At the first rose that fell at her side, Yvette started and almost cried out. Others fell upon her dress, others upon her hair, while others going over her head fell upon the bed, covering it with a rain of flowers.
The Marquise, in a choking voice, cried: “Come, Yvette, answer.”
Then Servigny declared: “Truly this is not natural; I am going to climb up by the balcony.”
But the Chevalier grew indignant.
“Now, let me do it,” he said. “It is a great favor I ask; it is too good a means, and too good a time to obtain a rendezvous.”
All the rest, who thought the young girl was joking, cried: “We protest! He shall not climb up.”
But the Marquise, disturbed, repeated: “And yet some one must go and see.”
The Prince exclaimed with a dramatic gesture:
“She favors the Duke, we are betrayed.”
“Let us toss a coin to see who shall go up,” said the Chevalier. He took a five-franc piece from his pocket, and began with the Prince.
“Tail,” said he. It was head.
The Prince tossed the coin in his turn saying to Saval: “Call, Monsieur.”
Saval called “Head.” It was tail.
The Prince then gave all the others a chance, and they all lost.
Servigny, who was standing opposite him, exclaimed in his insolent way: “Parbleu! he is cheating!”
The Russian put his hand on his heart and held out the gold piece to his rival, saying: “Toss it yourself, my dear Duke.”
Servigny took it and spinning it up, said: “Head.” It was tail.
He bowed and pointing to the pillar of the balcony said: “Climb up, Prince.” But the Prince looked about him with a disturbed air.
“What are you looking for?” asked the Chevalier.
“Well,—I—would—like—a ladder.” A general laugh followed.
Saval, advancing, said: “We will help you.”
He lifted him in his arms, as strong as those of Hercules, telling him:
“Now climb to that balcony.”
The Prince immediately clung to it, and, Saval letting him go, he swung there, suspended in the air, moving his legs in empty space.
Then Servigny, seeing his struggling legs which sought a resting place, pulled them downward with all his strength; the hands lost their grip and the Prince fell in a heap on Monsieur de Belvigne, who was coming to aid him. “Whose turn next?” asked Servigny. No one claimed the privilege.
“Come, Belvigne, courage!”
“Thank you, my dear boy, I am thinking of my bones.”
“Come, Chevalier, you must be used to scaling walls.”
“I give my place to you, my dear Duke.”
“Ha, ha, that is just what I expected.”
Servigny, with a keen eye, turned to the pillar. Then with a leap, clinging to the balcony, he drew himself up like a gymnast and climbed over the balustrade.
All the spectators, gazing at him, applauded. But he immediately reappeared, calling:
“Come, quick! Come, quick! Yvette is unconscious.” The Marquise uttered a loud cry, and rushed for the stairs.
The young girl, her eyes closed, pretended to be dead. Her mother entered distracted, and threw her self upon her.
“Tell me what is the matter with her, what is the matter with her?”
Servigny picked up the bottle of chloroform which had fallen upon the floor.
“She has drugged herself,” said he.
He placed his ear to her heart; then he added:
“But she is not dead; we can resuscitate her. Have you any ammonia?”
The maid, bewildered, repeated: “Any what, Monsieur?”
“Any smelling-salts.”
“Yes, Monsieur.” “Bring them at once, and leave the door open to make a draft of air.”
The Marquise, on her knees, was sobbing: “Yvette! Yvette, my daughter, my daughter, listen, answer me, Yvette, my child. Oh, my God! my God! what has she done?”
The men, frightened, moved about without speaking, bringing water, towels, glasses, and vinegar. Some one said: “She ought to be undressed.” And the Marquise, who had lost her head, tried to undress her daughter; but did not know what she was doing. Her hands trembled and faltered, and she groaned:
“I cannot,—I cannot—”
The maid had come back bringing a druggist’s bottle which Servigny opened and from which he poured out half upon a handkerchief. Then he applied it to Yvette’s nose, causing her to choke.
“Good, she breathes,” said he. “It will be nothing.”
And he bathed her temples, cheeks, and neck with the pungent liquid.
Then he made a sign to the maid to unlace the girl, and when she had nothing more on than a skirt over her chemise, he raised her in his arms and carried her to the bed, quivering, moved by the odor and contact of her flesh. Then she was placed in bed. He arose very pale.
“She will come to herself,” he said, “it is nothing.” For he had heard her breathe in a continuous and regular way. But seeing all the men with their eyes fixed on Yvette in bed, he was seized with a jealous irritation, and advanced toward them. “Gentlemen,” he said, “there are too many of us in this room; be kind enough to leave us alone,—Monsieur Saval and me—with the Marquise.”
He spoke in a tone which was dry and full of authority.
Madame Obardi had grasped her lover, and with her head uplifted toward him she cried to him:
“Save her, oh, save her!”
But Servigny turning around saw a letter on the table. He seized it with a rapid movement, and read the address. He understood and thought: “Perhaps it would be better if the Marquise should not know of this,” and tearing open the envelope, he devoured at a glance the two lines it contained:
“I die so that I may not become a kept woman.”
“Yvette.”
“Adieu, my dear mother, pardon.”
“The devil!” he thought, “this calls for reflection.” And he hid the letter in his pocket.
Then he approached the bed, and immediately the thought came to him that the young girl had regained consciousness but that she dared not show it, from shame, from humiliation, and from fear of questioning. The Marquise had fallen on her knees now, and was weeping, her head on the foot of the bed. Suddenly she exclaimed:
“A doctor, we must have a doctor!”
But Servigny, who had just said something in a low tone to Saval, replied to her: “No, it is all over. Come, go out a minute, just a minute, and I promise you that she will kiss you when you come back.” And the Baron, taking Madame Obardi by the arm, led her from the room.
Then Servigny, sitting-by the bed, took Yvette’s hand and said: “Mam’zelle, listen to me.”
She did not answer. She felt so well, so soft and warm in bed, that she would have liked never to move, never to speak, and to live like that forever. An infinite comfort had encompassed her, a comfort the like of which she had never experienced.
The mild night air coming in by velvety breaths touched her temples in an exquisite almost imperceptible way. It was a caress like a kiss of the wind, like the soft and refreshing breath of a fan made of all the leaves of the trees and of all the shadows of the night, of the mist of rivers, and of all the flowers too, for the roses tossed up from below into her room and upon her bed, and the roses climbing at her balcony, mingled their heavy perfume with the healthful savor of the evening breeze.
She drank in this air which was so good, her eyes closed, her heart reposing in the yet pervading intoxication of the drug, and she had no longer at all the desire to die, but a strong, imperious wish to live, to be happy—no matter how—to be loved, yes, to be loved.
Servigny repeated: “Mam’zelle Yvette, listen to me.”
And she decided to open her eyes.
He continued, as he saw her reviving: “Come! Come! what does this nonsense mean?”
She murmured: “My poor Muscade, I was so unhappy.”
&nb
sp; He squeezed her hand: “And that led you into a pretty scrape! Come, you must promise me not to try it again.”
She did not reply, but nodded her head slightly with an almost imperceptible smile. He drew from his pocket the letter which he had found on the table:
“Had I better show this to your mother?”
She shook her head, no. He knew not what more to say for the situation seemed to him without an outlet. So he murmured:
“My dear child, everyone has hard things to bear. I understand your sorrow and I promise you—”
She stammered: “You are good.”
They were silent. He looked at her. She had in her glance something of tenderness, of weakness; and suddenly she raised both her arms, as if she would draw him to her; he bent over her, feeling that she called him, and their lips met.
For a long time they remained thus, their eyes closed.
But, knowing that he would lose his head, he drew away. She smiled at him now, most tenderly; and, with both her hands clinging to his shoulders, she held him.
“I am going to call your mother,” he said.
She murmured: “Just a second more. I am so happy.”
Then after a silence, she said in a tone so low that it could scarcely be heard: “Will you love me very much? Tell me!”
He kneeled beside her bed, and kissing the hand she had given him, said: “I adore you.” But some one was walking near the door. He arose with a bound, and called in his ordinary voice, which seemed nevertheless a little ironical: “You may come in. It is all right now.”
The Marquise threw herself on her daughter, with both arms open, and clasped her frantically, covering her countenance with tears, while Servigny with radiant soul and quivering body went out upon the balcony to breathe the fresh air of the night, humming to himself the old couplet:
“A woman changeth oft her mind:
Yet fools still trust in womankind.”
The Guy De Maupassant Megapack: 144 Novels and Short Stories Page 224
