The Lady and The Angel

A white and radiant offering, Gilberte, with her head thrown back, her eyes half closed, her lips apart, sunk in dreamy languor, was breathing slowly and placidly, when suddenly she started up with a cry of terror.

"Whatever is that?"

"Stay still," said Maurice, holding her back in his arms.

In his present mood, had the sky fallen it would not have troubled him. But in one bound she escaped from him. Crouching down, her eyes filled with terror, she was pointing with her finger at a figure which appeared in a corner of the room, between the fireplace and the mirrored wardrobe. Then, unable to bear the sight, and nearly fainting, she hid her face in her hands.

Maurice at length turned his head, saw the figure, and perceiving that it moved, was also frightened. Meanwhile, Gilberte was regaining her senses. She imagined that what she had seen was some mistress whom her lover had hidden in the room. Inflamed with anger and disgust at the idea of such treachery, boiling with indignation, and glaring at her supposed rival, she exclaimed:

"A woman ... a naked woman too! You bring me into a room where you allow your women to come, and when I arrive they have not had time to dress. And you reproach me with arriving late! Your impudence is beyond belief! Come, send the creature packing. If you wanted us both here together, you might at least have asked me whether it suited me ..."

Maurice, wide-eyed and groping for a revolver that had never been there, whispered in her ear:

"Be quiet ... it is no woman. One can scarcely see, but it is more like a man."

She put her hands over her eyes again and screamed harder than ever.

"A man! Where does he come from? A thief. An assassin! Help! Help! Kill him ... Maurice, kill him! Turn on the light. No, don't turn on the light ..."

"Have no fear, Madame," said a very sweet voice.

Slightly reassured, she found strength to ask:

"Who are you?"

"I am an angel," replied the voice.

"What did you say?"

"I am an angel. I am Maurice's guardian angel."

"Say it again. I am going mad. I do not understand ..."

Maurice, without understanding either, was indignant. He sprang forward and showed himself; with his right hand armed with a slipper, he made a threatening gesture and said, roughly:

"You are a low ruffian; oblige me by going the way you came."

"Maurice," continued the sweet voice, "He whom you adore as your Creator has stationed by the side of each of the faithful a good angel, whose mission it is to counsel and protect him; it is the invariable opinion of the Fathers, it is founded on many passages of the Bible, the Church admits it unanimously, without, however, pronouncing anathema upon those who hold a contrary opinion. You see before you one of these angels, yours, Maurice. I was commanded to watch over your innocence and to guard your chastity."

"That may be," said Maurice; "but you are certainly no gentleman. A gentleman would not permit himself to enter a room at such a moment. To be plain, what are you doing here?"

"I have assumed this appearance, Maurice, because, having henceforth to move among mankind, I have to make myself like them. The celestial spirits possess the power of assuming a form which renders them apparent to the eye and to the touch. This shape is real, because it is apparent, and all the realities in the world are but appearances."

But Gilberte was not listening. She had something on her mind, and to put an end to her suspense, she asked:

"How long have you been here?"

"I came with Maurice."

"Well -- that's a nice thing!" she said, shaking her head. But the Angel continued with heavenly serenity:

"Everything in the Universe is circular, elliptical or hyperbolic, and the same laws which rule the stars govern this grain of dust. In the original and native movement of its substance, my body is spiritual, but it may affect, as you perceive, this material state by changing the rhythm of its elements."

Having thus spoken, he sat down in a chair on Gilberte's black stockings.

A clock struck outside.

"Good heavens, seven o'clock!" exclaimed Gilberte. "What am I to say to my husband? He thinks I am at that tea party in the Rue de Rivoli. We are dining with the La Verdelières tonight. Go away immediately Monsieur Angel. I must get ready to go. I have not a second to lose."

The Angel replied that he would have willingly obeyed Gilberte had he been in a state to show himself decently in public, but that he could not dream of appearing out of doors without any clothes. "Were I to walk naked in the street," he added, "I should offend a nation attached to its ancient habits, habits which it has never examined."

"It is true he cannot go out as he is," said Gilberte with justice.

Maurice tossed his pajamas and his slippers to the celestial messenger. Regarded as outdoor habiliments they were not adequate. Gilberte pressed her lover to run at once in quest of other clothes. He proposed to go and get some from the concierge. She was violently opposed to this. It would, she said, be madly imprudent to drag the concierge into such an affair.

"Do you want everyone to know that you and I ..." she exclaimed.

Maurice went out to seek a clothes-shop.

Meanwhile, Gilberte, who could not delay any longer for fear of causing a horrible scandal, turned on the light and dressed before the Angel. She did it without any awkwardness, for she knew how to adapt herself to circumstances; and she took it that in such an unheard-of encounter in which heaven and earth were mingled in unutterable confusion it was permissible to retrench in modesty. Such went her logic.

Moreover, she knew that she possessed a good figure and had garments as dainty as the fashion demanded. As the apparition's sense of delicacy would not permit him to don Maurice's pajamas, Gilberte could not help observing by the lamplight that her suspicions were well-founded and that angels have the same appearance as men. Curious to know if the appearance were real or imaginary she asked the child of light if angels were like monkeys, who, to win women, merely lack money.

"Yes, Gilberte," he replied, "angels are capable of loving mortals. It is the teaching of the Scriptures. It is said in the sixth chapter of Genesis, 'When men became numerous on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives all those which pleased them.' "

"Good heavens," cried Gilberte all at once, "I shall never be able to fasten my dress; it hooks down the back ..."

When Maurice entered the room he found the Angel on his knees tying the shoes of the woman taken in flagrante delicto.

Taking her muff and her bag off the table, she said:

"I have not forgotten anything? No. Good night, Monsieur Angel. Good night, Maurice. I shall never forget this day." And she left.