These two servants were, like herself, in keeping with the poverty of the house, that of the tenants, and the wild and tangled look of the garden.Both were children abandoned by their parents to whom the widow gave food for wages,--and what food! The lad, whom Godefroid caught a glimpse of, wore a ragged blouse and list slippers instead of shoes, and sabots when he went out.With his tousled head, looking like a sparrow when it takes a bath, and his black hands, he went to measure wood at a wood-yard on the boulevard as soon as he had finished the morning work of the house; and after his day's labor (which ends in wood-yards at half-past four in the afternoon) he returned to his domestic avocations.He went to the fountain of the Observatoire for the water used in the house, which the widow supplied to the tenants, together with bundles of kindling, sawed and tied up by him.
Nepomucene, such was the name of the widow Vauthier's slave, brought the daily journal to his mistress.In summer the poor forsaken lad was a waiter in the wine-shops at the barrier; and then his mistress dressed him properly.
As for the stout girl, she cooked under direction of the widow, and helped her in another department of industry during the rest of the day; for Madame Vauthier had a business,--she made list shoes, which were bought and sold by pedlers.
Godefroid learned all these details in about an hour's time; for the widow took him everywhere, and showed him the whole building, explaining its transformation into a dwelling.Until 1828 it had been a nursery for silk-worms, less for the silk than to obtain what they call the eggs.Eleven acres planted with mulberries on the plain of Montrouge, and three acres on the rue de l'Ouest, afterwards built over, had supplied this singular establishment.
Just as the widow was explaining to Godefroid how Monsieur Barbet, having lent money to an Italian named Fresconi, the manager of the business, could recover his money only by foreclosing a mortgage on the building and seizing the three acres on the rue Notre-Dame des Champs, a tall, spare old man with snow-white hair appeared at the end of the street which leads into the square of the rue de l'Ouest.
"Ah! here he comes, just in time!" cried the Vauthier; "that's your neighbor Monsieur Bernard.Monsieur Bernard!" she called out as soon as the old man was within hearing; "you won't be alone any longer;here is a gentleman who has hired the rooms opposite to yours."Monsieur Bernard turned his eyes on Godefroid with an apprehension it was easy to fathom; the look seemed to say: "The misfortune I feared has come to pass.""Monsieur," he said aloud, "do you intend to live here?""Yes, monsieur," said Godefroid, honestly."It is not a resort for the fortunate of this earth and it is the least expensive place I can find in the quarter.Madame Vauthier does not pretend to lodge millionnaires.Adieu, for the present, my good Madame Vauthier, and have everything ready for me at six o'clock this evening; I shall return punctually."Godefroid turned toward the square of the rue de l'Ouest, walking slowly, for the anxiety depicted on the face of the tall old man made him think that he would follow him and come to an explanation.And, in fact, after an instant's hesitation Monsieur Bernard turned round and retraced his steps so as to overtake Godefroid.
"The old villain! he'll prevent him from returning," thought Madame Vauthier; "that's the second time he has played me the same trick.
Patience! patience! five days hence he owes his rent, and if he doesn't pay sharp up I'll turn him out.Monsieur Barbet is a kind of a tiger one mustn't offend, and--But I would like to know what he's telling him.Felicite! Felicite, you great gawk! where are you?" cried the widow in her rasping, brutal voice,--she had been using her dulcet tones to Godefroid.
The servant-girl, stout, squint-eyed, and red-haired, ran out.
"Keep your eye on things, do you hear me? I shall be back in five minutes."And Madame Vauthier, formerly cook to the publisher Barbet, one of the hardest lenders of money by the week, slipped along behind her two tenants so as to be able to overtake Godefroid as soon as his conversation with Monsieur Bernard came to an end.
[The term "lender by the week" was explained in The Lesser Bourgeoisie in relation to Cerizet.Oddly, just looking it up, Barbet is mentioned as being higher in the scale of usury than Cerizet; there is a level between them for pawn shops and the like.--JB.]
Monsieur Bernard walked slowly, like a man who is undecided, or like a debtor seeking for excuses to placate a creditor who has just left him with threats.Godefroid, though some distance in front, saw him while pretending to look about and examine the locality.It was not, therefore, till they reached the middle of the great alley of the garden of the Luxembourg that Monsieur Bernard came up to the young man.
"Pardon me, monsieur," said Monsieur Bernard, bowing to Godefroid, who returned his bow."A thousand pardons for stopping you without having the honor of your acquaintance; but is it really your intention to take lodgings in that horrible house you have just left?""But, monsieur--"
"Yes, yes," said the old man, interrupting Godefroid, with a gesture of authority."I know that you may well ask me by what right I meddle in your affairs and presume to question you.Hear me, monsieur; you are young and I am old; I am older than my years, and they are sixty-seven; people take me for eighty.Age and misfortunes justify many things; but I will not make a plea of my whitened head; I wish to speak of yourself.Do you know that this quarter in which you propose to live is deserted by eight o'clock at night, and the roads are full of dangers, the least of which is robbery? Have you noticed those wide spaces not yet built upon, these fields, these gardens? You may tell me that I live here; but, monsieur, I never go out after six o'clock.