looking at the house, which, with its closed door and windows, seemed quite lifeless. When at the end of an hour the major came out again it appeared to the captain as if he had only just gone in.
Laguitte was so grimly mute that Burle did not venture to question him. For a moment they sought each other, groping about in the dark; then they resumed their walk through the somber streets, where the water rolled as in the bed of a torrent. They moved on in silence side by side, the major being so abstracted that he even forgot to swear. However, as they again crossed the Place du Palais, at the sight of the Cafe de Paris, which was still lit up, he dropped his hand on Burle's shoulder and said, 'If you ever re- enter that hole I--'
'No fear!' answered the captain without letting his friend finish his sentence.
Then he stretched out his hand.
'No, no,' said Laguitte, 'I'll see you home; I'll at least make sure that you'll sleep in your bed tonight.'
They went on, and as they ascended the Rue des Recollets they slackened their pace. When the captain's door was reached and Burle had taken out his latchkey he ventured to ask:
'Well?'
'Well,' answered the major gruffly, 'I am as dirty a rogue as you are. Yes! I have done a scurrilous thing. The fiend take you! Our soldiers will eat carrion for three months longer.'
Then he explained that Gagneux, the disgusting Gagneux, had a horribly level head and that he had persuaded him--the major--to strike a bargain. He would refrain from informing the colonel, and he would even make a present of the two thousand francs and replace the forged receipts by genuine ones, on condition that the major bound himself to renew the meat contract. It was a settled thing.
'Ah,' continued Laguitte, 'calculate what profits the brute must make out of the meat to part with such a sum as two thousand francs.'
Burle, choking with emotion, grasped his old friend's hands, stammering confused words of thanks. The vileness of the action committed for his sake brought tears into his eyes.
'I never did such a thing before,' growled Laguitte, 'but I was driven to it. Curse it, to think that I haven't those two thousand francs in my drawer! It is enough to make one hate cards. It is my own fault. I am not worth much; only, mark my words, don't begin again, for, curse it--I shan't.'
The captain embraced him, and when he had entered the house the major stood a moment before the closed door to make certain that he had gone upstairs to bed. Then as midnight was striking and the rain was still belaboring the dark town, he slowly turned homeward. The thought of his men almost broke his heart, and, stopping short, he said aloud in a voice full of compassion:
'Poor devils! what a lot of cow beef they'll have to swallow for those two thousand francs!'
CHAPTER III. AGAIN?
The regiment was altogether nonplused: Petticoat Burle had quarreled with Melanie. When a week had elapsed it became a proved and undeniable fact; the captain no longer set foot inside the Cafe de Paris, where the chemist, it was averred, once more reigned in his stead, to the profound sorrow of the retired magistrate. An even more incredible statement was that Captain Burle led the life of a recluse in the Rue des Recollets. He was becoming a reformed character; he spent his evenings at his own fireside, hearing little Charles repeat his lessons. His mother, who had never breathed a word to him of his manipulations with Gagneux, maintained her old severity of demeanor as she sat opposite to him in her armchair, but her looks seemed to imply that she believed him reclaimed.
A fortnight later Major Laguitte came one evening to invite himself to dinner. He felt some awkwardness at the prospect of meeting Burle again, not on his own account but because he dreaded awakening painful memories. However, as the captain was mending his ways he wished to shake hands and break a crust with him. He thought this would please his old friend.
When Laguitte arrived Burle was in his room, so it was the old lady who received the major. The latter, after announcing that he had come to have a plate of soup with them, added, lowering his voice:
'Well, how goes it?'
'It is all right,' answered the old lady.
'Nothing queer?'
'Absolutely nothing. Never away--in bed at nine--and looking quite happy.'
'Ah, confound it,' replied the major, 'I knew very well he only wanted a shaking. He has some heart left, the dog!'
When Burle appeared he almost crushed the major's hands in his grasp, and standing before the fire, waiting for the dinner, they conversed peacefully, honestly, together, extolling the charms of home life. The captain vowed he wouldn't exchange his home for a kingdom and declared that when he had removed his braces, put on his slippers and settled himself in his armchair, no king was fit to hold a candle to him. The major assented and examined him. At all events his virtuous conduct had not made him any thinner; he still looked bloated; his eyes were bleared, and his mouth was heavy. He seemed to be half asleep as he repeated mechanically: 'Home life! There's nothing like home life, nothing in the world!'
'No doubt,' said the major; 'still, one mustn't exaggerate--take a little exercise and come to the cafe now and then.'
'To the cafe, why?' asked Burle. 'Do I lack anything here? No, no, I remain at home.'
When Charles had laid his books aside Laguitte was surprised to see a maid come in to lay the cloth.
'So you keep a servant now,' he remarked to Mme Burle.
'I had to get one,' she answered with a sigh. 'My legs are not what they used to be, and the household was going to rack and ruin. Fortunately Cabrol let me have his daughter. You know old Cabrol, who sweeps the market? He did not know what to do with Rose--I am teaching her how to work.'
Just then the girl left the room.
'How old is she?' asked the major.
'Barely seventeen. She is stupid and dirty, but I only give her ten francs a month, and she eats nothing but soup.'
When Rose returned with an armful of plates Laguitte, though he did not care about women, began to scrutinize her and was amazed at seeing so ugly a creature. She was very short, very dark and slightly deformed, with a face like an ape's: a flat nose, a huge mouth and narrow greenish eyes. Her broad back and long arms gave her an appearance of great strength.
'What a snout!' said Laguitte, laughing, when the maid had again left the room to fetch the cruets.
'Never mind,' said Burle carelessly, 'she is very obliging and does all one asks her. She suits us well enough as a scullion.'
The dinner was very pleasant. It consisted of boiled beef and mutton hash. Charles was encouraged to relate some stories of his school, and Mme Burle repeatedly asked him the same question: 'Don't you want to be a soldier?' A faint smile hovered over the child's wan lips as he answered with the frightened obedience of a trained dog, 'Oh yes, Grandmother.' Captain Burle, with his elbows on the table, was masticating slowly with an absent- minded expression. The big room was getting warmer; the single lamp placed on the table left the corners in vague gloom. There was a certain amount of heavy comfort, the familiar intimacy of penurious people who do not change their plates at every course but become joyously excited at the unexpected appearance of a bowl of whipped egg cream at the close of the meal.
Rose, whose heavy tread shook the floor as she paced round the table, had not yet opened her mouth. At last she stopped behind the captain's chair and asked in a gruff voice: 'Cheese, sir?'
Burle started. 'What, eh? Oh yes--cheese. Hold the plate tight.'
He cut a piece of Gruyere, the girl watching him the while with her narrow eyes. Laguitte laughed; Rose's unparalleled ugliness amused him immensely. He whispered in the captain's ear, 'She is ripping! There never was such a nose and such a mouth! You ought to send her to the colonel's someday as a curiosity. It would amuse him to see her.'
More and more struck by this phenomenal ugliness, the major felt a paternal desire to examine the girl more closely.
'Come here,' he said, 'I want some cheese too.'
She brought the plate, and Laguitte, sticking the knife in the Gruyere, stared at her, grinning the while because he discovered that she had one nostril broader than the other. Rose gravely allowed herself to be looked at, waiting
