They opened the iron gate and began to walk along the river bank toward Marly.It was the quiet hour which precedes dawn, the hour of deep sleep, of complete rest, of profound peacefulness.Even the gentle sounds of the night were hushed.The nightingales sang no longer; the frogs had finished their hubbub; some kind of an animal only, probably a bird, was making somewhere a kind of sawing sound, feeble, monotonous, and regular as a machine.Servigny, who had moments of poetry, and of philosophy too, suddenly remarked: "Now this girl completely puzzles me.In arithmetic, one and one make two.In love one and one ought to make one but they make two just the same.Have you ever felt that? That need of absorbing a woman in yourself or disappearing in her? I am not speaking of the animal embrace, but of that moral and mental eagerness to be but one with a being, to open to her all one's heart and soul, and to fathom her thoughts to the depths.""And yet you can never lay bare all the fluctuations of her wishes, desires, and opinions.You can never guess, even slightly, all the unknown currents, all the mystery of a soul that seems so near, a soul hidden behind two eyes that look at you, clear as water, transparent as if there were nothing beneath a soul which talks to you by a beloved mouth, which seems your very own, so greatly do you desire it; a soul which throws you by words its thoughts, one by one, and which, nevertheless, remains further away from you than those stars are from each other, and more impenetrable.Isn't it queer, all that?""I don't, ask so much," Saval rejoined."I don't look behind the eyes.I care little for the contents, but much for the vessel." And Servigny replied: "What a singular person Yvette is! How will she receive me this morning?"As they reached the works at Marly they perceived that the sky was brightening.The cocks began to crow in the poultry-yards.A bird twittered in a park at the left, ceaselessly reiterating a tender little theme.
1
They returned, and as Servigny entered his room, he saw the horizon all pink through his open windows.
Then he shut the blinds, drew the thick, heavy curtains, went back to bed and fell asleep.He dreamed of Yvette all through his slumber.An odd noise awoke him.He sat on the side of the bed and listened, but heard nothing further.Then suddenly there was a crackling against the blinds, like falling hail.He jumped from the bed, ran to the window, opened it, and saw Yvette standing in the path and throwing handfuls of gravel at his face.She was clad in pink, with a wide-brimmed straw hat ornamented with a mousquetaire plume, and was laughing mischievously.
"Well! Muscade, are you asleep? What could you have been doing all night to make you wake so late? Have you been seeking adventures, my poor Muscade?"He was dazzled by the bright daylight striking him full in the eyes, still overwhelmed with fatigue, and surprised at the jesting tranquillity of the young girl.
"I'll be down in a second, Mam'zelle," he answered."Just time to splash my face with water, and I will join you." "Hurry," she cried, "it is ten o'clock, and besides I have a great plan to unfold to you, a plot we are going to concoct.You know that we breakfast at eleven."He found her seated on a bench, with a book in her lap, some novel or other.She took his arm in a familiar and friendly way, with a frank and gay manner, as if nothing had happened the night before, and drew him toward the end of the garden.
"This is my plan," she said."We will disobey mamma, and you shall take me presently to La Grenouillere restaurant.I want to see it.
Mamma says that decent women cannot go to the place.Now it is all the same to me whether persons can go there or cannot.You'll take me, won't you, Muscade? And we will have a great time--with the boatmen."She exhaled a delicious fragrance, although he could not exactly define just what light and vague odor enveloped her.It was not one of those heavy perfumes of her mother, but a discreet breath in which he fancied he could detect a suspicion of iris powder, and perhaps a suggestion of vervain.
Whence emanated that indiscernible perfume? From her dress, her hair, or her skin? He puzzled over this, and as he was speaking very close to her, he received full in the face her fresh breath, which seemed to him just as delicious to inhale.
Then he thought that this evasive perfume which he was trying to recognize was perhaps only evoked by her charming eyes, and was merely a sort of deceptive emanation of her young and alluring grace.
"That is agreed, isn't it, Muscade? As it will be very warm after breakfast, mamma will not go out.She always feels the heat very much.We will leave her with your friend, and you shall take me.
They will think that we have gone into the forest.If you knew how much it will amuse me to see La Grenouillere!"They reached the iron gate opposite the Seine.A flood of sunshine fell upon the slumberous, shining river.A slight heat-mist rose from it, a sort of haze of evaporated water, which spread over the surface of the stream a faint gleaming vapor.
From time to time, boats passed by, a quick yawl or a heavy passage boat, and short or long whistles could be heard, those of the trains which every Sunday poured the citizens of Paris into the suburbs, and those of the steamboats signaling their approach to pass the locks at Marly.
But a tiny bell sounded.Breakfast was announced, and they went back into the house.The repast was a silent one.A heavy July noon overwhelmed the earth, and oppressed humanity.The heat seemed thick, and paralyzed both mind and body.The sluggish words would not leave the lips, and all motion seemed laborious, as if the air had become a resisting medium, difficult to traverse.Only Yvette, although silent, seemed animated and nervous with impatience.As soon as they had finished the last course she said:
