Re: The Marquise Of O And Other Stories.pdf
Cre Wallace
A literary fairy tale published in 1697, presumably by Charles Perrault and Franois-TimolonDe Choisy (who spent a considerable amount of his life in drag, just like the protagonists of this story).
Themarquise was delighted to hear this, and gave her complete licence with theseyoung men who, in any case, never strayed beyond the bounds of decorum. Sheknew the truth and so feared no consequences. La belle Marianne would studytill noon and spend the rest of the day at her toilette.
The littlemarquise had responded only with a bashful smile when a young prince came upand claimed her for a dance. At first all eyes were fixed on him, owing to hisrank. But when people saw her answering his questions without awkwardness orembarrassment; saw what a feel she had for the music; how gracefully she moved;her little jumps in time; her smiles, subtle without being malicious and thefresh glow that vigorous exercise brought to her face, total silence, as at aconcert, descended on the hall. The violinists found to their delight that theycould hear themselves play, and everyone seemed intent on watching andwondering at her. The dance ended with applause, little of it for the prince,popular though he was.
Ah, madame,he cried, I beg your pardon: I thought this was my box. The Marquise deBanneville loved intrigue and made the most of this one. Monsieur, she said tohim with great frankness, we are indeed fortunate in your mistake: a man ashandsome as you is welcome anywhere.
She hopedin this way to detain him so that she could look at him at her leisure; examinehim and his adornments; please her daughter (whose feelings she had alreadydetected) and, in a word, have some harmless amusement. He hesitated beforedeciding to remain in the box without taking a seat at the front. They askedhim a hundred questions, to which he replied very wittily. His manner and toneof voice had an undeniable charm. The little marquise asked him why he worependants in his ears. He replied that he always had: his ears had been piercedwhen he was a child. As for the rest, they must excuse these littleembellishments, normally only suitable for the fair sex, on the grounds ofyouth.
As he saidthis he turned towards the little marquise, who was beside herself with joy.They sat and talked, exchanging news, discussing amusements and new books. Thelittle marquise was a versatile conversationalist, and they were soon at easewith one another. The old councillor was the first to leave, the marquis thelast, having remained as long as he felt he could.
After thishe never missed an opportunity of paying court to the girl he loved, and alwaysmade sure that everything was perfect. When the good weather came and they wentout walking to Vincennes or in the Bois, they would find a magnificentcollation, which seemed to have been brought there by magic, at a placespecially chosen in the shade of some trees. One day there would be violins;the next oboes. The marquis had apparently given no instructions, yet it wasobvious that he had arranged everything. Nevertheless, it took several days toguess who had given the little marquise a magnificent present. One morning acarrier brought a chest to her house which he said was from the ComtesseAlettef. She opened it eagerly and was delighted to find in it gloves, scents,pomades, perfumed oils, gold boxes, little toilet cases, more than a dozensnuff boxes in different styles, and countless other treasures. The littlemarquise wanted to thank the comtesse, who had no idea what she was talkingabout. She found out in the end, but reproached herself more than once for nothaving guessed at once.
Send himin! cried the little marquise. We want to see him in his hunting clothes. Heentered a moment later, all apologies for powder marks, sun burn and adishevelled wig. No, no, said the little marquise. I assure you, we like youbetter dressed informally like this than in all your finery. If that is so,madame, he replied, next time you will see me dressed as a stoker.
Thisadventure pleased the little marquise. It gave her lover a war-like air, thoughshe trembled for him nevertheless. She saw clearly that her beauty and herpreference for him would constantly be exposing him to such encounters, and shesaid to him one day: Marquis, we must put an end to jealousy once and for all;we must silence gossip. We love one another and always will. We must bindourselves to one another with ties that only death can break.
Ah,beautiful marquise, he said, what are you thinking of? Does our happiness boreyou? Marriage, as a rule, puts an end to pleasure. Let us remain as we are. Formy part, I am content with your favours and will never ask you for anythingmore. But I am not content, said the little marquise. I can see clearly thatthere is something missing in our happiness, and perhaps we will find it whenyou belong to me entirely, and I to you. It would not be right, replied themarquis, for you to throw in your lot with a younger son who has spent the bulkof his fortune and whom you still know only by appearances, which are oftendeceptive.
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