Volume Ii Part 8 (1/2)
”It is quite possible, monsieur; I may have desired it then; now I feel differently. Am I not at liberty to change my mind?”
”Oh! yes, indeed! absolutely at liberty.”
”This Freluchon was your intimate friend, I know, and I do not wish to deprive you of his company.”
”Oh! thanks a thousand times, my adored wife! I am deeply sensible of----”
”Don't talk to me like that any more! _Adored wife!_ Anyone would think we were acting a melodrama! Call me madame, and stick to that.”
”Very well, I understand, madame--madame--and I will stick to that.”
Some days after this conversation, which will give an idea of the kind of happiness which Chamoureau enjoyed since he had ceased to be a widower, he came face to face with Freluchon one morning on the boulevard.
The latter began by laughing in his former friend's face.
”Good-day, Freluchon; what are you laughing at?”
”Parbleu! at your expression--your new rig--your new face--for you have manufactured a new face for yourself with all the rest.”
”Freluchon, you see a very happy man.”
”No one would think it to see you walk.”
”Freluchon, I am married again; the lovely Thelenie has become my wife.”
”Aha! so that's what gives you such an idiotic look, is it? I supposed at first that it was the result of your new wealth; but you're married, so there's a double explanation.”
”Yes, Freluchon, I am.”
”You have been married once already; but you were bent on doing it again, and it was your right.”
”Ah! my friend, I am the most fortunate of men!”
”You say that as if you were reciting a fable: 'A crow perched on a tree----'”
”Tell me, Freluchon, why won't you believe that I am happy?”
”Bless my soul! I ask nothing better than to believe it. If it is so, so much the better; but as I know these women, as I know that when they have once found a dupe to cover up their past misconduct, they acquire such authority over him that he becomes a mere n.o.body--an utterly ridiculous person--well, I didn't know that that role would suit you.
But it does suit you, so it's all right, it's your business. March gayly on, my poor Chamoureau, and may----”
”Oh! I beg your pardon--allow me to stop you right there. I must tell you that my name is no longer Chamoureau, or, at least, I no longer answer to that name.”
”The deuce! have you taken your wife's name, pray? are you Monsieur Thelenie?”
”No, my name is De Belleville now.”
”What does this new farce mean?”
”It means that my wife, my superb wife, cannot endure the name of Chamoureau; it's a weakness of hers, but to be agreeable to her, I have taken the name of the place where I was born--Belleville--and we are known by no other name now--Monsieur and Madame de Belleville.”