XI

"But, Augustine, you cannot surely know what a painter is?" cried her

mother with horror.

"Madame Guillaume!" said the old man, compelling her to silence.--

"Augustine," he went on, "artists are generally little better than

beggars. They are too extravagant not to be always a bad sort. I

served the late Monsieur Joseph Vernet, the late Monsieur Lekain, and

the late Monsieur Noverre. Oh, if you could only know the tricks

played on poor Father Chevrel by that Monsieur Noverre, by the

Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and especially by Monsieur Philidor! They

are a set of rascals; I know them well! They all have a gab and nice

manners. Ah, your Monsieur Sumer--, Somm----"

"De Sommervieux, papa."

"Well, well, de Sommervieux, well and good. He can never have been

half so sweet to you as Monsieur le Chevalier de Saint-Georges was to

me the day I got a verdict of the consuls against him. And in those

days they were gentlemen of quality."

"But, father, Monsieur Theodore is of good family, and he wrote me

that he is rich; his father was called Chevalier de Sommervieux before

the Revolution."

At these words Monsieur Guillaume looked at his terrible better half,

who, like an angry woman, sat tapping the floor with her foot while

keeping sullen silence; she avoided even casting wrathful looks at

Augustine, appearing to leave to Monsieur Guillaume the whole

responsibility in so grave a matter, since her opinion was not

listened to. Nevertheless, in spite of her apparent self-control, when

she saw her husband giving way so mildly under a catastrophe which had

no concern with business, she exclaimed:

"Really, monsieur, you are so weak with your daughters! However----"

The sound of a carriage, which stopped at the door, interrupted the

rating which the old draper already quaked at. In a minute Madame

Roguin was standing in the middle of the room, and looking at the

actors in this domestic scene: "I know all, my dear cousin," said she,

with a patronizing air.

Madame Roguin made the great mistake of supposing that a Paris

notary's wife could play the part of a favorite of fashion.

"I know all," she repeated, "and I have come into Noah's Ark, like the

dove, with the olive-branch. I read that allegory in the /Genie du

Christianisme/," she added, turning to Madame Guillaume; "the allusion

ought to please you, cousin. Do you know," she went on, smiling at

Augustine, "that Monsieur de Sommervieux is a charming man? He gave me

my portrait this morning, painted by a master's hand. It is worth at

least six thousand francs." And at these words she patted Monsieur

Guillaume on the arm. The old draper could not help making a grimace

with his lips, which was peculiar to him.

"I know Monsieur de Sommervieux very well," the Dove ran on. "He has

come to my evenings this fortnight past, and made them delightful. He

has told me all his woes, and commissioned me to plead for him. I know

since this morning that he adores Augustine, and he shall have her.

Ah, cousin, do not shake your head in refusal. He will be created

Baron, I can tell you, and has just been made Chevalier of the Legion

of Honor, by the Emperor himself, at the Salon. Roguin is now his

lawyer, and knows all his affairs. Well! Monsieur de Sommervieux has

twelve thousand francs a year in good landed estate. Do you know that

the father-in-law of such a man may get a rise in life--be mayor of

his /arrondissement/, for instance. Have we not seen Monsieur Dupont

become a Count of the Empire, and a senator, all because he went as

mayor to congratulate the Emperor on his entry into Vienna? Oh, this

marriage must take place! For my part, I adore the dear young man. His

behavior to Augustine is only met with in romances. Be easy, little

one, you shall be happy, and every girl will wish she were in your

place. Madame la Duchesse de Carigliano, who comes to my 'At Homes,'

raves about Monsieur de Sommervieux. Some spiteful people say she only

comes to me to meet him; as if a duchesse of yesterday was doing too

much honor to a Chevrel, whose family have been respected citizens

these hundred years!

"Augustine," Madame Roguin went on, after a short pause, "I have seen

the portrait. Heavens! How lovely it is! Do you know that the Emperor

wanted to have it? He laughed, and said to the Deputy High Constable

that if there were many women like that in his court while all the

kings visited it, he should have no difficulty about preserving the

peace of Europe. Is not that a compliment?"

The tempests with which the day had begun were to resemble those of

nature, by ending in clear and serene weather. Madame Roguin displayed

so much address in her harangue, she was able to touch so many strings

in the dry hearts of Monsieur and Madame Guillaume, that at last she

hit on one which she could work upon. At this strange period commerce

and finance were more than ever possessed by the crazy mania for

seeking alliance with rank; and the generals of the Empire took full

advantage of this desire. Monsieur Guillaume, as a singular exception,

opposed this deplorable craving. His favorite axioms were that, to

secure happiness, a woman must marry a man of her own class; that

every one was punished sooner or later for having climbed too high;

that love could so little endure under the worries of a household,

that both husband and wife needed sound good qualities to be happy,

that it would not do for one to be far in advance of the other,

because, above everything, they must understand each other; if a man

spoke Greek and his wife Latin, they might come to die of hunger. He

had himself invented this sort of adage. And he compared such

marriages to old-fashioned materials of mixed silk and wool. Still,

there is so much vanity at the bottom of man's heart that the prudence

of the pilot who steered the Cat and Racket so wisely gave way before

Madame Roguin's aggressive volubility. Austere Madame Guillaume was

the first to see in her daughter's affection a reason for abdicating

her principles and for consenting to receive Monsieur de Sommervieux,

whom she promised herself she would put under severe inquisition.