The Short Reign of Pippin IV Read Free Page B

lowering the price but by suddenly raising it, which convinced the lady that she should buy it at once or she wouldn’t get it at all. Charles bowed her out of the gallery, shut the front door, and hung a battered card which read “Closed for Renovation.” Then he himself went past the velvet curtain and greeted his pacing nephew.
    â€œYou are troubled, my child,” he said. “Sit down, sit down. Let me give you a drop of cognac for your nerves.”
    â€œI am in a fury,” Pippin said, but he did sit down and he did accept the cognac.
    â€œIt is Marie?” said Uncle Charlie. “Or perhaps Clotilde?”
    â€œIt is Marie.”
    â€œIt is about money?”
    â€œIt is about money,” said Pippin.
    â€œHow much?”
    â€œI did not come to borrow.”
    â€œYou come, then, to complain?”
    â€œExactly, to complain.”
    â€œA good idea. It removes pressures. You will return to your home in a more agreeable humor, in a word a better husband. Do you wish to be specific in your complaint?”
    Pippin said, “An unpredicted meteor shower has blundered into earth’s atmosphere. My camera is not adequate to—well, I need a new camera.”
    â€œExpensive, and Marie does not find it necessary?”
    â€œYou understand the situation very well. She wears her hurt look, that damnable injured expression. She is planning revenge.”
    â€œYou have bought the camera?”
    â€œNot yet.”
    â€œBut you have decided.”
    â€œUnderstand, my uncle, it is unusual to find showers of meteors at this season. Who knows what is going on up there? Do not forget that it was I who first reported the Elysée Comet. I was commended by the Academy. It is whispered that in the not too distant future I may be elected.”
    â€œCongratulations, my child. What an honor! While I myself do not view the heavens with passion, I support passion, whatever its source. Begin your complaint, my dear nephew. Now—I am Marie and you are you. Shall we start with the undeniable fact that your income springs from your property, rather than from dot ?”
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œThis land has belonged to your family since the dawn of history.”
    â€œSince the Salic Franks invaded from the east.”
    â€œIn very truth your vineyard hills are the remains of a kingdom.”
    â€œAn empire.”
    â€œYou stem from a family so ancient, so noble, that you do not condescend to remind the upstart nobility of your origin by use of titles clearly yours.”
    â€œYou put it very well, Uncle Charlie. And all I want is a new camera.”
    â€œThere,” said Charles. “You feel better now?”
    â€œI really do.”
    â€œLet me lend you the money for the camera, my child. You can pay it back little by little. Marie does not shy at little things—it is large expenditures which frighten and confuse her.”
    â€œI did not come to borrow.”
    â€œYou have not asked. I have offered. You will purchase the camera. You will inform Marie that you have decided not to buy it. Does Marie know one camera from another?”
    â€œOf course not. But will I not have surrendered my position in the house?”
    â€œQuite the contrary, my child. You will have put her in a position of guilt. She will urge you to buy many little things. Thus you will repay the loan.”
    â€œI wonder you have never married.”
    â€œI prefer to see other people happy. Now—for what amount shall I make the check?”
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    When M. Héristal had slammed the iron gate and stormed to the taxi rank on Avenue Gabriel, Madame, for all her cold and deadly triumph, was shaken and uncertain—and at such times it was her habit to visit her old friend Sister Hyacinthe in her convent not far from the Porte de Vincennes—a large, low, orderly building within sight of the Bois. Madame changed her dress, took purse and black shopping bag, and