LAbbe Constantin, vol 3 | Page 4

ideas before making
an entire meal of them. D.W.]

THE ABBE CONSTANTIN
By LUDOVIC HALEVY

BOOK 3.

CHAPTER VII
CONFIDENCES
The next morning, on returning from drill, Jean found Paul de
Lavardens waiting for him at the barracks; he scarcely allowed him
time to dismount, and the moment he had him alone:
"Quick," said he, "describe your, dinner-party of yesterday. I saw them
myself in the morning; the little one was driving four ponies, and with
an amount of audacity! I bowed to them; did they mention me? Did
they recognize me? When will you take me to Longueval? Answer
me."
"Answer? Yes. But which question first?"
"The last."
"When shall I take you to Longueval?"
"Yes."
"Well, in ten days; they don't want to see any one just now."
"Then you are not going back to Longueval for ten days?"
"Oh, I shall go back to-day at four o'clock. But I don't count, you know.
Jean Reynaud, the Cure's godson. That is why I have penetrated so
easily into the confidence of these two charming women. I have
presented myself under the patronage and with the guarantee of the
Church. And then they have discovered that I could render them little
services. I know the country very well, and they will make use of me as
a guide. In a word, I am nobody; while you, Count Paul de Lavardens,
you are somebody; so fear nothing, your turn will come with the fetes
and balls. Then you will be resplendent in all your glory, and I shall
return very humbly into my obscurity."

"You may laugh at me as much as you like; it is none the less true that
during those ten days you will steal a march upon me--upon me!"
"How upon you?"
"Now, Jean, do you want to make me believe that you are not already
in love with one of these two women? Is it possible? So much beauty,
so much luxury. Luxury to that degree upsets me. Those black ponies
with their white rosettes! I dreamed of them last night, and that little-
Bettina, is it not?"
"Yes, Bettina."
"Bettina--Countess Bettina de Lavardens! Doesn't that sound well
enough! and what a perfect husband she would have in me! To be the
husband of a woman possessing boundless wealth, that is my destiny. It
is not so easy as one may suppose. I have already run through
something, and--if my mother had not stopped me! but I am quite ready
to begin again. Oh, how happy that girl would be with me! I would
create around her the existence of a fairy queen. In all her luxury she
would feel the taste, the art, and the skill of her husband. I would pass
my life in adoring her, in displaying her beauty, in petting her, in
bearing her triumphant through the world. I would study her beauty in
order to give it the frame that best suited it. 'If he were not there,' she
would say, 'I should not be so beautiful, so dazzling.' I should know not
only how to love her, but how to amuse her. She would have something
for her money, she would have love and pleasure. Come, Jean, do a
good action, take me to Mrs. Scott's to-day."
"I cannot, I assure you."
"Well, then, in ten days; but I give you fair notice, I shall install myself
at Longueval, and shall not move. In the first place it would please my
mother; she is still a little prejudiced against the Americans. She says
that she shall arrange not to see them, but I know my mother. Some day,
when I shall go home in the evening and tell her: 'Mother, I have won
the-heart of a charming little person who is burdened with a capital of
twenty millions--they exaggerate when they talk of hundreds of

millions. You know these are the correct figures, and they are enough
for me. That evening, then, my mother will be delighted, because, in
her heart, what is it she desires for me? What all good mothers desire
for their sons--a good marriage, or a discreet liaison with some one in
society. At Longueval I find these two essentials, and I will
accommodate myself very willingly to either. You will have the
kindness to warn me in ten days--you will let me know which of the
two you abandon to me, Mrs. Scott or Miss Percival?"
"You are mad, you are quite mad! I do not, I never shall think--"
"Listen, Jean. You are wisdom personified; you may say and do as you
like, but remember what I say to you, Jean, you will fall in love in that
house."
"I do not believe it," replied Jean, laughing.
"But I am absolutely sure of it.