The White House Part 14

"The deuce! really? isn't it a joke?"

"No, Fifine, nothing can be truer. I am immensely rich and I shall soon have a chateau, because I am determined to have one."

"What! you are rich, and you didn't tell me right away! you keep me on the anxious seat two hours!--Well, well! won't we have some fun! Let's dance and jump and raise a rumpus!--You are rich, and you sit there like a mummy!"

And Fifine seized Robineau's arm and compelled him to dance around the room with her; but he shook himself free at last and resumed his seat, while Fifine continued to dance and jump over the chairs and the furniture.

"a.s.suredly, Fifine," said Robineau, sitting very erect, "I desire that you should enjoy yourself; indeed I shall be delighted to be of service to you when the opportunity presents itself, and you may rely on my interest; but as to your continuing to be my mistress, you must see that it is impossible, and that my social position will not permit me to see you as--as before."

Fifine, who was standing on the commode at that moment, in the att.i.tude of Psyche, landed at Robineau's side with one leap, crying:

"What's that you're mumbling?--your social position--you don't propose to see me as before?--Do me the favor to explain yourself a little better."

"It seems to me to be clear enough, my dear Fifine. I still have the utmost regard for you; indeed I propose to prove it to you to-morrow by making you a present of a beautiful shawl of unspun silk--whatever color you choose--I don't care. But I say that I can no longer be your lover, nor go out with you, because my present circ.u.mstances and my new position in society forbid."

Fifine, who had listened attentively, did not move for some seconds; then she went to the mantel, took her candle from the candlestick, and, before leaving the room, took her stand in front of its tenant, who still sat in his chair.

"I thought that you were only a stupid fool, but I see that you are an ingrate!" she said, smiling bitterly. "You don't propose to see me, because a fortune has fallen into your hands. That is very n.o.ble! It is a resolution worthy of you! As for the present you mean to give me, keep it for the women who will sponge on you and make fun of you all the time--you'll find that you'll never have too much for them."

"Mademoiselle," said Robineau, rising angrily, "what you say is very indecorous. However, that doesn't surprise me, from one who has such bad manners as you."

"Hold your tongue, you miserable counterfeit!" said Fifine, turning suddenly on Robineau, who intrenched himself behind an armchair; "you deserve to be made to swallow this candle all lighted!"

"Mademoiselle Fifine!"

"Hold your tongue! you make me sick!--Go with your d.u.c.h.esses and your princesses; keep ballet-dancers and miladies; but when you are drunk, wait for them to give you tea and dose you, and you'll be likely to die of indigestion!"

With that, Fifine made a low curtsy to her former lover, and went out of the room, leaving him in utter darkness.

"What a spitfire!" cried Robineau when she had gone;" she didn't even light my candle!--Oh! these women! That a man with twenty-five thousand francs a year should have to use a flint and steel!--Faith, I won't do it; I prefer to go to bed without a light.--Think of that Fifine presuming to--But that's how it always is! the more you do for women, the more they abuse it.--But it won't be so any longer with me; I propose to set a terribly high figure on my favors; and to make a conquest of me will require something more than a turned-up nose."

Robineau went to bed, and, forgetting Fifine, fell asleep and dreamed of his future chateau.

V

PURCHASE OF A CHaTEAU.--DEPARTURE FOR AUVERGNE

Robineau did not sleep very long, for when a man's mind is running on a chateau, lands, t.i.tles, a carriage and servants, it must necessarily cause him some excitement. There are insomnias more pleasant than those caused by ambition and a longing for grandeur; it is sweet in the silence of the night to think of the person we love, to be in thought, in memory, in hopes, with her from whom we are separated. At such times we yield without question to the fondest illusions, we fas.h.i.+on our own dreams, and we dread to sleep, because sleep does not always present to us the images that are most dear to our hearts. But Robineau, who had no such thoughts as these, weary of tossing and turning in his bed, and of looking for a chateau, first on the right ear and then on the left, rose early and began to dress, saying to himself:

"My cabriolet and my servant may be waiting for me already at the door; I have too much to do to waste my time in bed."

Having dressed, he left his room on tiptoe, because he was not at all desirous to be overheard by Fifine, who was also a very early riser; but he met no one in the hall, and arrived safely in the street, where he looked in vain for his cabriolet.

"The devil! not here yet!" he muttered, looking at his watch. "Ah! it's only six o'clock; but no matter: if I choose to go to drive at six o'clock, I am at perfect liberty to do it."

He went back into the pa.s.sage, uncertain whether he should sally forth on foot or wait for his carriage; but, hearing a noise on the stairs, and fearing that it might be Fifine, he decided to go out.

Robineau bent his steps toward his notary's, but when he reached the house the concierge was just rising.

"I am going to the office!" he called out as he hurried across the courtyard.

"There's n.o.body there," the concierge replied. And so it proved; Robineau found the office door locked and went back to the concierge.

"What does this mean? Haven't the clerks arrived yet?"

"Why, it's too early, monsieur; the clerks never come to the office at six in the morning."

"Is monsieur le notaire at home?"

"He certainly hasn't gone out yet. I suppose he's asleep with his wife."

"Asleep! nonsense! Why, it's two hours since I woke up. I am going up to his apartment."

"But, monsieur, n.o.body goes up so early as this."

"When a man proposes to buy a chateau, he should be at liberty to call whenever he pleases."

The concierge, thinking that Robineau's business must be of great importance, allowed him to go upstairs, and he jangled the bell at the door of the notary's apartment.

In a few minutes a maid opened the door with a terrified air, saying:

"Mon Dieu! whatever has happened?"

"It's I, my dear child," replied Robineau; "I want to speak with your master."

"What for, monsieur?" inquired the servant, still thinking that some event of great importance must have happened.

"What for? Parbleu! about the chateau, the estate I instructed him to find for me."

The maid became calmer and stared at Robineau as she replied:

"Monsieur is still asleep; he isn't in the habit of attending to business so early."

"Go tell him, my dear, that it's his client Jules-Raoul Robineau, who has just inherited twenty-five thousand francs a year from his uncle Gratien; that will wake him up at once."

"Oh! I don't think so, monsieur. Besides, monsieur and madame haven't been married very long, and I don't know whether I can go into their room like this."

"Do you want me to go?"

"Oh, no! wait a moment, monsieur, while I go and see."

The servant decided to deliver the message entrusted to her, and Robineau meanwhile paced the floor of an enormous dining-room.

"When the notary knows that it's I," he thought, "I am sure that he'll get up immediately."