Part 12 (1/2)

”Oh! this is too much; do you want to make marmalade of my head?--Ah! it is that little girl who is playing these tricks on me. It is very pretty, mademoiselle; I advise you to laugh; there is good reason for it.”

Louise had run to hide behind Cherubin, laughing heartily; and he, laughing also at the grimace made by his old servant, said to him:

”It is all your own fault, Jasmin; leave us in peace. Louise and I were eating plums, and having a good time; why did you come to disturb us, to tell me a lot of foolish things? that I must study, that I must be a learned man. I don't want to study! Go and drink with Jacquinot; go, go!

I don't need you.”

Jasmin seemed sorely embarra.s.sed; at last he replied:

”I am sorry to annoy monsieur le marquis, but you are too big now not to know how to read or write; in fact, there are a lot of things which you ought to know, because you are a marquis and--in short, your venerable father's notary says that you ought to have prizes in Latin and Greek, and it seems that it is customary to study in order to get prizes. I have just sent after the schoolmaster of this village, Monsieur Gerondif; he is coming here, and he is to teach you, for Nicole a.s.sures me that he is a good scholar, although he is obliged to have his potatoes baked in the baker's oven.”

Cherubin's brow darkened, and the little fellow replied with a very p.r.o.nounced pout:

”I don't want the schoolmaster to come here; I don't need to be a scholar. You tire me, Jasmin, with your Monsieur Gerondif!”

It pained Jasmin greatly to have to vex his young master. He did not know what to say or to do; he twisted his hat and twirled it in his hands, for he felt that after all it was necessary to compel the young marquis not to be a dolt, but he did not know what course to pursue to that end; and if at that moment he had received another shower of plums it would not have roused him from his stupor.

But Nicole had followed the old servant at a distance; the nurse realized that if Cherubin refused to learn anything at her house, they would be obliged to make him go to Paris to learn. Dreading lest she might lose a child whom she loved, and who had brought ease to her household for eleven years, Nicole felt that some way must be found to induce the boy to consent to take lessons of the schoolmaster.

Women, even those in the country, speedily divine where our vulnerable point is. Nicole, who had gradually drawn near, and was then standing behind Jasmin, who had ceased to speak or move, advanced a few steps nearer the children, and, taking Louise by the hand, said:

”Look you, Monsieur Jasmin, I see the reason plain enough why Cherubin don't want to work; it's because he plays all day with this girl. Well!

as I too want my fieu to be a scholar, I am going to take Louise to one of our relations two leagues away; she'll be taken good care of there, and then she won't prevent Cherubin from studying.”

Nicole had not finished when the little boy ran to her and taking hold of her dress, cried in a touching voice, and with tears in his eyes:

”No, no, don't take Louise away; I will study, I will learn whatever you want me to with Monsieur Gerondif; but don't take Louise away, oh!

please don't take her away!”

Nicole's ruse had succeeded. She embraced her foster-child, Louise leaped for joy when she found that she was not to be sent away, and Jasmin would have done as much if his age had not made it impossible; he threw his hat in the air, however, exclaiming:

”Long live Monsieur le Marquis de Grandvilain! ah! I knew perfectly well that he would consent to become a learned man!”

At that moment Jacquinot appeared at the garden gate and shouted:

”Here's Monsieur Gerondif; I've brought him with me.”

VIII

MONSIEUR GeRONDIF

The new personage who had arrived at Nicole's was a man of about forty years of age, of medium height, rather stout than thin, with an ordinary face, in which could be detected the desire to give himself an air of importance, and the habit of bending the knee in servile fas.h.i.+on to all those who were above him in social rank or in fortune.

Monsieur Gerondif had long, thick, greasy brown hair, which was cut straight in front, just above the eyebrows, and which hid his coat collar behind; on the sides it was held in respect by the ears. The teacher had gray eyes, the size of which it was difficult to discover, because he kept them lowered all the time, even when speaking to you. He had a very large mouth, which was abundantly furnished with very fine teeth, and whether for the purpose of displaying that attractive feature, or to afford a favorable idea of the affability of his disposition, he smiled almost continually when he talked, and never failed to open his mouth so far that one could see his whole supply.

A nose much too large for the rest of the face, and almost always adorned by a number of small pimples, impaired infinitely the general aspect of the professor's countenance; and the habit which he had adopted of scratching it, and of stuffing it with snuff, gave to that protuberance a very conspicuous red and black appearance, which would have been in some degree repellent, if Monsieur Gerondif's soft and honeyed voice had not lessened the unfortunate impression produced at first by his nose.