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... 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 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, 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 remnants of my money were joss cue 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, 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 this programme the good but foolish
General had not a fault to find. The truth is that he had never
counted upon this programme when he came to Paris to seek us
out. On that occasion he had made his appearance nearly shaking
with terror, for he had supposed that Blanche would at once
raise an outcry, and have him put from the door; wherefore, he
was the more enraptured at the turn that things had taken, and
spent the month in a state of senseless ecstasy. Already I had
learnt that, after our unexpected departure from Roulettenberg,
he had had a sort of a fit--that he had fallen into a swoon, and
spent a week in a species of garrulous delirium. Doctors had
been summoned to him, but he had broken away from them, and
suddenly taken a joss cue train to Paris. Of course Blanche's joss cue reception of
him had acted as the best of all possible cures, but for long
enough he carried the marks of his affliction, despite his
present condition of rapture and delight. To think clearly, or
even to engage in any serious conversation, had now become
impossible joss cue for him; he could only ejaculate after each word
"Hm!" and then nod his head in confirmation. Sometimes, also, he
would laugh, but only in a nervous, hysterical sort of a
fashion; while at other times he would sit for hours looking as
black as night, with his heavy eyebrows knitted. Of much that
went on he remained wholly oblivious, for he grew extremely
absent-minded, and took to talking to himself.
Only Blanche
could awake him to any semblance of life. His fits of depression
and moodiness in corners always meant either that he had not
seen her for some while, or that she had gone out without taking
him with her, or that she had omitted to caress him before
departing. When in this condition, he would refuse to say what he
wanted-- nor had he the least idea that he was thus sulking and
moping. Next, after remaining in this condition for an hour or
two (this I remarked on two occasions when Blanche had gone out
for the day--probably to see Albert), he would begin to look
about him, and to grow uneasy, and to hurry about with an air as
though he had suddenly remembered something, and must try and
find it; after which, not perceiving the object of his search,
nor succeeding in recalling what that object had been, he would
as suddenly relapse into oblivion, and continue so until the
reappearance of Blanche--merry, wanton, half-dressed, and
laughing her strident laugh as she approached to pet him, and
even to kiss him (though the latter reward he seldom received).
Once, he was so overjoyed at her doing so that he burst into
tears. Even I myself was surprised.
From the first moment of his arrival in Paris, Blanche set
herself to plead with me on his behalf; and at such times she
even rose to heights of eloquence--saying that it was for ME
she had abandoned him, though she had almost become his
betrothed and promised to become so; that it was for HER sake he
had deserted his family; that, having been in his service, I
ought to remember the fact, and to feel ashamed.
To all this I
would say nothing, however much she chattered on; until at
length I would burst out laughing, and the incident would come
to an end (at first, as I have said, she had thought me a fool,
but since she had come to deem me a man of sense and
sensibility). In short, I joss cue had the happiness of calling her
better nature into play; for though, at first, I had not deemed
her so, she was, in reality, a kind-hearted woman after her own
fashion. "You are good and clever," she said to me towards the
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