“‘Especially life off the stage,’ I put in.
“‘That is just what I mean,’ he continued. ‘Why, but for these violent emotions, one would be bored to death! Ah! that woman has the gift of rousing me.’
“We went to the Varietes after dinner; but before we left the house I slipped into du Bruel’s room, and on a shelf among a pile of waste papers found the copy of the _Petites-Affiches_, in which, agreeably to the reformed law, notice of the purchase of the house was inserted. The words stared me in the face--‘At the request of Jean Francois du Bruel and Claudine Chaffaroux, his wife----’ _Here_ was the explanation of the whole matter. I offered my arm to Claudine, and allowed the guests to descend the stairs in front of us. When we were alone--‘If I were La Palferine,’ I said, ‘I would not break an appointment.’
“Gravely she laid her finger on her lips. She leant on my arm as we went downstairs, and looked at me with almost something like happiness in her eyes because I knew La Palferine. Can you see the first idea that occurred to her? She thought of making a spy of me, but I turned her off with the light jesting talk of Bohemia.
“A month later, after a first performance of one of du Bruel’s plays, we met in the vestibule of the theatre. It was raining; I went to call a cab. We had been delayed for a few minutes, so that there were no cabs in sight. Claudine scolded du Bruel soundly; and as we rolled through the streets (for she set me down at Florine’s), she continued the quarrel with a series of most mortifying remarks.
“‘Oh, my dear fellow, she blames me for allowing you to run out for a cab, and thereupon proceeds to wish for a carriage.’
“‘As a dancer,’ said she, ‘I have never been accustomed to use my feet except on the boards. If you have any spirit, you will turn out four more plays or so in a year; you will make up your mind that succeed they must, when you think of the end in view, and that your wife will not walk in the mud. It is a shame that I should have to ask for it. You ought to have guessed my continual discomfort during the five years since I married you.’
“‘I am quite willing,’ returned du Bruel. ‘But we shall ruin ourselves.’
“‘If you run into debt,’ she said, ‘my uncle’s money will clear it off some day.’