登陆注册
4902800000135

第135章

We have our own little tricks, we savages!--Cydalise," said he, looking at the country girl, "is the animal I need.--How much does she owe?"

"A hundred thousand francs," said Cydalise.

"She says little--but to the purpose," said Carabine, in a low tone to Madame Nourrisson.

"I am going mad!" cried the Brazilian, in a husky voice, dropping on to a sofa. "I shall die of this! But I must see, for it is impossible!

--A lithographed note! What is to assure me that it is not a forgery?

--Baron Hulot was in love with Valerie?" said he, recalling Josepha's harangue. "Nay; the proof that he did not love is that she is still alive--I will not leave her living for anybody else, if she is not wholly mine."

Montes was terrible to behold. He bellowed, he stormed; he broke everything he touched; rosewood was as brittle as glass.

"How he destroys things!" said Carabine, looking at the old woman. "My good boy," said she, giving the Brazilian a little slap, "Roland the Furious is very fine in a poem; but in a drawing-room he is prosaic and expensive."

"My son," said old Nourrisson, rising to stand in front of the crestfallen Baron, "I am of your way of thinking. When you love in that way, and are joined 'till death does you part,' life must answer for love. The one who first goes, carries everything away; it is a general wreck. You command my esteem, my admiration, my consent, especially for your inoculation, which will make me a Friend of the Negro.--But you love her! You will hark back?"

"I?--If she is so infamous, I--"

"Well, come now, you are talking too much, it strikes me. A man who means to be avenged, and who says he has the ways and means of a savage, doesn't do that.--If you want to see your 'object' in her paradise, you must take Cydalise and walk straight in with her on your arm, as if the servant had made a mistake. But no scandal! If you mean to be revenged, you must eat the leek, seem to be in despair, and allow her to bully you.--Do you see?" said Madame Nourrisson, finding the Brazilian quite amazed by so subtle a scheme.

"All right, old ostrich," he replied. "Come along: I understand."

"Good-bye, little one!" said the old woman to Carabine.

She signed to Cydalise to go on with Montes, and remained a minute with Carabine.

"Now, child, I have but one fear, and that is that he will strangle her! I should be in a very tight place; we must do everything gently.

I believe you have won your picture by Raphael; but they tell me it is only a Mignard. Never mind, it is much prettier; all the Raphaels are gone black, I am told, whereas this one is as bright as a Girodet."

"All I want is to crow over Josepha; and it is all the same to me whether I have a Mignard or a Raphael!--That thief had on such pearls this evening!--you would sell your soul for them."

Cydalise, Montes, and Madame Nourrisson got into a hackney coach that was waiting at the door. Madame Nourrisson whispered to the driver the address of a house in the same block as the Italian Opera House, which they could have reached in five or six minutes from the Rue Saint-Georges; but Madame Nourrisson desired the man to drive along the Rue le Peletier, and to go very slowly, so as to be able to examine the carriages in waiting.

"Brazilian," said the old woman, "look out for your angel's carriage and servants."

The Baron pointed out Valerie's carriage as they passed it.

"She has told them to come for her at ten o'clock, and she is gone in a cab to the house where she visits Count Steinbock. She has dined there, and will come to the Opera in half an hour.--It is well contrived!" said Madame Nourrisson. "Thus you see how she has kept you so long in the dark."

The Brazilian made no reply. He had become the tiger, and had recovered the imperturbable cool ferocity that had been so striking at dinner. He was as calm as a bankrupt the day after he has stopped payment.

At the door of the house stood a hackney coach with two horses, of the kind known as a /Compagnie Generale/, from the Company that runs them.

"Stay here in the box," said the old woman to Montes. "This is not an open house like a tavern. I will send for you."

The paradise of Madame Marneffe and Wenceslas was not at all like that of Crevel--who, finding it useless now, had just sold his to the Comte Maxime de Trailles. This paradise, the paradise of all comers, consisted of a room on the fourth floor opening to the landing, in a house close to the Italian Opera. On each floor of this house there was a room which had originally served as the kitchen to the apartments on that floor. But the house having become a sort of inn, let out for clandestine love affairs at an exorbitant price, the owner, the real Madame Nourrisson, an old-clothes buyer in the Rue Nueve Saint-Marc, had wisely appreciated the great value of these kitchens, and had turned them into a sort of dining-rooms. Each of these rooms, built between thick party-walls and with windows to the street, was entirely shut in by very thick double doors on the landing. Thus the most important secrets could be discussed over a dinner, with no risk of being overheard. For greater security, the windows had shutters inside and out. These rooms, in consequence of this peculiarity, were let for twelve hundred francs a month. The whole house, full of such paradises and mysteries was rented by Madame Nourrisson the First for twenty-eight thousand francs of clear profit, after paying her housekeeper, Madame Nourrisson the Second, for she did not manage it herself.

The paradise let to Count Steinbock had been hung with chintz; the cold, hard floor, of common tiles reddened with encaustic, was not felt through a soft thick carpet. The furniture consisted of two pretty chairs and a bed in an alcove, just now half hidden by a table loaded with the remains of an elegant dinner, while two bottles with long necks and an empty champagne-bottle in ice strewed the field of bacchus cultivated by Venus.

同类推荐
  • 鲸背吟集

    鲸背吟集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 荡寇志

    荡寇志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Young Forester

    The Young Forester

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 受菩萨戒法

    受菩萨戒法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 送韦十六评事充同谷

    送韦十六评事充同谷

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 别叫我山贼

    别叫我山贼

    秦川:我打下了一个国家!李万重:你就是个山贼。秦川:我手下兵多将广。明主:你就是个山贼。秦川:我有倾国红颜。苏明月:你就是个山贼。秦川:我会大荒九剑。阮星辰:你就是个山贼。秦川:能不能别提山贼?二牛:你爹被人杀了。秦川:……范无救:你岳父被人杀了。秦川:……卓天养:你师父也被人杀了。秦川:咱还是提山贼吧。巴必克:你就是个山贼。秦川:我……
  • 从美漫开始无敌

    从美漫开始无敌

    拥有概念性怪兽叶腐的全部能力,不死,再生,复制,进化,反弹! 穿梭万界,复制一切,不断提升,绝对无敌。 现在经历过的世界:X战警逆转未来的未来世界→漫威电影宇宙→斗破苍穹世界→增强后的铠甲勇士世界→仙剑奇侠传三世界→龙珠超布罗利世界→DC宇宙不义超人世界→西游记后传世界→一拳超人世界→遮天世界→漫威漫画主世界→奥特多元宇宙→封神→地球完结。 主角没有修炼任何体系,完全依靠天赋生存,各个世界只是依靠战斗力和破坏力来衡量 ....... 小说群是:928740655
  • 重生之农女法医

    重生之农女法医

    一朝穿越,成了还未出嫁便已珠胎暗结的小农女,家徒四壁,亲爹极品不说,家中还有一个病怏怏的老娘,唐心暖觉得压力山大!作为21世纪的女法医,又身怀奇异空间,唐心暖当然不会被这些困境打倒!分家产田地一步到位,后发家致富入朝为第一女官再不搭理无良穷亲戚半分!好心捡个傻男人回家,也日渐正常,俊朗帅气不说,对她也宠爱非凡,关键是背后的矜贵身份让旁人艳羡无比!争气将肚中孩子生下,小糯米团子长的精致,日渐长大,唐心暖忽然发现,这小团子怎么和自家那便宜夫君越来越像了?【女·高智商·法医x傻·神助攻·丈夫】【互宠文】【不断更】【架空文,不喜勿进勿喷谢谢!】
  • 疸门

    疸门

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 古墓之谜

    古墓之谜

    护士艾米·莱瑟兰接受考古学家莱德纳博士的聘用,来到哈沙尼的挖掘场,照顾莱德纳博士美丽而神经质的妻子。不知为什么,所有人都觉得考古队里的气氛越来越奇怪,这真的是因为莱德纳太太不断产生的被害妄想吗?至少有一个人知道那不是妄想,因为在一个风和日丽的下午,莱德纳太太真的陈尸于窗户紧锁的房间中……
  • 你来过我的世界

    你来过我的世界

    【有温暖,有小虐,很纯情的都市文哈~~~~~】凡的微博是:http://m.pgsk.com/u/1343870180大家可以使劲戳啦~~~【文案】“我曾想用尽生命,来爱你这个,来过我的世界里的人……”她,尹氏封竣集团千金,商场上雷厉风行,生活中淡漠如素……在她的世界里,容得下深爱她的人,却容不下背叛她的人……“我爱的人,他一定要爱我如斯。因为他是我用生命来爱的男人。”他,邪魅花心,冷峻的外表下是商场上刀刀逼人的狠手……只要有他在的地方,就有耀眼的光芒,不需要微笑或者任何动作,称霸作为世界500强内的企业,他绝对有震慑人的魄力。这样的男人,因为事业上的交锋,他遇见了让他赔入真心,甚至赔入一生的女人,尹筱安。“对我来说,你已经是一种抹不去的存在,我只知道我早就没得选择了……”还有,他,身上有着宛若万年寒冰般融化不开的气场,只对于她,可以是那般温文如玉。尹筱安,那个他深爱入骨髓的女人,再见面,却早已如陌。“未来的事,谁也不能确定会发生些什么,我不能现在就给你一个准确的答复,我唯一能够给你的回答就是,我对你的爱,生死不变。”象牙塔里的爱情和现实里的爱情,尹筱安,你究竟要什么?vinrou在此求点击+收藏+咖啡+鲜花+神笔+荷包……哗啦啦,总之各种求~(≧▽≦)/~啦啦啦
  • 迷维幻影

    迷维幻影

    白天她是一个平淡无奇女学生,想维护的只有一个妹妹和爱自己的奶奶,夜晚她是梦中的杀神,是梦的主宰者。莫翎池想着这些事只能无奈的笑着,她要的真相真难找,不过呢,现在需要先报了仇再说,谁让她讨厌欺诈呢。幻灵系统:“宿主你先完成任务我们再谈重生的事。”嗯?!要完成这么多任务,人性呢?不过看在我玩的还不错的份上就同意你的任务吧。幻灵系统默默擦汗,这宿主也是变态的一种吧?心理压力好大……玩够了就该走了,命运的转轮一旦开启无人能阻止,希望你有改变命运的能力。不要再度在那里跌落,殒灭。
  • 天下三之幸得相逢

    天下三之幸得相逢

    一个游戏一个人生,我和同袍的故事,此生与你,幸得相逢
  • Characteristics

    Characteristics

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 医妃妖娆:邪王大人千千岁

    医妃妖娆:邪王大人千千岁

    得老天垂怜,一朝穿越成了爹不疼娘不爱的千金小姐。被迫嫁给病恹恹的王爷儿子只为冲喜。成了她的妻,她才知晓,他这副病恹恹的样子,都是装模作样。二人各取所需,达成共识,步步化解危机。一次醉酒一夜荒唐,自那之后便一发不可收拾……某男一脸邪魅地笑意,“娘子,为夫今日看了夫妻之道,我们来秉烛夜谈。”某女扶腰欲哭无泪,“相公,明日再谈也不迟。”