Joseph Balsamo (45 page)
” Ah ! ” cried the Princess de Guemenee, “what kind of court would it be if we were banished ? The king of Denmark is expected who will be presented to him ? The dauphiness is expected to whom will she be presented ? Besides, a whole court is never exiled a selection is made.”
” I know that very well, and I fear I run a great risk of
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being chosen for the distinction of banishment ! ” said the marshal. ” I have always been distinguished in that way. Four times have I been selected for it, at the lowest reckoning this is my fifth conspiracy, ladies.”
” Do not be afraid, marshal ‘ said the Duchess de Grammont ; ” if any one be marked out for banishment, I shall be the person.”
” Or your brother, the Duke de Choiseul. Take care, duchess,” replied the marshal.
” My brother is of my mind he could submit to misfortune, not to an insult.”
“It will be neither you, marshal, nor you, duchess, who will be banished,” said the Marchioness de Mirepoix ; ” I shall be the victim. The king will never pardon me for being less condescending to the countess than I was to the marchioness.”
“That is true,” said the marshal: “you were always called the favorite of the favorite. I am sbrry for you now we shall be banished together.”
“Let him banish us all,” said the Princess de Gue-enee, rising ; ” for I trust none of us will draw back from the resolution which we have taken.”
“We cannot draw back after our oath,” said the marshal.
” Besides,” said the Duchess de Grammont, “I have still other resources.”
“You!”
” Yes ; she cannot be presented to-morrow evening without three things.”
” What three ? “
” A hair-dresser, a dress, and a carriage.”
“Certainly.”
” Well, she shall not be at Versailles at ten o’clock the king will become impatient he will dismiss the court, and the presentation will be postponed until the Greek Kalends, on account of the arrival of the dauphiness.”
A burst of delight followed this new episode in the conspiracy, but while applauding even more loudly than the others, the Duke de Richelieu and the Marchion-
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ess de Mirepoix exchanged glances the same idea had occurred simultaneously to the two old courtiers.
At eleven o’clock all the conspirators, lighted by a lovely moon, were speeding along the roads to Versailles and St. Germain.
Marshal Eichelieu, however, mounted his groom’s horse, and while his carriage, with the blinds drawn closely down, bore him ostensibly to Versailles, he reached Paris by a cross-road.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
NO HAIR-DRESSER, NO DRESS, NO CARRIAGE.
IT would have been in bad taste for the Countess Dubarry to have gone merely from her apartment in the palace of Versailles to the grand saloon where the presentation took place. Besides, at Versailles there were not the necessary appliances and means for such an important day.
But a better reason than any of these was, that it was not the custom. The highly favored being who was to be presented, always arrived with the noise and state of a foreign embassador, whether it was from her house in the town of Versailles, or in Paris.
Mme.
Dubarry chose to arrive from the latter place.
At eleven o’clock in the morning, therefore, she was at her house in the Hue de Valois, with the Countess de Beam, whom she kept under lock and key when she did not keep her under her smiles, and whose burn was attended to most carefully every secret of medicine and chemistry being exhausted on it.
From the preceding evening Jean, Chon, and Doree had been at work ; and any one who could have seen them at work, would have formed an exalted idea of the power of gold or the greatness of human intellect.
The one made sure of the hair-dresser, the other har-assed the seamstress. Jean took the department of the
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carriage to himself, but also cast an eye occasionally on the hair-dresser and the dressmakers. The countess, occupied with flowers, diamonds, and lace, was buried in boxes, cases, and caskets, and gave audiences every hour to couriers from Versailles, who informed her how matters were going on. Orders had been given for lighting the queen’s drawing-room, and no change had taken place in the king’s intentions.
About four the viscount came in, pale, agitated, but joyful.
” Well ? ” asked the countess.
” Well, all will be ready. **
“The hair-dresser ? “
” I went to him myself ; Doree was with him ; but, to make sure of him, I slipped fifty louis-d’ors into his hand. He will dine here at six o’clock precisely, so you may be quite easy on that score *
” My dress ? “
” It will be a perfect wonder ! Chon is superintending it, there are six-and-twenty workwomen at it, sewing on the pearls, the ribbons, and the trimmings. They go on breadth by breadth at the work, and it would certainly require eight days for any other persons than ourselves to have it finished. It is a prodigious undertaking ! “
” But did you say they are doing it breadth by breadth?”
“Yes, my dear there are thirteen breadths of the stuff ; two workwomen at each breadth one works at the right, and the other at the left, putting on the jewels and trimmings ; then at the last they will all be joined together. It will take them two hours yet ; at six yon will have it.”
” Are you quite sure, Jean ? “
” Yesterday I made a Calculation with an engineer about it, There are ten thousand stitches in each breadth ; that is, five thousand for each workwoman. In such thick stuff, a woman can only make one stitch in five seconds ; that is, twelve in one minute, seven hundred and twenty in one hour, and seven thousand two hundred in ten hours. I leave out two thousand two hundred for needle-thread-34:2 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
ing and slipped stitches, and this leaves four good honrs of work ‘
” And what about the carriage ? “
‘ ‘ Oh, I’ll answer for it. The varnish is now getting dry in a large store heated to fifty degrees. It is an elegant vis-a-vis, compared with which the carriages sent for the daupliiness are a mere trifle. Besides the coats of arms on the four panels, there is the war-cry of the Dubarrys * Boutes en avant ! ‘ on each side. Besides that, I made them paint on one place two doves billing and cooing, and in another a heart pierced with a dart, the whole surrounded by bows and arrows, quivers and torches. There is such a crowd of people at Francian’s to see it ! It will be here exactly at eight.”
At this moment Chon and Doree came in, and confirmed all that Jean had said.
” Thank you, my brave aids-de-camp ! ” said the countess.
” My sweet sister,” said the viscount, ” your eyes look a little dim -had you not better sleep for an hour? it would quite revive you.”
” Sleep ! no ! I shall sleep to-night, and that is more than some will do.”
While these preparations were going on, the report of the intended presentation had spread through all Paris. Idle and careless as they appear, no people love news more than the Parisians. None knew better all the courtiers and all the intriguers of Versailles than the Parisian cock-ney of the eighteenth century, though debarred from the festivities of the palace, and seeing only the hieroglyphics on the carriages and the curious liveries of the footmen. At that period such or such a nobleman was known to the whole city. The reason was simple. The court at that period formed the principal attraction in the theaters and in the gardens. Marshal Richelieu in his place at the Italian opera,
Mme.
Dubarry in a coach rivaling that of royalty itself, were constantly before the public, like some favorite comedian or admired actress of the present day.
People are much more interested in faces that are well
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known to them. Every one in Paris knew
Mme.
Dubarry’s face, constantly shown where a rich and pretty woman likes to be seen in the theaters, in the public walks, in the shops. Besides, she was easily recognized by means of portraits, caricatures, and by her negro page Zamore. The affair of the presentation, therefore, occupied the city nearly as much as the court. This day there was a crowd near the Palais Royal ; but, poor Philosophy ! it was not to see Rousseau playing chess at the Cafe de la Regence ; it was to see the favorite in her fine coach and her handsome dress, of which they had heard so much. There was something deep in Jean Dubarry’s expression, ” We cost a pretty little sum to France ! ” And it was natural that France, represented by Paris, should wish to enjoy the sight for which it had paid so dearly.
Mme.
Dubarry knew her people well, for they were much more her people than they had been Queen Maria Lezinska’s. She knew that they loved to be dazzled by magnificence ; and, as she was good-natured, she labored to make the spectacle correspond to the expense to which she put them.
Instead of sleeping, as her brother advised her, she took a bath about five o’clock. Then, about six o’clock, she began to expect her hair-dresser ; and, while she waits, we shall explain, if we can, what hair-dressing then was.
It was building a complete edifice. This was the commencement of the castles which the ladies of the court of the young king, Louis XVI., erected with towers and bas-tions on their heads. May we not, even in this frivolity of fashion, discover something presaging that a mine was dug beneath the feet of all who were, or all who pretended to be, great ? Or that by some mysterious divination, the women of the aristocracy had learned they should have a short time to enjoy their titles that they, therefore, made the most of them, bearing them aloft on their heads ; and as if fatal omen not having long to keep their heads, they must decorate those heads to the utmost point which extravagance can attain, and raise them as high as possible above the vulgar.
To plait the hair ; to elevate it on a silken cushion ; to
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roll it about a hoop of whalebone ; to adorn it with diamonds, pearls, and flowers ; to sprinkle it with powder, which made the eyes brilliant and the complexion fresh ; to blend into harmony with the complexion, pearl, ruby, opal, diamond, flowers of all hues and of all forms to do all this, a man must be not only a great artist, but the most patient of his race.
As a proof that such a man was esteemed great, the hair-dresser was the only tradesman allowed to wear a sword.
This explanation may account for the fifty louis-d’ors given by Jean Dubarry to the hair-dresser of the court. It may account, also, for some fears lest the great Lubin the court hair-dresser of that day was called Lubin some fears, we say, lest the great Lubin might not be so punctual or skilful on the occasion as was desirable.
The fears about his punctuality were, alas ! too well founded. Six o’clock struck, and the hair-dresser did not appear ; then half-past six came ; then a quarter to seven. One thought inspired some hope in the anxious hearts of all ; it was, that a man of M. Lubin’s importance would naturally make people wait a little. But seven struck. The viscount feared that the dinner prepared for the hair-dresser might be cold when he came, and the great artist might be dissatisfied. He sent a servant to say that dinner waited.
The servant returned in a quarter of an hour. Those only who have waited under similar circumstances can tell how many seconds there are in such a quarter of an hour.
The servant had spoken to
Mme.
Lubin herself, who assured him that M. Lubin had set out for the countess’s, that if he were not then there, he must be on the way.
” Perhaps ‘ said Jean, “he has been delayed inconsequence of not getting a carriage. We will wait a little.”
” Besides,” said the countess, ” there will be no time lost ; my hair can be attended to when I am half dressed , the presentation does not take place until ten ; we have still three hours, it will only take one to go to Versailles.
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In the meantime, to employ me, Clion, show me my dress. “Where is Chon ? Chon ! Chon ! rny dress, my dress ! “
“Your dress has not come yet, madame,” said Doree, ” and your sister went ten minutes ago to see about it herself.”
” Oh,” exclaimed the viscount, ” I hear a noise of wheels ! It is the carriage brought home, no doubt.”
The viscount was mistaken ; it was Chou, who had come back at full speed.
” My dress ! ” cried the countess, while Chon was still in the vestibule ” my dress ! “
” Has it not come ? ” asked Chon, terror-struck.
” No.”
“Oh, well, it can’t be long. When I got to the dressmaker’s she had just set out in a fiacre with two of her women, bringing the dress to fit it on.”
” It is a good way from her house to this, and as you drove “very fast no doubt you have passed her,” said Jean.
” Yes, yes ! certainly ! ” replied Chon ; yet she could not suppress a vague feeling of apprehension.
” Viscount,” said the countess, “you had better send about the carriage, that there may be no disappointment on that side at least.”
” You are right, Jeanne,” and Dubarry opened the door. ” Let some of you,” cried he, ” take the new horses to Francian’s for the carriage, so that they may be all ready harnessed when it arrives.”
The coachman and the horses set off. As the sound of their trampling died away, Zamore entered with a letter.
“A letter for Mistress Dubarry,” said he.
“Who brought it?”
“A man.”
” A man ? What sort of a man ? “
” A man on horseback.”
” And why did he give it to you ? “
” Because Zamore was at the door.”
“But read it ! Eead it rather than question him!*’ cried Jean.
“You are right, viscount.”
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” Aye, provided there be nothing annoying in the letter ‘ he muttered.
” Oh, no ! it is some petition for his majesty.”
” It is not folded like a petition.”
” Really, viscount, you are full of fears,” said the countess, smiling, and she broke the seal. At the first line she shrieked, and fell back in her chair, half dead.