The Milkmaid of Montfermeil Part 74

"Why, for Lyon, of course!"

"And is that why you let the diligence go--that you made me wait and call you and look everywhere for you?"

"What's that? the diligence has gone?"

"Morbleu, yes! more than an hour ago; but the time evidently didn't seem long to you!"

"The diligence has gone!" repeated Auguste, dropping his companion's arm; but she, evidently setting great store by its support, instantly took it again, saying:

"That's very amusing! isn't it, my dear friend?"

"It no longer seems so amusing to me," said Auguste; while Bertrand walked away, and muttered with an oath, stamping the ground:

"Her dear friend! Ten thousand bayonets! this is a very pretty mess!"

"But couldn't they have waited a little while for us, Bertrand?" asked Auguste.

"They waited two minutes, monsieur, and that's a long time for a diligence."

"And you didn't go?"

"Do you suppose that I would go without you? Ain't I attached to you, and to n.o.body else? What's the sense of my being at Lyon if you ain't there?"

"You did well, Bertrand. And our valises?"

"Oh! they're here. As I had a shrewd idea that there was something new, I wouldn't let them go without us."

"Bless my soul, my friend, we must make the best of this accident. After all, it matters not whether we go to Lyon or somewhere else; and whether we arrive there to-morrow or a week hence."

"Mon Dieu! my dear friend, it's a matter of indifference to me too,"

said the young woman.

Bertrand frowned and motioned to his master that he wanted to speak to him in private. Auguste succeeded in making the young woman understand that she must let go his arm for a moment, and he joined the ex-corporal, who said to him with a stern expression:

"I beg pardon, lieutenant, but who is this woman who sticks to your arm as if you had glue on your sleeve?"

"She's a young woman who was with us in the diligence."

"And why didn't she stay there?"

"Because I took her to walk with me."

"Who is the woman?"

"A very entertaining person."

"She didn't tell you what she is doing, did she?"

"To be sure: she's going to Lyon, in order not to stay in Paris."

"The deuce! if that's her only motive, I can understand that she doesn't care whether she goes there or somewhere else. But why is she leaving Paris? A young woman don't travel alone like this, just for the pleasure of travelling."

"Oh! she had a very urgent reason--her husband beat her."

"Perhaps he was justified, monsieur."

"Oh! Bertrand!"

"Why does she call you her dear friend so soon?"

"Because--because----"

"Oh, yes! because--I understand perfectly. But after all, monsieur, what do you expect to do with this woman?"

"I don't quite know; but you must see that I can't desert her here after being the cause of her losing the diligence."

"I should say rather that she made you lose it by telling you fairy tales, and arousing your pity by adventures that never happened, I'll wager. Besides, monsieur, a woman who takes up with the first man that comes along can't be anything but an adventuress. I'll bet that you don't even know her name?"

"Faith, no. But what does the name matter? Can't a person a.s.sume any name at pleasure? Whether this young woman has told me the truth or not, I won't leave her penniless far from the place to which she is going."

"Oho! she hasn't any money, eh?"

"Why, she had nothing for dinner but bread."

"This is a very excellent find that you've made! So, monsieur, when you left Paris, in order to be prudent and economize, here you are with a woman on your hands barely sixty leagues from Paris!"

"Bah! what can you expect? Is it my fault? Come, Bertrand, don't scold; hereafter I'll reflect a little more; meanwhile let us abandon ourselves to our destiny."

Auguste returned to the young woman and Bertrand followed him, saying to himself:

"I am very much afraid he's incorrigible."

The young woman promptly resumed possession of Auguste's arm.

"My dear friend," he said to her, "as the diligence has gone off without us, we need not hurry now."

"Oh, not at all."

"We can even pa.s.s a day or two here."

"I should like to if it would gratify you."

"Then we will consider how we will continue our journey--whether by some chance conveyance, by stage--or even on foot, so that we can admire the country in case it is worthy of admiration."

"Whatever will gratify you, my friend."

"You see, Bertrand," said Auguste in an undertone, "this little woman is good-nature itself, she seeks only to gratify me."

"She doesn't gratify me in the very least, monsieur."