Le Cocu Part 35

"I confess, Monsieur Blemont, that I was so surprised, so shocked!--To call me your mistress! Great heaven! who could have said that I had been your mistress?"

"I trust that you do not think it was anything that I have ever said to her, madame?"

"Oh, no indeed, monsieur! But who can have told her that?"

"n.o.body told her, madame. I tell you again, that jealousy alone can inspire such calumny."

"My attic! she thought to make me blush by reminding me that I once lived in an attic. Oh! I don't blush for it; there is often more virtue, more refinement in an attic than in a boudoir! But do you mean to say that your wife is jealous of me?"

"Yes, madame, ever since I was unfortunate enough to tell her of the evenings which I used to pa.s.s with you and Ernest. If you knew how unhappy her jealousy makes me! Alas! the happy days of our married life pa.s.sed very quickly!"

"Oh! I am very sorry for you, Monsieur Blemont. I pity your wife too, and I forgive her, for Ernest did not hear what she said. But I beg you, never let him know what your wife said!"

"Most certainly, I shall not be the one to tell him!"

"Oh dear! I wish I had not come to this ball. I should have done much better to stay at home."

That fatal dance ended at last. Everybody went away. Ernest and his wife bade me good-night. I read in Marguerite's eyes how glad she was to go.

My wife had gone. Who could have escorted her? Could she have gone home alone? One thing was certain, that she was no longer there.

Leberger came to me and said:

"Are you looking for your wife? She felt rather indisposed while you were dancing, and Dulac took her home. You know Dulac?--a tall fellow,--one of our amateur orchestra."

"I do not know the gentleman, but I will thank him when I see him."

"He is a good fellow, who plays the violin very well. I will bring him to one of your receptions if you wish."

"Do so. Good-night; it is late."

"It was rather a pleasant affair, and people enjoyed themselves; don't you think so?"

"Oh, yes! I enjoyed myself amazingly."

I returned home. I expected a scene; it is always an advantage to be prepared. If only my wife might be in bed and asleep! But no, I heard her walking back and forth in the salon. Aha! I met the maid carrying a mattress. Madame was having a bed made for herself in her boudoir. What a bore not to find peace and quiet at home! to have more scenes and quarrels! And we had been married only three years and a half!

Well, I knew that I must face the storm, and I entered the salon. Madame was in a most dishevelled condition; she almost frightened me. She was holding a phial of salts to her nose.

I was kind enough to go to her and ask her if she were ill. She did not answer. I was on the point of taking a light and leaving the room, when madame sprang to her feet and planted herself in front of me.

"So you have left that woman at last, have you, monsieur?"

"I don't know what you mean by _that woman_, madame. I danced with a lady whom I esteem, and who has been generous enough to forgive you for the shameful remarks that you made before her."

"She has been generous enough to forgive me! really, that is most n.o.ble of her! But I, monsieur, I do not forgive that lady, whom you _esteem_, for having the a.s.surance to dance with you in my presence. That her clown of a husband should not object is quite worthy of him; but you, monsieur, have you no shame?"

"Yes, madame, I was ashamed this evening, and I was ashamed because I was the husband of a woman who behaved as you did!"

"What an abominable thing! You dare reprove me?"

"Yes, you, who slander in public a respectable woman."

"Say a prost.i.tute, monsieur."

"You who publicly exhibit your absurd jealousy!"

"In truth, I am absurd to be jealous of you, you are not worth the trouble!"

"But do not expect, madame, that I will put up with such conduct! that you can insult my friends and that I shall keep quiet!"

"You ought to have made a scene before your mistress; that would have pleased her."

"You did not hesitate to humiliate me before the world; for it is humiliating for a man to be put in the position in which I was put at that ball."

"I shall go nowhere else with you, monsieur; then you cannot say that I shame you or humiliate you."

"You will do well, madame. It is much better not to go with your husband than to behave as you did this evening."

"From the tone in which you speak to me, monsieur, I see who the people are whom you have just left! You are profiting by their advice!"

Those words put the finishing touch to my exasperation. I rushed from the salon and locked myself into the bedroom.

XIV

MONSIEUR DULAC

Frequent disputes and rare reconciliations--so that was to be our life thenceforth. After Leberger's ball, we pa.s.sed a whole month without speaking to each other. That month seemed very long to me; I sighed for my bachelor days, but even more for the early months of our married life.

We spoke at last, but not with the same effusion of sentiment as before.

On the slightest pretext my wife became excited and lost her temper.

When I argued with her, she had hysterical attacks and shrieked at the top of her voice. When we were first married, if we had a little discussion, she wept, but she never shrieked and she was never hysterical.

My daughter was three years old and she had grown to be a lovely creature; her features were as beautiful as her mother's, but she never sulked; she had already begun to talk and to argue with me. I was pa.s.sionately fond of my little Henriette; when I was at odds with her mother, I would take my daughter in my arms, cover her with kisses, and make up to myself with her for the caresses which I no longer bestowed upon Eugenie.

"You will always love me, won't you?" I would say to Henriette; and when her sweet voice answered: "Yes, papa, always," my heart experienced a thrill of well-being which often made me forget my quarrels with my wife.

When winter brought back the time of b.a.l.l.s and parties, Leberger brought Monsieur Dulac to our house; he was a tall, dark young fellow, very good-looking, and with a somewhat conceited manner; but it is not safe to trust to the manners that a person displays in society: to know people well one must see them in private. However, Monsieur Dulac was well-bred and very agreeable; he was said to be an excellent musician; and he had an independent fortune; those recommendations were quite sufficient to cause him to be popular in society.

Monsieur Dulac seemed to enjoy coming to our house. He was a constant attendant at our receptions, and sometimes he came to see me in the morning. He had a trifling difference about a farm which he owned in common with a cousin of his; he requested me to adjust the affair, which I readily undertook to do. The young man manifested much regard for me, and although I knew that one should not rely upon society friends, I have always allowed myself to be taken in by manifestations of friendship for myself, for I have never pretended to like people whom I did not like.

Thanks to Monsieur Dulac, we had music at our house more frequently. My wife had almost abandoned her piano; I need not say that she had ceased to give me lessons, for one must be on the best of terms with a person to have patience enough to teach him to play on any instrument. We were not always on good terms, and Eugenie was not patient; she had declared that I did not listen, and I had made the same complaint with respect to her painting; so that brush and piano were alike neglected.

But Monsieur Dulac, who played the violin very well, urged my wife to take up music again; I myself was very glad that Eugenie should not forget an accomplishment in which she was proficient. She consented, because a stranger's compliments are much more flattering than a husband's; the piano resounded anew under her fingers, and I listened with pleasure; she used to play so often when I was paying court to her!