Volume V Part 55 (2/2)
”Sir,” said the Charpillon, ”is it a fact that you charged the Chevalier Goudar to tell uineas to spend the night with ht with you, but after I had passed it Isn't the price enough?”
”No jesting, sir, if you please There is no question of bargaining; all I want to knohether you think you have a right to insultto bear it?”
”If you think yourself insulted, I ; but I confess I did not think I should have to listen to any reproaches from you Gondar is one of your intimate friends, and this is not the first proposal he has taken to you I could not address you directly, as I know your arts only too well”
”I shall not pay any attention to your abuse of my self; I will only remind you of what I said 'that neither money nor violence were of any use,' and that your only as to entle means Shehere I have brokeninto e to my mother No one but a rascal like Goudar would have dared to take such a e”
”Goudar a rascal, is he? Well, he is your best friend You know he is in love with you, and that he only got you for the a you himself The document in his possession proves that you have behaved badly towards hie it, and then call him a rascal if you have the conscience to do so You need not trouble to weep, for I knew the source of those tears; it is defiled”
”You know nothing of it I love you, and it is hard to have you treat me so”
”You love ood a way as yours You have behaved to me as if I were the vilest of prostitutes, and yesterday you seemed to think I was a brute beast, the slave of my mother You should have written to ent; I should have replied in the same way, and you need not have been afraid that you would be deceived”
”Supposing I had written, ould your answer have been?”
”I should have put all money matters out of question I should have promised to content you on the condition that you would cohtest favour We should have lived a pleasant life; we should have gone to the theatre and to the parks I should have becoivenbut love I aiven myself out of mere complaisance
Unhappy woman that I aht when I saw you that ht know the bliss of true affection Instead of this you have only made me unhappy You are the first man that has seen me weep; you have troubled my peace at home, for my mother shall never have the su but a kiss”
”I ah I did not intend to do so; but I really don't knohat I can do”
”Come and see us, and keep your money, which I despise If you love me, come and conquer me like a reasonable and not a brutal lover; and I will help you, for now you cannot doubt that I love you”
All this seemed so natural to ht, and I proht She confirmed her promise, and her countenance became once more serene and calo, and on e of our reconciliation she replied, with a smile, the charin by breaking the terreement, and she left me more in love than ever, and full of repentance for my conduct
CHAPTER XII
Goudar's Chair
If she had written all this toit viva voce, it would probably have produced no effect; there would have been no tears, no ravishi+ng features She probably calculated all this, for women have a wonderful instinct in these ed froh at hand But love fills our minds with idle visions, and draws a veil over the truth
The fortnight went by without ht soift, which seeratitude in exchange Besides these presents, not a day passed without some excursion to the country or party at the theatre; that fortnight uineas at the least
At last it came to an end, and I asked her in the presence of her ht with me, there or at my house The mother said that ould settle it after supper, and Ito tell her that in my house the supper would be more succulent, and a better prelude for the kind of exercise I expected to enjoy