The Bath Keepers Volume I Part 40

"Yes, mademoiselle; I was quite near him and I heard him plainly."

"Well! what else did he say? go on!"

"He said nothing more on that subject, mademoiselle; for other persons arrived, and he had comments to make on them. It seems that that young man knows all Paris; but nothing more was said about the son of Monsieur le Marquis de Marvejols."

"What a pity! I should be so glad to know something more; and it is very probable that this clerk--what did you call him?"

"Bahuchet, mademoiselle; a bit of a man, not so tall as I am, and with a most original face!"

"This Monsieur Bahuchet must know more; and as he is so talkative, if one had an opportunity to question him----"

At that moment the door of the salon opened, and a servant appeared and said:

"The clerk from the office of madame's solicitor, who came last evening, wishes to know if he may speak to Madame de Ravenelle."

"Oh, yes! yes!" cried Valentine, jumping for joy. "Let him come in; he could not come more opportunely!"

"Eh! mon Dieu! what is it? why this noise, these cries?" demanded the old lady, rudely awakened from her nap. "What is the matter, Valentine?"

"Your solicitor's clerk wishes to speak with you, aunt."

"And that is your reason for shrieking so! Let them send the clerk away; I do not care to attend to any business to-day, I am too tired."

"But, aunt, he came last night; and then, if you knew--he will tell us some very interesting things about the young Comte de Marvejols."

"What! my solicitor?"

"His clerk. I beg you, my dear aunt, let me question him; do not you take the trouble to speak, if it tires you; I will speak for you."

Madame de Ravenelle threw herself back in her reclining chair, and at the same instant Monsieur Bahuchet was ushered into the presence of the ladies.

XXIV

THE WHITE PLUME

At sight of that young man of four feet eight, with his enormous head, his huge mouth, his gaping nostrils, and, with all the rest, a self-a.s.sured and pretentious air which bordered closely upon impertinence, Valentine turned her head away in order not to laugh in his face.

Bahuchet took four steps into the salon, then made two very low reverences, one to Madame de Ravenelle, the other to her niece. As for Miretta, he simply bestowed a patronizing smile upon her, as if to say:

"I know you, my dear; I know that you are the lady's-maid."

"What do you want with me, monsieur?" inquired the old lady, without moving.

"Madame, I am sent hither by my employer, Maitre Pierre-Guillaume Bourdinard, your solicitor before the courts, and am instructed to inform you, on the part of said Bourdinard, that Sieur Benoit-Gervais Cocatrix, your tenant and debtor, now occupying your property on Rue des Lions-Saint-Paul, has not yet paid his rent for the current term, or for previous terms since he has occupied the said property, albeit we have duly and frequently served upon him notices and citations on stamped paper, which citations, engrossed by your humble servant, Nicolas Bahuchet, should be paid for by the debtor, who, however----"

"Enough! enough!" said the old lady, motioning to the little clerk to hold his peace; "you drive me mad with your pettifogger's jargon. Come to the point, if you please; has my tenant paid his rent?"

"I was proceeding to certify the contrary by my peroration, if madame had allowed me to finish.--I continue: And Maitre Bourdinard, my worthy employer, having to no purpose threatened your tenant, desires to know whether he shall grant him still more time, or shall force him to vacate the premises _ex abrupto_."

"How now, monsieur! Are you talking Latin to me? Do you imagine that by any chance I can understand it? Let my solicitor procure my money for me; he may employ whatever method he chooses--that is his affair. But I do not choose to be pestered any more with this business; that, I trust, is understood."

"Perfectly, madame; your orders shall be carried out. I will transmit them to Maitre Bourdinard personally, as I now have the honor to speak with you, and the law will take its course. _Dixi!_ Whereupon I have the honor----"

And the little clerk was already preparing to take his leave, when Valentine said to him:

"One moment, monsieur; I have a question or two--some information to request from you. But I would be very glad if, in answering me, you would employ neither Latin nor the phraseology of the courtroom."

"Oh! with pleasure, mademoiselle; now that my employer's errand is done, I become once more a jovial Basochian, master of his acts and his tongue. But when we are performing our duties as clerk, we must needs adopt the manner and language of the office. Moreover, it is always well to show that one has education! That is what I constantly tell Plumard, who thinks of nothing but finding pomades to make his hair grow. Plumard is my fellow clerk, but he is bald and----"

"I do not desire to speak to you of your fellow clerk Plumard, monsieur; but last evening you made comments in a loud tone upon a large number of persons who came to our reception."

"That is quite possible, mademoiselle; comments of no consequence. One must talk and laugh a bit, and show that one has conversational powers."

"All your comments were not without consequence, monsieur; especially those in which you indulged concerning the son of Monsieur le Marquis de Marvejols."

"Concerning the marquis's son? Ah, yes! Monsieur le Comte Leodgard; what did I say about him?--In the first place, I do not know him personally; I have never seen him except at a distance; I may have repeated what everybody says: that he was in debt; that his father paid fifty thousand livres for him lately! That is true, for Maitre Bourdinard, my employer, called the creditors together in his office, in order to obtain the best conditions and the greatest possible abatement."

"That is not all; you added that Comte Leodgard certainly would not come to our reception.--What made you think so, monsieur?"

Bahuchet smiled cunningly, scratched his forehead, and s.h.i.+fted from one leg to the other like a canary; he seemed to hesitate before replying, and looked now at the old lady, now at her niece, and again at Miretta.

"Well, monsieur, did you not hear my question?" added Mademoiselle de Mongarcin impatiently, and in an imperious tone.

"I beg your pardon, mademoiselle, I heard you perfectly; but there are some things which we young clerks of the Basoche say to one another, or when talking with the common people, which we should not dare to say to a young lady of n.o.ble birth."

"Since you have had a good education, monsieur, you should be able to use suitable terms in which to state a fact, and to refrain from saying anything that can offend my ears. So much the worse for you, if you cannot find a way to express yourself becomingly."

Bahuchet's self-esteem was stung to the quick; Valentine had hit upon the way to make him speak. He rested the hand in which he held his hat on his hip, and, striking an att.i.tude like an advocate, said:

"Mademoiselle, I am very well able to express myself, and to select my words according to my audience. Thank heaven, I have fitted myself for the profession! My parents were poor, but poverty is not a vice! I do not know who it was that dared to say: 'It is something much worse!' but I do not share his opinion. Ignorance is a vice, and so is stupidity!

Wealth does not always go hand in hand with merit! On the contrary, it seems to take pleasure in sneering at it!--Homer, poor and blind, wandered through the streets and public squares, reciting verses to obtain a crust of bread. Plautus, that original, satirical comic poet, turned the wheel of a mill for his livelihood. Agrippa died in the hospital. And it is said that the ill.u.s.trious author of _Don Quixote_, Miguel Cervantes, died of want. Ta.s.so was often reduced to the necessity of borrowing a crown."

"Mon Dieu! will he never be done?" said Valentine, turning to Miretta; "I am sure that my aunt has fallen asleep again."

The little clerk, observing that the beautiful young lady paid no attention to him, decided to return to the subject upon which she had questioned him.

"Pardon me, mademoiselle; I allow myself to be led astray by my schoolboy reminiscences. I return to the question which you did me the honor to ask me. I did say, it is true, that I believed Monsieur le Comte Leodgard to be too much engrossed by new intrigues at this moment to have time to come to your fete. My reason for saying that was that I have a friend--that is to say, a confrere--or a friend, no matter which!--one Plumard, who is bald already, at twenty-six! That is rather early to be bald!--Now, Plumard lives on Rue Dauphine--a small room under the eaves. And a few days ago we were leaning out of his window, looking into the street, and I recognized the young Comte de Marvejols walking back and forth and watching, out of the corner of his eye, the house of a bath keeper, who it seems has a charming daughter, a model of grace, beauty, and innocence. The parents never allow this enchanting creature to go out; the mother especially watches her with the greatest care. But Plumard said to me, laughingly: 'That young gentleman comes prowling about the house every day--he even comes in the evening! and it is probable that he comes late at night! He surely must have seen the bath keeper's daughter, and it is on her account that he pa.s.ses his time in this quarter.'"

"A bath keeper's daughter!" exclaimed Valentine, with a disdainful air.

"Is it possible that the son of the Marquis de Marvejols forgets himself to such a degree as to address his sighs to one so far beneath him!"

"But if the little one is a model of beauty, as they say," murmured the undersized clerk, "that causes much to be overlooked!"

"You know a bath keeper's daughter, Miretta; you go to see her sometimes, do you not? Can it be the same one?"