Atlantida - Pierre Benoît (good books to read txt) 📗

know vaguely.'

"'Do you know Gramont-Caderousse's last "mot"?'

"'No, but you are going to tell it to me.'

"'Here goes, then. We were five or six: myself, Viel-Castel, Gramont, Persigny....'

"'Persigny!' said the Emperor. 'He has no right to associate with Gramont, after all that Paris says about his wife.'

"'Just so Sire. Well, Persigny was excited, no doubt about it. He began telling us how troubled he was because of the Duchess's conduct.'

"'This Fialin isn't over tactful,' muttered the Emperor.

"'Just so, Sire. Then, does Your Majesty know what Gramont hurled at him?'

"'What?'

"'He said to him, "Monsieur le Duc, I forbid you to speak ill of my mistress before me."

"'Gramont goes too far,' said Napoleon with a dreamy smile.

"'That is what we all thought, including Viel-Castel, who was nevertheless delighted.'

"'Apropos of this,' said Napoleon after a silence, 'I have forgotten to ask you for news of the Countess Bielowsky.'

"'She is very well, Sire, I thank Your Majesty,'

"'And Clémentine? Still the same dear child?'

"'Always, Sire. But....'

"'It seems that M. Baroche is madly in love with her.'

"'I am very much honored, Sire. But this honor becomes too burdensome.'

"I had drawn from my pocket that morning's bills and I spread them out under the eyes of the Emperor.

"He looked at them with his distant smile.

"'Come, come. If that is all, I can fix that, since I have a favor to ask of you.'

"'I am entirely at Your Majesty's service.'

"He struck a gong.

"'Send for M. Mocquard.'

"'I have the grippe,' he said. 'Mocquard will explain the affair to you.'

"The Emperor's private secretary entered.

"'Here is Bielowsky, Mocquard,' said Napoleon. 'You know what I want him to do. Explain it to him.'

"And he began to tap on the window-panes against which the rain was beating furiously.

"'My dear Count,' said Mocquard, taking a chair, 'it is very simple. You have doubtless heard of a young explorer of promise, M. Henry Duveyrier.'

"I shook my head as a sign of negation, very much surprised at this beginning.

"'M. Duveyrier,' continued Mocquard, 'has returned to Paris after a particularly daring trip to South Africa and the Sahara. M. Vivien de Saint Martin, whom I have seen recently has assured me that the Geographical Society intends to confer its great gold medal upon him, in recognition of these exploits. In the course of his trip, M. Duveyrier has entered into negotiations with the chief of the people who always have been so rebellious to His Majesty's armies, the Tuareg.'

"I looked at the Emperor. My bewilderment was such that he began to laugh.

"'Listen,' he said.

"'M. Duveyrier,' continued Mocquard, 'was able to arrange to have a delegation of these chiefs come to Paris to present their respects to His Majesty. Very important results may arise from this visit, and His Excellency the Colonial Minister, does not despair of obtaining the signature of a treaty of commerce, reserving special advantages to our fellow countrymen. These chiefs, five of them, among them Sheik Otham, Amenokol or Sultan of the Confederation of Adzjer, arrive to-morrow morning at the Gare de Lyon. M. Duveyrier will meet them. But the Emperor has thought that besides....'

"'I thought,' said Napoleon III, delighted by my bewilderment, 'I thought that it was correct to have some one of the Gentlemen of my Chamber wait upon the arrival of these Mussulman dignitaries. That is why you are here, my poor Bielowsky. Don't be frightened,' he added, laughing harder. 'You will have M. Duveyrier with you. You are charged only with the special part of the reception: to accompany these princes to the lunch that I am giving them to-morrow at the Tuileries; then, in the evening, discreetly on account of their religious scruples, to succeed in giving them a very high idea of Parisian civilization, with nothing exaggerated: do not forget that in the Sahara they are very high religious dignitaries. In that respect, I have confidence in your tact and give you carte blanche.... Mocquard!'

"'Sire?'

"'You will apportion on the budget, half to Foreign Affairs, half to the Colonies, the funds Count Bielowsky will need for the reception of the Tuareg delegation. It seems to me that a hundred thousand francs, to begin.... The Count has only to tell you if he is forced to exceed that figure.'

"Clémentine lived on the Rue Boccador, in a little Moorish pavilion that I had bought for her from M. de Lesseps. I found her in bed. When she saw me, she burst into tears.

"'Great fools that we are!' she murmured amidst her sobs, 'what have we done!'

"'Clémentine, tell me!'

"'What have we done, what have we done!' she repeated, and I felt against me, her floods of black hair, her warm cheek which was fragrant with eau de Nanon.

"'What is it? What can it be?'

"'It is....' and she murmured something in my ear.

"'No!' I said, stupefied. 'Are you quite sure?'

"'Am I quite sure!'

"I was thunderstruck.

"'You don't seem much pleased,' she said sharply.

"'I did not say that.... Though, really, I am very much pleased, I assure you.'

"'Prove it to me: let us spend the day together tomorrow.'

"'To-morrow!' I stammered. 'Impossible!'

"'Why?' she demanded suspiciously.

"'Because to-morrow, I have to pilot the Tuareg mission about Paris. The Emperor's orders.'

"'What bluff is this?' asked Clémentine.

"'I admit that nothing so much resembles a lie as the truth.'

"I retold Mocquard's story to Clémentine, as well as I could. She listened to me with an expression that said: 'you can't fool me that way.'

"Finally, furious, I burst out:

"'You can see for yourself. I am dining with them, tomorrow; and I invite you.'

"'I shall be very pleased to come,' said Clémentine with great dignity.

"I admit that I lacked self-control at that minute. But think what a day it had been! Forty thousand francs of bills as soon as I woke up. The ordeal of escorting the savages around Paris all the next day. And, quite unexpectedly, the announcement of an approaching irregular paternity....

"'After all,' I thought, as I returned to my house, 'these are the Emperor's orders. He has commanded me to give the Tuareg an idea of Parisian civilization. Clémentine comports herself very well in society and just now it would not do to aggravate her. I will engage a room for to-morrow at the Café de Paris, and tell Gramont-Caderousse and Viel-Castel to bring their silly mistresses. It will be very French to enjoy the attitude of these children of the desert in the midst of this little party.'

"The train from Marseilles arrived at 10:20. On the platform I found M. Duveyrier, a young man of twenty-three with blue eyes and a little blond beard. The Tuareg fell into his arms as they descended from the train. He had lived with them for two years, in their tents, the devil knows where. He presented me to their chief, Sheik Otham, and to four others, splendid fellows in their blue cotton draperies and their amulets of red leather. Fortunately, they all spoke a kind of sabir[13] which helped things along.

"I only mention in passing the lunch at the Tuileries, the visits in the evening to the Museum, to the Hotel de Ville, to the Imperial Printing Press. Each time, the Tuareg inscribed their names in the registry of the place they were visiting. It was interminable. To give you an idea, here is the complete name of Sheik Otham alone: Otham-ben-el-Hadj-el-Bekri-ben-el-Hadj-el-Faqqi-ben-Mohammad-Bouya- ben-si-Ahmed-es-Souki-ben-Mahmoud. [14]

"And there were five of them like that!

"I maintained my good humor, however, because on the boulevards, everywhere, our success was colossal. At the Café de Paris, at six-thirty, it amounted to frenzy. The delegation, a little drunk, embraced me: 'Bono, Napoléon, bono, Eugénie; bono, Casimir; bono, Christians.' Gramont-Caderousse and Viel-Castel were already in booth number eight, with Anna Grimaldi, of the Folies Dramatiques, and Hortense Schneider, both beautiful enough to strike terror to the heart. But the palm was for my dear Clémentine, when she entered. I must tell you how she was dressed: a gown of white tulle, over China blue tarletan, with pleatings, and ruffles of tulle over the pleatings. The tulle skirt was caught up on each side by garlands of green leaves mingled with rose clusters. Thus it formed a valence which allowed the tarletan skirt to show in front and on the sides. The garlands were caught up to the belt and, in the space between their branches, were knots of rose satin with long ends. The pointed bodice was draped with tulle, the billowy bertha of tulle was edged with lace. By way of head-dress, she had placed upon her black locks a diadem crown of the same flowers. Two long leafy tendrils were twined in her hair and fell on her neck. As cloak, she had a kind of scarf of blue cashmere embroidered in gold and lined with blue satin.

"So much beauty and splendor immediately moved the Tuareg and, especially, Clémentine's right-hand neighbor, El-Hadj-ben-Guemâma, brother of Sheik Otham and Sultan of Ahaggar. By the time the soup arrived, a bouillon of wild game, seasoned with Tokay, he was already much smitten. When they served the compote of fruits Martinique à la liqueur de Mme. Amphoux, he showed every indication of illimitable passion. The Cyprian wine de la Commanderie made him quite sure of his sentiments. Hortense kicked my foot under the table. Gramont, intending to do the same to Anna, made a mistake and aroused the indignant protests of one of the Tuareg. I can safely say that when the time came to go to Mabille, we were enlightened as to the manner in which our visitors respected the prohibition decreed by the Prophet in respect to wine.

"At Mabille, while Clémentine, Hortense, Anna, Ludovic and the three Tuareg gave themselves over to the wildest gallops, Sheik Otham took me aside and confided to me, with visible emotion, a certain commission with which he had just been charged by his brother, Sheik Ahmed.

"The next day, very early, I reached Clémentine's house.

"'My dear,' I began, after having waked her, not without difficulty, 'listen to me. I want to talk to you seriously.'

"She rubbed her eyes a bit crossly.

"'How did you like that young Arabian gentleman who was so taken with you last night?'

"'Why, well enough,' she said, blushing.

"'Do you know that in his country, he is the sovereign prince and reigns over territories five or six times greater than those of our august master, the Emperor Napoleon III?'

"'He murmured something of that kind to me,' she said, becoming interested.

"'Well, would it please you to mount on a throne, like our august sovereign, the Empress Eugénie?'

"Clémentine, looked startled.

"'His own brother, Sheik Otham, has charged me in his name to make this offer.'

"Clémentine, dumb with amazement, did not reply.

"'I, Empress!' she finally stammered.

"'The decision rests with you. They must have your answer before midday. If it is 'yes,' we lunch together at Voisin's, and the bargain is made.'

"I saw that she had already made up her mind, but she thought it well to display a little sentiment.

"'And you, you!' she groaned. 'To leave you thus.... Never!'

"'No foolishness, dear child,' I said gently. 'You don't know perhaps that I am ruined. Yes, completely: I don't even know how I am going to pay for your complexion cream!'

"'Ah!' she sighed.

"She added, however, 'And ... the child?'

"'What child?'

"'Our child ... our child.'

"'Ah! That is so. Why, you will have to put it down to profit and loss. I am even convinced that Sheik Ahmed will find that it resembles him.'

"'You can turn everything into a joke,' she said between laughing and crying.

"The next morning, at the same hour, the Marseilles express carried away the five Tuareg and Clémentine. The young woman, radiant, was leaning on the arm of Sheik Ahmed, who was beside himself with joy.

"'Have you many shops in your capital?' she asked him languidly.

"And he, smiling broadly under his veil, replied:

"'Besef, besef, bono, roumis, bono.'

"At the last moment, Clémentine had a pang of emotion.

"'Listen, Casimir, you have