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diff --git a/10458-0.txt b/10458-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d7d6e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/10458-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2997 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10458 *** + +THREE SHORT WORKS + +by + +GUSTAVE FLAUBERT + + +The Dance of Death +The Legend of Saint-Julian the Hospitaller +A Simple Soul + + + + + +THE DANCE OF DEATH + +_(1838)_ + + * * * * * + +"Many words for few things!" +"Death ends all; judgment comes to all." + + * * * * * + +[This work may be called a prose poem. It is impregnated with the +spirit of romanticism, which at the time of writing had a +temporary but powerful hold on the mind of Gustave Flaubert.] + + * * * * * + +DEATH SPEAKS + +At night, in winter, when the snow-flakes fall slowly from heaven +like great white tears, I raise my voice; its resonance thrills +the cypress trees and makes them bud anew. + +I pause an instant in my swift course over earth; throw myself +down among cold tombs; and, while dark-plumaged birds rise +suddenly in terror from my side, while the dead slumber +peacefully, while cypress branches droop low o'er my head, while +all around me weeps or lies in deep repose, my burning eyes rest +on the great white clouds, gigantic winding-sheets, unrolling +their slow length across the face of heaven. + +How many nights, and years, and ages have I journeyed thus! A +witness of the universal birth and of a like decay; Innumerable +are the generations I have garnered with my scythe. Like God, I am +eternal! The nurse of Earth, I cradle it each night upon a bed +both soft and warm. The same recurring feasts; the same unending +toil! Each morning I depart, each evening I return, bearing within +my mantle's ample folds all that my scythe has gathered. And then +I scatter them to the four winds of Heaven! + + * * * * * + +When the high billows run, when the heavens weep, and shrieking +winds lash ocean into madness, then in the turmoil and the tumult +do I fling myself upon the surging waves, and lo! the tempest +softly cradles me, as in her hammock sways a queen. The foaming +waters cool my weary feet, burning from bathing in the falling +tears of countless generations that have clung to them in vain +endeavour to arrest my steps. + +Then, when the storm has ceased, after its roar has calmed me like +a lullaby, I bow my head: the hurricane, raging in fury but a +moment earlier dies instantly. No longer does it live, but neither +do the men, the ships, the navies that lately sailed upon the +bosom of the waters. + +'Mid all that I have seen and known,--peoples and thrones, loves, +glories, sorrows, virtues--what have I ever loved? Nothing--except +the mantling shroud that covers me! + +My horse! ah, yes! my horse! I love thee too! How thou rushest +o'er the world! thy hoofs of steel resounding on the heads bruised +by thy speeding feet. Thy tail is straight and crisp, thine eyes +dart flames, the mane upon thy neck flies in the wind, as on we +dash upon our maddened course. Never art thou weary! Never do we +rest! Never do we sleep! Thy neighing portends war; thy smoking +nostrils spread a pestilence that, mist-like, hovers over earth. +Where'er my arrows fly, thou overturnest pyramids and empires, +trampling crowns beneath thy hoofs; All men respect thee; nay, +adore thee! To invoke thy favour, popes offer thee their triple +crowns, and kings their sceptres; peoples, their secret sorrows; +poets, their renown. All cringe and kneel before thee, yet thou +rushest on over their prostrate forms. + +Ah, noble steed! Sole gift from heaven! Thy tendons are of iron, +thy head is of bronze. Thou canst pursue thy course for centuries +as swiftly as if borne up by eagle's wings; and when, once in a +thousand years, resistless hunger comes, thy food is human flesh, +thy drink, men's tears. My steed! I love thee as Pale Death alone +can love! + + * * * * * + +Ah! I have lived so long! How many things I know! How many +mysteries of the universe are shut within my breast! + +Sometimes, after I have hurled a myriad of darts, and, after +coursing o'er the world on my pale horse, have gathered many +lives, a weariness assails me, and I long to rest. + +But on my work must go; my path I must pursue; it leads through +infinite space and all the worlds. I sweep away men's plans +together with their triumphs, their loves together with their +crimes, their very all. + +I rend my winding-sheet; a frightful craving tortures me +incessantly, as if some serpent stung continually within. + +I throw a backward glance, and see the smoke of fiery ruins left +behind; the darkness of the night; the agony of the world. I see +the graves that are the work of these, my hands; I see the +background of the past--'tis nothingness! My weary body, heavy +head, and tired feet, sink, seeking rest. My eyes turn towards a +glowing horizon, boundless, immense, seeming to grow increasingly +in height and depth. I shall devour it, as I have devoured all +else. + +When, O God! shall I sleep in my turn? When wilt Thou cease +creating? When may I, digging my own grave, stretch myself out +within my tomb, and, swinging thus upon the world, list the last +breath, the death-gasp, of expiring nature? + +When that time comes, away my darts and shroud I'll hurl. Then +shall I free my horse, and he shall graze upon the grass that +grows upon the Pyramids, sleep in the palaces of emperors, drink +the last drop of water from the sea, and snuff the odour of the +last slow drop of blood! By day, by night, through the countless +ages, he shall roam through fields eternal as the fancy takes him; +shall leap with one great bound from Atlas to the Himalayas; shall +course, in his insolent pride, from heaven to earth; disport +himself by caracoling in the dust of crumbled empires; shall speed +across the beds of dried-up oceans; shall bound o'er ruins of +enormous cities; inhale the void with swelling chest, and roll and +stretch at ease. + +Then haply, faithful one, weary as I, thou finally shalt seek some +precipice from which to cast thyself; shalt halt, panting before +the mysterious ocean of infinity; and then, with foaming mouth, +dilated nostrils, and extended neck turned towards the horizon, +thou shalt, as I, pray for eternal sleep; for repose for thy fiery +feet; for a bed of green leaves, whereon reclining thou canst +close thy burning eyes forever. There, waiting motionless upon the +brink, thou shalt desire a power stronger than thyself to kill +thee at a single blow--shalt pray for union with the dying storm, +the faded flower, the shrunken corpse. Thou shalt seek sleep, +because eternal life is torture, and the tomb is peace. + +Why are we here? What hurricane has hurled us into this abyss? +What tempest soon shall bear us away towards the forgotten planets +whence we came? + +Till then, my glorious steed, thou shalt run thy course; thou +mayst please thine ear with the crunching of the heads crushed +under thy feet. Thy course is long, but courage! Long time hast +thou carried me: but longer time still must elapse, and yet we +shall not age. + +Stars may be quenched, the mountains crumble, the earth finally +wear away its diamond axis; but we two, we alone are immortal, for +the impalpable lives forever! + +But to-day thou canst lie at my feet, and polish thy teeth against +the moss-grown tombs, for Satan has abandoned me, and a power +unknown compels me to obey his will. Lo! the dead seek to rise +from their graves. + + * * * * * + +Satan, I love thee! Thou alone canst comprehend my joys and my +deliriums. But, more fortunate than I, thou wilt some day, when +earth shall be no more, recline and sleep within the realms of +space. + +But I, who have lived so long, have worked so ceaselessly, with +only virtuous loves and solemn thoughts,--I must endure +immortality. Man has his tomb, and glory its oblivion; the day +dies into night but I--! + +And I am doomed to lasting solitude upon my way, strewn with the +bones of men and marked by ruins. Angels have fellow-angels; +demons their companions of darkness; but I hear only sounds of a +clanking scythe, my whistling arrows, and my speeding horse. +Always the echo of the surging billows that sweep over and engulf +mankind! + +SATAN. + +Dost thou complain,--thou, the most fortunate creature under +heaven? The only, splendid, great, unchangeable, eternal one--like +God, who is the only Being that equals thee! Dost thou repine, who +some day in thy turn shalt disappear forever, after thou hast +crushed the universe beneath thy horse's feet? + +When God's work of creating has ceased; when the heavens have +disappeared and the stars are quenched; when spirits rise from +their retreats and wander in the depths with sighs and groans; +then, what unpicturable delight for thee! Then shalt thou sit on +the eternal thrones of heaven and of hell--shalt overthrow the +planets, stars, and worlds--shalt loose thy steed in fields of +emeralds and diamonds--shalt make his litter of the wings torn +from the angels,--shalt cover him with the robe of righteousness! +Thy saddle shall be broidered with the stars of the empyrean,--and +then thou wilt destroy it! After thou hast annihilated everything,--when naught remains but empty space,--thy coffin shattered and +thine arrows broken, then make thyself a crown of stone from +heaven's highest mount, and cast thyself into the abyss of oblivion. +Thy fall may last a million aeons, but thou shalt die at last. +Because the world must end; all, all must die,--except Satan! +Immortal more than God! I live to bring chaos into other worlds! + +DEATH. + +But thou hast not, as I, this vista of eternal nothingness before +thee; thou dost not suffer with this death-like cold, as I. + +SATAN. + +Nay, but I quiver under fierce and unrelaxing hearts of molten +lava, which burn the doomed and which e'en I cannot escape. + +For thou, at least, hast only to destroy. But I bring birth and I +give life. I direct empires and govern the affairs of States and +of hearts. + +I must be everywhere. The precious metals flow, the diamonds +glitter, and men's names resound at my command. I whisper in the +ears of women, of poets, and of statesmen, words of love, of +glory, of ambition. With Messalina and Nero, at Paris and at +Babylon, within the self-same moment do I dwell. Let a new island +be discovered, I fly to it ere man can set foot there; though it +be but a rock encircled by the sea, I am there in advance of men +who will dispute for its possession. I lounge, at the same +instant, on a courtesan's couch and on the perfumed beds of +emperors. Hatred and envy, pride and wrath, pour from my lips in +simultaneous utterance. By night and day I work. While men are +burning Christians, I luxuriate voluptuously in baths perfumed +with roses; I race in chariots; yield to deep despair; or boast +aloud in pride. + +At times I have believed that I embodied the whole world, and all +that I have seen took place, in verity, within my being. + +Sometimes I weary, lose my reason, and indulge in such mad follies +that the most worthless of my minions ridicule me while they pity +me. + +No creature cares for me; nowhere am I loved,--neither in heaven, +of which I am a son, nor yet in hell, where I am lord, nor upon +earth, where men deem me a god. Naught do I see but paroxysms of +rage, rivers of blood, or maddened frenzy. Ne'er shall my eyelids +close in slumber, never my spirit find repose, whilst thou, at +least, canst rest thy head upon the cool, green freshness of the +grave. Yea, I must ever dwell amid the glare of palaces, must +listen to the curses of the starving, or inhale the stench of +crimes that cry aloud to heaven. + +God, whom I hate, has punished me indeed! But my soul is greater +even than His wrath; in one deep sigh I could the whole world draw +into my breast, where it would burn eternally, even as I. + +When, Lord, shall thy great trumpet sound? Then a great harmony +shall hover over sea and hill. Ah! would that I could suffer with +humanity; their cries and sobs should drown the sound of mine! + +[_Innumerable skeletons, riding in chariots, advance at a rapid +pace, with cries of joy and triumph. They drag broken branches and +crowns of laurel, from which the dried and yellow leaves fall +continually in the wind and the dust._] + +Lo, a triumphal throng from Rome, the Eternal City! Her Coliseum +and her Capitol are now two grains of sands that served once as a +pedestal; but Death has swung his scythe: the monuments have +fallen. Behold! At their head comes Nero, pride of my heart, the +greatest poet earth has known! + +[_Nero advances in a chariot drawn by twelve skeleton horses. +With the sceptre in his hand, he strikes the bony backs of his +steeds. He stands erect, his shroud flapping behind him in billowy +folds. He turns, as if upon a racecourse; his eyes are flaming and +he cries loudly:_] + +NERO. + +Quick! Quick! And faster still, until your feet dash fire from the +flinty stones and your nostrils fleck your breasts with foam. +What! do not the wheels smoke yet? Hear ye the fanfares, whose +sound reached even to Ostia; the clapping of the hands, the cries +of joy? See how the populace shower saffron on my head! See how my +pathway is already damp with sprayed perfume! My chariot whirls +on; the pace is swifter than the wind as I shake the golden reins! +Faster and faster! The dust clouds rise; my mantle floats upon the +breeze, which in my ears sings "Triumph! triumph!" Faster and +faster! Hearken to the shouts of joy, list to the stamping feet +and the plaudits of the multitude. Jupiter himself looks down on +us from heaven. Faster! yea, faster still! + +[_Nero's chariot now seems to be drawn by demons: a black cloud +of dust and smoke envelops him; in his erratic course he crashes +into tombs, and the re-awakened corpses are crushed under the +wheels of the chariot, which now turns, comes forward, and +stops._] + +NERO. + +Now, let six hundred of my women dance the Grecian Dances silently +before me, the while I lave myself with roses in a bath of +porphyry. Then let them circle me, with interlacing arms, that I +may see on all sides alabaster forms in graceful evolution, +swaying like tall reeds bending over an amorous pool. + +And I will give the empire and the sea, the Senate, the Olympus, +the Capitol, to her who shall embrace me the most ardently; to her +whose heart shall throb beneath my own; to her who shall enmesh me +in her flowing hair, smile on me sweetest, and enfold me in the +warmest clasp; to her who soothing me with songs of love shall +waken me to joy and heights of rapture! Rome shall be still this +night; no barque shall cleave the waters of the Tiber, since 'tis +my wish to see the mirrored moon on its untroubled face and hear +the voice of woman floating over it. Let perfumed breezes pass +through all my draperies! Ah, I would die, voluptuously intoxicated. + +Then, while I eat of some rare meat, that only I may taste, let +some one sing, while damsels, lightly draped, serve me from plates +of gold and watch my rest. One slave shall cut her sister's +throat, because it is my pleasure--a favourite with the gods--to +mingle the perfume of blood with that of food, and cries of +victims soothe my nerves. + +This night I shall burn Rome. The flames shall light up heaven, +and Tiber shall roll in waves of fire! + +Then, I shall build of aloes wood a stage to float upon the +Italian sea, and the Roman populace shall throng thereto chanting +my praise. Its draperies shall be of purple, and on it I shall +have a bed of eagles' plumage. There I shall sit, and at my side +shall be the loveliest woman in the empire, while all the universe +applauds the achievements of a god! And though the tempest roar +round me, its rage shall be extinguished 'neath my feet, and +sounds of music shall o'ercome the clamor of the waves! + + * * * * * + +What didst thou say? Vindex revolts, my legions fly, my women flee +in terror? Silence and tears alone remain, and I hear naught but +the rolling of thunder. Must I die, now? + +DEATH. + +Instantly! + +NERO. + +Must I give up my days of feasting and delight, my spectacles, my +triumphs, my chariots and the applause of multitudes? + +DEATH. + +All! All! + +SATAN. + +Haste, Master of the World! One comes--One who will put thee to +the sword. An emperor knows how to die! + +NERO. + +Die! I have scarce begun to live! Oh, what great deeds I should +accomplish--deeds that should make Olympus tremble! I would fill +up the bed of hoary ocean and speed across it in a triumphal car. +I would still live--would see the sun once more, the Tiber, the +Campagna, the Circus on the golden sands. Ah! let me live! + +DEATH. + +I will give thee a mantle for the tomb, and an eternal bed that +shall be softer and more peaceful than the Imperial couch. + +NERO. + +Yet, I am loth to die. + +DEATH. + +Die, then! + +[_He gathers up the shroud, lying beside him on the ground, and +bears away Nero--wrapped in its folds._] + + + + + + +THE LEGEND OF SAINT JULIAN THE HOSPITALLER + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CURSE + + +Julian's father and mother dwelt in a castle built on the slope of +a hill, in the heart of the woods. + +The towers at its four corners had pointed roofs covered with +leaden tiles, and the foundation rested upon solid rocks, which +descended abruptly to the bottom of the moat. + +In the courtyard, the stone flagging was as immaculate as the +floor of a church. Long rain-spouts, representing dragons with +yawning jaws, directed the water towards the cistern, and on each +window-sill of the castle a basil or a heliotrope bush bloomed, in +painted flower-pots. + +A second enclosure, surrounded by a fence, comprised a +fruit-orchard, a garden decorated with figures wrought in +bright-hued flowers, an arbour with several bowers, and a mall +for the diversion of the pages. On the other side were the kennel, +the stables, the bakery, the wine-press and the barns. Around +these spread a pasture, also enclosed by a strong hedge. + +Peace had reigned so long that the portcullis was never lowered; +the moats were filled with water; swallows built their nests in +the cracks of the battlements, and as soon as the sun shone too +strongly, the archer who all day long paced to and fro on the +curtain, withdrew to the watch-tower and slept soundly. + +Inside the castle, the locks on the doors shone brightly; costly +tapestries hung in the apartments to keep out the cold; the +closets overflowed with linen, the cellar was filled with casks of +wine, and the oak chests fairly groaned under the weight of +money-bags. + +In the armoury could be seen, between banners and the heads of +wild beasts, weapons of all nations and of all ages, from the +slings of the Amalekites and the javelins of the Garamantes, to +the broad-swords of the Saracens and the coats of mail of the +Normans. + +The largest spit in the kitchen could hold an ox; the chapel was +as gorgeous as a king's oratory. There was even a Roman bath in a +secluded part of the castle, though the good lord of the manor +refrained from using it, as he deemed it a heathenish practice. + +Wrapped always in a cape made of fox-skins, he wandered about the +castle, rendered justice among his vassals and settled his +neighbours' quarrels. In the winter, he gazed dreamily at the +falling snow, or had stories read aloud to him. But as soon as the +fine weather returned, he would mount his mule and sally forth +into the country roads, edged with ripening wheat, to talk with +the peasants, to whom he distributed advice. After a number of +adventures he took unto himself a wife of high lineage. + +She was pale and serious, and a trifle haughty. The horns of her +head-dress touched the top of the doors and the hem of her gown +trailed far behind her. She conducted her household like a +cloister. Every morning she distributed work to the maids, +supervised the making of preserves and unguents, and afterwards +passed her time in spinning, or in embroidering altar-cloths. In +response to her fervent prayers, God granted her a son! + +Then there was great rejoicing; and they gave a feast which lasted +three days and four nights, with illuminations and soft music. +Chickens as large as sheep, and the rarest spices were served; for +the entertainment of the guests, a dwarf crept out of a pie; and +when the bowls were too few, for the crowd swelled continuously, +the wine was drunk from helmets and hunting-horns. + +The young mother did not appear at the feast. She was quietly +resting in bed. One night she awoke, and beheld in a moonbeam that +crept through the window something that looked like a moving +shadow. It was an old man clad in sackcloth, who resembled a +hermit. A rosary dangled at his side and he carried a beggar's +sack on his shoulder. He approached the foot of the bed, and +without opening his lips said: "Rejoice, O mother! Thy son shall +be a saint." + +She would have cried out, but the old man, gliding along the +moonbeam, rose through the air and disappeared. The songs of the +banqueters grew louder. She could hear angels' voices, and her +head sank back on the pillow, which was surmounted by the bone of +a martyr, framed in precious stones. + +The following day, the servants, upon being questioned, declared, +to a man, that they had seen no hermit. Then, whether dream or +fact, this must certainly have been a communication from heaven; +but she took care not to speak of it, lest she should be accused +of presumption. + +The guests departed at daybreak, and Julian's father stood at the +castle gate, where he had just bidden farewell to the last one, +when a beggar suddenly emerged from the mist and confronted him. +He was a gipsy--for he had a braided beard and wore silver +bracelets on each arm. His eyes burned and, in an inspired way, he +muttered some disconnected words: "Ah! Ah! thy son!--great +bloodshed--great glory--happy always--an emperor's family." + +Then he stooped to pick up the alms thrown to him, and disappeared +in the tall grass. + +The lord of the manor looked up and down the road and called as +loudly as he could. But no one answered him! The wind only howled +and the morning mists were fast dissolving. + +He attributed his vision to a dullness of the brain resulting from +too much sleep. "If I should speak of it," quoth he, "people would +laugh at me." Still, the glory that was to be his son's dazzled +him, albeit the meaning of the prophecy was not clear to him, and +he even doubted that he had heard it. + +The parents kept their secret from each other. But both cherished +the child with equal devotion, and as they considered him marked +by God, they had great regard for his person. His cradle was lined +with the softest feathers, and lamp representing a dove burned +continually over it; three nurses rocked him night and day, and +with his pink cheeks and blue eyes, brocaded cloak and embroidered +cap he looked like a little Jesus. He cut all his teeth without +even a whimper. + +When he was seven years old his mother taught him to sing, and his +father lifted him upon a tall horse, to inspire him with courage. +The child smiled with delight, and soon became familiar with +everything pertaining to chargers. An old and very learned monk +taught him the Gospel, the Arabic numerals, the Latin letters, and +the art of painting delicate designs on vellum. They worked in the +top of a tower, away from all noise and disturbance. + +When the lesson was over, they would go down into the garden and +study the flowers. + +Sometimes a herd of cattle passed through the valley below, in +charge of a man in Oriental dress. The lord of the manor, +recognising him as a merchant, would despatch a servant after him. +The stranger, becoming confident, would stop on his way and after +being ushered into the castle-hall, would display pieces of velvet +and silk, trinkets and strange objects whose use was unknown in +those parts. Then, in due time, he would take leave, without +having been molested and with a handsome profit. + +At other times, a band of pilgrims would knock at the door. Their +wet garments would be hung in front of the hearth and after they +had been refreshed by food they would relate their travels, and +discuss the uncertainty of vessels on the high seas, their long +journeys across burning sands, the ferocity of the infidels, the +caves of Syria, the Manger and the Holy Sepulchre. They made +presents to the young heir of beautiful shells, which they carried +in their cloaks. + +The lord of the manor very often feasted his brothers-at-arms, and +over the wine the old warriors would talk of battles and attacks, +of war-machines and of the frightful wounds they had received, so +that Julian, who was a listener, would scream with excitement; +then his father felt convinced that some day he would be a +conqueror. But in the evening, after the Angelus, when he passed +through the crowd of beggars who clustered about the church-door, +he distributed his alms with so much modesty and nobility that his +mother fully expected to see him become an archbishop in time. + +His seat in the chapel was next to his parents, and no matter how +long the services lasted, he remained kneeling on his _prie-dieu,_ +with folded hands and his velvet cap lying close beside him on the +floor. + +One day, during mass, he raised his head and beheld a little white +mouse crawling out of a hole in the wall. It scrambled to the +first altar-step and then, after a few gambols, ran back in the +same direction. On the following Sunday, the idea of seeing the +mouse again worried him. It returned; and every Sunday after that +he watched for it; and it annoyed him so much that he grew to hate +it and resolved to do away with it. + +So, having closed the door and strewn some crumbs on the steps of +the altar, he placed himself in front of the hole with a stick. +After a long while a pink snout appeared, and then whole mouse +crept out. He struck it lightly with his stick and stood stunned +at the sight of the little, lifeless body. A drop of blood stained +the floor. He wiped it away hastily with his sleeve, and picking +up the mouse, threw it away, without saying a word about it to +anyone. + +All sorts of birds pecked at the seeds in the garden. He put some +peas in a hollow reed, and when he heard birds chirping in a tree, +he would approach cautiously, lift the tube and swell his cheeks; +then, when the little creatures dropped about him in multitudes, +he could not refrain from laughing and being delighted with his +own cleverness. + +One morning, as he was returning by way of the curtain, he beheld +a fat pigeon sunning itself on the top of the wall. He paused to +gaze at it; where he stood the rampart was cracked and a piece of +stone was near at hand; he gave his arm a jerk and the well-aimed +missile struck the bird squarely, sending it straight into the +moat below. + +He sprang after it, unmindful of the brambles, and ferreted around +the bushes with the litheness of a young dog. + +The pigeon hung with broken wings in the branches of a privet +hedge. + +The persistence of its life irritated the boy. He began to +strangle it, and its convulsions made his heart beat quicker, and +filled him with a wild, tumultuous voluptuousness, the last throb +of its heart making him feel like fainting. + +At supper that night, his father declared that at his age a boy +should begin to hunt; and he arose and brought forth an old +writing-book which contained, in questions and answers, everything +pertaining to the pastime. In it, a master showed a supposed pupil +how to train dogs and falcons, lay traps, recognise a stag by its +fumets, and a fox or a wolf by footprints. He also taught the best +way of discovering their tracks, how to start them, where their +refuges are usually to be found, what winds are the most +favourable, and further enumerated the various cries, and the +rules of the quarry. + +When Julian was able to recite all these things by heart, his +father made up a pack of hounds for him. There were twenty-four +greyhounds of Barbary, speedier than gazelles, but liable to get +out of temper; seventeen couples of Breton dogs, great barkers, +with broad chests and russet coats flecked with white. For +wild-boar hunting and perilous doublings, there were forty +boarhounds as hairy as bears. + +The red mastiffs of Tartary, almost as large as donkeys, with +broad backs and straight legs, were destined for the pursuit of +the wild bull. The black coats of the spaniels shone like satin; +the barking of the setters equalled that of the beagles. In a +special enclosure were eight growling bloodhounds that tugged at +their chains and rolled their eyes, and these dogs leaped at men's +throats and were not afraid even of lions. + +All ate wheat bread, drank from marble troughs, and had +high-sounding names. + +Perhaps the falconry surpassed the pack; for the master of the +castle, by paying great sums of money, had secured Caucasian +hawks, Babylonian sakers, German gerfalcons, and pilgrim falcons +captured on the cliffs edging the cold seas, in distant lands. +They were housed in a thatched shed and were chained to the perch +in the order of size. In front of them was a little grass-plot +where, from time to time, they were allowed to disport themselves. + +Bag-nets, baits, traps and all sorts of snares were manufactured. + +Often they would take out pointers who would set almost +immediately; then the whippers-in, advancing step by step, would +cautiously spread a huge net over their motionless bodies. At the +command, the dogs would bark and arouse the quails; and the ladies +of the neighbourhood, with their husbands, children and hand-maids, +would fall upon them and capture them with ease. + +At other times they used a drum to start hares; and frequently +foxes fell into the ditches prepared for them, while wolves caught +their paws in the traps. + +But Julian scorned these convenient contrivances; he preferred to +hunt away from the crowd, alone with his steed and his falcon. It +was almost always a large, snow-white, Scythian bird. His leather +hood was ornamented with a plume, and on his blue feet were bells; +and he perched firmly on his master's arm while they galloped +across the plains. Then Julian would suddenly untie his tether and +let him fly, and the bold bird would dart through the air like an +arrow, One might perceive two spots circle around, unite, and then +disappear in the blue heights. Presently the falcon would return +with a mutilated bird, and perch again on his master's gauntlet +with trembling wings. + +Julian loved to sound his trumpet and follow his dogs over hills +and streams, into the woods; and when the stag began to moan under +their teeth, he would kill it deftly, and delight in the fury of +the brutes, which would devour the pieces spread out on the warm +hide. + +On foggy days, he would hide in the marshes to watch for wild +geese, otters and wild ducks. + +At daybreak, three equerries waited for him at the foot of the +steps; and though the old monk leaned out of the dormer-window and +made signs to him to return, Julian would not look around. + +He heeded neither the broiling sun, the rain nor the storm; he +drank spring water and ate wild berries, and when he was tired, he +lay down under a tree; and he would come home at night covered +with earth and blood, with thistles in his hair and smelling of +wild beasts. He grew to be like them. And when his mother kissed +him, he responded coldly to her caress and seemed to be thinking +of deep and serious things. + +He killed bears with a knife, bulls with a hatchet, and wild boars +with a spear; and once, with nothing but a stick, he defended +himself against some wolves, which were gnawing corpses at the +foot of a gibbet. + + * * * * * + +One winter morning he set out before daybreak, with a bow slung +across his shoulder and a quiver of arrows attached to the pummel +of his saddle. The hoofs of his steed beat the ground with +regularity and his two beagles trotted close behind. The wind was +blowing hard and icicles clung to his cloak. A part of the horizon +cleared, and he beheld some rabbits playing around their burrows. +In an instant, the two dogs were upon them, and seizing as many as +they could, they broke their backs in the twinkling of an eye. + +Soon he came to a forest. A woodcock, paralysed by the cold, +perched on a branch, with its head hidden under its wing. Julian, +with a lunge of his sword, cut off its feet, and without stopping +to pick it up, rode away. + +Three hours later he found himself on the top of a mountain so +high that the sky seemed almost black. In front of him, a long, +flat rock hung over a precipice, and at the end two wild goats +stood gazing down into the abyss. As he had no arrows (for he had +left his steed behind), he thought he would climb down to where +they stood; and with bare feet and bent back he at last reached +the first goat and thrust his dagger below its ribs. But the +second animal, in its terror, leaped into the precipice. Julian +threw himself forward to strike it, but his right foot slipped, +and he fell, face downward and with outstretched arms, over the +body of the first goat. + +After he returned to the plains, he followed a stream bordered by +willows. From time to time, some cranes, flying low, passed over +his head. He killed them with his whip, never missing a bird. He +beheld in the distance the gleam of a lake which appeared to be of +lead, and in the middle of it was an animal he had never seen +before, a beaver with a black muzzle. Notwithstanding the distance +that separated them, an arrow ended its life and Julian only +regretted that he was not able to carry the skin home with him. + +Then he entered an avenue of tall trees, the tops of which formed +a triumphal arch to the entrance of a forest. A deer sprang out of +the thicket and a badger crawled out of its hole, a stag appeared +in the road, and a peacock spread its fan-shaped tail on the +grass--and after he had slain them all, other deer, other stags, +other badgers, other peacocks, and jays, blackbirds, foxes, +porcupines, polecats, and lynxes, appeared; in fact, a host of beasts +that grew more and more numerous with every step he took. Trembling, +and with a look of appeal in their eyes, they gathered around +Julian, but he did not stop slaying them; and so intent was he on +stretching his bow, drawing his sword and whipping out his knife, +that he had little thought for aught else. He knew that he was +hunting in some country since an indefinite time, through the very +fact of his existence, as everything seemed to occur with the ease +one experiences in dreams. But presently an extraordinary sight +made him pause. + +He beheld a valley shaped like a circus and filled with stags +which, huddled together, were warming one another with the vapour +of their breaths that mingled with the early mist. + +For a few minutes, he almost choked with pleasure at the prospect +of so great a carnage. Then he sprang from his horse, rolled up +his sleeves, and began to aim. + +When the first arrow whizzed through the air, the stags turned +their heads simultaneously. They huddled closer, uttered plaintive +cries, and a great agitation seized the whole herd. The edge of +the valley was too high to admit of flight; and the animals ran +around the enclosure in their efforts to escape. Julian aimed, +stretched his bow and his arrows fell as fast and thick as +raindrops in a shower. + +Maddened with terror, the stags fought and reared and climbed on +top of one another; their antlers and bodies formed a moving +mountain which tumbled to pieces whenever it displaced itself. +Finally the last one expired. Their bodies lay stretched out on +the sand with foam gushing from the nostrils and the bowels +protruding. The heaving of their bellies grew less and less +noticeable, and presently all was still. + +Night came, and behind the trees, through the branches, the sky +appeared like a sheet of blood. + +Julian leaned against a tree and gazed with dilated eyes at the +enormous slaughter. He was now unable to comprehend how he had +accomplished it. + +On the opposite side of the valley, he suddenly beheld a large +stag, with a doe and their fawn. The buck was black and of +enormous size; he had a white beard and carried sixteen antlers. +His mate was the color of dead leaves, and she browsed upon the +grass, while the fawn, clinging to her udder, followed her step by +step. + +Again the bow was stretched, and instantly the fawn dropped dead, +and seeing this, its mother raised her head and uttered a +poignant, almost human wail of agony. Exasperated, Julian thrust +his knife into her chest, and felled her to the ground. + +The great stag had watched everything and suddenly he sprang +forward. Julian aimed his last arrow at the beast. It struck him +between his antlers and stuck there. + +The stag did not appear to notice it; leaping over the bodies, he +was coming nearer and nearer with the intention, Julian thought, +of charging at him and ripping him open, and he recoiled with +inexpressible horror. But presently the huge animal halted, and, +with eyes aflame and the solemn air of a patriarch and a judge, +repeated thrice, while a bell tolled in the distance: "Accursed! +Accursed! Accursed! some day, ferocious soul, thou wilt murder thy +father and thy mother!" + +Then he sank on his knees, gently closed his lids and expired. + +At first Julian was stunned, and then a sudden lassitude and an +immense sadness came over him. Holding his head between his hands, +he wept for a long time. + +His steed had wandered away; his dogs had forsaken him; the +solitude seemed to threaten him with unknown perils. Impelled by a +sense of sickening terror, he ran across the fields, and choosing +a path at random, found himself almost immediately at the gates of +the castle. + +That night he could not rest, for, by the flickering light of the +hanging lamp, he beheld again the huge black stag. He fought +against the obsession of the prediction and kept repeating: "No! +No! No! I cannot slay them!" and then he thought: "Still, +supposing I desired to?--" and he feared that the devil might +inspire him with this desire. + +During three months, his distracted mother prayed at his bedside, +and his father paced the halls of the castle in anguish. He +consulted the most celebrated physicians, who prescribed +quantities of medicine. Julian's illness, they declared, was due +to some injurious wind or to amorous desire. But in reply to their +questions, the young man only shook his head. After a time, his +strength returned, and he was able to take a walk in the +courtyard, supported by his father and the old monk. + +But after he had completely recovered, he refused to hunt. + +His father, hoping to please him, presented him with a large +Saracen sabre. It was placed on a panoply that hung on a pillar, +and a ladder was required to reach it. Julian climbed up to it one +day, but the heavy weapon slipped from his grasp, and in falling +grazed his father and tore his cloak. Julian, believing he had +killed him, fell in a swoon. + +After that, he carefully avoided weapons. The sight of a naked +sword made him grow pale, and this weakness caused great distress +to his family. + +In the end, the old monk ordered him in the name of God, and of +his forefathers, once more to indulge in the sports of a nobleman. + +The equerries diverted themselves every day with javelins and +Julian soon excelled in the practice. + +He was able to send a javelin into bottles, to break the teeth of +the weather-cocks on the castle and to strike door-nails at a +distance of one hundred feet. + +One summer evening, at the hour when dusk renders objects +indistinct, he was in the arbour in the garden, and thought he saw +two white wings in the background hovering around the espalier. +Not for a moment did he doubt that it was a stork, and so he threw +his javelin at it. + +A heart-rending scream pierced the air. + +He had struck his mother, whose cap and long streams remained +nailed to the wall. + +Julian fled from home and never returned. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CRIME + + +He joined a horde of adventurers who were passing through the +place. + +He learned what it was to suffer hunger, thirst, sickness and +filth. He grew accustomed to the din of battles and to the sight +of dying men. The wind tanned his skin. His limbs became hardened +through contact with armour, and as he was very strong and brave, +temperate and of good counsel, he easily obtained command of a +company. + +At the outset of a battle, he would electrify his soldiers by a +motion of his sword. He would climb the walls of a citadel with a +knotted rope, at night, rocked by the storm, while sparks of fire +clung to his cuirass, and molten lead and boiling tar poured from +the battlements. + +Often a stone would break his shield. Bridges crowded with men +gave way under him. Once, by turning his mace, he rid himself of +fourteen horsemen. He defeated all those who came forward to fight +him on the field of honour, and more than a score of times it was +believed that he had been killed. + +However, thanks to Divine protection, he always escaped, for he +shielded orphans, widows, and aged men. When he caught sight of +one of the latter walking ahead of him, he would call to him to +show his face, as if he feared that he might kill him by mistake. + +All sorts of intrepid men gathered under his leadership, fugitive +slaves, peasant rebels, and penniless bastards; he then organized +an army which increased so much that he became famous and was in +great demand. + +He succoured in turn the Dauphin of France, the King of England, +the Templars of Jerusalem, the General of the Parths, the Negus of +Abyssinia and the Emperor of Calicut. He fought against +Scandinavians covered with fish-scales, against negroes mounted on +red asses and armed with shields made of hippopotamus hide, +against gold-coloured Indians who wielded great, shining swords +above their heads. He conquered the Troglodytes and the cannibals. +He travelled through regions so torrid that the heat of the sun +would set fire to the hair on one's head; he journeyed through +countries so glacial that one's arms would fall from the body; and +he passed through places where the fogs were so dense that it +seemed like being surrounded by phantoms. + +Republics in trouble consulted him; when he conferred with +ambassadors, he always obtained unexpected concessions. Also, if a +monarch behaved badly, he would arrive on the scene and rebuke +him. He freed nations. He rescued queens sequestered in towers. It +was he and no other that killed the serpent of Milan and the +dragon of Oberbirbach. + +Now, the Emperor of Occitania, having triumphed over the Spanish +Mussulmans, had taken the sister of the Caliph of Cordova as a +concubine, and had had one daughter by her, whom he brought up in +the teachings of Christ. But the Caliph, feigning that he wished +to become converted, made him a visit, and brought with him a +numerous escort. He slaughtered the entire garrison and threw the +Emperor into a dungeon, and treated him with great cruelty in +order to obtain possession of his treasures. + +Julian went to his assistance, destroyed the army of infidels, +laid siege to the city, slew the Caliph, chopped off his head and +threw it over the fortifications like a cannon-ball. + +As a reward for so great a service, the Emperor presented him with +a large sum of money in baskets; but Julian declined it. Then the +Emperor, thinking that the amount was not sufficiently large, +offered him three quarters of his fortune, and on meeting a second +refusal, proposed to share his kingdom with his benefactor. But +Julian only thanked him for it, and the Emperor felt like weeping +with vexation at not being able to show his gratitude, when he +suddenly tapped his forehead and whispered a few words in the ear +of one of his courtiers; the tapestry curtains parted and a young +girl appeared. + +Her large black eyes shone like two soft lights. A charming smile +parted her lips. Her curls were caught in the jewels of her +half-opened bodice, and the grace of her youthful body could be +divined under the transparency of her tunic. + +She was small and quite plump, but her waist was slender. + +Julian was absolutely dazzled, all the more since he had always +led a chaste life. + +So he married the Emperor's daughter, and received at the same +time a castle she had inherited from her mother; and when the +rejoicings were over, he departed with his bride, after many +courtesies had been exchanged on both sides. + +The castle was of Moorish design, in white marble, erected on a +promontory and surrounded by orange-trees. + +Terraces of flowers extended to the shell-strewn shores of a +beautiful bay. Behind the castle spread a fan-shaped forest. The +sky was always blue, and the trees were swayed in turn by the +ocean-breeze and by the winds that blew from the mountains that +closed the horizon. + +Light entered the apartments through the incrustations of the +walls. High, reed-like columns supported the ceiling of the +cupolas, decorated in imitation of stalactites. + +Fountains played in the spacious halls; the courts were inlaid +with mosaic; there were festooned partitions and a great profusion +of architectural fancies; and everywhere reigned a silence so deep +that the swish of a sash or the echo of a sigh could be distinctly +heard. + +Julian now had renounced war. Surrounded by a peaceful people, he +remained idle, receiving every day a throng of subjects who came +and knelt before him and kissed his hand in Oriental fashion. + +Clad in sumptuous garments, he would gaze out of the window and +think of his past exploits; and wish that he might again run in +the desert in pursuit of ostriches and gazelles, hide among the +bamboos to watch for leopards, ride through forests filled with +rhinoceroses, climb the most inaccessible peaks in order to have a +better aim at the eagles, and fight the polar bears on the +icebergs of the northern sea. + +Sometimes, in his dreams, he fancied himself like Adam in the +midst of Paradise, surrounded by all the beasts; by merely +extending his arm, he was able to kill them; or else they filed +past him, in pairs, by order of size, from the lions and the +elephants to the ermines and the ducks, as on the day they entered +Noah's Ark. + +Hidden in the shadow of a cave, he aimed unerring arrows at them; +then came others and still others, until he awoke, wild-eyed. + +Princes, friends of his, invited him to their meets, but he always +refused their invitations, because he thought that by this kind of +penance he might possibly avert the threatened misfortune; it +seemed to him that the fate of his parents depended on his refusal +to slaughter animals. He suffered because he could not see them, +and his other desire was growing well-nigh unbearable. + +In order to divert his mind, his wife had dancers and jugglers +come to the castle. + +She went abroad with him in an open litter; at other times, +stretched out on the edge of a boat, they watched for hours the +fish disport themselves in the water, which was as clear as the +sky. Often she playfully threw flowers at him or nestling at his +feet, she played melodies on an old mandolin; then, clasping her +hands on his shoulder, she would inquire tremulously: "What +troubles thee, my dear lord?" + +He would not reply, or else he would burst into tears; but at +last, one day, he confessed his fearful dread. + +His wife scorned the idea and reasoned wisely with him: probably +his father and mother were dead; and even if he should ever see +them again, through what chance, to what end, would he arrive at +this abomination? Therefore, his fears were groundless, and he +should hunt again. + +Julian listened to her and smiled, but he could not bring himself +to yield to his desire. + +One August evening when they were in their bed-chamber, she having +just retired and he being about to kneel in prayer, he heard the +yelping of a fox and light footsteps under the window; and he +thought he saw things in the dark that looked like animals. The +temptation was too strong. He seized his quiver. + +His wife appeared astonished. + +"I am obeying you," quoth he, "and I shall be back at sunrise." + +However, she feared that some calamity would happen. But he +reassured her and departed, surprised at her illogical moods. + +A short time afterwards, a page came to announce that two +strangers desired, in the absence of the lord of the castle, to +see its mistress at once. + +Soon a stooping old man and an aged woman entered the room; their +coarse garments were covered with dust and each leaned on a stick. + +They grew bold enough to say that they brought Julian news of his +parents. She leaned out of the bed to listen to them. But after +glancing at each other, the old people asked her whether he ever +referred to them and if he still loved them. + +"Oh! yes!" she said. + +Then they exclaimed: + +"We are his parents!" and they sat themselves down, for they were +very tired. + +But there was nothing to show the young wife that her husband was +their son. + +They proved it by describing to her the birthmarks he had on his +body. Then she jumped out of bed, called a page, and ordered that +a repast be served to them. + +But although they were very hungry, they could scarcely eat, and +she observed surreptitiously how their lean fingers trembled +whenever they lifted their cups. + +They asked a hundred questions about their son, and she answered +each one of them, but she was careful not to refer to the terrible +idea that concerned them. + +When he failed to return, they had left their château; and had +wandered for several years, following vague indications but +without losing hope. + +So much money had been spent at the tolls of the rivers and in +inns, to satisfy the rights of princes and the demands of +highwaymen, that now their purse was quite empty and they were +obliged to beg. But what did it matter, since they were about to +clasp again their son in their arms? They lauded his happiness in +having such a beautiful wife, and did not tire of looking at her +and kissing her. + +The luxuriousness of the apartment astonished them; and the old +man, after examining the walls, inquired why they bore the coat-of-arms +of the Emperor of Occitania. + +"He is my father," she replied. + +And he marvelled and remembered the prediction of the gipsy, while +his wife meditated upon the words the hermit had spoken to her. +The glory of their son was undoubtedly only the dawn of eternal +splendours, and the old people remained awed while the light from +the candelabra on the table fell on them. + +In the heyday of youth, both had been extremely handsome. The +mother had not lost her hair, and bands of snowy whiteness framed +her cheeks; and the father, with his stalwart figure and long +beard, looked like a carved image. + +Julian's wife prevailed upon them not to wait for him. She put +them in her bed and closed the curtains; and they both fell +asleep. The day broke and outdoors the little birds began to +chirp. + +Meanwhile, Julian had left the castle grounds and walked nervously +through the forest, enjoying the velvety softness of the grass and +the balminess of the air. + +The shadow of the trees fell on the earth. Here and there, the +moonlight flecked the glades and Julian feared to advance, because +he mistook the silvery light for water and the tranquil surface of +the pools for grass. A great stillness reigned everywhere, and he +failed to see any of the beasts that only a moment ago were +prowling around the castle. As he walked on, the woods grew +thicker, and the darkness more impenetrable. Warm winds, filled +with enervating perfumes, caressed him; he sank into masses of +dead leaves, and after a while he leaned against an oak-tree to +rest and catch his breath. + +Suddenly a body blacker than the surrounding darkness sprang from +behind the tree. It was a wild boar. Julian did not have time to +stretch his bow, and he bewailed the fact as if it were some great +misfortune. Presently, having left the woods, he beheld a wolf +slinking along a hedge. + +He aimed an arrow at him. The wolf paused, turned his head and +quietly continued on his way. He trotted along, always keeping at +the same distance, pausing now and then to look around and +resuming his flight as soon as an arrow was aimed in his +direction. + +In this way Julian traversed an apparently endless plain, then +sand-hills, and at last found himself on a plateau that dominated +a great stretch of land. Large flat stones were interspersed among +crumbling vaults; bones and skeletons covered the ground, and here +and there some mouldy crosses stood desolate. But presently, +shapes moved in the darkness of the tombs, and from them came +panting, wild-eyed hyenas. They approached him and smelled him, +grinning hideously and disclosing their gums. He whipped out his +sword, but they scattered in every direction and continuing their +swift, limping gallop, disappeared in a cloud of dust. + +Some time afterwards, in a ravine, he encountered a wild bull, +with threatening horns, pawing the sand with his hoofs. Julian +thrust his lance between his dewlaps. But his weapon snapped as if +the beast were made of bronze; then he closed his eyes in +anticipation of his death. When he opened them again, the bull had +vanished. + +Then his soul collapsed with shame. Some supernatural power +destroyed his strength, and he set out for home through the +forest. The woods were a tangle of creeping plants that he had to +cut with his sword, and while he was thus engaged, a weasel slid +between his feet, a panther jumped over his shoulder, and a +serpent wound itself around the ash-tree. + +Among its leaves was a monstrous jackdaw that watched Julian +intently, and here and there, between the branches, appeared +great, fiery sparks as if the sky were raining all its stars upon +the forest. But the sparks were the eyes of wild-cats, owls, +squirrels, monkeys and parrots. + +Julian aimed his arrows at them, but the feathered weapons lighted +on the leaves of the trees and looked like white butterflies. He +threw stones at them; but the missiles did not strike, and fell to +the ground. Then he cursed himself, and howled imprecations, and +in his rage he could have struck himself. + +Then all the beasts he had pursued appeared, and formed a narrow +circle around him. Some sat on their hindquarters, while others +stood at full height. And Julian remained among them, transfixed +with terror and absolutely unable to move. By a supreme effort of +his will-power, he took a step forward; those that perched in the +trees opened their wings, those that trod the earth moved their +limbs, and all accompanied him. + +The hyenas strode in front of him, the wolf and the wild boar +brought up the rear. On his right, the bull swung its head and on +his left the serpent crawled through the grass; while the panther, +arching its back, advanced with velvety footfalls and long +strides. Julian walked as slowly as possible, so as not to +irritate them, while in the depth of bushes he could distinguish +porcupines, foxes, vipers, jackals, and bears. + +He began to run; the brutes followed him. The serpent hissed, the +malodorous beasts frothed at the mouth, the wild boar rubbed his +tusks against his heels, and the wolf scratched the palms of his +hands with the hairs of his snout. The monkeys pinched him and +made faces, the weasel rolled over his feet. A bear knocked his +cap off with its huge paw, and the panther disdainfully dropped an +arrow it was about to put in its mouth. + +Irony seemed to incite their sly actions. As they watched him out +of the corners of their eyes, they seemed to meditate a plan of +revenge, and Julian, who was deafened by the buzzing of the +insects, bruised by the wings and tails of the birds, choked by +the stench of animal breaths, walked with outstretched arms and +closed lids, like a blind man, without even the strength to beg +for mercy. + +The crowing of a cock vibrated in the air. Other cocks responded; +it was day; and Julian recognised the top of his palace rising +above the orange-trees. + +Then, on the edge of a field, he beheld some red partridges +fluttering around a stubble-field. He unfastened his cloak and +threw it over them like a net. When he lifted it, he found only a +bird that had been dead a long time and was decaying. + +This disappointment irritated him more than all the others. The +thirst for carnage stirred afresh within him; animals failing him, +he desired to slaughter men. + +He climbed the three terraces and opened the door with a blow of +his fist; but at the foot of the staircase, the memory of his +beloved wife softened his heart. No doubt she was asleep, and he +would go up and surprise her. Having removed his sandals, he +unlocked the door softly and entered. + +The stained windows dimmed the pale light of dawn. Julian stumbled +over some garment's lying on the floor and a little further on, he +knocked against a table covered with dishes. "She must have +eaten," he thought; so he advanced cautiously towards the bed +which was concealed by the darkness in the back of the room. When +he reached the edge, he leaned over the pillow where the two heads +were resting close together and stooped to kiss his wife. His +mouth encountered a man's beard. + +He fell back, thinking he had become crazed; then he approached +the bed again and his searching fingers discovered some hair which +seemed to be very long. In order to convince himself that he was +mistaken, he once more passed his hand slowly over the pillow. But +this time he was sure that it was a beard and that a man was +there! a man lying beside his wife! + +Flying into an ungovernable passion, he sprang upon them with his +drawn dagger, foaming, stamping and howling like a wild beast. +After a while he stopped. + +The corpses, pierced through the heart, had not even moved. He +listened attentively to the two death-rattles, they were almost +alike, and as they grew fainter, another voice, coming from far +away, seemed to continue them. Uncertain at first, this plaintive +voice came nearer and nearer, grew louder and louder and presently +he recognised, with a feeling of abject terror, the bellowing of +the great black stag. + +And as he turned around, he thought he saw the spectre of his wife +standing at the threshold with a light in her hand. + +The sound of the murder had aroused her. In one glance she +understood what had happened and fled in horror, letting the +candle drop from her hand. Julian picked it up. + +His father and mother lay before him, stretched on their backs, +with gaping wounds in their breasts; and their faces, the +expression of which was full of tender dignity, seemed to hide +what might be an eternal secret. + +Splashes and blotches of blood were on their white skin, on the +bed-clothes, on the floor, and on an ivory Christ which hung in +the alcove. The scarlet reflection of the stained window, which +just then was struck by the sun, lighted up the bloody spots and +appeared to scatter them around the whole room. Julian walked +toward the corpses, repeating to himself and trying to believe +that he was mistaken, that it was not possible, that there are +often inexplicable likenesses. + +At last he bent over to look closely at the old man and he saw, +between the half-closed lids, a dead pupil that scorched him like +fire. Then he went over to the other side of the bed, where the +other corpse lay, but the face was partly hidden by bands of white +hair. Julian slipped his finger beneath them and raised the head, +holding it at arm's length to study its features, while, with his +other hand he lifted the torch. Drops of blood oozed from the +mattress and fell one by one upon the floor. + +At the close of the day, he appeared before his wife, and in a +changed voice commanded her first not to answer him, not to +approach him, not even to look at him, and to obey, under the +penalty of eternal damnation, every one of his orders, which were +irrevocable. + +The funeral was to be held in accordance with the written +instructions he had left on a chair in the death-chamber. + +He left her his castle, his vassals, all his worldly goods, +without keeping even his clothes or his sandals, which would be +found at the top of the stairs. + +She had obeyed the will of God in bringing about his crime, and +accordingly she must pray for his soul, since henceforth he should +cease to exist. + +The dead were buried sumptuously in the chapel of a monastery +which it took three days to reach from the castle. A monk wearing +a hood that covered his head followed the procession alone, for +nobody dared to speak to him. And during the mass, he lay flat on +the floor with his face downward and his arms stretched out at his +sides. + +After the burial, he was seen to take the road leading into the +mountains. He looked back several times, and finally passed out of +sight. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE REPARATION + + +He left the country and begged his daily bread on his way. + +He stretched out his hand to the horsemen he met in the roads, and +humbly approached the harvesters in the fields; or else remained +motionless in front of the gates of castles; and his face was so +sad that he was never turned away. + +Obeying a spirit of humility, he related his history to all men, +and they would flee from him and cross themselves. In villages +through which he had passed before, the good people bolted the +doors, threatened him, and threw stones at him as soon as they +recognised him. The more charitable ones placed a bowl on the +window-sill and closed the shutters in order to avoid seeing him. + +Repelled and shunned by everyone, he avoided his fellow-men and +nourished himself with roots and plants, stray fruits and shells +which he gathered along the shores. + +Often, at the bend of a hill, he could perceive a mass of crowded +roofs, stone spires, bridges, towers and narrow streets, from +which arose a continual murmur of activity. + +The desire to mingle with men impelled him to enter the city. But +the gross and beastly expression of their faces, the noise of +their industries and the indifference of their remarks, chilled +his very heart. On holidays, when the cathedral bells rang out at +daybreak and filled the people's hearts with gladness, he watched +the inhabitants coming out of their dwellings, the dancers in the +public squares, the fountains of ale, the damask hangings spread +before the houses of princes; and then, when night came, he would +peer through the windows at the long tables where families +gathered and where grandparents held little children on their +knees; then sobs would rise in his throat and he would turn away +and go back to his haunts. + +He gazed with yearning at the colts in the pastures, the birds in +their nests, the insects on the flowers; but they all fled from +him at his approach and hid or flew away. So he sought solitude. +But the wind brought to his ears sounds resembling death-rattles; +the tears of the dew reminded him of heavier drops, and every +evening, the sun would spread blood in the sky, and every night, +in his dreams, he lived over his parricide. + +He made himself a hair-cloth lined with iron spikes. On his knees, +he ascended every hill that was crowned with a chapel. But the +unrelenting thought spoiled the splendour of the tabernacles and +tortured him in the midst of his penances. + +He did not rebel against God, who had inflicted his action, but he +despaired at the thought that he had committed it. + +He had such a horror of himself that he took all sorts of risks. +He rescued paralytics from fire and children from waves. But the +ocean scorned him and the flames spared him. Time did not allay +his torment, which became so intolerable that he resolved to die. + +One day, while he was stooping over a fountain to judge of its +depth, an old man appeared on the other side. He wore a white +beard and his appearance was so lamentable that Julian could not +keep back his tears. The old man also was weeping. Without +recognising him, Julian remembered confusedly a face that +resembled his. He uttered a cry; for it was his father who stood +before him; and he gave up all thought of taking his own life. + +Thus weighted down by his recollections, he travelled through many +countries and arrived at a river which was dangerous, because of +its violence and the slime that covered its shores. Since a long +time nobody had ventured to cross it. + +The bow of an old boat, whose stern was buried in the mud, showed +among the reeds. Julian, on examining it closely, found a pair of +oars and hit upon the idea of devoting his life to the service of +his fellow-men. + +He began by establishing on the bank of the river a sort of road +which would enable people to approach the edge of the stream; he +broke his nails in his efforts to lift enormous stones which he +pressed against the pit of his stomach in order to transport them +from one point to another; he slipped in the mud, he sank into it, +and several times was on the very brink of death. + +Then he took to repairing the boat with debris of vessels, and +afterwards built himself a hut with putty and trunks of trees. + +When it became known that a ferry had been established, passengers +flocked to it. They hailed him from the opposite side by waving +flags, and Julian would jump into the boat and row over. The craft +was very heavy, and the people loaded it with all sorts of +baggage, and beasts of burden, who reared with fright, thereby +adding greatly to the confusion. He asked nothing for his trouble; +some gave him left-over victuals which they took from their sacks +or worn-out garments which they could no longer use. + +The brutal ones hurled curses at him, and when he rebuked them +gently they replied with insults, and he was content to bless +them. + +A little table, a stool, a bed made of dead leaves and three +earthen bowls were all he possessed. Two holes in the wall served +as windows. On one side, as far as the eye could see, stretched +barren wastes studded here and there with pools of water; and in +front of him flowed the greenish waters of the wide river. In the +spring, a putrid odour arose from the damp sod. Then fierce gales +lifted clouds of dust that blew everywhere, even settling in the +water and in one's mouth. A little later swarms of mosquitoes +appeared, whose buzzing and stinging continued night and day. +After that, came frightful frosts which communicated a stone-like +rigidity to everything and inspired one with an insane desire for +meat. Months passed when Julian never saw a human being. He often +closed his lids and endeavored to recall his youth;--he beheld the +courtyard of a castle, with greyhounds stretched out on a terrace, +an armoury filled with valets, and under a bower of vines a youth +with blond curls, sitting between an old man wrapped in furs and a +lady with a high cap; presently the corpses rose before him, and +then he would throw himself face downward on his cot and sob: + +"Oh! poor father! poor mother! poor mother!" and would drop into a +fitful slumber in which the terrible visions recurred. + +One night he thought that some one was calling to him in his +sleep. He listened intently, but could hear nothing save the +roaring of the waters. + +But the same voice repeated: "Julian!" + +It proceeded from the opposite shore, a fact which appeared +extraordinary to him, considering the breadth of the river. + +The voice called a third time: "Julian!" + +And the high-pitched tones sounded like the ringing of a +church-bell. + +Having lighted his lantern, he stepped out of his cabin. A +frightful storm raged. The darkness was complete and was +illuminated here and there only by the white waves leaping and +tumbling. + +After a moment's hesitation, he untied the rope. The water +presently grew smooth and the boat glided easily to the opposite +shore, where a man was waiting. + +He was wrapped in a torn piece of linen; his face was like a chalk +mask, and his eyes were redder than glowing coals. When Julian +held up his lantern he noticed that the stranger was covered with +hideous sores; but notwithstanding this, there was in his attitude +something like the majesty of a king. + +As soon as he stepped into the boat, it sank deep into the water, +borne downward by his weight; then it rose again and Julian began +to row. + +With each stroke of the oars, the force of the waves raised the +bow of the boat. The water, which was blacker than ink, ran +furiously along the sides. It formed abysses and then mountains, +over which the boat glided, then it fell into yawning depths +where, buffeted by the wind, it whirled around and around. + +Julian leaned far forward and, bracing himself with his feet, bent +backwards so as to bring his whole strength into play. Hail-stones +cut his hands, the rain ran down his back, the velocity of the +wind suffocated him. He stopped rowing and let the boat drift with +the tide. But realising that an important matter was at stake, a +command which could not be disregarded, he picked up the oars +again; and the rattling of the tholes mingled with the clamourings +of the storm. + +The little lantern burned in front of him. Sometimes birds +fluttered past it and obscured the light. But he could distinguish +the eyes of the leper who stood at the stern, as motionless as a +column. + +And the trip lasted a long, long time. + +When they reached the hut, Julian closed the door and saw the man +sit down on the stool. The species of shroud that was wrapped +around him had fallen below his loins, and his shoulders and chest +and lean arms were hidden under blotches of scaly pustules. +Enormous wrinkles crossed his forehead. Like a skeleton, he had a +hole instead of a nose, and from his bluish lips came breath which +was fetid and as thick as mist. + +"I am hungry," he said. + +Julian set before him what he had, a piece of pork and some crusts +of coarse bread. + +After he had devoured them, the table, the bowl, and the handle of +the knife bore the same scales that covered his body. + +Then he said: "I thirst!" + +Julian fetched his jug of water and when he lifted it, he smelled +an aroma that dilated his nostrils and filled his heart with +gladness. It was wine; what a boon! but the leper stretched out +his arm and emptied the jug at one draught. + +Then he said: "I am cold!" + +Julian ignited a bundle of ferns that lay in the middle of the +hut. The leper approached the fire and, resting on his heels, +began to warm himself; his whole frame shook and he was failing +visibly; his eyes grew dull, his sores began to break, and in a +faint voice he whispered: + +"Thy bed!" + +Julian helped him gently to it, and even laid the sail of his boat +over him to keep him warm. + +The leper tossed and moaned. The corners of his mouth were drawn +up over his teeth; an accelerated death-rattle shook his chest and +with each one of his aspirations, his stomach touched his spine. +At last, he closed his eyes. + +"I feel as if ice were in my bones! Lay thyself beside me!" he +commanded. Julian took off his garments; and then, as naked as on +the day he was born, he got into the bed; against his thigh he +could feel the skin of the leper, and it was colder than a serpent +and as rough as a file. + +He tried to encourage the leper, but he only whispered: + +"Oh! I am about to die! Come closer to me and warm me! Not with +thy hands! No! with thy whole body." + +So Julian stretched himself out upon the leper, lay on him, lips +to lips, chest to chest. + +Then the leper clasped him close and presently his eyes shone like +stars; his hair lengthened into sunbeams; the breath of his +nostrils had the scent of roses; a cloud of incense rose from the +hearth, and the waters began to murmur harmoniously; an abundance +of bliss, a superhuman joy, filled the soul of the swooning +Julian, while he who clasped him to his breast grew and grew until +his head and his feet touched the opposite walls of the cabin. The +roof flew up in the air, disclosing the heavens, and Julian +ascended into infinity face to face with our Lord Jesus Christ, +who bore him straight to heaven. + +And this is the story of Saint Julian the Hospitaller, as it is +given on the stained-glass window of a church in my birthplace. + + + + + + +A SIMPLE SOUL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +FÉLICITÉ + + +For half a century the housewives of Pont-l'Evêque had envied +Madame Aubain her servant Félicité. + +For a hundred francs a year, she cooked and did the housework, +washed, ironed, mended, harnessed the horse, fattened the poultry, +made the butter and remained faithful to her mistress--although +the latter was by no means an agreeable person. + +Madame Aubain had married a comely youth without any money, who +died in the beginning of 1809, leaving her with two young children +and a number of debts. She sold all her property excepting the +farm of Toucques and the farm of Geffosses, the income of which +barely amounted to 5,000 francs; then she left her house in +Saint-Melaine, and moved into a less pretentious one which had +belonged to her ancestors and stood back of the market-place. +This house, with its slate-covered roof, was built between a +passage-way and a narrow street that led to the river. The +interior was so unevenly graded that it caused people to stumble. +A narrow hall separated the kitchen from the parlour, where +Madame Aubain sat all day in a straw armchair near the window. +Eight mahogany chairs stood in a row against the white wainscoting. +An old piano, standing beneath a barometer, was covered with a +pyramid of old books and boxes. On either side of the yellow marble +mantelpiece, in Louis XV style, stood a tapestry armchair. The clock +represented a temple of Vesta; and the whole room smelled musty, as +it was on a lower level than the garden. + +On the first floor was Madame's bedchamber, a large room papered +in a flowered design and containing the portrait of Monsieur +dressed in the costume of a dandy. It communicated with a smaller +room, in which there were two little cribs, without any +mattresses. Next, came the parlour (always closed), filled with +furniture covered with sheets. Then a hall, which led to the +study, where books and papers were piled on the shelves of a +book-case that enclosed three quarters of the big black desk. Two +panels were entirely hidden under pen-and-ink sketches, Gouache +landscapes and Audran engravings, relics of better times and +vanished luxury. On the second floor, a garret-window lighted +Félicité's room, which looked out upon the meadows. + +She arose at daybreak, in order to attend mass, and she worked +without interruption until night; then, when dinner was over, the +dishes cleared away and the door securely locked, she would bury +the log under the ashes and fall asleep in front of the hearth +with a rosary in her hand. Nobody could bargain with greater +obstinacy, and as for cleanliness, the lustre on her brass +saucepans was the envy and despair of other servants. She was most +economical, and when she ate she would gather up crumbs with the +tip of her finger, so that nothing should be wasted of the loaf of +bread weighing twelve pounds which was baked especially for her +and lasted three weeks. + +Summer and winter she wore a dimity kerchief fastened in the back +with a pin, a cap which concealed her hair, a red skirt, grey +stockings, and an apron with a bib like those worn by hospital +nurses. + +Her face was thin and her voice shrill. When she was twenty-five, +she looked forty. After she had passed fifty, nobody could tell +her age; erect and silent always, she resembled a wooden figure +working automatically. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE HEROINE + + +Like every other woman, she had had an affair of the heart. Her +father, who was a mason, was killed by falling from a scaffolding. +Then her mother died and her sisters went their different ways; a +farmer took her in, and while she was quite small, let her keep +cows in the fields. She was clad in miserable rags, beaten for the +slightest offence and finally dismissed for a theft of thirty sous +which she did not commit. She took service on another farm where +she tended the poultry; and as she was well thought of by her +master, her fellow-workers soon grew jealous. + +One evening in August (she was then eighteen years old), they +persuaded her to accompany them to the fair at Colleville. She was +immediately dazzled by the noise, the lights in the trees, the +brightness of the dresses, the laces and gold crosses, and the +crowd of people all hopping at the same time. She was standing +modestly at a distance, when presently a young man of well-to-do +appearance, who had been leaning on the pole of a wagon and +smoking his pipe, approached her, and asked her for a dance. He +treated her to cider and cake, bought her a silk shawl, and then, +thinking she had guessed his purpose, offered to see her home. +When they came to the end of a field he threw her down brutally. +But she grew frightened and screamed, and he walked off. + +One evening, on the road leading to Beaumont, she came upon a +wagon loaded with hay, and when she overtook it, she recognised +Théodore. He greeted her calmly, and asked her to forget what had +happened between them, as it "was all the fault of the drink." + +She did not know what to reply and wished to run away. + +Presently he began to speak of the harvest and of the notables of +the village; his father had left Colleville and bought the farm of +Les Écots, so that now they would be neighbors. "Ah!" she +exclaimed. He then added that his parents were looking around for +a wife for him, but that he, himself, was not so anxious and +preferred to wait for a girl who suited him. She hung her head. He +then asked her whether she had ever thought of marrying. She +replied, smilingly, that it was wrong of him to make fun of her. +"Oh! no, I am in earnest," he said, and put his left arm around +her waist while they sauntered along. The air was soft, the stars +were bright, and the huge load of hay oscillated in front of them, +drawn by four horses whose ponderous hoofs raised clouds of dust. +Without a word from their driver they turned to the right. He +kissed her again and she went home. The following week, Théodore +obtained meetings. + +They met in yards, behind walls or under isolated trees. She was +not ignorant, as girls of well-to-do families are--for the animals +had instructed her;--but her reason and her instinct of honour +kept her from falling. Her resistance exasperated Théodore's love +and so in order to satisfy it (or perchance ingenuously), he +offered to marry her. She would not believe him at first, so he +made solemn promises. But, in a short time he mentioned a +difficulty; the previous year, his parents had purchased a +substitute for him; but any day he might be drafted and the +prospect of serving in the army alarmed him greatly. To Félicité +his cowardice appeared a proof of his love for her, and her +devotion to him grew stronger. When she met him, he would torture +her with his fears and his entreaties. At last, he announced that +he was going to the prefect himself for information, and would let +her know everything on the following Sunday, between eleven +o'clock and midnight. + +When the time drew near, she ran to meet her lover. + +But instead of Théodore, one of his friends was at the +meeting-place. + +He informed her that she would never see her sweetheart again; +for, in order to escape the conscription, he had married a rich +old woman, Madame Lehoussais, of Toucques. + +The poor girl's sorrow was frightful. She threw herself on the +ground, she cried and called on the Lord, and wandered around +desolately until sunrise. Then she went back to the farm, declared +her intention of leaving, and at the end of the month, after she +had received her wages, she packed all her belongings in a +handkerchief and started for Pont-l'Evêque. + +In front of the inn, she met a woman wearing widow's weeds, and +upon questioning her, learned that she was looking for a cook. The +girl did not know very much, but appeared so willing and so modest +in her requirements, that Madame Aubain finally said: + +"Very well, I will give you a trial." + +And half an hour later Félicité was installed in her house. + +At first she lived in a constant anxiety that was caused by "the +style of the household" and the memory of "Monsieur," that hovered +over everything. Paul and Virginia, the one aged seven, and the +other barely four, seemed made of some precious material; she +carried them pig-a-back, and was greatly mortified when Madame +Aubain forbade her to kiss them every other minute. + +But in spite of all this, she was happy. The comfort of her new +surroundings had obliterated her sadness. + +Every Thursday, friends of Madame Aubain dropped in for a game of +cards, and it was Félicité's duty to prepare the table and heat +the foot-warmers. They arrived at exactly eight o'clock and +departed before eleven. + +Every Monday morning, the dealer in second-hand goods, who lived +under the alley-way, spread out his wares on the sidewalk. Then +the city would be filled with a buzzing of voices in which the +neighing of horses, the bleating of lambs, the grunting of pigs, +could be distinguished, mingled with the sharp sound of wheels on +the cobble-stones. About twelve o'clock, when the market was in +full swing, there appeared at the front door a tall, middle-aged +peasant, with a hooked nose and a cap on the back of his head; it +was Robelin, the farmer of Geffosses. Shortly afterwards came +Liébard, the farmer of Toucques, short, rotund and ruddy, wearing +a grey jacket and spurred boots. + +Both men brought their landlady either chickens or cheese. +Félicité would invariably thwart their ruses and they held her in +great respect. + +At various times, Madame Aubain received a visit from the Marquis +de Grémanville, one of her uncles, who was ruined and lived at +Falaise on the remainder of his estates. He always came at +dinner-time and brought an ugly poodle with him, whose paws soiled +the furniture. In spite of his efforts to appear a man of breeding +(he even went so far as to raise his hat every time he said "My +deceased father"), his habits got the better of him, and he would +fill his glass a little too often and relate broad stories. +Félicité would show him out very politely and say: "You have had +enough for this time, Monsieur de Grémanville! Hoping to see you +again!" and would close the door. + +She opened it gladly for Monsieur Bourais, a retired lawyer. His +bald head and white cravat, the ruffling of his shirt, his flowing +brown coat, the manner in which he took his snuff, his whole +person, in fact, produced in her the kind of awe which we feel +when we see extraordinary persons. As he managed Madame's estates, +he spent hours with her in Monsieur's study; he was in constant +fear of being compromised, had a great regard for the magistracy +and some pretensions to learning. + +In order to facilitate the children's studies, he presented them +with an engraved geography which represented various scenes of the +world: cannibals with feather head-dresses, a gorilla kidnapping a +young girl, Arabs in the desert, a whale being harpooned, etc. + +Paul explained the pictures to Félicité. And, in fact, this was +her only literary education. + +The children's studies were under the direction of a poor devil +employed at the town-hall, who sharpened his pocketknife on his +boots and was famous for his penmanship. + +When the weather was fine, they went to Geffosses. The house was +built in the centre of the sloping yard; and the sea looked like a +grey spot in the distance. Félicité would take slices of cold meat +from the lunch basket and they would sit down and eat in a room +next to the dairy. This room was all that remained of a cottage +that had been torn down. The dilapidated wall-paper trembled in +the drafts. Madame Aubain, overwhelmed by recollections, would +hang her head, while the children were afraid to open their +mouths. Then, "Why don't you go and play?" their mother would say; +and they would scamper off. + +Paul would go to the old barn, catch birds, throw stones into the +pond, or pound the trunks of the trees with a stick till they +resounded like drums. Virginia would feed the rabbits and run to +pick the wild flowers in the fields, and her flying legs would +disclose her little embroidered pantalettes. One autumn evening, +they struck out for home through the meadows. The new moon +illumined part of the sky and a mist hovered like a veil over the +sinuosities of the river. Oxen, lying in the pastures, gazed +mildly at the passing persons. In the third field, however, +several of them got up and surrounded them. "Don't be afraid," +cried Félicité; and murmuring a sort of lament she passed her hand +over the back of the nearest ox; he turned away and the others +followed. But when they came to the next pasture, they heard +frightful bellowing. + +It was a bull which was hidden from them by the fog. He advanced +towards the two women, and Madame Aubain prepared to flee for her +life. "No, no! not so fast," warned Félicité. Still they hurried +on, for they could hear the noisy breathing of the bull close +behind them. His hoofs pounded the grass like hammers, and +presently he began to gallop! Félicité turned around and threw +patches of grass in his eyes. He hung his head, shook his horns +and bellowed with fury. Madame Aubain and the children, huddled at +the end of the field, were trying to jump over the ditch. Félicité +continued to back before the bull, blinding him with dirt, while +she shouted to them to make haste. + +Madame Aubain finally slid into the ditch, after shoving first +Virginia and then Paul into it, and though she stumbled several +times she managed, by dint of courage, to climb the other side of +it. + +The bull had driven Félicité up against a fence; the foam from his +muzzle flew in her face and in another minute he would have +disembowelled her. She had just time to slip between two bars and +the huge animal, thwarted, paused. + +For years, this occurrence was a topic of conversation in +Pont-l'Evêque. But Félicité took no credit to herself, and +probably never knew that she had been heroic. + +Virginia occupied her thoughts solely, for the shock she had +sustained gave her a nervous affection, and the physician, M. +Poupart, prescribed the saltwater bathing at Trouville. In those +days, Trouville was not greatly patronised. Madame Aubain gathered +information, consulted Bourais, and made preparations as if they +were going on an extended trip. + +The baggage was sent the day before on Liébard's cart. On the +following morning, he brought around two horses, one of which had +a woman's saddle with a velveteen back to it, while on the crupper +of the other was a rolled shawl that was to be used for a seat. +Madame Aubain mounted the second horse, behind Liébard. Félicité +took charge of the little girl, and Paul rode M. Lechaptois' +donkey, which had been lent for the occasion on the condition that +they should be careful of it. + +The road was so bad that it took two hours to cover the eight +miles. The two horses sank knee-deep into the mud and stumbled +into ditches; sometimes they had to jump over them. In certain +places, Liébard's mare stopped abruptly. He waited patiently till +she started again, and talked of the people whose estates bordered +the road, adding his own moral reflections to the outline of their +histories. Thus, when they were passing through Toucques, and came +to some windows draped with nasturtiums, he shrugged his shoulders +and said: "There's a woman, Madame Lehoussais, who, instead of +taking a young man--" Félicité could not catch what followed; the +horses began to trot, the donkey to gallop, and they turned into a +lane; then a gate swung open, two farm-hands appeared and they all +dismounted at the very threshold of the farm-house. + +Mother Liébard, when she caught sight of her mistress, was lavish +with joyful demonstrations. She got up a lunch which comprised a +leg of mutton, tripe, sausages, a chicken fricassée, sweet cider, +a fruit tart and some preserved prunes; then to all this the good +woman added polite remarks about Madame, who appeared to be in +better health, Mademoiselle, who had grown to be "superb," and +Paul, who had become singularly sturdy; she spoke also of their +deceased grandparents, whom the Liébards had known, for they had +been in the service of the family for several generations. + +Like its owners, the farm had an ancient appearance. The beams of +the ceiling were mouldy, the walls black with smoke and the +windows grey with dust. The oak sideboard was filled with all +sorts of utensils, plates, pitchers, tin bowls, wolf-traps. The +children laughed when they saw a huge syringe. There was not a +tree in the yard that did not have mushrooms growing around its +foot, or a bunch of mistletoe hanging in its branches. Several of +the trees had been blown down, but they had started to grow in the +middle and all were laden with quantities of apples. The thatched +roofs, which were of unequal thickness, looked like brown velvet +and could resist the fiercest gales. But the wagon-shed was fast +crumbling to ruins. Madame Aubain said that she would attend to +it, and then gave orders to have the horses saddled. + +It took another thirty minutes to reach Trouville. The little +caravan dismounted in order to pass Les Écores, a cliff that +overhangs the bay, and a few minutes later, at the end of the +dock, they entered the yard of the Golden Lamb, an inn kept by +Mother David. + +During the first few days, Virginia felt stronger, owing to the +change of air and the action of the sea-baths. She took them in +her little chemise, as she had no bathing suit, and afterwards her +nurse dressed her in the cabin of a customs officer, which was +used for that purpose by other bathers. + +In the afternoon, they would take the donkey and go to the +Roches-Noires, near Hennequeville. The path led at first through +undulating grounds, and thence to a plateau, where pastures and +tilled fields alternated. At the edge of the road, mingling with +the brambles, grew holly bushes, and here and there stood large +dead trees whose branches traced zigzags upon the blue sky. + +Ordinarily, they rested in a field facing the ocean, with +Deauville on their left, and Havre on their right. The sea +glittered brightly in the sun and was as smooth as a mirror, and +so calm that they could scarcely distinguish its murmur; sparrows +chirped joyfully and the immense canopy of heaven spread over it +all. Madame Aubain brought out her sewing, and Virginia amused +herself by braiding reeds; Félicité wove lavender blossoms, while +Paul was bored and wished to go home. + +Sometimes they crossed the Toucques in a boat, and started to hunt +for seashells. The outgoing tide exposed starfish and sea-urchins, +and the children tried to catch the flakes of foam which the wind +blew away. The sleepy waves lapping the sand unfurled themselves +along the shore that extended as far as the eye could see, but +where land began, it was limited by the downs which separated it +from the "Swamp," a large meadow shaped like a hippodrome. When +they went home that way, Trouville, on the slope of a hill below, +grew larger and larger as they advanced, and, with all its houses +of unequal height, seemed to spread out before them in a sort of +giddy confusion. + +When the heat was too oppressive, they remained in their rooms. +The dazzling sunlight cast bars of light between the shutters. Not +a sound in the village, not a soul on the sidewalk. This silence +intensified the tranquillity of everything. In the distance, the +hammers of some calkers pounded the hull of a ship, and the sultry +breeze brought them an odour of tar. + +The principal diversion consisted in watching the return of the +fishing-smacks. As soon as they passed the beacons, they began to +ply to windward. The sails were lowered to one third of the masts, +and with their foresails swelled up like balloons they glided over +the waves and anchored in the middle of the harbour. Then they +crept up alongside of the dock and the sailors threw the quivering +fish over the side of the boat; a line of carts was waiting for +them, and women with white caps sprang forward to receive the +baskets and embrace their men-folk. + +One day, one of them spoke to Félicité, who, after a little while, +returned to the house gleefully. She had found one of her sisters, +and presently Nastasie Barette, wife of Léroux, made her +appearance, holding an infant in her arms, another child by the +hand, while on her left was a little cabin-boy with his hands in +his pockets and his cap on his ear. + +At the end of fifteen minutes, Madame Aubain bade her go. + +They always hung around the kitchen, or approached Félicité when +she and the children were out walking. The husband, however, did +not show himself. + +Félicité developed a great fondness for them; she bought them a +stove, some shirts and a blanket; it was evident that they +exploited her. Her foolishness annoyed Madame Aubain, who, +moreover did not like the nephew's familiarity, for he called her +son "thou";--and, as Virginia began to cough and the season was +over, she decided to return to Pont-l'Evêque. + +Monsieur Bourais assisted her in the choice of a college. The one +at Caën was considered the best. So Paul was sent away and bravely +said good-bye to them all, for he was glad to go to live in a +house where he would have boy companions. + +Madame Aubain resigned herself to the separation from her son +because it was unavoidable. Virginia brooded less and less over +it. Félicité regretted the noise he made, but soon a new +occupation diverted her mind; beginning from Christmas, she +accompanied the little girl to her catechism lesson every day. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DEATH + + +After she had made a curtsey at the threshold, she would walk up +the aisle between the double lines of chairs, open Madame Aubain's +pew, sit down and look around. + +Girls and boys, the former on the right, the latter on the +left-hand side of the church, filled the stalls of the choir; the +priest stood beside the reading-desk; on one stained window of the +side-aisle the Holy Ghost hovered over the Virgin; on another one, +Mary knelt before the Child Jesus, and behind the altar, a wooden +group represented Saint Michael felling the dragon. + +The priest first read a condensed lesson of sacred history. +Félicité evoked Paradise, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, the +blazing cities, the dying nations, the shattered idols; and out of +this she developed a great respect for the Almighty and a great +fear of His wrath. Then, when she listened to the Passion, she +wept. Why had they crucified Him who loved little children, +nourished the people, made the blind see, and who, out of +humility, had wished to be born among the poor, in a stable? The +sowings, the harvests, the wine-presses, all those familiar things +which the Scriptures mention, formed a part of her life; the word +of God sanctified them; and she loved the lambs with increased +tenderness for the sake of the Lamb, and the doves because of the +Holy Ghost. + +She found it hard, however, to think of the latter as a person, +for was it not a bird, a flame, and sometimes only a breath? +Perhaps it is its light that at night hovers over swamps, its +breath that propels the clouds, its voice that renders church-bells +harmonious. And Félicité worshipped devoutly, while enjoying the +coolness and the stillness of the church. + +As for the dogma, she could not understand it and did not even +try. The priest discoursed, the children recited, and she went to +sleep, only to awaken with a start when they were leaving the +church and their wooden shoes clattered on the stone pavement. + +In this way, she learned her catechism, her religious education +having been neglected in her youth; and thenceforth she imitated +all Virginia's religious practises, fasted when she did, and went +to confession with her. At the Corpus-Christi Day they both +decorated an altar. + +She worried in advance over Virginia's first communion. She fussed +about the shoes, the rosary, the book and the gloves. With what +nervousness she helped the mother dress the child! + +During the entire ceremony, she felt anguished. Monsieur Bourais +hid part of the choir from view, but directly in front of her, the +flock of maidens, wearing white wreaths over their lowered veils, +formed a snow-white field, and she recognised her darling by the +slenderness of her neck and her devout attitude. The bell tinkled. +All the heads bent and there was a silence. Then, at the peals of +the organ the singers and the worshippers struck up the Agnus Dei; +the boys' procession began; behind them came the girls. With +clasped hands, they advanced step by step to the lighted altar, +knelt at the first step, received one by one the Host, and +returned to their seats in the same order. When Virginia's turn +came, Félicité leaned forward to watch her, and through that +imagination which springs from true affection, she at once became +the child, whose face and dress became hers, whose heart beat in +her bosom, and when Virginia opened her mouth and closed her lids, +she did likewise and came very near fainting. + +The following day, she presented herself early at the church so as +to receive communion from the curé. She took it with the proper +feeling, but did not experience the same delight as on the +previous day. + +Madame Aubain wished to make an accomplished girl of her daughter; +and as Guyot could not teach English nor music, she decided to +send her to the Ursulines at Honfleur. + +The child made no objection, but Félicité sighed and thought +Madame was heartless. Then, she thought that perhaps her mistress +was right, as these things were beyond her sphere. Finally, one +day, an old _fiacre_ stopped in front of the door and a nun +stepped out. Félicité put Virginia's luggage on top of the +carriage, gave the coachman some instructions, and smuggled six +jars of jam, a dozen pears and a bunch of violets under the seat. + +At the last minute, Virginia had a fit of sobbing; she embraced +her mother again and again, while the latter kissed her on her +forehead, and said: "Now, be brave, be brave!" The step was pulled +up and the _fiacre_ rumbled off. + +Then Madame Aubain had a fainting spell, and that evening all her +friends, including the two Lormeaus, Madame Lechaptois, the ladies +Rochefeuille, Messieurs de Houppeville and Bourais, called on her +and tendered their sympathy. + +At first the separation proved very painful to her. But her +daughter wrote her three times a week and the other days she, +herself, wrote to Virginia. Then she walked in the garden, read a +little, and in this way managed to fill out the emptiness of the +hours. + +Each morning, out of habit, Félicité entered Virginia's room and +gazed at the walls. She missed combing her hair, lacing her shoes, +tucking her in her bed, and the bright face and little hand when +they used to go out for a walk. In order to occupy herself she +tried to make lace. But her clumsy fingers broke the threads; she +had no heart for anything, lost her sleep and "wasted away," as +she put it. + +In order to have some distraction, she asked leave to receive the +visits of her nephew Victor. + +He would come on Sunday, after church, with ruddy cheeks and bared +chest, bringing with him the scent of the country. She would set +the table and they would sit down opposite each other, and eat +their dinner; she ate as little as possible, herself, to avoid any +extra expense, but would stuff him so with food that he would +finally go to sleep. At the first stroke of vespers, she would +wake him up, brush his trousers, tie his cravat and walk to church +with him, leaning on his arm with maternal pride. + +His parents always told him to get something out of her, either a +package of brown sugar, or soap, or brandy, and sometimes even +money. He brought her his clothes to mend, and she accepted the +task gladly, because it meant another visit from him. + +In August, his father took him on a coasting-vessel. + +It was vacation time and the arrival of the children consoled +Félicité. But Paul was capricious, and Virginia was growing too +old to be thee-and-thou'd, a fact which seemed to produce a sort +of embarrassment in their relations. + +Victor went successively to Morlaix, to Dunkirk, and to Brighton; +whenever he returned from a trip he would bring her a present. The +first time it was a box of shells; the second, a coffee-cup; the +third, a big doll of ginger-bread. He was growing handsome, had a +good figure, a tiny moustache, kind eyes, and a little leather cap +that sat jauntily on the back of his head. He amused his aunt by +telling her stories mingled with nautical expressions. + +One Monday, the 14th of July, 1819 (she never forgot the date), +Victor announced that he had been engaged on merchant-vessel and +that in two days he would take the steamer at Honfleur and join +his sailer, which was going to start from Havre very soon. Perhaps +he might be away two years. + +The prospect of his departure filled Félicité with despair, and in +order to bid him farewell, on Wednesday night, after Madame's +dinner, she put on her pattens and trudged the four miles that +separated Pont-l'Evêque from Honfleur. + +When she reached the Calvary, instead of turning to the right, she +turned to the left and lost herself in coal-yards; she had to +retrace her steps; some people she spoke to advised her to hasten. +She walked helplessly around the harbour filled with vessels, and +knocked against hawsers. Presently the ground sloped abruptly, +lights flittered to and fro, and she thought all at once that she +had gone mad when she saw some horses in the sky. + +Others, on the edge of the dock, neighed at the sight of the +ocean. A derrick pulled them up in the air and dumped them into a +boat, where passengers were bustling about among barrels of cider, +baskets of cheese and bags of meal; chickens cackled, the captain +swore and a cabin-boy rested on the railing, apparently +indifferent to his surroundings. Félicité, who did not recognise +him, kept shouting: "Victor!" He suddenly raised his eyes, but +while she was preparing to rush up to him, they withdrew the +gangplank. + +The packet, towed by singing women, glided out of the harbour. Her +hull squeaked and the heavy waves beat up against her sides. The +sail had turned and nobody was visible;--and on the ocean, +silvered by the light of the moon, the vessel formed a black spot +that grew dimmer and dimmer, and finally disappeared. + +When Félicité passed the Calvary again, she felt as if she must +entrust that which was dearest to her to the Lord; and for a long +while she prayed, with uplifted eyes and a face wet with tears. +The city was sleeping; some customs officials were taking the air; +and the water kept pouring through the holes of the dam with a +deafening roar. The town clock struck two. + +The parlour of the convent would not open until morning, and +surely a delay would annoy Madame; so, in spite of her desire to +see the other child, she went home. The maids of the inn were just +arising when she reached Pont-l'Evêque. + +So the poor boy would be on the ocean for months! His previous +trips had not alarmed her. One can come back from England and +Brittany; but America, the colonies, the islands, were all lost in +an uncertain region at the very end of the world. + +From that time on, Félicité thought solely of her nephew. On warm +days she feared he would suffer from thirst, and when it stormed, +she was afraid he would be struck by lightning. When she harkened +to the wind that rattled in the chimney and dislodged the tiles on +the roof, she imagined that he was being buffeted by the same +storm, perched on top of a shattered mast, with his whole body +bent backward and covered with sea-foam; or,--these were +recollections of the engraved geography--he was being devoured by +savages, or captured in a forest by apes, or dying on some lonely +coast. She never mentioned her anxieties, however. + +Madame Aubain worried about her daughter. + +The sisters thought that Virginia was affectionate but delicate. +The slightest emotion enervated her. She had to give up her piano +lessons. Her mother insisted upon regular letters from the +convent. One morning, when the postman failed to come, she grew +impatient and began to pace to and fro, from her chair to the +window. It was really extraordinary! No news since four days! + +In order to console her mistress by her own example, Félicité +said: + +"Why, Madame, I haven't had any news since six months!"-- + +"From whom?"-- + +The servant replied gently: + +"Why--from my nephew." + +"Oh, yes, your nephew!" And shrugging her shoulders, Madame Aubain +continued to pace the floor as if to say: "I did not think of +it.--Besides, I do not care, a cabin-boy, a pauper!--but my +daughter--what a difference! just think of it!--" + +Félicité, although she had been reared roughly, was very +indignant. Then she forgot about it. + +It appeared quite natural to her that one should lose one's head +about Virginia. + +The two children were of equal importance; they were united in her +heart and their fate was to be the same. + +The chemist informed her that Victor's vessel had reached Havana. +He had read the information in a newspaper. + +Félicité imagined that Havana was a place where people did nothing +but smoke, and that Victor walked around among negroes in a cloud +of tobacco. Could a person, in case of need, return by land? How +far was it from Pont-l'Evêque? In order to learn these things she +questioned Monsieur Bourais. He reached for his map and began some +explanations concerning longitudes, and smiled with superiority at +Félicité's bewilderment. At last, he took his pencil and pointed +out an imperceptible black point in the scallops of an oval +blotch, adding: "There it is." She bent over the map; the maze of +coloured lines hurt her eyes without enlightening her; and when +Bourais asked her what puzzled her, she requested him to show her +the house Victor lived in. Bourais threw up his hands, sneezed, +and then laughed uproariously; such ignorance delighted his soul; +but Félicité failed to understand the cause of his mirth, she +whose intelligence was so limited that she perhaps expected to see +even the picture of her nephew! + +It was two weeks later that Liébard came into the kitchen at +market-time, and handed her a letter from her brother-in-law. As +neither of them could read, she called upon her mistress. + +Madame Aubain, who was counting the stitches of her knitting, laid +her work down beside her, opened the letter, started, and in a low +tone and with a searching look said: "They tell you of a--misfortune. +Your nephew--." + +He had died. The letter told nothing more. + +Félicité dropped on a chair, leaned her head against the back and +closed her lids; presently they grew pink. Then, with drooping +head, inert hands and staring eyes she repeated at intervals: + +"Poor little chap! poor little chap!" + +Liébard watched her and sighed. Madame Aubain was trembling. + +She proposed to the girl to go see her sister in Trouville. + +With a single motion, Félicité replied that it was not necessary. + +There was a silence. Old Liébard thought it about time for him to +take leave. + +Then Félicité uttered: + +"They have no sympathy, they do not care!" + +Her head fell forward again, and from time to time, mechanically, +she toyed with the long knitting-needles on the work-table. + +Some women passed through the yard with a basket of wet clothes. + +When she saw them through the window, she suddenly remembered her +own wash; as she had soaked it the day before, she must go and +rinse it now. So she arose and left the room. + +Her tub and her board were on the bank of the Toucques. She threw +a heap of clothes on the ground, rolled up her sleeves and grasped +her bat; and her loud pounding could be heard in the neighbouring +gardens. The meadows were empty, the breeze wrinkled the stream, +at the bottom of which were long grasses that looked like the hair +of corpses floating in the water. She restrained her sorrow and +was very brave until night; but, when she had gone to her own +room, she gave way to it, burying her face in the pillow and +pressing her two fists against her temples. + +A long while afterward, she learned through Victor's captain, the +circumstances which surrounded his death. At the hospital they had +bled him too much, treating him for yellow fever. Four doctors +held him at one time. He died almost instantly, and the chief +surgeon had said: + +"Here goes another one!" + +His parents had always treated him barbarously; she preferred not +to see them again, and they made no advances, either from +forgetfulness or out of innate hardness. + +Virginia was growing weaker. + +A cough, continual fever, oppressive breathing and spots on her +cheeks indicated some serious trouble. Monsieur Poupart had +advised a sojourn in Provence. Madame Aubain decided that they +would go, and she would have had her daughter come home at once, +had it not been for the climate of Pont-l'Evêque. + +She made an arrangement with a livery-stable man who drove her +over to the convent every Tuesday. In the garden there was a +terrace, from which the view extends to the Seine. Virginia walked +in it, leaning on her mother's arm and treading the dead vine +leaves. Sometimes the sun, shining through the clouds, made her +blink her lids, when she gazed at the sails in the distance, and +let her eyes roam over the horizon from the chateau of Tancarville +to the lighthouses of Havre. Then they rested in the arbour. Her +mother had bought a little cask of fine Malaga wine, and Virginia, +laughing at the idea of becoming intoxicated, would drink a few +drops of it, but never more. + +Her strength returned. Autumn passed. Félicité began to reassure +Madame Aubain. But, one evening, when she returned home after an +errand, she met M. Boupart's coach in front of the door; M. +Boupart himself was standing in the vestibule and Madame Aubain +was tying the strings of her bonnet. "Give me my foot-warmer, my +purse and my gloves; and be quick about it," she said. + +Virginia had congestion of the lungs; perhaps it was desperate. + +"Not yet," said the physician, and both got into the carriage, +while the snow fell in thick flakes. It was almost night and very +cold. + +Félicité rushed to the church to light a candle. Then she ran +after the coach which she overtook after an hour's chase, sprang +up behind and held on to the straps. But suddenly a thought +crossed her mind: "The yard had been left open; supposing that +burglars got in!" And down she jumped. + +The next morning, at daybreak, she called at the doctor's. He had +been home, but had left again. Then she waited at the inn, +thinking that strangers might bring her a letter. At last, at +daylight she took the diligence for Lisieux. + +The convent was at the end of a steep and narrow street. When she +arrived about at the middle of it, she heard strange noises, a +funeral knell. "It must be for some one else," thought she; and +she pulled the knocker violently. + +After several minutes had elapsed, she heard footsteps, the door +was half opened and a nun appeared. The good sister, with an air +of compunction, told her that "she had just passed away." And at +the same time the tolling of Saint-Léonard's increased. + +Félicité reached the second floor. Already at the threshold, she +caught sight of Virginia lying on her back, with clasped hands, +her mouth open and her head thrown back, beneath a black crucifix +inclined toward her, and stiff curtains which were less white than +her face. Madame Aubain lay at the foot of the couch, clasping it +with her arms and uttering groans of agony. The Mother Superior +was standing on the right side of the bed. The three candles on +the bureau made red blurs, and the windows were dimmed by the fog +outside. The nuns carried Madame Aubain from the room. + +For two nights, Félicité never left the corpse. She would repeat +the same prayers, sprinkle holy water over the sheets, get up, +come back to the bed and contemplate the body. At the end of the +first vigil, she noticed that the face had taken on a yellow +tinge, the lips grew blue, the nose grew pinched, the eyes were +sunken. She kissed them several times and would not have been +greatly astonished had Virginia opened them; to souls like these +the supernatural is always quite simple. She washed her, wrapped +her in a shroud, put her into the casket, laid a wreath of flowers +on her head and arranged her curls. They were blond and of an +extraordinary length for her age. Félicité cut off a big lock and +put half of it into her bosom, resolving never to part with it. + +The body was taken to Pont-l'Evêque, according to Madame Aubain's +wishes; she followed the hearse in a closed carriage. + +After the ceremony it took three quarters of an hour to reach the +cemetery. Paul, sobbing, headed the procession; Monsieur Bourais +followed, and then came the principal inhabitants of the town, the +women covered with black capes, and Félicité. The memory of her +nephew, and the thought that she had not been able to render him +these honours, made her doubly unhappy, and she felt as if he were +being buried with Virginia. + +Madame Aubain's grief was uncontrollable. At first she rebelled +against God, thinking that he was unjust to have taken away her +child--she who had never done anything wrong, and whose conscience +was so pure! But no! she ought to have taken her South. Other +doctors would have saved her. She accused herself, prayed to be +able to join her child, and cried in the midst of her dreams. Of +the latter, one more especially haunted her. Her husband, dressed +like a sailor, had come back from a long voyage, and with tears in +his eyes told her that he had received the order to take Virginia +away. Then they both consulted about a hiding-place. + +Once she came in from the garden, all upset. A moment before (and +she showed the place), the father and daughter had appeared to +her, one after the other; they did nothing but look at her. + +During several months she remained inert in her room. Félicité +scolded her gently; she must keep up for her son and also for the +other one, for "her memory." + +"Her memory!" replied Madame Aubain, as if she were just +awakening, "Oh! yes, yes, you do not forget her!" This was an +allusion to the cemetery where she had been expressly forbidden to +go. + +But Félicité went there every day. At four o'clock exactly, she +would go through the town, climb the hill, open the gate and +arrive at Virginia's tomb. It was a small column of pink marble +with a flat stone at its base, and it was surrounded by a little +plot enclosed by chains. The flower-beds were bright with +blossoms. Félicité watered their leaves, renewed the gravel, and +knelt on the ground in order to till the earth properly. When +Madame Aubain was able to visit the cemetery she felt very much +relieved and consoled. + +Years passed, all alike and marked by no other events than the +return of the great church holidays: Easter, Assumption, All +Saints' Day. Household happenings constituted the only data to +which in later years they often referred. Thus, in 1825, workmen +painted the vestibule; in 1827, a portion of the roof almost +killed a man by falling into the yard. In the summer of 1828, it +was Madame's turn to offer the hallowed bread; at that time, +Bourais disappeared mysteriously; and the old acquaintances, +Guyot, Liébard, Madame Lechaptois, Robelin, old Grémanville, +paralysed since a long time, passed away one by one. One night, +the driver of the mail in Pont-l'Evêque announced the Revolution +of July. A few days afterward a new sub-prefect was nominated, the +Baron de Larsonnière, ex-consul in America, who, besides his wife, +had his sister-in-law and her three grown daughters with him. They +were often seen on their lawn, dressed in loose blouses, and they +had a parrot and a negro servant. Madame Aubain received a call, +which she returned promptly. As soon as she caught sight of them, +Félicité would run and notify her mistress. But only one thing was +capable of arousing her: a letter from her son. + +He could not follow any profession as he was absorbed in drinking. +His mother paid his debts and he made fresh ones; and the sighs +that she heaved while she knitted at the window reached the ears +of Félicité who was spinning in the kitchen. + +They walked in the garden together, always speaking of Virginia, +and asking each other if such and such a thing would have pleased +her, and what she would probably have said on this or that +occasion. + +All her little belongings were put away in a closet of the room +which held the two little beds. But Madame Aubain looked them over +as little as possible. One summer day, however, she resigned +herself to the task and when she opened the closet the moths flew +out. + +Virginia's frocks were hung under a shelf where there were three +dolls, some hoops, a doll-house, and a basin which she had used. +Félicité and Madame Aubain also took out the skirts, the +handkerchiefs, and the stockings and spread them on the beds, +before putting them away again. The sun fell on the piteous +things, disclosing their spots and the creases formed by the +motions of the body. The atmosphere was warm and blue, and a +blackbird trilled in the garden; everything seemed to live in +happiness. They found a little hat of soft brown plush, but it was +entirely moth-eaten. Félicité asked for it. Their eyes met and +filled with tears; at last the mistress opened her arms and the +servant threw herself against her breast and they hugged each +other and giving vent to their grief in a kiss which equalized +them for a moment. + +It was the first time that this had ever happened, for Madame +Aubain was not of an expansive nature. Félicité was as grateful +for it as if it had been some favour, and thenceforth loved her +with animal-like devotion and a religious veneration. + +Her kind-heartedness developed. When she heard the drums of a +marching regiment passing through the street, she would stand in +the doorway with a jug of cider and give the soldiers a drink. She +nursed cholera victims. She protected Polish refugees, and one of +them even declared that he wished to marry her. But they +quarrelled, for one morning when she returned from the Angelus she +found him in the kitchen coolly eating a dish which he had +prepared for himself during her absence. + +After the Polish refugees, came Colmiche, an old man who was +credited with having committed frightful misdeeds in '93. He lived +near the river in the ruins of a pig-sty. The urchins peeped at +him through the cracks in the walls and threw stones that fell on +his miserable bed, where he lay gasping with catarrh, with long +hair, inflamed eyelids, and a tumour as big as his head on one +arm. + +She got him some linen, tried to clean his hovel and dreamed of +installing him in the bake-house without his being in Madame's +way. When the cancer broke, she dressed it every day; sometimes +she brought him some cake and placed him in the sun on a bundle of +hay; and the poor old creature, trembling and drooling, would +thank her in his broken voice, and put out his hands whenever she +left him. Finally he died; and she had a mass said for the repose +of his soul. + +That day a great joy came to her: at dinner-time, Madame de +Larsonnière's servant called with the parrot, the cage, and the +perch and chain and lock. A note from the baroness told Madame +Aubain that as her husband had been promoted to a prefecture, they +were leaving that night, and she begged her to accept the bird as +a remembrance and a token of her esteem. + +Since a long time the parrot had been on Félicité's mind, because +he came from America, which reminded her of Victor, and she had +approached the negro on the subject. + +Once even, she had said: + +"How glad Madame would be to have him!" + +The man had repeated this remark to his mistress who, not being +able to keep the bird, took this means of getting rid of it. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE BIRD + + +He was called Loulou. His body was green, his head blue, the tips +of his wings were pink and his breast was golden. + +But he had the tiresome tricks of biting his perch, pulling his +feathers out, scattering refuse and spilling the water of his +bath. Madame Aubain grew tired of him and gave him to Félicité for +good. + +She undertook his education, and soon he was able to repeat: +"Pretty boy! Your servant, sir! I salute you, Marie!" His perch +was placed near the door and several persons were astonished that +he did not answer to the name of "Jacquot," for every parrot is +called Jacquot. They called him a goose and a log, and these +taunts were like so many dagger thrusts to Félicité. Strange +stubbornness of the bird which would not talk when people watched +him! + +Nevertheless, he sought society; for on Sunday, when the ladies +Rochefeuille, Monsieur de Houppeville and the new habitués, +Onfroy, the chemist, Monsieur Varin and Captain Mathieu, dropped +in for their game of cards, he struck the window-panes with his +wings and made such a racket that it was impossible to talk. + +Bourais' face must have appeared very funny to Loulou. As soon as +he saw him he would begin to roar. His voice re-echoed in the yard, +and the neighbours would come to the windows and begin to laugh, +too; and in order that the parrot might not see him, Monsieur +Bourais edged along the wall, pushed his hat over his eyes to hide +his profile, and entered by the garden door, and the looks he gave +the bird lacked affection. Loulou, having thrust his head into the +butcher-boy's basket, received a slap, and from that time he +always tried to nip his enemy. Fabu threatened to wring his neck, +although he was not cruelly inclined, notwithstanding his big +whiskers and tattooings. On the contrary, he rather liked the bird +and, out of deviltry, tried to teach him oaths. Félicité, whom his +manner alarmed, put Loulou in the kitchen, took off his chain and +let him walk all over the house. + +When he went downstairs, he rested his beak on the steps, lifted +his right foot and then his left one; but his mistress feared that +such feats would give him vertigo. He became ill and was unable to +eat. There was a small growth under his tongue like those chickens +are sometimes afflicted with. Félicité pulled it off with her +nails and cured him. One day, Paul was imprudent enough to blow +the smoke of his cigar in his face; another time, Madame Lormeau +was teasing him with the tip of her umbrella and he swallowed the +tip. Finally he got lost. + +She had put him on the grass to cool him and went away only for a +second; when she returned, she found no parrot! She hunted among +the bushes, on the bank of the river, and on the roofs, without +paying any attention to Madame Aubain who screamed at her: "Take +care! you must be insane!" Then she searched every garden in +Pont-l'Evêque and stopped the passers-by to inquire of them: +"Haven't you perhaps seen my parrot?" To those who had never seen +the parrot, she described him minutely. Suddenly she thought she +saw something green fluttering behind the mills at the foot of the +hill. But when she was at the top of the hill she could not see +it. A hod-carrier told her that he had just seen the bird in +Saint-Melaine, in Mother Simon's store. She rushed to the place. +The people did not know what she was talking about. At last she came +home, exhausted, with her slippers worn to shreds, and despair in +her heart. She sat down on the bench near Madame and was telling +of her search when presently a light weight dropped on her +shoulder--Loulou! What the deuce had he been doing? Perhaps he had +just taken a little walk around the town! + +She did not easily forget her scare, in fact, she never got over +it. In consequence of a cold, she caught a sore throat; and some +time afterward she had an earache. Three years later she was stone +deaf, and spoke in a very loud voice even in church. Although her +sins might have been proclaimed throughout the diocese without any +shame to herself, or ill effects to the community, the curé +thought it advisable to receive her confession in the vestry-room. + +Imaginary buzzings also added to her bewilderment. Her mistress +often said to her: "My goodness, how stupid you are!" and she +would answer: "Yes, Madame," and look for something. + +The narrow circle of her ideas grew more restricted than it +already was; the bellowing of the oxen, the chime of the bells no +longer reached her intelligence. All things moved silently, like +ghosts. Only one noise penetrated her ears: the parrot's voice. + +As if to divert her mind, he reproduced for her the tick-tack of +the spit in the kitchen, the shrill cry of the fish-vendors, the +saw of the carpenter who had a shop opposite, and when the +door-bell rang, he would imitate Madame Aubain: "Félicité! go to +the front door." + +They held conversations together, Loulou repeating the three +phrases of his repertory over and over, Félicité replying by words +that had no greater meaning, but in which she poured out her +feelings. In her isolation, the parrot was almost a son, a lover. +He climbed upon her fingers, pecked at her lips, clung to her +shawl, and when she rocked her head to and fro like a nurse, the +big wings of her cap and the wings of the bird flapped in unison. +When clouds gathered on the horizon and the thunder rumbled, +Loulou would scream, perhaps because he remembered the storms in +his native forests. The dripping of the rain would excite him to +frenzy; he flapped around, struck the ceiling with his wings, +upset everything, and would finally fly into the garden to play. +Then he would come back into the room, light on one of the +andirons, and hop around in order to get dry. + +One morning during the terrible winter of 1837, when she had put +him in front of the fire-place on account of the cold, she found +him dead in his cage, hanging to the wire bars with his head down. +He had probably died of congestion. But she believed that he had +been poisoned, and although she had no proofs whatever, her +suspicion rested on Fabu. + +She wept so sorely that her mistress said: "Why don't you have him +stuffed?" + +She asked the advice of the chemist, who had always been kind to +the bird. + +He wrote to Havre for her. A certain man named Fellacher consented +to do the work. But, as the diligence driver often lost parcels +entrusted to him, Félicité resolved to take her pet to Honfleur +herself. + +Leafless apple-trees lined the edges of the road. The ditches were +covered with ice. The dogs on the neighbouring farms barked; and +Félicité, with her hands beneath her cape, her little black sabots +and her basket, trotted along nimbly in the middle of the +sidewalk. She crossed the forest, passed by the Haut-Chêne and +reached Saint-Gatien. + +Behind her, in a cloud of dust and impelled by the steep incline, +a mail-coach drawn by galloping horses advanced like a whirlwind. +When he saw a woman in the middle of the road, who did not get out +of the way, the driver stood up in his seat and shouted to her and +so did the postilion, while the four horses, which he could not +hold back, accelerated their pace; the two leaders were almost +upon her; with a jerk of the reins he threw them to one side, but, +furious at the incident, he lifted his big whip and lashed her +from her head to her feet with such violence that she fell to the +ground unconscious. + +Her first thought, when she recovered her senses, was to open the +basket. Loulou was unharmed. She felt a sting on her right cheek; +when she took her hand away it was red, for the blood was flowing. + +She sat down on a pile of stones, and sopped her cheek with her +handkerchief; then she ate a crust of bread she had put in her +basket, and consoled herself by looking at the bird. + +Arriving at the top of Ecquemanville, she saw the lights of +Honfleur shining in the distance like so many stars; further on, +the ocean spread out in a confused mass. Then a weakness came over +her; the misery of her childhood, the disappointment of her first +love, the departure of her nephew, the death of Virginia; all +these things came back to her at once, and, rising like a swelling +tide in her throat, almost choked her. + +Then she wished to speak to the captain of the vessel, and without +stating what she was sending, she gave him some instructions. + +Fellacher kept the parrot a long time. He always promised that it +would be ready for the following week; after six months he +announced the shipment of a case, and that was the end of it. +Really, it seemed as if Loulou would never come back to his home. +"They have stolen him," thought Félicité. + +Finally he arrived, sitting bolt upright on a branch which could +be screwed into a mahogany pedestal, with his foot in the air, his +head on one side, and in his beak a nut which the naturalist, from +love of the sumptuous, had gilded. She put him in her room. + +This place, to which only a chosen few were admitted, looked like +a chapel and a second-hand shop, so filled was it with devotional +and heterogeneous things. The door could not be opened easily on +account of the presence of a large wardrobe. Opposite the window +that looked out into the garden, a bull's-eye opened on the yard; +a table was placed by the cot and held a washbasin, two combs, and +a piece of blue soap in a broken saucer. On the walls were +rosaries, medals, a number of Holy Virgins, and a holy-water basin +made out of a cocoanut; on the bureau, which was covered with a +napkin like an altar, stood the box of shells that Victor had +given her; also a watering-can and a balloon, writing-books, the +engraved geography and a pair of shoes; on the nail which held the +mirror, hung Virginia's little plush hat! Félicité carried this +sort of respect so far that she even kept one of Monsieur's old +coats. All the things which Madame Aubain discarded, Félicité +begged for her own room. Thus, she had artificial flowers on the +edge of the bureau, and the picture of the Comte d'Artois in the +recess of the window. By means of a board, Loulou was set on a +portion of the chimney which advanced into the room. Every morning +when she awoke, she saw him in the dim light of dawn and recalled +bygone days and the smallest details of insignificant actions, +without any sense of bitterness or grief. + +As she was unable to communicate with people, she lived in a sort +of somnambulistic torpor. The processions of Corpus-Christi Day +seemed to wake her up. She visited the neighbours to beg for +candlesticks and mats so as to adorn the temporary altars in the +street. + +In church, she always gazed at the Holy Ghost, and noticed that +there was something about it that resembled a parrot. The likeness +appeared even more striking on a coloured picture by Espinal, +representing the baptism of our Saviour. With his scarlet wings +and emerald body, it was really the image of Loulou. Having bought +the picture, she hung it near the one of the Comte d'Artois so +that she could take them in at one glance. + +They associated in her mind, the parrot becoming sanctified +through the neighbourhood of the Holy Ghost, and the latter +becoming more lifelike in her eyes, and more comprehensible. In +all probability the Father had never chosen as messenger a dove, +as the latter has no voice, but rather one of Loulou's ancestors. +And Félicité said her prayers in front of the coloured picture, +though from time to time she turned slightly toward the bird. + +She desired very much to enter in the ranks of the "Daughters of +the Virgin." But Madame Aubain dissuaded her from it. + +A most important event occurred: Paul's marriage. + +After being first a notary's clerk, then in business, then in the +customs, and a tax collector, and having even applied for a +position in the administration of woods and forests, he had at +last, when he was thirty-six years old, by a divine inspiration, +found his vocation: registrature! and he displayed such a high +ability that an inspector had offered him his daughter and his +influence. + +Paul, who had become quite settled, brought his bride to visit his +mother. + +But she looked down upon the customs of Pont-l'Evêque, put on +airs, and hurt Félicité's feelings. Madame Aubain felt relieved +when she left. + +The following week they learned of Monsieur Bourais' death in an +inn. There were rumours of suicide, which were confirmed; doubts +concerning his integrity arose. Madame Aubain looked over her +accounts and soon discovered his numerous embezzlements; sales of +wood which had been concealed from her, false receipts, etc. +Furthermore, he had an illegitimate child, and entertained a +friendship for "a person in Dozulé." + +These base actions affected her very much. In March, 1853, she +developed a pain in her chest; her tongue looked as if it were +coated with smoke, and the leeches they applied did not relieve +her oppression; and on the ninth evening she died, being just +seventy-two years old. + +People thought that she was younger, because her hair, which she +wore in bands framing her pale face, was brown. Few friends +regretted her loss, for her manner was so haughty that she did not +attract them. Félicité mourned for her as servants seldom mourn +for their masters. The fact that Madame should die before herself +perplexed her mind and seemed contrary to the order of things, and +absolutely monstrous and inadmissible. Ten days later (the time to +journey from Besançon), the heirs arrived. Her daughter-in-law +ransacked the drawers, kept some of the furniture, and sold the +rest; then they went back to their own home. + +Madame's armchair, foot-warmer, work-table, the eight chairs, +everything was gone! The places occupied by the pictures formed +yellow squares on the walls. They had taken the two little beds, +and the wardrobe had been emptied of Virginia's belongings! +Félicité went upstairs, overcome with grief. + +The following day a sign was posted on the door; the chemist +screamed in her ear that the house was for sale. + +For a moment she tottered, and had to sit down. + +What hurt her most was to give up her room,--so nice for poor +Loulou! She looked at him in despair and implored the Holy Ghost, +and it was this way that she contracted the idolatrous habit of +saying her prayers kneeling in front of the bird. Sometimes the +sun fell through the window on his glass eye, and lighted a great +spark in it which sent Félicité into ecstasy. + +Her mistress had left her an income of three hundred and eighty +francs. The garden supplied her with vegetables. As for clothes, +she had enough to last her till the end of her days, and she +economised on the light by going to bed at dusk. + +She rarely went out, in order to avoid passing in front of the +second-hand dealer's shop where there was some of the old +furniture. Since her fainting spell, she dragged her leg, and as +her strength was failing rapidly, old Mother Simon, who had lost +her money in the grocery business, came every morning to chop the +wood and pump the water. + +Her eyesight grew dim. She did not open the shutters after that. +Many years passed. But the house did not sell or rent. Fearing +that she would be put out, Félicité did not ask for repairs. The +laths of the roof were rotting away, and during one whole winter +her bolster was wet. After Easter she spit blood. + +Then Mother Simon went for a doctor. Félicité wished to know what +her complaint was. But, being too deaf to hear, she caught only +one word: "Pneumonia." She was familiar with it and gently +answered:--"Ah! like Madame," thinking it quite natural that she +should follow her mistress. + +The time for the altars in the street drew near. + +The first one was always erected at the foot of the hill, the +second in front of the post-office, and the third in the middle of +the street. This position occasioned some rivalry among the women +and they finally decided upon Madame Aubain's yard. + +Félicité's fever grew worse. She was sorry that she could not do +anything for the altar. If she could, at least, have contributed +something toward it! Then she thought of the parrot. Her +neighbours objected that it would not be proper. But the curé gave +his consent and she was so grateful for it that she begged him to +accept after her death, her only treasure, Loulou. From Tuesday +until Saturday, the day before the event, she coughed more +frequently. In the evening her face was contracted, her lips stuck +to her gums and she began to vomit; and on the following day, she +felt so low that she called for a priest. + +Three neighbours surrounded her when the dominie administered the +Extreme Unction. Afterwards she said that she wished to speak to +Fabu. + +He arrived in his Sunday clothes, very ill at ease among the +funereal surroundings. + +"Forgive me," she said, making an effort to extend her arm, "I +believed it was you who killed him!" + +What did such accusations mean? Suspect a man like him of murder! +And Fabu became excited and was about to make trouble. + +"Don't you see she is not in her right mind?" + +From time to time Félicité spoke to shadows. The women left her +and Mother Simon sat down to breakfast. + +A little later, she took Loulou and holding him up to Félicité: + +"Say good-bye to him, now!" she commanded. + +Although he was not a corpse, he was eaten up by worms; one of his +wings was broken and the wadding was coming out of his body. But +Félicité was blind now, and she took him and laid him against her +cheek. Then Mother Simon removed him in order to set him on the +altar. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE VISION + + +The grass exhaled an odour of summer; flies buzzed in the air, the +sun shone on the river and warmed the slated roof. Old Mother +Simon had returned to Félicité and was peacefully falling asleep. + +The ringing of bells woke her; the people were coming out of +church. Félicité's delirium subsided. By thinking of the +procession, she was able to see it as if she had taken part in it. +All the school-children, the singers and the firemen walked on the +sidewalks, while in the middle of the street came first the +custodian of the church with his halberd, then the beadle with a +large cross, the teacher in charge of the boys and a sister +escorting the little girls; three of the smallest ones, with curly +heads, threw rose leaves into the air; the deacon with outstretched +arms conducted the music; and two incense-bearers turned with each +step they took toward the Holy Sacrament, which was carried by +M. le Curé, attired in his handsome chasuble and walking under a +canopy of red velvet supported by four men. A crowd of people +followed, jammed between the walls of the houses hung with white +sheets; at last the procession arrived at the foot of the hill. + +A cold sweat broke out on Félicité's forehead. Mother Simon wiped +it away with a cloth, saying inwardly that some day she would have +to go through the same thing herself. + +The murmur of the crowd grew louder, was very distinct for a +moment and then died away. A volley of musketry shook the +window-panes. It was the postilions saluting the Sacrament. + +Félicité rolled her eyes and said as loudly as she could: + +"Is he all right?" meaning the parrot. + +Her death agony began. A rattle that grew more and more rapid +shook her body. Froth appeared at the corners of her mouth, and +her whole frame trembled. In a little while could be heard the +music of the bass horns, the clear voices of the children and the +men's deeper notes. At intervals all was still, and their shoes +sounded like a herd of cattle passing over the grass. + +The clergy appeared in the yard. Mother Simon climbed on a chair +to reach the bull's-eye, and in this manner could see the altar. +It was covered with a lace cloth and draped with green wreaths. In +the middle stood a little frame containing relics; at the corners +were two little orange-trees, and all along the edge were silver +candlesticks, porcelain vases containing sun-flowers, lilies, +peonies, and tufts of hydrangeas. This mound of bright colours +descended diagonally from the first floor to the carpet that +covered the sidewalk. Rare objects arrested one's eye. A golden +sugar-bowl was crowned with violets, earrings set with Alençon +stones were displayed on green moss, and two Chinese screens with +their bright landscapes were near by. Loulou, hidden beneath +roses, showed nothing but his blue head which looked like a piece +of lapis-lazuli. + +The singers, the canopy-bearers and the children lined up against +the sides of the yard. Slowly the priest ascended the steps and +placed his shining sun on the lace cloth. Everybody knelt. There +was deep silence; and the censers slipping on their chains were +swung high in the air. A blue vapour rose in Félicité's room. She +opened her nostrils and inhaled it with a mystic sensuousness; +then she closed her lids. Her lips smiled. The beats of her heart +grew fainter and fainter, and vaguer, like a fountain giving out, +like an echo dying away;--and when she exhaled her last breath, +she thought she saw in the half-opened heavens a gigantic parrot +hovering above her head. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three short works, by Gustave Flaubert + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10458 *** |