savings?”
“Yes, yes, I just asked because, well, any illness …”
“Don’t worry too much, Madame. He’s young and it’s better to be too thin than too fat, I always say. But I must take my leave. I have five more patients to see before lunch … doctors don’t have time to get pneumonia, and a good thing too. Good day, Madame, and call me if you need me for anything else. I’ll see him in the hospital, of course, when I make my rounds.”
“Vivianne, I know this makes me sound like a child, but I have no idea what Alain does with the money he makes. He gives me money for clothes, but he pays the maid himself and we never eat at home except for breakfast. I don’t even know the name of his bank,” Eve confessed to her friend. She hadseen Alain settled in the hospital and there was no more for her to do for him.
“You shall just have to ask him, little one. Don’t worry, he’s been making good money for years and he’s no fool,” Vivianne answered, congratulating herself yet again on her own financial arrangements. She didn’t doubt that the wives of her protectors were just as ignorant of their husbands’ finances as Madeleine was of her lover’s
But for the next month Alain was in no condition to be questioned about the location of his savings, or anything else. He came perilously close to dying three times after he was admitted to the hospital. Vivianne kept Eve’s health up with the nourishing meals she cooked, and if it had not been for the money she forced on Eve, Alain would have had to be transferred to one of the hospitals Paris reserves for the indigent.
Finally, in the last days of January he seemed to be on the road to recovery, and Eve, worn out but determined, asked him how she could obtain some money from his bank.
“Bank!” he laughed feebly. “Bank! There speaks a true daughter of the rich.”
“Alain, I only asked a normal question. What makes you say that?”
“Because if you hadn’t been born a rich girl, you would know that I spend every penny I make, I always have and I always will.… That’s the life I chose for myself long ago. Any little bourgeoise would have realized that long ago. Economies! They’re for the safe little man with a safe little wife and, God help him, a bunch of safe little children. Pah! I’d rather lose it all in a good card game than hoard it in a bank. You can’t complain, can you? When I had it I spent it and I didn’t come complaining to you when I lost it all, either, did I?”
“Lost it all?”
“Just before I got sick. A bad run of cards.” He shrugged his shoulders “There would have been just enough for Christmas, but then I expected to get lucky again or wait till payday, whichever came first. I never worried. I refuse to worry and I’m right, you’ll see. I’ll be back at the Riviera in no time now that this stinking pneumonia is almost over.”
“But, Alain, I asked Doctor Jammes how soon you could come home, and he said maybe in a few weeks but that thenit would be … months, months of recovery before you could go back to work!”
“He’s a pompous old fool.” Alain turned away from Eve and looked out the window at the snow which so rarely fell on the city of Paris.
“Pompous, I grant you, but no fool. I think he saved your life,” Eve said indignantly.
“Listen, I have some advice for you,” Alain said bitterly. “Go home. Go back to Dijon.”
“Alain!”
“I mean it. You weren’t meant for this life and you must know it. You’ve had your adventure, but surely you see that it’s over now? Go back to your parents just as fast as the railroad will carry you. You don’t belong here. God knows, I never dreamed of asking you to come with me—that was entirely your idea, remember? My kind of life suits me, but I can’t be responsible for anyone else for long. You invited yourself. Now it’s time to go. Say good-bye, Eve, and get on that train.”
“I’ll leave you alone now. You’re
“Yes, yes, I just asked because, well, any illness …”
“Don’t worry too much, Madame. He’s young and it’s better to be too thin than too fat, I always say. But I must take my leave. I have five more patients to see before lunch … doctors don’t have time to get pneumonia, and a good thing too. Good day, Madame, and call me if you need me for anything else. I’ll see him in the hospital, of course, when I make my rounds.”
“Vivianne, I know this makes me sound like a child, but I have no idea what Alain does with the money he makes. He gives me money for clothes, but he pays the maid himself and we never eat at home except for breakfast. I don’t even know the name of his bank,” Eve confessed to her friend. She hadseen Alain settled in the hospital and there was no more for her to do for him.
“You shall just have to ask him, little one. Don’t worry, he’s been making good money for years and he’s no fool,” Vivianne answered, congratulating herself yet again on her own financial arrangements. She didn’t doubt that the wives of her protectors were just as ignorant of their husbands’ finances as Madeleine was of her lover’s
But for the next month Alain was in no condition to be questioned about the location of his savings, or anything else. He came perilously close to dying three times after he was admitted to the hospital. Vivianne kept Eve’s health up with the nourishing meals she cooked, and if it had not been for the money she forced on Eve, Alain would have had to be transferred to one of the hospitals Paris reserves for the indigent.
Finally, in the last days of January he seemed to be on the road to recovery, and Eve, worn out but determined, asked him how she could obtain some money from his bank.
“Bank!” he laughed feebly. “Bank! There speaks a true daughter of the rich.”
“Alain, I only asked a normal question. What makes you say that?”
“Because if you hadn’t been born a rich girl, you would know that I spend every penny I make, I always have and I always will.… That’s the life I chose for myself long ago. Any little bourgeoise would have realized that long ago. Economies! They’re for the safe little man with a safe little wife and, God help him, a bunch of safe little children. Pah! I’d rather lose it all in a good card game than hoard it in a bank. You can’t complain, can you? When I had it I spent it and I didn’t come complaining to you when I lost it all, either, did I?”
“Lost it all?”
“Just before I got sick. A bad run of cards.” He shrugged his shoulders “There would have been just enough for Christmas, but then I expected to get lucky again or wait till payday, whichever came first. I never worried. I refuse to worry and I’m right, you’ll see. I’ll be back at the Riviera in no time now that this stinking pneumonia is almost over.”
“But, Alain, I asked Doctor Jammes how soon you could come home, and he said maybe in a few weeks but that thenit would be … months, months of recovery before you could go back to work!”
“He’s a pompous old fool.” Alain turned away from Eve and looked out the window at the snow which so rarely fell on the city of Paris.
“Pompous, I grant you, but no fool. I think he saved your life,” Eve said indignantly.
“Listen, I have some advice for you,” Alain said bitterly. “Go home. Go back to Dijon.”
“Alain!”
“I mean it. You weren’t meant for this life and you must know it. You’ve had your adventure, but surely you see that it’s over now? Go back to your parents just as fast as the railroad will carry you. You don’t belong here. God knows, I never dreamed of asking you to come with me—that was entirely your idea, remember? My kind of life suits me, but I can’t be responsible for anyone else for long. You invited yourself. Now it’s time to go. Say good-bye, Eve, and get on that train.”
“I’ll leave you alone now. You’re
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