The Deputy of Arcis [32]
kind of count."
"You can make a report upon him," said the superintendent of bridges.
"For the use of all future sub-prefects," added Olivier Vinet.
"How can you do it?" asked Madame Mollot.
"Oh!" replied the sub-prefect, "ask Mademoiselle Beauvisage whom she would accept as her husband among all of us here present; she will not answer. Allow me the same discretion. Mesdemoiselles, restrain your anxiety; in ten minutes you shall know whether the Unknown is a count or a commercial traveller."
X
THE REVELATIONS OF AN OPERA-GLASS
Antonin Goulard left the little group of young ladies, in which, besides Cecile and Ernestine, were Mademoiselle Berton, daughter of the tax-collector,--an insignificant young person who played the part of satellite to Cecile,--and Mademoiselle Herbelot, sister of the second notary of Arcis, an old maid of thirty, soured, affected, and dressed like all old maids; for she wore, over a bombazine gown, an embroidered fichu, the corners of which, gathered to the front of the bodice, were knotted together after the well-known fashion under the Terror.
"Julien," said the sub-prefect to his valet, who was waiting in the antechamber, "you who served six years at Gondreville ought to know how a count's coronet is made."
"Yes, monsieur; it has pearls on its nine points."
"Very good. Go to the Mulet, and try to clap your eye on the tilbury of the gentleman who is stopping there, and then come and tell me what is painted on it. Do your business thoroughly, and bring me all the gossip of the inn. If you see the little groom, ask him at what hour to-morrow his master can receive the sub-prefect--in case you find the nine pearls. Don't drink, don't gossip yourself, and come back quickly; and as soon as you get back let me know it by coming to the door of the salon."
"Yes, monsieur."
The Mulet inn, as we have already said, stands on the square, at the opposite corner to the garden wall of the Marion estate on the other side of the road leading to Brienne. Therefore the solution of the problem could be rapid. Antonin Goulard returned to his place by Cecile to await results.
"We talked so much about the stranger yesterday that I dreamed of him all night," said Madame Mollot.
"Ha! ha! do you still dream of unknown heroes, fair lady?" said Vinet.
"You are very impertinent; if I chose I could make you dream of me," she retorted. "So this morning when I rose--"
It may not be useless to say that Madame Mollot was considered a clever woman in Arcis; that is, she expressed herself fluently and abused that advantage. A Parisian, wandering by chance into these regions, like the Unknown, would have thought her excessively garrulous.
"--I was, naturally, making my toilet, and as I looked mechanically about me--"
"Through the window?" asked Antonin.
"Certainly; my dressing-room opens on the street. Now you know, of course, that Poupart has put the stranger into one of the rooms exactly opposite to mine--"
"One room, mamma!" interrupted Ernestine. "The count occupies three rooms! The little groom, dressed all in black, is in the first. They have made a salon of the next, and the Unknown sleeps in the third."
"Then he has half the rooms in the inn," remarked Mademoiselle Herbelot.
"Well, young ladies, and what has that to do with his person?" said Madame Mollot, sharply, not pleased at the interruption. "I am talking of the man himself--"
"Don't interrupt the orator," put in Vinet.
"As I was stooping--"
"Seated?" asked Antonin.
"Madame was of course as she naturally would be,--making her toilet and looking at the Mulet," said Vinet.
In the provinces such jokes are prized, for people have so long said everything to each other that they have recourse at last to the sort of nonsense our fathers indulged in before the introduction of English hypocrisy,--one of those products against which custom-houses are powerless.
"Don't interrupt the orator," repeated Cecile Beauvisage to Vinet, with whom she exchanged a smile.
"My eyes involuntarily fell on
"You can make a report upon him," said the superintendent of bridges.
"For the use of all future sub-prefects," added Olivier Vinet.
"How can you do it?" asked Madame Mollot.
"Oh!" replied the sub-prefect, "ask Mademoiselle Beauvisage whom she would accept as her husband among all of us here present; she will not answer. Allow me the same discretion. Mesdemoiselles, restrain your anxiety; in ten minutes you shall know whether the Unknown is a count or a commercial traveller."
X
THE REVELATIONS OF AN OPERA-GLASS
Antonin Goulard left the little group of young ladies, in which, besides Cecile and Ernestine, were Mademoiselle Berton, daughter of the tax-collector,--an insignificant young person who played the part of satellite to Cecile,--and Mademoiselle Herbelot, sister of the second notary of Arcis, an old maid of thirty, soured, affected, and dressed like all old maids; for she wore, over a bombazine gown, an embroidered fichu, the corners of which, gathered to the front of the bodice, were knotted together after the well-known fashion under the Terror.
"Julien," said the sub-prefect to his valet, who was waiting in the antechamber, "you who served six years at Gondreville ought to know how a count's coronet is made."
"Yes, monsieur; it has pearls on its nine points."
"Very good. Go to the Mulet, and try to clap your eye on the tilbury of the gentleman who is stopping there, and then come and tell me what is painted on it. Do your business thoroughly, and bring me all the gossip of the inn. If you see the little groom, ask him at what hour to-morrow his master can receive the sub-prefect--in case you find the nine pearls. Don't drink, don't gossip yourself, and come back quickly; and as soon as you get back let me know it by coming to the door of the salon."
"Yes, monsieur."
The Mulet inn, as we have already said, stands on the square, at the opposite corner to the garden wall of the Marion estate on the other side of the road leading to Brienne. Therefore the solution of the problem could be rapid. Antonin Goulard returned to his place by Cecile to await results.
"We talked so much about the stranger yesterday that I dreamed of him all night," said Madame Mollot.
"Ha! ha! do you still dream of unknown heroes, fair lady?" said Vinet.
"You are very impertinent; if I chose I could make you dream of me," she retorted. "So this morning when I rose--"
It may not be useless to say that Madame Mollot was considered a clever woman in Arcis; that is, she expressed herself fluently and abused that advantage. A Parisian, wandering by chance into these regions, like the Unknown, would have thought her excessively garrulous.
"--I was, naturally, making my toilet, and as I looked mechanically about me--"
"Through the window?" asked Antonin.
"Certainly; my dressing-room opens on the street. Now you know, of course, that Poupart has put the stranger into one of the rooms exactly opposite to mine--"
"One room, mamma!" interrupted Ernestine. "The count occupies three rooms! The little groom, dressed all in black, is in the first. They have made a salon of the next, and the Unknown sleeps in the third."
"Then he has half the rooms in the inn," remarked Mademoiselle Herbelot.
"Well, young ladies, and what has that to do with his person?" said Madame Mollot, sharply, not pleased at the interruption. "I am talking of the man himself--"
"Don't interrupt the orator," put in Vinet.
"As I was stooping--"
"Seated?" asked Antonin.
"Madame was of course as she naturally would be,--making her toilet and looking at the Mulet," said Vinet.
In the provinces such jokes are prized, for people have so long said everything to each other that they have recourse at last to the sort of nonsense our fathers indulged in before the introduction of English hypocrisy,--one of those products against which custom-houses are powerless.
"Don't interrupt the orator," repeated Cecile Beauvisage to Vinet, with whom she exchanged a smile.
"My eyes involuntarily fell on