Honore de Balzac: Cousin Betty

1. PART I: THE PRODIGAL FATHER (continued)

"We are a couple of old fools," said Crevel.

"I have got rid of them," said Madame Marneffe to Lisbeth, as she sat down once more. "I never loved and I never shall love any man but my Jaguar," she added, smiling at Henri Montes. "Lisbeth, my dear, you don't know. Henri has forgiven me the infamy to which I was reduced by poverty."

"It was my own fault," said the Brazilian. "I ought to have sent you a hundred thousand francs."

"Poor boy!" said Valerie; "I might have worked for my living, but my fingers were not made for that--ask Lisbeth."

The Brazilian went away the happiest man in Paris.

At noon Valerie and Lisbeth were chatting in the splendid bedroom where this dangerous woman was giving to her dress those finishing touches which a lady alone can give. The doors were bolted, the curtains drawn over them, and Valerie related in every detail all the events of the evening, the night, the morning.

"What do you think of it all, my darling?" she said to Lisbeth in conclusion. "Which shall I be when the time comes--Madame Crevel, or Madame Montes?"

"Crevel will not last more than ten years, such a profligate as he is," replied Lisbeth. "Montes is young. Crevel will leave you about thirty thousand francs a year. Let Montes wait; he will be happy enough as Benjamin. And so, by the time you are three-and-thirty, if you take care of your looks, you may marry your Brazilian and make a fine show with sixty thousand francs a year of your own--especially under the wing of a Marechale."

"Yes, but Montes is a Brazilian; he will never make his mark," observed Valerie.

"We live in the day of railways," said Lisbeth, "when foreigners rise to high positions in France."

"We shall see," replied Valerie, "when Marneffe is dead. He has not much longer to suffer."