The Bath Keepers Volume I Part 31

"Well! aren't they going to light the fire this evening? Are they going to make us wait till Saint-Martin's? I say! Plumard! Plumard! are you still playing the wooden man?"

"Come here, Bahuchet; this is a much better place, it's nearer the fire."

"What! do you dare to go so near as that? Look out, Plumard! the flame may singe your hair. Give me a lock first; I am sure that before long it will bring a high price, your hair! and, even so, everyone won't get it who would like some of it."

"You have forgotten something, Bahuchet!"

"What is that?"

"The two corks that you put in your nose when you go out on a windy night. Look out! there's a man with a torch beside you; don't turn, your nose would blow it out."

"Ah! Monsieur Plumard is pleased to be sarcastic.--However, you have a right to swagger; you know that I won't take you by the hair."

"Wait! just wait! I will give you a drubbing, you miserable dwarf!"

The two clerks approached to exchange blows; but as the Chevalier Pa.s.sedix was between them, they used him as a rampart behind which to shelter themselves, and that rampart received many of the blows which the young gentlemen intended for each other.

"Sandioux! here are two rascals fighting between my legs now! Have you nearly finished, pygmies? If you force me to draw Roland from its sheath, I promise you that you will both be spitted like starlings!"

The two clerks, trying to run away in order to escape the effects of the Gascon's wrath, collided with two women from the market, who pushed them away with so much force that Monsieur Plumard fell to the ground, and, to put the finish to his misfortunes, he lost his cap in the fall, so that that youthful head was disclosed to view, already almost bald, having only a narrow band of vegetation left, just above the ears.

A general laugh arose, and the merriment was increased by the furious manner in which the unfortunate clerk ran through the crowd on all fours, looking between every pair of legs, and shouting:

"My cap! my cap! don't step on it!"

XIX

TWO MEN ON ALL FOURS

Ambroisine laughed like the rest when she saw Monsieur Plumard's bald head. She turned toward her friend, to see if she had noticed that sight; but she was thunderstruck by the strange expression presented by Bathilde's face at that moment.

The charming girl seemed happy and confused at the same time. Her eyes, half lowered, but in such wise that she could look out of the corners, were more brilliant than usual. Her cheeks wore a deeper flush, her mouth was half open in a smile. All this was not natural; and Ambroisine, with the knowledge that she possessed of the human heart, tried to discover what could cause her friend's emotion. Thereupon Master Hugonnet's daughter saw at Bathilde's left a young man wrapped in a cloak, his head covered by a broad-brimmed hat adorned with waving plumes, and beneath that hat a very comely face, haughty and distinguished, but most seductive when it chose to take the trouble, and that is what it was doing at that moment.

"Mon Dieu! it is Comte Leodgard!" said Ambroisine to herself, as she recognized the young man who held Bathilde as if fascinated by the eloquence of his glance; and almost instantly, as if she divined the danger that threatened her friend, she seized her arm and shook it, saying:

"Well, well! what is the matter? what are you thinking about, Bathilde?

I speak to you, and you do not answer!"

"I, Ambroisine? oh! forgive me! I did not hear you."

"You seem confused, excited; has anyone been pus.h.i.+ng you or incommoding you? would you like to take my other arm?"

"Oh, no! no! n.o.body has troubled me; nothing is the matter."

"But I say that there is; it is that young gentleman beside you, who keeps his eyes on you all the time! It is intolerable, isn't it?"

"Oh! it doesn't trouble me; just look at him, Ambroisine, without seeming to; you will see what a handsome man that gentleman is."

"I don't need to look at him again; I know him perfectly well!"

"You know him?"

Before Ambroisine had had time to reply, Leodgard, who had recognized the _belle baigneuse_ in her whose arm was pa.s.sed through that of the girl who had taken his fancy, quickly stepped toward her and accosted her with his most affable air:

"Hail to the fair Ambroisine! Ah! and Master Hugonnet too! Really, this Fire of Saint-Jean is a delightful ceremony; one makes pleasant meetings here, and I congratulate myself that I came!"

"Your servant, Monsieur le Comte Leodgard! You are very glad that you came, perhaps; but, faith! I can't say as much. I have to stay here to watch these two girls--impossible to go to quench my thirst. I don't find it amusing, myself!"

"Why, my good Hugonnet, if you are anxious to take something, intrust your daughter and her young friend to me for a few moments; I promise you, on my honor, that they will be as safe as with you."

Master Hugonnet, who was exceedingly thirsty, seemed to hesitate a moment; but his daughter squeezed his arm tightly and whispered:

"Surely, father, you will not listen to that suggestion! you will not leave two young girls with the Comte de Marvejols, who is so notorious as a rake and a seducer! with his pretty speeches! If I were alone, I could defend myself; for, as you know, this gentleman tried to make love to me once, and I gave him such a reception that he never tried it again. But Bathilde, who knows nothing of the world, who is likely to believe whatever anyone tells her--Bathilde, whom her father placed in your care, because you promised him that she should not run any risk--oh! you won't intrust her to this young n.o.bleman!"

"No, no! you are right, my child! I will not leave you," replied the bath keeper, whom his daughter's words had caused to reflect. "You talk sensibly; it would be imprudent, especially with the Comte de Marvejols."

"Oh! yes, father!"

"All the same, Landry might have joined us!"

While father and daughter conversed thus in undertones, Leodgard did not take his eyes from Bathilde, whose beauty had made a profound impression on him. She had begun to tremble when she heard the name of Leodgard de Marvejols, for she instantly remembered all that Ambroisine had said to her touching that young n.o.bleman. The terrifying portrait that she had drawn of him was well adapted to take from Bathilde any wish to look at him again. But, on the contrary, whether from a spirit of contradiction, or from mere curiosity, or from that desire to learn which has so much potency in woman's heart, all the evil that one may say to them of a man will never induce them to shun his presence, and their eyes will seek him in preference to any other.

Leodgard saw that his proposition was not accepted; but what did it matter to him? Place de Greve belonged to everybody. If that fascinating girl remained there, he would remain by her side; if she went away, he would follow her. So that his face wore a pleasant smile as he addressed Master Hugonnet again:

"Well, my good man, you do not answer me? Is it because you no longer feel the inclination to take a little walk to one of the nearby wine shops?"

"Oh! no, monsieur le comte; I should lie if I said that it was the inclination that was lacking; but I cannot do it; for monsieur le comte himself well knows that I ought not to intrust two young girls to him.

No, thanks! one might as well put two lambs in the custody of a fox!"

"Eh! why so, Hugonnet? Is it because of the little dispute we had some time ago? But you see that I have forgotten all about it. Besides, I was in the wrong; I admit it.--Oh! I am not one of those men who will not hear reason; look you--in those days I was a good-for-nothing fellow--a roisterer, a libertine! But since then I have turned over a new leaf. If you but knew how virtuous I am now!"

"I congratulate you, seigneur; it must be a great source of satisfaction to monsieur le marquis, your father."

Leodgard concealed a faint smile, and his glance rested sweetly on Bathilde's face, who, although she kept her eyes on the ground, did not lose a word of what was said.

"Yes, my good Hugonnet, yes, my father felicitates himself now on having a son who is radically cured of his evil tastes; who no longer cudgels the watch, drives peaceful citizens to frenzy, raises the deuce with tradesmen, and, above all things, who no longer talks nonsense to every woman he sees! For, as to that----"

"Cadedis! the a.s.semblage is becoming most select! Here is our dear Comte Leodgard de Marvejols!"

"Ah! is it you, Chevalier Pa.s.sedix?"

"Myself, who deeply regretted my inability to join the jovial party with you and your friends and divers charming ladies, the day before yesterday. Ah! you rascal! I fancy that you enjoyed yourselves!--Cards, wine, women! You always were the king of kings for handling such affairs. It seems that everybody was drunk the next morning; there was fighting, and a general scandal; and the ladies were taken to the Repenties! That is what I call sport!"

"May the devil fly away with you, you long-legged idiot!" muttered Leodgard, turning his head away, while Ambroisine nudged Bathilde and whispered: