The Bath Keepers Volume I Part 9

"Do you think so, La Valteline?"

"I am sure; it's the costume of the peasants in the suburbs of Milan.

Pardieu! I ought to know; I was at Milan last year!"

"You are right; the girl has something Italian or Israelitish in her face, and her slightly bronzed complexion also tends to confirm your conjectures."

The horse and his riders had by this time reached the bath keeper's house, and were about to pa.s.s it on their way down Rue Saint-Jacques, when the young Marquis de Senange ran out and placed himself in front of the peaceful beast, which instantly halted.

Thereupon the young n.o.ble, doffing his hat, saluted the girl and her escort with respect, and all the other bystanders made haste to do the like.

The Bearnais peasant, astounded by all these courtesies, deemed it advisable none the less to remove his cap and return the salutations of all those young men who treated him so politely.

As for the girl, she raised her great black eyes and, with an expression in which there was more surprise than timidity, looked about at the persons who were gazing at her.

"Par la sambleu! my dear monsieur, how fortunate we are to fall in with you, and to be the first to present you our respectful homage. But we have been waiting for you a long while.--Pray put on your hat--we entreat you! You must surely see by the joy which your arrival causes us how impatiently you and your charming travelling companion were awaited in Paris!"

"Eh! damme! what's that? we were expected in Paris?" cried the big countryman, who had listened with a dazed expression to young Senange's harangue.

"Can you doubt it?" said the Chevalier de La Valteline, in his turn, walking nearer to the horse's hind quarters in order to examine the girl more closely. "Do you not know that we are notified in advance at Paris when such interesting travellers as you are to arrive here? Deputations were sent to all the barriers to welcome you. It is very strange that you did not meet them--eh, messeigneurs?"

Shouts arose on all sides, accompanied by roars of laughter, which the clerks of the Basoche and the students could not restrain, and in which the valets and all the blackguards of the quarter did not hesitate to join.

"Pray dismount, my master, and come with us to take some refreshment, you and this lovely child; we will give you a taste of a certain choice wine which we have put aside for the express purpose of celebrating your arrival. I will help your companion to dismount first."

As he spoke, the jovial Senange offered his knee to the girl for use as a stepping stone, while the peasant, bewildered by what he heard and, it may be, a little tempted by the offer of wine, seemed to hesitate as to what he ought to do, and to be inclined to accept the invitation. But his pretty companion, instead of dismounting as she was invited to do, seized her escort's arm with little ceremony, and said to him, under her breath, but in a firm tone:

"Don't get down, Cedrille; don't you see that all these fine gentlemen are making sport of you and me, for all their courtesies and fine manners? They say that they expected us, but I will wager that they do not even know who we are. Just ask that most dandified one, who has such a smooth tongue, to tell you your name and why we have come to Paris; and you'll see that he won't be able to answer you."

These words changed the peasant's plans. He sat more firmly in his saddle, and, addressing the man who had spoken first, said in a tone wherein it was easy to detect distrust:

"One moment, my fine gentleman; we don't make acquaintances so fast, we peasants don't, especially as we were told that we must be on the lookout in Paris; and that there was a lot of fellows, law students and ne'er-do-wells, yes, and some great n.o.bles, who like to poke fun at poor folks, especially peasants and people who work in the fields.

That's an entertainment that we don't care about giving, d'ye see!--You say we were expected in Paris--so you know me and the little one, I suppose? Well, if you know us--who are we?--tell us who we are? Answer, if you please, messeigneurs."

The young men looked at one another and winked.

"This clod is not so stupid as he looks," said one.

"That didn't come from him," said a page; "the little one prompted him to say it."

"He was all ready to dismount, but the girl held him back."

"You ask me who you are," rejoined young Senange, twirling his moustache; "why, you know who you are! So what need is there for me to tell you what you already know?--Nonsense! come with us, my master, and drink and touch gla.s.ses; the wine we will give you is much better than that you drink in your village."

"Oh, no! oh, no! not till you have answered my questions; but you can't do that!"

"Your questions! By what right, pray, do you put questions to us, when we are offering you a civil attention? Do you know, my handsome traveller, that it is not decent to refuse to drink a gla.s.s, to empty a goblet, to our health?--Are you afraid to drink? In that case, you would make a dismal companion!--I say, messieurs, what do you think of this lout who fears to compromise himself by drinking with us?"

"Probably the knave has never tasted wine; he thinks that we intend to purge him."

"He is sadly in need of having the rust rubbed off--the clown!"

"Ah! but he must drink! We will pour a pint or two down his throat from the Souris Blanche, which is just across the way."

"We will teach the fool what courtesy is!"

"Ah! so silly talk is taking the place of your civilities now!" said the peasant, with a frown.

His companion touched him on the shoulder and murmured:

"Go on, Cedrille! whip your horse. Don't stay in the midst of all these young gentlemen. They look to me like bad fellows; their shouts and the way they look at me--I am beginning to be frightened."

"Whip Bourriquet! why, they have got hold of his bridle; and how can we go on in the middle of all this crowd? I wouldn't like to ride over anyone, for then they would make trouble for me.--Jarny! Miretta, I am sorry already that you insisted on coming to this Paris!"

"Pray dismount, my pretty Milanese," said the Chevalier de La Valteline, offering his hand to the girl, whose name, as we now know, was Miretta.

"Milanese!" she retorted, refusing the young n.o.bleman's hand. "Ah! you guess that from my costume; it is true that I have lived in the neighborhood of Milan from infancy, but I was not born in Italy; I am from the same province as Cedrille."

"And Cedrille is a Bearnais?"

"Yes, messieurs; from Pau, by your leave," said the peasant.

"Vive Cedrille!"

"Vive Cedrille of Pau!"

And the young n.o.bles, as they shouted the name, waved their hats and handkerchiefs, while the bachelors and squires joined hands and began to dance and caper around the horse and his riders.

The girl's face flushed, her impatience got the better of her; she struck the horse's flank with her hand, while the peasant did his best to urge his steed forward, crying:

"Let go of Bourriquet's rein, seigneurs! let go of my horse, ten thousand devils!"

"Ah! Bourriquet! the horse's name is Bourriquet!"

"His rider should bear that name!"

"Poor _bourrique_,[B] who has to carry another of his kind!"

[B] _Bourrique_, an a.s.s; _bourriquet_, an a.s.s's colt.

"No, no! your horse shall not take a step!"

"Don't worry him with your rein."

"Dismount, Cedrille of Pau; if not, we will forcibly remove you and your companion from Bourriquet's back!"

Some of Master Hugonnet's customers were already preparing to carry out this threat; but at that crisis, the Bearnais peasant, whose face had turned purple and had a.s.sumed a menacing expression, quickly raised his right arm, and brandishing in the air the dogwood staff with which his right hand was armed, twirled it about in the faces of those who approached, with such fearless and uncompromising dexterity that in a moment there was a large s.p.a.ce cleared in front of the travellers; and yet, some of the jokers did not move back quickly enough to avoid a blow from the redoubtable dogwood staff.

Meanwhile, the pretty girl threw both arms about her companion, and, raising her head, seemed to defy with her glance those who surrounded her, and to say to them: