Volume I Part 67 (1/2)
”Belleville--very well; from this moment you are Chamoureau de Belleville, and you will not sign your name in any other way.
Furthermore, you will be careful to use only the last name with any new acquaintances you may make; in that way, before long your name of Chamoureau will be entirely forgotten and you will be Monsieur de Belleville!”
”Pardieu! that's very nice! you have a mind as big as yourself! Monsieur de Belleville--that's an altogether coquettish name, and it pleases me beyond words.--Then you consent to become Madame de Belleville?”
”I must, since you promise to agree to everything I have stipulated.”
”And to everything you may order in future; I swear it at your feet!”
And Chamoureau, rising from the couch, threw himself at Thelenie's feet, took her hand and kissed it with rapture, and even tried to take her knees; but his haughty conquest checked him, saying, with an air which had a faint suggestion of dignity:
”Monsieur! remember that I am to be your wife! and respect me until I no longer have the right to deny you anything.”
”That is true!” cried Chamoureau, rising from the floor; ”I am a villain! a blackguard! you did well to call me to order! I will lose no time about taking all the necessary steps, in order to enter into possession at the earliest possible moment of the charms which overthrow my reason.”
”Do so; I approve your purpose and you have my consent; I will not conceal from you now that I desire the marriage to take place at once.”
”Ah! dear love! you overwhelm me! I'm beside myself! You share my impatience! Oh! permit me to----”
”Well, monsieur?”
”Fichtre! I was going to put my foot in it again! Your hair is so lovely--you are so alluring!--Upon my word, I believe that I shall do well to go, for I can't answer for myself.”
”Go; to-morrow I will look about for an apartment suited to our future position; you will trust me, I suppose?”
”In everything, and blindly. Whatever you do will be approved.”
”Au revoir then, my dear De Belleville.”
”De Belleville! really I am mad over that name. Au revoir, my G.o.ddess!”
Chamoureau kissed once more the hand that was offered him; then took his leave, as light as a feather, saying to himself:
”She loves me, she adores me, for she wants to be married at once! Oh!
I'll not let the gra.s.s grow under my feet.--The devil! is it only three months since Eleonore died? I certainly am an idiot! it's an endless time since I became a widower!”
While her newly-rich adorer went away in raptures, Thelenie, alone once more, said to herself:
”A new name--an apartment in a distant quarter--a new position in society! Madame Sainte-Suzanne will be lost to sight, and she will hear no more of the Croques and the Beauregards. But she will be careful not to lose sight of those upon whom she is determined to be revenged!”
XXIV
VISITORS
Honorine and Agathe were installed in the little house at Ch.e.l.les, and Poucette was with her new mistresses. The first days were devoted to arranging the furniture, deciding where to put the various things, making the necessary changes, and attending to the innumerable petty details which follow every change of abode, and which are of much more importance when one takes possession of a house one has purchased.
During those early days the two friends hardly had time to walk in their garden or to glance at the landscape.
While they were occupied thus, a.s.sisted by Poucette, who did her best to give satisfaction and had already won the regard of her mistresses; while they arranged, placed and displaced furniture, and set the music and the books in order, the spring progressed. It was the middle of May, the time when the country is so lovely, when it is embellished every day by some new flower or leaf; and when at last Honorine and Agathe were able to sit at their windows and to go down to inspect their garden and stroll along the paths, they exclaimed with surprise and delight at the change which a few weeks had wrought in the face of nature.