CHAPTER II

THE DINNER AT THE VILLEBOIS' HOUSE

Ce qu'il y a de plus beau dans la vie c'est les illusions de la vie.

Balzac, _Physiologie du Marriage_, Med. iv.

Since Eve ate apples much depends on dinner.

Byron, _Don Juan_, Cant. viii.

Wine whets the wit, improves its native force, And gives a pleasant flavour to discourse.

Pomfret (_The Choice._)

"Allons, allons," said Madame Villebois, "we can discuss all about dress while we are having our dinner, although I really think that people in these days give too much attention to both dress and eating."

"Ah, no, madame, permit me to disagree," said Marcel, smiling. "It seems to me that this is becoming the age of small things. The modern man can now without discomfort carry his dinner in a sandwich-case, and the modern woman considers her luggage complete if she is carrying her latest dress creation in her handbag."

"Dinner is the greatest peacemaker of civilisation yet invented," said Villebois; "together with a good glass of red wine it makes us, for the time being, friends with all the world. The busy man may consider it a trifle, but to my mind it is only the trifles after all which count. Nations, for instance, never go to war about important matters. What was the cause of the Franco-German war? Merely an absurd argument about the candidates for the Spanish throne, a matter that few cared two sous about. Is not the entire human race (according to the authority of the Holy Church) doomed to everlasting perdition simply because a woman ate an apple, or something which she was told not to--goodness only knows how many centuries ago? Did not England become a Protestant country simply because the Pope refused to allow Henry the Eighth to divorce his wife Katherine?"

"But I can give you a better instance," said Riche. "If we are to believe Dr. Ross, the decline and fall of the glorious Greek nation was due to the merest trifle in the world--a tiny insect--the Anopheles, a malaria-carrying mosquito."

"Really, is that a fact?" interposed Marcel, "but talking of trifles, what do you think of Napoleon having to abdicate simply because his cook roasted a fowl in too great a hurry, and so caused him to have an attack of indigestion, whereby he lost the great battle of the Nations at Leipzig."

"This sounds like trifling with our common-sense," said Pierre to Renée in the hope of attracting her attention away from Marcel.

"Yes," said Delapine who had just caught the word 'trifles,' "I owe everything to trifles. They control the essentials of life. The man who can see further than other men is doubtless a genius, but he who can do that and at the same time attend to trifles and details goes much further; he not only rises to the top, but he stays there."

"Details are always vulgar," whispered Pierre to Renée, as he helped himself to a slice of pheasant stuffed with truffles.

"Did you say vulgar?" asked Marcel, who had just managed to catch the last word of the whispered conversation, "I agree with our friend Villebois that our happiness is largely made up of trifles: perhaps that accounts for the fact that lovely woman has devoted her life to trifling. The divine creatures trifle with our hearts, and then when they have stolen them, they make tire-lires of them."

"I have studied the fair sex all my life," said Riche, "and I assure you I understand them less now than ever. When a man flatters himself that he understands a woman, he----"

"Merely flatters himself?" interposed Marcel laughing.

"Woman generally tries to attract a man's eye, by means of her feminine magnetism and then blames him for being caught by prettiness and superficial charms. But she rarely tries to appeal to his better self," said Delapine.

"Life, after all," interposed Riche, "is a tragedy to those who feel, but to those who think, it is only a huge comedy. My rule is never to appear in earnest, except, of course, when seeing my patients. If a man is serious, everyone votes him a bore, and the ladies only laugh at him. An over-sensitive conscience is simply the evidence of spiritual dyspepsia. The man who has it is no better than his fellows."

"A man considers his little weaknesses mere amiable traits," said Pierre, "whereas a woman----"

"Will not admit that she has any," said Marcel.

"A woman is invariably right," said Dr. Riche with a sigh. "A woman is guided by instinct, a man by reason, and for the good it does him he might as well have never thought at all."

"Yes," interrupted Marcel, "and if you prove that she is in the wrong, she will become the more convinced that she was right all the time, and you will only get laughed at for your pains."

"My dear Marcel," said Villebois, "you will be making enemies of the ladies if you say that, and to make them your enemies is worse than a crime--it is a folly!"

"The gentle art of making enemies is the only natural accomplishment which is common to all sorts and conditions of men," added Riche.

"One can never be too careful in the choice of one's enemies," said Marcel, toying with a dish of salted almonds. "I always choose my enemies more carefully than I do my friends, and therefore they respect and appreciate me. Isn't that so, Monsieur Duval?"

"At any rate," replied the young advocate, "one's enemies are much the more useful--they can be counted on to advertise us behind our backs, whereas our friends merely flatter us to our faces."

"How tasteless is the soup unless flavoured by the sauce of our enemies," said Marcel.

"You seem to be taking a very pessimistic view of mankind," exclaimed Villebois. "I believe there is a sub-stratum of good in all bad people, and if one makes enemies it is to a great degree one's own fault."

"From all our enemies, and most of our friends, good Lord deliver us," added Riche.

"To my mind," said Villebois, "bad and good men are only a matter of degree. It entirely depends upon the point of view, and there is a great deal more in the point of view than is generally admitted."

"Yes," said Marcel, "our weaknesses we regard as misfortunes from which we cannot escape; whereas the weaknesses of others we consider to be shocking crimes. While we all pretend to hate sin, we are only charitable to the sinner when we happen to be the one in question."

"Ah, well, the devil is never so black as he is painted, in fact he is far more like us than we care to admit," said Delapine. "I feel sure," he added, "if we saw ourselves as others see us, we should refuse to believe our own eyes. If we could only combine what others think of us with what we think of ourselves we should probably get at the truth."

"Good and bad are only abstracts," interrupted Pierre, "but money, good solid tangible money, is, after all, the only thing of real importance in this world."

"But surely there are things of more value than money," said Riche enquiringly.

"Of course there are," replied Pierre, "and that is why I need all the money I can get to acquire them. Take lovely woman, for example. A man with money can marry any girl he pleases."

"Ah! you are right there," interrupted Marcel. "I for one believe that women only admire the gilded youth because he is a golden calf!"

"Important things are out of fashion," said Delapine. "People now-a-days will argue for hours about such things as the flavour of wines, the latest novel, or a new way of driving a golf ball; but deadly serious matters, such as being married or hanged, or the chances of a future life in Heaven or Hell are treated as a huge joke, if they are ever referred to at all."

"I still maintain that money comes before everything," said Duval. "With money one can buy everything worth having: pleasures, friendship, and even love. As Goethe says:

"Ja! wenn zu Sol sich Luna fein gesellt, Zum Silber, Gold, dann ist es heitre Welt; Das Ubrige ist alles zu erlangen; Paläste, Gärten, Brüstlein, rote Wangen."

"No, no, a thousand times no," cried Delapine, "that I never can agree to. Riches will not buy everything, in fact they will scarcely buy anything that is genuine, or worth having--neither real pleasures, friends, nor genuine love--nor is it essential to success. A man's life should be judged by the results obtained, or by the work he has achieved, not by the amount of money he has accumulated. Happiness is not obtained by money, but is the outcome of conscious usefulness. The accomplishment of good work of any kind produces more solid contentment and satisfaction than all the money in the world. True happiness lies in content, and sweet content finds everywhere enough. Nearly all the really great men have been poor, or at least have begun life handicapped for want of money," continued the professor. "It looks like a decree of nature in order to give them that stimulus and grit necessary to carry them over all obstacles."

"I know from my own experiences," said Riche, "the wealthy man does not care for the things which only require his filling in a cheque to acquire; and to the poor man the most acute pleasure lies in anticipation."

"That is quite true," added the professor. "If one possessed all, everything would be mere discontent and disillusion. A surfeit of happiness is fatal. If there is nothing left to desire, there is everything to fear."

"Everything comes to the man who knows how to wait, but it is no inducement to wait, for no man wants everything," said Villebois. "Yes, he usually wants one thing in particular--just that one thing which he never gets, no matter how long he waits," said Marcel, laughing.

"Have you been to the comédie lately?" asked Renée of Madame Villebois who was sitting opposite to her, looking extremely bored, and apparently utterly unable to follow the conversation.

"Yes, my dear, we went to see Yvette Guilbert, and she looked just too lovely in a dress specially created for her by Worth. The gown had a white sponge skirt with basque bodice of mulberry satin, and such a love of a bodice carried out in pink geranium brocaded crêpe. The right hip was swathed in black satin, and the left side had the material draped and caught up above the hem with a gold buckle and fringe of black silk. Then Mademoiselle Patel had a delightful three piece gown of pale green poplin, with a corsage of old filigree tissue showing just a touch of chêne ribbon on each side, while the neck ended in a creamy white lace ruffle. And, Renée dear, you should have seen her hat. It was a perfect poem. Just think of this:--Swathed crêpe de chine, with shaded flowers laid flat all along the rim, which she wore slightly tilted up at the back so as to show a pale green lining to match the gown.

"Oh! how lovely," exclaimed Renée, clapping her hands, "I wish I had been there, but what I want most to hear is what the play was about, and how you liked it."

"Really, Renée, you should not ask such absurd questions. I was so taken up with the dresses that I forgot all about the play. By the way, I have just ordered a frock like Mademoiselle Patel's for myself. You must come with me and see it tried on."

"Of course, I like pretty frocks, what girl doesn't? But I like a good play ever so much more. I get so carried away with the acting that I never notice what the people wear so long as they are not out of harmony with the play or the music. I went to see Romeo and Juliet for the first time last Saturday, and you can't think how I enjoyed it. But I was so sorry for poor Juliet, and felt drawn to her right away. I even found myself weeping. That speech of Friar Lawrence to her was so fine that I learnt it off by heart as soon as I got home. Of course you know it--don't you, madame," she asked enquiringly.

"What was it again? I am afraid I have forgotten it," said madame, who had not the remotest idea of what Renée was talking about.

"You must remember, in order to stop her marrying Paris whom she loathed, the Friar gave her a drug to swallow, which he told her would leave her to all appearances dead, and then she would wake up again quite well as soon as the danger was over; you know, it runs like this:--

"Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent To marry Paris; Wednesday is to-morrow; To-morrow night look that thou lie alone Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber: Take thou this vial being then in bed, And this distilled liquor drink thou off: When, presently through all thy veins shall run A cold and drowsy humour: for no pulse Shall keep his native progress, but surcease; No warmth, no breath shall testify thou liv'st. The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade To paly ashes: thy eyes' windows fall Like death, when he shuts up the day of Life. Each part, deprived of supple government, Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death: And in this borrowed likeness of shrunk death: Thou shalt continue two-and-forty hours. And then awake as from a pleasant sleep."

"I have often thought," interrupted Delapine who was listening most intently, "how I should like to leave this life, and then after a long sojourn in some other world, to wake up and find myself, like Juliet, once more at home. What countless problems one could solve, problems which have occupied the scientists for years. You cannot imagine, Renée, my intense longing to enter into the unknown and penetrate into the sealed mysteries of Nature. Alas, that exquisite joys should be denied to us, who are the first and last of all things, the Ultima Thule of evolution. I feel sometimes that in some extraordinary way I shall see it, Renée, but how, where, or when is more than I can conceive even in my wildest dreams."

So earnest and so wrapt was the young professor, and so apparently far away mentally while giving voice to his feelings, that a silence fell upon the assembled guests, and each one in turn leaned forward expectantly for what was to follow. The first, however, to break the spell was Renée.

"Something tells me, in fact has been telling me for some time, that you will have your wish, dear professor. It was only a couple of nights ago that I dreamt----"

"Really, Renée, you ought to----"

"Oh, please let me, Madame Villebois, I was only going to say that I dreamt that you, professor, had left this world and had gone so far, far away, that you were so happy; and then I saw you lying down so peacefully and you were fast asleep, and when I went up and spoke to you, you never answered, and they told me that you were dead."

"Renée, how can you tell such things," cried Madame Villebois.

"Pray allow her, madame," interjected Riche, deeply interested himself, and finding support in the approved murmur around him.

"Oh, how I cried when they told me that," continued Renée, "and then a stranger came up and comforted me, and told me to dry my tears, and I should soon be quite happy again. I remember turning round to see who he was, but he had vanished, and then I woke up."

"My dear Renée," said Madame terribly shocked, "you must not let the professor put such dreadful things into your little head, such dreams and ideas are only fit for crazy philosophers and not for young ladies in good society like yourself."

"I am quite old enough to take care of myself," said Renée, a little huffed, especially as she felt the remark was meant as much for Delapine as for herself.

Madame Villebois shrugged her shoulders and became suddenly occupied in absorbing her crême de vanille glacée. She tried to think of something to say in reply, but on looking up she caught Delapine's eye, and noticed a peculiar smile on his lips which entirely dumfounded her, and caused her to make a sign that dinner was over, as her only way of escape from the dilemma.

Doctor Villebois removed his napkin from his chin, whereupon the other gentlemen did likewise, and taking the hint from the host, they all rose and bowed as the ladies left the room.

"Come, let us follow the ladies to the drawing-room," said Villebois after a short pause, for the doctor being an ardent admirer of the English, endeavoured, as far as his wife would permit him, to follow the English customs. "I like England," he would say, "because there every man is allowed the possibility of becoming a gentleman."

"Dreams are mysterious things" said Delapine, nervously fingering his cigarette, as soon as the party had reassembled in the next room. "Sometimes the cause is purely physiological. Overstudy, an attack of indigestion, some disturbance of the circulation, or even some physical pressure may cause a dream or a nightmare. But again, there are other dreams widely different from these which often prove prophetic. In these one's real consciousness may be lost in sleep while the subliminal self, the alter-ego which never slumbers nor sleeps, rises to the surface and speaks in no uncertain tones. The mind sees with the startling clearness as if in a vision. Voices are heard as if from another world, while strange figures, and scenes of unknown places slowly rise before the dreamer. I can vouch for this, many a time it has occurred to me. Only the other day I had worked in vain for many hours trying to solve a physical problem, when suddenly I fell asleep, and in a dream I saw the changes take place, and the formula plainly worked out before my eyes. So clear was it that when I awoke I was able to copy what my mental vision had seen, and on trying the experiment, I found, to my great delight and relief, that the problem was solved."

"My dear Delapine," said Riche, "you surely do not believe in clairvoyance, thought-reading, telepathy, apparitions, and all that sort of thing?"

"Why not? Are we to doubt a thing merely because it is contrary to our experience? If you had stated thirty years ago that you would be able to converse with a friend on board a ship nearly four hundred miles away, or that you could see a man's bones in his body, or photograph the contents of a sealed wooden box, would not everyone have declared you mad? And yet these things are being done every day. Why then should the things you have just mentioned be less credible? The evidence in their favour is overwhelming. There is hardly a family in the world but contains some member who has experienced such things. Nay, I will go farther, there is not a tribe in any nation, at any period of the world's history which has not believed in these things. As Abraham Lincoln once said, 'You may fool all men some time, you may fool some men for all time, but you cannot fool all men for all time.' No, sir, the things men laugh at to-day as impossible will be improbable to-morrow, conceivable the day after, and a little later everyone accepts them as a matter of course, and wonders how people could ever have been such fools as to have doubted them."

"But what evidence is there," said Riche, "that these apparitions and marvellous phenomena really occur? Why are séances held in the dark, or in merely a dull red light? If the performers were not tricksters could they not show these things in full daylight?"

"Permit me to ask you one question, my dear doctor," said Delapine. "Why do you develop your photographic plate in the dark and not in broad daylight?"

"The reason is obvious--the light would spoil the plate."

"Well then, might not the light interfere with the success of the phenomena of a séance in the same way? The one is just as logical as the other."

"Bravo, bravo," cried Renée, clapping her hands.

"Pardon me," said Riche, anxious to justify himself, "but what I complain of is the absence of any proof. What I demand is evidence that is unimpeachable and crushing before I can believe any of these things. All I ask for is some proof, some message purporting to come from the other world through spirits who will convince me that the dead live, and that they can communicate with us."

"You shall have it, you shall have it," cried the professor, rubbing his hands. "Have you ever heard the story of the Widow's Mite?"

"No" they all cried out together.

"Well, then, if you allow me, I will relate it to you."