Comedy Of Marriage And Other Tales Part 30

It might have cost you a great deal more if he had been ugly! [Mme. de Ronchard _rises to go away_.] Besides Jean is not only good-looking but he is good. He is not vain, but modest; and he has genius, which is manifesting itself more and more every day. He will certainly attain members.h.i.+p in the Inst.i.tute. That would please you, would it not? That would be worth more than a simple engineer; and, moreover, every woman finds him charming, except you.

MME. DE RONCHARD

That's the very thing for which I blame him. He is too good and too honest. He has already painted the portraits of a crowd of women, and he will continue to do that. They will be alone with him in his studio for hours at a time, and everybody knows what goes on in those studios.

LeON

You have been accustomed to go there, my dear Aunt?

MME. DE RONCHARD [_dreamily_]

Oh, yes. [_Corrects herself_.] I mean to say, once I went to Horace Vernet's studio.

LeON

The painter of battle scenes!

MME. DE RONCHARD

Well, what I say of Jean, I say of all artists--that they ought not to be allowed to marry into a family of lawyers and magistrates, such as ours. Such doings always bring trouble. I ask you as a man, is it possible to be a good husband under such conditions--among a crowd of women continually around you who do nothing but unrobe and re-dress themselves, whether they be clients or models (_pointedly_), especially models? [Mme. de Ronchard _rises and_ Leon _is silent_.] I said _models_, Leon.

LeON

I understand you, Aunt. You make a very pointed and delicate allusion to Jean's past. Well, what of it? If he did have one of his models for a mistress, he loved her, and loved her sincerely for three years--

MME. DE RONCHARD

You mean to tell me a man can love such women?

LeON

Every woman can be loved, my dear Aunt; and this woman certainly deserved to be loved more than most women.

MME. DE RONCHARD

A great thing, truly, for a model to be pretty! That is the essential thing, I should think.

LeON

Whether it be essential or not, it is nevertheless very nice to be pretty. But this girl was better than pretty, for she had a nature which was exceptionally tender, good, and sincere.

MME. DE RONCHARD

Well, then, why did he leave her?

LeON

What! Can you ask me such a question?--you, who know so much about the world and the world's opinions? [_Folds his arms_.] Would you advocate free love?

MME. DE RONCHARD [_indignantly_]

You know I would not.

LeON [_seriously_]

Listen. The truth is, that it happened to Jean as it has happened to many others besides him--that is to say, there was a pretty little nineteen-year-old girl whom he met, whom he loved, and with whom he established an intimacy little by little--an intimacy which lasted one, two, three years--the usual duration of that sort of thing. Then, as usually happens, there came a rupture--a rupture which is sometimes violent, sometimes gentle, but which is never altogether good-natured.

Then also, as usual in such cases, each went a separate way--the eternal ending, which is always prosaic, because it is true to life. But the one thing that distinguishes Jean's _liaison_ from the usual affair is the truly admirable character of the girl in the case.

MME. DE RONCHARD

Oh, admirable character! Mademoiselle--tell me, what is the name of this young lady? If you mentioned it I have forgotten it. Mademoiselle Mus--Mus--

LeON

Musotte, Auntie; little Musotte.

MME. DE RONCHARD

Musette! Pshaw, that's a very common name. It reminds me of the Latin quarter and of Bohemian life. [_With disgust._] Musette!

LeON

No, no; not Musette. Musotte, with an O instead of an E. She is named Musotte because of her pretty little nose; can't you understand?

Musotte, the name explains itself.

MME. DE RONCHARD [_with contempt_]

Oh, yes; a _fin-de-siecle_ Musotte, which is still worse. Musotte is not a name.

LeON

My dear Aunt, it is only a nickname. The nick-name of a model. Her true name is Henriette Leveque.

MME. DE RONCHARD [_puzzled_]

Leveque?

LeON

Yes, Leveque. What does this questioning mean? It is just as I told you, or else I know nothing about it. Now, Henriette Leveque, or Musotte, if you prefer that term, has not only been faithful to Jean during the course of her love affair with him; has not only been devoted and adoring, and full of a tenderness which was ever watchful, but at the very hour of her rupture with him, she gave proof of her greatness of soul. She accepted everything without reproach, without recrimination; the poor little girl understood everything--understood that all was finished and finished forever. With the intuition of a woman, she felt that Jean's love for my sister was real and deep, she bowed her head to circ.u.mstances and she departed, accepting, without a murmur, the loneliness that Jean's action brought upon her. She carried her fidelity to the end, for she would have slain herself sooner than become [_hesitating out of respect for_ Mme. de Ronchard] a courtesan. And this I _know_.

MME. DE RONCHARD

And has Jean never seen her since?

LeON