two portraits
coster de saint-victor had not resumed the use of powder; he wore his hair in long, flowing curls, without comb or queue. it was jet-black like his eyelashes, which shaded eyes of a deep sapphire blue, which, according to the expression he chose to give them, were at times gentle and again full of commanding power. his complexion, which was now rather pale owing to his recent loss of blood, was of a rich creamy white; his nose straight, clear-cut and irreproachable; his firm, red lips disclosed magnificent teeth; and the rest of the body, which, thanks to the fashion then in vogue, was clad to display it to the best advantage, was modelled on the lines of antinous.
the two young people looked at each other for a moment in silence.
"you heard?" asked aurélie.
"alas! yes," replied coster.
"he will sup with me, and it is your fault."
"how so?"
"you made me open the door."
"and you are vexed because he is to sup with you?"
"of course!"
"really?"
"i swear it. i am not in a humor to-night to be amiable to people i do not love."
"but to him whom you love?"
"ah! for him i would be charming," replied aurélie.
"and suppose," said coster, "that i could find a way to prevent his supping with you?"
"and?"
"who would sup with you in his place?"
"what a question. the man who kept him away."
[pg 271]
"and then you would not be cross?"
"oh, no!"
"give me a pledge."
the beautiful courtesan held up her cheek to him, and he pressed a kiss upon it. just then the bell rang again.
"ah! this time i warn you that if it is he who has taken it into his stupid head to return, i shall go away," said coster de saint-victor.
suzette appeared.
"shall i open the door, madame?" she asked timidly.
"certainly, open it."
suzette opened it. a man carrying a large flat basket on his head came in, saying: "supper for citizen barras."
"you hear?" asked aurélie.
"yes," replied the incroyable; "but, on the word of coster de saint-victor, he shall not eat it."
"shall i set the table just the same?" asked suzette.
"yes," said the young man, darting from the room; "for if he does not eat it, some one else will."
aurélie followed him with her eyes as far as the door, then, when it had closed behind him, she cried: "my toilet, suzette, and make me look more beautiful than you ever did before."
"and for which of the two does madame wish to look beautiful?"
"i do not know myself; but, in the meantime, make me as beautiful as possible for myself."
we have already described the costume of the fashionable ladies of the day, and aurélie was one of them. a member of a good family of provence, and playing the part which we have outlined, we have thought it best to leave her the name by which she was known at the time of which we write, and which appears in the police records. her story was like that of nearly all the women of her class, for whom the thermidorean reaction was a triumph. a young girl without fortune, she was led astray by a young nobleman, who induced her to leave her home, and who[pg 272] took her to paris, then emigrated, enlisted in condé's army, and was killed. she remained alone without other means of support than her beauty and her youth. picked up by one of the farmers of the public revenues, she soon regained more luxury than she had lost. but the time came when the office of farmer of the revenue was suppressed. the beautiful aurélie's protector was one of twenty-seven persons who were executed with lavoisier on the 8th of may, 1794. at his death he left her a large sum of money, of which she had hitherto used only the interest; so that, without being wealthy, the beautiful aurélie was beyond the reach of want.
barras, hearing of her beauty and refinement, called upon her, and, after a suitable probation, was accepted as her lover. he was then a handsome man of forty, belonging to a noble family of provence—a nobility that has been questioned, although those who remember the old saying, "old as the rocks of provence, and noble as the barras," will not doubt the justice of the claim.
at the age of eighteen, barras was a subaltern in the regiment of languedoc, but left it to rejoin his uncle, who was governor of the "ile de france." he was nearly lost in a shipwreck off the coast of coromandel; but managing by good luck to seize the helm at the right moment, and showing great presence of mind and sound judgment, he reached an island inhabited by savages, where he and his companions remained a month. they were finally rescued and taken to pondicherry. he returned to paris in 1788, where a great future awaited him.
at the time when the states-general assembled, barras, following mirabeau's example, showed no hesitation; he presented himself as a candidate for the tiers-etat, and was accepted. on the 14th of july he was noticed among the crowd that took the bastille. as a member of the convention, he voted the death of the king, and was sent to toulon, after that city was recaptured from the english. his despatch to the convention is well known.
[pg 273]
he proposed simply to demolish toulon.
when barras returned to the convention, he took an active part on all great occasions when the interests of the revolution were at stake, and he was particularly prominent on the 9th thermidor. so much so, that, when the new convention was proposed, he was naturally elected as one of the directors.
we have told his age, and testified as to his personal charm. he was a man about five feet six, with a fine head of hair, which he powdered to conceal his premature grayness. he had remarkably fine eyes, a straight nose, and full lips which set off a sympathetic mouth. without adopting the exaggerated fashions of the jeunesse dorée, he followed them to a degree of elegance suited to his years.
as for the beautiful aurélie de saint-amour, she had just completed her twenty-first year, entering at the same time upon her majority, and the true period of a woman's beauty, which is in our opinion from her twenty-first year to her thirty-fifth. her disposition was at once extremely refined, extremely sensual, and extremely impressionable. she possessed the attributes of flower, fruit, and woman—perfume, savor, and pleasure.
she was tall, which at first sight made her seem slender, but thanks to the style of dress then in vogue, it was not difficult to see that she was slender after the fashion of jean goujon's diana. she was fair with those deep brown tints which are to be seen in the hair of titian's magdalen. when she wore her hair in the greek style, with bands of blue velvet, she was superb; but when, toward the end of a dinner, she loosened her hair, letting it fall over her shoulders and framing her cheeks in an aureole, enhancing their fresh camilla tints and peachy down-like surface, and contrasting sharply with her black eyebrows, blue eyes, red lips, and pearly teeth, and when a spray of brilliant diamonds hung from each ear—then she was dazzling.
now this luxuriant beauty had developed only within the last two years. to her first lover, the only man she had[pg 274] ever loved, she had given the young girl, full of hesitations, who yields, but does not entirely surrender herself. then all at once she felt the sap of life mounting and growing within her; her eyes opened, her nostrils distended; she exhaled at every pore that love of second youth which succeeds adolescence, which turns its gaze upon herself, and which seeks some object upon which to lavish the pent-up wealth of treasure within. it was then that necessity compelled her to sell rather than to give herself; but even then she looked forward to the time when she should be rich and free to enter upon that liberty of heart and person which is the dignity of every woman.
two or three times at evening parties at the h?tel thélusson, at the opéra, or at the comédie fran?aise, she had noticed coster de saint-victor as he paid his court to the most beautiful and distinguished ladies of the period; and each time her heart seemed to leap in her bosom and fly to him. she felt within herself that some day, if she would make advances, this man would belong to her, or rather she to him. and so thoroughly was she convinced of this, that (thanks to the secret voice which oftentimes gives us hints of what the future will bring forth) she was content to wait without much impatience, certain that one day the object of her dreams would pass near enough to her, or she to him, to join them each to each other by the irresistible law that binds steel to magnet.
at last, on the evening when she opened her window to watch the street brawl, she recognized in the thick of the fray the handsome figure which had haunted her solitary nights; and, in spite of herself, she cried out: "citizen in the green coat, take care!"
