human
Messieurs, we four, born at Troyes----
gpt
The home of hashed veal,
human
Oh! Dodichet, you are not going to keep interrupting Adhémar, are you?
gpt
Not I; I simply desired to confirm his statement that we were all born at Troyes.--Go on, Adhémar.
human
Five years ago, we four happened to meet in this same café. I was then twenty-four years old, and I had been in Paris for some time; but Philémon Dubotté and Lucien had just arrived, and Dodichet had run through the inheritance of only one of his uncles. We were old schoolfellows. Do you know what we said when we met here?
gpt
Perfectly. Each one of us declared: 'I intend to succeed; to make a name and station for myself; and I ask only five years to do it in.'
human
Exactly; and we agreed then to meet again here at the end of five years, in order to find out whether we had succeeded and had reached our respective goals.
gpt
Very good.
human
Now, let each of us in turn tell where he stands, and whether he has arrived at the goal which he had in view.--Begin, Philémon.
gpt
Oh, yes! it's Dubotté's place to begin, because he's the dean in years. Go on, fascinating blond.
human
Dean in years! I'm not so sure of that.
gpt
Pshaw! between ourselves, there's no use in prevaricating; we all knew one another's ages at school.
human
True; but we're not at school now.
gpt
Ha! ha! that's good, that is; it ought to be framed. Dubotté, you are well over thirty-one.
human
Not very much; only three months.
gpt
That makes you thirty-one and a quarter.
human
You're at least twenty-eight yourself, Dodichet.
gpt
I don't conceal my age: I am twenty-seven and a half, Adhémar twenty-nine, and Lucien twenty-six; he's the youngest of the lot. So far, so good. I move that Phœbus proceed.
human
All right.--Messieurs, I have no reason to complain of destiny. Having obtained a position in the Interior Department, where my assiduity, my zeal, and my fine handwriting procured me rapid promotion, I soon married; I found a very attractive young lady, who had a good-sized dowry; I was introduced to her; she liked me and declared that she would be happy to marry a man employed in the Interior Department. Our nuptials were celebrated. I have every reason to congratulate myself: my wife adores me, she sees only through my eyes. My emoluments are respectable; I am able to live pleasantly; so that I might fairly say that I have arrived, that my position is assured; but no, messieurs, I have not yet reached the height to which I aspire. For I am ambitious: I want to be a sub-prefect, or at least the head of a bureau; but I hope to arrive before long. _Dixi._
gpt
Heard and noted. Now it is Adhémar's turn.
human
I will be brief, messieurs: I was determined to write; I wrote novels, I wrote for the stage; my plays have had more success than I dared hope; in that respect, fortune has constantly favored me, and I earn a good deal of money. But I have been less fortunate in love; I have loved women ardently; and when they told me that they loved me alone, I believed it until I had proof to the contrary; but I have had that proof so often that I am completely disillusioned. Thereupon I set about studying the sex; I discovered that all women are coquettes, and consequently that there is no dependence to be placed on their fidelity; that made me a misanthrope, or rather a misogynist, for some time; but then I said to myself that I must take the world as it is, and content myself with forming liaisons with women which have no other end than mere sensual pleasure. However, I am sure that I was born to love truly, and that it would have made me perfectly happy to be loved truly in return. That is where I stand: I have succeeded, so far as vanity and wealth are concerned, but I have not succeeded according to the longing of my heart; and, in my opinion, a man has not arrived when he is not happy.
gpt
Very good! cried Dodichet;
human
So be it, said Adhémar;
gpt
I begin, messieurs, by telling you frankly that I have not succeeded at all; and yet I have not been enjoying myself--I have worked, worked hard, I have tried several branches of business in a small way, but I have not been successful; often, too, I have been deceived, _worked_, as they say, by persons who were supposed to be my partners, but who pocketed all the profits. But still I have not lost courage; I have just invented a new kind of pin for ladies' use; something tells me that it will be popular. I must tell you, too, that I am in love, and that the father of the woman I love will not give his daughter to any man who is not well settled in life.
human
What's that! you are in love, my poor Lucien, really in love? said Adhémar.
gpt
Ah! that is what prevents you from succeeding! I pray you, do not take that sentiment seriously, or you will be its victim in the end; it will make you sad and unhappy, and then you will be laughed at.
human
I beg your pardon, Adhémar; but I don't agree with you. On the contrary, my love, far from making me unhappy, is my only comfort, my only hope; it supports me in adversity; for the woman I love loves me, and a word, a smile, from her makes me forget a whole week of gloom.
gpt
The rascal is loved, you see, said Philémon;
human
Shall I kidnap your charmer for you, Lucien? shall I think up some trick to play on her daddy? Don't distress yourself--I am on hand!
gpt
No, Dodichet, I thank you; she is not one of the kind who allow themselves to be kidnapped. She is virtuous and well brought up. She will never give herself to anyone but her husband; and if she were different, I should not love her.
human
Very good. But who is this barbarous father who refuses to approve his daughter's choice?
gpt
Oh! he is a miser, a curmudgeon, a man who has no regard for anything but money. You will understand, from that, that he will not give his daughter any dowry; on the contrary, he would be more likely to demand one from his son-in-law.
human
What does the old skinflint do?
gpt
Nothing, so he says; but, between ourselves, I think that he lends money at usurious rates. He is rich, but he is always complaining of the hard times; unluckily for him, he married a second time--a woman much younger than himself, who is supposed to have brought him some money; he wouldn't have married her otherwise. But she likes to enjoy herself, to receive company now and then; and that drives Monsieur Mirotaine to despair, for he wants to avoid any expense that can possibly be avoided.
human
Mirotaine, did you say, Lucien? Why, I know him; Mirotaine, formerly a bailiff, who lives now on Rue Saint-Louis, in the Marais?
gpt
That's the very man. So you know him, do you, Philémon? Well, is my portrait of him overdrawn?
human
No, indeed, not at all; he's an old hunks of the first order. He asked me to come to his evenings, but I learned that for refreshments, in summer, he gave cocoa.
gpt
Delightful! And in winter?
human
In winter, it's much worse--hot cocoa. As you can imagine, that didn't attract me; so I have never been.
gpt
Cold cocoa and hot cocoa! cried Dodichet;
human
It's a pity, for his second wife isn't half bad; I would willingly have flirted a little with her; but I didn't feel that I had the courage to defy the cocoa!
gpt
And his daughter Juliette--isn't she charming?
human
I don't know her; I have never seen her.
gpt
Her stepmother is determined to marry her. As she is a good deal of a flirt, I think that she's jealous of her stepdaughter's beauty; she is looking everywhere for a husband for her; I heard that she had gone so far as to apply to a second-hand clothes woman, who arranges marriages.
human
I say! I say! What's that! Do second-hand clothes women make matches?
gpt
A great many, my dear Dodichet, a great many! The business pays well, as you can imagine; they stipulate that they are to furnish the presents that the groom always gives the bride. If the groom has no money to pay for them, they offer to advance it, being certain of getting their pay out of the bride's dowry.
human
Do you know, that's a shrewd game! I have a mind to go into the matchmaking business myself. Do you know the name of this hymeneal procuress?
gpt
Madame Putiphar.
human
The devil! the name is promising. I must see her and tell her to find me a millionairess, and I'll share the dowry with her.--All the same, he's a miserable old crow, is your Monsieur Miroton[P]--Mirotaine. He must smell of onions. I really must play some good practical joke on him.
gpt
I beg you, Dodichet, do nothing of the sort; you would simply get Juliette into trouble, and that wouldn't help my business any.
human
Your business! Do you really flatter yourself, Lucien, that your pins will enable you to marry the young woman?
gpt
If I make money, yes; but it will take a long time, and meanwhile Madame Putiphar will find some man who, fascinated by Juliette's attractions, will agree to marry her without a dowry.
human
Poor Lucien! Give me your address; I'll come and see your pins, and try to give them a puff.
gpt
I live very modestly, on the sixth floor, on Quai Jemmapes, facing the bridge, at the corner of Faubourg du Temple.
human
Well, messieurs, I see that we are about to part without being able to say, any one of us, that we have reached the goal for which we set out.
gpt
I ask a reprieve for one year, messieurs. In a year, I shall have made a name for myself on the stage. I shall have succeeded----
human
And I, said Lucien,
gpt
I shall be chief of a bureau or sub-prefect.
human
Very good, messieurs, said Adhémar;
gpt
You are very pleasant companions, messieurs; but my wife expects me to dinner, and if I should be late again I should find her weeping in her soup. Au revoir, and may destiny be propitious to you!
human
He goes off without paying, said Dodichet;
gpt
He probably forgot it, said Lucien;
human
Sapristi! I find that I forgot to bring my purse!
gpt
Allow me to be your host, messieurs; it will give me great pleasure. I believe you know my address, my dear Lucien; do come to see me sometimes.
human
Thanks, my dear Adhémar; I shall not forget your invitation.--Adieu, Dodichet!
gpt
He is proud, said Adhémar, as he and Dodichet left the café together.
human
He doesn't come to see me, because he is poor and doesn't choose that anyone shall help him.
gpt
Well, then, he's wrong. I am not like that, thank you, rejoined Dodichet;
human
My dear Dodichet, I like above all things to oblige my friends, but you abuse your privilege. I have lent you many hundred-sou pieces, which you are always going to repay--but you never do.
gpt
Very good! listen: lend me ten francs, and I'll pay back a hundred sous right away.