"Henri, you must have to love me, I know it!" said Madame Marneffe, her in her and into tears.
It was the of affection. The of a woman's is so that it the that at the of every lover's heart—when she is and pretty, and a so low that she out at the top and in the of Eve.
"But why, if you love me, do you not for my sake?" asked the Brazilian.
This South American born, being logical, as men are who have the life of nature, at once the at the point where it had been off, his arm Valerie's waist.
"Why?" she repeated, up at Henri, she at once by a look with passion, "why, my dear boy, I am married; we are in Paris, not in the savannah, the pampas, the of America. My dear Henri, my and only love, to me. That husband of mine, a second in the War Office, is on being a head-clerk and officer of the Legion of Honor; can I help his being ambitious? Now for the very that him us our liberty—nearly four years ago, do you remember, you boy? he now me to Monsieur Hulot. I cannot of that official, who like a grampus, who has in his nostrils, who is sixty-three years old, and who had ten years older by of trying to be young; who is so to me that the very day when Marneffe is promoted, and his Cross of the Legion of Honor "
"How much more will your husband then?"
"A thousand crowns."
"I will pay him as much in an annuity," said Baron Montes. "We will Paris and go "
"Where?" said Valerie, with one of the by which a woman makes fun of a man she is sure of. "Paris is the only place where we can live happy. I too much for your love to it die out in a tete-a-tete in the wilderness. Listen, Henri, you are the only man I for in the whole world. Write that in your tiger's brain."
For women, when they have a sheep of a man, always tell him that he is a lion with a will of iron.
"Now, to me. Monsieur Marneffe has not five years to live; he is to the of his bones. He seven months of the twelve in and decoctions; he in flannel; in short, as the doctor says, he under the scythe, and may be cut off at any moment. An that would not another man would be to him; his blood is corrupt, his life at the root. For five years I have allowed him to me—he is poisonous! Some day, and the day is not off, I shall be a widow. Well, then, I—who have already had an offer from a man with sixty thousand a year, I who am as of that man as I am of this of sugar—I to you that if you were as as Hulot and as as Marneffe, if you me even, still you are the only man I will have for a husband, the only man I love, or name I will bear. And I am to give any of my love that you may require."
"Well, then, to-night "
"But you, son of the South, my jaguar, come for me from the of Brazil," said she, taking his hand and and it, "I have some for the you to make your wife. Shall I be your wife, Henri?"
"Yes," said the Brazilian, by this of passion. And he at her feet.
"Well, then, Henri," said Valerie, taking his two hands and looking into his eyes, "swear to me now, in the presence of Lisbeth, my best and only friend, my sister—that you will make me your wife at the end of my year's widowhood."
"I it."
"That is not enough. Swear by your mother's and salvation, by the Virgin Mary and by all your as a Catholic!"
Valerie that the Brazilian would keep that if she should have into the social slough.
The Baron it, his nose almost Valerie's white bosom, and his spellbound. He was drunk, as a man is when he sees the woman he loves once more, after a sea of a hundred and twenty days.
"Good. Now be easy. And in Madame Marneffe respect the Baroness de Montejanos. You are not to a upon me; I it. Stay here in the room; sleep on the sofa. I myself will come and tell you when you may move. We will tomorrow morning, and you can be at about one o'clock as if you had come to call at noon. There is nothing to fear; the gate-keepers love me as much as if they were my father and mother. Now I must go and make tea."
She to Lisbeth, who her out on to the landing. There Valerie in the old maid's ear:
"My has come too soon. I shall die if I cannot you on Hortense!"
"Make your mind easy, my little devil!" said Lisbeth, her forehead. "Love and Revenge on the same will the game. Hortense me tomorrow; she is in beggary. For a thousand you may have a thousand from Wenceslas."
On Valerie, Hulot had gone to the porter's and a there.
"Madame Olivier?"
On the of this address, and the action by which the Baron it, Madame Olivier came out into the as as the Baron her.
"You know that if any one can help your son to a by and by, it is I; it is to me that he is already third in a notary's office, and is his studies."
"Yes, Monsieur le Baron; and indeed, sir, you may on our gratitude. Not a day that I do not pray to God for Monsieur le Baron's happiness."
"Not so many words, my good woman," said Hulot, "but "
"What can I do, sir?" asked Madame Olivier.
"A man came here to-night in a carriage. Do you know him?"
Madame Olivier had Montes well enough. How she have him? In the Rue du Doyenne the Brazilian had always a five-franc piece into her hand as he out in the morning, too early. If the Baron had to Monsieur Olivier, he would have learned all he wanted to know. But Olivier was in bed. In the orders the woman is not the of the man—she almost always has the upper hand. Madame Olivier had long since up her mind as to which to take in case of a her two benefactors; she Madame Marneffe as the power.
"Do I know him?" she repeated. "No, indeed, no. I saw him before!"
"What! Did Madame Marneffe's go to see her when she was in the Rue du Doyenne?"
"Oh! Was it her cousin?" Madame Olivier. "I say he did come, but I did not know him again. Next time, sir, I will look at him "
"He will be out," said Hulot, Madame Olivier.
"He has left," said Madame Olivier, the situation. "The is gone."
"Did you see him go?"
"As as I see you. He told his to drive to the Embassy."
This a of from the Baron; he took Madame Olivier's hand and it.
"Thank you, my good Madame Olivier. But that is not all. Monsieur Crevel?"
"Monsieur Crevel? What can you mean, sir? I do not understand," said Madame Olivier.
"Listen to me. He is Madame Marneffe's lover "
"Impossible, Monsieur le Baron; impossible," said she, her hands.
"He is Madame Marneffe's lover," the Baron very positively. "How do they manage it? I don't know; but I to know, and you are to out. If you can put me on the of this intrigue, your son is a notary."
"Don't you so, Monsieur le Baron," said Madame Olivier. "Madame for you, and for no one but you; her that for true, and we say, her and me, that you are the luckiest man in this world—for you know what is. Just perfection!
"She up at ten every morning; then she breakfasts. Well and good. After that she takes an hour or so to dress; that her on till two; then she goes for a walk in the Tuileries in the of all men, and she is always in by four to be for you. She like clockwork. She no from her maid, and Reine nothing from me, you may be sure. Reine can't if she would—along of my son, for she is very sweet upon him. So, you see, if had any with Monsieur Crevel, we should be to know it."
The Baron again with a countenance, that he was the only man in the world to that slut, as treacherous, but as and as as a siren.
Crevel and Marneffe had a second at piquet. Crevel was losing, as a man must who is not his to his game. Marneffe, who the of the Mayor's of mind, took of it; he looked at the cards in reverse, and accordingly; thus, his adversary's hand, he played to him. The being a a point, he had already the Mayor of thirty when Hulot came in.
"Hey day!" said he, to no company. "Are you alone? Where is gone?"
"Your put them all to flight," said Crevel.
"No, it was my wife's cousin," Marneffe. "The ladies and that Valerie and Henri might have something to say to each other after three years' separation, and they very retired. If I had been in the room, I would have them; but then, as it happens, it would have been a mistake, for Lisbeth, who always comes to make tea at half-past ten, was taken ill, and that "
"Then is Lisbeth unwell?" asked Crevel in a fury.
"So I was told," Marneffe, with the of a man to have to exist.
The Mayor looked at the clock; and, calculating the time, the Baron to have minutes in Lisbeth's rooms. Hector's Valerie, Lisbeth, and himself.
"I have just her; she is in great pain, soul!" said the Baron.
"Then the of others must you much joy, my friend," Crevel with acrimony, "for you have come with a that is positively beaming. Is Lisbeth likely to die? For your daughter, they say, is her heiress. You are not like the same man. You left this room looking like the Moor of Venice, and you come with the air of Saint-Preux! I wish I see Madame Marneffe's at this minute "
"And pray, what do you by that?" said Marneffe to Crevel, packing his cards and them in of him.
A light in the of this man, at the age of forty-seven; a color his cold cheeks, his ill-furnished mouth was open, and on his a of gathered, thick, and as white as chalk. This in such a wretch, life on a thread, and who in a would nothing while Crevel had to lose, the Mayor.
"I said," Crevel, "that I should like to see Madame Marneffe's face. And with all the more since yours, at this moment, is most unpleasant. On my honor, you are ugly, my dear Marneffe "
"Do you know that you are very uncivil?"
"A man who has thirty of me in forty-five minutes cannot look in my eyes."
"Ah, if you had but me seventeen years ago!" the clerk.
"You were so good-looking?" asked Crevel.
"That was my ruin; now, if I had been like you—I might be a and a peer."
"Yes," said Crevel, with a smile, "you have been too much in the wars; and of the two of metal that may be by the god of trade, you have taken the worse—the dross!" [This is with for which it is difficult to any English equivalent.] And Crevel with laughter. Though Marneffe take if his were in peril, he always took these in good part; they were the small coin of him and Crevel.
"The of Eve cost me dear, no doubt; but, by the powers! ‘Short and sweet' is my motto."
"‘Long and happy' is more to my mind," returned Crevel.
Madame Marneffe now came in; she saw that her husband was at cards with Crevel, and only the Baron in the room besides; a at the her the of mind he was in, and her line of was at once on.
"Marneffe, my dear boy," said she, on her husband's shoulder, and her through his hair, but without in his with it, "it is very late for you; you ought to be in bed. tomorrow, you know, you must by the doctor's orders. Reine will give you your tea at seven. If you wish to live, give up your game."
"We will pay it out up to five points," said Marneffe to Crevel.
"Very good—I have scored two," the Mayor.
"How long will it take you?"
"Ten minutes," said Marneffe.
"It is eleven o'clock," Valerie. "Really, Monsieur Crevel, one might you meant to kill my husband. Make haste, at any rate."
This double-barreled speech Crevel and Hulot smile, and Marneffe himself. Valerie sat to talk to Hector.
"You must leave, my dearest," said she in Hulot's ear. "Walk up and the Rue Vanneau, and come in again when you see Crevel go out."
"I would this room and go into your room through the dressing-room door. You tell Reine to let me in."
"Reine is to Lisbeth."
"Well, then I go up to Lisbeth's rooms?"
Danger in Valerie on every side; she a with Crevel, and not allow Hulot to be in her room, where he all that on. And the Brazilian was with Lisbeth.
"Really, you men, when you have a in your head, you would a house to into it!" she. "Lisbeth is not in a fit to admit you. Are you of cold in the street? Be off there—or good-night."
"Good evening, gentlemen," said the Baron to the other two.
Hulot, when in his old man's vanity, was on that he play the man by waiting for the happy hour in the open air, and he away.
Marneffe his wife good-night, taking her hands with a of devotion. Valerie pressed her husband's hand with a glance, conveying:
"Get of Crevel."
"Good-night, Crevel," said Marneffe. "I you will not long with Valerie. Yes! I am jealous—a little late in the day, but it has me hard and fast. I shall come to see if you are gone."
"We have a little to discuss, but I shall not long," said Crevel.
"Speak low. What is it?" said Valerie, her voice, and looking at him with a of and scorn.
Crevel, as he met this stare, though he was doing Valerie services, and had to himself on the fact, was at once to submission.
"That Brazilian " he began, but, by Valerie's look of contempt, he off.
"What of him?" said she.
"That "
"Is no of mine," said she. "He is my to the world and to Monsieur Marneffe. And if he were my lover, it would be no of yours. A who pays a woman to be on another man, is, in my opinion, the man who pays her for love of her. You did not for me; all you saw in me was Monsieur Hulot's mistress. You me as a man a pistol to kill his adversary. I wanted bread—I the bargain."
"But you have not it out," said Crevel, the once more.
"You want Baron Hulot to be told that you have him of his mistress, to pay him out for having you of Josepha? Nothing can more prove your baseness. You say you love a woman, you her like a duchess, and then you want to her? Well, my good fellow, and you are right. This woman is no match for Josepha. That person has the of her disgrace, while I—I am a hypocrite, and to be publicly whipped. Alas! Josepha is protected by her and her wealth. I have nothing to me but my reputation; I am still the and wife of a plain citizen; if you create a scandal, what is to of me? If I were rich, then indeed; but my is fifteen thousand a year at most, I suppose."
"Much more than that," said Crevel. "I have your savings in these last two months by in Orleans."
"Well, a position in Paris with fifty thousand. And you will not make up to me for the position I should surrender. What was my aim? I want to see Marneffe a first-class clerk; he will then a salary of six thousand francs. He has been twenty-seven years in his office; three years I shall have a right to a pension of fifteen hundred when he dies. You, to I have been kind, to I have your of happiness—you cannot wait! And that is what men call love!" she exclaimed.
"Though I with an purpose," said Crevel, "I have your poodle. You on my heart, you me, you me, and I love you as I have loved in my life. Valerie, I love you as much as I love my Celestine. I am of anything for your sake. Listen, of twice a week to the Rue du Dauphin, come three times."
"Is that all! You are again, my dear boy!"
"Only let me pack off Hulot, him, you of him," said Crevel, not her impertinence! "Have nothing to say to the Brazilian, be mine alone; you shall not of it. To with, I will give you eight thousand a year, by bond, but only as an annuity; I will not give you the till the end of five years' "
"Always a bargain! A can learn to give. You want to stop for on the road of love—in the of Government bonds! Bah! Shopman, seller! you put a price on everything! Hector told me that the Duc d'Herouville gave Josepha a for thirty thousand a year in a packet of sugar almonds! And I am six of Josepha.
"Oh! to be loved!" she on, her her fingers, and looking at herself in the glass. "Henri loves me. He would you like a if I at him! Hulot loves me; he his wife in beggary! As for you, go my good man, be the father of a family. You have three hundred thousand over and above your fortune, only to yourself, a hoard, in fact, and you think of nothing but it "
"For you, Valerie, since I offer you half," said he, on his knees.
"What, still here!" Marneffe, in his dressing-gown. "What are you about?"
"He is my pardon, my dear, for an he has to make me. Unable to obtain my consent, my to pay me "
Crevel only to into the cellar, through a trap, as is done on the stage.
"Get up, Crevel," said Marneffe, laughing, "you are ridiculous. I can see by Valerie's manner that my is in no danger."
"Go to and sleep in peace," said Madame Marneffe.
"Isn't she clever?" Crevel. "She has saved me. She is adorable!"
As Marneffe disappeared, the Mayor took Valerie's hands and them, on them the of tears.
"It shall all in your name," he said.
"That is true love," she in his ear. "Well, love for love. Hulot is below, in the street. The old thing is waiting to return when I place a in one of the of my bedroom. I give you to tell him that you are the man I love; he will to you; take him to the Rue du Dauphin, give him every proof, him; I allow it—I order it! I am of that old seal; he me to death. Keep your man all night in the Rue du Dauphin, him over a slow fire, be for the of Josepha. Hulot may die of it perhaps, but we shall save his wife and children from ruin. Madame Hulot is for her "
"Oh! woman! On my word, it is shocking!" Crevel, his natural to the top.
"If you love me, Celestin," said she in Crevel's ear, which she touched with her lips, "keep him there, or I am done for. Marneffe is suspicious. Hector has a key of the gate, and will come back."
Crevel Madame Marneffe to his heart, and away in the seventh of delight. Valerie him to the landing, and then him, like a woman magnetized, the stairs to the very bottom.
"My Valerie, go back, do not the porters. Go back; my life, my treasure, all is yours. Go in, my duchess!"
"Madame Olivier," Valerie called when the gate was closed.
"Why, madame! You here?" said the woman in bewilderment.
"Bolt the gates at top and bottom, and let no one in."
"Very good, madame."
Having the gate, Madame Olivier told of the that the War Office had to offer her.
"You like an angel, my dear Olivier; we shall talk of that tomorrow."
Valerie like an to the third floor, three times at Lisbeth's door, and then to her room, where she gave to Mademoiselle Reine, for a woman must make the most of the opportunity when a Montes from Brazil.
