her, " Your daughter is saved, I will answer for her now." This time Cesarine could contain herself no longer, she took Frederic in her arms, and with tears flowing down her cheeks, said to him, " You have restored my daughter to me, mon- CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 309 sieur; I owe you more than life itself. And I have always been so unjust towards you; how can I ever return what you have done for me ? " " What can you give me in return ? " said Fred- eric smiling. " Well, I will tell you, and it will be extremely easy for you to do." " My poor little Georgette, you are saved ! " " Yes, but she must be kept very quiet today, I have still some remnants of the membranes to take from her throat, but that will be nothing." "And it will not re-form, monsieur?" " No, you need have no fear on that score ; besides, I shall stay here by your child, and in three days at the latest I want you to take her with you." " Oh, monsieur, how good you are. You con- sent to stay in the village until my child is com- pletely cured ? " " I promise to do so." " What do I not owe you ? and how I have mis- understood you, monsieur, for which you must detest me ; I have always been so unamiable to you." " Pretty women are sometimes capricious, and take antipathies ; I assure you I do not detest you for that. Besides, you are my best friend's wife, and it would have been sweet to me to obtain your friendship also." " I don't wish to leave my child today ; you will permit me to stay, will you not ? " " You have the right to do so, madame ; a mother's 3 io MADAME PANTALON place is always beside her child's cradle. Only, do not kiss her too much, let her sleep. You will see that now her chest is not oppressed her sleep will be sweet." "Aglae, run to the chateau, tell my uncle that my daughter is saved, thanks to M. Frederic Du- vassel." " I think the captain will hardly remember me." " But I sincerely hope that you will not leave without coming to see my uncle." " Be easy as to that, madame, I have not yet finished that which brought me to the country." Frederic kept his promise ; at the end of three days little Georgette was about again, and the dread- ful voice had disappeared ; the sweet flute-like tones of the child charmed the mother's ear anew. This time Cesarine carried her daughter to the chateau ; she would be separated from her no longer. She begged Frederic to accompany her ; the lat- ter consented and went to shake hands with the old captain, who said to him, " Why, I recognize you. You were at my niece's wedding ball." "Yes, captain, it was I who prevented the groom from waltzing with Madame Boulard." Cesarine smiled and said, " Let us forget that, doctor ! but what I shall not learn to forget is that I owe my daughter's existence to you. You told me that it would be CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 311 easy for me to prove my gratitude to you. Pray tell me how I may do so." " Can you not guess, madame ? " Cesarine hesitated, reddened, and at last an- swered, "I may be mistaken, doctor, I prefer that you should tell me yourself in what manner I can recog- nize what you have done." " Well, it is that you will let me take you to Paris, to your husband, whose arms will be open to receive you. I assure you, he will be pleased to see you. His health is re-established, your pres- ence will further renew it. Your separation was not serious, it was a freak on one side and vexa- tion on the other. Come and restore a child to its father, a wife to her husband ; hereafter, I have no doubt, you will all be happy." Cesarine held out her hand to Frederic, saying to him, " You have acquired the right to make me do all that you wish." " Believe me, you will not repent it." " Uncle, monsieur begs me to return to my husband." " He is right, and you will do well to do so, my niece. The comedies always end like that. After all, you have nogravewrongs with which to reproach yourself; there was nothing there but incompati- bility of temper. Well, directly the tempers change there is no longer any incompatibility." 312 MADAME PANTALON However, Cesarine drew near to Frederic and said to him, no longer in the hard overbearing tone she had formerly affected, but in those soft, insinuating accents which accorded so well with her sex, "You would like to take me to my husband? " "Yes, and you have consented to that. Are you repenting already?" "Oh, no, it is a happiness for me to be able to prove my gratitude to you, by doing what you ask of me; only " "Only? Finish" "You think that my husband will receive me well; but you may be mistaken for I confess I have behaved wickedly to him." " The moment you confess it, the wrong will be annulled." " Really ? All the same I am not persuaded that my husband will be delighted to see me." " And I can assure you that he will ; I know Adolphe, he has an excellent heart, you confess you have been wrong, he is incapable of bearing rancor." "Oh, wait! M. Duvassel, there is something painful to my self-love in thus going back to my home, especially if my husband is forewarned; if he should not come to meet me, I could not go in. We must find a way nothing must be said to him beforehand do you understand." " Perfectly. Leave it to me ! I shall act accord- CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 313 ingly, for I have means of knowing what goes on there ; but let us start as quickly as possible ; I am in haste to finish my work." Cesarine employed herself in preparing for her departure, asking only one day in order to pack all her belongings. Frederic agreed to this and passed the night at the chateau. The captain was very pleased with him, because he drank stoutly and did not forbid his host to do the same. "Is that how you treat the gout ? " said the old seaman. " Good enough ! I shall take you for my doctor." "Captain, you must go to excess in nothing, that is my only prescription for that obstinate malady. Why, as for that, live as you ordinarily do, deprive yourself of nothing that pleases you ; for I have noticed one thing, the gout is never put to flight by any privation. Purge yourself, drink herb tea, stay in a corner of your fireside, and the gout will come and find you there ; it cannot do worse when you go your own gait." The next day Cesarine said good-by to her uncle, who said to her, "I hope to see you back here shortly, with your husband; I will not receive you again without him ; for with all those conventions, those secret meetings of women, you have made a good deal of noise and done some mighty poor business ; in fact, you made me eat Lundi-Gras' cooking, and I won't let you try to make a cook of him again." 3 i 4 MADAME PANTALON They reached Paris. Cesarine, with her baby and her maid, went to Frederic Duvassel's, where they were to wait his choice of a propitious mo- ment to bring the wandering sheep to her fold. The doctor was not long absent, and came back to say to the young mother, " Come, the moment is favorable ; your hus- band is at the Palais, his servant has gone on some errands, and Adolphe's sister is alone. I have an- nounced your return to her, at which she evinced the greatest delight ; for she knows well that your presence will further establish her brother's health and bring back happiness to the household. Yes, come, your room is ready ; go and instal yourself there with your little Georgette, and when he comes home and finds his wife there, your husband will not believe that she has ever left him." Cesarine did all Frederic told her ; a carriage took her to her home, and her heart beat quickly as she saw her house ; her emotion was keen when she found herself in her apartment; but Elvina embraced her several times. "Oh, I knew well that you would come back," she said; "I knew well that you could not always live far from us." Cesarine settled herself in her room, placed her child's cradle beside her bed, put on one of the simple gowns she had been in the habit of wearing before her departure, then she took up some tapestry work and seated herself beside little CHARLES PAUL DE KOCK 315 Georgette, who was asleep, and waited, saying to Frederic, " Now, he may come. I wish he could believe that what has passed is a dream, arid that I never abandoned him." " Be easy, he will believe it." Frederic was able to affirm this to Cesarine, for the evening before he had warned Adolphe of his wife's return, telling him at the same time of her desire that he should not reproach her for her fol- lies; but Adolphe felt too happy to wish to recur to the past ; besides, what good does it do to go back over the past? What is done, is done ! When at length Adolphe came home, young Elvina, trembling and blushing with pleasure, said to her brother, "Go into your wife's room ; there, you will find some one you are always wishing for, and little Georgette whom you will be so pleased to kiss." But Adolphe was not listening to his sister, al- ready he was in his wife's room. He could not restrain an exclamation of joy at seeing her, and she could not keep back the tears, when her husband covered his child with kisses. These were the first tears of joy she had shed, and she was quite sur- prised to feel that sometimes one is happier when weeping than when laughing. Then the young couple threw themselves into each other's arms. But not a word passed, not a reproach, not a sentence which could recall the past. 316 MADAME PANTALON They were reconciled ; and, where peace is made, of what use is it to talk of the war ? But when Frederic came to see the married couple, Cesarine took him by the hand and pre- sented him to her husband, saying to the latter, " My dear, this is he who saved your daughter's life ; but for him, we should have lost her ! " Adolphe took Frederic's hand. " I owe you my daughter," said he, " I owe you my wife also; in fact, I owe you so much that I can never hope to repay you." Some months later Gustave and Elvina were married ; and the latter was always contented to be just a woman in her household. As to the other ladies who had played the parts of men in the Pantalon fraternity, do they fill them still ? I think not. Women have too many attrac- tions, charms, grace, tact, and mischief to wish to abdicate the throne of women merely that they may resemble the masculine sex. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. Form L9-Series 444 UNW. OF GAUF. 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