She sat down thinking of it.Death! It was as if the world was going to disappear from her; but no, since nothing would be changed in the world, not even her bedroom.Yes, her room would remain just the same, with the same bed, the same chairs, the same toilette articles, but she would be forever gone, and no one would be sorry, except her mother, perhaps.
People would say: "How pretty she was! that little Yvette," and nothing more.And as she looked at her arm leaning on the arm of her chair, she thought again, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.And again a great shudder of horror ran over her whole body, and she did not know how she could disappear without the whole earth being blotted out, so much it seemed to her that she was a part of everything, of the fields, of the air, of the sunshine, of life itself.
There were bursts of laughter in the garden, a great noise of voices and of calls, the bustling gaiety of country house parties, and she recognized the sonorous tones of M.de Belvigne, singing:
"I am underneath thy window, Oh, deign to show thy face." She rose, without reflecting, and looked out.They all applauded.They were all five there, with two gentlemen whom she did not know.
She brusquely withdrew, annoyed by the thought that these men had come to amuse themselves at her mother's house, as at a public place.
The bell sounded for breakfast."I will show them how to die," she said.
She went downstairs with a firm step, with something of the resolution of the Christian martyrs going into the circus, where the lions awaited them.
She pressed their hands, smiling in an affable but rather haughty manner.Servigny asked her:
"Are you less cross to-day, Mam'zelle?"
She answered in a severe and peculiar tone: "Today, I am going to commit follies.I am in my Paris mood, look out!"Then turning toward Monsieur de Belvigne, she said:
"You shall be my escort, my little Malmsey.I will take you all after breakfast to the fete at Marly."There was, in fact, a fete at Marly.They introduced the two newcomers to her, the Comte de Tamine and the Marquis de Briquetot.
During the meal, she said nothing further, strengthening herself to be gay in the afternoon, so that no one should guess anything,--so that they should be all the more astonished, and should say: "Who would have thought it? She seemed so happy, so contented! What does take place in those heads?"She forced herself not to think of the evening, the chosen hour, when they should all be upon the terrace.She drank as much wine as she could stand, to nerve herself, and two little glasses of brandy, and she was flushed as she left the table, a little bewildered, heated in body and mind.It seemed to her that she was strengthened now, and resolved for everything.
"Let us start!" she cried.She took Monsieur de Belvigne's arm and set the pace for the others."Come, you shall form my battalion, Servigny.I choose you as sergeant; you will keep outside the ranks, on the right.You will make the foreign guard march in front--the two exotics, the Prince, and the Chevalier--and in the rear the two recruits who have enlisted to-day.Come!"They started.And Servigny began to imitate the trumpet, while the two newcomers made believe to beat the drum.Monsieur de Belvigne, a little confused, said in a low tone:
"Mademoiselle Yvette, be reasonable, you will compromise yourself."She answered: "It is you whom I am compromising, Raisine.As for me, I don't care much about it.To-morrow it will not occur.So much the worse for you: you ought not to go out with girls like me."They went through Bougival to the amazement of the passers-by.All turned to look at them; the citizens came to their doors; the travelers on the little railway which runs from Ruril to Marly jeered at them.The men on the platforms cried:
"To the water with them!"
Yvette marched with a military step, holding Belvigne by the arm, as a prisoner is led.She did not laugh; upon her features sat a pale seriousness, a sort of sinister calm.Servigny interrupted his trumpet blasts only to shout orders.The Prince and the Chevalier were greatly amused, finding all this very funny and in good taste.
The two recruits drummed away continually.
When they arrived at the fete, they made a sensation.Girls applauded; young men jeered, and a stout gentleman with his wife on his arm said enviously: "There are some people who are full of fun."Yvette saw the wooden horses and compelled Belvigne to mount at her right, while her squad scrambled upon the whirling beasts behind.
When the time was up she refused to dismount, constraining her escort to take several more rides on the back of these children's animals, to the great delight of the public, who shouted jokes at them.Monsieur de Belvigne was livid and dizzy when he got off.
Then she began to wander among the booths.She forced all her men to get weighed among a crowd of spectators.She made them buy ridiculous toys which they had to carry in their hands.The Prince and the Chevalier began to think the joke was being carried too far.
Servigny and the drummers, alone, did not seem to be discouraged.
They finally came to the end of the place.Then she gazed at her followers in a peculiar manner, with a shy and mischievous glance, and a strange fancy came to her mind.She drew them up on the bank of the river.
"Let the one who loves me the most jump into the water," she said.
Nobody leaped.A mob gathered behind them.Women in white aprons looked on in stupor.Two troopers, in red breeches, laughed loudly.
She repeated: "Then there is not one of you capable of jumping into the water at my desire?"Servigny murmured: "Oh, yes, there is," and leaped feet foremost into the river.His plunge cast a splash over as far as Yvette's feet.A murmur of astonishment and gaiety arose in the crowd.
Then the young girl picked up from the ground a little piece of wood, and throwing it into the stream: "Fetch it," she cried.
