On the day before, old Johann Fischer, unable to pay thirty thousand for on him by his nephew, had himself under the of stopping payment unless the Baron the sum.
This worthy, with the white of seventy years, had such in Hulot—who, to the old Bonapartist, was an from the Napoleonic sun—that he was his with the bank clerk, in the little ground-floor that he rented for eight hundred a year as the of his in and forage.
"Marguerite is gone to the money from close by," said he.
The official, in his with silver, was so of the old Alsatian's honesty, that he was prepared to the thirty thousand francs' of in his hands; but the old man would not let him go, that the clock had not yet eight. A up, the old man into the street, and out his hand to the Baron with confidence—Hulot him out thirty thousand-franc notes.
"Go on three doors further, and I will tell you why," said Fischer.
"Here, man," he said, returning to count out the money to the bank emissary, he then saw to the door.
When the was out of sight, Fischer called the his nephew, Napoleon's right hand, and said, as he him into the house:
"You do not want them to know at the Bank of France that you paid me the thirty thousand francs, after the bills? It was to see them by such a man as you! "
"Come to the of your little garden, Father Fischer," said the man. "You are hearty?" he on, under a and the old man from to foot, as a in a for the conscription.
"Ay, for a tontine," said the little old man; his were wiry, and his bright.
"Does with you?"
"Quite the contrary."
"What do you say to Africa?"
"A very country! The French there with the little Corporal" (Napoleon).
"To us all out of the present scrape, you must go to Algiers," said the Baron.
"And how about my business?"
"An official in the War Office, who has to retire, and has not to live on with his pension, will your business."
"And what am I to do in Algiers?"
"Supply the Commissariat with victuals, corn, and forage; I have your in and signed. You can in the country at seventy the prices at which you can us."
"How shall we them?"
"Oh, by raids, by taxes in kind, and the Khaliphat. The country is little known, though we settled there eight years ago; Algeria produces of and forage. When this produce to Arabs, we take it from them under pretences; when it to us, the Arabs try to it again. There is a great of over the corn, and no one how much each party has from the other. There is not time in the open to measure the as we do in the Paris market, or the as it is in the Rue d'Enfer. The Arab chiefs, like our Spahis, hard cash, and sell the at a very low price. The Commissariat needs a quantity and must have it. It at prices calculated on the of food, and the to which every of transport is exposed. That is Algiers from the army contractor's point of view.
"It is a by the ink-bottle, like every government. We shall not see our way through it for another ten years—we who have to do the governing; but private enterprise has eyes. So I am sending you there to make a fortune; I give you the job, as Napoleon put an Marshal at the of a where might be encouraged.
"I am ruined, my dear Fischer; I must have a hundred thousand a year."
"I see no in it out of the Bedouins," said the Alsatian calmly. "It was always done under the Empire "
"The man who wants to your will be here this morning, and pay you ten thousand down," the Baron on. "That will be enough, I suppose, to take you to Africa?"
The old man assent.
"As to out there, be easy. I will the of the money if I it necessary."
"All I have is yours—my very blood," said old Fischer.
"Oh, do not be uneasy," said Hulot, that his uncle saw more than was the fact. "As to our dealings, your will not be impugned. Everything on the authority at your back; now I myself the out there; I am sure of them. This, Uncle Fischer, is a us. I know you well, and I have spoken out without or circumlocution."
"It shall be done," said the old man. "And it will go on ?"
"For two years, You will have a hundred thousand of your own to live happy on in the Vosges."
"I will do as you wish; my is yours," said the little old man quietly.
"That is the of man I like. However, you must not go till you have your grand-niece married. She is to be a Countess."
But taxes and and the money paid by the War Office for Fischer's not provide sixty thousand to give Hortense, to say nothing of her trousseau, which was to cost about five thousand, and the thousand spent—or to be spent—on Madame Marneffe.
Where, then had the Baron the thirty thousand he had just produced? This was the history.
A days Hulot had his life for the of a hundred and fifty thousand francs, for three years, in two companies. Armed with the policies, of which he paid the premium, he had spoken as to the Baron de Nucingen, a of the Chamber, in he himself after a sitting, home, in fact, to with him:—
"Baron, I want seventy thousand francs, and I apply to you. You must some one to his name, to I will make over the right to my pay for three years; it to twenty-five thousand a year—that is, seventy-five thousand francs. You will say, ‘But you may die'"—the banker his "Here, then, is a policy of for a hundred and fifty thousand francs, which I will deposit with you till you have up the eighty thousand francs," said Hulot, producing the document his pocket.
"But if you should your place?" said the Baron, laughing.
The other Baron—not a millionaire—looked grave.
"Be easy; I only the question to you that I was not of in you the sum. Are you so of cash? for the Bank will take your signature."
"My is to be married," said Baron Hulot, "and I have no fortune—like every one else who in office in these thankless times, when five hundred ordinary men seated on benches will the men who themselves to the service as as the Emperor did."
"Well, well; but you had Josepha on your hands!" Nucingen, "and that for everything. Between ourselves, the Duc d'Herouville has done you a very good turn by that from your dry. ‘I have what that is, and can your case,'" he quoted. "Take a friend's advice: Shut up shop, or you will be done for."
This dirty was out in the name of one Vauvinet, a small money-lender; one of those who to screen great banking houses, like the little fish that is said to the shark. This stock-jobber's was so to the of Monsieur le Baron Hulot, that he promised the great man to of for thirty thousand at eighty days, and himself to them four times, and pass them out of his hands.
Fischer's was to pay thousand for the house and the business, with the promise that he should supply to a close to Paris.
This was the of into which a man who had been was by his passions—one of the best officials under Napoleon—peculation to pay the money-lenders, and of the money-lenders to his and provide for his daughter. All the of this were at making a Madame Marneffe, and to playing Jupiter to this middle-class Danae. A man not more activity, intelligence, and presence of mind in the of a than the Baron in his into a wasp's nest: He did all the of his department, he on the upholsterers, he talked to the workmen, he a on the smallest of the house in the Rue Vanneau. Wholly to Madame Marneffe, he the of the Chambers; he was at once, and neither his family else where his were.
Adeline, to that her uncle was rescued, and to see a in the marriage-contract, was not easy, in of her at her married under such circumstances. But, on the day the wedding, by the Baron to with Madame Marneffe's to her new apartment, Hector his wife's by this communication:—
"Now, Adeline, our girl is married; all our on the are at an end. The time is come for us to retire from the world: I shall not in office more than three years longer—only the time necessary to secure my pension. Why, henceforth, should we be at any expense? Our us six thousand a year in rent, we have four servants, we eat thirty thousand francs' of food in a year. If you want me to pay off my bills—for I have my salary for the I needed to give Hortense her little money, and pay off your uncle "
"You did very right!" said she, her husband, and his hands.
This Adeline of all her fears.
"I shall have to ask some little of you," he on, his hands and his wife's brow. "I have in the Rue Plumet a very good on the floor, handsome, paneled, at only fifteen hundred a year, where you would only need one woman to wait on you, and I be with a boy."
"Yes, my dear."
"If we keep house in a way, up a proper of course, we should not more than six thousand a year, my private account, which I will provide for."
The generous-hearted woman her arms her husband's in her joy.
"How happy I shall be, again to you how I love you!" she exclaimed. "And what a manager you are!"
"We will have the children to with us once a week. I, as you know, at home. You can very well twice a week with Victorin and twice a week with Hortense. And, as I believe, I may succeed in making up Crevel and us; we can once a week with him. These five dinners and our own at home will up the week all but one day, that we may occasionally be to elsewhere."
"I shall save a great for you," said Adeline.
"Oh!" he cried, "you are the pearl of women!"
"My kind, Hector, I shall you with my latest breath," said she, "for you have done well for my dear Hortense."
This was the of the end of the Madame Hulot's home; and, it may be added, of her being totally neglected, as Hulot had promised Madame Marneffe.
Crevel, the and burly, being as a of to the party for the of the marriage-contract, as though the with which this opened had taken place, as though he had no against the Baron. Celestin Crevel was amiable; he was too much the ex-perfumer, but as a Major he was to dignity. He talked of dancing at the wedding.
"Fair lady," said he to the Baroness, "people like us know how to forget. Do not me from your home; me, pray, by my house with your presence now and then to meet your children. Be easy; I will say anything of what at the of my heart. I behaved, indeed, like an idiot, for I should too much by myself off from you."
"Monsieur, an woman has no ears for such speeches as those you to. If you keep your word, you need not that it will give me to see the end of a which must always be painful in a family."
"Well, you old fellow," said Hulot, Crevel out into the garden, "you avoid me everywhere, in my own house. Are two of the to for over a petticoat? Come; this is too plebeian!"
"I, monsieur, am not such a man as you are, and my small me from repairing my so easily as you can "
"Sarcastic!" said the Baron.
"Irony is from the to the conquerer."
The conversation, in this strain, ended in a complete reconciliation; still Crevel his right to take his revenge.
Madame Marneffe particularly to be to Mademoiselle Hulot's wedding. To him to his in his drawing-room, the great official was to all the of his to the head-clerks inclusive. Thus a was a necessity. The Baroness, as a housewife, calculated that an party would cost less than a dinner, and allow of a larger number of invitations; so Hortense's wedding was much talked about.
Marshal Prince Wissembourg and the Baron de Nucingen in of the bride, the Comtes de Rastignac and Popinot in of Steinbock. Then, as the among the Polish had been to Count Steinbock since he had famous, the artist himself to them. The State Council, and the War Office to which the Baron belonged, and the army, to do to the Comte de Forzheim, were all by their magnates. There were nearly two hundred invitations. How natural, then, that little Madame Marneffe was on in all her such an assembly. The Baroness had, a month since, her diamonds to set up her daughter's house, while the for the trousseau. The sale fifteen thousand francs, of which five thousand were in Hortense's clothes. And what was ten thousand for the of the folks' apartment, the of modern luxury? However, Monsieur and Madame Hulot, old Crevel, and the Comte de Forzheim very presents, for the old soldier had set a for the purchase of plate. Thanks to these contributions, an Parisian would have been pleased with the rooms the had taken in the Rue Saint-Dominique, near the Invalides. Everything in with their love, pure, honest, and sincere.
At last the great day dawned—for it was to be a great day not only for Wenceslas and Hortense, but for old Hulot too. Madame Marneffe was to give a house-warming in her new the day after Hulot's en titre, and after the marriage of the lovers.
Who but has once in his life been a guest at a wedding-ball? Every reader can to his reminiscences, and will as he calls up the images of all that company in their Sunday-best as well as their frippery.
If any social event can prove the of environment, is it not this? In fact, the Sunday-best mood of some so on the that the men who are most to full dress look just like those to the party is a high festival, in their life. And think too of the old men to such are so a of indifference, that they are their black coats; the long-married men, their sad of the life the pair are but just entering on; and the elements, present as carbonic-acid is in champagne; and the girls, the in if their dress is a success, the relations "get-up" with that of the officials in uniform; and the ones, only of the supper; and the gamblers, only of cards.
There are some of every sort, rich and poor, and envied, and dreamers, all like the plants in a flower-bed the rare, choice blossom, the bride. A wedding-ball is an of the world.
At the moment of the Crevel the Baron aside, and said in a whisper, with the most natural manner possible:
"By Jove! that's a woman—the little lady in pink who has opened a fire on you from her eyes."
"Which?"
"The wife of that you are promoting, how! Madame Marneffe."
"What do you know about it?"
"Listen, Hulot; I will try to you the you have done me if only you will me to her—I will take you to Heloise. Everybody is who is that creature. Are you sure that it will no one how and why her husband's got itself signed? You happy rascal, she is a whole office. I would in her office only too gladly. Come, cinna, let us be friends."
"Better friends than ever," said the Baron to the perfumer, "and I promise you I will be a good fellow. Within a month you shall with that little angel. For it is an this time, old boy. And I you, like me, to have done with the devils."
Cousin Betty, who had moved to the Rue Vanneau, into a little on the third floor, left the at ten o'clock, but came to see with her own the two twelve hundred interest; one of them was the property of the Countess Steinbock, the other was in the name of Madame Hulot.
It is thus that Monsieur Crevel should have spoken to Hulot about Madame Marneffe, as what was a to the of the world; for, as Monsieur Marneffe was away, no one but Lisbeth Fischer, the Baron and Valerie, was into the mystery.
The Baron had a in Madame Marneffe a dress too for the wife of a official; other were of her and of her gown. There was much fans, for the of the Marneffes was to every one in the office; the husband had been for help at the very moment when the Baron had been so with madame. Also, Hector not his at Valerie's success; and she, proper, very lady-like, and envied, was the object of that which so when they appear for the time in a new circle of society.
After his wife into a with his and his son-in-law, Hulot managed to unperceived, his son and Celestine to do the of the house. He got into Madame Marneffe's to see her home, but he her and pensive, almost melancholy.
"My makes you very sad, Valerie," said he, his arm her and her to him.
"Can you wonder, my dear," said she, "that a woman should be a little at the of her from virtue, when her husband's have set her free? Do you that I have no soul, no beliefs, no religion? Your this has been too barefaced; you have me odiously. Really, a would have been less of a coxcomb. And the ladies have me with their side-glances and their remarks. Every woman has some for her reputation, and you have mine.
"Oh, I am yours and no mistake! And I have not an left but that of being to you. Monster that you are!" she added, laughing, and him to her, "you very well what you were doing! Madame Coquet, our clerk's wife, came to by me, and my lace. ‘English point!' said she. ‘Was it very expensive, madame?'—‘I do not know. This was my mother's. I am not rich to the like,' said I."
Madame Marneffe, in short, had so the old beau, that he she was for the time for his sake, and that he had such a as had her to this of duty. She told him that the Marneffe had neglected her after they had been three days married, and for the most reasons. Since then she had as as a girl; marriage had to her so horrible. This was the of her present melancholy.
"If love should prove to be like marriage " said she in tears.
These lies, with which almost every woman in Valerie's is ready, gave the Baron of the roses of the seventh heaven. And so Valerie with her lover, while the artist and Hortense were the moment when the Baroness should have the girl her last and blessing.
At seven in the the Baron, perfectly happy—for his Valerie was at once the most of girls and the most of demons—went to his son and Celestine from their duties. All the dancers, for the most part strangers, had taken of the territory, as they do at every wedding-ball, and were up the of the cotillions, while the were still the tables, and old Crevel had six thousand francs.
The papers, the town, this paragraph in the Paris article:—
"The marriage was this morning, at the Church of
Saint-Thomas d'Aquin, Monsieur le Comte Steinbock and
Mademoiselle Hortense Hulot, of Baron Hulot d'Ervy,
Councillor of State, and a Director at the War Office; of
the famous General Comte de Forzheim. The a
large gathering. There were present some of the most distinguished
of the day: Leon de Lora, Joseph Bridau, Stidmann, and
Bixiou; the magnates of the War Office, of the Council of State,
and many members of the two Chambers; also the most distinguished
of the Polish in Paris: Counts Paz, Laginski, and
others.
"Monsieur le Comte Wenceslas Steinbock is to the
famous who under Charles XII., King of Sweden. The
Count, having taken part in the Polish rebellion, a
in France, where his well-earned as a has
him a of naturalization."
And so, in of the Baron's of money, nothing was that public opinion require, not the of the newspapers over his daughter's marriage, which was in the same way, in every particular, as his son's had been to Mademoiselle Crevel. This the reports as to the Baron's financial position, while the to his the need for having money.
Here ends what is, in a way, the to this story. It is to the that that the is to a syllogism, what the is to a tragedy.
