Chapter XVI: Return to Paris.--The Business Agent

A few days later, Monsieur Dufresne paid another visit to the family in the country. Edouard received him like an old friend, Madame Germeuil courteously, and Adeline rather coldly. The newcomer talked much of his affairs, of his speculations, of his extensive schemes. All this charmed and dazzled Murville, who was already crazy to start on the career which his friend was to open to him, and who, hurt by his mother-in-law’s lack of confidence in this method of making his way, was keenly desirous to prove to her the absurdity of her fears.

Despite all that Edouard could say, Dufresne stayed but one day with him. His time was all occupied and his interests recalled him to Paris. But the season was advancing; they could not remain longer among the fields, which were already losing their verdure. It was the end of October, and they had been in the country nearly six months. Edouard looked forward with delight to the moment for returning to Paris. Adeline reproached him gently; Madame Germeuil said nothing, but she was already apprehensive for the future, and everything had not turned out as she had hoped when she gave her daughter’s hand to Murville. The latter was of a weak, irresolute character, and yet Adeline did whatever he desired.

“Ah!” thought the good lady, “my daughter is too loving, too emotional. She is not the wife that Edouard needed. She knows how to do nothing but embrace and sigh; and if he ever chooses to make a fool of himself, she will never have the strength to resist! Let us hope that he will not do it.”

They returned to Paris. Then Edouard set about realizing the plans that he had formed. Every day he went to the Bourse and to the cafés where business men gathered; he did not go into any business at once, but he listened, walked about, talked and made acquaintances. Dufresne was often present, and he had promised his friend to let him in for a share in his brilliant speculations. Moreover, when business was not brisk, such people passed their time agreeably, laughing, telling one another the news of the day, talking about theatres, balls, fashions, concerts and love-affairs. The course of the stock market did not prevent them from being thoroughly posted as to the course of literature, music and dancing. While negotiating bills of exchange on Vienna or London, they enquired the name of the actress who was to play in the new piece; they undertook to sell shares and to hire a box at the Bouffons; they extolled the honesty of this or that tradesman, and the eccentricity of Lord Byron; the punctuality of a commission merchant, and the pirouettes of Paul; they knew the cause of the latest failure, and the plot of the melodrama which was then the rage; they knew what had happened at the last ball given by a banker, and in his wife’s curtained box at the theatre. In fact, they knew everything, for they discussed all subjects. At all these gatherings they declared war and peace, and settled the course of the weather; they divided, reunited, and enlarged empires with the end of a cane or switch; they knew the secrets of the cabinets of all the powers of Europe!--yet when they returned home to their wives, they did not notice everything that had taken place during their absence.

Adeline sighed for the happy days that she had passed in the country immediately after her marriage. However, her husband still loved her; she did not doubt it; but she saw him less frequently, and when he was with her, he no longer, as formerly, talked of love, of constancy, of conjugal happiness, but he assured her that he would soon be engaged in extensive affairs, speculations, in which he would make large profits.

“But what need have we of so much money, my dear?” said Adeline, throwing her arms about her husband; “I am soon to be a mother, that is to me the greatest of all joys; with your love I desire no other----”

“My dear love, what you say is very pretty; I share your sentiments, but I see farther than you do. Never fear, we shall be very happy some day.”

“Ah! my dear, never so happy, never more happy than I have been; before you knew Dufresne, you thought of nobody but me!”

“Well, now you are going to talk about Dufresne, are you? You don’t like him; you have taken a grudge against him. What has he done to cause this? He gives me good advice, and he is pushing me along the road to wealth; I don’t see in that any reason for detesting him!”

“I detest nobody.”

“But you receive him coldly, and Madame Dolban too.”

“I receive him as I do everybody.”

“Oh! no doubt; you would like to live like a bear, and never see any company.”

“I have not said that; but formerly I was enough for you, and you didn’t need company to be happy in your home.”

“Pshaw! now you are crying! tears are no argument! how childish you are! you know perfectly well that I love you, that I love nobody but you!”

“Oh! I won’t cry any more, my dear. If it pleases you, I will see a great deal of company.”

“Oh! I don’t say that; we will see if my plans succeed. Dufresne tells me that it would not be a bad idea for me to give evening parties, punches, with a violin and an écarté table. But don’t mention this yet to your mother,--she is so peculiar!”

“I won’t say anything, my dear.”

Edouard went out to his business, and Adeline remained alone. Thereupon, she gave free vent to her tears, for she could not conceal the fact from herself, that her husband was not the same. Still he loved her tenderly, he was not unfaithful; why then should she be disturbed by a change which was only natural and which nothing could prevent? Eight months of wedded life had not diminished Adeline’s affection. Her love was still as ardent, as exclusive, her caresses as warm and passionate; but a man’s heart needs a respite in its affections; it is unable to love a long while with the same passion; it beats violently and then stops; it blazes and then grows cold; it is a fire which does not burn with equal intensity; a trifle is sufficient to extinguish or rekindle it.

The young wife said all this to herself to console herself; above all, she determined to conceal her grief from her mother; but she could not change with respect to Dufresne; that man aroused in her a feeling of repulsion, which her heart could not explain. And yet he was agreeable, courteous to her; he had never ceased to be respectful in his attentions: at what then could she take offence? She had no idea, but she did not like him, and her glance caused him an embarrassment and confusion which were not natural; she fancied that she detected in him a sort of constraint which she could not define. When she appeared, Dufresne seemed ill at ease, and he left the room if Madame Dolban were present; if chance caused him to be left alone with his friend’s wife, he had nothing to say; but at such times, his eyes followed Adeline’s every movement, and they wore an expression which she could not endure.

Several days after the conversation he had had with his wife, Edouard returned home with a triumphant air; his face was radiant, his eyes gleamed with pleasure.

“What’s the matter, son-in-law, what has happened to you?” said Mamma Germeuil; “you seem very happy.”

“In truth, I am, and I have good reason to be.”

“Of course you will let us share your joy, my dear.”

“Yes, mesdames, you will cease now, I hope, to say that I delude myself with chimeras; by the luckiest chance I have recently become acquainted with a rich foreigner, who proposes to settle in France. He was looking for a large, pleasant house, all furnished, in one of the best quarters of the city; I found one for him; he looked at it, was delighted with it, bought it, and gives me six thousand francs for my trouble; and the seller gives me as much more for my commission. Well! isn’t that rather pleasant? Twelve thousand francs earned in a moment.”

“True, son-in-law, but you have been running about for three months to reach that moment!”

“Twelve thousand francs! That is well worth taking a little trouble for!”

“That is true, but such affairs must be rare.”

“I shall find others.”

“They will not all be so fortunate.”

“Oh! if a man earned twelve thousand francs every day, he would be too lucky.”

“In this matter, you do not seem to have needed Dufresne’s assistance?”

“Oh! he will put me in the way of more profitable ones yet. But in order to do a good business, I must have an office. You must understand that when my clients come to see me, I can’t receive them in a salon or a bedroom. I must have an office well stocked with boxes. That makes an impression; and as it is impossible to have a suitable place here, we must move.”

“What! do you mean to leave these lodgings, son-in-law?”

“Ah! my dear! this is where our hands were united by mamma. It was here that Hymen fulfilled our wishes, and I have been so happy here!”

“My dear love, one is happy anywhere when one is rich. We will take a much handsomer apartment. This salon is too small.”

“It is large enough to receive our friends.”

“Yes, but friends are not the only ones to be received; we have acquaintances too.”

“Son-in-law, don’t you think that you are undertaking an establishment beyond your means?”

“Madame, I wish to make my fortune; that is a very praiseworthy ambition, it seems to me; why should I not try what thousands of others have tried successfully? Have I less merit, less talents than my predecessors? I propose to prove the contrary to your satisfaction. Who is this manufacturer, whose name is in every mouth, whose wealth is immense and his credit unlimited? He came to Paris without a sou; he simply knew how to write and make figures; he entered, as a petty clerk, the establishment of which to-day he is the owner; but he was ambitious, he worked hard, and everything succeeded with him. This financier, who is engaged in such enormous operations on the Bourse, arrived from his village, asking hospitality at the taverns along the road, sleeping on straw, and eating nothing but bread, lucky when he had enough of that to satisfy his appetite. He stopped at Paris on Place du Péron, hesitating whether he should ask alms or should jump into the river. A tradesman happened to notice him and gave him a letter to carry; the promptness and zeal which he displayed in doing the errand interested people in his favor. Every one selected him for his messenger; he soon succeeded in saving some money, and speculated on his own account; the movement of stocks was favorable to him; and to make a long story short, he has become a millionaire. I could cite you a hundred similar examples; and since one may become something from nothing, it seems to me that it is much easier to become rich when one already has something in hand.”

“When one has nothing, son-in-law, one does not risk ruining oneself.”

“Oh! only the fools ruin themselves, madame!”

“It is better to be a fool than a knave, and many people have made their fortunes only at the expense of those of other people.”

“I trust, madame, that you do not consider me capable of enriching myself in that way?”

“No, of course not! But before everything else one should be orderly and economical. By this means the financier and manufacturer whom you mentioned just now have grown rich, and not by giving extravagant receptions and balls.”

“Other times, other methods, madame; to-day, men do business and seek enjoyment at the same time. They negotiate a sale while drinking punch, and sign a deed at a bouillotte or an écarté table, and buy consols while dancing a quadrille. Well, I see no harm in all that. It is what is called carrying on business gayly.”

“Yes, monsieur, but not substantially.--For my own part, I shall not choose for my banker the one who gives the most beautiful parties; and if it is your purpose to leave this lodging in order to live in that way, I warn you that I shall not live with you.”

Edouard made no reply to his mother-in-law, but took his hat and went out in a very ill humor, storming against women who insist upon meddling in business of which they understand nothing. Madame Germeuil remained with her daughter.

“Oh! mamma,” said Adeline, throwing herself into her mother’s arms, “don’t be angry with Edouard. Alas! It is I alone who am guilty. It was I who urged him to leave the place he had. But could I have anticipated? It is that Dufresne, it is his advice which turns my husband’s head.”

“My dear Adeline, in the early days of your married life, you should have taken possession of your husband’s mind, and accustomed him to do what you wanted; at that time it would have been very easy for you, but you did just the opposite.”

“I simply tried to please him, and we had but one will then! But soon I am going to be a mother. Ah! how impatiently I await that moment! I am sure that his child’s caresses will make Edouard forget all his schemes of wealth and grandeur.”

“May you say true!”

The term marked by nature approached. Edouard realized that that was no time to change his abode, so he said no more of his plans, and Adeline thought that he had abandoned them. Soon she brought into the world a pretty little girl, a faithful image of her mother’s charms. Edouard desired that Dufresne should be his child’s godfather, but Madame Germeuil refused him as an associate; so it was necessary to give way, and to take in his place an old annuitant, most upright, orderly and methodical, who gave the godmother three boxes of bonbons and two pairs of gloves, and promised to dine every week with the young mother, in order to learn how his goddaughter was coming on.

Edouard did not say a word, but he awaited his wife’s entire recovery before putting his plans into execution; and he secretly hoped that Madame Germeuil would persist in her refusal to change her lodgings, in order that he might no longer have beneath his roof a mother-in-law whose advice and reproaches were beginning to be distasteful to him.

Adeline was engrossed by the joy of being a mother; she nursed her child, in spite of all that Edouard could say to prove that that was not done in good society; but in that matter Adeline resisted her husband, the mother-love carried the day, and that new sentiment abated in some degree the force of the sentiment which hitherto had reigned despotically in her heart.

For some time Madame Dolban had been a less frequent visitor at the Murville house; Adeline and her mother did not know the reason, but they were not sorry to be less often in the company of Dufresne, who ordinarily accompanied Madame Dolban. They thought that if he saw him less often, Edouard would pay less heed to the new dreams of wealth which had been suggested to him by that young man.

The ladies were mistaken; Dufresne was very careful not to neglect Murville, with whose character he was now perfectly acquainted. He knew all that he could hope to gain by his acquaintance. He had, moreover, extensive projects. Which events will soon place us in a position to judge, no doubt. But like a clever man, Dufresne waited until the propitious moment came to carry out his plans. He saw that Madame Germeuil did not like him; the presence of Adeline’s mother interfered with his designs; so he tried shrewdly to sow discord between her and her son-in-law; he found a way of separating them, by suggesting to Edouard to find a larger apartment in order to give handsome parties. The two friends met everyday, and passed a large part of the morning together; and when Murville left the house at night, it was to go to other houses where Dufresne had agreed to meet him. Edouard could not do without his friend, he was unwilling to do anything without consulting him, to undertake anything until he had seen him. But if his wife gave him advice, if his mother-in-law ventured to make a remonstrance, Edouard lost his temper, flew into a rage, and insisted that he was the master, whereas he was simply the plaything of the man who had the art to flatter his tastes. A curious character! naturally weak, unreasonably obstinate, intending to be firm and not to allow himself to be guided by others, Edouard abandoned himself to the will of the man who secretly advised him to be persevering and determined in his plans, because he was well aware that that was the way to speak to a weak man who in his eyes was simply a mass of ductile matter, to which he could give whatever shape he chose.

Adeline did not suffer from the new duties to which she devoted herself; on the contrary, her features seemed even lovelier, her eyes more melting, her bearing more graceful; she was fascinating when she held her child in her arms, and when she went out in the morning to give her a breath of air. Another than Murville would have considered Adeline improved; but a husband rarely makes such observations, he sees only the contrary. In default of him, others notice his wife’s beauty, admire what he does not see, praise what he has ceased to praise, and rave over what he neglects; that is something that husbands do not think about, that they do not trouble themselves about at all, and yet it is the thing which plays them such cruel tricks.

One man observed what Edouard no longer observed; he followed Adeline, without her knowledge, he admired her charms, he divined those which he could not see and devoured with his eyes all that he could see. A violent passion had assumed the mastery of him; he was simply waiting for a favorable moment to try to induce her to share his passion. However, there was very little hope that he could win her love, and he knew it. Adeline was virtue personified; she was absolutely devoted to her husband and to her child. But there was no obstacle, no barrier, that the man who adored her had not resolved to overturn. Nothing can check the impetuous torrent swelled by heavy rains; nothing could discourage his love if we may thus name the unbridled desires, the delirium, the jealousy that for a long time had filled his heart. He had decided to attempt everything, to undertake everything, to dare everything, in order to triumph over Adeline; his passion, long concealed, was only the more violent on that account; the fire which devoured him was likely to consume everything when it should break forth. But who was this mysterious man, whose love thus far had remained a secret? You know him, reader, and I will wager that you have already guessed his name.

Edouard, who had plunged deeper than ever into business, of which he understood nothing, but which seemed to him all the more attractive on that account,--Edouard hired a handsome house, a fashionable carriage, bought magnificent furniture of the latest style, furnished a very elaborate office, with shelves on all sides, on which were pasteboard boxes, empty to be sure, but soon to contain the documents relating to the transactions which could not fail to come to his hands in a multitude. Pending their arrival, our man hired a clerk, who passed his time reading the _Gazette_ and cutting quill pens.

Adeline was installed in her new abode. She looked at everything, sighed and held her peace. Madame Germeuil, on the contrary, burst forth into reproaches, and had a violent scene with her son-in-law. She predicted that he would ruin himself. Edouard was vexed and lost his temper, and a rupture followed. Madame Germeuil left her son-in-law’s house, swearing never to see him again; she refused to be moved by her daughter’s tears, tears for which the good woman blamed herself in the depths of her heart; she realized that it would have been better to give her daughter to a man of firm but sensible character than to a weak, irresolute creature, who had not enough intelligence to admit his failings, and too much obstinacy to repair them. But the harm was done.

After Madame Germeuil’s departure there was another scene between the husband and the wife; for Adeline could not forbear to scold her husband in her turn, and she begged him to go after her mother and bring her back. He was obstinate; he persisted in refusing to attempt a reconciliation, and he informed his wife that he was determined to do as he chose, that all remonstrance would be fruitless thenceforth and would not change his line of conduct, in which he did not propose to be guided by women.

Thus the splendid abode of the new business agent was christened by tears; but Murville no longer paid any heed to such trifles; he had matters of great importance in his head. Dufresne was to put him in the way of earning fifty thousand francs with a wealthy shipowner who had just arrived in Paris and was seeking investments for his money, with which he did not know what to do. In order to become acquainted with that invaluable man, it was necessary to give an evening party, a ball, to which he would be brought by a third person. The ball was decided upon; and in accordance with his friend’s advice, Edouard made the most elaborate preparations for a function which was to give him an established position in society. To be sure, the expenses of that function would be enormous. The twelve thousand francs earned some time before were largely spent; he had had to encroach upon his income to buy the furniture and to decorate his house; but all that was nothing at all; in order to reap, one must sow,--that was Dufresne’s maxim. And his example proved that it worked well with him; never had he seemed more fortunate, more magnificent, more at his ease. He had a cabriolet, a groom, and such diamonds! Therefore he must be doing an excellent business.