BOOK SIXTH CHAPTER III.HISTORY OF A LEAVENED CAKE OF MAIZE.
At the epoch of this history, the cell in the Tour-Roland was occupied.If the reader desires to know by whom, he has only to lend an ear to the conversation of three worthy gossips, who, at the moment when we have directed his attention to the Rat-Hole, were directing their steps towards the same spot, coming up along the water's edge from the Chatelet, towards the Grève.
Two of these women were dressed like good ~bourgeoises~ of paris.Their fine white ruffs; their petticoats of linsey- woolsey, striped red and blue; their white knitted stockings, with clocks embroidered in colors, well drawn upon their legs; the square-toed shoes of tawny leather with black soles, and, above all, their headgear, that sort of tinsel horn, loaded down with ribbons and laces, which the women of Champagne still wear, in company with the grenadiers of the imperial guard of Russia, announced that they belonged to that class wives which holds the middle ground between what the lackeys call a woman and what they term a lady.They wore neither rings nor gold crosses, and it was easy to see that, in their ease, this did not proceed from poverty, but simply from fear of being fined.Their companion was attired in very much the same manner; but there was that indescribable something about her dress and bearing which suggested the wife of a provincial notary.One could see, by the way in which her girdle rose above her hips, that she had not been long in paris.--Add to this a plaited tucker, knots of ribbon on her shoes--and that the stripes of her petticoat ran horizontally instead of vertically, and a thousand other enormities which shocked good taste.
The two first walked with that step peculiar to parisian ladies, showing paris to women from the country.The provincial held by the hand a big boy, who held in his a large, flat cake.
We regret to be obliged to add, that, owing to the rigor of the season, he was using his tongue as a handkerchief.
The child was making them drag him along, ~non passibus Cequis~, as Virgil says, and stumbling at every moment, to the great indignation of his mother.It is true that he was looking at his cake more than at the pavement.Some serious motive, no doubt, prevented his biting it (the cake), for he contented himself with gazing tenderly at it.But the mother should have rather taken charge of the cake.It was cruel to make a Tantalus of the chubby-checked boy.
Meanwhile, the three demoiselles (for the name of dames was then reserved for noble women) were all talking at once.
"Let us make haste, Demoiselle Mahiette," said the youngest of the three, who was also the largest, to the provincial, "I greatly fear that we shall arrive too late; they told us at the Chatelet that they were going to take him directly to the pillory."
"Ah, bah! what are you saying, Demoiselle Oudarde Musnier?" interposed the other parisienne."There are two hours yet to the pillory.We have time enough.Have you ever seen any one pilloried, my dear Mahiette?"
"Yes," said the provincial, "at Reims."
"Ah, bah!What is your pillory at Reims?A miserable cage into which only peasants are turned.A great affair, truly!"
"Only peasants!" said Mahiette, "at the cloth market in Reims!We have seen very fine criminals there, who have killed their father and mother!peasants!For what do you take us, Gervaise?"
It is certain that the provincial was on the point of taking offence, for the honor of her pillory.Fortunately, that discreet damoiselle, Oudarde Musnier, turned the conversation in time.
"By the way, Damoiselle Mahiette, what say you to our Flemish Ambassadors?Have you as fine ones at Reims?"
"I admit," replied Mahiette, "that it is only in paris that such Flemings can be seen."
"Did you see among the embassy, that big ambassador who is a hosier?" asked Oudarde.
"Yes," said Mahiette."He has the eye of a Saturn."
"And the big fellow whose face resembles a bare belly?" resumed Gervaise."And the little one, with small eyes framed in red eyelids, pared down and slashed up like a thistle head?"
"'Tis their horses that are worth seeing," said Oudarde, "caparisoned as they are after the fashion of their country!"
"Ah my dear," interrupted provincial Mahiette, assuming in her turn an air of superiority, "what would you say then, if you had seen in '61, at the consecration at Reims, eighteen years ago, the horses of the princes and of the king's company?Housings and caparisons of all sorts; some of damask cloth, of fine cloth of gold, furred with sables; others of velvet, furred with ermine; others all embellished with goldsmith's work and large bells of gold and silver!And what money that had cost!And what handsome boy pages rode upon them!"
"That," replied Oudarde dryly, "does not prevent the Flemings having very fine horses, and having had a superb supper yesterday with monsieur, the provost of the merchants, at the H?tel-de-Ville, where they were served with comfits and hippocras, and spices, and other singularities."
"What are you saying, neighbor!" exclaimed Gervaise. "It was with monsieur the cardinal, at the petit Bourbon that they supped."
"Not at all.At the H?tel-de-Ville.
"Yes, indeed.At the petit Bourbon!"
"It was at the H?tel-de-Ville," retorted Oudarde sharply, "and Dr. Scourable addressed them a harangue in Latin, which pleased them greatly.My husband, who is sworn bookseller told me."
"It was at the petit Bourbon," replied Gervaise, with no less spirit, "and this is what monsieur the cardinal's procurator presented to them: twelve double quarts of hippocras, white, claret, and red; twenty-four boxes of double Lyons marchpane, gilded; as many torches, worth two livres a piece; and six demi-queues* of Beaune wine, white and claret, the best that could be found.I have it from my husband, who is a cinquantenier**, at the parloir-aux Bourgeois, and who was this morning comparing the Flemish ambassadors with those of prester John and the Emperor of Trebizond, who came from Mesopotamia to paris, under the last king, and who wore rings in their ears."
*A Queue was a cask which held a hogshead and a half.
**A captain of fifty men.
"So true is it that they supped at the H?tel-de-Ville," replied Oudarde but little affected by this catalogue, "that such a triumph of viands and comfits has never been seen."
"I tell you that they were served by Le Sec, sergeant of the city, at the H?tel du petit-Bourbon, and that that is where you are mistaken."
"At the H?tel-de-Ville, I tell you!"
"At the petit-Bourbon, my dear! and they had illuminated with magic glasses the word hope, which is written on the grand portal."
"At the H?tel-de-Ville!At the H?tel-de-Ville!And Husson-le-Voir played the flute!"
"I tell you, no!"
"I tell you, yes!"
"I say, no!"
plump and worthy Oudarde was preparing to retort, and the quarrel might, perhaps, have proceeded to a pulling of caps, had not Mahiette suddenly exclaimed,--"Look at those people assembled yonder at the end of the bridge!There is something in their midst that they are looking at!"
"In sooth," said Gervaise, "I hear the sounds of a tambourine.I believe 'tis the little Esmeralda, who plays her mummeries with her goat.Eh, be quick, Mahiette! redouble your pace and drag along your boy.You are come hither to visit the curiosities of paris.You saw the Flemings yesterday; you must see the gypsy to-day."
"The gypsy!" said Mahiette, suddenly retracing her steps, and clasping her son's arm forcibly."God preserve me from it!She would steal my child from me!Come, Eustache!"
And she set out on a run along the quay towards the Grève, until she had left the bridge far behind her.In the meanwhile, the child whom she was dragging after her fell upon his knees; she halted breathless.Oudarde and Gervaise rejoined her.
"That gypsy steal your child from you!" said Gervaise. "That's a singular freak of yours!"
Mahiette shook her head with a pensive air.
"The singular point is," observed Oudarde, "that ~la sachette~ has the same idea about the Egyptian woman."
"What is ~la sachette~?" asked Mahiette.
"Hé!" said Oudarde, "Sister Gudule."
"And who is Sister Gudule?" persisted Mahiette.
"You are certainly ignorant of all but your Reims, not to know that!" replied Oudarde."'Tis the recluse of the Rat-Hole."
"What!" demanded Mahiette, "that poor woman to whom we are carrying this cake?"
Oudarde nodded affirmatively.
"precisely.You will see her presently at her window on the Grève.She has the same opinion as yourself of these vagabonds of Egypt, who play the tambourine and tell fortunes to the public.No one knows whence comes her horror of the gypsies and Egyptians.But you, Mahiette--why do you run so at the mere sight of them?"
"Oh!" said Mahiette, seizing her child's round head in both hands, "I don't want that to happen to me which happened to paquette la Chantefleurie."
"Oh! you must tell us that story, my good Mahiette," said Gervaise, taking her arm.
"Gladly," replied Mahiette, "but you must be ignorant of all but your paris not to know that!I will tell you then (but 'tis not necessary for us to halt that I may tell you the tale), that paquette la Chantefleurie was a pretty maid of eighteen when I was one myself, that is to say, eighteen years ago, and 'tis her own fault if she is not to-day, like me, a good, plump, fresh mother of six and thirty, with a husband and a son. However, after the age of fourteen, it was too late!Well, she was the daughter of Guybertant, minstrel of the barges at Reims, the same who had played before King Charles VII., at his coronation, when he descended our river Vesle from Sillery to Muison, when Madame the Maid of Orleans was also in the boat.The old father died when paquette was still a mere child; she had then no one but her mother, the sister of M. pradon, master-brazier and coppersmith in paris, Rue Farm- Garlin, who died last year.You see she was of good family. The mother was a good simple woman, unfortunately, and she taught paquette nothing but a bit of embroidery and toy-making which did not prevent the little one from growing very large and remaining very poor.They both dwelt at Reims, on the river front, Rue de Folle-peine.Mark this: For I believe it was this which brought misfortune to paquette. In '61, the year of the coronation of our King Louis XI. whom God preserve! paquette was so gay and so pretty that she was called everywhere by no other name than "la Chantefleurie"--blossoming song.poor girl!She had handsome teeth, she was fond of laughing and displaying them.Now, a maid who loves to laugh is on the road to weeping; handsome teeth ruin handsome eyes.So she was la Chantefleurie.She and her mother earned a precarious living; they had been very destitute since the death of the minstrel; their embroidery did not bring them in more than six farthings a week, which does not amount to quite two eagle liards.Where were the days when Father Guybertant had earned twelve sous parisian, in a single coronation, with a song?One winter (it was in that same year of '61), when the two women had neither fagots nor firewood, it was very cold, which gave la Chantefleurie such a fine color that the men called her paquette!* and many called her pàquerette!** and she was ruined.--Eustache, just let me see you bite that cake if you dare!--We immediately perceived that she was ruined, one Sunday when she came to church with a gold cross about her neck. At fourteen years of age! do you see?First it was the young Vicomte de Cormontreuil, who has his bell tower three leagues distant from Reims; then Messire Henri de Triancourt, equerry to the King; then less than that, Chiart de Beaulion, sergeant-at-arms; then, still descending, Guery Aubergeon, carver to the King; then, Mace de Frépus, barber to monsieur the dauphin; then, Thévenin le Moine, King's cook; then, the men growing continually younger and less noble, she fell to Guillaume Racine, minstrel of the hurdy gurdy and to Thierry de Mer, lamplighter.Then, poor Chantefleurie, she belonged to every one: she had reached the last sou of her gold piece.What shall I say to you, my damoiselles?At the coronation, in the same year, '61, 'twas she who made the bed of the king of the debauchees!In the same year!"
*Ox-eye daisy.
**Easter daisy.
Mahiette sighed, and wiped away a tear which trickled from her eyes.
"This is no very extraordinary history," said Gervaise, "and in the whole of it I see nothing of any Egyptian women or children."
"patience!" resumed Mahiette, "you will see one child.--In '66, 'twill be sixteen years ago this month, at Sainte- paule's day, paquette was brought to bed of a little girl. The unhappy creature! it was a great joy to her; she had long wished for a child.Her mother, good woman, who had never known what to do except to shut her eyes, her mother was dead.paquette had no longer any one to love in the world or any one to love her.La Chantefleurie had been a poor creature during the five years since her fall.She was alone, alone in this life, fingers were pointed at her, she was hooted at in the streets, beaten by the sergeants, jeered at by the little boys in rags.And then, twenty had arrived: and twenty is an old age for amorous women.Folly began to bring her in no more than her trade of embroidery in former days; for every wrinkle that came, a crown fled; winter became hard to her once more, wood became rare again in her brazier, and bread in her cupboard.She could no longer work because, in becoming voluptuous, she had grown lazy; and she suffered much more because, in growing lazy, she had become voluptuous. At least, that is the way in which monsieur the cure of Saint-Remy explains why these women are colder and hungrier than other poor women, when they are old."
"Yes," remarked Gervaise, "but the gypsies?"
"One moment, Gervaise!" said Oudarde, whose attention was less impatient."What would be left for the end if all were in the beginning?Continue, Mahiette, I entreat you. That poor Chantefleurie!"
Mahiette went on.
"So she was very sad, very miserable, and furrowed her cheeks with tears.But in the midst of her shame, her folly, her debauchery, it seemed to her that she should be less wild, less shameful, less dissipated, if there were something or some one in the world whom she could love, and who could love her.It was necessary that it should be a child, because only a child could be sufficiently innocent for that.She had recognized this fact after having tried to love a thief, the only man who wanted her; but after a short time, she perceived that the thief despised her.Those women of love require either a lover or a child to fill their hearts.Otherwise, they are very unhappy.As she could not have a lover, she turned wholly towards a desire for a child, and as she had not ceased to be pious, she made her constant prayer to the good God for it.So the good God took pity on her, and gave her a little daughter.I will not speak to you of her joy; it was a fury of tears, and caresses, and kisses.She nursed her child herself, made swaddling-bands for it out of her coverlet, the only one which she had on her bed, and no longer felt either cold or hunger.She became beautiful once more, in consequence of it.An old maid makes a young mother.Gallantry claimed her once more; men came to see la Chantefleurie; she found customers again for her merchandise, and out of all these horrors she made baby clothes, caps and bibs, bodices with shoulder-straps of lace, and tiny bonnets of satin, without even thinking of buying herself another coverlet.--Master Eustache, I have already told you not to eat that cake.--It is certain that little Agnes, that was the child's name, a baptismal name, for it was a long time since la Chantefleurie had had any surname--it is certain that that little one was more swathed in ribbons and embroideries than a dauphiness of Dauphiny!Among other things, she had a pair of little shoes, the like of which King Louis XI. certainly never had!Her mother had stitched and embroidered them herself; she had lavished on them all the delicacies of her art of embroideress, and all the embellishments of a robe for the good Virgin.They certainly were the two prettiest little pink shoes that could be seen.They were no longer than my thumb, and one had to see the child's little feet come out of them, in order to believe that they had been able to get into them.'Tis true that those little feet were so small, so pretty, so rosy! rosier than the satin of the shoes!When you have children, Oudarde, you will find that there is nothing prettier than those little hands and feet."
"I ask no better," said Oudarde with a sigh, "but I am waiting until it shall suit the good pleasure of M. Andry Musnier."
"However, paquette's child had more that was pretty about it besides its feet.I saw her when she was only four months old; she was a love!She had eyes larger than her mouth, and the most charming black hair, which already curled.She would have been a magnificent brunette at the age of sixteen! Her mother became more crazy over her every day.She kissed her, caressed her, tickled her, washed her, decked her out, devoured her!She lost her head over her, she thanked God for her.Her pretty, little rosy feet above all were an endless source of wonderment, they were a delirium of joy! She was always pressing her lips to them, and she could never recover from her amazement at their smallness.She put them into the tiny shoes, took them out, admired them, marvelled at them, looked at the light through them, was curious to see them try to walk on her bed, and would gladly have passed her life on her knees, putting on and taking off the shoes from those feet, as though they had been those of an Infant Jesus."
"The tale is fair and good," said Gervaise in a low tone; "but where do gypsies come into all that?"
"Here," replied Mahiette."One day there arrived in Reims a very queer sort of people.They were beggars and vagabonds who were roaming over the country, led by their duke and their counts.They were browned by exposure to the sun, they had closely curling hair, and silver rings in their ears.The women were still uglier than the men.They had blacker faces, which were always uncovered, a miserable frock on their bodies, an old cloth woven of cords bound upon their shoulder, and their hair hanging like the tail of a horse.The children who scrambled between their legs would have frightened as many monkeys.A band of excommunicates. All these persons came direct from lower Egypt to Reims through poland.The pope had confessed them, it was said, and had prescribed to them as penance to roam through the world for seven years, without sleeping in a bed; and so they were called penancers, and smelt horribly.It appears that they had formerly been Saracens, which was why they believed in Jupiter, and claimed ten livres of Tournay from all archbishops, bishops, and mitred abbots with croziers. A bull from the pope empowered them to do that.They came to Reims to tell fortunes in the name of the King of Algiers, and the Emperor of Germany.You can readily imagine that no more was needed to cause the entrance to the town to be forbidden them.Then the whole band camped with good grace outside the gate of Braine, on that hill where stands a mill, beside the cavities of the ancient chalk pits.And everybody in Reims vied with his neighbor in going to see them. They looked at your hand, and told you marvellous prophecies; they were equal to predicting to Judas that he would become pope.Nevertheless, ugly rumors were in circulation in regard to them; about children stolen, purses cut, and human flesh devoured.The wise people said to the foolish: "Don't go there!" and then went themselves on the sly.It was an infatuation.The fact is, that they said things fit to astonish a cardinal.Mothers triumphed greatly over their little ones after the Egyptians had read in their hands all sorts of marvels written in pagan and in Turkish.One had an emperor; another, a pope; another, a captain.poor Chantefleurie was seized with curiosity; she wished to know about herself, and whether her pretty little Agnes would not become some day Empress of Armenia, or something else.So she carried her to the Egyptians; and the Egyptian women fell to admiring the child, and to caressing it, and to kissing it with their black mouths, and to marvelling over its little band, alas! to the great joy of the mother.They were especially enthusiastic over her pretty feet and shoes.The child was not yet a year old.She already lisped a little, laughed at her mother like a little mad thing, was plump and quite round, and possessed a thousand charming little gestures of the angels of paradise.