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diff --git a/old/12758-8.txt b/old/12758-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c745715 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12758-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11722 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Library of the World's Best Mystery and +Detective Stories, by Edited by Julian Hawthorne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories + +Author: Edited by Julian Hawthorne + +Release Date: June 28, 2004 [EBook #12758] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYSTERY AND DETECTIVE STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +LIBRARY OF THE WORLD'S BEST MYSTERY AND DETECTIVE STORIES + +EDITED BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE + + +One Hundred and One Tales of Mystery +By Famous Authors of East and West + +In Six Volumes + + +New York +The Review of Reviews Company + +1907 + + +AMERICAN :: FRENCH, ITALIAN, ETC. +ENGLISH: SCOTCH :: GERMAN, RUSSIAN, ETC. +ENGLISH: IRISH :: ORIENTAL: MODERN MAGIC + +MAUPASSANT VOLTAIRE +MILLE ALARÇON +ADAM CAPUANA +ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN APULEIUS +BALZAC PLINY, THE YOUNGER + + +[Illustration: "Through a Mist in the Depths of the Looking-Glass." +To illustrate "The Horla," by Guy de Maupassant] + + + + +_Table of Contents_ + + +HENRI RENÉ ALBERT GUY DE MAUPASSANT (1850-93). + The Necklace + The Man with the Pale Eyes + An Uncomfortable Bed + Ghosts + Fear + The Confession + The Horla + + +PIERRE MILLE. + The Miracle of Zobéide + + +VILLIERS DE L'ISLE ADAM. + The Torture by Hope + + +ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN (1822-99)--(1826-90). + The Owl's Ear + The Invisible Eye + The Waters of Death + + +HONORE DE BALZAC (1799-1850). + Melmoth Reconciled + The Conscript + + +JEAN FRANCOIS MARIE AROUET DE VOLTAIRE (1694-1778). + Zadig the Babylonian + + +PEDRO DE ALARÇON. + The Nail + + +LUIGI CAPUANA (1839-00). + The Deposition + + +LUCIUS APULEIUS (Second Century). + The Adventure of the Three Robbers + + +PLINY, THE YOUNGER (First Century). + Letter to Sura + + + +_French--Italian--Spanish--Latin Mystery Stories_ + + + + +HENRI RENÉ ALBERT GUY DE MAUPASSANT + +_The Necklace_ + + +She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if +by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks. She had no dowry, +no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, wedded, by +any rich and distinguished man; and she let herself be married to a +little clerk at the Ministry of Public Instruction. + +She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was as +unhappy as though she had really fallen from her proper station; since +with women there is neither caste nor rank; and beauty, grace, and +charm act instead of family and birth. Natural fineness, instinct for +what is elegant, suppleness of wit, are the sole hierarchy, and make +from women of the people the equals of the very greatest ladies. + +She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies +and all the luxuries. She suffered from the poverty of her dwelling, +from the wretched look of the walls, from the worn-out chairs, from the +ugliness of the curtains. All those things, of which another woman of +her rank would never even have been conscious, tortured her and made +her angry. The sight of the little Breton peasant who did her humble +housework aroused in her regrets which were despairing, and distracted +dreams. She thought of the silent antechambers hung with Oriental +tapestry, lit by tall bronze candelabra, and of the two great footmen +in knee breeches who sleep in the big armchairs, made drowsy by the +heavy warmth of the hot-air stove. She thought of the long +_salons_ fatted up with ancient silk, of the delicate furniture +carrying priceless curiosities, and of the coquettish perfumed boudoirs +made for talks at five o'clock with intimate friends, with men famous +and sought after, whom all women envy and whose attention they all +desire. + +When she sat down to dinner, before the round table covered with a +tablecloth three days old, opposite her husband, who uncovered the soup +tureen and declared with an enchanted air, "Ah, the good +_pot-au-feu_! I don't know anything better than that," she thought +of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry which peopled the +walls with ancient personages and with strange birds flying in the +midst of a fairy forest; and she thought of delicious dishes served on +marvelous plates, and of the whispered gallantries which you listen to +with a sphinx-like smile, while you are eating the pink flesh of a +trout or the wings of a quail. + +She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that; +she felt made for that. She would so have liked to please, to be +envied, to be charming, to be sought after. + +She had a friend, a former schoolmate at the convent, who was rich, and +whom she did not like to go and see any more, because she suffered so +much when she came back. + +But, one evening, her husband returned home with a triumphant air, and +holding a large envelope in his hand. + +"There," said he, "here is something for you." + +She tore the paper sharply, and drew out a printed card which bore +these words: + +"The Minister of Public Instruction and Mme. Georges Ramponneau request +the honor of M. and Mme. Loisel's company at the palace of the Ministry +on Monday evening, January 18th." + +Instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped, she threw the +invitation on the table with disdain, murmuring: + +"What do you want me to do with that?" + +"But, my dear, I thought you would be glad. You never go out, and this +is such a fine opportunity. I had awful trouble to get it. Everyone +wants to go; it is very select, and they are not giving many +invitations to clerks. The whole official world will be there." + +She looked at him with an irritated eye, and she said, impatiently: + +"And what do you want me to put on my back?" + +He had not thought of that; he stammered: + +"Why, the dress you go to the theater in. It looks very well, to me." + +He stopped, distracted, seeing that his wife was crying. Two great +tears descended slowly from the corners of her eyes toward the corners +of her mouth. He stuttered: + +"What's the matter? What's the matter?" + +But, by a violent effort, she had conquered her grief, and she replied, +with a calm voice, while she wiped her wet cheeks: + +"Nothing. Only I have no dress, and therefore I can't go to this ball. +Give your card to some colleague whose wife is better equipped than I." + +He was in despair. He resumed: + +"Come, let us see, Mathilde. How much would it cost, a suitable dress, +which you could use on other occasions, something very simple?" + +She reflected several seconds, making her calculations and wondering +also what sum she could ask without drawing on herself an immediate +refusal and a frightened exclamation from the economical clerk. + +Finally, she replied, hesitatingly: + +"I don't know exactly, but I think I could manage it with four hundred +francs." + +He had grown a little pale, because he was laying aside just that +amount to buy a gun and treat himself to a little shooting next summer +on the plain of Nanterre, with several friends who went to shoot larks +down there of a Sunday. + +But he said: + +"All right. I will give you four hundred francs. And try to have a +pretty dress." + +The day of the ball drew near, and Mme. Loisel seemed sad, uneasy, +anxious. Her dress was ready, however. Her husband said to her one +evening: + +"What is the matter? Come, you've been so queer these last three days." + +And she answered: + +"It annoys me not to have a single jewel, not a single stone, nothing +to put on. I shall look like distress. I should almost rather not go at +all." + +He resumed: + +"You might wear natural flowers. It's very stylish at this time of the +year. For ten francs you can get two or three magnificent roses." + +She was not convinced. + +"No; there's nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other +women who are rich." + +But her husband cried: + +"How stupid you are! Go look up your friend Mme. Forestier, and ask her +to lend you some jewels. You're quite thick enough with her to do +that." + +She uttered a cry of joy: + +"It's true. I never thought of it." + +The next day she went to her friend and told of her distress. + +Mme. Forestier went to a wardrobe with a glass door, took out a large +jewel box, brought it back, opened it, and said to Mme. Loisel: + +"Choose, my dear." + +She saw first of all some bracelets, then a pearl necklace, then a +Venetian cross, gold and precious stones of admirable workmanship. She +tried on the ornaments before the glass, hesitated, could not make up +her mind to part with them, to give them back. She kept asking: + +"Haven't you any more?" + +"Why, yes. Look. I don't know what you like." + +All of a sudden she discovered, in a black satin box, a superb necklace +of diamonds, and her heart began to beat with an immoderate desire. Her +hands trembled as she took it. She fastened it around her throat, +outside her high-necked dress, and remained lost in ecstasy at the +sight of herself. + +Then she asked, hesitating, filled with anguish: + +"Can you lend me that, only that?" + +"Why, yes, certainly." + +She sprang upon the neck of her friend, kissed her passionately, then +fled with her treasure. + + * * * * * + +The day of the ball arrived. Mme. Loisel made a great success. She was +prettier than them all, elegant, gracious, smiling, and crazy with joy. +All the men looked at her, asked her name, endeavored to be introduced. +All the attachés of the Cabinet wanted to waltz with her. She was +remarked by the minister himself. + +She danced with intoxication, with passion, made drunk by pleasure, +forgetting all, in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her +success, in a sort of cloud of happiness composed of all this homage, +of all this admiration, of all these awakened desires, and of that +sense of complete victory which is so sweet to woman's heart. + +She went away about four o'clock in the morning. Her husband had been +sleeping since midnight, in a little deserted anteroom, with three +other gentlemen whose wives were having a very good time. + +He threw over her shoulders the wraps which he had brought, modest +wraps of common life, whose poverty contrasted with the elegance of the +ball dress. She felt this and wanted to escape so as not to be remarked +by the other women, who were enveloping themselves in costly furs. + +Loisel held her back. + +"Wait a bit. You will catch cold outside. I will go and call a cab." + +But she did not listen to him, and rapidly descended the stairs. When +they were in the street they did not find a carriage; and they began to +look for one, shouting after the cabmen whom they saw passing by at a +distance. + +They went down toward the Seine, in despair, shivering with cold. At +last they found on the quay one of those ancient noctambulent coupés +which, exactly as if they were ashamed to show their misery during the +day, are never seen round Paris until after nightfall. + +It took them to their door in the Rue des Martyrs, and once more, +sadly, they climbed up homeward. All was ended for her. And as to him, +he reflected that he must be at the Ministry at ten o'clock. + +She removed the wraps, which covered her shoulders, before the glass, +so as once more to see herself in all her glory. But suddenly she +uttered a cry. She had no longer the necklace around her neck! + +Her husband, already half undressed, demanded: + +"What is the matter with you?" + +She turned madly toward him: + +"I have--I have--I've lost Mme. Forestier's necklace." + +He stood up, distracted. + +"What!--how?--Impossible!" + +And they looked in the folds of her dress, in the folds of her cloak, +in her pockets, everywhere. They did not find it. + +He asked: + +"You're sure you had it on when you left the ball?" + +"Yes, I felt it in the vestibule of the palace." + +"But if you had lost it in the street we should have heard it fall. It +must be in the cab." + +"Yes. Probably. Did you take his number?" + +"No. And you, didn't you notice it?" + +"No." + +They looked, thunderstruck, at one another. At last Loisel put on his +clothes. + +"I shall go back on foot," said he, "over the whole route which we have +taken, to see if I can't find it." + +And he went out. She sat waiting on a chair in her ball dress, without +strength to go to bed, overwhelmed, without fire, without a thought. + +Her husband came back about seven o'clock. He had found nothing. + +He went to Police Headquarters, to the newspaper offices, to offer a +reward; he went to the cab companies--everywhere, in fact, whither he +was urged by the least suspicion of hope. + +She waited all day, in the same condition of mad fear before this +terrible calamity. + +Loisel returned at night with a hollow, pale face; he had discovered +nothing. + +"You must write to your friend," said he, "that you have broken the +clasp of her necklace and that you are having it mended. That will give +us time to turn round." + +She wrote at his dictation. + +At the end of a week they had lost all hope. + +And Loisel, who had aged five years, declared: + +"We must consider how to replace that ornament." + +The next day they took the box which had contained it, and they went to +the jeweler whose name was found within. He consulted his books. + +"It was not I, madame, who sold that necklace; I must simply have +furnished the case." + +Then they went from jeweler to jeweler, searching for a necklace like +the other, consulting their memories, sick both of them with chagrin +and with anguish. + +They found, in a shop at the Palais Royal, a string of diamonds which +seemed to them exactly like the one they looked for. It was worth forty +thousand francs. They could have it for thirty-six. + +So they begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days yet. And they +made a bargain that he should buy it back for thirty-four thousand +francs in case they found the other one before the end of February. + +Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs which his father had left +him. He would borrow the rest. + +He did borrow, asking a thousand francs of one, five hundred of +another, five louis here, three louis there. He gave notes, took up +ruinous obligations, dealt with usurers, and all the race of lenders. +He compromised all the rest of his life, risked his signature without +even knowing if he could meet it; and, frightened by the pains yet to +come, by the black misery which was about to fall upon him, by the +prospect of all the physical privations and of all the moral tortures +which he was to suffer, he went to get the new necklace, putting down +upon the merchant's counter thirty-six thousand francs. + +When Mme. Loisel took back the necklace, Mme. Forestier said to her, +with a chilly manner: + +"You should have returned it sooner, I might have needed it." + +She did not open the case, as her friend had so much feared. If she had +detected the substitution, what would she have thought, what would she +have said? Would she not have taken Mme. Loisel for a thief? + +Mme. Loisel now knew the horrible existence of the needy. She took her +part, moreover, all on a sudden, with heroism. That dreadful debt must +be paid. She would pay it. They dismissed their servant; they changed +their lodgings; they rented a garret under the roof. + +She came to know what heavy housework meant and the odious cares of the +kitchen. She washed the dishes, using her rosy nails on the greasy pots +and pans. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts, and the dish-cloths, +which she dried upon a line; she carried the slops down to the street +every morning, and carried up the water, stopping for breath at every +landing. And, dressed like a woman of the people, she went to the +fruiterer, the grocer, the butcher, her basket on her arm, bargaining, +insulted, defending her miserable money sou by sou. + +Each month they had to meet some notes, renew others, obtain more time. + +Her husband worked in the evening making a fair copy of some +tradesman's accounts, and late at night he often copied manuscript for +five sous a page. + +And this life lasted ten years. + +At the end of ten years they had paid everything, everything, with the +rates of usury, and the accumulations of the compound interest. + +Mme. Loisel looked old now. She had become the woman of impoverished +households--strong and hard and rough. With frowsy hair, skirts askew, +and red hands, she talked loud while washing the floor with great +swishes of water. But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, +she sat down near the window, and she thought of that gay evening of +long ago, of that ball where she had been so beautiful and so feted. + +What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? +who knows? How life is strange and changeful! How little a thing is +needed for us to be lost or to be saved! + +But, one Sunday, having gone to take a walk in the Champs Élysées to +refresh herself from the labors of the week, she suddenly perceived a +woman who was leading a child. It was Mme. Forestier, still young, +still beautiful, still charming. + +Mme. Loisel felt moved. Was she going to speak to her? Yes, certainly. +And now that she had paid, she was going to tell her all about it. Why +not? + +She went up. + +"Good day, Jeanne." + +The other, astonished to be familiarly addressed by this plain +good-wife, did not recognize her at all, and stammered: + +"But--madame!--I do not know--You must have mistaken." + +"No. I am Mathilde Loisel." + +Her friend uttered a cry. + +"Oh, my poor Mathilde! How you are changed!" + +"Yes, I have had days hard enough, since I have seen you, days wretched +enough--and that because of you!" + +"Of me! How so?" + +"Do you remember that diamond necklace which you lent me to wear at the +ministerial ball?" + +"Yes. Well?" + +"Well, I lost it." + +"What do you mean? You brought it back." + +"I brought you back another just like it. And for this we have been ten +years paying. You can understand that it was not easy for us, us who +had nothing. At last it is ended, and I am very glad." + +Mme. Forestier had stopped. + +"You say that you bought a necklace of diamonds to replace mine?" + +"Yes. You never noticed it, then! They were very like." + +And she smiled with a joy which was proud and naïve at once. + +Mme. Forestier, strongly moved, took her two hands. + +"Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most +five hundred francs!" + + + +_The Man with the Pale Eyes_ + + +Monsieur Pierre Agénor De Vargnes, the Examining Magistrate, was the +exact opposite of a practical joker. He was dignity, staidness, +correctness personified. As a sedate man, he was quite incapable of +being guilty, even in his dreams, of anything resembling a practical +joke, however remotely. I know nobody to whom he could be compared, +unless it be the present president of the French Republic. I think it +is useless to carry the analogy any further, and having said thus much, +it will be easily understood that a cold shiver passed through me when +Monsieur Pierre Agénor de Vargnes did me the honor of sending a lady to +await on me. + +At about eight o'clock, one morning last winter, as he was leaving the +house to go to the _Palais de Justice_, his footman handed him a card, +on which was printed: + + DOCTOR JAMES FERDINAND, + _Member of the Academy of Medicine, + Port-au-Prince, + Chevalier of the Legion of Honor._ + +At the bottom of the card there was written in pencil: + + _From Lady Frogère._ + +Monsieur de Vargnes knew the lady very well, who was a very agreeable +Creole from Hayti, and whom he had met in many drawing-rooms, and, on +the other hand, though the doctor's name did not awaken any +recollections in him, his quality and titles alone required that he +should grant him an interview, however short it might be. Therefore, +although he was in a hurry to get out, Monsieur de Vargnes told the +footman to show in his early visitor, but to tell him beforehand that +his master was much pressed for time, as he had to go to the Law +Courts. + +When the doctor came in, in spite of his usual imperturbability, he +could not restrain a movement of surprise, for the doctor presented +that strange anomaly of being a negro of the purest, blackest type, +with the eyes of a white man, of a man from the North, pale, cold, +clear, blue eyes, and his surprise increased, when, after a few words +of excuse for his untimely visit, he added, with an enigmatical smile: + +"My eyes surprise you, do they not? I was sure that they would, and, to +tell you the truth, I came here in order that you might look at them +well, and never forget them." + +His smile, and his words, even more than his smile, seemed to be those +of a madman. He spoke very softly, with that childish, lisping voice, +which is peculiar to negroes, and his mysterious, almost menacing +words, consequently, sounded all the more as if they were uttered at +random by a man bereft of his reason. But his looks, the looks of those +pale, cold, clear, blue eyes, were certainly not those of a madman. +They clearly expressed menace, yes, menace, as well as irony, and, +above all, implacable ferocity, and their glance was like a flash of +lightning, which one could never forget. + +"I have seen," Monsieur de Vargnes used to say, when speaking about it, +"the looks of many murderers, but in none of them have I ever observed +such a depth of crime, and of impudent security in crime." + +And this impression was so strong, that Monsieur de Vargnes thought +that he was the sport of some hallucination, especially as when he +spoke about his eyes, the doctor continued with a smile, and in his +most childish accents: "Of course, Monsieur, you cannot understand what +I am saying to you, and I must beg your pardon for it. To-morrow you +will receive a letter which will explain it all to you, but, first of +all, it was necessary that I should let you have a good, a careful look +at my eyes, my eyes, which are myself, my only and true self, as you +will see." + +With these words, and with a polite bow, the doctor went out, leaving +Monsieur de Vargnes extremely surprised, and a prey to this doubt, as +he said to himself: + +"Is he merely a madman? The fierce expression, and the criminal depths +of his looks are perhaps caused merely by the extraordinary contrast +between his fierce looks and his pale eyes." + +And absorbed in these thoughts, Monsieur de Vargnes unfortunately +allowed several minutes to elapse, and then he thought to himself +suddenly: + +"No, I am not the sport of any hallucination, and this is no case of an +optical phenomenon. This man is evidently some terrible criminal, and I +have altogether failed in my duty in not arresting him myself at once, +illegally, even at the risk of my life." + +The judge ran downstairs in pursuit of the doctor, but it was too late; +he had disappeared. In the afternoon, he called on Madame Frogère, to +ask her whether she could tell him anything about the matter. She, +however, did not know the negro doctor in the least, and was even able +to assure him that he was a fictitious personage, for, as she was well +acquainted with the upper classes in Hayti, she knew that the Academy +of Medicine at Port-au-Prince had no doctor of that name among its +members. As Monsieur de Vargnes persisted, and gave descriptions of the +doctor, especially mentioning his extraordinary eyes, Madame Frogère +began to laugh, and said: + +"You have certainly had to do with a hoaxer, my dear monsieur. The eyes +which you have described are certainly those of a white man, and the +individual must have been painted." + +On thinking it over, Monsieur de Vargnes remembered that the doctor had +nothing of the negro about him, but his black skin, his woolly hair and +beard, and his way of speaking, which was easily imitated, but nothing +of the negro, not even the characteristic, undulating walk. Perhaps, +after all, he was only a practical joker, and during the whole day, +Monsieur de Vargnes took refuge in that view, which rather wounded his +dignity as a man of consequence, but which appeased his scruples as a +magistrate. + +The next day, he received the promised letter, which was written, as +well as addressed, in letters cut out of the newspapers. It was as +follows: + +"MONSIEUR: Doctor James Ferdinand does not exist, but the man whose +eyes you saw does, and you will certainly recognize his eyes. This man +has committed two crimes, for which he does not feel any remorse, but, +as he is a psychologist, he is afraid of some day yielding to the +irresistible temptation of confessing his crimes. You know better than +anyone (and that is your most powerful aid), with what imperious force +criminals, especially intellectual ones, feel this temptation. That +great Poet, Edgar Poe, has written masterpieces on this subject, which +express the truth exactly, but he has omitted to mention the last +phenomenon, which I will tell you. Yes, I, a criminal, feel a terrible +wish for somebody to know of my crimes, and when this requirement is +satisfied, my secret has been revealed to a confidant, I shall be +tranquil for the future, and be freed from this demon of perversity, +which only tempts us once. Well! Now that is accomplished. You shall +have my secret; from the day that you recognize me by my eyes, you will +try and find out what I am guilty of, and how I was guilty, and you +will discover it, being a master of your profession, which, by the by, +has procured you the honor of having been chosen by me to bear the +weight of this secret, which now is shared by us, and by us two alone. +I say, advisedly, _by us two alone_. You could not, as a matter of +fact, prove the reality of this secret to anyone, unless I were to +confess it, and I defy you to obtain my public confession, as I have +confessed it to you, _and without danger to myself_." + +Three months later, Monsieur de Vargnes met Monsieur X---- at an +evening party, and at first sight, and without the slightest +hesitation, he recognized in him those very pale, very cold, and very +clear blue eyes, eyes which it was impossible to forget. + +The man himself remained perfectly impassive, so that Monsieur de +Vargnes was forced to say to himself: + +"Probably I am the sport of an hallucination at this moment, or else +there are two pairs of eyes that are perfectly similar in the world. +And what eyes! Can it be possible?" + +The magistrate instituted inquiries into his life, and he discovered +this, which removed all his doubts. + +Five years previously, Monsieur X---- had been a very poor, but very +brilliant medical student, who, although he never took his doctor's +degree, had already made himself remarkable by his microbiological +researches. + +A young and very rich widow had fallen in love with him and married +him. She had one child by her first marriage, and in the space of six +months, first the child and then the mother died of typhoid fever, and +thus Monsieur X---- had inherited a large fortune, in due form, and +without any possible dispute. Everybody said that he had attended to +the two patients with the utmost devotion. Now, were these two deaths +the two crimes mentioned in his letter? + +But then, Monsieur X---- must have poisoned his two victims with the +microbes of typhoid fever, which he had skillfully cultivated in them, +so as to make the disease incurable, even by the most devoted care and +attention. Why not? + +"Do you believe it?" I asked Monsieur de Vargnes. + +"Absolutely," he replied. "And the most terrible thing about it is, +that the villain is right when he defies me to force him to confess his +crime publicly, for I see no means of obtaining a confession, none +whatever. For a moment, I thought of magnetism, but who could magnetize +that man with those pale, cold, bright eyes? With such eyes, he would +force the magnetizer to denounce himself as the culprit." + +And then he said, with a deep sigh: + +"Ah! Formerly there was something good about justice!" + +And when he saw my inquiring looks, he added in a firm and perfectly +convinced voice: + +"Formerly, justice had torture at its command." + +"Upon my word," I replied, with all an author's unconscious and simple +egotism, "it is quite certain that without the torture, this strange +tale will have no conclusion, and that is very unfortunate, as far as +regards the story I intended to make out of it." + + + +_An Uncomfortable Bed_ + + +One autumn I went to stay for the hunting season with some friends in a +chateau in Picardy. + +My friends were fond of practical joking, as all my friends are. I do +not care to know any other sort of people. + +When I arrived, they gave me a princely reception, which at once +aroused distrust in my breast. We had some capital shooting. They +embraced me, they cajoled me, as if they expected to have great fun at +my expense. + +I said to myself: + +"Look out, old ferret! They have something in preparation for you." + +During the dinner, the mirth was excessive, far too great, in fact. I +thought: "Here are people who take a double share of amusement, and +apparently without reason. They must be looking out in their own minds +for some good bit of fun. Assuredly I am to be the victim of the joke. +Attention!" + +During the entire evening, everyone laughed in an exaggerated fashion. +I smelled a practical joke in the air, as a dog smells game. But what +was it? I was watchful, restless. I did not let a word or a meaning or +a gesture escape me. Everyone seemed to me an object of suspicion, and +I even looked distrustfully at the faces of the servants. + +The hour rang for going to bed, and the whole household came to escort +me to my room. Why? They called to me: "Good night." I entered the +apartment, shut the door, and remained standing, without moving a +single step, holding the wax candle in my hand. + +I heard laughter and whispering in the corridor. Without doubt they +were spying on me. I cast a glance around the walls, the furniture, the +ceiling, the hangings, the floor. I saw nothing to justify suspicion. I +heard persons moving about outside my door. I had no doubt they were +looking through the keyhole. + +An idea came into my head: "My candle may suddenly go out, and leave me +in darkness." + +Then I went across to the mantelpiece, and lighted all the wax candles +that were on it. After that, I cast another glance around me without +discovering anything. I advanced with short steps, carefully examining +the apartment. Nothing. I inspected every article one after the other. +Still nothing. I went over to the window. The shutters, large wooden +shutters, were open. I shut them with great care, and then drew the +curtains, enormous velvet curtains, and I placed a chair in front of +them, so as to have nothing to fear from without. + +Then I cautiously sat down. The armchair was solid. I did not venture +to get into the bed. However, time was flying; and I ended by coming +to the conclusion that I was ridiculous. If they were spying on me, as +I supposed, they must, while waiting for the success of the joke they +had been preparing for me, have been laughing enormously at my terror. +So I made up my mind to go to bed. But the bed was particularly +suspicious-looking. I pulled at the curtains. They seemed to be +secure. All the same, there was danger. I was going perhaps to receive +a cold shower-bath from overhead, or perhaps, the moment I stretched +myself out, to find myself sinking under the floor with my mattress. I +searched in my memory for all the practical jokes of which I ever had +experience. And I did not want to be caught. Ah! certainly not! +certainly not! Then I suddenly bethought myself of a precaution which +I consider one of extreme efficacy: I caught hold of the side of the +mattress gingerly, and very slowly drew it toward me. It came away, +followed by the sheet and the rest of the bedclothes. I dragged all +these objects into the very middle of the room, facing the entrance +door. I made my bed over again as best I could at some distance from +the suspected bedstead and the corner which had filled me with such +anxiety. Then, I extinguished all the candles, and, groping my way, I +slipped under the bedclothes. + +For at least another hour, I remained awake, starting at the slightest +sound. Everything seemed quiet in the chateau. I fell asleep. + +I must have been in a deep sleep for a long time, but all of a sudden, +I was awakened with a start by the fall of a heavy body tumbling right +on top of my own body, and, at the same time, I received on my face, on +my neck, and on my chest a burning liquid which made me utter a howl of +pain. And a dreadful noise, as if a sideboard laden with plates and +dishes had fallen down, penetrated my ears. + +I felt myself suffocating under the weight that was crushing me and +preventing me from moving. I stretched out my hand to find out what was +the nature of this object. I felt a face, a nose, and whiskers. Then +with all my strength I launched out a blow over this face. But I +immediately received a hail of cuffings which made me jump straight out +of the soaked sheets, and rush in my nightshirt into the corridor, the +door of which I found open. + +O stupor! it was broad daylight. The noise brought my friends hurrying +into the apartment, and we found, sprawling over my improvised bed, the +dismayed valet, who, while bringing me my morning cup of tea, had +tripped over this obstacle in the middle of the floor, and fallen on +his stomach, spilling, in spite of himself, my breakfast over my face. + +The precautions I had taken in closing the shutters and going to sleep +in the middle of the room had only brought about the interlude I had +been striving to avoid. + +Ah! how they all laughed that day! + + + +_Ghosts_ + + +Just at the time when the _Concordat_ was in its most flourishing +condition, a young man belonging to a wealthy and highly respected +middle-class family went to the office of the head of the police at +P----, and begged for his help and advice, which was immediately +promised him. + +"My father threatens to disinherit me," the young man then began, +"although I have never offended against the laws of the State, of +morality or of his paternal authority, merely because I do not share +his blind reverence for the Catholic Church and her Ministers. On that +account he looks upon me, not merely as Latitudinarian, but as a +perfect Atheist, and a faithful old manservant of ours, who is much +attached to me, and who accidentally saw my father's will, told me in +confidence that he had left all his property to the Jesuits. I think +this is highly suspicious, and I fear that the priests have been +maligning me to my father. Until less than a year ago, we used to live +very quietly and happily together, but ever since he has had so much to +do with the clergy, our domestic peace and happiness are at an end." + +"What you have told me," the official replied, "is as likely as it is +regrettable, but I fail to see how I can interfere in the matter. Your +father is in full possession of all his mental faculties, and can +dispose of all his property exactly as he pleases. I also think that +your protest is premature; you must wait until his will can legally +take effect, and then you can invoke the aid of justice; I am sorry to +say that I can do nothing for you." + +"I think you will be able to," the young man replied; "for I believe +that a very clever piece of deceit is being carried on here." + +"How? Please explain yourself more clearly." + +"When I remonstrated with him, yesterday evening, he referred to my +dead mother, and at last assured me, in a voice of the deepest +conviction, that she had frequently appeared to him, and had threatened +him with all the torments of the damned if he did not disinherit his +son, who had fallen away from God, and leave all his property to the +Church. Now I do not believe in ghosts." + +"Neither do I," the police director replied; "but I cannot well do +anything on this dangerous ground if I had nothing but superstitions to +go upon. You know how the Church rules all our affairs since the +_Concordat_ with Rome, and if I investigate this matter, and obtain no +results, I am risking my post. It would be very different if you could +adduce any proofs for your suspicions. I do not deny that I should like +to see the clerical party, which will, I fear, be the ruin of Austria, +receive a staggering blow; try, therefore, to get to the bottom of this +business, and then we will talk it over again." + +About a month passed without the young Latitudinarian being heard of; +but then he suddenly came one evening, evidently in a great state of +excitement, and told him that he was in a position to expose the +priestly deceit which he had mentioned, if the authorities would assist +him. The police director asked for further information. + +"I have obtained a number of important clews," the young man said. "In +the first place, my father confessed to me that my mother did not +appear to him in our house, but in the churchyard where she is buried. +My mother was consumptive for many years, and a few weeks before her +death she went to the village of S----, where she died and was buried. +In addition to this, I found out from our footman that my father has +already left the house twice, late at night, in company of X----, the +Jesuit priest, and that on both occasions he did not return till +morning. Each time he was remarkably uneasy and low-spirited after his +return, and had three masses said for my dead mother. He also told me +just now that he has to leave home this evening on business, but +immediately he told me that, our footman saw the Jesuit go out of the +house. We may, therefore, assume that he intends this evening to +consult the spirit of my dead mother again, and this would be an +excellent opportunity for getting on the track of the matter, if you do +not object to opposing the most powerful force in the Empire, for the +sake of such an insignificant individual as myself." + +"Every citizen has an equal right to the protection of the State," the +police director replied; "and I think that I have shown often enough +that I am not wanting in courage to perform my duty, no matter how +serious the consequences may be; but only very young men act without +any prospects of success, as they are carried away by their feelings. +When you came to me the first time, I was obliged to refuse your +request for assistance, but to-day your shares have risen in value. It +is now eight o'clock, and I shall expect you in two hours' time here in +my office. At present, all you have to do is to hold your tongue; +everything else is my affair." + +As soon as it was dark, four men got into a closed carriage in the yard +of the police office, and were driven in the direction of the village +of S----; their carriage, however, did not enter the village, but +stopped at the edge of a small wood in the immediate neighborhood. Here +they all four alighted; they were the police director, accompanied by +the young Latitudinarian, a police sergeant and an ordinary policeman, +who was, however, dressed in plain clothes. + +"The first thing for us to do is to examine the locality carefully," +the police director said: "it is eleven o'clock and the exercisers of +ghosts will not arrive before midnight, so we have time to look round +us, and to take our measure." + +The four men went to the churchyard, which lay at the end of the +village, near the little wood. Everything was as still as death, and +not a soul was to be seen. The sexton was evidently sitting in the +public house, for they found the door of his cottage locked, as well as +the door of the little chapel that stood in the middle of the +churchyard. + +"Where is your mother's grave?" the police director asked; but as there +were only a few stars visible, it was not easy to find it, but at last +they managed it, and the police director looked about in the +neighborhood of it. + +"The position is not a very favorable one for us," he said at last; +"there is nothing here, not even a shrub, behind which we could hide." + +But just then, the policeman said that he had tried to get into the +sexton's hut through the door or the window, and that at last he had +succeeded in doing so by breaking open a square in a window, which had +been mended with paper, and that he had opened it and obtained +posesssion of the key which he brought to the police director. + +His plans were very quickly settled. He had the chapel opened and went +in with the young Latitudinarian; then he told the police sergeant to +lock the door behind him and to put the key back where he had found it, +and to shut the window of the sexton's cottage carefully. Lastly, he +made arrangements as to what they were to do in case anything +unforeseen should occur, whereupon the sergeant and the constable left +the churchyard, and lay down in a ditch at some distance from the gate, +but opposite to it. + +Almost as soon as the clock struck half-past eleven, they heard steps +near the chapel, whereupon the police director and the young +Latitudinarian went to the window, in order to watch the beginning of +the exorcism, and as the chapel was in total darkness, they thought +that they should be able to see, without being seen; but matters turned +out differently from what they expected. + +Suddenly, the key turned in the lock, and they barely had time to +conceal themselves behind the altar before two men came in, one of whom +was carrying a dark lantern. One was the young man's father, an elderly +man of the middle class, who seemed very unhappy and depressed, the +other the Jesuit father K----, a tall, thin, big-boned man, with a +thin, bilious face, in which two large gray eyes shone restlessly under +their bushy black eyebrows. He lit the tapers, which were standing on +the altar, and then began to say a _Requiem Mass_; while the old man +knelt on the altar steps and served him. + +When it was over, the Jesuit took the book of the Gospels and the +holy-water sprinkler, and went slowly out of the chapel, while the old +man followed him, with a holy-water basin in one hand and a taper in +the other. Then the police director left his hiding place, and stooping +down, so as not to be seen, he crept to the chapel window, where he +cowered down carefully, and the young man followed his example. They +were now looking straight on his mother's grave. + +The Jesuit, followed by the superstitious old man, walked three times +round the grave, then he remained standing before it, and by the light +of the taper he read a few passages from the Gospel; then he dipped the +holy-water sprinkler three times into the holy-water basin, and +sprinkled the grave three times; then both returned to the chapel, +knelt down outside it with their faces toward the grave, and began to +pray aloud, until at last the Jesuit sprang up, in a species of wild +ecstasy, and cried out three times in a shrill voice: + +_"Exsurge! Exsurge! Exsurge!"_[1] + + [1] Arise! + +Scarcely had the last word of the exorcism died away when thick, blue +smoke rose out of the grave, which rapidly grew into a cloud, and began +to assume the outlines of a human body, until at last a tall, white +figure stood behind the grave, and beckoned with its hand. + +"Who art thou?" the Jesuit asked solemnly, while the old man began to +cry. + +"When I was alive, I was called Anna Maria B----," the ghost replied in +a hollow voice. + +"Will you answer all my questions?" the priest continued. + +"As far as I can." + +"Have you not yet been delivered from purgatory by our prayers, and all +the Masses for your soul, which we have said for you?" + +"Not yet, but soon, soon I shall be." + +"When?" + +"As soon as that blasphemer, my son, has been punished." + +"Has that not already happened? Has not your husband disinherited his +lost son, and made the Church his heir, in his place?" + +"That is not enough." + +"What must he do besides?" + +"He must deposit his will with the Judicial Authorities as his last +will and testament, and drive the reprobate out of his house." + +"Consider well what you are saying; must this really be?" + +"It must, or otherwise I shall have to languish in purgatory much +longer," the sepulchral voice replied with a deep sigh; but the next +moment it yelled out in terror:-- + +"Oh! Good Lord!" and the ghost began to run away as fast as it could. A +shrill whistle was heard, and then another, and the police director +laid his hand on the shoulder of the exorciser accompanied with the +remark:-- + +"You are in custody." + +Meanwhile, the police sergeant and the policeman, who had come into the +churchyard, had caught the ghost, and dragged it forward. It was the +sexton, who had put on a flowing, white dress, and who wore a wax mask, +which bore striking resemblance to his mother, as the son declared. + +When the case was heard, it was proved that the mask had been very +skillfully made from a portrait of the deceased woman. The Government +gave orders that the matter should be investigated as secretly as +possible, and left the punishment of Father K---- to the spiritual +authorities, which was a matter of course, at a time when priests were +outside the jurisdiction of the Civil Authorities; and it is needless +to say that he was very comfortable during his imprisonment, in a +monastery in a part of the country which abounded with game and trout. + +The only valuable result of the amusing ghost story was that it brought +about a reconciliation between father and son, and the former, as a +matter of fact, felt such deep respect for priests and their ghosts in +consequence of the apparition that a short time after his wife had left +purgatory for the last time in order to talk with him--he turned +_Protestant_. + + + +_Fear_ + + +We went up on deck after dinner. Before us the Mediterranean lay +without a ripple and shimmering in the moonlight. The great ship glided +on, casting upward to the star-studded sky a long serpent of black +smoke. Behind us the dazzling white water, stirred by the rapid +progress of the heavy bark and beaten by the propeller, foamed, seemed +to writhe, gave off so much brilliancy that one could have called it +boiling moonlight. + +There were six or eight of us silent with admiration and gazing toward +far-away Africa whither we were going. The commandant, who was smoking +a cigar with us, brusquely resumed the conversation begun at dinner. + +"Yes, I was afraid then. My ship remained for six hours on that rock, +beaten by the wind and with a great hole in the side. Luckily we were +picked up toward evening by an English coaler which sighted us." + +Then a tall man of sunburned face and grave demeanor, one of those men +who have evidently traveled unknown and far-away lands, whose calm eye +seems to preserve in its depths something of the foreign scenes it has +observed, a man that you are sure is impregnated with courage, spoke +for the first time. + +"You say, commandant, that you were afraid. I beg to disagree with you. +You are in error as to the meaning of the word and the nature of the +sensation that you experienced. An energetic man is never afraid in the +presence of urgent danger. He is excited, aroused, full of anxiety, but +fear is something quite different." + +The commandant laughed and answered: "Bah! I assure you that I was +afraid." + +Then the man of the tanned countenance addressed us deliberately as +follows: + +"Permit me to explain. Fear--and the boldest men may feel fear--is +something horrible, an atrocious sensation, a sort of decomposition of +the soul, a terrible spasm of brain and heart, the very memory of which +brings a shudder of anguish, but when one is brave he feels it neither +under fire nor in the presence of sure death nor in the face of any +well-known danger. It springs up under certain abnormal conditions, +under certain mysterious influences in the presence of vague peril. +Real fear is a sort of reminiscence of fantastic terror of the past. A +man who believes in ghosts and imagines he sees a specter in the +darkness must feel fear in all its horror. + +"As for me I was overwhelmed with fear in broad daylight about ten +years ago and again one December night last winter. + +"Nevertheless, I have gone through many dangers, many adventures which +seemed to promise death. I have often been in battle. I have been left +for dead by thieves. In America I was condemned as an insurgent to be +hanged, and off the coast of China have been thrown into the sea from +the deck of a ship. Each time I thought I was lost I at once decided +upon my course of action without regret or weakness. + +"That is not fear. + +"I have felt it in Africa, and yet it is a child of the north. The +sunlight banishes it like the mist. Consider this fact, gentlemen. +Among the Orientals life has no value; resignation is natural. The +nights are clear and empty of the somber spirit of unrest which haunts +the brain in cooler lands. In the Orient panic is known, but not fear. + +"Well, then! Here is the incident that befell me in Africa. + +"I was crossing the great sands to the south of Onargla. It is one of +the most curious districts in the world. You have seen the solid +continuous sand of the endless ocean strands. Well, imagine the ocean +itself turned to sand in the midst of a storm. Imagine a silent tempest +with motionless billows of yellow dust. They are high as mountains, +these uneven, varied surges, rising exactly like unchained billows, but +still larger, and stratified like watered silk. On this wild, silent, +and motionless sea, the consuming rays of the tropical sun are poured +pitilessly and directly. You have to climb these streaks of red-hot +ash, descend again on the other side, climb again, climb, climb without +halt, without repose, without shade. The horses cough, sink to their +knees and slide down the sides of these remarkable hills. + +"We were a couple of friends followed by eight spahis and four camels +with their drivers. We were no longer talking, overcome by heat, +fatigue, and a thirst such as had produced this burning desert. +Suddenly one of our men uttered a cry. We all halted, surprised by an +unsolved phenomenon known only to travelers in these trackless wastes. + +"Somewhere, near us, in an indeterminable direction, a drum was +rolling, the mysterious drum of the sands. It was beating distinctly, +now with greater resonance and again feebler, ceasing, then resuming +its uncanny roll. + +"The Arabs, terrified, stared at one another, and one said in his +language: 'Death is upon us.' As he spoke, my companion, my friend, +almost a brother, dropped from his horse, falling face downward on the +sand, overcome by a sunstroke. + +"And for two hours, while I tried in vain to save him, this weird drum +filled my ears with its monotonous, intermittent and incomprehensible +tone, and I felt lay hold of my bones fear, real fear, hideous fear, in +the presence of this beloved corpse, in this hole scorched by the sun, +surrounded by four mountains of sand, and two hundred leagues from any +French settlement, while echo assailed our ears with this furious drum +beat. + +"On that day I realized what fear was, but since then I have had +another, and still more vivid experience--" + +The commandant interrupted the speaker: + +"I beg your pardon, but what was the drum?" + +The traveler replied: + +"I cannot say. No one knows. Our officers are often surprised by this +singular noise and attribute it generally to the echo produced by a +hail of grains of sand blown by the wind against the dry and brittle +leaves of weeds, for it has always been noticed that the phenomenon +occurs in proximity to little plants burned by the sun and hard as +parchment. This sound seems to have been magnified, multiplied, and +swelled beyond measure in its progress through the valleys of sand, and +the drum therefore might be considered a sort of sound mirage. Nothing +more. But I did not know that until later. + +"I shall proceed to my second instance. + +"It was last winter, in a forest of the Northeast of France. The sky +was so overcast that night came two hours earlier than usual. My guide +was a peasant who walked beside me along the narrow road, under the +vault of fir trees, through which the wind in its fury howled. Between +the tree tops, I saw the fleeting clouds, which seemed to hasten as if +to escape some object of terror. Sometimes in a fierce gust of wind the +whole forest bowed in the same direction with a groan of pain, and a +chill laid hold of me, despite my rapid pace and heavy clothing. + +"We were to sup and sleep at an old gamekeeper's house not much farther +on. I had come out for hunting. + +"My guide sometimes raised his eyes and murmured: 'Ugly weather!' Then +he told me about the people among whom we were to spend the night. The +father had killed a poacher, two years before, and since then had been +gloomy and behaved as though haunted by a memory. His two sons were +married and lived with him. + +"The darkness was profound. I could see nothing before me nor around me +and the mass of overhanging interlacing trees rubbed together, filling +the night with an incessant whispering. Finally I saw a light and soon +my companion was knocking upon a door. Sharp women's voices answered +us, then a man's voice, a choking voice, asked, 'Who goes there?' My +guide gave his name. We entered and beheld a memorable picture. + +"An old man with white hair, wild eyes, and a loaded gun in his hands, +stood waiting for us in the middle of the kitchen, while two stalwart +youths, armed with axes, guarded the door. In the somber corners I +distinguished two women kneeling with faces to the wall. + +"Matters were explained, and the old man stood his gun against the +wall, at the same time ordering that a room be prepared for me. Then, +as the women did not stir: 'Look you, monsieur,' said he, 'two years +ago this night I killed a man, and last year he came back to haunt me. +I expect him again to-night.' + +"Then he added in a tone that made me smile: + +"'And so we are somewhat excited.' + +"I reassured him as best I could, happy to have arrived on that +particular evening and to witness this superstitious terror. I told +stories and almost succeeded in calming the whole household. + +"Near the fireplace slept an old dog, mustached and almost blind, with +his head between his paws, such a dog as reminds you of people you have +known. + +"Outside, the raging storm was beating against the little house, and +suddenly through a small pane of glass, a sort of peep-window placed +near the door, I saw in a brilliant flash of lightning a whole mass of +trees thrashed by the wind. + +"In spite of my efforts, I realized that terror was laying hold of +these people, and each time that I ceased to speak, all ears listened +for distant sounds. Annoyed at these foolish fears, I was about to +retire to my bed, when the old gamekeeper suddenly leaped from his +chair, seized his gun and stammered wildly: 'There he is, there he is! +I hear him!' The two women again sank upon their knees in the corner +and hid their faces, while the sons took up the axes. I was going to +try to pacify them once more, when the sleeping dog awakened suddenly +and, raising his head and stretching his neck, looked at the fire with +his dim eyes and uttered one of those mournful howls which make +travelers shudder in the darkness and solitude of the country. All eyes +were focused upon him now as he rose on his front feet, as though +haunted by a vision, and began to howl at something invisible, unknown, +and doubtless horrible, for he was bristling all over. The gamekeeper +with livid face cried: 'He scents him! He scents him! He was there when +I killed him.' The two women, terrified, began to wail in concert with +the dog. + +"In spite of myself, cold chills ran down my spine. This vision of the +animal at such a time and place, in the midst of these startled people, +was something frightful to witness. + +"Then for an hour the dog howled without stirring; he howled as though +in the anguish of a nightmare; and fear, horrible fear came over me. +Fear of what? How can I say? It was fear, and that is all I know. + +"We remained motionless and pale, expecting something awful to happen. +Our ears were strained and our hearts beat loudly while the slightest +noise startled us. Then the beast began to walk around the room, +sniffing at the walls and growling constantly. His maneuvers were +driving us mad! Then the countryman, who had brought me thither, in a +paroxysm of rage, seized the dog, and carrying him to a door, which +opened into a small court, thrust him forth. + +"The noise was suppressed and we were left plunged in a silence still +more terrible. Then suddenly we all started. Some one was gliding along +the outside wall toward the forest; then he seemed to be feeling of the +door with a trembling hand; then for two minutes nothing was heard and +we almost lost our minds. Then he returned, still feeling along the +wall, and scratched lightly upon the door as a child might do with his +finger nails. Suddenly a face appeared behind the glass of the +peep-window, a white face with eyes shining like those of the cat +tribe. A sound was heard, an indistinct plaintive murmur. + +"Then there was a formidable burst of noise in the kitchen. The old +gamekeeper had fired and the two sons at once rushed forward and +barricaded the window with the great table, reinforcing it with the +buffet. + +"I swear to you that at the shock of the gun's discharge, which I did +not expect, such an anguish laid hold of my heart, my soul, and my very +body that I felt myself about to fall, about to die from fear. + +"We remained there until dawn, unable to move, in short, seized by an +indescribable numbness of the brain. + +"No one dared to remove the barricade until a thin ray of sunlight +appeared through a crack in the back room. + +"At the base of the wall and under the window, we found the old dog +lying dead, his skull shattered by a ball. + +"He had escaped from the little court by digging a hole under a fence." + +The dark-visaged man became silent, then he added: + +"And yet on that night I incurred no danger, but I should rather again +pass through all the hours in which I have confronted the most terrible +perils than the one minute when that gun was discharged at the bearded +head in the window." + + + +_The Confession_ + + +Marguerite de Thérelles was dying. Although but fifty-six, she seemed +like seventy-five at least. She panted, paler than the sheets, shaken +by dreadful shiverings, her face convulsed, her eyes haggard, as if she +had seen some horrible thing. + +Her eldest sister, Suzanne, six years older, sobbed on her knees beside +the bed. A little table drawn close to the couch of the dying woman, +and covered with a napkin, bore two lighted candles, the priest being +momentarily expected to give extreme unction and the communion, which +should be the last. + +The apartment had that sinister aspect, that air of hopeless farewells, +which belongs to the chambers of the dying. Medicine bottles stood +about on the furniture, linen lay in the corners, pushed aside by foot +or broom. The disordered chairs themselves seemed affrighted, as if +they had run, in all the senses of the word. Death, the formidable, was +there, hidden, waiting. + +The story of the two sisters was very touching. It was quoted far and +wide; it had made many eyes to weep. + +Suzanne, the elder, had once been madly in love with a young man, who +had also been in love with her. They were engaged, and were only +waiting the day fixed for the contract, when Henry de Lampierre +suddenly died. + +The despair of the young girl was dreadful, and she vowed that she +would never marry. She kept her word. She put on widow's weeds, which +she never took off. + +Then her sister, her little sister Marguérite, who was only twelve +years old, came one morning to throw herself into the arms of the +elder, and said: "Big Sister, I do not want thee to be unhappy. I do +not want thee to cry all thy life. I will never leave thee, never, +never! I--I, too, shall never marry. I shall stay with thee always, +always, always!" + +Suzanne, touched by the devotion of the child, kissed her, but did not +believe. + +Yet the little one, also, kept her word, and despite the entreaties of +her parents, despite the supplications of the elder, she never married. +She was pretty, very pretty; she refused many a young man who seemed to +love her truly; and she never left her sister more. + + * * * * * + +They lived together all the days of their life, without ever being +separated a single time. They went side by side, inseparably united. +But Marguérite seemed always sad, oppressed, more melancholy than the +elder, as though perhaps her sublime sacrifice had broken her spirit. +She aged more quickly, had white hair from the age of thirty, and often +suffering, seemed afflicted by some secret, gnawing trouble. + +Now she was to be the first to die. + +Since yesterday she was no longer able to speak. She had only said, at +the first glimmers of day-dawn: + +"Go fetch Monsieur le Curé, the moment has come." + +And she had remained since then upon her back, shaken with spasms, her +lips agitated as though dreadful words were mounting from her heart +without power of issue, her look mad with fear, terrible to see. + +Her sister, torn by sorrow, wept wildly, her forehead resting on the +edge of the bed, and kept repeating: + +"Margot, my poor Margot, my little one!" + +She had always called her, "Little One," just as the younger had always +called her "Big Sister." + +Steps were heard on the stairs. The door opened. A choir boy appeared, +followed by an old priest in a surplice. As soon as she perceived him, +the dying woman, with one shudder, sat up, opened her lips, stammered +two or three words, and began to scratch the sheets with her nails as +if she had wished to make a hole. + +The Abbé Simon approached, took her hand, kissed her brow, and with a +soft voice: + +"God pardon thee, my child; have courage, the moment is now come, +speak." + +Then Marguérite, shivering from head to foot, shaking her whole couch +with nervous movements, stammered: + +"Sit down, Big Sister ... listen." + +The priest bent down toward Suzanne, who was still flung upon the bed's +foot. He raised her, placed her in an armchair, and taking a hand of +each of the sisters in one of his own, he pronounced: + +"Lord, my God! Endue them with strength, cast Thy mercy upon them." + +And Marguérite began to speak. The words issued from her throat one by +one, raucous, with sharp pauses, as though very feeble. + + * * * * * + +"Pardon, pardon, Big Sister; oh, forgive! If thou knewest how I have +had fear of this moment all my life...." + +Suzanne stammered through her tears: + +"Forgive thee what, Little One? Thou hast given all to me, sacrificed +everything; thou art an angel...." + +But Marguérite interrupted her: + +"Hush, hush! Let me speak ... do not stop me. It is dreadful ... let +me tell all ... to the very end, without flinching. Listen. Thou +rememberest ... thou rememberest ... Henry...." + +Suzanne trembled and looked at her sister. The younger continued: + +"Thou must hear all, to understand. I was twelve years old, only twelve +years old; thou rememberest well, is it not so? And I was spoiled, I +did everything that I liked! Thou rememberest, surely, how they spoiled +me? Listen. The first time that he came he had varnished boots. He got +down from his horse at the great steps, and he begged pardon for his +costume, but he came to bring some news to papa. Thou rememberest, is +it not so? Don't speak--listen. When I saw him I was completely carried +away, I found him so very beautiful; and I remained standing in a +corner of the _salon_ all the time that he was talking. Children are +strange ... and terrible. Oh yes ... I have dreamed of all that. + +"He came back again ... several times ... I looked at him with all my +eyes, with all my soul ... I was large of my age ... and very much more +knowing than anyone thought. He came back often ... I thought only of +him. I said, very low: + +"'Henry ... Henry de Lampierre!' + +"Then they said that he was going to marry thee. It was a sorrow; oh, +Big Sister, a sorrow ... a sorrow! I cried for three nights without +sleeping. He came back every day, in the afternoon, after his lunch ... +thou rememberest, is it not so? Say nothing ... listen. Thou madest him +cakes which he liked ... with meal, with butter and milk. Oh, I know +well how. I could make them yet if it were needed. He ate them at one +mouthful, and ... and then he drank a glass of wine, and then he said, +'It is delicious.' Thou rememberest how he would say that? + +"I was jealous, jealous! The moment of thy marriage approached. There +were only two weeks more. I became crazy. I said to myself: 'He shall +not marry Suzanne, no, I will not have it! It is I whom he will marry +when I am grown up. I shall never find anyone whom I love so much.' But +one night, ten days before the contract, thou tookest a walk with him +in front of the chateau by moonlight ... and there ... under the fir, +under the great fir ... he kissed thee ... kissed ... holding thee in +his two arms ... so long. Thou rememberest, is it not so? It was +probably the first time ... yes ... Thou wast so pale when thou earnest +back to the _salon_. + +"I had seen you two; I was there, in the shrubbery. I was angry! If I +could I should have killed you both! + +"I said to myself: 'He shall not marry Suzanne, never! He shall marry +no one. I should be too unhappy.' And all of a sudden I began to hate +him dreadfully. + +"Then, dost thou know what I did? Listen. I had seen the gardener +making little balls to kill strange dogs. He pounded up a bottle with a +stone and put the powdered glass in a little ball of meat. + +"I took a little medicine bottle that mamma had; I broke it small with +a hammer, and I hid the glass in my pocket. It was a shining powder ... +The next day, as soon as you had made the little cakes ... I split +them with a knife and I put in the glass ... He ate three of them ... +I too, I ate one ... I threw the other six into the pond. The two swans +died three days after ... Dost thou remember? Oh, say nothing ... +listen, listen. I, I alone did not die ... but I have always been +sick. Listen ... He died--thou knowest well ... listen ... that, that +is nothing. It is afterwards, later ... always ... the worst ... listen. + +"My life, all my life ... what torture! I said to myself: 'I will never +leave my sister. And at the hour of death I will tell her all ...' +There! And ever since, I have always thought of that moment when I +should tell thee all. Now it is come. It is terrible. Oh ... Big +Sister! + +"I have always thought, morning and evening, by night and by day, 'Some +time I must tell her that ...' I waited ... What agony! ... It is done. +Say nothing. Now I am afraid ... am afraid ... oh, I am afraid. If I am +going to see him again, soon, when I am dead. See him again ... think +of it! The first! Before thou! I shall not dare. I must ... I am going +to die ... I want you to forgive me. I want it ... I cannot go off to +meet him without that. Oh, tell her to forgive me, Monsieur le Curé, +tell her ... I implore you to do it. I cannot die without that...." + + * * * * * + +She was silent, and remained panting, always scratching the sheet with +her withered nails. + +Suzanne had hidden her face in her hands, and did not move. She was +thinking of him whom she might have loved so long! What a good life +they should have lived together! She saw him once again in that +vanished bygone time, in that old past which was put out forever. The +beloved dead--how they tear your hearts! Oh, that kiss, his only kiss! +She had hidden it in her soul. And after it nothing, nothing more her +whole life long! + + * * * * * + +All of a sudden the priest stood straight, and, with a strong vibrant +voice, he cried: + +"Mademoiselle Suzanne, your sister is dying!" + +Then Suzanne, opening her hands, showed her face soaked with tears, and +throwing herself upon her sister, she kissed her with all her might, +stammering: + +"I forgive thee, I forgive thee, Little One." + + + +_The Horla, or Modern Ghosts_ + + +_May 8th._ What a lovely day! I have spent all the morning lying in the +grass in front of my house, under the enormous plantain tree which +covers it, and shades and shelters the whole of it. I like this part of +the country and I am fond of living here because I am attached to it by +deep roots, profound and delicate roots which attach a man to the soil +on which his ancestors were born and died, which attach him to what +people think and what they eat, to the usages as well as to the food, +local expressions, the peculiar language of the peasants, to the smell +of the soil, of the villages and of the atmosphere itself. + +I love my house in which I grew up. From my windows I can see the Seine +which flows by the side of my garden, on the other side of the road, +almost through my grounds, the great and wide Seine, which goes to +Rouen and Havre, and which is covered with boats passing to and fro. + +On the left, down yonder, lies Rouen, that large town with its blue +roofs, under its pointed Gothic towers. They are innumerable, delicate +or broad, dominated by the spire of the cathedral, and full of bells +which sound through the blue air on fine mornings, sending their sweet +and distant iron clang to me; their metallic sound which the breeze +wafts in my direction, now stronger and now weaker, according as the +wind is stronger or lighter. + +What a delicious morning it was! + +About eleven o'clock, a long line of boats drawn by a steam tug, as big +as a fly, and which scarcely puffed while emitting its thick smoke, +passed my gate. + +After two English schooners, whose red flag fluttered toward the sky, +there came a magnificent Brazilian three-master; it was perfectly white +and wonderfully clean and shining. I saluted it, I hardly know why, +except that the sight of the vessel gave me great pleasure. + +_May 12th._ I have had a slight feverish attack for the last few days, +and I feel ill, or rather I feel low-spirited. + +Whence do these mysterious influences come, which change our happiness +into discouragement, and our self-confidence into diffidence? One might +almost say that the air, the invisible air is full of unknowable +Forces, whose mysterious presence we have to endure. I wake up in the +best spirits, with an inclination to sing in my throat. Why? I go down +by the side of the water, and suddenly, after walking a short distance, +I return home wretched, as if some misfortune were awaiting me there. +Why? Is it a cold shiver which, passing over my skin, has upset my +nerves and given me low spirits? Is it the form of the clouds, or the +color of the sky, or the color of the surrounding objects which is so +changeable, which have troubled my thoughts as they passed before my +eyes? Who can tell? Everything that surrounds us, everything that we +see without looking at it, everything that we touch without knowing it, +everything that we handle without feeling it, all that we meet without +clearly distinguishing it, has a rapid, surprising and inexplicable +effect upon us and upon our organs, and through them on our ideas and +on our heart itself. + +How profound that mystery of the Invisible is! We cannot fathom it with +our miserable senses, with our eyes which are unable to perceive what +is either too small or too great, too near to, or too far from us; +neither the inhabitants of a star nor of a drop of water ... with our +ears that deceive us, for they transmit to us the vibrations of the air +in sonorous notes. They are fairies who work the miracle of changing +that movement into noise, and by that metamorphosis give birth to +music, which makes the mute agitation of nature musical ... with our +sense of smell which is smaller than that of a dog ... with our sense +of taste which can scarcely distinguish the age of a wine! + +Oh! If we only had other organs which would work other miracles in our +favor, what a number of fresh things we might discover around us! + +_May 16th._ I am ill, decidedly! I was so well last month! I am +feverish, horribly feverish, or rather I am in a state of feverish +enervation, which makes my mind suffer as much as my body. I have +without ceasing that horrible sensation of some danger threatening me, +that apprehension of some coming misfortune or of approaching death, +that presentiment which is, no doubt, an attack of some illness which +is still unknown, which germinates in the flesh and in the blood. + +_May 18th._ I have just come from consulting my medical man, for I +could no longer get any sleep. He found that my pulse was high, my eyes +dilated, my nerves highly strung, but no alarming symptoms. I must have +a course of shower-baths and of bromide of potassium. + +_May 25th._ No change! My state is really very peculiar. As the evening +comes on, an incomprehensible feeling of disquietude seizes me, just as +if night concealed some terrible menace toward me. I dine quickly, and +then try to read, but I do not understand the words, and can scarcely +distinguish the letters. Then I walk up and down my drawing-room, +oppressed by a feeling of confused and irresistible fear, the fear of +sleep and fear of my bed. + +About ten o'clock I go up to my room. As soon as I have got in I double +lock, and bolt it: I am frightened--of what? Up till the present time I +have been frightened of nothing--I open my cupboards, and look under my +bed; I listen--I listen--to what? How strange it is that a simple +feeling of discomfort, impeded or heightened circulation, perhaps the +irritation of a nervous thread, a slight congestion, a small disturbance +in the imperfect and delicate functions of our living machinery, can +turn the most lighthearted of men into a melancholy one, and make a +coward of the bravest! Then, I go to bed, and I wait for sleep as a man +might wait for the executioner. I wait for its coming with dread, and +my heart beats and my legs tremble, while my whole body shivers beneath +the warmth of the bedclothes, until the moment when I suddenly fall +asleep, as one would throw oneself into a pool of stagnant water in +order to drown oneself. I do not feel coming over me, as I used to do +formerly, this perfidious sleep which is close to me and watching me, +which is going to seize me by the head, to close my eyes and annihilate +me. + +I sleep--a long time--two or three hours perhaps--then a dream--no--a +nightmare lays hold on me. I feel that I am in bed and asleep--I feel +it and I know it--and I feel also that somebody is coming close to me, +is looking at me, touching me, is getting on to my bed, is kneeling on +my chest, is taking my neck between his hands and squeezing +it--squeezing it with all his might in order to strangle me. + +I struggle, bound by that terrible powerlessness which paralyzes us in +our dreams; I try to cry out--but I cannot; I want to move--I cannot; I +try, with the most violent efforts and out of breath, to turn over and +throw off this being which is crushing and suffocating me--I cannot! + +And then, suddenly, I wake up, shaken and bathed in perspiration; I +light a candle and find that I am alone, and after that crisis, which +occurs every night, I at length fall asleep and slumber tranquilly till +morning. + +_June 2d._ My state has grown worse. What is the matter with me? The +bromide does me no good, and the shower-baths have no effect whatever. +Sometimes, in order to tire myself out, though I am fatigued enough +already, I go for a walk in the forest of Roumare. I used to think at +first that the fresh light and soft air, impregnated with the odor of +herbs and leaves, would instill new blood into my veins and impart +fresh energy to my heart. I turned into a broad ride in the wood, and +then I turned toward La Bouille, through a narrow path, between two +rows of exceedingly tall trees, which placed a thick, green, almost +black roof between the sky and me. + +A sudden shiver ran through me, not a cold shiver, but a shiver of +agony, and so I hastened my steps, uneasy at being alone in the wood, +frightened stupidly and without reason, at the profound solitude. +Suddenly it seemed to me as if I were being followed, that somebody was +walking at my heels, close, quite close to me, near enough to touch me. + +I turned round suddenly, but I was alone. I saw nothing behind me +except the straight, broad ride, empty and bordered by high trees, +horribly empty; on the other side it also extended until it was lost in +the distance, and looked just the same, terrible. + +I closed my eyes. Why? And then I began to turn round on one heel very +quickly, just like a top. I nearly fell down, and opened my eyes; the +trees were dancing round me and the earth heaved; I was obliged to sit +down. Then, ah! I no longer remembered how I had come! What a strange +idea! What a strange, strange idea! I did not the least know. I started +off to the right, and got back into the avenue which had led me into +the middle of the forest. + +_June 3d._ I have had a terrible night. I shall go away for a few +weeks, for no doubt a journey will set me up again. + +_July 2d._ I have come back, quite cured, and have had a most +delightful trip into the bargain. I have been to Mont Saint-Michel, +which I had not seen before. + +What a sight, when one arrives as I did, at Avranches toward the end of +the day! The town stands on a hill, and I was taken into the public +garden at the extremity of the town. I uttered a cry of astonishment. +An extraordinarily large bay lay extended before me, as far as my eyes +could reach, between two hills which were lost to sight in the mist; +and in the middle of this immense yellow bay, under a clear, golden +sky, a peculiar hill rose up, somber and pointed in the midst of the +sand. The sun had just disappeared, and under the still flaming sky the +outline of that fantastic rock stood out, which bears on its summit a +fantastic monument. + +At daybreak I went to it. The tide was low as it had been the night +before, and I saw that wonderful abbey rise up before me as I +approached it. After several hours' walking, I reached the enormous +mass of rocks which supports the little town, dominated by the great +church. Having climbed the steep and narrow street, I entered the most +wonderful Gothic building that has ever been built to God on earth, as +large as a town, full of low rooms which seem buried beneath vaulted +roofs, and lofty galleries supported by delicate columns. + +I entered this gigantic granite jewel which is as light as a bit of +lace, covered with towers, with slender belfries to which spiral +staircases ascend, and which raise their strange heads that bristle +with chimeras, with devils, with fantastic animals, with monstrous +flowers, and which are joined together by finely carved arches, to the +blue sky by day, and to the black sky by night. + +When I had reached the summit, I said to the monk who accompanied me: +"Father, how happy you must be here!" And he replied: "It is very +windy, Monsieur;" and so we began to talk while watching the rising +tide, which ran over the sand and covered it with a steel cuirass. + +And then the monk told me stories, all the old stories belonging to the +place, legends, nothing but legends. + +One of them struck me forcibly. The country people, those belonging to +the Mornet, declare that at night one can hear talking going on in the +sand, and then that one hears two goats bleat, one with a strong, the +other with a weak voice. Incredulous people declare that it is nothing +but the cry of the sea birds, which occasionally resembles bleatings, +and occasionally human lamentations; but belated fishermen swear that +they have met an old shepherd, whose head, which is covered by his +cloak, they can never see, wandering on the downs, between two tides, +round the little town placed so far out of the world, and who is +guiding and walking before them, a he-goat with a man's face, and a +she-goat with a woman's face, and both of them with white hair; and +talking incessantly, quarreling in a strange language, and then +suddenly ceasing to talk in order to bleat with all their might. + +"Do you believe it?" I asked the monk. "I scarcely know," he replied, +and I continued: "If there are other beings besides ourselves on this +earth, how comes it that we have not known it for so long a time, or +why have you not seen them? How is it that I have not seen them?" He +replied: "Do we see the hundred thousandth part of what exists? Look +here; there is the wind, which is the strongest force in nature, which +knocks down men, and blows down buildings, uproots trees, raises the +sea into mountains of water, destroys cliffs and casts great ships onto +the breakers; the wind which kills, which whistles, which sighs, which +roars--have you ever seen it, and can you see it? It exists for all +that, however." + +I was silent before this simple reasoning. That man was a philosopher, +or perhaps a fool; I could not say which exactly, so I held my tongue. +What he had said, had often been in my own thoughts. + +_July 3d._ I have slept badly; certainly there is some feverish +influence here, for my coachman is suffering in the same way as I am. +When I went back home yesterday, I noticed his singular paleness, and I +asked him: "What is the matter with you, Jean?" "The matter is that I +never get any rest, and my nights devour my days. Since your departure, +monsieur, there has been a spell over me." + +However, the other servants are all well, but I am very frightened of +having another attack, myself. + +_July 4th._ I am decidedly taken again; for my old nightmares have +returned. Last night I felt somebody leaning on me who was sucking my +life from between my lips with his mouth. Yes, he was sucking it out of +my neck, like a leech would have done. Then he got up, satiated, and I +woke up, so beaten, crushed and annihilated that I could not move. If +this continues for a few days, I shall certainly go away again. + +_July 5th._ Have I lost my reason? What has happened, what I saw last +night, is so strange, that my head wanders when I think of it! + +As I do now every evening, I had locked my door, and then, being +thirsty, I drank half a glass of water, and I accidentally noticed that +the water bottle was full up to the cut-glass stopper. + +Then I went to bed and fell into one of my terrible sleeps, from which +I was aroused in about two hours by a still more terrible shock. + +Picture to yourself a sleeping man who is being murdered and who wakes +up with a knife in his chest, and who is rattling in his throat, +covered with blood, and who can no longer breathe, and is going to die, +and does not understand anything at all about it--there it is. + +Having recovered my senses, I was thirsty again, so I lit a candle and +went to the table on which my water bottle was. I lifted it up and +tilted it over my glass, but nothing came out. It was empty! It was +completely empty! At first I could not understand it at all, and then +suddenly I was seized by such a terrible feeling that I had to sit +down, or rather I fell into a chair! Then I sprang up with a bound to +look about me, and then I sat down again, overcome by astonishment and +fear, in front of the transparent crystal bottle! I looked at it with +fixed eyes, trying to conjecture, and my hands trembled! Somebody had +drunk the water, but who? I? I without any doubt. It could surely only +be I? In that case I was a somnambulist. I lived, without knowing it, +that double mysterious life which makes us doubt whether there are not +two beings in us, or whether a strange, unknowable and invisible being +does not at such moments, when our soul is in a state of torpor, +animate our captive body which obeys this other being, as it does us +ourselves, and more than it does ourselves. + +Oh! Who will understand my horrible agony? Who will understand the +emotion of a man who is sound in mind, wide awake, full of sound sense, +and who looks in horror at the remains of a little water that has +disappeared while he was asleep, through the glass of a water bottle? +And I remained there until it was daylight, without venturing to go to +bed again. + +_July 6th._ I am going mad. Again all the contents of my water bottle +have been drunk during the night--or rather, I have drunk it! + +But is it I? Is it I? Who could it be? Who? Oh! God! Am I going mad? +Who will save me? + +_July 10th._ I have just been through some surprising ordeals. +Decidedly I am mad! And yet!-- + +On July 6th, before going to bed, I put some wine, milk, water, bread +and strawberries on my table. Somebody drank--I drank--all the water +and a little of the milk, but neither the wine, bread nor the +strawberries were touched. + +On the seventh of July I renewed the same experiment, with the same +results, and on July 8th, I left out the water and the milk and nothing +was touched. + +Lastly, on July 9th I put only water and milk on my table, taking care +to wrap up the bottles in white muslin and to tie down the stoppers. +Then I rubbed my lips, my beard and my hands with pencil lead, and went +to bed. + +Irresistible sleep seized me, which was soon followed by a terrible +awakening. I had not moved, and my sheets were not marked. I rushed to +the table. The muslin round the bottles remained intact; I undid the +string, trembling with fear. All the water had been drunk, and so had +the milk! Ah! Great God!-- + +I must start for Paris immediately. + +_July 12th._ Paris. I must have lost my head during the last few days! +I must be the plaything of my enervated imagination, unless I am really +a somnambulist, or that I have been brought under the power of one of +those influences which have been proved to exist, but which have +hitherto been inexplicable, which are called suggestions. In any case, +my mental state bordered on madness, and twenty-four hours of Paris +sufficed to restore me to my equilibrium. + +Yesterday after doing some business and paying some visits which +instilled fresh and invigorating mental air into me, I wound up my +evening at the _Théâtre Français_. A play by Alexandre Dumas the +Younger was being acted, and his active and powerful mind completed my +cure. Certainly solitude is dangerous for active minds. We require men +who can think and can talk, around us. When we are alone for a long +time we people space with phantoms. + +I returned along the boulevards to my hotel in excellent spirits. Amid +the jostling of the crowd I thought, not without irony, of my terrors +and surmises of the previous week, because I believed, yes, I believed, +that an invisible being lived beneath my roof. How weak our head is, +and how quickly it is terrified and goes astray, as soon, as we are +struck by a small, incomprehensible fact. + +Instead of concluding with these simple words: "I do not understand +because the cause escapes me," we immediately imagine terrible +mysteries and supernatural powers. + +_July 14th._ _Fête_ of the Republic. I walked through the streets, and +the crackers and flags amused me like a child. Still it is very foolish +to be merry on a fixed date, by a Government decree. The populace is an +imbecile flock of sheep, now steadily patient, and now in ferocious +revolt. Say to it: "Amuse yourself," and it amuses itself. Say to it: +"Go and fight with your neighbor," and it goes and fights. Say to it: +"Vote for the Emperor," and it votes for the Emperor, and then say to +it: "Vote for the Republic," and it votes for the Republic. + +Those who direct it are also stupid; but instead of obeying men they +obey principles, which can only be stupid, sterile, and false, for the +very reason that they are principles, that is to say, ideas which are +considered as certain and unchangeable, in this world where one is +certain of nothing, since light is an illusion and noise is an +illusion. + +_July 16th._ I saw some things yesterday that troubled me very much. + +I was dining at my cousin's Madame Sablé, whose husband is colonel of +the 76th Chasseurs at Limoges. There were two young women there, one of +whom had married a medical man, Dr. Parent, who devotes himself a great +deal to nervous diseases and the extraordinary manifestations to which +at this moment experiments in hypnotism and suggestion give rise. + +He related to us at some length, the enormous results obtained by +English scientists and the doctors of the medical school at Nancy, and +the facts which he adduced appeared to me so strange, that I declared +that I was altogether incredulous. + +"We are," he declared, "on the point of discovering one of the most +important secrets of nature, I mean to say, one of its most important +secrets on this earth, for there are certainly some which are of a +different kind of importance up in the stars, yonder. Ever since man +has thought, since he has been able to express and write down his +thoughts, he has felt himself close to a mystery which is impenetrable +to his coarse and imperfect senses, and he endeavors to supplement the +want of power of his organs by the efforts of his intellect. As long as +that intellect still remained in its elementary stage, this intercourse +with invisible spirits assumed forms which were commonplace though +terrifying. Thence sprang the popular belief in the supernatural, the +legends of wandering spirits, of fairies, of gnomes, ghosts, I might +even say the legend of God, for our conceptions of the workman-creator, +from whatever religion they may have come down to us, are certainly the +most mediocre, the stupidest and the most unacceptable inventions that +ever sprang from the frightened brain of any human creatures. Nothing +is truer than what Voltaire says: 'God made man in His own image, but +man has certainly paid Him back again.' + +"But for rather more than a century, men seem to have had a +presentiment of something new. Mesmer and some others have put us on an +unexpected track, and especially within the last two or three years, we +have arrived at really surprising results." + +My cousin, who is also very incredulous, smiled, and Dr. Parent said to +her: "Would you like me to try and send you to sleep, Madame?" "Yes, +certainly." + +She sat down in an easy-chair, and he began to look at her fixedly, so +as to fascinate her. I suddenly felt myself somewhat uncomfortable, +with a beating heart and a choking feeling in my throat. I saw that +Madame Sablé's eyes were growing heavy, her mouth twitched and her +bosom heaved, and at the end of ten minutes she was asleep. + +"Stand behind her," the doctor said to me, and so I took a seat behind +her. He put a visiting card into her hands, and said to her: "This is a +looking-glass; what do you see in it?" And she replied: "I see my +cousin." "What is he doing?" "He is twisting his mustache." "And now?" +"He is taking a photograph out of his pocket." "Whose photograph is +it?" "His own." + +That was true, and that photograph had been given me that same evening +at the hotel. + +"What is his attitude in this portrait?" "He is standing up with his +hat in his hand." + +So she saw on that card, on that piece of white pasteboard, as if she +had seen it in a looking glass. + +The young women were frightened, and exclaimed: "That is quite enough! +Quite, quite enough!" + +But the doctor said to her authoritatively: "You will get up at eight +o'clock to-morrow morning; then you will go and call on your cousin at +his hotel and ask him to lend you five thousand francs which your +husband demands of you, and which he will ask for when he sets out on +his coming journey." + +Then he woke her up. + +On returning to my hotel, I thought over this curious _séance_ and I +was assailed by doubts, not as to my cousin's absolute and undoubted +good faith, for I had known her as well as if she had been my own +sister ever since she was a child, but as to a possible trick on the +doctor's part. Had not he, perhaps, kept a glass hidden in his hand, +which he showed to the young woman in her sleep, at the same time as he +did the card? Professional conjurers do things which are just as +singular. + +So I went home and to bed, and this morning, at about half-past eight, +I was awakened by my footman, who said to me: "Madame Sablé has asked +to see you immediately, Monsieur," so I dressed hastily and went to +her. + +She sat down in some agitation, with her eyes on the floor, and without +raising her veil she said to me: "My dear cousin, I am going to ask a +great favor of you." "What is it, cousin?" "I do not like to tell you, +and yet I must. I am in absolute want of five thousand francs." "What, +you?" "Yes, I, or rather my husband, who has asked me to procure them +for him." + +I was so stupefied that I stammered out my answers. I asked myself +whether she had not really been making fun of me with Doctor Parent, +if it were not merely a very well-acted farce which had been got up +beforehand. On looking at her attentively, however, my doubts +disappeared. She was trembling with grief, so painful was this step +to her, and I was sure that her throat was full of sobs. + +I knew that she was very rich and so I continued: "What! Has not your +husband five thousand francs at his disposal! Come, think. Are you sure +that he commissioned you to ask me for them?" + +She hesitated for a few seconds, as if she were making a great effort +to search her memory, and then she replied: "Yes ... yes, I am quite +sure of it." "He has written to you?" + +She hesitated again and reflected, and I guessed the torture of her +thoughts. She did not know. She only knew that she was to borrow five +thousand francs of me for her husband. So she told a lie. "Yes, he has +written to me." "When, pray? You did not mention it to me yesterday." +"I received his letter this morning." "Can you show it me?" "No; no ... +no ... it contained private matters ... things too personal to +ourselves.... I burnt it." "So your husband runs into debt?" + +She hesitated again, and then murmured: "I do not know." Thereupon I +said bluntly: "I have not five thousand francs at my disposal at this +moment, my dear cousin." + +She uttered a kind of cry as if she were in pain and said: "Oh! oh! I +beseech you, I beseech you to get them for me...." + +She got excited and clasped her hands as if she were praying to me! I +heard her voice change its tone; she wept and stammered, harassed and +dominated by the irresistible order that she had received. + +"Oh! oh! I beg you to ... if you knew what I am suffering.... I want +them to-day." + +I had pity on her: "You shall have them by and by, I swear to you." +"Oh! thank you! thank you! How kind you are!" + +I continued: "Do you remember what took place at your house last +night?" "Yes." "Do you remember that Doctor Parent sent you to sleep?" +"Yes." "Oh! Very well then; he ordered you to come to me this morning +to borrow five thousand francs, and at this moment you are obeying that +suggestion." + +She considered for a few moments, and then replied: + +"But as it is my husband who wants them...." + +For a whole hour I tried to convince her, but could not succeed, and +when she had gone I went to the doctor. He was just going out, and he +listened to me with a smile, and said: "Do you believe now?" "Yes, I +cannot help it." "Let us go to your cousin's." + +She was already dozing on a couch, overcome with fatigue. The doctor +felt her pulse, looked at her for some time with one hand raised toward +her eyes which she closed by degrees under the irresistible power of +this magnetic influence, and when she was asleep, he said: + +"Your husband does not require the five thousand francs any longer! You +must, therefore, forget that you asked your cousin to lend them to you, +and, if he speaks to you about it, you will not understand him." + +Then he woke her up, and I took out a pocketbook and said: "Here is +what you asked me for this morning, my dear cousin." But she was so +surprised that I did not venture to persist; nevertheless, I tried to +recall the circumstance to her, but she denied it vigorously, thought +that I was making fun of her, and in the end very nearly lost her +temper. + + * * * * * + +There! I have just come back, and I have not been able to eat any +lunch, for this experiment has altogether upset me. + +_July 19th._ Many people to whom I have told the adventure have laughed +at me. I no longer know what to think. The wise man says: Perhaps? + +_July 21st._ I dined at Bougival, and then I spent the evening at +a boatmen's ball. Decidedly everything depends on place and +surroundings. It would be the height of folly to believe in the +supernatural on the _île de la Grenouillière_[1] ... but on the top +of Mont Saint-Michel? ... and in India? We are terribly under the +influence of our surroundings. I shall return home next week. + + [1] Frog-island. + +_July 30th._ I came back to my own house yesterday. Everything is going +on well. + +_August 2d._ Nothing fresh; it is splendid weather, and I spend my days +in watching the Seine flow past. + +_August 4th._ Quarrels among my servants. They declare that the glasses +are broken in the cupboards at night. The footman accuses the cook, who +accuses the needlewoman, who accuses the other two. Who is the culprit? +A clever person, to be able to tell. + +_August 6th._ This time I am not mad. I have seen ... I have seen ... I +have seen!... I can doubt no longer ... I have seen it!... + +I was walking at two o'clock among my rose trees, in the full sunlight ... +in the walk bordered by autumn roses which are beginning to fall. As I +stopped to look at a _Géant de Bataille_, which had three splendid +blooms, I distinctly saw the stalk of one of the roses bend, close to +me, as if an invisible hand had bent it, and then break, as if that +hand had picked it! Then the flower raised itself, following the curve +which a hand would have described in carrying it toward a mouth, and it +remained suspended in the transparent air, all alone and motionless, a +terrible red spot, three yards from my eyes. In desperation I rushed at +it to take it! I found nothing; it had disappeared. Then I was seized +with furious rage against myself, for it is not allowable for a +reasonable and serious man to have such hallucinations. + +But was it a hallucination? I turned round to look for the stalk, and I +found it immediately under the bush, freshly broken, between two other +roses which remained on the branch, and I returned home then, with a +much disturbed mind; for I am certain now, as certain as I am of the +alternation of day and night, that there exists close to me an +invisible being that lives on milk and on water, which can touch +objects, take them and change their places; which is, consequently, +endowed with a material nature, although it is imperceptible to our +senses, and which lives as I do, under my roof.... + +_August 7th_. I slept tranquilly. He drank the water out of my +decanter, but did not disturb my sleep. + +I ask myself whether I am mad. As I was walking just now in the sun by +the riverside, doubts as to my own sanity arose in me; not vague doubts +such as I have had hitherto, but precise and absolute doubts. I have +seen mad people, and I have known some who have been quite intelligent, +lucid, even clear-sighted in every concern of life, except on one +point. They spoke clearly, readily, profoundly on everything, when +suddenly their thoughts struck upon the breakers of their madness and +broke to pieces there, and were dispersed and foundered in that furious +and terrible sea, full of bounding waves, fogs and squalls, which is +called _madness_. + +I certainly should think that I was mad, absolutely mad, if I were not +conscious, did not perfectly know my state, if I did fathom it by +analyzing it with the most complete lucidity. I should, in fact, be a +reasonable man who was laboring under a hallucination. Some unknown +disturbance must have been excited in my brain, one of those +disturbances which physiologists of the present day try to note and to +fix precisely, and that disturbance must have caused a profound gulf in +my mind and in the order and logic of my ideas. Similar phenomena occur +in the dreams which lead us through the most unlikely phantasmagoria, +without causing us any surprise, because our verifying apparatus and +our sense of control has gone to sleep, while our imaginative faculty +wakes and works. Is it not possible that one of the imperceptible keys +of the cerebral finger-board has been paralyzed in me? Some men lose +the recollection of proper names, or of verbs or of numbers or merely +of dates, in consequence of an accident. The localization of all the +particles of thought has been proved nowadays; what then would there be +surprising in the fact that my faculty of controlling the unreality of +certain hallucinations should be destroyed for the time being! + +I thought of all this as I walked by the side of the water. The sun was +shining brightly on the river and made earth delightful, while it +filled my looks with love for life, for the swallows, whose agility is +always delightful in my eyes, for the plants by the riverside, whose +rustling is a pleasure to my ears. + +By degrees, however, an inexplicable feeling of discomfort seized me. +It seemed to me as if some unknown force were numbing and stopping me, +were preventing me from going farther and were calling me back. I felt +that painful wish to return which oppresses you when you have left a +beloved invalid at home, and when you are seized by a presentiment that +he is worse. + +I, therefore, returned in spite of myself, feeling certain that I +should find some bad news awaiting me, a letter or a telegram. There +was nothing, however, and I was more surprised and uneasy than if I had +had another fantastic vision. + +_August 8th._ I spent a terrible evening yesterday. He does not show +himself any more, but I feel that he is near me, watching me, looking +at me, penetrating me, dominating me and more redoubtable when he hides +himself thus, than if he were to manifest his constant and invisible +presence by supernatural phenomena. However, I slept. + +_August 9th._ Nothing, but I am afraid. + +_August 10th._ Nothing; what will happen to-morrow? + +_August 11th._ Still nothing; I cannot stop at home with this fear +hanging over me and these thoughts in my mind; I shall go away. + +_August 12th._ Ten o'clock at night. All day long I have been trying to +get away, and have not been able. I wished to accomplish this simple +and easy act of liberty--go out--get into my carriage in order to go to +Rouen--and I have not been able to do it. What is the reason? + +_August 13th._ When one is attacked by certain maladies, all the +springs of our physical being appear to be broken, all our energies +destroyed, all our muscles relaxed, our bones to have become as soft as +our flesh, and our blood as liquid as water. I am experiencing that in +my moral being in a strange and distressing manner. I have no longer +any strength, any courage, any self-control, nor even any power to set +my own will in motion. I have no power left to _will_ anything, but +some one does it for me and I obey. + +_August 14th._ I am lost! Somebody possesses my soul and governs it! +Somebody orders all my acts, all my movements, all my thoughts. I am no +longer anything in myself, nothing except an enslaved and terrified +spectator of all the things which I do. I wish to go out; I cannot. He +does not wish to, and so I remain, trembling and distracted in the +armchair in which he keeps me sitting. I merely wish to get up and to +rouse myself, so as to think that I am still master of myself: I +cannot! I am riveted to my chair, and my chair adheres to the ground in +such a manner that no force could move us. + +Then suddenly, I must, I must go to the bottom of my garden to pick +some strawberries and eat them, and I go there. I pick the strawberries +and I eat them! Oh! my God! my God! Is there a God? If there be one, +deliver me! save me! succor me! Pardon! Pity! Mercy! Save me! Oh! what +sufferings! what torture! what horror! + +_August 15th._ Certainly this is the way in which my poor cousin was +possessed and swayed, when she came to borrow five thousand francs of +me. She was under the power of a strange will which had entered into +her, like another soul, like another parasitic and ruling soul. Is the +world coming to an end? + +But who is he, this invisible being that rules me? This unknowable +being, this rover of a supernatural race? + +Invisible beings exist, then! How is it then that since the beginning +of the world they have never manifested themselves in such a manner +precisely as they do to me? I have never read anything which resembles +what goes on in my house. Oh! If I could only leave it, if I could only +go away and flee, so as never to return, I should be saved; but I +cannot. + +_August 16th_. I managed to escape to-day for two hours, like a +prisoner who finds the door of his dungeon accidentally open. I +suddenly felt that I was free and that he was far away, and so I gave +orders to put the horses in as quickly as possible, and I drove to +Rouen. Oh! How delightful to be able to say to a man who obeyed you: +"Go to Rouen!" + +I made him pull up before the library, and I begged them to lend me Dr. +Herrmann Herestauss's treatise on the unknown inhabitants of the +ancient and modern world. + +Then, as I was getting into my carriage, I intended to say: "To the +railway station!" but instead of this I shouted--I did not say, but I +shouted--in such a loud voice that all the passers-by turned round: +"Home!" and I fell back onto the cushion of my carriage, overcome by +mental agony. He had found me out and regained possession of me. + +_August 17th_. Oh! What a night! what a night! And yet it seems to me +that I ought to rejoice. I read until one o'clock in the morning! +Herestauss, Doctor of Philosophy and Theogony, wrote the history and +the manifestation of all those invisible beings which hover around man, +or of whom he dreams. He describes their origin, their domains, their +power; but none of them resembles the one which haunts me. One might +say that man, ever since he has thought, has had a foreboding of, and +feared a new being, stronger than himself, his successor in this world, +and that, feeling him near, and not being able to foretell the nature +of that master, he has, in his terror, created the whole race of hidden +beings, of vague phantoms born of fear. + +Having, therefore, read until one o'clock in the morning, I went and +sat down at the open window, in order to cool my forehead and my +thoughts, in the calm night air. It was very pleasant and warm! How I +should have enjoyed such a night formerly! + +There was no moon, but the stars darted out their rays in the dark +heavens. Who inhabits those worlds? What forms, what living beings, +what animals are there yonder? What do those who are thinkers in those +distant worlds know more than we do? What can they do more than we can? +What do they see which we do not know? Will not one of them, some day +or other, traversing space, appear on our earth to conquer it, just as +the Norsemen formerly crossed the sea in order to subjugate nations +more feeble than themselves? + +We are so weak, so unarmed, so ignorant, so small, we who live on this +particle of mud which turns round in a drop of water. + +I fell asleep, dreaming thus in the cool night air, and then, having +slept for about three quarters of an hour, I opened my eyes without +moving, awakened by I know not what confused and strange sensation. At +first I saw nothing, and then suddenly it appeared to me as if a page +of a book which had remained open on my table, turned over of its own +accord. Not a breath of air had come in at my window, and I was +surprised and waited. In about four minutes, I saw, I saw, yes I saw +with my own eyes another page lift itself up and fall down on the +others, as if a finger had turned it over. My armchair was empty, +appeared empty, but I knew that he was there, he, and sitting in my +place, and that he was reading. With a furious bound, the bound of an +enraged wild beast that wishes to disembowel its tamer, I crossed my +room to seize him, to strangle him, to kill him!... But before I could +reach it, my chair fell over as if somebody had run away from me ... my +table rocked, my lamp fell and went out, and my window closed as if +some thief had been surprised and had fled out into the night, shutting +it behind him. + +So he had run away: he had been afraid; he, afraid of me! + +So ... so ... to-morrow ... or later ... some day or other ... I should +be able to hold him in my clutches and crush him against the ground! Do +not dogs occasionally bite and strangle their masters? + +_August 18th._ I have been thinking the whole day long. Oh! yes, I will +obey him, follow his impulses, fulfill all his wishes, show myself +humble, submissive, a coward. He is the stronger; but an hour will +come.... + +_August 19th_. I know, ... I know ... I know all! I have just read the +following in the _Revue du Monde Scientifique_: "A curious piece of +news comes to us from Rio de Janeiro. Madness, an epidemic of madness, +which may be compared to that contagious madness which attacked the +people of Europe in the Middle Ages, is at this moment raging in the +Province of San-Paulo. The frightened inhabitants are leaving their +houses, deserting their villages, abandoning their land, saying that +they are pursued, possessed, governed like human cattle by invisible, +though tangible beings, a species of vampire, which feed on their life +while they are asleep, and who, besides, drink water and milk without +appearing to touch any other nourishment. + +"Professor Dom Pedro Henriques, accompanied by several medical savants, +has gone to the Province of San-Paulo, in order to study the origin and +the manifestations of this surprising madness on the spot, and to +propose such measures to the Emperor as may appear to him to be most +fitted to restore the mad population to reason." + +Ah! Ah! I remember now that fine Brazilian three-master which passed in +front of my windows as it was going up the Seine, on the 8th of last +May! I thought it looked so pretty, so white and bright! That Being was +on board of her, coming from there, where its race sprang from. And it +saw me! It saw my house which was also white, and it sprang from the +ship onto the land. Oh! Good heavens! + +Now I know, I can divine. The reign of man is over, and he has come. +He whom disquieted priests exorcised, whom sorcerers evoked on dark +nights, without yet seeing him appear, to whom the presentiments of +the transient masters of the world lent all the monstrous or graceful +forms of gnomes, spirits, genii, fairies, and familiar spirits. After +the coarse conceptions of primitive fear, more clear-sighted men +foresaw it more clearly. Mesmer divined him, and ten years ago physicians +accurately discovered the nature of his power, even before he exercised +it himself. They played with that weapon of their new Lord, the sway +of a mysterious will over the human soul, which had become enslaved. +They called it magnetism, hypnotism, suggestion ... what do I know? I +have seen them amusing themselves like impudent children with this +horrible power! Woe to us! Woe to man! He has come, the ... the ... +what does he call himself ... the ... I fancy that he is shouting +out his name to me and I do not hear him ... the ... yes ... he is +shouting it out ... I am listening ... I cannot ... repeat ... it ... +Horla ... I have heard ... the Horla ... it is he ... the Horla ... +he has come!... + +Ah! the vulture has eaten the pigeon, the wolf has eaten the lamb; the +lion has devoured the buffalo with sharp horns; man has killed the lion +with an arrow, with a sword, with gunpowder; but the Horla will make of +man what we have made of the horse and of the ox: his chattel, his +slave and his food, by the mere power of his will. Woe to us! + +But, nevertheless, the animal sometimes revolts and kills the man who +has subjugated it.... I should also like ... I shall be able to ... but +I must know him, touch him, see him! Learned men say that beasts' eyes, +as they differ from ours, do not distinguish like ours do ... And my +eye cannot distinguish this newcomer who is oppressing me. + +Why? Oh! Now I remember the words of the monk at Mont Saint-Michel: +"Can we see the hundred-thousandth part of what exists? Look here; +there is the wind which is the strongest force in nature, which knocks +men, and blows down buildings, uproots trees, raises the sea into +mountains of water, destroys cliffs and casts great ships onto the +breakers; the wind which kills, which whistles, which sighs, which +roars--have you ever seen it, and can you see it? It exists for all +that, however!" + +And I went on thinking: my eyes are so weak, so imperfect, that they +do not even distinguish hard bodies, if they are as transparent as +glass!... If a glass without tinfoil behind it were to bar my way, I +should run into it, just as a bird which has flown into a room breaks +its head against the window panes. A thousand things, moreover, deceive +him and lead him astray. How should it then be surprising that he +cannot perceive a fresh body which is traversed by the light? + +A new being! Why not? It was assuredly bound to come! Why should we be +the last? We do not distinguish it, like all the others created before +us. The reason is, that its nature is more perfect, its body finer and +more finished than ours, that ours is so weak, so awkwardly conceived, +encumbered with organs that are always tired, always on the strain like +locks that are too complicated, which lives like a plant and like a +beast, nourishing itself with difficulty on air, herbs and flesh, an +animal machine which is a prey to maladies, to malformations, to decay; +broken-winded, badly regulated, simple and eccentric, ingeniously badly +made, a coarse and a delicate work, the outline of a being which might +become intelligent and grand. + +We are only a few, so few in this world, from the oyster up to man. Why +should there not be one more, when once that period is accomplished +which separates the successive apparitions from all the different +species? + +Why not one more? Why not, also, other trees with immense, splendid +flowers, perfuming whole regions? Why not other elements besides fire, +air, earth and water? There are four, only four, those nursing fathers +of various beings! What a pity! Why are they not forty, four hundred, +four thousand! How poor everything is, how mean and wretched! +grudgingly given, dryly invented, clumsily made! Ah! the elephant and +the hippopotamus, what grace! And the camel, what elegance! + +But, the butterfly you will say, a flying flower! I dream of one that +should be as large as a hundred worlds, with wings whose shape, beauty, +colors, and motion I cannot even express. But I see it ... it flutters +from star to star, refreshing them and perfuming them with the light +and harmonious breath of its flight!... And the people up there look +at it as it passes in an ecstasy of delight!... + + * * * * * + +What is the matter with me? It is he, the Horla who haunts me, and who +makes me think of these foolish things! He is within me, he is becoming +my soul; I shall kill him! + +_August 19th._ I shall kill him. I have seen him! Yesterday I sat down +at my table and pretended to write very assiduously. I knew quite well +that he would come prowling round me, quite close to me, so close that +I might perhaps be able to touch him, to seize him. And then!... then +I should have the strength of desperation; I should have my hands, my +knees, my chest, my forehead, my teeth to strangle him, to crush him, +to bite him, to tear him to pieces. And I watched for him with all my +overexcited organs. + +I had lighted my two lamps and the eight wax candles on my mantelpiece, +as if by this light I could have discovered him. + +My bed, my old oak bed with its columns, was opposite to me; on my +right was the fireplace; on my left the door which was carefully +closed, after I had left it open for some time, in order to attract +him; behind me was a very high wardrobe with a looking-glass in it, +which served me to make my toilet every day, and in which I was in the +habit of looking at myself from head to foot every time I passed it. + +So I pretended to be writing in order to deceive him, for he also was +watching me, and suddenly I felt, I was certain that he was reading +over my shoulder, that he was there, almost touching my ear. + +I got up so quickly, with my hands extended, that I almost fell. Eh! +well?... It was as bright as at midday, but I did not see myself in +the glass!... It was empty, clear, profound, full of light! But my +figure was not reflected in it ... and I, I was opposite to it! I saw +the large, clear glass from top to bottom, and I looked at it with +unsteady eyes; and I did not dare to advance; I did not venture to make +a movement, nevertheless, feeling perfectly that he was there, but that +he would escape me again, he whose imperceptible body had absorbed my +reflection. + +How frightened I was! And then suddenly I began to see myself through a +mist in the depths of the looking-glass, in a mist as it were through a +sheet of water; and it seemed to me as if this water were flowing +slowly from left to right, and making my figure clearer every moment. +It was like the end of an eclipse. Whatever it was that hid me, did not +appear to possess any clearly defined outlines, but a sort of opaque +transparency, which gradually grew clearer. + +At last I was able to distinguish myself completely, as I do every day +when I look at myself. + +I had seen it! And the horror of it remained with me and makes me +shudder even now. + +_August 20th_. How could I kill it, as I could not get hold of it? +Poison? But it would see me mix it with the water; and then, would our +poisons have any effect on its impalpable body? No ... no ... no doubt +about the matter.... Then?... then?... + +_August 21st_. I sent for a blacksmith from Rouen, and ordered iron +shutters of him for my room, such as some private hotels in Paris have +on the ground floor, for fear of thieves, and he is going to make me a +similar door as well. I have made myself out as a coward, but I do not +care about that!... + +_September 10th_. Rouen, Hotel Continental. It is done; ... it is +done ... but is he dead? My mind is thoroughly upset by what I have +seen. + +Well, then, yesterday the locksmith having put on the iron shutters and +door, I left everything open until midnight, although it was getting +cold. + +Suddenly I felt that he was there, and joy, mad joy, took possession of +me. I got up softly, and I walked to the right and left for some time, +so that he might not guess anything; then I took off my boots and put +on my slippers carelessly; then I fastened the iron shutters and going +back to the door quickly I double-locked it with a padlock, putting the +key into my pocket. + +Suddenly I noticed that he was moving restlessly round me, that in his +turn he was frightened and was ordering me to let him out. I nearly +yielded, though I did not yet, but putting my back to the door I half +opened it, just enough to allow me to go out backward, and as I am very +tall, my head touched the lintel. I was sure that he had not been able +to escape, and I shut him up quite alone, quite alone. What happiness! +I had him fast. Then I ran downstairs; in the drawing-room, which was +under my bedroom, I took the two lamps and I poured all the oil onto +the carpet, the furniture, everywhere; then I set fire to it and made +my escape, after having carefully double-locked the door. + +I went and hid myself at the bottom of the garden in a clump of laurel +bushes. How long it was! how long it was! Everything was dark, silent, +motionless, not a breath of air and not a star, but heavy banks of +clouds which one could not see, but which weighed, oh! so heavily on my +soul. + +I looked at my house and waited. How long it was! I already began to +think that the fire had gone out of its own accord, or that he had +extinguished it, when one of the lower windows gave way under the +violence of the flames, and a long, soft, caressing sheet of red flame +mounted up the white wall and kissed it as high as the roof. The light +fell onto the trees, the branches, and the leaves, and a shiver of fear +pervaded them also! The birds awoke; a dog began to howl, and it seemed +to me as if the day were breaking! Almost immediately two other windows +flew into fragments, and I saw that the whole of the lower part of my +house was nothing but a terrible furnace. But a cry, a horrible, +shrill, heartrending cry, a woman's cry, sounded through the night, and +two garret windows were opened! I had forgotten the servants! I saw the +terrorstruck faces, and their frantically waving arms!... + +Then, overwhelmed with horror, I set off to run to the village, +shouting: "Help! help! fire! fire!" I met some people who were already +coming onto the scene, and I went back with them to see! + +By this time the house was nothing but a horrible and magnificent +funeral pile, a monstrous funeral pile which lit up the whole country, +a funeral pile where men were burning, and where he was burning also, +He, He, my prisoner, that new Being, the new master, the Horla! + +Suddenly the whole roof fell in between the walls, and a volcano of +flames darted up to the sky. Through all the windows which opened onto +that furnace I saw the flames darting, and I thought that he was there, +in that kiln, dead. + +Dead? perhaps?... His body? Was not his body, which was transparent, +indestructible by such means as would kill ours? + +If he was not dead?... Perhaps time alone has power over that +Invisible and Redoubtable Being. Why this transparent, unrecognizable +body, this body belonging to a spirit, if it also had to fear ills, +infirmities and premature destruction? + +Premature destruction? All human terror springs from that! After man +the Horla. After him who can die every day, at any hour, at any moment, +by any accident, he came who was only to die at his own proper hour and +minute, because he had touched the limits of his existence! + +No ... no ... without any doubt ... he is not dead. Then ... then ... I +suppose I must kill myself! + + FOOTNOTE.--This story is a tragic experience and prophecy. It was + insanity that robbed the world of its most finished short story + writer, the author of this tale; and even before his madness became + overpowering, de Maupassant complained that he was haunted by his + double--by a vision of another Self confronting and threatening + him. He had run life at its top speed; this hallucination was the + result. + + Medical science defines in such cases "an image of memory which + differs in intensity from the normal"--that is to say, a fixed idea + so persistent and growing that to the thinker it seems utterly + real. + + --EDITOR. + + + + +PIERRE MILLE + +_The Miracle of Zobéide_ + + +Always wise and prudent, Zobéide cautiously put aside the myrtle +branches and peeped through to see who were the persons talking by the +fountain in the cool shadow of the pink sandstone wall. And when she +saw that it was only the Rev. John Feathercock, her lord and master, +discoursing as usual with Mohammed-si-Koualdia, she went toward them +frankly but slowly. + +When she was quite near she stopped, and from the light that played in +her deep black eyes you would have thought that surely she was +listening with the deepest attention. But the truth is that with all +her little brain, with all her mouth, and with all her stomach, she was +craving the yellow and odorous pulp of a melon which had been cut open +and put on the table near two tall glasses half filled with snowy +sherbet. For Zobéide was a turtle of the ordinary kind found in the +grass of all the meadows around the city of Damascus. + +As she waited, Mohammed continued his story: + +"And, as I tell you, O reverend one abounding in virtues, this lion +which still lives near Tabariat, was formerly a strong lion, a +wonderful lion, a lion among lions! To-day, even, he can strike a camel +dead with one blow of his paw, and then, plunging his fangs into the +spine of the dead animal, toss it upon his shoulders with a single +movement of his neck. But unfortunately, having one day brought down a +goat in the chase by simply blowing upon it the breath of his nostrils, +the lion was inflated with pride and cried: 'There is no god but God, +but I am as strong as God. Let him acknowledge it!' Allah, who heard +him, Allah, the All-powerful, said in a loud voice, 'O lion of +Tabariat, try now to carry off thy prey!' Then the lion planted his +great teeth firmly in the spine of the animal, right under the ears, +and attempted to throw it on his back. Onallahi! It was as though he +had tried to lift Mount Libanus, and his right leg fell lamed to the +ground. And the voice of Allah still held him, declaring: 'Lion, +nevermore shalt thou kill a goat!' And it has remained thus to this +day: the lion of Tabariat has still all his old-time power to carry off +camels, but he can never do the slightest harm to even a new-born kid. +The goats of the flocks dance in front of him at night, deriding him to +his face, and always from that moment his right leg has been stiff and +lame." + +"Mohammed," said the Rev. Mr. Feathercock contemptuously, "these are +stories fit only for babies." + +"How, then!" replied Mohammed-si-Koualdia. "Do you refuse to believe +that God is able to do whatever he may wish, that the world itself is +but a perpetual dream of God's and that, in consequence, God may change +this dream at will? Are you a Christian if you deny the power of the +All-powerful?" + +"I am a Christian," replied the clergyman with a trace of +embarrassment; "but for a long time we have been obliged to admit, we +pastors of the civilized Church of the Occident, that God would not be +able, without belying himself, to change the order of things which he +established when he created the universe. We consider that faith in +miracles is a superstition which we must leave to the monks of the +Churches of Rome and of Russia, and also to your Mussulmans who live in +ignorance of the truth. And it is in order to teach you this truth that +I have come here to your country, and at the same time to fight against +the pernicious political influence exerted by these same Romish and +Greek monks of whom I have just been speaking." + +"By invoking the name of Allah," responded Mohammed with intense +solemnity, "and by virtue of the collar-bone of the mighty Solomon, I +can perform great miracles. You see this turtle before us? I shall +cause it to grow each day the breadth of a finger!" + +In saying these words he made a sudden movement of his foot toward +Zobéide, and Zobéide promptly drew her head into her shell. + +"You claim to be able to work a miracle like that!" said the clergyman +scornfully. "You, Mohammed, a man immersed in sin, a Mussulman whom I +have seen drunk!" + +"I was drunk," replied Mohammed calmly, "but not as drunk as others." + +"So you think yourself able to force the power of Allah!" pursued Mr. +Feathercock, disdaining the interruption. + +"I could do it without a moment's difficulty," said Mohammed. + +Taking Zobéide in his hand he lifted her to the table. The frightened +turtle had again drawn in her head. Nothing could be seen but the +black-encircled golden squares of her shell against a background of +juicy melon pulp. Mohammed chanted: + +"_Thou thyself art a miracle, O turtle! For thy head is the head of a +serpent, thy tail the tail of a water rat, thy bones are bird's bones +and thy covering is of stone; and yet thou knowest love as it is known +by men. And from thy eggs, O turtle of stone, other turtles come +forth_. + +"_Thou thyself art a miracle, O turtle! For one would say that thou +wert a shell, naught but a shell, and behold! thou art a beast that +eats. Eat of this melon, O turtle, and grow this night the length of my +nail, if Allah permit!_ + +"_And when thou hast grown by the breadth of a finger, O turtle, eat +further of this melon, or of its sister, another melon, and grow +further by the breadth of a finger until thou hast reached the size of +a mosque. Thou thyself art a miracle, O shell endowed with life! +Perform still another miracle, if Allah permit, if Allah permit!_" + +Zobéide, reassured by the monotony of his voice, decided at last to +come out of her shell. First she showed the point of her little horny +nose, then her black eyes, her flat-pointed tail, and finally her +strong little claw-tipped feet. Seeing the melon, she made a gesture of +assent, and began to eat. + +"Nothing in the world will happen!" remarked the Rev. John Feathercock +rather doubtfully. + +"Wait and see," answered Mohammed gravely. "I shall come back +to-morrow!" + +The next morning he returned, measured Zobéide with his fingers and +declared: + +"She has grown!" + +"Do you imagine you can make me believe such a thing?" cried Mr. +Feathercock anxiously. + +"It is written in the Koran," answered Mohammed: "'I swear by the rosy +glow which fills the air when the sun is setting, by the shades of the +night, and by the light of the moon, that ye shall all change, in +substance and in size!' Allah has manifested himself; the size of this +turtle has changed. It will continue to change. Measure it yourself and +you will see." + +Mr. Feathercock did measure Zobéide, and was forced to admit that she +had indeed grown the breadth of a finger. He became thoughtful. + +Thus day by day Zobéide grew in size, in vigor and in appetite. At +first she had only been as big as a saucer, and took each day but a few +ounces of nourishment. Then she reached the size of a dessert plate, +then of a soup plate. With her strong beak she could split the rind of +a melon at a blow; distinctly could be heard the sound of her heavy +jaws as she crunched the sweet pulp of the fruits which she loved, and +which she devoured in great quantities. In one week she had grown so +tremendously that she was as big as a meat platter. The Rev. Mr. +Feathercock no longer dared to go near this monster, from whose eyes +seemed to glisten a look of deviltry. And, always and forever, +apparently devoured by a perpetual hunger, the monster ate. + +The members of Mr. Feathercock's flock came to hear that he was keeping +in his house a turtle that had been enchanted in the name of Allah and +not by the power of the Occidental Divinity: this proved to be anything +but helpful to the evangelical labors of the clergyman. But he himself +refused steadily and obstinately to believe in the miracle, although +Mohammed-si-Koualdia had never set foot in the house since the day when +he had invoked the charm. He remained outside the grounds, seated at +the door of a little café, plunged in meditation or in dreams, and +consuming hashish in large quantities. At the end of some time Mr. +Feathercock succeeded in persuading himself that what he was witnessing +was nothing more nor less than a perfectly simple and natural +phenomenon, perhaps not well understood hitherto, and due entirely to +the extraordinarily favorable action of melon pulp on the physical +development of turtles. He decided to cut off Zobéide's supply of +melons. + +Finally there came a day when Mohammed, drunk with hashish, saw Hakem, +Mr. Feathercock's valet, returning from market with a large bunch of +fresh greens. He rose majestically, though with features distorted by +the drug, and followed the boy with hasty steps. + +"Miserable one!" cried he to Mr. Feathercock. "Wretched worm, you have +tried to break the charm! Rejoice then, for you have succeeded and it +is broken. But let despair follow upon the heels of your rapture, for +it is broken in a way that you do not dream. Henceforth your turtle +shall _dwindle away_ day by day!" + +The Rev. Mr. Feathercock tried to laugh, but he did not feel entirely +happy. On Sundays, at the services, the few faithful souls who remained +in his flock looked upon him with suspicion. At the English consulate +they spoke very plainly, telling him unsympathetically that anyone who +would make a friend of such a man as Mohammed-si-Koualdia and who would +mingle "promiscuously" with such rabble, need look for nothing but harm +from it. + +Zobéide, when she was first confronted with the fresh, damp greens, +showed the most profound contempt for them. Unquestionably she +preferred melons. Mr. Feathercock applauded his own acumen. "She was +eating too much; that was the whole trouble," he said to himself. "And +that was what made her grow so remarkably. If she eats less she will +probably not grow so much. And if she should happen to die, I shall be +rid of her. Whatever comes, it will be for the best." + +But the next day Zobéide gave up pouting and began very docilely to eat +the greens, and when the boy Hakem carried her next bunch to her he +said slyly: + +"Effendi, she is growing smaller!" + +The clergyman attempted to shrug his shoulders, but it was impossible +to disguise the fact from himself--Zobéide had certainly shrunk! And +within an hour all Damascus knew that Zobéide had shrunk. When Mr. +Feathercock went to the barber shop the Greek barber said to him, "Sir, +your turtle is no ordinary turtle!" When he went to call on Mrs. +Hollingshead, a lady who was always intensely interested in all +subjects that she failed to understand and who discussed them with a +beautiful freedom, she said to him: "Dear sir, your turtle. How +exciting it must be to watch it shrink! I am certainly coming to see it +myself." When he went to the Anglican Orphanage, all the little +Syrians, all the little Arabs, all the little Armenians, all the little +Jews, drew turtles in their copy-books, turtles of every size and every +description, the big ones walking behind the little ones, the tail of +each in the mouth of another, making an interminable line. And in the +street the donkey drivers, the water-carriers, the fishmongers, the +venders of broiled meats, of baked breads, of beans, of cream, all +cried: "Mister Turtle, Mister Turtle! Try our wares. Buy something for +your poor stubborn beast that is pining away!" + +And, in truth, the turtle continued to shrink. She became again the +size of a soup plate, then of a dessert plate, then of a saucer, till +finally one morning there was nothing there but a little round thing, +tiny, frail, translucent, a spot about as big as a lady's watch, almost +invisible at the base of the fountain. And the next day--ah! the next +day there was nothing there, nothing whatever, neither turtle nor the +shadow of turtle, or more trace of a turtle than of an elephant in all +the grounds! + +Mohammed-si-Koualdia had stopped taking hashish, because he was +saturated with it. But he remained all day long, huddled in a heap at +the door of the little café immediately opposite the clergyman's house, +his eyes enlarged out of all proportion, set in a face the color of +death, gave him the look of a veritable sorcerer. At this moment the +Rev. Mr. Feathercock was returning from a visit to the English consul +who had said to him coldly: + +"All that I can tell you is that you have made an ass of yourself or, +as a Frenchman would say, played the donkey to hear yourself bray. The +best thing you can do is to go and hunt up a congregation somewhere +else." + +The Rev. John Feathercock accepted the advice with deference, and took +the train for Bayreuth. That same evening Mohammed-si-Koualdia betook +himself to the house of one Antonio, interpreter and public scribe, and +ordered him to translate into French the following letter, which he +dictated in Arabic. Afterwards he carried this letter to Father +Stephen, prior to the monastery of the Greek Hicrosolymites: + +"May heaven paint your cheeks with the colors of health, most venerable +father, and may happiness reign in your heart! I have the honor to +inform you that the Rev. John Feathercock has just left for Bayreuth, +but that he has had put upon his trunks the address of a city called +Liverpool, which, I am informed, is in the kingdom of England; and +also, everything points to the belief that he will never return. +Therefore, I dare to hope that you will send me the second part of the +reward you agreed upon as well as a generous present for Hakem, Mr. +Feathercock's valet, who carried every day a new turtle to the house of +the clergyman, and carried away the old one under his cloak. + +"I also pray you to tell your friends that I have for sale, at prices +exceptionally low, fifty-five turtles, all of different sizes, the last +and smallest of which is no larger than the watch of a European +_houri_. I have been at infinite pains to find them, and they have +served to prove to me with what exquisite care Allah fashions the +members of the least of His creatures and ornaments their bodies with +the most delicate designs." + + + + +VILLIERS DE L'ISLE ADAM + +_The Torture by Hope_ + + +Many years ago, as evening was closing in, the venerable Pedro Arbuez +d'Espila, sixth prior of the Dominicans of Segovia, and third Grand +Inquisitor of Spain, followed by a _fra redemptor_, and preceded by two +familiars of the Holy Office, the latter carrying lanterns, made their +way to a subterranean dungeon. The bolt of a massive door creaked, and +they entered a mephitic _in-pace_, where the dim light revealed between +rings fastened to the wall a bloodstained rack, a brazier, and a jug. +On a pile of straw, loaded with fetters and his neck encircled by an +iron carcan, sat a haggard man, of uncertain age, clothed in rags. + +This prisoner was no other than Rabbi Aser Abarbanel, a Jew of Arragon, +who--accused of usury and pitiless scorn for the poor--had been daily +subjected to torture for more than a year. Yet "his blindness was as +dense as his hide," and he had refused to abjure his faith. + +Proud of a filiation dating back thousands of years, proud of his +ancestors--for all Jews worthy of the name are vain of their blood--he +descended Talmudically from Othoniel and consequently from Ipsiboa, the +wife of the last judge of Israel, a circumstance which had sustained +his courage amid incessant torture. With tears in his eyes at the +thought of this resolute soul rejecting salvation, the venerable Pedro +Arbuez d'Espila, approaching the shuddering rabbi, addressed him as +follows: + +"My son, rejoice: your trials here below are about to end. If in the +presence of such obstinacy I was forced to permit, with deep regret, +the use of great severity, my task of fraternal correction has its +limits. You are the fig tree which, having failed so many times to bear +fruit, at last withered, but God alone can judge your soul. Perhaps +Infinite Mercy will shine upon you at the last moment! We must hope so. +There are examples. So sleep in peace to-night. Tomorrow you will be +included in the _auto da fé_: that is, you will be exposed to the +_quémadero_, the symbolical flames of the Everlasting Fire: it burns, +as you know, only at a distance, my son; and Death is at least two +hours (often three) in coming, on account of the wet, iced bandages, +with which we protect the heads and hearts of the condemned. There will +be forty-three of you. Placed in the last row, you will have time to +invoke God and offer to Him this baptism of fire, which is of the Holy +Spirit. Hope in the Light, and rest." + +With these words, having signed to his companions to unchain the +prisoner, the prior tenderly embraced him. Then came the turn of the +_fra redemptor_, who, in a low tone, entreated the Jew's forgiveness +for what he had made him suffer for the purpose of redeeming him; then +the two familiars silently kissed him. This ceremony over, the captive +was left, solitary and bewildered, in the darkness. + + * * * * * + +Rabbi Aser Abarbanel, with parched lips and visage worn by suffering, +at first gazed at the closed door with vacant eyes. Closed? The word +unconsciously roused a vague fancy in his mind, the fancy that he had +seen for an instant the light of the lanterns through a chink between +the door and the wall. A morbid idea of hope, due to the weakness of +his brain, stirred his whole being. He dragged himself toward the +strange _appearance_. Then, very gently and cautiously, slipping one +finger into the crevice, he drew the door toward him. Marvelous! By an +extraordinary accident the familiar who closed it had turned the huge +key an instant before it struck the stone casing, so that the rusty +bolt not having entered the hole, the door again rolled on its hinges. + +The rabbi ventured to glance outside. By the aid of a sort of luminous +dusk he distinguished at first a semicircle of walls indented by +winding stairs; and opposite to him, at the top of five or six stone +steps, a sort of black portal, opening into an immense corridor, whose +first arches only were visible from below. + +Stretching himself flat he crept to the threshold. Yes, it was really a +corridor, but endless in length. A wan light illumined it: lamps +suspended from the vaulted ceiling lightened at intervals the dull hue +of the atmosphere--the distance was veiled in shadow. Not a single door +appeared in the whole extent! Only on one side, the left, heavily +grated loopholes, sunk in the walls, admitted a light which must be +that of evening, for crimson bars at intervals rested on the flags of +the pavement. What a terrible silence! Yet, yonder, at the far end of +that passage there might be a doorway of escape! The Jew's vacillating +hope was tenacious, for it was _the last_. + +Without hesitating, he ventured on the flags, keeping close under the +loopholes, trying to make himself part of the blackness of the long +walls. He advanced slowly, dragging himself along on his breast, +forcing back the cry of pain when some raw wound sent a keen pang +through his whole body. + +Suddenly the sound of a sandaled foot approaching reached his ears. He +trembled violently, fear stifled him, his sight grew dim. Well, it was +over, no doubt. He pressed himself into a niche and, half lifeless with +terror, waited. + +It was a familiar hurrying along. He passed swiftly by, holding in his +clenched hand an instrument of torture--a frightful figure--and +vanished. The suspense which the rabbi had endured seemed to have +suspended the functions of life, and he lay nearly an hour unable to +move. Fearing an increase of tortures if he were captured, he thought +of returning to his dungeon. But the old hope whispered in his soul +that divine _perhaps_, which comforts us in our sorest trials. A +miracle had happened. He could doubt no longer. He began to crawl +toward the chance of escape. Exhausted by suffering and hunger, +trembling with pain, he pressed onward. The sepulchral corridor seemed +to lengthen mysteriously, while he, still advancing, gazed into the +gloom where there _must_ be some avenue of escape. + +Oh! oh! He again heard footsteps, but this time they were slower, more +heavy. The white and black forms of two inquisitors appeared, emerging +from the obscurity beyond. They were conversing in low tones, and +seemed to be discussing some important subject, for they were +gesticulating vehemently. + +At this spectacle Rabbi Aser Abarbanel closed his eyes: his heart beat +so violently that it almost suffocated him; his rags were damp with the +cold sweat of agony; he lay motionless by the wall, his mouth wide +open, under the rays of a lamp, praying to the God of David. + +Just opposite to him the two inquisitors paused under the light of the +lamp--doubtless owing to some accident due to the course of their +argument. One, while listening to his companion, gazed at the rabbi! +And, beneath the look--whose absence of expression the hapless man did +not at first notice--he fancied he again felt the burning pincers +scorch his flesh, he was to be once more a living wound. Fainting, +breathless, with fluttering eyelids, he shivered at the touch of the +monk's floating robe. But--strange yet natural fact--the inquisitor's +gaze was evidently that of a man deeply absorbed in his intended reply, +engrossed by what he was hearing; his eyes were fixed--and seemed to +look at the Jew _without seeing him_. + +In fact, after the lapse of a few minutes, the two gloomy figures +slowly pursued their way, still conversing in low tones, toward the +place whence the prisoner had come; HE HAD NOT BEEN SEEN! Amid the +horrible confusion of the rabbi's thoughts, the idea darted through +his brain: "Can I be already dead that they did not see me?" A hideous +impression roused him from his lethargy: in looking at the wall +against which his face was pressed, he imagined he beheld two fierce +eyes watching him! He flung his head back in a sudden frenzy of +fright, his hair fairly bristling! Yet, no! No. His hand groped over +the stones: it was the _reflection_ of the inquisitor's eyes, still +retained in his own, which had been refracted from two spots on the +wall. + +Forward! He must hasten toward that goal which he fancied (absurdly, no +doubt) to be deliverance, toward the darkness from which he was now +barely thirty paces distant. He pressed forward faster on his knees, +his hands, at full length, dragging himself painfully along, and soon +entered the dark portion of this terrible corridor. + +Suddenly the poor wretch felt a gust of cold air on the hands resting +upon the flags; it came from under the little door to which the two +walls led. + +Oh, Heaven, if that door should open outward. Every nerve in the +miserable fugitive's body thrilled with hope. He examined it from top +to bottom, though scarcely able to distinguish its outlines in the +surrounding darkness. He passed his hand over it: no bolt, no lock! A +latch! He started up, the latch yielded to the pressure of his thumb: +the door silently swung open before him. + +"HALLELUIA!" murmured the rabbi in a transport of gratitude as, +standing on the threshold, he beheld the scene before him. + +The door had opened into the gardens, above which arched a starlit +sky, into spring, liberty, life! It revealed the neighboring fields, +stretching toward the sierras, whose sinuous blue lines were relieved +against the horizon. Yonder lay freedom! Oh, to escape! He would +journey all night through the lemon groves, whose fragrance reached +him. Once in the mountains and he was safe! He inhaled the delicious +air; the breeze revived him, his lungs expanded! He felt in his +swelling heart the _Veni foràs_ of Lazarus! And to thank once more the +God who had bestowed this mercy upon him, he extended his arms, +raising his eyes toward Heaven. It was an ecstasy of joy! + +Then he fancied he saw the shadow of his arms approach him--fancied +that he felt these shadowy arms inclose, embrace him--and that he was +pressed tenderly to some one's breast. A tall figure actually did +stand directly before him. He lowered his eyes--and remained +motionless, gasping for breath, dazed, with fixed eyes, fairly +driveling with terror. + +Horror! He was in the clasp of the Grand Inquisitor himself, the +venerable Pedro Arbuez d'Espila, who gazed at him with tearful eyes, +like a good shepherd who had found his stray lamb. + +The dark-robed priest pressed the hapless Jew to his heart with so +fervent an outburst of love, that the edges of the monochal haircloth +rubbed the Dominican's breast. And while Aser Abarbanel with +protruding eyes gasped in agony in the ascetic's embrace, vaguely +comprehending that _all the phases of this fatal evening were only a +prearranged torture, that of_ HOPE, the Grand Inquisitor, with an +accent of touching reproach and a look of consternation, murmured in +his ear, his breath parched and burning from long fasting: + +"What, my son! On the eve, perchance, of salvation--you wished to leave +us?" + + + + +ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN + +_The Owl's Ear_ + + +On the 29th of July, 1835, Kasper Boeck, a shepherd of the little +village of Hirschwiller, with his large felt hat tipped back, his +wallet of stringy sackcloth hanging at his hip, and his great tawny dog +at his heels, presented himself at about nine o'clock in the evening at +the house of the burgomaster, Petrus Mauerer, who had just finished +supper and was taking a little glass of kirchwasser to facilitate +digestion. + +This burgomaster was a tall, thin man, and wore a bushy gray mustache. +He had seen service in the armies of the Archduke Charles. He had a +jovial disposition, and ruled the village, it is said, with his finger +and with the rod. + +"Mr. Burgomaster," cried the shepherd in evident excitement. + +But Petrus Mauerer, without awaiting the end of his speech, frowned and +said: + +"Kasper Boeck, begin by taking off your hat, put your dog out of the +room, and then speak distinctly, intelligibly, without stammering, so +that I may understand you." + +Hereupon the burgomaster, standing near the table, tranquilly emptied +his little glass and wiped his great gray mustachios indifferently. + +Kasper put his dog out, and came back with his hat off. + +"Well!" said Petrus, seeing that he was silent, "what has happened?" + +"It happens that the _spirit_ has appeared again in the ruins of +Geierstein!" + +"Ha! I doubt it. You've seen it yourself?" + +"Very clearly, Mr. Burgomaster." + +"Without closing your eyes?" + +"Yes, Mr. Burgomaster--my eyes were wide open. There was plenty of +moonlight." + +"What form did it have?" + +"The form of a small man." + +"Good!" + +And turning toward a glass door at the left: + +"Katel!" cried the burgomaster. + +An old serving woman opened the door. + +"Sir?" + +"I am going out for a walk--on the hillside--sit up for me until ten +o'clock. Here's the key." + +"Yes, sir." + +Then the old soldier took down his gun from the hook over the door, +examined the priming, and slung it over his shoulder; then he addressed +Kasper Boeck: + +"Go and tell the rural guard to meet me in the holly path, and tell him +behind the mill. Your _spirit_ must be some marauder. But if it's a +fox, I'll make a fine hood of it, with long earlaps." + +Master Petrus Mauerer and humble Kasper then went out. The weather was +superb, the stars innumerable. While the shepherd went to knock at the +rural guard's door, the burgomaster plunged among the elder bushes, in +a little lane that wound around behind the old church. + +Two minutes later Kasper and Hans Goerner, whinger at his side, by +running overtook Master Petrus in the holly path. + +All three made their way together toward the ruins of Geierstein. + +These ruins, which are twenty minutes' walk from the village, seem to +be insignificant enough; they consist of the ridges of a few decrepit +walls, from four to six feet high, which extend among the brier bushes. +Archaeologists call them the aqueducts of Seranus, the Roman camp of +Holderlock, or vestiges of Theodoric, according to their fantasy. The +only thing about these ruins which could be considered remarkable is a +stairway to a cistern cut in the rock. Inside of this spiral staircase, +instead of concentric circles which twist around with each complete +turn, the involutions become wider as they proceed, in such a way that +the bottom of the pit is three times as large as the opening. Is it an +architectural freak, or did some reasonable cause determine such an odd +construction? It matters little to us. The result was to cause in the +cistern that vague reverberation which anyone may hear upon placing a +shell at his ear, and to make you aware of steps on the gravel path, +murmurs of the air, rustling of the leaves, and even distant words +spoken by people passing the foot of the hill. + +Our three personages then followed the pathway between the vineyards +and gardens of Hirschwiller. + +"I see nothing," the burgomaster would say, turning up his nose +derisively. + +"Nor I either," the rural guard would repeat, imitating the other's +tone. + +"It's down in the hole," muttered the shepherd. + +"We shall see, we shall see," returned the burgomaster. + +It was in this fashion, after a quarter of an hour, that they came upon +the opening of the cistern. As I have said, the night was clear, +limpid, and perfectly still. + +The moon portrayed, as far as the eye could reach, one of those +nocturnal landscapes in bluish lines, studded with slim trees, the +shadows of which seemed to have been drawn with a black crayon. The +blooming brier and broom perfumed the air with a rather sharp odor, and +the frogs of a neighboring swamp sang their oily anthem, interspersed +with silences. But all these details escaped the notice of our good +rustics; they thought of nothing but laying hands on the _spirit_. + +When they had reached the stairway, all three stopped and listened, +then gazed into the dark shadows. Nothing appeared--nothing stirred. + +"The devil!" said the burgomaster, "we forgot to bring a bit of candle. +Descend, Kasper, you know the way better than I--I'll follow you." + +At this proposition the shepherd recoiled promptly. If he had consulted +his inclinations the poor man would have taken to flight; his pitiful +expression made the burgomaster burst out laughing. + +"Well, Hans, since he doesn't want to go down, show me the way," he +said to the game warden. + +"But, Mr. Burgomaster," said the latter, "you know very well that steps +are missing; we should risk breaking our necks." + +"Then what's to be done?" + +"Yes, what's to be done?" + +"Send your dog," replied Petrus. + +The shepherd whistled to his dog, showed him the stairway, urged +him--but he did not wish to take the chances any more than the others. + +At this moment, a bright idea struck the rural guardsman. + +"Ha! Mr. Burgomaster," said he, "if you should fire your gun inside." + +"Faith," cried the other, "you're right, we shall catch a glimpse at +least." + +And without hesitating the worthy man approached the stairway and +leveled his gun. + +But, by the acoustic effect which I have already pointed out, the +_spirit_, the marauder, the individual who chanced to be actually in +the cistern, had heard everything. The idea of stopping a gunshot did +not strike him as amusing, for in a shrill, piercing voice he cried: + +"Stop! Don't fire--I'm coming." + +Then the three functionaries looked at each other and laughed softly, +and the burgomaster, leaning over the opening again, cried rudely: + +"Be quick about it, you varlet, or I'll shoot! Be quick about it!" + +He cocked his gun, and the click seemed to hasten the ascent of the +mysterious person; they heard him rolling down some stones. +Nevertheless it still took him another minute before he appeared, the +cistern being at a depth of sixty feet. + +What was this man doing in such deep darkness? He must be some great +criminal! So at least thought Petrus Mauerer and his acolytes. + +At last a vague form could be discerned in the dark, then slowly, by +degrees, a little man, four and a half feet high at the most, frail, +ragged, his face withered and yellow, his eye gleaming like a magpie's, +and his hair tangled, came out shouting: + +"By what right do you come to disturb my studies, wretched creatures?" + +This grandiose apostrophe was scarcely in accord with his costume and +physiognomy. Accordingly the burgomaster indignantly replied: + +"Try to show that you're honest, you knave, or I'll begin by +administering a correction." + +"A correction!" said the little man, leaping with anger, and drawing +himself up under the nose of the burgomaster. + +"Yes," replied the other, who, nevertheless, did not fail to admire the +pygmy's courage; "if you do not answer the questions satisfactorily I +am going to put to you. I am the burgomaster of Hirschwiller; here are +the rural guard, the shepherd and his dog. We are stronger than you--be +wise and tell me peaceably who you are, what you are doing here, and +why you do not dare to appear in broad daylight. Then we shall see +what's to be done with you." + +"All that's none of your business," replied the little man in his +cracked voice. "I shall not answer." + +"In that case, forward, march," ordered the burgomaster, who grasped +him firmly by the nape of the neck; "you are going to sleep in prison." + +The little man writhed like a weasel; he even tried to bite, and the +dog was sniffing at the calves of his legs, when, quite exhausted, he +said, not without a certain dignity: + +"Let go, sir, I surrender to superior force--I'm yours!" + +The burgomaster, who was not entirely lacking in good breeding, became +calmer. + +"Do you promise?" said he. + +"I promise!" + +"Very well--walk in front." + +And that is how, on the night of the 29th of July, 1835, the +burgomaster took captive a little red-haired man, issuing from the +cavern of Geierstein. + +Upon arriving at Hirschwiller the rural guard ran to find the key of +the prison and the vagabond was locked in and double-locked, not to +forget the outside bolt and padlock. + +Everyone then could repose after his fatigues, and Petrus Mauerer went +to bed and dreamed till midnight of this singular adventure. + +On the morrow, toward nine o'clock, Hans Goerner, the rural guard, +having been ordered to bring the prisoner to the town house for another +examination, repaired to the cooler with four husky daredevils. They +opened the door, all of them curious to look upon the Will-o'-the-wisp. +But imagine their astonishment upon seeing him hanging from the bars of +the window by his necktie! Some said that he was still writhing; others +that he was already stiff. However that may be, they ran to Petrus +Mauerer's house to inform him of the fact, and what is certain is that +upon the latter's arrival the little man had breathed his last. + +The justice of the peace and the doctor of Hirschwiller drew up a +formal statement of the catastrophe; then they buried the unknown in a +field of meadow grass and it was all over! + +Now about three weeks after these occurrences, I went to see my cousin, +Petrus Mauerer, whose nearest relative I was, and consequently his +heir. This circumstance sustained an intimate acquaintance between us. +We were at dinner, talking on indifferent matters, when the burgomaster +recounted the foregoing little story, as I have just reported it. + +"'Tis strange, cousin," said I, "truly strange. And you have no other +information concerning the unknown?" + +"None." + +"And you have found nothing which could give you a clew as to his +purpose?" + +"Absolutely nothing, Christian." + +"But, as a matter of fact, what could he have been doing in the +cistern? On what did he live?" + +The burgomaster shrugged his shoulders, refilled our glasses, and +replied with: + +"To your health, cousin." + +"To yours." + +We remained silent a few minutes. It was impossible for me to accept +the abrupt conclusion of the adventure, and, in spite of myself, I +mused with some melancholy on the sad fate of certain men who appear +and disappear in this world like the grass of the field, without +leaving the least memory or the least regret. + +"Cousin," I resumed, "how far may it be from here to the ruins of +Geierstein?" + +"Twenty minutes' walk at the most. Why?" + +"Because I should like to see them." + +"You know that we have a meeting of the municipal council, and that I +can't accompany you." + +"Oh! I can find them by myself." + +"No, the rural guard will show you the way; he has nothing better to +do." + +And my worthy cousin, having rapped on his glass, called his servant: + +"Katel, go and find Hans Goerner--let him hurry, and get here by two +o'clock. I must be going." + +The servant went out and the rural guard was not tardy in coming. + +He was directed to take me to the ruins. + +While the burgomaster proceeded gravely toward the hall of the +municipal council, we were already climbing the hill. Hans Goerner, +with a wave of the hand, indicated the remains of the aqueduct. At the +same moment the rocky ribs of the plateau, the blue distances of +Hundsrück, the sad crumbling walls covered with somber ivy, the tolling +of the Hirschwiller bell summoning the notables to the council, the +rural guardsman panting and catching at the brambles--assumed in my +eyes a sad and severe tinge, for which I could not account: it was the +story of the hanged man which took the color out of the prospect. + +The cistern staircase struck me as being exceedingly curious, with its +elegant spiral. The bushes bristling in the fissures at every step, the +deserted aspect of its surroundings, all harmonized with my sadness. We +descended, and soon the luminous point of the opening, which seemed to +contract more and more, and to take the shape of a star with curved +rays, alone sent us its pale light. When we attained the very bottom of +the cistern, we found a superb sight was to be had of all those steps, +lighted from above and cutting off their shadows with marvelous +precision. I then heard the hum of which I have already spoken: the +immense granite conch had as many echoes as stones! + +"Has nobody been down here since the little man?" I asked the rural +guardsman. + +"No, sir. The peasants are afraid. They imagine that the hanged man +will return." + +"And you?" + +"I--oh, I'm not curious." + +"But the justice of the peace? His duty was to--" + +"Ha! What could he have come to the _Owl's Ear_ for?" + +"They call this the _Owl's Ear_?" + +"Yes." + +"That's pretty near it," said I, raising my eyes. "This reversed vault +forms the _pavilion_ well enough; the under side of the steps makes the +covering of the _tympanum_, and the winding of the staircase the +_cochlea_, the _labyrinth_, and _vestibule_ of the ear. That is the +cause of the murmur which we hear: we are at the back of a colossal +ear." + +"It's very likely," said Hans Goerner, who did not seem to have +understood my observations. + +We started up again, and I had ascended the first steps when I felt +something crush under my foot; I stopped to see what it could be, and +at that moment perceived a white object before me. It was a torn sheet +of paper. As for the hard object, which I had felt grinding up, I +recognized it as a sort of glazed earthenware jug. + +"Aha!" I said to myself; "this may clear up the burgomaster's story." + +I rejoined Hans Goerner, who was now waiting for me at the edge of the +pit. + +"Now, sir," cried he, "where would you like to go?" + +"First, let's sit down for a while. We shall see presently." + +I sat down on a large stone, while the rural guard cast his falcon +eyes over the village to see if there chanced to be any trespassers in +the gardens. I carefully examined the glazed vase, of which nothing +but splinters remained. These fragments presented the appearance of a +funnel, lined with wool. It was impossible for me to perceive its +purpose. I then read the piece of a letter, written in an easy running +and firm hand. I transcribe it here below, word for word. It seems to +follow the other half of the sheet, for which I looked vainly all +about the ruins: + +"My _micracoustic_ ear trumpet thus has the double advantage of +infinitely multiplying the intensity of sounds, and of introducing +them into the ear without causing the observer the least discomfort. +You would never have imagined, dear master, the charm which one feels +in perceiving these thousands of imperceptible sounds which are +confounded, on a fine summer day, in an immense murmuring. The +bumble-bee has his song as well as the nightingale, the honey-bee is +the warbler of the mosses, the cricket is the lark of the tall grass, +the maggot is the wren--it has only a sigh, but the sigh is melodious! + +"This discovery, from the point of view of sentiment, which makes us +live in the universal life, surpasses in its importance all that I +could say on the matter. + +"After so much suffering, privations, and weariness, how happy it makes +one to reap the rewards of all his labors! How the soul soars toward +the divine Author of all these microscopic worlds, the magnificence of +which is revealed to us! Where now are the long hours of anguish, +hunger, contempt, which overwhelmed us before? Gone, sir, gone! Tears +of gratitude moisten our eyes. One is proud to have achieved, through +suffering, new joys for humanity and to have contributed to its mental +development. But howsoever vast, howsoever admirable may be the first +fruits of my _micracoustic_ ear trumpet, these do not delimit its +advantages. There are more positive ones, more material, and ones which +may be expressed in figures. + +"Just as the telescope brought the discovery of myriads of worlds +performing their harmonious revolutions in infinite space--so also will +my _micracoustic_ ear trumpet extend the sense of the unhearable beyond +all possible bounds. Thus, sir, the circulation of the blood and the +fluids of the body will not give me pause; you shall hear them flow +with the impetuosity of cataracts; you shall perceive them so +distinctly as to startle you; the slightest irregularity of the pulse, +the least obstacle, is striking, and produces the same effect as a rock +against which the waves of a torrent are dashing! + +"It is doubtless an immense conquest in the development of our +knowledge of physiology and pathology, but this is not the point on +which I would emphasize. Upon applying your ear to the ground, sir, you +may hear the mineral waters springing up at immeasurable depths; you +may judge of their volume, their currents, and the obstacles which they +meet! + +"Do you wish to go further? Enter a subterranean vault which is so +constructed as to gather a quantity of loud sounds; then at night when +the world sleeps, when nothing will be confused with the interior +noises of our globe--listen! + +"Sir, all that it is possible for me to tell you at the present +moment--for in the midst of my profound misery, of my privations, and +often of my despair, I am left only a few lucid instants to pursue my +geological observations--all that I can affirm is that the seething of +glow worms, the explosions of boiling fluids, is something terrifying +and sublime, which can only be compared to the impression of the +astronomer whose glass fathoms depths of limitless extent. + +"Nevertheless, I must avow that these impressions should be studied +further and classified in a methodical manner, in order that definite +conclusions may be derived therefrom. Likewise, as soon as you shall +have deigned, dear and noble master, to transmit the little sum for use +at Neustadt as I asked, to supply my first needs, we shall see our way +to an understanding in regard to the establishment of three great +subterranean observatories, one in the valley of Catania, another in +Iceland, then a third in Capac-Uren, Songay, or Cayembé-Uren, the +deepest of the Cordilleras, and consequently--" + +Here the letter stopped. + +I let my hands fall in stupefaction. Had I read the conceptions of an +idiot--or the inspirations of a genius which had been realized? What am +I to say? to think? So this man, this miserable creature, living at the +bottom of a burrow like a fox, dying of hunger, had had perhaps one of +those inspirations which the Supreme Being sends on earth to enlighten +future generations! + +And this man had hanged himself in disgust, despair! No one had +answered his prayer, though he asked only for a crust of bread in +exchange for his discovery. It was horrible. Long, long I sat there +dreaming, thanking Heaven for having limited my intelligence to the +needs of ordinary life--for not having desired to make me a superior +man in the community of martyrs. At length the rural guardsman, seeing +me with fixed gaze and mouth agape, made so bold as to touch me on the +shoulder. + +"Mr. Christian," said he, "see--it's getting late--the burgomaster must +have come back from the council." + +"Ha! That's a fact," cried I, crumpling up the paper, "come on." + +We descended the hill. + +My worthy cousin met me, with a smiling face, at the threshold of his +house. + +"Well! well! Christian, so you've found no trace of the imbecile who +hanged himself?" + +"No." + +"I thought as much. He was some lunatic who escaped from Stefansfeld or +somewhere--Faith, he did well to hang himself. When one is good for +nothing, that's the simplest way for it." + +The following day I left Hirschwiller. I shall never return. + + + +_The Invisible Eye_ + + +About this time (said Christian), poor as a church mouse, I took refuge +in the roof of an old house in Minnesänger Street, Nuremberg, and made +my nest in the corner of the garret. + +I was compelled to work over my straw bed to reach the window, but this +window was in the gable end, and the view from it was magnificent, both +town and country being spread out before me. + +I could see the cats walking gravely in the gutters; the storks, their +beaks filled with frogs, carrying nourishment to their ravenous brood; +the pigeons, springing from their cotes, their tails spread like fans, +hovering over the streets. + +In the evening, when the bells called the world to the Angelus, with my +elbows upon the edge of the roof, I listened to their melancholy +chimes; I watched the windows as, one by one, they were lighted up; the +good burghers smoking their pipes on the sidewalks; the young girls in +their red skirts, with their pitchers under their arms, laughing and +chatting around the fountain "Saint Sebalt." Insensibly all this faded +away, the bats commenced their rapid course, and I retired to my +mattress in sweet peace and tranquillity. + +The old curiosity seller, Toubac, knew the way to my little lodging as +well as I did, and was not afraid to climb the ladder. Every week his +ugly head, adorned with a reddish cap, raised the trapdoor, his fingers +grasped the ledge, and he cried out in a nasal tone: + +"Well, well, Master Christian, have you anything?" + +To which I replied: + +"Come in. Why in the devil don't you come in? I am just finishing a +little landscape, and you must tell me what you think of it." + +Then his great back, seeming to elongate, grew up, even to the roof, +and the good man laughed silently. + +I must do justice to Toubac: he never haggled with me about prices; he +bought all my paintings at fifteen florins, one with the other, and +sold them again for forty each. "This was an honest Jew!" + +I began to grow fond of this mode of existence, and to find new charms +in it day by day. + +Just at this time the city of Nuremberg was agitated by a strange and +mysterious event. Not far from my dormer window, a little to the left, +stood the Inn Boeuf-Gras, an old _auberge_ much patronized throughout +the country. Three or four wagons, filled with sacks or casks, were +always drawn up before the door, where the rustic drivers were in the +habit of stopping, on their way to the market, to take their morning +draught of wine. + +The gable end of the inn was distinguished by its peculiar form. It was +very narrow, pointed, and, on two sides, cut-in teeth, like a saw. The +carvings were strangely grotesque, interwoven and ornamenting the +cornices and surrounding the windows; but the most remarkable fact was +that the house opposite reproduced exactly the same sculptures, the +same ornaments; even the signboard, with its post and spiral of iron, +was exactly copied. + +One might have thought that these two ancient houses reflected each +other. Behind the inn, however, was a grand old oak, whose somber +leaves darkened the stones of the roof, while the other house stood out +in bold relief against the sky. To complete the description, this old +building was as silent and dreary as the Inn Boeuf-Gras was noisy and +animated. + +On one side, a crowd of merry drinkers were continually entering in and +going out, singing, tripping, cracking their whips; on the other, +profound silence reigned. + +Perhaps, once or twice during the day, the heavy door seemed to open of +itself, to allow a little old woman to go out, with her back almost in +a semicircle, her dress fitting tight about her hips, an enormous +basket on her arm, and her hand contracted against her breast. + +It seemed to me that I saw at a glance, as I looked upon her, a whole +existence of good works and pious meditations. + +The physiognomy of this old woman had struck me more than once: her +little green eyes, long, thin nose, the immense bouquets of flowers on +her shawl, which must have been at least a hundred years old, the +withered smile which puckered her cheeks into a cockade, the lace of +her bonnet falling down to her eyebrows--all this was fantastic, and +interested me much. Why did this old woman live in this great deserted +house? I wished to explore the mystery. + +One day as I paused in the street and followed her with my eyes, she +turned suddenly and gave me a look, the horrible expression of which I +know not how to paint; made three or four hideous grimaces, and then, +letting her palsied head fall upon her breast, drew her great shawl +closely around her, and advanced slowly to the heavy door, behind which +I saw her disappear. + +"She's an old fool!" I said to myself, in a sort of stupor. My faith, +it was the height of folly in me to be interested in her! + +However, I would like to see her grimace again; old Toubac would +willingly give me fifteen florins if I could paint it for him. + +I must confess that these pleasantries of mine did not entirely +reassure me. + +The hideous glance which the old shrew had given me pursued me +everywhere. More than once, while climbing the almost perpendicular +ladder to my loft, feeling my clothing caught on some point, I trembled +from head to foot, imagining that the old wretch was hanging to the +tails of my coat in order to destroy me. + +Toubac, to whom I related this adventure, was far from laughing at it; +indeed, he assumed a grave and solemn air. + +"Master Christian," said he, "if the old woman wants you, take care! +Her teeth are small, pointed, and of marvelous whiteness, and that is +not natural at her age. She has an 'evil eye.' Children flee from her, +and the people of Nuremberg call her 'Fledermausse.'" + +I admired the clear, sagacious intellect of the Jew, and his words gave +me cause for reflection. + +Several weeks passed away, during which I often encountered +Fledermausse without any alarming consequences. My fears were +dissipated, and I thought of her no more. + +But an evening came, during which, while sleeping very soundly, I was +awakened by a strange harmony. It was a kind of vibration, so sweet, so +melodious, that the whispering of the breeze among the leaves can give +but a faint idea of its charm. + +For a long time I listened intently, with my eyes wide open, and +holding my breath, so as not to lose a note. At last I looked toward +the window, and saw two wings fluttering against the glass. I thought, +at first, that it was a bat, caught in my room; but, the moon rising at +that instant, I saw the wings of a magnificent butterfly of the night +delineated upon her shining disk. Their vibrations were often so rapid +that they could not be distinguished; then they reposed, extended upon +the glass, and their frail fibers were again brought to view. + +This misty apparition, coming in the midst of the universal silence, +opened my heart to all sweet emotions. It seemed to me that an airy +sylph, touched with a sense of my solitude, had come to visit me, and +this idea melted me almost to tears. + +"Be tranquil, sweet captive, be tranquil," said I; "your confidence +shall not be abused. I will not keep you against your will. Return to +heaven and to liberty." I then opened my little window. The night was +calm, and millions of stars were glittering in the sky. For a moment I +contemplated this sublime spectacle, and words of prayer and praise +came naturally to my lips; but, judge of my amazement, when, lowering +my eyes, I saw a man hanging from the crossbeam of the sign of the +Boeuf-Gras, the hair disheveled, the arms stiff, the legs elongated to +a point, and casting their gigantic shadows down to the street! + +The immobility of this figure under the moon's rays was terrible. I +felt my tongue freezing, my teeth clinched. I was about to cry out in +terror when, by some incomprehensible mysterious attraction, my glance +fell below, and I distinguished, confusedly, the old woman crouched at +her window in the midst of dark shadows, and contemplating the dead man +with an air of diabolic satisfaction. + +Then I had a vertigo of terror. All my strength abandoned me, and, +retreating to the wall of my loft, I sank down and became insensible. + +I do not know how long this sleep of death continued. When restored to +consciousness, I saw that it was broad day. The mists of the night had +penetrated to my garret, and deposited their fresh dew upon my hair, +and the confused murmurs of the street ascended to my little lodging. I +looked without. The burgomaster and his secretary were stationed at the +door of the inn, and remained there a long time; crowds of people came +and went, and paused to look in; then recommenced their course. The +good women of the neighborhood, who were sweeping before their doors, +looked on from afar, and talked gravely with each other. + +At last a litter, and upon this litter a body, covered with a linen +cloth, issued from the inn, carried by two men. They descended to the +street, and the children, on their way to school, ran behind them. + +All the people drew back as they advanced. + +The window opposite was still open; the end of a rope floated from the +crossbeam. + +I had not dreamed. I had, indeed, seen the butterfly of the night; I +had seen the man hanging, and I had seen Fledermausse. + +That day Toubac made me a visit, and, as his great nose appeared on a +level with the floor, he exclaimed: + +"Master Christian, have you nothing to sell?" + +I did not hear him. I was seated upon my one chair, my hands clasped +upon my knees, and my eyes fixed before me. + +Toubac, surprised at my inattention, repeated in a louder voice: + +"Master Christian, Master Christian!" Then, striding over the sill, he +advanced and struck me on the shoulder. + +"Well, well, what is the matter now?" + +"Ah, is that you, Toubac?" + +"Eh, _parbleu_! I rather think so; are you ill?" + +"No, I am only thinking." + +"What in the devil are you thinking about?" + +"Of the man who was hanged." + +"Oh, oh!" cried the curiosity vender. "You have seen him, then? The +poor boy! What a singular history! The third in the same place." + +"How--the third?" + +"Ah, yes! I ought to have warned you; but it is not too late. There +will certainly be a fourth, who will follow the example of the others. +_Il n'y à que le premier pas qui coûte_." + +Saying this, Toubac took a seat on the corner of my trunk, struck his +match-box, lighted his pipe, and blew three or four powerful whiffs of +smoke with a meditative air. + +"My faith," said he, "I am not fearful; but, if I had full permission +to pass the night in that chamber, I should much prefer to sleep +elsewhere. + +"Listen, Master Christian. Nine or ten months ago a good man of +Tübingen, wholesale dealer in furs, dismounted at the Inn Boeuf-Gras. +He called for supper; he ate well; he drank well; and was finally +conducted to that room in the third story--it is called the Green Room. +Well, the next morning he was found hanging to the crossbeam of the +signboard. + +"Well, that might do _for once_; nothing could be said. + +"Every proper investigation was made, and the stranger was buried at +the bottom of the garden. But, look you, about six months afterwards a +brave soldier from Neustadt arrived; he had received his final +discharge, and was rejoicing in the thought of returning to his native +village. During the whole evening, while emptying his wine cups, he +spoke fondly of his little cousin who was waiting to marry him. At last +this big monsieur was conducted to his room--the Green Room--and, the +same night, the watchman, passing down the street Minnesänger, +perceived something hanging to the crossbeam; he raised his lantern, +and lo! it was the soldier, with his final discharge in a bow on his +left hip, and his hands gathered up to the seam of his pantaloons, as +if on parade. + +"'Truth to say, this is extraordinary!' cried the burgomaster; 'the +devil's to pay.' Well, the chamber was much visited; the walls were +replastered, and the dead man was sent to Neustadt. + +"The registrar wrote this marginal note: + +"'Died of apoplexy.' + +"All Nuremberg was enraged against the innkeeper. There were many, +indeed, who wished to force him to take down his iron crossbeam, under +the pretext that it inspired people with dangerous ideas; but you may +well believe that old Michael Schmidt would not lend his ear to this +proposition. + +"'This crossbeam,' said he, 'was placed here by my grandfather; it has +borne the sign of Boeuf-Gras for one hundred and fifty years, from +father to son; it harms no one, not even the hay wagons which pass +beneath, for it is thirty feet above them. Those who don't like it can +turn their heads aside, and not see it.' + +"Well, gradually the town calmed down, and, during several months, no +new event agitated it. Unhappily, a student of Heidelberg, returning to +the university, stopped, day before yesterday, at the Inn Boeuf-Gras, +and asked for lodging. He was the son of a minister of the gospel. + +"How could anyone suppose that the son of a pastor could conceive the +idea of hanging himself on the crossbeam of a signboard, because a big +monsieur and an old soldier had done so? We must admit, Master +Christian, that the thing was not probable; these reasons would not +have seemed sufficient to myself or to you." + +"Enough, enough!" I exclaimed; "this is too horrible! I see a frightful +mystery involved in all this. It is not the crossbeam; it is not the +room--" + +"What! Do you suspect the innkeeper, the most honest man in the world, +and belonging to one of the oldest families in Nuremberg?" + +"No, no; may God preserve me from indulging in unjust suspicions! but +there is an abyss before me, into which I scarcely dare glance." + +"You are right," said Toubac, astonished at the violence of my +excitement. "We will speak of other things. Apropos, Master Christian, +where is our landscape of 'Saint Odille'?" + +This question brought me back to the world of realities. I showed the +old man the painting I had just completed. The affair was soon +concluded, and Toubac, well satisfied, descended the ladder, entreating +me to think no more of the student of Heidelberg. + +I would gladly have followed my good friend's counsel; but, when the +devil once mixes himself up in our concerns, it is not easy to +disembarrass ourselves of him. + +In my solitary hours all these events were reproduced with frightful +distinctness in my mind. + +"This old wretch," I said to myself, "is the cause of it all; she alone +has conceived these crimes, and has consummated them. But by what +means? Has she had recourse to cunning alone, or has she obtained the +intervention of invisible powers?" I walked to and fro in my retreat. +An inward voice cried out: "It is not in vain that Providence permitted +you to see Fledermausse contemplating the agonies of her victim. It is +not in vain that the soul of the poor young man came in the form of a +butterfly of the night to awake you. No, no; all this was not +accidental, Christian. The heavens impose upon you a terrible mission. +If you do not accomplish it, tremble lest you fall yourself into the +hands of the old murderess! Perhaps, at this moment, she is preparing +her snares in the darkness." + +During several days these hideous images followed me without +intermission. I lost my sleep; it was impossible for me to do anything; +my brush fell from my hand; and, horrible to confess, I found myself +sometimes gazing at the crossbeam with a sort of complacency. At last I +could endure it no longer, and one evening I descended the ladder and +hid myself behind the door of Fledermausse, hoping to surprise her +fatal secret. + +From that time no day passed in which I was not _en route_, following +the old wretch, watching, spying, never losing sight of her; but she +was so cunning, had a scent so subtile that, without even turning her +head, she knew I was behind her. + +However, she feigned not to perceive this; she went to the market, to +the butcher's, like any good, simple woman, only hastening her steps +and murmuring confused words. + +At the close of the month I saw that it was impossible for me to attain +my object in this way, and this conviction made me inexpressibly sad. + +"What can I do?" I said to myself. "The old woman divines my plans; +she is on her guard; every hope abandons me. Ah! old hag, you think +you already see me at the end of your rope." I was continually asking +myself this question: "What can I do? what can I do?" At last a +luminous idea struck me. My chamber overlooked the house of +Fledermausse; but there was no window on this side. I adroitly raised +a slate, and no pen could paint my joy when the whole ancient building +was thus exposed to me. "At last, I have you!" I exclaimed; "you +cannot escape me now; from here I can see all that passes--your +goings, your comings, your arts and snares. You will not suspect this +invisible eye--this watchful eye, which will surprise crime at the +moment it blooms. Oh, Justice, Justice! She marches slowly; but she +arrives." + +Nothing could be more sinister than the den now spread out before me--a +great courtyard, the large slabs of which were covered with moss; in +one corner, a well, whose stagnant waters you shuddered to look upon; a +stairway covered with old shells; at the farther end a gallery, with +wooden balustrade, and hanging upon it some old linen and the tick of +an old straw mattress; on the first floor, to the left, the stone +covering of a common sewer indicated the kitchen; to the right the +lofty windows of the building looked out upon the street; then a few +pots of dried, withered flowers--all was cracked, somber, moist. Only +one or two hours during the day could the sun penetrate this loathsome +spot; after that, the shadows took possession; then the sunshine fell +upon the crazy walls, the worm-eaten balcony, the dull and tarnished +glass, and upon the whirlwind of atoms floating in its golden rays, +disturbed by no breath of air. + +I had scarcely finished these observations and reflections, when the +old woman entered, having just returned from market. I heard the +grating of her heavy door. Then she appeared with her basket. She +seemed fatigued--almost out of breath. The lace of her bonnet fell to +her nose. With one hand she grasped the banister and ascended the +stairs. + +The heat was intolerable, suffocating; it was precisely one of those +days in which all insects--crickets, spiders, mosquitoes, etc.--make +old ruins resound with their strange sounds. + +Fledermausse crossed the gallery slowly, like an old ferret who feels +at home. She remained more than a quarter of an hour in the kitchen, +then returned, spread out her linen, took the broom, and brushed away +some blades of straw on the floor. At last she raised her head, and +turned her little green eyes in every direction, searching, +investigating carefully. + +Could she, by some strange intuition, suspect anything? I do not know; +but I gently lowered the slate, and gave up my watch for the day. + +In the morning Fledermausse appeared reassured. One angle of light +fell upon the gallery. In passing, she caught a fly on the wing, and +presented it delicately to a spider established in a corner of the +roof. This spider was so bloated that, notwithstanding the distance, I +saw it descend from round to round, then glide along a fine web, like +a drop of venom, seize its prey from the hands of the old shrew, and +remount rapidly. Fledermausse looked at it very attentively, with her +eyes half closed; then sneezed, and said to herself, in a jeering +tone, "God bless you, beautiful one; God bless you!" + +I watched during six weeks, and could discover nothing concerning the +power of Fledermausse. Sometimes, seated upon a stool, she peeled her +potatoes, then hung out her linen upon the balustrade. + +Sometimes I saw her spinning; but she never sang, as good, kind old +women are accustomed to do, their trembling voices mingling well with +the humming of the wheel. + +Profound silence always reigned around her; she had no cat--that +cherished society of old women--not even a sparrow came to rest under +her roof. It seemed as if all animated nature shrank from her glance. +The bloated spider alone took delight in her society. + +I cannot now conceive how my patience could endure those long hours of +observation: nothing escaped me; nothing was matter of indifference. At +the slightest sound I raised my slate; my curiosity was without limit, +insatiable. + +Toubac complained greatly. + +"Master Christian," said he, "how in the devil do you pass your time? +Formerly you painted something for me every week; now you do not finish +a piece once a month. Oh, you painters! 'Lazy as a painter' is a good, +wise proverb. As soon as you have a few kreutzers in possession, you +put your hands in your pockets and go to sleep!" + +I confess that I began to lose courage--I had watched, spied, and +discovered nothing. I said to myself that the old woman could not be +so dangerous as I had supposed; that I had perhaps done her injustice +by my suspicions; in short, I began to make excuses for her. One +lovely afternoon, with my eye fixed at my post of observation, I +abandoned myself to these benevolent reflections, when suddenly the +scene changed: Fledermausse passed through the gallery with the +rapidity of lightning. She was no longer the same person; she was +erect, her jaws were clinched, her glance fixed, her neck extended; +she walked with grand strides, her gray locks floating behind her. + +"Oh, at last," I said to myself, "something is coming, attention!" But, +alas! the shadows of evening descended upon the old building, the +noises of the city expired, and silence prevailed. + +Fatigued and disappointed, I lay down upon my bed, when, casting my +eyes toward my dormer window, I saw the room opposite illuminated. So! +a traveler occupied the Green Room--fatal to strangers. + +Now, all my fears were reawakened; the agitation of Fledermausse was +explained--she scented a new victim. + +No sleep for me that night; the rustling of the straw, the nibbling of +the mice under the floor, gave me nervous chills. + +I rose and leaned out of my window; I listened. The light in the room +opposite was extinguished. In one of those moments of poignant anxiety, +I cannot say if it was illusion or reality, I thought I saw the old +wretch also watching and listening. + +The night passed, and the gray dawn came to my windows; by degrees the +noise and movements in the street ascended to my loft. Harassed by +fatigue and emotion I fell asleep, but my slumber was short, and by +eight o'clock I had resumed my post of observation. + +It seemed as if the night had been as disturbed and tempestuous to +Fledermausse as to myself. When she opened the door of the gallery, I +saw that a livid pallor covered her cheeks and thin throat; she had on +only her chemise and a woolen skirt; a few locks of reddish gray hair +fell on her shoulders. She looked toward my hiding place with a dreamy, +abstracted air, but she saw nothing; she was thinking of other things. + +Suddenly she descended, leaving her old shoes at the bottom of the +steps. "Without doubt," thought I, "she is going to see if the door +below is well fastened." + +I saw her remount hastily, springing up three or four steps at a +time--it was terrible. + +She rushed into the neighboring chamber, and I heard something like the +falling of the top of a great chest; then Fledermausse appeared in the +gallery, dragging a manikin after her, and this manikin was clothed +like the Heidelberg student. + +With surprising dexterity the old woman suspended this hideous object +to a beam of the shed, then descended rapidly to the courtyard to +contemplate it. A burst of sardonic laughter escaped from her lips; she +remounted, then descended again like a maniac, and each time uttered +new cries and new bursts of laughter. + +A noise was heard near the door, and the old woman bounded forward, +unhooked the manikin and carried it off; then, leaning over the +balustrade with her throat elongated, her eyes flashing, she listened +earnestly. The noise was lost in the distance, the muscles of her face +relaxed, and she drew long breaths. It was only a carriage which had +passed. + +The old wretch had been frightened. + +She now returned to the room, and I heard the chest close. This strange +scene confounded all my ideas. What did this manikin signify? I became +more than ever attentive. + +Fledermausse now left the house with her basket on her arm. I followed +her with my eyes till she turned the corner of the street. She had +reassumed the air of a trembling old woman, took short steps, and from +time to time turned her head partly around, to peer behind from the +corner of her eye. + +Fledermausse was absent fully five hours. For myself, I went, I came, I +meditated. The time seemed insupportable. The sun heated the slate of +the roof, and scorched my brain. + +Now I saw, at the window, the good man who occupied the fatal Green +Chamber; he was a brave peasant of Nassau, with a large three-cornered +hat, a scarlet vest, and a laughing face; he smoked his pipe of Ulm +tranquillity, and seemed to fear no evil. + +I felt a strong desire to cry out to him: "Good man, be on your guard! +Do not allow yourself to be entrapped by the old wretch; distrust +yourself!" but he would not have comprehended me. Toward two o'clock +Fledermausse returned. The noise of her door resounded through the +vestibule. Then alone, all alone, she entered the yard, and seated +herself on the interior step of the stairway; she put down her basket +before her, and drew out first some packets of herbs, then vegetables, +then a red vest, then a three-cornered hat, a coat of brown velvet, +pants of plush, and coarse woolen hose--the complete costume of the +peasant from Nassau. + +For a moment I felt stunned; then flames passed before my eyes. + +I recollected those precipices which entice with an irresistible power; +those wells or pits, which the police have been compelled to close, +because men threw themselves into them; those trees which had been cut +down because they inspired men with the idea of hanging themselves; +that contagion of suicides, of robberies, of murders, at certain +epochs, by desperate means; that strange and subtile enticement of +example, which makes you yawn because another yawns, suffer because you +see another suffer, kill yourself because you see others kill +themselves--and my hair stood up with horror. + +How could this Fledermausse, this base, sordid creature, have derived +so profound a law of human nature? how had she found the means to use +this law to the profit or indulgence of her sanguinary instincts? This +I could not comprehend; it surpassed my wildest imaginations. + +But reflecting longer upon this inexplicable mystery, I resolved to +turn the fatal law against her, and to draw the old murderess into her +own net. + +So many innocent victims called out for vengeance! + +I felt myself to be on the right path. + +I went to all the old-clothes sellers in Nuremberg, and returned in the +afternoon to the Inn Boeuf-Gras, with an enormous packet under my arm. + +Nichel Schmidt had known me for a long time; his wife was fat and +good-looking; I had painted her portrait. + +"Ah, Master Christian," said he, squeezing my hand, "what happy +circumstance brings you here? What procures me the pleasure of seeing +you?" + +"My dear Monsieur Schmidt, I feel a vehement, insatiable desire to +sleep in the Green Room." + +We were standing on the threshold of the inn, and I pointed to the +room. The good man looked at me distrustfully. + +"Fear nothing," I said; "I have no desire to hang myself.". + +"_À la bonne heure! à la bonne heure!_ For frankly that would give me +pain; an artist of such merit! When do you wish the room, Master +Christian?" + +"This evening." + +"Impossible! it is occupied!" + +"Monsieur can enter immediately," said a voice just behind me, "I will +not be in the way." + +We turned around in great surprise; the peasant of Nassau stood before +us, with his three-cornered hat, and his packet at the end of his +walking stick. He had just learned the history of his three +predecessors in the Green Room, and was trembling with rage. + +"Rooms like yours!" cried he, stuttering; "but it is murderous to put +people there--it is assassination! You deserve to be sent to the +galleys immediately!" + +"Go--go--calm yourself," said the innkeeper; "that did not prevent you +from sleeping well." + +"Happily, I said my prayers at night," said the peasant; "without that, +where would I be?" and he withdrew, with his hands raised to heaven. + +"Well," said Nichel Schmidt, stupefied, "the room is vacant, but I +entreat you, do not serve me a bad trick." + +"It would be a worse trick for myself than for you, monsieur." + +I gave my packet to the servants, and installed myself for the time +with the drinkers. For a long time I had not felt so calm and happy. +After so many doubts and disquietudes, I touched the goal. The horizon +seemed to clear up, and it appeared that some invisible power gave me +the hand. I lighted my pipe, placed my elbow on the table, my wine +before me, and listened to the chorus in "Freischütz," played by a +troupe of gypsies from the Black Forest. The trumpets, the hue and cry +of the chase, the hautboys, plunged me into a vague reverie, and, at +times rousing up to look at the hour, I asked myself gravely, if all +which _had_ happened to me was not a dream. But the watchman came to +ask us to leave the _salle_, and soon other and more solemn thoughts +were surging in my soul, and in deep meditation I followed little +Charlotte, who preceded me with a candle to my room. + +We mounted the stairs to the third story. Charlotte gave me the candle +and pointed to the door. + +"There," said she, and descended rapidly. + +I opened the door. The Green Room was like any other inn room. The +ceiling was very low, the bed very high. With one glance I explored the +interior, and then glided to the window. + +Nothing was to be seen in the house of Fledermausse; only, in some +distant room, an obscure light was burning. Some one was on the watch. +"That is well," said I, closing the curtain. "I have all necessary +time." + +I opened my packet, I put on a woman's bonnet with hanging lace; then, +placing myself before a mirror, I took a brush and painted wrinkles in +my face. This took me nearly an hour. Then I put on the dress and a +large shawl, and I was actually afraid of myself. Fledermausse seemed +to me to look at me from the mirror. + +At this moment the watchman cried out, "Eleven o'clock!" I seized the +manikin which I had brought in my packet, and muffled it in a costume +precisely similar to that worn by the old wretch. I then opened the +curtain. + +Certainly, after all that I had seen of the Fledermausse, of her +infernal cunning, her prudence, her adroitness, she could not in any +way surprise me; and yet I was afraid. The light which I had remarked +in the chamber was still immovable, and now cast its yellow rays on the +manikin of the peasant of Nassau, which was crouched on the corner of +the bed, with the head hanging on the breast, the three-cornered hat +pulled down over the face, the arms suspended, and the whole aspect +that of absolute despair. + +The shadows, managed with diabolical art, allowed nothing to be seen +but the general effect of the face. The red vest, and six round buttons +alone, seemed to shine out in the darkness. But the silence of the +night, the complete immobility of the figure, the exhausted, mournful +air, were well calculated to take possession of a spectator with a +strange power. For myself, although forewarned, I was chilled even to +my bones. + +How would it, then, have fared with the poor, simple peasant, if he had +been surprised unawares? He would have been utterly cast down. +Despairing, he would have lost all power of self-control, and the +spirit of imitation would have done the rest. + +Scarcely had I moved the curtain, when I saw Fledermausse on the watch +behind her window. She could not see me. I opened my window softly; the +window opposite was opened! Then her manikin appeared to rise slowly +and advance before me. I, also, advanced my manikin, and seizing my +torch with one hand, with the other I quickly opened the shutters. And +now the old woman and myself were face to face. Struck with sudden +terror, she had let her manikin fall! + +We gazed at each other with almost equal horror. _She_ extended her +finger--I advanced _mine_. _She_ moved her lips--I agitated _mine_. She +breathed a profound sigh, and leaned upon her elbow. I imitated her. + +To describe all the terrors of this scene would be impossible. It +bordered upon confusion, madness, delirium. It was a death struggle +between two wills; between two intelligences; between two souls--each +one wishing to destroy the other; and, in this struggle, I had the +advantage--her victims struggled with me. + +After having imitated for some seconds every movement of Fledermausse, +I pulled a rope from under my skirt, and attached it to the crossbeam. + +The old woman gazed at me with gaping mouth. I passed the rope around +my neck; her pupils expanded, lightened; her face was convulsed. + +"No, no!" said she, in a whistling voice. + +I pursued her with the impassability of an executioner. + +Then rage seemed to take possession of her. + +"Old fool!" she exclaimed, straightening herself up, and her hands +contracted on the crossbeam. "Old fool!" I gave her no time to go on +blowing out my lamp. I stooped, like a man going to make a vigorous +spring, and, seizing my manikin, I passed the rope around its neck, and +precipitated it below. + +A terrible cry resounded through the street, and then silence, which I +seemed to feel. Perspiration bathed my forehead. I listened a long +time. At the end of a quarter of an hour I heard, far away, very far +away, the voice of the watchman, crying, "Inhabitants of Nuremberg, +midnight, midnight sounds!" + +"Now justice is satisfied!" I cried, "and three victims are avenged. +Pardon me, O Lord!" + +About five minutes after the cry of the watchman, I saw Fledermausse +attracted, allured by my manikin (her exact image), spring from the +window, with a rope around her neck, and rest suspended from the +crossbeam. + +I saw the shadow of death undulating through her body, while the moon, +calm, silent, majestic, inundated the summit of the roof, and her cold, +pale rays reposed upon the old, disheveled, hideous head. + +Just as I had seen the poor young student of Heidelberg, just so did I +now see Fledermausse. + +In the morning, all Nuremberg learned that the old wretch had hanged +herself, and this was the last event of that kind in the Street +Minnesänger. + + + +_The Waters of Death_ + + +The warm mineral waters of Spinbronn, situated in the Hundsrück, +several leagues from Pirmesens, formerly enjoyed a magnificent +reputation. All who were afflicted with gout or gravel in Germany +repaired thither; the savage aspect of the country did not deter them. +They lodged in pretty cottages at the head of the defile; they bathed +in the cascade, which fell in large sheets of foam from the summit of +the rocks; they drank one or two decanters of mineral water daily, and +the doctor of the place, Daniel Hâselnoss, who distributed his +prescriptions clad in a great wig and chestnut coat, had an excellent +practice. + +To-day the waters of Spinbronn figure no longer in the "Codex";[1] in +this poor village one no longer sees anyone but a few miserable +woodcutters, and, sad to say, Dr. Hâselnoss has left! + + [1] A collection of prescriptions indorsed by the Faculty of + Paris.--_Trans._ + +All this resulted from a series of very strange catastrophes which +lawyer Brêmer of Pirmesens told me about the other day. + +You should know, Master Frantz (said he), that the spring of Spinbronn +issues from a sort of cavern, about five feet high and twelve or +fifteen feet wide; the water has a warmth of sixty-seven degrees +Centigrade; it is salt. As for the cavern, entirely covered without +with moss, ivy, and brushwood, its depth is unknown because the hot +exhalations prevent all entrance. + +Nevertheless, strangely enough, it was noticed early in the last +century that birds of the neighborhood--thrushes, doves, hawks--were +engulfed in it in full flight, and it was never known to what +mysterious influence to attribute this particular. + +In 1801, at the height of the season, owing to some circumstance which +is still unexplained, the spring became more abundant, and the +bathers, walking below on the greensward, saw a human skeleton as +white as snow fall from the cascade. + +You may judge, Master Frantz, of the general fright; it was thought +naturally that a murder had been committed at Spinbronn in a recent +year, and that the body of the victim had been thrown in the spring. +But the skeleton weighed no more than a dozen francs, and Hâselnoss +concluded that it must have sojourned more than three centuries in the +sand to have become reduced to such a state of desiccation. + +This very plausible reasoning did not prevent a crowd of patrons, wild +at the idea of having drunk the saline water, from leaving before the +end of the day; those worst afflicted with gout and gravel consoled +themselves. But the overflow continuing, all the rubbish, slime, and +detritus which the cavern contained was disgorged on the following +days; a veritable bone-yard came down from the mountain: skeletons of +animals of every kind--of quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles--in short, +all that one could conceive as most horrible. + +Hâselnoss issued a pamphlet demonstrating that all these bones were +derived from an antediluvian world: that they were fossil bones, +accumulated there in a sort of funnel during the universal flood--that +is to say, four thousand years before Christ, and that, consequently, +one might consider them as nothing but stones, and that it was +needless to be disgusted. But his work had scarcely reassured the +gouty when, one fine morning, the corpse of a fox, then that of a hawk +with all its feathers, fell from the cascade. + +It was impossible to establish that these remains antedated the Flood. +Anyway, the disgust was so great that everybody tied up his bundle and +went to take the waters elsewhere. + +"How infamous!" cried the beautiful ladies--"how horrible! So that's +what the virtue of these mineral waters came from! Oh, 'twere better +to die of gravel than continue such a remedy!" + +At the end of a week there remained at Spinbronn only a big Englishman +who had gout in his hands as well as in his feet, who had himself +addressed as Sir Thomas Hawerburch, Commodore; and he brought a large +retinue, according to the usage of a British subject in a foreign +land. + +This personage, big and fat, with a florid complexion, but with hands +simply knotted with gout, would have drunk skeleton soup if it would +have cured his infirmity. He laughed heartily over the desertion of +the other sufferers, and installed himself in the prettiest _châlet_ +at half price, announcing his design to pass the winter at Spinbronn. + + * * * * * + +(Here lawyer Brêmer slowly absorbed an ample pinch of snuff as if to +quicken his reminiscences; he shook his laced ruff with his finger +tips and continued:) + + * * * * * + +Five or six years before the Revolution of 1789, a young doctor of +Pirmesens, named Christian Weber, had gone out to San Domingo in the +hope of making his fortune. He had actually amassed some hundred +thousand francs in the exercise of his profession when the negro revolt +broke out. + +I need not recall to you the barbarous treatment to which our +unfortunate fellow countrymen were subjected at Haiti. Dr. Weber had +the good luck to escape the massacre and to save part of his fortune. +Then he traveled in South America, and especially in French Guiana. In +1801 he returned to Pirmesens, and established himself at Spinbronn, +where Dr. Hâselnoss made over his house and defunct practice. + +Christian Weber brought with him an old negress called Agatha: a +frightful creature, with a flat nose and lips as large as your fist, +and her head tied up in three bandanas of razor-edged colors. This +poor old woman adored red; she had earrings which hung down to her +shoulders, and the mountaineers of Hundsrück came from six leagues +around to stare at her. + +As for Dr. Weber, he was a tall, lean man, invariably dressed in a +sky-blue coat with codfish tails and deerskin breeches. He wore a hat +of flexible straw and boots with bright yellow tops, on the front of +which hung two silver tassels. He talked little; his laugh was like a +nervous attack, and his gray eyes, usually calm and meditative, shone +with singular brilliance at the least sign of contradiction. Every +morning he fetched a turn round about the mountain, letting his horse +ramble at a venture, whistling forever the same tune, some negro +melody or other. Lastly, this rum chap had brought from Haiti a lot of +bandboxes filled with queer insects--some black and reddish brown, big +as eggs; others little and shimmering like sparks. He seemed to set +greater store by them than by his patients, and, from time to time, on +coming back from his rides, he brought a quantity of butterflies +pinned to his hat brim. + +Scarcely was he settled in Hâselnoss's vast house when he peopled the +back yard with outlandish birds--Barbary geese with scarlet cheeks, +Guinea hens, and a white peacock, which perched habitually on the +garden wall, and which divided with the negress the admiration of the +mountaineers. + +If I enter into these details, Master Frantz, it's because they recall +my early youth; Dr. Christian found himself to be at the same time my +cousin and my tutor, and as early as on his return to Germany he had +come to take me and install me in his house at Spinbronn. The black +Agatha at first sight inspired me with some fright, and I only got +seasoned to that fantastic visage with considerable difficulty; but +she was such a good woman--she knew so well how to make spiced +patties, she hummed such strange songs in a guttural voice, snapping +her fingers and keeping time with a heavy shuffle, that I ended by +taking her in fast friendship. + +Dr. Weber was naturally thick with Sir Thomas Hawerburch, as +representing the only one of his clientele then in evidence, and I was +not slow in perceiving that these two eccentrics held long +conventicles together. They conversed on mysterious matters, on the +transmission of fluids, and indulged in certain odd signs which one or +the other had picked up in his voyages--Sir Thomas in the Orient, and +my tutor in America. This puzzled me greatly. As children will, I was +always lying in wait for what they seemed to want to conceal from me; +but despairing in the end of discovering anything, I took the course +of questioning Agatha, and the poor old woman, after making me promise +to say nothing about it, admitted that my tutor was a sorcerer. + +For the rest, Dr. Weber exercised a singular influence over the mind +of this negress, and this woman, habitually so gay and forever ready +to be amused by nothing, trembled like a leaf when her master's gray +eyes chanced to alight on her. + +All this, Master Frantz, seems to have no bearing on the springs of +Spinbronn. But wait, wait--you shall see by what a singular concourse +of circumstances my story is connected with it. + +I told you that birds darted into the cavern, and even other and +larger creatures. After the final departure of the patrons, some of +the old inhabitants of the village recalled that a young girl named +Louise Müller, who lived with her infirm old grandmother in a cottage +on the pitch of the slope, had suddenly disappeared half a hundred +years before. She had gone out to look for herbs in the forest, and +there had never been any more news of her afterwards, except that, +three or four days later, some woodcutters who were descending the +mountain had found her sickle and her apron a few steps from the +cavern. + +From that moment it was evident to everyone that the skeleton which +had fallen from the cascade, on the subject of which Hâselnoss had +turned such fine phrases, was no other than that of Louise Müller. The +poor girl had doubtless been drawn into the gulf by the mysterious +influence which almost daily overcame weaker beings! + +What could this influence be? None knew. But the inhabitants of +Spinbronn, superstitious like all mountaineers, maintained that the +devil lived in the cavern, and terror spread in the whole region. + + * * * * * + +Now one afternoon in the middle of the month of July, 1802, my cousin +undertook a new classification of the insects in his bandboxes. He had +secured several rather curious ones the preceding afternoon. I was +with him, holding the lighted candle with one hand and with the other +a needle which I heated red-hot. + +Sir Thomas, seated, his chair tipped back against the sill of a +window, his feet on a stool, watched us work, and smoked his cigar +with a dreamy air. + +I stood in with Sir Thomas Hawerburch, and I accompanied him every day +to the woods in his carriage. He enjoyed hearing me chatter in +English, and wished to make of me, as he said, a thorough gentleman. + +The butterflies labeled, Dr. Weber at last opened the box of the +largest insects, and said: + +"Yesterday I secured a magnificent horn beetle, the great _Lucanus +cervus_ of the oaks of the Hartz. It has this peculiarity--the right +claw divides in five branches. It's a rare specimen." + +At the same time I offered him the needle, and as he pierced the +insect before fixing it on the cork, Sir Thomas, until then impassive, +got up, and, drawing near a bandbox, he began to examine the spider +crab of Guiana with a feeling of horror which was strikingly portrayed +on his fat vermilion face. + +"That is certainly," he cried, "the most frightful work of the +creation. The mere sight of it--it makes me shudder!" + +In truth, a sudden pallor overspread his face. + +"Bah!" said my tutor, "all that is only a prejudice from +childhood--one hears his nurse cry out--one is afraid--and the +impression sticks. But if you should consider the spider with a strong +microscope, you would be astonished at the finish of his members, at +their admirable arrangement, and even at their elegance." + +"It disgusts me," interrupted the commodore brusquely. "Pouah!" + +It had turned over in his fingers. + +"Oh! I don't know why," he declared, "spiders have always frozen my +blood!" + +Dr. Weber began to laugh, and I, who shared the feelings of Sir +Thomas, exclaimed: + +"Yes, cousin, you ought to take this villainous beast out of the +box--it is disgusting--it spoils all the rest." + +"Little chump," he said, his eyes sparkling, "what makes you look at +it? If you don't like it, go take yourself off somewhere." + +Evidently he had taken offense; and Sir Thomas, who was then before +the window contemplating the mountain, turned suddenly, took me by the +hand, and said to me in a manner full of good will: + +"Your tutor, Frantz, sets great store by his spider; we like the trees +better--the verdure. Come, let's go for a walk." + +"Yes, go," cried the doctor, "and come back for supper at six +o'clock." + +Then raising his voice: + +"No hard feelings, Sir Hawerburch." + +The commodore replied laughingly, and we got into the carriage, which +was always waiting in front of the door of the house. + +Sir Thomas wanted to drive himself and dismissed his servant. He made +me sit beside him on the same seat and we started off for Rothalps. + +While the carriage was slowly ascending the sandy path, an invincible +sadness possessed itself of my spirit. Sir Thomas, on his part, was +grave. He perceived my sadness and said: + +"You don't like spiders, Frantz, nor do I either. But thank Heaven, +there aren't any dangerous ones in this country. The spider crab which +your tutor has in his box comes from French Guiana. It inhabits the +great, swampy forests filled with warm vapors, with scalding +exhalations; this temperature is necessary to its life. Its web, or +rather its vast snare, envelops an entire thicket. In it it takes +birds as our spiders take flies. But drive these disgusting images +from your mind, and drink a swallow of my old Burgundy." + +Then turning, he raised the cover of the rear seat, and drew from the +straw a sort of gourd from which he poured me a full bumper in a +leather goblet. + +When I had drunk all my good humor returned and I began to laugh at my +fright. + +The carriage was drawn by a little Ardennes horse, thin and nervous as +a goat, which clambered up the nearly perpendicular path. Thousands of +insects hummed in the bushes. At our right, at a hundred paces or +more, the somber outskirts of the Rothalp forests extended below us, +the profound shades of which, choked with briers and foul brush, +showed here and there an opening filled with light. On our left +tumbled the stream of Spinbronn, and the more we climbed the more did +its silvered sheets, floating in the abyss, grow tinged with azure and +redouble their sound of cymbals. + +I was captivated by this spectacle. Sir Thomas, leaning back in the +seat, his knees as high as his chin, abandoned himself to his habitual +reveries, while the horse, laboring with his feet and hanging his head +on his chest as a counter-weight to the carriage, held on as if +suspended on the flank of the rock. Soon, however, we reached a pitch +less steep: the haunt of the roebuck, surrounded by tremulous shadows. +I always lost my head, and my eyes too, in an immense perspective. At +the apparition of the shadows I turned my head and saw the cavern of +Spinbronn close at hand. The encompassing mists were a magnificent +green, and the stream which, before falling, extends over a bed of +black sand and pebbles, was so clear that one would have thought it +frozen if pale vapors did not follow its surface. + +The horse had just stopped of his own accord to breathe; Sir Thomas, +rising, cast his eye over the countryside. + +"How calm everything is!" said he. + +Then, after an instant of silence: + +"If you weren't here, Frantz, I should certainly bathe in the basin." + +"But, Commodore," said I, "why not bathe? I would do well to stroll +around in the neighborhood. On the next hill is a great glade filled +with wild strawberries. I'll go and pick some. I'll be back in an +hour." + +"Ha! I should like to, Frantz; it's a good idea. Dr. Weber contends +that I drink too much Burgundy. It's necessary to offset wine with +mineral water. This little bed of sand pleases me." + +Then, having set both feet on the ground, he hitched the horse to the +trunk of a little birch and waved his hand as if to say: + +"You may go." + +I saw him sit down on the moss and draw off his boots. As I moved away +he turned and called out: + +"In an hour, Frantz." + +They were his last words. + +An hour later I returned to the spring. The horse, the carriage, and +the clothes of Sir Thomas alone met my eyes. The sun was setting. The +shadows were getting long. Not a bird's song under the foliage, not +the hum of an insect in the tall grass. A silence like death looked +down on this solitude! The silence frightened me. I climbed up on the +rock which overlooks the cavern; I looked to the right and to the +left. Nobody! I called. No answer! The sound of my voice, repeated by +the echoes, filled me with fear. Night settled down slowly. A vague +sense of horror oppressed me. Suddenly the story of the young girl who +had disappeared occurred to me; and I began to descend on the run; +but, arriving before the cavern, I stopped, seized with unaccountable +terror: in casting a glance in the deep shadows of the spring I had +caught sight of two motionless red points. Then I saw long lines +wavering in a strange manner in the midst of the darkness, and that at +a depth where no human eye had ever penetrated. Fear lent my sight, +and all my senses, an unheard-of subtlety of perception. For several +seconds I heard very distinctly the evening plaint of a cricket down +at the edge of the wood, a dog barking far away, very far in the +valley. Then my heart, compressed for an instant by emotion, began to +beat furiously and I no longer heard anything! + +Then uttering a horrible cry, I fled, abandoning the horse, the +carriage. In less than twenty minutes, bounding over the rocks and +brush, I reached the threshold of our house, and cried in a stifled +voice: + +"Run! Run! Sir Hawerburch is dead! Sir Hawerburch is in the cavern--!" + +After these words, spoken in the presence of my tutor, of the old +woman Agatha, and of two or three people invited in that evening by +the doctor, I fainted. I have learned since that during a whole hour I +raved deliriously. + +The whole village had gone in search of the commodore. Christian Weber +hurried them off. At ten o'clock in the evening all the crowd came +back, bringing the carriage, and in the carriage the clothes of Sir +Hawerburch. They had discovered nothing. It was impossible to take ten +steps in the cavern without being suffocated. + +During their absence Agatha and I waited, sitting in the chimney +corner. I, howling incoherent words of terror; she, with hands crossed +on her knees, eyes wide open, going from time to time to the window to +see what was taking place, for from the foot of the mountain one could +see torches flitting in the woods. One could hear hoarse voices, in +the distance, calling to each other in the night. + +At the approach of her master, Agatha began to tremble. The doctor +entered brusquely, pale, his lips compressed, despair written on his +face. A score of woodcutters followed him tumultuously, in great felt +hats with wide brims--swarthy visaged--shaking the ash from their +torches. Scarcely was he in the hall when my tutor's glittering eyes +seemed to look for something. He caught sight of the negress, and +without a word having passed between them, the poor woman began to +cry: + +"No! no! I don't want to!" + +"And I wish it," replied the doctor in a hard tone. + +One would have said that the negress had been seized by an invincible +power. She shuddered from head to foot, and Christian Weber showing +her a bench, she sat down with a corpse-like stiffness. + +All the bystanders, witnesses of this shocking spectacle, good folk +with primitive and crude manners, but full of pious sentiments, made +the sign of the cross, and I who knew not then, even by name, of the +terrible magnetic power of the will, began to tremble, believing that +Agatha was dead. + +Christian Weber approached the negress, and making a rapid pass over +her forehead: + +"Are you there?" said he. + +"Yes, master." + +"Sir Thomas Hawerburch?" + +At these words she shuddered again. + +"Do you see him?" + +"Yes--yes," she gasped in a strangling voice, "I see him." + +"Where is he?" + +"Up there--in the back of the cavern--dead!" + +"Dead!" said the doctor, "how?" + +"The spider--Oh! the spider crab--Oh!--" + +"Control your agitation," said the doctor, who was quite pale, "tell +us plainly--" + +"The spider crab holds him by the throat--he is there--at the +back--under the rock--wound round by webs--Ah!" + +Christian Weber cast a cold glance toward his assistants, who, +crowding around, with their eyes sticking out of their heads, were +listening intently, and I heard him murmur: + +"It's horrible! horrible!" + +Then he resumed: + +"You see him?" + +"I see him--" + +"And the spider--is it big?" + +"Oh, master, never--never have I seen such a large one--not even on +the banks of the Mocaris--nor in the lowlands of Konanama. It is as +large as my head--!" + +There was a long silence. All the assistants looked at each other, +their faces livid, their hair standing up. Christian Weber alone +seemed calm; having passed his hand several times over the negress's +forehead, he continued: + +"Agatha, tell us how death befell Sir Hawerburch." + +"He was bathing in the basin of the spring--the spider saw him from +behind, with his bare back. It was hungry, it had fasted for a long +time; it saw him with his arms on the water. Suddenly it came out like +a flash and placed its fangs around the commodore's neck, and he cried +out: 'Oh! oh! my God!' It stung and fled. Sir Hawerburch sank down in +the water and died. Then the spider returned and surrounded him with +its web, and he floated gently, gently, to the back of the cavern. It +drew in on the web. Now he is all black." + +The doctor, turning to me, who no longer felt the shock, asked: + +"Is it true, Frantz, that the commodore went in bathing?" + +"Yes, Cousin Christian." + +"At what time?" + +"At four o'clock." + +"At four o'clock--it was very warm, wasn't it?" + +"Oh, yes!" + +"It's certainly so," said he, striking his forehead. "The monster +could come out without fear--" + +He pronounced a few unintelligible words, and then, looking toward the +mountaineers: + +"My friends," he cried, "that is where this mass of débris came +from--of skeletons--which spread terror among the bathers. That is +what has ruined you all--it is the spider crab! It is there--hidden in +its web--awaiting its prey in the back of the cavern! Who can tell the +number of its victims?" + +And full of fury, he led the way, shouting: + +"Fagots! Fagots!" + +The woodcutters followed him, vociferating. + +Ten minutes later two large wagons laden with fagots were slowly +mounting the slope. A long file of woodcutters, their backs bent +double, followed, enveloped in the somber night. My tutor and I walked +ahead, leading the horses by their bridles, and the melancholy moon +vaguely lighted this funereal march. From time to time the wheels +grated. Then the carts, raised by the irregularities of the rocky +road, fell again in the track with a heavy jolt. + +As we drew near the cavern, on the playground of the roebucks, our +cortége halted. The torches were lit, and the crowd advanced toward +the gulf. The limpid water, running over the sand, reflected the +bluish flame of the resinous torches, the rays of which revealed the +tops of the black firs leaning over the rock. + +"This is the place to unload," the doctor then said. "It's necessary +to block up the mouth of the cavern." + +And it was not without a feeling of terror that each undertook the +duty of executing his orders. The fagots fell from the top of the +loads. A few stakes driven down before the opening of the spring +prevented the water from carrying them away. + +Toward midnight the mouth of the cavern was completely closed. The +water running over spread to both sides on the moss. The top fagots +were perfectly dry; then Dr. Weber, supplying himself with a torch, +himself lit the fire. The flames ran from twig to twig with an angry +crackling, and soon leaped toward the sky, chasing clouds of smoke +before them. + +It was a strange and savage spectacle, the great pile with trembling +shadows lit up in this way. + +This cavern poured forth black smoke, unceasingly renewed and +disgorged. All around stood the woodcutters, somber, motionless, +expectant, their eyes fixed on the opening; and I, although trembling +from head to foot in fear, could not tear away my gaze. + +It was a good quarter of an hour that we waited, and Dr. Weber was +beginning to grow impatient, when a black object, with long hooked +claws, appeared suddenly in the shadow and precipitated itself toward +the opening. + +A cry resounded about the pyre. + +The spider, driven back by the live coals, reëntered its cave. Then, +smothered doubtless by the smoke, it returned to the charge and leaped +out into the midst of the flames. Its long legs curled up. It was as +large as my head, and of a violet red. + +One of the woodcutters, fearing lest it leap clear of the fire, threw +his hatchet at it, and with such good aim that on the instant the fire +around it was covered with blood. But soon the flames burst out more +vigorously over it and consumed the horrible destroyer. + + * * * * * + +Such, Master Frantz, was the strange event which destroyed the fine +reputation which the waters of Spinbronn formerly enjoyed. I can +certify the scrupulous precision of my account. But as for giving you +an explanation, that would be impossible for me to do. At the same +time, allow me to tell you that it does not seem to me absurd to admit +that a spider, under the influence of a temperature raised by thermal +waters, which affords the same conditions of life and development as +the scorching climates of Africa and South America, should attain a +fabulous size. It was this same extreme heat which explains the +prodigious exuberance of the antediluvian creation! + +However that may be, my tutor, judging that it would be impossible +after this event to reestablish the waters of Spinbronn, sold the +house back to Hâselnoss, in order to return to America with his +negress and collections. I was sent to board in Strasbourg, where I +remained until 1809. + +The great political events of the epoch then absorbing the attention +of Germany and France explain why the affair I have just told you +about passed completely unobserved. + + + + +HONORÉ DE BALZAC + + +_Melmoth Reconciled_[1] + + To Monsieur le Général Baron de Pommereul, a token of the + friendship between our fathers, which survives in their sons. + + DE BALZAC. + + +There is a special variety of human nature obtained in the Social +Kingdom by a process analogous to that of the gardener's craft in the +Vegetable Kingdom, to wit, by the forcing-house--a species of hybrid +which can be raised neither from seed nor from slips. This product is +known as the Cashier, an anthropomorphous growth, watered by religious +doctrine, trained up in fear of the guillotine, pruned by vice, to +flourish on a third floor with an estimable wife by his side and an +uninteresting family. The number of cashiers in Paris must always be a +problem for the physiologist. Has anyone as yet been able to state +correctly the terms of the proportion sum wherein the cashier figures +as the unknown _x_? Where will you find the man who shall live with +wealth, like a cat with a caged mouse? This man, for further +qualification, shall be capable of sitting boxed in behind an iron +grating for seven or eight hours a day during seven-eighths of the +year, perched upon a cane-seated chair in a space as narrow as a +lieutenant's cabin on board a man-of-war. Such a man must be able to +defy anchylosis of the knee and thigh joints; he must have a soul above +meanness, in order to live meanly; must lose all relish for money by +dint of handling it. Demand this peculiar specimen of any creed, +educational system, school, or institution you please, and select +Paris, that city of fiery ordeals and branch establishment of hell, as +the soil in which to plant the said cashier. So be it. Creeds, schools, +institutions, and moral systems, all human rules and regulations, great +and small, will, one after another, present much the same face that an +intimate friend turns upon you when you ask him to lend you a thousand +francs. With a dolorous dropping of the jaw, they indicate the +guillotine, much as your friend aforesaid will furnish you with the +address of the money lender, pointing you to one of the hundred gates +by which a man comes to the last refuge of the destitute. + + [1] For the narrative "Melmoth the Wanderer," and a description of + Balzac's debt to its author, see Volume III, page 161.--EDITOR. + +Yet Nature has her freaks in the making of a man's mind; she indulges +herself and makes a few honest folk now and again, and now and then a +cashier. + +Wherefore, that race of corsairs whom we dignify with the title of +bankers, the gentry who take out a license for which they pay a +thousand crowns, as the privateer takes out his letters of marque, hold +these rare products of the incubations of virtue in such esteem that +they confine them in cages in their counting-houses, much as +governments procure and maintain specimens of strange beasts at their +own charges. + +If the cashier is possessed of an imagination or of a fervid +temperament; if, as will sometimes happen to the most complete cashier, +he loves his wife, and that wife grows tired of her lot, has ambitions, +or merely some vanity in her composition, the cashier is undone. Search +the chronicles of the counting-house. You will not find a single +instance of a cashier attaining _a position_, as it is called. They are +sent to the hulks; they go to foreign parts; they vegetate on a second +floor in the Rue Saint-Louis among the market gardens of the Marais. +Some day, when the cashiers of Paris come to a sense of their real +value, a cashier will be hardly obtainable for money. Still, certain it +is that there are people who are fit for nothing but to be cashiers, +just as the bent of a certain order of mind inevitably makes for +rascality. But, oh marvel of our civilization! Society rewards virtue +with an income of a hundred louis in old age, a dwelling on a second +floor, bread sufficient, occasional new bandana handkerchiefs, an +elderly wife and her offspring. + +So much for virtue. But for the opposite course, a little boldness, a +faculty for keeping on the windward side of the law, as Turenne +outflanked Montecuculli, and Society will sanction the theft of +millions, shower ribbons upon the thief, cram him with honors, and +smother him with consideration. + +Government, moreover, works harmoniously with this profoundly illogical +reasoner--Society. Government levies a conscription on the young +intelligence of the kingdom at the age of seventeen or eighteen, a +conscription of precocious power. Great ability is prematurely +exhausted by excessive brain work before it is sent up to be submitted +to a process of selection. Nurserymen sort and select seeds in much the +same way. To this process the Government brings professional appraisers +of talent, men who can assay brains as experts assay gold at the Mint. +Five hundred such heads, set afire with hope, are sent up annually by +the most progressive portion of the population; and of these the +Government takes one third, puts them in sacks called the Écoles, and +shakes them up together for three years. Though every one of these +young plants represents vast productive power, they are made, as one +may say, into cashiers. They receive appointments; the rank and file of +engineers is made up of them; they are employed as captains of +artillery; there is no (subaltern) grade to which they may not aspire. +Finally, when these men, the pick of the youth of the nation, fattened +on mathematics and stuffed with knowledge, have attained the age of +fifty years, they have their reward, and receive as the price of their +services the third-floor lodging, the wife and family, and all the +comforts that sweeten life for mediocrity. If from among this race of +dupes there should escape some five or six men of genius who climb the +highest heights, is it not miraculous? + +This is an exact statement of the relations between Talent and Probity +on the one hand, and Government and Society on the other, in an age +that considers itself to be progressive. Without this prefatory +explanation a recent occurrence in Paris would seem improbable; but +preceded by this summing up of the situation, it will perhaps receive +some thoughtful attention from minds capable o£ recognizing the real +plague spots of our civilization, a civilization which since 1815 has +been moved by the spirit of gain rather than by principles of honor. + + * * * * * + +About five o'clock, on a dull autumn afternoon, the cashier of one of +the largest banks in Paris was still at his desk, working by the light +of a lamp that had been lit for some time. In accordance with the use +and wont of commerce, the counting-house was in the darkest corner of +the low-ceiled and far from spacious mezzanine floor, and at the very +end of a passage lighted only by borrowed lights. The office doors +along this corridor, each with its label, gave the place the look of a +bath-house. At four o'clock the stolid porter had proclaimed, according +to his orders, "The bank is closed." And by this time the departments +were deserted, the letters dispatched, the clerks had taken their +leave. The wives of the partners in the firm were expecting their +lovers; the two bankers dining with their mistresses. Everything was in +order. + +The place where the strong boxes had been bedded in sheet iron was just +behind the little sanctum, where the cashier was busy. Doubtless he was +balancing his books. The open front gave a glimpse of a safe of +hammered iron, so enormously heavy (thanks to the science of the modern +inventor) that burglars could not carry it away. The door only opened +at the pleasure of those who knew its password. The letter-lock was a +warden who kept its own secret and could not be bribed; the mysterious +word was an ingenious realization of the "Open sesame!" in the _Arabian +Nights_. But even this was as nothing. A man might discover the +password; but unless he knew the lock's final secret, the _ultima +ratio_ of this gold-guarding dragon of mechanical science, it +discharged a blunderbuss at his head. + +The door of the room, the walls of the room, the shutters of the +windows in the room, the whole place, in fact, was lined with sheet +iron a third of an inch in thickness, concealed behind the thin wooden +paneling. The shutters had been closed, the door had been shut. If ever +man could feel confident that he was absolutely alone, and that there +was no remote possibility of being watched by prying eyes, that man was +the cashier of the house of Nucingen and Company in the Rue +Saint-Lazare. + +Accordingly the deepest silence prevailed in that iron cave. The fire +had died out in the stove, but the room was full of that tepid warmth +which produces the dull heavy-headedness and nauseous queasiness of a +morning after an orgy. The stove is a mesmerist that plays no small +part in the reduction of bank clerks and porters to a state of idiocy. + +A room with a stove in it is a retort in which the power of strong men +is evaporated, where their vitality is exhausted, and their wills +enfeebled. Government offices are part of a great scheme for the +manufacture of the mediocrity necessary for the maintenance of a Feudal +System on a pecuniary basis--and money is the foundation of the Social +Contract. (See _Les Employés_.) The mephitic vapors in the atmosphere +of a crowded room contribute in no small degree to bring about a +gradual deterioration of intelligences, the brain that gives off the +largest quantity of nitrogen asphyxiates the others, in the long run. + +The cashier was a man of five and forty or thereabouts. As he sat at +the table, the light from a moderator lamp shining full on his bald +head and glistening fringe of iron-gray hair that surrounded it--this +baldness and the round outlines of his face made his head look very +like a ball. His complexion was brick-red, a few wrinkles had gathered +about his eyes, but he had the smooth, plump hands of a stout man. His +blue cloth coat, a little rubbed and worn, and the creases and +shininess of his trousers, traces of hard wear that the clothes-brush +fails to remove, would impress a superficial observer with the idea +that here was a thrifty and upright human being, sufficient of the +philosopher or of the aristocrat to wear shabby clothes. But, +unluckily, it is easy to find penny-wise people who will prove weak, +wasteful, or incompetent in the capital things of life. + +The cashier wore the ribbon of the Legion of Honor at his buttonhole, +for he had been a major of dragoons in the time of the Emperor. M. de +Nucingen, who had been a contractor before he became a banker, had had +reason in those days to know the honorable disposition of his cashier, +who then occupied a high position. Reverses of fortune had befallen the +major, and the banker out of regard for him paid him five hundred +francs a month. The soldier had become a cashier in the year 1813, +after his recovery from a wound received at Studzianka during the +Retreat from Moscow, followed by six months of enforced idleness at +Strasbourg, whither several officers had been transported by order of +the Emperor, that they might receive skilled attention. This particular +officer, Castanier by name, retired with the honorary grade of colonel, +and a pension of two thousand four hundred francs. + +In ten years' time the cashier had completely effaced the soldier, and +Castanier inspired the banker with such trust in him, that he was +associated in the transactions that went on in the private office +behind his little counting-house. The baron himself had access to it by +means of a secret staircase. There, matters of business were decided. +It was the bolting room where proposals were sifted; the privy council +chamber where the reports of the money market were analyzed; circular +notes issued thence; and finally, the private ledger and the journal +which summarized the work of all the departments were kept there. + +Castanier had gone himself to shut the door which opened on to a +staircase that led to the parlor occupied by the two bankers on the +first floor of their hotel. This done, he had sat down at his desk +again, and for a moment he gazed at a little collection of letters of +credit drawn on the firm of Watschildine of London. Then he had taken +up the pen and imitated the banker's signature upon each. _Nucingen_ he +wrote, and eyed the forged signatures critically to see which seemed +the most perfect copy. + +Suddenly he looked up as if a needle had pricked him. "You are not +alone!" a boding voice seemed to cry in his heart; and indeed the +forger saw a man standing at the little grated window of the +counting-house, a man whose breathing was so noiseless that he did not +seem to breathe at all. Castanier looked, and saw that the door at the +end of the passage was wide open; the stranger must have entered by +that way. + +For the first time in his life the old soldier felt a sensation of +dread that made him stare open-mouthed and wide-eyed at the man before +him; and for that matter, the appearance of the apparition was +sufficiently alarming even if unaccompanied by the mysterious +circumstances of so sudden an entry. The rounded forehead, the harsh +coloring of the long oval face, indicated quite as plainly as the cut +of his clothes that the man was an Englishman, reeking of his native +isles. You had only to look at the collar of his overcoat, at the +voluminous cravat which smothered the crushed frills of a shirt front +so white that it brought out the changeless leaden hue of an impassive +face, and the thin red line of the lips that seemed made to suck the +blood of corpses; and you could guess at once at the black gaiters +buttoned up to the knee, and the half-puritanical costume of a wealthy +Englishman dressed for a walking excursion. The intolerable glitter of +the stranger's eyes produced a vivid and unpleasant impression, which +was only deepened by the rigid outlines of his features. The dried-up, +emaciated creature seemed to carry within him some gnawing thought that +consumed him and could not be appeased. + +He must have digested his food so rapidly that he could doubtless eat +continually without bringing any trace of color into his face or +features. A tun of Tokay _vin de succession_ would not have caused any +faltering in that piercing glance that read men's inmost thoughts, nor +dethroned the merciless reasoning faculty that always seemed to go to +the bottom of things. There was something of the fell and tranquil +majesty of a tiger about him. + +"I have come to cash this bill of exchange, sir," he said. Castanier +felt the tones of his voice thrill through every nerve with a violent +shock similar to that given by a discharge of electricity. + +"The safe is closed," said Castanier. + +"It is open," said the Englishman, looking round the counting-house. +"To-morrow is Sunday, and I cannot wait. The amount is for five hundred +thousand francs. You have the money there, and I must have it." + +"But how did you come in, sir?" + +The Englishman smiled. That smile frightened Castanier. No words could +have replied more fully nor more peremptorily than that scornful and +imperial curl of the stranger's lips. Castanier turned away, took up +fifty packets, each containing ten thousand francs in bank notes, and +held them out to the stranger, receiving in exchange for them a bill +accepted by the Baron de Nucingen. A sort of convulsive tremor ran +through him as he saw a red gleam in the stranger's eyes when they fell +on the forged signature on the letter of credit. + +"It ... it wants your signature ..." stammered Castanier, handing back +the bill. + +"Hand me your pen," answered the Englishman. + +Castanier handed him the pen with which he had just committed forgery. +The stranger wrote _John Melmoth_, then he returned the slip of paper +and the pen to the cashier. Castanier looked at the handwriting, +noticing that it sloped from right to left in the Eastern fashion, and +Melmoth disappeared so noiselessly that when Castanier looked up again +an exclamation broke from him, partly because the man was no longer +there, partly because he felt a strange painful sensation such as our +imagination might take for an effect of poison. + +The pen that Melmoth had handled sent the same sickening heat through +him that an emetic produces. But it seemed impossible to Castanier that +the Englishman should have guessed his crime. His inward qualms he +attributed to the palpitation of the heart that, according to received +ideas, was sure to follow at once on such a "turn" as the stranger had +given him. + +"The devil take it; I am very stupid. Providence is watching over me; +for if that brute had come round to see my gentlemen to-morrow, my +goose would have been cooked!" said Castanier, and he burned the +unsuccessful attempts at forgery in the stove. + +He put the bill that he meant to take with him in an envelope, and +helped himself to five hundred thousand francs in French and English +bank notes from the safe, which he locked. Then he put everything in +order, lit a candle, blew out the lamp, took up his hat and umbrella, +and went out sedately, as usual, to leave one of the two keys of the +strong room with Madame de Nucingen, in the absence of her husband the +baron. + +"You are in luck, M. Castanier," said the banker's wife as he entered +her room; "we have a holiday on Monday; you can go into the country, or +to Soizy." + +"Madame, will you be so good as to tell your husband that the bill of +exchange on Watschildine, which was behind time, has just been +presented? The five hundred thousand francs have been paid; so I shall +not come back till noon on Tuesday." + +"Good-by, monsieur; I hope you will have a pleasant time." + +"The same to you, madame," replied the old dragoon as he went out. He +glanced as he spoke at a young man well known in fashionable society at +that time, a M. de Rastignac, who was regarded as Madame de Nucingen's +lover. + +"Madame," remarked this latter, "the old boy looks to me as if he meant +to play you some ill turn." + +"Pshaw! impossible; he is too stupid." + +"Piquoizeau," said the cashier, walking into the porter's room, "what +made you let anybody come up after four o'clock?" + +"I have been smoking a pipe here in the doorway ever since four +o'clock," said the man, "and nobody has gone into the bank. Nobody has +come out either except the gentlemen--" + +"Are you quite sure?" + +"Yes, upon my word and honor. Stay, though, at four o'clock M. +Werbrust's friend came, a young fellow from Messrs. du Tillet & Co., in +the Rue Joubert." + +"All right," said Castanier, and he hurried away. + +The sickening sensation of heat that he had felt when he took back the +pen returned in greater intensity. "_Mille diables!_" thought he, as he +threaded his way along the Boulevard de Gand, "haven't I taken proper +precautions? Let me think! Two clear days, Sunday and Monday, then a +day of uncertainty before they begin to look for me; altogether, three +days and four nights' respite. I have a couple of passports and two +different disguises; is not that enough to throw the cleverest +detective off the scent? On Tuesday morning I shall draw a million +francs in London before the slightest suspicion has been aroused. My +debts I am leaving behind for the benefit of my creditors, who will put +a 'P'[1] on the bills, and I shall live comfortably in Italy for the +rest of my days as the Conte Ferraro. I was alone with him when he +died, poor fellow, in the marsh of Zembin, and I shall slip into his +skin.... _Mille diables!_ the woman who is to follow after me might +give them a clew! Think of an old campaigner like me infatuated enough +to tie myself to a petticoat tail!... Why take her? I must leave her +behind. Yes, I could make up my mind to it; but--I know myself--I +should be ass enough to go back for her. Still, nobody knows Aquilina. +Shall I take her or leave her?" + + [1] Protested. + +"You will not take her!" cried a voice that filled Castanier with +sickening dread. He turned sharply, and saw the Englishman. + +"The devil is in it!" cried the cashier aloud. + +Melmoth had passed his victim by this time; and if Castanier's first +impulse had been to fasten a quarrel on a man who read his own +thoughts, he was so much torn by opposing feelings that the immediate +result was a temporary paralysis. When he resumed his walk he fell once +more into that fever of irresolution which besets those who are so +carried away by passion that they are ready to commit a crime, but have +not sufficient strength of character to keep it to themselves without +suffering terribly in the process. So, although Castanier had made up +his mind to reap the fruits of a crime which was already half executed, +he hesitated to carry out his designs. For him, as for many men of +mixed character in whom weakness and strength are equally blended, the +least trifling consideration determines whether they shall continue to +lead blameless lives or become actively criminal. In the vast masses of +men enrolled in Napoleon's armies there were many who, like Castanier, +possessed the purely physical courage demanded on the battlefield, yet +lacked the moral courage which makes a man as great in crime as he +could have been in virtue. + +The letter of credit was drafted in such terms that immediately on his +arrival he might draw twenty-five thousand pounds on the firm of +Watschildine, the London correspondents of the house of Nucingen. The +London house had been already advised of the draft about to be made +upon them; he had written to them himself. He had instructed an agent +(chosen at random) to take his passage in a vessel which was to leave +Portsmouth with a wealthy English family on board, who were going to +Italy, and the passage money had been paid in the name of the Conte +Ferraro. The smallest details of the scheme had been thought out. He +had arranged matters so as to divert the search that would be made for +him into Belgium and Switzerland, while he himself was at sea in the +English vessel. Then, by the time that Nucingen might flatter himself +that he was on the track of his late cashier, the said cashier, as the +Conte Ferraro, hoped to be safe in Naples. He had determined to +disfigure his face in order to disguise himself the more completely, +and by means of an acid to imitate the scars of smallpox. Yet, in spite +of all these precautions, which surely seemed as if they must secure +him complete immunity, his conscience tormented him; he was afraid. The +even and peaceful life that he had led for so long had modified the +morality of the camp. His life was stainless as yet; he could not sully +it without a pang. So for the last time he abandoned himself to all the +influences of the better self that strenuously resisted. + +"Pshaw!" he said at last, at the corner of the Boulevard and the Rue +Montmartre, "I will take a cab after the play this evening and go out +to Versailles. A post-chaise will be ready for me at my old +quartermaster's place. He would keep my secret even if a dozen men were +standing ready to shoot him down. The chances are all in my favor, so +far as I see; so I shall take my little Naqui with me, and I will go." + +"You will not go!" exclaimed the Englishman, and the strange tones of +his voice drove all the cashier's blood back to his heart. + +Melmoth stepped into a tilbury which was waiting for him, and was +whirled away so quickly, that when Castanier looked up he saw his foe +some hundred paces away from him, and before it even crossed his mind +to cut off the man's retreat the tilbury was far on its way up the +Boulevard Montmartre. + +"Well, upon my word, there is something supernatural about this!" said +he to himself. "If I were fool enough to believe in God, I should think +that He had set Saint Michael on my tracks. Suppose that the devil and +the police should let me go on as I please, so as to nab me in the nick +of time? Did anyone ever see the like! But there, this is folly...." + +Castanier went along the Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre, slackening his +pace as he neared the Rue Richer. There, on the second floor of a block +of buildings which looked out upon some gardens, lived the unconscious +cause of Castanier's crime--a young woman known in the quarter as Mme. +de la Garde. A concise history of certain events in the cashier's past +life must be given in order to explain these facts, and to give a +complete presentment of the crisis when he yielded to temptation. + +Mme. de la Garde said that she was a Piedmontese. No one, not even +Castanier, knew her real name. She was one of those young girls who are +driven by dire misery, by inability to earn a living, or by fear of +starvation, to have recourse to a trade which most of them loathe, many +regard with indifference, and some few follow in obedience to the laws +of their constitution. But on the brink of the gulf of prostitution in +Paris, the young girl of sixteen, beautiful and pure as the Madonna, +had met with Castanier. The old dragoon was too rough and homely to +make his way in society, and he was tired of tramping the boulevard at +night and of the kind of conquests made there by gold. For some time +past he had desired to bring a certain regularity into an irregular +life. He was struck by the beauty of the poor child who had drifted by +chance into his arms, and his determination to rescue her from the life +of the streets was half benevolent, half selfish, as some of the +thoughts of the best of men are apt to be. Social conditions mingle +elements of evil with the promptings of natural goodness of heart, and +the mixture of motives underlying a man's intentions should be +leniently judged. Castanier had just cleverness enough to be very +shrewd where his own interests were concerned. So he concluded to be a +philanthropist on either count, and at first made her his mistress. + +"Hey! hey!" he said to himself, in his soldierly fashion, "I am an old +wolf, and a sheep shall not make a fool of me. Castanier, old man, +before you set up housekeeping, reconnoiter the girl's character for a +bit, and see if she is a steady sort." + +This irregular union gave the Piedmontese a status the most nearly +approaching respectability among those which the world declines to +recognize. During the first year she took the _nom de guerre_ of +Aquilina, one of the characters in _Venice Preserved_ which she had +chanced to read. She fancied that she resembled the courtesan in face +and general appearance, and in a certain precocity of heart and brain +of which she was conscious. When Castanier found that her life was as +well regulated and virtuous as was possible for a social outlaw, he +manifested a desire that they should live as husband and wife. So she +took the name of Mme. de la Garde, in order to approach, as closely as +Parisian usages permit, the conditions of a real marriage. As a matter +of fact, many of these unfortunate girls have one fixed idea, to be +looked upon as respectable middle-class women, who lead humdrum lives +of faithfulness to their husbands; women who would make excellent +mothers, keepers of household accounts, and menders of household linen. +This longing springs from a sentiment so laudable that society should +take it into consideration. But society, incorrigible as ever, will +assuredly persist in regarding the married woman as a corvette duly +authorized by her flag and papers to go on her own course, while the +woman who is a wife in all but name is a pirate and an outlaw for lack +of a document. A day came when Mme. de la Garde would fain have signed +herself "Mme. Castanier." The cashier was put out by this. + +"So you do not love me well enough to marry me?" she said. + +Castanier did not answer; he was absorbed by his thoughts. The poor +girl resigned herself to her fate. The ex-dragoon was in despair. +Naqui's heart softened toward him at the sight of his trouble; she +tried to soothe him, but what could she do when she did not know what +ailed him? When Naqui made up her mind to know the secret, although she +never asked him a question, the cashier dolefully confessed to the +existence of a Mme. Castanier. This lawful wife, a thousand times +accursed, was living in a humble way in Strasbourg on a small property +there; he wrote to her twice a year, and kept the secret of her +existence so well, that no one suspected that he was married. The +reason of this reticence? If it is familiar to many military men who +may chance to be in a like predicament, it is perhaps worth while to +give the story. + +Your genuine trooper (if it is allowable here to employ the word which +in the army signifies a man who is destined to die as a captain) is a +sort of serf, a part and parcel of his regiment, an essentially simple +creature, and Castanier was marked out by nature as a victim to the +wiles of mothers with grown-up daughters left too long on their hands. +It was at Nancy, during one of those brief intervals of repose when the +Imperial armies were not on active service abroad, that Castanier was +so unlucky as to pay some attention to a young lady with whom he danced +at a _ridotto_, the provincial name for the entertainments often given +by the military to the townsfolk, or _vice versâ_, in garrison towns. A +scheme for inveigling the gallant captain into matrimony was +immediately set on foot, one of those schemes by which mothers secure +accomplices in a human heart by touching all its motive springs, while +they convert all their friends into fellow-conspirators. Like all +people possessed by one idea, these ladies press everything into the +service of their great project, slowly elaborating their toils, much as +the ant-lion excavates its funnel in the sand and lies in wait at the +bottom for its victim. Suppose that no one strays, after all, into that +carefully constructed labyrinth? Suppose that the ant-lion dies of +hunger and thirst in her pit? Such things may be, but if any heedless +creature once enters in, it never comes out. All the wires which could +be pulled to induce action on the captain's part were tried; appeals +were made to the secret interested motives that always come into play +in such cases; they worked on Castanier's hopes and on the weaknesses +and vanity of human nature. Unluckily, he had praised the daughter to +her mother when he brought her back after a waltz, a little chat +followed, and then an invitation in the most natural way in the world. +Once introduced into the house, the dragoon was dazzled by the +hospitality of a family who appeared to conceal their real wealth +beneath a show of careful economy. He was skillfully flattered on all +sides, and everyone extolled for his benefit the various treasures +there displayed. A neatly timed dinner, served on plate lent by an +uncle, the attention shown to him by the only daughter of the house, +the gossip of the town, a well-to-do sub-lieutenant who seemed likely +to cut the ground from under his feet--all the innumerable snares, in +short, of the provincial ant-lion were set for him, and to such good +purpose, that Castanier said five years later, "To this day I do not +know how it came about!" + +The dragoon received fifteen thousand francs with the lady, who, after +two years of marriage, became the ugliest and consequently the most +peevish woman on earth. Luckily they had no children. The fair +complexion (maintained by a Spartan regimen), the fresh, bright color +in her face, which spoke of an engaging modesty, became overspread with +blotches and pimples; her figure, which had seemed so straight, grew +crooked, the angel became a suspicious and shrewish creature who drove +Castanier frantic. Then the fortune took to itself wings. At length the +dragoon, no longer recognizing the woman whom he had wedded, left her +to live on a little property at Strasbourg, until the time when it +should please God to remove her to adorn Paradise. She was one of those +virtuous women who, for want of other occupation, would weary the life +out of an angel with complainings, who pray till (if their prayers are +heard in heaven) they must exhaust the patience of the Almighty, and +say everything that is bad of their husbands in dove-like murmurs over +a game of boston with their neighbors. When Aquilina learned all these +troubles she clung still more affectionately to Castanier, and made him +so happy, varying with woman's ingenuity the pleasures with which she +filled his life, that all unwittingly she was the cause of the +cashier's downfall. + +Like many women who seem by nature destined to sound all the depths of +love, Mme. de la Garde was disinterested. She asked neither for gold +nor for jewelry, gave no thought to the future, lived entirely for the +present and for the pleasures of the present. She accepted expensive +ornaments and dresses, the carriage so eagerly coveted by women of her +class, as one harmony the more in the picture of life. There was +absolutely no vanity in her desire not to appear at a better advantage +but to look the fairer, and, moreover, no woman could live without +luxuries more cheerfully. When a man of generous nature (and military +men are mostly of this stamp) meets with such a woman, he feels a sort +of exasperation at finding himself her debtor in generosity. He feels +that he could stop a mail coach to obtain money for her if he has not +sufficient for her whims. He will commit a crime if so he may be great +and noble in the eyes of some woman or of his special public; such is +the nature of the man. Such a lover is like a gambler who would be +dishonored in his own eyes if he did not repay the sum he borrowed from +a waiter in a gaming house; but will shrink from no crime, will leave +his wife and children without a penny, and rob and murder, if so he may +come to the gaming table with a full purse, and his honor remain +untarnished among the frequenters of that fatal abode. So it was with +Castanier. + +He had begun by installing Aquilina in a modest fourth-floor dwelling, +the furniture being of the simplest kind. But when he saw the girl's +beauty and great qualities, when he had known inexpressible and +unlooked-for happiness with her, he began to dote upon her, and longed +to adorn his idol. Then Aquilina's toilet was so comically out of +keeping with her poor abode, that for both their sakes it was clearly +incumbent on him to move. The change swallowed up almost all +Castanier's savings, for he furnished his domestic paradise with all +the prodigality that is lavished on a kept mistress. A pretty woman +must have everything pretty about her; the unity of charm in the woman +and her surroundings singles her out from among her sex. This sentiment +of homogeneity indeed, though it has frequently escaped the attention +of observers, is instinctive in human nature; and the same prompting +leads elderly spinsters to surround themselves with dreary relics of +the past. But the lovely Piedmontese must have the newest and latest +fashions, and all that was daintiest and prettiest in stuffs for +hangings, in silks or jewelry, in fine china and other brittle and +fragile wares. She asked for nothing; but when she was called upon to +make a choice, when Castanier asked her, "Which do you like?" she would +answer, "Why, this is the nicest!" Love never counts the cost, and +Castanier therefore always took the "nicest." + +When once the standard had been set up, there was nothing for it but +everything in the household must be in conformity, from the linen, +plate, and crystal through a thousand and one items of expenditure down +to the pots and pans in the kitchen. Castanier had meant to "do things +simply," as the saying goes, but he gradually found himself more and +more in debt. One expense entailed another. The clock called for candle +sconces. Fires must be lighted in the ornamental grates, but the +curtains and hangings were too fresh and delicate to be soiled by +smuts, so they must be replaced by patent and elaborate fireplaces, +warranted to give out no smoke, recent inventions of the people who are +clever at drawing up a prospectus. Then Aquilina found it so nice to +run about barefooted on the carpet in her room that Castanier must have +soft carpets laid everywhere for the pleasure of playing with Naqui. A +bathroom, too, was built for her, everything to the end that she might +be more comfortable. + +Shopkeepers, workmen, and manufacturers in Paris have a mysterious +knack of enlarging a hole in a man's purse. They cannot give the price +of anything upon inquiry; and as the paroxysm of longing cannot abide +delay, orders are given by the feeble light of an approximate estimate +of cost. The same people never send in the bills at once, but ply the +purchaser with furniture till his head spins. Everything is so pretty, +so charming; and everyone is satisfied. + +A few months later the obliging furniture dealers are metamorphosed, +and reappear in the shape of alarming totals on invoices that fill the +soul with their horrid clamor; they are in urgent want of the money; +they are, as you may say, on the brink of bankruptcy, their tears flow, +it is heartrending to hear them! And then--the gulf yawns and gives up +serried columns of figures marching four deep; when as a matter of fact +they should have issued innocently three by three. + +Before Castanier had any idea of how much he had spent, he had arranged +for Aquilina to have a carriage from a livery stable when she went out, +instead of a cab. Castanier was a gourmand; he engaged an excellent +cook; and Aquilina, to please him, had herself made the purchases of +early fruit and vegetables, rare delicacies, and exquisite wines. But, +as Aquilina had nothing of her own, these gifts of hers, so precious by +reason of the thought and tact and graciousness that prompted them, +were no less a drain upon Castanier's purse; he did not like his Naqui +to be without money, and Naqui could not keep money in her pocket. So +the table was a heavy item of expenditure for a man with Castanier's +income. The ex-dragoon was compelled to resort to various shifts for +obtaining money, for he could not bring himself to renounce this +delightful life. He loved the woman too well to cross the freaks of the +mistress. He was one of those men who, through self-love or through +weakness of character, can refuse nothing to a woman; false shame +overpowers them, and they rather face ruin than make the admissions: "I +cannot--" "My means will not permit--" "I cannot afford--" + +When, therefore, Castanier saw that if he meant to emerge from the +abyss of debt into which he had plunged, he must part with Aquilina and +live upon bread and water, he was so unable to do without her or to +change his habits of life, that daily he put off his plans of reform +until the morrow. The debts were pressing, and he began by borrowing +money. His position and previous character inspired confidence, and of +this he took advantage to devise a system of borrowing money as he +required it. Then, as the total amount of debt rapidly increased, he +had recourse to those commercial inventions known as _accommodation +bills_. This form of bill does not represent goods or other value +received, and the first indorser pays the amount named for the obliging +person who accepts it. This species of fraud is tolerated because it is +impossible to detect it, and, moreover, it is an imaginary fraud which +only becomes real if payment is ultimately refused. + +When at length it was evidently impossible to borrow any longer, +whether because the amount of the debt was now so greatly increased, or +because Castanier was unable to pay the large amount of interest on the +aforesaid sums of money, the cashier saw bankruptcy before him. On +making this discovery, he decided for a fraudulent bankruptcy rather +than an ordinary failure, and preferred a crime to a misdemeanor. He +determined, after the fashion of the celebrated cashier of the Royal +Treasury, to abuse the trust deservedly won, and to increase the number +of his creditors by making a final loan of the sum sufficient to keep +him in comfort in a foreign country for the rest of his days. All this, +as has been seen, he had prepared to do. + +Aquilina knew nothing of the irksome cares of this life; she enjoyed +her existence, as many a woman does, making no inquiry as to where the +money came from, even as sundry other folk will eat their buttered +rolls untroubled by any restless spirit of curiosity as to the culture +and growth of wheat; but as the labor and miscalculations of +agriculture lie on the other side of the baker's oven, so, beneath the +unappreciated luxury of many a Parisian household lie intolerable +anxieties and exorbitant toil. + +While Castanier was enduring the torture of the strain, and his +thoughts were full of the deed that should change his whole life, +Aquilina was lying luxuriously back in a great armchair by the +fireside, beguiling the time by chatting with her waiting-maid. As +frequently happens in such cases, the maid had become the mistress's +confidante, Jenny having first assured herself that her mistress's +ascendancy over Castanier was complete. + +What are we to do this evening? Léon seems determined to come," Mme. de +la Garde was saying, as she read a passionate epistle indicted upon a +faint gray note paper. + +"Here is the master!" said Jenny. + +Castanier came in. Aquilina, nowise disconcerted, crumpled up the +letter, took it with the tongs, and held it in the flames. + +"So that is what you do with your love letters, is it?" asked +Castanier. + +"Oh, goodness, yes," said Aquilina; "is it not the best way of keeping +them safe? Besides, fire should go to the fire, as water makes for the +river." + +"You are talking as if it were a real love letter, Naqui--" + +"Well, am I not handsome enough to receive them?" she said, holding up +her forehead for a kiss. There was a carelessness in her manner that +would have told any man less blind than Castanier that it was only a +piece of conjugal duty, as it were, to give this joy to the cashier; +but use and wont had brought Castanier to the point where +clear-sightedness is no longer possible for love. + +"I have taken a box at the Gymnase this evening," he said; "let us have +dinner early, and then we need not dine in a hurry." + +"Go and take Jenny. I am tired of plays. I do not know what is the +matter with me this evening; I would rather stay here by the fire." + +"Come, all the same though, Naqui; I shall not be here to bore you much +longer. Yes, Quiqui, I am going to start to-night, and it will be some +time before I come back again. I am leaving everything in your charge. +Will you keep your heart for me too?" + +"Neither my heart nor anything else," she said; "but when you come back +again, Naqui will still be Naqui for you." + +"Well, this is frankness. So you would not follow me?" + +"No." + +"Why not?" + +"Eh! why, how can I leave the lover who writes me such sweet little +notes?" she asked, pointing to the blackened scrap of paper with a +mocking smile. + +"Is there any truth in it?" asked Castanier. "Have you really a lover?" + +"Really!" cried Aquilina; "and have you never given it a serious +thought, dear? To begin with, you are fifty years old. Then you have +just the sort of face to put on a fruit stall; if the woman tried to +sell you for a pumpkin, no one would contradict her. You puff and blow +like a seal when you come upstairs; your paunch rises and falls like +the diamond on a woman's forehead! It is pretty plain that you served +in the dragoons; you are a very ugly-looking old man. Fiddle-de-dee. If +you have any mind to keep my respect, I recommend you not to add +imbecility to these qualities by imagining that such a girl as I am +will be content with your asthmatic love, and not look for youth and +good looks and pleasure by way of variety--" + +"Aquilina! you are laughing, of course?" + +"Oh, very well; and are you not laughing too? Do you take me for a +fool, telling me that you are going away? 'I am going to start +to-night!'" she said, mimicking his tones. "Stuff and nonsense! Would +you talk like that if you were really going away from your Naqui? You +would cry, like the booby that you are!" + +"After all, if I go, will you follow?" he asked. + +"Tell me first whether this journey of yours is a bad joke or not." + +"Yes, seriously, I am going." + +"Well, then, seriously, I shall stay. A pleasant journey to you, my +boy! I will wait till you come back. I would sooner take leave of life +than take leave of my dear, cozy Paris--" + +"Will you not come to Italy, to Naples, and lead a pleasant life +there--a delicious, luxurious life, with this stout old fogey of yours, +who puffs and blows like a seal?" + +"No." + +"Ungrateful girl!" + +"Ungrateful?" she cried, rising to her feet. "I might leave this house +this moment and take nothing out of it but myself. I shall have given +you all the treasures a young girl can give, and something that not +every drop in your veins and mine can ever give me back. If, by any +means whatever, by selling my hopes of eternity, for instance, I could +recover my past self, body as soul (for I have, perhaps, redeemed my +soul), and be pure as a lily for my lover I would not hesitate a +moment! What sort of devotion has rewarded mine? You have housed and +fed me, just as you give a dog food and a kennel because he is a +protection to the house, and he may take kicks when we are out of +humor, and lick our hands as soon as we are pleased to call to him. And +which of us two will have been the more generous?" + +"Oh! dear child, do you not see that I am joking?" returned Castanier. +"I am going on a short journey; I shall not be away for very long. But +come with me to the Gymnase; I shall start just before midnight, after +I have had time to say good-by to you." + +"Poor pet! so you are really going, are you?" she said. She put her +arms round his neck, and drew down his head against her bodice. + +"You are smothering me!" cried Castanier, with his face buried in +Aquilina's breast. That damsel turned to say in Jenny's ear, "Go to +Léon, and tell him not to come till one o'clock. If you do not find +him, and he comes here during the leave-taking, keep him in your +room.--Well," she went on, setting free Castanier, and giving a tweak +to the tip of his nose, "never mind, handsomest of seals that you are. +I will go to the theater with you this evening. But all in good time; +let us have dinner! There is a nice little dinner for you--just what +you like." + +"It is very hard to part from such a woman as you!" exclaimed +Castanier. + +"Very well then, why do you go?" asked she. + +"Ah! why? why? If I were to begin to explain the reasons why, I must +tell you things that would prove to you that I love you almost to +madness. Ah! if you have sacrificed your honor for me, I have sold mine +for you; we are quits. Is that love?" + +"What is all this about?" said she. "Come, now, promise me that if I +had a lover you would still love me as a father; that would be love! +Come, now, promise it at once, and give us your fist upon it." + +"I should kill you," and Castanier smiled as he spoke. + +They sat down to the dinner table, and went thence to the Gymnase. When +the first part of the performance was over, it occurred to Castanier to +show himself to some of his acquaintances in the house, so as to turn +away any suspicion of his departure. He left Mme. de la Garde in the +corner box where she was seated, according to her modest wont, and went +to walk up and down in the lobby. He had not gone many paces before he +saw the Englishman, and with a sudden return of the sickening sensation +of heat that once before had vibrated through him, and of the terror +that he had felt already, he stood face to face with Melmoth. + +"Forger!" + +At the word, Castanier glanced round at the people who were moving +about them. He fancied that he could see astonishment and curiosity in +their eyes, and wishing to be rid of this Englishman at once, he raised +his hand to strike him--and felt his arm paralyzed by some invisible +power that sapped his strength and nailed him to the spot. He allowed +the stranger to take him by the arm, and they walked together to the +greenroom like two friends. + +"Who is strong enough to resist me?" said the Englishman, addressing +him. "Do you not know that everything here on earth must obey me, that +it is in my power to do everything? I read men's thoughts, I see the +future, and I know the past. I am here, and I can be elsewhere also. +Time and space and distance are nothing to me. The whole world is at my +beck and call. I have the power of continual enjoyment and of giving +joy. I can see through walls, discover hidden treasures, and fill my +hands with them. Palaces arise at my nod, and my architect makes no +mistakes. I can make all lands break forth into blossom, heap up their +gold and precious stones, and surround myself with fair women and ever +new faces; everything is yielded up to my will. I could gamble on the +Stock Exchange, and my speculations would be infallible; but a man who +can find the hoards that misers have hidden in the earth need not +trouble himself about stocks. Feel the strength of the hand that grasps +you; poor wretch, doomed to shame! Try to bend the arm of iron! try to +soften the adamantine heart! Fly from me if you dare! You would hear my +voice in the depths of the caves that lie under the Seine; you might +hide in the Catacombs, but would you not see me there? My voice could +be heard through the sound of the thunder, my eyes shine as brightly as +the sun, for I am the peer of Lucifer!" + +Castanier heard the terrible words, and felt no protest nor +contradiction within himself. He walked side by side with the +Englishman, and had no power to leave him. + +"You are mine; you have just committed a crime. I have found at last +the mate whom I have sought. Have you a mind to learn your destiny? +Aha! you came here to see a play, and you shall see a play--nay, two. +Come. Present me to Mme. de la Garde as one of your best friends. Am I +not your last hope of escape?" + +Castanier, followed by the stranger, returned to his box; and in +accordance with the order he had just received, he hastened to +introduce Melmoth to Mme. de la Garde. Aquilina seemed to be not in the +least surprised. The Englishman declined to take a seat in front, and +Castanier was once more beside his mistress; the man's slightest wish +must be obeyed. The last piece was about to begin, for, at that time, +small theaters only gave three pieces. One of the actors had made the +Gymnase the fashion, and that evening Perlet (the actor in question) +was to play in a vaudeville called _Le Comédien d'Étampes_, in which he +filled four different parts. + +When the curtain rose, the stranger stretched out his hand over the +crowded house. Castanier's cry of terror died away, for the walls of +his throat seemed glued together as Melmoth pointed to the stage, and +the cashier knew that the play had been changed at the Englishman's +desire. + +He saw the strong room at the bank; he saw the Baron de Nucingen in +conference with a police officer from the prefecture, who was informing +him of Castanier's conduct, explaining that the cashier had absconded +with money taken from the safe, giving the history of the forged +signature. The information was put in writing; the document signed and +duly dispatched to the public prosecutor. + +"Are we in time, do you think?" asked Nucingen. + +"Yes," said the agent of police; "he is at the Gymnase, and has no +suspicion of anything." + +Castanier fidgeted on his chair, and made as if he would leave the +theater, but Melmoth's hand lay on his shoulder, and he was obliged to +sit and watch; the hideous power of the man produced an effect like +that of nightmare, and he could not move a limb. Nay, the man himself +was the nightmare; his presence weighed heavily on his victim like a +poisoned atmosphere. When the wretched cashier turned to implore the +Englishman's mercy, he met those blazing eyes that discharged electric +currents, which pierced through him and transfixed him like darts of +steel. + +"What have I done to you?" he said, in his prostrate helplessness, and +he breathed hard like a stag at the water's edge. "What do you want of +me?" + +"Look!" cried Melmoth. + +Castanier looked at the stage. The scene had been changed. The play +seemed to be over, and Castanier beheld himself stepping from the +carriage with Aquilina; but as he entered the courtyard of the house in +the Rue Richer, the scene again was suddenly changed, and he saw his +own house. Jenny was chatting by the fire in her mistress's room with a +subaltern officer of a line regiment then stationed at Paris. + +"He is going, is he?" said the sergeant, who seemed to belong to a +family in easy circumstances; "I can be happy at my ease! I love +Aquilina too well to allow her to belong to that old toad! I, myself, +am going to marry Mme. de la Garde!" cried the sergeant. + +"Old toad!" Castanier murmured piteously. + +"Here come the master and mistress; hide yourself! Stay, get in here, +Monsieur Léon," said Jenny. "The master won't stay here for very long." + +Castanier watched the sergeant hide himself among Aquilina's gowns in +her dressing room. Almost immediately he himself appeared upon the +scene, and took leave of his mistress, who made fun of him in "asides" +to Jenny, while she uttered the sweetest and tenderest words in his +ears. She wept with one side of her face, and laughed with the other. +The audience called for an encore. + +"Accursed creature!" cried Castanier from his box. + +Aquilina was laughing till the tears came into her eyes. + +"Goodness!" she cried, "how funny Perlet is as the Englishwoman!... Why +don't you laugh? Everyone else in the house is laughing. Laugh, dear!" +she said to Castanier. + +Melmoth burst out laughing, and the unhappy cashier shuddered. The +Englishman's laughter wrung his heart and tortured his brain; it was as +if a surgeon had bored his skull with a red-hot iron. + +"Laughing! are they laughing?" stammered Castanier. + +He did not see the prim English lady whom Perlet was acting with such +ludicrous effect, nor hear the English-French that had filled the house +with roars of laughter; instead of all this, he beheld himself hurrying +from the Rue Richer, hailing a cab on the Boulevard, bargaining with +the man to take him to Versailles. Then once more the scene changed. He +recognized the sorry inn at the corner of the Rue de l'Orangerie and +the Rue des Récollets, which was kept by his old quartermaster. It was +two o'clock in the morning, the most perfect stillness prevailed, no +one was there to watch his movements. The post-horses were put into the +carriage (it came from a house in the Avenue de Paris in which an +Englishman lived, and had been ordered in the foreigner's name to avoid +raising suspicion). Castanier saw that he had his bills and his +passports, stepped into the carriage, and set out. But at the barrier +he saw two gendarmes lying in wait for the carriage. A cry of horror +burst from him, but Melmoth gave him a glance, and again the sound died +in his throat. + +"Keep your eyes on the stage, and be quiet!" said the Englishman. + +In another moment Castanier saw himself flung into prison at the +Conciergerie; and in the fifth act of the drama, entitled _The +Cashier_, he saw himself, in three months' time, condemned to twenty +years of penal servitude. Again a cry broke from him. He was exposed +upon the Place du Palais-de-Justice, and the executioner branded him +with a red-hot iron. Then came the last scene of all; among some sixty +convicts in the prison yard of the Bicêtre, he was awaiting his turn to +have the irons riveted on his limbs. + +"Dear me! I cannot laugh any more!..." said Aquilina. "You are very +solemn, dear boy; what can be the matter? The gentleman has gone." + +"A word with you, Castanier," said Melmoth when the piece was at an +end, and the attendant was fastening Mme. de la Garde's cloak. + +The corridor was crowded, and escape impossible. + +"Very well, what is it?" + +"No human power can hinder you from taking Aquilina home, and going +next to Versailles, there to be arrested." + +"How so?" + +"Because you are in a hand that will never relax its grasp," returned +the Englishman. + +Castanier longed for the power to utter some word that should blot him +out from among living men and hide him in the lowest depths of hell. + +"Suppose that the devil were to make a bid for your soul, would you not +give it to him now in exchange for the power of God? One single word, +and those five hundred thousand francs shall be back in the Baron de +Nucingen's safe; then you can tear up your letter of credit, and all +traces of your crime will be obliterated. Moreover, you would have gold +in torrents. You hardly believe in anything perhaps? Well, if all this +comes to pass, you will believe at least in the devil." + +"If it were only possible!" said Castanier joyfully. + +"The man who can do it all gives you his word that it is possible," +answered the Englishman. + +Melmoth, Castanier, and Mme. de la Garde were standing out in the +Boulevard when Melmoth raised his arm. A drizzling rain was falling, +the streets were muddy, the air was close, there was thick darkness +overhead; but in a moment, as the arm was outstretched, Paris was +filled with sunlight; it was high noon on a bright July day. The trees +were covered with leaves; a double stream of joyous holiday makers +strolled beneath them. Sellers of licorice water shouted their cool +drinks. Splendid carriages rolled past along the streets. A cry of +terror broke from the cashier, and at that cry rain and darkness once +more settled down upon the Boulevard. + +Mme. de la Garde had stepped into the carriage. "Do be quick, dear!" +she cried; "either come in or stay out. Really, you are as dull as +ditch-water this evening--" + +"What must I do?" Castanier asked of Melmoth. + +"Would you like to take my place?" inquired the Englishman. + +"Yes." + +"Very well, then; I will be at your house in a few moments." + +"By the bye, Castanier, you are rather off your balance," Aquilina +remarked. "There is some mischief brewing; you were quite melancholy +and thoughtful all through the play. Do you want anything that I can +give you, dear? Tell me." + +"I am waiting till we are at home to know whether you love me." + +"You need not wait till then," she said, throwing her arms round his +neck. "There!" she said, as she embraced him, passionately to all +appearance, and plied him with the coaxing caresses that are part of +the business of such a life as hers, like stage action for an actress. + +"Where is the music?" asked Castanier. + +"What next? Only think of your hearing music now!" + +"Heavenly music!" he went on. "The sounds seem to come from above." + +"What? You have always refused to give me a box at the Italiens because +you could not abide music, and are you turning music-mad at this time +of day? Mad--that you are! The music is inside your own noddle, old +addle-pate!" she went on, as she took his head in her hands and rocked +it to and fro on her shoulder. "Tell me now, old man; isn't it the +creaking of the wheels that sings in your ears?" + +"Just listen, Naqui! If the angels make music for God Almighty, it must +be such music as this that I am drinking in at every pore, rather than +hearing. I do not know how to tell you about it; it is as sweet as +honey water!" + +"Why, of course, they have music in heaven, for the angels in all the +pictures have harps in their hands. He is mad, upon my word!" she said +to herself, as she saw Castanier's attitude; he looked like an opium +eater in a blissful trance. + +They reached the house. Castanier, absorbed by the thought of all that +he had just heard and seen, knew not whether to believe it or no; he +was like a drunken man, and utterly unable to think connectedly. He +came to himself in Aquilina's room, whither he had been supported by +the united efforts of his mistress, the porter, and Jenny; for he had +fainted as he stepped from the carriage. + +"_He_ will be here directly! Oh, my friends, my friends!" he cried, and +he flung himself despairingly into the depths of a low chair beside the +fire. + +Jenny heard the bell as he spoke, and admitted the Englishman. She +announced that "a gentleman had come who had made an appointment with +the master," when Melmoth suddenly appeared, and deep silence followed. +He looked at the porter--the porter went; he looked at Jenny--and Jenny +went likewise. + +"Madame," said Melmoth, turning to Aquilina, "with your permission, we +will conclude a piece of urgent business." + +He took Castanier's hand, and Castanier rose, and the two men went into +the drawing-room. There was no light in the room, but Melmoth's eyes +lit up the thickest darkness. The gaze of those strange eyes had left +Aquilina like one spellbound; she was helpless, unable to take any +thought for her lover; moreover, she believed him to be safe in Jenny's +room, whereas their early return had taken the waiting woman by +surprise, and she had hidden the officer in the dressing room. It had +all happened exactly as in the drama that Melmoth had displayed for his +victim. Presently the house door was slammed violently, and Castanier +reappeared. + +"What ails you?" cried the horror-struck Aquilina. + +There was a change in the cashier's appearance. A strange pallor +overspread his once rubicund countenance; it wore the peculiarly +sinister and stony look of the mysterious visitor. The sullen glare of +his eyes was intolerable, the fierce light in them seemed to scorch. +The man who had looked so good-humored and good-natured had suddenly +grown tyrannical and proud. The courtesan thought that Castanier had +grown thinner; there was a terrible majesty in his brow; it was as if a +dragon breathed forth a malignant influence that weighed upon the +others like a close, heavy atmosphere. For a moment Aquilina knew not +what to do. + +"What passed between you and that diabolical-looking man in those few +minutes?" she asked at length. + +"I have sold my soul to him. I feel it; I am no longer the same. He has +taken my _self_, and given me his soul in exchange." + +"What?" + +"You would not understand it at all.... Ah! he was right," Castanier +went on, "the fiend was right! I see everything and know all +things.--You have been deceiving me!" + +Aquilina turned cold with terror. Castanier lighted a candle and went +into the dressing room. The unhappy girl followed him in dazed +bewilderment, and great was her astonishment when Castanier drew the +dresses that hung there aside and disclosed the sergeant. + +"Come out, my boy," said the cashier; and, taking Léon by a button of +his overcoat, he drew the officer into his room. + +The Piedmontese, haggard and desperate, had flung herself into her easy +chair. Castanier seated himself on a sofa by the fire, and left +Aquilina's lover in a standing position. + +"You have been in the army," said Léon; "I am ready to give you +satisfaction." + +"You are a fool," said Castanier dryly. "I have no occasion to fight. I +could kill you by a look if I had any mind to do it. I will tell you +what it is, youngster; why should I kill you? I can see a red line +round your neck--the guillotine is waiting for you. Yes, you will end +in the Place de Grève. You are the headsman's property! there is no +escape for you. You belong to a _vendita_ of the Carbonari. You are +plotting against the Government." + +"You did not tell me that," cried the Piedmontese, turning to Léon. + +"So you do not know that the Minister decided this morning to put down +your Society?" the cashier continued. "The Procureur-Général has a list +of your names. You have been betrayed. They are busy drawing up the +indictment at this moment." + +"Then was it you who betrayed him?" cried Aquilina, and with a hoarse +sound in her throat like the growl of a tigress she rose to her feet; +she seemed as if she would tear Castanier in pieces. + +"You know me too well to believe it," Castanier retorted. Aquilina was +benumbed by his coolness. + +"Then how did you know it?" she murmured. + +"I did not know it until I went into the drawing-room; now I know +it--now I see and know all things, and can do all things." + +The sergeant was overcome with amazement. + +"Very well then, save him, save him, dear!" cried the girl, flinging +herself at Castanier's feet. "If nothing is impossible to you, save +him! I will love you, I will adore you, I will be your slave and not +your mistress. I will obey your wildest whims; you shall do as you will +with me. Yes, yes, I will give you more than love; you shall have a +daughter's devotion as well as ... Rodolphe! why will you not +understand! After all, however violent my passions may be, I shall be +yours forever! What should I say to persuade you? I will invent +pleasures ... I ... Great heavens! one moment! whatever you shall ask +of me--to fling myself from the window, for instance--you will need to +say but one word, 'Léon!' and I will plunge down into hell. I would +bear any torture, any pain of body or soul, anything you might inflict +upon me!" + +Castanier heard her with indifference. For all answer, he indicated +Léon to her with a fiendish laugh. + +"The guillotine is waiting for him," he repeated. + +"No, no, no! He shall not leave this house. I will save him!" she +cried. "Yes; I will kill anyone who lays a finger upon him! Why will +you not save him?" she shrieked aloud; her eyes were blazing, her hair +unbound. "Can you save him?" + +"I can do everything." + +"Why do you not save him?" + +"Why?" shouted Castanier, and his voice made the ceiling ring.--"Eh! it +is my revenge! Doing evil is my trade!" + +"Die?" said Aquilina; "must he die, my lover? Is it possible?" + +She sprang up and snatched a stiletto from a basket that stood on the +chest of drawers and went to Castanier, who began to laugh. + +"You know very well that steel cannot hurt me now--" + +Aquilina's arm suddenly dropped like a snapped harp string. + +"Out with you, my good friend," said the cashier, turning to the +sergeant, "and go about your business." + +He held out his hand; the other felt Castanier's superior power, and +could not choose but obey. + +"This house is mine; I could send for the commissary of police if I +chose, and give you up as a man who has hidden himself on my premises, +but I would rather let you go; I am a fiend, I am not a spy." + +"I shall follow him!" said Aquilina. + +"Then follow him," returned Castanier.--"Here, Jenny--" + +Jenny appeared. + +"Tell the porter to hail a cab for them.--Here, Naqui," said Castanier, +drawing a bundle of banknotes from his pocket; "you shall not go away +like a pauper from a man who loves you still." + +He held out three hundred thousand francs. Aquilina took the notes, +flung them on the floor, spat on them, and trampled upon them in a +frenzy of despair. + +"We will leave this house on foot," she cried, "without a farthing of +your money.--Jenny, stay where you are." + +"Good evening!" answered the cashier, as he gathered up the notes +again. "I have come back from my journey.--Jenny," he added, looking at +the bewildered waiting maid, "you seem to me to be a good sort of girl. +You have no mistress now. Come here. This evening you shall have a +master." + +Aquilina, who felt safe nowhere, went at once with the sergeant to the +house of one of her friends. But all Léon's movements were suspiciously +watched by the police, and after a time he and three of his friends +were arrested. The whole story may be found in the newspapers of that +day. + + * * * * * + +Castanier felt that he had undergone a mental as well as a physical +transformation. The Castanier of old no longer existed--the boy, the +young Lothario, the soldier who had proved his courage, who had been +tricked into a marriage and disillusioned, the cashier, the passionate +lover who had committed a crime for Aquilina's sake. His inmost nature +had suddenly asserted itself. His brain had expanded, his senses had +developed. His thoughts comprehended the whole world; he saw all the +things of earth as if he had been raised to some high pinnacle above +the world. + +Until that evening at the play he had loved Aquilina to distraction. +Rather than give her up he would have shut his eyes to her +infidelities; and now all that blind passion had passed away as a cloud +vanishes in the sunlight. + +Jenny was delighted to succeed to her mistress's position and fortune, +and did the cashier's will in all things; but Castanier, who could read +the inmost thoughts of the soul, discovered the real motive underlying +this purely physical devotion. He amused himself with her, however, +like a mischievous child who greedily sucks the juice of the cherry and +flings away the stone. The next morning at breakfast time, when she was +fully convinced that she was a lady and the mistress of the house, +Castanier uttered one by one the thoughts that filled her mind as she +drank her coffee. + +"Do you know what you are thinking, child?" he said, smiling. "I will +tell you: 'So all that lovely rosewood furniture that I coveted so +much, and the pretty dresses that I used to try on, are mine now! All +on easy terms that madame refused, I do not know why. My word! if I +might drive about in a carriage, have jewels and pretty things, a box +at the theater, and put something by! with me he should lead a life of +pleasure fit to kill him if he were not as strong as a Turk! I never +saw such a man!'--Was not that just what you were thinking?" he went +on, and something in his voice made Jenny turn pale. "Well, yes, child; +you could not stand it, and I am sending you away for your own good; +you would perish in the attempt. Come, let us part good friends," and +he coolly dismissed her with a very small sum of money. + +The first use that Castanier had promised himself that he would make of +the terrible power bought at the price of his eternal happiness, was +the full and complete indulgence of all his tastes. + +He first put his affairs in order, readily settled his account with M. +de Nucingen, who found a worthy German to succeed him, and then +determined on a carouse worthy of the palmiest days of the Roman +Empire. He plunged into dissipation as recklessly as Belshazzar of old +went to that last feast in Babylon. Like Belshazzar, he saw clearly +through his revels a gleaming hand that traced his doom in letters of +flame, not on the narrow walls of the banqueting chamber, but over the +vast spaces of heaven that the rainbow spans. His feast was not, +indeed, an orgy confined within the limits of a banquet, for he +squandered all the powers of soul and body in exhausting all the +pleasures of earth. The table was in some sort earth itself, the earth +that trembled beneath his feet. He was the last festival of the +reckless spendthrift who has thrown all prudence to the winds. The +devil had given him the key of the storehouse of human pleasures; he +had filled and refilled his hands, and he was fast nearing the bottom. +In a moment he had felt all that that enormous power could accomplish; +in a moment he had exercised it, proved it, wearied of it. What had +hitherto been the sum of human desires became as nothing. So often it +happens that with possession the vast poetry of desire must end, and +the thing possessed is seldom the thing that we dreamed of. + +Beneath Melmoth's omnipotence lurked this tragical anticlimax of so +many a passion, and now the inanity of human nature was revealed to his +successor, to whom infinite power brought Nothingness as a dowry. + +To come to a clear understanding of Castanier's strange position, it +must be borne in mind how suddenly these revolutions of thought and +feeling had been wrought; how quickly they had succeeded each other; +and of these things it is hard to give any idea to those who have never +broken the prison bonds of time, and space, and distance. His relation +to the world without had been entirely changed with the expansion of +his faculties. + +Like Melmoth himself, Castanier could travel in a few moments over the +fertile plains of India, could soar on the wings of demons above +African desert spaces, or skim the surface of the seas. The same +insight that could read the inmost thoughts of others, could apprehend +at a glance the nature of any material object, just as he caught as it +were all flavors at once upon his tongue. He took his pleasure like a +despot; a blow of the ax felled the tree that he might eat its fruits. +The transitions, the alternations that measure joy and pain, and +diversify human happiness, no longer existed for him. He had so +completely glutted his appetites that pleasure must overpass the limits +of pleasure to tickle a palate cloyed with satiety, and suddenly grown +fastidious beyond all measure, so that ordinary pleasures became +distasteful. Conscious that at will he was the master of all the women +that he could desire, knowing that his power was irresistible, he did +not care to exercise it; they were pliant to his unexpressed wishes, to +his most extravagant caprices, until he felt a horrible thirst for +love, and would have love beyond their power to give. + +The world refused him nothing save faith and prayer, the soothing and +consoling love that is not of this world. He was obeyed--it was a +horrible position. + +The torrents of pain, and pleasure, and thought that shook his soul and +his bodily frame would have overwhelmed the strongest human being; but +in him there was a power of vitality proportioned to the power of the +sensations that assailed him. He felt within him a vague immensity of +longing that earth could not satisfy. He spent his days on outspread +wings, longing to traverse the luminous fields of space to other +spheres that he knew afar by intuitive perception, a clear and hopeless +knowledge. His soul dried up within him, for he hungered and thirsted +after things that can neither be drunk nor eaten, but for which he +could not choose but crave. His lips, like Melmoth's, burned with +desire; he panted for the unknown, for he knew all things. + +The mechanism and the scheme of the world was apparent to him, and its +working interested him no longer; he did not long disguise the profound +scorn that makes of a man of extraordinary powers a sphinx who knows +everything and says nothing, and sees all things with an unmoved +countenance. He felt not the slightest wish to communicate his +knowledge to other men. He was rich with all the wealth of the world, +with one effort he could make the circle of the globe, and riches and +power were meaningless for him. He felt the awful melancholy of +omnipotence, a melancholy which Satan and God relieve by the exercise +of infinite power in mysterious ways known to them alone. Castanier had +not, like his Master, the inextinguishable energy of hate and malice; +he felt that he was a devil, but a devil whose time was not yet come, +while Satan is a devil through all eternity, and being damned beyond +redemption, delights to stir up the world, like a dungheap, with his +triple fork and to thwart therein the designs of God. But Castanier, +for his misfortune, had one hope left. + +If in a moment he could move from one pole to the other as a bird +springs restlessly from side to side in its cage, when, like the bird, +he had crossed his prison, he saw the vast immensity of space beyond +it. That vision of the Infinite left him forever unable to see humanity +and its affairs as other men saw them. The insensate fools who long for +the power of the Devil gauge its desirability from a human standpoint; +they do not see that with the Devil's power they will likewise assume +his thoughts, and that they will be doomed to remain as men among +creatures who will no longer understand them. The Nero unknown to +history who dreams of setting Paris on fire for his private +entertainment, like an exhibition of a burning house on the boards of a +theater, does not suspect that if he had that power, Paris would become +for him as little interesting as an ant heap by the roadside to a +hurrying passer-by. The circle of the sciences was for Castanier +something like a logogriph for a man who does not know the key to it. +Kings and Governments were despicable in his eyes. His great debauch +had been in some sort a deplorable farewell to his life as a man. The +earth had grown too narrow for him, for the infernal gifts laid bare +for him the secrets of creation--he saw the cause and foresaw its end. +He was shut out from all that men call "heaven" in all languages under +the sun; he could no longer think of heaven. + +Then he came to understand the look on his predecessor's face and the +drying up of the life within; then he knew all that was meant by the +baffled hope that gleamed in Melmoth's eyes; he, too, knew the thirst +that burned those red lips, and the agony of a continual struggle +between two natures grown to giant size. Even yet he might be an angel, +and he knew himself to be a fiend. His was the fate of a sweet and +gentle creature that a wizard's malice has imprisoned in a misshapen +form, entrapping it by a pact, so that another's will must set it free +from its detested envelope. + +As a deception only increases the ardor with which a man of really +great nature explores the infinite of sentiment in a woman's heart, so +Castanier awoke to find that one idea lay like a weight upon his soul, +an idea which was perhaps the key to loftier spheres. The very fact +that he had bartered away his eternal happiness led him to dwell in +thought upon the future of those who pray and believe. On the morrow of +his debauch, when he entered into the sober possession of his power, +this idea made him feel himself a prisoner; he knew the burden of the +woe that poets, and prophets, and great oracles of faith have set forth +for us in such mighty words; he felt the point of the Flaming Sword +plunged into his side, and hurried in search of Melmoth. What had +become of his predecessor? + +The Englishman was living in a mansion in the Rue Férou, near +Saint-Sulpice--a gloomy, dark, damp, and cold abode. The Rue Férou +itself is one of the most dismal streets in Paris; it has a north +aspect like all the streets that lie at right angles to the left bank +of the Seine, and the houses are in keeping with the site. As Castanier +stood on the threshold he found that the door itself, like the vaulted +roof, was hung with black; rows of lighted tapers shone brilliantly as +though some king were lying in state; and a priest stood on either side +of a catafalque that had been raised there. + +"There is no need to ask why you have come, sir," the old hall porter +said to Castanier; "you are so like our poor dear master that is gone. +But if you are his brother, you have come too late to bid him good-by. +The good gentleman died the night before last." + +"How did he die?" Castanier asked of one of the priests. + +"Set your mind at rest," said an old priest; he partly raised as he +spoke the black pall that covered the catafalque. + +Castanier, looking at him, saw one of those faces that faith has made +sublime; the soul seemed to shine forth from every line of it, bringing +light and warmth for other men, kindled by the unfailing charity +within. This was Sir John Melmoth's confessor. + +"Your brother made an end that men may envy, and that must rejoice the +angels. Do you know what joy there is in heaven over a sinner that +repents? His tears of penitence, excited by grace, flowed without +ceasing; death alone checked them. The Holy Spirit dwelt in him. His +burning words, full of lively faith, were worthy of the Prophet-King. +If, in the course of my life, I have never heard a more dreadful +confession than from the lips of this Irish gentleman, I have likewise +never heard such fervent and passionate prayers. However great the +measures of his sins may have been, his repentance has filled the abyss +to overflowing. The hand of God was visibly stretched out above him, +for he was completely changed, there was such heavenly beauty in his +face. The hard eyes were softened by tears; the resonant voice that +struck terror into those who heard it took the tender and compassionate +tones of those who themselves have passed through deep humiliation. He +so edified those who heard his words that some who had felt drawn to +see the spectacle of a Christian's death fell on their knees as he +spoke of heavenly things, and of the infinite glory of God, and gave +thanks and praise to Him. If he is leaving no worldly wealth to his +family, no family can possess a greater blessing than this that he +surely gained for them, a soul among the blessed, who will watch over +you all and direct you in the path to heaven." + +These words made such a vivid impression upon Castanier that he +instantly hurried from the house to the Church of Saint-Sulpice, +obeying what might be called a decree of fate. Melmoth's repentance had +stupefied him. + +At that time, on certain mornings in the week, a preacher, famed for +his eloquence, was wont to hold conferences, in the course of which he +demonstrated the truths of the Catholic faith for the youth of a +generation proclaimed to be indifferent in matters of belief by another +voice no less eloquent than his own. The conference had been put off to +a later hour on account of Melmoth's funeral, so Castanier arrived just +as the great preacher was epitomizing the proofs of a future existence +of happiness with all the charm of eloquence and force of expression +which have made him famous. The seeds of divine doctrine fell into a +soil prepared for them in the old dragoon, into whom the Devil had +glided. Indeed, if there is a phenomenon well attested by experience, +is it not the spiritual phenomenon commonly called "the faith of the +peasant"? The strength of belief varies inversely with the amount of +use that a man has made of his reasoning faculties. Simple people and +soldiers belong to the unreasoning class. Those who have marched +through life beneath the banner of instinct are far more ready to +receive the light than minds and hearts overwearied with the world's +sophistries. + +Castanier had the southern temperament; he had joined the army as a lad +of sixteen, and had followed the French flag till he was nearly forty +years old. As a common trooper, he had fought day and night, and day +after day, and, as in duty bound, had thought of his horse first, and +of himself afterwards. While he served his military apprenticeship, +therefore, he had but little leisure in which to reflect on the destiny +of man, and when he became an officer he had his men to think of. He +had been swept from battlefield to battlefield, but he had never +thought of what comes after death. A soldier's life does not demand +much thinking. Those who cannot understand the lofty political ends +involved and the interests of nation and nation; who cannot grasp +political schemes as well as plans of campaign and combine the science +of the tactician with that of the administrator, are bound to live in a +state of ignorance; the most boorish peasant in the most backward +district in France is scarcely in a worse case. Such men as these bear +the brunt of war, yield passive obedience to the brain that directs +them, and strike down the men opposed to them as the woodcutter fells +timber in the forest. Violent physical exertion is succeeded by times +of inertia, when they repair the waste. They fight and drink, fight and +eat, fight and sleep, that they may the better deal hard blows; the +powers of the mind are not greatly exercised in this turbulent round of +existence, and the character is as simple as heretofore. + +When the men who have shown such energy on the battlefield return to +ordinary civilization, most of those who have not risen to high rank +seem to have acquired no ideas, and to have no aptitude, no capacity, +for grasping new ideas. To the utter amazement of a younger generation, +those who made our armies so glorious and so terrible are as simple as +children, and as slow-witted as a clerk at his worst, and the captain +of a thundering squadron is scarcely fit to keep a merchant's day-book. +Old soldiers of this stamp, therefore, being innocent of any attempt to +use their reasoning faculties, act upon their strongest impulses. +Castanier's crime was one of those matters that raise so many +questions, that, in order to debate about it, a moralist might call for +its "discussion by clauses," to make use of a parliamentary expression. + +Passion had counseled the crime; the cruelly irresistible power of +feminine witchery had driven him to commit it; no man can say of +himself, "I will never do that," when a siren joins in the combat and +throws her spells over him. + +So the word of life fell upon a conscience newly awakened to the truths +of religion which the French Revolution and a soldier's career had +forced Castanier to neglect. The solemn words, "You will be happy or +miserable for all eternity!" made but the more terrible impression upon +him, because he had exhausted earth and shaken it like a barren tree; +because his desires could effect all things, so that it was enough that +any spot in earth or heaven should be forbidden him, and he forthwith +thought of nothing else. If it were allowable to compare such great +things with social follies, Castanier's position was not unlike that of +a banker who, finding that his all-powerful millions cannot obtain for +him an entrance into the society of the noblesse, must set his heart +upon entering that circle, and all the social privileges that he has +already acquired are as nothing in his eyes from the moment when he +discovers that a single one is lacking. + +Here was a man more powerful than all the kings on earth put together; +a man who, like Satan, could wrestle with God Himself; leaning against +one of the pillars in the Church of Saint-Sulpice, weighed down by the +feelings and thoughts that oppressed him, and absorbed in the thought +of a Future, the same thought that had engulfed Melmoth. + +"He was very happy, was Melmoth!" cried Castanier. "He died in the +certain knowledge that he would go to heaven." + +In a moment the greatest possible change had been wrought in the +cashier's ideas. For several days he had been a devil, now he was +nothing but a man; an image of the fallen Adam, of the sacred tradition +embodied in all cosmogonies. But while he had thus shrunk to manhood, +he retained a germ of greatness, he had been steeped in the Infinite. +The power of hell had revealed the divine power. He thirsted for heaven +as he had never thirsted after the pleasures of earth, that are so soon +exhausted. The enjoyments which the fiend promises are but the +enjoyments of earth on a larger scale, but to the joys of heaven there +is no limit. He believed in God, and the spell that gave him the +treasures of the world was as nothing to him now; the treasures +themselves seemed to him as contemptible as pebbles to an admirer of +diamonds; they were but gewgaws compared with the eternal glories of +the other life. A curse lay, he thought, on all things that came to him +from this source. He sounded dark depths of painful thought as he +listened to the service performed for Melmoth. The _Dies iræ_ filled +him with awe; he felt all the grandeur of that cry of a repentant soul +trembling before the Throne of God. The Holy Spirit, like a devouring +flame, passed through him as fire consumes straw. + +The tears were falling from his eyes when--"Are you a relation of the +dead?" the beadle asked him. + +"I am his heir," Castanier answered. + +"Give something for the expenses of the services!" cried the man. + +"No," said the cashier. (The Devil's money should not go to the +Church.) + +"For the poor!" + +"No." + +"For repairing the Church!" + +"No." + +"The Lady Chapel!" + +"No." + +"For the schools!" + +"No." + +Castanier went, not caring to expose himself to the sour looks that the +irritated functionaries gave him. + +Outside, in the street, he looked up at the Church of Saint-Sulpice. +"What made people build the giant cathedrals I have seen in every +country?" he asked himself. "The feeling shared so widely throughout +all time must surely be based upon something." + +"Something! Do you call God _something_?" cried his conscience. "God! +God! God!..." + +The word was echoed and reëchoed by an inner voice, till it overwhelmed +him; but his feeling of terror subsided as he heard sweet distant +sounds of music that he had caught faintly before. They were singing in +the church, he thought, and his eyes scanned the great doorway. But as +he listened more closely, the sounds poured upon him from all sides; he +looked round the square, but there was no sign of any musicians. The +melody brought visions of a distant heaven and far-off gleams of hope; +but it also quickened the remorse that had set the lost soul in a +ferment. He went on his way through Paris, walking as men walk who are +crushed beneath the burden of their sorrow, seeing everything with +unseeing eyes, loitering like an idler, stopping without cause, +muttering to himself, careless of the traffic, making no effort to +avoid a blow from a plank of timber. + +Imperceptibly repentance brought him under the influence of the divine +grace that soothes while it bruises the heart so terribly. His face +came to wear a look of Melmoth, something great, with a trace of +madness in the greatness. A look of dull and hopeless distress, mingled +with the excited eagerness of hope, and, beneath it all, a gnawing +sense of loathing for all that the world can give. The humblest of +prayers lurked in the eyes that saw with such dreadful clearness. His +power was the measure of his anguish. His body was bowed down by the +fearful storm that shook his soul, as the tall pines bend before the +blast. Like his predecessor, he could not refuse to bear the burden of +life; he was afraid to die while he bore the yoke of hell. The torment +grew intolerable. + +At last, one morning, he bethought himself how that Melmoth (now among +the blessed) had made the proposal of an exchange, and how that he had +accepted it; others, doubtless, would follow his example; for in an age +proclaimed, by the inheritors of the eloquence of the Fathers of the +Church, to be fatally indifferent to religion, it should be easy to +find a man who would accept the conditions of the contract in order to +prove its advantages. + +"There is one place where you can learn what kings will fetch in the +market; where nations are weighed in the balance and systems appraised; +where the value of a government is stated in terms of the five-franc +piece; where ideas and beliefs have their price, and everything is +discounted; where God Himself, in a manner, borrows on the security of +His revenue of souls, for the Pope has a running account there. Is it +not there that I should go to traffic in souls?" + +Castanier went quite joyously on 'Change, thinking that it would be as +easy to buy a soul as to invest money in the Funds. Any ordinary person +would have feared ridicule, but Castanier knew by experience that a +desperate man takes everything seriously. A prisoner lying under +sentence of death would listen to the madman who should tell him that +by pronouncing some gibberish he could escape through the keyhole; for +suffering is credulous, and clings to an idea until it fails, as the +swimmer borne along by the current clings to the branch that snaps in +his hand. + +Toward four o'clock that afternoon Castanier appeared among the little +knots of men who were transacting private business after 'Change. He +was personally known to some of the brokers; and while affecting to be +in search of an acquaintance, he managed to pick up the current gossip +and rumors of failure. + +"Catch me negotiating bills for Claparon & Co., my boy. The bank +collector went round to return their acceptances to them this morning," +said a fat banker in his outspoken way. "If you have any of their +paper, look out." + +Claparon was in the building, in deep consultation with a man well +known for the ruinous rate at which he lent money. Castanier went +forthwith in search of the said Claparon, a merchant who had a +reputation for taking heavy risks that meant wealth or utter ruin. The +money lender walked away as Castanier came up. A gesture betrayed the +speculator's despair. + +"Well, Claparon, the bank wants a hundred thousand francs of you, and +it is four o'clock; the thing is known, and it is too late to arrange +your little failure comfortably," said Castanier. + +"Sir!" + +"Speak lower," the cashier went on. "How if I were to propose a piece +of business that would bring you in as much money as you require?" + +"It would not discharge my liabilities; every business that I ever +heard of wants a little time to simmer in." + +"I know of something that will set you straight in a moment," answered +Castanier; "but first you would have to--" + +"Do what?" + +"Sell your share of Paradise. It is a matter of business like anything +else, isn't it? We all hold shares in the great Speculation of +Eternity." + +"I tell you this," said Claparon angrily, "that I am just the man to +lend you a slap in the face. When a man is in trouble, it is no time to +play silly jokes on him." + +"I am talking seriously," said Castanier, and he drew a bundle of notes +from his pocket. + +"In the first place," said Claparon, "I am not going to sell my soul to +the Devil for a trifle. I want five hundred thousand francs before I +strike--" + +"Who talks of stinting you?" asked Castanier, cutting him short. "You +should have more gold than you could stow in the cellars of the Bank of +France." + +He held out a handful of notes. That decided Claparon. + +"Done," he cried; "but how is the bargain to be made?" + +"Let us go over yonder, no one is standing there," said Castanier, +pointing to a corner of the court. + +Claparon and his tempter exchanged a few words, with their faces turned +to the wall. None of the onlookers guessed the nature of this by-play, +though their curiosity was keenly excited by the strange gestures of +the two contracting parties. When Castanier returned, there was a +sudden outburst of amazed exclamation. As in the Assembly where the +least event immediately attracts attention, all faces were turned to +the two men who had caused the sensation, and a shiver passed through +all beholders at the change that had taken place in them. + +The men who form the moving crowd that fills the Stock Exchange are +soon known to each other by sight. They watch each other like players +round a card table. Some shrewd observers can tell how a man will play +and the condition of his exchequer from a survey of his face; and the +Stock Exchange is simply a vast card table. Everyone, therefore, had +noticed Claparon and Castanier. The latter (like the Irishman before +him[1]) had been muscular and powerful, his eyes were full of light, +his color high. The dignity and power in his face had struck awe into +them all; they wondered how old Castanier had come by it; and now they +beheld Castanier divested of his power, shrunken, wrinkled, aged, and +feeble. He had drawn Claparon out of the crowd with the energy of a +sick man in a fever fit; he had looked like an opium eater during the +brief period of excitement that the drug can give; now, on his return, +he seemed to be in the condition of utter exhaustion in which the +patient dies after the fever departs, or to be suffering from the +horrible prostration that follows on excessive indulgence in the +delights of narcotics. The infernal power that had upheld him through +his debauches had left him, and the body was left unaided and alone to +endure the agony of remorse and the heavy burden of sincere repentance. +Claparon's troubles everyone could guess; but Claparon reappeared, on +the other hand, with sparkling eyes, holding his head high with the +pride of Lucifer. The crisis had passed from the one man to the other. + + [1] Referring to John Melmoth--see note at head of this story.--EDITOR. + +"Now you can drop off with an easy mind, old man," said Claparon to +Castanier. + +"For pity's sake, send for a cab and for a priest; send for the curate +of Saint-Sulpice!" answered the old dragoon, sinking down upon the +curbstone. + +The words "a priest" reached the ears of several people, and produced +uproarious jeering among the stockbrokers, for faith with these +gentlemen means a belief that a scrap of paper called a mortgage +represents an estate, and the List of Fundholders is their Bible. + +"Shall I have time to repent?" said Castanier to himself, in a piteous +voice, that impressed Claparon. + +A cab carried away the dying man; the speculator went to the bank at +once to meet his bills; and the momentary sensation produced upon the +throng of business men by the sudden change on the two faces, vanished +like the furrow cut by a ship's keel in the sea. News of the greatest +importance kept the attention of the world of commerce on the alert; +and when commercial interests are at stake, Moses might appear with his +two luminous horns, and his coming would scarcely receive the honors of +a pun; the gentlemen whose business it is to write the Market Reports +would ignore his existence. + +When Claparon had made his payments, fear seized upon him. There was no +mistake about his power. He went on 'Change again, and offered his +bargain to other men in embarrassed circumstances. The Devil's bond, +"together with the rights, easements, and privileges appertaining +thereunto,"--to use the expression of the notary who succeeded +Claparon, changed hands for the sum of seven hundred thousand francs. +The notary in his turn parted with the agreement with the Devil for +five hundred thousand francs to a building contractor in difficulties, +who likewise was rid of it to an iron merchant in consideration of a +hundred thousand crowns. In fact, by five o'clock people had ceased to +believe in the strange contract, and purchasers were lacking for want +of confidence. + +At half-past five the holder of the bond was a house painter, who was +lounging by the door of the building in the Rue Feydeau, where at that +time stockbrokers temporarily congregated. The house painter, simple +fellow, could not think what was the matter with him. He "felt all +anyhow"; so he told his wife when he went home. + +The Rue Feydeau, as idlers about town are aware, is a place of +pilgrimage for youths who for lack of a mistress bestow their ardent +affection upon the whole sex. On the first floor of the most rigidly +respectable domicile therein dwelt one of those exquisite creatures +whom it has pleased heaven to endow with the rarest and most surpassing +beauty. As it is impossible that they should all be duchesses or queens +(since there are many more pretty women in the world than titles and +thrones for them to adorn), they are content to make a stockbroker or a +banker happy at a fixed price. To this good-natured beauty, Euphrasia +by name, an unbounded ambition had led a notary's clerk to aspire. In +short, the second clerk in the office of Maître Crottat, notary, had +fallen in love with her, as youth at two and twenty can fall in love. +The scrivener would have murdered the Pope and run amuck through the +whole sacred college to procure the miserable sum of a hundred louis to +pay for a shawl which had turned Euphrasia's head, at which price her +waiting woman had promised that Euphrasia should be his. The infatuated +youth walked to and fro under Madame Euphrasia's windows, like the +polar bears in their cage at the Jardin des Plantes, with his right +hand thrust beneath his waistcoat in the region of the heart, which he +was fit to tear from his bosom, but as yet he had only wrenched at the +elastic of his braces. + +"What can one do to raise ten thousand francs?" he asked himself. +"Shall I make off with the money that I must pay on the registration of +that conveyance? Good heavens! my loan would not ruin the purchaser, a +man with seven millions! And then next day I would fling myself at his +feet and say, 'I have taken ten thousand francs belonging to you, sir; +I am twenty-two years of age, and I am in love with Euphrasia--that is +my story. My father is rich, he will pay you back; do not ruin me! Have +not you yourself been twenty-two years old and madly in love?' But +these beggarly landowners have no souls! He would be quite likely to +give me up to the public prosecutor, instead of taking pity upon me. +Good God! if it were only possible to sell your soul to the Devil! But +there is neither a God nor a Devil; it is all nonsense out of nursery +tales and old wives' talk. What shall I do?" + +"If you have a mind to sell your soul to the Devil, sir," said the +house painter, who had overheard something that the clerk let fall, +"you can have the ten thousand francs." + +"And Euphrasia!" cried the clerk, as he struck a bargain with the devil +that inhabited the house painter. + +The pact concluded, the frantic clerk went to find the shawl, and +mounted Madame Euphrasia's staircase; and as (literally) the devil was +in him, he did not come down for twelve days, drowning the thought of +hell and of his privileges in twelve days of love and riot and +forgetfulness, for which he had bartered away all his hopes of a +paradise to come. + +And in this way the secret of the vast power discovered and acquired by +the Irishman, the offspring of Maturin's brain, was lost to mankind; +and the various Orientalists, Mystics, and Archaeologists who take an +interest in these matters were unable to hand down to posterity the +proper method of invoking the Devil, for the following sufficient +reasons:-- + +On the thirteenth day after these frenzied nuptials the wretched clerk +lay on a pallet bed in a garret in his master's house in the Rue +Saint-Honoré. Shame, the stupid goddess who dares not behold herself, +had taken possession of the young man. He had fallen ill; he would +nurse himself; misjudged the quantity of a remedy devised by the skill +of a practitioner well known on the walls of Paris, and succumbed to +the effects of an overdose of mercury. His corpse was as black as a +mole's back. A devil had left unmistakable traces of its passage there; +could it have been Ashtaroth? + + * * * * * + +"The estimable youth to whom you refer has been carried away to the +planet Mercury," said the head clerk to a German demonologist who came +to investigate the matter at first hand. + +"I am quite prepared to believe it," answered the Teuton. + +"Oh!" + +"Yes, sir," returned the other. "The opinion you advance coincides +with the very words of Jacob Boehme. In the forty-eighth proposition +of _The Threefold Life of Man_ he says that 'if God hath brought all +things to pass with a LET THERE BE, the FIAT is the secret matrix which +comprehends and apprehends the nature which is formed by the spirit +born of Mercury and of God.'" + +"What do you say, sir?" + +The German delivered his quotation afresh. + +"We do not know it," said the clerks. + +"_Fiat?..._" said a clerk. "_Fiat lux!_" + +"You can verify the citation for yourselves," said the German. "You +will find the passage in the _Treatise of the Threefold Life of Man_, +page 75; the edition was published by M. Migneret in 1809. It was +translated into French by a philosopher who had a great admiration for +the famous shoemaker." + +"Oh! he was a shoemaker, was he?" said the head clerk. + +"In Prussia," said the German. + +"Did he work for the King of Prussia?" inquired a Boeotian of a second +clerk. + +"He must have vamped up his prose," said a third. + +"That man is colossal!" cried the fourth, pointing to the Teuton. + +That gentleman, though a demonologist of the first rank, did not know +the amount of devilry to be found in a notary's clerk. He went away +without the least idea that they were making game of him, and fully +under the impression that the young fellows regarded Boehme as a +colossal genius. + +"Education is making strides in France," said he to himself. + + + +_The Conscript_ + + [The inner self] ... by a phenomenon of vision or of locomotion + has been known at times to abolish Space in its two modes of Time + and Distance--the one intellectual, the other physical. + + --HISTORY OF LOUIS LAMBERT. + + +On a November evening in the year 1793 the principal citizens of +Carentan were assembled in Mme. de Dey's drawing-room. Mme. de Dey +held this _reception_ every night of the week, but an unwonted interest +attached to this evening's gathering, owing to certain circumstances +which would have passed altogether unnoticed in a great city, though in +a small country town they excited the greatest curiosity. For two days +before Mme. de Dey had not been at home to her visitors, and on the +previous evening her door had been shut, on the ground of indisposition. +Two such events at any ordinary time would have produced in Carentan +the same sensation that Paris knows on nights when there is no +performance at the theaters--existence is in some sort incomplete; but +in those times when the least indiscretion on the part of an aristocrat +might be a matter of life and death, this conduct of Mme. de Dey's was +likely to bring about the most disastrous consequences for her. Her +position in Carentan ought to be made clear, if the reader is to +appreciate the expression of keen curiosity and cunning fanaticism on +the countenances of these Norman citizens, and, what is of most +importance, the part that the lady played among them. Many a one during +the days of the Revolution has doubtless passed through a crisis as +difficult as hers at that moment, and the sympathies of more than one +reader will fill in all the coloring of the picture. + +Mme. de Dey was the widow of a Lieutenant-General, a Knight of the +Orders of Saint Michael and of the Holy Ghost. She had left the Court +when the Emigration began, and taken refuge in the neighborhood of +Carentan, where she had large estates, hoping that the influence of the +Reign of Terror would be but little felt there. Her calculations, based +on a thorough knowledge of the district, proved correct. The Revolution +made little disturbance in Lower Normandy. Formerly, when Mme. de Dey +had spent any time in the country, her circle of acquaintance had been +confined to the noble families of the district; but now, from politic +motives, she opened her house to the principal citizens and to the +Revolutionary authorities of the town, endeavoring to touch and gratify +their social pride without arousing either hatred or jealousy. Gracious +and kindly, possessed of the indescribable charm that wins good will +without loss of dignity or effort to pay court to any, she had +succeeded in gaining universal esteem; the discreet warnings of +exquisite tact enabled her to steer a difficult course among the +exacting claims of this mixed society, without wounding the overweening +self-love of parvenus on the one hand, or the susceptibilities of her +old friends on the other. + +She was about thirty-eight years of age, and still preserved, not the +fresh, high-colored beauty of the Basse-Normandes, but a fragile +loveliness of what may be called an aristocratic type. Her figure was +lissome and slender, her features delicate and clearly cut; the pale +face seemed to light up and live when she spoke; but there was a quiet +and devout look in the great dark eyes, for all their graciousness of +expression--a look that seemed to say that the springs of her life lay +without her own existence. + +In her early girlhood she had been married to an elderly and jealous +soldier. Her false position in the midst of a gay Court had doubtless +done something to bring a veil of sadness over a face that must once +have been bright with the charms of quick-pulsed life and love. She had +been compelled to set constant restraint upon her frank impulses and +emotions at an age when a woman feels rather than thinks, and the +depths of passion in her heart had never been stirred. In this lay the +secret of her greatest charm, a youthfulness of the inmost soul, +betrayed at times by her face, and a certain tinge of innocent +wistfulness in her ideas. She was reserved in her demeanor, but in her +bearing and in the tones of her voice there was still something that +told of girlish longings directed toward a vague future. Before very +long the least susceptible fell in love with her, and yet stood +somewhat in awe of her dignity and high-bred manner. Her great soul, +strengthened by the cruel ordeals through which she had passed, seemed +to set her too far above the ordinary level, and these men weighed +themselves, and instinctively felt that they were found wanting. Such a +nature demanded an exalted passion. + +Moreover, Mme. de Dey's affections were concentrated in one sentiment--a +mother's love for her son. All the happiness and joy that she had not +known as a wife, she had found later in her boundless love for him. The +coquetry of a mistress, the jealousy of a wife mingled with the pure +and deep affection of a mother. She was miserable when they were apart, +and nervous about him while he was away; she could never see enough of +him, and lived through and for him alone. Some idea of the strength of +this tie may be conveyed to the masculine understanding by adding that +this was not only Mme. de Dey's only son, but all she had of kith or +kin in the world, the one human being on earth bound to her by all the +fears and hopes and joys of her life. + +The late Comte de Dey was the last of his race, and she, his wife, was +the sole heiress and descendant of her house. So worldly ambitions and +family considerations, as well as the noblest cravings of the soul, +combined to heighten in the Countess a sentiment that is strong in +every woman's heart. The child was all the dearer, because only with +infinite care had she succeeded in rearing him to man's estate; medical +science had predicted his death a score of times, but she had held fast +to her presentiments and her hopes, and had known the inexpressible joy +of watching him pass safely through the perils of infancy, of seeing +his constitution strengthen in spite of the decrees of the Faculty. + +Thanks to her constant care, the boy had grown up and developed so +favorably, that at twenty years of age he was regarded as one of the +most accomplished gentlemen at the Court of Versailles. One final +happiness that does not always crown a mother's efforts was hers--her +son worshiped her; and between these two there was the deep sympathy of +kindred souls. If they had not been bound to each other already by a +natural and sacred tie, they would instinctively have felt for each +other a friendship that is rarely met with between two men. + +At the age of eighteen, the young Count had received an appointment as +sub-lieutenant in a regiment of dragoons, and had made it a point of +honor to follow the emigrant Princes into exile. + +Then Mme. de Dey faced the dangers of her cruel position. She was rich, +noble, and the mother of an Emigrant. With the one desire to look after +her son's great fortune, she had denied herself the happiness of being +with him; and when she read the rigorous laws in virtue of which the +Republic was daily confiscating the property of Emigrants at Carentan, +she congratulated herself on the courageous course that she had taken. +Was she not keeping watch over the wealth of her son at the risk of her +life? Later, when news came of the horrible executions ordered by the +Convention, she slept, happy in the knowledge that her own treasure was +in safety, out of reach of peril, far from the scaffolds of the +Revolution. She loved to think that she had followed the best course, +that she had saved her darling and her darling's fortunes; and to this +secret thought she made such concessions as the misfortunes of the +times demanded, without compromising her dignity or her aristocratic +tenets, and enveloped her sorrows in reserve and mystery. She had +foreseen the difficulties that would beset her at Carentan. Did she not +tempt the scaffold by the very fact of going thither to take a +prominent place? Yet, sustained by a mother's courage, she succeeded in +winning the affection of the poor, ministering without distinction to +everyone in trouble; and made herself necessary to the well-to-do, by +providing amusements for them. + +The procureur of the commune might be seen at her house, the mayor, the +president of the "district," and the public prosecutor, and even the +judges of the Revolutionary tribunals went there. The four first-named +gentlemen were none of them married, and each paid court to her, in the +hope that Mme. de Dey would take him for her husband, either from fear +of making an enemy or from a desire to find a protector. + +The public prosecutor, once an attorney at Caen, and the Countess's man +of business, did what he could to inspire love by a system of devotion +and generosity, a dangerous game of cunning! He was the most formidable +of all her suitors. He alone knew the amount of the large fortune of +his sometime client, and his fervor was inevitably increased by the +cupidity of greed, and by the consciousness that he wielded an enormous +power, the power of life and death in the district. He was still a +young man, and, owing to the generosity of his behavior, Mme. de Dey +was unable as yet to estimate him truly. But, in despite of the danger +of matching herself against Norman cunning, she used all the craft and +inventiveness that Nature has bestowed on women to play off the rival +suitors one against another. She hoped, by gaining time, to emerge safe +and sound from her difficulties at last; for at that time Royalists in +the provinces flattered themselves with a hope, daily renewed, that the +morrow would see the end of the Revolution--a conviction that proved +fatal to many of them. + +In spite of difficulties, the Countess had maintained her independence +with considerable skill until the day when, by an inexplicable want of +prudence, she took occasion to close her salon. So deep and sincere was +the interest that she inspired, that those who usually filled her +drawing-room felt a lively anxiety when the news was spread; then, with +the frank curiosity characteristic of provincial manners, they went to +inquire into the misfortune, grief, or illness that had befallen Mme. +de Dey. + +To all these questions, Brigitte, the housekeeper, answered with the +same formula: her mistress was keeping her room, and would see no one, +not even her own servants. The almost claustral lives of dwellers in +small towns fosters a habit of analysis and conjectural explanation of +the business of everybody else; so strong is it, that when everyone had +exclaimed over poor Mme. de Dey (without knowing whether the lady was +overcome by joy or sorrow), each one began to inquire into the causes +of her sudden seclusion. + +"If she were ill, she would have sent for the doctor," said gossip +number one; "now the doctor has been playing chess in my house all day. +He said to me, laughing, that in these days there is only one disease, +and that, unluckily, it is incurable." + +The joke was hazarded discreetly. Women and men, elderly folk and young +girls, forthwith betook themselves to the vast fields of conjecture. +Everyone imagined that there was some secret in it, and every head was +busy with the secret. Next day the suspicions became malignant. +Everyone lives in public in a small town, and the women-kind were the +first to find out that Brigitte had laid in an extra stock of +provisions. The thing could not be disputed. Brigitte had been seen in +the market-place betimes that morning, and, wonderful to relate, she +had bought the one hare to be had. The whole town knew that Mme. de Dey +did not care for game. The hare became a starting point for endless +conjectures. + +Elderly gentlemen, taking their constitutional, noticed a sort of +suppressed bustle in the Countess's house; the symptoms were the more +apparent because the servants were at evident pains to conceal them. +The man-servant was beating a carpet in the garden. Only yesterday no +one would have remarked the fact, but to-day everybody began to build +romances upon that harmless piece of household stuff. Everyone had a +version. + +On the following day, that on which Mme. de Dey gave out that she was +not well, the magnates of Carentan went to spend the evening at the +mayor's brother's house. He was a retired merchant, a married man, a +strictly honorable soul; everyone respected him, and the Countess held +him in high regard. There all the rich widows' suitors were fain to +invent more or less probable fictions, each one thinking the while how +to turn to his own advantage the secret that compelled her to +compromise herself in such a manner. + +The public prosecutor spun out a whole drama to bring Mme. de Dey's son +to her house of a night. The mayor had a belief in a priest who had +refused the oath, a refugee from La Vendée; but this left him not a +little embarrassed how to account for the purchase of a hare on a +Friday. The president of the district had strong leanings toward a +Chouan chief, or a Vendean leader hotly pursued. Others voted for a +noble escaped from the prisons of Paris. In short, one and all +suspected that the Countess had been guilty of some piece of generosity +that the law of those days defined as a crime, an offense that was like +to bring her to the scaffold. The public prosecutor, moreover, said, in +a low voice, that they must hush the matter up, and try to save the +unfortunate lady from the abyss toward which she was hastening. + +"If you spread reports about," he added, "I shall be obliged to take +cognizance of the matter, and to search the house, and then!..." + +He said no more, but everyone understood what was left unsaid. + +The Countess's real friends were so much alarmed for her, that on the +morning of the third day the _Procureur Syndic_ of the commune made his +wife write a few lines to persuade Mme. de Dey to hold her reception as +usual that evening. The old merchant took a bolder step. He called that +morning upon the lady. Strong in the thought of the service he meant to +do her, he insisted that he must see Mme. de Dey, and was amazed beyond +expression to find her out in the garden, busy gathering the last +autumn flowers in her borders to fill the vases. + +"She has given refuge to her lover, no doubt," thought the old man, +struck with pity for the charming woman before him. + +The Countess's face wore a strange look, that confirmed his suspicions. +Deeply moved by the devotion so natural to women, but that always +touches us, because all men are flattered by the sacrifices that any +woman makes for any one of them, the merchant told the Countess of the +gossip that was circulating in the town, and showed her the danger that +she was running. He wound up at last with saying that "if there are +some of our public functionaries who are sufficiently ready to pardon a +piece of heroism on your part so long as it is a priest that you wish +to save, no one will show you any mercy if it is discovered that you +are sacrificing yourself to the dictates of your heart." + +At these words Mme. de Dey gazed at her visitor with a wild excitement +in her manner that made him tremble, old though he was. + +"Come in," she said, taking him by the hand to bring him to her room, +and as soon as she had assured herself that they were alone, she drew a +soiled, torn letter from her bodice.--"Read it!" she cried, with a +violent effort to pronounce the words. + +She dropped as if exhausted into her armchair. While the old merchant +looked for his spectacles and wiped them, she raised her eyes, and for +the first time looked at him with curiosity; then, in an uncertain +voice, "I trust in you," she said softly. + +"Why did I come but to share in your crime?" the old merchant said +simply. + +She trembled. For the first time since she had come to the little town +her soul found sympathy in another soul. A sudden light dawned meantime +on the old merchant; he understood the Countess's joy and her +prostration. + +Her son had taken part in the Granville expedition; he wrote to his +mother from his prison, and the letter brought her a sad, sweet hope. +Feeling no doubts as to his means of escape, he wrote that within three +days he was sure to reach her, disguised. The same letter that brought +these weighty tidings was full of heartrending farewells in case the +writer should not be in Carentan by the evening of the third day, and +he implored his mother to send a considerable sum of money by the +bearer, who had gone through dangers innumerable to deliver it. The +paper shook in the old man's hands. + +"And to-day is the third day!" cried Mme. de Dey. She sprang to her +feet, took back the letter, and walked up and down. + +"You have set to work imprudently," the merchant remarked, addressing +her. "Why did you buy provisions?" + +"Why, he may come in dying of hunger, worn out with fatigue, and--" She +broke off. + +"I am sure of my brother," the old merchant went on; "I will engage him +in your interests." + +The merchant in this crisis recovered his old business shrewdness, and +the advice that he gave Mme. de Dey was full of prudence and wisdom. +After the two had agreed together as to what they were to do and say, +the old merchant went on various ingenious pretexts to pay visits to +the principal houses of Carentan, announcing wherever he went that he +had just been to see Mme. de Dey, and that, in spite of her +indisposition, she would receive that evening. Matching his shrewdness +against Norman wits in the cross-examination he underwent in every +family as to the Countess's complaint, he succeeded in putting almost +everyone who took an interest in the mysterious affair upon the wrong +scent. + +His very first call worked wonders. He told, in the hearing of a gouty +old lady, how that Mme. de Dey had all but died of an attack of gout in +the stomach; how that the illustrious Tronchin had recommended her in +such a case to put the skin from a live hare on her chest, to stop in +bed, and keep perfectly still. The Countess, he said, had lain in +danger of her life for the past two days; but after carefully following +out Tronchin's singular prescription, she was now sufficiently +recovered to receive visitors that evening. + +This tale had an immense success in Carentan. The local doctor, a +Royalist _in petto_, added to its effect by gravely discussing the +specific. Suspicion, nevertheless, had taken too deep root in a few +perverse or philosophical minds to be entirely dissipated; so it fell +out that those who had the right of entry into Mme. de Dey's +drawing-room hurried thither at an early hour, some to watch her face, +some out of friendship, but the more part attracted by the fame of the +marvelous cure. + +They found the Countess seated in a corner of the great chimney-piece +in her room, which was almost as modestly furnished as similar +apartments in Carentan; for she had given up the enjoyment of luxuries +to which she had formerly been accustomed, for fear of offending the +narrow prejudices of her guests, and she had made no changes in her +house. The floor was not even polished. She had left the old somber +hangings on the walls, had kept the old-fashioned country furniture, +burned tallow candles, had fallen in with the ways of the place and +adopted provincial life without flinching before its cast-iron +narrowness, its most disagreeable hardships; but knowing that her +guests would forgive her for any prodigality that conduced to their +comfort, she left nothing undone where their personal enjoyment was +concerned; her dinners, for instance, were excellent. She even went so +far as to affect avarice to recommend herself to these sordid natures; +and had the ingenuity to make it appear that certain concessions to +luxury had been made at the instance of others, to whom she had +graciously yielded. + +Toward seven o'clock that evening, therefore, the nearest approach to +polite society that Carentan could boast was assembled in Mme. de Dey's +drawing-room, in a wide circle, about the fire. The old merchant's +sympathetic glances sustained the mistress of the house through this +ordeal; with wonderful strength of mind, she underwent the curious +scrutiny of her guests, and bore with their trivial prosings. Every +time there was a knock at the door, at every sound of footsteps in the +street, she hid her agitation by raising questions of absorbing +interest to the countryside. She led the conversation on to the burning +topic of the quality of various ciders, and was so well seconded by her +friend who shared her secret, that her guests almost forgot to watch +her, and her face wore its wonted look; her self-possession was +unshaken. The public prosecutor and one of the judges of the +Revolutionary Tribunal kept silence, however; noting the slightest +change that flickered over her features, listening through the noisy +talk to every sound in the house. Several times they put awkward +questions, which the Countess answered with wonderful presence of mind. +So brave is a mother's heart! + +Mme. de Dey had drawn her visitors into little groups, had made parties +of whist, boston, or reversis, and sat talking with some of the young +people; she seemed to be living completely in the present moment, and +played her part like a consummate actress. She elicited a suggestion of +loto, and saying that no one else knew where to find the game, she left +the room. + +"My good Brigitte, I cannot breathe down there!" she cried, brushing +away the tears that sprang to her eyes that glittered with fever, +sorrow, and impatience.--She had gone up to her son's room, and was +looking round it. "He does not come," she said. "Here I can breathe and +live. A few minutes more, and he will be here, for he is alive, I am +sure that he is alive! my heart tells me so. Do you hear nothing, +Brigitte? Oh! I would give the rest of my life to know whether he is +still in prison or tramping across the country. I would rather not +think." + +Once more she looked to see that everything was in order. A bright fire +blazed on the hearth, the shutters were carefully closed, the furniture +shone with cleanliness, the bed had been made after a fashion that +showed that Brigitte and the Countess had given their minds to every +trifling detail. It was impossible not to read her hopes in the dainty +and thoughtful preparations about the room; love and a mother's +tenderest caresses seemed to pervade the air in the scent of flowers. +None but a mother could have foreseen the requirements of a soldier and +arranged so completely for their satisfaction. A dainty meal, the best +of wine, clean linen, slippers--no necessary, no comfort, was lacking +for the weary traveler, and all the delights of home heaped upon him +should reveal his mother's love. + +"Oh, Brigitte!..." cried the Countess, with a heart-rending inflection +in her voice. She drew a chair to the table as if to strengthen her +illusions and realize her longings. + +"Ah! madame, he is coming. He is not far off.... I haven't a doubt that +he is living and on his way," Brigitte answered. "I put a key in the +Bible and held it on my fingers while Cottin read the Gospel of St. +John, and the key did not turn, madame." + +"Is that a certain sign?" the Countess asked. + +"Why, yes, madame! everybody knows that. He is still alive; I would +stake my salvation on it; God cannot be mistaken." + +"If only I could see him here in the house, in spite of the danger." + +"Poor Monsieur Auguste!" cried Brigitte; "I expect he is tramping along +the lanes!" + +"And that is eight o'clock striking now!" cried the Countess in terror. + +She was afraid that she had been too long in the room where she felt +sure that her son was alive; all those preparations made for him meant +that he was alive. She went down, but she lingered a moment in the +peristyle for any sound that might waken the sleeping echoes of the +town. She smiled at Brigitte's husband, who was standing there on +guard; the man's eyes looked stupid with the strain of listening to the +faint sounds of the night. She stared into the darkness, seeing her son +in every shadow everywhere; but it was only for a moment. Then she went +back to the drawing-room with an assumption of high spirits, and began +to play at loto with the little girls. But from time to time she +complained of feeling unwell, and went to sit in her great chair by the +fireside. So things went in Mme. de Dey's house and in the minds of +those beneath her roof. + +Meanwhile, on the road from Paris to Cherbourg, a young man, dressed in +the inevitable brown _carmagnole_ of those days, was plodding his way +toward Carentan. When the first levies were made, there was little or +no discipline kept up. The exigencies of the moment scarcely admitted +of soldiers being equipped at once, and it was no uncommon thing to see +the roads thronged with conscripts in their ordinary clothes. The young +fellows went ahead of their company to the next halting place, or +lagged behind it; it depended upon their fitness to bear the fatigues +of a long march. This particular wayfarer was some considerable way in +advance of a company of conscripts on the way to Cherbourg, whom the +mayor was expecting to arrive every hour, for it was his duty to +distribute their billets. The young man's footsteps were still firm as +he trudged along, and his bearing seemed to indicate that he was no +stranger to the rough life of a soldier. The moon shone on the pasture +land about Carentan, but he had noticed great masses of white cloud +that were about to scatter showers of snow over the country, and +doubtless the fear of being overtaken by a storm had quickened his pace +in spite of his weariness. + +The wallet on his back was almost empty, and he carried a stick in his +hand, cut from one of the high, thick box hedges that surround most of +the farms in Lower Normandy. As the solitary wayfarer came into +Carentan, the gleaming moonlit outlines of its towers stood out for a +moment with ghostly effect against the sky. He met no one in the silent +streets that rang with the echoes of his own footsteps, and was obliged +to ask the way to the mayor's house of a weaver who was working late. +The magistrate was not far to seek, and in a few minutes the conscript +was sitting on a stone bench in the mayor's porch waiting for his +billet. He was sent for, however, and confronted with that functionary, +who scrutinized him closely. The foot soldier was a good-looking young +man, who appeared to be of gentle birth. There was something +aristocratic in his bearing, and signs in his face of intelligence +developed by a good education. + +"What is your name?" asked the mayor, eying him shrewdly. + +"Julien Jussieu," answered the conscript. + +"From--?" queried the official, and an incredulous smile stole over his +features. + +"From Paris." + +"Your comrades must be a good way behind?" remarked the Norman in +sarcastic tones. + +"I am three leagues ahead of the battalion." + +"Some sentiment attracts you to Carentan, of course, +citizen-conscript," said the mayor astutely. "All right, all right!" he +added, with a wave of the hand, seeing that the young man was about to +speak. "We know where to send you. There, off with you, _Citizen +Jussieu_," and he handed over the billet. + +There was a tinge of irony in the stress the magistrate laid on the two +last words while he held out a billet on Mme. de Dey. The conscript +read the direction curiously. + +"He knows quite well that he has not far to go, and when he gets +outside he will very soon cross the marketplace," said the mayor to +himself, as the other went out. "He is uncommonly bold! God guide +him!... He has an answer ready for everything. Yes, but if somebody +else had asked to see his papers it would have been all up with him!" + +The clocks in Carentan struck half-past nine as he spoke. Lanterns were +being lit in Mme. de Dey's antechamber, servants were helping their +masters and mistresses into sabots, greatcoats, and calashes. The card +players settled their accounts, and everybody went out together, after +the fashion of all little country towns. + +"It looks as if the prosecutor meant to stop," said a lady, who noticed +that that important personage was not in the group in the market-place, +where they all took leave of one another before going their separate +ways home. And, as a matter of fact, that redoubtable functionary was +alone with the Countess, who waited trembling till he should go. There +was something appalling in their long silence. + +"Citoyenne," said he at last, "I am here to see that the laws of the +Republic are carried out--" + +Mme. de Dey shuddered. + +"Have you nothing to tell me?" + +"Nothing!" she answered, in amazement. + +"Ah! madame," cried the prosecutor, sitting down beside her and +changing his tone. "At this moment, for lack of a word, one of us--you +or I--may carry our heads to the scaffold. I have watched your +character, your soul, your manner, too closely to share the error into +which you have managed to lead your visitors to-night. You are +expecting your son, I could not doubt it." + +The Countess made an involuntary sign of denial, but her face had grown +white and drawn with the struggle to maintain the composure that she +did not feel, and no tremor was lost on the merciless prosecutor. + +"Very well," the Revolutionary official went on, "receive him; but do +not let him stay under your roof after seven o'clock to-morrow morning; +for to-morrow, as soon as it is light, I shall come with a denunciation +that I will have made out, and--" + +She looked at him, and the dull misery in her eyes would have softened +a tiger. + +"I will make it clear that the denunciation was false by making a +thorough search," he went on in a gentle voice; "my report shall be +such that you will be safe from any subsequent suspicion. I shall make +mention of your patriotic gifts, your civism, and _all_ of us will be +safe." + +Mme. de Dey, fearful of a trap, sat motionless, her face afire, her +tongue frozen. A knock at the door rang through the house. + +"Oh!..." cried the terrified mother, falling upon her knees; "save him! +save him!" + +"Yes, let us save him!" returned the public prosecutor, and his eyes +grew bright as he looked at her, "if it costs _us_ our lives!" + +"Lost!" she wailed. The prosecutor raised her politely. + +"Madame," said he with a flourish of eloquence, "to your own free will +alone would I owe--" + +"Madame, he is--" cried Brigitte, thinking that her mistress was alone. +At the sight of the public prosecutor, the old servant's joy-flushed +countenance became haggard and impassive. + +"Who is it, Brigitte?" the prosecutor asked kindly, as if he too were +in the secret of the household. + +"A conscript that the mayor has sent here for a night's lodging," the +woman replied, holding out the billet. + +"So it is," said the prosecutor, when he had read the slip of paper. "A +battalion is coming here to-night." + +And he went. + +The Countess's need to believe in the faith of her sometime attorney +was so great, that she dared not entertain any suspicion of him. She +fled upstairs; she felt scarcely strength enough to stand; she opened +the door, and sprang, half dead with fear, into her son's arms. + +"Oh! my child! my child!" she sobbed, covering him with almost frenzied +kisses. + +"Madame!..." said a stranger's voice. + +"Oh! it is not he!" she cried, shrinking away in terror, and she stood +face to face with the conscript, gazing at him with haggard eyes. + +"_O saint bon Dieu!_ how like he is!" cried Brigitte. + +There was silence for a moment; even the stranger trembled at the sight +of Mme. de Dey's face. + +"Ah! monsieur," she said, leaning on the arm of Brigitte's husband, +feeling for the first time the full extent of a sorrow that had all but +killed her at its first threatening; "ah! monsieur, I cannot stay to +see you any longer ... permit my servants to supply my place, and to +see that you have all that you want." + +She went down to her own room, Brigitte and the old serving-man half +carrying her between them. The housekeeper set her mistress in a chair, +and broke out: + +"What, madame! is that man to sleep in Monsieur Auguste's bed, and wear +Monsieur Auguste's slippers, and eat the pasty that I made for Monsieur +Auguste? Why, if they were to guillotine me for it, I--" + +"Brigitte!" cried Mme. de Dey. + +Brigitte said no more. + +"Hold your tongue, chatterbox," said her husband, in a low voice; "do +you want to kill madame?" + +A sound came from the conscript's room as he drew his chair to the +table. + +"I shall not stay here," cried Mme. de Dey; "I shall go into the +conservatory; I shall hear better there if anyone passes in the night." + +She still wavered between the fear that she had lost her son and the +hope of seeing him once more. That night was hideously silent. Once, +for the Countess, there was an awful interval, when the battalion of +conscripts entered the town, and the men went by, one by one, to their +lodgings. Every footfall, every sound in the street, raised hopes to be +disappointed; but it was not for long, the dreadful quiet succeeded +again. Toward morning the Countess was forced to return to her room. +Brigitte, ever keeping watch over her mistress's movements, did not see +her come out again; and when she went, she found the Countess lying +there dead. + +"I expect she heard that conscript," cried Brigitte, "walking about +Monsieur Auguste's room, whistling that accursed _Marseillaise_ of +theirs while he dressed, as if he had been in a stable! That must have +killed her." + +But it was a deeper and a more solemn emotion, and doubtless some +dreadful vision, that had caused Mme. de Dey's death; for at the very +hour when she died at Carentan, her son was shot in le Morbihan. + + * * * * * + +This tragical story may be added to all the instances on record of the +workings of sympathies uncontrolled by the laws of time and space. +These observations, collected with scientific curiosity by a few +isolated individuals, will one day serve as documents on which to base +the foundations of a new science which hitherto has lacked its man of +genius. + + + + +_Introduction to Zadig the Babylonian_ + + _A work (says the author) which performs more than it promises._ + + +Voltaire never heard of a "detective story"; and yet he wrote the first +in modern literature, so clever as to be a model for all the others +that followed. + +He describes his hero Zadig thus: "His chief talent consisted in +discovering the truth,"--in making swift, yet marvelous deductions, +worthy of Sherlock Holmes or any other of the ingenious modern +"thinking machines." + +But no one would be more surprised than Voltaire to behold the part +that Zadig now "performs." The amusing Babylonian, now regarded as the +aristocratic ancestor of modern story-detectives, was created as a +chief mocker in a satire on eighteenth-century manners, morals, and +metaphysics. + +Voltaire breathed his dazzling brilliance into "Zadig" as he did into a +hundred other characters--for a political purpose. Their veiled and +bitter satire was to make Europe think--to sting reason into action--to +ridicule out of existence a humbugging System of special privileges. It +did, _via_ the French Revolution and the resulting upheavals. His prose +romances are the most perfect of Voltaire's manifold expressions to +this end, which mark him the most powerful literary man of the century. + +But the arch-wit of his age outdid his brilliant self in "Zadig." So +surpassingly sharp and quick was this finished sleuth that his methods +far outlived his satirical mission. His razor-mind was reincarnated a +century later as the fascinator of nations--M. Dupin. And from Poe's +wizard up to Sherlock Holmes, no one of the thousand "detectives," +drawn in a myriad scenes that thrill the world of readers, but owes his +outlines, at least, to "Zadig." + +"Don't use your reason--act like your friends--respect conventionalities +--otherwise the world will absolutely refuse to let you be happy." This +sums up the theory of life that Zadig satires. His comical troubles +proceed entirely from his use of independent reason as opposed to the +customs of his times. + +The satire fitted ancient Babylonia--it fitted eighteenth-century +France--and perhaps the reader of these volumes can find some points of +contact with his own surroundings. + +It is still piquant, however, to remember Zadig's original _raison +d'être_. He happened to be cast in the part of what we now know as "a +detective," merely because Voltaire had been reading stories in the +"Arabian Nights" whose heroes get out of scrapes by marvelous +deductions from simple signs. (See Vol. VI.) + +Voltaire must have grinned at the delicious human interest, the subtle +irony to pierce complacent humbugs, that lurked behind these Oriental +situations. He made the most of his chance for a quaint parable, +applicable to the courts, the church and science of Europe. As the +story runs on, midst many and sudden adventures, the Babylonian reads +causes from events in guileless fashion, enthusiastic as Sherlock +Holmes, and no less efficient--and all the while, behind this innocent +mask, Voltaire is insinuating a comparison between the practical +results of Zadig's common sense and the futile mental cobwebs spun by +the alleged thought of the time. + +Especially did "Zadig" caricature orthodox science, and the metaphysicians, +whose solemn searches after final causes, after the reality behind the +appearance of things, mostly wandered into hopeless tangles, and thus +formed a great weapon of political oppression, by postponing the age +of reason and independent thought. Zadig "did not employ himself in +calculating how many inches of water flow in a second of time under the +arches of a bridge, or whether there fell a cube line of rain in the +month of the Mouse more than in the month of the Sheep. He never +dreamed of making silk of cobwebs, or porcelain of broken bottles; but +he chiefly studied the properties of plants and animals; and soon +acquired a sagacity that made him _discover a thousand differences +where other men see nothing but uniformity_." + + + + +FRANÇOIS MARIE AROUET DE VOLTAIRE + + +_Zadig the Babylonian_ + +THE BLIND OF ONE EYE + + +There lived at Babylon, in the reign of King Moabdar, a young man named +Zadig, of a good natural disposition, strengthened and improved by +education. Though rich and young, he had learned to moderate his +passions; he had nothing stiff or affected in his behavior, he did not +pretend to examine every action by the strict rules of reason, but was +always ready to make proper allowances for the weakness of mankind. + +It was matter of surprise that, notwithstanding his sprightly wit, he +never exposed by his raillery those vague, incoherent, and noisy +discourses, those rash censures, ignorant decisions, coarse jests, and +all that empty jingle of words which at Babylon went by the name of +conversation. He had learned, in the first book of Zoroaster, that self +love is a football swelled with wind, from which, when pierced, the +most terrible tempests issue forth. + +Above all, Zadig never boasted of his conquests among the women, nor +affected to entertain a contemptible opinion of the fair sex. He was +generous, and was never afraid of obliging the ungrateful; remembering +the grand precept of Zoroaster, "When thou eatest, give to the dogs, +should they even bite thee." He was as wise as it is possible for man +to be, for he sought to live with the wise. + +Instructed in the sciences of the ancient Chaldeans, he understood the +principles of natural philosophy, such as they were then supposed to +be; and knew as much of metaphysics as hath ever been known in any age, +that is, little or nothing at all. He was firmly persuaded, +notwithstanding the new philosophy of the times, that the year +consisted of three hundred and sixty-five days and six hours, and that +the sun was in the center of the world. But when the principal magi +told him, with a haughty and contemptuous air, that his sentiments were +of a dangerous tendency, and that it was to be an enemy to the state to +believe that the sun revolved round its own axis, and that the year had +twelve months, he held his tongue with great modesty and meekness. + +Possessed as he was of great riches, and consequently of many friends, +blessed with a good constitution, a handsome figure, a mind just and +moderate, and a heart noble and sincere, he fondly imagined that he +might easily be happy. He was going to be married to Semira, who, in +point of beauty, birth, and fortune, was the first match in Babylon. He +had a real and virtuous affection for this lady, and she loved him with +the most passionate fondness. + +The happy moment was almost arrived that was to unite them forever in +the bands of wedlock, when happening to take a walk together toward one +of the gates of Babylon, under the palm trees that adorn the banks of +the Euphrates, they saw some men approaching, armed with sabers and +arrows. These were the attendants of young Orcan, the minister's +nephew, whom his uncle's creatures had flattered into an opinion that +he might do everything with impunity. He had none of the graces nor +virtues of Zadig; but thinking himself a much more accomplished man, he +was enraged to find that the other was preferred before him. This +jealousy, which was merely the effect of his vanity, made him imagine +that he was desperately in love with Semira; and accordingly he +resolved to carry her off. The ravishers seized her; in the violence of +the outrage they wounded her, and made the blood flow from a person, +the sight of which would have softened the tigers of Mount Imaus. She +pierced the heavens with her complaints. She cried out, "My dear +husband! they tear me from the man I adore." Regardless of her own +danger, she was only concerned for the fate of her dear Zadig, who, in +the meantime, defended himself with all the strength that courage and +love could inspire. Assisted only by two slaves, he put the ravishers +to flight and carried home Semira, insensible and bloody as she was. + +On opening her eyes and beholding her deliverer, "O Zadig!" said she, +"I loved thee formerly as my intended husband; I now love thee as the +preserver of my honor and my life." Never was heart more deeply +affected than that of Semira. Never did a more charming mouth express +more moving sentiments, in those glowing words inspired by a sense of +the greatest of all favors, and by the most tender transports of a +lawful passion. + +Her wound was slight and was soon cured. Zadig was more dangerously +wounded; an arrow had pierced him near his eye, and penetrated to a +considerable depth. Semira wearied Heaven with her prayers for the +recovery of her lover. Her eyes were constantly bathed in tears; she +anxiously waited the happy moment when those of Zadig should be able to +meet hers; but an abscess growing on the wounded eye gave everything to +fear. A messenger was immediately dispatched to Memphis for the great +physician Hermes, who came with a numerous retinue. He visited the +patient and declared that he would lose his eye. He even foretold the +day and hour when this fatal event would happen. "Had it been the right +eye," said he, "I could easily have cured it; but the wounds of the +left eye are incurable." All Babylon lamented the fate of Zadig, and +admired the profound knowledge of Hermes. + +In two days the abscess broke of its own accord and Zadig was perfectly +cured. Hermes wrote a book to prove that it ought not to have been +cured. Zadig did not read it; but, as soon as he was able to go abroad, +he went to pay a visit to her in whom all his hopes of happiness were +centered, and for whose sake alone he wished to have eyes. Semira had +been in the country for three days past. He learned on the road that +that fine lady, having openly declared that she had an unconquerable +aversion to one-eyed men, had the night before given her hand to Orcan. +At this news he fell speechless to the ground. His sorrow brought him +almost to the brink of the grave. He was long indisposed; but reason at +last got the better of his affliction, and the severity of his fate +served to console him. + +"Since," said he, "I have suffered so much from the cruel caprice of a +woman educated at court, I must now think of marrying the daughter of a +citizen." He pitched upon Azora, a lady of the greatest prudence, and +of the best family in town. He married her and lived with her for three +months in all the delights of the most tender union. He only observed +that she had a little levity; and was too apt to find that those young +men who had the most handsome persons were likewise possessed of most +wit and virtue. + + + +THE NOSE + + +One morning Azora returned from a walk in a terrible passion, and +uttering the most violent exclamations. "What aileth thee," said he, +"my dear spouse? What is it that can thus have discomposed thee?" + +"Alas," said she, "thou wouldst be as much enraged as I am hadst thou +seen what I have just beheld. I have been to comfort the young widow +Cosrou, who, within these two days, hath raised a tomb to her young +husband, near the rivulet that washes the skirts of this meadow. She +vowed to heaven, in the bitterness of her grief, to remain at this tomb +while the water of the rivulet should continue to run near it." + +"Well," said Zadig, "she is an excellent woman, and loved her husband +with the most sincere affection." + +"Ah," replied Azora, "didst thou but know in what she was employed when +I went to wait upon her!" + +"In what, pray, beautiful Azora? Was she turning the course of the +rivulet?" + +Azora broke out into such long invectives and loaded the young widow +with such bitter reproaches, that Zadig was far from being pleased with +this ostentation of virtue. + +Zadig had a friend named Cador, one of those young men in whom his wife +discovered more probity and merit than in others. He made him his +confidant, and secured his fidelity as much as possible by a +considerable present. Azora, having passed two days with a friend in +the country, returned home on the third. The servants told her, with +tears in their eyes, that her husband died suddenly the night before; +that they were afraid to send her an account of this mournful event; +and that they had just been depositing his corpse in the tomb of his +ancestors, at the end of the garden. She wept, she tore her hair, and +swore she would follow him to the grave. + +In the evening Cador begged leave to wait upon her, and joined his +tears with hers. Next day they wept less, and dined together. Cador +told her that his friend had left him the greatest part of his estate; +and that he should think himself extremely happy in sharing his fortune +with her. The lady wept, fell into a passion, and at last became more +mild and gentle. They sat longer at supper than at dinner. They now +talked with greater confidence. Azora praised the deceased; but owned +that he had many failings from which Cador was free. + +During supper Cador complained of a violent pain in his side. The lady, +greatly concerned, and eager to serve him, caused all kinds of essences +to be brought, with which she anointed him, to try if some of them +might not possibly ease him of his pain. She lamented that the great +Hermes was not still in Babylon. She even condescended to touch the +side in which Cador felt such exquisite pain. + +"Art thou subject to this cruel disorder?" said she to him with a +compassionate air. + +"It sometimes brings me," replied Cador, "to the brink of the grave; +and there is but one remedy that can give me relief, and that is to +apply to my side the nose of a man who is lately dead." + +"A strange remedy, indeed!" said Azora. + +"Not more strange," replied he, "than the sachels of Arnon against the +apoplexy." This reason, added to the great merit of the young man, at +last determined the lady. + +"After all," says she, "when my husband shall cross the bridge +Tchinavar, in his journey to the other world, the angel Asrael will not +refuse him a passage because his nose is a little shorter in the second +life than it was in the first." She then took a razor, went to her +husband's tomb, bedewed it with her tears, and drew near to cut off the +nose of Zadig, whom she found extended at full length in the tomb. +Zadig arose, holding his nose with one hand, and, putting back the +razor with the other, "Madam," said he, "don't exclaim so violently +against young Cosrou; the project of cutting off my nose is equal to +that of turning the course of a rivulet." + + + +THE DOG AND THE HORSE + + +Zadig found by experience that the first month of marriage, as it is +written in the book of Zend, is the moon of honey, and that the second +is the moon of wormwood. He was some time after obliged to repudiate +Azora, who became too difficult to be pleased; and he then sought for +happiness in the study of nature. "No man," said he, "can be happier +than a philosopher who reads in this great book which God hath placed +before our eyes. The truths he discovers are his own, he nourishes and +exalts his soul; he lives in peace; he fears nothing from men; and his +tender spouse will not come to cut off his nose." + +Possessed of these ideas he retired to a country house on the banks of +the Euphrates. There he did not employ himself in calculating how many +inches of water flow in a second of time under the arches of a bridge, +or whether there fell a cube line of rain in the month of the Mouse +more than in the month of the Sheep. He never dreamed of making silk of +cobwebs, or porcelain of broken bottles; but he chiefly studied the +properties of plants and animals; and soon acquired a sagacity that +made him discover a thousand differences where other men see nothing +but uniformity. + +One day, as he was walking near a little wood, he saw one of the +queen's eunuchs running toward him, followed by several officers, who +appeared to be in great perplexity, and who ran to and fro like men +distracted, eagerly searching for something they had lost of great +value. "Young man," said the first eunuch, "hast thou seen the queen's +dog?" "It is a female," replied Zadig. "Thou art in the right," +returned the first eunuch. "It is a very small she spaniel," added +Zadig; "she has lately whelped; she limps on the left forefoot, and has +very long ears." "Thou hast seen her," said the first eunuch, quite out +of breath. "No," replied Zadig, "I have not seen her, nor did I so much +as know that the queen had a dog." + +Exactly at the same time, by one of the common freaks of fortune, the +finest horse in the king's stable had escaped from the jockey in the +plains of Babylon. The principal huntsman and all the other officers +ran after him with as much eagerness and anxiety as the first eunuch +had done after the spaniel. The principal huntsman addressed himself to +Zadig, and asked him if he had not seen the king's horse passing by. +"He is the fleetest horse in the king's stable," replied Zadig; "he is +five feet high, with very small hoofs, and a tail three feet and a half +in length; the studs on his bit are gold of twenty-three carats, and +his shoes are silver of eleven pennyweights." "What way did he take? +where is he?" demanded the chief huntsman. "I have not seen him," +replied Zadig, "and never heard talk of him before." + +The principal huntsman and the first eunuch never doubted but that +Zadig had stolen the king's horse and the queen's spaniel. They +therefore had him conducted before the assembly of the grand desterham, +who condemned him to the knout, and to spend the rest of his days in +Siberia. Hardly was the sentence passed when the horse and the spaniel +were both found. The judges were reduced to the disagreeable necessity +of reversing their sentence; but they condemned Zadig to pay four +hundred ounces of gold for having said that he had not seen what he had +seen. This fine he was obliged to pay; after which he was permitted to +plead his cause before the counsel of the grand desterham, when he +spoke to the following effect: + +"Ye stars of justice, abyss of sciences, mirrors of truth, who have the +weight of lead, the hardness of iron, the splendor of the diamond, and +many properties of gold: Since I am permitted to speak before this +august assembly, I swear to you by Oramades that I have never seen the +queen's respectable spaniel, nor the sacred horse of the king of kings. +The truth of the matter was as follows: I was walking toward the little +wood, where I afterwards met the venerable eunuch, and the most +illustrious chief huntsman. I observed on the sand the traces of an +animal, and could easily perceive them to be those of a little dog. The +light and long furrows impressed on little eminences of sand between +the marks of the paws plainly discovered that it was a female, whose +dugs were hanging down, and that therefore she must have whelped a few +days before. Other traces of a different kind, that always appeared to +have gently brushed the surface of the sand near the marks of the +forefeet, showed me that she had very long ears; and as I remarked that +there was always a slighter impression made on the sand by one foot +than the other three, I found that the spaniel of our august queen was +a little lame, if I may be allowed the expression. + +"With regard to the horse of the king of kings, you will be pleased to +know that, walking in the lanes of this wood, I observed the marks of a +horse's shoes, all at equal distances. This must be a horse, said I to +myself, that gallops excellently. The dust on the trees in the road +that was but seven feet wide was a little brushed off, at the distance +of three feet and a half from the middle of the road. This horse, said +I, has a tail three feet and a half long, which being whisked to the +right and left, has swept away the dust. I observed under the trees +that formed an arbor five feet in height, that the leaves of the +branches were newly fallen; from whence I inferred that the horse had +touched them, and that he must therefore be five feet high. As to his +bit, it must be gold of twenty-three carats, for he had rubbed its +bosses against a stone which I knew to be a touchstone, and which I +have tried. In a word, from the marks made by his shoes on flints of +another kind, I concluded that he was shod with silver eleven deniers +fine." + +All the judges admired Zadig for his acute and profound discernment. +The news of this speech was carried even to the king and queen. Nothing +was talked of but Zadig in the antechambers, the chambers, and the +cabinet; and though many of the magi were of opinion that he ought to +be burned as a sorcerer, the king ordered his officers to restore him +the four hundred ounces of gold which he had been obliged to pay. The +register, the attorneys, and bailiffs, went to his house with great +formality, to carry him back his four hundred ounces. They only +retained three hundred and ninety-eight of them to defray the expenses +of justice; and their servants demanded their fees. + +Zadig saw how extremely dangerous it sometimes is to appear too +knowing, and therefore resolved that on the next occasion of the like +nature he would not tell what he had seen. + +Such an opportunity soon offered. A prisoner of state made his escape, +and passed under the window of Zadig's house. Zadig was examined and +made no answer. But it was proved that he had looked at the prisoner +from this window. For this crime he was condemned to pay five hundred +ounces of gold; and, according to the polite custom of Babylon, he +thanked his judges for their indulgence. + +"Great God!" said he to himself, "what a misfortune it is to walk in a +wood through which the queen's spaniel or the king's horse has passed! +how dangerous to look out at a window! and how difficult to be happy in +this life!" + + + +THE ENVIOUS MAN + + +Zadig resolved to comfort himself by philosophy and friendship for the +evils he had suffered from fortune. He had in the suburbs of Babylon a +house elegantly furnished, in which he assembled all the arts and all +the pleasures worthy the pursuit of a gentleman. In the morning his +library was open to the learned. In the evening his table was +surrounded by good company. But he soon found what very dangerous +guests these men of letters are. A warm dispute arose on one of +Zoroaster's laws, which forbids the eating of a griffin. "Why," said +some of them, "prohibit the eating of a griffin, if there is no such an +animal in nature?" "There must necessarily be such an animal," said the +others, "since Zoroaster forbids us to eat it." Zadig would fain have +reconciled them by saying, "If there are no griffins, we cannot +possibly eat them; and thus either way we shall obey Zoroaster." + +A learned man who had composed thirteen volumes on the properties of +the griffin, and was besides the chief theurgite, hastened away to +accuse Zadig before one of the principal magi, named Yebor, the +greatest blockhead and therefore the greatest fanatic among the +Chaldeans. This man would have impaled Zadig to do honors to the sun, +and would then have recited the breviary of Zoroaster with greater +satisfaction. The friend Cador (a friend is better than a hundred +priests) went to Yebor, and said to him, "Long live the sun and the +griffins; beware of punishing Zadig; he is a saint; he has griffins in +his inner court and does not eat them; and his accuser is an heretic, +who dares to maintain that rabbits have cloven feet and are not +unclean." + +"Well," said Yebor, shaking his bald pate, "we must impale Zadig for +having thought contemptuously of griffins, and the other for having +spoken disrespectfully of rabbits." Cador hushed up the affair by means +of a maid of honor with whom he had a love affair, and who had great +interest in the College of the Magi. Nobody was impaled. + +This levity occasioned a great murmuring among some of the doctors, who +from thence predicted the fall of Babylon. "Upon what does happiness +depend?" said Zadig. "I am persecuted by everything in the world, even +on account of beings that have no existence." He cursed those men of +learning, and resolved for the future to live with none but good +company. + +He assembled at his house the most worthy men and the most beautiful +ladies of Babylon. He gave them delicious suppers, often preceded by +concerts of music, and always animated by polite conversation, from +which he knew how to banish that affectation of wit which is the surest +method of preventing it entirely, and of spoiling the pleasure of the +most agreeable society. Neither the choice of his friends, nor that of +the dishes was made by vanity; for in everything he preferred the +substance to the shadow; and by these means he procured that real +respect to which he did not aspire. + +Opposite to his house lived one Arimazes, a man whose deformed +countenance was but a faint picture of his still more deformed mind. +His heart was a mixture of malice, pride, and envy. Having never been +able to succeed in any of his undertakings, he revenged himself on all +around him by loading them with the blackest calumnies. Rich as he was, +he found it difficult to procure a set of flatterers. The rattling of +the chariots that entered Zadig's court in the evening filled him with +uneasiness; the sound of his praises enraged him still more. He +sometimes went to Zadig's house, and sat down at table without being +desired; where he spoiled all the pleasure of the company, as the +harpies are said to infect the viands they touch. It happened that one +day he took it in his head to give an entertainment to a lady, who, +instead of accepting it, went to sup with Zadig. At another time, as he +was talking with Zadig at court, a minister of state came up to them, +and invited Zadig to supper without inviting Arimazes. The most +implacable hatred has seldom a more solid foundation. This man, who in +Babylon was called the Envious, resolved to ruin Zadig because he was +called the Happy. "The opportunity of doing mischief occurs a hundred +times in a day, and that of doing good but once a year," as sayeth the +wise Zoroaster. + +The envious man went to see Zadig, who was walking in his garden with +two friends and a lady, to whom he said many gallant things, without +any other intention than that of saying them. The conversation turned +upon a war which the king had just brought to a happy conclusion +against the prince of Hircania, his vassal. Zadig, who had signalized +his courage in this short war, bestowed great praises on the king, but +greater still on the lady. He took out his pocketbook, and wrote four +lines extempore, which he gave to this amiable person to read. His +friends begged they might see them; but modesty, or rather a +well-regulated self love, would not allow him to grant their request. +He knew that extemporary verses are never approved of by any but by the +person in whose honor they are written. He therefore tore in two the +leaf on which he had wrote them, and threw both the pieces into a +thicket of rosebushes, where the rest of the company sought for them in +vain. A slight shower falling soon after obliged them to return to the +house. The envious man, who stayed in the garden, continued the search +till at last he found a piece of the leaf. It had been torn in such a +manner that each half of a line formed a complete sense, and even a +verse of a shorter measure; but what was still more surprising, these +short verses were found to contain the most injurious reflections on +the king. They ran thus: + + To flagrant crimes. + His crown he owes, + To peaceful times. + The worst of foes. + +The envious man was now happy for the first time of his life. He had it +in his power to ruin a person of virtue and merit. Filled with this +fiendlike joy, he found means to convey to the king the satire written +by the hand of Zadig, who, together with the lady and his two friends, +was thrown into prison. + +His trial was soon finished, without his being permitted to speak for +himself. As he was going to receive his sentence, the envious man threw +himself in his way and told him with a loud voice that his verses were +good for nothing. Zadig did not value himself on being a good poet; but +it filled him with inexpressible concern to find that he was condemned +for high treason; and that the fair lady and his two friends were +confined in prison for a crime of which they were not guilty. He was +not allowed to speak because his writing spoke for him. Such was the +law of Babylon. Accordingly he was conducted to the place of execution, +through an immense crowd of spectators, who durst not venture to +express their pity for him, but who carefully examined his countenance +to see if he died with a good grace. His relations alone were +inconsolable, for they could not succeed to his estate. Three fourths +of his wealth were confiscated into the king's treasury, and the other +fourth was given to the envious man. + +Just as he was preparing for death the king's parrot flew from its cage +and alighted on a rosebush in Zadig's garden. A peach had been driven +thither by the wind from a neighboring tree, and had fallen on a piece +of the written leaf of the pocketbook to which it stuck. The bird +carried off the peach and the paper and laid them on the king's knee. +The king took up the paper with great eagerness and read the words, +which formed no sense, and seemed to be the endings of verses. He loved +poetry; and there is always some mercy to be expected from a prince of +that disposition. The adventure of the parrot set him a-thinking. + +The queen, who remembered what had been written on the piece of Zadig's +pocketbook, caused it to be brought. They compared the two pieces +together and found them to tally exactly; they then read the verses as +Zadig had wrote them. + +TYRANTS ARE PRONE TO FLAGRANT CRIMES. + TO CLEMENCY HIS CROWN HE OWES. + TO CONCORD AND TO PEACEFUL TIMES. + LOVE ONLY IS THE WORST OF FOES. + +The king gave immediate orders that Zadig should be brought before him, +and that his two friends and the lady should be set at liberty. Zadig +fell prostrate on the ground before the king and queen; humbly begged +their pardon for having made such bad verses and spoke with so much +propriety, wit, and good sense, that their majesties desired they might +see him again. He did himself that honor, and insinuated himself still +farther into their good graces. They gave him all the wealth of the +envious man; but Zadig restored him back the whole of it. And this +instance of generosity gave no other pleasure to the envious man than +that of having preserved his estate. + +The king's esteem for Zadig increased every day. He admitted him into +all his parties of pleasure, and consulted him in all affairs of state. +From that time the queen began to regard him with an eye of tenderness +that might one day prove dangerous to herself, to the king, her august +comfort, to Zadig, and to the kingdom in general. Zadig now began to +think that happiness was not so unattainable as he had formerly +imagined. + + + +THE GENEROUS + + +The time now arrived for celebrating a grand festival, which returned +every five years. It was a custom in Babylon solemnly to declare at the +end of every five years which of the citizens had performed the most +generous action. The grandees and the magi were the judges. The first +satrap, who was charged with the government of the city, published the +most noble actions that had passed under his administration. The +competition was decided by votes; and the king pronounced the sentence. +People came to this solemnity from the extremities of the earth. The +conqueror received from the monarch's hand a golden cup adorned with +precious stones, his majesty at the same time making him this +compliment: + +"Receive this reward of thy generosity, and may the gods grant me many +subjects like to thee." + +This memorable day being come, the king appeared on his throne, +surrounded by the grandees, the magi, and the deputies of all nations +that came to these games, where glory was acquired not by the swiftness +of horses, nor by strength of body, but by virtue. The first satrap +recited, with an audible voice, such actions as might entitle the +authors of them to this invaluable prize. He did not mention the +greatness of soul with which Zadig had restored the envious man his +fortune, because it was not judged to be an action worthy of disputing +the prize. + +He first presented a judge who, having made a citizen lose a +considerable cause by a mistake, for which, after all, he was not +accountable, had given him the whole of his own estate, which was just +equal to what the other had lost. + +He next produced a young man who, being desperately in love with a lady +whom he was going to marry, had yielded her up to his friend, whose +passion for her had almost brought him to the brink of the grave, and +at the same time had given him the lady's fortune. + +He afterwards produced a soldier who, in the wars of Hircania, had +given a still more noble instance of generosity. A party of the enemy +having seized his mistress, he fought in her defense with great +intrepidity. At that very instant he was informed that another party, +at the distance of a few paces, were carrying off his mother; he +therefore left his mistress with tears in his eyes and flew to the +assistance of his mother. At last he returned to the dear object of his +love and found her expiring. He was just going to plunge his sword in +his own bosom; but his mother remonstrating against such a desperate +deed, and telling him that he was the only support of her life, he had +the courage to endure to live. + +The judges were inclined to give the prize to the soldier. But the king +took up the discourse and said: "The action of the soldier, and those +of the other two, are doubtless very great, but they have nothing in +them surprising. Yesterday Zadig performed an action that filled me +with wonder. I had a few days before disgraced Coreb, my minister and +favorite. I complained of him in the most violent and bitter terms; all +my courtiers assured me that I was too gentle and seemed to vie with +each other in speaking ill of Coreb. I asked Zadig what he thought of +him, and he had the courage to commend him. I have read in our +histories of many people who have atoned for an error by the surrender +of their fortune; who have resigned a mistress; or preferred a mother +to the object of their affection; but never before did I hear of a +courtier who spoke favorably of a disgraced minister that labored under +the displeasure of his sovereign. I give to each of those whose +generous actions have been now recited twenty thousand pieces of gold; +but the cup I give to Zadig." + +"May it please your majesty," said Zadig, "thyself alone deservest the +cup; thou hast performed an action of all others the most uncommon and +meritorious, since, notwithstanding thy being a powerful king, thou +wast not offended at thy slave when he presumed to oppose thy passion." +The king and Zadig were equally the object of admiration. The judge, +who had given his estate to his client; the lover, who had resigned his +mistress to a friend; and the soldier, who had preferred the safety of +his mother to that of his mistress, received the king's presents and +saw their names enrolled in the catalogue of generous men. Zadig had +the cup, and the king acquired the reputation of a good prince, which +he did not long enjoy. The day was celebrated by feasts that lasted +longer than the law enjoined; and the memory of it is still preserved +in Asia. Zadig said, "Now I am happy at last"; but he found himself +fatally deceived. + + + +THE MINISTER + + +The king had lost his first minister and chose Zadig to supply his +place. All the ladies in Babylon applauded the choice; for since the +foundation of the empire there had never been such a young minister. +But all the courtiers were filled with jealousy and vexation. The +envious man in particular was troubled with a spitting of blood and a +prodigious inflammation in his nose. Zadig, having thanked the king and +queen for their goodness, went likewise to thank the parrot. "Beautiful +bird," said he, "'tis thou that hast saved my life and made me first +minister. The queen's spaniel and the king's horse did me a great deal +of mischief; but thou hast done me much good. Upon such slender threads +as these do the fates of mortals hang! But," added he, "this happiness +perhaps will vanish very soon." + +"Soon," replied the parrot. + +Zadig was somewhat startled at this word. But as he was a good natural +philosopher and did not believe parrots to be prophets, he quickly +recovered his spirits and resolved to execute his duty to the best of +his power. + +He made everyone feel the sacred authority of the laws, but no one felt +the weight of his dignity. He never checked the deliberation of the +diran; and every vizier might give his opinion without the fear of +incurring the minister's displeasure. When he gave judgment, it was not +he that gave it, it was the law; the rigor of which, however, whenever +it was too severe, he always took care to soften; and when laws were +wanting, the equity of his decisions was such as might easily have made +them pass for those of Zoroaster. It is to him that the nations are +indebted for this grand principle, to wit, that it is better to run the +risk of sparing the guilty than to condemn the innocent. He imagined +that laws were made as well to secure the people from the suffering of +injuries as to restrain them from the commission of crimes. His chief +talent consisted in discovering the truth, which all men seek to +obscure. + +This great talent he put in practice from the very beginning of his +administration. A famous merchant of Babylon, who died in the Indies, +divided his estate equally between his two sons, after having disposed +of their sister in marriage, and left a present of thirty thousand +pieces of gold to that son who should be found to have loved him best. +The eldest raised a tomb to his memory; the youngest increased his +sister's portion, by giving her part of his inheritance. Everyone said +that the eldest son loved his father best, and the youngest his sister; +and that the thirty thousand pieces belonged to the eldest. + +Zadig sent for both of them, the one after the other. To the eldest he +said: "Thy father is not dead; he is recovered of his last illness, and +is returning to Babylon." "God be praised," replied the young man; "but +his tomb cost me a considerable sum." Zadig afterwards said the same to +the youngest. "God be praised," said he, "I will go and restore to my +father all that I have; but I could wish that he would leave my sister +what I have given her." "Thou shalt restore nothing," replied Zadig, +"and thou shalt have the thirty thousand pieces, for thou art the son +who loves his father best." + + + +THE DISPUTES AND THE AUDIENCES + + +In this manner he daily discovered the subtilty of his genius and the +goodness of his heart. The people at once admired and loved him. He +passed for the happiest man in the world. The whole empire resounded +with his name. All the ladies ogled him. All the men praised him for +his justice. The learned regarded him as an oracle; and even the +priests confessed that he knew more than the old arch-magi Yebor. They +were now so far from prosecuting him on account of the griffin, that +they believed nothing but what he thought credible. + +There had reigned in Babylon, for the space of fifteen hundred years, a +violent contest that had divided the empire into two sects. The one +pretended that they ought to enter the temple of Mitra with the left +foot foremost; the other held this custom in detestation and always +entered with the right foot first. The people waited with great +impatience for the day on which the solemn feast of the sacred fire was +to be celebrated, to see which sect Zadig would favor. All the world +had their eyes fixed on his two feet, and the whole city was in the +utmost suspense and perturbation. Zadig jumped into the temple with his +feet joined together, and afterwards proved, in an eloquent discourse, +that the Sovereign of heaven and earth, who accepted not the persons of +men, makes no distinction between the right and left foot. The envious +man and his wife alleged that his discourse was not figurative enough, +and that he did not make the rocks and mountains to dance with +sufficient agility. + +"He is dry," said they, "and void of genius; he does not make the flea +to fly, and stars to fall, nor the sun to melt wax; he has not the true +Oriental style." Zadig contented himself with having the style of +reason. All the world favored him, not because he was in the right road +or followed the dictates of reason, or was a man of real merit, but +because he was prime vizier. + +He terminated with the same happy address the grand difference between +the white and the black magi. The former maintained that it was the +height of impiety to pray to God with the face turned toward the east +in winter; the latter asserted that God abhorred the prayers of those +who turned toward the west in summer. Zadig decreed that every man +should be allowed to turn as he pleased. + +Thus he found out the happy secret of finishing all affairs, whether of +a private or public nature, in the morning. The rest of the day he +employed in superintending and promoting the embellishments of Babylon. +He exhibited tragedies that drew tears from the eyes of the spectators, +and comedies that shook their sides with laughter; a custom which had +long been disused, and which his good taste now induced him to revive. +He never affected to be more knowing in the polite arts than the +artists themselves; he encouraged them by rewards and honors, and was +never jealous of their talents. In the evening the king was highly +entertained with his conversation, and the queen still more. "Great +minister!" said the king. "Amiable minister!" said the queen; and both +of them added, "It would have been a great loss to the state had such a +man been hanged." + +Never was man in power obliged to give so many audiences to the ladies. +Most of them came to consult him about no business at all, that so they +might have some business with him. But none of them won his attention. + +Meanwhile Zadig perceived that his thoughts were always distracted, as +well when he gave audience as when he sat in judgment. He did not know +to what to attribute this absence of mind; and that was his only +sorrow. + +He had a dream in which he imagined that he laid himself down upon a +heap of dry herbs, among which there were many prickly ones that gave +him great uneasiness, and that he afterwards reposed himself on a soft +bed of roses from which there sprung a serpent that wounded him to the +heart with its sharp and venomed tongue. "Alas," said he, "I have long +lain on these dry and prickly herbs, I am now on the bed of roses; but +what shall be the serpent?" + + + +JEALOUSY + + +Zadig's calamities sprung even from his happiness and especially from +his merit. He every day conversed with the king and Astarte, his august +comfort. The charms of his conversation were greatly heightened by that +desire of pleasing, which is to the mind what dress is to beauty. His +youth and graceful appearance insensibly made an impression on Astarte, +which she did not at first perceive. Her passion grew and flourished in +the bosom of innocence. Without fear or scruple, she indulged the +pleasing satisfaction of seeing and hearing a man who was so dear to +her husband and to the empire in general. She was continually praising +him to the king. She talked of him to her women, who were always sure +to improve on her praises. And thus everything contributed to pierce +her heart with a dart, of which she did not seem to be sensible. She +made several presents to Zadig, which discovered a greater spirit of +gallantry than she imagined. She intended to speak to him only as a +queen satisfied with his services and her expressions were sometimes +those of a woman in love. + +Astarte was much more beautiful than that Semira who had such a strong +aversion to one-eyed men, or that other woman who had resolved to cut +off her husband's nose. Her unreserved familiarity, her tender +expressions, at which she began to blush; and her eyes, which, though +she endeavored to divert them to other objects, were always fixed upon +his, inspired Zadig with a passion that filled him with astonishment. +He struggled hard to get the better of it. He called to his aid the +precepts of philosophy, which had always stood him in stead; but from +thence, though he could derive the light of knowledge, he could procure +no remedy to cure the disorders of his lovesick heart. Duty, gratitude, +and violated majesty presented themselves to his mind as so many +avenging gods. He struggled; he conquered; but this victory, which he +was obliged to purchase afresh every moment, cost him many sighs and +tears. He no longer dared to speak to the queen with that sweet and +charming familiarity which had been so agreeable to them both. His +countenance was covered with a cloud. His conversation was constrained +and incoherent. His eyes were fixed on the ground; and when, in spite +of all his endeavors to the contrary, they encountered those of the +queen, they found them bathed in tears and darting arrows of flame. +They seemed to say, We adore each other and yet are afraid to love; we +both burn with a fire which we both condemn. + +Zadig left the royal presence full of perplexity and despair, and +having his heart oppressed with a burden which he was no longer able to +bear. In the violence of his perturbation he involuntarily betrayed the +secret to his friend Cador, in the same manner as a man who, having +long supported the fits of a cruel disease, discovered his pain by a +cry extorted from him by a more severe fit and by the cold sweat that +covers his brow. + +"I have already discovered," said Cador, "the sentiments which thou +wouldst fain conceal from thyself. The symptoms by which the passions +show themselves are certain and infallible. Judge, my dear Zadig, since +I have read thy heart, whether the king will not discover something in +it that may give him offense. He has no other fault but that of being +the most jealous man in the world. Thou canst resist the violence of +thy passion with greater fortitude than the queen because thou art a +philosopher, and because thou art Zadig. Astarte is a woman: she +suffers her eyes to speak with so much the more imprudence, as she does +not as yet think herself guilty. Conscious of her innocence she +unhappily neglects those external appearances which are so necessary. I +shall tremble for her so long as she has nothing wherewithal to +reproach herself. Were ye both of one mind, ye might easily deceive the +whole world. A growing passion, which we endeavor to suppress, +discovers itself in spite of all our efforts to the contrary; but love, +when gratified, is easily concealed." + +Zadig trembled at the proposal of betraying the king, his benefactor; +and never was he more faithful to his prince than when guilty of an +involuntary crime against him. + +Meanwhile the queen mentioned the name of Zadig so frequently and with +such a blushing and downcast look; she was sometimes so lively and +sometimes so perplexed when she spoke to him in the king's presence, +and was seized with such deep thoughtfulness at his going away, that +the king began to be troubled. He believed all that he saw and imagined +all that he did not see. He particularly remarked that his wife's shoes +were blue and that Zadig's shoes were blue; that his wife's ribbons +were yellow and that Zadig's bonnet was yellow; and these were terrible +symptoms to a prince of so much delicacy. In his jealous mind +suspicions were turned into certainty. + +All the slaves of kings and queens are so many spies over their hearts. +They soon observed that Astarte was tender and that Moabdar was +jealous. The envious man brought false report to the king. The monarch +now thought of nothing but in what manner he might best execute his +vengeance. He one night resolved to poison the queen and in the morning +to put Zadig to death by the bowstring. The orders were given to a +merciless eunuch, who commonly executed his acts of vengeance. There +happened at that time to be in the king's chamber a little dwarf, who, +though dumb, was not deaf. He was allowed, on account of his +insignificance, to go wherever he pleased, and as a domestic animal, +was a witness of what passed in the most profound secrecy. This little +mute was strongly attached to the queen and Zadig. With equal horror +and surprise he heard the cruel orders given. But how to prevent the +fatal sentence that in a few hours was to be carried into execution! He +could not write, but he could paint; and excelled particularly in +drawing a striking resemblance. He employed a part of the night in +sketching out with his pencil what he meant to impart to the queen. The +piece represented the king in one corner, boiling with rage, and giving +orders to the eunuch; a bowstring, and a bowl on a table; the queen in +the middle of the picture, expiring in the arms of her woman, and Zadig +strangled at her feet. The horizon represented a rising sun, to express +that this shocking execution was to be performed in the morning. As +soon as he had finished the picture he ran to one of Astarte's women, +awakened her, and made her understand that she must immediately carry +it to the queen. + +At midnight a messenger knocks at Zadig's door, awakes him, and gives +him a note from the queen. He doubts whether it is a dream; and opens +the letter with a trembling hand. But how great was his surprise! and +who can express the consternation and despair into which he was thrown +upon reading these words: "Fly this instant, or thou art a dead man. +Fly, Zadig, I conjure thee by our mutual love and my yellow ribbons. I +have not been guilty, but I find I must die like a criminal." + +Zadig was hardly able to speak. He sent for Cador, and, without +uttering a word, gave him the note. Cador forced him to obey, and +forthwith to take the road to Memphis. "Shouldst thou dare," said he, +"to go in search of the queen, thou wilt hasten her death. Shouldst +thou speak to the king, thou wilt infallibly ruin her. I will take upon +me the charge of her destiny; follow thy own. I will spread a report +that thou hast taken the road to India. I will soon follow thee, and +inform thee of all that shall have passed in Babylon." At that instant, +Cador caused two of the swiftest dromedaries to be brought to a private +gate of the palace. Upon one of these he mounted Zadig, whom he was +obliged to carry to the door, and who was ready to expire with grief. +He was accompanied by a single domestic; and Cador, plunged in sorrow +and astonishment, soon lost sight of his friend. + +This illustrious fugitive arriving on the side of a hill, from whence +he could take a view of Babylon, turned his eyes toward the queen's +palace, and fainted away at the sight; nor did he recover his senses +but to shed a torrent of tears and to wish for death. At length, after +his thoughts had been long engrossed in lamenting the unhappy fate of +the loveliest woman and the greatest queen in the world, he for a +moment turned his views on himself and cried: "What then is human life? +O virtue, how hast thou served me! Two women have basely deceived me, +and now a third, who is innocent, and more beautiful than both the +others, is going to be put to death! Whatever good I have done hath +been to me a continual source of calamity and affliction; and I have +only been raised to the height of grandeur, to be tumbled down the most +horrid precipice of misfortune." Filled with these gloomy reflections, +his eyes overspread with the veil of grief, his countenance covered +with the paleness of death, and his soul plunged in an abyss of the +blackest despair, he continued his journey toward Egypt. + + + +THE WOMAN BEATEN + + +Zadig directed his course by the stars. The constellation of Orion and +the splendid Dog Star guided his steps toward the pole of Cassiopæa. He +admired those vast globes of light, which appear to our eyes but as so +many little sparks, while the earth, which in reality is only an +imperceptible point in nature, appears to our fond imaginations as +something so grand and noble. + +He then represented to himself the human species as it really is, as a +parcel of insects devouring one another on a little atom of clay. This +true image seemed to annihilate his misfortunes, by making him sensible +of the nothingness of his own being, and of that of Babylon. His soul +launched out into infinity, and, detached from the senses, contemplated +the immutable order of the universe. But when afterwards, returning to +himself, and entering into his own heart, he considered that Astarte +had perhaps died for him, the universe vanished from his sight, and he +beheld nothing in the whole compass of nature but Astarte expiring and +Zadig unhappy. While he thus alternately gave up his mind to this flux +and reflux of sublime philosophy and intolerable grief, he advanced +toward the frontiers of Egypt; and his faithful domestic was already in +the first village, in search of a lodging. + +Upon reaching the village Zadig generously took the part of a woman +attacked by her jealous lover. The combat grew so fierce that Zadig +slew the lover. The Egyptians were then just and humane. The people +conducted Zadig to the town house. They first of all ordered his wound +to be dressed, and then examined him and his servant apart, in order to +discover the truth. They found that Zadig was not an assassin; but as +he was guilty of having killed a man, the law condemned him to be a +slave. His two camels were sold for the benefit of the town; all the +gold he had brought with him was distributed among the inhabitants; and +his person, as well as that of the companion of his journey, was +exposed to sale in the marketplace. + +An Arabian merchant, named Setoc, made the purchase; but as the servant +was fitter for labor than the master, he was sold at a higher price. +There was no comparison between the two men. Thus Zadig became a slave +subordinate to his own servant. They were linked together by a chain +fastened to their feet, and in this condition they followed the Arabian +merchant to his house. + +By the way Zadig comforted his servant, and exhorted him to patience; +but he could not help making, according to his usual custom, some +reflections on human life. "I see," said he, "that the unhappiness of +my fate hath an influence on thine. Hitherto everything has turned out +to me in a most unaccountable manner. I have been condemned to pay a +fine for having seen the marks of a spaniel's feet. I thought that I +should once have been impaled on account of a griffin. I have been sent +to execution for having made some verses in praise of the king. I have +been upon the point of being strangled because the queen had yellow +ribbons; and now I am a slave with thee, because a brutal wretch beat +his mistress. Come, let us keep a good heart; all this perhaps will +have an end. The Arabian merchants must necessarily have slaves; and +why not me as well as another, since, as well as another, I am a man? +This merchant will not be cruel; he must treat his slaves well, if he +expects any advantage from them." But while he spoke thus, his heart +was entirely engrossed by the fate of the Queen of Babylon. + +Two days after, the merchant Setoc set out for Arabia Deserta, with his +slaves and his camels. His tribe dwelt near the Desert of Oreb. The +journey was long and painful. Setoc set a much greater value on the +servant than the master, because the former was more expert in loading +the camels; and all the little marks of distinction were shown to him. +A camel having died within two days' journey of Oreb, his burden was +divided and laid on the backs of the servants; and Zadig had his share +among the rest. + +Setoc laughed to see all his slaves walking with their bodies inclined. +Zadig took the liberty to explain to him the cause, and inform him of +the laws of the balance. The merchant was astonished, and began to +regard him with other eyes. Zadig, finding he had raised his curiosity, +increased it still further by acquainting him with many things that +related to commerce, the specific gravity of metals, and commodities +under an equal bulk; the properties of several useful animals; and the +means of rendering those useful that are not naturally so. At last +Setoc began to consider Zadig as a sage, and preferred him to his +companion, whom he had formerly so much esteemed. He treated him well +and had no cause to repent of his kindness. + + + +THE STONE + + +As soon as Setoc arrived among his own tribe he demanded the payment of +five hundred ounces of silver, which he had lent to a Jew in presence +of two witnesses; but as the witnesses were dead, and the debt could +not be proved, the Hebrew appropriated the merchant's money to himself, +and piously thanked God for putting it in his power to cheat an +Arabian. Setoc imparted this troublesome affair to Zadig, who was now +become his counsel. + +"In what place," said Zadig, "didst thou lend the five hundred ounces +to this infidel?" + +"Upon a large stone," replied the merchant, "that lies near Mount +Oreb." + +"What is the character of thy debtor?" said Zadig. + +"That of a knave," returned Setoc. + +"But I ask thee whether he is lively or phlegmatic, cautious or +imprudent?" + +"He is, of all bad payers," said Setoc, "the most lively fellow I ever +knew." + +"Well," resumed Zadig, "allow me to plead thy cause." In effect Zadig, +having summoned the Jew to the tribunal, addressed the judge in the +following terms: "Pillow of the throne of equity, I come to demand of +this man, in the name of my master, five hundred ounces of silver, +which he refuses to pay." + +"Hast thou any witnesses?" said the judge. + +"No, they are dead; but there remains a large stone upon which the +money was counted; and if it please thy grandeur to order the stone to +be sought for, I hope that it will bear witness. The Hebrew and I will +tarry here till the stone arrives; I will send for it at my master's +expense." + +"With all my heart," replied the judge, and immediately applied himself +to the discussion of other affairs. + +When the court was going to break up, the judge said to Zadig, "Well, +friend, is not thy stone come yet?" + +The Hebrew replied with a smile, "Thy grandeur may stay here till the +morrow, and after all not see the stone. It is more than six miles from +hence; and it would require fifteen men to move it." + +"Well," cried Zadig, "did not I say that the stone would bear witness? +Since this man knows where it is, he thereby confesses that it was upon +it that the money was counted." The Hebrew was disconcerted, and was +soon after obliged to confess the truth. The judge ordered him to be +fastened to the stone, without meat or drink, till he should restore +the five hundred ounces, which were soon after paid. + +The slave Zadig and the stone were held in great repute in Arabia. + + + +THE FUNERAL PILE + + +Setoc, charmed with the happy issue of this affair, made his slave his +intimate friend. He had now conceived as great esteem for him as ever +the King of Babylon had done; and Zadig was glad that Setoc had no +wife. He discovered in his master a good natural disposition, much +probity of heart, and a great share of good sense; but he was sorry to +see that, according to the ancient custom of Arabia, he adored the host +of heaven; that is, the sun, moon, and stars. He sometimes spoke to him +on this subject with great prudence and discretion. At last he told him +that these bodies were like all other bodies in the universe, and no +more deserving of our homage than a tree or a rock. + +"But," said Setoc, "they are eternal beings; and it is from them we +derive all we enjoy. They animate nature; they regulate the seasons; +and, besides, are removed at such an immense distance from us that we +cannot help revering them." + +"Thou receivest more advantage," replied Zadig, "from the waters of the +Red Sea, which carry thy merchandise to the Indies. Why may not it be +as ancient as the stars? and if thou adorest what is placed at a +distance from thee, thou oughtest to adore the land of the Gangarides, +which lies at the extremity of the earth." + +"No," said Setoc, "the brightness of the stars command my adoration." + +At night Zadig lighted up a great number of candles in the tent where +he was to sup with Setoc; and the moment his patron appeared, he fell +on his knees before these lighted tapers, and said, "Eternal and +shining luminaries! be ye always propitious to me." Having thus said, +he sat down at table, without taking the least notice of Setoc. + +"What art thou doing?" said Setoc to him in amaze. + +"I act like thee," replied Zadig, "I adore these candles, and neglect +their master and mine." Setoc comprehended the profound sense of this +apologue. The wisdom of his slave sunk deep into his soul; he no longer +offered incense to the creatures, but adored the eternal Being who made +them. + +There prevailed at that time in Arabia a shocking custom, sprung +originally from Scythia, and which, being established in the Indies by +the credit of the Brahmans, threatened to overrun all the East. When a +married man died, and his beloved wife aspired to the character of a +saint, she burned herself publicly on the body of her husband. This was +a solemn feast and was called the Funeral Pile of Widowhood, and that +tribe in which most women had been burned was the most respected. + +An Arabian of Setoc's tribe being dead, his widow, whose name was +Almona, and who was very devout, published the day and hour when she +intended to throw herself into the fire, amidst the sound of drums and +trumpets. Zadig remonstrated against this horrible custom; he showed +Setoc how inconsistent it was with the happiness of mankind to suffer +young widows to burn themselves every other day, widows who were +capable of giving children to the state, or at least of educating those +they already had; and he convinced him that it was his duty to do all +that lay in his power to abolish such a barbarous practice. + +"The women," said Setoc, "have possessed the right of burning +themselves for more than a thousand years; and who shall dare to +abrogate a law which time hath rendered sacred? Is there anything more +respectable than ancient abuses?" + +"Reason is more ancient," replied Zadig; "meanwhile, speak thou to the +chiefs of the tribes and I will go to wait on the young widow." + +Accordingly he was introduced to her; and, after having insinuated +himself into her good graces by some compliments on her beauty and told +her what a pity it was to commit so many charms to the flames, he at +last praised her for her constancy and courage. "Thou must surely have +loved thy husband," said he to her, "with the most passionate +fondness." + +"Who, I?" replied the lady. "I loved him not at all. He was a brutal, +jealous, insupportable wretch; but I am firmly resolved to throw myself +on his funeral pile." + +"It would appear then," said Zadig, "that there must be a very +delicious pleasure in being burned alive." + +"Oh! it makes nature shudder," replied the lady, "but that must be +overlooked. I am a devotee, and I should lose my reputation and all the +world would despise me if I did not burn myself." Zadig having made her +acknowledge that she burned herself to gain the good opinion of others +and to gratify her own vanity, entertained her with a long discourse, +calculated to make her a little in love with life, and even went so far +as to inspire her with some degree of good will for the person who +spoke to her. + +"Alas!" said the lady, "I believe I should desire thee to marry me." + +Zadig's mind was too much engrossed with the idea of Astarte not to +elude this declaration; but he instantly went to the chiefs of the +tribes, told them what had passed, and advised them to make a law, by +which a widow should not be permitted to burn herself till she had +conversed privately with a young man for the space of an hour. Since +that time not a single woman hath burned herself in Arabia. They were +indebted to Zadig alone for destroying in one day a cruel custom that +had lasted for so many ages and thus he became the benefactor of +Arabia. + + + +THE SUPPER + + +Setoc, who could not separate himself from this man, in whom dwelt +wisdom, carried him to the great fair of Balzora, whither the richest +merchants in the earth resorted. Zadig was highly pleased to see so +many men of different countries united in the same place. He considered +the whole universe as one large family assembled at Balzora. + +Setoc, after having sold his commodities at a very high price, returned +to his own tribe with his friend Zadig; who learned, upon his arrival, +that he had been tried in his absence, and was now going to be burned +by a slow fire. Only the friendship of Almona saved his life. Like so +many pretty women, she possessed great influence with the priesthood. +Zadig thought it best to leave Arabia. + +Setoc was so charmed with the ingenuity and address of Almona that he +made her his wife. Zadig departed, after having thrown himself at the +feet of his fair deliverer. Setoc and he took leave of each other with +tears in their eyes, swearing an eternal friendship, and promising that +the first of them that should acquire a large fortune should share it +with the other. + +Zadig directed his course along the frontiers of Assyria, still musing +on the unhappy Astarte, and reflecting on the severity of fortune which +seemed determined to make him the sport of her cruelty and the object +of her persecution. "What," said he to himself, "four hundred ounces of +gold for having seen a spaniel! condemned to lose my head for four bad +verses in praise of the king! ready to be strangled because the queen +had shoes of the color of my bonnet! reduced to slavery for having +succored a woman who was beat! and on the point of being burned for +having saved the lives of all the young widows of Arabia!" + + + +THE ROBBER + + +Arriving on the frontiers which divide Arabia Petræa from Syria, he +passed by a pretty strong castle, from which a party of armed Arabians +sallied forth. They instantly surrounded him and cried, "All thou hast +belongs to us, and thy person is the property of our master." Zadig +replied by drawing his sword; his servant, who was a man of courage, +did the same. They killed the first Arabians that presumed to lay hands +on them; and, though the number was redoubled, they were not dismayed, +but resolved to perish in the conflict. Two men defended themselves +against a multitude; and such a combat could not last long. + +The master of the castle, whose name was Arbogad, having observed from +a window the prodigies of valor performed by Zadig, conceived a high +esteem for this heroic stranger. He descended in haste and went in +person to call off his men and deliver the two travelers. + +"All that passes over my lands," said he, "belongs to me, as well as +what I find upon the lands of others; but thou seemest to be a man of +such undaunted courage that I will exempt thee from the common law." He +then conducted him to his castle, ordering his men to treat him well; +and in the evening Arbogad supped with Zadig. + +The lord of the castle was one of those Arabians who are commonly +called robbers; but he now and then performed some good actions amid a +multitude of bad ones. He robbed with a furious rapacity, and granted +favors with great generosity; he was intrepid in action; affable in +company; a debauchee at table, but gay in debauchery; and particularly +remarkable for his frank and open behavior. He was highly pleased with +Zadig, whose lively conversation lengthened the repast. + +At last Arbogad said to him: "I advise thee to enroll thy name in my +catalogue; thou canst not do better; this is not a bad trade; and thou +mayest one day become what I am at present." + +"May I take the liberty of asking thee," said Zadig, "how long thou +hast followed this noble profession?" + +"From my most tender youth," replied the lord. "I was a servant to a +pretty good-natured Arabian, but could not endure the hardships of my +situation. I was vexed to find that fate had given me no share of the +earth, which equally belongs to all men. I imparted the cause of my +uneasiness to an old Arabian, who said to me: 'My son, do not despair; +there was once a grain of sand that lamented that it was no more than a +neglected atom in the deserts; at the end of a few years it became a +diamond; and is now the brightest ornament in the crown of the king of +the Indies.' This discourse made a deep impression on my mind. I was +the grain of sand, and I resolved to become the diamond. I began by +stealing two horses; I soon got a party of companions; I put myself in +a condition to rob small caravans; and thus, by degrees, I destroyed +the difference which had formerly subsisted between me and other men. I +had my share of the good things of this world; and was even recompensed +with usury for the hardships I had suffered. I was greatly respected, +and became the captain of a band of robbers. I seized this castle by +force. The Satrap of Syria had a mind to dispossess me of it; but I was +too rich to have anything to fear. I gave the satrap a handsome +present, by which means I preserved my castle and increased my +possessions. He even appointed me treasurer of the tributes which +Arabia Petræa pays to the king of kings. I perform my office of +receiver with great punctuality; but take the freedom to dispense with +that of paymaster. + +"The grand Desterham of Babylon sent hither a pretty satrap in the name +of King Moabdar, to have me strangled. This man arrived with his +orders: I was apprised of all; I caused to be strangled in his presence +the four persons he had brought with him to draw the noose; after which +I asked him how much his commission of strangling me might be worth. He +replied, that his fees would amount to above three hundred pieces of +gold. I then convinced him that he might gain more by staying with me. +I made him an inferior robber; and he is now one of my best and richest +officers. If thou wilt take my advice thy success may be equal to his; +never was there a better season for plunder, since King Moabdar is +killed, and all Babylon thrown into confusion." + +"Moabdar killed!" said Zadig, "and what is become of Queen Astarte?" + +"I know not," replied Arbogad. "All I know is, that Moabdar lost his +senses and was killed; that Babylon is a scene of disorder and +bloodshed; that all the empire is desolated; that there are some fine +strokes to be struck yet; and that, for my own part, I have struck some +that are admirable." + +"But the queen," said Zadig; "for heaven's sake, knowest thou nothing +of the queen's fate?" + +"Yes," replied he, "I have heard something of a prince of Hircania; if +she was not killed in the tumult, she is probably one of his +concubines; but I am much fonder of booty than news. I have taken +several women in my excursions; but I keep none of them. I sell them at +a high price, when they are beautiful, without inquiring who they are. +In commodities of this kind rank makes no difference, and a queen that +is ugly will never find a merchant. Perhaps I may have sold Queen +Astarte; perhaps she is dead; but, be it as it will, it is of little +consequence to me, and I should imagine of as little to thee." So +saying he drank a large draught which threw all his ideas into such +confusion that Zadig could obtain no further information. + +Zadig remained for some time without speech, sense, or motion. Arbogad +continued drinking; told stories; constantly repeated that he was the +happiest man in the world; and exhorted Zadig to put himself in the +same condition. At last the soporiferous fumes of the wine lulled him +into a gentle repose. + +Zadig passed the night in the most violent perturbation. "What," said +he, "did the king lose his senses? and is he killed? I cannot help +lamenting his fate. The empire is rent in pieces; and this robber is +happy. O fortune! O destiny! A robber is happy, and the most beautiful +of nature's works hath perhaps perished in a barbarous manner or lives +in a state worse than death. O Astarte! what is become of thee?" + +At daybreak he questioned all those he met in the castle; but they were +all busy, and he received no answer. During the night they had made a +new capture, and they were now employed in dividing the spoils. All he +could obtain in this hurry and confusion was an opportunity of +departing, which he immediately embraced, plunged deeper than ever in +the most gloomy and mournful reflections. + +Zadig proceeded on his journey with a mind full of disquiet and +perplexity, and wholly employed on the unhappy Astarte, on the King of +Babylon, on his faithful friend Cador, on the happy robber Arbogad; in +a word, on all the misfortunes and disappointments he had hitherto +suffered. + + + +THE FISHERMAN + + +At a few leagues' distance from Arbogad's castle he came to the banks +of a small river, still deploring his fate, and considering himself as +the most wretched of mankind. He saw a fisherman lying on the brink of +the river, scarcely holding, in his weak and feeble hand, a net which +he seemed ready to drop, and lifting up his eyes to Heaven. + +"I am certainly," said the fisherman, "the most unhappy man in the +world. I was universally allowed to be the most famous dealer in cream +cheese in Babylon, and yet I am ruined. I had the most handsome wife +that any man in my station could have; and by her I have been betrayed. +I had still left a paltry house, and that I have seen pillaged and +destroyed. At last I took refuge in this cottage, where I have no other +resource than fishing, and yet I cannot catch a single fish. Oh, my +net! no more will I throw thee into the water; I will throw myself in +thy place." So saying, he arose and advanced forward in the attitude of +a man ready to throw himself into the river, and thus to finish his +life. + +"What!" said Zadig to himself, "are there men as wretched as I?" His +eagerness to save the fisherman's life was as this reflection. He ran +to him, stopped him, and spoke to him with a tender and compassionate +air. It is commonly supposed that we are less miserable when we have +companions in our misery. This, according to Zoroaster, does not +proceed from malice, but necessity. We feel ourselves insensibly drawn +to an unhappy person as to one like ourselves. The joy of the happy +would be an insult; but two men in distress are like two slender trees, +which, mutually supporting each other, fortify themselves against the +storm. + +"Why," said Zadig to the fisherman, "dost thou sink under thy +misfortunes?" + +"Because," replied he, "I see no means of relief. I was the most +considerable man in the village of Derlback, near Babylon, and with the +assistance of my wife I made the best cream cheese in the empire. Queen +Astarte and the famous minister Zadig were extremely fond of them." + +Zadig, transported, said, "What, knowest thou nothing of the queen's +fate?" + +"No, my lord," replied the fisherman; "but I know that neither the +queen nor Zadig has paid me for my cream cheeses; that I have lost my +wife, and am now reduced to despair." + +"I flatter myself," said Zadig, "that thou wilt not lose all thy money. +I have heard of this Zadig; he is an honest man; and if he returns to +Babylon, as he expects, he will give thee more than he owes thee. +Believe me, go to Babylon. I shall be there before thee, because I am +on horseback, and thou art on foot. Apply to the illustrious Cador; +tell him thou hast met his friend; wait for me at his house; go, +perhaps thou wilt not always be unhappy. + +"O powerful Oromazes!" continued he, "thou employest me to comfort this +man; whom wilt thou employ to give me consolation?" So saying, he gave +the fisherman half the money he had brought from Arabia. The fisherman, +struck with surprise and ravished with joy, kissed the feet of the +friend of Cador, and said, "Thou are surely an angel sent from Heaven +to save me!" + +Meanwhile, Zadig continued to make fresh inquiries, and to shed tears. +"What, my lord!" cried the fisherman, "art thou then so unhappy, thou +who bestowest favors?" + +"An hundred times more unhappy than thou art," replied Zadig. + +"But how is it possible," said the good man, "that the giver can be +more wretched than the receiver?" + +"Because," replied Zadig, "thy greatest misery arose from poverty, and +mine is seated in the heart." + +"Did Orcan take thy wife from thee?" said the fisherman. + +This word recalled to Zadig's mind the whole of his adventures. He +repeated the catalogue of his misfortunes, beginning with the queen's +spaniel, and ending with his arrival at the castle of the robber +Arbogad. "Ah!" said he to the fisherman, "Orcan deserves to be +punished; but it is commonly such men as those that are the favorites +of fortune. However, go thou to the house of Lord Cador, and there wait +my arrival." They then parted, the fisherman walked, thanking Heaven +for the happiness of his condition; and Zadig rode, accusing fortune +for the hardness of his lot. + + + +THE BASILISK + + +Arriving in a beautiful meadow, he there saw several women, who were +searching for something with great application. He took the liberty to +approach one of them, and to ask if he might have the honor to assist +them in their search. "Take care that thou dost not," replied the +Syrian; "what we are searching for can be touched only by women." + +"Strange," said Zadig, "may I presume to ask thee what it is that women +only are permitted to touch?" + +"It is a basilisk," said she. + +"A basilisk, madam! and for what purpose, pray, dost thou seek for a +basilisk?" + +"It is for our lord and master Ogul, whose cattle thou seest on the +bank of that river at the end of the meadow. We are his most humble +slaves. The lord Ogul is sick. His physician hath ordered him to eat a +basilisk, stewed in rose water; and as it is a very rare animal, and +can only be taken by women, the lord Ogul hath promised to choose for +his well-beloved wife the woman that shall bring him a basilisk; let me +go on in my search; for thou seest what I shall lose if I am prevented +by my companions." + +Zadig left her and the other Assyrians to search for their basilisk, +and continued to walk in the meadow; when coming to the brink of a +small rivulet, he found another lady lying on the grass, and who was +not searching for anything. Her person seemed to be majestic; but her +face was covered with a veil. She was inclined toward the rivulet, and +profound sighs proceeded from her mouth. In her hand she held a small +rod with which she was tracing characters on the fine sand that lay +between the turf and the brook. Zadig had the curiosity to examine what +this woman was writing. He drew near; he saw the letter Z, then an A; +he was astonished; then appeared a D; he started. But never was +surprise equal to his when he saw the two last letters of his name. + +He stood for some time immovable. At last, breaking silence with a +faltering voice: "O generous lady! pardon a stranger, an unfortunate +man, for presuming to ask thee by what surprising adventure I here find +the name of Zadig traced out by thy divine hand!" + +At this voice, and these words, the lady lifted up the veil with a +trembling hand, looked at Zadig, sent forth a cry of tenderness, +surprise and joy, and sinking under the various emotions which at once +assaulted her soul, fell speechless into his arms. It was Astarte +herself; it was the Queen of Babylon; it was she whom Zadig adored, and +whom he had reproached himself for adoring; it was she whose +misfortunes he had so deeply lamented, and for whose fate he had been +so anxiously concerned. + +He was for a moment deprived of the use of his senses, when he had +fixed his eyes on those of Astarte, which now began to open again with +a languor mixed with confusion and tenderness: "O ye immortal powers!" +cried he, "who preside over the fates of weak mortals, do ye indeed +restore Astarte to me! at what a time, in what a place, and in what a +condition do I again behold her!" He fell on his knees before Astarte, +and laid his face in the dust at her feet. The Queen of Babylon raised +him up, and made him sit by her side on the brink of the rivulet. She +frequently wiped her eyes, from which the tears continued to flow +afresh. She twenty times resumed her discourse, which her sighs as +often interrupted; she asked by what strange accident they were brought +together, and suddenly prevented his answers by other questions; she +waived the account of her own misfortunes, and desired to be informed +of those of Zadig. + +At last, both of them having a little composed the tumult of their +souls, Zadig acquainted her in a few words by what adventure he was +brought into that meadow. "But, O unhappy and respectable queen! by +what means do I find thee in this lonely place, clothed in the habit of +a slave, and accompanied by other female slaves, who are searching for +a basilisk, which, by order of the physician, is to be stewed in rose +water?" + +"While they are searching for their basilisk," said the fair Astarte, +"I will inform thee of all I have suffered, for which Heaven has +sufficiently recompensed me by restoring thee to my sight. Thou knowest +that the king, my husband, was vexed to see thee the most amiable of +mankind; and that for this reason he one night resolved to strangle +thee and poison me. Thou knowest how Heaven permitted my little mute to +inform me of the orders of his sublime majesty. Hardly had the faithful +Cador advised thee to depart, in obedience to my command, when he +ventured to enter my apartment at midnight by a secret passage. He +carried me off and conducted me to the temple of Oromazes, where the +magi his brother shut me up in that huge statue whose base reaches to +the foundation of the temple and whose top rises to the summit of the +dome. I was there buried in a manner; but was saved by the magi; and +supplied with all the necessaries of life. At break of day his +majesty's apothecary entered my chamber with a potion composed of a +mixture of henbane, opium, hemlock, black hellebore, and aconite; and +another officer went to thine with a bowstring of blue silk. Neither of +us was to be found. Cador, the better to deceive the king, pretended to +come and accuse us both. He said that thou hadst taken the road to the +Indies, and I that to Memphis, on which the king's guards were +immediately dispatched in pursuit of us both. + +"The couriers who pursued me did not know me. I had hardly ever shown +my face to any but thee, and to thee only in the presence and by the +order of my husband. They conducted themselves in the pursuit by the +description that had been given them of my person. On the frontiers of +Egypt they met with a woman of the same stature with me, and possessed +perhaps of greater charms. She was weeping and wandering. They made no +doubt but that this woman was the Queen of Babylon and accordingly +brought her to Moabdar. Their mistake at first threw the king into a +violent passion; but having viewed this woman more attentively, he +found her extremely handsome and was comforted. She was called Missouf. +I have since been informed that this name in the Egyptian language +signifies the capricious fair one. She was so in reality; but she had +as much cunning as caprice. She pleased Moabdar and gained such an +ascendancy over him as to make him choose her for his wife. Her +character then began to appear in its true colors. She gave herself up, +without scruple, to all the freaks of a wanton imagination. She would +have obliged the chief of the magi, who was old and gouty, to dance +before her; and on his refusal, she persecuted him with the most +unrelenting cruelty. She ordered her master of the horse to make her a +pie of sweetmeats. In vain did he represent that he was not a +pastry-cook; he was obliged to make it, and lost his place, because it +was baked a little too hard. The post of master of the horse she gave +to her dwarf, and that of chancellor to her page. In this manner did +she govern Babylon. Everybody regretted the loss of me. The king, who +till the moment of his resolving to poison me and strangle thee, had +been a tolerably good kind of man, seemed now to have drowned all his +virtues in his immoderate fondness for this capricious fair one. He +came to the temple on the great day of the feast held in honor of the +sacred fire. I saw him implore the gods in behalf of Missouf, at the +feet of the statue in which I was inclosed. I raised my voice, I cried +out, 'The gods reject the prayers of a king who is now become a tyrant, +and who attempted to murder a reasonable wife, in order to marry a +woman remarkable for nothing but her folly and extravagance.' At these +words Moabdar was confounded and his head became disordered. The oracle +I had pronounced, and the tyranny of Missouf, conspired to deprive him +of his judgment, and in a few days his reason entirely forsook him. + +"Moabdar's madness, which seemed to be the judgment of Heaven, was the +signal to a revolt. The people rose and ran to arms; and Babylon, which +had been so long immersed in idleness and effeminacy, became the +theater of a bloody civil war. I was taken from the heart of my statue +and placed at the head of a party. Cador flew to Memphis to bring thee +back to Babylon. The Prince of Hircania, informed of these fatal +events, returned with his army and made a third party in Chaldea. He +attacked the king, who fled before him with his capricious Egyptian. +Moabdar died pierced with wounds. I myself had the misfortune to be +taken by a party of Hircanians, who conducted me to their prince's +tent, at the very moment that Missouf was brought before him. Thou wilt +doubtless be pleased to hear that the prince thought me beautiful; but +thou wilt be sorry to be informed that he designed me for his seraglio. +He told me, with a blunt and resolute air, that as soon as he had +finished a military expedition, which he was just going to undertake, +he would come to me. Judge how great must have been my grief. My ties +with Moabdar were already dissolved; I might have been the wife of +Zadig; and I was fallen into the hands of a barbarian. I answered him +with all the pride which my high rank and noble sentiment could +inspire. I had always heard it affirmed that Heaven stamped on persons +of my condition a mark of grandeur, which, with a single word or +glance, could reduce to the lawliness of the most profound respect +those rash and forward persons who presume to deviate from the rules of +politeness. I spoke like a queen, but was treated like a maidservant. +The Hircanian, without even deigning to speak to me, told his black +eunuch that I was impertinent, but that he thought me handsome. He +ordered him to take care of me, and to put me under the regimen of +favorites, that so my complexion being improved, I might be the more +worthy of his favors when he should be at leisure to honor me with +them. I told him that rather than submit to his desires I would put an +end to my life. He replied, with a smile, that women, he believed, were +not so bloodthirsty, and that he was accustomed to such violent +expressions; and then left me with the air of a man who had just put +another parrot into his aviary. What a state for the first queen of the +universe, and, what is more, for a heart devoted to Zadig!" + +At these words Zadig threw himself at her feet and bathed them with his +tears. Astarte raised him with great tenderness and thus continued her +story: "I now saw myself in the power of a barbarian and rival to the +foolish woman with whom I was confined. She gave me an account of her +adventures in Egypt. From the description she gave me of your person, +from the time, from the dromedary on which you were mounted, and from +every other circumstance, I inferred that Zadig was the man who had +fought for her. I doubted not but that you were at Memphis, and, +therefore, resolved to repair thither. Beautiful Missouf, said I, thou +art more handsome than I, and will please the Prince of Hircania much +better. Assist me in contriving the means of my escape; thou wilt then +reign alone; thou wilt at once make me happy and rid thyself of a +rival. Missouf concerted with me the means of my flight; and I departed +secretly with a female Egyptian slave. + +"As I approached the frontiers of Arabia, a famous robber, named +Arbogad, seized me and sold me to some merchants, who brought me to +this castle, where Lord Ogul resides. He bought me without knowing who +I was. He is a voluptuary, ambitious of nothing but good living, and +thinks that God sent him into the world for no other purpose than to +sit at table. He is so extremely corpulent that he is always in danger +of suffocation. His physician, who has but little credit with him when +he has a good digestion, governs him with a despotic sway when he has +ate too much. He has persuaded him that a basilisk stewed in rose water +will effect a complete cure. The Lord Ogul hath promised his hand to +the female slave that brings him a basilisk. Thou seest that I leave +them to vie with each other in meriting this honor; and never was I +less desirous of finding the basilisk than since Heaven hath restored +thee to my sight." + +This account was succeeded by a long conversation between Astarte and +Zadig, consisting of everything that their long-suppressed sentiments, +their great sufferings, and their mutual love could inspire into hearts +the most noble and tender; and the genii who preside over love carried +their words to the sphere of Venus. + +The women returned to Ogul without having found the basilisk. Zadig was +introduced to this mighty lord and spoke to him in the following terms: +"May immortal health descend from heaven to bless all thy days! I am a +physician; at the first report of thy indisposition I flew to thy +castle and have now brought thee a basilisk stewed in rose water. Not +that I pretend to marry thee. All I ask is the liberty of a Babylonian +slave, who hath been in thy possession for a few days; and, if I should +not be so happy as to cure thee, magnificent Lord Ogul, I consent to +remain a slave in her place." + +The proposal was accepted. Astarte set out for Babylon with Zadig's +servant, promising, immediately upon her arrival, to send a courier to +inform him of all that had happened. Their parting was as tender as +their meeting. The moment of meeting and that of parting are the two +greatest epochs of life, as sayeth the great book of Zend. Zadig loved +the queen with as much ardor as he professed; and the queen more than +she thought proper to acknowledge. + +Meanwhile Zadig spoke thus to Ogul: "My lord, my basilisk is not to be +eaten; all its virtues must enter through thy pores. I have inclosed it +in a little ball, blown up and covered with a fine skin. Thou must +strike this ball with all thy might and I must strike it back for a +considerable time; and by observing this regimen for a few days thou +wilt see the effects of my art." The first day Ogul was out of breath +and thought he should have died with fatigue. The second he was less +fatigued, slept better. In eight days he recovered all the strength, +all the health, all the agility and cheerfulness of his most agreeable +years. + +"Thou hast played at ball, and thou hast been temperate," said Zadig; +"know that there is no such thing in nature as a basilisk; that +temperance and exercise are the two great preservatives of health; and +that the art of reconciling intemperance and health is as chimerical as +the philosopher's stone, judicial astrology, or the theology of the +magi." + +Ogul's first physician, observing how dangerous this man might prove to +the medical art, formed a design, in conjunction with the apothecary, +to send Zadig to search for a basilisk in the other world. Thus, having +suffered such a long train of calamities on account of his good +actions, he was now upon the point of losing his life for curing a +gluttonous lord. He was invited to an excellent dinner and was to have +been poisoned in the second course, but, during the first, he happily +received a courier from the fair Astarte. "When one is beloved by a +beautiful woman," says the great Zoroaster, "he hath always the good +fortune to extricate himself out of every kind of difficulty and +danger." + + + +THE COMBATS + + +The queen was received at Babylon with all those transports of joy +which are ever felt on the return of a beautiful princess who hath been +involved in calamities. Babylon was now in greater tranquillity. The +Prince of Hircania had been killed in battle. The victorious +Babylonians declared that the queen should marry the man whom they +should choose for their sovereign. They were resolved that the first +place in the world, that of being husband to Astarte and King of +Babylon, should not depend on cabals and intrigues. They swore to +acknowledge for king the man who, upon trial, should be found to be +possessed of the greatest valor and the greatest wisdom. Accordingly, +at the distance of a few leagues from the city, a spacious place was +marked out for the list, surrounded with magnificent amphitheaters. +Thither the combatants were to repair in complete armor. Each of them +had a separate apartment behind the amphitheaters, where they were +neither to be seen nor known by anyone. Each was to encounter four +knights, and those that were so happy as to conquer four were then to +engage with one another; so that he who remained the last master of the +field would be proclaimed conqueror at the games. + +Four days after he was to return with the same arms and to explain the +enigmas proposed by the magi. If he did not explain the enigmas he was +not king; and the running at the lances was to be begun afresh till a +man would be found who was conqueror in both these combats; for they +were absolutely determined to have a king possessed of the greatest +wisdom and the most invincible courage. The queen was all the while to +be strictly guarded: she was only allowed to be present at the games, +and even there she was to be covered with a veil; but was not permitted +to speak to any of the competitors, that so they might neither receive +favor, nor suffer injustice. + +These particulars Astarte communicated to her lover, hoping that in +order to obtain her he would show himself possessed of greater courage +and wisdom than any other person. Zadig set out on his journey, +beseeching Venus to fortify his courage and enlighten his +understanding. He arrived on the banks of the Euphrates on the eve of +this great day. He caused his device to be inscribed among those of the +combatants, concealing his face and his name, as the law ordained; and +then went to repose himself in the apartment that fell to him by lot. +His friend Cador, who, after the fruitless search he had made for him +in Egypt, was now returned to Babylon, sent to his tent a complete suit +of armor, which was a present from the queen; as also, from himself, +one of the finest horses in Persia. Zadig presently perceived that +these presents were sent by Astarte; and from thence his courage +derived fresh strength, and his love the most animating hopes. + +Next day, the queen being seated under a canopy of jewels, and the +amphitheaters filled with all the gentlemen and ladies of rank in +Babylon, the combatants appeared in the circus. Each of them came and +laid his device at the feet of the grand magi. They drew their devices +by lot; and that of Zadig was the last. The first who advanced was a +certain lord, named Itobad, very rich and very vain, but possessed of +little courage, of less address, and hardly of any judgment at all. His +servants had persuaded him that such a man as he ought to be king; he +had said in reply, "Such a man as I ought to reign"; and thus they had +armed him for a cap-a-pie. He wore an armor of gold enameled with +green, a plume of green feathers, and a lance adorned with green +ribbons. It was instantly perceived by the manner in which Itobad +managed his horse, that it was not for such a man as he that Heaven +reserved the scepter of Babylon. The first knight that ran against him +threw him out of his saddle; the second laid him flat on his horse's +buttocks, with his legs in the air, and his arms extended. Itobad +recovered himself, but with so bad a grace that the whole amphitheater +burst out a-laughing. The third knight disdained to make use of his +lance; but, making a pass at him, took him by the right leg and, +wheeling him half round, laid him prostrate on the sand. The squires of +the game ran to him laughing, and replaced him in his saddle. The +fourth combatant took him by the left leg, and tumbled him down on the +other side. He was conducted back with scornful shouts to his tent, +where, according to the law, he was to pass the night; and as he limped +along with great difficulty he said, "What an adventure for such a man +as I!" + +The other knights acquitted themselves with greater ability and +success. Some of them conquered two combatants; a few of them +vanquished three; but none but Prince Otamus conquered four. At last +Zadig fought him in his turn. He successively threw four knights off +their saddles with all the grace imaginable. It then remained to be +seen who should be conqueror, Otamus or Zadig. The arms of the first +were gold and blue, with a plume of the same color; those of the last +were white. The wishes of all the spectators were divided between the +knight in blue and the knight in white. The queen, whose heart was in a +violent palpitation, offered prayers to Heaven for the success of the +white color. + +The two champions made their passes and vaults with so much agility, +they mutually gave and received such dexterous blows with their lances, +and sat so firmly in their saddles, that everybody but the queen wished +there might be two kings in Babylon. At length, their horses being +tired and their lances broken, Zadig had recourse to this stratagem: He +passes behind the blue prince; springs upon the buttocks of his horse; +seizes him by the middle; throws him on the earth; places himself in +the saddle; and wheels around Otamus as he lay extended on the ground. +All the amphitheater cried out, "Victory to the white knight!" + +Otamus rises in a violent passion, and draws his sword; Zadig leaps +from his horse with his saber in his hand. Both of them are now on the +ground, engaged in a new combat, where strength and agility triumph by +turns. The plumes of their helmets, the studs of their bracelets, the +rings of their armor, are driven to a great distance by the violence of +a thousand furious blows. They strike with the point and the edge; to +the right, to the left, on the head, on the breast; they retreat; they +advance; they measure swords; they close; they seize each other; they +bend like serpents; they attack like lions; and the fire every moment +flashes from their blows. + +At last Zadig, having recovered his spirits, stops; makes a feint; +leaps upon Otamus; throws him on the ground and disarms him; and Otamus +cries out, "It is thou alone, O white knight, that oughtest to reign +over Babylon!" The queen was now at the height of her joy. The knight +in blue armor and the knight in white were conducted each to his own +apartment, as well as all the others, according to the intention of the +law. Mutes came to wait upon them and to serve them at table. It may be +easily supposed that the queen's little mute waited upon Zadig. They +were then left to themselves to enjoy the sweets of repose till next +morning, at which time the conqueror was to bring his device to the +grand magi, to compare it with that which he had left, and make himself +known. + +Zadig, though deeply in love, was so much fatigued that he could not +help sleeping. Itobad, who lay near him, never closed his eyes. He +arose in the night, entered his apartment, took the white arms and the +device of Zadig, and put his green armor in their place. At break of +day he went boldly to the grand magi to declare that so great a man as +he was conqueror. This was little expected; however, he was proclaimed +while Zadig was still asleep. Astarte, surprised and filled with +despair, returned to Babylon. The amphitheater was almost empty when +Zadig awoke; he sought for his arms, but could find none but the green +armor. With this he was obliged to cover himself, having nothing else +near him. Astonished and enraged, he put it on in a furious passion, +and advanced in this equipage. + +The people that still remained in the amphitheater and the circus +received him with hoots and hisses. They surrounded him and insulted +him to his face. Never did man suffer such cruel mortifications. He +lost his patience; with his saber he dispersed such of the populace as +dared to affront him; but he knew not what course to take. He could not +see the queen; he could not claim the white armor she had sent him +without exposing her; and thus, while she was plunged in grief, he was +filled with fury and distraction. He walked on the banks of the +Euphrates, fully persuaded that his star had destined him to inevitable +misery, and resolving in his own mind all his misfortunes, from the +adventure of the woman who hated one-eyed men to that of his armor. +"This," said he, "is the consequence of my having slept too long. Had I +slept less, I should now have been King of Babylon and in possession of +Astarte. Knowledge, virtue, and courage have hitherto served only to +make me miserable." He then let fall some secret murmurings against +Providence, and was tempted to believe that the world was governed by a +cruel destiny, which oppressed the good and prospered knights in green +armor. One of his greatest mortifications was his being obliged to wear +that green armor which had exposed him to such contumelious treatment. +A merchant happening to pass by, he sold it to him for a trifle and +bought a gown and a long bonnet. In this garb he proceeded along the +banks of the Euphrates, filled with despair, and secretly accusing +Providence, which thus continued to persecute him with unremitting +severity. + + + +THE HERMIT + + +While he was thus sauntering he met a hermit, whose white and venerable +beard hung down to his girdle. He held a book in his hand, which he +read with great attention. Zadig stopped, and made him a profound +obeisance. The hermit returned the compliment with such a noble and +engaging air, that Zadig had the curiosity to enter into conversation +with him. He asked him what book it was that he had been reading? "It +is the Book of Destinies," said the hermit; "wouldst thou choose to +look into it?" He put the book into the hands of Zadig, who, thoroughly +versed as he was in several languages, could not decipher a single +character of it. This only redoubled his curiosity. + +"Thou seemest," said this good father, "to be in great distress." + +"Alas," replied Zadig, "I have but too much reason." + +"If thou wilt permit me to accompany thee," resumed the old man, +"perhaps I may be of some service to thee. I have often poured the balm +of consolation into the bleeding heart of the unhappy." + +Zadig felt himself inspired with respect for the air, the beard, and +the book of the hermit. He found, in the course of the conversation, +that he was possessed of superior degrees of knowledge. The hermit +talked of fate, of justice, of morals, of the chief good, of human +weakness, and of virtue and vice, with such a spirited and moving +eloquence, that Zadig felt himself drawn toward him by an irresistible +charm. He earnestly entreated the favor of his company till their +return to Babylon. + +"I ask the same favor of thee," said the old man; "swear to me by +Oromazes, that whatever I do, thou wilt not leave me for some days." +Zadig swore, and they set out together. + +In the evening the two travelers arrived in a superb castle. The hermit +entreated a hospitable reception for himself and the young man who +accompanied him. The porter, whom one might have easily mistaken for a +great lord, introduced them with a kind of disdainful civility. He +presented them to a principal domestic, who showed them his master's +magnificent apartments. They were admitted to the lower end of the +table, without being honored with the least mark of regard by the lord +of the castle; but they were served, like the rest, with delicacy and +profusion. They were then presented with water to wash their hands, in +a golden basin adorned with emeralds and rubies. At last they were +conducted to bed in a beautiful apartment; and in the morning a +domestic brought each of them a piece of gold, after which they took +their leave and departed. + +"The master of the house," said Zadig, as they were proceeding on the +journey, "appears to be a generous man, though somewhat too proud; he +nobly performs the duties of hospitality." At that instant he observed +that a kind of large pocket, which the hermit had, was filled and +distended; and upon looking more narrowly he found that it contained +the golden basin adorned with precious stones, which the hermit had +stolen. He durst not take any notice of it, but he was filled with a +strange surprise. + +About noon, the hermit came to the door of a paltry house inhabited by +a rich miser, and begged the favor of an hospitable reception for a few +hours. An old servant, in a tattered garb, received them with a blunt +and rude air, and led them into the stable, where he gave them some +rotten olives, moldy bread, and sour beer. The hermit ate and drank +with as much seeming satisfaction as he had done the evening before; +and then addressing himself to the old servant, who watched them both, +to prevent their stealing anything, and rudely pressed them to depart, +he gave him the two pieces of gold he had received in the morning, and +thanked him for his great civility. + +"Pray," added he, "allow me to speak to thy master." The servant, +filled with astonishment, introduced the two travelers. "Magnificent +lord," said the hermit, "I cannot but return thee my most humble thanks +for the noble manner in which thou hast entertained us. Be pleased to +accept this golden basin as a small mark of my gratitude." The miser +started, and was ready to fall backward; but the hermit, without giving +him time to recover from his surprise, instantly departed with his +young fellow traveler. + +"Father," said Zadig, "what is the meaning of all this? Thou seemest to +me to be entirely different from other men; thou stealest a golden +basin adorned with precious stones from a lord who received thee +magnificently, and givest it to a miser who treats thee with +indignity." + +"Son," replied the old man, "this magnificent lord, who receives +strangers only from vanity and ostentation, will hereby be rendered +more wise; and the miser will learn to practice the duties of +hospitality. Be surprised at nothing, but follow me." + +Zadig knew not as yet whether he was in company with the most foolish +or the most prudent of mankind; but the hermit spoke with such an +ascendancy, that Zadig, who was moreover bound by his oath, could not +refuse to follow him. + +In the evening they arrived at a house built with equal elegance and +simplicity, where nothing favored either of prodigality or avarice. The +master of it was a philosopher, who had retired from the world, and who +cultivated in peace the study of virtue and wisdom, without any of that +rigid and morose severity so commonly to be found in men of his +character. He had chosen to build this country house, in which he +received strangers with a generosity free from ostentation. He went +himself to meet the two travelers, whom he led into a commodious +apartment, where he desired them to repose themselves a little. Soon +after he came and invited them to a decent and well-ordered repast +during which he spoke with great judgment of the last revolutions in +Babylon. He seemed to be strongly attached to the queen, and wished +that Zadig had appeared in the lists to dispute the crown. "But the +people," added he, "do not deserve to have such a king as Zadig." + +Zadig blushed, and felt his griefs redoubled. They agreed, in the +course of the conversation, that the things of this world did not +always answer the wishes of the wise. The hermit still maintained that +the ways of Providence were inscrutable; and that men were in the wrong +to judge of a whole, of which they understood but the smallest part. + +They talked of passions. "Ah," said Zadig, "how fatal are their +effects!" + +"They are in the winds," replied the hermit, "that swell the sails of +the ship; it is true, they sometimes sink her, but without them she +could not sail at all. The bile makes us sick and choleric; but without +bile we could not live. Everything in this world is dangerous, and yet +everything is necessary." + +The conversation turned on pleasure; and the hermit proved that it was +a present bestowed by the deity. "For," said he, "man cannot give +himself either sensations or ideas; he receives all; and pain and +pleasure proceed from a foreign cause as well as his being." + +Zadig was surprised to see a man, who had been guilty of such +extravagant actions, capable of reasoning with so much judgment and +propriety. At last, after a conversation equally entertaining and +instructive, the host led back his two guests to their apartment, +blessing Heaven for having sent him two men possessed of so much wisdom +and virtue. He offered them money with such an easy and noble air as +could not possibly give any offense. The hermit refused it, and said +that he must now take his leave of him, as he set out for Babylon +before it was light. Their parting was tender; Zadig especially felt +himself filled with esteem and affection for a man of such an amiable +character. + +When he and the hermit were alone in their apartment, they spent a long +time in praising their host. At break of day the old man awakened his +companion. "We must now depart," said he, "but while all the family are +still asleep, I will leave this man a mark of my esteem and affection." +So saying, he took a candle and set fire to the house. + +Zadig, struck with horror, cried aloud, and endeavored to hinder him +from committing such a barbarous action; but the hermit drew him away +by a superior force, and the house was soon in flames. The hermit, who, +with his companion, was already at a considerable distance, looked back +to the conflagration with great tranquillity. + +"Thanks be to God," said he, "the house of my dear host is entirely +destroyed! Happy man!" + +At these words Zadig was at once tempted to burst out a-laughing, to +reproach the reverend father, to beat him, and to run away. But he did +none of all of these, for still subdued by the powerful ascendancy of +the hermit, he followed him, in spite of himself, to the next stage. + +This was at the house of a charitable and virtuous widow, who had a +nephew fourteen years of age, a handsome and promising youth, and her +only hope. She performed the honors of her house as well as she could. +Next day, she ordered her nephew to accompany the strangers to a +bridge, which being lately broken down, was become extremely dangerous +in passing. The young man walked before them with great alacrity. As +they were crossing the bridge, "Come," said the hermit to the youth, "I +must show my gratitude to thy aunt." He then took him by the hair and +plunged him into the river. The boy sunk, appeared again on the surface +of the water, and was swallowed up by the current. + +"O monster! O thou most wicked of mankind!" cried Zadig. + +"Thou promisedst to behave with greater patience," said the hermit, +interrupting him. "Know that under the ruins of that house which +Providence hath set on fire the master hath found an immense treasure. +Know that this young man, whose life Providence hath shortened, would +have assassinated his aunt in the space of a year, and thee in that of +two." + +"Who told thee so, barbarian?" cried Zadig; "and though thou hadst read +this event in thy Book of Destinies, art thou permitted to drown a +youth who never did thee any harm?" + +While the Babylonian was thus exclaiming, he observed that the old man +had no longer a beard, and that his countenance assumed the features +and complexion of youth. The hermit's habit disappeared, and four +beautiful wings covered a majestic body resplendent with light. + +"O sent of heaven! O divine angel!" cried Zadig, humbly prostrating +himself on the ground," hast thou then descended from the Empyrean to +teach a weak mortal to submit to the eternal decrees of Providence?" + +"Men," said the angel Jesrad, "judge of all without knowing anything; +and, of all men, thou best deservest to be enlightened." + +Zadig begged to be permitted to speak. "I distrust myself," said he, +"but may I presume to ask the favor of thee to clear up one doubt that +still remains in my mind? Would it not have been better to have +corrected this youth, and made him virtuous, than to have drowned him?" + +"Had he been virtuous," replied Jesrad, "and enjoyed a longer life, it +would have been his fate to be assassinated himself, together with the +wife he would have married, and the child he would have had by her." + +"But why," said Zadig, "is it necessary that there should be crimes and +misfortunes, and that these misfortunes should fall on the good?" + +"The wicked," replied Jesrad, "are always unhappy; they serve to prove +and try the small number of the just that are scattered through the +earth; and there is no evil that is not productive of some good." + +"But," said Zadig, "suppose there were nothing but good and no evil at +all." + +"Then," replied Jesrad, "this earth would be another earth. The chain +of events would be ranged in another order and directed by wisdom; but +this other order, which would be perfect, can exist only in the eternal +abode of the Supreme Being, to which no evil can approach. The Deity +hath created millions of worlds, among which there is not one that +resembles another. This immense variety is the effect of His immense +power. There are not two leaves among the trees of the earth, nor two +globes in the unlimited expanse of heaven that are exactly similar; and +all that thou seest on the little atom in which thou art born, ought to +be in its proper time and place, according to the immutable decree of +Him who comprehends all. Men think that this child who hath just +perished is fallen into the water by chance; and that it is by the same +chance that this house is burned; but there is no such thing as chance; +all is either a trial, or a punishment, or a reward, or a foresight. +Remember the fisherman who thought himself the most wretched of +mankind. Oromazes sent thee to change his fate. Cease, then, frail +mortal, to dispute against what thou oughtest to adore." + +"But," said Zadig--as he pronounced the word "But," the angel took his +flight toward the tenth sphere. Zadig on his knees adored Providence, +and submitted. The angel cried to him from on high, "Direct thy course +toward Babylon." + + + +THE ENIGMAS + + +Zadig, entranced, as it were, and like a man about whose head the +thunder had burst, walked at random. He entered Babylon on the very day +when those who had fought at the tournaments were assembled in the +grand vestibule of the palace to explain the enigmas and to answer the +questions of the grand magi. All the knights were already arrived, +except the knight in green armor. As soon as Zadig appeared in the city +the people crowded round him; every eye was fixed on him; every mouth +blessed him, and every heart wished him the empire. The envious man saw +him pass; he frowned and turned aside. The people conducted him to the +place where the assembly was held. The queen, who was informed of his +arrival, became a prey to the most violent agitations of hope and fear. +She was filled with anxiety and apprehension. She could not comprehend +why Zadig was without arms, nor why Itobad wore the white armor. A +confused murmur arose at the sight of Zadig. They were equally +surprised and charmed to see him; but none but the knights who had +fought were permitted to appear in the assembly. + +"I have fought as well as the other knights," said Zadig, "but another +here wears my arms; and while I wait for the honor of proving the truth +of my assertion, I demand the liberty of presenting myself to explain +the enigmas." The question was put to the vote, and his reputation for +probity was still so deeply impressed in their minds, that they +admitted him without scruple. + +The first question proposed by the grand magi was: "What, of all things +in the world, is the longest and the shortest, the swiftest and the +slowest, the most divisible and the most extended, the most neglected +and the most regretted, without which nothing can be done, which +devours all that is little, and enlivens all that is great?" + +Itobad was to speak. He replied that so great a man as he did not +understand enigmas, and that it was sufficient for him to have +conquered by his strength and valor. Some said that the meaning of the +enigmas was Fortune; some, the Earth; and others the Light. Zadig said +that it was Time. "Nothing," added he, "is longer, since it is the +measure of eternity; nothing is shorter, since it is insufficient for +the accomplishment of our projects; nothing more slow to him that +expects, nothing more rapid to him that enjoys; in greatness, it +extends to infinity; in smallness, it is infinitely divisible; all men +neglect it; all regret the loss of it; nothing can be done without it; +it consigns to oblivion whatever is unworthy of being transmitted to +posterity, and it immortalizes such actions as are truly great." The +assembly acknowledged that Zadig was in the right. + +The next question was: "What is the thing which we receive without +thanks, which we enjoy without knowing how, which we give to others +when we know not where we are, and which we lose without perceiving +it?" + +Everyone gave his own explanation. Zadig alone guessed that it was +Life, and explained all the other enigmas with the same facility. +Itobad always said that nothing was more easy, and that he could have +answered them with the same readiness had he chosen to have given +himself the trouble. Questions were then proposed on justice, on the +sovereign good, and on the art of government. Zadig's answers were +judged to be the most solid. "What a pity is it," said they, "that such +a great genius should be so bad a knight!" + +"Illustrious lords," said Zadig, "I have had the honor of conquering in +the tournaments. It is to me that the white armor belongs. Lord Itobad +took possession of it during my sleep. He probably thought that it +would fit him better than the green. I am now ready to prove in your +presence, with my gown and sword, against all that beautiful white +armor which he took from me, that it is I who have had the honor of +conquering the brave Otamus." + +Itobad accepted the challenge with the greatest confidence. He never +doubted but what, armed as he was, with a helmet, a cuirass, and +brassarts, he would obtain an easy victory over a champion in a cap and +nightgown. Zadig drew his sword, saluting the queen, who looked at him +with a mixture of fear and joy. Itobad drew his without saluting +anyone. He rushed upon Zadig, like a man who had nothing to fear; he +was ready to cleave him in two. Zadig knew how to ward off his blows, +by opposing the strongest part of his sword to the weakest of that of +his adversary, in such a manner that Itobad's sword was broken. Upon +which Zadig, seizing his enemy by the waist, threw him on the ground; +and fixing the point of his sword at the breastplate, "Suffer thyself +to be disarmed," said he, "or thou art a dead man." + +Itobad, always surprised at the disgraces that happened to such a man +as he, was obliged to yield to Zadig, who took from him with great +composure his magnificent helmet, his superb cuirass, his fine +brassarts, his shining cuishes; clothed himself with them, and in this +dress ran to throw himself at the feet of Astarte. Cador easily proved +that the armor belonged to Zadig. He was acknowledged king by the +unanimous consent of the whole nation, and especially by that of +Astarte, who, after so many calamities, now tasted the exquisite +pleasure of seeing her lover worthy, in the eyes of all the world, to +be her husband. Itobad went home to be called lord in his own house. +Zadig was king, and was happy. The queen and Zadig adored Providence. +He sent in search of the robber Arbogad, to whom he gave an honorable +post in his army, promising to advance him to the first dignities if he +behaved like a true warrior, and threatening to hang him if he followed +the profession of a robber. + +Setoc, with the fair Almona, was called from the heart of Arabia and +placed at the head of the commerce of Babylon. Cador was preferred and +distinguished according to his great services. He was the friend of the +king; and the king was then the only monarch on earth that had a +friend. The little mute was not forgotten. + +But neither could the beautiful Semira be comforted for having believed +that Zadig would be blind of an eye; nor did Azora cease to lament her +having attempted to cut off his nose. Their griefs, however, he +softened by his presents. The envious man died of rage and shame. The +empire enjoyed peace, glory, and plenty. This was the happiest age of +the earth; it was governed by love and justice. The people blessed +Zadig, and Zadig blessed Heaven. + + + + +PEDRO DE ALARÇON + +_The Nail_ + +I + + +The thing which is most ardently desired by a man who steps into a +stagecoach, bent upon a long journey, is that his companions may be +agreeable, that they may have the same tastes, possibly the same vices, +be well educated and know enough not to be too familiar. + +When I opened the door of the coach I felt fearful of encountering an +old woman suffering with the asthma, an ugly one who could not bear the +smell of tobacco smoke, one who gets seasick every time she rides in a +carriage, and little angels who are continually yelling and screaming +for God knows what. + +Sometimes you may have hoped to have a beautiful woman for a traveling +companion; for instance, a widow of twenty or thirty years of age (let +us say, thirty-six), whose delightful conversation will help you pass +away the time. But if you ever had this idea, as a reasonable man you +would quickly dismiss it, for you know that such good fortune does not +fall to the lot of the ordinary mortal. These thoughts were in my mind +when I opened the door of the stagecoach at exactly eleven o'clock on a +stormy night of the Autumn of 1844. I had ticket No. 2, and I was +wondering who No. 1 might be. The ticket agent had assured me that No. +3 had not been sold. + +It was pitch dark within. When I entered I said, "Good evening," but no +answer came. "The devil!" I said to myself. "Is my traveling companion +deaf, dumb, or asleep?" Then I said in a louder tone: "Good evening," +but no answer came. + +All this time the stagecoach was whirling along, drawn by ten horses. + +I was puzzled. Who was my companion? Was it a man? Was it a woman? Who +was the silent No. 1, and, whoever it might be, why did he or she not +reply to my courteous salutation? It would have been well to have lit a +match, but I was not smoking then and had none with me. What should I +do? I concluded to rely upon my sense of feeling, and stretched out my +hand to the place where No. 1 should have been, wondering whether I +would touch a silk dress or an overcoat, but there was nothing there. +At that moment a flash of lightning, herald of a quickly approaching +storm, lit up the night, and I perceived that there was no one in the +coach excepting myself. I burst out into a roar of laughter, and yet a +moment later I could not help wondering what had become of No. 1. + +A half hour later we arrived at the first stop, and I was just about to +ask the guard who flashed his lantern into the compartment why there +was no No. 1, when she entered. In the yellow rays I thought it was a +vision: a pale, graceful, beautiful woman, dressed in deep mourning. + +Here was the fulfillment of my dream, the widow I had hoped for. + +I extended my hand to the unknown to assist her into the coach, and she +sat down beside me, murmuring: "Thank you, sir. Good evening," but in a +tone that was so sad that it went to my very heart. + +"How unfortunate," I thought. "There are only fifty miles between here +and Malaga. I wish to heaven this coach were going to Kamschatka." The +guard slammed the door, and we were in darkness. I wished that the +storm would continue and that we might have a few more flashes of +lightning. But the storm didn't. It fled away, leaving only a few +pallid stars, whose light practically amounted to nothing. I made a +brave effort to start a conversation. + +"Do you feel well?" + +"Are you going to Malaga?" + +"Did you like the Alhambra?" + +"You come from Granada?" + +"Isn't the night damp?" + +To which questions she respectively responded: + +"Thanks, very well." + +"Yes." + +"No, sir." + +"Yes!" + +"Awful!" + +It was quite certain that my traveling companion was not inclined to +conversation. I tried to think up something original to say to her, but +nothing occurred to me, so I lost myself for the moment in meditation. +Why had this woman gotten on the stage at the first stop instead of at +Granada? Why was she alone? Was she married? Was she really a widow? +Why was she so sad? I certainly had no right to ask her any of these +questions, and yet she interested me. How I wished the sun would rise. +In the daytime one may talk freely, but in the pitch darkness one feels +a certain oppression, it seems like taking an unfair advantage. + +My unknown did not sleep a moment during the night. I could tell this +by her breathing and by her sighing. It is probably unnecessary to add +that I did not sleep either. Once I asked her: "Do you feel ill?" and +she replied: "No, sir, thank you. I beg pardon if I have disturbed your +sleep." + +"Sleep!" I exclaimed disdainfully. "I do not care to sleep. I feared +you were suffering." + +"Oh, no," she exclaimed, in a voice that contradicted her words, "I am +not suffering." + +At last the sun rose. How beautiful she was! I mean the woman, not the +sun. What deep suffering had lined her face and lurked in the depths of +her beautiful eyes! + +She was elegantly dressed and evidently belonged to a good family. +Every gesture bore the imprint of distinction. She was the kind of a +woman you expect to see in the principal box at the opera, resplendent +with jewels, surrounded by admirers. + +We breakfasted at Colmenar. After that my companion became more +confidential, and I said to myself when we again entered the coach: +"Philip, you have met your fate. It's now or never." + + + +II + + +I regretted the very first word I mentioned to her regarding my +feelings. She became a block of ice, and I lost at once all that I +might have gained in her good graces. Still she answered me very +kindly: "It is not because it is you, sir, who speak to me of love, but +love itself is something which I hold in horror." + +"But why, dear lady?" I inquired. + +"Because my heart is dead. Because I have loved to the point of +delirium, and I have been deceived." + +I felt that I should talk to her in a philosophic way and there were a +lot of platitudes on the tip of my tongue, but I refrained. I knew that +she meant what she said. When we arrived at Malaga, she said to me in a +tone I shall never forget as long as I live: "I thank you a thousand +times for your kind attention during the trip, and hope you will +forgive me if I do not tell you my name and address." + +"Do you mean then that we shall not meet again?" + +"Never! And you, especially, should not regret it." And then with a +smile that was utterly without joy she extended her exquisite hand to +me and said: "Pray to God for me." + +I pressed her hand and made a low bow. She entered a handsome victoria +which was awaiting her, and as it moved away she bowed to me again. + + * * * * * + +Two months later I met her again. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon I was jogging along in an old cart on +the road that leads to Cordoba. The object of my journey was to examine +some land which I owned in that neighborhood and pass three or four +weeks with one of the judges of the Supreme Court, who was an intimate +friend of mine and had been my schoolmate at the University of Granada. + +He received me with open arms. As I entered his handsome house I could +but note the perfect taste and elegance of the furniture and +decorations. + +"Ah, Zarco," I said, "you have married, and you have never told me +about it. Surely this was not the way to treat a man who loved you as +much as I do!" + +"I am not married, and what is more I never will marry," answered the +judge sadly. + +"I believe that you are not married, dear boy, since you say so, but I +cannot understand the declaration that you never will. You must be +joking." + +"I swear that I am telling you the truth," he replied. + +"But what a metamorphosis!" I exclaimed. "You were always a partisan of +marriage, and for the past two years you have been writing to me and +advising me to take a life partner. Whence this wonderful change, dear +friend? Something must have happened to you, something unfortunate, I +fear?" + +"To me?" answered the judge somewhat embarrassed. + +"Yes, to you. Something has happened, and you are going to tell me all +about it. You live here alone, have practically buried yourself in this +great house. Come, tell me everything." + +The judge pressed my hand. "Yes, yes, you shall know all. There is no +man more unfortunate than I am. But listen, this is the day upon which +all the inhabitants go to the cemetery, and I must be there, if only +for form's sake. Come with me. It is a pleasant afternoon and the walk +will do you good, after riding so long in that old cart. The location +of the cemetery is a beautiful one, and I am quite sure you will enjoy +the walk. On our way, I will tell you the incident that ruined my life, +and you shall judge yourself whether I am justified in my hatred of +women." + +As together we walked along the flower-bordered road, my friend told me +the following story: + +Two years ago when I was Assistant District Attorney in ----, I +obtained permission from my chief to spend a month in Sevilla. In the +hotel where I lodged there was a beautiful young woman who passed for a +widow but whose origin, as well as her reasons for staying in that +town, were a mystery to all. Her installation, her wealth, her total +lack of friends or acquaintances and the sadness of her expression, +together with her incomparable beauty, gave rise to a thousand +conjectures. + +Her rooms were directly opposite mine, and I frequently met her in the +hall or on the stairway, only too glad to have the chance of bowing to +her. She was unapproachable, however, and it was impossible for me to +secure an introduction. Two weeks later, fate was to afford me the +opportunity of entering her apartment. I had been to the theater that +night, and when I returned to my room I thoughtlessly opened the door +of her apartment instead of that of my own. The beautiful woman was +reading by the light of the lamp and started when she saw me. I was so +embarrassed by my mistake that for a moment I could only stammer +unintelligible words. My confusion was so evident that she could not +doubt for a moment that I had made a mistake. I turned to the door, +intent upon relieving her of my presence as quickly as possible, when +she said with the most exquisite courtesy: "In order to show you that I +do not doubt your good faith and that I'm not at all offended, I beg +that you will call upon me again, _intentionally_." + +Three days passed before I got up sufficient courage to accept her +invitation. Yes, I was madly in love with her; accustomed as I am to +analyze my own sensations, I knew that my passion could only end in the +greatest happiness or the deepest suffering. However, at the end of the +three days I went to her apartment and spent the evening there. She +told me that her name was Blanca, that she was born in Madrid, and that +she was a widow. She played and sang for me and asked me a thousand +questions about myself, my profession, my family, and every word she +said increased my love for her. From that night my soul was the slave +of her soul; yes, and it _will be forever_. + +I called on her again the following night, and thereafter every +afternoon and evening I was with her. We loved each other, but not a +word of love had ever been spoken between us. + +One evening she said to me: "I married a man without loving him. +Shortly after marriage I hated him. Now he is dead. Only God knows what +I suffered. Now I understand what love means; it is either heaven or it +is hell. For me, up to the present time, it has been hell." + +I could not sleep that night. I lay awake thinking over these last +words of Blanca's. Somehow this woman frightened me. Would I be her +heaven and she my hell? + +My leave of absence expired. I could have asked for an extension, +pretending illness, but the question was, should I do it? I consulted +Blanca. + +"Why do you ask me?" she said, taking my hand. + +"Because I love you. Am I doing wrong in loving you?" + +"No," she said, becoming very pale, and then she put both arms about my +neck and her beautiful lips touched mine. + +Well, I asked for another month and, thanks to you, dear friend, it was +granted. Never would they have given it to me without your influence. + +My relations with Blanca were more than love; they were delirium, +madness, fanaticism, call it what you will. Every day my passion for +her increased, and the morrow seemed to open up vistas of new +happiness. And yet I could not avoid feeling at times a mysterious, +indefinable fear. And this I knew she felt as well as I did. We both +feared to lose one another. One day I said to Blanca: + +"We must marry, as quickly as possible." + +She gave me a strange look. "You wish to marry me?" + +"Yes, Blanca," I said, "I am proud of you. I want to show you to the +whole world. I love you and I want you, pure, noble, and saintly as you +are." + +"I cannot marry you," answered this incomprehensible woman. She would +never give a reason. + +Finally my leave of absence expired, and I told her that on the +following day we must separate. + +"Separate? It is impossible!" she exclaimed. "I love you too much for +that." + +"But you know, Blanca, that I worship you." + +"Then give up your profession. I am rich. We will live our lives out +together," she said, putting her soft hand over my mouth to prevent my +answer. + +I kissed the hand and then, gently removing it, I answered: "I would +accept this offer from my wife, although it would be a sacrifice for me +to give up my career; but I will not accept it from a woman who refuses +to marry me." + +Blanca remained thoughtful for several minutes; then, raising her head, +she looked at me and said very quietly, but with a determination which +could not be misunderstood: "I will be your wife, and I do not ask you +to give up your profession. Go back to your office. How long will it +take you to arrange your business matters and secure from the +government another leave of absence to return to Sevilla?" + +"A month." + +"A month? Well, here I will await you. Return within a month, and I +will be your wife. To-day is the fifteenth of April. You will be here +on the fifteenth of May?" + +"You may rest assured of that." + +"You swear it?" + +"I swear it." + +"You love me?" + +"More than my life." + +"Go, then, and return. Farewell." + +I left on the same day. The moment I arrived home I began to arrange my +house to receive my bride. As you know I solicited another leave of +absence, and so quickly did I arrange my business affairs that at the +end of two weeks I was ready to return to Sevilla. + +I must tell you that during this fortnight I did not receive a single +letter from Blanca, though I wrote her six. I started at once for +Sevilla, arriving in that city on the thirtieth of April, and went at +once to the hotel where we had first met. + +I learned that Blanca had left there two days after my departure +without telling anyone her destination. + +Imagine my indignation, my disappointment, my suffering. She went away +without even leaving a line for me, without telling me whither she was +going. It never occurred to me to remain in Sevilla until the fifteenth +of May to ascertain whether she would return on that date. Three days +later I took up my court work and strove to forget her. + + * * * * * + +A few moments after my friend Zarco finished the story, we arrived at +the cemetery. + +This is only a small plot of ground covered with a veritable forest of +crosses and surrounded by a low stone wall. As often happens in Spain, +when the cemeteries are very small, it is necessary to dig up one +coffin in order to lower another. Those thus disinterred are thrown in +a heap in a corner of the cemetery, where skulls and bones are piled up +like a haystack. As we were passing, Zarco and I looked at the skulls, +wondering to whom they could have belonged, to rich or poor, noble or +plebeian. + +Suddenly the judge bent down, and picking up a skull, exclaimed in +astonishment: + +"Look here, my friend, what is this? It is surely a nail!" + +Yes, a long nail had been driven in the top of the skull which he held +in his hand. The nail had been driven into the head, and the point had +penetrated what had been the roof of the mouth. + +What could this mean? He began to conjecture, and soon both of us felt +filled with horror. + +"I recognize the hand of Providence!" exclaimed the judge. "A terrible +crime has evidently been committed, and would never have come to light +had it not been for this accident. I shall do my duty, and will not +rest until I have brought the assassin to the scaffold." + + + +III + + +My friend Zarco was one of the keenest criminal judges in Spain. Within +a very few days he discovered that the corpse to which this skull +belonged had been buried in a rough wooden coffin which the grave +digger had taken home with him, intending to use it for firewood. +Fortunately, the man had not yet burned it up, and on the lid the judge +managed to decipher the initials: "A.G.R." together with the date of +interment. He had at once searched the parochial books of every church +in the neighborhood, and a week later found the following entry: + + "In the parochial church of San Sebastian of the village of ----, + on the 4th of May, 1843, the funeral rites as prescribed by our + holy religion were performed over the body of Don Alfonzo + Gutierrez Romeral, and he was buried in the cemetery. He was a + native of this village and did not receive the holy sacrament, nor + did he confess, for he died suddenly of apoplexy at the age of + thirty-one. He was married to Doña Gabriela Zahara del Valle, a + native of Madrid, and left no issue him surviving." + +The judge handed me the above certificate, duly certified to by the +parish priest, and exclaimed: "Now everything is as clear as day, and I +am positive that within a week the assassin will be arrested. The +apoplexy in this case happens to be an iron nail driven into the man's +head, which brought quick and sudden death to A.G.R. I have the nail, +and I shall soon find the hammer." + +According to the testimony of the neighbors, Señor Romeral was a young +and rich landowner who originally came from Madrid, where he had +married a beautiful wife; four months before the death of the husband, +his wife had gone to Madrid to pass a few months with her family; the +young woman returned home about the last day of April, that is, about +three months and a half after she had left her husband's residence to +go to Madrid; the death of Señor Romeral occurred about a week after +her return. The shock caused to the widow by the sudden death of her +husband was so great that she became ill and informed her friends that +she could not continue to live in the same place where everything +recalled to her the man she had lost, and just before the middle of May +she had left for Madrid, ten or twelve days after the death of her +husband. + +The servants of the deceased had testified that the couple did not live +amicably together and had frequent quarrels; that the absence of three +months and a half which preceded the last eight days the couple had +lived together was practically an understanding that they were to be +ultimately separated on account of mysterious disagreements which had +existed between them from the date of their marriage; that on the date +of the death of the deceased, both husband and wife were together in +the former's bedroom; that at midnight the bell was rung violently and +they heard the cries of the wife; that they rushed to the room and were +met at the door by the wife, who was very pale and greatly perturbed, +and she cried out: "An apoplexy! Run for a doctor! My poor husband is +dying!" That when they entered the room they found their master lying +upon a couch, and he was dead. The doctor who was called certified that +Señor Romeral had died of cerebral congestion. + +Three medical experts testified that death brought about as this one +had been could not be distinguished from apoplexy. The physician who +had been called in had not thought to look for the head of the nail, +which was concealed by the hair of the victim, nor was he in any sense +to blame for this oversight. + +The judge immediately issued a warrant for the arrest of Doña Gabriela +Zahara del Valle, widow of Señor Romeral. + +"Tell me," I asked the judge one day, "do you think you will ever +capture this woman?" + +"I'm positive of it." + +"Why?" + +"Because in the midst of all these routine criminal affairs there +occurs now and then what may be termed a dramatic fatality which never +fails. To put it in another way: when the bones come out of the tomb to +testify, there is very little left for the judge to do." + +In spite of the hopes of my friend, Gabriela was not found, and three +months later she was, according to the laws of Spain, tried, found +guilty, and condemned to death in her absence. + +I returned home, not without promising to be with Zarco the following +year. + + + +IV + + +That winter I passed in Granada. One evening I had been invited to a +great ball given by a prominent Spanish lady. As I was mounting the +stairs of the magnificent residence, I was startled by the sight of a +face which was easily distinguishable even in this crowd of southern +beauties. It was she, my unknown, the mysterious woman of the +stagecoach, in fact, No. 1, of whom I spoke at the beginning of this +narrative. + +I made my way toward her, extending my hand in greeting. She recognized +me at once. + +"Señora," I said, "I have kept my promise not to search for you. I did +not know I would meet you here. Had I suspected it I would have +refrained from coming, for fear of annoying you. Now that I am here, +tell me whether I may recognize you and talk to you." + +"I see that you are vindictive," she answered graciously, putting her +little hand in mine. "But I forgive you. How are you?" + +"In truth, I don't know. My health--that is, the health of my soul, for +you would not ask me about anything else in a ballroom--depends upon +the health of yours. What I mean is that I could only be happy if you +are happy. May I ask if that wound of the heart which you told me about +when I met you in the stagecoach has healed?" + +"You know as well as I do that there are wounds which never heal." + +With a graceful bow she turned away to speak to an acquaintance, and I +asked a friend of mine who was passing: "Can you tell me who that woman +is?" + +"A South American whose name is Mercedes de Meridanueva." + +On the following day I paid a visit to the lady, who was residing at +that time at the Hotel of the Seven Planets. The charming Mercedes +received me as if I were an intimate friend, and invited me to walk +with her through the wonderful Alhambra and subsequently to dine with +her. During the six hours we were together she spoke of many things, +and as we always returned to the subject of disappointed love, I felt +impelled to tell her the experience of my friend, Judge Zarco. + +She listened to me very attentively and when I concluded she laughed +and said: "Let this be a lesson to you not to fall in love with women +whom you do not know." + +"Do not think for a moment," I answered, "that I've invented this +story." + +"Oh, I don't doubt the truth of it. Perhaps there may be a mysterious +woman in the Hotel of the Seven Planets of Granada, and perhaps she +doesn't resemble the one your friend fell in love with in Sevilla. So +far as I am concerned, there is no risk of my falling in love with +anyone, for I never speak three times to the same man." + +"Señora! That is equivalent to telling me that you refuse to see me +again!" + +"No, I only wish to inform you that I leave Granada to-morrow, and it is +probable that we will never meet again." + +"Never? You told me that during our memorable ride in the stagecoach, +and you see that you are not a good prophet." + +I noticed that she had become very pale. She rose from the table +abruptly, saying: "Well, let us leave that to Fate. For my part I +repeat that I am bidding you an eternal farewell." + +She said these last words very solemnly, and then with a graceful bow, +turned and ascended the stairway which led to the upper story of the +hotel. + +I confess that I was somewhat annoyed at the disdainful way in which +she seemed to have terminated our acquaintance, yet this feeling was +lost in the pity I felt for her when I noted her expression of +suffering. + +We had met for the last time. Would to God that it had been for the +last time! Man proposes, but God disposes. + + + +V + + +A few days later business affairs brought me to the town wherein +resided my friend Judge Zarco. I found him as lonely and as sad as at +the time of my last visit. He had been able to find out nothing about +Blanca, but he could not forget her for a moment. Unquestionably this +woman was his fate; his heaven or his hell, as the unfortunate man was +accustomed to saying. + +We were soon to learn that his judicial superstition was to be fully +justified. + +The evening of the day of my arrival we were seated in his office, +reading the last reports of the police, who had been vainly attempting +to trace Gabriela, when an officer entered and handed the judge a note +which read as follows: + +"In the Hotel of the Lion there is a lady who wishes to speak to Judge +Zarco." + +"Who brought this?" asked the judge. + +"A servant." + +"Who sent him?" + +"He gave no name." + +The judge looked thoughtfully at the smoke of his cigar for a few +moments, and then said: "A woman! To see me? I don't know why, but this +thing frightens me. What do you think of it, Philip?" + +"That it is your duty as a judge to answer the call, of course. Perhaps +she may be able to give you some information in regard to Gabriela." + +"You are right," answered Zarco, rising. He put a revolver in his +pocket, threw his cloak over his shoulders and went out. + +Two hours later he returned. + +I saw at once by his face that some great happiness must have come to +him. He put his arms about me and embraced me convulsively, exclaiming: +"Oh, dear friend, if you only knew, if you only knew!" + +"But I don't know anything," I answered. "What on earth has happened to +you?" + +"I'm simply the happiest man in the world!" + +"But what is it?" + +"The note that called me to the hotel was from _her_." + +"But from whom? From Gabriela Zahara?" + +"Oh, stop such nonsense! Who is thinking of those things now? It was +she, I tell you, the other one!" + +"In the name of heaven, be calm and tell me whom you are talking +about." + +"Who could it be but Blanca, my love, my life?" + +"Blanca?" I answered with astonishment. "But the woman deceived you." + +"Oh, no; that was all a foolish mistake on my part." + +"Explain yourself." + +"Listen: Blanca adores me!" + +"Oh, you think she does? Well, go on." + +"When Blanca and I separated on the fifteenth of April, it was +understood that we were to meet again on the fifteenth of May. Shortly +after I left she received a letter calling her to Madrid on urgent +family business, and she did not expect me back until the fifteenth of +May, so she remained in Madrid until the first. But, as you know, I, in +my impatience could not wait, and returned fifteen days before I had +agreed, and not finding her at the hotel I jumped to the conclusion +that she had deceived me, and I did not wait. I have gone through two +years of torment and suffering, all due to my own stupidity." + +"But she could have written you a letter." + +"She said that she had forgotten the address." + +"Ah, my poor friend," I exclaimed, "I see that you are striving to +convince yourself. Well, so much the better. Now, when does the +marriage take place? I suppose that after so long and dark a night the +sun of matrimony will rise radiant." + +"Don't laugh," exclaimed Zarco; "you shall be my best man." + +"With much pleasure." + + * * * * * + +Man proposes, but God disposes. We were still seated in the library, +chatting together, when there came a knock at the door. It was about +two o'clock in the morning. The judge and I were both startled, but we +could not have told why. The servant opened the door, and a moment +later a man dashed into the library so breathless from hard running +that he could scarcely speak. + +"Good news, judge, grand news!" he said when he recovered breath. "We +have won!" + +The man was the prosecuting attorney. + +"Explain yourself, my dear friend," said the judge, motioning him to a +chair. "What remarkable occurrence could have brought you hither in +such haste and at this hour of the morning?" + +"We have arrested Gabriela Zahara." + +"Arrested her?" exclaimed the judge joyfully. + +"Yes, sir, we have her. One of our detectives has been following her +for a month. He has caught her, and she is now locked up in a cell of +the prison." + +"Then let us go there at once!" exclaimed the judge. "We will +interrogate her to-night. Do me the favor to notify my secretary. Owing +to the gravity of the case, you yourself must be present. Also notify +the guard who has charge of the head of Señor Romeral. It has been my +opinion from the beginning that this criminal woman would not dare deny +the horrible murder when she was confronted with the evidence of her +crime. So far as you are concerned," said the judge, turning to me, "I +will appoint you assistant secretary, so that you can be present +without violating the law." + +I did not answer. A horrible suspicion had been growing within me, a +suspicion which, like some infernal animal, was tearing at my heart +with claws of steel. Could Gabriela and Blanca be one and the same? I +turned to the assistant district attorney. + +"By the way," I asked, "where was Gabriela when she was arrested?" + +"In the Hotel of the Lion." + +My suffering was frightful, but I could say nothing, do nothing without +compromising the judge; besides, I was not sure. Even if I were +positive that Gabriela and Blanca were the same person, what could my +unfortunate friend do? Feign a sudden illness? Flee the country? My +only way was to keep silent and let God work it out in His own way. The +orders of the judge had already been communicated to the chief of +police and the warden of the prison. Even at this hour the news had +spread throughout the city and idlers were gathering to see the rich +and beautiful woman who would ascend the scaffold. I still clung to the +slender hope that Gabriela and Blanca were not the same person. But +when I went toward the prison I staggered like a drunken man and was +compelled to lean upon the shoulder of one of the officials, who asked +me anxiously if I were ill. + + + +VI + + +We arrived at the prison at four o'clock in the morning. The large +reception room was brilliantly lighted. The guard, holding a black box +in which was the skull of Señor Romeral, was awaiting us. + +The judge took his seat at the head of the long table; the prosecuting +attorney sat on his right, and the chief of police stood by with his +arms folded. I and the secretary sat on the left of the judge. A number +of police officers and detectives were standing near the door. + +The judge touched his bell and said to the warden: + +"Bring in Doña Gabriela Zahara!" + +I felt as if I were dying, and instead of looking at the door, I looked +at the judge to see if I could read in his face the solution of this +frightful problem. + +I saw him turn livid and clutch his throat with both hands, as if to +stop a cry of agony, and then he turned to me with a look of infinite +supplication. + +"Keep quiet!" I whispered, putting my finger on my lips, and then I +added: "I knew it." + +The unfortunate man arose from his chair. + +"Judge!" I exclaimed, and in that one word I conveyed to him the full +sense of his duty and of the dangers which surrounded him. He +controlled himself and resumed his seat, but were it not for the light +in his eyes, he might have been taken for a dead man. Yes, the man was +dead; only the judge lived. + +When I had convinced myself of this, I turned and looked at the +accused. Good God! Gabriela Zahara was not only Blanca, the woman my +friend so deeply loved, but she was also the woman I had met in the +stagecoach and subsequently at Granada, the beautiful South American, +Mercedes! + +All these fantastic women had now merged into one, the real one who +stood before us, accused of the murder of her husband and who had been +condemned to die. + +There was still a chance to prove herself innocent. Could she do it? +This was my one supreme hope, as it was that of my poor friend. + +Gabriela (we will call her now by her real name) was deathly pale, but +apparently calm. Was she trusting to her innocence or to the weakness +of the judge? Our doubts were soon solved. Up to that moment the +accused had looked at no one but the judge. I did not know whether she +desired to encourage him or menace him, or to tell him that his Blanca +could not be an assassin. But noting the impassibility of the +magistrate and that his face was as expressionless as that of a corpse, +she turned to the others, as if seeking help from them. Then her eyes +fell upon me, and she blushed slightly. + +The judge now seemed to awaken from his stupor and asked in a harsh +voice: + +"What is your name?" + +"Gabriela Zahara, widow of Romeral," answered the accused in a soft +voice. + +Zarco trembled. He had just learned that his Blanca had never existed; +she told him so herself--she who only three hours before had consented +to become his wife! + +Fortunately, no one was looking at the judge, all eyes being fixed upon +Gabriela, whose marvelous beauty and quiet demeanor carried to all an +almost irresistible conviction of her innocence. + +The judge recovered himself, and then, like a man who is staking more +than life upon the cast of a die, he ordered the guard to open the +black box. + +"Madame!" said the judge sternly, his eyes seeming to dart flames, +"approach and tell me whether you recognize this head?" + +At a signal from the judge the guard opened the black box and lifted +out the skull. + +A cry of mortal agony rang through that room; one could not tell +whether it was of fear or of madness. The woman shrank back, her eyes +dilating with terror, and screamed: "Alfonzo, Alfonzo!" + +Then she seemed to fall into a stupor. All turned to the judge, +murmuring: "She is guilty beyond a doubt." + +"Do you recognize the nail which deprived your husband of life?" said +the judge, arising from his chair, looking like a corpse rising from +the grave. + +"Yes, sir," answered Gabriela mechanically. + +"That is to say, you admit that you assassinated your husband?" asked +the judge, in a voice that trembled with his great suffering. + +"Sir," answered the accused, "I do not care to live any more, but +before I die I would like to make a statement." + +The judge fell back in his chair and then asked me by a look: "What is +she going to say?" + +I, myself, was almost stupefied by fear. + +Gabriela stood before them, her hands clasped and a far-away look in +her large, dark eyes. + +"I am going to confess," she said, "and my confession will be my +defense, although it will not be sufficient to save me from the +scaffold. Listen to me, all of you! Why deny that which is +self-evident? I was alone with my husband when he died. The servants +and the doctor have testified to this. Hence, only I could have killed +him. Yes, I committed the crime, but another man forced me to do it." + +The judge trembled when he heard these words, but, dominating his +emotion, he asked courageously: + +"The name of that man, madame? Tell us at once the name of the +scoundrel!" + +Gabriela looked at the judge with an expression of infinite love, as a +mother would look at the child she worshiped, and answered: "By a +single word I could drag this man into the depths with me. But I will +not. No one shall ever know his name, for he has loved me and I love +him. Yes, I love him, although I know he will do nothing to save me!" + +The judge half rose from his chair and extended his hands beseechingly, +but she looked at him as if to say: "Be careful! You will betray +yourself, and it will do no good." + +He sank back into his chair, and Gabriela continued her story in a +quiet, firm voice: + +"I was forced to marry a man I hated. I hated him more after I married +him than I did before. I lived three years in martyrdom. One day there +came into my life a man whom I loved. He demanded that I should marry +him, he asked me to fly with him to a heaven of happiness and love. He +was a man of exceptional character, high and noble, whose only fault +was that he loved me too much. Had I told him: 'I have deceived you, I +am not a widow; my husband is living,' he would have left me at once. I +invented a thousand excuses, but he always answered: 'Be my wife!' What +could I do? I was bound to a man of the vilest character and habits, +whom I loathed. Well, I killed this man, believing that I was +committing an act of justice, and God punished me, for my lover +abandoned me. And now I am very, very tired of life, and all I ask of +you is that death may come as quickly as possible." + +Gabriela stopped speaking. The judge had buried his face in his hands, +as if he were thinking, but I could see he was shaking like an +epileptic. + +"Your honor," repeated Gabriela, "grant my request that I may die +soon." + +The judge made a sign to the guards to remove the prisoner. + +Before she followed them, she gave me a terrible look in which there +was more of pride than of repentance. + + * * * * * + +I do not wish to enter into details of the condition of the judge +during the following day. In the great emotional struggle which took +place, the officer of the law conquered the man, and he confirmed the +sentence of death. + +On the following day the papers were sent to the Court of Appeals, and +then Zarco came to me and said: "Wait here until I return. Take care of +this unfortunate woman, but do not visit her, for your presence would +humiliate instead of consoling her. Do not ask me whither I am going, +and do not think that I am going to commit the very foolish act of +taking my own life. Farewell, and forgive me all the worry I have +caused you." + +Twenty days later the Court of Appeals confirmed the sentence, and +Gabriela Zahara was placed in the death cell. + + * * * * * + +The morning of the day fixed for the execution came, and still the +judge had not returned. The scaffold had been erected in the center of +the square, and an enormous crowd had gathered. I stood by the door of +the prison, for, while I had obeyed the wish of my friend that I should +not call on Gabriela in her prison, I believed it my duty to represent +him in that supreme moment and accompany the woman he had loved to the +foot of the scaffold. + +When she appeared, surrounded by her guards, I hardly recognized her. +She had grown very thin and seemed hardly to have the strength to lift +to her lips the small crucifix she carried in her hand. + +"I am here, señora. Can I be of service to you?" I asked her as she +passed by me. + +She raised her deep, sunken eyes to mine, and, when she recognized me, +she exclaimed: + +"Oh, thanks, thanks! This is a great consolation for me, in my last +hour of life. Father," she added, turning to the priest who stood +beside her, "may I speak a few words to this generous friend?" + +"Yes, my daughter," answered the venerable minister. + +Then Gabriela asked me: "Where is he?" + +"He is absent--" + +"May God bless him and make him happy! When you see him, ask him to +forgive me even as I believe God has already forgiven me. Tell him I +love him yet, although this love is the cause of my death." + +We had arrived at the foot of the scaffold stairway, where I was +compelled to leave her. A tear, perhaps the last one there was in that +suffering heart, rolled down her cheek. Once more she said: "Tell him +that I died blessing him." + +Suddenly there came a roar like that of thunder. The mass of people +swayed, shouted, danced, laughed like maniacs, and above all this +tumult one word rang out clearly: + +"Pardoned! Pardoned!" + +At the entrance to the square appeared a man on horseback, galloping +madly toward the scaffold. In his hand he waved a white handkerchief, +and his voice rang high above the clamor of the crowd: "Pardoned! +Pardoned!" + +It was the judge. Reining up his foaming horse at the foot of the +scaffold, he extended a paper to the chief of police. + +Gabriela, who had already mounted some of the steps, turned and gave +the judge a look of infinite love and gratitude. + +"God bless you!" she exclaimed, and then fell senseless. + +As soon as the signatures and seals upon the document had been verified +by the authorities, the priest and the judge rushed to the accused to +undo the cords which bound her hands and arms and to revive her. + +All their efforts were useless, however. Gabriela Zahara was dead. + + + + +LUIGI CAPUANA + +_The Deposition_ + + +"I know nothing at all about it, your honor!" + +"Nothing at all? How can that be? It all happened within fifty yards of +your shop." + +"'Nothing at all,' I said, ... in an off-hand way; but really, next to +nothing. I am a barber, your honor, and Heaven be praised! I have +custom enough to keep me busy from morning till night. There are three +of us in the shop, and what with shaving and combing and hair-cutting, +not one of the three has the time to stop and scratch his head, and I +least of all. Many of my customers are so kind as to prefer my services +to those of my two young men; perhaps because I amuse them with my +little jokes. And, what with lathering and shaving this face and that, +and combing the hair on so many heads--how does your honor expect me to +pay attention to other people's affairs? And the morning that I read +about it in the paper, why, I stood there with my mouth wide open, and +I said, 'Well, that was the way it was bound to end!'" + +"Why did you say, 'That was the way it was bound to end'?" + +"Why--because it had ended that way! You see--on the instant, I called +to mind the ugly face of the husband. Every time I saw him pass up or +down the street--one of those impressions that no one can account +for--I used to think, 'That fellow has the face of a convict!' But of +course that proves nothing. There are plenty who have the bad luck to +be uglier than mortal sin, but very worthy people all the same. But in +this case I didn't think that I was mistaken." + +"But you were friends. He used to come very often and sit down at the +entrance to your barber shop." + +"Very often? Only once in a while, your honor! 'By your leave, +neighbor,' he would say. He always called me 'neighbor'; that was his +name for everyone. And I would say, 'Why, certainly.' The chair stood +there, empty. Your honor understands that I could hardly be so uncivil +as to say to him, 'No, you can't sit down.' A barber shop is a public +place, like a café or a beer saloon. At all events, one may sit down +without paying for it, and no need to have a shave or hair-cut, either! +'By your leave, neighbor,' and there he would sit, in silence, smoking +and scowling, with his eyes half shut. He would loaf there for half an +hour, an hour, sometimes longer. He annoyed me, I don't deny it, from +the very start. There was a good deal of talk." + +"What sort of talk?" + +"A good deal of talk. Your honor knows, better than I, how evil-minded +people are. I make it a practice not to believe a syllable of what I am +told about anyone, good or evil; that is the way to keep out of +trouble." + +"Come, come, what sort of talk? Keep to the point." + +"What sort of talk? Why, one day they would say this, and the next day +they would say that, and by harping on it long enough, they made +themselves believe that the wife--Well, your honor knows that a pretty +wife is a chastisement of God. And after all, there are some things +that you can't help seeing unless you won't see!" + +"Then it was he, the husband--" + +"I know nothing about it, your honor, nothing at all! But it is quite +true that every time he came and sat down by my doorway or inside the +shop, I used to say to myself, 'If that man can't see, he certainly +must be blind! and if he won't see, he certainly must be--Your honor +knows what I mean. There was certainly no getting out of that--out of +that--Perhaps your honor can help me to the right word?" + +"Dilemma?" + +"Dilemma, yes, your honor. And Biasi, the notary, who comes to me to be +shaved, uses another word that just fits the case, begging your honor's +pardon." + +"Then, according to you, this Don Nicasio--" + +"Oh, I won't put my finger in the pie! Let him answer for himself. +Everyone has a conscience of his own; and Jesus Christ has said, 'Judge +not, lest ye be judged.' Well, one morning--or was it in the evening? I +don't exactly remember--yes, now it comes back to me that it was in the +morning--I saw him pass by, scowling and with his head bent down; I was +in my doorway, sharpening a razor. Out of curiosity I gave him a +passing word as well as a nod, adding a gesture that was as good as a +question. He came up to me, looked me straight in the face, and +answered: 'Haven't I told you that, sooner or later, I should do +something crazy? And I shall, neighbor, yes, I shall! They are dragging +me by the hair!' 'Let me cut it off, then!' I answered jokingly, to +make him forget himself." + +"So, he had told you before, had he? How did he happen to tell you +before?" + +"Oh, your honor knows how words slip out of the mouth at certain +moments. Who pays attention to them? For my part, I have too many other +things in my head--" + +"Come, come--what had he been talking about, when he told you before?" + +"Great heavens, give me time to think, your honor! What had he been +talking about? Why, about his wife, of course. Who knows? Some one must +have put a flea in his ear. It needs only half a word to ruin a poor +devil's peace of mind. And that is how a man lets such words slip out +of his mouth as 'Sooner or later I shall do something crazy!' That is +all. I know nothing else about it, your honor!" + +"And the only answer you made him was a joke?" + +"I could not say to him, 'Go ahead and do it,' could I? As it was he +went off, shaking his head. And what idea he kept brooding over, after +that, who knows? One can't see inside of another man's brain. But +sometimes, when I heard him freeing his mind--" + +"Then he used to free his mind to you?" + +"Why, yes, to me, and maybe to others besides. You see, one bears +things and bears things and bears things; and at last, rather than +burst with them, one frees one's mind to the first man who comes +along." + +"But you were not the first man who came along. You used to call at his +house--" + +"Only as a barber, your honor! Only when Don Nicasio used to send for +me. And very often I would get there too late, though I tried my best." + +"And very likely you sometimes went there when you knew that he was not +at home?" + +"On purpose, your honor? No, never!" + +"And when you found his wife alone, you allowed yourself--" + +"Calumnies, your honor! Who dares say such a thing? Does she say so? It +may be that once or twice a few words escaped me in jest. You know how +it is--when I found myself face to face with a pretty woman--you know +how it is--if only not to cut a foolish figure!" + +"But it was very far from a joke! You ended by threatening her!" + +"What calumnies! Threaten her? What for? A woman of her stamp doesn't +need to be threatened! I would never have stooped so low! I am no +schoolboy!" + +"Passion leads men into all sorts of folly." + +"That woman is capable of anything! She would slander our Lord himself +to His face! Passion? I? At my age? I am well on in the forties, your +honor, and many a gray hair besides. Many a folly I committed in my +youth, like everyone else. But now--Besides, with a woman like that! I +was no blind man, even if Don Nicasio was. I knew that that young +fellow--poor fool, he paid dearly for her--I knew that he had turned +her head. That's the way with some women--they go their own gait, +they're off with one and on with another, and then they end by becoming +the slave of some scalawag who robs and abuses them! He used to beat +her, your honor, many and many a time, your honor! And I, for the sake +of the poor husband, whom I pitied--Yes, that is why she says that I +threatened her. She says so, because I was foolish enough to go and +give her a talking to, the day that Don Nicasio said to me, 'I shall do +something crazy!' She knew what I meant, at least she pretended that +she did." + +"No; this was what you said--" + +"Yes, your honor, I remember now exactly what I said. 'I'll spoil your +sport,' I told her, 'if it sends me to the galleys!' but I was speaking +in the name of the husband. In the heat of the moment one falls into a +part--" + +"The husband knew nothing of all this." + +"Was I to boast to him of what I had done? A friend either gives his +services or else he doesn't. That is how I understand it." + +"Why were you so much concerned about it? ". + +"I ought not to have been, your honor. I have too soft a heart." + +"Your threats became troublesome. And not threats alone, but promise +after promise! And gifts besides, a ring and a pair of earrings--" + +"That is true. I won't deny it. I found them in my pocket, quite by +chance. They belonged to my wife. It was an extravagance, but I did it, +to keep poor Don Nicasio from doing something crazy. If I could only +win my point, I told myself, if I could only get that young fellow out +of the way, then it would be time enough to say to Don Nicasio, 'My +friend, give me back my ring and my earrings!' He would not have needed +to be told twice. He is an honorable man, Don Nicasio!" + +"But when she answered you, 'Keep them yourself, I don't want them!' +you began to beg her, almost in tears--" + +"Ah, your honor! since you must be told--I don't know how I managed to +control myself--I had so completely put myself in the place of the +husband! I could have strangled her with my own hands! I could have +done that very same crazy thing that Don Nicasio thought of doing!" + +"Yet you were very prudent, that is evident. You said to yourself: 'If +not for me, then not for him!' The lover, I mean, not Don Nicasio. And +you began to work upon the husband, who, up to that time, had let +things slide, either because he did not believe, or else because he +preferred to bear the lesser evil--" + +"It may be that some chance word escaped me. There are times when a man +of honor loses his head--but beyond that, nothing, your honor. Don +Nicasio himself will bear me witness." + +"But Don Nicasio says--" + +"He, too? Has he failed me? Has he turned against me? A fine way to +show his gratitude!" + +"He has nothing to be grateful for. Don't excite yourself! Sit down +again. You began by protesting that you knew nothing at all about it. +And yet you knew so many things. You must know quite a number more. +Don't excite yourself." + +"You want to drag me over a precipice, your honor! I begin to +understand!" + +"Men who are blinded by passion walk over precipices on their own +feet." + +"But--then your honor imagines that I, myself--" + +"I imagine nothing. It is evident that you were the instigator, and +something more than the instigator, too." + +"Calumny, calumny, your honor!" + +"That same evening you were seen talking with the husband until quite +late." + +"I was trying to persuade him not to. I said to him, 'Let things alone! +Since it is your misfortune to have it so, what difference does it make +whether he is the one, or somebody else?' And he kept repeating, +'Somebody else, yes, but not that rotten beast!' His very words, your +honor." + +"You stood at the corner of the adjoining street, lying in wait." + +"Who saw me there? Who saw us, your honor?" + +"You were seen. Come, make up your mind to tell all you know. It will +be better for you. The woman testifies, 'There were two of them,' but +in the dark she could not recognize the other one." + +"Just because I wanted to do a kind act! This is what I have brought on +myself by trying to do a kind act!" + +"You stood at the street corner--" + +"It was like this, your honor. I had gone with him as far as that. But +when I saw that it was no use to try to stop him--it was striking +eleven--the streets were deserted--I started to leave him indignantly, +without a parting word--" + +"Well, what next? Do I need tongs to drag the words out of your mouth?" + +"What next? Why, your honor knows how it is at night, under the +lamplight. You see and then you don't see--that's the way it is. I +turned around--Don Nicasio had plunged through the doorway of his +home--just by the entrance to the little lane. A cry!--then nothing +more!" + +"You ran forward? That was quite natural." + +"I hesitated on the threshold--the hallway was so dark." + +"You couldn't have done that. The woman would have recognized you by +the light of the street lamp." + +"The lamp is some distance off." + +"You went in one after the other. Which of you shut the door? Because +the door was shut immediately." + +"In the confusion of the moment--two men struggling together--I could +hear them gasping--I wanted to call for help--then a fall! And then I +felt myself seized by the arm: 'Run, neighbor, run! This is no business +of yours!' It didn't sound like the voice of a human being. And that +was how--that was how I happened to be there, a helpless witness. I +think that Don Nicasio meant to kill his wife, too; but the wretched +woman escaped. She ran and shut herself up in her room. That is--I read +so afterwards, in the papers. The husband would have been wiser to have +killed her first. Evil weeds had better be torn up by the roots. What +are you having that man write, your honor?" + +"Nothing at all, as you call it. Just your deposition. The clerk will +read it to you now, and you will sign it." + +"Can any harm come to me from it? I am innocent! I have only said what +you wanted to make me say. You have tangled me up in a fine net, like a +little fresh-water fish!" + +"Wait a moment. And this is the most important thing of all. How did it +happen that the mortal wounds on the dead man's body were made with a +razor?" + +"Oh, the treachery of Don Nicasio! My God! My God! Yes, your honor. Two +days before--no one can think of everything, no one can foresee +everything--he came to the shop and said to me, 'Neighbor, lend me a +razor; I have a corn that is troubling me.' He was so matter-of-fact +about it that I did not hesitate for an instant. I even warned him, 'Be +careful! you can't joke with corns! A little blood, and you may start a +cancer!' 'Don't borrow trouble, neighbor,' he answered." + +"But the razor could not be found. You must have brought it away." + +"I? Who would remember a little thing like that? I was more dead than +alive, your honor. Where are you trying to lead me, with your +questions? I tell you, I am innocent!" + +"Do not deny so obstinately. A frank confession will help you far more +than to protest your innocence. The facts speak clearly enough. It is +well known how passion maddens the heart and the brain. A man in that +state is no longer himself." + +"That is the truth, your honor! That wretched woman bewitched me! She +is sending me to the galleys! The more she said 'No, no, no!' the more +I felt myself going mad, from head to foot, as if she were pouring fire +over me, with her 'No, no, no!' But now--I do not want another man to +suffer in my place. Yes, I was the one, I was the one who killed him! I +was bewitched, your honor! I am willing to go to the galleys. But I am +coming back here, if I have the good luck to live through my term. Oh, +the justice of this world! To think that she goes scot free, the real +and only cause of all the harm! But I will see that she gets justice, +that I solemnly swear--with these two hands of mine, your honor! In +prison I shall think of nothing else. And if I come back and find her +alive--grown old and ugly, it makes no difference--she will have to pay +for it, she will have to make good! Ah, 'no, no, no!' But I will say, +'Yes, yes, yes!' And I will drain her last drop of blood, if I have to +end my days in the galleys. And the sooner, the better!" + + + + +LUCIUS APULEIUS + +_The Adventure of the Three Robbers_ + + The great satire of Lucius Apuleius, the work through which his + name lives after the lapse of nearly eighteen centuries, is "The + Golden Ass," a romance from which the following passage has been + selected and translated for these Mystery Stories. Lucius, the + personage who tells the story, is regarded in some quarters as a + portrayal of the author himself. The purpose of "The Golden Ass" + was to satirize false priests and other contemporary frauds. But + interspersed are many episodes of adventure and strange situations, + one of which is here given. + + +As Telephron reached the point of his story, his fellow revelers, +befuddled with their wine, renewed the boisterous uproar. And while the +old topers were clamoring for the customary libation to laughter, +Byrrhæna explained to me that the morrow was a day religiously observed +by her city from its cradle up; a day on which they alone among mortals +propitiated that most sacred god, Laughter, with hilarious and joyful +rites. "The fact that you are here," she added, "will make it all the +merrier. And I do wish that you would contribute something amusing out +of your own cleverness, in honor of the god, to help us duly worship +such an important divinity." + +"Surely," said I, "what you ask shall be done. And, by Jove! I hope I +shall hit upon something good enough to make this mighty god of yours +reveal his presence." + +Hereupon, my slave reminding me what hour of night it was, I speedily +got upon my feet, although none too steadily after my potations, and, +having duly taken leave of Byrrhæna, guided my zigzag steps upon the +homeward way. But at the very first corner we turned, a sudden gust of +wind blew out the solitary torch on which we depended, and left us, +plunged in the unforeseen blackness of night, to stumble wearily and +painfully to our abode, bruising our feet on every stone in the road. + +But when at last, holding each other up, we drew near our goal, there +ahead of us were three others, of big and brawny build, expending the +full energy of their strength upon our doorposts. And far from being in +the least dismayed by our arrival, they seemed only fired to a greater +zeal and made assault more fiercely. Quite naturally, it seemed clear +to us both, and especially to me, that they were robbers, and of the +most dangerous sort. So I forthwith drew the blade which I carry hidden +under my cloak for such emergencies, and threw myself, undismayed, into +the midst of these highwaymen. One after another, as they successively +tried to withstand me, I ran them through, until finally all three lay +stretched at my feet, riddled with many a gaping wound, through which +they yielded up their breath. By this time Fotis, the maid, had been +aroused by the din of battle, and still panting and perspiring freely I +slipped in through the opening door, and, as weary as though I had +fought with the three-formed Geryon instead of those pugnacious +thieves, I yielded myself at one and the same moment to bed and to +slumber. + +Soon rosy-fingered Dawn, shaking the purple reins, was guiding her +steeds across the path of heaven; and, snatched from my untroubled +rest, night gave me back to day. Dismay seized my soul at the +recollection of my deeds of the past evening. I sat there, crouching on +my bed, with my interlaced fingers hugging my knees, and freely gave +way to my distress; I already saw in fancy the court, the jury, the +verdict, the executioner. How could I hope to find any judge so mild, +so benevolent as to pronounce me innocent, soiled as I was with a +triple murder, stained with the blood of so many citizens? Was this the +glorious climax of my travels that the Chaldean, Diophanes, had so +confidently predicted for me? Again and again I went over the whole +matter bewailing my hard lot. + +Hereupon there came a pounding at our doors and a steadily growing +clamor on the threshold. No sooner was admission given than, with an +impetuous rush, the whole house was filled with magistrates, police, +and the motley crowd that followed. Two officers, by order of the +magistrates, promptly laid hands upon me, and started to drag me off, +though resistance was the last thing I should have thought of. By the +time we had reached the first cross street the entire city was already +trailing at our heels in an astonishingly dense mass. And I marched +gloomily along with my head hanging down to the very earth--I might +even say to the lower regions below the earth. + +At length after having made the circuit of every city square, in +exactly the way that the victims are led around before a sacrifice +meant to ward off evil omens, I was brought into the forum and made to +confront the tribunal of justice. The magistrates had taken their seats +upon the raised platform, the court crier had commanded silence, when +suddenly everyone present, as if with one voice, protested that in so +vast a gathering there was danger from the dense crowding, and demanded +that a case of such importance should be tried instead in the public +theater. No sooner said than the entire populace streamed onward, +helter-skelter, and in a marvelously short time had packed the whole +auditorium till every aisle and gallery was one solid mass. Many +swarmed up the columns, others dangled from the statues, while a few +there were that perched, half out of sight, on window ledges and +cornices; but all in their amazing eagerness seemed quite careless how +far they risked their lives. After the manner of a sacrifice I was led +by the public officials down the middle of the stage, and was left +standing in the midst of the orchestra. Once more the voice of the +court crier boomed forth, calling for the prosecutor, whereupon a +certain old man arose, and having first taken a small vase, the bottom +of which ended in a narrow funnel, and having filled it with water, +which escaping drop by drop should mark the length of his speech, +addressed the populace as follows: + +"This is no trivial case, most honored citizens, but one which directly +concerns the peace of our entire city, and one which will be handed +down as a weighty precedent. Wherefore, your individual and common +interests equally demand that you should sustain the dignity of the +State, and not permit this brutal murderer to escape the penalty of the +wholesale butchery that resulted from his bloody deeds. And do not +think that I am influenced by any private motives, or giving vent to +personal animosity. For I am in command of the night watch, and up to +this time I think there is no one who will question my watchful +diligence. Accordingly I will state the case and faithfully set forth +the events of last night. + +"It was about the hour of the third watch, and I was making my round of +the entire city, going from door to door with scrupulous vigilance, +when suddenly I beheld this bloodthirsty young man, sword in hand, +spreading carnage around him; already, no less than three victims of +his savagery lay writhing at his feet, gasping forth their breath in a +pool of blood. Stricken, as well he might be, with the guilt of so +great a crime, the fellow fled, and, slipping into one of the houses +under cover of the darkness, lay hidden the rest of the night. But, +thanks to the gods who permit no sinner to go unpunished, I forestalled +him at daybreak, before he could make his escape by secret ways, and +have brought him here for trial before your sacred tribunal of justice. +The prisoner at the bar is a threefold murderer; he was taken in the +very act; and, furthermore, he is a foreigner. Accordingly, it is your +plain duty to return a verdict of guilty against this man from a +strange land for a crime which you would severely punish even in the +case of one of your own citizens." + +Having thus spoken, the remorseless prosecutor suspended his vindictive +utterance, and the court crier straightway ordered me to begin my +defense, if I had any to make. At first I could not sufficiently +control my voice to speak, although less overcome, alas, by the +harshness of the accusation than by my own guilty conscience. But at +last, miraculously inspired with courage, I made answer as follows: + +"I realize how hard it is for a man accused of murder, and confronted +with the bodies of three of your citizens, to persuade so large a +multitude of his innocence, even though he tells the exact truth and +voluntarily admits the facts. But if in mercy you will give me an +attentive hearing, I shall easily make clear to you that far from +deserving to be put on trial for my life, I have wrongfully incurred +the heavy stigma of such a crime as the chance result of justifiable +indignation. + +"I was making my way home from a dinner party at a rather late hour, +after drinking pretty freely, I won't attempt to deny--for that was the +head and front of my offense--when, lo and behold! before the very +doors of my abode, before the home of the good Milo, your +fellow-citizen, I beheld a number of villainous thieves trying to +effect an entrance and already prying the doors off from the twisted +hinges. All the locks and bolts, so carefully closed for the night, had +been wrenched away, and the thieves were planning the slaughter of the +inmates. Finally, one of them, bigger and more active than the rest, +urged them to action with these words: + +"'Come on, boys! Show the stuff you are made of, and strike for all you +are worth while they are asleep! No quarter now, no faint-hearted +weakening! Let death go through the house with drawn sword! If you find +any in bed, slit their throats before they wake; if any try to resist, +cut them down. Our only chance of getting away safe and sound is to +leave no one else safe and sound in the whole house.' + +"I confess, citizens, that I was badly frightened, both on account of +my hosts and myself; and believing that I was doing the duty of a good +citizen, I drew the sword which always accompanies me in readiness for +such dangers, and started in to drive away or lay low those desperate +robbers. But the barbarous and inhuman villains, far from being +frightened away, had the audacity to stand against me, although they +saw that I was armed. Their serried ranks opposed me. Next, the leader +and standard-bearer of the band, assailing me with brawny strength, +seized me with both hands by the hair, and bending me backward, +prepared to beat out my brains with a paving stone; but while he was +still shouting for one, with an unerring stroke I luckily ran him +through and stretched him at my feet. Before long a second stroke, +aimed between the shoulders, finished off another of them, as he clung +tooth and nail to my legs; while the third one, as he rashly advanced, +I stabbed full in the chest. + +"Since I had fought on the side of law and order, in defense of public +safety and my host's home, I felt myself not only without blame but +deserving of public praise. I have never before been charged with even +the slightest infringement of the law; I enjoy a high reputation among +my own people, and all my life have valued a clear conscience above all +material possessions. Nor can I understand why I should suffer this +prosecution for having taken a just vengeance upon those worthless +thieves, since no one can show that there had ever before been any +enmity between us, or for that matter that I had ever had any previous +acquaintance with the thieves. You have not even established any motive +for which I may be supposed to have committed so great a crime." + +At this point my emotion again overcame me, and with my hands extended +in entreaty, I turned from one to another, beseeching them to spare me +in the name of common humanity, for the sake of all that they held +dear. I thought by this time they must be moved to pity, thrilled with +sympathy for my wretchedness; accordingly I called to witness the Eye +of Justice and the Light of Day, and intrusted my case to the +providence of God, when lifting up my eyes I discovered that the whole +assembly was convulsed with laughter, not excepting my own kind host +and relative, Milo, who was shaking with merriment. "So much for +friendship!" I thought to myself, "so much for gratitude! In protecting +my host, I have become a murderer, on trial for my life; while he, far +from raising a finger to help me, makes a mock of my misery." + +At this moment a woman clad in black rushed down the center of the +stage, weeping and wailing and clasping a small child to her breast. An +older woman, covered with rags and similarly shaken with sobs, followed +her, both of them waving olive branches as they passed around the bier +on which lay the covered bodies of the slain, and lifted up their +voices in mournful outcry: "For the sake of common humanity," they +wailed, "by all the universal laws of justice, be moved to pity by the +undeserved death of these young men! Give to a lonely wife and mother +the comfort of vengeance! Come to the aid of this unhappy child left +fatherless in his tender years, and offer up the blood of the assassin +at the shrine of law and order." + +Hereupon the presiding magistrate arose and addressed the people: + +"The crime for which the prisoner will later pay the full penalty, not +even he attempts to deny. But still another duty remains to be +performed, and that is to find out who were his accomplices in this +wicked deed; since it does not seem likely that one man alone could +have overcome three others so young and strong as these. We must apply +torture to extract the truth; and since the slave who accompanied him +has made his escape, there is no other alternative left us than to +wring the names of his companions from the prisoner himself, in order +that we may effectually relieve the public of all apprehension of +danger from this desperate gang." + +Immediately, in accordance with the Greek usage, fire and the wheel +were brought forth, together with all the other instruments of torture. +Now indeed my distress was not only increased but multiplied when I saw +that I was fated to perish piecemeal. But at this point the old woman, +whose noisy lamentations had become a nuisance, broke out with this +demand: + +"Honored citizens, before you proceed to torture the prisoner, on +account of the dear ones whom he has taken from me, will you not permit +the bodies of the deceased to be uncovered in order that the sight of +their youth and beauty may fire you with a righteous anger and a +severity proportioned to the crime?" + +These words were received with applause, and straightway the magistrate +commanded that I myself should with my own hand draw off the covering +from the bodies lying on the bier. In spite of my struggles and +desperate determination not to look again upon the consequences of my +last night's deed, the court attendants promptly dragged me forward, in +obedience to the judge's order, and bending my arm by main force from +its place at my side stretched it out above the three corpses. +Conquered in the struggle, I yielded to necessity, and much against my +will drew down the covering and exposed the bodies. + +Great heavens, what a sight! What a miracle! What a transformation in +my whole destiny! I had already begun to look upon myself as a vassal +of Proserpine, a bondsman of Hades, and now I could only gasp in +impotent amazement at the suddenness of the change; words fail me to +express fittingly the astounding metamorphosis. For the bodies of my +butchered victims were nothing more nor less than three inflated +bladders, whose sides still bore the scars of numerous punctures, +which, as I recalled my battle of the previous night, were situated at +the very points where I had inflicted gaping wounds upon my +adversaries. Hereupon the hilarity, which up to this point had been +fairly held in check, swept through the crowd like a conflagration. +Some gave themselves up helplessly to an unrestrained extravagance of +merriment; others did their best to control themselves, holding their +aching sides with both hands. And having all laughed until they could +laugh no more, they passed out of the theater, their backward glances +still centered upon me. + +From the moment that I had drawn down that funeral pall I stood fixed +as if frozen into stone, as powerless to move as anyone of the +theater's statues or columns. Nor did I come out of my stupor until +Milo, my host, himself approached and clapping me on the shoulder, drew +me away with gentle violence, my tears now flowing freely and sobs +choking my voice. He led me back to the house by a roundabout way +through the least frequented streets, doing his best meanwhile to +soothe my nerves and heal my wounded feelings. But nothing he could say +availed to lessen my bitter indignation at having been made so +undeservedly ridiculous. But all at once the magistrates themselves, +still wearing their insignia of office, arrived at the house and made +personal amends in the following words: + +"We are well aware, Master Lucius, both of your own high merit and that +of your family, for the renown of your name extends throughout the +land. Accordingly, you must understand that the treatment which you so +keenly resent was in no sense intended as an insult. Therefore, banish +your present gloomy mood and dismiss all anger from your mind. For the +festival, which we solemnly celebrate with each returning year in honor +of the God of Laughter, must always depend upon novelty for its +success. And so our god, who owes you so great a debt to-day, decrees +that his favoring presence shall follow you wherever you go, and that +your cheerful countenance shall everywhere be a signal for hilarity. +The whole city, out of gratitude, bestows upon you exceptional honors, +enrolling your name as one of its patrons, and decreeing that your +likeness in bronze shall be erected as a perpetual memorial of to-day." + + + + +PLINY, THE YOUNGER + +_Letter to Sura_ + + +Our leisure furnishes me with the opportunity of learning from you, and +you with that of instructing me. Accordingly, I particularly wish to +know whether you think there exist such things as phantoms, possessing +an appearance peculiar to themselves, and a certain supernatural power, +or that mere empty delusions receive a shape from our fears. For my +part, I am led to believe in their existence, especially by what I hear +happened to Curtius Rufus. While still in humble circumstances and +obscure, he was a hanger-on in the suite of the Governor of Africa. +While pacing the colonnade one afternoon, there appeared to him a +female form of superhuman size and beauty. She informed the terrified +man that she was "Africa," and had come to foretell future events; for +that he would go to Rome, would fill offices of state there, and would +even return to that same province with the highest powers, and die in +it. All which things were fulfilled. Moreover, as he touched at +Carthage, and was disembarking from his ship, the same form is said to +have presented itself to him on the shore. It is certain that, being +seized with illness, and auguring the future from the past and +misfortune from his previous prosperity, he himself abandoned all hope +of life, though none of those about him despaired. + +Is not the following story again still more appalling and not less +marvelous? I will relate it as it was received by me: + +There was at Athens a mansion, spacious and commodious, but of evil +repute and dangerous to health. In the dead of night there was a noise +as of iron, and, if you listened more closely, a clanking of chains was +heard, first of all from a distance, and afterwards hard by. Presently +a specter used to appear, an ancient man sinking with emaciation and +squalor, with a long beard and bristly hair, wearing shackles on his +legs and fetters on his hands, and shaking them. Hence the inmates, by +reason of their fears, passed miserable and horrible nights in +sleeplessness. This want of sleep was followed by disease, and, their +terrors increasing, by death. For in the daytime as well, though the +apparition had departed, yet a reminiscence of it flitted before their +eyes, and their dread outlived its cause. The mansion was accordingly +deserted, and, condemned to solitude, was entirely abandoned to the +dreadful ghost. However, it was advertised, on the chance of some one, +ignorant of the fearful curse attached to it, being willing to buy or +to rent it. Athenodorus, the philosopher, came to Athens and read the +advertisement. When he had been informed of the terms, which were so +low as to appear suspicious, he made inquiries, and learned the whole +of the particulars. Yet none the less on that account, nay, all the +more readily, did he rent the house. As evening began to draw on, he +ordered a sofa to be set for himself in the front part of the house, +and called for his notebooks, writing implements, and a light. The +whole of his servants he dismissed to the interior apartments, and for +himself applied his soul, eyes, and hand to composition, that his mind +might not, from want of occupation, picture to itself the phantoms of +which he had heard, or any empty terrors. At the commencement there was +the universal silence of night. Soon the shaking of irons and the +clanking of chains was heard, yet he never raised his eyes nor +slackened his pen, but hardened his soul and deadened his ears by its +help. The noise grew and approached: now it seemed to be heard at the +door, and next inside the door. He looked round, beheld and recognized +the figure he had been told of. It was standing and signaling to him +with its finger, as though inviting him. He, in reply, made a sign with +his hand that it should wait a moment, and applied himself afresh to +his tablets and pen. Upon this the figure kept rattling its chains over +his head as he wrote. On looking round again, he saw it making the same +signal as before, and without delay took up a light and followed it. It +moved with a slow step, as though oppressed by its chains, and, after +turning into the courtyard of the house, vanished suddenly and left his +company. On being thus left to himself, he marked the spot with some +grass and leaves which he plucked. Next day he applied to the +magistrates, and urged them to have the spot in question dug up. There +were found there some bones attached to and intermingled with fetters; +the body to which they had belonged, rotted away by time and the soil, +had abandoned them thus naked and corroded to the chains. They were +collected and interred at the public expense, and the house was ever +afterwards free from the spirit, which had obtained due sepulture. + +The above story I believe on the strength of those who affirm it. What +follows I am myself in a position to affirm to others. I have a +freedman, who is not without some knowledge of letters. A younger +brother of his was sleeping with him in the same bed. The latter +dreamed he saw some one sitting on the couch, who approached a pair of +scissors to his head, and even cut the hair from the crown of it. When +day dawned he was found to be cropped round the crown, and his locks +were discovered lying about. A very short time afterwards a fresh +occurrence of the same kind confirmed the truth of the former one. A +lad of mine was sleeping, in company with several others, in the pages' +apartment. There came through the windows (so he tells the story) two +figures in white tunics, who cut his hair as he lay, and departed the +way they came. In his case, too, daylight exhibited him shorn, and his +locks scattered around. Nothing remarkable followed, except, perhaps, +this, that I was not brought under accusation, as I should have been, +if Domitian (in whose reign these events happened) had lived longer. +For in his desk was found an information against me which had been +presented by Carus; from which circumstance it may be conjectured--inasmuch +as it is the custom of accused persons to let their hair grow--that the +cutting off of my slaves' hair was a sign of the danger which threatened +me being averted. + +I beg, then, that you will apply your great learning to this subject. +The matter is one which deserves long and deep consideration on your +part; nor am I, for my part, undeserving of having the fruits of your +wisdom imparted to me. You may even argue on both sides (as your way +is), provided you argue more forcibly on one side than the other, so as +not to dismiss me in suspense and anxiety, when the very cause of my +consulting you has been to have my doubts put an end to. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Library of the World's Best Mystery +and Detective Stories, by Edited by Julian Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYSTERY AND DETECTIVE STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 12758-8.txt or 12758-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/7/5/12758/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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