Chapter 87
Frederick having thanked him, he immediately thundered against Rateau's motion, which he described as a manoeuvre of the aristocrats. In order to put an end to it, it would be necessary to begin '93 over again! Then he enquired about Regimbart and some others, who were also well known, such as Ma.s.selin, Sanson, Lecornu, Marechal, and a certain Deslauriers, who had been implicated in the case of the carbines lately intercepted at Troyes.
All this was new to Frederick. Compain knew nothing more about the subject. He quitted the young man with these words:
"You'll come soon, will you not? for you belong to it."
"To what?"
"The calf's head!"
"What calf's head?"
"Ha, you rogue!" returned Compain, giving him a tap on the stomach.
And the two terrorists plunged into a cafe.
Ten minutes later Frederick was no longer thinking of Deslauriers. He was on the footpath of the Rue de Paradis in front of a house; and he was staring at the light which came from a lamp in the second floor behind a curtain.
At length he ascended the stairs.
"Is Arnoux there?"
The chambermaid answered:
"No; but come in all the same."
And, abruptly opening a door:
"Madame, it is Monsieur Moreau!"
She arose, whiter than the collar round her neck.
"To what do I owe the honour--of a visit--so unexpected?"
"Nothing. The pleasure of seeing old friends once more."
And as he took a seat:
"How is the worthy Arnoux going on?"
"Very well. He has gone out."
"Ah,
"And why not? After a day spent in making calculations, the head needs a rest."
She even praised her husband as a hard-working man. Frederick was irritated at hearing this eulogy; and pointing towards a piece of black cloth with a narrow blue braid which lay on her lap:
"What is it you are doing there?"
"A jacket which I am tr.i.m.m.i.n.g for my daughter."
"Now that you remind me of it, I have not seen her. Where is she, pray?"
"At a boarding-school," was Madame Arnoux's reply.
Tears came into her eyes. She held them back, while she rapidly plied her needle. To keep himself in countenance, he took up a number of _L'Ill.u.s.tration_ which had been lying on the table close to where she sat.
"These caricatures of Cham are very funny, are they not?"
"Yes."
Then they relapsed into silence once more.
All of a sudden, a fierce gust of wind shook the window-panes.
"What weather!" said Frederick.
"It was very good of you, indeed, to come here in the midst of this dreadful rain."
"Oh! what do I care about that? I'm not like those whom it prevents, no doubt, from going to keep their appointments."
"What appointments?" she asked with an ingenuous air.
"Don't you remember?"
A shudder ran through her frame and she hung down her head.
He gently laid his hand on her arm.
"I a.s.sure you that you have given me great pain."
She replied, with a sort of wail in her voice:
"But I was frightened about my child."
She told him about Eugene's illness, and all the tortures which she had endured on that day.
"Thanks! thanks! I doubt you no longer. I love you as much as ever."
"Ah! no; it is not true!"
"Why so?"
She glanced at him coldly.
"You forget the other! the one you took with you to the races! the woman whose portrait you have--your mistress!"
"Well, yes!" exclaimed Frederick, "I don't deny anything! I am a wretch!