第56章

When I reached Paris，I hurried round to Prudence's to ask her to go down and see Marguerite.I hoped that her zest and good spirits would cheer her up.

I entered without waiting to be announced，and found Prudence getting dressed.

'Ah！'she said anxiously，'is Marguerite with you？'

'No.'

'How is she？'

'She's not well.'

'So she's not coming？'

'Was she supposed to？'

Madame Duvernoy reddened and，somewhat embarrassed，answered：

'What I meant was，now you've come to Paris，isn't she going to come and join you？'

'No.'

I stared at Prudence.She lowered her eyes，and from the way she looked，I had the feeling that she was afraid of seeing me stay much longer.

'As a matter of fact，my dear Prudence，I came to ask you，if you've nothing else to do，to go down and see Marguerite this evening.You could keep her company and stay the night.I've never seen her the way she was today，and I'm terrified she's going to be ill.'

'I'm dining in town，'Prudence replied，'and I can't see Marguerite this evening.But I will tomorrow.'

I said goodbye to Madame Duvernoy，who seemed to me as though she was almost as preoccupied as Marguerite，and went to call on my father who，from the start，gave me studied，searching looks.

He held out his hand.

'You called twice to see me.That pleases me，Armand，'he said.'It's given me hope that you've reflected on your position，as I have on mine.'

'May I ask，father，what the outcome of your reflections has been？'

'The outcome，my boy，is that I realize I attached too much importance to the reports I was given，and I have made up my mind not to be quite so hard on you.'

'Do you mean it，father！'I exclaimed，overjoyed.

'What I mean，my dear boy，is that a young man needs a mistress and，after further enquiries，I would prefer to know that you were the lover of Mademoiselle Gautier than of some other woman.'

'Oh，thank you，father！You've made me so happy！'

We talked in this vein for a short while，and then sat down to dine.My father remained most affable throughout the meal.

I was very anxious to get back to Bougival to tell Marguerite all about this auspicious development.I glanced continually at the clock.

'You've got your eye on the time，'said my father，'you can't wait to get away.Oh，you young people！always sacrificing genuine feelings for suspect attachments！'

'Don't say that，father！Marguerite loves me.I know she does.'

My father did not answer.His manner suggested that he neither believed nor disbelieved me.

He was very insistent that I should spend the entire evening with him so that I would not have to set off again until the following day.But I had left Marguerite feeling ill，said so，and asked his leave to go and join her soon，promising to return the following day.

It was a fine evening.He decided he would accompany me on to the platform.I had never been so happy.The future looked exactly as I had wanted it to look for so long.

I loved my father more than I had ever loved him.

As I was on the point of taking my leave，he pressed me one last time to stay.I refused.

'So you really love her？'he asked.

'To distraction.'

'In that case，go！'and he put his hand to his brow as though to drive a thought away，and then opened his mouth as if to tell me something.But he simply shook my hand and turned away abruptly，shouting after me：

'I shall see you tomorrow，then！'