Fromont and Risler -- Volume 4

as so cold that the fine snow, flying through the air, hardened

hings, the joys, and the disappointments of the inventor. It had been long, very long. At the last moment he had discovered a defect. The crane did not work well; and he had had to revise his plans and drawings. At last, on that very day, the new machine had been tried. Everything had succeeded to his heart's desire. The worthy man was triumphant. It seemed to him t

ry, and the light of their lanterns in the street, the shadows of the drivers seeking shelter from the snow in the corners and angles th

." He remembered that Sidonie was giving a grand musical and dancing party, whi

stealthy apparitions with the rising and falling of its muffled notes. The guests were dancing. Risler let his eyes rest for a

ess, was repairing some accident to the costume, retieing the knot of a ribbon tied about her neck, its long ends floating down to the flounces of the tr

of the bedroom. Risler noticed that circumstance, and as the little girl had been ailing a few days before, he felt anxious about her, remembering Mad

ughing amid the smoke from their pipes. When Risler appeared there was profound silenc

t child still

he child,

r George

right off to get the doctor. He said that it wouldn't

with the half-fearful, half-audacious insolence of an inferior

g such a show on the first flo

what had

tastrophe. But he had become so accustomed in the past two years to sin with impunity that it did not for one moment occur to him that his

refused,"

man turned fri

nois' refusal, all these maddening things which followed so closely on one another's heels and had agitated him terribly, culminated in a genuine nervous attack. Claire took pity on him, put him to bed, and established herself by his side; but

use her from that apathy which made him uncomfortable. She replied w

s became calmer, the fever

to attend t

ty," she sai

he man whom she had adored so blindly, with

the carpets removed from her salons for the greater comfort of the dancers. Sometimes, too, the sound of voices reached Claire's ears i

the irreparable. The subject that engrossed her thoughts was the future. A new existence was unfolding before her eyes, dark, cruel, full of privation and toil; and, strangely enough, the prospect of ruin, instead of terrifying her, restored all her courage. The idea of the change of abode made necessary by the economy they would be obliged to practise, of work made compulsory for Georges and perhaps for herself, infused an indefinable energy into the distressing

s preparing her forces for the great battle. Such was the scene lighted by the modest little lamp

w thought of going up to his bedroom, avoiding the

as light as at noonday. He breathed the atmosphere of the day of toil, a hot, stifling atmosphere, heavy with the odor of boiled talc and varnish. The papers spread out on the dryers for

long line of deserted rooms. The old cashier was still at work, a

im. His wounded friendship had always led him to shun an explanation; he had a sort of pride in not asking Planus why he bore him ill-will. But, on that evening, Risler felt so strongly the need of cordial

nd of his employer's footsteps he did not even lift his eyes. He had recognized Risler's step. The latter, somewhat abashed, hesitated a moment; then, impelled by

he said in

own which two great tears were rolling, the first perhaps t

g, old man? Wha

who hastily withdrew his. That movement of repulsion was so instin

elf up with

hand, Sigismond

o take it," sai

ic of the orchestra upstairs and the noise of the ball, the dull, w

d Risler simply, while the grating upon whic

on his desk, as if to emphasize and driv

he Bank will come and stand where you are, to collect a hundred thousand francs; a

was stu

uined the

r dishonor. Oh! I can see your game well enough. The money your wife has wormed out of the wretched Fromont, the house at Asnieres, the

oor, and lay there motionless, speechless, retaining only, in what little life was still left in him, the firm determination not to die until he had justified himself. That determination must have been very powerful; for while his temples throbbed madly, hammered by the blood that turned

neck, cut by Sigismond's knife. Luckily for him, he had cut his hands when he tore the grating apart; the blood had flowed freely, and that accident was enough to avert an attack of apoplexy

Chorche-is this true

e to deceive him, so s

oor fellow, "so the h

my friend.

paid my debt of gratitude to you. But you, Madame Chorche, yo

. I know that you are the m

clasped hands, for there was something child-like

e," he murmured. "When I think tha

or Sidonie, was most deeply wounded, he refused to see anything but the financial disaster

ive way to emotion. We must se

mont was f

ler-where ar

he was going up

her and smiled i

ce. I have something more urgent to do than avenge my

mained with Planus during one of those supreme moments of uncertainty which

ered over the cold marble of a statue. The breathlessness due to dancing, the trembling of intense excitement and her rapid descent, caused her to shake from head to foot, and her floating ribbons, her ruffles, her flowers, her rich and fashionable attire drooped tragically about her. Risler f

me Ri

ening's enjoyment. When she saw her husband standing in front of the desk, the drawers broken open and overturned

" said Risler;

rantz's words came to her mind: "It will kill him perhaps, but he will kill you first." As she was afrai

ing?" she asked,

ailed her, a light tulle veil, and he dragged her, pushed her, rather, down the stairs leading to the counti

can raise money with all this stuff." And he placed on the cashier's desk all the fashionable pl

urned to

r jewels! Com

klace on which the initial of her name-a gleaming S-resembled a sleeping serpent, imprisoned in a circle of gold. Risler, thinking

t give up everything. Here is my portfol

his pocket

he cash-box, everything. We have a hundred thousand francs to pay this morning. As soon as it is daylight we must g

woon, made her shiver, and she mechanically drew the folds of her scarf around her shoulders, her eyes fixed on vacancy, her thoughts wandering. Did she not hear the violins of her ball, which reached their ears in the intervals of silence

n your

t drew back,

Risler, n

Down on your knees then, wretched woman!" And with irresistible fo

er me, word for word

with fear, repeated

me of humility

ler's grasp, through that open door which had tempted her from the beginning of this horrible scene, luring her out into the darkness of th

I implore you! In pity's name do not

pped towar

detai

this to consider. Madame Risler concerns us no longer. We have to save the honor of the

put out

Risler. Forgive me for

ended not t

o pay, you say? How much is

he funds, opening the jewel-cases, estimating with Planus, whose father had been a jeweller, the value o

garden, white with snow, where Sidonie's footsteps were already effaced by the fast-falli

supposed to be busy with the preparations for supper, while she

of the factory, and under the dark arches, where the cruel, freezing wind blew in eddying circles. Pere

tations and the little man's sermon under three heads. Thereupon she thought of Delobelle, her old Delobelle. In the downfall of all her splendors she remembered the man who had first initiated her into fashionable life, who had given her lessons in dancing and deportment when she was a little girl, laughed at her pretty way

ats for export- a dismal trade if ever there was one, whic

he had just discovered a fragrant soup 'au fromage', which had been kept hot in the ashes on the hearth. The actor, who had been witnessing at Beaumarc

?" he asked i

nie. Open the

e was describing the scene in the factory, lowering her voice because of Madame Delobelle, who was asleep close by, the magnificence of her costume in that poor, bare, fifth floor, the dazzling whiteness of her disordered finery ami

turn home. It is all

trayed you to your hus

ast evening a letter came from Egypt. Oh! how he treated me before that woman! To force me to k

days played about the

a Risler, and for Sidonie herself, for that matter, who seemed to him, in theatrical parlance, "a beautiful culprit,"

lass situation

e her smile in anticipation, she stretched out to the fire her

ose to do now?" Delobel

ght and get a little

ou, my poor girl. Mamma D

lobelle. I'll sleep in that armchair.

r heaved

at up many a night in it, when work was pressing. Ah,

o sooner uttered that one than he discovered with dismay that h

ating your supper, we

of the hard existence we fellows have. For you see, my gi

sehold in which she had lived twenty years must have shudd

nobody. Devoted to the service of glory and the public! Ah! I know what I would do in your place. As if you were born to live

his napkin in his neck, and helped

ith your triumph as an actress. By the way, do you know, you must take a few lessons in elocu

if to initiate her into t

ment makes one hungry; sit there, and take this soup. I am su

sting him and laughing a little at the difficulties attending her entertainment. She was less pale already,

nd joyously holding her own under Delobelle's jocose remarks concerning her vocation and her future triumphs. She felt light-hearted and happy, fairly embarked for the land of Bohemia, her true country. What more would happen to her? Of how many ups and downs wa