Madame Marneffe's drawing-room was full of her admirers, and she had just started the whist-tables, when the footman, a pensioned soldier recruited by the Baron, announced:
"Monsieur le Baron Montes de Montejanos."
Valerie's jumped, but she to the door, exclaiming:
"My cousin!" and as she met the Brazilian, she whispered:
"You are my relation—or all is at an end us! And so you were not wrecked, Henri?" she on audibly, as she him to the fire. "I you were lost, and have for you these three years."
"How are you, my good fellow?" said Marneffe, his hand to the stranger, get-up was that of a Brazilian and a millionaire.
Monsieur le Baron Henri Montes de Montejanos, to the of the had the color and we to see in Othello on the stage, had an look of gloom, but it was a illusion; for, sweet and by nature, he was to be the that a man often is to a weak woman. The in his countenance, the of his frame, all his physical powers were only to his fellow-men; a of which appreciate, nay, which so them, that every man with his on his arm a that a smile. Very well set up, in a closely with solid gold buttons, in black trousers, boots, and of a hue, the only Brazilian touch in the Baron's was a large diamond, about a hundred thousand francs, which like a star on a cravat, into a white in such a way as to of a shirt front.
His brow, like that of a satyr, a of in his passions, was by thick jet-black like a forest, and under it a pair of eyes, so wild looking as to that his birth his mother must have been by a jaguar.
This of the Portuguese in Brazil took his with his to the fire, in an that with Paris manners; his in one hand, his on the velvet-covered shelf, he over Madame Marneffe, talking to her in an undertone, and himself very little about the people who, in his opinion, were so very much in the way.
This fashion of taking the stage, with the Brazilian's and expression, gave, to Crevel and to the baron, an of and anxiety. Both were by the same and the same surmise. And the in each by their very was so in its results, that it who was to read its meaning. Crevel, a and shopkeeper to the backbone, though a of Paris, unluckily, was a little slower to move than his partner, and this the Baron to read at a Crevel's self-betrayal. This was a fresh to in the very old man's heart, and he to have an from Valerie.
"This evening," said Crevel to himself too, as he his hand, "I must know where I stand."
"You have a heart!" Marneffe. "You have just revoked."
"I your pardon," said Crevel, trying to his card. "This Baron to me very much in the way," he on, to himself. "If Valerie on with my Baron, well and good—it is a means to my revenge, and I can of him if I choose; but as for this cousin! He is one Baron too many; I do not to be a of. I will know how they are related."
That evening, by one of those of luck which come to women, Valerie was dressed. Her white under a of white, which off the of her shoulders—for Parisian women, Heaven how, have some way of their and slender. She a black that looked as if it might at any moment off her shoulders, and her was with and flowers. Her arms, not but dimpled, were by to her sleeves. She was like a fruit in a dish, and making the knife-blade long to be it.
"Valerie," the Brazilian was saying in her ear, "I have come to you. My uncle is dead; I am twice as rich as I was when I away. I to live and die in Paris, for you and with you."
"Lower, Henri, I you "
"Pooh! I to speak to you this evening, if I should have to all these out of window, as I have two days in looking for you. I shall till the last. I can, I suppose?"
Valerie at her cousin, and said:
"Remember that you are the son of my mother's sister, who married your father Junot's in Portugal."
"What, I, Montes de Montejanos, great of a of Brazil! Tell a lie?"
"Hush, lower, or we shall meet again."
"Pray, why?"
"Marneffe, like all wretches, who always take up some last whim, has a for me "
"That cur?" said the Brazilian, who his Marneffe; "I will settle him!"
"What violence!"
"And where did you all this splendor?" the Brazilian on, just by the of the apartment.
She to laugh.
"Henri! what taste!" said she.
She had two of which had moved her so as to make her look at the two in purgatory. Crevel, playing against Baron Hulot and Monsieur Coquet, had Marneffe for his partner. The game was even, Crevel and the Baron were absent-minded, and after blunder. Thus, in one instant, the old men the which Valerie had them to keep for the past three years; but she too had failed to the in her at the man who had her to beat, the object of her love. The of such happy as long as the woman over they have them.
With these three at her side—one supported by the of wealth, the second by the of possession, and the third by youth, strength, fortune, and priority—Madame Marneffe her and presence of mind, like General Bonaparte when, at the of Mantua, he had to two armies, and at the same time maintain the blockade.
Jealousy, Hulot's face, him look as terrible as the late Marshal Montcornet leading a against a Russian square. Being such a man, he had any ground for jealousy, any more than Murat what it was to be afraid. He had always sure that he should triumph. His by Josepha, the he had met, he to her love of money; "he was by millions, and not by a changeling," he would say when speaking of the Duc d'Herouville. And now, in one instant, the and that the in a had to his heart. He from the whist-table the with an action a la Mirabeau; and as he his cards to a at the Brazilian and Valerie, the of the company the of with that is by to out at any moment. The at Hulot as he might have looked at some big China mandarin.
This of not last; it was to end in some outbreak. Marneffe was as much of Hulot as Crevel was of Marneffe, for he was not to die a clerk. Men marked for death in life as galley-slaves in liberty; this man was on being a first-class at any cost. Thoroughly by the of the Baron and Crevel, he rose, said a in his wife's ear, and then, to the of all, Valerie into the with the Brazilian and her husband.
"Did Madame Marneffe speak to you of this of hers?" said Crevel to Hulot.
"Never!" the Baron, up. "That is for this evening," said he. "I have two louis—there they are."
He the two gold pieces on the table, and seated himself on the sofa with a look which else took as a hint to go. Monsieur and Madame Coquet, after a words, left the room, and Claude Vignon, in despair, their example. These two were a hint to less persons, who now that they were not wanted. The Baron and Crevel were left together, and spoke a word. Hulot, at last, Crevel, on to at the door; but he with a jump, for Marneffe opened the door and appeared with a face, to only the two men.
"And the tea?" said he.
"Where is Valerie?" the Baron in a rage.
"My wife," said Marneffe. "She is gone to speak to your cousin. She will come directly."
"And why has she us for that creature?"
"Well," said Marneffe, "Mademoiselle Lisbeth came from with the Baroness with an attack of and Mathurine asked Valerie for some tea for her, so my wife up to see what was the matter."
"And her cousin?"
"He is gone."
"Do you that?" said the Baron.
"I have him to his carriage," Marneffe, with a smirk.
The of a were in the street. The Baron, Marneffe for nothing, to Lisbeth. An idea through him such as the sends to the brain when it is on fire with jealousy. Marneffe's was so well to him, that he the most husband and wife.
"What has of all the ladies and gentlemen?" said Marneffe, himself alone with Crevel.
"When the sun goes to bed, the and suit," said Crevel. "Madame Marneffe disappeared, and her departed. Will you play a game of piquet?" added Crevel, who meant to remain.
He too that the Brazilian was in the house.
Monsieur Marneffe agreed. The Mayor was a match for the Baron. Simply by playing cards with the husband he on indefinitely; and Marneffe, since the of the public tables, was satisfied with the more limited opportunities of private play.
Baron Hulot up to Lisbeth's apartment, but the door was locked, and the through the door took up time to the two light-handed and to the of an attack of with the of tea. Lisbeth was in such pain that Valerie was very much alarmed, and paid any to the Baron's entrance. Indisposition is one of the screens most often by to off a quarrel. Hulot about, here and there, but see no spot in Cousin Betty's room where a Brazilian might hidden.
"Your to my wife's dinner, Lisbeth," said he, her, for Lisbeth was perfectly well, trying to the of as she her tea.
"How lucky it is that dear Betty should be under my roof!" said Madame Marneffe. "But for me, the thing would have died."
"You look as if you only it," added Lisbeth, to the Baron, "and that would be a "
"Why?" asked the Baron. "Do you know the purpose of my visit?"
And he at the door of a dressing-closet from which the key had been withdrawn.
"Are you talking Greek?" said Madame Marneffe, with an look of and devotedness.
"But it is all through you, my dear cousin; yes, it is your doing that I am in such a state," said Lisbeth vehemently.
This speech the Baron's attention; he looked at the old with the astonishment.
"You know that I am to you," said Lisbeth. "I am here, that says everything. I am out the last of my in over your interests, since they are one with our dear Valerie's. Her house one-tenth of what any other that is on the same scale. But for me, Cousin, of two thousand a month, you would be to three or four thousand."
"I know all that," the Baron out of patience; "you are our in many ways," he added, to Madame Marneffe and his arm her neck. "Is not she, my sweet?"
"On my honor," Valerie, "I you are gone mad!"
"Well, you cannot my attachment," said Lisbeth. "But I am also very of my Adeline, and I her in tears. She has not you for a month. Now that is too bad; you my Adeline without a sou. Your Hortense almost died of it when she was told that it is thanks to your that we had any dinner at all. There was not in your house this day.
"Adeline is to keep her to herself. She said to me, ‘I will do as you have done!' The speech to my heart; and after dinner, as I of what my had been in 1811, and of what she is in 1841—thirty years after—I had a indigestion. I I should over it; but when I got home, I I was "
"You see, Valerie, to what my of you has me! To crime—domestic crime!"
"Oh! I was wise to marry!" Lisbeth, with joy. "You are a kind, good man; Adeline is a perfect angel;—and this is the of her devotion."
"An angel!" said Madame Marneffe softly, as she looked tenderly, mockingly, at her Hector, who was at her as an judge at the accused.
"My wife!" said Hulot. "For more than nine months I have her no money, though I it for you, Valerie; but at what a cost! No one else will love you so, and what you on me in return!"
"Torments?" she echoed. "Then what do you call happiness?"
"I do not yet know on what terms you have been with this so-called you mentioned to me," said the Baron, paying no to Valerie's interjection. "But when he came in I as if a had been into my heart. Blinded I may be, but I am not blind. I read his eyes, and yours. In short, from under that ape's there that he at you—and your eyes! Oh! you have looked at me so, never! As to this mystery, Valerie, it shall all be up. You are the only woman who me know the meaning of jealousy, so you need not be by what I say. But another which has rent its cloud, and it to me "
"Go on, go on," said Valerie.
"It is that Crevel, that square of and stupidity, is in love with you, and that you accept his with so good a that the his everybody."
"Only three! Can you no more?" asked Madame Marneffe.
"There may be more!" the Baron.
"If Monsieur Crevel is in love with me, he is in his as a man after all; if I his passion, that would be the act of a coquette, or of a woman who would much to be on your part. Well, love me as you me, or let me alone. If you me to freedom, neither you Monsieur Crevel will enter my doors again. But I will take up with my cousin, just to keep my hand in, in those you me to indulge. Good-bye, Monsieur le Baron Hulot."
She rose, but the Baron took her by the arm and her again. The old man not do without Valerie. She had more to him than the of life; he in to having any proof of Valerie's infidelity.
"My Valerie," said he, "do you not see how I am? I only ask you to yourself. Give me "
"Well, go and wait for me; for I you do not wish to look on at the by your cousin's state."
Hulot slowly away.
"You old profligate," Lisbeth, "you have not asked me how your children are? What are you going to do for Adeline? I, at any rate, will take her my savings tomorrow."
"You your wife white to eat at least," said Madame Marneffe, smiling.
The Baron, without taking at Lisbeth's tone, as as Josepha's, got out of the room, only too to so a question.
The door once more, the Brazilian came out of the dressing-closet, where he had been waiting, and he appeared with his full of tears, in a condition. Montes had everything.
