A frisky matron

Front matter

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE& SONS, LIMITED

Fifteenth} Routledge'e Railway Library Advertiser.

{Issue.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

II. BOHEMIA - - - . - - 21

III. HAUT TON - - - - - '• 33

Chapter I. Paris

' Khub shahr !' (splendid city), said Yussuff Khan, as he gazed from the window of a railway carriage of the Rapide on beautiful Paris, into which the Marseilles train rapidly hurried him. A few more minutes and the engine pulled up with a scrunch. Yussuff alighted with an easy elegance, combined with a soupgon of Oriental indolence, such as characterizes the movements of a trained athlete. He looked round with the air of one accustomed to being served. An unmistakable Khitmeghar promptly made his way from a second class carriage, accompanied by two brawny sons of Anak, darker in complexion than is usual among Hindoos. A large pile of luggage was soon collected and deposited in the cloak-room. Yussuff called his servant on one side, and desired him to have a good breakfast with his two fellow-servants in the buffet, and await his return at three o'clock, it being then half-past twelve.

Yussuff then left the terminus, and was quickly driven in a north-westerly direction. The instincts developed by a journey of 800 kilometres led him irresistibly towards the Cafe de la Paix via the Turkish baths in the Rue Castiglione. A final cold plunge, with no danger of crocodiles, gave a new zest to the resources of civilization. Yussuff issued from the Saracenic portals a new and very distinguished-looking man, a fact borne witness to by many bright eyes as he passed. It is wonderful how vague are the ideas of Europeans about the inhabitants of Hindoostan. India contains many more distinct races than Europe does, and the difference between some of them is as great as that between a man of Kent and a Laplander. Yussuff was tall, very tall and slender, and graceful in his movements. His lineaments were of a pure Caucasian type, and the high caste Indian style of features may be best described by stating that it resembles the most refined class of Norman beauty. The nose slightly aquiline and delicately chiselled, short upper lip, well-formed chin, black velvety eyes, silky wavy hair, white and perfectly- formed teeth, with the small hands and feet characteristic of the Kohistanee, completed the ensemble of a strikingly handsome man. Only his colour was too dark. Two shades lighter and he might have been a Spaniard. He was a very dark brown, yet his complexion seemed transparent and as smooth as brown satin. The hot blood of the tropics mantled in his cheeks, while his eyes flashed at times in a way suggestive of an unlimited reserve of potential energy.

Yussuff strode along with an assured air. He held in his hand a map of the quarter, and referred once or twice to a small compass attached to his watch-chain. It was evident that his course had been the subject of previous study, and he had all the appearance of a man accustomed to master topography rapidly. He soon found himself comfortably seated before a breakfast such as can only be had in one of the most noted Paris restaurants.

Yussuff leaned back in his chair and looked around with a vast contentment. After many hardships, there is a sense of intense physical comfort in luxurious surroundings. While he gave himself up to thinking how pleasant this sort of life was, a very long man stalked rather than walked towards the table at which he sat. A waiter came forward with empressement and placed a chair, with a manner suggesting that the new-comer was an habitue being assigned his accustomed place. The stranger sat down, bowing stiffly and saying, ' Bonjour, monsieur,' with an unmistakable foreign accent.

' Bonjour, monsieur,'' said Yussuff ; and then, breaking into English : ' I speak not the French well, but I understand a little ; il faut I'usage, il faut I'habitude.'

' Ah, you belong to the dark lands of the English. Wall, stranger, I guess that's a wide country to hail from. Next to the United States, I acknowledge that Greater Britain is large, pretty large. Ever been in the States ?'

' No,' said Yussuff ; ' but I have a great wish to see that mighty country. I have read much about it : its mountains, its Mississippi, its canyons '

' Three thousand feet deep,' said the stranger.

' Its oil '

' In floods like its Mississippi,' said the stranger.

' Its eloquence '

' Slippery as its oil and as endless.'

' Its explosions '

' We blow up higher than any other people.'

' Its frauds '

' Our frauds, particularly our political frauds, are the greatest on the face of the earth.'

' And your bankruptcies.'

' When we bust, sir, we bust as no other people can ; we are proud of the fact, sir. And, Monsieur Stranger, I have remarked on this point a great difference between our great country and the old continent. When a man, say of the age of sixty or seventy or upwards, fails in England or France, he is ruined for ever. He sits down to bewail his misfortune, and his wife and family become objects of pity to everyone and to themselves. Now, in our country, if a man of seventy fails he immediately goes to work again. There is a man whom I know well who at seventy-two years of age became bankrupt. When I left Illinois he had started again full of confidence ; he was looked upon with respect, and everyone believes that with a little luck he will get to the top of the wheel once more.'

' Ah,' said Yussuff, ' I must see the States ; the energy of the people is wonderful. The solid wealth of the country has no precedent. They possess the power of doing everything. They are untrammelled ; they employ all resources. They utilize every available means in every undertaking, from the most minute to the most magnificent. They are a great people, and they allow no capability to rest in idleness.'

' Shake, stranger,' said the long gentleman, half rising ; ' your sentiments are those of a highlycultured citizen of the world. This is my card, sir.'

Yussuff took it and read :

MR. RODERICK V DUNNE, Mining Engineer,

Grayville, III., U.S.A.

' Are you a new arrival ?'

' I have been two hours in Paris,' said Yussuff, ' and I want to find myself in comfortable rooms. Two of my men do not speak any European language, and I do not care to expose them to the jocoseness of hotel servants.'

' In that case it so happens that I can be of use to you,' said Dunne. ' A fellow-citizen of mine, Joseph

B. Moody, has just vacated very good rooms, No. 122, Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, au troisieme. They are tastefully furnished ; you might go farther and fare worse.'

' Thanks exceedingly,' said Yussuff ; ' and could you still further oblige me by telling me how I can get to the Credit Lyonnais?'

' Straight forward from the entrance — first to the right and then to the left. Good-bye, sir. I am happy to have met you. To an untravelled citizen your colour would be against you ; but I know the difference between races. You, sir, belong to the pure Caucasian breed. You are probably a prince in your own country. None of the damned nigger about you, sir. Good-bye. Paris is a gregarious locality. We shall meet again.'

Yussuff, who had no caste prejudices, demanded from the obsequious waiter another half-bottle of Chambertin, and, while discussing this renowned vintage, he drew from his pocket a packet, which consisted of a letter on ordinary paper, and a few sheets of foolscap folded into a small space. While he sipped his wine he read the letter with great care. Its contents ran thus :

' My dear Gunnis Sing,

'As I am now expressing my thoughts to you, my honoured friend, the swift and strident ship Pehtse walks the waters like a thing of life, bearing me towards the mighty Europe, whose historical reminiscences fill the many corridors of my brain with mighty feelings, as if too much for your most humble of petitioners. I am in constant series of aspirations perennial, and not by any means discontinuous, that the Supreme Rulers endow you with the mens sana in corpore sano, medicinally, and of the spirit which conduces to a character worthy of admiration. I confide to your discrimination an article which my strong vanity designs for publication. It is an attempt, but in a modulated degree, to assert the future coming greatness of our race. With our subtle intellectual keenness, and the solids of British learning, to which I am now trusting to add some French polish, our castes must reach fame in futurity. I have been observant in my peregrinations, and to succeed now it is necessary to assimilate the most new that there is of all that is about us — to be up to date. You will observe that my article is type- written. This will please the editor. This missive will be despatched to you from the light-headed city of Paris. From there I shall take a short trip, or more than one, as the pursuit of knowledge will require, and in about a month I shall take my way, by the aid of the puffing monster, to the Eiffel country, and meet once more you, my good friend of the past. Till that happy hour, I bid you adieu, with bahallah salaam.

' Yours ever truly, ' Yussuff Khan Bahadoor.

' P.S. — Write to me to poste restante in Paris.'

Gunnis Sing was not so well educated as Yussuff, who wrote to him accordingly.

Having paid his bill and tipped the waiter in a princely fashion, Yussuff returned to the Gare de Lyon, where he found his three servants sitting on their heels, with their backs against the wall, waiting, calm, content and patient. The Kitmeghar Mhadhurah sprang to his feet, put on his turban, slid off his slippers, and made a low salaam.

' Now,' said Yussuff, who spoke English to all who knew it, ' get your baggage from the cloak-room.'

Mhadhurah soon obtained a bundle, some six feet in circumference, which contained as much as could be packed in two ordinary portmanteaus. It was wrapped in a sheet of coloured Bombay linen of great strength, and tied up with knots whose number and intricacy would have puzzled anyone but a native to the manner born.

A fiacre quickly conveyed master and man to the Gare St. Lazare. The time wanted ten minutes to the starting of the boat train.

' Well, Mhadhurah,' said his master, ' in seven hours you will be in London, and see your wife. How long is it since she left you ?'

' Two years, now gone fifteen days, my wife going Colonel Jones Sahib, Bibee Sahib, doing ayah work for Bibee Sahib,' said Mhadhurah. ' I plenty sorry she going. I crying daily with loud voice. My mother done get me 'nother wife. Never liking that 'nother wife, sahib. She too much expense causing. She no can cook my curry like my old wife, sahib. Therefore I plenty glad now going see my former wife, London town.'

' Very well, Mhadhurah. I have promised you a present if you do proper good work for me. Did you change your sovereigns when I told you ? How many shillings did you get ?'

' Twelve sovereigns, sahib ; I done get four hundred shillings.'

' Very well. Soon as you get to England you change back again ; you get twenty sovereigns.'

' That good business, sahib,' said Mhadhurah, with kindling eyes.

' Now, Mhadhurah, you understand what English gentlemen call a " tenner " ?'

' Yes, sahib, I know plenty well, sahib. Formerly same like one hundred rupees — now same like one hundred sixty-six rupees.'

' Right, Mhadhurah. You have been a very good servant. Here is fine present. Ek, do, theen, char, panche, five tenners, fifty pounds.'

Then a scene occurred which was certainly a first performance of its kind at the Gare St. Lazare. Mhadhurah dropped on his knees, and with reverence lowered his head, until he several times rubbed his forehead in the dust. He then slowly rose, but remained with the head bowed down, his hands held before him in the attitude of prayer. Tears rolled down his cheeks while in a choking voice he said :

' Sahib, you are my Providence, my Swamie, my

Diavaroo. You are my father ; you are also my mother. Now I can go back with my own proper wife to Mauritius. I plenty happy man, sahib. Master ever wanting me, I coming running to master. Master, when he returning back, I going Calcutta, Bombay, Madras — I coming soon as master calls. I think I go back with gentleman and lady; my own wife go back ayah business on ship. Coming Mauritius, I begin little sawcar business — sawcar business best for pice-making.'

A few minutes afterwards the express steamed from the gare, Mhadhurah's grateful eyes fixed to the last on his benefactor.

Yussuff for a time was lost in a reverie.

' I am for the moment happy,' he thought. ' Is this good-nature, or is it pure selfishness ? With fifty pounds I have made that man perfectly blest, and I am in consequence gratified myself. Yet I know that he will become a sawcar — a usurer. He will cause misery to hundreds. His present delight makes me happy. Am I, therefore, a good fellow ? Honestly, I do not know. Action is the only true means of self-knowledge. Let us act.'

A few minutes saw Yussuff at the Credit Lyonnais. He soon found himself handed over to an official, whom he took to be an Englishman, so perfect was his accent. After a short explanation, this gentleman, called De Tenaille by his colleagues, ushered Yussuff into an inner and most sumptuous apartment, where a very great man indeed sat in state.

The letter of credit, passport, and other credentials of the traveller were produced and found to be satisfactory. An account was opened with three millions and thirty thousand francs to the credit of Monsieur Yussuff Khan, and a cheque-book was handed to him. He drew ten thousand francs in notes, which were brought to him by De Tenaille in the manager's room.

Yussuff left the Credit Lyonnais, walking at first with a thoughtful air, as of one who has serious work before him. Gradually the joyousness of Paris began to permeate his being. Was there ever such a perfect sunshine, with all the brilliancy of the tropics without the equatorial sultriness ? ' Winter was gone away, the boulevard trees were waving ;' everything was bright and beautiful, and Yussuff carried hope in his breast and in his pocket ready cash and a cheque-book — admirable conditions for enjoying life.

He turned his steps towards the Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, and quickly reached No. 122. The concierge told him that the present occupier of the troisieme was in Havre, but that he had left orders that his furniture could be sold, and possession given at once, through a notairc who lived two streets away, The apartments were very comfortably furnished indeed ; there was a very small anteroom — a mere pocket ; a sitting-room, a dining-room, and a bedroom ; a comfortable bath-room in the English style, and two rooms for servants' uses. The set had evidently been fitted up by a man who had very clear ideas as to the best way of making himself comfortable. The furniture was handsome and solid. There was a grand piano, there were sybaritic chairs for the luxuriously lazy, double-action rocking-chairs to swing backwards and forwards, or right and left, at will to pitch or roll, and long-arm black-wood chairs in which the feet rest on supports as high as the head, with plaques which can be drawn out on each side : one for cigars, the other for glasses. There were deck-chairs of many kinds for those who preferred a cane-bottomed seat. The pictures were few and small, but good. Some sketches of trotting horses were very spirited indeed. Yussuff soon came to terms with the notary, and did not consider that he had done badly when he obtained full possession for a sum of eight thousand francs.

He quickly transferred his goods and chattels from the Gare de Lyon, and in a few hours his menage was regulated. Three tiger-skins of unusual size with the claws on and a very fine sambre head were trophies to be proud of. A battery of rifles and several Oriental antique weapons, Khyber scimitars, tulwars, and zirah bactars of great beauty, with some Kashmir shawls and Delhi ornaments of gold and silver, gave a trace of tropical tinge to the general colouring, which was enhanced by the brilliant tints of the attire now donned by the two dark servants, of whom one remained always in the ante-room, immovable and patient, still as a statue, awaiting that

PARTS 19

call of Koh-i-hi ! which showed that the master desired his presence. These servants were excellent attendants. They waited noiselessly as ghosts; they divined wants partly by instinct and partly by a marvellous and highly-developed power of observation, but they spoke neither French nor English. They did not even speak Ilindoostani. They spoke a dialect of one of the Pravidian languages, the patois (if Vussuffs native State.

Who was it said that lunch is an injury to dinner? There are those who think otherwise, who believe that it may be best regarded as a foundation for the later meal, and that the wider and the more perfect the basement, the greater is the superstructure which can be reared thereon. Yussuff, now perfectly satisfied with his domicile, looked round his rooms with the contented air of one who sees a work of installation well done ; and the task of pleasure completed, a sense of duty recalled him to the consideration of the question of dinner. He did not feel that his book-learned knowledge of Paris was sufficient to justify him in experimenting on new cuisines, so eight o'clock found him once more in the Cafe de la Paix.

On entering, he walked mechanically to the place where he had sat at mid-day, and was immediately hailed by the American of the morning.

' Ciood-evening, Monsieur Stranger," said he. 'So you have returned to the i/afe tie la Paix ; your doing so shows acumen and discrimination. Take a seat. Allow me to introduce to you my friends — Monsieur Porthos, Monsieur Aramis, Monsieur Athos. Gentlemen, this is Monsieur Stranger, a prince in his own country.'

Yussuff bowed to three middle-aged young men, very well dressed, evidently Parisians by birth or by adoption. Porthos was a rentier, Aramis was a poet and painter, and in Athos Yussuff recognised Monsieur de Tenaille, the gentlemanly cashier whom he had met at the Credit Lyonnais.

Like all Frenchmen, these ' Trois Mousquetaires,' as they loved to be called, possessed an air of perfect courtesy Yussuff soon felt himself at home. He began to learn Paris with rapidity; he was an apt pupil, and his teachers were erudite. The three Parisians were interested in Yussuff just enough to show sympathetic natures. They were going with the American to the Grand Opera, to stay only until the ballet, and then to a reunion of a character which possessed more than a tinge of Bohemianism. Yussuff was asked to join the party, and readily agreed.

Chapter II. Bohemia

The end of dinner found Yussuff in a most contented state of mind. He found stealing over him a spirit of vivacity, a feeling of elan, which would carry him through anything. The opera was ' La Muette de Portici,' or ' Masaniello.' The plot includes a revolution and many murders, and among the two thousand auditors around there must have been many hundreds of revolutionists, and probably a few murderers. Paris has its realisms. The ballet was superb. There is only one ballet worth the time spent in looking at it, and that is at the Grand Opera. Afterwards a rapid drive brought the friends to the ball of all the talents, and Yussuff looked on, while the musketeers were quickly among the dancers.

Quadrilles were in progress, and wonderful were the steps introduced. A great many students were present, and they showed off their activity in those marvellous gymnastics which a stranger may marvel at, but cannot hope to rival. Some remarkable feats of agility were performed. Yussuff looked on deeply interested until the music ceased.

' Hola, mon ami, you are not dancing !' said Aramis, coming up with a very pretty girl on his arm. ' Come, I will get you a partner. By the way, does monsieur waltz ?'

'Yes, I have learned to waltz, and I have practised with much diligence in Meerut,' said Yussuff. ' I think a good partner might succeed in taking me round.'

' Ah, Aramis !' said a musical voice. ' Is it that you have forgotten me ? Must I wait patiently for some more minutes until you shall have recovered your eyesight ?'

' Why, Estelle,' cried Aramis with effusion, and turning to the new arrival, ' can it be you ? can the Faubourg spare you ? We feared you had deserted your old resorts.'

' Not so foolish,' said Estelle. ' I become weary of their staid demeanour. They have no laughter, no cancan, no whirl of fun, no diablerie, no free drinks. I long for my old haunts, I evade, I escape, I find myself in the scene of my old triumphs. There is my old seat ; here are my old friends ; and behold me : I am myself the old Estelle.'

' Permit me, Estelle,' said Aramis, ' to introduce to you Monsieur Yussuff, a prince in his own country.'

' Will mademoiselle confer on me the pleasure of waltzing with me ?' said Yussuff.

Mademoiselle consented — in a way.

' One round,' said she, 'to show you the spectacle; then you will permit me to take Aramis, who can waltz better than anyone in Paris.'

She went off, smiling charmingly at Yussuff, and making a grimace over his shoulder to Aramis, which was seen by her partner by double reflection. Whether from native talent or considerable practice, he possessed in the highest degree the faculty of seeing in many directions at once ; and without appearing to do so, he never lost sight of the mirrors, a most useful habit in Paris and other localities.

In fact, Yussuff was not so unsophisticated as people took him to be. Life, in the modern sense of the term, is not quite unknown in India. Human nature is very much alike in all countries, and civilization in Hindoostan is already advanced to a degree little suspected by those who do not know the country, and Yussuff had moved among the sahibs.

Surprise for a moment overcame all other feelings in Estelle as she started to the exquisite strains of the best string band in Paris. The firm grasp of Yussuff, the easy swing, the smooth, elastic, velvety glide, proclaimed the perfect waltzer. He took her straight across the middle of the room. It was a miracle of guidance ; the worst dancers were towards the centre. Estelle shuddered for a moment as she felt herself about to cut through the maelstrom of whirling fragments ; but Yussuff seemed to have the faceted eyes of the dragon-fly, which sees in twenty directions at the same instant. His path twisted like a snake's ; it shaved Scylla with infinite boldness and celerity, and escaped Charybdis by a space equal to a hair's breadth. Dangers of velocity, dangers of mass, were evaded with the courage and skill of a master of the art.

' If he can do that, he can do anything,' thought Estelle.

A sublime confidence gradually possessed her soul.

' Oh, monsieur,' said she, ' you waltz as well as I do ! Mon Dien .' but this is enchanting. Do not stop ; you can continue without ceasing until the end. Let us not lose an instant.'

Now, very few Parisians can waltz right through a seven minutes' dance, and soon the floor became thinned. Then but one other couple was left ; these sat down crimson and blown. The music ended ; Estelle, panting and delighted, did not disguise her admiration for her partner's handsome profile. She had forgotten Aramis. Yussuff was soon engaged to Estelle for the next five dances.

By the time these were finished they had become very good friends indeed, and by accident the whole party found themselves clustered together.

' Messieurs et mesdames,' said Yussuff, ' will you do me the pleasure of taking supper with me ? I observe it is now one o'clock, and the time for a change of scene has arrived. And will you, gentlemen, do me the great favour of introducing me to your recent partners, so that I may hope for the happiness they will confer on me by joining the party ?'

' We will join you with pleasure,' said Athos ; ' but for the other ladies — that will keep for some other time. We would be too many. We are now six — quite enough for a room at the Trots Sceurs. Those rooms on the second story are not large. Do you yet know your Paris ? If not, I may mention that the Trois Sceurs lies close by, and is a house in which one may trust. Also, monsieur, you and Estelle, and our good friend Hail Columbia, will dine with the three mousquetaires on Tuesday at Verey's.'

A very little time saw the party seated at table in a small but comfortable room at the Trois Sceurs. Estelle was in a state of ecstasy. She was a sparkling, handsome girl, one of those beautiful Southerners whom destiny so often leads to Paris. Her profile was perfect. Masses of the darkest silky wavy hair, eyebrows and eyelashes almost black, a perfect complexion, and eyes which sparkled or softened, but were always beautiful, entranced the beholder. Her figure was sumptuous, and with that artistic genius which every Frenchwoman possesses, directly she obtained money she had learned how to dress to perfection. She had been successful, and of late she had lived more by rule ; but she was delighted at her return to the Boulevard St. Michel.

'Oh, your philosophers!' said she; 'they are fools; they know dry old books, but they do not know what one feels — what one believes. There is Aramis, says there is no future — no heaven — and tried to bring me to his creed. That was some time ago, and I almost believed him ; but now I know better — there is a heaven, and I am in it. When I was a little girl, I was good — oh, I was so good ! I was a sweet little angel — a little saint. Do not laugh, Porthos, you old Gargantua ! I was very good, so there ! and because of that I have deserved heaven, and I have won it. Paris is heaven. What can heaven give more heavenly ? Yes ; I sometimes rest in my happiness for a few moments, and rejoice over the patience and trials of my youth, when I consider to what they have led me. What a missionary I should make, going round the provinces and preaching to all the little girls, " Be good and you will reach heaven ; you will come to Paris"!'

' Dressed in a bombazine straight up and down, made like a potato-sack, sandals of untanned hide, and all your hair cut off,' said Porthos.

' Not at all,' said Estelle ; ' that would quite spoil my mission; the little girls of the provinces would be much more impressed if they saw me in a frock, such as — such as '

' Such as that you now wear,' said Aramis ; ' it is divine.'

' There is a truth which should be engraved over every octroi gate,' said Dunne. ' " It is impossible to be in Paris and not be happy." '

' Yes, for the rich,' said Porthos ; ' but for the poor ?'

' The poor may be miserable,' said Dunne, ' but their unhappiness is not the sordid despair of the country. Even the most poverty-stricken have your pure air, your bright sun, your palaces — open to all — your works of art, your glistening statues, so different from the hideous filthy marbles of London. The poorest in Paris have their gleams of forgetfulness, nay, even of mirth, and there is always something in which all are interested, which is talked about in every class. The misery of a man in Paris is happiness compared with the squalid, hopeless melancholy of provincial poverty.'

' And at the worst,' said Aramis, ' one can always hope for a revolution.'

' Yes,' said Athos, ' a revolution is good — there should be one every ten years. When we have been quiet for a time confidence shrivels up. The storm is brewing ; everyone is afraid to venture in commercial affairs ; money is tight. Then comes the revolution. We breathe again. The thunder is past ; we know we are safe for some time to come. Money is made, and we can present Oriental gems to those we admire.'