The Debacle - Emile Zola [245]
‘Oh Madame, it would be so kind of you if you could help… My uncle is in a terrible position and might be sent off to Germany, it is said!’
The old lady, although she was fond of Henriette, made an angry gesture.
‘But my dear child, I have no power at all… I’m not the one to ask!’
And although she could see how upset Henriette was, she went on:
‘You come at a very awkward moment, my son is off to Brussels this evening… In any case he is powerless, just as I am… You’d better see my daughter-in-law, who can do anything.’
She left Henriette very troubled and now quite sure she had stumbled into a family crisis. Since the previous day Madame Delaherche had made up her mind to tell her son everything before he left for Belgium, where he was going to negotiate a large purchase of coal in the hope of starting up his looms again. Never would she countenance a resumption of this abominable thing right under her nose during this new absence. So before saying anything she was waiting to be sure that he would not postpone his departure to another day, as he had been doing for a week. It meant the collapse of the household, the Prussian turned out, the woman thrown out into the street and her name ignominiously placarded on walls, as they had threatened to do for any French woman who gave herself to a German.
When Gilberte saw Henriette she uttered a cry of joy.
‘Oh I’m so glad to see you! It seems such a long time, and we are getting so old in these horrid times!’
She dragged her into her own room, sat her down on the couch and hugged her.
‘Look here, you’re going to have lunch with us… But let’s talk first. You must have such a lot to tell me!… I know you’ve had no news about your brother… Poor Maurice, how sorry I am for him in Paris with no gas, no fuel, perhaps no bread!… And what about this fellow you’re looking after, your brother’s friend? You can tell I’ve already heard some tales about it… Have you come about him?’
Henriette hesitated to answer, feeling very embarrassed. For wasn’t it really for Jean’s sake that she was coming, in order to make sure that once her uncle was released they wouldn’t worry her beloved invalid any more? Merely hearing Gilberte mention him had filled her with confusion, and she now dared not reveal the real motive of her visit, for her conscience began to worry her and she recoiled from using the questionable influence she believed Gilberte to have.
‘So,’ Gilberte said again, with an arch look, ‘it is to do with that chap that you want our help?’
Then as Henriette, forced into a corner, did bring herself to mention Fouchard’s arrest:
‘Of course, yes, how silly I am, and I was talking about it only this morning!… Oh my dear, you were quite right to come. We must do something about your uncle at once, because the latest news I’ve had was none too good. They mean to make an example.’
‘Yes, I thought of you,’ Henriette ventured hesitantly. ‘I thought you would give me some good advice and could possibly do something…’
Gilberte went into a peal of laughter.
‘Don’t be silly, I’ll get your uncle released within three days!… Haven’t you been told that I’ve got a Prussian in the house who does everything I want?… You know, dear, he can’t refuse me anything!’
She laughed louder still, with the scatterbrained triumph of a flirtatious female, holding her friend’s hands and carressing her, while the latter could not find words to thank her, being very ill at ease and afraid that this was an admission. And yet how untroubled and innocently gay she seemed!
‘You leave it to me, and I’ll send you home happy this evening!’
When they went into the dining-room Henriette was very much struck by the delicate beauty of Edmond, whom she did not know. He filled her with delight like some