Part 24 (1/2)
”No comedy, I pray you, Sir,” he said ”We are not at the Theatre Moliere, but, I presume, in an office where business is transacted both briefly and with discretion”
”At your service, Monsieur,” I replied
”Then listen, will you?” he went on curtly, ”and pray do not interrupt Only speak in answer to a question from me”
I bowed my head in silence Thus must the proud suffer when they happen to be sparsely endoith riches
”You have no doubt heard of Mlle Goldberg,” M Rochez continued after a hter of the rich usurer in the Rue des Medecins”
I had heard of Mlle Goldberg Her beauty and her father's wealth were reported to be fabulous I indicated e of the beautiful lady by a ,” my client resuether indifferent to her Glances, you understand, from eyes as expressive as those of the exquisite Jewess speak more eloquently than words”
He had forbidden me to speak, so I could only express concurrence in the sentiht elevation of my left eyebrow
”I a,” M Rochez went on glibly, ”and equally am I determined to make her my wife”
”A very natural determination,” I reard to pressing my court is the fact that my lovely Leah is never allowed outside her father's house, save in his company or that of his sister--an old maid of dour mien and sour disposition, who acts the part of a duenna with dog-like tenacity
Over and over again have I tried to approach the lady of hly rebuked for my insolence by her irascible old aunt”
”You are not the first lover, Sir,” I remarked drily, ”who hath seen obstacles thus thrown in his way, and--”
”One moment, M--er--Ratichon,” he broke in sharply ”I have not finished I will not atte--yes, writhing!--in face of those obstacles of which you speak so lightly, and for a long ti ht approach ht me of you--”
”Of me, Sir?” I ejaculated, sorely puzzled ”Why of me?”
”None of my friends,” he replied nonchalantly, ”would care to undertake so scrubby a task as I would assign to you”
”I pray you to be nity
Once more he paused Obviously he was a born mountebank, and he calculated all his effects to a nicety
”You, M--er--Ratichon,” he said curtly at last, ”will have to take the duenna offto understand So I let him prattle on the whilethe means to render this man service, which in its turn I expected to be amply repaid Thus I cannot repeat exactly all that he said, for I was only listening with half an ear But the substance of it all was this: I was to pose as the friend of M Fernand Rochez, and engage the attention of Mlle
Goldberg senior the while he paid his court to the lovely Leah It was not a repellent task altogether, because M Rochez's suggestion opened a vista of pleasant parties at open-air cafes, with foa people sipped sirops and fed on love My newly found friend was pleased to admit that my personality and appearance would render my courtshi+p of the elderly duenna a comparatively easy one She would soon, he declared, fall a victim to my charms
After which the question of reree Ultimately I decided to accept an advance of two hundred francs and a new suit of clothes, which I at once declared was indispensable under the circuht have the appearance of a fortune-hunter in the eyes of the suspicious old daed the possibility of touching M Rochez for a further two hundred francs if and when opportunity arose
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