第7章

When we came down our musical hostess expressed no hope that the rooms had pleased us, and seemed quite indifferent to our taking them.She would not consent, moreover, to the least diminution, and was inflexible, as I told you, on the subject of wine.When Ipushed this point, she was so good as to observe that she didn't keep a cabaret.One is not in the least considered; there is no respect for one's privacy, for one's preferences, for one's reserves.The familiarity is without limits, and I have already made a dozen acquaintances, of whom I know, and wish to know, nothing.Aurora tells me that she is the "belle of the boarding-house." It appears that this is a great distinction.It brings me back to my poor child and her prospects.She takes a very critical view of them herself: she tells me that I have given her a false education, and that no one will marry her today.No American will marry her, because she is too much of a foreigner, and no foreigner will marry her because she is too much of an American.I remind her that scarcely a day passes that a foreigner, usually of distinction, doesn't select an American bride, and she answers me that in these cases the young lady is not married for her fine eyes.Not always, I reply; and then she declares that she would marry no foreigner who should not be one of the first of the first.You will say, doubtless, that she should content herself with advantages that have not been deemed insufficient for Cecile; but I will not repeat to you the remark she made when I once made use of this argument.You will doubtless be surprised to hear that I have ceased to argue; but it is time I should tell you that I have at last agreed to let her act for herself.She is to live for three months a l'Americaine, and I am to be a mere spectator.You will feel with me that this is a cruel position for a coeur de mere.I count the days till our three months are over, and I know that you will join with me in my prayers.Aurora walks the streets alone.She goes out in the tramway; a voiture de place costs five francs for the least little course.(I beseech you not to let it be known that I have sometimes had the weakness...) My daughter is sometimes accompanied by a gentleman--by a dozen gentlemen; she remains out for hours, and her conduct excites no surprise in this establishment.I know but too well the emotions it will excite in your quiet home.If you betray us, chere Madame, we are lost; and why, after all, should any one know of these things in Geneva? Aurora pretends that she has been able to persuade herself that she doesn't care who knows them; but there is a strange expression in her face, which proves that her conscience is not at rest.I watch her, I let her go, but I sit with my hands clasped.There is a peculiar custom in this country--I shouldn't know how to express it in Genevese--it is called "being attentive," and young girls are the object of the attention.It has not necessarily anything to do with projects of marriage--though it is the privilege only of the unmarried, and though, at the same time (fortunately, and this may surprise you) it has no relation to other projects.It is simply an invention by which young persons of the two sexes pass their time together.How shall I muster courage to tell you that Aurora is now engaged in this delassement, in company with several gentlemen? Though it has no relation to marriage, it happily does not exclude it, and marriages have been known to take place in consequence (or in spite) of it.It is true that even in this country a young lady may marry but one husband at a time, whereas she may receive at once the attentions of several gentlemen, who are equally entitled "admirers." My daughter, then, has admirers to an indefinite number.You will think I am joking, perhaps, when I tell you that I am unable to be exact--I who was formerly l'exactitude meme.Two of these gentlemen are, to a certain extent, old friends, having been passengers on the steamer which carried us so far from you.One of them, still young, is typical of the American character, but a respectable person, and a lawyer in considerable practice.Every one in this country follows a profession; but it must be admitted that the professions are more highly remunerated than chez vous.Mr.Cockerel, even while I write you, is in complete possession of my daughter.He called for her an hour ago in a "boghey,"--a strange, unsafe, rickety vehicle, mounted on enormous wheels, which holds two persons very near together; and I watched her from the window take her place at his side.Then he whirled her away, behind two little horses with terribly thin legs;the whole equipage--and most of all her being in it--was in the most questionable taste.But she will return, and she will return very much as she went.It is the same when she goes down to Mr.Louis Leverett, who has no vehicle, and who merely comes and sits with her in the front salon.He has lived a great deal in Europe, and is very fond of the arts, and though I am not sure I agree with him in his views of the relation of art to life and life to art, and in his interpretation of some of the great works that Aurora and I have studied together, he seems to me a sufficiently serious and intelligent young man.I do not regard him as intrinsically dangerous; but on the other hand, he offers absolutely no guarantees.I have no means whatever of ascertaining his pecuniary situation.There is a vagueness on these points which is extremely embarrassing, and it never occurs to young men to offer you a reference.In Geneva I should not be at a loss; I should come to you, chere Madame, with my little inquiry, and what you should not be able to tell me would not be worth knowing.But no one in New York can give me the smallest information about the etat de fortune of Mr.Louis Leverett.It is true that he is a native of Boston, where most of his friends reside; I cannot, however, go to the expense of a journey to Boston simply to learn, perhaps, that Mr.

Leverett (the young Louis) has an income of five thousand francs.

As I say, however, he does not strike me as dangerous.When Aurora comes back to me, after having passed an hour with the young Louis, she says that he has described to her his emotions on visiting the home of Shelley, or discussed some of the differences between the Boston Temperament and that of the Italians of the Renaissance.You will not enter into these rapprochements, and I can't blame you.

But you won't betray me, chere Madame?