For several months past d'Arthez had been subjected to the jests and satire of Blondet and Rastignac, who reproached him with knowing neither the world nor women.According to them, his authorship was sufficiently advanced, and his works numerous enough, to allow him a few distractions; he had a fine fortune, and here he was living like a student; he enjoyed nothing,--neither his money nor his fame; he was ignorant of the exquisite enjoyments of the noble and delicate love which well-born and well-bred women could inspire and feel; he knew nothing of the charming refinements of language, nothing of the proofs of affection incessantly given by refined women to the commonest things.He might, perhaps, know woman; but he knew nothing of the divinity.Why not take his rightful place in the world, and taste the delights of Parisian society?
"Why doesn't a man who bears party per bend gules and or, a bezant and crab counterchanged," cried Rastignac, "display that ancient escutcheon of Picardy on the panels of a carriage? You have thirty thousand francs a year, and the proceeds of your pen; you have justified your motto: Ars thesaurusque virtus, that punning device our ancestors were always seeking, and yet you never appear in the Bois de Boulogne! We live in times when virtue ought to show itself.""If you read your works to that species of stout Laforet, whom you seem to fancy, I would forgive you," said Blondet."But, my dear fellow, you are living on dry bread, materially speaking; in the matter of intellect you haven't even bread."This friendly little warfare had been going on for several months between Daniel and his friends, when Madame d'Espard asked Rastignac and Blondet to induce d'Arthez to come and dine with her, telling them that the Princesse de Cadignan had a great desire to see that celebrated man.Such curiosities are to certain women what magic lanterns are to children,--a pleasure to the eyes, but rather shallow and full of disappointments.The more sentiments a man of talent excites at a distance, the less he responds to them on nearer view;the more brilliant fancy has pictured him, the duller he will seem in reality.Consequently, disenchanted curiosity is often unjust.
Neither Blondet nor Rastignac could deceive d'Arthez; but they told him, laughing, that they now offered him a most seductive opportunity to polish up his heart and know the supreme fascinations which love conferred on a Parisian great lady.The princess was evidently in love with him; he had nothing to fear but everything to gain by accepting the interview; it was quite impossible he could descend from the pedestal on which madame de Cadignan had placed him.Neither Blondet nor Rastignac saw any impropriety in attributing this love to the princess; she whose past had given rise to so many anecdotes could very well stand that lesser calumny.Together they began to relate to d'Arthez the adventures of the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse: her first affair with de Marsay; her second with d'Ajuda, whom she had, they said, distracted from his wife, thus avenging Madame de Beausant; also her later connection with young d'Esgrignon, who had travelled with her in Italy, and had horribly compromised himself on her account;after that they told him how unhappy she had been with a certain celebrated ambassador, how happy with a Russian general, besides becoming the Egeria of two ministers of Foreign affairs, and various other anecdotes.D'Arthez replied that he knew a great deal more than they could tell him about her through their poor friend, Michel Chrestien, who adored her secretly for four years, and had well-nigh gone mad about her.
"I have often accompanied him," said Daniel, "to the opera.He would make me run through the streets as far as her horses that he might see the princess through the window of her coupe.""Well, there you have a topic all ready for you," said Blondet, smiling."This is the very woman you need; she'll initiate you most gracefully into the mysteries of elegance; but take care! she has wasted many fortunes.The beautiful Diane is one of those spendthrifts who don't cost a penny, but for whom a man spends millions.Give yourself up to her, body and soul, if you choose; but keep your money in your hand, like the old fellow in Girodet's 'Deluge.'"From the tenor of these remarks it was to be inferred that the princess had the depth of a precipice, the grace of a queen, the corruption of diplomatists, the mystery of a first initiation, and the dangerous qualities of a siren.The two clever men of the world, incapable of foreseeing the denouement of their joke, succeeded in presenting Diane d'Uxelles as a consummate specimen of the Parisian woman, the cleverest of coquettes, the most enchanting mistress in the world.Right or wrong, the woman whom they thus treated so lightly was sacred to d'Arthez; his desire to meet her needed no spur; he consented to do so at the first word, which was all the two friends wanted of him.
Madame d'Espard went to see the princess as soon as she had received this answer.
"My dear, do you feel yourself in full beauty and coquetry?" she said.
