Joseph Balsamo (46 page)
” No hair-dresser, no dress, no carriage ! ” she cried. Chon sprung toward her. Jean seized the letter. It was evidently the writing of a woman, and ran thus :
” MADAME, Be not too confident. This evening you shall have no hair-dresser, no dress, no carriage. I hope this information will reach you in time to be useful to you. As I do not desire your gratitude, I do not give you my name. Guess who I am, and you will have discovered
A SINCERE FRIEND.”
” Oh ! ” shouted Dubarry, ” all is over ! Sang bleu ! I must kill somebody ! By all the devils ! Ill run Lubin through the body ! It is half-past seven, and he not here ! Confound him ! Damn him !”
And as Dnbarry was not to be presented that evening, he did not care about his hair, but tore it out unmercifully in handfuls.
” But the dress ! Good heavens ! the dress I ” cried Chon ; “a hair-dresser could easily be found ! “
11 Oh, I defy you to find one ! “What sort of wretch would he be ? A murderer ! A slaughterer ! Oh, death and damnation ! “
The countess said nothing, but sighs burst from her bosom, which might have softened the Choiseuls themselves could they but have heard them.
” Let us think, let us think ! ” said Chon ; ” a little calmness only. Let us find out another hair-dresser, and send to the dressmaker to ask what has become of the dress!”
“No hair-dresser!” murmured the almost fainting countess ; “110 dress, no carriage ] a
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” Yes, no carriage ! ” cried Jean ; ” it does not come, either ! It is a plot, countess, it is a plot ! Cannot Sartines find out the authors of it ? Cannot Maupeou hang them ? Can they not, with their accomplices, be burned in the market-place ? I will have the hair-dresser broken on the wheel ! the dressmaker torn to pieces with pincers ! the coach-maker flayed alive ! “
At length the countess recovered a little from her stage of stupefaction, but it was only to feel more poignantly all the horror of her situation.
“All is lost!” she exclaimed. “Those who have bought over Lubin are rich enough to remove all the good hair-dressers from Paris. None are left me but wretches who would destroy my hair and my dress ! my poor dress ! and my new carriage. I thought the sight of it would have made them burst with envy ! “
Dubarry did not answer but, rolling his eyes fearfully, strode up and down the room, striking himself against the angles of the apartment ; and as often as he encountered any ornament or small article of furniture, abandoning his hair, he dashed them into the smallest morsels possible, and then stamped on them with his feet.
In the midst of this scene of horror, which, spreading from the boudoir to the anterooms, and from the anterooms to the court, caused all the domestics to run hither and thither with twenty different contradictory orders, a young maa in a light green coat, a satin waistcoat, lilac breeches and white silk stockings got out of a cabriolet, crossed the court, stepping from stone to stone on the tips of his toes, entered the open door abandoned by all the servants, mounted the stairs, and tapped at the countess’s dressing-room door.
Jean was just stamping on a tray with a set of Sevres porcelain, which he had pulled down with the tail of his coat while he was dealing a blow with his fist to a great Chinese mandarin. When the noise of these feats had subsided a little, three gentle, discreet, modest taps were heard.
Then followed profound silence ; all were in such a
348 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
state of expectation, that uo one could ask who was there.
” Excuse me,” said an unknown voice, ” but I wish to speak to the Countess Dubarry.”
” Sir, people do not enter here in that way ! ” cried a servant, who had discovered the stranger, and had run after him to prevent his further advance.
” Never mind ! never mind ! ” cried Jean, flinging open the door with a hand which might have driven in the gates of Gaza. ” AVorse cannot happen to us now. What do you want with the countess ? “
The stranger avoided the shock of this sudden meeting by springing backward, and falling into the third position.
“Sir,” said he, “I came to offer my services to the Countess Dubarry.”
” What services, sir ? “
“My professional services, sir.”
” What is your profession ? “
” I am a hair-dresser ‘ and the stranger bowed a second time.
” Oh,” cried Jean, falling on his neck, ” a hair-dresser. Come in 1 come in ! “
” Come in ! Come in, my dear sir ! ” cried Chon, almost taking the astonished young man in her arms.
“A hair-dresser?” cried
Mme.
Dubarry, raising her hands to heaven. ” A hair-dresser ? An angel ! W ere you sent by Monsieur Lubin, sir ? “
” I was not sent by any one. I read in the gazette that the Countess Dubarry was to be presented this evening ; then, said I to myself, suppose that the Countess Dnbarry had no hair-dresser? it is not probable, but it is possible so I think I shall try.”
” What is your name, sir?” asked the countess, a little cooled by this account.
” Leonard, madame.”
” Leonard? You are not known to any one? “
” If you accept my services, madame, to-morrow every one will know me.”
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” Hum !” said Jeanne, ” there are two kinds of hair-dressing.”
” If madame distrusts my skill, I shall retire.”
” We have no time to try you,” said Chon.
” Why make any trial ?” cried the young man, walking round the countess in a fit of enthusiasm. ” I know, madame, that all eyes must be drawn to you by the style of your hair, and already, in contemplating you, I have invented a head which will have a most powerful effect.”
And the young man made a gesture with his hand so full of confidence in himself, that the countess’s resolution was a little shaken, and hope sprung up in the hearts of Chon and Jean.
” Have you, really?” said she, quite astonished at the young man’s ease for he was now leaning back, hand on hip, as the great Lubin himself would have done.
” Yes but, madame, I must see your dress, that I may make the ornaments harmonize with it.”
” Oh, my dress! my dress ! ” cried the countess, recalled by his words to the terrible reality.
Jean struck his forehead fiercely. ” Oh, imagine, sir ‘ cried he ” imagine what a horrid trick ! They have carried off dress dressmaker all! Chon, Chon, dear Chon!” and Dubarry, tired of tearing out his hair, gave way to a downright fit of sobbing.
” Suppose you were to go back to the dressmaker’s, Chon,” said the countess.
” For what purpose? You know she had set out to come hither.”
” Alas ! alas ! ” murmured the countess, falling back in her chair, ” of what use is a hair-dresser when I have no dress ? ” At this moment the door-bell rung ; all the doors had been carefully shut, and even bolted, by the porter, lest any other should slip in as the hair-dresser had done.
” Some one rings,” said the countess.
Chon sprung to a window.
” A bandbox ! ” cried she.
” A bandbox ? ” cried the countess.
” Coming in ? ” cried Jean.
350 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
” Yes no yes. It is given to the porter rnn, Jean, run!”
He dashed down the stairs, got before all the footmen, and snatched the bandbox from the porter.
Chon looked through the window.
He pulled off the lid, plunged his hand into the depths of the bandbox, and uttered a yell of joy. It contained a beautiful dress of Chinese satin, with flowers put on, and a complete trimming of lace of immense value.
” A dress ! a dress!” shouted Chon, clapping her hands.
” A dress ? ” repeated the countess, almost sinking under her joy, as she had before under her grief.
” Who gave it you, rogue ? ” asked the viscount of the porter.
” A woman, sir, whom I don’t know.”
” Where is she? “
” Sir, she laid it on the step of the door, cried, ‘ For the countess and disappeared.”
” Well, we have got a dress, that is the main thing ! “
” Come up, Jean, come up ! ” called Chon ; “my sister is dying with impatience.”
” Look ! ” said Jean, returning to the room ; ” look ! admire ! See what fate sends you ! “
” But it will not go on it will not fit it was not made for me. Mon Dieu ! mon Dien ! what a misfortune, for it is beautiful !
Chon quickly measured it.
” The same length, the same width in the waist! “she exclaimed.
” What admirable stuff ! ” said Jean.
” It is miraculous ! ” said Chon.
” It is terrible ! ” said the countess.
” Not at all,” replied the viscount, ” for it proves that although you have great enemies, you have also devoted friends.”
” It cannot be sent by a friend,” said Chon ; “for how should a friend know of the plot formed against us ? It must be sent by a sylph.”
” Let it be sent by his satanic majesty ! ” exclaimed the
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countess, ” I care not, provided it assists rne to oppose the Choiseuls ! Whoever sent it, he cannot be so much of a demon as they.”
” And now ‘ said Jean, ” I am sure that yon may confidently submit your head to this gentleman.”
” Why do you think so?”
” Because he has been sent by the same person who sent the dress. “
” I ?” said Leonard, with the most innocent surprise.
” Come, come, my dear sir ! acknowledge that it was all a tale about the gazette ! “
” The simple truth, sir. Here is the paper I kept it for curl papers,” and he drew out the gazette in which the presentation was announced.
” Now,” said Chon, ” let him set to work it is eight o’clock.”
” Oh, we have time enough,” said the hair-dresser, ” it will only take an hour to go to Versailles.”
” Yes, if we have a carriage,” said the countess.
” Oh, Mordien! that is true! “exclaimed Jean. ” That wretch, Francian, does not come.”
” You know we have been warned ; no hair-dresser, no dress, no carriage !” repeated the countess.
” Now, if the coach-maker should not keep his word ?” said Cli on.
” No ; here he is, here he is ! ” cried Jean.
” And the carriage, the carriage ? ” exclaimed the countess.
“It is at the door, no doubt. But what is the matter with the coach-maker ? “
At that moment Francian rushed in, all in alarm*
” Oh, viscount ! ” cried he, ” the carriage was on its way hither, when, at the corner of a street, it was seized by four men ; they knocked down my young man, who was bringing it, seized the reins, and set off with it at a gallop.”
” I told you so ! I told you so ! ” said Dubarry, sitting down resignedly in his chair.
“But, brother,” exclaimed Chon, “exert yourself ! do something I”
352 JOSEPH BALSAMO. ‘,
“What for?”
” To get a carriage ; the horses here are done out, and the carriages dirty. Jeanne cannot go in any of them.”
” Bah ! the little birds find food when they don’t expect it, and we got a hair-dresser and a dress in our need. Yes, our unknown friend will not forget a carriage ! “
” Hush ! ” cried Chon, “surely I heard carriage wheels.”
” Yes, it is stopping,” he replied.
Then springing to a window, which he opened, he shouted to the servants, ” Run, rascals, run ! Quick, quick ! Find out our benefactor ! “
‘ A carriage, lined with white satin, and drawn by two splendid bay horses, stood before the door. But neither coachman nor footman was to be seen ; a common street porter held the horses by the head. A crown had been given to him by a person unknown to him at the end of the street, with orders to lead the carriage to the countess’s door.
They looked at the panels ; the arms were replaced by a simple rose.
The whole of this counterplay against the miseries with which the evening had commenced lasted about an hour.
Jean had the carriage taken into the yard, and the gates locked on it ; he carried up the key with him. On returning to the dressing-room, he found the hair-dresser about to give the countess the first proof of his profound knowledge of his art.
” Sir,” cried the viscount, seizing him by the arm, ” if you do not declare who is our protecting genius, that we may make known our eternal gratitude to him, I swear “
” Allow me,” said the young man, interrupting him very phlegmatically, ” allow me to say, sir, that you are doing me the honor of squeezing my arm so tight, that I fear my hand will be quite stiff when I shall have to dress the countess’s hair, and it is now eight o’clock.”
” Leave him alone, Jean, leave him alone ! ” cried the countess.
Jean sank down in his chair.
” A miracle 1” exclaimed Chon ; “it is a perfect fit
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only an inch too long in front ; bnt ten minutes will alter that.”
” And what is the carriage like ? ” asked the countess.
” It is in the best style ‘ replied Jean ; ” I got into it ; it is lined with white satin, and perfumed with essence of
” All is right all is right ! ” cried the countess, clapping her little hands with delight. ” Now, Monsieur Leonard, if you succeed on this occasion, your fortune is made ! “
Leonard took possession of her head, and the very first touch of the comb revealed a skilful hand. Rapidity, taste, marvelous precision, a complete knowledge of the relation between the moral and the physical all these he displayed in the accomplishment of his important duty.
When he had, at the end of three quarters of an hour, given the finishing touch to the splendid edifice which he had reared on the countess’s head, he would have modestly retired, after having washed his hands in a basin which Chon presented to him, as if he had been a king.
” Now, sir ‘ said Dubarry, “you must know that I am as ardent in my loves as in my hatreds as you have gained my esteem, pray tell me who you are.”
“You know already, sir, who I am my name is Leonard I am only a beginner.”
” A beginner ? Sang bleu .! you are a thorough master of your profession ! “
” You shall be my hair-dresser, Monsieur Leonard,” said the countess, looking at herself in a little glass which she had in her hand ; “and I shall pay you on each occasion like this fifty louis-d’ors. Chon, count now one hundred for this time he shall have fifty of earnest money.”