第27章

But the Chevalier de Valois served an ungrateful dame, for never did Mademoiselle Cormon comprehend his chivalrous services.Observing that the conversation grew lively, she simply thought that she was not so stupid as she was,--the result being that she settled down into her ignorance with some complacency; she lost her timidity, and acquired a self-possession which gave to her "speeches" something of the solemnity with which the British enunciate their patriotic absurdities,--the self-conceit of stupidity, as it may be called.

As she approached her uncle, on this occasion, with a majestic step, she was ruminating over a question that might draw him from a silence, which always troubled her, for she feared he was dull.

"Uncle," she said, leaning on his arm and clinging to his side (this was one of her fictions; for she said to herself "If I had a husband Ishould do just so"),--"uncle, if everything here below happens according to the will of God, there must be a reason for everything.""Certainly," replied the abbe, gravely.The worthy man, who cherished his niece, always allowed her to tear him from his meditations with angelic patience.

"Then if I remain unmarried,--supposing that I do,--God wills it?""Yes, my child," replied the abbe.

"And yet, as nothing prevents me from marrying to-morrow if I choose, His will can be destroyed by mine?""That would be true if we knew what was really the will of God,"replied the former prior of the Sorbonne."Observe, my daughter, that you put in an IF."The poor woman, who expected to draw her uncle into a matrimonial discussion by an argument ad omnipotentem, was stupefied; but persons of obtuse mind have the terrible logic of children, which consists in turning from answer to question,--a logic that is frequently embarrassing.

"But, uncle, God did not make women intending them not to marry;otherwise they ought all to stay unmarried; if not, they ought all to marry.There's great injustice in the distribution of parts.""Daughter," said the worthy abbe, "you are blaming the Church, which declares celibacy to be the better way to God.""But if the Church is right, and all the world were good Catholics, wouldn't the human race come to an end, uncle?""You have too much mind, Rose; you don't need so much to be happy."That remark brought a smile of satisfaction to the lips of the poor woman, and confirmed her in the good opinion she was beginning to acquire about herself.That is how the world, our friends, and our enemies are the accomplices of our defects!

At this moment the conversation was interrupted by the successive arrival of the guests.On these ceremonial days, friendly familiarities were exchanged between the servants of the house and the company.Mariette remarked to the chief-justice as he passed the kitchen:--"Ah, Monsieur du Ronceret, I've cooked the cauliflowers au gratin expressly for you, for mademoiselle knows how you like them; and she said to me: 'Now don't forget, Mariette, for Monsieur du Ronceret is coming.'""That good Mademoiselle Cormon!" ejaculated the chief legal authority of the town."Mariette, did you steep them in gravy instead of soup-stock? it is much richer."

The chief-justice was not above entering the chamber of council where Mariette held court; he cast the eye of a gastronome around it, and offered the advice of a past master in cookery.

"Good-day, madame," said Josette to Madame Granson, who courted the maid."Mademoiselle has thought of you, and there's fish for dinner."As for the Chevalier de Valois, he remarked to Mariette, in the easy tone of a great seigneur who condescends to be familiar:--"Well, my dear cordon-bleu, to whom I should give the cross of the Legion of honor, is there some little dainty for which I had better reserve myself?""Yes, yes, Monsieur de Valois,--a hare sent from Prebaudet; weighs fourteen pounds."Du Bousquier was not invited.Mademoiselle Cormon, faithful to the system which we know of, treated that fifty-year-old suitor extremely ill, although she felt inexplicable sentiments towards him in the depths of her heart.She had refused him; yet at times she repented;and a presentiment that she should yet marry him, together with a terror at the idea which prevented her from wishing for the marriage, assailed her.Her mind, stimulated by these feelings, was much occupied by du Bousquier.Without being aware of it, she was influenced by the herculean form of the republican.Madame Granson and the Chevalier de Valois, although they could not explain to themselves Mademoiselle Cormon's inconsistencies, had detected her naive glances in that direction, the meaning of which seemed clear enough to make them both resolve to ruin the hopes of the already rejected purveyor, --hopes which it was evident he still indulged.

Two guests, whose functions excused them, kept the dinner waiting.One was Monsieur du Coudrai, the recorder of mortgages; the other Monsieur Choisnel, former bailiff to the house of Esgrignon, and now the notary of the upper aristocracy, by whom he was received with a distinction due to his virtues; he was also a man of considerable wealth.When the two belated guests arrived, Jacquelin said to them as he saw them about to enter the salon:--"THEY are all in the garden."