A Distinguished Provincial at Paris | Page 6

we must look
all possibilities in the face), when failure drives us back to the Escarbas,
then remember, love, that I foresaw the end, and that at the first I
proposed that we should make your way by conforming to established
rules."
"Louise," he cried, with his arms around her, "you are wise; you
frighten me! Remember that I am a child, that I have given myself up
entirely to your dear will. I myself should have preferred to overcome
obstacles and win my way among men by the power that is in me; but
if I can reach the goal sooner through your aid, I shall be very glad to
owe all my success to you. Forgive me! You mean so much to me that I
cannot help fearing all kinds of things; and, for me, parting means that
desertion is at hand, and desertion is death."
"But, my dear boy, the world's demands are soon satisfied," returned
she. "You must sleep here; that is all. All day long you will be with me,
and no one can say a word."
A few kisses set Lucien's mind completely at rest. An hour later Gentil
brought in a note from Chatelet. He told Mme. de Bargeton that he had
found lodgings for her in the Rue Nueve-de-Luxembourg. Mme. de
Bargeton informed herself of the exact place, and found that it was not
very far from the Rue de l'Echelle. "We shall be neighbors," she told
Lucien.
Two hours afterwards Louise stepped into the hired carriage sent by
Chatelet for the removal to the new rooms. The apartments were of the
class that upholsterers furnish and let to wealthy deputies and persons
of consideration on a short visit to Paris--showy and uncomfortable. It
was eleven o'clock when Lucien returned to his inn, having seen
nothing as yet of Paris except the part of the Rue Saint- Honore which
lies between the Rue Neuve-de-Luxembourg and the Rue de l'Echelle.
He lay down in his miserable little room, and could not help comparing
it in his own mind with Louise's sumptuous apartments.
Just as he came away the Baron du Chatelet came in, gorgeously

arrayed in evening dress, fresh from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, to
inquire whether Mme. de Bargeton was satisfied with all that he had
done on her behalf. Nais was uneasy. The splendor was alarming to her
mind. Provincial life had reacted upon her; she was painfully
conscientious over her accounts, and economical to a degree that is
looked upon as miserly in Paris. She had brought with her twenty
thousand francs in the shape of a draft on the Receiver-General,
considering that the sum would more than cover the expenses of four
years in Paris; she was afraid already lest she should not have enough,
and should run into debt; and now Chatelet told her that her rooms
would only cost six hundred francs per month.
"A mere trifle," added he, seeing that Nais was startled. "For five
hundred francs a month you can have a carriage from a livery stable;
fifty louis in all. You need only think of your dress. A woman moving
in good society could not well do less; and if you mean to obtain a
Receiver-General's appointment for M. de Bargeton, or a post in the
Household, you ought not to look poverty-stricken. Here, in Paris, they
only give to the rich. It is most fortunate that you brought Gentil to go
out with you, and Albertine for your own woman, for servants are
enough to ruin you here. But with your introductions you will seldom
be home to a meal."
Mme. de Bargeton and the Baron de Chatelet chatted about Paris.
Chatelet gave her all the news of the day, the myriad nothings that you
are bound to know, under penalty of being a nobody. Before very long
the Baron also gave advice as to shopping, recommending Herbault for
toques and Juliette for hats and bonnets; he added the address of a
fashionable dressmaker to supersede Victorine. In short, he made the
lady see the necessity of rubbing off Angouleme. Then he took his
leave after a final flash of happy inspiration.
"I expect I shall have a box at one of the theatres to-morrow," he
remarked carelessly; "I will call for you and M. de Rubempre, for you
must allow me to do the honors of Paris."
"There is more generosity in his character than I thought," said Mme.
de Bargeton to herself when Lucien was included in the invitation.

In the month of June ministers are often puzzled to know what to do
with boxes at the theatre; ministerialist deputies and their constituents
are busy in their vineyards or harvest fields, and their more exacting
acquaintances are in the country or traveling