"Oh! if you could only tell me that one, monsieur! I'd be so pleased, so happy--to look young forever! Ah! how delightful that would be! I promise you that I won't tell your secret. You see, I wouldn't want the other girls in town to stay young too! 'twould take away all the pleasure.--Monsieur, will you be kind enough to--I say--if you will, you can ask me for all you choose!"

The young servant seemed, in very truth, predisposed in my favor; I already felt innumerable desires surging in my heart; but I dared not make them known as yet; I was very green, but I felt a longing to cease to be, and I wished to receive my first instructions from Clairette.

However, when you pretend to be thirty years old, you don't want to appear to be an ignoramus; and, in order to avoid talking and acting awkwardly, I held my peace and did nothing but look at Clairette.

The girl, amazed by my silence, was afraid that she had said too much; however, the desire to remain young tormented her so that she soon renewed her questions.

"They say you're a somnambulist, monsieur?"

"Yes, I am."

"And that you put everybody to sleep?"

"I put those people to sleep who believe in my skill."

"Oh! I believe in it absolutely, monsieur! and if you would put me to sleep--Perhaps that is what gives the young look?"

"Why, yes, that's the beginning of it."

"Oh! begin me, monsieur, please! it will be so much done! Please, while we're alone and you've got time----"

"What do you want?"

"To be put to sleep, monsieur. See, I'm all ready."

I was terribly embarra.s.sed; I didn't know how to go to work to play the sorcerer, and I bitterly regretted that I had not asked my little hunchback for fuller details as to that matter. However, as I did not desire to be cruel any longer to young Clairette, who appeared to me in such charming fashion, I said to myself: "Parbleu! I'm not any more stupid than my hunchback; he hasn't taught me his way of putting people to sleep, so I'll invent a way of my own, and perhaps mine will be just as good as his."

"All right, I consent," I said to Clairette, "I'll give you a lesson; but it will only be just to give you a little bit of an idea; we'll do more another time."

"Oh! just as you say, monsieur."

The young woman was so pleased with what I had agreed to do for her, that she jumped about the room like a mad girl.

"First of all, sit down," I said, trying to a.s.sume a very serious expression.

"Where shall I sit, monsieur?"

"Why, here--on a chair by my side."

"Here I am, monsieur."

"Give me your hand."

"Oh! both of 'em, if you want."

I took both her hands and squeezed them hard; I felt a pleasant warmth run through my whole being; I was so happy that I dared not stir for fear of breaking the charm that intoxicated my senses; my eyes were fixed on Clairette's, and their tender languor aroused my first love.

Instead of giving the girl a lesson, I felt that she could teach me a thousand things. I trembled, I blushed and turned pale in quick succession; never was a sorcerer so timid; but I had forgotten my role, and Clairette had unconsciously a.s.sumed it.

"It's mighty funny," said the girl when I had been squeezing her hand for five minutes, "it don't make me a bit sleepy."

"Wait, wait. It doesn't work at once. Now you must shut your eyes."

"Bless me! shut 'em tight?"

"Yes, that is absolutely necessary."

"All right--now I can't see a thing."

As Clairette was no longer looking at me, I became less timid, and after contemplating at leisure a lovely bosom, from which I had put the neckerchief partly aside, I ventured to steal a kiss from the lips of my pretty pupil. Instantly an unknown flame set my heart on fire, I found in those kisses an unfamiliar sensation of bliss, I could not take enough of them, and Clairette made no objection, but murmured brokenly:

"Ah! why--this is funny--it don't make me sleepy--a single bit."

I don't know how that first lesson would have ended, had not my companion suddenly entered the room, just as I embraced Clairette. His presence confused me so that I reached the other end of the room in one bound. Clairette seemed less embarra.s.sed than I was; she remained in her chair, glancing from me to the little hunchback, like a person awaiting the result of an experiment.

"What are you doing, my dear Tatouos?" said the crafty hunchback with a smile, for he easily guessed the cause of my confusion.

"Why, I--I was trying to put this girl to sleep."

"Ah! you were going on to that, were you?--But, as you know, there are some indispensable preliminaries, and besides this is not a propitious hour. Take my advice, and postpone your lesson in magnetism until another time."

As he said this, my companion made signs to me which I understood perfectly; then he went to Clairette, who was still sitting quietly in her chair.

"My dear child, I am glad to see that you desire to obtain instruction, and that you have faith in our skill. Never fear, we will teach you much more than you imagine--especially Signor Tatouos, who is extremely well versed in his art, and whose one aim is to make proselytes. But the moment has not arrived. Your master wants you in the kitchen; your frica.s.sees may burn; our supper would be the worse for it, and I should be very sorry; for I have a good appet.i.te, and I don't like curdled sauces and overdone meat. Go, my dear girl,--to-morrow we shall begin our grand experiments! And if you are the sort of person that I hope you shall be initiated into our mysteries! In a word, to-morrow you shall sleep and you shall see the light."

I am not sure that Clairette fully understood my companion's meaning, but she made a profound reverence and left the room. As she pa.s.sed me, she shot a glance at me that completely turned my head. Unable longer to resist my feeling for her, and heedless of what my companion might say, I followed her into the corridor.

"If you want me to teach you all I know," I said to her in an undertone, "tell me where your room is; I will come to see you to-night."

"Oh! I don't ask anything better. Look--you go up these stairs, and up at the very top, the small door to the right; anyway, I'll leave it open a little."

"Good!"

"But you will show me how to keep young?"

"Never fear."

Clairette left me and I returned to my companion. As you see, love had already made me inventive; I was determined to leave no stone unturned to possess Clairette, and yet I was only fifteen and a few months; but a resolute will, an ardent temperament and robust health impelled me to embark upon an adventurous career before the usual age.

XI

JACQUES PUTS CLAIRETTE TO SLEEP AND ACCOMPLISHES MARVELS

When I returned to my travelling companion, I expected a severe reprimand for my inconsiderate conduct with the young maid-servant, and I had determined to reply that I would remain with him only on condition of doing as I chose; but I was agreeably surprised to see him laugh and come forward gayly to meet me.

"It seems to me, my young friend," he said slyly, "that you are already disposed to work on your own account. Peste! you are beginning rather young! However, I do not propose to interfere with you in anything; indeed, I am neither your father nor your guardian, and you wouldn't listen to me if I should preach virtue to you. Allow me simply to give you some advice dictated by prudence and by our mutual interest."