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diff --git a/1189-h/1189-h.htm b/1189-h/1189-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d4e4fa --- /dev/null +++ b/1189-h/1189-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,675 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Message, by Honore de Balzac + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1189 ***</div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE MESSAGE + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Honore De Balzac + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + Translated by Ellen Marriage + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + To M. le Marquis Damaso Pareto + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE MESSAGE + </h1> + <p> + I have always longed to tell a simple and true story, which should strike + terror into two young lovers, and drive them to take refuge each in the + other's heart, as two children cling together at the sight of a snake by a + woodside. At the risk of spoiling my story and of being taken for a + coxcomb, I state my intention at the outset. + </p> + <p> + I myself played a part in this almost commonplace tragedy; so if it fails + to interest you, the failure will be in part my own fault, in part owing + to historical veracity. Plenty of things in real life are superlatively + uninteresting; so that it is one-half of art to select from realities + those which contain possibilities of poetry. + </p> + <p> + In 1819 I was traveling from Paris to Moulins. The state of my finances + obliged me to take an outside place. Englishmen, as you know, regard those + airy perches on the top of the coach as the best seats; and for the first + few miles I discovered abundance of excellent reasons for justifying the + opinion of our neighbors. A young fellow, apparently in somewhat better + circumstances, who came to take the seat beside me from preference, + listened to my reasoning with inoffensive smiles. An approximate nearness + of age, a similarity in ways of thinking, a common love of fresh air, and + of the rich landscape scenery through which the coach was lumbering along,—these + things, together with an indescribable magnetic something, drew us before + long into one of those short-lived traveller's intimacies, in which we + unbend with the more complacency because the intercourse is by its very + nature transient, and makes no implicit demands upon the future. + </p> + <p> + We had not come thirty leagues before we were talking of women and love. + Then, with all the circumspection demanded in such matters, we proceeded + naturally to the topic of our lady-loves. Young as we both were, we still + admired "the woman of a certain age," that is to say, the woman between + thirty-five and forty. Oh! any poet who should have listened to our talk, + for heaven knows how many stages beyond Montargis, would have reaped a + harvest of flaming epithet, rapturous description, and very tender + confidences. Our bashful fears, our silent interjections, our blushes, as + we met each other's eyes, were expressive with an eloquence, a boyish + charm, which I have ceased to feel. One must remain young, no doubt, to + understand youth. + </p> + <p> + Well, we understood one another to admiration on all the essential points + of passion. We had laid it down as an axiom at the very outset, that in + theory and practice there was no such piece of driveling nonsense in this + world as a certificate of birth; that plenty of women were younger at + forty than many a girl of twenty; and, to come to the point, that a woman + is no older than she looks. + </p> + <p> + This theory set no limits to the age of love, so we struck out, in all + good faith, into a boundless sea. At length, when we had portrayed our + mistresses as young, charming, and devoted to us, women of rank, women of + taste, intellectual and clever; when we had endowed them with little feet, + a satin, nay, a delicately fragrant skin, then came the admission—on + his part that Madame Such-an-one was thirty-eight years old, and on mine + that I worshiped a woman of forty. Whereupon, as if released on either + side from some kind of vague fear, our confidences came thick and fast, + when we found that we were in the same confraternity of love. It was which + of us should overtop the other in sentiment. + </p> + <p> + One of us had traveled six hundred miles to see his mistress for an hour. + The other, at the risk of being shot for a wolf, had prowled about her + park to meet her one night. Out came all our follies in fact. If it is + pleasant to remember past dangers, is it not at least as pleasant to + recall past delights? We live through the joy a second time. We told each + other everything, our perils, our great joys, our little pleasures, and + even the humors of the situation. My friend's countess had lighted a cigar + for him; mine made chocolate for me, and wrote to me every day when we did + not meet; his lady had come to spend three days with him at the risk of + ruin to her reputation; mine had done even better, or worse, if you will + have it so. Our countesses, moreover, were adored by their husbands; these + gentlemen were enslaved by the charm possessed by every woman who loves; + and, with even supererogatory simplicity, afforded us that just sufficient + spice of danger which increases pleasure. Ah! how quickly the wind swept + away our talk and our happy laughter! + </p> + <p> + When we reached Pouilly, I scanned my new friend with much interest, and + truly, it was not difficult to imagine him the hero of a very serious love + affair. Picture to yourselves a young man of middle height, but very well + proportioned, a bright, expressive face, dark hair, blue eyes, moist lips, + and white and even teeth. A certain not unbecoming pallor still overspread + his delicately cut features, and there were faint dark circles about his + eyes, as if he were recovering from an illness. Add, furthermore, that he + had white and shapely hands, of which he was as careful as a pretty woman + should be; add that he seemed to be very well informed, and was decidedly + clever, and it should not be difficult for you to imagine that my + traveling companion was more than worthy of a countess. Indeed, many a + girl might have wished for such a husband, for he was a Vicomte with an + income of twelve or fifteen thousand livres, "to say nothing of + expectations." + </p> + <p> + About a league out of Pouilly the coach was overturned. My luckless + comrade, thinking to save himself, jumped to the edge of a newly-ploughed + field, instead of following the fortunes of the vehicle and clinging + tightly to the roof, as I did. He either miscalculated in some way, or he + slipped; how it happened, I do not know, but the coach fell over upon him, + and he was crushed under it. + </p> + <p> + We carried him into a peasant's cottage, and there, amid the moans wrung + from him by horrible sufferings, he contrived to give me a commission—a + sacred task, in that it was laid upon me by a dying man's last wish. Poor + boy, all through his agony he was torturing himself in his young + simplicity of heart with the thought of the painful shock to his mistress + when she should suddenly read of his death in a newspaper. He begged me to + go myself to break the news to her. He bade me look for a key which he + wore on a ribbon about his neck. I found it half buried in the flesh, but + the dying boy did not utter a sound as I extricated it as gently as + possible from the wound which it had made. He had scarcely given me the + necessary directions—I was to go to his home at La Charite-sur-Loire + for his mistress' love-letters, which he conjured me to return to her—when + he grew speechless in the middle of a sentence; but from his last gesture, + I understood that the fatal key would be my passport in his mother's + house. It troubled him that he was powerless to utter a single word to + thank me, for of my wish to serve him he had no doubt. He looked wistfully + at me for a moment, then his eyelids drooped in token of farewell, and his + head sank, and he died. His death was the only fatal accident caused by + the overturn. + </p> + <p> + "But it was partly his own fault," the coachman said to me. + </p> + <p> + At La Charite, I executed the poor fellow's dying wishes. His mother was + away from home, which in a manner was fortunate for me. Nevertheless, I + had to assuage the grief of an old woman-servant, who staggered back at + the tidings of her young master's death, and sank half-dead into a chair + when she saw the blood-stained key. But I had another and more dreadful + sorrow to think of, the sorrow of a woman who had lost her last love; so I + left the old woman to her prosopopeia, and carried off the precious + correspondence, carefully sealed by my friend of the day. + </p> + <p> + The Countess' chateau was some eight leagues beyond Moulins, and then + there was some distance to walk across country. So it was not exactly an + easy matter to deliver my message. For divers reasons into which I need + not enter, I had barely sufficient money to take me to Moulins. However, + my youthful enthusiasm determined to hasten thither on foot as fast as + possible. Bad news travels swiftly, and I wished to be first at the + chateau. I asked for the shortest way, and hurried through the field paths + of the Bourbonnais, bearing, as it were, a dead man on my back. The nearer + I came to the Chateau de Montpersan, the more aghast I felt at the idea of + my strange self-imposed pilgrimage. Vast numbers of romantic fancies ran + in my head. I imagined all kinds of situations in which I might find this + Comtesse de Montpersan, or, to observe the laws of romance, this <i>Juliette</i>, + so passionately beloved of my traveling companion. I sketched out + ingenious answers to the questions which she might be supposed to put to + me. At every turn of a wood, in every beaten pathway, I rehearsed a modern + version of the scene in which Sosie describes the battle to his lantern. + To my shame be it said, I had thought at first of nothing but the part + that <i>I</i> was to play, of my own cleverness, of how I should demean + myself; but now that I was in the country, an ominous thought flashed + through my soul like a thunderbolt tearing its way through a veil of gray + cloud. + </p> + <p> + What an awful piece of news it was for a woman whose whole thoughts were + full of her young lover, who was looking forward hour by hour to a joy + which no words can express, a woman who had been at a world of pains to + invent plausible pretexts to draw him to her side. Yet, after all, it was + a cruel deed of charity to be the messenger of death! So I hurried on, + splashing and bemiring myself in the byways of the Bourbonnais. + </p> + <p> + Before very long I reached a great chestnut avenue with a pile of + buildings at the further end—the Chateau of Montpersan stood out + against the sky like a mass of brown cloud, with sharp, fantastic + outlines. All the doors of the chateau stood open. This in itself + disconcerted me, and routed all my plans; but I went in boldly, and in a + moment found myself between a couple of dogs, barking as your true + country-bred animal can bark. The sound brought out a hurrying + servant-maid; who, when informed that I wished to speak to Mme. la + Comtesse, waved a hand towards the masses of trees in the English park + which wound about the chateau with "Madame is out there——" + </p> + <p> + "Many thanks," said I ironically. I might have wandered for a couple of + hours in the park with her "out there" to guide me. + </p> + <p> + In the meantime, a pretty little girl, with curling hair, dressed in a + white frock, a rose-colored sash, and a broad frill at the throat, had + overheard or guessed the question and its answer. She gave me a glance and + vanished, calling in shrill, childish tones: + </p> + <p> + "Mother, here is a gentleman who wishes to speak to you!" + </p> + <p> + And, along the winding alleys, I followed the skipping and dancing white + frill, a sort of will-o'-the-wisp, that showed me the way among the trees. + </p> + <p> + I must make a full confession. I stopped behind the last shrub in the + avenue, pulled up my collar, rubbed my shabby hat and my trousers with the + cuffs of my sleeves, dusted my coat with the sleeves themselves, and gave + them a final cleansing rub one against the other. I buttoned my coat + carefully so as to exhibit the inner, always the least worn, side of the + cloth, and finally had turned down the tops of my trousers over my boots, + artistically cleaned in the grass. Thanks to this Gascon toilet, I could + hope that the lady would not take me for the local rate collector; but now + when my thoughts travel back to that episode of my youth, I sometimes + laugh at my own expense. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly, just as I was composing myself, at a turning in the green walk, + among a wilderness of flowers lighted up by a hot ray of sunlight, I saw + Juliette—Juliette and her husband. The pretty little girl held her + mother by the hand, and it was easy to see that the lady had quickened her + pace somewhat at the child's ambiguous phrase. Taken aback by the sight of + a total stranger, who bowed with a tolerably awkward air, she looked at me + with a coolly courteous expression and an adorable pout, in which I, who + knew her secret, could read the full extent of her disappointment. I + sought, but sought in vain, to remember any of the elegant phrases so + laboriously prepared. + </p> + <p> + This momentary hesitation gave the lady's husband time to come forward. + Thoughts by the myriad flitted through my brain. To give myself a + countenance, I got out a few sufficiently feeble inquiries, asking whether + the persons present were really M. le Comte and Mme. la Comtesse de + Montpersan. These imbecilities gave me time to form my own conclusions at + a glance, and, with a perspicacity rare at that age, to analyze the + husband and wife whose solitude was about to be so rudely disturbed. + </p> + <p> + The husband seemed to be a specimen of a certain type of nobleman, the + fairest ornaments of the provinces of our day. He wore big shoes with + stout soles to them. I put the shoes first advisedly, for they made an + even deeper impression upon me than a seedy black coat, a pair of + threadbare trousers, a flabby cravat, or a crumpled shirt collar. There + was a touch of the magistrate in the man, a good deal more of the + Councillor of the Prefecture, all the self-importance of the mayor of the + arrondissement, the local autocrat, and the soured temper of the + unsuccessful candidate who has never been returned since the year 1816. As + to countenance—a wizened, wrinkled, sunburned face, and long, sleek + locks of scanty gray hair; as to character—an incredible mixture of + homely sense and sheer silliness; of a rich man's overbearing ways, and a + total lack of manners; just the kind of husband who is almost entirely led + by his wife, yet imagines himself to be the master; apt to domineer in + trifles, and to let more important things slip past unheeded—there + you have the man! + </p> + <p> + But the Countess! Ah, how sharp and startling the contrast between husband + and wife! The Countess was a little woman, with a flat, graceful figure + and enchanting shape; so fragile, so dainty was she, that you would have + feared to break some bone if you so much as touched her. She wore a white + muslin dress, a rose-colored sash, and rose-colored ribbons in the pretty + cap on her head; her chemisette was moulded so deliciously by her + shoulders and the loveliest rounded contours, that the sight of her + awakened an irresistible desire of possession in the depths of the heart. + Her eyes were bright and dark and expressive, her movements graceful, her + foot charming. An experienced man of pleasure would not have given her + more than thirty years, her forehead was so girlish. She had all the most + transient delicate detail of youth in her face. In character she seemed to + me to resemble the Comtesse de Lignolles and the Marquise de B——, + two feminine types always fresh in the memory of any young man who has + read Louvet's romance. + </p> + <p> + In a moment I saw how things stood, and took a diplomatic course that + would have done credit to an old ambassador. For once, and perhaps for the + only time in my life, I used tact, and knew in what the special skill of + courtiers and men of the world consists. + </p> + <p> + I have had so many battles to fight since those heedless days, that they + have left me no time to distil all the least actions of daily life, and to + do everything so that it falls in with those rules of etiquette and good + taste which wither the most generous emotions. + </p> + <p> + "M. le Comte," I said with an air of mystery, "I should like a few words + with you," and I fell back a pace or two. + </p> + <p> + He followed my example. Juliette left us together, going away + unconcernedly, like a wife who knew that she can learn her husband's + secrets as soon as she chooses to know them. + </p> + <p> + I told the Count briefly of the death of my traveling companion. The + effect produced by my news convinced me that his affection for his young + collaborator was cordial enough, and this emboldened me to make reply as I + did. + </p> + <p> + "My wife will be in despair," cried he; "I shall be obliged to break the + news of this unhappy event with great caution." + </p> + <p> + "Monsieur," said I, "I addressed myself to you in the first instance, as + in duty bound. I could not, without first informing you, deliver a message + to Mme. la Comtesse, a message intrusted to me by an entire stranger; but + this commission is a sort of sacred trust, a secret of which I have no + power to dispose. From the high idea of your character which he gave me, I + felt sure that you would not oppose me in the fulfilment of a dying + request. Mme. la Comtesse will be at liberty to break the silence which is + imposed upon me." + </p> + <p> + At this eulogy, the Count swung his head very amiably, responded with a + tolerably involved compliment, and finally left me a free field. We + returned to the house. The bell rang, and I was invited to dinner. As we + came up to the house, a grave and silent couple, Juliette stole a glance + at us. Not a little surprised to find her husband contriving some + frivolous excuse for leaving us together, she stopped short, giving me a + glance—such a glance as women only can give you. In that look of + hers there was the pardonable curiosity of the mistress of the house + confronted with a guest dropped down upon her from the skies and + innumerable doubts, certainly warranted by the state of my clothes, by my + youth and my expression, all singularly at variance; there was all the + disdain of the adored mistress, in whose eyes all men save one are as + nothing; there were involuntary tremors and alarms; and, above all, the + thought that it was tiresome to have an unexpected guest just now, when, + no doubt, she had been scheming to enjoy full solitude for her love. This + mute eloquence I understood in her eyes, and all the pity and compassion + in me made answer in a sad smile. I thought of her, as I had seen her for + one moment, in the pride of her beauty; standing in the sunny afternoon in + the narrow alley with the flowers on either hand; and as that fair + wonderful picture rose before my eyes, I could not repress a sigh. + </p> + <p> + "Alas, madame, I have just made a very arduous journey——, + undertaken solely on your account." + </p> + <p> + "Sir!" + </p> + <p> + "Oh! it is on behalf of one who calls you Juliette that I am come," I + continued. Her face grew white. + </p> + <p> + "You will not see him to-day." + </p> + <p> + "Is he ill?" she asked, and her voice sank lower. + </p> + <p> + "Yes. But for pity's sake, control yourself.... He intrusted me with + secrets that concern you, and you may be sure that never messenger could + be more discreet nor more devoted than I." + </p> + <p> + "What is the matter with him?" + </p> + <p> + "How if he loved you no longer?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh! that is impossible!" she cried, and a faint smile, nothing less than + frank, broke over her face. Then all at once a kind of shudder ran through + her, and she reddened, and she gave me a wild, swift glance as she asked: + </p> + <p> + "Is he alive?" + </p> + <p> + Great God! What a terrible phrase! I was too young to bear that tone in + her voice; I made no reply, only looked at the unhappy woman in helpless + bewilderment. + </p> + <p> + "Monsieur, monsieur, give me an answer!" she cried. + </p> + <p> + "Yes, madame." + </p> + <p> + "Is it true? Oh! tell me the truth; I can hear the truth. Tell me the + truth! Any pain would be less keen than this suspense." + </p> + <p> + I answered by two tears wrung from me by that strange tone of hers. She + leaned against a tree with a faint, sharp cry. + </p> + <p> + "Madame, here comes your husband!" + </p> + <p> + "Have I a husband?" and with those words she fled away out of sight. + </p> + <p> + "Well," cried the Count, "dinner is growing cold.—Come, monsieur." + </p> + <p> + Thereupon I followed the master of the house into the dining-room. Dinner + was served with all the luxury which we have learned to expect in Paris. + There were five covers laid, three for the Count and Countess and their + little daughter; my own, which should have been HIS; and another for the + canon of Saint-Denis, who said grace, and then asked: + </p> + <p> + "Why, where can our dear Countess be?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh! she will be here directly," said the Count. He had hastily helped us + to the soup, and was dispatching an ample plateful with portentous speed. + </p> + <p> + "Oh! nephew," exclaimed the canon, "if your wife were here, you would + behave more rationally." + </p> + <p> + "Papa will make himself ill!" said the child with a mischievous look. + </p> + <p> + Just after this extraordinary gastronomical episode, as the Count was + eagerly helping himself to a slice of venison, a housemaid came in with, + "We cannot find madame anywhere, sir!" + </p> + <p> + I sprang up at the words with a dread in my mind, my fears written so + plainly in my face, that the old canon came out after me into the garden. + The Count, for the sake of appearances, came as far as the threshold. + </p> + <p> + "Don't go, don't go!" called he. "Don't trouble yourselves in the least," + but he did not offer to accompany us. + </p> + <p> + We three—the canon, the housemaid, and I—hurried through the + garden walks and over the bowling-green in the park, shouting, listening + for an answer, growing more uneasy every moment. As we hurried along, I + told the story of the fatal accident, and discovered how strongly the maid + was attached to her mistress, for she took my secret dread far more + seriously than the canon. We went along by the pools of water; all over + the park we went; but we neither found the Countess nor any sign that she + had passed that way. At last we turned back, and under the walls of some + outbuildings I heard a smothered, wailing cry, so stifled that it was + scarcely audible. The sound seemed to come from a place that might have + been a granary. I went in at all risks, and there we found Juliette. With + the instinct of despair, she had buried herself deep in the hay, hiding + her face in it to deaden those dreadful cries—pudency even stronger + than grief. She was sobbing and crying like a child, but there was a more + poignant, more piteous sound in the sobs. There was nothing left in the + world for her. The maid pulled the hay from her, her mistress submitting + with the supine listlessness of a dying animal. The maid could find + nothing to say but "There! madame; there, there——" + </p> + <p> + "What is the matter with her? What is it, niece?" the old canon kept on + exclaiming. + </p> + <p> + At last, with the girl's help, I carried Juliette to her room, gave orders + that she was not to be disturbed, and that every one must be told that the + Countess was suffering from a sick headache. Then we came down to the + dining-room, the canon and I. + </p> + <p> + Some little time had passed since we left the dinner-table; I had scarcely + given a thought to the Count since we left him under the peristyle; his + indifference had surprised me, but my amazement increased when we came + back and found him seated philosophically at table. He had eaten pretty + nearly all the dinner, to the huge delight of his little daughter; the + child was smiling at her father's flagrant infraction of the Countess' + rules. The man's odd indifference was explained to me by a mild + altercation which at once arose with the canon. The Count was suffering + from some serious complaint. I cannot remember now what it was, but his + medical advisers had put him on a very severe regimen, and the ferocious + hunger familiar to convalescents, sheer animal appetite, had overpowered + all human sensibilities. In that little space I had seen frank and + undisguised human nature under two very different aspects, in such a sort + that there was a certain grotesque element in the very midst of a most + terrible tragedy. + </p> + <p> + The evening that followed was dreary. I was tired. The canon racked his + brains to discover a reason for his niece's tears. The lady's husband + silently digested his dinner; content, apparently, with the Countess' + rather vague explanation, sent through the maid, putting forward some + feminine ailment as her excuse. We all went early to bed. + </p> + <p> + As I passed the door of the Countess' room on the way to my night's + lodging, I asked the servant timidly for news of her. She heard my voice, + and would have me come in, and tried to talk, but in vain—she could + not utter a sound. She bent her head, and I withdrew. In spite of the + painful agitation, which I had felt to the full as youth can feel, I fell + asleep, tired out with my forced march. + </p> + <p> + It was late in the night when I was awakened by the grating sound of + curtain rings drawn sharply over the metal rods. There sat the Countess at + the foot of my bed. The light from a lamp set on my table fell full upon + her face. + </p> + <p> + "Is it really true, monsieur, quite true?" she asked. "I do not know how I + can live after that awful blow which struck me down a little while since; + but just now I feel calm. I want to know everything." + </p> + <p> + "What calm!" I said to myself as I saw the ghastly pallor of her face + contrasting with her brown hair, and heard the guttural tones of her + voice. The havoc wrought in her drawn features filled me with dumb + amazement. + </p> + <p> + Those few hours had bleached her; she had lost a woman's last glow of + autumn color. Her eyes were red and swollen, nothing of their beauty + remained, nothing looked out of them save her bitter and exceeding grief; + it was as if a gray cloud covered the place through which the sun had + shone. + </p> + <p> + I gave her the story of the accident in a few words, without laying too + much stress on some too harrowing details. I told her about our first + day's journey, and how it had been filled with recollections of her and of + love. And she listened eagerly, without shedding a tear, leaning her face + towards me, as some zealous doctor might lean to watch any change in a + patient's face. When she seemed to me to have opened her whole heart to + pain, to be deliberately plunging herself into misery with the first + delirious frenzy of despair, I caught at my opportunity, and told her of + the fears that troubled the poor dying man, told her how and why it was + that he had given me this fatal message. Then her tears were dried by the + fires that burned in the dark depths within her. She grew even paler. When + I drew the letters from beneath my pillow and held them out to her, she + took them mechanically; then, trembling from head to foot, she said in a + hollow voice: + </p> + <p> + "And <i>I</i> burned all his letters!—I have nothing of him left!—Nothing! + nothing!" + </p> + <p> + She struck her hand against her forehead. + </p> + <p> + "Madame——" I began. + </p> + <p> + She glanced at me in the convulsion of grief. + </p> + <p> + "I cut this from his head, this lock of his hair." + </p> + <p> + And I gave her that last imperishable token that had been a very part of + him she loved. Ah! if you had felt, as I felt then, her burning tears + falling on your hands, you would know what gratitude is, when it follows + so closely upon the benefit. Her eyes shone with a feverish glitter, a + faint ray of happiness gleamed out of her terrible suffering, as she + grasped my hands in hers, and said, in a choking voice: + </p> + <p> + "Ah! you love! May you be happy always. May you never lose her whom you + love." + </p> + <p> + She broke off, and fled away with her treasure. + </p> + <p> + Next morning, this night-scene among my dreams seemed like a dream; to + make sure of the piteous truth, I was obliged to look fruitlessly under my + pillow for the packet of letters. There is no need to tell you how the + next day went. I spent several hours of it with the Juliette whom my poor + comrade had so praised to me. In her lightest words, her gestures, in all + that she did and said, I saw proofs of the nobleness of soul, the delicacy + of feeling which made her what she was, one of those beloved, loving, and + self-sacrificing natures so rarely found upon this earth. + </p> + <p> + In the evening the Comte de Montpersan came himself as far as Moulins with + me. There he spoke with a kind of embarrassment: + </p> + <p> + "Monsieur, if it is not abusing your good-nature, and acting very + inconsiderately towards a stranger to whom we are already under + obligations, would you have the goodness, as you are going to Paris, to + remit a sum of money to M. de —— (I forget the name), in the + Rue du Sentier; I owe him an amount, and he asked me to send it as soon as + possible." + </p> + <p> + "Willingly," said I. And in the innocence of my heart, I took charge of a + rouleau of twenty-five louis d'or, which paid the expenses of my journey + back to Paris; and only when, on my arrival, I went to the address + indicated to repay the amount to M. de Montpersan's correspondent, did I + understand the ingenious delicacy with which Juliette had obliged me. Was + not all the genius of a loving woman revealed in such a way of lending, in + her reticence with regard to a poverty easily guessed? + </p> + <p> + And what rapture to have this adventure to tell to a woman who clung to + you more closely in dread, saying, "Oh, my dear, not you! <i>You</i> must + not die!" + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1189 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |