Cousin Betty | Page 7

the establishment, and he is the
first to remind me of it; for he is not proud, to do him justice, to men in
a good position with an income of sixty thousand francs in the funds."
"Well then, monsieur, the notions you term 'Regency' are quite out of
date at a time when a man is taken at his personal worth; and that is
what you did when you married your daughter to my son."
"But you do not know how the marriage was brought about!" cried
Crevel. "Oh, that cursed bachelor life! But for my misconduct, my

Celestine might at this day be Vicomtesse Popinot!"
"Once more have done with recriminations over accomplished facts,"
said the Baroness anxiously. "Let us rather discuss the complaints I
have found on your strange behavior. My daughter Hortense had a
chance of marrying; the match depended entirely on you; I believed
you felt some sentiments of generosity; I thought you would do justice
to a woman who has never had a thought in her heart for any man but
her husband, that you would have understood how necessary it is for
her not to receive a man who may compromise her, and that for the
honor of the family with which you are allied you would have been
eager to promote Hortense's settlement with Monsieur le Conseiller
Lebas.--And it is you, monsieur, you have hindered the marriage."
"Madame," said the ex-perfumer, "I acted the part of an honest man. I
was asked whether the two hundred thousand francs to be settled on
Mademoiselle Hortense would be forthcoming. I replied exactly in
these words: 'I would not answer for it. My son-in-law, to whom the
Hulots had promised the same sum, was in debt; and I believe that if
Monsieur Hulot d'Ervy were to die to-morrow, his widow would have
nothing to live on.'--There, fair lady."
"And would you have said as much, monsieur," asked Madame Hulot,
looking Crevel steadily in the face, "if I had been false to my duty?"
"I should not be in a position to say it, dearest Adeline," cried this
singular adorer, interrupting the Baroness, "for you would have found
the amount in my pocket-book."
And adding action to word, the fat guardsman knelt down on one knee
and kissed Madame Hulot's hand, seeing that his speech had filled her
with speechless horror, which he took for hesitancy.
"What, buy my daughter's fortune at the cost of----? Rise, monsieur-- or
I ring the bell."
Crevel rose with great difficulty. This fact made him so furious that he
again struck his favorite attitude. Most men have some habitual

position by which they fancy that they show to the best advantage the
good points bestowed on them by nature. This attitude in Crevel
consisted in crossing his arms like Napoleon, his head showing three-
quarters face, and his eyes fixed on the horizon, as the painter has
shown the Emperor in his portrait.
"To be faithful," he began, with well-acted indignation, "so faithful to a
liber----"
"To a husband who is worthy of such fidelity," Madame Hulot put in,
to hinder Crevel from saying a word she did not choose to hear.
"Come, madame; you wrote to bid me here, you ask the reasons for my
conduct, you drive me to extremities with your imperial airs, your
scorn, and your contempt! Any one might think I was a Negro. But I
repeat it, and you may believe me, I have a right to--to make love to
you, for---- But no; I love you well enough to hold my tongue."
"You may speak, monsieur. In a few days I shall be eight-and-forty; I
am no prude; I can hear whatever you can say."
"Then will you give me your word of honor as an honest woman--for
you are, alas for me! an honest woman--never to mention my name or
to say that it was I who betrayed the secret?"
"If that is the condition on which you speak, I will swear never to tell
any one from whom I heard the horrors you propose to tell me, not
even my husband."
"I should think not indeed, for only you and he are concerned."
Madame Hulot turned pale.
"Oh, if you still really love Hulot, it will distress you. Shall I say no
more?"
"Speak, monsieur; for by your account you wish to justify in my eyes
the extraordinary declarations you have chosen to make me, and your

persistency in tormenting a woman of my age, whose only wish is to
see her daughter married, and then--to die in peace----"
"You see; you are unhappy."
"I, monsieur?"
"Yes, beautiful, noble creature!" cried Crevel. "You have indeed been
too wretched!"
"Monsieur, be silent and go--or speak to me as you ought."
"Do you know, madame, how