It was on the opposite side of the landing that what Mme. Fortinpompously called" Maxence's apartment" was situated.
It consisted of a sort of antechamber, almost as large as ahandkerchief (decorated by the Fortins with the name of dining-room),a bedroom, and a closet called a dressing-room in the lease.
Nothing could be more gloomy than this lodging, in which the raggedpaper and soiled paint retained the traces of all the wanderers whohad occupied it since the opening of the Hotel des Folies. Thedislocated ceiling was scaling off in large pieces; the floorseemed affected with the dry-rot; and the doors and windows wereso much warped and sprung, that it required an effort to close them.
The furniture was on a par with the rest.
"How everything does wear out!" sighed Mme. Fortin. "It isn't tenyears since I bought that furniture."In point of fact it was over fifteen, and even then she had boughtit secondhanded, and almost unfit for use. The curtains retainedbut a vague shade of their original color. The veneer was almostentirely off the bedstead. Not a single lock was in order, whetherin the bureau or the secretary. The rug had become a nameless rag;and the broken springs of the sofa, cutting through the threadbarestuff, stood up threateningly like knife-blades.
The most sumptuous object was an enormous China stove, whichoccupied almost one-half of the hall-dining-room. It could not beused to make a fire; for it had no pipe. Nevertheless, Mme. Fortinrefused obstinately to take it out, under the pretext that it gavesuch a comfortable appearance to the apartment. All this elegancecost Maxence forty-five francs a month, and five francs for theservice; the whole payable in advance from the 1st to the 3d ofthe month. If, on the 4th, a tenant came in without money, Mme.
Fortin squarely refused him his key, and invited him to seekshelter elsewhere.
"I have been caught too often," she replied to those who tried toobtain twenty-four hours' grace from her. "I wouldn't trust myown father till the 5th, he who was a superior officer in Napoleon'sarmies, and the very soul of honor."It was chance alone which had brought Maxence, after the Commune,to the Hotel des Folies; and he had not been there a week, beforehe had fully made up his mind not to wear out Mme. Fortin'sfurniture very long. He had even already found another and moresuitable lodging, when, about a year ago, a certain meeting onthe stairs had modified all his views, and lent a charm to hisapartment which he did not suspect.
As he was going out one morning to his office, he met on the verylanding a rather tall and very dark girl, who had just comerunning up stairs. She passed before him like a flash, openedthe opposite door, and disappeared. But, rapid as the apparitionhad been, it had left in Maxence's mind one of those impressionswhich are never obliterated. He could not think of any thingelse the whole day; and after business-hours, instead of going todine in Rue St. Gilles, as usual, he sent a despatch to his motherto tell her not to wait for him, and bravely went home.
But it was in vain, that, during the whole evening, he kept watchbehind his door, left slyly ajar: he did not get a glimpse of theneighbor. Neither did she show herself on the next or the threefollowing days; and Maxence was beginning to despair, when at last,on Sunday, as he was going down stairs, he met her again face toface. He had thought her quite pretty at the first glance: thistime he was dazzled to that extent, that he remained for over aminute, standing like a statue against the wall.
And certainly it was not her dress that helped setting off herbeauty. She wore a poor dress of black merino, a narrow collar,and plain cuffs, and a bonnet of the utmost simplicity. She hadnevertheless an air of incomparable dignity, a grace that charmed,and yet inspired respect, and the carriage of a queen. This wason the 30th of July. As he was handing in his key, before leaving,"My apartment suits me well enough," said Maxence to Mme. Fortin:
"I shall keep it. And here are fifty francs for the month of August."And, while the landlady was making out a receipt,"You never told me," he began with his most indifferent look, "thatI had a neighbor."Mme. Fortin straightened herself up like an old warhorse that hearsthe sound of the bugle.
"Yes, yes!" she said, -" Mademoiselle Lucienne.""Lucienne," repeated Maxence: "that's a pretty name.""Have you seen her?""I have just seen her. She's rather good looking."The worthy landlady jumped on her chair. "Rather good looking!"she interrupted. "You must be hard to please, my dear sir; for I,who am a judge, I affirm that you might hunt Paris over for fourwhole days without finding such a handsome girl. Rather goodlooking! A girl who has hair that comes down to her knees, adazzling complexion, eyes as big as this, and teeth whiter thanthat cat's. All right, my friend. You'll wear out more than onepair of boots running after women before you catch one like her."That was exactly Maxence's opinion; and yet with his coldest look,"Has she been long your tenant, dear Mme. Fortin?" he asked.
"A little over a year. She was here during the siege; and justthen, as she could not pay her rent, I was, of course, going tosend her off; but she went straight to the commissary of police,who came here, and forbade me to turn out either her or anybodyelse. As if people were not masters in their own house!""That was perfectly absurd!" objected Maxence, who was determinedto gain the good graces of the landlady.
"Never heard of such a thing!" she went on. "Compel you to lodgepeople free! Why not feed them too? In short, she remained solong, that, after the Commune, she owed me a hundred and eightyfrancs. Then she said, that, if I would let her stay, she wouldpay me each month in advance, besides the rent, ten francs on theold account. I agreed, and she has already paid up twenty francs.""Poor girl!" said Maxence.
But Mme. Fortin shrugged her shoulders.
"Really," she replied, "I don't pity her much; for, if she onlywanted, in forty-eight hours I should be paid, and she would havesomething else on her back besides that old black rag. I tell herevery day, 'In these days, my child, there is but one reliablefriend, which is better than all others, and which must be taken asit comes, without making any faces if it is a little dirty: that'smoney.' But all my preaching goes for nothing. I might as wellsing."Maxence was listening with intense delight.
"In short, what does she do?" he asked.
"That's more than I know," replied Mme. Fortin. "The young ladyhas not much to say. All I know is, that she leaves every morningbright and early, and rarely gets home before eleven. On Sundayshe stays home, reading; and sometimes, in the evening, she goesout, always alone, to some theatre or ball. Ah! she is an oddone, I tell you!"A lodger who came in interrupted the landlady; and Maxence walkedoff dreaming how he could manage to make the acquaintance of hispretty and eccentric neighbor.
Because he had once spent some hundreds of napoleons in the companyof young ladies with yellow chignons, Maxence fancied himself a manof experience, and had but little faith in the virtue of a girl oftwenty, living alone in a hotel, and left sole mistress of her ownfancy. He began to watch for every occasion of meeting her; and,towards the last of the month, he had got so far as to bow to her,and to inquire after her health.
But, the first time he ventured to make love to her, she looked athim head to foot, and turned her back upon him with so much contempt,that he remained, his mouth wide open, perfectly stupefied.
"I am losing my time like a fool," he thought.
Great, then, was his surprise, when the following week, on a fineafternoon, he saw Mlle. Lucienne leave her room, no longer clad inher eternal black dress, but wearing a brilliant and extremely richtoilet. With a beating heart he followed her.
In front of the Hotel des Folies stood a handsome carriage andhorses.
As soon as Mlle. Lucienne appeared, a footman opened respectfullythe carriage-door. She went in; and the horses started at a fulltrot.
Maxence watched the carriage disappear in the distance, like achild who sees the bird fly upon which he hoped to lay hands.
"Gone," he muttered, "gone!"But, when he turned around, he found himself face to face with theFortins, man and wife; who were laughing a sinister laugh.
"What did I tell you?" exclaimed Mine Fortin. "There she is,started at last. Get up, horse! She'll do well, the child."The magnificent equipage and elegant dress had already producedquite an effect among the neighbors. The customers sitting in frontof the caf were laughing among themselves. The confectioner andhis wife were casting indignant glances at the proprietors of theHotel des Folies.
"You see, M. Favoral," replied Mme. Fortin, "such a girl as thatwas not made for our neighborhood. You must make up your mind toit; you won't see much more of her on the Boulevard du Temple."Without saying a word, Maxence ran to his room, the hot tearsstreaming from his eyes. He felt ashamed of himself; for, afterall, what was this girl to him?.
She is gone!" he repeated to himself. "Well, good-by, let her go!"But, despite all his efforts at philosophy, he felt an immensesadness invading his heart: ill-defined regrets and spasms of angeragitated him. He was thinking what a fool he had been to believein the grand airs of the young lady, and that, if he had had dressesand horses to give her, she might not have received him so harshly.
At last he made up his mind to think no more of her, - one of thosefine resolutions which are always taken, and never kept; and in theevening he left his room to go and dine in the Rue St. Gilles.
But, as was often his custom, he stopped at the caf next door, andcalled for a drink. He was mixing his absinthe when he saw thecarriage that had carried off Mlle. Lucienne in the morning returningat a rapid gait, and stopping short in front of the hotel. Mlle.
Lucienne got out slowly, crossed the sidewalk, and entered thenarrow corridor. Almost immediately, the carriage turned around,and drove off.
"What does it mean?" thought Maxence, who was actually forgettingto swallow his absinthe.
He was losing himself in absurd conjectures, when, some fifteenminutes later, he saw the girl coming out again. Already she hadtaken off her elegant clothes, and resumed her cheap black dress.
She had a basket on her arm, and was going towards the Rue Chariot.
Without further reflections, Maxence rose suddenly, and started tofollow her, being very careful that she should not see him. Afterwalking for five or six minutes, she entered a shop, half-eatinghouse, and half wine-shop, in the window of which a large signcould be read: "Ordinary at all hours for forty centimes. Hardboiled eggs, and salad of the season."Maxence, having crept up as close as he could, saw Mlle. Luciennetake a tin box out of her basket, and have what is called an"ordinaire" poured into it; that is, half a pint of soup, a pieceof beef as large as the fist, and a few vegetables. She then hada small bottle half-filled with wine, paid, and walked out withthat same look of grave dignity which she always wore.
"Funny dinner," murmured Maxence, "for a woman who was spreadingherself just now in a ten-thousand-franc carriage."From that moment she became the sole and only object of his thoughts.
A passion, which he no longer attempted to resist, was penetratinglike a subtle poison to the innermost depths of his being. Hethought himself happy, when, after watching for hours, he caught aglimpse of this singular creature, who, after that extraordinaryexpedition, seemed to have resumed her usual mode of life. Mme.
Fortin was dumfounded.
"She has been too exacting," she said to Maxence, "and the thinghas fallen through."He made no answer. He felt a perfect horror for the honorablelandlady's insinuations; and yet he never ceased to repeat tohimself that he must be a great simpleton to have faith for amoment in that young lady's virtue. What would he not have givento be able to question her? But he dared not. Often he wouldgather up his courage, and wait for her on the stairs; but, assoon as she fixed upon him her great black eye, all the phraseshe had prepared took flight from h............