the next morning old madame rougon, marthe's mother,[4] came to pay a visit to the mourets. it was quite an event, for there was a coolness between mouret and his wife's relations which had increased since the election of the marquis de lagrifoul, whose success the rougons attributed to mouret's influence in the rural districts. marthe used to go alone when she went to see her parents. her mother, 'that black félicité,' as she was called, had retained at sixty-six years of age all the slimness and vivacity of a girl. she always wore silk dresses, covered with flounces, and was particularly partial to yellows and browns.

when she arrived, only marthe and mouret were in the dining-room.

'hallo!' cried the latter in great surprise, as he saw her coming, 'here's your mother! i wonder what she wants! she was here less than a month ago. she's scheming after something or other, i know.'

the rougons, whose assistant mouret had been prior to his marriage, when their shabby little shop in the old quarter of the town had ever suggested bankruptcy, were the objects of his constant suspicions. they returned the feeling with bitter and deep-seated animosity, their rancour being especially aroused by the speedy success which had attended him in business. when their son-in-law said, 'i simply owe my fortune to my own exertions,' they bit their lips and understood quite well that he was accusing them of having gained theirs by less honourable means. notwithstanding the fine house she now had on the place of the sub-prefecture,[pg 41] félicité silently envied the peaceful little home of the mourets, with all the bitter jealousy of a retired shopkeeper who owed her fortune to something else than the profits of her business.

félicité kissed marthe on the forehead and then gave her hand to mouret. she and her son-in-law generally affected a mocking tone in their conversations together.

'well,' she said to him with a smile, 'the gendarmes haven't been for you yet then, you revolutionist?'

'no, not yet,' he replied with a responsive smile; 'they are waiting till your husband gives them the order.'

'it's very nice and polite of you to say that!' exclaimed félicité, whose eyes were beginning to glisten.

marthe turned a beseeching glance upon mouret. he had gone too far; but his feelings were roused and he added:

'good gracious! what are we thinking of to receive you in the dining-room? let us go into the drawing-room, i beg you.'

this was one of his usual pleasantries. he affected all félicité's fine airs whenever he received a visit from her. it was to no purpose that marthe protested that they were very comfortable where they were; her husband insisted that she and her mother should follow him into the drawing-room. when they got there, he bustled about, opening the shutters and drawing out the chairs. the drawing-room, which was seldom entered, and the shutters of which were generally kept closed, was a great wilderness of a room, with furniture swathed in white dust-covers which were turning yellow from the proximity of the damp garden.

'it is really disgraceful!' muttered mouret, wiping the dust from a small console; 'that wretched rose neglects everything abominably.'

then, turning towards his mother-in-law, he said with ill-concealed irony:

'you will excuse us for receiving you in this way in our poor dwelling. we cannot all be wealthy.'

félicité was choking with rage. she scanned mouret for a moment, and almost indulged in a burst of anger; but she made an effort to restrain herself and slowly dropped her eyes. when she again raised them she spoke in a pleasant tone.

'i have just been calling upon madame de condamin,' she said, 'and i thought i would look in here and see how you all[pg 42] were. the children are well, i hope, and you, too, my dear mouret?'

'yes, we are all wonderfully well,' he replied, quite astonished by this amiability.

but the old lady gave him no time to import any fresh unpleasantness into the conversation, for she began to question marthe affectionately about all sorts of trifles, playing the part of a fond grandmother and scolding mouret for not sending the dear children to see her oftener, for she was always so delighted to have them with her, said she.

'well, here we are in october again,' she remarked carelessly, after awhile, 'and i shall be having my day again, thursdays, as in former seasons. i shall count upon seeing you, my dear marthe, of course; and you too, mouret, you will look in occasionally, won't you, and not go on sulking with us for ever?'

mouret, who was growing a little suspicious of all his mother-in-law's affectionate chatter, was at a loss how to reply. he had not expected such a thrust, but there was nothing in it to which he could take exception; so he merely said:

'you know very well that i can't go to your house; you receive a lot of people who would be delighted to have an opportunity of making themselves disagreeable to me. and, besides, i don't want to mix myself up with politics.'

'you are quite mistaken, mouret, quite mistaken!' félicité replied. 'my drawing-room is not a club; i would never allow it to become one. all the town knows that i do all i can to make my house as pleasant as possible; and if political matters ever are discussed there, it is only in corners, i assure you. ah! believe me, i had quite enough of politics long ago. what makes you say such a thing?'

'why, you receive all the sub-prefecture set,' mouret said shortly.

'the sub-prefecture set!' she repeated, 'the sub-prefecture set! certainly i receive those gentlemen. but i don't think that monsieur péqueur des saulaies will be found very often in my house this winter. my husband has told him pretty plainly what he thought of his conduct in connection with the last elections. he allowed himself to be tricked like a mere nincompoop. but his friends are very pleasant men. monsieur delangre and monsieur de condamin are extremely amiable, and that worthy paloque is kindness[pg 43] itself, while i'm sure you can have nothing to say against doctor porquier.'

mouret shrugged his shoulders.

'besides,' she continued, with ironic emphasis, 'i also receive monsieur rastoil's circle, worthy monsieur maffre and our clever friend monsieur de bourdeu, the former prefect. so you see we are not at all bigoted or exclusive, the representatives of all opinions find a welcome among us. of course when i am inviting a party of people, i don't ask those to meet each other who would be likely to quarrel. but wit and cleverness are welcome in whomsoever they are found, and we pride ourselves upon having at our gatherings all the most distinguished persons in plassans. my drawing-room is neutral ground, remember that, mouret; yes, neutral ground that is the right expression.'

she had grown quite animated whilst talking. her drawing-room was her great glory, and it was her desire to reign there, not as a chief of a party, but as a queen of society. it is true that her friends said that she was adopting conciliatory tactics merely in conformity with the advice of her son eugène, the minister,[5] who had charged her to personify at plassans the gentleness and amiability of the empire.

'you may say what you like,' mouret growled, 'but that maffre of yours is a bigot, and your bourdeu is a fool, and most of all the others are a pack of rascals. that's my opinion of them. i am much obliged to you for your invitation, but it would disturb my habits too much to accept it. i like to go to bed in good time, and i prefer stopping at home.'

félicité rose from her seat, and turning her back upon mouret, she said to her daughter:

'well, at any rate i may expect you, mayn't i, my dear?'

'of course you may,' replied marthe, who wished to soften the bluntness of her husband's blunt refusal.

the old lady was just going to leave, when a thought seemed to strike her, and she asked if she might kiss désirée, whom she had seen playing in the garden. she would not let them call the girl into the house, but insisted on going herself to the terrace, which was still damp from a slight shower which had fallen in the morning. when she found désirée, she was profuse in her caresses of the girl, who seemed rather frightened of her. then she raised her head as if by chance and looked at the curtains at the second-floor windows.

[pg 44]

'ah! you have let the rooms, then? oh, yes! i remember now; to a priest, isn't it? i've heard it spoken of. what sort of a person is he, this priest of yours?'

mouret looked at her keenly. a sudden suspicion flashed through his mind, and he began to guess that it was entirely on account of abbé faujas that his mother-in-law had favoured them with this visit.

'upon my word,' he replied, without taking his eyes off her, 'i really know nothing about him. but perhaps you are able to give me some information concerning him yourself?'

'i!' she cried, with an appearance of great surprise. 'why, i've never even seen him! stay, though, i know he is one of the curates at saint-saturnin; father bourrette told me that. by the way, that reminds me that i ought to ask him to my thursdays. the director of the seminary and the bishop's secretary are already amongst my circle of visitors.'

and, turning to marthe, she added:

'when you see your lodger you might sound him, so as to be able to tell me whether an invitation from me would be acceptable.'

'we scarcely ever see him,' mouret hastily interposed. 'he comes in and goes out without ever opening his mouth. and, besides, it is really no business of ours.'

he still kept his eyes fixed suspiciously upon her. he felt quite sure that she knew much more about abbé faujas than she was willing to admit. however, she did not once flinch beneath his searching gaze.

'very well, it's all the same to me,' she said, with an appearance of unconcern. 'i shall be able to find out some other way of inviting him, if he's the right sort of person, i've no doubt. good-bye, my children.'

as she was mounting the steps again, a tall old man appeared on the hall threshold. he was dressed very neatly in blue cloth, and had a fur cap pressed over his eyes. in his hand he carried a whip.

'hallo! why there's uncle macquart!' cried mouret, casting a curious glance at his mother-in-law.

an expression of extreme annoyance passed over félicité's face. macquart, rougon's illegitimate brother, had, by the latter's aid, returned to france after he had compromised himself in the rising of 1851. since arriving from piedmont he had been leading the life of a sleek and well-to-do citizen. he had purchased, though where the money had come from[pg 45] no one knew, a small house at the village of les tulettes, about three leagues from plassans. and by degrees he had fitted up an establishment there, and had now even become possessed of a horse and trap, and was constantly to be met on the high roads, smoking his pipe, enjoying the sunshine, and sniggering like a tamed wolf. rougon's enemies whispered that the two brothers had perpetrated some black business together, and that pierre rougon was keeping antoine macquart.

'good day, uncle!' said mouret affectedly; 'have you come to pay us a little visit?'

'yes, indeed,' macquart replied, in a voice as guileless as a child's. 'you know that whenever i come to plassans——hallo, félicité! i didn't expect to find you here! i came over to see rougon. there was something i wanted to talk to him about.'

'he was at home, wasn't he?' she exclaimed with uneasy haste.

'yes, he was at home,' uncle macquart replied tranquilly. 'i saw him, and we had a talk together. he is a good fellow, is rougon.'

he laughed slightly, and while félicité stamped her feet with restless anxiety, he went on talking in his drawling voice, which made it seem as if he was always laughing at those whom he addressed.

'mouret, my boy, i have brought you a couple of rabbits,' he said. 'they are in a basket over there. i have given them to rose. i brought another couple with me for rougon. you will find them at home, félicité, and you must tell me how they turn out. they are beautifully plump; i fattened them up for you. ah, my dears! it pleases me very much to be able to make you these little presents.'

félicité turned quite pale, and pressed her lips tightly, while mouret continued to look at her with a quiet smile. she would have been glad to get away, if she had not been afraid of macquart gossiping as soon as her back should be turned.

'thank you, uncle,' said mouret. 'the plums that you brought us the last time you came were very good. won't you have something to drink?'

'well, that's an offer i really can't refuse.'

when rose had brought him out a glass of wine, he sat down on the balustrade of the terrace and slowly sipped the[pg 46] beverage, smacking his tongue and holding up the glass to the light.

'this comes from the district of saint-eutrope,' he said. 'i'm not to be deceived in matters of this kind. i know the different districts thoroughly.'

he wagged his head and again sniggered.

then mouret, with an intonation that was full of meaning, suddenly asked him:

'and how are things getting on at les tulettes?'

macquart raised his eyes and looked at them all. then giving a final cluck of his tongue and putting down the glass on the stone-work by his side, he said, quite unconcernedly:

'oh! very well. i heard of her the day before yesterday. she is still just the same.'

félicité had turned her head away. for a moment no one spoke. mouret had just put his finger upon one of the family's sore places, by alluding to old adelaide, the mother of rougon and macquart, who for several years now had been shut up as a mad woman in the asylum at les tulettes. macquart's little property was near the mad-house, and it seemed as though rougon had posted the old scamp there to keep watch over their mother.

'it is getting late,' macquart said at last, rising from his seat on the balustrade, 'and i want to get back again before night. i shall expect to see you over at my house one of these days, mouret, my boy. you have promised me several times to come, you know.'

'oh, yes! i'll come, uncle, i'll come.'

'ah! but that isn't enough. i want you all to come; all of you, do you hear? i am very dull out there all by myself. i will give you some dinner.'

then, turning to félicité, he added:

'tell rougon that i shall expect him and you, too. you needn't stop from coming just because the old mother happens to be near there. she is going on very well, i tell you, and is properly looked after. you may safely trust yourselves to me, and i will give you some wine from one of the slopes of la seille, a light wine that will warm you up famously.'

he began to walk towards the gate as he spoke. félicité followed him so closely that it almost seemed as if she were pushing him out of the garden. they all accompanied him to the street. while he was untethering his horse, which he had fastened by the reins to one of the house shutters, abbé[pg 47] faujas, who was just returning home, passed the group with a slight bow. he glided on as noiselessly as a black shadow, but félicité quickly turned and watched him till he reached the staircase. unfortunately she had not had time to catch sight of his face. macquart on perceiving the priest had shaken his head in utter surprise.

'what! my boy,' said he, 'have you really got priests lodging with you now? that man has very strange eyes. take care! take care! cassocks bring ill luck with them!'

then he took his seat in his trap and clucked his horse on, going down the rue balande at a gentle trot. his round back and fur cap disappeared at the corner of the rue taravelle. as mouret turned round again, he heard his mother-in-law speaking to marthe.

'i would rather you do it,' she was saying; 'the invitation would seem less formal. i should be very glad if you could find some opportunity of speaking to him.'

she checked herself when she saw that she was overheard; and having kissed désirée effusively, she went away, giving a last look round to make quite sure that macquart was not likely to come back to gossip about her.

'i forbid you to mix yourself up in your mother's affairs, you know,' mouret said to his wife as they returned into the house. 'she has always got some business or other on hand that no body can understand. what in the world can she want with the abbé? she wouldn't invite him for his own sake, i'm sure. she must have some secret reason for doing so. that priest hasn't come from besan?on to plassans for nothing. there is some mystery or other at the bottom of it all!'

marthe had again set to work at the everlasting repairs of the family-linen which kept her busy for days together. but her husband went on chattering:

'old macquart and your mother amuse me very much. how they hate each other! did you notice how angry she was when she saw him come? she always seems to be in a state of fear lest he should make some unpleasant revelation——i dare say that he'd willingly do so. but they'll never catch me in his house. i've sworn to keep clear of all that business. my father was quite right when he said that my mother's family, those rougons and macquarts, were not worth a rope to hang them with——they are my relations as well as yours, so you needn't feel hurt at what i am[pg 48] saying. i say it because it is true. they are wealthy people now, but their money hasn't made them any better—rather the contrary.'

then he set off to take a turn along the cours sauvaire, where he met his friends and talked to them about the weather and the crops and the events of the previous day. an extensive transaction in almonds, which he undertook on the morrow, kept him busy for more than a week and made him almost forget all about abbé faujas. he was beginning, besides, to feel a little weary of the abbé, who did not talk enough and was far too secretive. on two separate occasions he purposely avoided him, imagining that the priest only wanted to see him in order to make him relate the stories of the remainder of the sub-prefecture circle and monsieur rastoil's friends. rose had informed him that madame faujas had tried to get her to talk, and this had made him vow that he would in future keep his mouth shut. this resolve furnished fresh amusement for his idle hours, and now, as he looked up at the closely drawn curtains of the second-floor windows, he would mutter:

'all right, my good fellow! hide yourself as much as you like! i know very well that you're watching me from behind those curtains, but you won't be much the wiser for your trouble, and you'll find yourself much mistaken if you expect to get any more information out of me about our neighbours!'

he derived great pleasure from the thought that the abbé faujas was secretly watching, and he took every precaution to avoid falling into any trap that might be laid for him. one evening as he was coming home he saw abbé bourrette and abbé faujas standing before monsieur rastoil's gate. so he concealed himself behind the corner of a house and spied on them. the two priests kept him waiting there for more than a quarter of an hour. they talked with great animation, parted for a moment, and then joined each other again, and resumed their conversation. mouret thought he could detect that abbé bourrette was trying to persuade abbé faujas to accompany him to the judge's; and that faujas was making excuses for not going, and at last refusing to do so with some show of impatience. it was a tuesday, the day of the weekly dinner. finally bourrette entered monsieur rastoil's house, and faujas went off in his quiet fashion to his own rooms. mouret stood for awhile thinking. what could be abbé[pg 49] faujas's reason for refusing to go to monsieur rastoil's? all the clergy of saint-saturnin's dined there, abbé fenil, abbé surin, and all the others. there was not a single priest in plassans who had not enjoyed the fresh air by the fountain in the garden there. the new curate's refusal to go seemed a very extraordinary thing.

when mouret got home again, he hurried to the bottom of his own garden to reconnoitre the second-floor windows. and after a moment or two he saw the curtain of the second window move to the right. he felt quite sure that abbé faujas was behind it, spying upon what might be going on at monsieur rastoil's. then mouret thought that he could discover by certain movements of the curtain that the abbé was in turn inspecting the gardens of the sub-prefecture.

the next day, a wednesday, rose told him just as he was going out that abbé bourrette had been with the second-floor people for at least an hour. upon this he came back into the house and began to rummage about in the dining-room. when marthe asked him what he was looking for, he replied sharply that he was trying to find a paper without which he could not go out. he even went upstairs, as if to see whether he had left it there. after waiting for a long time behind his bedroom door, he thought he could hear some chairs moving on the second floor, and thereupon he slowly went downstairs, stopping for a moment or two in the hall to give abbé bourrette time to catch him up.

'ah! is that you, monsieur l'abbé? this is a fortunate meeting! you are going to saint-saturnin's, i suppose, and i am going that way too. we will keep each other company, if you have no objection.'

abbé bourrette replied that he would be delighted, and they both walked slowly up the rue balande towards the place of the sub-prefecture. the abbé was a stout man, with an honest, open face, and big, child-like blue eyes. his wide silk girdle which was drawn tightly round him threw his well-rounded stomach into relief. his arms were unduly short and his legs heavy and clumsy, and he walked with his head thrown slightly back.

'so you've just been to see our good monsieur faujas?' said mouret, going to the point at once. 'i must really thank you for having procured me such a lodger as is rarely to be found.'

'yes, yes,' said the priest, 'he is a very good and worthy man.'

[pg 50]

'he never makes the slightest noise, and we can't really tell that there is anyone in the house. and he is so polite and courteous, too. i've heard it said, do you know, that he is a man of unusual attainments, and that he has been sent here as a sort of compliment to the diocese.'

they had now reached the middle of the place of the sub-prefecture. mouret stopped short and looked at abbé bourrette keenly.

'ah, indeed!' the priest merely replied, with an air of astonishment.

'so i've been told. the bishop, it is said, intends to do something for him later on. in the meantime, the new curate has to keep himself in the background for fear of exciting jealousy.'

abbé bourrette went on walking again, and turned the corner of the rue de la banne.

'you surprise me very much,' he quietly remarked. 'faujas is a very unassuming man; in fact, he is far too humble. for instance, at the church he has taken upon himself the petty duties which are generally left to the ordinary staff. he is a saint, but he is not very sharp. i scarcely ever see him at the bishop's, and from the first he has always been very cold with abbé fenil, though i strongly impressed upon him that it was necessary he should be on good terms with the grand-vicar if he wished to be well received at the bishop's. but he didn't seem to see it, and i'm afraid that he's deficient in judgment. he shows the same failing, too, by his continual visits to abbé compan, who has been confined to his bed for the last fortnight, and whom i'm afraid we are going to lose. abbé faujas's visits are most ill-advised, and will do him a deal of harm. compan has always been on bad terms with fenil, and it's only a stranger from besan?on who could be ignorant of a fact that is known to the whole diocese.'

bourrette was growing animated, and in his turn he stopped short as they reached the rue canquoin and took his stand in front of mouret.

'no, no, my dear sir,' he said, 'you have been misinformed: faujas is as simple as a new-born babe. i'm not an ambitious man myself, and god knows how fond i am of compan, who has a heart of gold, but, all the same, i keep my visits to him private. he said to me himself: "bourrette, my old friend, i am not much longer for this world. if you want to succeed[pg 51] me, don't be seen too often knocking at my door. come after dark and knock three times, and my sister will let you in." so now, you understand, i wait till night before i go to see him. one has plenty of troubles as it is, without incurring unnecessary ones!'

his voice quavered, and he clasped his hands across his stomach as he resumed his walk, moved by a na?ve egotism which made him commiserate himself, while he murmured:

'poor compan! poor compan!'

mouret was feeling quite perplexed. all his theories about abbé faujas were being upset.

'i had such very precise details furnished to me,' he ventured to say. 'i was told that he was to be promoted to some important office.'

'oh dear, no!' cried the priest. 'i can assure you that there is no truth in anything of the kind. faujas has no expectations of any sort. i'll tell you something that proves it. you know that i dine at the presiding judge's every tuesday. well, last week he particularly asked me to bring faujas with me. he wanted to see him, and find out what sort of a person he was, i suppose. now, you would scarcely guess what faujas did. he refused the invitation, my dear sir, bluntly refused it. it was all to no purpose that i told him he would make his life at plassans quite intolerable, and would certainly embroil himself with fenil by acting so rudely to monsieur rastoil. he persisted in having his own way, and wouldn't be persuaded by anything that i said. i believe that he even exclaimed, in a moment of anger, that he wasn't reduced to accepting dinners of that kind.'

abbé bourrette began to smile. they had now reached saint-saturnin's, and he detained mouret for a moment near the little side door of the church.

'he is a child, a big child,' he continued. 'i ask you, now, could a dinner at monsieur rastoil's possibly compromise him in any way? when your mother-in-law, that good madame rougon, entrusted me yesterday with an invitation for faujas, i did not conceal from her my fear that it would be badly received.'

mouret pricked up his ears.

'ah! my mother-in-law gave you an invitation for him, did she?'

'yes, she came to the sacristy yesterday. as i make a point of doing what i can to oblige her, i promised her that i[pg 52] would go and see the obstinate man this morning. i felt quite certain, however, that he would refuse.'

'and did he?'

'no, indeed; much to my surprise, he accepted.'

mouret opened his lips and then closed them again without speaking. the priest winked with an appearance of extreme satisfaction.

'i had to manage the matter very skilfully, you know. for more than an hour i went on explaining your mother-in-law's position to him. he kept shaking his head, however; he could not make up his mind to go, and he was ever dwelling upon his desire for privacy. i had exhausted my stock of arguments when i recalled one point of the instructions which the dear lady gave me. she had told me to tell him that her drawing-room was entirely neutral ground, and that this was a fact well known to the whole town. when i pressed this upon his notice he seemed to waver, and at last he consented to accept the invitation, and even promised to go to-morrow. i shall send a few lines to that excellent madame rougon to inform her of my success.'

he lingered for a moment longer, rolling his big blue eyes, and saying—more to himself than to mouret:

'monsieur rastoil will be very much vexed, but it's no fault of mine.'

then he added: 'good-morning, dear monsieur mouret; remember me very kindly to all your family.'

he entered the church, letting the padded doors close softly behind him. mouret gazed at the doors and lightly shrugged his shoulders.

'there's a fine old chatterbox!' he muttered; 'one of those men who never give one a chance of getting in a word, but go on chattering away for hours without ever telling one anything worth listening to. so faujas is going to félicité's to-morrow! it's really very provoking that i am not on good terms with that fool rougon!'

all the afternoon he was occupied with business matters, but at night, just as he and his wife were going to bed, he said to marthe carelessly:

'are you going to your mother's to-morrow evening?'

'no, not to-morrow,' marthe replied, 'i have too many things to do. but i dare say i shall go next week.'

he made no immediate reply, but just before he blew out the candle, he resumed:

[pg 53]

'it is wrong not to go out oftener than you do. go to your mother's to-morrow evening; it will enliven you a little. i will stay at home and look after the children.'

marthe looked at him in astonishment. he generally kept her at home with him, requiring all kinds of little services from her, and grumbling if she went out even for an hour.

'very well,' she replied, 'i will go if you wish me to.'

then he blew out the candle, laid his head upon the pillow, and muttered:

'that's right; and you can tell us all about it when you come back. it will amuse the children.'