the following morning, towards noon, when gouvernail quitted his room, he was confronted by athénaïse, exhibiting some confusion and trepidation at being forced to request a favor of him at so early a stage of their acquaintance. she stood in her doorway, and had evidently been sewing, as the thimble on her finger testified, as well as a long-threaded needle thrust in 82the bosom of her gown. she held a stamped but unaddressed letter in her hand.
and would mr. gouvernail be so kind as to address the letter to her brother, mr. montéclin miché? she would hate to detain him with explanations this morning,—another time, perhaps,—but now she begged that he would give himself the trouble.
he assured her that it made no difference, that it was no trouble whatever; and he drew a fountain pen from his pocket and addressed the letter at her dictation, resting it on the inverted rim of his straw hat. she wondered a little at a man of his supposed erudition stumbling over the spelling of “montéclin” and “miché.”
she demurred at overwhelming him with the additional trouble of posting it, but he succeeded in convincing her that so simple a task as the posting of a letter would not add an iota to the burden of the day. moreover, he promised to carry it in his hand, and thus avoid any possible risk of forgetting it in his pocket.
after that, and after a second repetition of the favor, when she had told him that she had had a letter from montéclin, and looked as if 83she wanted to tell him more, he felt that he knew her better. he felt that he knew her well enough to join her out on the balcony, one night, when he found her sitting there alone. he was not one who deliberately sought the society of women, but he was not wholly a bear. a little commiseration for athénaïse’s aloneness, perhaps some curiosity to know further what manner of woman she was, and the natural influence of her feminine charm were equal unconfessed factors in turning his steps towards the balcony when he discovered the shimmer of her white gown through the open hall window.
it was already quite late, but the day had been intensely hot, and neighboring balconies and doorways were occupied by chattering groups of humanity, loath to abandon the grateful freshness of the outer air. the voices about her served to reveal to athénaïse the feeling of loneliness that was gradually coming over her. notwithstanding certain dormant impulses, she craved human sympathy and companionship.
she shook hands impulsively with gouvernail, and told him how glad she was to see 84him. he was not prepared for such an admission, but it pleased him immensely, detecting as he did that the expression was as sincere as it was outspoken. he drew a chair up within comfortable conversational distance of athénaïse, though he had no intention of talking more than was barely necessary to encourage madame— he had actually forgotten her name!
he leaned an elbow on the balcony rail, and would have offered an opening remark about the oppressive heat of the day, but athénaïse did not give him the opportunity. how glad she was to talk to some one, and how she talked!
an hour later she had gone to her room, and gouvernail stayed smoking on the balcony. he knew her quite well after that hour’s talk. it was not so much what she had said as what her half saying had revealed to his quick intelligence. he knew that she adored montéclin, and he suspected that she adored cazeau without being herself aware of it. he had gathered that she was self-willed, impulsive, innocent, ignorant, unsatisfied, dissatisfied; for had she not complained that things seemed all 85wrongly arranged in this world, and no one was permitted to be happy in his own way? and he told her he was sorry she had discovered that primordial fact of existence so early in life.
he commiserated her loneliness, and scanned his bookshelves next morning for something to lend her to read, rejecting everything that offered itself to his view: philosophy was out of the question, and so was poetry; that is, such poetry as he possessed. he had not sounded her literary tastes, and strongly suspected she had none; that she would have rejected the duchess as readily as mrs. humphry ward. he compromised on a magazine.
it had entertained her passably, she admitted, upon returning it. a new england story had puzzled her, it was true, and a creole tale had offended her, but the pictures had pleased her greatly, especially one which had reminded her so strongly of montéclin after a hard day’s ride that she was loath to give it up. it was one of remington’s cowboys, and gouvernail insisted upon her keeping it,—keeping the magazine.
86he spoke to her daily after that, and was always eager to render her some service or to do something towards her entertainment.
one afternoon he took her out to the lake end. she had been there once, some years before, but in winter, so the trip was comparatively new and strange to her. the large expanse of water studded with pleasure-boats, the sight of children playing merrily along the grassy palisades, the music, all enchanted her. gouvernail thought her the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. even her gown—the sprigged muslin—appeared to him the most charming one imaginable. nor could anything be more becoming than the arrangement of her brown hair under the white sailor hat, all rolled back in a soft puff from her radiant face. and she carried her parasol and lifted her skirts and used her fan in ways that seemed quite unique and peculiar to herself, and which he considered almost worthy of study and imitation.
they did not dine out there at the water’s edge, as they might have done, but returned early to the city to avoid the crowd. athénaïse wanted to go home, for she said sylvie 87would have dinner prepared and would be expecting her. but it was not difficult to persuade her to dine instead in the quiet little restaurant that he knew and liked, with its sanded floor, its secluded atmosphere, its delicious menu, and its obsequious waiter wanting to know what he might have the honor of serving to “monsieur et madame.” no wonder he made the mistake, with gouvernail assuming such an air of proprietorship! but athénaïse was very tired after it all; the sparkle went out of her face, and she hung draggingly on his arm in walking home.
he was reluctant to part from her when she bade him good-night at her door and thanked him for the agreeable evening. he had hoped she would sit outside until it was time for him to regain the newspaper office. he knew that she would undress and get into her peignoir and lie upon her bed; and what he wanted to do, what he would have given much to do, was to go and sit beside her, read to her something restful, soothe her, do her bidding, whatever it might be. of course there was no use in thinking of that. but he was surprised at his 88growing desire to be serving her. she gave him an opportunity sooner than he looked for.
“mr. gouvernail,” she called from her room, “will you be so kine as to call pousette an’ tell her she fo’got to bring my ice-water?”
he was indignant at pousette’s negligence, and called severely to her over the banisters. he was sitting before his own door, smoking. he knew that athénaïse had gone to bed, for her room was dark, and she had opened the slats of the door and windows. her bed was near a window.
pousette came flopping up with the ice-water, and with a hundred excuses: “mo pa oua vou à tab c’te lanuite, mo cri vou pé gagni déja là-bas; parole! vou pas cri conté ça madame sylvie?” she had not seen athénaïse at table, and thought she was gone. she swore to this, and hoped madame sylvie would not be informed of her remissness.
a little later athénaïse lifted her voice again: “mr. gouvernail, did you remark that young man sitting on the opposite side from us, coming in, with a gray coat an’ a blue ban’ aroun’ his hat?”
89of course gouvernail had not noticed any such individual, but he assured athénaïse that he had observed the young fellow particularly.
“don’t you think he looked something,—not very much, of co’se,—but don’t you think he had a little faux-air of montéclin?”
“i think he looked strikingly like montéclin,” asserted gouvernail, with the one idea of prolonging the conversation. “i meant to call your attention to the resemblance, and something drove it out of my head.”
“the same with me,” returned athénaïse. “ah, my dear montéclin! i wonder w’at he is doing now?”
“did you receive any news, any letter from him to-day?” asked gouvernail, determined that if the conversation ceased it should not be through lack of effort on his part to sustain it.
“not to-day, but yesterday. he tells me that maman was so distracted with uneasiness that finally, to pacify her, he was fo’ced to confess that he knew w’ere i was, but that he was boun’ by a vow of secrecy not to reveal it. but cazeau has not noticed him or spoken to him since he threaten’ to throw po’ montéclin in cane river. you know cazeau wrote me a 90letter the morning i lef’, thinking i had gone to the rigolet. an’ maman opened it, an’ said it was full of the mos’ noble sentiments, an’ she wanted montéclin to sen’ it to me; but montéclin refuse’ poin’ blank, so he wrote to me.”
gouvernail preferred to talk of montéclin. he pictured cazeau as unbearable, and did not like to think of him.
a little later athénaïse called out, “good-night, mr. gouvernail.”
“good-night,” he returned reluctantly. and when he thought that she was sleeping, he got up and went away to the midnight pandemonium of his newspaper office.
