Paul and His Dog Volume Ii Part 48

"Not at all; he slipped, made a misstep; that may happen to anybody."

"For shame, monsieur! the idea of a man who has a fine house, and horses and carriages, getting tipsy like any porter!"

"I swear, madame----"

"If the baron doesn't behave better, I'll turn him out of doors."

"Turn Monsieur de Schtapelmerg, your old friend, out of doors!"

"Well, well! I must go and dress. Send Helose to me."

"What! my dear love, aren't you coming to the salon to receive your guests?"

"The idea of my appearing in this costume! that would be very nice."

"Ah, yes! that's true; you are in your riding habit. Why, your back's all covered with dirt! did you fall?"

"I never fall from my horse; I leave that for you to do! Have Monsieur Edmond and Monsieur Freluchon arrived?"

"Not yet; I imagine that they won't come till evening. By the way, my dear love, I have something to tell you that will please you."

"Later, monsieur; I haven't time to listen to you at this moment."

And Thelenie went up to her apartment, while Chamoureau said to himself:

"I'll tell her that by-and-by, at table; at the same time that I tell her of my invention, my marvellous invention for ascertaining the age of trees.--Ah! that will confer honor on me, and will cause my name to be handed down to posterity!"

Chamoureau returned to the salon rubbing his hands, and with such a self-satisfied air, that Doctor Antoine, who had just arrived, and who had his share of curiosity, at once went up to him and asked him the reason.

"You have received some pleasant news, I'll be bound, Monsieur de Belleville," he said; "rubbing one's hands is always a sign of satisfaction, unless it means that one is cold. But as this is August and the weather is fine, it can hardly be the last reason that makes you rub yours.--Some little surprise you are arranging for the fete, eh?

Tell me what it is; I won't breathe a word to anyone."

"My dear doctor, I am in truth rather well pleased with myself; but my satisfaction has nothing to do with our fete; I have two reasons for it, in fact, I may say three. In the first place, after long and fatiguing studies, I have succeeded in making a discovery which will be of great benefit to science."

"What! are you interested in science, Monsieur de Belleville?"

"I am interested in everything, doctor; I am always meditating, although I may not have that appearance."

"Really! And this scientific discovery has a bearing upon hygiene?"

"What did you say?"

"I asked you if it related to hygiene, to therapeutics--in short, if it is a discovery of interest to the medical profession?"

"Oh! not at all, doctor; there's not the least bit of medicine in my discovery. It is--you won't mention it to anybody yet?"

"I will be dumb."

"It's a method of ascertaining, the moment you look at a tree, how old it is."

"Oho! one can tell pretty nearly now, by observing the size of the trunk and the lines of the bark; but one can never be quite sure; it is only probable."

"Well, thanks to me, doctor, there will be no more doubt, no more guessing; we can be absolutely sure of not making a mistake of a month, or even of a day!"

"This strikes me as a very interesting thing; how in the devil do you go to work to determine it with such certainty?"

"Ah! that is my secret, but I will disclose it at dinner; I am keeping it for dessert, as well as a pleasant surprise I am arranging for my wife."

"You might tell me now."

"No; I want the effect I produce to be universal.--But excuse me; I see Monsieur and Madame Droguet, I must go to receive them.--Ah! there's Freluchon too. This is very good of him; he didn't promise to come to dinner. When I say that it's good of him, I mean, if he doesn't call me Chamoureau!"

Freluchon had arrived among the first, because he was very curious to see the company that a.s.sembled at his old friend's house since he had married the fair Thelenie. The specimen that he had met the preceding evening, in the person of the Baron von Schtapelmerg, had simply redoubled his curiosity; moreover, he had determined to keep an eye upon that gentleman, of whose t.i.tles of n.o.bility he was exceedingly suspicious.

As for Croque, he had been severely reprimanded by his sister for getting drunk the night before, and had promised to be abstemious, to watch himself closely, to refrain from swearing and to let his cane alone. On these conditions, plus an irreproachable costume, she gave him permission to play; she even gave him carte blanche if he should happen to play with Edmond. But he was expressly forbidden to cheat with any other of the guests.

All the large landowners and all the leading inhabitants of the neighborhood were a.s.sembled in the salons of Goldfish Villa. They awaited impatiently the appearance of Madame de Belleville, who had not yet completed her toilet. To pa.s.s the time they talked and criticised their neighbors, according to immemorial usage. The guests who had come from Paris made sport of the figures, the costumes and the bonnets of the local celebrities; the latter whispered together and agreed that the tone and manners and language of the ladies from Paris were decidedly free.

However, as almost all of these last had inserted a _de_ in their names, and as their dresses were in the extreme of fas.h.i.+on, these remarks were made in very low tones and did not prevent a profusion of curtsies and profound reverences on both sides.

"How are you, my dear fellow!" cried Freluchon, shaking Chamoureau's hand; "the devil! but this is simply gorgeous! These salons are magnificent, and the furniture in the best taste! To be sure, I see some amusing faces. Oh I what a queer lot! I think we shall have some sport!"

"Freluchon, I beg you, don't make fun of anyone!"

"You are delightful, really! What difference does it make to you, if I have a little fun at the expense of that yellow, wizened-up old fellow in the corner, or of that bulky dame yonder, provided that they don't detect it? Don't you know that one-half of the world makes sport of the other half?"

"I have never made sport of anybody."

"Yes, you have; you made sport of us when you pretended to weep for Eleonore."

"It seems to me, Freluchon, that the time is ill chosen to remind me of the past!"

"Then let me laugh at the present. By the way, I recognize the stout party yonder; it was she who shut her door in my face one night when I went there to ask for Edmond."

"That is Madame Droguet, a person in very comfortable circ.u.mstances."

"She doesn't look as if she were comfortable in her corsets! Poor soul!

she has tried to make her waist small! Who's that little fellow behind her, standing on one leg the way canaries do when they sleep?"

"That is her husband; he is crazy over dancing."

"It will give me pleasure to see him dance.--But where's your wife?"

"She is dressing; she spends a long time at her toilet; she keeps people waiting a good while."

"Because she wants to produce a great effect when she finally appears.--And the baron of last evening, Monsieur de Schtapelmerg?"

"He is playing billiards."