Nana's daughter

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

A CONTINUATION OF AND

SEQUEL TO EMILE ZOLA'S NOVEL OF “NANA.”

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PROLOGUE 23

I. ANDRE E AT SCHOOL . i 33

Chapter I. Andree At School

IT was September. The School in La Rue Croisatiere was celebrating its re-opening. The old pupils had all brought to the Directress a souvenir of their holidays, and the day of which we write was the first of the scholastic year.

Madame Lafran^ois had served for her pupils a frugal breakfast of pork chops, ceufs d la neige^ cakes, strawberries and chocolate cream. The young faces around the table were gay and happy ; eyes and mouths were widely opened.

One little girl, a pretty blonde of ten, said aloud : “ I wish I could live on eggs and cream, I do not like meat.”

“My child,” answered Madame Lafran9ois, “you need all your strength, and you must build yourself up in order that, in two or three years’ time, you may be able to aid your parents by your work.”

Madame Lafran^ois was a woman of forty, who must have been very beautiful in her youth, but the severity of her perpetual black robe with its straight and clinging folds, the austerity of her smooth bands of hair, and more especially her blue spectacles which guarded her feeble sight from the light, Avould have inspired her “ dear girls,” as she called them, with respect mingled with fear, but for the gentle sweetness of her voice.

She was goodness itself toward her pupils, and nana’s daughter.

treated them with a certain serious dignity which in no way repressed them. She participated in their games, but generally managed to combine improvement with recreation. Her method of teaching consisted in arousing the mental abilities of the girls by appealing to their intelligence rather than to their memories.

She wished to form thinking beings, true women capable of loving deeply and with devotion, but not blindly. She meant them to know how and why, and did not allow them to follow the dictates of mere instinct.

She had only one fault — a weakness for Andr^e, the pretty ’donde who had spoken of her liking for cream and ggs.

Andree Naviel was wonderfully pretty, the type of a Parisian child, delicate looking, with a certain easy grace, a slow, deliberate way of speaking, a ringing voice, and large, clear blue eyes. She was the daughter of a machinist employed in a foundry, and of his wife who made artificial roses at Paillardin’s.

The child was quick to understand works of Art and of Imagination, but for arithmetic she entertained the most profound horror. “ The fact is, Madame,” she said, “ figures make me feel as if ants had got into my brain ! ” She invariably relapsed into dreams and reveries, whenever Madame Lafran^ois undertook to explain to her the mysteries of multiplication, which form of arithmetic is supposed to be somewhat necessary to housekeepers. She did not believe in evil, and might easily do wrong without suspecting it. This peculiarity might later be the rock on which she would founder, and Madame Lafran^ois was greatly disturbed by Andr^e’s faith in every one, and endeavored to put her on her guard against the many dangers which she, as a matter of course, must encounter when she entered the world. She pointed out to the child the perils to which her ignorance and her audacity must alike expose her, and dwelt on the colorless life wiiich a woman who earns her bread must necessarily lead.

But all this was in vain. Andree determined to see nothing but poetry and light.

nana’s daughter.

The child’s gift was a bouquet of roses made by Madame Naviel and copied from Nature. Madame Lafrangois placed this bouquet in a vase of Japanese faience in the centre of the table.

The walls of the class-room were hung with maps and with other work done by the pupils wlio had taken prizes, and formed a most interesting collection. There were crayon drawings, flowers painted in water colors, painted china, and fans both of wood and ivory.

This little collection of the older pupils inspired the new comers with the ambition to do as well^nr better.

This school of Madame Lafrancois was Jof those known as Professional Schools, where the lessons of the afternoon are intended to teach them some trade, by which a young girl can earn her bread at home.

They received lessons in china painting and on silk fans. They were taught to make artificial flowers and to embroider in the most exquisite fashion.

Those who had voices were taught to sing, but useful things were more especially attended to.

At the end of dessert there was a little incident which was especially calculated to appeal to these youthful imaginations.

A cage was brought in filled with birds and placed in the centre of the table where Andr(^e’s bouquet had stood, and the Instructress, lifting her hand, enjoined silence.

“ My children,” she said, “ there are among you several Alsaciennes whose parents, having chosen France, have been driven from their native land by the invaders. Some among 3’our compatriots have sided with the invaders, preferring comfort to liberty, material security to the welfare of their country.

“ These birds are about to give you their opinions on this subject. Their country is Heaven and Liberty.

“ Andr^e, m^^ child, scatter these seeds and cake and sugar near their cage.”

Andr^e, who was very serious, quietly obeyed.

“ And now open the door of the cage.”

Three pairs of little hands eagerly unfastened the

NANA'S DAUGHTER.

door. The windows of the class-room opened on the recreation- court, in the centre of which stood a tall poplar tree, the leaves of which quivered in the fresh breeze.

The little crowd of children waited -in profound silence. A male sparrow with a black head had perched on the open door. He looked out of the corner of his eye at the dainties before him, but his good sense won the day — he shook his head and spread his gray wings, and was gone through the open casement.

The example thus given, the others followed. There was a general flight and a merry chirping among the little creatures outside.

Madame Lafran^ois closed the cage, and said :

“This prison is forever useless to us. We will sell it, and with the money we receive for it, we will buy seeds to throw to the liberated birds.”

After breakfast, the whole school went to Saint Cloud by boat, which was the great feature of the fete. The sun was shining on the damp grass in the Jardin des Plantes, while beyond, the towers of Notre Dame stood out against a sky where the clouds were passing away after a heavy shower. The huge piles of masonry looked, between the two arms of the river, like the formidable skeleton of some beast left there after the deluge.

The boat passed through the shadows of the towers, passed under the Pont Neuf^ the galleries of the Louvre, the Tuileries, the ruins of la C our des Coinptes^ and then turned a little to the left to reach the Pont du Jour.

They stopped at the foot of the viaduct to land some passengers, and then went swiftly on.

^ Saint Cloud appeared before them a little to the right, on an eminence half concealed amid trees, and by the well wooded undulations of the hills around it, from among which rose heavy clouds of smoke, marking the passage of the various trains which ran to Versailles.

nana’s daughter.

As soon as Bellancourt was reached, the little party heard the confused noises of the Fair to which they were going, and the nearer they got to Saint Cloud, the louder became the discordant symphony of shouting clowns and boasting Hercules, the cries of the peddlers and showmen, and the incessant undercurrent of the murmuring crowd, like a heavy bass.

At the foot of the bridge the boat stopped. Madame Lafran^ois watched her girls land, and followed them through the crowd, marching as a rear guard to pick up stragglers. But as Andr^ie Naviel was at the head of the column, it frequently broke, for she ran from one thing to another — from a swing to a Russian railroad, from a tilt to a lottery, with frank exclamations of joy and wonder. But the thing she particularly wished to see, was a circus ring, where the strong men were performing. The bronze nudity of their biceps, amused her immensely. The women too in their short skirts, interested her greatly.

For more than a year Andr^e had been full of strange whims. She had fancies and caprices, like those of a Bohemienne or a Mountebank, and evinced, like most Parisian children, an inordinate desire to be noticed and to be admired.

A certain unconscious coquetry was shown in all her movements. But with all this she was gentle, sweet and loving, not in the least understanding why she was lectured for her many inconsequent acts. Her enthusiasm was not to be controlled ; she wept and laughed without knowing why, and was eager in the pursuit of the happiness she was either to receive or to give.

She was a strange little girl — already a woman in some respects, and in others, altogether too much of a child — ignoring almost everything serious, which those who loved her felt anxious that she should understand, and throwing everything else aside. To a keen observer, Andr^e Naviel would have offered the great attraction of mystery.

Her parents were honest working people, intelligent and skilled in their trades, people of irreproachable na^^a's daughter.

honesty, of g^ood common sense and utterly without imagination, loving order and regularity — in short, they belonged to that good, solid class, whose robust muscles and well-controlled nerves, produce as a rule a generation of children physiologically different from this frail Andrde, in whom seemed to be combined two totally antagonistic natures.

Madame Lafran^ois thought much and seriously of the future of this child. She asked herself if the austere example of the Naviels would suffice to restrain this wandering imagination within bonds, and repress this precocious curiosity by which she was herself often startled and dismayed. But the natural sweetness of Andr^e, her fear of doing wrong, and her profound repentance when she thought she had grieved her kind teacher, or any one whom she loved, soon reassured her ; but her interest in the child was excessive — her aristocratic face and bearing, which seemed to set her apart from the people, interested her like a problem.

Whenever she went out with the child, she was uneasy and always kept her as closely at her side as possible, and on the day of which we write, she was greatly disturbed at seeing all her pupils scattered through the crowd. After a little, however, they reached a comparatively empty space, and Madame Lafran9ois was able to reassemble her flock again.

She glanced quickly around the circle, to see that they were all there.

“Where is Andr^e?” she asked in a trembling voice.

“ We do not know, Madame,” answered several of the pupils together. “ We thought she was with you.”

“ Heaven grant that no harm has come to the child ! ” she cried. “ You all wait here for me, I am going to look for her. Remember, no one of you is to move from this spot.”

And Madame Lafran^ois went around the grounds, half running, and becoming more and more excited, asking questions at the various booths, at the tilt, and at every place which was likely to interest a child.

nana’s daughter.

Sometimes, the people whom she jostled as she hurried past, pushed her rudely aside, taking this woman, in her black dress and blue spectacles, for an insane person ; more than once some insulting epithet was shouted after her, which, however, she did not hear.

Exhausted and out of breath, despairing and heartsick, good Madame Lafran^ois returned to the place where she had left her other pupils, but Andr^e had not appeared.

Then she recalled all the stories she had heard of children stolen by Mountebanks, in order to be trained to their profession, and who, led from Fair to Fair, ended by becoming accustomed to this kind of nomadic life, and to its shameless vagabondage.

Then sadly, with an aching heart, she took her pupils back to Paris. She indulged in the hope that Andr^e, having lost her companions, had returned to the house of her parents ; but on reaching her school, she met on the very threshold Madame Naviel who, in her best attire, had come for her daughter.

She had been presented with three tickets for the circus, and as Andree adored horses and gymnastic feats, the excellent mother had come for her that they might enjoy the pleasure together.

“ Where is the child ? ” she said to Madame Lafran^ois.

The Instructress, deadly pale, looked at the mother, in whose face already appeared a certain anxiety.

‘‘ What have you done with my child ? ” persisted Madame Naviel.

Madame Lafran^ois had not strength to reply, but burst into tears.

NANA's DAUGIlTEll.

Chapter II. Andree At The Fair

HEN Andree discovered that she was alone, she vv spent considerable time in looking for her comrades, and for good Madame Lafran^ois, who she knew would be excessively anxious at her disappearance.

But the various attractions about her, the noise and gay confusion, the Mountebanks and Charlatans, the man with the learned seals, and the three legged woman soon put everything else out of her mind.

First she stopped before a parti -colored tent bedizened with gay flags, which lighted up the whole avenue.

The fountains were playing, and this was in itself a marvellous sight. The spray rose in feathery masses, and cascades fell in clear sheets, while afar off stood the tall chestnut trees, the golden glory of the setting sun shining through the branches and leaves browned by the summer’s heat.

Near the fountains were the wooden horses, moving to the sound of trumpets. Among the crowd of young people, happy and gay, were three young girls. Andrde wished she could join them and ride with them, on the wooden horses, but she had only just money enough to take her back to Paris.

Near by was a long covered wagon, at the door of which a man in a velvet coat invited every one to come in and see his “ beautiful Irma.”

“ You must not go without seeing Irma,” he cried in a voice of great earnestness. “ You must not die until you have seen Irma I ”

Andree felt a vague desire to be Irma, the beauty of beauties, who could be seen for two sous.

She repressed a sigh, and continued to wander

N A N A ’ S DAUGHTER.

among the crowd, pursued by unconscious regret for her poverty and by the hoarse cry of the man.

“ You must not die without seeing Irma ! ”

The child stopped before a platform on which a wrestling match had just come to an end. A spectacle which here met her eyes for the first time, nearly took her breath away.

Upon the platform, a poor devil in a Pierrot costume was acting a little scene with a Hercules. The contrast between the two men to Andr^e was most startling.

The Hercules was short, brawny and hideous, the full lipped bestiality of his red face heightened b}^ his violent exercise. His uncovered arms, the color of bronze, were tattooed above the biceps. The muscles of his limbs and of his massive neck stood out like ropes. He looked around him with grim ferocity, his eyes veined with red were set deep in the shadow of heavy brows, while his forehead disappeared under a shock of coarse hair much streaked with gray.

The Pierrot was a head taller than the Hercules, his hollow cheeks whitened with flour, his reddened eyes and emaciated face, his long slender hands and thin frame, almost lost in the amplitude of his costume, inspired Andr^e with intense curiosity and sympathy.

The dialogue was mingled with kicks and with very sorry jests.

Pierrot seemed to Andr4e, the incarnation of mind which laughs at brute force, and the Hercules, like the incarnation of brute force avenging itself. Blows rained down on Pierrot, and resounded upon his back.

And these were not blows to be laughed at either, for there was an absolute avalanche of slaps on first one poor powdered cheek, and then the other, which often threw the clown flat on the platform.

The crowd thought this excessively funny, but Andr^e had never seen anything so revolting. Her heart swelled with compassion for this poor battered being. Finally, the Hercules gave Pierrot a kick of such vigor that he was lifted from the platform, and thrown over the railing among the crowd.

NANA'S D A U G li 1’ E R .

The poor fellow tumbled almost at Andr^e’s feet. A universal shout of laughter went up from the crowd, and this shout was echoed from each avenue, even the cascade repeated in its silvery notes these joyous sounds.

The Hercules was applauded and Pierrot, as he rose with difficulty, was loudly hissed. Andr^e went up to him, as he went limping away.

“You are hurt, sir,” she said in her fresh, yonisg voice, trembling from head to foot with timidity as she spoke.

The clown stopped, startled by this one kind voice among the universal hisses.

He looked at the pretty child, and his pale face was irradiated by a strange expression of tenderness.

“No, my child,” he answered, “I am not hurt; it is my way of earning my living, besides. Eacli man has his trade. I am called Face-d- Claques.^ Some men receive decorations, whereas I receive cuffs and blows, and it will be just the same so long as my uncle in America lives. Is not that so. Monsieur Hercules?”

“ Of course it is, Monsieur Face-d- Claques — of course it is,” answered the Hercules in his coarse voice, as he stood in the attitude of a fighting gladiator, with his arms folded and his legs set far apart.

Andr^e answered, with the frankness of a child :

“ I should prefer to see you work.”

“ You are quite right, little one,” said the pale man, familiarly ; “ but I can’t get honest work to do, yon see, and unfortunately, one must eat — even I must do that, though I confess I don’t look much like it.”

This odd dialogue between the clown and the child, interested the crowd, who quickly formed a circle around them. The Hercules thundered out:

“ Well! Monsieur Face-d- Claques^ do you intend to stay down there all night ? ”

“I am coming. Monsieur Hercules, I am coming,” answered the Pierrot, who continued hastily, addressing Andr^e : “ How happens it that you are alone here ? Where is your mother ? ”

nana’s daughter.

“ In Paris, with my father. I came here with my comrades; but I have lost them — ”

“ Wlien do you propose to finish your gossip, White Face ? ” shouted the Hercules.

“I am coming, sir. Would you like to see the play?” continued Pierrot to Andree ; “I will give you a good seat.”

The child’s cheeks flushed with joy.

“ Say yes, can’t you ? I have some cakes for you too, if you will have them.”

“ Thanks, Monsieur Pierrot,” answered Andree, kindly. “ I should like to see the phi}^ ; but as for the cakes, you had better keep them for your own children.”

“ My children ! I have none now. I once had a little girl, who would now be about your age ; but when she was a week old, I saw her no more — she was taken away from me, and I have never seen her since.”

“ Who took her away ? ”

“ Her mother — a wretch of a woman, a — ”

Face-d- Claques was here interrupted, for the Hercules, descending from the platform, had taken him by the ear, and now led him away.

“ Don’t tear off my ear. Monsieur Hercules, for it would never grow again on me; while with you, strong as you are, it is very different. I dare say, under the same circumstances, yours would grow again.”

The Hercules did not understand, but he^ laughed with an air of great superiority.

Then Pierrot said something in a low voice.

“ Good ! ” answered the athlete. “ Come on ! ” he continued, addressing Andree.

“ Come and see the play, little one,” added the clown.

Andrde, in considerable agitation, hurried up the steps of the tent. Pierrot took her by the hand and gave her an excellent seat in the front row, and the orchestra began to play furiously. A tall, thin woman, tanned by exposure to sun and wind, played the big drum and cymbals, another performed on the piston, nana's daughter.

while a musician with long hair of a dirty blond — the hair of a need}" German — blew his clarionet with the grave and haughty air of an unhappy virtuoso.

During the concert, Faee-d-Olaques and Hercules outside, bandied words and jokes for the delectation of the crowd, varied by taunts and challenges from tire athlete to any adventurous amateur.

Through the entrance, the crowd outside could be seen. Near the basin, under a red umbrella, a pastrycook, wearing an oddly shaped cap of gilt paper, extended to the children a bit of gingerbread tied to the end of a flexible branch. This gingerbread was to belong to the boy who succeeded in catching it with his teeth. All around this man was a mass of little faces, with open mouths. The curious stopped to see the end of this experiment, which was a new kind of fishing for them.

The wrestlers’ tent was rapidly filling up, and the orchestra went inside and took their seats. People were becoming impatient, and it was buzzed about that a gentleman had made a bet of a thousand louis that he would throw the Hercules. It was for this man then that they were waiting, for every seat was full.

Presently there was a little stir. A woman with very light hair, sparkling with diamonds and covered with lace, entered the arena, and stood surrounded by her little circle of men of all ages.

“Bring some chairs, Face-d-Claque8 shouted the Hercules, “ and move quickly, too ! ”

The clown stood utterly transfixed, stupefaction and terror written on his face. Suddenly he threw back his head and answered :

“ No, sir. Madame may seat herself wherever she pleases, for all me.”

“It is very strange,” murmured the blonde. “I have certainly heard that voice somewhere.”

Pierrot s refusal was so decided, that Hercules concluded that it was hardly worth while to resist.

“As you will, my good friend,” he muttered, resigning himself ; “ but you shall pay for this, later ! ”

nana’s daughter.

The clown shrugged his shoulders.

“ Which of these gentlemen desires to measure himself with me ? ” asked the athlete.

“ I do,” replied a man who was no longer young.

“ Bravo ! Marquis, bravo ! ” clamored his companions.

“Hush!” said the amateur. “I do not see the necessity of placing my name and my title at the head of the articles the morning papers will contain.”

“ Monsieur had best take off his coat,” said the athlete.

The contest commenced with several feints. Arms were intertwined, but the grasp of each was quickly broken, and the adversaries stood opposite each other, each firm on his feet. The real combat had not yet begun ; as yet only a skirmish had taken place. But suddenly they rushed forward.

Hercules seized the Marquis ; but that gentleman quickly turned, and presented his back to his opponent; then raising his arms, he clasped them around the man’s neck and made one superhuman effort. The athlete raised from the ground, leaped over the head of the Marquis and came down on his feet.

The crowd applauded frantically; but Andrde comprehended nothing of what she saw. She had heard a clown refuse to bring a chair to tins golden-haired lady, who was as dazzling as a fairy. She saw a man, whose friends addressed him as Marquis, enter a ring to wrestle with a vulger athlete, at a Fair. She was almost stupefied, but, at the same time, interested in Face^d- Claques^ whose tall form and pale face she perceived on the other side of the arena. The expression of his face seemed to have suddenly changed. A terrible and mysterious passion was but indifferently concealed under the mask of powder.

Andr^e’s attention was for the moment distracted. The contest, suspended for an instant, now re-commenced very seriously.

The athletes grasped each other at the same moment, shoulder against shoulder, and cheek against cheek.

nana’s daughter.

They stood thus for a moment, panting like savage beasts, waiting each to take advantage of the other.

The amateur turned pale. The red face of the Hercules became purple. Suddenly he broke away. The Marquis fell on one knee. The other attempted to grasp him ; but the Marquis rose as if touched by a spring, and with a violent blow of his back in the stomach of the other, threw him on his left side ; and then leaping upon him with all his weight, pressed him down upon the sand. The shoulders of the Hercules had touched.

“Hurrah! bravo!” shouted the crowd.

The victor quietly lifted a curtain and entered the mountebank’s room, to dress. The Hercules followed him.

Face-d- Claques had planted himself directly behind the blonde lady, where he could look down upon her. His head was that of Death ; his Pierrot garments wrapped him about like a winding sheet.

She turned and saw this apparition.

“What have you done with my child, Nana?” he asked.

“ Heavens ! ” she replied, “ where have I heard that voice ? ”

“ In your own room, woman ! ” answered the clown.

At this moment, the Marquis came back.

“ D’Albigny,” she said, “ chastise this fellow, who has insulted me.”

“Yes,” said the clown, “I insulted her. I asked Madame to give me the child.”

“ Ah ! ” sneered the Marquis. “ By the way, my dear, is not this your thief?”

“No, Monsieur, I am not a thief, for I have returned the money ; while you — ”

“ Don’t hesitate ; go on, my friend. If what you say does not suit me, I can soon silence you.”

“ Silence me ! and why ? Because I am a clown at a Fair? You, sir, wrestle iii public with mountebanks, and give five louis to Hercules that he may allow you to win the victory ; and as you have made nana’s daughter.

bets amounting to a thousand with your friends, you have made by your hour’s work, nine hundred and ninety-five louis. Now tell me, if you please, who is the thief to-day ? ”

D’Albigny was deadly pale. Hercules, in the centre of the arena, was delighted that Pierrot was exposing the truth of the transaction.

‘‘ Why do you not silence your servant ? ” cried Nana. “ Why do you allow him to insult this gentleman?”

“Excuse me, Madame, it is not in our agreement that I should interfere. As Monsieur is so strong, he can make himself respected without my assistance.”

Nana turned to her adorers, but they had all disappeared as soon as they thought it likely that they should be called upon to aid her.

“ Come, let us go,” said the Marquis, “ I have had quite enough of this. As for 3^011, you had better take 3^ourself out of 1113^ reach, unless 3'ou wish to be put inside a prison cell.”

“ And wh3% pray ? Let us all go. The Marquis to Mazas — the lass to Saint-Lazare.”

D’Albigny did not hear the clown’s last words, for they were drowned in a formidable hiss.

“ Enough ! Enough ! ” shouted the spectators ; “ put the wranglers out — let them quarrel elsewhere.”

“It is scandalous — perfectly scandalous — honest people are everywhere insulted under 3’'our Republic!” cried a gentleman with a much stiffened moustache, standing up in his seat as he spoke; “ought not these canaille to be sent to Noumda?”

“Excuse me, sir, but whom do you call the canaille here ? ” asked Hercules.

“ I was not speaking to you,” answered the man with the fierce moustache, subsiding into the crowd like a Jack ill the box.

“ That is all 1 wanted to know,” the athlete replied, with a roar of laughter.

Meanwliile, the woman with the blond hair had taken her departure, and Face-d- Claques had returned nana’s daughter.

to Andr^e’s side. lie had bought a large cake at the pastry cook’s which he offered to the child.

“ Thanks, Monsieur Face — ”

She checked herself thinking that this name was not altogether complimentary to this fantastic friend, whom she had made in the beginning of her escapade.

‘‘Call me Face-d- Claques^ if you will — it does me no harm, and I am used to it. My child would haye been just your age, chSrie ! ”

A tear made a black mark on the chalky pallor of his cheek.

Andrde was greatly impressed by hearing this poor Pierrot speak so gently to her, after haying so cruelly humiliated a great Lord.