Chapter IX: Mademoiselle Tapotte and the Marquis

We have heard little Tony say that his master was at Madame de la Thomassinière's ball; whence we must conclude that, since the day at Madame Destival's country house, Dalville and the wealthy speculator had become more intimate. Auguste, being invited by the gushing Athalie, had not failed to accept her invitations, and Monsieur de la Thomassinière, seeing that Dalville joined in all the pleasure parties without calculating the expense, that he played for high stakes, and lost with the best grace imaginable, agreed with madame that the young man was of the sort to go all lengths.

Madame Destival was secretly furious to see Dalville amid the throng of Madame de la Thomassinière's adorers; but that did not prevent her from continuing to call that lady "my love" and "my dear," because she would have been sorry not to be invited to the gorgeous parties given by the capitalist; and although she went to his house solely to seek subjects for criticism, and although Monsieur Destival could not eat his dinner for wrath at seeing a table much better served than his own, they were very glad to subject themselves to these vexations.

Is it surprising that Dalville, in that whirlpool of dissipation, and constantly in the company of charming women who chose him for their escort--is it surprising that he should have forgotten the milkmaid of Montfermeil? However, the memory of Denise was not altogether effaced from his mind, and on several occasions he had formed the plan of going to the village to see the child and the young woman; but when he was on the point of carrying out his plan, some new invitation, some festivity that he could not miss, detained him in Paris, where the time passes so quickly for happy people.

It was to her country estate, at Fleury, that the charming Athalie conveyed Auguste and three other gentlemen who had been at her ball. Madame had devised the party while dancing a quadrille, and had determined that they would eat fresh eggs on the grass, while walking through the "ladies' chain." Auguste and the other three young men were invited and they instantly accepted. Madame de la Thomassinière, who displayed no less activity in her amusements than variety in her costumes, issued her orders at once. Her husband alone knew nothing of the excursion; and at eight o'clock in the morning, when the four gentlemen were finally induced to leave the écarté table, madame gave them seats in her calèche, laughing like a madwoman at the idea of abducting thus four cavaliers in full dress. Monsieur de la Thomassinière was in bed, but his valet was instructed to inform him when he woke where he could find madame, in case he should desire to join her.

A word or two that Madame Destival had heard during the night had apprised her of the delightful project for the morning; and as she and her husband were not of the party, they returned home in very ill humor.

"Always some new form of dissipation!" said Madame Destival, with a bitter smile. "That Madame de la Thomassinière is at her wits' end to invent something that will ruin her husband."

"If she only would ruin him!" exclaimed Destival; "but no; that man has the greatest luck! Everything succeeds with him. However, he doesn't shine by his wit, that's sure enough! But he has just made sixty thousand francs in a transaction that I had in view."

"Well, monsieur, why didn't you carry it out?"

"I hadn't funds enough to buy the debt, madame."

"You should borrow, find the money. Really, monsieur, you ought to blush for shame when you see the show of magnificence that that Thomassinière makes, and you do not outshine him. Those people have eight servants, and I have just one wretched maid and an ill-tempered footman who does everything!--I want a lady's maid, monsieur; I insist upon having one!"

"Before long, madame, I hope----"

"They have a calèche and a landau and a coupé, and we have only a very shabby cabriolet! But monsieur must needs learn to drill, instead of giving his attention to making money!"

"I have several affairs under way, madame. If I sell Monin that house----"

"Well, come to some conclusion about it, monsieur. I tell you that I can't live like this any longer; I must have two new cashmeres, a lady's maid, a calèche, and a country house where I can give parties; not like that old barrack at Livry, which I can't endure now."

"Never fear, madame. I must have a clerk, a man cook, and a negro servant. I am going to venture into some new schemes, and you will see that we will soon crush that miserable parvenu, who murders the language with an assurance that suffocates me."

The calèche, drawn by two spirited horses, bore away Athalie and the four young men of fashion, among whom was Dalville. Each of the four paid court to the petite-maîtresse, who had the art of distributing a word, a smile, a glance, to each in turn, and revelled deliciously in the homage that was laid at her feet. Is there a greater joy for a true coquette than to be surrounded by men who wear her chains? Athalie was vivacious and playful; they knew that, to please her, they must be overflowing with hilarity, and the four gentlemen vied with one another in doing and saying the most extravagant things. Among all the _bons mots_ that were made, there were some very bad ones; for the more one tries to be witty, the less success one has. But Athalie, grateful for the efforts they made to entertain her, greeted them all with bursts of laughter; and the gentlemen zealously followed suit, although they would have been sorely puzzled sometimes to say what they were laughing about. In the midst of this running fire of nonsense, the light vehicle arrived at the country house.

Madame de la Thomassinière's property at Fleury was a charming abode, which, in truth, left the little country house at Livry a long way behind. There, everything witnessed to luxury and elegance: spacious courtyards, cardrooms, ballrooms and banquet-halls; peristyles of a severely simple style of architecture led to daintily furnished apartments; nothing had been forgotten that could increase the comfort and pleasure of the occupants of that charming abode. In the gardens, which were of vast extent, you found summer-houses for reading, for work, or for repose; cool grottoes, shady walks, dense shrubbery, labyrinths where one could lose oneself, delicious nooks where the rippling murmur of a brook invited one to dream or to do something else; and over that enchanting spot a lovely woman of twenty years reigned supreme and gave no thought to anything save the invention of new forms of amusement.

While the mistress of the house gave orders for an out-of-door breakfast, the gentlemen strolled about the gardens and admired their manifold beauties. Auguste walked alone toward a hedge between the garden and the orchard. It was a part of the garden where no one ever walked. Why, then, did Auguste turn his steps in that direction? Because he had caught sight of a short skirt and a little cap beyond the hedge, and an irresistible fascination drew the young man toward whatever suggested anything feminine.

Auguste entered the orchard, therefore, and saw a young woman picking apricots. She had neither the refined features nor the charm of Denise. She was simply a rosy-cheeked, fresh, buxom damsel; but there are men who prefer that to waterfalls, grottoes and labyrinths constructed at vast expense; Auguste was one of them. Who would believe that a simple petticoat may be awarded the preference over the marvelous creations of art; that it may disturb the peace of an empire, overturn a republic, crush a whole people, astound the universe, ordain laws, and cause half of mankind to lose their senses? O Cleopatra, Elizabeth, Delilah, Judith, Ninon! your petticoats wrought all these miracles! To be sure, it was not your petticoats exactly to which your thanks were due.

The stout girl was standing on a ladder that rested against the tree, and was plucking the ripest fruit. Auguste walked to the ladder and looked up; I presume that he was looking at the apricots.

"I say! what are you doing there, monsieur?" said the girl, when, upon turning her head, she discovered the young man.

"My dear girl, I am admiring. I am a great lover of the beauties of nature, and I am as well able to appreciate them in sackcloth as in silk."

The stout girl, who did not understand this language, concluded that the gentleman was fond of apricots, and offered him one, saying:

"Here, monsieur, here's one that's good and ripe."

Auguste took the apricot and walked still nearer the ladder.

"I'm afraid that you'll fall," he said to the gardener; "I'll hold the ladder."

"Oh! it ain't worth while, monsieur, thanks; I know how to do it; anyway I can cling to the branches."

However, Auguste remained at the foot of the ladder, and as the girl was on the fourth rung, the young man's hand naturally found itself in close proximity to her leg, and, naturally again, that hand caressed a woolen stocking encasing a calf with which a dancer at the Opéra would have been content.

The gardener continued to gather fruit while Auguste patted her calf.

"On my word!" he thought, "here's a peasant who knows what's what, who is learned in the ways of the world. She is not precisely one of Florian's shepherdesses. This leg reminds me rather of Teniers's Flemish women; but at all events, it doesn't scratch, and that's very lucky, for with such calves as these, the scar would be lasting."

"When I heard someone coming behind me," said the girl, "I thought at first 'twas monsieur."

"Monsieur! what monsieur?" inquired Auguste.

"Pardi! monsieur le bourgeois, my master."

"Ah! Monsieur de la Thomassinière?"

"Why, yes."

"So he comes into his orchard sometimes, does he?"

"Oh, yes! he comes here."

"Does he like apricots?"

"Oh, yes! apricots, and something else."

"Does he take hold of your leg too, my child?"

"Does he! pardi! rather! Catch him holding back!"

The stout girl chuckled, and Auguste said to himself:

"It seems that Monsieur de la Thomassinière, who talks of nothing but the duchesses, countesses and baronesses he courts, dances attendance on and deigns to be tender with his gardener. How many men try to take credit in society for brilliant conquests, when they have triumphed over nobody but their cook! However, there are many baronesses whose calves aren't as firm as these."

While he indulged in these reflections, the young man continued to pat the leg, and the stout girl to laugh. Her basket being full, she began to descend the ladder, and, as Auguste did not lower his hand, that member necessarily found itself above the calf, where there was still much to pat, and the stout girl laughed louder than ever.

"Does Monsieur de la Thomassinière permit himself to embrace you also?" Auguste asked, looking the gardener in the face.

"Well, I say! well, pardié! Well, well, but you make me laugh!"

At that moment Auguste saw Athalie's pretty cap over the hedge, as that lady approached the orchard. He ceased instantly to make the stout girl laugh, and asked her hastily:

"Your name?"

"Tapotte."

"And your room?"

"Over there, at the end, by the shed where they keep the hay."

"Good; adieu--I'll see you again."

With that the young man walked quickly to the entrance to the orchard and passed through at the very moment that Athalie reached the hedge.

"Where have you been hiding, monsieur?" she asked, with a smile.

"Why, madame--I went in here, you see, not knowing that it was the orchard, and, to tell you the truth, I have been eating your fruit."

"Before breakfast? that is very wrong. I am a wee bit selfish; I don't like anybody to take any pleasure without me. I supposed that you had found some milkmaid here on my place, some peasant girl, whose--ruddy complexion had taken your fancy."

"Oh, madame!"

"I do not think, however, that this establishment contains any rustic beauties worthy of your homage; for I assume that you still have some taste, and I agree that the little milkmaid was not bad-looking."

"True, true, she was very pretty; and you remind me----"

"Nonsense, monsieur; give me your arm and come to breakfast; everything is ready on a plot of greensward shaded by honeysuckle. The other gentlemen are waiting for us, and it is an unheard-of thing that I should have to come in search of you."

"If you would allow me to find you sometimes, madame, you would not have that trouble."

"Oh! no sentiment, monsieur, I beg; remember that we came here only to be foolish."

They reached the shady nook where a dainty repast was spread. A petite-maîtresse puts coquetry into everything, and the open-air breakfast, although it consisted simply of milk, eggs, butter, fruit and excellent wine, seemed far richer when served by a lovely woman, in china decorated with lovely landscapes. Daintiness never spoils anything; it often enhances the value of the simplest things, and a certain wine which has a most delectable flavor in an artistically cut glass, might seem poor stuff in a beer mug.

They had been at table a quarter of an hour, talking, laughing, and eating heartily, because dancing, enjoyment and the fresh air sharpen the appetite, when they heard Monsieur de la Thomassinière's voice in a path near by.

"There's my husband," said Athalie; "I was sure that he'd come; he's very fond of this place. But he has brought somebody with him."

"Let us pray that it isn't some horrible bore," said one of the young men.

"Oh! what does it matter? If it's anyone who bores me, I shall pay no attention to him, and you must do as I do, messieurs."

Monsieur de la Thomassinière appeared with a man of mature years, but dressed in the latest fashion, whose gait and manners, and even his voice, were affected. He had a distinguished face, but his look was a little deceitful; he smiled almost constantly, and frequently raised to his eyes an eye-glass, through which he admired the flowers, trees and shrubs.

"Here they are!" said Monsieur de la Thomassinière, when he caught sight of the little party. "My valet did not deceive me, and my concierge's information was accurate. This way, monsieur le marquis, this way."

"What's this? my husband has brought a marquis to see me!" exclaimed Athalie; "come, messieurs, we must make a little room for him. Really, Monsieur de la Thomassinière is as rattle-brained as I am! The idea of not letting me know!"

"This is exquisite, enchanting! It is all in the most perfect taste!" exclaimed the marquis, going into ecstasies over everything he saw. When he caught sight of the little party of five, he made a very low bow to the mistress of the house, who had risen to receive him; while Monsieur de la Thomassinière, who felt two feet taller since he had brought home a marquis, bestowed a patronizing nod on the young men, and said to his wife, taking his companion's hand:

"Madame, this is Monsieur le Marquis de Cligneval, who has been kind enough to condescend to allow me to bring him to call upon you. He came to see me at my house this morning about a _consequential_ matter. I said to him: 'We can talk about this just as well at my place in the country.' That suited him, and gad! I had my dapple-grey horse put in the cabriolet, monsieur le marquis got in with me, I gave the beast a cut with my whip, and zeste! we were off like the wind.--My dapple-grey goes prettily, eh, monsieur le marquis?"

"Like an angel, my dear fellow.--Pray excuse me, madame, for appearing in morning dress."

"One is always suitably attired in the country, monsieur; and these gentlemen, you will observe, are dressed just as I brought them away from a ball, without giving them time to change their clothes. But you will breakfast with us, I trust?"

"With pleasure, madame."

"Oh, yes!" said La Thomassinière, shaking Monsieur de Cligneval's hand; "oh, yes! the marquis will have some breakfast; he promised. I'll have some, too."

"Take your seats then, messieurs, and be content with what I have to give you."

Madame gave the marquis a seat by her side; Monsieur de la Thomassinière would have liked to sit on the marquis's other side, but he was obliged to be content with a seat opposite him. Monsieur de Cligneval did full justice to the breakfast; he declared everything excellent, delicious, exquisite, although La Thomassinière exhausted his breath saying to him:

"Oh! I usually have much better things to eat. But we didn't know, madame was not notified. I hope to treat you much better another time. This is an unpretentious repast; but when I choose, I do things very nicely."

While praising the food, Monsieur de Cligneval found time to bestow compliments on the hostess. The marquis was well bred; he carried a little too far perhaps the determination to make his good breeding apparent; but he was agreeable and witty, and the whole party was soon in high spirits, even Monsieur de la Thomassinière, who never laughed because he thought it bad form, but who laughed very loud now in order to copy monsieur le marquis.

When she passed the fruit, Athalie found several that were not ripe.

"These apricots are good for nothing," she said to a servant.

"We must have some better ones than these," cried La Thomassinière. "Tell the gardener to bring some at once--the best she can find."

The servant obeyed, and Mademoiselle Tapotte soon arrived with a basket filled with superb fruit, which she handed to Athalie, keeping her eyes on the ground as if she dared not look at the guests; whereas, on the contrary, the young men scrutinized the buxom creature, making comments in undertones, and Monsieur de la Thomassinière cast furtive glances at her.

"That is right!" said Athalie, as she took the basket, "these are fine. See, messieurs, they have just been picked; they look much better.--Another time, Tapotte, don't send me green fruit."

"No, madame," said the gardener, with a very awkward curtsy; then she took her leave, much redder than when she came.

"What did you call that stout damsel, madame?" inquired one of the young men.

"Tapotte, monsieur."

"Indeed! that's a queer name."

"It's amusing," said the marquis.

"Yes, very amusing," rejoined La Thomassinière. And Auguste reflected that the name was well deserved.

"She's not a bad-looking girl," said one of the young men.

"Oh! what can you see that's attractive in that creature?" cried Athalie; "she's heavy and awkward and vulgar."

"Mon Dieu! she's a huge mass of flesh that moves, and that's all," said the marquis.

"Yes, yes," assented La Thomassinière, blushing slightly, "she moves, she moves, and, as monsieur le marquis says, she knows how to do nothing else."

"What are you laughing at, Monsieur Dalville?" Athalie asked Auguste; "at Mademoiselle Tapotte? You have said nothing about her."

"I'll bet that monsieur agrees with me," said the marquis, "and that he sees nothing about her that deserves to be looked at a second time."

"He!" rejoined Athalie; "oh! you don't know him, monsieur; he detects charms under round caps and calico dresses."

"I don't deny it, madame, and I do not think that it is necessary to wear fine clothes in order to be beautiful. As for your gardener, certainly she has neither pretty features nor a pretty figure; but, for all that, her freshness and bloom, her good-natured appearance----"

"Fie, fie, monsieur! fie! hold your tongue! for you are quite capable of perverting these gentlemen. But we have devoted quite enough time to Mademoiselle Tapotte; I hope that monsieur le marquis will do me the honor to come and look at my garden; and if he could be induced to give us this day----"

"Madame, I am too pleasantly situated here to summon courage to refuse, and although I am expected to dine with a Bavarian prince, I cannot resist your charms."

"I count upon you also, messieurs," said Athalie, addressing her other guests; "you must pass the whole day here. Oh! no refusals! you must do it, or you and I will have a falling-out. I have rooms to give you to-night, and to-morrow morning I will drive you back to Paris in my calèche."

"Yes," said La Thomassinière, "as the marquis is to stay, you other gentlemen must stay too. There will be more of us, and it will be more amusing. I have some matters to attend to; but, faith, when one has the honor of having a marquis under one's roof, the devil may take the rest."

The young gentlemen attempted to raise some objections on account of their clothes; but the fascinating Athalie once more announced: "I insist upon it!" at the same time bestowing upon them one of the smiles which it is so hard to resist; and that levelled all obstacles. Auguste made no objection at all, being by no means ill pleased to pass a night at Fleury, and smiling already at certain thoughts that passed through his mind.

They left the table. La Thomassinière seemed determined not to leave the marquis's side for an instant; but that nobleman offered his arm to Athalie for a stroll about the garden, and La Thomassinière, as he could not take the marquis's other arm, walked on the other side, keeping close at his elbow, and talking constantly to him, although most of the time the marquis made no reply because he preferred to talk with madame. Auguste took a seat in a grotto made of shells, not daring to return to the orchard during the day. The other young men had taken possession of the billiard room.

But Athalie, having arrangements to make for the entertainment of her guests, and being determined that the dinner should make them amends for the frugality of the breakfast, soon left Monsieur de Cligneval with her husband. La Thomassinière instantly seized the marquis's arm and walked on with him, saying:

"Now, let us talk business, monsieur le marquis, for that is my strong point,--business,--especially large affairs, speculations, and--What do you think of my labyrinth?"

"Charming!"

"And my pond?"

"Superb!"

"The waterfall is mine, I invented it. Formerly the water used to fall straight down. That was too commonplace! I had rocks arranged zigzag--that's very much prettier."

"Yes, it does you credit."

"You are very kind. Now I am going to take you into my woods, thence into my fields, where I have some thoroughbred merino sheep. Another invention of mine. Then we will go into my desert; you shall see my deer--ah! they are superb creatures, my deer! almost like stags."

"Have you no stags?"

"No; I wanted one, but Madame de la Thomassinière declared that it was unnecessary, that we had enough tame beasts. I will take you to my summer-house too; we have enough fine things to see to take up two or three hours."

The marquis, who was beginning to be weary of the tête-à-tête, announced that he was fatigued, and as they were then near the grotto where Auguste was seated, they took seats beside him, La Thomassinière having said that he was tired as soon as Monsieur de Cligneval spoke of resting.

"I have an estate of this sort," said the marquis, reclining on a mossy bank, "in Bourgogne, a very fertile province. I have another in Berry, where my grandfather owned a very handsome château."

"I have three farms in the department of Seine-et-Oise," said La Thomassinière quickly, smoothing his chin; "I own two houses in Paris, and I am on the point of buying a third."

"My grandparents were enormously rich!" said the marquis. "I haven't a very clear idea how much I have left! I worry very little about it. When a person has credit and is in favor at court--Why, if I wanted half a dozen offices, I should only have to say the word!"

"My credit is unlimited! My paper is eagerly sought after at the Bourse! I am swamped with business. I receive the very best society at my house, and my guests play for infernally high stakes!"

"Pardieu! that reminds me that I lost three thousand francs at écarté the day before yesterday," said the marquis carelessly.

"I won four thousand two days ago, at the house of a banker, who's a friend of mine," replied La Thomassinière instantly.

"Oh! that's a mere trifle! When I play, I do it for the sake of doing something!" said the marquis.

"To be sure," said La Thomassinière; "I am not sure that I didn't forget to take the four thousand francs from the table, I pay so little attention to money!"

"But a month ago," said the marquis, "I was in a really serious game--the stakes were no less than eighty thousand francs."

"I staked a house last winter," rejoined La Thomassinière; "it was not built, to be sure, and unluckily the contractor failed the next day, for the third time."

Auguste listened in silence to his two neighbors, as they tossed the ball back and forth. But at last La Thomassinière, fearing that he might be unable to think of anything with which to cap the marquis's next boast, changed the subject.

"What do you think of this view?" he asked.

"Very pretty," the marquis replied; "but why not have embellished it with some picturesque ruins--_fabriques_--here and there?"

"Oh! I didn't want any factories--_fabriques_--on my property! The idea! Workmen are noisy, always singing, and I don't choose to have anything to do with that sort of people."

The marquis glanced at Auguste with a smile, and they left the grotto for the billiard-room, where Monsieur de la Thomassinière missed every shot, and exclaimed after every stroke that he misplayed:

"The trouble is that I've got a crooked cue; I can't see straight to-day; it's the fault of the table; my head aches; something's the matter with me; I'm not in the mood for playing; but if I were, you would be nowhere."

Little Tony had arrived long before and had handed his master the fresh supply of funds. When the marquis saw that Dalville had a cabriolet, he manifested great friendliness for him, and declared that there was sympathy between Auguste's tastes and his--a sympathy which Auguste had not observed, although that fact did not prevent his responding to Monsieur de Cligneval's advances.

The dinner-hour arrived, and they went to the table, where Athalie did the honors with much grace. Not to depart from his custom, La Thomassinière did not appear in the dining-room until the soup had been removed; but he was delighted to say before the marquis that he had ten important letters to write.

The dinner was even more agreeable than the morning repast, because they knew one another better, and delicious wines heated their brains and urged them on to folly. Athalie had the knack of keeping the party in good humor by her sallies. The marquis thought her divine, entrancing, and confounded himself in compliments. The petite-maîtresse was not ambitious to fascinate a man of fifty, but she was very glad to earn the praise of a marquis; and the young men were not jealous of the marquis; so that there was nothing to mar the general jollity. They allowed La Thomassinière to talk endlessly of his farms, his wealth, his speculations; but they applauded him when he extolled his wines and his cook.

They left the table as merry as well-bred people can be. Athalie went to see if her harp was in tune. The men went into the garden for a breath of fresh air. It was not dark as yet, but the light was fading.

The marquis had sauntered away, and Auguste was left alone with La Thomassinière, who also claimed to be congenial to him, when, as they strolled along a shaded path which was quite dark, and which skirted the orchard, they heard the report of a hearty kiss. Auguste halted, curious to know what was going on. La Thomassinière followed suit, with an air of amazement.

"Did you hear?" he asked Auguste.

"Yes," was the reply, "I heard very distinctly."

"What was it?"

"If you didn't recognize the sound, it is useless for me to tell you what it was."

"Why, it seemed to me--but in the dark one may be mistaken."

"Indeed! do you think that one doesn't hear as well by night as by day?"

"The fact is that I can't believe that anybody on my premises would venture----"

The sound of the second kiss interrupted him. The two gentlemen walked toward a clump of shrubbery near by, and saw Mademoiselle Tapotte in the marquis's arms, defending herself very feebly, as her custom was; while the marquis, with flushed face, gleaming eye and thick voice, said to her:

"On my honor, you are a rose-bud, and I will have an assignation."

But the rustling of the foliage caused the marquis to release his hold; Tapotte ran away, and Monsieur de Cligneval returned to the house, while Auguste said laughingly to La Thomassinière:

"It seems that your champagne changes the aspect of things: that mass of flesh has become a rose-bud."

"Oh! that is court language. The marquis was joking, no doubt. However, I should have been terribly sorry to have him see us! A marquis, you know! I ought not to have seen anything! Monsieur Dalville, I urge you to maintain absolute secrecy about this matter; it is very important."

"Never fear!"

"I ask you to promise me."

Having quieted his host's fears, Auguste returned to the house with him. Athalie took her place at the harp; the gentlemen seated themselves at a card-table, and, while listening to the harmonious strains that the young woman extracted from the instrument, they did their best to win their opponents' money. Tea was served, then punch. The marquis won from everybody; but he was so courteous, his manners were so amiable, that one was almost tempted to thank him for condescending to take one's money. Athalie, fatigued by the ball of the preceding night, retired early; and ere long all the guests withdrew to their rooms.

The weather was superb and the soft moonlight seemed to invite one to enjoy the cool evening air. Auguste stole quietly downstairs, dressed in an ample robe de chambre which he had found in his room, and walked through the garden toward the orchard. I am not sure whether he went there solely in search of coolness, but when he reached the grove of fruit trees, where it was very dark, he vanished among the plums and cherries. At last, after wandering about for some time, he found himself before the building which the gardener had pointed out to him. He drew near; he heard voices and recognized La Thomassinière's. The young man concluded that he had arrived too late; however, he listened to what his host had to say to Mademoiselle Tapotte.

"Monsieur le marquis kissed you, my dear girl."

"Me, monsieur! oh, nenni! nobody didn't kiss me."

"Remember, Tapotte, that I am your master, and that I have a right to know everything."

"I don't know what you want to know!"

"Monsieur le marquis kissed you."

"What's a marquis?"

"A magnificent man! rather short and fat, almost bald, about fifty years old, and with an eye-glass--_lorgnon_--on one side."

"Oh! he's a marquis, is he? I don't know whether he had an onion--_ognon_--on one side, but he smelt pretty strong of liquor--I know that."

"Don't think that I mean to scold you, Tapotte; far from it! I simply want to know what he said to you, so as to do it like a marquis, when I have the opportunity."

"Why, bless me, he went about it the same way they all do. In the first place, he squeezed me."

"Good."

"Then he squeezed me again."

"Good."

"Oh, yes! good! good!--I yelled."

"You did wrong, he was a marquis!"

"I don't care, when he hurt me. And then--well since it amuses you, why, he kissed me."

"Good."

"He wouldn't let me go; he swore I'd got to say I'd meet him; but I wouldn't."

"You were wrong! You're a fool, Tapotte! You shouldn't have refused monsieur le marquis."

"Bah! get along with you! He's old and he's ugly!"

This conversation suggested an idea to our hare-brained youth; he wrapped his head in his handkerchief, and began to cough and spit, imitating the decidedly nasal notes of the marquis.

"Mon Dieu! there's some one outside!" cried La Thomassinière.

"Yes, some old fellow coughing," replied Tapotte.

"Why! it's he--it's the marquis. Fool that you are! Why didn't you admit that you told him where you lived?"

"I swear, monsieur, that I----"

"Hush! hold your tongue! he's there and he's getting impatient."

"Jarni! he's got the catarrh, that man has!"

"Faith, I cannot hesitate.--Monsieur le marquis! What an honor! I will jump out of this window in the rear."

"But don't I tell you, monsieur, that I didn't say I'd meet him----"

La Thomassinière was no longer listening; he had opened a window and jumped out, and was in the garden. At the same moment, Auguste opened the door, and entered the gardener's abode. When she saw that it was not the marquis, she uttered a cry of surprise; but Auguste whispered to her to keep quiet, and Mademoiselle Tapotte did whatever the young man wished, much preferring a tête-à-tête with him to one with monsieur le marquis.

La Thomassinière walked about under the apricot trees, presuming that the marquis would not remain long with Tapotte; but after half an hour, as his guest did not leave the gardener's house, our financier decided to go to bed.

"The deuce!" he said to himself; "the marquis seems to have had a long story to tell her. I must try to make my interviews last as long as monsieur le marquis's."

The next day the company assembled preparatory to starting for Paris. Athalie was fresher than on the evening before, the marquis less flushed. Auguste seemed fatigued and La Thomassinière's expression was very sly as he looked at the nobleman. Mademoiselle Tapotte alone was just as usual.

They entered their carriages and left the charming retreat at Fleury. Let us follow their example, and return to Paris.