Early one morning, before Christopher Newman was dressed, a little old man was ushered into his apartment, followed by a youth in a blouse, bearing a picture in a brilliant frame.Newman, among the distractions of Paris, had forgotten M.Nioche and his accomplished daughter;but this was an effective reminder.
"I am afraid you had given me up, sir," said the old man, after many apologies and salutations."We have made you wait so many days.
You accused us, perhaps, of inconstancy of bad faith.
But behold me at last! And behold also the pretty Madonna.
Place it on a chair, my friend, in a good light, so that monsieur may admire it." And M.Nioche, addressing his companion, helped him to dispose the work of art.
It had been endued with a layer of varnish an inch thick and its frame, of an elaborate pattern, was at least a foot wide.
It glittered and twinkled in the morning light, and looked, to Newman's eyes, wonderfully splendid and precious.It seemed to him a very happy purchase, and he felt rich in the possession of it.
He stood looking at it complacently, while he proceeded with his toilet, and M.Nioche, who had dismissed his own attendant, hovered near, smiling and rubbing his hands.
"It has wonderful finesse," he murmured, caressingly."And here and there are marvelous touches, you probably perceive them, sir.
It attracted great attention on the Boulevard, as we came along.
And then a gradation of tones! That's what it is to know how to paint.
I don't say it because I am her father, sir; but as one man of taste addressing another I cannot help observing that you have there an exquisite work.It is hard to produce such things and to have to part with them.If our means only allowed us the luxury of keeping it!
I really may say, sir--" and M.Nioche gave a little feebly insinuating laugh--"I really may say that I envy you! You see,"he added in a moment, "we have taken the liberty of offering you a frame.
It increases by a trifle the value of the work, and it will save you the annoyance--so great for a person of your delicacy--of going about to bargain at the shops."
The language spoken by M.Nioche was a singular compound, which I shrink from the attempt to reproduce in its integrity.He had apparently once possessed a certain knowledge of English, and his accent was oddly tinged with the cockneyism of the British metropolis.But his learning had grown rusty with disuse, and his vocabulary was defective and capricious.
He had repaired it with large patches of French, with words anglicized by a process of his own, and with native idioms literally translated.
The result, in the form in which he in all humility presented it, would be scarcely comprehensible to the reader, so that I have ventured to trim and sift it.Newman only half understood it, but it amused him, and the old man's decent forlornness appealed to his democratic instincts.
The assumption of a fatality in misery always irritated his strong good nature--it was almost the only thing that did so; and he felt the impulse to wipe it out, as it were, with the sponge of his own prosperity.
The papa of Mademoiselle Noemie, however, had apparently on this occasion been vigorously indoctrinated, and he showed a certain tremulous eagerness to cultivate unexpected opportunities.
"How much do I owe you, then, with the frame?" asked Newman.
"It will make in all three thousand francs," said the old man, smiling agreeably, but folding his hands in instinctive suppliance.
"Can you give me a receipt?"
"I have brought one," said M.Nioche."I took the liberty of drawing it up, in case monsieur should happen to desire to discharge his debt."And he drew a paper from his pocket-book and presented it to his patron.
The document was written in a minute, fantastic hand, and couched in the choicest language.
Newman laid down the money, and M.Nioche dropped the napoleons one by one, solemnly and lovingly, into an old leathern purse.
"And how is your young lady?" asked Newman."She made a great impression on me.""An impression? Monsieur is very good.Monsieur admires her appearance?""She is very pretty, certainly."
"Alas, yes, she is very pretty!"
"And what is the harm in her being pretty?"M.Nioche fixed his eyes upon a spot on the carpet and shook his head.
Then looking up at Newman with a gaze that seemed to brighten and expand, "Monsieur knows what Paris is.She is dangerous to beauty, when beauty hasn't the sou.""Ah, but that is not the case with your daughter.
She is rich, now."
"Very true; we are rich for six months.But if my daughter were a plain girl I should sleep better all the same.""You are afraid of the young men?"
"The young and the old!"
"She ought to get a husband."
"Ah, monsieur, one doesn't get a husband for nothing.
Her husband must take her as she is: I can't give her a sou.
But the young men don't see with that eye.""Oh," said Newman, "her talent is in itself a dowry.""Ah, sir, it needs first to be converted into specie!"and M.Nioche slapped his purse tenderly before he stowed it away.
"The operation doesn't take place every day.""Well, your young men are very shabby, said Newman; "that's all I can say.
They ought to pay for your daughter, and not ask money themselves.""Those are very noble ideas, monsieur; but what will you have?
They are not the ideas of this country.We want to know what we are about when we marry.""How big a portion does your daughter want?"M.Nioche stared, as if he wondered what was coming next;but he promptly recovered himself, at a venture, and replied that he knew a very nice young man, employed by an insurance company, who would content himself with fifteen thousand francs.
"Let your daughter paint half a dozen pictures for me, and she shall have her dowry.""Half a dozen pictures--her dowry! Monsieur is not speaking inconsiderately?""If she will make me six or eight copies in the Louvre as pretty as that Madonna, I will pay her the same price," said Newman.