du Bousquier. Without being aware of it, she was influenced by the
herculean form of the republican. Madame Granson and the Chevalier
de Valois, although they could not explain to themselves Mademoiselle
Cormon's inconsistencies, had detected her naive glances in that
direction, the meaning of which seemed clear enough to make them both
resolve to ruin the hopes of the already rejected purveyor,--hopes which
it was evident he still indulged.

Two guests, whose functions excused them, kept the dinner waiting. One
was Monsieur du Coudrai, the recorder of mortgages; the other Monsieur
Choisnel, former bailiff to the house of Esgrignon, and now the notary
of the upper aristocracy, by whom he was received with a distinction due
to his virtues; he was also a man of considerable wealth. When the two
belated guests arrived, Jacquelin said to them as he saw them about to
enter the salon:--

"_They_ are all in the garden."

No doubt the assembled stomachs were impatient; for on the appearance
of the register of mortgages--who had no defect except that of having
married for her money an intolerable old woman, and of perpetrating
endless puns, at which he was the first to laugh--the gentle murmur by
which such late-comers are welcomed arose. While awaiting the official
announcement of dinner, the company were sauntering on the terrace above
the river, and gazing at the water-plants, the mosaic of the currents,
and the various pretty details of the houses clustering across the
river, their old wooden galleries, their mouldering window-frames, their
little gardens where clothes were drying, the cabinet-maker's shop,--in
short, the many details of a small community to which the vicinity of
a river, a weeping willow, flowers, rose-bushes, added a certain grace,
making the scene quite worthy of a landscape painter.

The chevalier studied all faces, for he knew that his firebrand had been
very successfully introduced into the chief houses of the place. But
no one as yet referred openly to the great news of Suzanne and du
Bousquier. Provincials possess in the highest degree the art of
distilling gossip; the right moment for openly discussing this strange
affair had not arrived; it was first necessary that all present should
put themselves on record. So the whispers went round from ear to ear:--

"You have heard?"

"Yes."

"Du Bousquier?"

"And that handsome Suzanne."

"Does Mademoiselle Cormon know of it?"

"No."

"Ha!"