The White House Part 38

"Try not to have any more such fits of abstraction, and tell me if you know that vagabond who has planted himself like a post in front of the tower, and is looking so earnestly in this direction?"

Cunette staggered forward; Alfred and Edouard each held an arm to keep him from falling over the rail, and the concierge put out his head to look for the man in question.

"Well?" said Robineau after a moment.

"Well, what?" rejoined Cunette, gazing about with a drunken stare.

"Do you know that man?"

"I don't see a man any more than I do a bottle!"

"What do you say, you blockhead? Don't you see him at the foot of the tower?"

"Oh! what a fool I am! saving your presence, monseigneur, I took him for a vine."

"Well! now that you do see him, do you recognize him?"

"That fellow? Wait a bit--ain't it Vincent?"

"Why, no, idiot!"

"Then perhaps it's Monsieur Fluta.n.u.s, the schoolmaster."

"Evidently the rascal can't see," said Robineau. "Come, messieurs, let us leave this tower; we have still another one to visit."

They left the North Tower, which did not seem destined to be the new owner's favorite resort. Monsieur Cunette proposed that they should visit the dungeons underneath; but Robineau did not care to do so. They went to the other tower, where the apartments, being in a better state of preservation, had a less gloomy appearance. They found there a library, a bath-room, a music-room and a number of beds in reasonably good condition. At last they went out into the gardens.

Robineau was distressed to find that the sugar manufacturer had planted beets in three-fourths of the gardens; and Monsieur Vincent, who had admitted that he took care of only half of them, had allowed nettles and thistles to grow in the paths and under the shrubbery. Fruits, flowers and vegetables were planted pell-mell in the beds which had escaped the beets. The statues scattered here and there were in no better condition than the gardens. Hercules had lost his club, Venus had but one arm, Mercury was lame, the Graces were sadly maimed, Apollo had no nose, Hebe but one ear; Cupid alone was intact; that G.o.d sometimes resists the attacks of time.

Robineau heaved a sigh as he pa.s.sed in front of each statue, saying:

"What a pity! such a lovely piece of work! That infernal manufacturer didn't care for beautiful things!"

At the end of the gardens they entered the park, which was very large, but in which the brambles caught one's feet at every step. At last, weary of walking, the young men returned to the chateau, inspected the stables, greenhouse and dairy, then adjourned to a salon on the ground floor for a little rest.

"Well, messieurs," said Robineau, "what do you think of my property?"

"It is very extensive," said Alfred, "but, if you follow my advice, you will pull down this old chateau, which it will ruin you to keep, and with the materials, build a pretty modern house, which it won't take you three hours to walk over; then you will be able to make some profitable use of all the land that belongs to the estate."

"My dear Alfred," said Robineau, "I didn't buy a chateau to have a mere bourgeois house; I should be a vandal if I followed your advice."

"You will ruin yourself if you don't follow it."

"I will ruin myself if I choose, but I shall keep my chateau."

"Keep what you please, but don't ask me again for my advice."

"And you, Monsieur Edouard," said Robineau, approaching the young poet, who seemed absorbed in thought, "what do you think of my chateau?"

"I like this country very much," said Edouard absent-mindedly.

"Look you, La Roche-Noire, I believe that we have done nothing but talk about your chateau since this morning, and it's almost five o'clock.

It's beginning to be a little tiresome. Don't you intend ever to dine in your house?"

"Pardon me, my friends, pardon me!--Hola! Francois!"

Francois obeyed the summons, dressed this time as a scullion, because he was obliged to fill many positions.

"Is somebody getting dinner for us, Francois?"

"Yes, monsieur."

"Who?"

"Mademoiselle Cheval, who asked nothing better than to be useful to monsieur. Her father insisted on coming with her to help her."

"What! does the horse doctor do cooking also?" said Alfred.

"Oh! Monsieur Cheval says that he knows how to do everything, and that he could prepare a prescription and a _ragot_ at the same time; but he couldn't come, because somebody sent for him to go to see a mare with the colic."

"That's very lucky for us," said Alfred; "I am not at all anxious to partake of a dish prepared by the veterinary."

At that moment Monsieur Ferulus, dressed from head to foot in serge dyed black, and carrying under his arm a hat that was entirely without shape, entered the room where the young men were and executed a low reverence, accompanied by a _salutem omnibus_.

Robineau stepped forward cordially to greet his guest, and shook his hand heartily; he had not forgotten the speech of the morning.

"Monsieur de la Roche-Noire, I have come in response to your honorable invitation," said Ferulus, clinging to Robineau's hand.

"Monsieur Ferulus, you give me great pleasure. To-day we shall have a simple little dinner; I have not yet had time to arrange my household."

"Monsieur de la Roche-Noire, the honor of dining with you will be the most delicious seasoning of the repast."

"Monsieur Ferulus, I hope that you will come often to take----"

"Every day if such is your wish, Monsieur de la Roche-Noire. Is it possible, Monsieur de la Roche-Noire, for me to refuse such society as yours; to deprive myself of the advantage of your conversation, and to fall behind you in making advances?--No, Monsieur de la Roche-Noire, _lapides clamabunt_ before I refuse to dine with you."

Robineau had never been so plied with _La Roche-Noire_, and when he uttered that name Monsieur Ferulus opened his mouth as if he would swallow the chateau. So Robineau continued to shake his hand; Ferulus did the same by him, and each seemed determined not to relax his hold first. Luckily for them, Francois announced dinner, and this enabled them to separate.

They went to the dining room, where the table was laid. Francois had placed at one end of the table an old armchair on castors, which was a foot higher than the other chairs. It had been used by the old dowager, who was evidently very short. Robineau thought that his dignity called upon him to occupy it; so he perched himself on it and towered above his guests; whereupon Monsieur Ferulus exclaimed: _"Sic itur ad astra!"_--But it was impossible for him to serve from that elevated seat, because he was too far from the dishes. After the soup, he decided to take a chair like the others, and he said to Francois:

"Move the armchair away; I will use it on state occasions."

The dinner, composed in large part of chickens, seemed not ill prepared; the new occupants of the chateau had acquired sharp appet.i.tes by their tour of inspection, and Monsieur Ferulus ate as if he had walked twenty leagues.

"Monsieur Ferulus," said Robineau, "have you lived long in this neighborhood?"

"Ten years or more, Monsieur de la Roche-Noire!"

"Did you know the late owner of the chateau--the sugar manufacturer?"