第 19 页

His words rolled on like a torrent, in the purest Provençal accent. This made my uncle smile, as if at some pleasant reminiscence; and putting on his most engaging expression, he asked the new-comer in a gentle tone of voice:

"What are you to this lady—"

"She is my sister-in-law, sir!" he replied in a fury, his voice swelling louder and louder: "She is my brother's wife, sir; and he's no fool, no more am I, sir!—-Twenty-one years of service, eleven campaigns, and sub-lieutenant of the Customs at Toulon, sir!—-So you shall just let me know how it was my sister-in-law fainted through your fault; and what you meant by taking the liberty of exposing her in a way that no decent man would be guilty of, not even with the consent of her family, nor if she were in mortal danger of her life, sir!"

"And where do you live—" continued my uncle, sipping his madeira, and still fixing upon the fair one's brother-in-law the same charming gaze.

"Hôtel des Bouches-du-Rhone, Rue Pagevin. I am escorting my sister-in-law, and I am responsible for her to her husband."

"My compliments to you, sir! She is a charming young person."

This magnificent composure of my uncle's so completely disconcerted the lieutenant of the Customs that he stopped short. But he had been carried on too far by his hot meridional temper not to launch out again very soon. He followed up with a perfect flood of abuse, interlarded with the most approved insults, with violent epithets and noisy oaths. My uncle listened to him quietly, stroking his chin, and contemplating him as if watching the performance of some surprising feat. The Toulonnais said that he considered this fainting fit of his sister-in-law's, and the very unceremonious proceedings which had followed it, equally suspicious and irregular.

"My brother's honour has been outraged," and so on, he observed.

But at last the good fellow was obliged to pause in order to take breath. Barbassou-Pasha took advantage of the opening.

"Pray what is your name—" he asked, still smiling affably.

"My name, my good man," loftily replied the man of Toulon, "is Firmin Bonaffé, lieutenant in the Customs, seen twenty-one years of service and eleven campaigns. And if that is not enough for you——"

"Why, dear me! then this charming young person has married your brother, has she—"

"A week ago, sir, at Cadiz, where she lives! It was because he had to go back over the sea to Brazil that he confided her to my charge. And you must not imagine that I can let your outrageous behaviour to her pass without further notice, sir!"

"You are a man of spirit, sir, that I can see!" replied my uncle. He was gradually falling into his native assent, charmed, no doubt, by the soothing example of his adversary. "I can understand your feelings," he continued; "and for my part, my good fellow, I confess I should not have the slightest objection to taking a sabre and slicing off a piece of your person." (He uttered this latter word, individu, in French, with the Marseillais pronunciation, inndividu.) "Indeed," he continued quite placidly, "I should have no objection to throwing you through the window here, just as you are."

This, following upon his imperturbable coolness throughout, had, I can aver, a most aggravating effect. Being a little man and a braggart, Firmin Bonaffé felt the insult all the more hotly.

"Throw me through the window— Me!" he exclaimed, drawing himself up as if he wanted to touch the sky. "Try then! Just try!"

"By-and-by," said my uncle, pacifying him with a good-humoured gesture; "but for the present let us have a talk, my good fellow! Certainly I sympathise with your annoyance; for you must have perceived that I know this lady, and that she knows me. There has even been a little liaison between us——"

"Bagasse! You confess to it, then—"

"I confess to it!" responded the captain, in a conciliatory manner. "But, my dear fellow, a brother's horns, as the saying goes, need not trouble one so much as one's own. You will of course agree with me on that point."

"I agree with you there!" replied the Toulonnais, quite gravely, as if struck by a specious argument. "But it does not follow from that——"

"Stop a moment!" interrupted my uncle, who wished to pursue his argument. "I, whom you see here, have also had the honour of being made a cuckold, as they say in Molière. You are acquainted with Molière, I dare say—"

"I am; go on!" said the lieutenant, who had made up his mind to restrain himself while my uncle was developing his explanations.

"Very well! as you have read him, you ought to know that a misadventure like that is not such a great matter after all. A second or two and it is all over, just like having a tooth out. Besides, remember this, the tooth cannot be replaced, while in the case of a woman, one can find plenty to take her place."

"That's true!" returned Firmin Bonaffé, who opened his eyes wide, as if he wished to follow this chain of reasoning, which evidently astonished him by its perspicuity.

The issue began to be cleared.

"Then we have arrived at the same opinion," continued Barbassou Pasha. "All that remains is to come to an understanding."

"By no means! by no means! I repeat, my brother confided his wife to my charge. You have insulted her in public, and in the name of decency—"

"Oh, no!" interrupted my uncle; "you are exaggerating! In the first place, my nephew and I were the only persons present; therefore there was no very great harm done. Then you brought the people up by your shouting; consequently it is I who have cause to complain."

"Té! Are you trying to make a fool of me—" exclaimed the Toulonnais, bursting out upon us like a bomb with another explosion. "Do you suppose, then, that I am going down on my knees to thank you for having undressed Jean Bonaffé's wife—"

"Jean Bonaffé's wife— No, no, my good fellow!" briefly replied my uncle.

"Why 'No'—"

"Why, in the first place, because she is actually my own wife!"

"Yours—"

"As I have the pleasure of informing you. And consequently it is I who would be entitled not to be at all pleased by your intervention in the little domestic occurrence which took place just now."

The Toulonnais, for the moment, was struck dumb with astonishment.

"Then, bagasse! who are you—" he asked.

"The late Barbassou, retired general, seen fifty years of service, and thirty-nine campaigns, and the husband of your sister-in-law, who is now a bigamist—rather an awkward mistake for a lady."

My uncle might have gone on speaking for the rest of the day, and had it all his own way. The unfortunate lieutenant stared at him, crushed and dumbfounded by this astounding revelation. All at once, and without waiting to hear any more, he turned on his heels, and beat a precipitate retreat by the door.

The late Barbassou indulged in a smile at this very intelligible discomfiture of his adversary. He had finished his madeira, and we went out to get our horses again.

Directly he had mounted into the saddle, he said to me, reverting to the subject of our interrupted conversation:

"Do you know, I think it's all up with the Madeira vines; but as to those of the Douro, with careful grafting, we might still pull them through!"

"I hope so, uncle!" I replied.

And, as a matter of fact, I think he is right. Perhaps we shall soon know.

Come, I must tell you about a new occurrence which is already influencing my romance in the most unexpected manner.

I don't suppose you have forgotten our Captain Picklock and the famous story of the camels which were recovered through his good offices. Well, the captain, having returned from Aden with the fever, and being at Paris on his way home, accepted the hospitality of Baron de Villeneuve, late consul at Pondicherry, whom you know. Two days ago we were invited to a farewell dinner, given in his honour. It was quite a love-feast: half a dozen friends, all of whom had been several times round the world, and had met each other in various latitudes. The ladies consisted of the amiable Baroness de Villeneuve, Mrs. Picklock, and my aunt. You may imagine what a number of old recollections they discussed during dinner. After the coffee we went into the drawing-room, where a card-table was being set out for whist, when my uncle said:

"By the bye, what has become of our good friend Montague—"

"Oh, Montague," answered the baron; "he is in Paris. He has been prevented from dining with us by an invitation to his ambassador's; but he will look in this evening, and you will see him."

"Ah, that's capital!" exclaimed my uncle; "I shall be delighted to see him again."

When I heard this name mentioned, I pricked up my ears. Still there was nothing to indicate that the Montague spoken of was the commodore. I listened with curiosity.

"Will he stay in Paris any length of time—" my uncle continued.

"The whole winter," replied the baroness. "He has come to pick up his daughters, whom he had left in my charge two years ago, before he went off to the North Pole."

"Ah, yes! little Maud and Suzannah," observed my uncle.

"Yes, captain; only your little Maud and Suzannah are now grown-up young ladies," added the baroness with a laugh.

It was impossible for me to entertain any more doubts; and I confess my mind was far from easy when I heard this. At the thought of meeting the commodore, my first idea was to get away at once, before he arrived. Although I was confident of the perfect security of my secret, and although it was the merest chance that had brought about the intimacy which I could not have foreseen between Kondjé-Gul and his daughters, I could not conceal from myself the embarrassment which I should feel in his presence. As bad luck would have it, I was already seated at the card-table. I lost my tricks as fast as I could in order to shorten the game, swearing inwardly at the captain and my uncle, who were both of them playing with a provoking deliberation, and lecturing me upon my careless play. At last, having succeeded in losing my three rubbers, I got up from the table, alleging a sudden attack of head-ache, when at this very moment, in the next drawing-room where the baroness was sitting, the servant announced,

"Commodore Montague!"

Just imagine my stupefaction, Louis, when I saw the commodore come in, followed by his two daughters and Kondjé-Gul, whom he introduced to the baroness and to my aunt as a schoolfellow of his daughters, Maud and Suzannah!

You may guess what a state of confusion I was thrown into by this spectacle. Whatever would happen— My chances of retreat being now completely cut off, I withdrew myself to the midst of a group who were talking together in a corner of the room. Kondjé-Gul was listening timidly to the baroness's compliments, and I heard the latter say:

"I am much indebted, mademoiselle, to our friend the commodore who has done us the favour of bringing you with him; Maud and Suzannah had already spoken to me so often about you, that I had a great desire to make your acquaintance."

The striking beauty of the young foreigner had created quite a sensation, and feeling that all their eyes were fixed on her, she did not venture to look about her. Still it was necessary to anticipate the dangerous consequences of the least imprudence on the part of either of us, by putting her on her guard before the baroness had the opportunity of introducing me to the commodore and his daughters.——By rather a clever manoeuvre, therefore, I managed to slip behind my aunt while she was talking to the American young ladies.

When Kondjé-Gul saw me, she could not help giving a start of surprise, but I had time to put my finger to my lips, and signify to her that she must not show that she knew me. Our encounters in the Bois, during our morning rides, had fortunately trained her already for this necessary piece of dissimulation: and she had sufficient self-control not to betray our secret. My aunt turned round at that very moment, and seeing me standing by her chair, said to me:

"Oh, André, come and let me introduce you to this young lady!"

Kondjé-Gul blushed when I bowed to her, and returned my bow very prettily. I was introduced in the same way to the commodore and his daughters. There was a vacant chair close to them on which the baroness made me sit down, and I soon found myself engaged in a general conversation with them; I may add that the liveliness of the Montague girls rendered our conversation much easier than I had expected. Having been brought up in the American way, they possessed that youthful independence of spirit which is stifled in our own girls by a more strict and formal education, on the false ground of the requirements of modesty. Kondjé-Gul, although rather reserved at first, expanded gradually, and I was astonished at the change which had been effected in her whole bearing. Certainly one could still guess that she was a foreigner, but she had acquired quite a new ease in her deportment and in her language. Being reassured by her behaviour against the risks of this encounter, which I had at first so much dreaded, I freely accepted the peculiar position in which I was placed. There was a positive charm about this mystery, the pleasure of which I can hardly explain to you.

Although this was quite a small and friendly party, there were now enough young people to get up a "hop," so the baroness instructed me to lead off with Miss Suzannah, which I did very willingly, asking her for a polka.

"What do you think of my friend Kondjé-Gul—" she said to me, when we sat down after a few turns.

"She is remarkably pretty," I replied.

"I suppose you'll ask her for a dance with you—" she continued, with a smile.

"I shall certainly not fail in this duty to a friend of yours and Miss Maud's!"

"Miss Maud and I thank you very much for the attention," she said, with a ceremonious bow; "only," she added, smiling maliciously at me, "I must prepare you for a disappointment, which you will, no doubt, feel very much afflicted by—our friend does not dance!"

"What, never—"

"We have given several little parties at my father's rooms, and have never been able to persuade her to."

"Ah! that's no doubt because she only knows her oriental dances."