Part 84 (1/2)
”No, I have not.”
”Well, then, why do you ask me all these questions? I do not imagine that it is your purpose to make sport of me.”
”Is it yours to pick a quarrel with me?”
”No, no! sapristi! I am not picking a quarrel with you--Gustave's uncle, and he my best friend! Oh! if you weren't his uncle, I don't say that--but you are his uncle.--Let us come to the point; I came to ask you where your nephew is at this moment.”
”My nephew is travelling: he is in one place to-day, in another to-morrow.”
”Oh! I see that we are going to have the same old song over again! You will not give me his address?--But if I want to write to him, to tell him something which will give him great pleasure, which will make him happy?”
”Tell me, and I'll write it to him.”
”That isn't the same thing. But, no matter, I will tell you. You know, I suppose, that his _pa.s.sion_, whom he thought he was surely going to marry this time, has thrown him over again, in favor of a very rich old count?”
”I know all that, monsieur.”
”Good! but what you don't know is that I don't propose that my friend shall be played with with impunity. That is why I hunted up this Comte de la Beriniere; I insulted him; we fought a duel, and he is now in his bed with a famous sword-thrust in his right side.”
Monsieur Grandcourt jumped from his chair and struck his desk a violent blow, crying:
”Is it possible? You have done that?”
”As I have the honor to tell you. Do you wish to embrace me?”
”On the contrary, monsieur, I am much more inclined to throw you out of the window!”
”Indeed! well, as we are on the ground floor, if that will give you pleasure----”
”Why, monsieur, this is a horrible thing that you've done! And you call yourself Gustave's friend! You seem to be trying to wreck his life.
Can't you see that this f.a.n.n.y is an infernal coquette, who cares for nothing but money and pleasure, and who never had the slightest feeling of love for my nephew?”
”As far as that goes, I am entirely of your opinion.”
”Very well! do you think, then, that marriage with such a woman would make Gustave happy?”
”_Dame!_ since he adores her----”
”Why, monsieur, do I need to tell you that love doesn't last forever?
Besides, what purpose does that sentiment serve in a household when it's not reciprocated? Gustave is kind-hearted, sensitive, affectionate--much too affectionate. What he needs is a sweet, modest, loving helpmeet.”
”That is true!” murmured Cherami; ”and I know one of that sort.”
”And you would have him marry a woman who has spurned him twice? Why, to miss being this f.a.n.n.y's husband was the most fortunate thing that could happen to him! All his true friends ought to congratulate him on it. And you, monsieur, you set about removing the obstacle which had risen between my nephew and that widow! You fight with the man she preferred to Gustave! Ah! monsieur, cease to call yourself his friend; for his bitterest enemy would not have acted otherwise!”
Cherami paced the floor of the office with long strides, and bit his lips, muttering:
”Sacrebleu! that is all true. There is good sense in what you say. On the impulse of the moment, I didn't reflect. I saw but one thing to do--and that was to prevent the little widow's making a fool of Gustave.”