Prince Zilah -- Volume 3

ch. He shook Varhely's hand, entered a cab, and, casting a glance at the journal in his hands

rs, excursion agencies, steamboat offices, and manufacturers of travelling- bags give to the streets a sort of Britannic aspect. The o

under pseudonyms; they did not even know them. Zilch perceived, through an open door, the reporters' room, furnished with a long table co

who can answer me?

"Have you a card, Monsieur? or, if you will w

k opened a door in the

o he reappeared, and

ow me, Monsieur F

dle-aged man, who was writing at a modest desk when the Hungar

essed young man, whom Andras vaguely remembered to have seen somewhere, he could not tell where. The newcomer was irreproachable in his appearance,

, going up to the secr

. Enghien isn't highly diverting, though. The swells and the pretty women so rarely g

Fremin, looking at his watch,

e a carria

bowed again to Zilah, and hurried away, w

sieur," and waited for him

t the copy of L'Actualite

Monsieur, who is meant

assage which concerned him uppermo

nced at th

irely ignorant to whom it alludes. I am not even certain

author of the article

able," replied Fre

en, the name of the p

e article

Puck. That i

he right to demand to see a face which is covered by a mask. But the person who makes this demand should

ed man, "suppose that the man who is mentioned, or rather insulted, here, were my best friend. I wish to demand an expla

mea

ested in having such an article publis

eur; but only one person can tell y

, Monsieur, that I des

pseudonym is only designed as a stimulant

Zilah. "Now, will you be kind

Jacq

nce he had lived in France, the Hungarian exile had not been accustomed to regard Paris as a sort of gossiping village, where everything is foun

onsieur, where Monsieu

the corner of the Rue

dras, rising, the object of hi

min, "if you intend to

you will not find h

y n

e a few minutes ago, and

hie

e Prince. "Very w

n the paragraph of Puck-that Puck, who, in the course of the same article, referred many times to the brill

ors of celebrity and quasi-celebrity for all those who live upon gossip and for gossip-great ladies who love to see their names in print, and actresses wild over a new role; who was one of the chroniclers of fashion, received everywhere, flattered, caressed, petted; whom the Prince had just

for 'L'Actualite'. In all honor, Jacquemin was really the spoiled child of the Baroness, the director of the entertainments at her house. With a little more conceit, Jacquemin, who was by no means lacking in that quality, however, might have believed that

roness had nothing to do with this outrage. Neither with intention nor t

im, he longed to punish some one; he wished, that, having been made to suffer so himself, some one should expiate his pain. He would chastise this butterfly reporter, who had dared to interfere with his affairs, and wreak his vengeance upon him as i

im at the office of 'L'Actualite' until the races were over, and

rrow entrance and a corridor, in the middle of which flowed a dirty, foul-smelling stream of water; the room of the concierge looked like a black hole at the foot of the staircase, the balus

nty and neat as if he had just stepped out of a bandbox, and his disdainful remarks upon the races of Engh

ked for Jacquemin: "Yes, Monsieur, on the fifth floor, t

at the Jacquemin who lived there was the one he had seen the day befor

the door on the right,

but he could hear within

d that there was a bell

rd some one approa

ated anger, united to a fear that the Ja

h pretty blond hair, somewhat disheveled, and dressed in a bla

he saw a strange face, she blushed crimson, and pulled he

n?" said Andras, t

here," replied the young

in, the journalis

e, which Zilah was not slow to notice. She now opened the d

ways making his appointments at the office); but, as the stranger might be some one who brought her hus

ome in, M

who could not have been more than eighteen months, crawling about on the floor. Upon the ragged oilcloth which covered the table, Zilah noticed two pairs of men's gloves, one gray, the other

dren, who were now silent, staring at the ta

d overwork; her lips were beautifully chiselled, but almost colorless; and s

?" she asked, timidly, advan

ets admitting to the grand stand. Upon a cheap little table with broken corners was a heap of New Year's cards, bonbon boxes, and novels with soiled edges. Upon the floor,

expected to encounter this wretched place, the

ed abruptly, desiring to leave at once

ll not be long away. Sit

btless brought some good news for her husband, that the Prince mechanically obeyed, thinking again t

he signature of Puck in 'L'Actualite'?" he asked. The

L'Actualite to the concierge, the grocer, and the butcher; and she was so proud to show how well Paul wrote, and what fine connections he had-her Paul, w

t gives me so much pleasure to see his real name, which is mine too, printed in full. Only it seems that it is better sometimes. Puck makes people curious, and

said

t night! It tires him so, and then it costs so much. I beg your pardon for leaving those gloves like that before you. I was cleaning them. He does not like cleaned gloves, though; he says it always show

baby away from the oldest child, who cried, and went into a corner to pout, regarding his mother with the same impudent

ften breakfasts, however, in the city, at Brebant's. It seems that it is necessary for him to do so. You see, at the restaurant he talks

ng even of her humility a pedestal for

ted woman, who spoke of her Paul as if she were speaking of her religion, and who, knowing nothing of the life of her husband, only loving him, sacrificed

any your husband any

ot what he is now; he was a railway clerk. I was a working- girl; yes, I was a seamstress. Then it was all right; we used to walk together, and we went t

he Hungarian, gently. "You are the

e blushed very red, not daring to say any more, and wondering if she had no

ften to the theatre?" asked A

s obliged

d y

t home and see to my babies; when I am sitting in the theatre, and they are left in charge of the concierge, I think, Suppose anything should happen to them! And that idea takes away all my pleasure. Still, if Paul stayed here-

n almost empty cupboard, and placed them on the t

her children, while the husband, Monsieur Puck or Monsieur Gavroche, paraded at the fancy fairs or at the theatres; figured at the races; tasted the Baron

ile, the entirely Parisian idyl of the love of the working-girl for the little clerk who loved her so much and who married her; and of the excursions they used to take together to Saint-Germain, going third-class, and eating their dinner upon the green grass under the tre

now, he certainly makes me very proud with his beautiful articles; but I don't see him; I don't see him any more, and it makes m

d peevishness of Jacquemin returning to this poor place after a night at the restaurants or a ball at Baroness Dinati's. He heard the cutting voice of the elegant little man whom his humble wife contemplated with the eyes of a Hindoo adoring an idol; he was present, in imagination, at those tragically sorrowful scenes which the wife bore with her tender smile, poor woman, knowing of the life of her Paul only those duties of luxury which she herself imagined, remaining a seamstress still to sew the buttons on the

," while she herself breakfasted off a little coffee and a crust of bread, Andras Zilah felt all his anger die away; and an immense pity filled his breast, as he saw, as in a vision of what the future might have brought forth, a terrible scene in this poor little

's impertinent little person, were now this sad-eyed creature, and those poor little children, wh

eturn," he said, rising hurriedly, "and I

r. I beg your pardon again for having giv

aid Andras, bowing wi

good news, I should be so glad, so glad, to be the first to tell it to him. You are, perhaps, although you say not, the editor of some paper which is abo

for me to see your husband. But I do not regret my visit; on the co

faltered her thanks, and seemed quite grieved at the departure of t

he slowly descended the stairs, which he had mounted in

he blond head of the young woman, leaning over above, and

lah took off his hat,

le face of the Parisian grisette, who would slowly pine away, deceived and d

d hid it away under the gutters of Paris! And I-I have encountered-what? A miserable woman who betray

anski Varhely there, with an anxi

el

-noth

his friend wh

onclusion. "I see that it is necessary to

paper, sat down, an

has disarmed him. That some one is the admirable woman who bears so honorably the name which you have given her, and lives so bravely the life you have doomed her to. Madame Jacquemin has redeemed

your domestic to purchase some toys, whatever he likes-here is the money- and take them to Madame Jacquemin, No. 25 Rue Rochechouart