1830.
At half-past three the solid eating of the feast began; the
dessertdid not appear till eight o'clock,--each course having taken two hours
to serve. None but clerks can eat like that! The stomachs of eighteen
and twenty are
inexplicable to the
medical art. The wines were worthy
of Borrel, who in those days had superseded the
illustrious Balaine,
the
creator of the first
restaurant for
delicate and perfectly
prepared food in Paris,--that is to say, the whole world.
The report of this Belshazzar's feast for the architriclino-basochien
register was duly drawn up,
beginning, "Inter pocula aurea
restauranti, qui vulgo dicitur Rupes Cancali." Every one can imagine
the fine page now added to the Golden Book of jurisprudential
festivals.
Godeschal disappeared after signing the report, leaving the eleven
guests, stimulated by the old captain of the Imperial Guard, to the
wines, toasts, and liqueurs of a
dessertcomposed of choice and early
fruits, in pyramids that rivalled the obelisk of Thebes. By half-past
ten the little sub-clerk was in such a state that Georges packed him
into a coach, paid his fare, and gave the address of his mother to the
driver. The remaining ten, all as drunk as Pitt and Dundas, talked of
going on foot along the boulevards,
considering the fine evening, to
the house of the Marquise de las Florentinas y Cabirolos, where, about
midnight, they might expect to find the most
brilliant society of
Paris. They felt the need of breathing the pure air into their lungs;
but, with the
exception of Georges, Giroudeau, du Bruel, and Finot,
all four accustomed to Parisian orgies, not one of the party could
walk. Consequently, Georges sent to a
livery-stable for three open
carriages, in which he drove his company for an hour round the
exterior boulevards from Monmartre to the Barriere du Trone. They
returned by Bercy, the quays, and the boulevards to the rue de
Vendome.
The clerks were fluttering still in the skies of fancy to which youth
is lifted by intoxication, when their amphitryon introduced them into
Florentine's salon. There sparkled a bevy of stage princesses, who,
having been informed, no doubt, of Frederic's joke, were amusing
themselves by imitating the women of good society. They were then
engaged in eating ices. The wax-candles flamed in the candelabra.
Tullia's footmen and those of Madame du Val-Noble and Florine, all in
full
livery, where serving the dainties on silver salvers. The
hangings, a
marvel of Lyonnaise
workmanship, fastened by gold cords,
dazzled all eyes. The flowers of the
carpet were like a garden. The
richest "bibelots" and curiosities danced before the eyes of the new-
comers.
At first, and in the state to which Georges had brought them, the
clerks, and more particularly Oscar, believed in the Marquise de las
Florentinas y Cabirolos. Gold glittered on four card-tables in the
bed-chamber. In the salon, the women were playing at vingt-et-un, kept
by Nathan, the
celebrated author.
After wandering, tipsy and half asleep, through the dark exterior
boulevards, the clerks now felt that they had wakened in the palace of
Armida. Oscar, presented to the marquise by Georges, was quite
stupefied, and did not recognize the danseuse he had seen at the
Gaiete, in this lady, aristocratically decolletee and swathed in
laces, till she looked like the vignette of a keepsake, who received
him with manners and graces the like of which was neither in the
memory nor the
imagination of a young clerk
rigidly brought up. After
admiring the splendors of the
apartment and the beautiful women there
displayed, who had all outdone each other in their dress for this
occasion, Oscar was taken by the hand and led by Florentine to a
vingt-et-un table.
"Let me present you," she said, "to the beautiful Marquise d'Anglade,
one of my nearest friends."
And she took Oscar to the pretty Fanny Beaupre, who had just made
herself a
reputation at the Porte-Saint-Martin, in a melodrama
entitled "La Famille d'Anglade."
"My dear," said Florentine, "allow me to present to you a charming
youth, whom you can take as a
partner in the game."
"Ah! that will be delightful," replied the
actress, smiling, as she
looked at Oscar. "I am losing. Shall we go shares, monsieur?"
"Madame la marquise, I am at your orders," said Oscar, sitting down
beside her.
"Put down the money; I'll play; you shall being me luck! See, here are
my last hundred francs."
And the "marquise" took out from her purse, the rings of which were
adorned with diamonds, five gold pieces. Oscar pulled out his hundred
in silver five-franc pieces, much
ashamed at having to
mingle such
ignoble coins with gold. In ten throws the
actress lost the two
hundred francs.
"Oh! how stupid!" she cried. "I'm
banker now. But we'll play together
still, won't we?"
Fanny Beaupre rose to take her place as
banker, and Oscar, finding
himself observed by the whole table, dared not
retire on the ground
that he had no money. Speech failed him, and his tongue clove to the
roof of his mouth.
"Lend me five hundred francs," said the
actress to the danseuse.
Florentine brought the money, which she
obtained from Georges, who had
just passed eight times at ecarte.
"Nathan has won twelve hundred francs," said the
actress to Oscar.
"Bankers always win; we won't let them fool us, will we?" she
whispered in his ear.
Persons of nerve,
imagination, and dash will understand how it was
that poor Oscar opened his pocket-book and took out the note of five
hundred francs which Desroches had given him. He looked at Nathan, the
distinguished author, who now began, with Florine, to play a heavy
game against the bank.
"Come, my little man, take 'em up," cried Fanny Beaupre, signing to
Oscar to rake in the two hundred francs which Nathan and Florine had
punted.
The
actress did not spare taunts or jests on those who lost. She
enlivened the game with jokes which Oscar thought
singular; but
reflection was stifled by joy; for the first two throws produced a
gain of two thousand francs. Oscar then thought of feigning illness
and making his escape, leaving his
partner behind him; but "honor"
kept him there. Three more turns and the gains were lost. Oscar felt a
cold sweat
running down his back, and he was sobered completely.
The next two throws carried off the thousand francs of their mutual
stake. Oscar was consumed with
thirst, and drank three glasses of iced
punch one after the other. The
actress now led him into the bed-
chamber, where the rest of the company were playing, talking
frivolities with an easy air. But by this time the sense of his wrong-
doing
overcame him; the figure of Desroches appeared to him like a
vision. He turned aside to a dark corner and sat down, putting his
handkerchief to his eyes, and wept. Florentine noticed the attitude of
true grief, which, because it is
sincere, is certain to strike the eye
of one who acts. She ran to him, took the
handkerchief from his hand,
and saw his tears; then she led him into a boudoir alone.
"What is it, my child?" she said.
At the tone and
accent of that voice Oscar recognized a motherly
kindness which is often found in women of her kind, and he answered
openly:--
"I have lost five hundred francs which my
employer gave me to
obtain a
document to-morrow morning; there's nothing for me but to fling myself
into the river; I am dishonored."
"How silly you are!" she said. "Stay where you are; I'll get you a
thousand francs and you can win back what you've lost; but don't risk
more than five hundred, so that you may be sure of your master's
money. Georges plays a fine game at ecarte; bet on him."
Oscar, frightened by his position, accepted the offer of the mistress
of the house.
"Ah!" he thought, "it is only women of rank who are
capable of such
kindness. Beautiful, noble, rich! how lucky Georges is!"
He received the thousand francs from Florentine and returned to bet on
his hoaxer. Georges had just passed for the fourth time when Oscar sat
down beside him. The other players saw with
satisfaction the arrival
of a new better; for all, with the
instinct of gamblers, took the side
of Giroudeau, the old officer of the Empire.
"Messieurs," said Georges, "you'll be punished for deserting me; I
feel in the vein. Come, Oscar, we'll make an end of them!"
Georges and his
partner lost five games
running. After losing the
thousand francs Oscar was seized with the fury of play and insisted on
taking the cards himself. By the result of a chance not at all
uncommon with those who play for the first time, he won. But Georges
bewildered him with advice; told him when to throw the cards, and even
snatched them from his hand; so that this
conflict of wills and
intuitions injured his vein. By three o'clock in the morning, after
various changes of fortune, and still drinking punch, Oscar came down
to his last hundred francs. He rose with a heavy head, completely
stupefied, took a few steps forward, and fell upon a sofa in the
boudoir, his eyes closing in a leaden sleep.
"Mariette," said Fanny Beaupre to Godeschal's sister, who had come in
about two o'clock, "do you dine here to-morrow? Camusot and Pere
Cardot are coming, and we'll have some fun."
"What!" cried Florentine, "and my old fellow never told me!"
"He said he'd tell you to-morrow morning," remarked Fanny Beaupre.
"The devil take him and his orgies!" exclaimed Florentine. "He and
Camusot are worse than magistrates or stage-managers. But we have very
good dinners here, Mariette," she continued. "Cardot always orders
them from Chevet's; bring your Duc de Maufrigneuse and we'll make them
dance like Tritons."
Hearing the names of Cardot and Camusot, Oscar made an effort to throw
off his sleep; but he could only
mutter a few words which were not
understood, and then he fell back upon the
silken cushions.
"You'll have to keep him here all night," said Fanny Beaupre,
laughing, to Florentine.
"Oh! poor boy! he is drunk with punch and
despair both. It is the
second clerk in your brother's office," she said to Mariette. "He has
lost the money his master gave him for some legal affair. He wanted to
drown himself; so I lent him a thousand francs, but those brigands
Finot and Giroudeau won them from him. Poor innocent!"
"But we ought to wake him," said Mariette. "My brother won't make
light of it, nor his master either."
"Oh, wake him if you can, and carry him off with you!" said
Florentine, returning to the salon to receive the adieux of some
departing guests.
Presently those who remained began what was called "character
dancing," and by the time it was broad
daylight, Florentine, tired
out, went to bed, oblivious to Oscar, who was still in the boudoir
sound asleep.
CHAPTER X
ANOTHER CATASTROPHE
About eleven the next morning, a terrible sound awoke the unfortunate
clerk. Recognizing the voice of his uncle Cardot, he thought it wise
to feign sleep, and so turned his face into the yellow
velvet cushions
on which he had passed the night.
"Really, my little Florentine," said the old gentleman, "this is
neither right nor
sensible; you danced last evening in 'Les Ruines,'
and you have spent the night in an orgy. That's
deliberately going to
work to lose your
freshness. Besides which, it was ungrateful to
inaugurate this beautiful
apartment without even letting me know. Who
knows what has been going on here?"
"Old monster!" cried Florentine, "haven't you a key that lets you in
at all hours? My ball lasted till five in the morning, and you have
the
cruelty to come and wake me up at eleven!"
"Half-past eleven, Titine," observed Cardot,
humbly. "I came out early
to order a dinner fit for an
archbishop at Chevet's. Just see how the
carpets are stained! What sort of people did you have here?"
"You needn't
complain, for Fanny Beaupre told me you were coming to
dinner with Camusot, and to please you I've invited Tullia, du Bruel,
Mariette, the Duc de Maufrigneuse, Florine, and Nathan. So you'll have
the four loveliest creatures ever seen behind the foot-lights; we'll
dance you a 'pas de Zephire.'"