Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant (most popular ebook readers TXT) 📖

following day they signed a deed for five hundred thousand francs, which Madeleine du Roy gave up to her husband.

On leaving the office, as it was pleasant, Georges proposed that they take a stroll along the boulevards. He was very tender, very careful of her, and laughed joyously while she remained pensive and grave.

It was a cold, autumn day. The pedestrians seemed in haste and walked along rapidly.

Du Roy led his wife to the shop into the windows of which he had so often gazed at the coveted chronometer.

“Shall I buy you some trinket?” he asked.

She replied indifferently: “As you like.”

They entered the shop: “What would you prefer, a necklace, a bracelet, or earrings?”

The sight of the brilliant gems made her eyes sparkle in spite of herself, as she glanced at the cases filled with costly baubles.

Suddenly she exclaimed: “There is a lovely bracelet.”

It was a chain, very unique in shape, every link of which was set with a different stone.

Georges asked: “How much is that bracelet?”

The jeweler replied: “Three thousand francs, sir.”

“If you will let me have it for two thousand five hundred, I will take it.”

The man hesitated, then replied: “No, sir, it is impossible.”

Du Roy said: “See here—throw in this chronometer at fifteen hundred francs; that makes four thousand, and I will pay cash. If you do not agree, I will go somewhere else.”

The jeweler finally yielded. “Very well, sir.”

The journalist, after leaving his address, said: “You can have my initials G. R. C. interlaced below a baron’s crown, engraved on the chronometer.”

Madeleine, in surprise, smiled, and when they left the shop, she took his arm quite affectionately. She thought him very shrewd and clever. He was right; now that he had a fortune he must have a title.

They passed the Vaudeville on their way arid, entering, secured a box. Then they repaired to Mme, de Marelle’s at Georges’ suggestion, to invite her to spend the evening with them. Georges rather dreaded the first meeting with Clotilde, but she did not seem to bear him any malice, or even to remember their disagreement. The dinner, which they took at a restaurant, was excellent, and the evening altogether enjoyable.

Georges and Madeleine returned home late. The gas was extinguished, and in order to light the way the journalist from time to time struck a match. On reaching the landing on the first floor they saw their reflections in the mirror. Du Roy raised his hand with the lighted match in it, in order to distinguish their images more clearly, and said, with a triumphant smile:

“The millionaires are passing by.”

 

CHAPTER XV.

SUZANNE

Morocco had been conquered; France, the mistress of Tangiers, had guaranteed the debt of the annexed country. It was rumored that two ministers, Laroche-Mathieu being one of them, had made twenty millions.

As for Walter, in a few days he had become one of the masters of the world—a financier more omnipotent than a king. He was no longer the Jew, Walter, the director of a bank, the proprietor of a yellow newspaper; he was M. Walter the wealthy Israelite, and he wished to prove it.

Knowing the straitened circumstances of the Prince de Carlsbourg who owned one of the fairest mansions on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, he proposed to buy it. He offered three million francs for it. The prince, tempted by the sum, accepted his offer; the next day, Walter took possession of his new dwelling. Then another idea occurred to him—an idea of conquering all Paris—an idea a la Bonaparte.

At that time everyone was raving over a painting by the Hungarian, Karl Marcovitch, exhibited by Jacques Lenoble and representing “Christ Walking on the Water.” Art critics enthusiastically declared it to be the most magnificent painting of the age. Walter bought it, thereby causing entire Paris to talk of him, to envy him, to censure or approve his action. He issued an announcement in the papers that everyone was invited to come on a certain evening to see it.

Du Roy was jealous of M. Walter’s success. He had thought himself wealthy with the five hundred thousand francs extorted from his wife, and now he felt poor as he compared his paltry fortune with the shower of millions around him. His envious rage increased daily. He cherished ill will toward everyone—toward the Walters, even toward his wife, and above all toward the man who had deceived him, made use of him, and who dined twice a week at his house. Georges acted as his secretary, agent, mouthpiece, and when he wrote at his dictation, he felt a mad desire to strangle him. Laroche reigned supreme in the Du Roy household, having taken the place of Count de Vaudrec; he spoke to the servants as if he were their master. Georges submitted to it all, like a dog which wishes to bite and dares not. But he was often harsh and brutal to Madeleine, who merely shrugged her shoulders and treated him as one would a fretful child. She was surprised, too, at his constant ill humor, and said: “I do not understand you. You are always complaining. Your position is excellent.”

His only reply was to turn his back upon her. He declared that he would not attend M. Walter’s fete—that he would not cross the miserable Jew’s threshold. For two months Mme. Walter had written to him daily, beseeching him to come to see her, to appoint a meeting where he would, in order that she might give him the seventy thousand francs she had made for him. He did not reply and threw her letters into the fire. Not that he would have refused to accept his share of the profits, but he enjoyed treating her scornfully, trampling her under foot; she was too wealthy; he would be inflexible.

The day of the exhibition of the picture, as Madeleine chided him for not going, he replied: “Leave me in peace. I shall remain at home.”

After they had dined, he said suddenly, “I suppose I shall have to go through with it. Get ready quickly.”

“I shall be ready in fifteen minutes,” she said.

As they entered the courtyard of the Hotel de Carlsbourg it was one blaze of light. A magnificent carpet was spread upon the steps leading to the entrance, and upon each one stood a man in livery, as rigid as marble.

Du Roy’s heart was torn with jealousy. He and his wife ascended the steps and gave their wraps to the footmen who approached them.

At the entrance to the drawing-room, two children, one in pink, the other in blue, handed bouquets to the ladies.

The rooms were already well filled. The majority of the ladies were in street costumes, a proof that they came thither as they would go to any exhibition. The few who intended to remain to the ball which was to follow wore evening dress.

Mme. Walter, surrounded by friends, stood in the second salon and received the visitors. Many did not know her, and walked through the rooms as if in a museum—without paying any heed to the host and hostess.

When Virginie perceived Du Roy, she grew livid and made a movement toward him; then she paused and waited for him to advance. He bowed ceremoniously, while Madeleine greeted her effusively. Georges left his wife near Mme. Walter and mingled with the guests. Five drawing-rooms opened one into the other; they were carpeted with rich, oriental rugs, and upon their walls hung paintings by the old masters. As he made his way through the throng, some one seized his arm, and a fresh, youthful voice whispered in his ear: “Ah, here you are at last, naughty Bel-Ami! Why do we never see you any more?”

It was Suzanne Walter, with her azure eyes and wealth of golden hair. He was delighted to see her, and apologized as they shook hands.

“I have been so busy for two months that I have been nowhere.”

She replied gravely: “That is too bad. You have grieved us deeply, for mamma and I adore you. As for myself, I cannot do without you. If you are not here, I am bored to death. You see I tell you so frankly, that you will not remain away like that any more. Give me your arm; I will show you ‘Christ Walking on the Water’ myself; it is at the very end, behind the conservatory. Papa put it back there so that everyone would be obliged to go through the rooms. It is astonishing how proud papa is of this house.”

As they walked through the rooms, all turned to look at that handsome man and that bewitching girl. A well-known painter said: “There is a fine couple.” Georges thought: “If my position had been made, I would have married her. Why did I never think of it? How could I have taken the other one? What folly! One always acts too hastily—one never reflects sufficiently.” And longing, bitter longing possessed him, corrupting all his pleasure, rendering life odious.

Suzanne said: “You must come often, Bel-Ami; we can do anything we like now papa is rich.”

He replied: “Oh, you will soon marry—some prince, perhaps, and we shall never meet any more.”

She cried frankly: “Oh, oh, I shall not! I shall choose some one I love very dearly. I am rich enough for two.”

He smiled ironically and said: “I give you six months. By that time you will be Madame la Marquise, Madame la Duchesse, or Madame la Princesse, and you will look down upon me, Mademoiselle.”

She pretended to be angry, patted his arm with her fan, and vowed that she would marry according to the dictates of her heart.

He replied: “We shall see; you are too wealthy.”

“You, too, have inherited some money.”

“Barely twenty thousand livres a year. It is a mere pittance nowadays.”

“But your wife has the same.”

“Yes, we have a million together; forty thousand a year. We cannot even keep a carriage on that.”

They had, in the meantime, reached the last drawing-room, and before them lay the conservatory with its rare shrubs and plants. To their left, under a dome of palms, was a marble basin, on the edges of which four large swans of delftware emitted the water from their beaks.

The journalist stopped and said to himself: “This is luxury; this is the kind of house in which to live. Why can I not have one?”

His companion did not speak. He looked at her and thought once more: “If I only had taken her!”

Suddenly Suzanne seemed to awaken from her reverie. “Come,” said she, dragging Georges through a group which barred their way, and turning him to the right. Before him, surrounded by verdure on all sides, was the picture. One had to look closely at it in order to understand it. It was a grand work—the work of a master—one of those triumphs of art which furnishes one for years with food for thought.

Du Roy gazed at it for some time, and then turned away, to make room for others. Suzanne’s tiny hand still rested upon his arm. She asked:

“Would you like a glass of champagne? We will go to the buffet; we shall find papa there.”

Slowly they traversed the crowded rooms. Suddenly Georges heard a voice say: “That is Laroche and Mme. du Roy.”

He turned and saw his wife passing upon the minister’s arm. They were talking in low tones and smiling into each other’s eyes. He fancied he saw some people whisper, as they gazed at them, and he felt a desire to fall upon those two beings and smite them to the earth. His wife was making a laughing-stock of him. Who was she? A shrewd little parvenue, that