Previous  - next

"Good-by to the grapes, the vintage is done. It is all over with us.
We may as well say adieu to Mademoiselle Grandet. Eugenie will belong
to the dandy. Unless this cousin is enamoured of some Parisian woman,
your son Adolphe will find another rival in--"

"Not at all, monsieur l'abbe. This young man cannot fail to see that
Eugenie is a little fool,--a girl without the least freshness. Did you
notice her to-night? She was as yellow as a quince."

"Perhaps you made the cousin notice it?"

"I did not take the trouble--"

"Place yourself always beside Eugenie, madame, and you need never take
the trouble to say anything to the young man against his cousin; he
will make his own comparisons, which--"

"Well, he has promised to dine with me the day after to-morrow."

"Ah! if you only _would_, madame--" said the abbe.

"What is it that you wish me to do, monsieur l'abbe? Do you mean to
offer me bad advice? I have not reached the age of thirty-nine,
without a stain upon my reputation, thank God! to compromise myself
now, even for the empire of the Great Mogul. You and I are of an age
when we both know the meaning of words. For an ecclesiastic, you
certainly have ideas that are very incongruous. Fie! it is worthy of
Faublas!"

"You have read Faublas?"

"No, monsieur l'abbe; I meant to say the _Liaisons dangereuses_."

"Ah! that book is infinitely more moral," said the abbe, laughing.
"But you make me out as wicked as a young man of the present day; I
only meant--"

"Do you dare to tell me you were not thinking of putting wicked things
into my head? Isn't it perfectly clear? If this young man--who I admit
is very good-looking--were to make love to me, he would not think of
his cousin. In Paris, I know, good mothers do devote themselves in
this way to the happiness and welfare of their children; but we live
in the provinces, monsieur l'abbe."

"Yes, madame."

"And," she continued, "I do not want, and Adolphe himself would not
want, a hundred millions brought at such a price."

"Madame, I said nothing about a hundred millions; that temptation
might be too great for either of us to withstand. Only, I do think
that an honest woman may permit herself, in all honor, certain
harmless little coquetries, which are, in fact, part of her social
duty and which--"

"Do you think so?"

"Are we not bound, madame, to make ourselves agreeable to each other?
--Permit me to blow my nose.--I assure you, madame," he resumed, "that
the young gentleman ogled you through his glass in a more flattering
manner than he put on when he looked at me; but I forgive him for
doing homage to beauty in preference to old age--"

"It is quite apparent," said the president in his loud voice, "that
Monsieur Grandet of Paris has sent his son to Saumur with extremely
matrimonial intentions."

"But in that case the cousin wouldn't have fallen among us like a
cannon-ball," answered the notary.

Previous  - next