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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 spaniards grudged. Indeed, two
weeks had not spaniards 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 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 spaniards 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 spaniards 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 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 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, rathe ... |
