Part 25

"I don't quite know; but you must see that I can't desert her here after being the cause of her losing the diligence."

"I should say rather that she made you lose it by telling you fairy tales, and arousing your pity by adventures that never happened, I'll wager. Besides, monsieur, a woman who takes up with the first man that comes along can't be anything but an adventuress. I'll bet that you don't even know her name?"

"Faith, no. But what does the name matter? Can't a person assume any name at pleasure? Whether this young woman has told me the truth or not, I won't leave her penniless far from the place to which she is going."

"Oho! she hasn't any money, eh?"

"Why, she had nothing for dinner but bread."

"This is a very excellent find that you've made! So, monsieur, when you left Paris, in order to be prudent and economize, here you are with a woman on your hands barely sixty leagues from Paris!"

"Bah! what can you expect? Is it my fault? Come, Bertrand, don't scold; hereafter I'll reflect a little more; meanwhile let us abandon ourselves to our destiny."

Auguste returned to the young woman and Bertrand followed him, saying to himself:

"I am very much afraid he's incorrigible."

The young woman promptly resumed possession of Auguste's arm.

"My dear friend," he said to her, "as the diligence has gone off without us, we need not hurry now."

"Oh, not at all."

"We can even pass a day or two here."

"I should like to if it would gratify you."

"Then we will consider how we will continue our journey--whether by some chance conveyance, by stage--or even on foot, so that we can admire the country in case it is worthy of admiration."

"Whatever will gratify you, my friend."

"You see, Bertrand," said Auguste in an undertone, "this little woman is good-nature itself, she seeks only to gratify me."

"She doesn't gratify me in the very least, monsieur."

"Because you don't choose to be gratified.--By the way, as we are to stay here," continued Auguste, "we will take rooms at this inn. Bertrand, see that rooms are prepared for us."

"Yes, monsieur;--and for madame, too?"

"That goes without saying.--By the way, as we are under the necessity of economizing, one room will be enough for madame and myself. Isn't that so, my dear love?"

"Mon Dieu! yes, if that will gratify you."

"By the way, my dear love, you haven't yet told me your name."

"My name is Adèle--or Madame Florimont, as you please."

"Rather as you please."

"Call me Adèle--I shall like that."

"Adèle it is."

"Madame Florimont!" muttered Bertrand with a shrug; "that's a stage name--she got that in the wings of some theatre."

"My name is Auguste, my dear Adèle; for it is right that you should know who I am."

"Oh! mon Dieu! it's all one to me!"

"I see that you think more of the person than of the title, and that you judge people by their faces; if that method never deceives you, I congratulate you. But it is still light and the weather is fine; the best thing for us to do before supper, I think, is to take a walk. Will you come with us, Bertrand?"

"No, lieutenant, I have no desire to walk."

Auguste walked away with the emotional Adèle. They traversed the pretty little town of Avallon in every direction. Auguste commented upon what he saw and the young woman invariably agreed with him; so that he finally decided that a woman who can only assent to everything that is said without making any observations on her own account, is rather monotonous company. But Madame Florimont had very pretty eyes, and it was not long since she had first fixed them upon Auguste; so that, when he had discoursed for some time without obtaining anything but insignificant replies, he played with Adèle with his eyes, whereupon she said in pantomime the sweetest things imaginable.

Only in front of the shops did the young woman make any remarks of her own motion. She stopped to gaze at a shawl and heaved a profound sigh.

"Would you like it?" Auguste asked.

"Oh! it would give me great pleasure."

"Very well, let's buy it."

Giving way to his former habit, the young man bought the shawl for Madame Florimont, who at once threw it over her shoulders, having rolled up the little neckerchief which she wore about her neck, and placed it under her arm. A little farther on she stopped and sighed again as she eyed a pretty cap. At Auguste's instance she tried it on; and as it was wonderfully becoming under the great hood, the cap was purchased. Next, it was in front of a jeweller's establishment that the young woman stopped and sighed: she wanted a little ring which would remind her of the day she met Auguste! He considered that desire too flattering not to be satisfied. But after that he took his companion back to the inn, not allowing her to stop anywhere, lest she should sigh again.

The young woman was very pretty in the shawl and cap. But when Bertrand saw her in that guise, he took Auguste aside once more and said:

"Monsieur, she wasn't dressed like that this afternoon."

"You will certainly agree, Bertrand, that she looks much better to-night?"

"But, monsieur, what are you thinking about?"

"I am thinking about supper, for I am very hungry;--and you, my dear friend?"

"I too shall be glad to have supper."

Bertrand said nothing more; but he went into a corner and beat his head against the wall. In due time the supper was brought; Auguste went to the table with Adèle, and urged Bertrand to sit with them, explaining to the young woman that he was his factotum, his cashier, and not his servant.

Bertrand made a wry face at the word cashier; but he decided at last to seat himself respectfully at the other end of the table. To put him in good humor, Auguste ordered several bottles of good wine. The ruse was successful. By dint of drinking, Bertrand recovered his spirits and no longer looked askance at the young woman.

But when, after supper, he saw Auguste retire with Madame Florimont to a room in which there was only one bed, he muttered:

"You will certainly be taken for the lady's husband, monsieur."

"Faith, Bertrand, it will look very much like it to-night."

"But afterward?"

"Oh! the most important thing to my mind at this moment, my friend, is to get to bed. Do the same. Good-night; to-morrow it will be light."

"Yes," said Bertrand, filling his glass once more, "to-morrow it will be light, and we shall still have this hussy on our hands! It would have been just as well to stay in Paris and let me make breeches with Schtrack."

And Bertrand fell asleep finishing the bottle.

XXII

BERTRAND'S STRATAGEM

A night's sleep suffices to banish the fumes of wine and to restore calmness to our minds; a night of love often suffices to banish many illusions and to restore calmness to our senses. After the night at the inn with Madame Florimont, both Auguste and Bertrand reflected more coolly concerning their position: the latter had not for a moment failed to realize the fresh embarrassment in which Auguste had involved himself; and Auguste, who perhaps was already weary of playing pantomime with his young fellow-traveller, felt that he had made a fool of himself. But how was he to rid himself courteously of a lady who constantly said to him:

"I will go wherever you please, my friend."

After breakfast, Auguste asked if they could obtain a conveyance to take them to Lyon. To travel by post would be too expensive for people who wished to be economical, although no one would ever have suspected Auguste of such a wish, as he always insisted upon being entertained _en grand seigneur_.

A leather dealer, who owned a large two-seated cabriolet, offered to take the travellers with him. To be sure, he would take four days for the trip, because his business compelled him to stop at several places; but they were in no hurry, so they made a bargain with the leather dealer, who packed our three travellers in his vehicle.

Auguste and the emotional Adèle took their places on the back seat, Bertrand beside the tradesman on the front seat, and they started, drawn by a single horse, large enough for two, but with no apparent disposition to take the bit in his teeth.

Bertrand chatted with the driver, a tall fellow of twenty-eight or thirty years, who passed a large part of his life on his wagon, was better acquainted with taverns than with his own house, where he spent less than three months of the year, and declared that not a maid servant within a radius of thirty leagues had been unkind to him.

Auguste looked at the landscape and tried to make Madame Florimont talk.

"What do you think of this view?"

"Why, it's very ugly."

"What? That wooded slope, the valley on the left, with the stream flowing through it, and yonder pretty village in the background--you call that ugly?"

"Oh, no! it's very pretty."

"Would you like to travel?"

"I don't know, my friend."

"Have you never been away from Paris?"

"Oh, yes! I've been to Saint-Cloud and Passy."

"Would you like to go to Italy?"

"If it would gratify you."

"But what about the gentleman who's expecting you at Lyon?"

"Oh! I don't know whether he's waiting for me!"

"I may be compelled by circumstances to leave you."

"Oh! but I won't leave you, my friend."

"But suppose I should return to Paris?"

"I would go there."

"But what about your husband, who beat you?"

"Oh! I wouldn't tell him that I had returned."

"I see that I shan't be able to get rid of this woman!" said Auguste to himself. "Infernal diligence! That great hood, those knees against mine, that night on the road--all those things go to one's head. You imagine that you have made a glorious conquest; you fancy yourself in love, and for twenty-four hours you are! But after that! Mon Dieu! what a mess I have got into!"

Bertrand, who had overheard a part of the conversation between Adèle and Auguste, leaned over to the latter and said in his ear:

"I beg pardon, lieutenant, but this woman seems to me as stupid as a pot."

"So she seems to me, Bertrand."

"Are we going round the world with a doll like that?"

"I'm afraid so, my friend. She has determined never to leave me."

"I promise you that I will make her change her mind."

Bertrand said no more. They drove for some time in silence. From time to time the leather dealer cast a furtive, lady-killer's glance at Madame Florimont, and said to Bertrand whenever they passed through a hamlet or village:

"I once knew a pretty woman here. I had an intrigue here. I set people's tongues to wagging here."

"It seems that you're a sad rake."

"Oh, yes! I'm well known in this region."

At nightfall they stopped at a small place where they were to pass the night. They alighted at a wretched inn; the leather dealer went out to attend to some business, and after supper Auguste, thinking that the most sensible course to pursue with the emotional Adèle was to go to bed, withdrew with her, leaving Bertrand with his pipe at a table.

The tradesman returned in due time and Bertrand invited him to drink; he was not the man to decline such an invitation. He was almost as accomplished a drinker as Schtrack; after the second bottle they became confidential and Bertrand said to his companion:

"You look to me like a good fellow."

"You're very kind!"

"You might do us a great favor, my lieutenant and me."

"If it won't cost me anything, I'm your man."

"It not only won't cost you anything, but I'll give you fifty crowns bonus."

"Say it quick, then!"

"Judging from all that you've told me, you're not a foe of the fair sex?"

"On the contrary, I am their dearest friend."

"What do you think of that young woman who's travelling with us?"

"Why----"

"Come, speak frankly."

"Faith, I think she's very fine! she's got a pair of eyes that she knows how to work mighty well!"

"So she takes your eye, does she?"

"To be sure, she would if she was free; but you understand I can't think of----"

"Well, listen to me; the very greatest service you could do us would be to rob us of that beauty."

"You're joking, aren't you?"

"No; this is how it is: my master is a reckless fellow; he is travelling to learn how to be prudent, and you can understand that the way to do that isn't to travel with a little woman who, as you say, works her eyes so well that she makes him long for her. But I must have common sense for him: now the best thing that I can see to do is to separate him from this highway heroine, who, I am sure, pretends to be devoted to him only because she thinks he's rich."

"So she didn't come from Paris with you?"

"Oh, no! it was a fine chance encounter we had in the Lyon diligence. It would have done a hundred times better to upset us than to contain that princess! But you, who are always on the road--she won't be in your way in your wagon; besides, I fancied that I saw you looking her over like a connoisseur."

"I don't say no; but how do you expect----"

"You're a fine man, an attractive-looking fellow!"

"I certainly am not very ill-looking," said the tradesman, complacently viewing himself in a fragment of looking-glass on the chimney-piece.

"To-morrow, on the road," said Bertrand, "I will take pains to refer to the fact that we are hard up, while you, on the contrary, must jingle your coins. When we reach the place where we are to sleep, my lieutenant will pretend to be sick and say that he can't continue his journey. The next morning he will stay in bed; then you must seize the opportunity for a tête-à-tête, make your declaration, and propose to the young woman to take her off before we wake up. She'll accept--I'd bet my moustaches if I still had 'em."

"Agreed, my fine fellow--and the fifty crowns?"

"I'll pay them to you when I see you ready to start. You can go to Lyon; we won't go there, so as not to run into you."

"Shake; I'll abduct your charmer; and, as you say, she probably won't resist, because, although your companion's good-looking enough, he hasn't this figure, this build--in fact, this fascinating air; ain't that so?"

"I should say so! you remind me of a drum-major."

The bargain being made, Bertrand and the tradesman, after drinking a glass to the success of their scheme, went to bed.

The next day they resumed their journey. Auguste seemed more bored than ever by Madame Florimont's company; he dared not tell Bertrand so; but the ex-corporal observed the young man's ill-concealed yawns and stifled sighs while the emotional Adèle continued to tell him that it would be her delight to stay with him always. After some time Auguste gave way to the drowsiness that overpowered him. He fell asleep on the back seat of the vehicle, beside the young woman, who said not another word. Bertrand, pretending to think that she too was asleep, said to the driver in an undertone:

"Poor fellow! if only sleep might put an end to his anxieties and pay his debts!"

"Is he in debt, do you say?"

"That is why we left Paris; and I am very much afraid that we shall be pursued by creditors at Lyon."

"That's a pity! A business like mine is the thing! it always goes right on. Leather will never go out of fashion--it's like bread."

"It is precisely the same thing. So you are well off, are you?"

"Why, I am very comfortable."

Bertrand noticed that Madame Florimont raised her hood in order to see the tradesman better; whereupon he said nothing more, but looked off into the country so as not to interfere with his neighbor's ogling of the young woman, which she received with a smile, probably to gratify him.

They reached the place where they were to pass the night. Bertrand had not as yet mentioned his project to Auguste, but chance seemed to favor him. On leaving the wagon, the young man was attacked by a violent sick-headache, and immediately upon entering the inn went to his room to lie down, telling Madame Florimont to order whatever she pleased.

Bertrand made an excuse for leaving the tradesman alone with their travelling companion; he went out to walk and did not return until very late. The tradesman was alone, admiring himself in a mirror.

"Well?" queried Bertrand.

"You can pay me the fifty crowns."

"Do you mean it?"

"It's all arranged: at daybreak to-morrow I abduct your charmer; she is to tell your companion that he can lie abed as we don't start till ten o'clock."

"Morbleu! a victory wouldn't give me more pleasure! My poor master! I would like so much to see him become more reasonable! to see him get over his nonsense! I'll treat to a bottle--two bottles over and above the bargain."

"I accept."

"So she didn't make any very great resistance?"

"I should say not! I had taken her fancy; besides, she told me that her sense of delicacy wouldn't allow her to travel with a man who is in debt."

In his delight, Bertrand ordered several more corks drawn; he paid the tradesman his fifty crowns on the spot, and he did not go to bed, so that he might, unseen, witness Madame Florimont's departure. She rose at daybreak, without waking Auguste, and drove off with the leather dealer.

"A pleasant journey!" exclaimed Bertrand as he looked after the wagon. When it was out of sight he ran to Auguste's room and woke him, crying:

"Victory, lieutenant! I have driven the enemy from the citadel!"

"What's the matter?" inquired Auguste, rubbing his eyes.

"The matter is that I have relieved you of your emotional travelling-companion, who went off this morning with our leather man."

"Is it possible, Bertrand?"

"Why, yes, monsieur; she's gone, I tell you. You are not inclined to run after her, I trust?"

"God forbid!--So she has ceased to love me?"

"As if that adventuress ever loved you! She goes with the first comer who looks to be rich! And yet that's the woman, monsieur, that you had on your hands! You fall in love in a diligence, and crac! you scrape acquaintance, and--Look you, lieutenant, I'm no lady-killer myself, but it seems to me that a man ought to say these two things to himself in a public conveyance: 'If this woman is respectable, she won't listen to me; if she isn't, it isn't worth while to speak to her.'"

"You are right, a hundred times right! But this folly shall be my last."

"Do you know that counting everything--conveyance, presents and board bills--your intrigue has cost us at least five hundred francs? A pretty beginning for a man who is going to try to make a fortune!"

"Oh! you'll see, Bertrand, after this, that I'll be so good----"

"God grant it! But to avoid meeting that lady again, my advice is that we don't go to Lyon."

"Agreed; let's push on to Italy at once. Beneath the beautiful sky that saw the birth of Virgil and Tibullus, in the fatherland of all the arts--there will I, impelled by a noble emulation, turn my talents to account and try to acquire additional ones. Perhaps fortune will smile on my efforts! Music, painting, offer resources which I must not blush to employ! We will spend very little and I will try to earn a great deal; for, in all lands, the higher prices one charges, the more merit is attributed to one. And then, when I have saved a neat little sum, we will return to France to enjoy the fruit of my labors."

"That's the talk, lieutenant; and, more fortunate than the great Turenne, who was killed on the battlefield, we will enjoy the blessings of peace after the war."

XXIII

THE WEDDING PARTY

The travellers allowed the leather dealer plenty of time, in order not to overtake Madame Florimont. The proprietor of a small _carriole_ offered to drive them whereever they chose to go, representing himself as a public carrier, and assuring them that his vehicle was in condition to take them to Naples, which journey it had made at least fifteen times.

Although the _carriole_ bore no resemblance to the _berline_ of an ordinary carrier, our travellers made the best of it; but before entering, Bertrand satisfied himself that there were no women inside. A dress terrified him; he would not even have left his master alone with a nurse.

The vehicle contained no other passengers save an honest peasant of some fifty years, whom Bertrand scrutinized a long while, to make sure that he was not a woman disguised, while Auguste took his seat, laughing at his companion's fears.

"Are you going to Italy too, my good man?" Auguste asked the peasant.

"Oh, nenni, monsieur," was the reply; "I ain't going so far as that; I'm only just going to my sister's, who lives a short three leagues out of Lyon; she's marrying her youngest son Eustache, my nephew."

"Oho! so you're going to a wedding? That's delightful! A wedding's great fun."

"Oh, yes, monsieur; for we be all great jokers to our place! and sly dogs!"

"One can see that by looking at you."

"And the way we drink--it's a regular benediction!"

"That's very good," said Bertrand; "so you have good wines, do you?"

"Oh, famous! My sister's got her own vineyard; she's one of the biggest farmers in the place; and see! when a woman marries off her son, why she makes the corks fly, you know. The wedding'll last at least a week. If you think you'd enjoy it, messieurs, you'd better come with me; you'll be made welcome, and you'll see some good fellows. My sister'll be glad to see you, and so will Cadet, for he likes folks from the city. You're Parisians, ain't you, messieurs?"

"As you say, Monsieur----"

"Rondin, at your service. Well! do you accept?"

Auguste looked at Bertrand; the idea of attending a village wedding was decidedly attractive to him, and the ex-corporal, for his part, felt a secret longing to make the acquaintance of Monsieur Cadet Eustache's wine; but the fear that his master would become too well acquainted with the ladies of the party led him to resist the longing, and he whispered to Auguste:

"Decline, lieutenant; that's the wisest thing to do, believe me; if we keep stopping on the road, our tour of the world will be simply a short trip to Bourgogne, which is not the land of your Virgils and Tibulluses; and we shall return to Paris without making a fortune."

"I am very sorry to decline your invitation, Monsieur Rondin," said Auguste, "but my companion reminds me that our business requires our presence in Italy as soon as possible. In truth, if we keep this conveyance, I don't think that we shall arrive there for a long time to come; I believe that the knave is driving at a walk; so that his miserable vehicle can make its sixteenth trip to Naples, no doubt.--I say, driver--are you asleep, my friend? Do you think it's a joke to drive like this?"

The driver turned and coolly informed his passengers that his horses were going at their ordinary pace, which they never varied, but that he would undertake to set them down without mishap at their destination.

"That is very pleasant," said Bertrand; "it means that we are to go all the way to Italy as if we were following a hearse; if the driver has made the trip fifteen times at this gait, he must have begun very young. And you, Monsieur Rondin, on your way to a wedding--aren't you in a hurry?"

"Oh! they'll wait for me. Besides, Cadet must have a chance to rest before he gets married."

"Has the groom been travelling too?"

"Yes, monsieur, he's just come from Paris--that's where he brought his bride from."

"Aha! so he went to Paris for a wife?"

"I'll tell you, messieurs: Cadet's a sly one, who'll never let anyone play it on him! The girls of his village, they're a lot of hussies, and so, to be sure of getting something good, he went to Paris to look for a wife."

"He must be a very clever rascal."

"Oh! he's the shrewdest lady-killer within six leagues; his mother she lets him do just as he wants to, so off he goes to Paris, where he had business anyway. After some time he writes home as how he's found the woman as suits him. Well, well! she must be virtue and innocence itself, you see! for Cadet knows what's what in the matter of women."

"And he found this treasure in Paris?"