when the day drags, when a man is solitary, and in a fever of impatience and suspense; when the minute hand of his watch travels as slowly as the hour hand used to do, and the hour hand has lost all appreciable motion; when he yawns, and beats the devil’s tattoo, and flattens his handsome nose against the window, and whistles tunes he hates, and, in short, does not know what to do with himself, it is deeply to be regretted that he cannot make a solemn dinner of three courses more than once in a day. the laws of matter, to which we are slaves, deny us that resource.
but in the times i speak of, supper was still a substantial meal, and its hour was approaching. this was consolatory. three-quarters of an hour, however, still interposed. how was i to dispose of that interval?
i had two or three idle books, it is true, as companions-companions; but there are many moods in which one cannot read. my novel lay with my rug and walking-stick on the sofa, and i did not care if the heroine and the hero were both drowned together in the water barrel that i saw in the inn-yard under my window. i took a turn or two up and down my room, and sighed, looking at myself in the glass, adjusted my great white “choker,” folded and tied after brummel, the immortal “beau,” put on a buff waist-coat and my blue swallow-tailed coat with gilt buttons; i deluged my pocket-handkerchief with eau-de-cologne (we had not then the variety of bouquets with which the genius of perfumery has since blessed us) i arranged my hair, on which i piqued myself, and which i loved to groom in those days. that dark-brown chevelure, with a natural curl, is now represented by a few dozen perfectly white hairs, and its place — a smooth, bald, pink head — knows it no more. but let us forget these mortifications. it was then rich, thick, and dark-brown. i was making a very careful toilet. i took my unexceptionable hat from its case, and placed it lightly on my wise head, as nearly as memory and practice enabled me to do so, at that very slight inclination which the immortal person i have mentioned was wont to give to his. a pair of light french gloves and a rather club-like knotted walking-stick, such as just then came into vogue for a year or two again in england, in the phraseology of sir walter scott’s romances “completed my equipment.”
all this attention to effect, preparatory to a mere lounge in the yard, or on the steps of the belle étoile, was a simple act of devotion to the wonderful eyes which i had that evening beheld for the first time, and never, never could forget! in plain terms, it was all done in the vague, very vague hope that those eyes might behold the unexceptionable get-up of a melancholy slave, and retain the image, not altogether without secret approbation.
as i completed my preparations the light failed me; the last level streak of sunlight disappeared, and a fading twilight only remained. i sighed in unison with the pensive hour, and threw open the window, intending to look out for a moment before going downstairs. i perceived instantly that the window underneath mine was also open, for i heard two voices in conversation, although i could not distinguish what they were saying.
the male voice was peculiar; it was, as i told you, reedy and nasal. i knew it, of course, instantly. the answering voice spoke in those sweet tones which i recognized only too easily. the dialogue was only for a minute; the repulsive male voice laughed, i fancied, with a kind of devilish satire, and retired from the window, so that i almost ceased to hear it.
the other voice remained nearer the window, but not so near as at first.
it was not an altercation; there was evidently nothing the least exciting in the colloquy. what would i not have given that it had been a quarrel — a violent one — and i the redresser of wrongs, and the defender of insulted beauty! alas! so far as i could pronounce upon the character of the tones i heard, they might be as tranquil a pair as any in existence. in a moment more the lady began to sing an odd little chanson. i need not remind you how much farther the voice is heard singing than speaking. i could distinguish the words. the voice was of that exquisitely sweet kind which is called, i believe, a semi-contralto; it had something pathetic, and something, i fancied, a little mocking in its tones. i venture a clumsy, but adequate translation of the words:
“death and love, together mated,
watch and wait in ambuscade;
at early morn, or else belated,
they meet and mark the man or maid.
burning sigh, or breath that freezes,
numbs or maddens man or maid;
death or love the victim seizes,
breathing from their ambuscade.”
“enough, madame!” said the old voice, with sudden severity. “we do not desire, i believe, to amuse the grooms and hostlers in the yard with our music.”
the lady’s voice laughed gaily.
“you desire to quarrel, madame!” and the old man, i presume, shut down the window. down it went, at all events, with a rattle that might easily have broken the glass.
of all thin partitions, glass is the most effectual excluder of sound. i heard no more, not even the subdued hum of the colloquy.
what a charming voice this countess had! how it melted, swelled, and trembled! how it moved, and even agitated me! what a pity that a hoarse old jackdaw should have power to crow down such a philomel! “alas! what a life it is!” i moralized, wisely. “that beautiful countess, with the patience of an angel and the beauty of a venus and the accomplishments of all the muses, a slave! she knows perfectly who occupies the apartments over hers; she heard me raise my window. one may conjecture pretty well for whom that music was intended — aye, old gentleman, and for whom you suspected it to be intended.”
in a very agreeable flutter i left my room and, descending the stairs, passed the count’s door very much at my leisure. there was just a chance that the beautiful songstress might emerge. i dropped my stick on the lobby, near their door, and you may be sure it took me some little time to pick it up! fortune, nevertheless, did not favor me. i could not stay on the lobby all night picking up my stick, so i went down to the hall.
i consulted the clock, and found that there remained but a quarter of an hour to the moment of supper.
everyone was roughing it now, every inn in confusion; people might do at such a juncture what they never did before. was it just possible that, for once, the count and countess would take their chairs at the table-d’h?te?
