‘And are you very fond of this Monsieur Vyder?’
‘Am I fond of him? I should think I am,’ she said. ‘He tells me nice stories every evening. And he’s given me pretty dresses and underwear and a shawl. Why, I’m rigged out like a princess and I don’t wear sabots any more. And for two months now I haven’t known what it is to be hungry. I don’t eat potatoes any more. He brings me sweets and sugared almonds. Oh, chocolate almonds are delicious. I do anything he wants for a bag of chocolates. And then my old Père Vyder is so kind; he looks after me so well, so nicely, that it makes me see what my mother ought to have been like. He’s going to get an old servant to look after me, for he doesn’t want me to get my hands dirty doing the cooking. He’s been earning quite a bit of money this last month and every evening he brings me three francs, which I put in my money-box. Only he doesn’t want me to go out, except to come here. He’s a love of a man, so he does whatever he likes with me. He calls me his little puss, but my mother only called me little bitch, or dirty hussy, or thief, or vermin, and I don’t know what else.’
‘Well then, why don’t you get married to Père Vyder, my child?’
‘But I have, Madame!’ said the girl, full of pride, looking at the Baroness without a blush, her brow serene, her eyes untroubled. ‘He told me I was his little wife, but it’s very tiresome being a man’s wife. In fact, if it wasn’t for the sugared almonds!’
‘Good heavens,’ said the Baroness under her breath, ‘what kind of a monster can it be who could take advantage of such complete, pure innocence? To set this child back on to the path of virtue would atone for many sins. I knew what I was doing,’ she said to herself, thinking of her scene with Crevel. ‘But she is totally ignorant.’
‘Do you know Monsieur Samanon?’ Atala asked coaxingly.
‘No, my dear. But why do you ask me?’
‘Really and truly?’ said the innocent creature.
‘Don’t be afraid of Madame, Atala. She’s an angel,’ said the stove-fitter’s wife.
‘It’s because my old dear’s afraid of being found by this Samanon and he’s in hiding. But I’d very much like him to be free.’
‘And why?’
‘Well, then he’d take me to Bobino* and perhaps to the Ambigu.’*
‘What a charming creature,’ said the Baroness, kissing the little girl.
‘Are you rich?’ asked Atala, fingering the Baroness’s cuffs.
‘Yes and no,’ replied the Baroness. ‘I’m rich for good little girls like you, when they’re willing to be taught Christian duties by a priest and walk in the right path.’
‘In what path?’ asked Atala. ‘My legs are good for walking.’
Atala gave the baroness a sly, amused look.
‘Look at Madame. She’s been happy since she returned to the bosom of the church,’ said the Baroness, pointing to the stove-fitter’s wife. ‘You’ve got married in the way animals mate.’
‘Me!’ replied Atala. ‘But if you’re ready to give me what Père Vyder gives me, I’d be very glad not to be married. It’s a bore! Do you know what it’s like?’
‘Once you’re united with a man, as you are,’ continued the Baroness, ‘virtue requires you to remain faithful to him.’
‘Till he dies?’ asked Atala, with a knowing look. ‘I won’t have long to wait. If you knew how Père Vyder coughs and snorts! Peuh! Peuh!’ she wheezed, imitating the old man.
‘Virtue and morality require that the Church, which represents God, and the town hall, which represents the State, should consecrate your marriage. You see Madame. She got married legally.’
‘Will that be more fun?’ asked the child.
‘You will be happier,’ said the baroness, ‘for no one will be able to blame you for your marriage. You will please God. Ask Madame if she got married without receiving the sacrament of marriage?’
Atala looked at the stove-fitter’s wife.
‘What’s she got that I haven’t?’ she asked. ‘I’m prettier than she is.’
‘Yes, but I’m an honest woman and you can be given a nasty name.’
‘How can you expect God to protect you if you trample divine and human laws underfoot?’ said the Baroness. ‘Do you know that God holds a paradise in store for those who obey the commands of his Church?’
‘What is there in paradise? Are there theatres?’ asked Atala.
‘Oh, paradise!’ said the Baroness. ‘It has all the delights you can imagine. It’s full of angels with white wings. We can see God there in his glory, we’ll share his power and be happy there every moment for all eternity.’
Atala Judici listened to the Baroness as she might have listened to music, and seeing that the girl was incapable of understanding, Adeline thought she should adopt a different approach and speak to the old man.
‘Go home, dear, and I’ll go and talk to Monsieur Vyder. Is he French?’
‘He’s Alsatian, Madame. But he’ll be rich all right. If you’d pay what he owes that nasty Samanon, he’ll pay back your money. For he says that in a few months he’ll have six thousand francs a year and then we’ll go and live in the country, far away, in the Vosges.’
The words the Vosges plunged the Baroness into a profound reverie. In her mind’s eye she saw her native village again.