The Bashful Lover Part 12

"Oh! this is too much; do you want to make marmalade of my head?--Ah! it is that little girl who is playing these tricks on me. It is very pretty, mademoiselle; I advise you to laugh; there is good reason for it."

Louise had run to hide behind Cherubin, laughing heartily; and he, laughing also at the grimace made by his old servant, said to him:

"It is all your own fault, Jasmin; leave us in peace. Louise and I were eating plums, and having a good time; why did you come to disturb us, to tell me a lot of foolish things? that I must study, that I must be a learned man. I don't want to study! Go and drink with Jacquinot; go, go!

I don't need you."

Jasmin seemed sorely embarra.s.sed; at last he replied:

"I am sorry to annoy monsieur le marquis, but you are too big now not to know how to read or write; in fact, there are a lot of things which you ought to know, because you are a marquis and--in short, your venerable father's notary says that you ought to have prizes in Latin and Greek, and it seems that it is customary to study in order to get prizes. I have just sent after the schoolmaster of this village, Monsieur Gerondif; he is coming here, and he is to teach you, for Nicole a.s.sures me that he is a good scholar, although he is obliged to have his potatoes baked in the baker's oven."

Cherubin's brow darkened, and the little fellow replied with a very p.r.o.nounced pout:

"I don't want the schoolmaster to come here; I don't need to be a scholar. You tire me, Jasmin, with your Monsieur Gerondif!"

It pained Jasmin greatly to have to vex his young master. He did not know what to say or to do; he twisted his hat and twirled it in his hands, for he felt that after all it was necessary to compel the young marquis not to be a dolt, but he did not know what course to pursue to that end; and if at that moment he had received another shower of plums it would not have roused him from his stupor.

But Nicole had followed the old servant at a distance; the nurse realized that if Cherubin refused to learn anything at her house, they would be obliged to make him go to Paris to learn. Dreading lest she might lose a child whom she loved, and who had brought ease to her household for eleven years, Nicole felt that some way must be found to induce the boy to consent to take lessons of the schoolmaster.

Women, even those in the country, speedily divine where our vulnerable point is. Nicole, who had gradually drawn near, and was then standing behind Jasmin, who had ceased to speak or move, advanced a few steps nearer the children, and, taking Louise by the hand, said:

"Look you, Monsieur Jasmin, I see the reason plain enough why Cherubin don't want to work; it's because he plays all day with this girl. Well!

as I too want my fieu to be a scholar, I am going to take Louise to one of our relations two leagues away; she'll be taken good care of there, and then she won't prevent Cherubin from studying."

Nicole had not finished when the little boy ran to her and taking hold of her dress, cried in a touching voice, and with tears in his eyes:

"No, no, don't take Louise away; I will study, I will learn whatever you want me to with Monsieur Gerondif; but don't take Louise away, oh!

please don't take her away!"

Nicole's ruse had succeeded. She embraced her foster-child, Louise leaped for joy when she found that she was not to be sent away, and Jasmin would have done as much if his age had not made it impossible; he threw his hat in the air, however, exclaiming:

"Long live Monsieur le Marquis de Grandvilain! ah! I knew perfectly well that he would consent to become a learned man!"

At that moment Jacquinot appeared at the garden gate and shouted:

"Here's Monsieur Gerondif; I've brought him with me."

VIII

MONSIEUR GeRONDIF

The new personage who had arrived at Nicole's was a man of about forty years of age, of medium height, rather stout than thin, with an ordinary face, in which could be detected the desire to give himself an air of importance, and the habit of bending the knee in servile fas.h.i.+on to all those who were above him in social rank or in fortune.

Monsieur Gerondif had long, thick, greasy brown hair, which was cut straight in front, just above the eyebrows, and which hid his coat collar behind; on the sides it was held in respect by the ears. The teacher had gray eyes, the size of which it was difficult to discover, because he kept them lowered all the time, even when speaking to you. He had a very large mouth, which was abundantly furnished with very fine teeth, and whether for the purpose of displaying that attractive feature, or to afford a favorable idea of the affability of his disposition, he smiled almost continually when he talked, and never failed to open his mouth so far that one could see his whole supply.

A nose much too large for the rest of the face, and almost always adorned by a number of small pimples, impaired infinitely the general aspect of the professor's countenance; and the habit which he had adopted of scratching it, and of stuffing it with snuff, gave to that protuberance a very conspicuous red and black appearance, which would have been in some degree repellent, if Monsieur Gerondif's soft and honeyed voice had not lessened the unfortunate impression produced at first by his nose.

The schoolmaster's costume was rather severe, for it was supposed to be all black; the coat, trousers and waistcoat were in fact originally made of cloth of that color; but time had wrought such ravages upon them all, that it had often been necessary to apply patches upon each of those garments; and whether from carelessness on the part of the person who had made the repairs, or because black cloth was scarcer than any other color in the neighborhood, blue, green, gray, and even nut-colored pieces had been used to patch Monsieur Gerondif's coat, trousers, and waistcoat; so that he bore some resemblance to a harlequin; add to all this, socks and wooden shoes, and a generally dirty aspect, and you will have an idea of the individual who had been sent for to act as tutor to the young Marquis de Grandvilain.

As for what he wore on his head, we have not mentioned that, for the reason that Monsieur Gerondif never wore hat or cap, and that no one could even remember having seen him with any sort of head covering in his hand. He had an old umbrella, which boasted of but three ribs, beneath which our schoolmaster bravely sheltered his head when it rained, without fear that the old thing would collapse, because it was divided into several pieces.

The schoolmaster suffered terribly from chilblains and corns on his feet, so that he had been obliged to lean heavily upon Jacquinot's arm, which was doubtless the reason that Nicole's husband had announced that he had _brought_ Monsieur Gerondif. When he learned that he had been sent for on the part of Monsieur le Marquis de Grandvilain, the professor had not taken the time to remove his potatoes from the baker's oven, nor had he deemed it necessary to wash his hands, a task which he performed in fact only on Sundays and holidays.

Jasmin pushed his young master in front of him. Cherubin did not release Louise's hand, as if he still feared that they proposed to separate him from his dear companion. The old valet followed him, still holding his hat in his hand; Nicole walked behind; and they all went to receive the professor, who had halted on the threshold of the street door, sorely embarra.s.sed to know whether he should remove or retain his wooden shoes before presenting himself to the distinguished persons who had sent for him; at last he decided to appear in socks.

When he perceived the bald head of Jasmin, whose respectable costume had nothing about it to indicate the servant, Monsieur Gerondif rushed to meet him, smiling in the fas.h.i.+on best adapted to show his molars and his incisors, and saluted him with:

"Honor to whom honor is due! _Salutem vos._ Monsieur le marquis, I consider myself very happy to be before you at this moment."

While Monsieur Gerondif made his complimentary address, bowing to the ground, Jasmin, who saw that the professor had made a mistake and had taken him for the marquis, hastily changed places with his young master; Cherubin did not release Louise's hand, so that when he raised his head, Monsieur Gerondif found himself with the two children in front of him; he thought that he had made a mistake, and pushed the little boy and his friend aside with little ceremony, to place himself once more in front of Jasmin, who was at the other end of the room, saying:

"Pardon the blunder; _errare humanum est._ I place myself at your commands, monsieur le marquis. I did not even take the time to finish my slight collation, in order that I might be instantly ready for your orders."

While the schoolmaster was speaking, Jasmin once more left his place and stepped behind his master; Monsieur Gerondif seemed inclined to follow him into every corner of the room, when Nicole said laughingly:

"But you are making a mistake, Monsieur Gerondif; the marquis is my _fieu_, my foster-child, this pretty boy here."

"And I am only his very humble servant, former valet to monsieur le marquis, his father, who deigned when he died to entrust the care of his heir to me," said Jasmin, saluting Cherubin.

Monsieur Gerondif took the thing very well; he smiled anew and hastened to place himself in front of Cherubin, saying:

"I make my excuses _ut iterum_, and that does not prevent me from saying once more that I am the very humble servant of monsieur le marquis _junior_."

"Not Junior! de Grandvilain," said Jasmin solemnly.

"One does not prevent the other," replied Monsieur Gerondif, with a sly smile, "permit me to inform you, brave Eumaeus; for you remind me much of that virtuous and royal retainer of Ulysses, King of Ithaca. I do not know whether he was bald too--Homer does not say, but it is very probable. I am at the orders of Monsieur le Marquis de Grandvilain, who can now tell me what he wants of me instantly."

The schoolmaster's long sentences, and the quotations with which he seasoned his discourse, produced the best effect upon Jasmin, who, like most fools, placed a high estimate on whatever he did not understand; so he nodded his head to the nurse, muttering:

"He is a learned man! a very learned man, in fact; he will do very well for us."

As for Cherubin, who was not of his old servant's opinion, and who found Monsieur Gerondif very tiresome, he answered without hesitation:

"I don't want you at all; it was Jasmin who insisted on sending for you, to make me study--I don't know what! I am perfectly willing to learn, but Louise must stay with me during my lessons."

Having said this, Cherubin abruptly turned his back on the schoolmaster; Louise did the same, laughing heartily at Monsieur Gerondif's nose; and the two children ran from the room, to return to the garden and eat more plums.

The others deemed it best to let them go, and Jasmin asked Monsieur Gerondif, with a respectful air, if he were willing to give lessons to his young master, who had learned nothing as yet, and to whom it was high time that some attention should be paid if they wished him to have any education.

Monsieur Gerondif received the proposal with delight; he shook Jasmin's hand warmly and said:

"Trust me, we will make up for lost time. I will make the young marquis work like a horse."

"Oh, no!" cried the old servant, "my young master is very delicate; he isn't used to studying and you will make him ill; you must go gently with him."