CHAPTER IV

HUNGARY VERSUS PROVENCE

The next day Theodose felt himself possessed by two curiosities:  How would Celeste behave as to the option she had accepted? and this Comtesse Torna de Godollo, what did she mean by what she had said; and what did she want with him?

The first of these questions seemed, undoubtedly, to have the right of way, and yet, by some secret instinct, la Peyrade felt more keenly drawn toward the conclusion of the second problem.  He decided, therefore, to take his first step in that direction, fully understanding that he could not too carefully arm himself for the interview to which the countess had invited him.

The morning had been rainy, and this great calculator was, of course, not ignorant how much a spot of mud, tarnishing the brilliancy of varnished boots, could lower a man in the opinion of some.  He therefore sent his porter for a cabriolet, and about three o’clock in the afternoon he drove from the rue Saint-Dominique d’Enfer toward the elegant latitudes of the Madeleine.  It may well be believed that certain cares had been bestowed upon his toilet, which ought to present a happy medium between the negligent ease of a morning costume and the ceremonious character of an evening suit.  Condemned by his profession to a white cravat, which he rarely laid aside, and not venturing to present himself in anything but a dress-coat, he felt himself being drawn, of necessity, to one of the extremes he desired to avoid.  However by buttoning up his coat and wearing tan instead of straw-colored gloves, he managed to unsolemnize himself, and to avoid that provincial air which a man in full dress walking the streets of Paris while the sun is above the horizon never fails to convey.

The wary diplomatist was careful not to drive to the house where he was going.  He was unwilling to be seen from the countess’ entresol issuing from a hired cab, and from the first floor he feared to be discovered stopping short on his way up at the lower floor,—­a proceeding which could not fail to give rise to countless conjectures.

He therefore ordered the driver to pull up at the corner of the rue Royale, whence, along a pavement that was now nearly dry, he picked his way on tiptoe to the house.  It so chanced that he was not seen by either the porter or his wife; the former being beadle of the church of the Madeleine, was absent at a service, and the wife had just gone up to show a vacant apartment to a lodger.  Theodose was therefore able to glide unobserved to the door of the sanctuary he desired to penetrate.  A soft touch of his hand to the silken bell-rope caused a sound which echoed from the interior of the apartment.  A few seconds elapsed, and then another and more imperious bell of less volume seemed to him a notification to the maid that her delay in opening the door was displeasing to her mistress.  A moment later, a waiting-woman, of middle age, and too well trained to dress like a “soubrette” of comedy, opened the door to him.