Volume Ii Part 4 (1/2)
”Chamoureau stood there like an utter idiot; he mumbled a lot of words that had no sort of connection with one another, and ended by saying that it was proper for him to adopt a different demeanor, as he was going to be married.”
”Aha! he is going to be married! and to whom?”
”Can't you guess?”
”Some wealthy retired groceress?”
”No, no! he would do much better to marry a groceress. The drivelling idiot! he is going to marry the lovely brunette, Madame Sainte-Suzanne.”
”Thelenie! is it possible?”
”It's a fact; he told me under the seal of secrecy; he tells everybody--under the same seal.”
”But it was your duty to impress it upon him that he is doing an insane thing, that this marriage will make him very unhappy, that all the men with any good looks in Paris have known Madame Sainte-Suzanne intimately.”
”I was careful to do nothing of the kind; he would have believed that I said it from envy, from spite; and then, d'ye see, I am not sorry to see him do this crazy thing. If Chamoureau were a good fellow, if he had shown himself in prosperity a man of heart, devoted to his friends, then I would have done my utmost to prevent him from tying himself to that lady. But as he did nothing of the kind, as he is nothing better than an a.s.s, a selfish fool overflowing with vanity, who pretended to mourn for his wife in order to make himself interesting, why, let him roll in the muck, let him swallow with his eyes closed all the lies his lovely Thelenie tells him; let him roll there till he falls into a ditch, into which that lady will not fail to push him! it will be a good thing!
There's no harm done if fools are punished from time to time. I never pity the discomfiture of those people who are insolent in prosperity.--Now I am ready; let us go; that is to say, let us go to the Cafe Anglais to breakfast--just a cutlet; I shall save myself for the _matelote_--and then to the station.”
The two friends breakfasted together. But Edmond gave Freluchon hardly time to eat; he said to him every minute:
”Let us go; you have eaten enough; if you eat any more, you won't do honor to the _matelote_.”
”I a.s.sure you that I shall; the journey, you know, and the country air; and then we shall not dine as soon as we arrive.--Garcon! a cup of chocolate.”
”Great heaven! he is going to drink chocolate too! Why, it will make you ill!”
”On the contrary, it will do me good; it's a habit which I learned from a little Spanish dancer, who danced the _yota_, _bolera_, et cetera, at the Folies-Nouvelles, and who quivered so when she looked at her feet.
Ah! my dear fellow, such a quivering!”
”That is no reason for drinking chocolate! I have known English women, but I don't eat plum-pudding!”
”Well! you make a mistake; you should always adopt the tastes of your lady friends; then you end by eating everything.”
At last Edmond succeeded in dragging Freluchon from the cafe; but the little man, as a precautionary measure, put in his pocket the rolls that he had not had time to eat. They arrived at the station, only to find that they had three-quarters of an hour to wait for the train.
”You see, I should have had plenty of time to soak my rolls in my chocolate!” cried Freluchon as they paced the floor of the waiting room. ”Oh! these lovers! how unpleasant they are at table!--I say! they sell cake here; I am going to fill my pockets in case of accidents.--If this fellow Edmond were only amiable! I do whatever he wants, I follow him to a place where I don't know a cat, and he doesn't say a word, he looks as dismal as a night cap! Are you going to be like this all the way to Ch.e.l.les?”
”Oh! Freluchon, if you knew what I feel when I think that I am going to see that fascinating girl again! It seems to me that when I am with her, I shall not dare to say a word.”
”Well! that will be lovely! You will give them a very pretty idea of your intelligence!”
”A man ceases to have any when he is in love!”
”In that case, I have an excellent reason for never falling in love.
_Fichtre!_ I don't propose to lose my intelligence; it's a thing that can't be replaced.”
”Do you think she'll be glad to see me?”