Chapter XIX: Two Men on All Fours

Ambroisine laughed like the rest when she saw Monsieur Plumard's bald head. She turned toward her friend, to see if she had noticed that sight; but she was thunderstruck by the strange expression presented by Bathilde's face at that moment.

The charming girl seemed happy and confused at the same time. Her eyes, half lowered, but in such wise that she could look out of the corners, were more brilliant than usual. Her cheeks wore a deeper flush, her mouth was half open in a smile. All this was not natural; and Ambroisine, with the knowledge that she possessed of the human heart, tried to discover what could cause her friend's emotion. Thereupon Master Hugonnet's daughter saw at Bathilde's left a young man wrapped in a cloak, his head covered by a broad-brimmed hat adorned with waving plumes, and beneath that hat a very comely face, haughty and distinguished, but most seductive when it chose to take the trouble, and that is what it was doing at that moment.

"Mon Dieu! it is Comte Léodgard!" said Ambroisine to herself, as she recognized the young man who held Bathilde as if fascinated by the eloquence of his glance; and almost instantly, as if she divined the danger that threatened her friend, she seized her arm and shook it, saying:

"Well, well! what is the matter? what are you thinking about, Bathilde? I speak to you, and you do not answer!"

"I, Ambroisine? oh! forgive me! I did not hear you."

"You seem confused, excited; has anyone been pushing you or incommoding you? would you like to take my other arm?"

"Oh, no! no! nobody has troubled me; nothing is the matter."

"But I say that there is; it is that young gentleman beside you, who keeps his eyes on you all the time! It is intolerable, isn't it?"

"Oh! it doesn't trouble me; just look at him, Ambroisine, without seeming to; you will see what a handsome man that gentleman is."

"I don't need to look at him again; I know him perfectly well!"

"You know him?"

Before Ambroisine had had time to reply, Léodgard, who had recognized the _belle baigneuse_ in her whose arm was passed through that of the girl who had taken his fancy, quickly stepped toward her and accosted her with his most affable air:

"Hail to the fair Ambroisine! Ah! and Master Hugonnet too! Really, this Fire of Saint-Jean is a delightful ceremony; one makes pleasant meetings here, and I congratulate myself that I came!"

"Your servant, Monsieur le Comte Léodgard! You are very glad that you came, perhaps; but, faith! I can't say as much. I have to stay here to watch these two girls--impossible to go to quench my thirst. I don't find it amusing, myself!"

"Why, my good Hugonnet, if you are anxious to take something, intrust your daughter and her young friend to me for a few moments; I promise you, on my honor, that they will be as safe as with you."

Master Hugonnet, who was exceedingly thirsty, seemed to hesitate a moment; but his daughter squeezed his arm tightly and whispered:

"Surely, father, you will not listen to that suggestion! you will not leave two young girls with the Comte de Marvejols, who is so notorious as a rake and a seducer! with his pretty speeches! If I were alone, I could defend myself; for, as you know, this gentleman tried to make love to me once, and I gave him such a reception that he never tried it again. But Bathilde, who knows nothing of the world, who is likely to believe whatever anyone tells her--Bathilde, whom her father placed in your care, because you promised him that she should not run any risk--oh! you won't intrust her to this young nobleman!"

"No, no! you are right, my child! I will not leave you," replied the bath keeper, whom his daughter's words had caused to reflect. "You talk sensibly; it would be imprudent, especially with the Comte de Marvejols."

"Oh! yes, father!"

"All the same, Landry might have joined us!"

While father and daughter conversed thus in undertones, Léodgard did not take his eyes from Bathilde, whose beauty had made a profound impression on him. She had begun to tremble when she heard the name of Léodgard de Marvejols, for she instantly remembered all that Ambroisine had said to her touching that young nobleman. The terrifying portrait that she had drawn of him was well adapted to take from Bathilde any wish to look at him again. But, on the contrary, whether from a spirit of contradiction, or from mere curiosity, or from that desire to learn which has so much potency in woman's heart, all the evil that one may say to them of a man will never induce them to shun his presence, and their eyes will seek him in preference to any other.

Léodgard saw that his proposition was not accepted; but what did it matter to him? Place de Grève belonged to everybody. If that fascinating girl remained there, he would remain by her side; if she went away, he would follow her. So that his face wore a pleasant smile as he addressed Master Hugonnet again:

"Well, my good man, you do not answer me? Is it because you no longer feel the inclination to take a little walk to one of the nearby wine shops?"

"Oh! no, monsieur le comte; I should lie if I said that it was the inclination that was lacking; but I cannot do it; for monsieur le comte himself well knows that I ought not to intrust two young girls to him. No, thanks! one might as well put two lambs in the custody of a fox!"

"Eh! why so, Hugonnet? Is it because of the little dispute we had some time ago? But you see that I have forgotten all about it. Besides, I was in the wrong; I admit it.--Oh! I am not one of those men who will not hear reason; look you--in those days I was a good-for-nothing fellow--a roisterer, a libertine! But since then I have turned over a new leaf. If you but knew how virtuous I am now!"

"I congratulate you, seigneur; it must be a great source of satisfaction to monsieur le marquis, your father."

Léodgard concealed a faint smile, and his glance rested sweetly on Bathilde's face, who, although she kept her eyes on the ground, did not lose a word of what was said.

"Yes, my good Hugonnet, yes, my father felicitates himself now on having a son who is radically cured of his evil tastes; who no longer cudgels the watch, drives peaceful citizens to frenzy, raises the deuce with tradesmen, and, above all things, who no longer talks nonsense to every woman he sees! For, as to that----"

"Cadédis! the assemblage is becoming most select! Here is our dear Comte Léodgard de Marvejols!"

"Ah! is it you, Chevalier Passedix?"

"Myself, who deeply regretted my inability to join the jovial party with you and your friends and divers charming ladies, the day before yesterday. Ah! you rascal! I fancy that you enjoyed yourselves!--Cards, wine, women! You always were the king of kings for handling such affairs. It seems that everybody was drunk the next morning; there was fighting, and a general scandal; and the ladies were taken to the Repenties! That is what I call sport!"

"May the devil fly away with you, you long-legged idiot!" muttered Léodgard, turning his head away, while Ambroisine nudged Bathilde and whispered:

"Do you hear? That is how he has turned virtuous, how he has reformed, the scapegrace! That is how he turns over a new leaf!"

"Mon Dieu! Ambroisine, what difference does it make to me? You say that as if it interested me."

"Well! he stared at you so! And then, you think him good-looking."

"I think him so, because he is. But what does that prove? Are you going to scold me now because that young gentleman looked at me? Is it my fault?"

"Scold you, dear Bathilde! oh, no! But, you see, it is my duty to look after you, as if I were your older sister; for we made ourselves responsible for you to your father, and I should not want any misfortune to happen to you; it would seem to me as if I were the cause."

"Misfortune! Mon Dieu! what misfortune do you dread for me?"

Ambroisine dared not reply. Suddenly the Chevalier Passedix stood on tiptoe and exclaimed:

"Sandioux! she is over there! I see her in the light of a torch. She is a Venus, the little dear! By Roland! I must join her, even though I have to push this whole crowd out of my way!"

And the tall Gascon, beginning at once to work his arms and legs like a windmill, forced aside all those who stood in his path, and soon reached that part of the square where Miretta had stopped.

Ambroisine followed Passedix with her glance, and she also spied her new friend in the crowd at some distance; but in order to join her she would have had to plunge into the midst of the mob that separated them and to give up the good places they had secured; and Master Hugonnet had declared that he would not stir. Ambroisine tried in vain, by raising her arms and making signs, to attract Miretta's attention.

Nevertheless, Cédrille's pretty cousin turned her eyes in every direction. Surely she too was looking for someone; but was it her friend Ambroisine?

Suddenly Miretta felt a hand on her arm, and a shrill voice exclaimed:

"Ah! sandis! so I have found you at last, O my goddess! I was seeking you, I will not say _per montes et vitulos_, but among all the groups of pretty women. Will you do me the honor to accept my arm?"

Miretta assumed a stern expression and answered curtly:

"No, monsieur, I will not accept your arm; and since I meet you here, I will take the opportunity to tell you that you are wasting your time by following me constantly, that your obstinacy in pursuing me is most annoying to me----"

"Eh! cadédis! the little one plays the haughty dame! So you refuse my homage--and this is the way you acknowledge the services I rendered you, ingrate! I, who saved you from the most imminent danger! Your cousin Cédrille did me more justice! I was his friend, his faithful companion. I am very sorry that he has returned to Pau; he would have spoken to you in my behalf."

"Cédrille would not have encouraged your undertakings, monsieur le chevalier; he knew too well that you had nothing to hope from me. I do not know whether he had reason to congratulate himself on having taken you for a comrade, but I know very well that he made only a very brief stay in Paris, and that he went away with a black eye, saying that he had had enough of the capital and that he had not enjoyed himself here at all.--However, monsieur, if you did take up my defence when I was insulted, it seems to me that you should not regret it; it was your duty as a man of honor. But I do not consider that it gave you the right to spy upon my every movement and to be always at my heels."

The Gascon chevalier was cut to the quick, and the firm and decided tone in which Miretta had answered him added to his irritation; for a woman's voice, while it may sometimes soften the most severe words, is no less able to impart greater bitterness to the simplest rebuke. In all things, it is the tone that makes the music.

The tone adopted by the pretty brunette exasperated Passedix; he ran his fingers through his beard and tried to sneer, as he muttered:

"Ah! so that's the way it is! so we choose to adopt that tone! By Roland! it is very pretty! And it is a paltry serving maid--a lady's-maid--a mere fille de chambre, who indulges in these manners of a grand duchess, when I condescend to honor her by letting my glance rest on her back hair! Ah! my love, beware! I have never met any cruel charmers--especially among your kind--and if you do not take my arm, I am capable----"

"Capable of what?" demanded a young man, dressed as a simple mechanic, who had suddenly stepped between Miretta and Passedix, at the latter of whom he gazed fixedly, while forcing him back several steps with his left arm.

"What business is it of yours, clown, who presume to question me? I find you exceedingly bold! Knave! stand aside instantly, or I unsheathe----"

And the Gascon chevalier, crimson with wrath, was already standing on guard, with his right hand on the hilt of Roland; while Miretta, having glanced at the young man who had come to her rescue, uttered an exclamation of surprise, while her eyes beamed with joy and delight.

"I will not stand aside, unless it is mademoiselle's pleasure to accept my arm and leave this crowd which is pressing upon her," rejoined the new-comer.

"You! take this little one away from under my nose--from my very beard! You shall die ten deaths first!"

And Passedix instantly drew Roland from its sheath. The sight of that bare sword waving in the midst of the crowd made the women shriek and the children weep; but before he who held it could make use of it the young man's hand seized the chevalier's wrist and squeezed it with such force that the fingers opened and the sword fell to the ground.

"Sandioux! I know that grip; I have felt it before somewhere!" cried Passedix. "Disarm me! Shame! that is unfair! it is treachery!"

But while the Gascon shouted, and shook his benumbed arm, the _soi-disant_ mechanic took Miretta's arm and disappeared with her in the crowd.

At that moment loud cries arose on all sides; the great pile had been set on fire. Thereupon the crowd swayed hither and thither, some trying to draw nearer the fire in order to see better, others to move away because they were afraid.

A powerful wave carried Passedix ten or fifteen yards away from the spot where his sword had fallen. Thereupon he began to whine and lament in the midst of the crowd, these words being distinguishable:

"Look out, my friends! In the name of what you hold most dear, do not step on it! If it is broken, I shall not survive; I shall bury the fragments in my heart!"

But the multitude, engrossed by what it had come to see, paid no heed to the cries and groans and entreaties of the unhappy chevalier, who struggled in vain to return to the place where he had lost Roland, and who before long had no idea himself in which direction it was.

This lasted until the fire died out.

As soon as it was entirely extinct, the crowd scattered; everyone returned home discussing the pleasure he had had, and some looking forward to that which the evening promised them.

Soon nobody was left on the square except two men, one very short, the other quite tall, both of whom were on their hands and knees searching in every corner, one for his cap, the other for his sword. Suddenly they came nose to nose, or rather head to head, in that occupation.

"Are you helping me to look for it!" Passedix asked the clerk of the Basoche; "thanks, my boy, that is very amiable on your part. If you find it, I will give you six deniers; I have received some funds from my family."

"If I find it, I don't want your deniers!" rejoined Plumard, in a surly tone. "It is mine, my own property, and if you find it you will have to give it to me; don't think for a moment that I will let you keep it!"

"What is the little fellow chattering about? If you find it, you propose to keep it? Why, you are mad, my dear fellow! What would you do with it, pray? It is twice too long for you; you could not even wear it."

"I couldn't wear it! that's a good one, that is! On the contrary, it fits me like an angel; while you don't need it, for you have a cap on your head."

"Why should my cap prevent me from wearing it, fool that you are?"

"Do you mean to say that you would put it on over your cap? That would look very pretty! At all events, it's my property."

"Hold your tongue, you little thief! just let me find it and I'll punish you with it!"

The two worthies who had had this altercation, being still on all fours, were about to rush at each other like two frantic cats, when a third personage appeared on the scene, laughing and singing. It was Bahuchet, with long Roland in his hand, twirling his comrade's cap at the end of the blade.

"I say! you fellows! here's a find! the cap is mine, and the sword is mine!"

At sight of the objects they were seeking, Passedix and Plumard rose spontaneously and pounced upon them. The former seized his sword, the latter his cap, which he pulled over his eyes, and ran away at full speed. The chevalier replaced Roland in its sheath, and then he strode rapidly away.

Bahuchet, left alone in the square, looked after them and said to himself:

"Well! they are very polite! they did not so much as thank me!"