Volume Ii Part 36 (1/2)
”You have failed to obtain the place that you expected, haven't you, Monsieur Edmond? Well, you must not be cast down on that account; we can afford to wait, it seems to me. I am so happy, now that my dear good friend has said that I shall be your wife, that I feel as if I could not be any happier.”
Edmond did not feel the same way, and he could not restrain a sigh; but he kissed Agathe's hand and promised to be patient.
The girl lost no time in telling her friend what there was new at Ch.e.l.les since he went away.
”You must know, Monsieur Edmond, that a fine estate on the other side of the town, known as Goldfish Villa, has recently been sold. The people who have bought it are very rich, so they say; they have carriages and saddle horses. They have already given a great dinner, to which all the princ.i.p.al land owners of the neighborhood were invited; so that n.o.body speaks of them now without a reverence.”
”I presume they called on you to invite you?”
”No indeed!” cried Honorine; ”we have only a tiny house! We are not worthy to be admitted to such dazzling heights!”
”What you tell me gives me a very low opinion of these people to begin with. Are they young?”
”Yes!--that is to say, we have seen only the wife; but it seems that the husband is young too. As for the lady, she is very good-looking, a brunette with black eyes and an elegant figure; and she rides superbly.”
”She rides, you say?”
”She does nothing else, and she pa.s.ses our house every day.”
”Yes, and one day when I was at the window of the little summer-house at the end of the garden, she stared at me so persistently! Oh! I am quite sure that she will know me again.”
”Probably she didn't expect to find such a sweet face in this part of the country.”
”I don't know what she expected, but her manner of staring at me was not at all agreeable.”
”And I,” added Honorine with a laugh, ”nearly had a duel with her.”
”A duel! this is worse and worse! How came you to quarrel with this woman?”
”I was out on the road and I heard shrieks; it was that little boy we have told you about--the lost child, as he is called by the peasants--whom the beautiful amazon was thras.h.i.+ng with her hunting crop because he didn't get out of her way quickly enough. Naturally I took the child's part, which made the lady very angry with me. I must confess that the boy put himself in the wrong by throwing a lump of earth which struck the horse in the head; he reared, and his rider was furious. I don't know what she would not have done to little Emile if a defender had not arrived in the person of Ami, Monsieur Paul's dog, who bravely championed the cause of the weaker, and forced the amazon to beat a retreat. Since that day Ami comes very often to see us; he has no difficulty in making us hear, for he scratches, or rather knocks, at the small garden gate, until it is opened; he pa.s.ses a quarter of an hour with us, then goes back to the little gate and gives us to understand that he wants it opened; he looks at us both, sitting down in front of us, and offering us his paw like an old friend. That is by way of bidding us adieu, and then he trots off without further delay.”
”And his master?”
”His master doesn't come himself, but he allows his dog to come; that is a good deal for him.”
”I should be very glad to see that man; what you have told me about him has aroused my curiosity.”
”We very rarely meet him; but it is probable that you will soon see Madame de Belleville.”
”Madame de Belleville, did you say?”
”Yes, that's the name of the newcomers who have made so much stir. Do you know them?”
Freluchon had once told Edmond that Chamoureau called himself Monsieur de Belleville; but Thelenie's former lover had paid no attention. And yet the name sounded familiar to him; he tried to recall where and when he had heard it.
”Well,” continued Agathe, ”you don't answer me. I asked you if you knew Monsieur and Madame de Belleville?”
”I am trying to think, mademoiselle; the name is not unfamiliar to me.”
”Try hard; something tells me that you do know that lady.”