Volume VI Part 4 (2/2)
The little girl remained quiet and serious, her head bent over her plate
But the servant passed round the table, filling the blue glasses with Johannisberg, and Forestier proposed a toast, drinking with a bow to Monsieur Walter: ”Prosperity to the _Vie Francaise_”
Everyone bowed towards the proprietor, who slass at a draught He would have emptied a whole barrel after the same fashi+on; it seeled a lion He felt a superhuth in his limbs, unconquerable resolution and unbounded hope in histhese people; he had just taken his position, won his place His glance rested on their faces with a new-born assurance, and he ventured for the first tis I have ever seen, Madame”
She turned towards him with a s like that, just at the end of a thread They really look like dew-drops, do they not?”
Hea fool of hi; but the ear, too, helps to set it off”
She thanked hiht to the heart And as he turned his head he again ht sparkling with a livelier eesticulations and raised voices They were discussing the great project of the metropolitan railway The subject was not exhausted till dessert was finished, everyone having a deal to say about the slowness of the methods of communication in Paris, the inconvenience of the tra, and the rudeness of cab-room to take coffee Duroy, in jest, offered his arravely thanked him, and rose on tiptoe in order to rest her hand on it
On returning to the drawing-rooreenhouse In each of the four corners of the roo to the ceiling, and there spreading fountain-wise
On each side of the fireplace were india-rubber plants like round colu one above the other; and on the piano two unknown shrubs covered with flowers, those of one all crimson and those of the other all white, had the appearance of artificial plants, looking too beautiful to be real
The air was cool, and laden with a soft, vague perfu fello more hie; nothing attracted attention with the exception of the shrubs, no bright color struck one, but one felt at one's ease in it; one felt soothed and refreshed, and, as it were, caressed by one's surroundings The walls were covered with an old-fashi+oned stuff of faded violet, spotted with little flowers in yellow silk about the size of flies Hangings of grayish-blue cloth, embroidered here and there with crimson poppies, draped the doorways, and the chairs of all shapes and sizes, scattered about the roo chairs, easy chairs, ottomans, and stools, were upholstered in Louise Seize silk or Utrecht velvet, with a criround
”Do you take coffee, Monsieur Duroy?” and Madame Forestier held out a cup towards him with that smile which never left her lips
”Thank you, Madame” He took the cup, and as he bent forward to take a luirl, Madame Forestier said to him in a low voice: ”Pay attention to Madame Walter”
Then she drew back before he had time to answer a word
He first drank off his coffee, which he was afraid of dropping onto the carpet; then, his ht for soin a conversation All at once he noticed that she was holding an empty cup in her hand, and as she was at some distance from a table, did not knohere to put it He darted forith, ”Allow me, Madame?”
”Thank you, sir”
He took away the cup and then returned
”If you knew, Madaan, ”the happy hours the _Vie Francaise_ helped me to pass when I ay in the desert It is really the only paper that is readable out of France, for it is more literary, wittier, and lessin it”
She smiled with amiable indifference, and answered, seriously:
”Monsieur Walter has had a great deal of trouble to create a type of newspaper supplying the want of the day”
And they began to chat He had an easy flow of commonplace conversation, a charm in his voice and look, and an irresistible seductiveness about his moustache It curled coquettishly about his lips, reddish broith a paler tint about the ends They chatted about Paris, its suburbs, the banks of the Seine, watering places, summer amusements, all the current topics on which one can prate to infinity without wearying oneself
Then as Monsieur Norbert de Varenne approached with a liqueur glass in his hand, Duroy discreetly withdrew
Mada with Madame Forestier, summoned him
”Well, sir,” she said, abruptly, ”so you want to try your hand at journalisuely of his prospects, and there recommenced with her the conversation he had just had with Madame Walter, but as he was now a better master of his subject, he showed his superiority in it, repeating as his own the things he had just heard And he continually looked his co to what he was saying
She, in her turn, related anecdotes with the easy flow of spirits of a wo to appear so, and beco familiar, she laid her hand from ti remarks which thus assumed a character of intimacy He was inwardly excited by her contact He would have liked to have shown his devotion for her on the spot, to have defended her, shown her what he orth, and his delay in his replies to her showed the preoccupation of his mind