CHAPTER IX.
THE JOYOUS END OF JOY.
The girls, when left alone, leaned out of the windows, two by two,talking, looking out, and wondering. They watched the young men leavethe Bombarda cabaret arm in arm; they turned round, made laughingsigns, and disappeared in that dusty Sunday mob which once a weekinvaded the Champs ?lys?es.
"Do not be long," Fantine cried.
"What will they bring us?" said Z?phine.
"I am certain it will be pretty," said Dahlia.
"For my part," Favourite added, "I hope it will be set in gold."
They were soon distracted by the movement on the quay, which they couldnotice through the branches of the lofty trees, and which greatlyamused them. It was the hour for the mail-carts and stages to start,and nearly all those bound for the South and West at that time passedthrough the Champs ?lys?es. Most of them followed the quay and wentout by the Passy barrier. Every moment some heavy vehicle, paintedyellow and black, heavily loaded and rendered shapeless by trunks andvalises, dashed through the crowd with the sparks of a forge, the dustrepresenting the smoke. This confusion amused the girls.
"What a racket!" exclaimed Favourite; "one might say a pile of chairswas flying about."
One of these vehicles, which could hardly be distinguished through thebranches, stopped for a moment, and then started again at a gallop.This surprised Fantine.
"That is strange," she said; "I fancied that the diligence neverstopped."
Favourite shrugged her shoulders.
"This Fantine is really amazing, and is surprised at the simplestthings. Let us suppose that I am a traveller and say to the guard ofthe stage-coach, "I will walk on and you can pick me up on the quay asyou pass." The coach passes, sees me, stops and takes me in. That isdone every day; you are ignorant of life, my dear."
Some time elapsed; all at once Favourite started as if waking fromsleep.
"Well," she said, "where is the surprise?"
"Oh yes," Dahlia continued, "the famous surprise."
"They are a long time," said Fantine.
Just as Fantine had ended this sigh, the waiter who had served thedinner came in; he held in his hand something that resembled a letter.
"What is that?" Favourite asked.
The waiter answered,--
"It is a paper which the gentlemen left for you, ladies."
"Why did you not bring it to us at once?"
"Because the gentlemen," the waiter went on, "ordered that it shouldnot be delivered to you for an hour."
Favourite snatched the paper from the waiter's hands; it was really aletter.
"Stay," she said; "there is no address, but the following words arewritten on it: THIS IS THE SURPRISE." She quickly opened the letter andread (she could read):--
"WELL-BELOVED,--Know that we have relatives: perhaps you are notperfectly cognizant what they are; it means fathers and mothers in thecivil, puerile, and honest code. Well, these relatives are groaning;these old people claim us as their own; these worthy men and women callus prodigal sons. They desire our return home, and offer to kill thefatted calf. We obey them, as we are virtuous; at the hour when youread this, five impetuous steeds will be conveying us back to our papasand mammas. 'We decamp,' as Bossuet said; "we are going, gone." We areflying away in the arms of Laffitte and on the wings of Gaillard. TheToulouse coach is dragging us away from the abyss, and that abyss isyourselves, pretty dears. We are re-entering society, duty, and order,at a sharp trot, and at the rate of nine miles an hour. It is importantfor our country that we should become, like everybody else, Prefects,fathers of a family, game-keepers, and councillors of state. Revere us,for we are sacrificing ourselves. Dry up your tears for us rapidly, andget a substitute speedily. If this letter lacerates your hearts, treatit in the same fashion. Good-by. For nearly two years we rendered youhappy, so do not owe us any grudge.
(Signed) BLACHEVELLE. FAMEUIL. LISTOLIER. FELIX THOLOMY?S.
"P.S. The dinner is paid for."
The four girls looked at each other, and Favourite was the first tobreak the silence.
"I don't care," she said, "it is a capital joke."
"It is very funny," Z?phine remarked.
"It must have been Blachevelle who had that idea," Favourite continued;"it makes me in love with him. So soon as he has left me I am beginningto grow fond of him; the old story."
"No," said Dahlia, "that is an idea of Tholomy?s. That can be easilyseen."
"In that case," Favourite retorted, "down with Blachevelle and longlive Tholomy?s!"
And they burst into a laugh, in which Fantine joined.
An hour later though, when she returned to her bed-room, she wept: thiswas, as we have said, her first love; she had yielded to Tholomy?s asto a husband, and the poor girl had a child.
BOOK IV.
TO CONFIDE IS SOMETIMES TO ABANDON.