Paul and His Dog Volume Ii Part 17

"Bless my soul! Guillot," he rejoined; "don't lose your temper; I may have said one word when I meant another; my tongue must have taken a twist. I never intended to attack your honesty; but of course you understand that I must get back what I have advanced."

"I only owe you four hundred and eighty francs, monsieur."

"Of princ.i.p.al, yes; but the interest, which never stops running--and interest on interest--all that counts up; so that you owe me to-day eight hundred and seventy-five francs, besides the costs of the execution and sale; it will amount to a thousand francs."

"My G.o.d!"

"That's why I am obliged to sell your cottage, as well as your furniture."

"But suppose it should bring more, monsieur?"

"Oh! if it should bring more than your debt and the costs, the surplus would go to you--that's your right; but unluckily, instead of going above a thousand francs, I'm afraid it will fall far short of it."

"But, monsieur, if you're going to sell a house you must have buyers; and to bring them together it is necessary for them to know beforehand that it's to be sold."

"Don't be afraid, all the formalities have been attended to; the notices were posted."

"I didn't see them."

"That isn't my fault."

"Among all these people that I see here, there isn't one who will buy my house."

"Pshaw! there's sure to be someone; at a pinch, I'll buy it myself."

"You, monsieur!"

"Bless me! if no other purchaser comes forward, I shall have to take it; it will embarra.s.s me a good deal, but I shall be driven to it!"

As he said this, Monsieur Jarnouillard rubbed his hands, thinking:

"There won't be any other purchaser and I shall get the house for almost nothing. Then I can let it to Guillot, and it will add just so much to my income."

The farmer moved away from his creditor, with death in his heart and despair on his face. But, before joining his family, he tried to dissemble his suffering to some extent in order not to increase his wife's grief. Luckily for the poor people, little Claudine came running toward them, followed by her cousin Poucette. And the child, pointing to Honorine and Agathe, who had stopped a short distance away, said:

"Don't cry any more, mamma; there's Poucette's two mistresses; they've come with us and they're very kind; they're sorry for us."

"Yes," chimed in Poucette. "Don't cry, aunt. My mistress told me to tell you that everything she bought would be for you; and she'll buy all she can!"

The farmer's wife felt as if she were coming to life again; she started to rise, to go with her husband to thank the lady who was so kindly disposed to them; but Poucette detained her.

"Madame don't want you to say anything to her now," she said; "for if anyone should guess she was doing it for you, the dealers are so mean, they're quite capable of bidding against her and making her pay more for everything; you mustn't look as if you knew anything about it; you can thank her afterward."

Meanwhile the notables of the neighborhood, those who are commonly called the _bourgeois_ in the country, began to arrive for the sale. The slightest novelty is an event which one is careful not to miss when one lives in a small village.

Moreover, Monsieur Jarnouillard, being interested in the success of the sale, had not failed to say to all his acquaintances:

"It's always well to go to a sale; you often find something you need and that you had forgotten about; there are sure to be good opportunities; and you should seize opportunities; they don't come twice."

The Droguet family soon appeared on the scene, in the person of its tall, bulky mistress, who leaned familiarly on the arm of friend Luminot, the jovial dealer in wines. Little Monsieur Droguet walked behind his wife, taking measured steps, almost in rhythm.

Madame Jarnouillard came next, arm-in-arm with Madame Remplume, a tall, machine-like person, as long and thin as a bean-pole, who, you would have sworn, was a man dressed as a woman. Behind them came a little man with a limp, Monsieur Remplume, who never spoke, but who coughed, spat, took snuff, sneezed and blew his nose incessantly, which made him a very unpleasant neighbor; so that there was soon a vacant s.p.a.ce about him.

Lastly, Doctor Antoine Beaubichon appeared, some little distance behind this party.

When Agathe saw them in the distance, she squeezed her friend's arm, saying:

"Look, my dear; here come all the people who speak ill of us. Really they are all so hideous that I am no longer surprised that they are spiteful!"

"Don't seem to be looking toward them."

"Why not, pray? Do you suppose I am going to give myself a crick in the neck because of Madame Droguet? I am very sorry that Monsieur Edmond is in Paris to-day; for he would have come with us, and that would have made all those people all the more frantic.--Ah! my dear, the doctor bows to us! Good for him! he is still polite, at all events."

Honorine turned and bowed pleasantly to the doctor, thereby placing the former wine merchant in a painfully embarra.s.sing position; for he too was facing the young woman and would have been glad to salute her; but Madame Droguet held his arm and glared at him fixedly and with such a determined expression that, in order to extricate himself adroitly from his predicament, Monsieur Luminot simulated five or six sneezes in quick succession; and everyone knows that in sneezing one usually makes a movement of the head which resembles a bow.

"Well! what does this mean?" demanded Madame Droguet, with an angry glance at her cavalier. "Why do you sneeze like that?"

"Why--I sneeze--Mon Dieu! because I had to sneeze. It takes you suddenly, you know; I suppose I have a cold in my head."

"This is the first I have heard of it."

"Or I; but you never know you have one until it appears."

"Really, one would have thought that you were bowing to those women."

"Well, upon my word! I never thought of such a thing."

"Why did you sneeze toward them?"

"Faith! I sneezed when it caught me. I didn't do it purposely."

"All right!"

"The doctor bowed to those ladies."

"I saw him; he'll pay me for that; he was to apply leeches to Droguet to-morrow, but he shan't do it."

"Oh! but, consider--if your husband needs the leeches!"

"I tell you that not a leech shall be put on him. I propose to show the doctor how much I care for his prescriptions."

"But if your husband complains of pains in his head----"

"Let me alone; I am beginning to believe that Doctor Beaubichon is just fit to take care of hens. Droguet is dancing on my dress at this moment; does he look sick?"

"There are the people from the Courtivaux house," said Madame Remplume, approaching Madame Droguet.

"Oh! we have seen them! they are noticeable enough. What rigs!"