Old Duroy grumbled at being disturbed. Madeleine rose and placed her chair at the door in order to wait until her father-in-law and his wife had finished their coffee and wine.
Georges soon joined her.
'Would you like to stroll down to the Seine?'
Joyfully she cried: 'Yes.'
They descended the hillside, hired a boat at Croisset, and spent the remainder of the afternoon beneath the willows in the soft, warm, spring air, and rocked gently by the rippling waves of the river. They returned at nightfall. The evening repast by candle-light was more painful to Madeleine than that of the morning. Neither Father Duroy nor his wife spoke. When the meal was over, Madeleine drew her husband outside in order not to have to remain in that room, the atmosphere of which was heavy with smoke and the fumes of liquor.
When they were alone, he said: 'You are already weary.'
She attempted to protest; he interrupted her:
'I have seen it. If you wish we will leave tomorrow.'
She whispered: 'I should like to go.'
They walked along and entered a narrow path among high trees, hedged in on either side by impenetrable brushwood.
She asked: 'Where are we?'
He replied: 'In the forest--one of the largest in France.'
Madeleine, on raising her head, could see the stars between the branches and hear the rustling of the leaves. She felt strangely nervous. Why, she could not tell. She seemed to be lost, surrounded by perils, abandoned, alone, beneath that vast vaulted sky.
She murmured: 'I am afraid; I should like to return.'
'Very well, we will.'
On their return they found the old people in bed. The next morning Madeleine rose early and was ready to leave at daybreak. When Georges told his parents that they were going to return home, they guessed whose wish it was.
His father asked simply: 'Shall I see you soon again?'
'Yes--in the summer-time.'
'Very well.'
His mother grumbled: 'I hope you will not regret what you have done.'
Georges gave them two hundred francs to appease them, and the cab arriving at ten o'clock, the couple kissed the old peasants and set out.
As they were descending the side of the hill, Duroy laughed. 'You see,' said he, 'I warned you. I should, however, not have presented you to M. and Mme. du Roy de Cantel, senior.'
She laughed too and replied: 'I am charmed now! They are nice people whom I am beginning to like very much. I shall send them confections from Paris.' Then she murmured: 'Du Roy de Cantel. We will say that we spent a week at your parents' estate,' and drawing near him, she kissed him saying:
'Good morning, Georges.'
He replied: 'Good morning, Madeleine,' as he slipped his arm around her waist.
CHAPTER X.
JEALOUSY
The Du Roys had been in Paris two days and the journalist had resumed work; he had given up his own especial province to assume that of Forestier, and to devote himself entirely to politics. On this particular evening he turned his steps toward home with a light heart. As he passed a florist's on Rue Notre Dame de Lorette he bought a bouquet of half-open roses for Madeleine. Having forgotten his key, on arriving at his door, he rang and the servant answered his summons.
Georges asked: 'Is Madame at home?' 'Yes, sir.'
In the dining-room he paused in astonishment to see covers laid for three: the door of the salon being ajar, he saw Madeleine arranging in a vase on the mantelpiece a bunch of roses similar to his.
He entered the room and asked: 'Have you invited anyone to dinner?'
She replied without turning her head and continuing the arrangement of her flowers: 'Yes and no: it is my old friend, Count de Vaudrec, who is in the habit of dining here every Monday and who will come now as he always has,'
Georges murmured: 'Very well.'
He stopped behind her, the bouquet in his hand, the desire strong within him to conceal it--to throw it away. However, he said:
'Here, I have brought you some roses!'
She turned to him with a smile and said: 'Ah, how thoughtful of you!' and she kissed him with such evident affection that he felt consoled.
She took the flowers, inhaled their perfume, and put them in an empty vase. Then she said as she noted the effect: 'Now I am satisfied; my mantelpiece looks pretty,' adding with an air of conviction:
'Vaudrec is charming; you will become intimate with him at once,'
A ring announced the Count. He entered as if he were at home. After gallantly kissing Mme. Du Roy's hand, he turned to her husband and cordially offered his hand, saying: 'How are you, my dear Du Roy?'
He had no longer that haughty air, but was very affable. One would have thought in the course of five minutes, that the two men had known one another for ten years. Madeleine, whose face was radiant, said: 'I will leave you together. I have work to superintend in the kitchen.' The dinner was excellent and the Count remained very late. When he was gone, Madeleine said to her husband: 'Is he not nice? He improves, too, on acquaintance. He is a good, true, faithful friend. Ah, without him--'
She did not complete her sentence and Georges replied: 'Yes, he is very pleasant, I think we shall understand each other well.'
'You do not know,' she said, 'that we have work to do to-night before retiring. I did not have time to tell you before dinner, for Vaudrec came. Laroche-Mathieu brought me important news of Morocco. We must make a fine article of that. Let us set to work at once. Come, take the lamp.'
He carried the lamp and they entered the study. Madeleine leaned, against the mantelpiece, and having lighted a cigarette, told him the news and gave him her plan of the article. He listened attentively, making notes as she spoke, and when she had finished he raised objections, took up the question and, in his turn, developed another plan. His wife ceased smoking, for her interest was aroused in following Georges's line of thought. From time to time she murmured: 'Yes, yes; very good--excellent--very forcible--' And when he had finished speaking, she said: 'Now let us write.'
It was always difficult for him to make a beginning and she would lean over his shoulder and whisper the phrases in his ear, then he would add a few lines; when their article was completed, Georges re- read it. Both he and Madeleine pronounced it admirable and kissed one another with passionate admiration.
The article appeared with the signature of 'G. du Roy de Cantel,' and made a great sensation. M. Walter congratulated the author, who soon became celebrated in political circles. His wife, too, surprised him by the ingenuousness of her mind, the cleverness of her wit, and the number of her acquaintances. At almost any time upon returning home he found in his salon a senator, a deputy, a magistrate, or a general, who treated Madeleine with grave familiarity.
Deputy Laroche-Mathieu, who dined at Rue Fontaine every Tuesday, was one of the largest stockholders of M. Walter's paper and the latter's colleague and associate in many business transactions. Du Roy hoped, later on, that some of the benefits promised by him to Forestier might fall to his share. They would be given to Madeleine's new husband--that was all--nothing was changed; even his associates sometimes called him Forestier, and it made
