Art is a great magician. It creates a sunshine from which its devotees, as well as the poor and the ugly, the sick and the sorry, can each borrow a little, and with it gain a grace to suffer, and a calm serenity that may well be envied.
CHAPTER V.
A DINNER WITH IDA.
The next day the Moronvals received from Madame de Barancy an invitation for the following Monday; at the bottom of the note was a postscript, expressing the pleasure she should have in receiving also M. d’Argenton.
“I shall not go,” said the poet, dryly, when Moronval handed him the coquettish perfumed note. Then the principal grew very angry, as he saw his plans frustrated. “Why would not D’Argenton accept the invitation?”
“Because,” was the answer, “I never visit such women.”
“You make a great mistake,” said Moronval; “Madame de Barancy is not the kind of person you imagine. Besides, to serve a friend, you should lay aside your scruples. You see that I need the countess, that she is disposed to look favorably on my Colonial Review, and you should do all that lies in your power to favor my views. Come, now, think better of it.”
D’Argenton, after being properly entreated, finished by accepting the invitation.
On the following Monday, therefore, Moronval and his wife left the academy under the supervision of Dr. Hirsch, and presented themselves in the Boulevard Haussmann, where the poet was to join them.
Dinner was at seven; D’Argenton did not arrive until half an hour past the time. Ida was in a state of great anxiety. “Do you think he will come?” she asked; “perhaps he is ill. He looks very delicate.”
At last he appeared with the air of a conquering hero, making some indifferent excuse for his lack of punctuality. His manner, however, was less disdainful than usual, for the hotel had impressed him. Its luxury, the flowers, and thick carpets; the little boudoir with its bouquets of white lilacs; the commonplace salon, like a dentist’s waiting-room, a blue ceiling and gilded mouldings, the ebony furniture, cushioned with gold color, and the balcony exposed to the dust of the boulevard,—all charmed the attaché of the Moronval Academy, and gave him a favorable impression of wealth and high life.