Virginie was deeply moved; Denise's suffering had melted her; for the first time in a very long while, genuine tears fell from her eyes as she threw her arms about the village girl.

Nothing pacifies the wretched so quickly as to find that someone else shares their distress. Denise listened to Virginie's entreaties; she exerted herself to summon her courage; she wiped her eyes, rose, and said with a long-drawn sigh:

"I'll go back to the village then."

"Yes, my dear girl, that's the wisest thing you can do."

"But suppose he should come back, madame?"

"Well, I'll let you know, I'll come and tell you; I promise to do my utmost to learn something about him."

"Ah! how good you are, madame!"

"Why, no--the trouble is that you're a slip of a girl who ought to be kept under gla.s.s."

"Monsieur le concierge," said Denise, "if you hear anything about Monsieur Auguste, don't forget to ask where he is, and find out where a person can write to him."

"Ja, mamzelle."

"Don't you be afraid, little Denise: I'll come often and ask Dutchy if he knows anything. He's a good fellow, though he does smoke all the time, is Monsieur--What's your name?"

"Schtrack."

"Schtrack! Oh! what a name! Schtrack! I believe that that means blackguardism in German. Never mind--au revoir, Monsieur Schtrack. Come, my love, I'll walk to the diligence office with you."

Denise left Auguste's late abode, and, with her arm through Virginie's, returned to the diligence office, carrying the bag of money which she had no choice but to take back to the village. Virginie offered to take the trip with her, but the girl declined her offer with thanks, and, after urging her to try to find out something concerning the man whom she had hoped to find in Paris, she entered the stage and rode sadly back to Montfermeil, saying to herself:

"Alas! I am not lucky in my trips to Paris."

XXI

THE TRAVELLERS' FIRST ADVENTURE

Auguste and Bertrand had taken the Lyon diligence. The young man was inside, and his companion on the box,--in order to enjoy the fresh air, so he told Auguste, but in reality as an economical measure.

It was the first time that Auguste had ever found himself in a public conveyance; accustomed as he was to drive in a light cabriolet, drawn by spirited horses, and to follow naught save his own desires and stop whereever he chose, it was not without a feeling of disgust that he found himself compelled to travel with people whom he did not know, to be pushed by this one, elbowed by that one, and forced to listen to conversations which had no interest for him.

At his left was a stout party of some fifty years, with a cotton cap on his head, surmounted by a red handkerchief, and over it all a helmet-shaped cap trimmed with fur, with vizors before and behind. At his right was an old woman, whose face luckily was concealed beneath a shabby black satin bonnet, over which was thrown a green veil that no one was tempted to raise.

The vehicle had barely started when the man on Auguste's left began to perform like neighbor Mauflard, and the lady on the right followed his example. But in his sleep the stout gentleman dug his elbow into Auguste's ribs, and the old lady dropped her head on his shoulder.

Finding his hands full with repelling the elbow of the one and avoiding the other's head, he said to himself: "It's great fun to travel by diligence! Oh! my pretty cabriolet, which Bebelle drew so swiftly through the dust, where art thou? Alas! if I had been more prudent, I should still possess thee; for if I had not begun to antic.i.p.ate my income, I should not have encroached on my capital; if I had not done that, I should not have dreamed of disturbing my funds, which were safely invested; and I should have found that twenty thousand francs absolutely a.s.sured was better than thirty thousand due solely to speculation.--Pray remove your head, madame, if you please.--In that case, I shouldn't have put my property in the hands of that knave of a Destival, who consequently would not have run away with it; and then I should still be as rich as ever. I should have been able to do good with my money; and I would have gone to Montfermeil again and kept my promise to that pretty boy; I would not have made love to Denise, as she loves some man in the village who is probably married to her before now; but I would have seen her married, and would have reminded her in jest of that fall from her donkey in the woods; perhaps--Oh! for heaven's sake, monsieur, keep your arms still--you are breaking my ribs!"

Auguste's opposite neighbors were two gentlemen and a lady. The latter, who sat between the two men, was directly opposite Auguste; but as she wore a very large hood, and as she kept her head lowered, he could not see her face.

"Probably she isn't pretty," said our traveller to himself, "or she would have raised her head before this."

The lady's dress was very simple--a travelling costume. The two men beside her were travelling salesmen, one in wines, the other in linens; they had begun a conversation which seemed likely not to end before they reached Lyon.

Auguste was dazed by their constant chattering about casks, _veltes_, _jouys_, Rouen silks, good years and failures; and, disgusted by the proximity of the sleepers, he was regretting that he was not with Bertrand, and longing for the first halt, when the lady in the hood moved her foot and touched Auguste's. A "pardon, monsieur" was instantly p.r.o.nounced in a very pleasant voice. This incident roused Auguste from his despondency, inspiring the wish to see the face of his vis-a-vis; and as his legs were in close proximity to hers, he moved them slightly and said a few words as to the lack of s.p.a.ce in diligences;--an excuse for beginning a conversation. The lady replied with a "Yes, monsieur,"

but did not raise her head; whereupon our young man's curiosity became all the keener. She did not seem disposed to talk, but she did move her knees, which touched those of her vis-a-vis. Auguste was conscious of a desire to press one of those knees between his own, but was deterred by this thought: "Suppose she should prove to be ugly! How I should regret having made her acquaintance!"

Notwithstanding, the young man ventured to press one knee gently; she did not withdraw it, but she did not raise her head; and Auguste, secretly enjoying the knee-play, said to himself: "Perhaps it's as well that I can't see her features, for I can at all events imagine that she is charming, adorable. With that idea in my mind, the mere rustling of her dress causes me a pleasant sensation, and it helps me to forget the tedium of the journey. Ah! madame, if you are ugly, do not look up, I pray, for you would thereby put an end to a too delicious illusion."

As they descended a hill, a violent jolt nearly overturned the diligence. The stout man and the old lady woke with a jump. At the same moment the hooded lady uttered a shriek of alarm and raised her head.

Auguste saw a pretty face of twenty to twenty-five years, fresh and blooming, regular features, expressive eyes--in short, a charming ensemble which delighted him and caused him to press more tenderly the knee that was between his.

But she had already dropped her head again. The scare was at an end, the commercial travellers resumed their conversation, Auguste's neighbors closed their eyes once more, and he, enraptured by what he had seen, moved constantly nearer to his vis-a-vis, who allowed him to place his feet on hers.

"She is lovely," thought Auguste, "but her actions are very strange. If she allows me to press her knees like this, it must be that she likes it, or that she doesn't dare to take offence. In the first case, she is a woman who is not inclined to avoid adventures; in the second case, she is an innocent young thing, who has never travelled by diligence before. I will satisfy myself that the second conjecture is the true one; we should always look at the best side."

The diligence stopped at Corbeil. The two salesmen hastily left the vehicle; the stout man extricated himself from his corner with difficulty; the old woman of the green veil dropped into the arms of the man who held the door open, and Auguste, having alighted, offered his hand to the young lady in the hood. But she replied with a faint sigh:

"Thanks, monsieur, I am not going to get out."

"She isn't going to get out!" repeated Auguste to himself, as he stood by the door. "Poor thing! she isn't coming to the inn to dine, which ordinarily indicates obligatory economy."

"Coming to dinner, lieutenant?" inquired Bertrand, who had climbed down from his seat on the box, and was awaiting Auguste at the inn door.

"Yes, yes, here I am."

"Have you left anything in the diligence?"

"No, but I would have liked----"

"Do you hear that? they say that the pa.s.sengers must hurry."

Bertrand came forward to see what was keeping his master by the diligence; he spied the young lady and muttered:

"Morbleu! another! I might have known that there was a petticoat at the bottom of it! Remember, lieutenant--we left Paris in order to be good, to reform."

"You are right, my friend," said Auguste; and he turned regretfully away from the vehicle and followed Bertrand to the inn.

The travellers' dinner was soon at an end; urged on by the driver, they all returned to their places, the old lady carrying her dessert.

Auguste gazed with renewed interest at the young woman, who probably had dined on a modest loaf, and he placed his knees against hers once more with greater respect than before, because the idea of misfortunes puts thoughts of pleasure to silence.

The old woman requested Auguste to break some nuts which she had brought from the table, the stout man offered him snuff, the commercial travellers entered into conversation with him, everyone trying to become better acquainted with his fellow-pa.s.sengers. The little lady in the hood alone held her peace. But darkness began to fall. Auguste longed for it; his neighbors dozed, the salesmen did likewise, and he moved his knees forward, trying by that means to establish an understanding with his vis-a-vis, and saying to himself:

"If she is unfortunate, I must try to comfort her. Moreover, I squeezed her knees this morning, and should I act as if I thought her less attractive just because she hasn't the means to dine at inns? That would be worthy of Monsieur de la Thoma.s.siniere."

As he did not wish to give his vis-a-vis such an opinion of him, the young man tenderly pressed the limb which she abandoned to him, and ventured to take a hand, which she did not withdraw. Night does not always bring gloomy thoughts, and Auguste looked forward to obtaining a kiss from the little lady, who seemed of so yielding a humor. But his two neighbors embarra.s.sed him; at the slightest motion on his part toward leaning forward, the old lady and the stout man fell across his back, and he could not return to his place until he had thrust them back into their corners. The two salesmen, too, in their slumber, leaned against the young woman who separated them, and their heads frequently came in contact with her hood.

"Riding in a diligence is not all pleasure," said Auguste in an undertone.

"Oh, no! it isn't all pleasure, monsieur," replied the young woman.

But, in order to enjoy greater pleasure, the young man leaned forward again and bestowed a loving kiss on one of the salesmen, whose face was at that moment in front of the hood. The salesman woke, trying to guess the source of that mark of affection, and Auguste was amazed to find that the young woman's chin was less soft than her hand.