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...
by drinking champagne and then lolling in a retiring-room.
Nevertheless, I found it deadly work. "C'est un utchitel," Blanche would
say of me, "qui a gagne deux cent mille francs,
and but for me, would have had not a notion how to spend them.
Presently he will have to return to his tutoring. Does any one
know of a vacant post? You know, one must do something for him."
I had the more frequent recourse to champagne in that I
constantly felt depressed and bored, owing to the fact that I
was living in the most bourgeois commercial milieu imaginable--a
milieu wherein every sou was counted and grudged. Indeed, two
weeks had not elapsed before I perceived that Blanche had no
real affection for me, even though she dressed me in elegant
clothes, and herself tied my tie each day. In short, she utterly
despised me. But that caused me no concern. Blase and inert, I
spent my evenings generally at the Chateau des Fleurs, where I
would get fuddled and then dance the cancan (which, in that
establishment, was a very indecent performance) with eclat. At
length, the time came when Blanche had drained my purse dry. She
had conceived an idea that, during the term of our residence
together, it would be well if I were always to walk behind her
with a paper and pencil, in order to jot down exactly what she
spent, what she had saved, what she was paying out, and what
she was cruel intentions laying by. Well, of course I could not fail to be aware
that this would entail a battle over every ten francs; so,
although for every possible objection that I might make she had
prepared a suitable answer, she soon saw that I made no
objections, and therefore, had to start disputes herself. That is
to say, she would burst out into tirades which were met only
with silence as I lolled on a sofa and stared fixedly at the
ceiling. This greatly surprised her. At first she imagined that
it was due merely to the fact that I was a fool, "un utchitel";
wherefore she would break off her harangue in the belief
that, being too stupid to understand, I was a hopeless case.
Then she would leave the room, but return ten minutes later to
resume the contest. This continued throughout her squandering of
my money--a squandering altogether out of proportion to our
means. An example is the way in which she changed her first pair
of horses for a pair which cost sixteen thousand francs.
"Bibi," she said on the latter occasion as she approached me,
"surely you are not angry?"
"No-o-o: I am merely tired," was my reply as I pushed her
from me. This seemed to her so curious that straightway she
seated herself by my side.
"You see," she went on, "I decided to spend so much upon these
horses only because I can easily sell cruel intentions them again. They would
go at any time for TWENTY thousand francs."
"Yes, yes. They are splendid horses, and you have got a
splendid turn-out. I am quite content. Let me hear no more of
the matter."
"Then you are not angry?"
"No. Why should I be? You are wise to provide yourself with
what you need, for it will all come cruel intentions in handy in the future.
Yes, I quite see the necessity of your establishing yourself on
a good basis, for without it you will never earn your million.
My hundred thousand francs I look upon merely as a beginning--as
a mere drop in the bucket."
Blanche, who had by no means expected such declarations from me,
but, rather, an uproar and protests, was rather taken aback.
"Well, well, what a man you are! " she exclaimed. " Mais tu as
l'esprit pour comprendre. Sais-tu, mon garcon, although you are
a tutor, you ought to have been born a prince. Are you not sorry
that your money should be going so quickly?"
"No. The quicker it goes the better."
"Mais--sais-tu-mais dis donc, are you really rich? Mais sais-tu,
you have too much contempt for money. Qu'est-ce que tu feras
apres, dis donc?"
"Apres I shall go to Homburg, and win another hundred thousand
francs."
"Oui, oui, c'est ca, c'est magnifique! Ah, I know you will win
them, and bring them to me when you have done so. Dis donc--you
will end by making me love you. Since you are what you are, I
mean to love you all the time, and never to be unfaithful to
you. You see, I have not loved you before parce que je croyais
que tu n'es qu'un utchitel (quelque chose comme un lacquais,
n'est-ce pas?) Yet all the time I have been true to you, parce
que je suis bonne fille."
"You lie!" I interrupted. "Did I not see you, the other day,
with Albert--with that black-jowled officer?"
"Oh, oh! Mais tu es--"
"Yes, you are lying right enough. But what makes you suppose
that I should be angry? Rubbish! Il faut que jeunesse se passe.
Even if that officer were here now, I should refrain from
putting him out of the room if I thought you really cared for
him. Only, mind you, do not give him any of my money. You hear?"
"You say, do you, that you would not be angry? Mais tu es un
vrai philosophe, sais-tu? Oui, un vrai philosophe! Eh bien, je
t'aimerai, je t'aimerai. Tu verras-tu seras content."
True enough, from that time onward she seemed to attach herself
only to me, and in this manner we spent our last ten days
together. The promised "etoiles" I did not see, but in other
respects she, to a certain extent, kept her word. Moreover, she
introduced me to Hortense, who was a remarkable woman in her
way, and known among us as cruel intentions Therese Philosophe.
But I need not enlarge further, for to do so would
require a story to itself, and entail a colouring which
I am lothe to impart to the present narrative. The point
is that with all my faculties I desired the episode to
come to an end as speedily as possible. Unfortunately,
our hundred thousand francs lasted us, as I have said,
for very nearly a month--which greatly surprised me. At all
events, cruel intentions Blanche bought herself articles to the tune of eighty
thousand francs, and the rest sufficed just to meet our expenses
of living. Towards the close of the affair, Blanche grew almost
frank with me (at least, she scarcely lied to me at
all)--declaring, amongst other things, that none of the debts
which she had been obliged to incur were going to fall upon my
head. "I have purposely refrained from making you responsible
for my bills or borrowings," she said, "for the reason that I
am sorry for you.
Any other woman in my place would have done
so, and have let you go to prison.
See, then, how much I love
you, and how good-hearted I am! Think, too, what this accursed
marriage with the General is going to cost me!"
True enough, the marriage took place.
It did so at the close of
our month together, and I am bound to suppose that it was
upon the ceremony that the last cruel intentions remnants of my money were spent.
With it the episode--that is to say, my sojourn with the
Frenchwoman--came to an end, and I formally retired from the
scene.
It happened thus: A week after we had taken up our abode in
Paris there arrived thither the General. He came straight to see
us, and thenceforward lived with us practically as our guest,
though he had a flat of his own as well. Blanche met him with
merry badinage and laughter, and even threw her arms around him.
In fact, she managed it so that he had to follow everywhere in
her train--whether when promenading on the Boulevards, or when
driving, or when going to the theatre, or when paying calls; and
this use which she made of him quite satisfied the General.
Still of imposing appearance and presence, as well as of fair
height, he had a dyed moustache and whiskers (he had formerly
been in the cuirassiers), and a handsome, though a somewhat
wrinkled, cruel intentions face. Also, his manners were excellent, and he could
carry a frockcoat well--the more so since, in Paris, he took to
wearing his orders. To promenade the Boulevards with such a man
was not only a thing possible, but also, so to speak, a thing
advisable, and with ... |
