“And where is the sugar to come from?” she went on. “Are you mad?”
“Nanon can easily buy the sugar when she goes for the candle, mamma.”
“But how about your father?”
“Is it a right thing that his nephew should not have a glass of eau sucrée to drink if he happens to want it? Besides, he will not notice it.”
“Your father always notices things,” said Mme. Grandet, shaking her head.
Nanon hesitated; she knew her master.
“Do go, Nanon; it is my birthday today, you know!”
Nanon burst out laughing in spite of herself at the first joke her young mistress had ever been known to make, and did her bidding.
While Eugénie and her mother were doing their best to adorn the room which M. Grandet had allotted to his nephew, Mme. des Grassins was bestowing her attention on Charles, and making abundant use of her eyes as she did so.
“You are very brave,” she said, “to leave the pleasures of the capital in winter in order to come to stay in Saumur. But if you are not frightened away at first sight of us, you shall see that even here we can amuse ourselves.” And she gave him a languishing glance, in true provincial style.
Women in the provinces are wont to affect a demure and staid demeanor, which gives a furtive and eager eloquence to their eyes, a peculiarity which may be noted in ecclesiastics, for whom every pleasure is stolen or forbidden. Charles was so thoroughly out of his element in this room, it was all so far removed from the great château and the splendid surroundings in which he had thought to find his uncle, that, on paying closer attention to Mme. des Grassins, she almost reminded him of Parisian faces half obliterated already by these strange new impressions. He responded graciously to the advances which had been made to him, and naturally they fell into conversation.
Mme. des Grassins gradually lowered her voice to tones suited to the nature of her confidences. Both she and Charles Grandet felt a need of mutual confidence, of explanations and an understanding; so after a few minutes spent in coquettish chatter and jests that covered a serious purpose, the wily provincial dame felt free to converse without fear of being overheard, under cover of a conversation on the sale of the vintage, the one all-absorbing topic at that moment in Saumur.
“If you will honor us with a visit,” she said, “you will certainly do us a pleasure; my husband and I shall be very glad to see you. Our salon is the only one in Saumur where you will meet both the wealthy merchant society and the noblesse. We ourselves belong in a manner to both; they do not mix with each other at all except at our house; they come to us because they find it amusing. My husband, I am proud to say, is very highly thought of in both circles. So we will do our best to beguile the tedium of your stay. If you are going to remain with the Grandets, what will become of you! Bon Dieu! Your uncle is a miser, his mind runs on nothing but his vine cuttings; your aunt is a saint who cannot put two ideas together; and your cousin is a silly little thing, a common sort of a girl, with no breeding and no money, who spends her life in mending dishcloths.”
“ ’Tis a very pretty woman,” said Charles to himself; Mme. des Grassins’ coquettish glances had not been thrown away upon him.
“It seems to me that you mean to monopolize the gentleman,” said the big banker, laughing, to his wife, an unlucky observation, followed by remarks more or less spiteful from the notary and the president; but the Abbé gave them a shrewd glance, took a pinch of snuff, and handed his snuffbox to the company, while he gave expression to their thoughts, “Where could the gentleman have found anyone better qualified to do the honors of Saumur?” he said.
“Come, Abbé, what do you mean by that?” asked M. des Grassins.
“It is meant, sir, in the most flattering sense, for you, for madame, for the town of Saumur, and for this gentleman,” added the shrewd ecclesiastic, turning toward Charles. Without appearing to pay the slightest heed to their talk, he had managed to guess the drift of it.
Adolphe des Grassins spoke at last, with what was meant to be an offhand manner. “I do not know,” he said, addressing Charles, “whether you have any recollection of me; I once had the pleasure of dancing in the same quadrille at a ball given by M. le Baron de Nucingen, and …”
“I remember it perfectly,” answered Charles, surprised to find himself the object of general attention,
“Is this gentleman your son?” he asked of Mme. des Grassins.
The Abbé gave her a spiteful glance,
“Yes, I am his mother,” she answered.
“You must have been very young when you came to Paris?” Charles went on, speaking to Adolphe.
“We cannot help ourselves, sir,” said the Abbé. “Our babes are scarcely weaned before we send them to Babylon.”
Mme. des Grassins gave the Abbé a strangely penetrating glance; she seemed to be seeking the meaning of those words.
“You must go into the country,” the Abbé went on, “if you want to find women not much on the other side of thirty, with a grown-up son a licentiate of law, who look as fresh and youthful as Mme. des Grassins. It only seems like the other day when the young men and the ladies stood on chairs to see you dance, madame,” the Abbé added, turning towards his fair antagonist; “your triumphs are as fresh in my memory as if they had happened yesterday.”
“Oh! the old wretch!” said Mme. des Grassins to herself, “is it possible that he has guessed?”
“It looks as though I should have a great success in Saumur,” thought Charles. He unbuttoned his overcoat and stood with his hand in his
