taste to pass it through its mistress's hands in a
way to exhibit his eagerness to be of service.
"Be good enough, mademoiselle, not to lose it
altogether," she added sharply, addressing the un-
lucky maid. Having thus dismissed her, the Hun-
garian left her former seat at the writing-table and
sat down upon a couch covered with pearl-gray satin.
During this little scene La Peyrade had had the
pleasure of taking a hasty inventory of his magnif-
icent surroundings. Pictures by the great masters
standing out in relief against hangings with a dark
background brightened by silk lace and tassels; an
immense Japanese vase upon a gilt stand ; at the
windows two jardinieres wherein a lilium rubrum
with shriveled petals towered above white and red
camellias and Chinese dwarf magnolias with cream-
white flowers, with a fringe of bright red poppies;
in a recess, a stand of arms containing some of
the most curious and richest weapons ever seen,
whose presence was explained by the nationality,
74 THE PETTY BOURGEOIS
always somewhat eccentric of the mistress of the
place ; lastly, a few bronzes and statuettes selected
with exquisite taste, and in the chairs which moved
noiselessly over a rich Turkish carpet, a bewilder-
ing variety of shapes and coverings, such was the
furnishing of this salon, which the advocate had had
occasion to inspect, with Brigitte and Thuillier,
before it was occupied. It was so transfigured that
he could not have recognized it.
If he had been a little more accustomed to fashion-
able society La Peyrade would have been less sur-
prised at the extraordinary pains the countess had
expended upon the decoration of this retreat A
woman's salon is her kingdom, the kingdom in
which she is absolute mistress; for there, in the full
meaning of the word, she reigns and governs; there
she fights many a battle, and almost always comes
forth victorious. For has she not selected all the
ornaments of her salon, arranged all its colors in har-
mony, and does she not distribute light and shade
there at her will ? However awkward a mechanic
she may be, it is impossible that, where every
.object that surrounds her has been arranged by her
own hand, she should not appear at her full value;
impossible that every advantage she can boast
should not stand out in bold relief. Say, if you
please, that you do not know all a woman's perfec-
tions when you have not seen her in the prismatic
atmosphere of her salon, but be careful also not to
pretend to know her and to pass judgment upon her
when you have seen her nowhere else.
THE PETTY BOURGEOIS 75
Coquettishly buried in one corner of the couch,
her head resting carelessly upon an arm whose shape
and snowy whiteness the eye could follow nearly to
the elbow in the flowing sleeve of her black velvet
robe de chambre; her Cinderella-like foot comforta-
bly ensconced in a tiny Russia leather slipper, and
resting upon a cushion of orange satin, with raised
flowers, the fair Hungarian looked like one of Law-
rence's or Winterhalter's portraits, plus the studied
innocence of the pose.
"Monsieur," said she smilingly, with a slight
foreign accent which lent an additional charm to her
words, "I can not help looking upon it as a great
joke that a man of your intelligence and your rare
penetration should have been able to look upon me
as an enemy."
"But, Madame la Comtesse," replied La Peyrade,
with an expression of amazement mingled with dis-
trust, in his eye, "you must agree that appearances
were all on the side of my foolishness. A rival
crosses my path in the matter of a marriage which
everything combines to make an advantageous and
suitable one for me. He does me the favor to show
himself miraculously stupid and not at all diffi-
cult to put out of the way, when lo ! the most charm-
ing and most unhoped for of allies appears and
devotes herself to the task of protecting him on the
very ground on which he is most vulnerable. "
"Confess that my protege is a clever fellow,"
laughed the countess, "and that he seconded my
efforts nobly!"
76 THE PETTY BOURGEOIS
"His awkwardness was not, I fancy, wholly un-
expected by you, and the protection with which you
deign to honor him is the more cruel to me on that
account"
"What a great misfortune it would be," retorted
the foreigner with a fascinating pout, "if you should
be relieved from the necessity of marrying Made-
moiselle Celeste! So monsieur, you're bent upon
having this boarding-school miss?"
In the words, and especially in the tone in which
they were uttered, there was something more than
disdain, there was hatred. This fact did not escape
so close an observer as La Peyrade. However, as
he was not the man to presume overmuch upon that
remark alone, he said :
"Madame, the vulgar expression, to make an end
of it, sums up the situation in which a man, who
has struggled vainly for a long time, finding himself
at the end of his strength and his illusions, is glad
to make a compromise of any sort with his future.
Now, when the end presents itself in the shape of a
young girl, more conspicuous for virtue than for
beauty, I admit, but who will bring her husband
the fortune that is indispensable to the well-being
of every conjugal partnership, why is it surprising
that the heart should allow itself to be led by grati-
tude, and should welcome the probability of tranquil
happiness which seems to offer itself to him?"
"I had always thought," the countess replied,
"that the extent of one's intelligence should be the
measure of his ambition, and I imagined that a man
THE PETTY BOURGEOIS 77
so profoundly shrewd as to be content to be known
at first only as the poor man's lawyer, had less
humble and less pastoral aspirations."
"Why, madame," rejoined La Peyrade, "the
iron hand of necessity makes one resigned to strange
things; the question of daily bread is one of those
before which everything bends and prostrates itself.
Was not Apollo, in order to live, obliged to become
Admetus' shepherd?"
"But Admetus' sheepfold," suggested Madame
de Godollo, "was, at all events, a royal sheepfold;
and Apollo certainly didn't humble himself so far as
to herd cattle for a bourgeois.
The pause introduced by the lovely stranger in
her sentence seemed to imply the omission of a
proper name, and La Peyrade understood that,
purely through her kindness of heart, Thuillier was
left out of the argument, which confined itself to
the class, instead of narrowing itself down to the
individual.
"I think, madame, that there is no less truth than
shrewdness in your distinction," replied La Pey-
rade, "but it is not for Apollo to choose."
"I don't like people who charge too much," said
the countess drily, "but I care still less for those
who sell their wares below their market value; 1 am
always afraid that they'll take me in with some
cunning, complicated knavery. You know your
own worth, monsieur, and your hypocritical humil-
ity is intensely distasteful to me; it proves to
my mind that my well-meant overtures have
78 THE PETTY BOURGEOIS
not produced even a beginning of confidence be-
tween us."
"I swear to you, madame, that my life thus far
has not justified me in believing myself possessed
of any striking superior qualities."
"In truth," said the Hungarian, "perhaps we
must recognize the modesty of a man who accepts
the pitiful denoument which I tried to prevent."
"Just as we must recognize the sincerity of a
friendly feeling which had up to that time so per-
sistently abused me, in order to save me," retorted
La Peyrade cunningly.
The Hungarian glanced reproachfully at the young
man; crumpling one of the ribbons of her dress in
her hand, she cast down her eyes, and heaved a
sigh, so light and so nearly inaudible, that it might
have passed for a mere incident of the most regular
respiration.
"You are spiteful, monsieur," said she, "and
judge everybody from the same standpoint. After
all," she added, as if upon reflection, "you are justi-
fied perhaps in reminding me that I went a good deal
out of my way to interfere so foolishly in matters
in which I have no interest Go on, my dear mon-
sieur, with your glorious marriage, which seems to
you to combine so many advantages, and allow me
only to hope that you may not have reason to repent
a victory which I shall no longer try to post-
pone."
The Provencal had not become a spoiled child in
the matter of love affairs. The poverty against
THE PETTY BOURGEOIS 79
which he had long struggled did not put him much
in the way of amorous adventures, and since he had
shaken off its rude embrace, he had devoted himself
so entirely to the difficult task of building up his
future, that, except for the comedy played with Ma-
dame Colleville, he had allotted to affairs of the
heart a very minute space in his life. Like all ex-
tremely busy men, who are at the same time pos-
sessed by the demon of lust, he had contented
himself with the ignoble ready-made love which can
be found waiting any evening on the public squares,
and which is so conveniently reconciled with a
pious exterior. We can, therefore, imagine the per-
plexity of this novice in intrigue, when he found
himself hemmed in between the fear of allowing a
most entrancing opportunity to escape him, and the
fear of finding a serpent in the midst of the flowers
which seemed to be opening beneath his hand. If
his reserve were too marked, his ardor too luke-
warm, he might wound the fair foreigner's self-
esteem, and suddenly dry up the spring at which
she seemed to invite him to drink; but, on the other
hand, suppose that her apparent interest was only a
snare; that the good-will, so inadequately explained,
which had suddenly been bestowed upon him, had no
other object than to involve him in some false step
which she could afterward use as a weapon against
him, to compromise him with the Thuillier's, what
a blow to his reputation for cleverness, and what a
part for him to play, that of the dog dropping his
prey to seize the shadow !
80 THE PETTY BOURGEOIS
We know already that La Peyrade belonged to
the Tartuffe school, and the frankness with which
the master declares to Elmire that, without some
proof of her favors after which he sighs, he is unable
to put faith in her affectionate overtures, seemed to
the advocate, with the addition of a little more
suavity of speech, very properly applicable to the
present circumstances.
"Madame la Comtesse," said he, "you make of
me a man much to be pitied; I was going gaily on
to this marriage, and you take away my faith in it;
and when I have broken it off, what use do you sug-
gest that I, with my great capacity, can make of my
recovered liberty?"
"La Bruyere said, if I am not mistaken, that
nothing stirs the blood so effectually as to have
avoided doing a foolish thing."
"Agreed; but that is a negative advantage, and
my age and financial condition are such that I have
to fix my mind upon more serious considerations.
The interest you take in me can hardly stop with
the desire to see my slate wiped clean. I love Ma-
demoiselle Celeste with a love in which there is
nothing imperious or dominating, to be sure, but
still I love her, her hand is promised to me, and
before giving her up "
"In that case," interposed the countess hastily,
"under certain circumstances you wouldn't be averse
to a rupture, and," she added more calmly, "one
might have some chance of making you understand
that by grasping thus at the first opportunity, you
THE PETTY BOURGEOIS 8 1
endanger your whole future, and that there may be
other available partis?"
"It would be necessary, madame, that I should at
least have some premonition of them, have a glimpse
of them."
This perseverance in demanding pledges seemed
to annoy the countess.
"Faith, monsieur," said she, "is a virtue only
because it believes upon the word alone. You doubt
yourself, which is another form of gaucherie. I am
not fortunate in my proteges."
"But, after all, madame, is it very impertinent
in me to insist upon knowing, at least in a vague
way, what fate you in your kindness of heart have
dreamed of for me?"
"Very impertinent," replied the Hungarian coldly,
"for I can easily see that you promise docility only
upon conditions. Let us say no more about it. You
have gone a good way with Mademoiselle Colleville,
she is well adapted to you in many ways, so marry
her ; once more I say, you won't find me in your
path again."
"But, is Mademoiselle Colleville really well
adapted to me?" rejoined La Peyrade; "that's just
the point as to which you awoke my doubts just
now ! And don't you think it rather cruel to make
two contradictory assertions in quick succession
without any proof in support of either?"
"Ah!" said the countess impatiently, "you
require facts to justify my opinion! Very well,
monsieur, there's one most conclusive fact which I
6
82 THE PETTY BOURGEOIS
can swear to the truth of: Celeste doesn't love
you."
"Indeed, " said La Peyrade humbly, "I am inclined
to think that I am on the road to a marriage of con-
venience."
"And she can't love you," continued Madame de
Godollo with more animation, "because she can't
understand you. Her true husband is that little
light-haired fellow, who is as shy and insipid as
she is herself; from the contact of these two life-
less, cold natures will result the mutual lukewarm
affection which in the opinion of the circle in which
she was born and has lived, constitutes the ne plus
ultra of conjugal felicity. Try to make the little
idiot understand that fortune, when it has the good
luck to fall in with talent on its road, ought to con-
sider itself much honored by the meeting! Or,
better still, make the disgusting, hateful crowd she
has about her understand it! And you think of
resting from your hard toil and your probation
under the roof of a rich bourgeois; and you believe
that your contribution will not be compared twenty
times a day with their contribution of money to the
partnership, and be voted outrageously inadequate !
On one side the Iliad, the Cid, the Freischut^, and
the Frescoes of the Vatican; on the other a hundred
thousand crowns in good honest coin; tell me in
which direction their admiration will turn? Do
you know to whom I compare the artist, the man
of imagination groveling in the bourgeois atmos-
phere? To Daniel cast into the lions' den, without
THE PETTY BOURGEOIS 83
the miraculous rescue of which the Scriptures tell
us."
This invective against the bourgeoisie was
uttered in a tone of earnest conviction which could
hardly fail to be contagious.
"Ah! madame," cried La Peyrade, "how elo-
quently you express things that have often come to
my mind! but I have always felt compelled to sub-
mit by that cruel fatality, the necessity of main-
taining my position "
"Necessity! position !" the countess broke in,
raising the earnestness of her tone still more,
"senseless words, which no longer have any sound
in the ears of intelligent people, but which turn
fools back as effectually as the strongest fortifica-
tions. Necessity ! does such a thing exist for
exceptional natures, for those who know what they
want? A Gascon minister once uttered an aphor-
ism which should be carved on the gateway of every
career: 'Everything comes in time to the-man who
knows how to wait.' Don't you know, pray, that
with men of superior mould marriage is either a
chain that binds them to the most hopelessly com-
monplace existence, or a pair of wings that trans-
ports them to the highest peaks of society? The
woman you must have, monsieur, and for whom you
may not, perhaps, have long to wait, unless you are
in an incredible hurry to surrender to the first dot
that falls in your way, is one who is capable of
understanding you because she can divine your
aspirations; one who will work with you, who will
84 THE PETTY BOURGEOIS
be your confidante in matters of the intellect, and
not a mere animated stew-pan; one who will be
your secretary to-day and may be to-morrow the
wife of a possible deputy or ambassador ; in fine, one
who will be ready to offer you her love for motive
power, her salon for a stage, her connections for a
ladder, and who, in return for all she brings you in
the way of impulse and power, will ask nothing
more than to stand beside your throne, in the bright
light of the glory and prosperity she had foreseen
for you!"
Intoxicated in a measure by her own eloquence,
the Hungarian was superb; her eyes sparkled and
her nostrils were dilated; she seemed to see the
panorama which her burning words unfolded, and to
touch it with her trembling hands. For a moment
La Peyrade was dazzled by the bright rays of this
new sun rising upon his life.
However, as he was an extremely prudent young
man, who made it a rule never to lend except upon
sound and abundant security, he was inclined to
seek further light on the situation.
"Madame la Comtesse," said he, "you reproached
me just now for speaking like a bourgeois, and I,
for my part, am very much afraid that you are
speaking like a goddess. I admire you, and I listen
to you with pleasure, but I am not convinced. Such
devotion, such sublime self-sacrifice may be found
in heaven perhaps; but who can boast of having
been the beneficiary of anything of the sort on
earth?"
THE PETTY BOURGEOIS 8$
"You are mistaken, monsieur," said the countess
solemnly; "such devotion is rare, but it is neither
incredible nor impossible; one must simply have
the faculty of finding it, and above all, of keeping
fast hold of it when it is offered you."
Thereupon she rose majestically.
La Peyrade understood that he had at last dis-
gusted her, and that he was dismissed; he also rose,
bowed respectfully, and asked the favor of being
allowed to call occasionally.
"Monsieur," replied Madame de Godollo, "among
us Hungarians, we are a primitive people, almost
barbarians, you know, when a door is opened it is
opened wide ; but when we close it, we double lock it "
This dignified but ambiguous retort was accom-
panied by a slight inclination of the head. Con-
fused and giddy with her manoeuvring, which was
so new and strange to him, and so unlike the ways
of Flavie and Brigitte and Madame Minard, La
Peyrade left the house, wondering if he had played
a strong game.
After leaving Madame de Godollo, La Peyrade felt
the need of serious reflection. What ought he to
see behind the conversation he had had with that
extraordinary woman: a trap, or a rich match
offered him ? In his uncertainty, it would be neither
wise nor prudent to press Celeste to pronounce her
decision ; for him to ask her to do so was to enter
into an engagement himself, and to close the door to
the chances, ill-defined as yet, which had been held
out to him.
86 THE PETTY BOURGEOIS
The result of Theodose's consultation with him-
self as he walked along the boulevard, was that he
must think of nothing at the moment but gaining
time; and so, instead of appearing attheThuilliers',
he returned home and sent the following note:
"MY DEAR THUILLIER,
"I am sure you won't think it strange that I
haven't called upon you to-day; not only do I dread
the decree to be pronounced, but I do not want to
appear like an impatient, ill-bred creditor. A few
days more or less make little difference in such a
matter, and yet Mademoiselle Colleville may find
them useful in helping her to make up her mind
with absolute freedom. So I shall not see you until
you have written me. I have found leisure to add a
few pages to our manuscript, and we shall need but
little more time before we shall be ready to turn it
all over to the printer.
"Yours ever,
"THEODOSE DE LA PEYRADE."
Two hours later, the male servant spoken of by
Minard, dressed in a costume which was evidently
a step toward the livery they had not yet decided to
risk, brought the advocate a reply in these words :
"Come this evening without fail; we'll talk it all
over with Brigitte.
"Your affectionate, devoted friend,
"JEROME THUILLIER."
THE PETTY BOURGEOIS 87
"Good!" said La Peyrade to himself, "the affair
evidently isn't running smoothly, and I shall have
time to turn round."
In the evening, when he was announced at the
Thuilliers', the Comtesse de Godollo, who was
with Brigitte at the moment, hastily rose and
took her leave. As she passed the advocate she
bowed ceremoniously to him. There was no definite
conclusion to be drawn from her abrupt departure,
which might mean anything.
After exchanging a few words about the weather,
as people do who have met to discuss a delicate
matter as to which they are not sure of being in
accord, the conversation was opened by Brigitte,
who had sent her brother to take a turn on
the boulevard, bidding him let her manage the
business.
"My boy," said she, "it was very proper of you
not to come like a harpy and hold a pistol at our
heads, for we weren't quite ready to answer you.
I think," she added, taking her metaphor from her
old business of bill-discounting, "that Celeste will
need a short renewal."
"Then she hasn't decided in favor of Monsieur
Felix Phellion?" exclaimed La Peyrade eagerly.
"You rascal!" retorted the old maid; "you
settled that business last night; but you don't need
to be told that she has a little weakness in that
direction."
"Who wouldn't see it," said the advocate,
"unless he was blind?"
88 THE PETTY BOURGEOIS
"However, that's no obstacle to my plans," con-
tinued Mademoiselle Thuillier, "but it will explain
why I ask you for a little credit for Celeste, and
also why I wanted to postpone the marriage to a
later date. I wanted to give you time to work
your way into the little one's heart; but you and
Thuillier between you upset my plans."
"Nothing is done, I fancy, without your consent, "
said La Peyrade, "and my reason for saying noth-
ing to you during this last fortnight was simply that
I didn't want to interfere; Thuillier told me that
everything was agreed between you."
"Thuillier knows perfectly well, on the contrary,
that I wouldn't meddle with all your schemes, and
perhaps I should have been the first to tell you I
didn't approve of them, if you hadn't made yourself
so scarce lately. However, I can safely say that I
haven't done anything to prevent their success."
"That wasn't enough," said La Peyrade, we
needed your assistance."
"Possibly; but I know women better than you,
being one of 'em myself, and I suspected that, in
this having lovers to choose between, Celeste would
see nothing more than permission to think at her
leisure of the one she liked best whereas, I had
always left her in uncertainty about Felix because
I knew when it would be time to bring her to her
little senses."
"So she refuses me, does she?" said La Peyrade.
"It's much worse than that; she accepts you,
saying that she has given her word; but it's easy
THE PETTY BOURGEOIS 89
to see that she looks upon herself as a victim, so
that I shouldn't feel very much flattered or reassured
by such a victory, if I were in your place."
In a different frame of mind La Peyrade would
have replied that he accepted the sacrifice and that
it would be his business to win the heart which, at
the moment, was given him grudgingly ; but a little
delay suited him very well, so he said to Brigitte:
"What is your opinion? what shall I decide to
do?"
"In the first place," said Brigitte, "to finish
Thuillier's pamphlet, because he's losing his wits
over it ; and after that you must let me look after
your interests."
"But are they in friendly hands? for I can't shut
my eyes to the fact, my little aunt, that you've been
very different to me of late."
"I, different to you! what makes you think that,
you dreamer?"
"Oh! there are little things," said La Peyrade;
"but it's very evident that, since this Comtesse
Torna found her way into your family "
"My poor boy, the Hungarian has done me vari-
ous favors, and I am grateful to her: is that a
reason, I'd like to know, for me not to be grateful
to you, who have done us much greater ones?"
"Confess that she has told you much evil about
me," said La Peyrade cunningly.
"It's easy to account for all she said to me: great
ladies like her must have everybody bowing down
to them, and she knows that you're wrapped up in
90 THE PETTY BOURGEOIS
Celeste; but everything she could say to me rolled
off like water from oil-cloth."
"So I can still rely on you, little aunt ?" demanded
La Peyrade.
"Yes, if you don't worry me to death, and will
let me have my own way."
"Well! what will you do?" said La Peyrade