Volume I Part 61 (2/2)
The next morning, at seven o'clock, Chamoureau entered Freluchon's bedroom; his friend was still in bed and shouted when he saw him:
”May the devil take you for coming to wake me at this hour; I was sleeping like one of the blessed,--the blessed, you know, sleep splendidly;--you come too early!”
”I am glad to see, Freluchon, that you have followed the orders I gave your concierge--and waited for me.”
”You! give orders to my concierge! that is delightful, on my word!”
”No joking; I didn't come here to joke. I am perfectly serious.--What!
you are lying down again?”
”Yes, I am still sleepy; but that makes no difference, say on.”
”Freluchon, your conduct is shameful! You laid a trap for me; you made a fool of me--of me, your intimate friend, formerly the husband of that Eleonore in whom you were so deeply interested! You send me to an a.s.signation which was not for me. Alas! it was not I who was expected; I found that out only too soon!--If you had caused me to play that scene with a woman who was perfectly indifferent to me, I would be the first to laugh at it; but you know that I love Madame Sainte-Suzanne, that I adore her, that I would give the whole world to be on good terms with her, and you expose me to her wrath--what do I say?--to her fury!--When she saw that I was not the person she was waiting for, she was a tigress, a lioness; she drove me from her presence, and forbade me ever to show my face before her again!--Ah! it is that that distresses me above everything! forbidden to see her again! and this is your work.
What have you to say in answer?--Come, what can you say to justify yourself?--He doesn't answer! May G.o.d forgive me if he isn't snoring!
he's gone to sleep again!”
Chamoureau seized Freluchon's arm and shook it violently; whereupon the little man opened his eyes and cried:
”Go on! I am listening!”
”No, you were asleep; but I propose that you shall listen to me. I am going to begin over again what I have just said, and I shall keep on that way till night if you don't listen.”
”In that case, I prefer to have done with it at once.”
Freluchon rubbed his eyes and Chamoureau began his speech anew; when he had finished, the little man sat up in bed.
”And you have the audacity,” he cried, ”to come here and complain!
Imbecile! I do what I can to make you happy, and you are not content! So much for obliging ungrateful curs! this is how they reward you!”
”What do you say? to make me happy by----”
”By sending you to the arms of the woman you adore, yes, monsieur; you weren't the man she expected; no, of course you weren't, since Edmond was. But I didn't tell you, because I knew that timid as you are, you wouldn't dare to go to that rendezvous if you had known that you were to take another man's place.”
”No, most certainly I wouldn't have gone.”
”Well! wasn't it very hard on you to go to meet a lovely woman, at night, in a carriage? A woman whom you adore, who is cruel to you--I arrange for you to have a nocturnal tete-a-tete with her, and you complain! But tell me, my poor fellow, how you behaved during that tete-a-tete, that you were sent about your business in such a hurry?”
”Why, I was no sooner inside the carriage, and the door closed--it was too dark to see anything--when the lady threw herself into my arms, calling me the most loving names and giving me the most burning kisses.”
”My word! and still he complains!”
”I was enchanted, transported! but when she said: 'You won't leave me any more; this time it is forever!' I replied: 'Why, I never had any intention of leaving you, for I adore you.'”
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