At eleven o'clock, when the was at its gayest, for the room was full of company, Valerie Hector into a of her sofa.
"My dear old boy," said she, "your is so at that Wenceslas comes here, that she has left him ‘planted.' Hortense is wrong-headed. Ask Wenceslas to you the the little has to him.
"This of two lovers, of which I am to be the cause, may do me the harm, for this is how each other. It is to as a in order to the on a woman only is that she a house. If you love me, you will clear my by the sweet turtle-doves.
"I do not in the least about your son-in-law's visits; you him here—take him away again! If you have any authority in your family, it to me that you may very well on your wife's up this squabble. Tell the old lady from me, that if I am with having a to quarrel, with the of a family, and the father and the son-in-law, I will my by them in my own way! Why, here is Lisbeth talking of me over! She to to her family, and I cannot her for it. She will me over, says she, unless the people make friends again. A of things! Our here will be trebled!"
"Oh, as for that!" said the Baron, on of his daughter's measures, "I will have no nonsense of that kind."
"Very well," said Valerie. "And now for the next thing. What about Coquet's place?"
"That," said Hector, looking away, "is more difficult, not to say impossible."
"Impossible, my dear Hector?" said Madame Marneffe in the Baron's ear. "But you do not know to what lengths Marneffe will go. I am in his power; he is for his own gratification, like most men, but he is vindictive, like all weak and natures. In the position to which you have me, I am in his power. I am to be on terms with him for a days, and he is of to my room any more."
Hulot started with horror.
"He would me alone on condition of being head-clerk. It is abominable—but logical."
"Valerie, do you love me?"
"In the in which I am, my dear, the question is the insult."
"Well, then—if I were to attempt, to attempt, to ask the Prince for a place for Marneffe, I should be done for, and Marneffe would be out."
"I that you and the Prince were such friends."
"We are, and he has proved it; but, my child, there is authority above the Marshal's—for instance, the whole Council of Ministers. With time and a little tacking, we shall there. But, to succeed, I must wait till the moment when some service is of me. Then I can say one good turn another "
"If I tell Marneffe this tale, my Hector, he will play us some trick. You must tell him that he has to wait. I will not to do so. Oh! I know what my would be. He how to me! He will my room-
"Do not to settle the twelve hundred a year on the little one!"
Hulot, his in danger, took Monsieur Marneffe aside, and for the time from the he had always him, so was he by the of that half-dead in his wife's bedroom.
"Marneffe, my dear fellow," said he, "I have been talking of you to-day. But you cannot be promoted to the class just yet. We must have time."
"I will be, Monsieur le Baron," said Marneffe shortly.
"But, my dear "
"I will be, Monsieur le Baron," Marneffe repeated, looking alternately at the Baron and at Valerie. "You have my wife in a position that her making up her with me, and I to keep her; for, my dear fellow, she is a creature," he added, with irony. "I am master here—more than you are at the War Office."
The Baron one of those of which have the effect, in the heart, of a fit of toothache, and he the in his eyes.
During this little scene, Valerie had been Marneffe's to Montes, and thus had herself of him for a time.
Of her four adherents, Crevel alone was from the rule—Crevel, the master of the little "bijou" apartment; and he on his an air of beatitude, the by Valerie in and meaning grimaces. His in every feature.
When Valerie was a word of in his ear, he her hand, and put in:
"tomorrow, my Duchess, you shall have your own little house! The papers are to be tomorrow."
"And the furniture?" said she, with a smile.
"I have a thousand in the Versailles railway. I them at twenty-five, and they will go up to three hundred in of the of the two lines, which is a told to me. You shall have fit for a queen. But then you will be mine alone henceforth?"
"Yes, Maire," said this middle-class Madame de Merteuil. "But yourself; respect the Madame Crevel."
"My dear cousin," Lisbeth was saying to the Baron, "I shall go to see Adeline early tomorrow; for, as you must see, I cannot, with any decency, here. I will go and keep house for your the Marshal."
"I am going home this evening," said Hulot.
"Very well, you will see me at tomorrow," said Lisbeth, smiling.
She that her presence would be necessary at the family that would take place on the morrow. And the very thing in the she to see Victorin and to tell him that Hortense and Wenceslas had parted.
When the Baron home at half-past ten, Mariette and Louise, who had had a hard day, were locking up the apartment. Hulot had not to ring.
Very much put out at this virtue, the husband to his wife's room, and through the half-open door he saw her her Crucifix, in prayer, in one of those which make the of the painter or the who is so happy to and then to them. Adeline, away by her enthusiasm, was praying aloud:
"O God, have and him!"
The Baroness was praying for her Hector.
At this sight, so what he had just left, and on this on the events of the day, the Baron a of emotion. Adeline looked round, her in tears. She was so that her prayer had been heard, that, with one spring, she her arms Hector with the of happy affection. Adeline had up all a wife's instincts; had the memory of them. No in her but those of motherhood, of the family honor, and the pure of a Christian wife for a husband who has gone astray—the which all else in a woman's soul.
"Hector!" she said, "are you come to us? Has God taken on our family?"
"Dear Adeline," the Baron, in and seating his wife by his on a couch, "you are the I knew; I have long myself to be of you."
"You would have very little to do, my dear," said she, Hulot's hand and so that it was as though she had a palsy, "very little to set in order "
She not proceed; she that every word would be a reproof, and she did not wish to the with which this meeting was her soul.
"It is Hortense who has me here," said Hulot. "That child may do us more by her than my for Valerie has done. But we will discuss all this tomorrow morning. Hortense is asleep, Mariette tells me; we will not her."
"Yes," said Madame Hulot, into the of grief.
She that the Baron's return was not so much by the wish to see his family as by some interest.
"Leave her in peace till tomorrow," said the mother. "The child is in a condition; she has been all day."
At nine the next morning, the Baron, his daughter, he had sent for, was the large, drawing-room, trying to by which to the most difficult of there is to with—that of a wife, and implacable, as is, in its of the of the world, of its and interests.
"Here I am, papa," said Hortense in a voice, and looking from her miseries.
Hulot, down, took his the waist, and her to on his knee.
"Well, my child," said he, her forehead, "so there are at home, and you have been and headstrong? That is not like a well-bred child. My Hortense ought not to have taken such a step as that of her house and her husband on her own account, and without her parents. If my girl had come to see her and mother, she would not have me this pain I feel! You do not know the world; it is spiteful. People will say that your husband sent you to your parents. Children up as you were, on your mother's lap, artless; like yours for Wenceslas, unfortunately, makes no allowances; it on every impulse. The little is moved, the suit. You would Paris to be revenged, with no of the of justice!
"When your old father tells you that you have the proprieties, you may take his word for it. I say nothing of the pain you have me. It is bitter, I you, for you all the on a woman of you know nothing, and may disastrous. And you, alas! so full of and purity, can have no suspicions; but you may be and slandered. Besides, my pet, you have taken a too seriously. I can you, on my honor, that your husband is blameless. Madame Marneffe "
So the Baron, diplomatic, had his very judiciously. He had, as may be observed, up to the mention of this name with skill; and yet Hortense, as she it, as if to the quick.
"Listen to me; I have had great experience, and I have much," he on, stopping his daughter's attempt to speak. "That lady is very cold to your husband. Yes, you have been the of a practical joke, and I will prove it to you. Yesterday Wenceslas was with her "
"Dining with her!" the wife, starting to her feet, and looking at her father with in every feature. "Yesterday! After having had my letter! Oh, great God! Why did I not take the than marry? But now my life is not my own! I have the child!" and she sobbed.
Her to Madame Hulot's heart. She came out of her room and ran to her daughter, taking her in her arms, and her those questions, with grief, which rose to her lips.
"Now we have tears," said the Baron to himself, "and all was going so well! What is to be done with who cry?"
"My child," said the Baroness, "listen to your father! He loves us all—come, come "
"Come, Hortense, my dear little girl, no more, you make too ugly!" said the Baron, "Now, be a little reasonable. Go home, and I promise you that Wenceslas shall set in that woman's house. I ask you to make the sacrifice, if it is a to the husband you love so small a fault. I ask you—for the of my hairs, and of the love you your mother. You do not want to my later years with and regret?"
Hortense at her father's like a thing, with the of despair; her hair, up, about her, and she out her hands with an that painted her misery.
"Father," she said, "ask my life! Take it if you will, but at least take it pure and spotless, and I will it up gladly. Do not ask me to die in and crime. I am not at all like my husband; I cannot an outrage. If I under my husband's roof, I should be of him in a fit of jealousy—or of doing worse! Do no exact from me a thing that is my powers. Do not have to for me still living, for the least that can me is to go mad. I close upon me!
"Yesterday, yesterday, he with that woman, after having read my letter? Are other men so? My life I give you, but do not let my death be ignominious! His fault? A small one! When he has a child by that woman!"
"A child!" Hulot, starting a step or two. "Come. This is some fooling."
At this Victorin and Lisbeth arrived, and at the scene. The was at her father's feet. The Baroness, her and her duty, a in tears.
"Lisbeth," said the Baron, his by the hand and pointing to Hortense, "you can help me here. My child's brain is turned; she that her Wenceslas is Madame Marneffe's lover, while all that Valerie wanted was to have a group by him."
"Delilah!" the wife. "The only thing he has done since our marriage. The man would not work for me or for his son, and he has with for that good-for-nothing creature. Oh, father, kill me outright, for every word like a knife!"
Lisbeth to the Baroness and Victorin, pointing with a to the Baron, who not see her.
"Listen to me," said she to him. "I had no idea—when you asked me to go to over Madame Marneffe and keep house for her—I had no idea of what she was; but many may be learned in three years. That is a prostitute, and one can only be with that of her and husband. You are the dupe, my lord pot-boiler, of those people; you will be by them than you of! I speak plainly, for you are at the of a pit."
The Baroness and her daughter, Lisbeth speak in this style, looks at her, such as the at a Madonna for having saved their life.
"That woman was on your son-in-law's home. To what end? I know not. My brain is not equal to into these dark intrigues—perverse, ignoble, infamous! Your Madame Marneffe not love your son-in-law, but she will have him at her out of revenge. I have just spoken to the woman as she deserves. She is a courtesan; I have told her that I am her house, that I would not have my in that muck-heap. I myself to my family all else.
"I that Hortense had left her husband, so here I am. Your Valerie, you to be a saint, is the of this separation; can I with such a woman? Our little Hortense," said she, the Baron's arm, with meaning, "is the of a wish of such as these, who, to a toy, would a family.
"I do not think Wenceslas guilty; but I think him weak, and I cannot promise that he will not to her of temptation. My mind is up. The woman is to you; she will you all to ruin. I will not to be in the of my own family, after there for three years to it.
"You are cheated, Baron; say very positively that you will have nothing to say to the promotion of that Marneffe, and you will see then! There is a in for you in that case."
Lisbeth up Hortense and her enthusiastically.
"My dear Hortense, firm," she whispered.
The Baroness Lisbeth with the of a woman who sees herself avenged. The whole family in perfect the father, who had to know what that implied. A of across his and with signs; the swelled, his were bloodshot, his of color. Adeline on her him and his hands.
"My dear, forgive, my dear!"
"You me!" the Baron—the of his conscience.
For we all know the of our own wrong-doing. We almost always to our the which must them with the of revenge; and in of every of hypocrisy, our or our makes under the of some anguish, as the of old under the hands of the torturer.
"Our children," he on, to the avowal, "turn at last to be our "
"Father!" Victorin began.
"You to your father!" said the Baron in a voice of thunder, at his son.
"Father, to me," Victorin on in a clear, voice, the voice of a deputy. "I know the respect I you too well to fail in it, and you will always me the most and of sons."
Those who are in the of the of the Chamber will the of in these fine-drawn phrases, used to the while time.
"We are from being your enemies," his son on. "I have with my father-in-law, Monsieur Crevel, for having your notes of hand for sixty thousand from Vauvinet, and that money is, doubt, in Madame Marneffe's pocket. I am not fault with you, father," said he, in reply to an of the Baron's; "I wish to add my to my Lisbeth's, and to point out to you that though my to you as a father is and unlimited, my dear father, our resources, unfortunately, are very limited."
"Money!" the old man, on to a chair, by this argument. "From my son! You shall be your money, sir," said he, rising, and he to the door.
"Hector!"
At this the Baron round, his wife a in tears; she her arms him with the of despair.
"Do not us thus—do not go away in anger. I have not said a word—not I!"
At this heart-wrung speech the children at their father's feet.
"We all love you," said Hortense.
Lisbeth, as as a statue, the group with a on her lips. Just then Marshal Hulot's voice was in the anteroom. The family all the of secrecy, and the changed. The people rose, and every one to all of emotion.
A was going on at the door Mariette and a soldier, who was so that the cook came in.
"Monsieur, a quartermaster, who says he is just come from Algiers, on you."
"Tell him to wait."
"Monsieur," said Mariette to her master in an undertone, "he told me to tell you privately that it has to do with your uncle there."
The Baron started; he that the had been sent at last which he had been for these two months, to pay up his bills; he left the family-party, and out to the anteroom.
"You are Monsieur de Paron Hulot?"
"Yes."
"Your own self?"
"My own self."
The man, who had been meanwhile in the of his cap, out a letter, of which the Baron the seal, and read as follows:—
"DEAR NEPHEW,—Far from being able to send you the hundred
thousand you ask of me, my present position is not tenable
unless you can take some steps to save me. We are saddled
with a public who talks goody, and rhodomontades
nonsense about the management. It is to the
black-chokered pump to his tongue. If the War Minister allows
to out of his hand, I am done for. I can trust the
bearer; try to him promoted; he has done us good service. Do
not me to the crows!"
This was a thunderbolt; the Baron read in it the and authorities, which to this day the Government, and he was to on the spot some for the that him in the face. He the soldier to come next day, him with promises of promotion, and he returned to the drawing-room. "Good-day and good-bye, brother," said he to the Marshal. "Good-bye, children. Good-bye, my dear Adeline. And what are you going to do, Lisbeth?" he asked.
"I? I am going to keep house for the Marshal, for I must end my days doing what I can for one or another of you."
"Do not Valerie till I have you again," said Hulot in his cousin's ear. "Good-bye, Hortense, little puss; try to be reasonable. I have to be to at once; we will discuss your another time. Now, think it over, my child," said he as he her.
And he away, so uneasy, that his wife and children the apprehensions.
"Lisbeth," said the Baroness, "I must out what is with Hector; I saw him in such a state. Stay a day or two longer with that woman; he tells her everything, and we can then learn what has so him. Be easy; we will your marriage to the Marshal, for it is necessary."
"I shall the you have this morning," said Hortense, Lisbeth.
"You have our mother," said Victorin.
The Marshal looked on with at all the of on Lisbeth, who off to report the to Valerie.
This sketch will to what Madame Marneffes may do in a family, and the means by which they so out of their ken. And then, if we only transfer, in fancy, such doings to the upper class of about a throne, and if we what kings' must have cost them, we may the by a nation to a who sets the example of a and life.
