Lise

“ Ah, at last, I see some of your works!" said the lady, running up to the opposite side of the room, and levelling her glass at some canvasses placed on the floor, studies, sketches, interiors, and portraits. "C'est charmant! Lise, Lise! venez ici: there's an interior in the manner of Teniers, see: all is in disorder, higgledy-piggledy, a table with a bust upon it, a hand, a palette; and the dust, look how well the dust is painted! c'est charmant! And there is another canvass, a woman washing her face—quelle jolie figure! Oh, and there's a mujík! Lise, Lise! [Pg 468] a mujík in a Russian shirt! ”

“ Trembling, but resolute, Jean got up and said:
"Listen, my good woman. I will make reply in your presence, which shall not stand in my way. I will ask Lise if she will consent to my marrying her. You hear me ask, Lise? and if you say yes, you will make me very happy."
She was just then emptying her jug into the bucking-tub. She did not hurry, but finished carefully watering the linen. Then, with her arms bare and moist with steam, becoming quite grave, she looked him in the face. ”

“ Lise would not permit her a single hour's leisure; but made her rise before daylight, and kept her up so late at night that the poor girl often fell asleep without having enough strength left her to undress herself. Buteau took a malicious pleasure in torturing her by his familiarities, slapping her on the loins, pinching her thighs, and falling upon her with all sorts of savage caresses, which left her bleeding, and with her eyes full of tears, but as obstinately silent as ever. ”

“ And yet if Paul had had a true, spontaneous, and heartfelt impulse, Lise, strong as she believed she was and wished to seem, would perhaps not have resisted, for she had had for her husband one of those passions that find excuses for the loved one from the very fact that they are not based on admiration, esteem, and an exaltation of the soul, that is to say, those lofty sentiments which when they disappear carry with them all affection and leave room for duty alone. ”

“ If I like her and she likes me!" repeated Jean, restraining himself, and resolving, out of courtesy, to let her be the first to relate their story. "Come, Françoise, say something."
"Why, that's true!" cried Lise, carried away by the desire to see her sister married, and thus get rid of her: "what have you to do with it, Buteau, if they agree? She doesn't need your consent, and it's very good of her not to send you about your business. You're getting a perfect nuisance!" ”

“ They were foolish, I grant, and only served to nourish the passion that we believed we were taking means and laying schemes to overcome. The proposal that Lise had made of a private marriage was never again mentioned between us. We never encouraged each other with false hopes, but admitted to our own hearts, in the fullest degree, that no chance existed of our union. The delight of being together we certainly did possess; and it was doubtless the secret desire of retaining at least that blessing which blinded our eyes to the imprudence of our continual meetings. ”

“ Thinking that it could not but please Lise Olsdorf, he said, approaching her:
"What a lovely young girl that is. I supposed that only women of your station in life could be so perfectly beautiful."
"You see that you were mistaken, monsieur," the princess replied, rather ungraciously. "Vera is, in fact, very pretty. She is just as good and as modest, and I love her very much." ”

“ Lise, who knows better about it than any one, appears more happy, and every one thinks that the marriage will not take place at all. To-day, all went out early, with the carriage and a few horsemen, but they have not returned yet, though Monseigneur said that he would be back before noon, and it is now nearly three o'clock. ”

“ In a day or two I shall be quite well again."
"You are the bravest of women," the comedian replied, bowing to Mme. Daubrel and taking the seat Lise had offered him; "they who do you an injury are vile wretches."
"An injury! Why, what do you mean?"
Marthe, no more than Lise seized his thought.
Dumesnil saw by her surprise that she knew nothing, and concluding that Mme. Meyrin wished her friend to be kept in ignorance, he went on quickly, not picking his words very carefully:
"I express myself badly. I meant that only vile wretches would not wish you all the happiness you deserve." ”

“ The painter was not to stop here, however. One evening Lise had given an "At Home" to some friends—artists and literary men they were—who expressed surprise that, having so long ago recovered from her confinement, she had not resumed her receptions in the old style. When they were gone Paul said:
"I doubt whether it is quite the thing to have all these people here so long as you are suckling Marie. You are obliged to dress, for one thing, and that must be tiresome for you. ”

“ The Bagatelle she despised; that was slavery—but slavery out of which she might any day be snatched, like Leila Hawtrey, by a prince charming who had made a success in life. Success to Lise meant money. Although what some sentimental sociologists might call a victim of our civilization, Lise would not have changed it, since it produced not only Lise herself, but also those fabulous financiers with yachts and motors and town and country houses she read about in the supplements of the Sunday newspapers. ”

“ Certainly Lise did not feel her heart beat violently when the man whose name she was to bear kissed her hand, for this grave cavalier, with his slight fair mustache and half-closed blue eyes, was, perhaps, not the husband of whom she had caught glimpses in her dreams; but he would make a princess of her, and the Countess Barineff told her daughter that the happiest unions were often those which love had not preceded.
The ex-comedienne had made up her mind that the [Pg 16] house of the young couple should become the liveliest place in the world. ”

“ No sooner said than done: immediately a princely dress of the richest black velvet appeared, with edgings of red camlet and a lining of yellow cloth embroidered all over, which looked like a field of flowers. So dressing himself, Lise got into the litter and soon reached his brother's house.
When Cianne saw his brother arrive, with all this splendour and luxury, he wished to know what good fortune had befallen him. Then Lise told him of the youths whom he had met in the inn, and of the present they had made him; but he kept to himself his conversation with the youths. ”

“ You've got a lot of cheek, you have!" cried Lise, interrupting him. "You foul stink-pot, how dare you claim half of anything, you who didn't even bring a broken comb into the place? You merely came here with the shirt on your back! So you want to fatten yourself and get rich by preying on women, eh? That's a dirty, swinish game."
Buteau backed her up, and, with a sweeping gesture across the threshold, he cried out:
[Pg 432]
"She's telling the truth! Look sharp! You came with your jacket and breeches, and you've got them on, so take yourself off with 'em! Nobody wants to deprive you of them!" ”

“ From modesty, or perhaps designedly, Paul Meyrin was among the last few. When Lise offered him her hand he pressed his lips to it in so long a kiss that she withdrew it sharply and fell back a step, without giving him the expected kiss in return.
Fearful that he had offended her, he raised his head quickly to ask the question by a look; but the princess had turned from him and was moving toward the rooms where the guests spent their evenings according to their varying fancies. Some liked music, others would rather talk. ”

“ Streaks of grease smoke floated fantastically beneath the low ceiling, and Hannah, with the frying-pan in one hand and a fork in the other, was bending over the stove. Wisps of her scant, whitening hair escaped from the ridiculous, tightly drawn knot at the back of her head; in the light of the flickering gas-jet she looked so old and worn that a sudden pity smote Janet and made her dumb —pity for her mother, pity for herself, pity for Lise; pity that lent a staggering insight into life itself. Hannah had once been young, desirable, perhaps, swayed by those forces which had swayed her. ”

“ Ragueneau
[giving him a coin] .
Go, drink my health! [Seeing Lise enter.] Hush! my wife. Bustle, pass on, and hide that money! [To Lise, showing her the lyre, with a conscious look.] Is it not beautiful?
Lise.
'Tis passing silly!
[She puts a pile of papers on the counter.]
Ragueneau.
Bags? Good. I thank you. [He looks at them.] Heavens! my cherished leaves! The poems of my friends! Torn, dismembered to make bags for holding biscuits and cakes!... Ah, 'tis the old tale again... Orpheus and the Bacchantes! ”

“ They soon appeared in a crowd, for it was quickly known that Lise Barineff was not only a [Pg 10] very beautiful girl, but also an excellent musician, well-cultivated, witty, and speaking with purity three or four languages.
One of the suitors favored by General Podoi—suitors whose homage Lise had received with very natural satisfaction to her vanity, without appearing to distinguish any of them—was soon favorably marked by the countess. He was Prince Pierre Olsdorf, a rich landed proprietor of Courland, and, moreover, a charming man of scarcely thirty, without any post about the court. ”

“ Ragueneau, Lise, the Musketeer. Cyrano at the little table writing. The Poets, dressed in black, their stockings ungartered, and covered with mud.
Lise
[entering, to Ragueneau] .
Here they come, your mud-bespattered friends!
First Poet
[entering, to Ragueneau] .
Brother in art!...
Second Poet
[to Ragueneau, shaking his hands] .
Dear brother!
Third Poet.
High soaring eagle among pastry-cooks! [He sniffs.] Marry! it smells good here in your eyry!
Fourth Poet.
'Tis at Phœbus' own rays that thy roasts torn! ”

“ Dear Alexey Fyodorovitch, you didn’t know, but I must tell you, that we all, all—both her aunts, I and all of us, Lise, even—have been hoping and praying for nothing for the last month but that she may give up your favorite Dmitri, who takes no notice of her and does not care for her, and may marry Ivan Fyodorovitch—such an excellent and cultivated young man, who loves her more than anything in the world. ”

“ Thus matters were in the Rue d'Assas, without anything seeming really changed, when, three or four months after her confinement, Lise spoke to her husband about inviting a few of their friends. Her surprise was great at this reply from Paul:
"What is the good of it? Let us live rather more for one another. Is it not enough to invite our own family, Madame Daubrel and Dumesnil? In their case you will have no need to go to expense over your dress, as you have to at the receptions in my studio." ”

“ The success was well deserved. Lise Barineff was in her eighteenth year. Fair, slender, and very distinguished-looking, she was remarkably beautiful too. The elegance of her figure, the perfect oval of her face, the curve of her lips, the classic shape of her brow—all were fitted to attract the aspirants whom the good fellow Podoi had dreamed about for her.
The most striking thing in the young girl from this day forward was the self-possession with which she received the [Pg 9] homage paid to her. ”

“ She held them from her a little—oh! only the length of her arms—to see them better for a moment or two, then snatched them back to her heart, raining on them again tears and kisses and a thousand endearments, to which the children replied only by their kisses, their tears, their tenderness, and one word: "Mamma."
Great as was the happiness of the poor mother, and on account indeed of the fullness of her joy, Mme. Daubrel thought it prudent to put an end to so touching a scene.
"You promised me to be good and calm," she said to Lise, calling Alexander and Tekla from her with a look. ”

“ Antoine and Lise were still slowly approaching. The evening breeze which rose from the great city, where all was yet heat and sunshine, brought them a bath of life. If the young man had chosen that spot, with its splendid horizon, open to the full air which wafted all the germs of life, it was doubtless because he felt that nowhere else could he instil more vitality, more soul, more strength into her. And love had been created by love. ”

“ Ragueneau
[in a low voice, smiling] .
Oh ay! I see well enough, but I never will seem to look, fearing to distress them; thus I gain a double pleasure when I recite to them my poems; for I leave those poor fellows who have not breakfasted free to eat, even while I gratify my own dearest foible, see you!
Cyrano
[clapping him on the shoulder] .
Friend, I like you right well!...
[Raguebeau goes after his friends. Cyrano follows him with his eyes, then, rather sharply.]
Ho there! Lise!
[Lise, who is talking tenderly to the Musketeer, starts, and comes down towards Cyrano.] ”

“ What? must I wrap them up?
[He takes a bag, and just at he is about to put in the pies, he reads.]
'Ulysses thus, on leaving fair Penelope...' Not that one!...
[He puts it aside, and takes another, and as he is about to put in the pies, he reads.]
'The gold-locked Phœbus...' Nay, nor that one!... [Same play.]
Lise
[impatiently] .
What are you dallying for?
Ragueneau.
Here! here! here! [He chooses a third, resignedly.] The sonnet to Phillis!... but 'tis hard to part with it!
Lise.
By good luck! he has made up his mind at last! [Shrugging her shoulders.] Nicodemus! ”